Courtesy of WWE
"The Greatest NXT of All Time"
Matthew Widdis, Contributor
It’s a “very special” episode of NXT with a lot of extra bells and whistles. No need to address the Yokozuna in the room as we all know why this card looks more like a PLE than a pre-event Tuesday. Whether the stunt defense is effective for its ultimate purpose, we’ll let the Nielsens decide. As far what works to my opiniated tastes, we’ll talk about later. Oh, yes, we will.
In unusual fashion, we don’t open straight into a match but that’s because we have Cody Rhodes coming out to the ring. After dropped a “Yeet!” (can’t wait to see that T-shirt,) he tells us that there will be both women’s and men’s Breakout Tournaments AND the return of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Not only that but, he’s been made NXT’s special guest general manager for the night for some reason.
NXT Champion, Ilja Dragunov, arrives to chants of “Happy Birthday!” His desire is to meet Cody Rhodes, a man who’s fire he admires. Judgement Day’s music plays and Dominik Mysterio walks out with Rhea Ripley. Mami lets Dirty Dom-Dom run his mouth about how Cody and Ilja can congratulate each other all they want but every came to see the “Double A champion.” The crowd chants “Whoop that trick!” in support of the previous (albeit very short term) North American Champion and Ilja says his father used to work in a prison so he knows how to humble the disrespectful. Dom challenges for the NXT Championship but he and Rhea balk at putting up the North American Title. Ilja’s game and Cody makes the match but he has one special caveat: there will be a special guest referee with everybody saying LA Knight! Yeah!
Joh Cena arrives at the arena and Booker T can’t help but chuckle at his choice of whip, expecting a Rolls rather than a Honda.
Roxanne Perez vs Asuka
For the first time ever, The Prodigy vs The Empress of Tomorrow. It’s a big moment but it gets bigger as Shotzi is back, driving her tank down to ringside for guest commentary. Shotzi will be a host for Halloween Havoc again this year alongside Scarlett Bordeaux.
The NXT crowd, usually firmly behind Roxanne, is taking full opportunity to cheer and howl for
Asuka. The Prodigy is treading water for most of the match, doing her best to rally after hitting a
tope suicida. She manages to escape an Asuka Lock but a combo of strikes and a head kick put
her down.
Winner (and still undefeated in NXT!): Asuka
After the match Kiana James slides into the ring to bark at a recovering Roxanne but Shotzi is having none of it. Knee strike, question mark kick, and a cradle DDT send Kiana back to the board room.
The big black SUV pulls up and Paul Heyman has arrived to be special counsel for Bron Breakker.
Gallus is in their locker room getting hyped up. Meanwhile, Bruiserweight Butch tells Tyler Bate to leave the zen behind tonight because he needs his formal rival to team up with him and Ridge Holland for a banger.
Gallus vs Tyler Bate, Ridge Holland, and Butch (“Pub Brawl” rules)
Gallus hits Bate and The Brutes from behind and it’s on. The ringside area is adorned with a theme: tables set up with poured pints, pool cues, dartboards and so on. These are made use of right away as Tyler Bate lines up a pool shot on Wolfgang’s eyeball and Butch pins Joe Coffey’s hand to the dartboard. Gallus manage to send Ridge Holland into the first row, Butch through table, and isolate Tyler Bate during the picture-in-picture commercial break.
When Ridge recovers, he cleans house with a keg and then a cudgel until the numbers game catches up to him as well. Butch evens it up and The Beats of Bodhran are counted by the crowd. A headbutt/clothesline/German suplex almost gets the pin on Mark Coffey but he kicks out and big Wolfgang hits a flipping dive to the outside that looks a bit scary. Joe Coffey attempts to submit Tyler Bate but Ridge Holland snaps a pool cue over his back. All three Gallus boys caught in submissions but they all pull through.
Miscommunication as Butch runs into Bate and gets nailed with Gallus’ finisher but the big strong boy manages to get it together and breaks up the pin with a swanton. Ridge pulls out another table. Wolfgang and Mark get tossed out in one move by Ridge but Joe Coffey battles back. He lays Butch out on the table but pauses to grab a drink! As he spits beer on Butch, Bate sneaks up, grabs his pint, and glasses him in the face! Triple Powerbomb and The Substi-Brutes win it.
Winners: Tyler Bate, Butch, and Ridge Holland
Becky Lynch’s autobiography gets hyped, as does her hometown. A video package is shown of Dublin, Ireland, known for producing great fighters, including NXT Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch, and her next challenger, Lyra Valkyria. The Man meets The Morrigan on night one of Halloween Havoc. McKenzie Mitchell is about to talk to Lyra about it when Teagan Nox comes in. She nearly bested Becky on RAW and feels that Lyra should step aside so that Teagan can finish her story. She firmly declines.
