When NXT hit the reset button two weeks ago, all of their singles champions, both male and female, were confronted by a new batch of hungry challengers, including multiple returns to the roster and a few NXT debuts. One of the more memorable debuts from that night was the first Performance Center appearance of former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, EVIL. The week before he had a gift delivered to NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo, and then the following week, he cut out the middle man and confronted Tony D in the ring himself with another delivery, this time a cloak of some sort. Then, last week on NXT, they played the video linked above of EVIL explaining his actions and motives, before revealing that he will now go by Naraku under the WWE umbrella. With his sights set on the top prize of WWE’s developmental brand, Naraku will look to show the United States crowd what he’s capable of in the ring. As of this writing, his opponent hasn’t been announced, making it clear that the focus will be on Naraku as he looks to establish himself as Tony D’Angelo’s next challenger.

Another impactful debut the last few weeks has been made by the British wrestler formerly known as Will Kroos. For the last two weeks, the big man landed vicious moonsaults on Tony D and as NXT left the air last week, he announced to the world that he would be going by Mason Rook and he was officially on the NXT roster. After winning a brutal Last Woman Standing match against Sol Ruca a few weeks back and seeing Sol take her talents to Raw, it appeared as though Zaria was in the clear to start pursuing success as a singles wrestler. In her first appearance back in the Performance Center last week, Zaria got some mic time to talk about what was next for her, but she was interrupted by North American Champion, Tatum Paxley. As Zaria and Tatum exchanged barbs, it was newcomer Lizzy Rain and Nikkita Lyons, recently returning from a stint on Evolve that would interject themselves into the conversation. At the end of the day, a brawl broke out between the three of them with Zaria, Rain, and Lyons all setting their sights on Paxley’s championship gold.