WWE once again had some big names make appearances on NXT.
Continuing the main roster integration that was seen throughout 2023, many top stars from SmackDown made their presence felt on the New Year’s Evil special episode on January 2nd.
The day before the show was due to be broadcast, North American Champion Dragon Lee confirmed that he would be unable to make the show as he was dealing with visa issues. Not wanting to let the fans down, the SmackDown star teased that the LWO had a surprise for their opponents. As Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde made their entrance to face The No Quarter Catch Crew, the surprise was revealed to be Carlito, who competed on NXT for the first time since 2010 and helped his team pick up the victory.
The originally advertised main event was supposed to see Trick Williams challenge Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship. However, Dragunov is still not cleared to compete following an attack by Ridge Holland on the December 19th broadcast.
With Dragunov out, Grayson Waller attempted to take advantage by challenging Williams to a match where the winner would face Dragunov at a later date. Carmelo Hayes accepted the conditions on behalf of Williams, which Williams was not happy about.
Former WWE NXT Champion Makes Surprise Return
As Williams got the upper hand over Waller, Hayes made his way to ringside. With the referee distracted and Waller on the outside, the crowd cheered as Kevin Owens appeared off-camera. The camera panned to reveal Owens was at the ringside area, striking Waller in the face with his right hand that is in a cast. Waller was thrown back in the ring and Williams delivered the flash knee to remain the number one contender.
In an interview after the match, Owens explained why he made the trip to the Tuesday night show:
“I was watching at home, I don’t live too far from here, and once I saw that Grayson Waller was gonna be involved, I figured, what better what to start 2024 than by getting some payback for the broken hand? He and Theory broke my hand, and then I figured Theory might not be there, so great opportunity. Now 2024 is off to a great start, and Friday I make it better by beating Santos Escobar and moving on, winning the whole tournament, and then I go on to the Royal Rumble, beat Logan Paul, restore some sort of prestige to the US Title because he’s done a hell of a job bringing it way down. Then 2024, we’re rocking,”
In recent news, an NXT season 1 competitor revealed how the show was originally meant to pan out.
H/t to Fightful.