The road to Halloween Havoc has felt unorthodox so far. Kendal Grey’s continuing injury struggles, Wren Sinclair’s suspension, Mason Rook’s apparent injury, and a lot of moving parts in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic have made the last few weeks of NXT television feel a little uneven. This isn’t necessarily a complaint, and is probably par for the course with all of the wacky things the creative team has been throwing against a wall in recent months.
With Grayson Waller and the top of the men’s
division the main focus last week, tonight was ladies’ night in Orlando. Women from 6 different brands converged on the Performance Center for a 20-woman battle royal with their sights set on Kelani Jordan and the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc.
Would one of the talented women from Evolve, TNA, AAA, or the main roster stamp their ticket a huge title match on NXT’s big fall premium live event?
Keep reading to find out!
Kelani gets an unexpected challenger
Many times, you can get a feel for who’s winning a battle royal by paying attention to the entrances. 20 competitors parading out one after another rarely gets TV time and usually coincides with a commercial break. On tonight’s show, notably, Izzi Dame, TNA’s Indi Hartwell & Xia Brookside, and NXT North American Champion Zaria got the featured entrances. The rest of the field made their way out while we watched a few ads. To join the festivities and get an up-close look at her Havoc opponent, Kelani Jordan eventually made her way out onto the NXT perch.
Pretty standard fare early on in the battle royal.
Layla Diggs was ousted early, and Izzi Dame joined her shortly after, thrown out by Zaria, the woman she’s been tormenting lately. Right after Vic made it clear he doesn’t watch AAA by mixing up Adelicious and Lady Shani, Reina Volcan knocked the former and Skylar Raye off the apron and eliminated them, sending us to another commercial.
Earlier in the night, Kelani was asked about the field for the battle royal and singled out Reina as the only one that’s gotten her attention recently. Layla Diggs and Chantel Monroe both walked up looking to catch the champ’s eye, but Jordan was clearly not impressed.
Back from the break, the ring was still pretty full, with Monroe the only elimination after being deposited over the top rope by Ivy Nile. Arianna Grace tried to form an alliance with the Elegance Brand, but Heather and M turned around and threw her out almost immediately. M then tried to casually trip Heather off the ropes to eliminate her, building on their recent tension from TNA, but Thea Hail ended up eliminating both of them.
Lizzy Rain and Ivy Nile did that ‘attempted German suplex battle royal’ spot on the apron, and their ensuing brawl ended with Ivy being eliminated. Shortly after, four women teamed up to dump Reina Volcan over the top rope, knocking out one of the odds-on favorites. Reina was understandably pissed and took her frustrations out on Lady Shani with a devastating powerslam on the arena floor before being escorted out. Vic made sure to note that Shani had not been eliminated. Remember that for later!
Kiana James eliminated Nikkita Lyons during a picture-in-picture commercial by wisely sliding out of the ring under the bottom rope and pulling Lyons off the apron. Zaria then went on a bit of a rampage until Izzi Dame snuck back in and tried to eliminate her. Zaria quickly changed course and hilariously eliminated Izzi for a second time, but took her eyes off the prize and got dumped out by Kali Armstrong. Zaria and Dame continued to brawl and would need to be separated.
Moments later, Indi Hartwell eliminated the TNA Knockouts Champion and her Bound for Glory opponent, Xia Brookside. Brookside did what heels do when they get knocked out of battle royals and pulled Indi over the top rope herself, eliminating her. Thea Hail then did the attempted German suplex spot again on Kiana, but it ended with Hail falling to the floor. La Catalina went on a bit of a run until Kali Armstrong caught her in the corner and dropped her over the top rope.
Down to Lizzy, Kiana, and Kali now. Lizzy moved out of the way of a Kali attack, sending Armstrong into Kiana, who was standing on the apron. James fell to the floor, and we were down to two. Armstrong and Lizzy Rain then brawled and teetered on the apron. Rain went for a flying attack, but Kali blocked it, sending Rain crashing to the floor.
Armstrong thought for a moment that she had won, but didn’t realize Lady Shani was still in the match. As Kali looked up to the perch and set her sights on Kelani, Lady Shani slid back in and threw Armstrong out of the ring! It seemed like a huge night for a AAA staple… until the battle royal winner removed her mask to reveal that it was actually WREN SINCLAIR!
Wren was declared the winner and gets a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc!
