Pantoja’s NXT Halloween Havoc 2022 Review

NXT Halloween Havoc 2022

October 22nd, 2022 | Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida

I love a good themed show and Halloween Havoc ranks near the top in terms of concept and aesthetic.

The intro played into that with narration from Chucky, who appeared at last year’s show and has a connection to WWE with Liv Morgan appearing on the upcoming season.

Quincy Elliott and Shotzi hosted the festivities. I love bringing back Shotzi for this as it’s an ideal setup for her. She had a Joker costume to start and said “it’s showtime’ so I assume she was dressed as TNA Sting.

NXT North American Championship Ladder Match: Carmelo Hayes vs. Nathan Frazer vs. Oro Mensah vs. Von Wagner vs. Wes Lee

These multi-man ladder matches are often fun. It fits the title too since this is how the first champion was crowned. That match ruled (****¾) and though I didn’t love the one from 2020 (***¼), I really liked the one from earlier this year (****¼). This was exactly the kind of wild ladder match you’d expect. Guys like Frazer and Lee flew all over the place and I always like including a big man in a match like that. Wagner isn’t someone I’m overly impressed with but he played the role of the bruising big man well in this match. Hayes got some help from Trick and every single time I see Hayes, I’m blown away. The dude has IT and he’ll be a big star. Mensah nearly got taken out when he landed rough as Trick turned the ladder over on him, sending him onto everyone. That set up a fun interaction where he raced Mr. Stone up the ladder. The biggest spot saw Wagner LAUNCH Lee from the ring onto the announce table. It was like Bigelow throwing Spike Dudley into the crowd but way more vicious. After a bunch of other big spots, Hayes had it won until Lee cut him off with a springboard move and Meteora. He retrieved the title at the 16:03 mark. A hell of a ladder match and though a few things looked a bit off at times, it was a blast. [****]

We then got a long cinematic segment where Alba Fyre challenged Toxic Attraction to meet her at some haunted house. Jacy Jayne being scared throughout was fun, as was Gigi Dolin being excited because she loves Halloween. Chucky made a cameo and Fyre showed up to take them all out. She was left with Mandy, who she threw in a car and left to the arena with. I didn’t go into detail here but I really liked this. It had cheesy, bad acting, and was totally goofy. That’s just what I want from wrestling.

Casket Match: Apollo Crews vs. Grayson Waller

Given the storyline, how was this NOT an Eye for an Eye match like Seth/Rey in 2020? The stipulation is an odd one. They mostly had a solid match though again, that stipulation was such a weird choice that didn’t really suit the feud. I liked Waller using a pen from the commentary table as a weapon because it’s not something you see often. I dig different shit like that. The weirdest moment saw Crews go through the top of the casket, only for the lights to go out. When they came back on, Crews was standing in the aisle as druids brought out another casket. I’m not sure what the point of that was. From there, we got a lot of the traditional casket match spots like both guys trying to put the other in it and a moment where they both battled inside of it. Waller did the Undertaker throat slit taunt and tried a Tombstone but it was countered into a gutbuster. Crews added a spinebuster into the casket to win in 12:35. A fine match and nothing more. [**½]

The backstage banter between our men and women’s tag champions was fun. Pretty Deadly is a great duo.

Weapons Wild Match: Cora Jade vs. Roxanne Perez

Basically, it’s just a Street Fight but I like marketing a unique name. This has been one of the better feuds in NXT this year and it’s something I feel a company like AEW can take note from. We need more good rivalries that don’t involve a championship. I always appreciate when a match with a heated feud starts aggressively and that’s what happened here. Cora hiding under the ring only to use spray on Perez and then swing her into the guardrail was a well setup little spot. I will say, some of the spots with weapons didn’t quite work. Maybe these two haven’t used them a ton. They did pick up when Cora violently swung a chain and Perez whipped her back with a rope. When Perez got going, Jade bailed and ran up to the balcony deck at the CWC. It’s the one that Vince took the bump off of in that WWE 24 documentary. They teased Perez not pulling the trigger again as in a previous match but she grabbed Jade and jumped off through a table. It looked like the Harry and Voldemort scene in Deathly Hallows Part 2. They fought back inside where Jade said they were never friends only for Perez to counter and shout that Cora was always her friend before winning with Pop Rox onto chairs in 12:23. I might’ve liked that more than most because I was into the feud and am a fan of both ladies. It was a really good fight. [***¼]

Shotzi came back out looking incredible in Beetlejuice attire. She put over the show and brought out her co-host Quincy Elliott, who was dressed as a banana. Lash Legend interrupted the fun to say she should be hosting. Elliott said she wasn’t fabulous enough to host. Shotzi put her down with a DDT and spanked a dancing Elliott. Harmless segment that didn’t take up too much time.

Schism talked in circles in the back to say they will reveal the person in the red hoodie on Tuesday.

Ambulance Match: Damon Kemp vs. Julius Creed

If Julius loses, Brutus Creed’s career is over. The layout of this match was well done. It started with fire as Julius brought a chair to the ring. He beat up Kemp a bit and though he’d still want to dish out more punishment, he attempted to win early given what was on the line. Kemp prevented the door from closing and took control soon after. He used various weapons like the steel steps and they did well enough to make this work despite neither guy being known for this kind of gimmick match. They also threw a bunch of pumpkins at each other which was a random addition but I still had fun with. I thought the way Julius kept saving the match at the end was cool. He put his hands in the way of the door slamming, sacrificing them to save his brother’s career. Creed fired up after that and used a powerbomb onto a stretcher to then put Kemp into the ambulance, winning in 12:05. I liked it though I feel like I would like a straight up match between them better. [***]

NXT Women’s Championship: Mandy Rose [c] vs. Alba Fyre

Fyre brought Mandy to the arena to start their title match. Despite Alba starting quickly, Mandy turned the tide and took control in just the opening minute. They kind of just traded stuff and it never really got all that interesting. Fyre had it sealed with the Swanton Bomb but somehow, Jayne and Dolin pulled the referee out. That’s such an odd decision because the entire point of the cinematic stuff earlier was to remove them from the picture. Fyre again had it won but the referee was down. Toxic Attraction took her down with High/Low and Mandy retained with the knee in 7:05. It was inoffensive but I question the booking. I like Mandy as champ and have enjoyed the run but everything pointed to doing the title change here. [**¼]

Like the champs earlier, Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark and Edris Enofe and Malik Blade both showed up for an interview to say they’re about to be champions.

NXT Championship: Bron Breakker [c] vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh

This new Dragunov theme is booty. Our Bron entrance gimmick this time saw him smash two tombstones with his opponents names on them. The match made sense from the start as Dragunov and Breakker took turns wailing on JD but then went after each other and JD took advantage. That worked because the story coming in was how JD pit them against each other and continued to do so. He might not be able to match them in strength or toughness but he could be smarter than them. That set the tone for the story and the guys made it work with big action like some innovative JD offense and Dragunov’s coast to coast dropkick. At one point, JD applauded the other two beating the hell out of each other, which only set him up to get his ass kicked. It’s simple stuff and yet that’s often what works best. Down the stretch, JD was taken out and Dragunov cut off Bron’s Spear with a knee that looked great. The finish saw JD fail at crushing Dragunov’s ankle with the steel steps and eat a Torpedo Moscow, only for Dragunov to eat a Spear inside. That ended this in 23:50. An action-packed match that made sense and used everyone well without every dragging. [****]

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

A very fun show here. A couple of the matches missed the mark or were underwhelming but nothing was bad and things were bookended by two great matches. Also, I’m all for any show that clocks in at under three hours these days.