Performance Center
Orlando, Florida
WWE NXT Tag Team Title #1 Contendership Bada Bing Bada Boom Tag Team Battle Royal
Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo vs. Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs vs. Edris Enofe & Malik Blade vs. Damon Kemp & Drew Gulak vs. Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs. The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed & Julius Creed) vs. Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) vs. The Brawling Brutes (Butch & Ridge Holland) vs. Chase U (Andre Chase & Duke Hudson) vs. Out The Mud (Bronco Nima & Lucien Price)
Background:
As per The Family asking Cody last week, we have a Bada Bing Bada Boom Tag Team Battle Royal where the winning 2 teams gain themselves an immediate #1 Contenders match where the winners face Tony D and Stacks at Halloween Havoc for the NXT Tag Team Titles.
The Match:
Damon Kemp gets eliminated as the match begins! Gulak is beside himself over it, the referee cops Tanks foot to the back of his skull as he’s nearly eliminated… but then he and Hank are eliminated. I like that Battle Royals are ugly like this. Jensen and Briggs, former NXT UK Tag Champs get eliminated, and I honestly thinkin since the love triangle storyline, they have been lost in the shuffle. I popped that Tony and Stacks are eating Spaghetti and Meatballs whilst watching the match. The Brutes and OTM get eliminated thanks to an error from Scrypts. I really hope Chase U get the win here! The Creeds and Chase U are the final teams, but the referees didnt see Carillo and Garza get eliminated first! Creeds get eliminated by Carillo and Garza. Jacy and Thea as cheerleaders now is popping me. I expect the former Main Roster guys to win this now because them losing to the Family means more than Chase U. Andre Chase took a knee on the ring apron and he sold it like a gun shot. The Family looks to have grown, so the big University class Vs the Family looks funny to me! Duke Hudson got the hot tag and the crowd erupted! Duke has really got the Chase U gimmick down pat in such a short amount of time. Andre got the tag and hit a big crossbody for a near fall. The people really want Chase U to win. Brutus interferes and Andre got the pin!
Aftermath:
Chase U takes on The Family at NXT Halloween Havoc. How exciting!
Winner/s: Chase University in 15:35.
Blair Davenport Promo
Blair talks down on Gigi Dolin and dares her to bring her best at Halloween Havoc. Standard stuff, gotta love that English accent!
Carmelo Hayes is headed to the ring as we go to commercial break.
Brian Pillman Jr. Promo
He still cuts down his father, I can’t way to see the trajectory of this gimmick and how Jr. realizses he’s exactly like his father despite the name change. He will be at Halloween Havoc. He’s Lexis King.
Carmelo Hayes In Ring Promo
Melo is in the ring and he’s definitely getting interrupted. He talks about last week and Baron Corbin, yep, he interrupts. Baron tells Melo he’s essentially a mark instead of a superstar. Dijak interrupts and here we go. Dijak is beside himself about them worrying about anything other than him. He’s all business. Baron ‘nobodies looking in your eyes, you’re wearing sunglasses whilst inside’. Baron isn’t taking Dijak seriously, Melo tells Dijak he could be on a jersey. Ilja interrupts. Again. What are the odds he’s ready for a live feed on the big screen. Ilja has made the last competitor Trick Williams to make their 3 way a Fatal Four Way! Oh, the plot thickens. Melo is mad at Trick who says it changes nothing, Baron says he’s turned on him. Melo says he’s willing to put anyone down to win, Dijak asks ‘what about him’, as he points to Trick, and a brawl begins and Dijak and Corbin are sent to the outside. Melo looked to take his jacket off to fight Trick but held back. Nice nuance!
Tiffany interrupts the NXT Rookie ladies backstage. It ends in a confrontation with Tiffy and Henley, in a very unrealistic scenario. Hilarious. I love how they do this kind of stuff constantly in NXT.
NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament
Karmen Petrovic vs. Jaida Parker
Background:
Phwoarr, Karmen Petrovic hello! Jaida Parker makes her debut here. Another 1st round match for the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.
