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WWE NXT Recap – Tables, Ladders, and Scares for Candice LeRea

On WWE NXT last night, Candice LeRea came up short in a Halloween Havoc Tables, Ladders, and Scares match with Io Shirai. We'll tell you all about it right here in part one of The Shovel: Wednesday Night Wars Edition covering AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT. Tonight is a special Halloween Havoc episode of NXT, and we're just two weeks away from AEW Full Gear.

I'm Jude Terror. This is The Shovel: Wednesday Night Wars Edition, a form of self-punishment where I watch four straight hours of Wrestling on a Wednesday Night and pay tribute to them with the highest art form available to the wrestling "journalist": the TV recap. I watch AEW first and NXT after, and this will be a series of six posts published on Thursday morning because… well, look, I don't get paid by the word. I get paid by the article. You can find the navigation right before the logo below and also at the bottom of the page.

WWE NXT Recap for October 28th, 2020 Part 3

Shotzi Blackheart has a new costume now, a devil costume. NXT takes another commercial break before she spins the wheel. Tommaso Ciampa cuts a promo backstage complaining about how NXT has changed since back in the day.  He doesn't recognize it anymore. The attitude and culture have changed. People are too entitled. And they tweet too much. Ciampa is shooting, brother! Apparently, this is all directed at Velveteen Dream. Ciampa talks some trash about him and says he's a dead man.

Ciampa will fight Dream next week, and Ember Moon will face Dakota Kai too. Now Candice LeRae comes out. And then, uh… Poppy? Poppy "sings" Io Shirai to the ring. Man, WWE is really piping in that crowd noise. Now, Shotzi spins the wheel one more time. It ends on Tables, Ladders, and Scares.

Candice LeRea vs. Io Shirai – NXT Women's Championship TLS Match

To win this one, you have to climb a ladder and grab the belt. Early in the match, LeRea pulls out a mystery bag of weapons from under the ring, and when she dumps it out, it's severed limbs. LeRea is disgusted, and Shirai beats her with an arm. After that, LeRea beats Shirai with a ladder. They brawl at ringside for a bit, and Shirai pulls LeRae up onto the announce table. But LeRea clocks her in the face with a Macbook Pro, then pulls out another ladder, which she suspends between the ring and the announce table.

Shirai throws a chair at her head.  Then she beats her with more chairs as NXT takes a commercial break. During the break, someone set up a pair of tables between the ring and the ramp. I imagine a bump through those will happen during the finish. Shirai and LeRea each bring ladders into the ring. They each try to climb for the belt only to be stopped. Shirai sets up a pile of chairs on the mat and then… hits a backbreaker to plant LeRea on the chairs and goes for a moonsault, but LeRea gets out of the way.

LeRea beats Shirai with a chair. She wants to slam Shirai on a set-up chair, but Shirai reverses and suplexes her onto it. It doesn't budge, which, of course, means it must have hurt a lot more. Shirai climbs for the belt. LeRea grabs her leg and pulls her down. Shirai tries a bullet train attack on LeRea against a ladder in the corner, slamming her knees into the ladder instead. LeRea gets on the top turnbuckle. Shirai arranges some chairs and the ladder in the ring. She puts two chairs facing each other near the corner and wants to suplex Shirai through them, but LeRea fights back.

LeRea ends up on the apron, where Shirai puts a chair around her leg and snaps it. She goes for a 619 on LeRea, but LeRea dodges and hits her with a chair. They're both on the apron now. LeRea hits a swinging neckbreaer on Shirai through those two tables I mentioned earlier. I guess this is wrapping up then.

The mystery person who helped Gargano win earlier runs out, picks up LeRea, and pushes her all the way up to the top of the ladder. But LeRea is basically passed out up there. Shirai is up and sets up a ladder next to LeRea's ladder. She climbs it, and they fight at the top of the ladders. LeRea gouges Shirai's eyes, and she falls down. But LeRea can't get the belt in time. Shirai is up and pushes her ladder over, sending Shirai crashing through that ladder that was set up between the ring and announce table earlier. Shirai climbs the ladder and gets the belt.

Winner: LeRea

WWE piped in This is Awesome and NXT chants here, but this once, I'll allow it. That was a great match.

WWE delivered a true PPV-quality show tonight, which isn't something they even do with their actual PPVs most of the time. Big matches with exciting action, interesting gimmicks, and the batshit crazy spectacle of the Halloween Havoc set and hosting by Shotzi Blackheart made this the best thing WWE has done since the last time NXT did a nostalgia PPV, In Your House. I didn't love everything, such as the Haunted House of Horror match, but at least it wasn't boring. And the wheel was obviously gimmicked. Come on!

Compare this show to AEW Dynamite, which was a solid episode as always, but I think this may be the first time I really feel NXT put on a better show and won the night quality-wise. How that translates to ratings, we'll find out tomorrow.

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