NXT Halloween Havoc (October 2022)

Original Airdate: October 22, 2022

From Orlando, Florida; Your Hosts are Vic Joseph and Booker T

Opening NXT North American Title Ladder Match: Carmelo Hayes v Nathan Frazer v Wes Lee v Von Wagner v Oro Mensah: This is for the vacant title. Would it have killed them to do an actual unique set for the show, instead of just the usual thing with a few pumpkins scattered about? Should I even bother with play-by-play for these multi-man Ladder matches anymore? It’s not like there’s an actual story being told. Lots of spots, crowd chants ‘holy shit’ a bunch, Wes Lee grabs the gold at 19:17. If this type of thing is your cup of tea, you’d probably like it enough. It isn’t mine, though. *

Casket Match: Apollo Crews v Grayson Waller: This is Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal. I know it doesn’t have to be specifically his, but I kinda wish they left Casket matches to Undertaker alone. Booker’s lowkey ‘announcer voice’ is taking me some getting used to. Waller wins a reversal sequence, putting Crews down with a kick early on, and diving with a 2nd rope elbowdrop. Crews dumps him to the outside, and he ‘hits’ a moonsault press from the apron out there. They fight into the aisle, where Waller tries a suplex on the floor, but Crews reverses, and they slug it out. Waller ends up slamming Crews through the lid of the casket (which I feel like should have been the finish to the Survivor Series ‘94 Casket match), but the referee doesn’t know what to do. Waller wants his hand raised, but suddenly the lights die, and when they come back up, a bunch of druids bring another casket out. Okay then. Good to know they’re paying tribute to WCW’s booking style, at least. Crews gets control, and hits a moonsault on the floor, but takes too long with the casket, and gets blocked. Waller beats him with the lid, but gets chucked on the floor, and Crews dives off the casket with a frogsplash. Inside, Waller manages to drop him with a jawbreaker, but Crews counters a tombstone with a facebuster. He rolls Waller into the box, but Grayson blocks. They fight on the apron, and Crews manages to chokeslam him in for the win at 12:58. This was nothing special. ¾*

Weapons Wild Match: Cora Jade v Roxanne Perez: This is Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal. They both grab weapons and have at it right away, with Perez getting the better of it. Perez dumps her to the outside for a tope, so Cora tries hiding underneath the ring, and then blinds her with some aerosol spray when Perez goes after her. Man, not only is she brutal, but she doesn’t even care about the environment, either. Top heel! Jade works her over with various weapon abuse, until Perez fights her off, and delivers some weapon shots of her own. Russian legsweep gets Perez a two count, but Jade blocks a Canadian destroyer out of the corner. Jade follows up with a kneesmash in the corner for two, and I honestly can’t tell who here is supposed to be the babyface/heel. Their actions and the crowd reactions are making it very confusing. Jade goes to the top, so Perez brings her off with a rana for two, so Jade bails into the crowd. Perez chases her onto a lighting platform near the top of the arena, where Cora gets control with a bodyslam. They end up taking a bump off of the platform and through a pair of tables. That didn’t look great, as they made it too obvious how they were working together there, making it look phony. Back to the ring, Perez manages to backdrop her onto a pile of chairs, and a destroyer on the chairs finishes at 12:23. This was really meandering. ½*

