Spooky season is underway, and with it, the road to the spookiest WWE event of the year: Halloween Havoc. The stars of "WWE NXT" staked their claims on Tuesday, with Tony D'Angelo earning an NXT Title shot, and one Cinderella story ended, while another continued in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. You can read all about it over on the WWE NXT 10/13/2026 Live Blog.The Wrestling Inc. Staff has stuck around after all the proceedings to give their thoughts on the show; all the good and all the bad. There was plenty to love, especially the night's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic offerings. There was also plenty to hate, like Tony D'Angelo yet again getting a shot at the WWE NXT Title. Really, the staff will be better at explaining it than I will. As always, the comments section will be open, should you feel the need to keep the conversation going.Enough of my bloviating; let's get into more spooky WWE NXT action.
"NXT" took the time to specifically include a backstage segment of Grayson Waller telling Saquon Shugars that he didn't think he was good enough, and it seemed to me like that was a means of setting up a future storyline between Waller and Shugars after Waller's next defense against Tony D'Angelo or Myles Borne. Because of that, I was really confused when Shugars subsequently came up short to Tristan Angels.Angels could've afforded to take the loss in this match more than Shugars can, especially if "NXT" intends to set up Shugars as a future challenger for Waller's NXT Championship in the coming weeks. There was no need for Angels to use heel tactics of sending Shugars crashing into one of the chairs he randomly introduced into the match face first to score the win, as all it really did was prove Waller's point in the backstage. I get that "NXT" may be wanting to set up the idea of Shugars being an underdog, but there's a far simpler and better way to do it: just have Waller blindside Shugars with an attack to stand tall over him. It's less damaging to Shugars and opens the door for "NXT" to be able to still give Angels a win should they wish to against another opponent on a roster that has no shortage of those.Written by Olivia Quinlan
If you ever want to start a wrestling company and showcase your midcard/upper-midcard in an effective way, a tag team tournament really is the way to go. In previous years, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic has seen some of the best teams in recent memory compete, but not all of them go on to have great careers as duos. This year, however, we're seeing some duos get put together and shine in a way that allows them to break off and do their own thing in the future. Mini Vikingo and Chazz "Starboy" Hall is that team.Vikingo and Hall were already made men after they upset BirthRight in the first round, and going into a match against the current WWE NXT Tag Team Champions was never going to be easy. In fact, the Vanity Project were probably always going to win this one since Vikingo and Hall had already picked up one big win that put them over enough to make them seem like enough of a threat to the champions, but not quite enough that you think they'd actually win. All they needed to do was do what they did best in the first round, fly all over the place to the point where Booker T gets so overstimulated his brain short-circuits, and that's exactly what they did.What's great about a team like Vikingo and Hall for their opponents is that they will always come across like the meanest guys around. Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor aren't exactly the biggest guys we've ever seen in WWE, let alone "WWE NXT," but when they get the chance to work over the underdogs, they come off as genuinely imposing. I'm pretty sure Smokes landed a strike on Hall that was so stiff it made me think, "Man, I didn't know these guys had this side to them." Everything was delivered with extra force and viciousness, which really played nicely into the underdog story they were trying to tell.Naturally, Vikingo and Hall flew too close to the sun, and lightning couldn't strike twice for them, but it was another great performance from both of them. At just 18 years old, Vikingo is already doing things that are going to make him an attraction in both "NXT" and AAA in the coming years, and Hall has always had the look of someone who can go far, but now has the genuine platform of "NXT" to help him. Their Cinderella story in the Dusty Classic might be over, but their respective stories could be about to begin, and you can guarantee it's going to be an exciting ride for both of them.Written by Sam Palmer
Before Women's North American Champion Zaria gets called up to the main roster, all I want is for her to have a run where she's booked like the beast of a bada** she is, preferably with a title, rather than whatever "NXT" keeps giving her. I do not understand what this show is trying to accomplish in her feud with Izzi Dame.Dame continues to taunt Zaria about her -what seems to be relatively normal- past. Tonight, she cut a moody, dramatic promo under The Culling's blue lights, across from Niko Vance, where she once again derisively referred to photos of Zaria's time in high school theater, seemingly unaware of the irony. Dame commented on Zaria being "broken," and while she "likes broken things," being broken doesn't make Zaria innocent or special.While she's a very good, convincing promo and she delivers her lines naturally (it's almost like the theater kid to professional wrestling pipeline makes a lot of sense), I'm just as confused as Vance by all of this. Dame said she sees Zaria as a "scared girl hiding behind a title," which I guess could make some kind of sense, but I swear, if they go back to mentioning Zaria's insecurities about being second to Sol Ruca, I am going to scream.Dame went as far as to say this all isn't even about the Women's NA Championship, at least not yet, and she's just using the title as an opportunity to get close to Zaria, to see when she inevitably slips. I hate when wrestlers say things aren't about titles, especially when they're feuding with a champion. If she's trying to break Zaria and get her to slip, why wouldn't her first goal be to take the title off of her? If it's not about the championship, is Dame just jealous she wasn't cast as one of the leads in "Wicked" back in high school? I really just need someone to make sense of that for me.I'm ready for "NXT" to get this show on the road, physically, as I haven't seen Dame in singles action in a while, and I was really starting to like her in the ring. Her work with Lizzy Rain was really fun, so I think she'll kick butt with Zaria, too. I wouldn't even mind if this feud was like Dame and Tatum Paxley's, a series of matches that ends in a cage, as it feels like they could get heated enough to head to a stipulation bout. How long it takes them to get there, however, is anyone's guess.Written by Daisy Ruth