Reaction: Well, that was fun! Cagesider myusuf2 called it this morning! None of the options to win this match ever really felt right, and I admittedly didn’t put the pieces together until Vic Joseph pointed out that Lady Shani still hadn’t been eliminated at about the final 5. In my mind, this sets up the best match the NXT women’s division can offer right now, so it’s a good bit of business by ol’ HB-Shizzle and his crew. My first thought is how Kendal Grey will play in. (Scroll down a little further for the latest Kendal update!) At the end of the day, a Kelani/Wren title match has me pumped for Halloween Havoc!
Birth Right crashes out, then gets rewarded
Coming out of Heatwave, it seemed the consolation prize Zilla Fatu received for coming up short in the NXT Title match was landing firmly in the crosshairs of Birth Right. The ‘Main One’ rejected an invitation to join Lexis King and his crew almost as quickly as the nepo-babies invited him, because outside of having famous daddies, they really didn’t have much in common.
Since then, Birth Right, like spurned lovers, have not been able to let it go. After beating Zilla in a 6-man tag team match a few weeks ago, tonight was Lexis King’s chance to put his money where his painted-on beard is and beat El Hijo del Umaga in a one-on-one match to kick off the show. Despite being outnumbered, it was Zilla who initiated a brawl from the jump, running back up the entryway to attack Lexis before he could make it to the ring. That set the tone for the match, and although the rest of King’s crew got physically involved early and often, it was his running Samoan Spike, called the Triple Z, that took Lexis down and earned Zilla a quick, decisive win.
Unsurprisingly, Birth Right didn’t take too kindly to losing. Before Mike Rome could even announce Zilla as the winner, Fatu found himself on the receiving end of a four-on-one beatdown. After Charlie Dempsey brandished and used a steel chair on him, the nympho baby found himself outside the ring with his right hand smashed between two sets of steel ring steps.
Reaction: I feel like the post-match segment was pretty well executed. I like the bit of attention to detail, blatantly injuring the hand that holds the thumb that Zilla has been using to beat Birth Right in recent weeks. I’ve been digging Fatu’s energy lately, and the idea here is definitely to build him as the sympathetic babyface even more than they have been. The problem here is that I’m still having a hard time taking Birth Right seriously. To their credit, I did notice some subtle tweaks to their presentation tonight (how they moved during their entrance, possibly a new T-shirt?), and they seemed to be a little more no-nonsense in general, so maybe there is an intentional effort going on to rehab their image and legitimize them as a threat. If that’s what is happening, I think this was a decent first step. But unfortunately for another NXT tag team, Birth Right’s night wasn’t done…
Dusty Classic Quarterfinals are set!
The final two first-round matches of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic were scheduled to take place tonight. In the first one, former NXT Tag Team Champions Hank & Tank took on the Evolve duo of Viktor Zanov and Shido Ash. As the Belly Bandits made their way to the ring, we were treated to a social media clip of them living up to their moniker by taking part in a recent belly-flop contest. I wasn’t familiar with the team from Evolve before tonight, but consider me impressed. Zanov and Ash controlled the proceedings early on and looked convincing doing so. Things started to turn when Tank Ledger got a hot tag and went on a bit of roll, culminating with Hank Walker pouncing one of his opponents onto the announce table.
Zanov and Ash thwarted their opponents’ closing sequence moments later, and it even seemed like they could pull off a big upset, but Hank & Tank weathered the storm and eventually hit their “Honk! Honk!” finishers to pick up the win. They will advance to face another pair of former tag team champions when they take on the revitalized Creed Brothers in the quarterfinals.
After the match, we cut backstage to see Birth Right continue their rampage as they laid out Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux. With Legacy and DVD scheduled to compete in tonight’s other Dusty Cup match, GM Robert Stone was suddenly scrambling for a replacement. William Regal happened to be in the building, and after giving a discouraged EK Prosper a motivational pep talk, he convinced one of his successors in the NXT boss’ chair to let Lexis King and Charlie Dempsey fill the spot in a rare moment of questionable judgment from Stone.
Looking across the ring from Dempsey and King were the Tokyo Bad Boys from AAA. Kento and Takuma showed out early, unleashing some innovative offense, but it was the technical prowess of William Regal’s boy that ultimately proved to be the deciding factor, advancing Birth Right to the quarterfinals.
Reaction: Hank & Tank advancing tonight seemed pretty obvious, just as their being fed to the Creed Brothers in the quarterfinals will be. I’m not opposed to getting Dempsey and King back in the field to give Birth Right some juice, but I’m not sure where that leaves Legacy and Van Dux. They seemed like a team that could make a run at the outset of the tournament, and this writer even picked them to win the whole thing. With how tonight went, and with Van Dux getting subbed out in the 6-man tag a few weeks ago, it feels like he might be legitimately injured. If that’s the case, hopefully he’s able to return soon without that tandem losing too much momentum.
