HALLOWEEN HAVOC XVIII - 10/25/2025

[Dolfan in NYC]

It's time for the SPOOOKIEST PLE of the year!!   And what more spooky place to go than... hmm...  The Ex-urbs of Phoenix!

sure... why not.  

NXT Presents Halloween Havoc~!

THE CARD~~

FOR THE NXT MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP - Ricky Saints (c) vs. Trick Williams

FOR THE NXT WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP - Jacy Jayne (c) vs. Tatum Paxley

FOR THE MEN'S NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - Ethan Page (c) vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

FOR THE WOMEN'S NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - Zaria* (c) vs. Blake Monroe

"BROKEN RULES" MATCH FOR THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - The Broken Hardyz (J. Hardy / M. Hardy, c) vs. DarkState (Griffin / Shugars / James / Lennox)

Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater vs. Mr. Iguana and La Parka

 

* - Zaria is defending on behalf on injured champion Sol Ruca. 

[Ramo2653]

This might be the first PLE I'll actually not have plans during since Summerslam. Will that change by Saturday? Who knows!

[Eivion]

J'Von/Leon vs. Iguana/La Parka was pretty nice in the first half, but had a decent amount of flubs in the second. Even with the flubs I thought most everyone got in a decent showcase with La Parka in particular looking pretty damn good.

Page/Wagner was a pretty good plunder match with plenty of nice action, mask ripping, Page bleeding, etc. This honestly surpassed any realistic expectations I could have had given the build. Despite the loss Wagner came out of this looking great with plenty of the crowd behind him at various points. Only disappointing bits was the mood lighting which WWE needs to give up on and Page retaining. The latter makes sense, but I really wanted Wagner to win.

Zaria/Blake built into something pretty solid though went the expected route of Blake coming out the victor. The result was probably the right one an dlikely what would have happened even if Sol had defended herself. Still Blake is lacking something for me to get into the idea of her being a champ over Sol or Zaria right now.

Tatum/Jacy was pretty damn good. Dug the slower building with both women getting in a neat showcase. Dug when things started to escalate. And the crowd was nicely engaged from beginning to end. Figured this would be solid, but this is easily the best match I have caught from either woman so far. Both played their parts extremely well and delivered MOTN for me. Honestly they probably should have made this the main event to end on a strong note.

Hardy Boys vs. DarkState was mostly what it needed to be a crazy plunder brawl. I think it ended up better than the double titles match from Showdown though I also think anything but the Hardy s winning was not the best idea in terms of killing the crowd. Still, I thought they actually built that up well and mostly delivered.

Trick/Ricky had a lot of nice action and some neat bits of character coming from both men. Still, there was a bit of an awkward feel with Trick being more over at times despite being a heel and the ending of the tag titles match likely leaving the crowd deflated. It was a mostly solid match overall.

 

Overall I enjoyed this show even though it definitely peaked at the women's title match. That really should have been the main event given the crowd pleasing ending. Most of the show is worth a watch though Tatum/Jacy is what stole the show for me with Page/Wagner not too far behind.

[The Natural]

Congratulations, Blake Monroe.

[DreamBroken]

Thought this show exceeded expectations and turned out quite good.  Opening tag was fun and got a lot of time.

Agreed with Jacy/Tatum being the showstealer. Love both, so I hate to see Jacy lose but am thrilled to see Tatum win. Similar to how Jacy was, Tatum's been awesome for so long that it's great to see her finally get rewarded for it. I like Tatum & Izzi together, for however longer that may last.

Disappointed to see the Hardys lose so soon, especially as the Broken Hardys losing their signature match, but thought the match was a blast and was the best Darkstate have looked, so it did well in the goal of putting them over. Long spot setups aside, the Hardys still taking wild bumps.

Ethan/Wagner built into a very good one as well. Ethan excels in these types of matches. Wagner looked good and would've bought him going over.  Would've preferred Zaria win for Sol, at least for one defense, especially at Halloween Havoc being the event around when she debuted last year. Didn't have much interest in the obvious main event, but the rest of the card was a good time.