NXT Minus 6: Halloween Have Not

Bradley Jay is back for his NXT Minus 6, and he’s not exactly thrilled about Halloween Havoc. Not to worry, he likes other stuff….

Halloween Havoc? Nope. Not having it.

6. There are 2 BIIIIIIIG reasons I’m not excited for Halloween Havoc. First, most of the matches seem like corny relics of the Attitude Era. Boiler Room Brawl? Casket Match? Buried Alive? Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole? Don’t get me wrong. I loved the Attitude Era, but these matches should have been retired with the scratched out WWF. A Boiler Room Brawl without Mankind? Casket Match without Undertaker? No thanks.

5. Second major problem is HH will take place on prime time network. The level of violence allowed won’t be anywhere close to expectations. This was proven with the Roderick Strong-Dexter Lumis strap match, which was a good wrestling match but possibly the worst strap match ever. Gimmick matches during the week are setting wrestlers up to fail.  

4. Move over Adam Cole, we have a new worst finisher. Ember Moon’s Eclipse is everything I hate in a finisher. She can’t hit it spontaneously and it requires her opponent to stand there for way too long and do too much work just to get dropped on their head. Needless to say, she would not have been on my short list of superstars who should have been promoted to NXT. 

3. Fabian Aichner is really good. When Imperium breaks up, he’s the first guy I want to see take on WALTER. He’s a great combination of strength & speed. And he’s got a motor that makes me think he can go full speed all night long. Before they break up Imperium, I want to see Aichner take on Roderick Strong in an Iron Man match. 

2. Austin Theory is the future, but he sure as Hell isn’t the right now. This is the second week in a row he didn’t get his full intro, and he hasn’t won a match since returning to NXT. He must have pissed off a lot of people during his time on Raw to get this kind of treatment. To his credit, he gets in the ring every week and gives it 100%. Good for him. Whatever lesson he needs to learn, I hope he learns it.  

1. This week’s That’s Why I Love Wrestling goes to…Wade Barrett! He single-handedly sold the story of Danny Burch fighting for a shot at his first belt in NXT. I’ll admit I swallowed it whole. In my mind, he and Lorcan had already beaten Breezango for the tag titles. If there was ever an example of an announcer making the match, this was it.