Powell’s NXT Halloween Havoc Hit List: Ricky Saints vs. Trick Williams for the NXT Championship, Jacy Jayne vs. Tatum Paxley for the NXT Women’s Championship

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

NXT Halloween Havoc Hits

Jacy Jayne vs. Tatum Paxley for the NXT Women’s Championship: My favorite match of the night. I’ve never been high on Paxley’s character, in part because she has so many other things going for her, and playing with dolls and acting crazy seemed to limit her for a long time. It worked out nicely in the end with this upset win in what was a strong match that felt like it could have gone either way. Jayne deserves a lot of credit. She felt like a questionable choice when she won the title, but she grew into the role and felt like a credible champion by the end of her reign. I’m anxious to see what comes next for both wrestlers.

Ethan Page vs. El Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr in a Day of the Dead match for the NXT North American Championship: A match of the night contender. Page continues to shine so bright that it’s surprising he’s still on the NXT roster. The turning point for Wagner was when Page tore his mask, and we could actually see him express anger. I really wish WWE would do more to introduce the AAA wrestlers beyond having the broadcast team run through their history. Nevertheless, this match exceeded my expectations.

Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy vs. “DarkState” Osiris Griffin and Dion Lennox in a Broken Rules Match for the NXT Tag Team: It felt like DarkState had to win when no one came out to help Matt and Jeff, yet they still got the better of all four members DarkState would have been a joke had they lost when it was essentially four-on-two. I continue to be amazed at the stunts Jeff pulls off. He’s a 48-year-old man with so much mileage that if he were an older model car, the odometer would have flipped over four times by now (look it up, kids). I’m still not sold on DarkState, but this was a step in the right direction, especially for Lennox, who was booked strong in terms of how he won the match.

Ricky Saints vs. Trick Williams for the NXT Championship: The live crowd’s flat reaction to Saints during the entrances, introductions, and the first half of the match is concerning enough that I started to question whether he needs to turn heel. The fans came around a bit by the end, but it’s not a good sign when the new babyface champion gets one of the tamest reactions of anyone on the show from a pretty hot crowd. The fan reaction to Starks over the next few weeks is worth paying attention to. The match itself was good and had a couple of believable near falls that the fans bought into. Here’s hoping that a main roster call-up is coming for Trick now that he lost the TNA World Championship and failed to win the NXT Championship over the last two weeks.

Zaria vs. Blake Monroe for Sol Ruca’s NXT North American Championship: A soft Hit for a solid match until the finish that made Zaria look foolish for leaving the ring to check on Ruca. It was a good outing otherwise, and I like the way they moved the belt to Monroe without having Ruca lose. So now Ruca is the former champion who was never beaten for her title, and she can chase the new heel champion.

NXT Halloween Havoc Misses

Leon Slater and Je’Von Evans vs. Mr. Iguana and La Parka: A minor Miss. To be fair, the live crowd enjoyed this more than I did, so it was likely a Hit in the eyes of most viewers. I seem to be in the minority, but the thrill of Mr. Iguana and La Yesca is gone. The babyface vs. babyface approach didn’t help, especially when I would have preferred to see Slater and Evans booked in a meaningful match as opposed to a comedy opener. On the bright side, Slater and Evans should be moving into contention for the NXT Tag Team Titles now that DarkState regained the titles.

(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)