Bronson Reed & Raquel Rodriguez Recall Their NXT Halloween Battle Royal Experiences

Bronson Reed and Raquel Rodriguez were part of the NXT tradition of Halloween battle royals, and they recently talked about their experiences in them. The yearly battle royals typically take place on live events and see talent compete in costumes, and Reed and Rodriguez separately spoke with Fightful’s Joel Pearl earlier this year recalling their involvement on the battle royals. You can see some highlights below:

Reed as competing in a Rikishi costume: “So the battle royal I won was 2019, and I knew the Halloween Battle Royal was coming up. Me? I’m a huge wrestling fan. Obviously, I’m huge into movies and stuff like that, but if I’m going to dress up as someone, I’m going to pay homage to someone else. I did that with Rikishi, I was Reed-kishi. At the time, Scotty 2 Hotty was a producer. So it seemed to sync up where I was like, ‘This is the perfect moment.’ Not only to be Reed-kishi in the battle royal, but we also got to do the dance together. He did the Worm. The whole thing was incredible.”

Rodriguez on competing as Nacho Libre: “The people who choose the costumes are usually us. Creativity is all put on us for when it comes to those moments. So sometimes you choose to dress up like current superstars, past superstars, random animals, and things, for example. I think the best thing about these battle royals is whoever you were dressing up as. That was so much fun to emulate those characteristics into the match. Like if you had a baby, you could act like a baby the whole time. I know Rhea Ripley and Lacey Evans, I think they dressed up as the Street Profits one time. So they were out there dancing and doing all the Street Profits moves. I was like, ‘This is amazing!’ It was so much fun.

“I was Nacho Libre one of those years because I was like, ‘This just fits me.’ I love Ignacio. It’s what I do. I was Nacho Libre,” she added.