New Year's Evil is a New Year's-themed professional wrestling television special currently produced by the American promotion WWE for its developmental brand NXT. The event was originally established by rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and produced as a special episode of its Monday Nitro program on TNT on December 27, 1999. WWE acquired WCW in 2001, and after 21 years since that WCW event, WWE revived New Year's Evil in 2021 as an annual special episode of NXT on The CW and (formerly) the USA Network that airs in early January.
| New Year's Evil | |
|---|---|
 NXT: New Year's Evil logo used as of 2025 | |
| Promotions | World Championship Wrestling (1999) WWE (2021–present) |
| Brands | NXT (2021–present) |
| First event | 1999 |
History
editOn December 27, 1999, the former professional wrestling promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) produced a New Year's-themed television special titled New Year's Evil, which was broadcast on TNT as a special episode of WCW's flagship program, Monday Nitro.[1] This would be the only New Year's Evil event produced by WCW, and then in March 2001, the company was acquired by WWE, at the time still known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; renamed WWE in May 2002).[2] On December 6, 2020, after 21 years since that WCW event, WWE announced that it would revive New Year's Evil to be held for its developmental brand NXT on January 6, 2021, as a special episode of NXT, broadcast on the USA Network. Prior to this special, WWE's previous New Year's-themed event was the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view event, which was held from 2005 to 2007.[3]
A second NXT: New Year's Evil was scheduled to be held as the January 4, 2022, episode of NXT. This in turn established New Year's Evil as an annual television special of NXT, held in early January.[4] The 2024 event was held as part of WWE's week-long programming of New Year's-themed shows called New Year's Knockout Week.[5]
Events
edit| # | Event | Date | City | Venue | Main Event | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WCW Monday Nitro: New Year's Evil |
December 27, 1999 | Houston, Texas | Astrodome | Kevin Nash (c) vs. Sid Vicious and The Wall in a WCW World Tag Team Championship Lethal Lottery Tournament First Round 2-on-1 Handicap match | [6] |
| 2 | NXT: New Year's Evil (2021) |
January 6, 2021 | Orlando, Florida | WWE Performance Center | Finn Bálor (c) vs. Kyle O'Reilly for the NXT Championship | [7] |
| 3 | NXT: New Year's Evil (2022) |
January 4, 2022 | Tommaso Ciampa (c) vs. Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship | [8] | ||
| 4 | NXT: New Year's Evil (2023) |
January 10, 2023 | 20-woman Battle Royal to determine the #1 contender to the NXT Women's Championship at NXT Vengeance Day | [9] | ||
| 5 | NXT: New Year's Evil (2024) |
January 2, 2024 | Trick Williams vs. Grayson Waller for Williams' Iron Survivor Challenge title opportunity for the NXT Championship | [10] | ||
| 6 | NXT: New Year's Evil (2025) |
January 7, 2025 | Los Angeles, California | Shrine Expo Hall | [11] | |
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
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References
edit- ^ Rueter, Sean (December 6, 2020). "NXT goes with a WCW deep cut for its next themed episode". Cageside Seats. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ "WWE Entertainment, Inc. Acquires WCW from Turner Broadcasting". March 23, 2001. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
- ^ Thomas, Jeremy (December 6, 2020). "WWE Announces 'New Year's Evil' Special Episode of NXT". 411Mania. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (December 5, 2021). "NXT New Year's Evil 2022 Set For January 4". Fightful. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ Barrasso, Justin (December 22, 2023). "WWE Announces New Year's Week Schedule". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ "WCW Monday Nitro #223". cagematch. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Moore, John (January 6, 2021). "1/6 NXT TV results: Moore's review of New Year's Evil featuring Finn Balor vs. Kyle O'Reilly for the NXT Title, Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez in a Last Woman Standing match, Karrion Kross vs. Damian Priest, Santos Escobar vs. Gran Metalik for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ Moore, John (January 4, 2022). "1/4 NXT 2.0 results: Moore's review of Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bron Breakker for the NXT Title, Gunther, Fabian Aichner, and Marcel Barthel vs. Riddle and MSK, Mandy Rose vs. Raquel Gonzalez vs. Cora Jade for the NXT Women's Title, Carmelo Hayes vs. Roderick Strong in a title unification match, AJ Styles confronts Grayson Waller". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
- ^ Moore, John (January 10, 2023). "1/10 NXT TV results: Moore's review of New Year's Evil featuring Bron Breakker vs. Grayson Waller for the NXT Title, 20-woman battle royal for a shot at the NXT Women's Title, The Creed Brothers vs. Indus Sher, Dijak vs. Tony D'Angelo, Charlie Dempsey vs. Hank Walker, gauntlet match for an NXT Tag Team Title shot". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
- ^ Moore, John (January 2, 2024). "NXT TV results (1/2): Moore's review of New Year's Evil with Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams for the NXT Championship, Lyra Valkyria vs. Blair Davenport for the NXT Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 7, 2024). "NXT New Year's Evil To Take Place In Los Angeles". Fightful. Retrieved December 7, 2024.