Becky Lynch Starts the Show, Butch and Tyler Bate VS Gallus
After a recap of NXT No Mercy, the NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch arrived and she talked about how once she gets past Tegan Nox next week, her focus is fully on NXT Halloween Havoc. Lyra Valkyria’s music then hit as Lyra told Becky about how much her (Becky’s) career has inspired her (Lyra’s) career. Indi Hartwell then made a surprise return to NXT and Indi brought up a great point about being forced to relinquish her Championship when she was injured and drafted to Raw, but the same hasn’t happened to Becky. Hartwell also said she wants the title that she never lost back before Roxanne Perez arrived and she had very similar feelings to Indi Wrestling. In the end, Becky booked a Triple Threat match for later in the show and the winner of that match would face The Man for the NXT Women’s Championship on Night 1 of NXT Halloween Havoc. This was solid enough and it was cool to see Indi back on NXT.
Grade: C+
After we saw a video showing us all the competitors of this year’s NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament, it was time for the first match of the night as Butch and Tyler Bate “reunited” to take on Gallus. The thing I liked about this match was you could tell how happy Butch and Tyler Bate were to be fighting alongside one another again. They looked like a pretty complete team, but I’ve found that that seems to be the way whenever Bate is in a Tag Team match. In the end, British Strong Style put away Mark Coffey with a double-team move, but I do need to question what’s happened to Gallus since Joe Coffey returned back at Stand and Deliver. After the match, Gallus beatdown the Babyfaces before Ridge Holland ran down to even the odds/make the save. I’m sure that the 6-man Tag Team match will be decent, but it’s probably going to result in yet another loss for the Gallus Boys.
Grade: C+
Trick Williams interrupts Ilja Dragunov, Indi Hartwell VS Lyra Valkyria VS Roxanne Perez: NXT Women’s Championship Number 1 Contender’s (Triple Threat) Match
The brand-new NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov made his way down to the ring as The Czar talked about how he plans to rule over NXT for a very long time. Trick Williams then arrived as the brand-new NXT North American Champion thanked Dragunov for helping him find his confidence. Carmelo Hayes then arrived as he wasn’t particularly happy with what Trick was saying before Ilja butted in and said “This is a conversation for Champions only” in a super line. Dragunov then left as Carmelo Hayes warned Williams about Dominik Mysterio before Dom arrived and tried to sow seeds of descent between Trick and Melo. Hayes then offered to be in Williams’ corner for the big NXT North American Championship match against “Dirty” Dom later in the show, but Trick Willy turned his offer down. All of this was pretty decent even if I’m not really a fan of NXT doing a feud between Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams.
Grade: C+
It was then time for Indi Hartwell, Lyra Valkyria, and Roxanne Perez to face off in a Triple Threat match for the right to face Becky Lynch for the NXT Women’s Championship on Night 1 of NXT Halloween Havoc. This was a pretty decent match where all three women were able to showcase their abilities. Becky Lynch also did a good job of putting all of them over on commentary and it was just nice to see Indi Hartwell back in the ring in an important manner rather than her just being beaten in less than two minutes on Raw. However, Indi was still beaten here and it looked to be by Roxanne Perez after she nailed Hartwell with Pop Rox, only for Kiana James to arrive and pull The Prodigy out of the ring at the last possible second. Lyra Valkyria then took advantage of this and nailed Indi Wrestling with her big Splash to get the victory. When you actually think about it, Becky Lynch VS Lyra Valkyria is a big deal to a lot of people including themselves. However, Tegan Nox’s music then hit as Lady Kane rightly reminded Big Time Becks that she’s got to get through her on Raw next week before she can start thinking about Valkyria.
