A WWE star has commented after winning her first championship in the company during NXT New Year’s Evil.
Kicking off WWE NXT’s 2026 with a bang, New Year’s Evil saw plenty of unexpected moments, particularly at its conclusion as Oba Femi appeared to relinquish the NXT Championship ahead of his move to the main roster.
Earlier in the night however, fans also saw an unexpected title change as Izzi Dame – who had competed in the show’s opener against Tatum Paxley – returned to answer Thea Hail’s Women’s NXT North American Championship open challenge.
With Hail beaten up at the beginning of the show by Blake Monroe – leading to their scheduled match being canceled – Dame managed to pull out the win to capture her first title in WWE.
After the win, Dame appeared on Busted Open and talked with Bully Ray, who hailed her ring shape after pulling double-duty on the night.
In response Dame credited WWE’s coaches at the Performance Center for making such a physical feat possible:
“There is nothing. I will tell you this right now, nothing that compares to wrestling shape.
“If it weren’t for out developmental program that we have and our coaches that put us to the test every single day and push us to our limits I would never be able to go do two full blown matches and win a title the same night.
“They prepare us, I will give them all the credit in the world, our coaches are amazing.”
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Bully Ray didn’t just praise Dame’s cardio however, with the Hall of Famer also speaking highly of her character work and performance in front of the crowd.
Describing how she feels the most “at peace” when she’s performing, Dame invited fans to give her “all the hate” following her win:
“I thoroughly enjoy being in front of a crowd, and that’s one thing I never knew about myself before coming into this job.
“I didn’t know that I had a creative side, I always knew I liked public speaking but I didn’t know I could get to this depth and layer of performance of it all. Of course I get nervous, of course I get scared, I want to do my best out there.
“But I’m not kidding you when I step out there it’s like calm, I’m at peace. I love it, I love the hate. Please give me all the hate, all of it. I love being out in front of the crowd.”
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