Quick Hits
- Dion Lennox cut a video promo responding to Cruz Montana’s from last week. Lennox dug deeper into his background, explaining that while his parents raised him well and gave him the tools to succeed, the pressure to always make the right decision was tougher than any adversity Cruz has faced. I actually dug this segment from Dion. Although he still threw in a cheap comment about Cruz’s mother at the beginning, this helped give his own character some depth. Sure, he’s a privileged former collegiate athlete, but it felt like he was acknowledging and embracing it, while showing everyone the gigantic chip he has on his shoulder.
- Once the Lennox video ended, we cut to Cruz Montana, who had clearly been watching intently. Lizzy Rain walked up, and Cruz let her know that we’re going to find out if Dion can back up his words. After a few words of encouragement and a fist bump, Lizzy walked off, only for Cruz to be joined by TNA Knockouts Champion Xia Brookside. The champ questioned why Montana was supporting Lizzy and told him he’d changed. Cruz made the same observation right back at Xia as she walked off.
- After his title defense against Mason Rook was canceled last week, Grayson Waller remained NXT Champion, surviving an open challenge by defeating EK Prosper. Waller got some time on the mic tonight and added himself to the list of people praising Prosper as NXT’s future. After alluding to his own changes in presentation and character (boxing shorts to tights, swipes and likes to championships) and even referring to GM Robert Stone’s fist-pumping days in TNA, Waller wondered who his next challenger would be. The champ was then quickly joined by Myles Borne, and Tony D’Angelo shortly after that. After Grayson suggested that Myles and Tony fight in a #1 contender’s match, Borne turned around and seemed to punch Tony D in the chin with a roll of quarters. Vic briefly alluded to Myles’ fist being ‘loaded,’ and the camera caught coins rolling around the ring, but it almost seemed like they were trying to ignore that detail—a bizarre way to end the segment. That #1 contenders match was later ‘set-in-Stone’ for next week.
- After weeks of experimenting with all the different colors of poison mist, Shiloh was able to do some field research tonight when he faced Naraku in a one-on-one showdown. After a physical match, Naraku went to spray the mist, but the former IWGP Champion telegraphed it way too much, giving Shiloh time to cover his mouth. Moments later, Naraku wound up again, but this time, Shiloh ducked, and the blue mist hit referee Derek Sanders, who immediately called for the bell and (I assume?) disqualified Naraku. A pull-apart brawl ensued after the match.
- Another Kendal Grey therapy session, and tonight’s focused on how hard she is on herself. If she does something right 100 times, all she can think about is the one time she did it wrong. Nobody sees her analyzing and obsessing over every mistake. Over time, Kendal says, she’s convinced herself that if she’s hard enough on herself, she’ll never have to feel ‘less than’ again, but because of that, she stopped learning how to celebrate and be proud of herself. Through these therapy sessions, she’s realized that she is her own toughest opponent. Some really powerful stuff here. There was a conversation about this storyline that started in the Feed recently, and while I thought the first segment was a bit campy, they’ve really grown on me. I love how they are continuing to build some genuine depth to Kendal’s character. It sounds like she has another medical evaluation coming up, so a return to the ring could be imminent.
Match Results
- Zilla Fatu def. Lexis King
- Hank & Tank def. Viktor Zanov & Shido Ash – Dusty Classic 1st-round match
- Shiloh Hill def. Naraku via disqualification (I think?)
- Lexis King & Charlie Dempsey def. Tokyo Bad Boys – Dusty Classic 1st-round match
- Wren Sinclair wins #1 contender’s battle royal
Final Thoughts
A kind of on-brand, chaotic NXT night. This can hurt the brand some nights because they try to feature everybody, and in doing so, they don’t really feature anybody. That being said, I think they avoided that fate a bit tonight. The Wren Sinclair reveal at the end was a really fun moment that stands out above the rest. Outside of that, I think Birth Right came out looking better than they have in a while, as it seems there might be a concerted effort to establish them as legitimate threats. I’m excited to see the Dusty Classic continue, and Kelani/Wren at Havoc will be good, so I’m holding out hope NXT keeps building an intriguing Halloween Havoc card with just 3 weekly shows to go before the event.
Now it’s your turn, Cagesiders! Getting excited for Halloween Havoc? With the quarterfinals set to start next week, who ya got winning the Dusty Cup? Let us know in the comments below!
