PARKS’S TAKE: Je’Von Evans making a splash and has the apparent backing of WWE as he rises quickly in NXT

Rarely does NXT take a new talent, especially one without significant name value on a national stage, and vault them to the top of the card.

Yet that’s exactly what has happened with Je’Von Evans. Though he has wrestled since 2018, mostly in the Carolinas, the former Jay Malachi didn’t have a well-known profile to the masses before signing with WWE late last year. So it took some NXT viewers by surprise that this spring-legged wrestler was rising to the top of the depth chart so quickly.

And he absolutely deserves to do just that. Evans’s strength is his athleticism, above and beyond similar feats we see on televised wrestling every week. Just 20 years old, Evans is 10 years younger than his contemporary, Trick Williams, and more than 20 years the junior of Shawn Spears, another wrestler he has interacted with recently.

Most importantly, Evans seems to have made a genuine connection with the audience early in his run. There is something authentic about Evans in his promos – not smooth, mind you, but authentic, which is often more important. There’s confidence he can get better in this area as he gains experience as well.

Evans started out on NXT house shows in February. He bested Scrypts in his TV debut (not counting Level Up) in April and a little over a month later, already found himself teaming with Trick in the main event on a Tuesday night. Last month, he won a no. 1 Contender’s Battle Royal for a shot at Williams. Evans’s run hasn’t been unabated, however, as he lost to Ethan Page later that night, then was pinned at NXT Heatwave by Page, costing Trick the championship.

The fact that we’re talking about Evans even being a part of a PLE main event at this stage of his development is a good sign, and shows that NXT management are not afraid to push talented wrestlers to the top, even if their craft hasn’t been perfected yet. Evans looks like a star in the making with his combination of in-ring skill, out-of-this-world athleticism, and ability to connect with the live fans. They need to be careful not to have him lose too often, though, as he’s still in a delicate stage of his booking where he’s not fully established as a credible main eventer quite yet. In time, I expect that Evans will make an impact as NXT Champion.

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OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s NXT Hit List: Joe Hendry and Trick Williams vs. Ethan Page and Shawn Spears, Tony D’Angelo vs. Lexis King for the NXT Heritage Cup, Sol Ruca vs. Fallon Henley, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows vs. OTM