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Welcome to my ongoing blog for tonight's WWE NXT Halloween Havoc 2022 PPV, brought to you by our good friends Ringside Collectibles, who are having their Halloween sale right now!
I always pop for a good Chucky cameo, so having Brad Dourif, the voice of Chucky taking part in the opening video package was a nice touch and some good USA Network/NBCU synergy.
As someone who loves Halloween, I appreciate WWE going the extra mile with some giant spiders, tombstones, etc. for some atmosphere. Shotzi was dressed as the Joker.
We are opening with the Ladder Match for the vacant WWE NXT North American Championship. So, they are opening up with spectacle. It's Carmelo Hayes vs. Oro Mensah vs. Wes Lee vs. Von Wagner vs. Nathan Frazer. Lots of ladder bumps. Wagner played the remorseless power guy in this, wiping people out. Lee took some pretty spectacular bumps. Hayes showed a ton of charisma and really stood out when he was on offense.
Wes Lee pulled out the Shawn Michaels driving the ladder into Razor Ramon's chest spot from Wrestlemania X. Mensah and Hayes had some nice sequences, including Hayes nailing a springboard guillotine legdrop, driving Mensah down on a ladder. Frazer hit a springboard spanish fly onto a ladder that was across the mat. Just brutal looking. Von Wagner's chokeslams are scary as hell.
Trick Williams dipped a ladder over as Mensah was on top, sending him crashing to the floor. Trick Williams and Robert Stone each tried to steal the title but those shenanigans leds to Stone taking a brutal looking bump onto the ropes and then bouncing him rudely to the floor. That garnered the first NXT chant of the night.
Von Wagner pulled out a giant sized ladder from under the ring. Frazer hit a big frog splash from the top putting Wagner through the ladder, which snapped. This is car crash central, tons of big spots and bumps. Just as I wrote that, Wagner pressed and tossed Lee, with AUTHORITY, over the top onto the announcers' table with Lee bouncing off it like a pinball. He tried to powerbomb Frazer out of the ring but was hit with a rana over the top to the floor. He was smashed over the barricade with a ladder. Frazer and Mensah beat him with a ladder.
Frazer and Mesah raced back to the ring and battled atop the ladder. Frazer was shoved off but the ghost of Hayes attacked. It appeared he was going to win but out of nowhere, Lee rose from the dead and dove off a ladder to nail a flying forearm to the face. Lee and Hayes battled back and forth. Lee battles him off and hits a Meteora from the ladder, driving Hayes down onto a bridged ladder and sending himself flying over to the ropes in the process. Lee battled to the top and scored the win, winning his first ever singles title.
The crowd went nuts for this and chanted that Lee deserved it. There's zero argument that he wrestles his heart out with every appearance and this felt like a true ascension moment for Lee. I really loved that he got a nice, surprise win. This was an absolutely entertaining ladder match.
We are getting the Haunted House special next as Toxic Attraction accepted Alba Fyre's invitation to a scary house in the woods. Will we see Dexter Lumis or Ash from Evil Dead? Perhaps the Tony Schiavone monster that attacked those trick or treaters all those years ago? They enter a spooky house in the woods. They want to split up, even though they admit splitting up is the dumbest thing ever to do in these situations. Jacey was, of course, taken out first. Lots of scary and demonic characters. Chucky the doll even cameo'd. Gigi was attacked next and fought back before being trapped in a fridge. This left Mandy alone in the house, although she didn't realize it. A creepy organ played Phantom of the Opera type music before Alba attacked her as well and worked her over with a bat. Alba choked out Mandy and then drove off with her, leaving the other members of Toxic Attraction behind. As a horror movie fan, as goofy as this came off, I absolutely enjoyed it for what it was - a Halloween-themed deal to add something different to the show with a spooky-themed vignette. If NXT is going to do something like this annually, fine with me. It beats the old Thanksgiving food fights on WWE TV and gives some talents a chance to play off their personalities. Happy Halloween!
Next up is Grayson Waller vs. Apollo Crews in a Casket Match. So glad we avoided the Blindfold match! Crews looked really damn good athletically early on. Waller plays a great prick heel. Lots of brawling on the floor. Waller was slammed into a ringside table and worked over before grabbing a pen and poking Crews in the eye. They battled on the ropes and Crews was shoved off, crashing through the lid of the casket. Waller demanded to be named the winner but the lights went out and it was SABU. Just kidding. When they returned, Crews was out of the casket in the ring aisle and a crew of Druids brought a second casket out. As a false finish, it was different.
They continued to brawl. They battled into the ring. Waller was placed in the casket but got up before the casket door could be shut. Crews was tossed in but fought to keep the lid from closing. They ended up battling each other in the casket and were knocked down into it. Waller tried to climb back into the ring but was pulled back and hiptossed out of the casket to the floor. The battle raged on until Waller was shut in the casket.
I liked a lot of this. The false finish was probably a little contrived for some but it does give Waller a chance to complain he was the true winner.
More thoughts on Page 2!
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