Posted in: Review, Sports, TV, USA Network, WWE | Tagged: austin theory, Bron Breakker, chucky, kevin owens, money in the bank, NXT, NXT Championship, NXT Halloween Havoc, Raw, recaps, Smackdown, The K.O. Show, USA Network, wrestling, wwe

The Main Roster Invades Ahead Of Halloween Havoc On The 10/18 NXT

WWE clearly came to fight last night, both literally and figuratively.  The stars from the main rosters of Raw and SmackDown respectively invaded NXT for the night to both compete against the company's biggest up-and-coming stars and to compete against AEW Dynamite over on TBS as a one (Tuesday) night only return of the "Wednesday Night Wars."  What do we call it?  The Tuesday Night Tussle?  I'll leave that up to better minds and just let you know what went down on last night's NXT on the USA Network and what I thought of it.

Rhea Ripley def. Roxanne Perez – Pick Your Poison Match

NXT opened last night with former NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley returning to her old stomping grounds to take on talented up-and-comer Roxanne Perez in a match decided by her Halloween Havoc opponent Cora Jade.  This was Ripley's first match since a head injury this past July and early on, it showed.  There seemed to be quite a few timing and communication issues here early on, but it all eventually came together by the end and thanks to a distraction by her Judgement Day teammates, Ripley planted Perez with a Rip Tide for the pinfall.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo

Tony D'Angelo picked Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo's opponent in this one to test him and it was a test Lorenzo didn't quite pass, at least not with a win.  Shinsuke Nakamura didn't look too threatened throughout the match and it was pretty simple.  That's not a bad thing, but it definitely felt more like a house show match than something that needed to be on TV.

Alba Fyre def. Sonya Deville

This carried over from last week's NXT when Sonya Deville jumped Alba Fyre from the crowd.  This was a short one, as Toxic Attraction, including the returning NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose, got involved and for whatever reason, there wasn't a disqualification.  Anyway, Deville accidentally boots Gigi Dolin and Fyre rolls her up for the pin.  Then Toxic Attraction all jumped Fyre, which she then fought out of.  This didn't feel very focused and they should have just had the four villains beat up Fyre to set up the Halloween Havoc match between her and Rose better.

Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams def. Wes Lee & Oro Mensah

I really liked how this one started as a backstage brawl and made its way to the ring where it became official.  The match itself was pretty good and was a nice heated, fast-paced display.  Ultimately though, it was all just to tease the big Ladder Match at Halloween Havoc and that showed when after the match, the participants all came out and got involved.

Cameron Grimes & The O.C. def. Schism

This was fine, but honestly, I'm not very interested in the whole Cameron Grimes and Joe Gacy rivalry.  It doesn't make much sense and it hasn't held my attention over the weeks it's been going on.  It's hard to take Gacy seriously as a scary threat when he's failed in pretty much every program he's done in NXT.

Quincy Elliott def. Xyon Quinn

So I honestly don't get what's going on with Xyon Quinn.  The dude seems to check all of the boxes WWE looks for in their stars, yet he's like the biggest loser on the NXT roster.  And that continued here as he battled Quincy Elliott to see who would co-host Halloween Havoc with Shotzi on Saturday night.  Elliott won, Quinn continued his run as the brand's biggest jobber, and this week's bathroom break was covered.

Cora Jade def. Raquel Rodriguez – Pick Your Poison Match

In the second part of the Cora Jade/Roxanne Perez Pick Your Poison situation, we saw the evil Jade take on another former NXT Women's Champion in Raquel Rodriguez, though she was known as Raquel Gonzalez in those days.  By any name, Rodriguez towers over Jade and threw her around like a ragdoll until Jade grabbed a Kendo Stick, which Rodriguez stole and used on Jade, resulting in her being disqualified.  So, this was odd as it made Rodriguez look pretty dumb and while it did help make Jade look like more of a slimeball, it didn't give her much credence as a legit force in the ring.

Chucky Returned To NXT

Last night saw the return of Chucky star, umm, Chucky and while the one-time WCW superstar made an appearance around this time last year, this time it felt way more forced and silly.  Chucky mixed it up with Grayson Waller and Andre Chase this time and I don't think it did either guy any favors to be acting across from a TV featuring a haunted killer doll.

A Special NXT Edition Of The K.O. Show Was All About Halloween Havoc's Main Event

One-time NXT star Kevin Owens ended the show last night by hosting the participants of Halloween Havoc's Triple Threat NXT title match, JD McDonagh, Ilja Dragunov, and Champion Bron Breakker.  It's a talk show segment on WWE, so you know damn well how this one ended.  But as the men brawled and had to be separated, that's where things actually got interesting, as Money In The Bank winner Austin Theory came out unexpectedly and held up his briefcase to signal he might get involved on Saturday and use his title shot in NXT.

This is very intriguing I think.  It's a good way to have Theory cash in and win, but not to take a title from Roman Reigns or another main roster star.  Theory has been fine on Raw but hasn't exactly carved out a spot for himself, especially after the retirement of Vince McMahon.  So to have him become the NXT Champion and find himself a bit down there might be the best thing for him.

And that's that for this week's NXT.  It was ok and did a decent job setting up this weekend's Halloween Havoc, but there were definitely a lot of dry points and stuff that just didn't work for me.  As I said though, the ending was intriguing and I think added a new bit of excitement for Halloween Havoc.

Till next time friends.

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