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Welcome to my live blog with thoughts all night on WWE NXT's Halloween Havoc, live from Arizona!
Richard Trionfo has you covered on the live play by play tonight on the main page.
They showed all the major players tonight walking into the arena or getting prepared. They do this so often now every week on TV, you'd think they'd want to shake it up for the PPV shows.
The crowd looked to be in the 2,500-3,000 range.
They kept the tradition of having the old cemetary-style set for the entrances. Did you know it's only a graveyard if it's attached to a church property? Just like that, you know a little more than you did a second ago.
The Kickoff show was a good discussion between Sam Roberts and Sarah Schrieber that easily would have caught you up to the storylines.
Vic Joseph is dressed as The Riddler. It's a good look for him. He and Booker T are announcing.
The ring ropes aren't ORANGE for Halloween? Come on NXT!
We are opening up with Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater vs. Mr. Iguana and La Parka. This is the current AAA Parka, not the original, who is now LA Park. This should be fun on paper. Interesting they have so many luchadors here when Heroes Inmortales is later tonight. Lots of entertaining action. Iguana is super over. La Parka hit a nice dive to the outside and hit a press slam into a gut buster for a two count on Evans.
Evans is worked over for some time. Slater tagged in and hit some crisp offense, including a nice neckbreaker. TNA chant from the audience. That brought out a AAA chant. Parka and Slater chopped away at each other. Iguana hit a scary looking bulldog on Evans. Slater hit a huge dive on Parka and Iguana on the floor, then a flying bodypress on Parka. He scored a close pinfall with a big frog splash.
There were a lot of scary looking bumps in this one. Parka nailed a twisting brainbuster on Slater but Evans broke it up. The crowd was super into all of this, chanting for NXT. He nailed a big standing suplex on Evans. Slater got the pin with a swanton 450 on Iguana.
This was fun but there were quite a few sequences and spots where they either didn't hit as they planned or it ended up with a scary looking bump. But, man, the effort was all there.
Next up is the Day of the Dead match with Hijo Del Wagner Jr. challenging Ethan Page for the North American Championship. They noted Wagner was paying tribute to Rey Mysterio's 1997 HHavoc gear. Page had facepaint on, playing off Day of the Dead.
They changed the lighting and atmosphere to make the match look more, spooky, I guess and honestly, it fit the motif of what you'd expect a Halloween show to look like. They should leave the rest of the show look like this. Wagner hit a big dive early and pulled out chairs to wallop the champ with. Page escaped a teased moonsault from the top by entering the ring but ate a missile dropkick instead.
Page had a chair dropkicked into his rear end and was then slammed across the back with a trash can. The story is that the champ is getting trashed, literally. Page made a comeback and sneered at the challenger. He has great facial expressions, especially in an era where most don't really lean into being the true villain anymore. They battled to the aisle, where Page was whipped into the barricade. He grabbed the arm of a skeleton in the aisle and used it to batter Wagner. Hey, use what you got, right?
The darker lighting actually makes the show a lot easier to watch. During the opener, all the shiny lights and colors were distracting me from what was happening on the actual show. Shiny, happy wrestling isn't always best for the viewer.
A table was overturned on the floor at ringside and Page sent him into the table leg, throat-first. Page got busted open and there was a lot of blood. He nailed a sideslam through a chair. He started to rip at Wagner's mask and tore most of it off his face, which only served to enrage the challenger. Page's "Oh sh**" face here was great. Wagner exploded with offense and nailed a nice Codebreaker off the ropes for a two count. Wagner nailed a Van Terminator with a trash can for a two count.
Wagner went for an Electric Chair but Page ripped at the mask and used the momentum to send him into a chair wedged in the corner. Nice sequence. Wagner kicked up. Page's work as a heel here has been really damn good but Wagner's babyface charisma and intensity is undeniable. Easily his best WWE-related appearance to date.
Wagner nailed a rana off the top, sending Page crashing through a chair, but Page still kicked up. They battled on the top above a table in the ring. Wagner's mask was turned around, blinding him. He knocked Page away but was then blinded again with powder. Page drove him through the table and scored the pin. Excellent bout!
Jordynne Grace made a heck of a cute Velma in her costume. She and Kelani Jordan got into it with each other. I wasn't buying Kelani as a heel yet. She's far too likable as an athlete in my mind.