You can’t see him but John Cena is here! NXT crowd gives homage to the (as announced) greatest of all time. John hypes the NXT product. The dude knows his job. He has to pause for “Thank you, Cena!” chants. He even politely addresses the one guy sticking to his “Cena sucks” guns. Cena reminds everyone in attendance and at home the Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, and others from RAW and Smackdown show up on NXT because they’re part of the brand too. He says that Carmelo Hayes exemplifies Hustle Loyalty Respect and that’s why he’ll be coaching him tonight against Bron Breakker. That starts the sirens and Bron comes out to “Bron Breakker sucks!” in a familiar cadence. Bron mocks Cena’s G.O.A.T. status but Big Match John rises above and wishes him well. On the offered handshake, Breakker sucker punches Cena but his spear gets the olé treatment and he barely avoids an Attitude Adjustment.
The Don of NXT, Tony D’Angelo, and his underboss, Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo run into Cody Rhodes backstage and they have a business proposition for the temporary GM. There’s a bit lost in translation but Stacks lays it out a second time: a special tag team battle royale. Next week, NXT tag teams will throw each other over the top rope until two complete teams remain and then a straight tag match begins with the winner declared the #1 contenders. A “Badda Bing Badda Boom Battle Royale.”
McKenzie is with Baron Corbin at his request. Corbin decries Ilja Dragunov’s talk about passion and intensity while he takes matches against Dominik Mysterio, an (according to Corbin) inferior opponent. Corbin is the last man to beat Dragunov and that should put him in line for a title shot. He’s cut off in his rant though as the guest referee for the championship match has his music pumped through the building. LA Knight, is there in striped shirt with his shades, his vest, and his Tims on.
Ilja Dragunov(c) vs “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio (NXT Championship match)
Dragunov starts out strong, dominating with judo tosses and Olympic-worthy sulpexes. Mami makes the magic happen, though, as a quick distraction of LA Knight is all Dom needs to get a thumb into Ilja’s eyes. While we go picture-in-picture, Dominick grinds the pace down with chinlocks and kicks to the body, rarely giving the champ a chance to stand. He goes for the Three Amigos but Ilja blocks numero tres and buys some time with a beautiful enziguri. Big clothesline by the champion who traps Dom in the corner before hitting his own suplexes. Dominik wakes the dragon with chops to the chest but regains control with a 619 for a two count. Dragunov hits a big power bomb and Hendo bomb but that’s what brings out Finn Balor and JD McDonagh. LA Knight intercepts both, hitting a BFT on McDonagh. Mami goes to nail
Dragunov with her own title belt but Trick Williams somehow ends up carrying her away from the ring for a moment.
Torpedo Moscow and LA Knight counts out the 1-2-3 without ever having lost his glasses. Yeah!
Winner (and still NXT Champion): Ilja Dragunov
Baron Corbin’s music plays as he approaches the ring but Dijak slides in from behind and drops the champ with a boot to the jaw. Dijak tells Corbin that he beat him to it and that Dragunov is his.
Carmelo Hayes and John Cena talk about the main event when Trick comes in to greet Cena. There’s a little talk about Melo and Trick’s hiccups in their friendship but they resolve to get it together. When Melo mentions the championship and bounces, Trick asks Cena about when he knew his time had come. John invites him to walk and talk.
We see Paul Heyman showing off his Bloodline phone case to none other than Ava Raine. We don’t hear what is said but the implication is clear.
Jade Cargill arrives at the arena, dressed to the 9.9s and greeted by none other than Shawn Michaels himself.
Cody walks into the break room when he’s met by Baron Corbin. Corbin makes his case andCody agrees to give him a shot at the championship… if he wins a triple threat match next week versus Dijak and the winner of tonight’s main event.
Dirty Dom and Rhea are nursing his sore jaw when they run afoul of some of the NXT locker room. Zane Frazier gives Dom some verbal murder but Rhea tells him to shrug it off.
Dani Palmer vs Lola Vice (NXT Breakout Tournament match)
These two ladies are allowed to show off a little bit as the gymnastic and MMA skills are on full display. Both of them have the look and, it seems, the skills. Thus far, Dani Palmer has had plenty of mention but not nearly the fleshing out of her persona nor the in-ring reps that Lola has. Maybe that’s why it’s not her night as the former Bellator competitor is in control throughout most of the match and takes her out with a very pretty reverse spin kick to the dome.
