NXT Halloween Havoc 2021

Highlights of The Night with Dakota Mayes

It's spooky season and you know what that means - WWE's annual spooktacular Halloween Havoc. Get all your highlights here with Dakota Mayes.

SCAREWAY TO HELL LADDER MATCH

It’s good to see that Jacy Jayne was ok after her scary tumble last week. Io is quick to go for a ladder after the other two teams have been tossed from the ring. Indi’s team is the first to try and climb, but Zoey Stark stops them. All groups try to go for the titles at once, with Dolin as the first to touch them, but Pirotta slams Dolin onto a ladder that doesn’t break, making it look excruciating before going for the straps herself and getting stopped by Jayne. Io climbs the tallest ladder, but Indi tips her onto a ladder outside the ring for a very nasty-looking bump to take her out. Indi then starts climbing for the belts but gets distracted by Jacy, and when she looks up again, Gigi is there and kicks her off before grabbing the straps for her and Jacy Jayne to become the new NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. There seemed to be a few botches in this match, but not enough to ruin it. Most of them came from Jacy, who seemed a bit sloppy in her selling and action.

MSK VS. IMPERIUM

Imperium is interviewed before their match and is asked how Walter feels about their title opportunity. They proclaim their loyalty to the ring general, but the night is about them. Could there be potential dissension coming among the faction? Why ask that question and give that explanation? Their match is a lumber-Jacko lantern match. The lumberjacks are the NXT roster in costume. Beth Phoenix inquires why MSK has not gotten respect after all they have gone through since debuting. So, they are acknowledging the hostile reception for the champs. Could this be indicative of a coming heel turn? I don’t want to make this prediction just yet, but Imperium did seem like the underdogs throughout this bout. Barthel is the first to get thrown out, but his partner joins him to fight off the lumberjacks before MSK dives onto everyone. Back in the ring, Imperium struggles to take back control against the champions tag team prowess and barely manages to stay in the fight until Fabian works to take them both out at once. The champs won’t die, though, as Nash Carter performs a cutter on Barthel from the top rope into the lumberjacks. After some chaos outside, the two teams meet in the middle for a face-off that sees the tag rules dissolve. MSK hit their finisher on Barthel, but Imperium manages to fight back and hit an Imperium bomb for the second title change of the night.

MANDY ROSE VS. ROQUEL GONZALES

The wheel is spun, and it lands on trick or street fight. Mandy goes for Raquel before the bell rings but pays for it. Gonzales puts some chairs and a table in the corners and chases Mandy around with a kendo stick until Mandy catches her by surprise. She has an awkward moment when she tries to pin Gonzales outside the ring, which is illegal. Gonzales almost gets a pin by sending Mandy through the table, but she kicks out. Raquel prepares to finish her opponent, but the masked specter we’ve seen for weeks in promo packages appears and hits Gonzales with a shovel to allow Mandy to capture the gold. The figure is revealed to be Dakota Kai, who we hadn’t seen since before NXT transitioned to NXT 2.0

TOMMASO CIAMPA VS. BRON BREAKKER

Ciampa met all Bron’s offense with counters and evasion but got caught in a big spine buster to rock the champion. However, he isn’t out long and soon gets Bron on the mat for some stomps and pounds him into a corner. Breakker begins to find his second wind and starts to give the fight back to the champ but gets caught when he goes up to the ropes. Ciampa lays in all sorts of strikes and knees, but Bron starts to fire up and hits his father’s Franken-Steiner for a two count. He tries to get the champ up for a power slam, but Ciampa gets Bron on the outside and hits a DDT onto a concrete section he had exposed earlier, which busts Bron open. After a two-count, Ciampa pulls down his kneepad and hits three knees and a fairy tale ending for the win. Bron didn’t look bad in this match, but I expected to see more from him. I wasn’t expecting Ciampa to have control for the most part. However, it may have played out the way it did because of the veteran vs. rookie dynamic.

Dakota Mayes is our resident wrestling expert at The Pyrrhic. Be sure to keep on top of all the latest in news, previews, and reviews in the world of professional wrestling right here with Dakota at thepyrrhic.com.

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