Zaria vs. Blake Monroe was next. Blake was very competitive early. Zaria hurt her shoulder but Sol Ruca shoved her into the ring post to "snap it back into place." Monroe went to use the hair pick that she has used as a weapon but was speared. Monroe was chased to the floor, where she accidentally took out Ruca. Zaria chased her back into the ring and then went to check on Ruca, but that allowed Monroe to nail the Glamour Shot DDT. She nailed another in the ring and scored the pin. Monroe's facial expression upon winning and Ruca's heartbreak over losing the title were both very good. Match was good.
Jacy Jayne vs. Tatum Paxley for the WWE NXT Women's title is next. Lots of personalities around ringside for shenanigans, so I wonder if we'll get a clean finish here. They battled back and forth. Paxley hit a nice kick from the floor to the champ, who was on the apron. On the floor, Jayne snapped Paxley up into the underside of the ring, hurting her chin and throat. Jayne maintained control. The crowd rallied behind Paxley. Jayne used a sleeper but Paxley escaped and nailed a belly to back suplex. They battled to the top where Jayne hit a neckbreaker but Shawn Spears placed Paxley's foot on the rope to break the count. Here we go with the shenanigans as everyone fought and battled outside. The referee ejected The Culling. Fatal Influence was booted next. Paxley hit a 450 splash off the top, which looked great, but Jayne kicked out. The crowd thought that had to be the finish and lost their minds. Jayne nailed a neckbreaker through the ropes. They battled back and forth with forearm strikes. Paxley finally scored the pin, which got a big standing ovation live. The crowd was super into this one.
Next up was The Hardys vs. Dark State in a Broken Rules Match. The video on the Hardy compound to set the being the Broken Hardys was a ton of fun with cameos from Reby Hardy, the kids, Senor Benjamin, etc. and AI animated Halloween decorations. It was cool. They noted the TNA belts aren't on the line. Lots of ladders around the ring. Everyone battled at the same time. Anything goes so Dark State were liberally interfering. All chaos. Crowd was enjoying it. Osiris was backdropped out of the ring with the idea he would crash through a table but he landed short and that was scary. Jeff Hardy then suplexed him through the table. The crowd was all over seeing The Hardys. There were tables obviously painted by Jeff Hardy. They put Dark State through tables with a legdrop off a ladder from Matt and a top rope swanton to the outside by Jeff. Dark State made a comeback and hit a 3D on Matt for a two count. Jeff Hardy unloaded with Singapore Cane shots. Osiris speared Jeff through a barricade. That is a scary man. The Hardys made a comeback and starting hitting all their double team maneuvers. Matt told Jeff to go get more tables. They were set up outside near a ladder. Nothing good can come of this. Jeff went for a swanton off a massive ladder but his target moved and Hardy crashed through the tables. It looked brutal. Dark State worked over Matt. Jeff tried to fight back but was too hurt. They nailed a Doomsday Device on Jeff, sending him through a table and pinned him while Matt was tied to the tree of woe. This was a long, chaotic bout that was all over.
The main event featured Ricky Saints defending against Trick Williams for the NXT title. The pre-match video was very well done with Williams talking about Saints is mad that he didn't get hired in 2017 and watched Williams do everything Saints wanted while Saints claimed Trick didn't want to be a successful WWE star just wanted the attention after failing at the NFL and rapping. Williams attacked him before the bell and it was all Trick early on, putting the champ in a situation where he was fighting from underneath almost immediately. Saints tricked Williams and took control in the ring. Williams tossed him out and played to the crowd, not realizing Saints had saved himself. The flow of the bout went back and forth. Williams tried to put Saints through a table and slammed his face into it over and over. Good back and forth bout early on with good intensity and a feel like they were trying to beat the other, not do spots.
Williams put Saints through the announcer table, then hit the Trick Shot for a close two count. The champ made a comeback with a series of forearms but was caught with a series of kicks. He went for a DVDR but was drilled by Saints as he came down with a stundog. Saints nailed a tornado DDT and scored the pin, which surprised me as it felt like they could have gone for a few more near falls. A good main event!
A good few hours of wrestling. The entire roster worked super hard. Ethan Page vs. Hijo del Dr. Wagner was my personal pick for match of the night.
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