WWE NXT Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights Before Halloween Havoc
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE NXT on October 21.
The annual Halloween Havoc is approaching on Saturday. Even without Shotzi Blackheart as host, WWE is working to ensure the show lives up to its reputation.
Tuesday's episode of NXT saw the beginning of the tournament to find a new contender for the men's Speed Championship. Stars from Evolve and NXT were involved.
We also saw Trick Williams and Ricky Saints sign the contract for their Halloween Havoc showdown.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode of NXT.
It's Tatum's Time
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The show opened with The Culling coming out to the ring. All of the focus was on Tatum Paxley since she is the No. 1 contender for the women's title. She was met with "You deserve it" chants from the crowd and gave a babyface promo about the fans standing by her side.
She was eventually interrupted by Jacy Jayne and Fatal Influence. Jayne dished out her usual trash talk and promised to defeat Paxley this weekend. Izzi Dame tried to step in, but Paxley insisted on handling it herself.
She told Jayne she is facing the same doubts the champion faced, and she is going to prove everyone wrong by winning the title. A fight broke out, which ended with Fallon Henley barely saving Jayne from taking Paxley's finisher.
This was a decent segment considering it was the first time Paxley had a promo like this with her as the focus. It had some moments when it felt like they were reading from a script, but overall, this wasn't bad.
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- It made sense for Paxley to give a pure babyface promo even when her group is on the heel side, but her popularity could force management to give the group a run as faces.
- Shawn Spears looked like a proud dad sitting in the corner watching Paxley in this segment.
Leon Slater vs. Channing 'Stacks' Lorenzo (X-Division Championship)
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Last time in action: Stacks defeated Yoshiki Inamura (NXT, August 5), Slater defeated Je'Von Evans (Bound for Glory)
TNA's Leon Slater took a trip to NXT this week to defend the X-Division Championship against Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo.
Slater came in hot with a flurry of fast-paced moves, but once Stacks caught him in the corner, he beat him down. Evans was at ringside to cheer on Slater while Arianna Grace was in the corner for Stacks.
Slater took control with a big dive out of the ring as the show went to a break. We returned to see him getting a two-count before Stacks regained control by dropping the champion across the top rope.
We haven't seen much of Stacks in the ring since his feud with Tony D'Angelo ended, so it was nice to see him get a chance to work with someone new. As always, Slater impressed with his athleticism, though some moves still need polish to look perfect.
The first half of the match was decent, but the second half was a lot more exciting. Slater accidentally knocked Grace off the apron when she was trying to help Stacks cheat, but Evans caught her in his arms.
Slater scored the win with a 450 splash to retain his X-Division Championship. After the match, Evans and Slater said they wanted to team up for a tag match and put out an open challenge, which was immediately answered by Mr. Iguana and La Parka.
Result: Slater defeated Stacks
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- The vest Stacks wore made him look like a low-rent Kraven the Hunter.
- The jumping hurricanrana Slater hit didn't look great. He didn't get his legs around Lorenzo's head enough to look convincing as a takedown.
- Evans grabbing a headset to throw the show to a commercial was funny.
- Slater's dive over the ring post looked great. Stacks caught him perfectly.
Zachary Wentz vs. Jasper Troy
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Last time in action: Wentz lost the Battle Royal (Bound for Glory), Saints defeated Troy (NXT, Sept. 2)
The first of two men's Speed matches saw TNA's Zachary Wentz take on Jasper Troy, who was about twice the size of his opponent.
Wentz used his quickness to take control and send Troy out of the ring in the first minute. He scored a near-fall during the second minute, but that is when his luck ran out.
Troy recovered and planted him with a Black Hole Slam for the win. The match barely lasted over two minutes. For what this was, it was solid, but no matter how exciting one of these bouts is, the time limit is going to hurt it in the end.
Result: Troy defeated Wentz
Grade: C-
Notable Moments and Observations
- The three-minute time limit was fine for social media, but it makes it hard to get excited about a TV match when we know it will be short no matter what.
- Troy's Black Hole Slam looked good.
- Kelani Jordan was shown being kicked out of the locker room because she chose Team TNA. Jordynne Grace tried to talk to her about it, but Kelani insulted her instead.
A New Match is Made
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We returned from a break to see NXT general manager Ava in the ring with Sol Ruca and Zaria.
Ruca was on crutches and said she was injured in her tag match against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. As a result of that, she is not cleared to defend her North American title on Saturday.
Blake Monroe came out and said she will happily take the title since the champion is unable to defend it. Zaria said she doesn't deserve it and offered to step in and defend the title for Ruca.
