WWE Provides Injury Updates on Finn Balor and Kyle O'Reilly After NXT New Year's Evil

Finn Balor and Kyle O'Reilly had yet another insanely violent match for the NXT Championship [...]

By Connor Casey

Finn Balor and Kyle O'Reilly had yet another insanely violent match for the NXT Championship during New Year's Evil, this time ending with Balor forcing O'Reilly to tap while his own blood streamed down his face. The last match between the two (at NXT TakeOver 31) saw Balor break his jaw in multiple places while O'Reilly broke a few teeth and took a nasty kick to the liver. Following their rematch, WWE released a medical update saying both had to be taken to the hospital.

WWE's updates often toe the line between being legitimate and kayfabe, though this report didn't definitively say either man had broken anything this time around.

WWE confirmed during New Year's Evil that the next NXT TakeOver will take place on Valentine's Day. Balor will likely be taking on Karrion Kross, who teased going after the NXT title a week before his victory over Damian Priest. Kross initially won the title from Keith Lee at NXT TakeOver XXX, but had to relinquish it four days later due to a separated shoulder. Balor would eventually wind up winning the vacated championship by defeating Adam Cole, making him the third man to hold NXT's top prize twice behind Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Triple H revealed in a recent interview with FOX Sports' Ryan Satin that, prior to his jaw injury, Balor was already dealing with a blown-out eardrum. Hopefully, Balor's bad luck with injuries is over.

"Look at where NXT is right now and when you take in the last few months, man, there was a moment there where we were snake-bitten by a bunch of things, to Keith Lee transition[ing] and Karrion [Kross] gets the title but he gets injured and at the same time you gotta take the title off him, Finn [Balor] gets the title," Triple H said. "I don't even think anybody knows this but Finn gets the title and in that match, blows his eardrum out and as he comes out of that like, 'Okay, he's good on that.' Right on the flip side of that, breaks his jaw. And then he's out."

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