The Match:
I see Jaida and Karmen got the same memo that Dani Palmer got. This would have been tough for these ladies at the last minute to put together both being so green. Jaida maximized her time with a springboard butt sit on Karmens mid section which got a rise from the crowd. The stupid viewing party for the tournament is going on again backstage. Karmen nailed some kicks and gets herself set up for a kick to the spine and she chokes Jaida out with a leg choke on her throat!
Aftermath:
Karmen wins and moves forward in the tournament. Jaida probably goes back to the WWE Performance Center for more seasoning.
Winner: Karmen Petrovic in 3:38.
Tegan Nox backstage with Natalya
Natalya is there to surprise Tegan to support her for her match. How ridiculous is that? She paid for a flight, organizes accomodation, everything, just to support her friend. Why would you suprise your friend with something like that? Wouldn’t you want to travel with somebody and not be alone? Get me in the creative meetings PLEASE!
Singles Match
Tegan Nox w/Natalya vs. Lyra Valkyria
Background:
Tegan Nox expected Lyra Valkyria last week to give up her Halloween Havoc title shot in favor of Tegan getting a rematch which was absolutely ridiculous to request anybody. Now they have to fight one another.
The Match:
They messed up their choreography early on, and this is one issue I have with NXT, the choreography can come across very obvious, and It’s obvious when something messes up or they get lost out there. We had a commercial break and as we get back there’s a double crossbody where they clash bodies. It wasn’t a bad back and forth between the two, they appeared to be given quite a bit of time. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven show up to have a confrontation with Natalya, Tegan goes to the outside to purposely get distracted, Valkyria nails the spin kick to win the match. Chelsea and Piper flew all the way there to do that, hilarious. Lyra grabs the mic and gets all potato soup babyface on us. Now she cracks it over Becky being the first Irish Born NXT Womens Champion. Then Becky showed up on the big screen somehow. The verbiage between the two is the same old shit you hear every single week.
Aftermath:
I am sure Becky retains at Halloween Havoc.
Winner: Lyra Valkyria in 10:01.
Carmelo Hayes is in his locker room on his phone, Trick enters, and Melo and Trick bicker over Trick getting added to the Main Event. They both say they gotta do what they gotta do. They’re really taking their time with this break up.
Gigi Dolin is just randomly walking around by herself, looking all kinds of F-I-N-E FINE though. A camera man asks her what she thinks of Blair Davenports challenge, why is the cameraman asking anybody anything? Gigi happens to be right near a wheel where she spins it and we get the Lights Out Stipulation. NXT really is an alternate universe.
Singles Match
Kiana James vs. Shotzi
Background:
Last week, Shotzi nailed Kiana James after she went after Roxanne Perez after Roxy lost to Asuka, the lady Kiana got booked for NXT to give Perez a tough contest. Shotzi will be the Host of NXT Halloween Havoc next week.
The Match:
They went back and forth to begin with, you can always tell when they are about to go to commercial break because somebody always gets dumped to the outside of the ring. Kiana does show a ton of potential with her athletic ability and also her ability to come across like a real bitch. Shotzi as we know is one of my favorites. Roxy got involved and took a brick out of Kiana’s bag, who snatched it back. Shotzi snatched the bag off Kiana, hit her with it, then pretended to have been hit as she threw the bag back to Kiana. The referee catches Kiana, who immediately stops selling being hit with the bag, and it ends with the referee snatching the bag off James, Shotzi then nails Kiana with the senton splash off the top for the win.
Aftermath:
Tit for tat, week to week with these two. I am sure they will do battle at Halloween Havoc, Week 2.
Winner: Shotzi in 7:14.
Meta-Four Interview with McKenzie Mitchell
They are going on about Jakara Jackson’s arm injury as Oro Mensah and Lash Legend are on speaker phone with Noam Dar who says Jakaras arm has to be taken off. McKenzie takes exception to it but it appears Noam as grassed her up. Akira Tozawa of all people shows up and is looking for Noam. Oro Mensah tells him to go away which is hilarious.
Trick Williams is then spotted on the floor injured backstage after an attack from somebody. You know there’s a lot of assaults taking place every week in NXT, it’s a very unsafe work environment. Kelly Kincaid gives an update after the commercial break and for some reason has to do it in the middle of the parking lot instead of trying to find the scoop from medical personnel.
