NXT New Year’s Evil aired live on Tuesday night and a big NXT Championship match was advertised for the show. Trick Williams was set to defend his NXT Title against Oba Femi and Eddy Thorpe in a triple threat match, but Thorpe was seemingly attacked during a backstage segment earlier in the night. Cameras showed WWE officials checking on Thorpe while NXT General Manager Ava indicated that she thought he was faking.
When it came time for the NXT Championship match Thorpe was nowhere to be seen. It started off as a singles match between Trick Williams and Oba Femi. As Femi and Williams were battling back and forth the cameras cut backstage to show Eddy Thorpe walking to the ring with a steel chair.
At one point Oba Femi hit Trick with a powerbomb and pinned him, but Thorpe broke up the pin when he pulled the referee out of the ring. The match officially became a triple threat as Oba Femi pulled Thorpe into the ring and hit him with a spinebuster.
Trick Williams appeared out of nowhere and connected with the Trick Shot on Femi for a two count. Trick went for the Trick Shot again as Eddy Thorpe was standing behind Oba Femi holding a steel chair. Oba Femi moved out of the way at the last second as Trick charged at him. Trick ended up running right into the steel chair and knocking Thorpe out of the ring. Oba Femi followed up when he hit Trick with Fall From Grace to win the match and become the new NXT Champion.
After the match Oba Femi stood at the top of the stage with Giulia and they both held their titles up while they celebrated.