Ambulance Match: Julius Creed v Damon Kemp: If Creed loses, Brutus Creed must leave NXT. Creed chucks pumpkins at him during the entrances, and dives in with a springboard flying dropkick to kick start the match. Creed with a German suplex, and they spill to the outside, slugging it out all the while. Creed controls, and chucks Kemp into the apron, then suplexes him on the floor. They fight backstage to where the ambulance is (why not just make it a Stretcher match if the venue can’t accommodate a vehicle inside?), but Kemp avoids getting locked in. They grab a set of crutches and beat on each other with them, and Creed takes control again by spraying him with a fire extinguisher. Kemp manages to send him into the announce table to turn things around, and he blasts Creed with the steps to cement control. Kemp tries carrying him to the ambulance, but Creed fights him off on the way, so Kemp beats on him with the vehicle door. That allows Damon to get him inside the cab, but Creed kicks the door in his face before Kemp can get it closed. They fight back to ringside, where Kemp tries putting him in a wheelchair (literally), but Creed reverses. He uses a crutch to lock him in place, and takes him for a ride into the steps. That didn’t look great, with Kemp getting his hands up way in advance. Which makes sense even in kayfabe (like, why wouldn’t you?), but doesn’t really work as a bump. They brawl back to the ambulance, where Kemp manages to dump him into a cart, and he gets him into the ambulance again, but fails to get the door shut. Creed jamming his hands into the door as Kemp is slamming it is probably the craziest bump of the evening. Creed gets fired up, and goes ballistic on him with chairs. After beating him to a pump, Creed casually dumps him in the ambulance, and slams the door shut at 14:14. This wasn’t a great wrestling match, but I dug how passionate the work was. It felt like they really hated one another, and it had actual urgency to it, as opposed to just sleepwalking through ‘hardcore spots’ because they’re expected. * ¼ 

NXT Women's Title Match: Mandy Rose v Alba Fyre: They start brawling in the back, and fight out to the ring to get us started. Fyre runs wild on her to start, and a DDT gets the challenger two. Fyre goes upstairs, but Rose shoves her, and Alba takes a bump to the floor. Mandy follows to bash her head into the announce table out there, and he blasts her with a few charges in the corner. Fallaway slam gets her two, and she unloads in the corner a bit, but they collide for a double knockout. They stagger out for a slugfest, won by Fyre, and she short-superkicks the champion. Gourdbuster follows, but Mandy catches her with a rotating spinebuster coming out of the corner for two. Rose tries to finish, but Fyre counters with a spinebuster of her own for two, and she dives off the top with a flying somersault senton splash. Cover, count, but Toxic Attraction saves. Fyre fights them off, and covers Rose, but there’s no referee. Fyre goes to the outside to revive him, but gets attacked by Attraction out there, and Mandy finishes her at 7:05 (7:32 total). This was very directionless. ½*

Main Event: NXT Title Triple Threat Match: Bron Breakker v Ilja Dragunov v JD McDonagh: First fall takes it here. Bron and Dragunov fight over who gets to beat up JD to start, and Bron takes control, suplexing everyone around. JD ends up on the outside, allowing Dragunov to try a suplex, but Bron fights him off, and delivers a powerslam for two. Bron tries a suplex, but Dragunov anchors, and manages to counter to a sleeper. JD comes in to attack Dragunov, but gets beat down for his troubles, and they decide to work together to beat the piss out of him this time instead of fighting over the rights. Dragunov wins a slugfest with the champ after JD is out of the way, and Dragunov starts spamming clotheslines. Bron returns fire, and he sets up a press-powerslam, but JD blasts the champ with a headbutt to prevent it. Boy, he really brought it with that one, ouch. Bron takes JD up for a rana off the top, and JD land in a sitout powerbomb from Dragunov. I like the concept, but that looked overly choreographed, and didn’t really work. The crowd loved it, though, and that’s what matters anyway. Everyone gets vertical for a slugfest, won by Dragunov. He hits JD with a senton splash, but Bron recovers to spear Dragunov out of the ring. That allows JD to dive out on both of them, and JD is in full gloat mode, but that triggers murder mode in Dragunov. He chases JD on the floor, but gets caught in a Spanish fly out there, and JD tries breaking his ankle with a chair, but Dragunov fights him off. Dragunov climbs back inside, but he’s groggy, and Bron finishes him off with a spear at 23:47. *

BUExperience: Gimmick matches - spooky, scary. Trainees becoming workers, workers becoming wolves! 

DUD