Winner (and advancing in the tournament): Lola Vice
At Chase University, Thea Hail is back (but only because Jacy Jayne told her she should.) As Andre Chase goes into the history of Halloween Havoc, Jacy and Thea gab it up. He quiets them down but then everyone goes to their phones. Chase goes on his trademark swearing spree but finds out that the commotion is because Chase and star pupil, Duke Hudson, will be in the Tag team Battle Royale next week.
Bron Breakker is warming up while wise man, Paul Heyman, talks up his future as a Wrestlemania main eventer. Bron says nothing will stand in his way and Paul Heyman smiles as he tells Siri to call Roman Reigns!
Brian Pillman Jr watches TV clips of legacy WWE superstars and his father. He declares himself distanced from his father’s legacy and takes the name of his stepfather, “King.” A lot of character work packed into this simple little vignette.
The NXT women’s locker room stop by one by one to express admiration for Asuka until Tiffany Stratton jumops the line to vent about the “normies.” While she and Fallon Henley argue, Asuka ducks out the door to escape from the awkward situation.
Carmelo Hayes vs Bron Breakker
Melo comes out on fire but every step he takes gets brickwalled by Bron’s superior strength. Meanwhile, when Bron gets a full head of steam, Melo is able derail the train with pinpoint precision. You know it’s an important match because Bron busts out the Frankensteiner (but wehave to watch it picture-in-picture.) As the counter-for-counter game winds down, it devolves into brutality and that’s Bron’s game. Paul Heyman is nearly salivating when Bron bounces Melo’s face off the turnbuckles and then conducts the orchestra as they chant “Bron Breakker sucks!” Melo fights back but Bron hits a blast double followed by ground strikes with ruthless aggression that even gives Cena pause. Bron intercepts Melo on the top and they land in what probably wasn’t supposed to be a facebuster. A dodged spear runs Bron right into the ring post. Melo up top for his finisher but the Bad Ass is having none of it and hits his overhead powerslam. No quit in Hayes, though, as he kicks out.
Bron is frustrated now and takes Carmelo to the outside where he dismantles the steel ring steps. Is he going to cave in his skull like he did to Von Wagner? Heyman’s gleeful smile says he will. Not if John Cena has anything to say about it! He pulls the steps out of Bron’s hands and gives him a kick for good measure. Referee sees none of it as he’s arguing with Heyman. Cena then uses the steps to intercept a rushing Solo Sikoa! They brawl to the back. Melo hits a codebreaker on Bron and rolls him back into the ring. Nothing But Net cause Melo don’t miss and he’s in the triple threat next week.
Winner: Carmelo Hayes
Immediately after the match, Bron Breakker spears Melo. He grabs a mic and declares that there is only one bad ass in WWE. The crowd goes absolute primate poop when “American Bad Ass” plays and The Undertaker rides his motorcycle through the entranceway! The Dead Man gets in the ring and tells an unafraid Bron Breakker that he is going to be a very special talent someday… but not today. Taker does the old “Look over there!” and drops him with a straight right. Bron staggers to his feet and goes up high for a chokeslam. Undertaker sends them home happy.
First Impressions:
This was a big show for probably the wrong reasons but it was definitely a big show. John Cena owned that room and, while that’s not a surprise to anyone, he sure didn’t phone it in for a one- off Tuesday night.
NXT has as deep a roster as RAW or Smackdown, it seems. There were a lot of mainstays that didn’t get seen this week. How much of the time spent on the special guests was taken from the stories we’ve been following?
Bron Vs Melo 2 was going to be a certified hit but I can’t help but feel that it was wasted here. Move one of them up (probably Bron since he doesn’t have any best friend drama to resolve) and run it back on one of the big shows a year or two from now. Now Melo is 2-0 in a rivalry that should last as long as Cena/Orton or Seth/Roman.
Second Thoughts:
Bron Breakker has to show up and do some nefarious stuff to get his heat back. Not puppy kicking or lunch money stealing. Real Hannibal Lecter material. He just got dropped and drilled by an AARP member that he’s not going to have a match against anytime ever. Wrong call to make and the wrong guy has to work more now as a result.
Lyra Valkyria has to go over clean vs Becky Lynch but I don’t know if they’ll do it. If she doesn’t, she didn’t really win. The subsequent program with Teagan Nox is hurt if the don’t but Becky’s next program is toast if they do. I think I know which one is more valued by the office.
If the former Brian Pillman Jr still wears the Bengals stripes on his gear, are people going to call
him “Tiger King?”