NXT New Year's Evil: Bálor retains his championship; Puerto Ricans clash in a exciting opening match

NXT started the new year with an impressive New Year’s Evil event, where the most important championship in the black and gold brand was defended, two of the best women wrestlers fought until one of them could stand up anymore and where two Puerto Ricans left everything on the ring. It was an exceptional start to 2021 for NXT.

The event began with an extremely physical and strong match between the Puerto Rican Damian Priest and Karrion Kross, who is of Puerto Rican offspring. Both competitors gave it all against each other and resisted blow by blow in an exciting match to start the new year. Priest tried and gave it all but it wasn't enough and Kross took home the victory. We will see what the next step will be in the great career of Damian Priest in NXT.

Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez have had an incredible feud for the past several months and that animosity exploded tonight in a Last Woman Standing match, where the only way to win was to punish your opponent in such a way that she could not get up and answer the referees count of 10. Both wrestlers fought around the entire Capitol Wrestling Center and literally hit themselves with everything they found around the arena. In the end, Gonzalez applied a "pumphandle slam" to Ripley that caused Ripley to go through the stage. The referee counted up to 10 and finished the personal match between the two. Will Raquel Gonzalez be close to receiving a championship opportunity against Io Shirai?

In the main event of the evening, NXT World Champion Finn Balor defended his championship against the member of Undisputed Era Kyle O’Reilly in a long-awaited revenge of their explosive first match they had back in NXT TakeOver 31. The champion, who comes from a serious injury on his jaw, got his revenge for the injury and beat O’Reilly until he managed to perform a submission movie in the middle of the ring, retaining his NXT Championship.

It was an exciting and impressive night for NXT that continues to prove that they are currently the hottest brand in the entire WWE. 2021 promises to be a big year for the NXT Champion Finn Bálor, but he better watch out, looks like maybe his time as champion is running out. "Tick Tock."