By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Halloween Havoc Hits
Kelani Jordan vs. Wren Sinclair for the NXT Women’s Championship: My favorite match of the night. Best of all, there was no nonsense with Kendal Grey turning on Sinclair or even accidentally costing her the match. Sinclair is a likable ally for Jordan, but if anyone is going to turn heel in the near future, it should be a jealous Sinclair. Normally, I wouldn’t mind Jordan stealing the pin by using the ropes for leverage, but it would have been nice to have had a clean finish in this match since the main event had a screwy finish.
Grayson Waller vs. Tony D’Angelo for the NXT Championship: A TNA-like cinematic and an old-school TNA-like ref bump in the main event finish. This is not the way. Putting the finish aside, Waller and D’Angelo put together a good match and created some suspenseful moments. The post-match angle made Wednesday’s NXT show a lot more interesting, with CM Punk revealing that he will challenge Waller for the NXT Championship. While the odds of Waller beating Punk clean are right up there with the Grass Roots party winning control of the House and Senate on Tuesday, ideally the match will give Waller a credibility boost. But are they really going straight to the title match without Punk and Waller having an in-ring verbal exchange?
Zilla Fatu vs. Charlie Dempsey in a Very Nice, Very Evil match: A soft Hit. While Myles Borne has dominated Tavion Heights (more on that later), Fatu has dominated an entire faction. I’m all for keeping Fatu strong, but what was the point of building up BirthRight lately only to feed them to Fatu? On a positive note, Channing Lorenzo and Uriah Connors did a good job of bumping for Fatu after trying to run interference for Dempsey. It might seem like a little thing, but they made Fatu look great.
NXT Halloween Havoc Misses
Shiloh Hill vs. Naraku: The cinematic portion of the match was so awful that I would have turned off the show if covering the show wasn’t part of my job. I don’t mind a little levity at times, but I am so over zany pro wrestling cinematics. The idea that we could see what Hill and Naraku saw while tripping was beyond stupid. It didn’t get much better when Hill and Naraku fought in the ring, as “The Fog” countering Naraku’s mist made for a groaner of a finish. There’s a lot to like about Hill as a developmental prospect, but I dread seeing him on NXT television because the writers have turned him into an insufferable oddball.
NXT Women’s North American Champion Zaria vs. Izzi Dame in a non-title match: The build to this match was terrible. A heel vs. heel match built around Dame trying to humiliate Zaria by showing footage of her performance in a high school play. Oh, the humanity! Wait, she also played saxophone in high school? How humiliating! What’s next, Dame discovering that Zaria played on the volleyball team?!? A normal human being would roll their eyes at Dame’s antics, but badass Zaria actually had to act embarrassed. It got worse. Zaria said she wouldn’t fall for Dame trying to manipulate her way into a title match, only to say two sentences later that she would give her a title shot. But then Dame actually said she didn’t want a shot at Zaria’s “little title.” So that left us with a sensitive monster heel who is apparently the babyface in this feud, not defending her championship because her would-be challenger thinks the title is worthless. The wrestlers worked hard, but it actually felt appropriate that what started with a dreadful build ended with a lousy finish.
Myles Borne vs. Tavion Heights in a Weapons Are Wild match: A minor Miss. The wrestlers worked hard, but this feud has overstayed its welcome. Borne has beaten Heights in all of their television matches. The question now is whether creative will finally move on or if they see Heights finally winning as the payoff. I don’t sense much fan interest in dragging this out any longer. Borne and Heights have gotten as over as they’re going to get while facing one another. Nothing is pointing toward either wrestler moving up to the main roster in the near future, so creative could always move on now and revisit this rivalry somewhere down the road if one or both guys click with the audience.
Overall Show: The worst premium live event or pay-per-view of 2026. I don’t mind a little sports entertainment comedy from time to time, but this show was filled with campy sports entertainment garbage. Over the years, I’ve interacted with a lot of pro wrestling fans who have a wide variety of tastes. I can count on one hand (and I’m probably being generous) the number of fans who have expressed a desire for more campy sports entertainment in modern pro wrestling. They used to write for an audience of one when Vince McMahon was still calling the shots. At some point, you have to wonder if some of the people involved in the creative process write these shows for the viewers or themselves. Perhaps it’s time for Shawn Michaels to do some on-the-job training for when he reportedly takes over Bruce Prichard’s responsibilities. I’m not blaming Michaels for all of the creative woes, and I give him a lot of credit for what’s done over the years, but NXT needs a fresh vision, and that’s unlikely to come from a guy with one foot out the door.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and 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.)