For all of the people who wanted Chazz Hall and Mini Vikingo to continue their underdog story through the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, there was a consolation later on in the October 13 episode of "WWE NXT." One fairy tale story may have come to an end when Hall and Vikingo lost to the Vanity Project, but later on in the night, another commenced.If you could point to the second biggest upset of the first round after Vikingo and Hall beating BirthRight, it would probably be Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar defeating Los Americanos. Both Bravo and Rayo Americano are seasoned veterans at this time, and while Dar is as well, Bravo and Rayo were essentially coming down from the main roster to be a part of this tournament, and they lost in the first round to a team that is essentially a teacher/student relationship.However, the quarter-final for Moreno and Dar was widely different from their first-round match. At one point in time, Fraxiom weren't just the best tag team in "NXT;" they weren't even the best tag team in WWE, they were genuinely being considered as one of the best tag teams in the entire world. That was obviously before their move to the main roster, which hasn't exactly lit the world on fire, but inside the WWE Performance Center, they are masters of the art of tag team wrestling. Despite all of that, they lost, and cleanly too.On paper, one would think that having Fraxiom getting to the semi-finals at the very least would have been the move, giving whoever beats them in the final four a huge confidence boost going into the finals. But WWE didn't do that. Instead, a curveball was thrown that gave Dar a moment in the sun that he hasn't had in quite a while, and easily the biggest win of Romero's WWE career so far, which, considering he's been in the company for nearly a year now, is a long time coming. The kid still has a long way to go before he can be treated like a main event guy in "NXT," but this sort of performance where he was highlighted more than the other three experienced competitors says a lot about what ceiling Romero has.Now they meet Vanity Project in the semi-finals, who, as we've already discussed, can look excellent against high-flyers, and that's exactly what Romero is. Romero could be a great babyface in "NXT," and a stellar performance against the current NXT Tag Team Champions could go a long way for him. Let's see if this Cinderella story continues all the way through to WWE NXT Halloween Havoc 2026.Written by Sam Palmer
It's spooky season, that means Halloween, trick-or-treating, and a truly harrowing main event for the NXT Championship at Halloween Havoc.Tony D'Angelo beat Myles Borne in the main event of this week's show to earn his one-on-one rematch for the title he lost to Grayson Waller, having been pinned in a four-way also including Cruz Montana and Zilla Fatu at Heatwave. It makes a degree of sense that the former champion who had been thrust into defending the title against three challengers at once would get his singles rematch. But at the same time, he was the one pinned and would have been beaten by Montana if not by Waller.That makes it seem as though Montana should be the one to at least be in the running for the title, and that would at least alleviate the major problem: D'Angelo and Waller is a boring match-up between guys that feel like they should be on the main roster at least to let the developmental brand develop.After his run with the title, it literally feels as if there is no runway left for D'Angelo on the brand, and Waller is in a similar position, having returned from the main roster to run with the title he never held. It just feels like the NXT Championship picture is in a state of treading water when it really doesn't have to be. There is a litany of other more exciting talent who could have stepped up to the plate, but D'Angelo will be the one to do it instead, and that just doesn't kindle joy.In terms of the match itself between D'Angelo and Borne, it was perfectly serviceable if not really predictable, that the latter was destined to lose due to his feud with Tavion Heights. But it hardly did much to justify that D'Angelo should be the one challenging for the title again. I just would have preferred someone else at this current stage in time.Written by Max Everett
I love it when smaller angles and stories in WWE make sense, as it doesn't happen too often anymore, especially when it comes to the craziness that is the Performance Center. But Kali Armstrong getting a shot at the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship after being the woman to eliminate La Catalina from last week's battle royal made all the sense in the world. General Manager Robert Stone even explained to her backstage that AAA's GM, Rey Mysterio, approved the bout.This was a fun addition to the show, as I really like Armstrong's work, and I'm hoping to see much more of her. She was climbing for a bit there, but really out of the blue, especially when she was randomly added to Zaria and Wren Sinclair's title unification match. So, this making sense after last week's main event was a breath of fresh air. This was a match that she deserved after a stellar performance, and even though it was an unannounced bout, it fit right into the show.Her style against Catalina's worked really well. They got a good bit of time on the show and helped split things up between the Dusty Classic matches. Armstrong is such a powerhouse, but Catalina didn't let her show that off too much throughout the match. I also really like Armstrong's strikes; she has really strong-looking lefts once she gets going. This match was solid, but straightforward, as Catalina's Reina de Reinas Championship was never really in doubt.I love that "NXT" is featuring Catalina quite a bit, at least in recent weeks, as I really like her style as well. The AAA integration works so smoothly in "NXT," and it's great exposure and practice on American TV for the promotion's stars. Armstrong may have lost, but maybe it lights a fire under her to challenge Catalina again, or just to stack some strong wins to get to the Women's North American Championship level again, once Zaria and Izzi Dame are done with one another.Written by Daisy Ruth
