To coincide with Giulia winning the NXT Women's Championship by defeating Roxanne Perez in the opening match of WWE New Year's Evil 2025, two other titles also changed hands later in the night.
Technically, it's unclear whether or not the NXT Heritage Cup was a matter of Lexis King retaining the trophy or winning it, as he was announced to have just won the title, but had previously won it on a pre-taped episode of NXT (taped December 17th, aired December 24th). However, it was somewhat treated as an unofficial win, wherein this Sudden Death match against Charlie Dempsey and King's victory secured the title as his.
WWE.com has the Heritage Cup lineage listed as being King's for the past 14 days, which is as much of an indicator as can be that that was considered the official title change instead of what was announced tonight.
Regardless of that outcome, there is also an official new NXT champion, as Oba Femi defeated both the defending champion Trick Williams and fellow challenger Eddy Thorpe in a Triple Threat match to win the top prize in the men's division.
Femi has the record for the longest run with the NXT North American Championship at 272 days—with his one single reign not only overtaking Wes Lee's 269 day run, but also tying the combined two reigns of Carmelo Hayes.
For those curious, Williams has ended his reign as NXT champion at 99 days, bringing him to 173 days in total if combined with his previous 74 day run from NXT Spring Breakin' on April 23, 2024 until he dropped the title to Ethan Page at NXT Heatwave on July 7, 2024.
Femi made a bold statement earlier in tonight's episode when he told NXT General Manager Ava that whether Thorpe was in the match or not (having claimed to have been attacked backstage, which Ava wasn't buying as a legitimate attack whatsoever), he would be walking out as champion regardless of his opponent(s). He proved himself right by pinning Williams in clean fashion, making it a definitive victory to be crowned the new king of the mountain.
This is interesting as Thorpe's involvement was effectively moot, and it defies WWE's recent booking strategy of having someone lose their first shot at a championship and winning it on the second go-around. Whether that means Williams is slotted to be called up to the main roster relatively soon and they had to take the title off him or not, and how long this was in the works or if the plans changed remains to be seen.
One way or another, King has the Heritage Cup, Giulia has the NXT Women's Championship, and Femi now holds the NXT Championship. With OTM challenging Axiom and Nathan Frazer for the NXT Tag Team Championship next week and Stephanie Vaquer and Shotzi battling it out to determine who gets an opportunity at Fallon Henley's NXT Women's North American Championship, we could be looking at a whole new set of title-holders by the time WWE Vengeance Day comes around on February 15th!
What do you think of Oba Femi winning the title? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!