Ava left the decision up to Ruca, who agreed to let Zaria take her place. Monroe threw a fit until Zaria slammed her to shut her up.
This was a predictable segment from the moment it began. It's unfortunate that Ruca is dealing with another injury and is unable to compete. Hopefully, she recovers quickly.
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- We got a video to hype the Hardys vs. DarkState before this match. Matt and Jeff turned into the Broken versions of their characters in the Lake of Reincarnation.
- Ruca seemed genuinely broken up about her injury, or she is just a great actor.
Axiom vs. Sean Legacy
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Last time in action: Legacy defeated Ice Williams (Evolve, August 8), Fraxiom defeated Los Garzas (Main Event, October 10)
The second men's Speed match of the night saw Evolve's Sean Legacy take on Axiom.
This was a fast-paced and hard-hitting fight. They made the most of every second and packed as much into the time limit as they could.
Even with the short length, they did a lot to make this entertaining. They didn't have enough time to sell anything properly, but they did a good job with what they were given.
Axiom won with just a couple of seconds left on the clock to advance to the finals of the tournament. He will face Troy next week.
Result: Axiom defeated Legacy
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Josh Briggs was shown talking to Myles Borne and Tavion Heights backstage. He was trying to tell them to stop caring about the fans and focus on themselves.
- Axiom is so smooth that even when he is going as fast as he can, he almost never makes a mistake.
Hank and Tank vs. OTM
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Last time in action: OTM lost to The War Raiders (Main Event, Sept. 29), Hank and Tank lost to Chase U (NXT, October 7)
Hank and Tank were looking for a measure of revenge when they took on Lucien Price and Bronco Nima in OTM's first match on NXT TV since May.
As OTM made their entrance, Hank and Tank attacked them to get the action started. Both men hit suicide dives on opposite sides of the ring before the match officially began with Tank and Price.
Once they regained their footing, Price and Nima began dominating their opponents. They ended up winning in a relatively short and dominant performance.
This wasn't necessarily a good match, but it was a good way to make OTM look like a force to be reckoned with. They continued to assault Hank and Tank after it was over and put the latter through the announce table.
Result: OTM defeated Hank and Tank
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- One of Hank and Tank's nicknames is "The Belly Bandits."
- Seeing two guys like Hank and Tank hit simultaneous suicide dives will always be kind of cool.
- The product placement for Maybelline is always ridiculously forced.
The Culling vs. Fatal Influence
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Last time in action: Paxley defeated Dame in the Battle Royal (NXT, October 7), Fatal Influence lost to Rhea Ripley, Lyra Valkyria and Stephanie Vaquer (NXT Homecoming)
The final bout of the night was the tag match between Fatal Influence and The Culling that was set up earlier in the show. Dame and Paxley took on Jayne and Lainey Reid.
Paxley whipped Reid from corner to corner before the newcomer hit a clothesline. She quickly tagged out to Jayne once Paxley hit her with a knee to the face. The champion knocked Dame off the apron before hitting a hurricanrana.
We returned to see Dame and Jayne tag in. The former took it to both Reid and Jayne at the same time and hit a chokeslam that almost pinned the champion.
All four women brought good energy to this match. Jayne has grown so much over the past few years and feels like a complete performer now. Everything she did, whether on offense or defense, looked great.
It might surprise some people to hear this, but this ended up being the best match of the night from an entertainment standpoint. Jayne was able to get the win for her team by pinning Paxley while Reid and Henley attacked Dame at ringside.
After it was over, Paxley ended up taking out all three members of Fatal Influence by herself before posing with the NXT title.
Result: Fatal Influence defeated The Culling
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- It would have made more sense for Jayne to weasel her way out of this match and have Fallon Henley compete instead.
- Jayne's hurricanrana looked good because she actually had her legs wrapped around Paxley's neck in a way that made it look possible to take her down.
The Final Word
8 of 8The contract signing between Williams and Saints closed the show.
This was a pretty standard contract segment. Both men talked some trash, but Saints had the better half of the exchange.
Predictably, it broke down into a fight. It ended with Williams being put through the table that was there for the signing.
This week's episode helped advance some storylines and set things up for Halloween Havoc this weekend, but it wasn't the most memorable show when it came to the in-ring action.
The two Speed matches were too short to be memorable, which is unfortunately the case for every match in that division.
The women's tag match was one of the highlights of the show, as was Slater and Stacks in their X-Division title bout.
Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves NXT is the developmental system and won't provide the same level of quality as the main roster, but the show still needs to be good enough to entice fans into coming back every week. Recently, it just hasn't had that kind of momentum.
Grade: C+
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