Pantoja’s WWE NXT Review 10.25.23

NXT Halloween Havoc 2023 Night One

October 24^th, 2023 | Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida

With Spider-Man 2 and major sports (the NBA and NHL are back, NFL is ongoing, and the World Series is on the horizon) taking up most of my time, October and November aren’t the best months for me to get a lot of reviews in. That’s especially the case with the STARDOM Tag League not feeling like must-see TV. That said, I tried to make time for this special edition of NXT.

The show opened with a cool little video package set to “Vampyre” by New Years Day. They were also there to perform live.

Scarlett and Shotzi hosted things in the ring in costumes (Shotzi was Pinhead from Hellraiser) and they just introduced the opener.

Devil’s Playground Match: Kiana James vs. Roxanne Perez

Hello Freddy Kruger attire Roxanne Perez. They went right after each other and had fun with some of the themed weapons around the ring. That included a small slide, a swing set, and a seesaw. James held serve heading into a commercial break and upon return, wrapped a chain around Perez’s face and then used it to pull her shoulder first into the ring post. Perez rallied by using the environment like a Russian leg sweep onto the slide that got her a near fall. The slide was a goofy prop but the breaking of it looked cool actually. Kiana responding with powerbombs outside made for a believable near fall situation. Kiana had a HUGE lump on her forehead from one of the spots. It looked particularly painful. Perez avoided a James moonsault and then knocked her out with her own loaded bag. Pop Rox connected on the bag and Perez won in 9:49. I had an absolute blast with this. [***½]

Post-match, Roxanne revealed that the bag had pieces of a brick inside.

We went to a sit down interview with Carmelo Hayes where he’s asked if he attacked Trick Williams. Hayes denied because even though they both wanted the title shot, that’s not enough to hurt his friend. He talked about how he has to beat Ilja Dragunov but when asked if he’d still be the top contender if Trick was in the match last week, Hayes said yes because he does what needs to be done. He then walked off.

Backstage, Meta-Four got their fortunes read by Scarlett who said their fortunes will soon turn to grief. As they worried about this, Akira Tozawa snuck up and stole the Heritage Cup.

Dante Chen vs. Lexus King

For those unaware, Lexus King is Brian Pillman Jr. He got a fancy entrance with a throne and This was mostly a generic squash though it felt like Chen got in too much offense. King won with a hanging swinging neckbreaker of sorts in 4:02. King’s presentation was great. Then the bell rang and I remembered he’s really just Brian Pillman Jr. [NR]

Backstage, Chase U prepared for their match when the D’Angelo Family came in. They said they couldn’t think of better opponents to face. Hudson was unsure of this but Chase said not to worry about it.

Women’s Breakout Tournament Semifinals: Arianna Grace vs. Kelani Jordan

Jordan’s Spider-Gwen themed gear was 10/10. Meanwhile, I’m really digging Grace’s gimmick. Grace took a shot to the face that sent us into commercial break. Returning, Grace was starting to turn the tide, hitting a suplex for two and doing a pretty cool whip into a Bret’s rope hotshot. The fight moved to the top rope where Grace was knocked to the ground and Jordan hit a split-legged moonsault to advance to the finals in 7:35. I wasn’t expecting that outcome but I like it. A lot of that was cut by the commercial, yet what we got was ultimately fine. [**¼]

At Von Wagner’s physical therapy, he questioned Robert Stone for challenging Bron Breakker. Stone knows he’ll get destroyed but if he can just get in one shot to wipe that smile off of Bron’s face, it’ll be worth it.

Shotzi and Scarlett returned. Scarlett seems to just have random costumes so far but Shotzi was Edward Scissorhands. Anyway, the Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile interrupted for a match with Garza and Carrillo. It’ll happen but they’re gonna SPIN THE WHEEL AND MAKE THE DEAL to pick a stipulation. It landed on Tables, Ladders, and Scares.

NXT Tag Team Championship: The D’Angelo Family [c] vs. Chase U

Again, this is a match that went to commercial pretty quickly. When it came back, we saw Chase get isolated by the champions until Hudson got the hot tag and started throwing people around. I’m enjoying Hudson in this role more than I had at any other point before. The spot where he slammed Stacks onto Tony was pretty cool. Chase came back in and again took a beating but kept kicking out. The crowd chanting “throw the towel” as Thea Hail was still mad about her title opportunity and had a towel in her hand as the match went on. Chase got going but took a Power Plex only for Hudson to break up the pin by German suplexing Tony onto the it. Jacy Jayne attempted to give Chase a crowbar but he declined due to his integrity. However, Jacy was accidentally knocked off the apron by Tony and Chase took advantage to roll him up and win the belts in 11:15. I really liked the story they told and that finish was intriguing. The added potential drama of Thea throwing in the towel could’ve been utilized better though. [***¼]

Nathan Frazer presented Hard Hitting Home Truths where he challenged Dom for next week, as long as Mami gives Dom his balls back.

