NXT presents the Halloween Havoc fallout show from the Performance Center in Orlando tonight, with less than six weeks until their next PLE, TLC, on December 12th. With election coverage on the CW forcing a move to Wednesday night this week, NXT decided to load up the show as it goes head-to-head with AEW Dynamite. John Cena, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, and several other main roster stars will be in the building. Let’s get ready for what should be a huge show tonight!
The Never Seen Seventeen appears live!
Soon after John Cena retired, the 17-time
World Champion announced that WWE would host the first-ever John Cena Classic sometime in 2026. After months of speculation, Big Match John appeared on Raw this past Monday and announced that the Classic would take place at Disney World on a Monday night in December, with a brand-new championship title on the line.
We still don’t know much about how the event will work, but we learned on Monday that Cody Rhodes will be competing. We also learned that John Cena himself will be heading down to NXT tonight to hand out his next invite(s).
Now that basically all of NXT’s roster has been promoted to Raw and SmackDown this year, who is even left for Cena to invite from the developmental brand? My first thoughts are Kendal Grey or Kelani Jordan. Their respective rises on Tuesday nights in 2026 have carried the brand, and they are arguably the two biggest stars left on NXT’s roster.
With her own main-roster promotion recently hinted at, will the Cena Classic be Kelani’s coming-out party? Now that she’s medically cleared, will Kendal Grey receive the honor of a personal invitation from the Doctor of Thuganomics himself? Is there somebody else on the roster that I’m missing?
Main roster stars set to invade NXT
Perhaps the most noteworthy news from NXT’s Halloween Havoc PLE last weekend was that several main roster stars would compete on NXT proper this week.
First, it was the Vanity Project, who were feeling some type of way after being eliminated from the Dusty Rhodes Classic and aired their grievances to GM Robert Stone. Instead of feeling sorry for the group, Stone let them know that they would be in 6-man tag team action tonight.
Their opponents?
Now-former Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable, AAA Cruiserweight Champion Ray Fenix, and former World Tag Team Champion Dragon Lee. The Vanity Project is still draped in gold, so Gable, Fenix, and Lee could feasibly put themselves in contention for either the NXT Tag Team or North American Championships if they pick up a win tonight.
Next, GM Stone crossed paths with Kelani Jordan, who had just cheated to retain her NXT Women’s Championship over Wren Sinclair. After questioning why his champion was knocking down the door of the GMs of Raw and SmackDown in recent weeks, Stone let the Standout know that she’d be defending her title on tonight’s show.
Her opponent?
A mystery! It sure sounded like either Pearce or Aldis had agreed to let a main roster star come down and vie for the NXT Women’s Title, which would create a ton of intriguing options. Does that lucky lady from either Raw or SmackDown have a chance to dethrone Kelani? Or is it more likely that they’re heading to Orlando to put Jordan over and add a high-profile win to her resume?
Then, at the end of Halloween Havoc, after retaining the NXT Championship, Grayson Waller stopped dead in his tracks when CM Punk appeared on the video board. Punk let Grayson know that he’s next in line to challenge for Waller’s championship and would do so tonight.
Is there any chance the Second City Saint leaves the Performance Center as NXT Champion tonight? Or is it more likely that Kevin Owens shows up to cost his bitter rival some gold before their heated confrontation this Friday night on SmackDown?
Finally, Cruz Montana shocked the world on Monday when he appeared at the end of Monday Night Raw and attacked Roman Reigns and the Bloodline, joining Royce Keys’ crew, the 946. Cruz was previously scheduled to face Dion Lennox in a heated unsanctioned match tonight. WWE’s X account promoted that match as of Sunday, but it is no longer advertised on WWE’s website. To add to the speculation, Royce Keys posted that nobody in NXT would be safe this Wednesday, hinting that his crew could show up in Orlando.
Will Montana’s match with Dion Lennox still happen? Or have plans changed now that Montana has turned heel and moved up to Raw?
Plus, will anybody else from the main roster show up unannounced?
Dusty Classic Finals
One of the best things going in NXT over the last month or two has been the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. It started with 14 teams, and now we’re down to two.
Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno were the sentimental favorites from the jump and haven’t done anything to change that throughout the tournament. After defeating Los Americanos in the first round, they knocked off Fraxiom in the quarterfinals, then upset the NXT Tag Team Champions, the Vanity Project, in the semifinals last week.
Across the ring from them will be a pair of former NXT Tag Team Champions in their own right: Hank & Tank. The Belly Boys beat the Evolve duo of Shido Ash and Viktor Zanov in the first round, then pulled off one of the tournament’s biggest upsets by defeating the Creed Brothers in the quarterfinals. To reach the finals, Hank & Tank put the finishing touches on their journey by knocking off the AAA Tag Team Champions, the Wagner Brothers, on NXT last week.
With the enormous Dusty Classic trophy up for grabs, which team will finish their run and add their name to the legendary list of previous winners, including Finn Balor & Samoa Joe, the Authors of Pain, the Undisputed Era, and the Wolf Dogs?
Plus, the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes will be on hand to present the trophy to the winners. With his Last Man Standing match looming in a few days, will Rhodes’ appearance be an uneventful one? Or will Randy Orton make a detour to Orlando before heading to Saudi Arabia for a final shot at Cody?
Quick Hits
- Myles Borne took Tavion Heights down in their Weapons Wild match at Halloween Havoc on Sunday. Was that definitive win enough to bury the beef between the former tag team champions so they can both move on to something new? Or will Tavion set his sights back on his former partner until he gets his win back?
- Izzi Dame has been tormenting Zaria in recent months, giving many of us middle-school flashbacks in the process. At Halloween Havoc, Izzi picked up a big win over the Women’s North American Champion, but thanks to the stipulation that she requested, Zaria’s title wasn’t on the line. Now that Izzi appears to have Zaria exactly where she wants her, is a title match coming Izzi’s way soon?
- Naraku and Shiloh Hill took us all on a bizarre journey on Sunday after spraying each other with orange mist. When they finally made it back to the dimension the Performance Center is in, Hill sprayed Naraku with fog and took the win. Is it finally time for these two cats to move on? Or will they keep finding things to spit at each other for a few more weeks?
- Tony D’Angelo and Wren Sinclair fell short in their respective quests to win NXT’s top prizes at Halloween Havoc. What’s next for the former Don and the namesake of the WrenQCC? Will they have to head to the back of the line, or is another title match looming in either of their futures?
- After weeks of brutal attacks focused on his hand, Zilla Fatu pulled out a win on Sunday over Charlie Dempsey. Has he finally put Birth Right behind him, or will the crew of second-generation stars (and Stacks) insist on prolonging this feud a little longer?
- After Kam Hendrix cost him the North American Championship last week, EK Prosper got some revenge on Kamuel by jumping him in one of Danhausen’s scare rooms at Halloween Havoc. Tonight’s card is loaded, but will a one-on-one match between these two be signed for next week?
All this and more on a loaded NXT tonight on the CW! Tell us what you’re most excited for on tonight’s show in the comments below, and follow along with live coverage here on Cageside tonight, starting at 8 PM Eastern!
