NXT kicked off 2026 in a big way as New Year’s Evil aired live on Tuesday night. The show kicked into high gear immediately as Blake Monroe attacked Thea Hail at the top of the show, which resulted in their match getting pulled and Blake getting banned from the building. Thea Hail later went on to defend the belt against Izzi Dame in an open challenge and Dame pinned Hail to become the new champion.
Jacy Jayne successfully defended the NXT Women’s Championship against Kendal Grey, and Oba Femi went on to defend the NXT Championship against Leon Slater in the main event.
Slater put up quite the fight, but ultimately Oba Femi retained the NXT Championship. While the title defense was impressive it’s what happened after that really got fans talking.
After Oba Femi successfully defended the championship the cameras cut to the backstage area as Robert Stone confronted Ava. He asked her if she had seen what Oba just did and the cameras cut back to the ring to show that Oba had left the NXT Championship belt on the mat. Tony D’Angelo looked at the belt from the crowd as the show came to an end.
It’s been rumored for some time now that Oba Femi is getting called up to the main roster soon and WWE has been running vignettes for Oba on both Raw and SmackDown. It appears that Oba has vacated the title and is making his exit from NXT, so it will be interesting to see where he shows up in the weeks to come.
Opportunity knocks… 👀
Who will step up in 2026 and rise to the top of NXT?! pic.twitter.com/MDqBk2d1p9
— WWE (@WWE) January 7, 2026