Grade: B-
Blair Davenport VS Gigi Dolin, Kelani Jordan VS Izzi Dame: NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament (Round 1), Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice VS Jacy Jayne and Thea Hail
Bron Breakker found Carmelo Hayes backstage and told Melo that he gets what he’s going through. Bron then told Hayes that he should use his anger at losing the NXT Championship to take people out, especially Trick Williams. Carmelo completely shut this down and I certainly found this segment to be rather interesting. Ilja Dragunov was then getting his custom side plates added to his NXT Championship before Baron Corbin walked in and said he’s got his eyes on gold. Cool, I guess. It was then time for Blair Davenport to take on Gigi Dolin and this wasn’t particularly great. The action was fine enough for the most part with Blair controlling the action, but it all got a bit silly when a steel chair was introduced. Both Davenport and Dolin kept fighting to try and hit their opponent with the chair before it eventually cost BD as Gigi rolled her up for the pinfall victory. Personally, I would’ve just had Blair get the W, but it looks like the feud’s continuing so it doesn’t really matter.
Grade: C
Kiana James said she wants to show people why she’s actually better than Roxanne Perez before she said that Roxanne can face her in a match if she beats Asuka next week. Who knew that Kiana James was good friends with The Empress? It was then time for the start of the 2023 NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament as we were again introduced to the 8 competitors before Kelani Jordan kicked off her campaign against Izzi Dame. I’d never seen Izzi Dame compete before and I will say that I’ve seen plenty worse in the ring over the past few years. I also found out that Dame is a former Professional Volleyball player which intrigues me, but it didn’t really help her that much as Kelani Jordan eventually fired back before she hit her split-legged Moonsault to get the victory. Kelani Jordan is definitely the favourite to win this tournament, and I’d be pretty stunned if she didn’t walk away with the Breakout Contract at the end of all of this.
Grade: C+
Andre Chase and Duke Hudson offered to be at ringside for Thea Hail’s Tag Team match with Jacy Jayne and whilst Thea was against the idea, Jacy seemed keen and accepted. We then got another video for who I believe is Brian Pillman Jr. before it was time for Jacy Jayne and Thea Hail to team up for the first time as they took on Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice. I actually think the team of Lopez and Vice works quite well, but they were never really going to get to shine in this one because the focus right now is on Jacy Jayne and Thea Hail. In terms of Jacy and Thea, they looked like a decent team which does make sense and in the end, Hail picked up the victory for her team by forcing Elektra to tap out in the Kimura. Whilst it is a shame to see Elektra Lopez lose, there wasn’t really another option as Lola Vice needs to be protected considering she’s a shoo-in to make the Final of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.
Grade: C+
NXT North American Championship: Trick Williams VS Dominik Mysterio
Carmelo Hayes was seen leaving the NXT Arena due to Trick Williams asking him to not be in his corner for tonight’s Main Event, but before Melo could leave, he revealed that he’s going to face Bron Breakker next week and none other than John Cena’s going to be in his corner! We then found out that Cody Rhodes is also going to be on the show next week and my gosh, next week’s show could be insane! Speaking of insane, the crowd went wild for Trick Williams as he made his way down to the ring for his first-ever NXT North American Championship defense in a rematch from No Mercy against Dominik Mysterio. The Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley accompanied Dominik to the ring and it didn’t take too long for the rest of The Judgment Day to arrive as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Finn Balor and Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest basically made it a 4-on-1 handicap match. However, Trick Williams had the crowd behind him and my gosh were they crazy. However, JD McDonagh then returned to NXT to distract the referee which allowed Finn Balor to nail Trick with the NA Title before “Dirty” Dom delivered the Frog Splash to get the win meaning Dominik Mysterio is now a 2-time NXT North American Champion! Whilst it’s a shame to see Trick lose this quickly, it’s fair to say that NXT’s plans regarding the North American Championship have been completely thrown out of the window due to unforeseen circumstances a couple of weeks ago so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt right now. Also, the crowd were absolutely awesome in this match which made it so much more enjoyable. Then, in another shocking moment, Paul Heyman showed up on the screen and said he’s been given the all-clear from The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns to be in Bron Breakker’s corner opposite Carmelo Hayes (and more importantly John Cena) next week. It’s all go at the moment for NXT and I absolutely love it.
