WWE NXT New Year's Evil 2025 Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE NXT New Year's Evil 2025.

With so much going in WWE as Raw moves to Netflix and SmackDown expands to three hours, NXT was looking to make sure it wasn't forgotten with this special episode.

The card was stacked with titles on the line and potential championship implications for others.

Here's a look at the lineup from Tuesday's show at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles:

• Trick Williams vs. Oba Femi vs. Eddy Thorpe (NXT Championship)
• Roxanne Perez vs. Giulia (NXT Women's Championship)
• Stephanie Vaquer vs. Kelani Jordan vs. Cora Jade vs. Lola Vice
• Shotzi, Gigi Dolin and Tatum Paxley vs. Fatal Influence
• Lexis King vs. Charlie Dempsey (NXT Heritage Cup)

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's special episode of NXT.

This week's NXT kicked off with the NXT Women's Championship match between Giulia and titleholder Perez.

They started out with an exchange of holds, counters and takedowns that led to Perez getting a quick two-count. They were working hard to outwrestle each other until The Prodigy slapped the challenger in the face. Giulia responded with a series of headbutts.

Perez has been one of the most consistent performers in NXT and Giulia has been stellar since she arrived on the scene, so unsurprisingly, this was a fun match with a lot of physicality.

They have developed great chemistry in their previous interactions, which allowed them to put this match together the way they did.

Neither woman had control for longer than the other, so it felt like either could win at any moment. They had the crowd chanting and popping for every close submission and near-fall.

Cora Jade showed up to roll Perez back into the ring after a tumble at ringside, but the ref ejected her a moment later.

The Prodigy tried all of her best moves but nothing kept the challenger down.

Giulia hit a Northern Lights Bomb to finally put Perez down and become the new NXT women's champion.

Result: Giulia defeated Perez

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Giulia's presentation is perfect. She has an amazing aura. 
• The Rock was shown arriving at the arena before the show. 
• Booker T plugging his own promotion was kind of funny. 
• There was a slight audio issue after the break but it was quickly rectified. 
• The butterfly superplex was awesome. 

Vaquer, Jordan, Jade and Vice competed in a Fatal 4-Way to see who would get a shot at the NXT Women's North American Championship.

Jade ended up being the one the other three competitors focused on first. Jordan almost stole a win right away after knocking Vaquer into Vice and then rolling her up for a near-fall.

This was a well-paced match that gave all four wrestlers a little time in the spotlight. It had some hiccups, but just about every multi-person bout is going to have a timing issue here and there. The good news is they were few and far between.

For a long time, it was hard to tell who was going to win because nobody seemed like the favorite. All four women made sense as challengers for a title, so there was a feeling of unpredictability we don't always get in WWE.

When the dust settled, it was Vaquer who won with her backbreaker finisher to earn a shot at the NXT Women's North American Championship.

This was a fun match with a lot of energy. The NXT women's division is as strong as it gets.

Result: Vaquer defeated Vice, Jordan and Jade

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Thorpe was shown saying he was attacked backstage, but NXT general manager Ava wasn't buying it. 
• Je'von Evans gave a promo but his mouth was wired shut due to Ethan Page's recent attack, so some of it wasn't that clear. 
• Jade is so much more convincing as a heel than she used to be. 
• The four-person submission spot was cool, but it happened during the break so a lot of fans probably missed it. 
• Jordan over-rotated on a moonsault and almost missed everyone at ringside. 

Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx were in a six-women tag match against the trio of Shotzi, Dolin and Paxley.

Fatal Influence attacked the babyfaces while they were posing during their entrance to get the match going right away. It didn't take Paxley long to regain her composure and take it to Jayne.

This was a hard-hitting contest that lasted through two breaks, so we had enough time to see every combination of opponents work together.

While the energy in the ring was great, there were a couple of moments when things didn't go as smoothly as desired.

Dolin and Jayne's confrontation near the end was one of the highlights because they have so much history together.

Shotzi hit a senton from the top rope to get the pin on Henley to score the win, which seemed like an odd choice. There were two other women who could have taken the pin, so having the champion in the match be the one to lose was surprising.

Result: Dolin, Shotzi and Paxley defeated Fatal Influence

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Femi admitted he attacked Thorpe during a backstage segment. 
• Does anyone else miss Shotzi's tank?
• Henley took Shotzi down during a suicide dive with a forearm that looked nasty. 

King was out first for his NXT Heritage Cup match. Dempsey's entrance took place during the break.

Unlike most contests for the trophy, this was not fought in rounds with multiple falls. This was essentially a standard singles bout for a title based on a stipulation. It was a confusing decision to say the least.

This feud has been going for a while, so this felt like the blowoff match to end it all. No Quarter Catch Crew were at ringside, but King was controlling the action as the match cut to a break.

We returned to see Dempsey bleeding from above his eye as he began to make a comeback and employ submissions to wear down his opponent.

An awkward moment after a leapfrog led to an inadvertent low blow and King hitting his finisher for the pin and the win.

Most of this match was fine, but the last minute or so was strange. The low blow looked planned, but the collision in the corner didn't.

Result: King defeated Dempsey

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• The Rock and Ethan Page had a great segment backstage. 
• King is such an interesting choice to be a babyface because he seems like such a natural heel, especially with his movie-villain beard. 
• King isn't a massive powerhouse so lifting Dempsey off the mat was an impressive show of strength. 

The main event for New Year's Evil saw Williams put the NXT title on the line against Femi and Thorpe, whose participation was in question following Femi's attack.

The match began with only Williams and Femi in the ring. The former is by no means a small man, but the latter's physique immediately put Trick in the position of being the underdog.

Thorpe eventually showed up but was taken out at ringside. Williams hit a Rock Bottom from the middle rope for a two-count, which probably made the visiting Final Boss very happy.

Thorpe ruined Femi's chances of winning by pulling the ref out of the ring during a pin, so Femi dismantled him with throws and slams for a couple of minutes.

Trick tried to hit his finisher but ran into Thorpe's chair, allowing Femi to hit his finisher and score the victory to become the new NXT champion.

The way 90 percent of this match played out was predictable, and Femi's win could also be called predictable, but they produced an enjoyable main event.

Result: Femi defeated Thorpe and Williams

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Femi's entrance walk is as cool as it is funny. 
• It's weird seeing Williams look so small next to an opponent. 
• Femi and Giulia posed together at the top of the ramp as the new champions. WWE clearly wanted to send a message that this is the new normal in 2025. 

The Rock closed this week's NXT with a speech that required a few bleeps from the censors and the floor director to signal how much time was left in the show so he didn't go over.

The Great One is not known for being succinct, so they wanted to make sure he made his time.

Rock did a lot of posturing and put over the NXT roster and the WWE Universe, but his promo didn't really accomplish anything.

NXT has always been hit-and-miss with storylines and characters, but one thing the brand has been doing well for a long time is featuring its women's division.

Three out of five matches on the card were women's matches with a total of 12 competitors. That doesn't even count Ava and a couple of other women who appeared on the show.

On top of that, Giulia and Perez put on the best performance of the night in the opening match. They gave us a bit of everything and made it hard for anyone to follow them.

The whole show was a solid two hours of NXT programming. Seeing three title changes helped make it feel like an important episode even if The Rock hadn't been there.

Femi and Giulia as the top dogs in their respective divisions feels like a great start to the new year. Let's hope NXT can keep up the momentum.

Grade: B+