 Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) def. Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta and Io Shirai & Zoey Stark in a Scareway to Hell Triple Threat Tag Team Ladder Match to Win the NXT Women's Tag Team ChampionshipThis was a train wreck in both the best and worst way possible. There were some ugly spots as well as some scary spots (the inexperience of a lot of the people involved is arguably to blame for that), but there were some really cool-looking spots as well. All in all, it was a wild opener. Toxic Attraction are the hot ticket right now and were the right choice to take the titles. I'm really hoping Shirai can move on to something more meaningful or be moved to either Raw and SmackDown. Then again, maybe that wouldn't be in her best interest, either. Joe Gacy def. Malik BladeIt's been about a month or so now and I'm still not sold on the Gacy gimmick. Yes, he's more than competent in the ring and I actually like his finisher, but the character feels like a desperate attempt to generate heat. I don't see it working long-term, but I could be wrong. This was a fairly standard squash win for him. I was hoping Blade would pick up the upset win, but no such luck. We'll see where the Harland stuff leads. NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong def. Odyssey Jones (Non-Title)Most people probably aren't aware, but this was a rematch from a recent encounter they had on 205 Live. This was along the same lines as that, but it still boggles my mind that they'd put Jones in there with the Cruiserweight Champion and lose. I'm not saying he should have won, but he shouldn't be taking so many losses. On the bright side, he's definitely benefiting from working with the seasoned competitors and this was fine for the few minutes it lasted. Mandy Rose def. Raquel Gonzalez in a Trick or Street Fight to Win the NXT Women's ChampionshipAny Halloween-themed show in WWE is not complete without a Trick or Street Fight. Rose actually had a No Disqualification match that I really enjoyed last year at SummerSlam against Sonya Deville, so it's an environment we knew she could thrive in. The added stipulation definitely made the match better than it would have been otherwise and they took full advantage of it. I assumed Toxic Attraction would interfere, but it was actually Dakota Kai (the hooded figure) costing her former friend the title. Toxic Attraction winning all the gold is awesome, but I'm skeptical about Kai staying put in NXT. This should lead to Gonzalez vs. Kai II, but beyond that, what more is there for her to do on the brand? I just don't see her winning the NXT Women's Championship at this point. Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) def. MSK in a Lumberjack O’Lantern Match to Win the NXT Tag Team ChampionshipI remember these teams having at least one other match together not too long ago and it was decent. Thus, I didn't have high hopes for this, especially with the stipulation (Lumberjack matches are notoriously a mess), but it ended up being a banger. The typically-anti-MSK crowd actually came around to cheering them and how couldn't they? This was one of their best bouts to date in NXT. Imperium are very talented, but I had no desire to see the get another run with the belts. I would've rather seen Grizzled Young Veterans get their win over MSK and become champs, but no such luck. Solo Sikoa Attacked Grayson WallerLA Knight beat Waller last week to earn the right to host Halloween Havoc, only for Waller to host, anyway. We found out in this segment that Knight didn't show up earlier because he was having "car trouble," which Waller was implied to be behind. That brought out the debuting Sikoa who, if you couldn't already tell, is the real-life brother of The Usos. I mean, he looks exactly like them. He didn't do much, but the dude looks impressive and should have potential given who he's related to. This was a perfectly acceptable premiere appearance for him. NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa def. Bron BreakkerFor starters, Ciampa's God of War attire was cool as hell. Anyway, I'm glad they went with a standard singles match for this because it didn't need a stipulation attached to it. Rather, it was a great main event all on its own. Ciampa consistently puts on quality matches and is the perfect person for these young guys to be working with, while Breakker had a strong showing in his own right and looked very good in defeat. He even kicked out of Ciampa's finisher at one point, so I was convinced he was taking the title. It was smart of NXT to resist putting the belt on him so soon (though I wouldn't have minded it) because he can gain more experience and the moment will mean more down the road when he inevitably wins it. It's awesome when you consider that his uncle Scott Steiner contended for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the last WCW Halloween Havoc almost exactly 21 years ago and also came up short. Overall ShowFor the second straight year, Halloween Havoc delivered. In my opinion, it was the best show NXT has produced since the relaunch last month, though I realize that isn't saying much. It felt a lot like the NXT shows of old with less of the "coming soon" vignettes and overabundance of fresh faces and more of a focus on the in-ring action. Even the haunted house stuff with Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams, Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis was enjoyable, though I can understand it not being for everyone. The three title changes made this an extra eventful night. There's still no word if the TakeOver specials are a thing of the past yet or not, but I can settle for the occasional themed episodes like this in the meantime. Maybe they'll bring back New Year's Evil in January and start building toward that because I have no idea what they'd do for two WarGames matches at this point (an event typically held in November or December).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
April 2026
|
RSS Feed