WWE NXT preview (January 1, 2015): Stop copying me!!!

Last Week

For Christmas, we got a perfectly nice Women's title match and...not much else.

For the record, I wasn't upset about the "Best of 2014" clip show with Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks II stuck on the end of it.  But I was a little bummed.  Kind of like if you thought you were going to get a video game system from Santa and instead got some socks and candy.  Everybody needs socks and who doesn't love candy?  But when you'd been planning on spending the whole day slashing away at bipedal hippopotami...they're kind of a bummer.

Anyway...we learned that, like Herr Claus, Curtis Axel is definitely coming to town someday soon. Kevin Owens is more than happy to keep putting friends in the hospital, but he positively can't wait for a stranger to take him up on his offer of a good fight.  Prince Pretty may be off spreading gorgeousness around the globe, but he plans to be back for the NXT title in 2015.  And Bayley is following one Hunter Hearst Helmsley's blueprint for recovering from knee injuries...

The Hugster tells Becky Lynch and The Boss that they better watch out for her Game-like return, but maybe B should be warning her pal Charlotte.  Because it looks like the Women's title will be around her waist for the foreseeable future.  Banks second shot at the Queen ended more quickly than the first.  And this time the challenger tapping to a Figure Four, while the man who made the move famous proudly watched his daughter style and profile into the seventh month of her reign.

This Week

We've been promised another R Evolution rematch, and I don't plan on getting myself excited for much beyond that.

Kind of hard to remember that The Ascension were booked and billed as the most dominant tag team in WWE for most of the just past year.  Unless Hideo Itami let honor overrule common sense by charging headfirst into two-on-one assaults, Konnor & Viktor haven't done much to impress , on this show or any other.

After delivering what sounded kind of like a farewell speech but still had element of a feud-extending promo a couple of weeks back, last week Itami & Finn Bálor confirmed that they would have another tag match against the Wasteland's welcoming committee.  That contest will happen on the January 1st edition of NXT, and will probably see The Ascension head out on their backs.  I'll be much more excited if it leads to whatever Creative has planned for the two foreign friends, though.  This feud has given us a couple of great moments, but it's time has passed.

We're also confirmed to have a Vaudevillains vs. Lucha Dragons rematch at some point in the not too distant future, but probably not tonight.  Of all the bad habits for NXT to pick from the main shows, I guess rematching every match from a "pay-per-view" on regular episodes isn't the worse thing they could copy.  But it's in the top five.

(Note: I know some folks have come looking for a more definitive match listing - we strictly avoid NXT spoilers here at Cageside central. If WWE.com releases or the performers tweet more information on anything that's officially going to take place on tonight's show, that'll be updated here.  If anyone wants to put a match listing in the comments, please use spoiler tags.)

Does tonight's show have enough new action to get us to put aside the black-eyed peas, lentils, herring or sauerkraut and dig into some NXT for good luck?

Spend one last holiday evening with your fellow Cagesiders for tonight's show in our 9PM Eastern results thread.  Once the real world of January 2nd rolls around, we'll have our reactions for you, too.