Kelly sends it to McKenzie Mitchell and whos knows what part of the building shes in, but she wants word with Dominik Mysterio who just happens to be walking around like a mark with his title around his waist. She brings up Nathan Frazier and Dominik says he doesn’t know who that guy is and he’s done with him already. Nathan then attacks him like he’s actually got an interesting bone in his body, and he and Dominik brawl which is again, unsafe working conditions. It’s a super lazy way to continue angles. They’re brawling through the hallways, referees try to break it up, I have a hard time believing Nathan hates Dom this much. This just reeks of a cut and paste story like they did with Gigi Dolin and Blair Davenport. Rhea saves Dom as Frazier went for his Phoenix Splash after they had brawled all the way to the ring.
Shotzi is backstage with Roxanne Perez and here we go, Roxy gets more smoke blown up her ass. Roxy spins the wheel that happens to be there and we find out she and Kiana and Roxy will have a Devils Playground Match at Halloween Havoc.
NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament
Arianna Grace vs. Brinley Reece
Background:
Brinley replaces Jakara Jackson in this tournament and all these little promos the ladies do before their matches, don’t make any of them stand out or sound different. Arianna stands out to me because of the dedication to the beauty queen gimmick!
The Match:
Arianna wanted the back of her hand kissed before the match began which was comical. Arianna is absolutely gorgeous, dude. It’s funny seeing her go from her mean streak to thanking the audience like a true beauty queen. Arianna ended up picking up a big win with a really innovative hiplock takeover!
Aftermath:
Arianna Grace moves forward in the tournament and faces Kelani Jordan, whilst Karmen Petrovic and Lola Vice meet in the other Semi-Finals. If I had to pick a finals, I’d say this will be Lola Vs Kelani, with Kelani winning the Breakout Tournament.
Winner: Arianna Grace in 2:57.
Bron Breakker Interview with McKenzie Mitchell
Bron gets asked about last weeks NXT with the Undertaker and what do you know, the interview is interrupted 10 seconds in and Robert Stone confronts Bron Breakker about what he did to his client Von Wagner a few weeks ago. This leads to Robert challenging Bron to Halloween Havoc. Robbie E is back baby.
WWE NXT Title #1 Contendership Fatal Four Way
Baron Corbin vs. Dijak vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Trick Williams
Background:
I still don’t know how Dijak gets in this match following his loss to Eddie Thorpe on September 26th. I assume that feud is over with as well, another feud loss for Dijak. We know how Carmelo and Baron got here, they’ve been involved with Dragunov for weeks now.
The Match:
The size differential between Hayes and Dijak/Corbin is huge. Dijak has so much potential but they just don’t know what to do with him! Hayes winning this does look rather far fetched. You know, I’m kind of glad Carmelo’s title reign ended up being a bit of a nightmare for him, because it was different from the usual. I swear the crowd chant this is awesome every single match that has some near falls. Big Boot to Hayes who bumped like a Shooting Star Press out of it, that was my favorite spot of the match. Huge German suplex “tower of doom” spot with Dijak going head over for a huge bump. Dijak cops the End of Days, then Melo hits the Nothing But Net on Corbin, then pinned Dijak for the victory!
Aftermath:
Carmelo Hayes will now challenge Ilja Dragunov for hopefully the last time at Halloween Havoc Night 2.
Winner: Carmelo Hayes in 12:32.
We cut backstage and Lyra Valkyria is watching the end of the NXT Main Event, then she rips up a picture of herself and Becky Lynch and says the title is hers next week. Then as Lyra talks off, Jade Cargill shows up on the screen behind Lyra tapping her “watch”, I guess eluding to her impending Debut. What if Lyra turned the TV off after the match was over? Jade would have got all done up and had the live feed set to go for no reason. I love taking it too seriously.
Final Thoughts:
Another great Episode of NXT, a lot more emphasis on Women’s wrestling, and a nice amount of story has been added to a bunch of upcoming Halloween Havoc matches. It’s a shame a lot of story continuation appears to be cut and paste and some verbiage is noticeably cookie cutter. Still – it’s an enjoyable show. Bring on Halloween Havoc!