Elsewhere, Baron Corbin was interviewed and said he should be facing Ilja Dragunov next week. He did everything his power to win, causing the interviewer to question if that means he jumped Trick. Baron said he doesn’t like Trick but if he wanted him out, he’d have done it to his face.

Lights Out Match: Blair Davenport vs. Gigi Dolin

Anything goes but you can only get pins in the ring. Gigi had a Beetlejuice inspired getup it seemed while Blair was George from It. Oh, they also actually dimmed the lights for this. It’s like Sin Cara was working again. They started this with aggression that included Blair sending Gigi into the steel steps and Gigi sending Blair into a steel chair before a commercial break. By the time this returned, other weapons had been brought into play like a trash can lid and a kendo stick. Gigi then upped the ante with a table though it just led to her getting hit with the aforementioned trash can lid. The two fought outside late and then onto the announce table. From there, Blair hit Gigi with a release Falcon Arrow through the regular table. She rolled her inside and won at the 12:33 mark. That was solid enough though it felt a bit redundant given we had a similar style match earlier that was much better. [**¾]

During a sit down interview, Ilja Dragunov spoke about how his hard life growing up prepared him for the hardships of his career now. He brought up seeing his son with the NXT Title and how that was a great moment for him as a dad. As for Carmelo Hayes, this match is different since he’s the champion but that doesn’t change his attack. Hayes has to adjust to him, not the other way around.

Scarlett and Shotzi, now as the twins from The Shining (I just watched that movie for the first time recently and references are popping up everywhere), showed up to tell Hayes that all signs point to him attacking Trick. He walked off annoyed.

Tiffany Stratton was getting interviewed when Fallon Henley showed up dressed as her for Halloween and parodied her mannerisms and gimmick, causing Tiffany to attack.

Women’s Breakout Tournament Semifinals: Karmen Petrovic vs. Lola Vice

This wasn’t given a lot of time and the ladies are still pretty green. Some spots looked awkward, including one where they reversed whips and Petrovic hit a superkick. Petrovic had a highlight with a tope suicida but she missed a kick inside and Lola knocked her out with a spin kick to win in 3:35. [*]

Chase U celebrated in the back when Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, as the big bad wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, told them to be quiet. They were annoyed at them and Jacy hit them with the Bianca Belair “YOU DON’T EVEN GO HERE” line. Chelsea said she’d issue a formal complaint to Shawn Michaels. Jacy and Thea said they’ll take them to HBK but while there, they’ll ask for a Women’s Tag Title shot.

Backstage, Meta-Four learned of what Akira Tozawa did earlier and there’s a note that if Noam wants it back, he has to come get it, which seems to be at a haunted house maybe.

Elsewhere, Bron Breakker accused Carmelo Hayes of attacking Trick Williams. He said that if the Hayes who could do that to Trick shows up next week, he’ll be champion again.

 

NXT Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch [c] vs. Lyra Valkyria

Before the bell, Jade Cargill showed up to watch the main event and had a throne prepped for her. Once again, we basically went right to commercial at the bell. You could see during PIP that they were mostly jockeying for position here and feeling each other out. Returning, the two were trading stuff with Lyra standing up to Becky and giving her all that she could handle. At one point, Becky just had to resort to a simple right hand because Lyra was starting to take control.  I loved Lyra hitting a sick diving leg drop and it’s especially funny because Becky’s version is like she’s just dead weight falling. I also dug the touch of showing people in the back watching, giving this a big fight feel. Lyra had Becky well scouted, avoiding the Manhandle Slam and Dis-Arm-Her a few times.  When Becky finally got it applied, it felt like the finish but Lyra reached the ropes and Becky seemed to get angered by this. Lyra was also on point with her bumps, taking Diamond Dust (where did that come from?) and a DDT in ways that looked painful. She kicked out of the Manhandle Slam and Becky legitimately seemed at a loss for what to do. She went for the move again only for Lyra to counter into a pinning combination to win the gold in 16:06. It started a bit slow but once it got going, it was legitimately great. This felt like a big fight and had the added emotional boost of making a star out of Lyra. [****¼]

Becky handed Lyra the title in a show of respect and hugged her as Jade Cargill watched.

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

What a fun show. It was bookended by the two strongest matches and nothing in the middle was bad. We got a feel good tag title change and a star-making one at the end. Plus, props to NXT for booking a great two hour show with FIVE women’s matches that all either had build or are part of a tournament. The main roster and AEW could take some notes.