Twenty women. Six brands. One shot at Kelani Jordan and the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc.
Immediately, I had questions.
Six brands means an average of 3.33 wrestlers from each, which obviously never happened. NXT was always going to supply half the field; anyone appearing regularly on NXT would technically represent another promotion, and we would all politely pretend that counted as equal representation.
Professional wrestling loves administrative categorisation almost as much as it loves people hitting each other with furniture.
Still, I was into it.
Wait, Xia Brookside is here?
Izzi Dame came out first. Then Indi Hartwell.
I remember Indi from WWE and, more importantly for my own useless wrestling memory, from the games. I’m fairly certain I played as her a few times. She is with TNA now, so seeing her walking into an NXT battle royal produced that pleasant little wrestling sensation where somebody you remember from one context suddenly appears in another.
Then we had an advert break.
Naturally.
I assumed WWE would return with all 20 women already standing in the ring, because nothing says “six-brand international showcase” quite like deciding viewers probably don’t need to see half of them enter.
Thankfully, they were still coming.
Then Xia Brookside appeared.
“Oh wow.”
That was my actual reaction.
I knew Brookside, of course. English wrestler, daughter of Robbie Brookside, very visible on social media, and now TNA Knockouts Champion. Then came La Catalina from AAA.
This is where the match’s slightly ridiculous politics started to fascinate me.
NXT is WWE’s developmental brand, at least theoretically. Yet here was the reigning TNA Knockouts Champion, alongside major AAA representation, competing for a shot at NXT’s championship.
That creates an unintended message.
Your world championship is lovely. Please queue over here for the chance to challenge our developmental champion.
It is wrestling geopolitics conducted by people wearing sparkly boots.
Zaria Comes Out Last, Because Apparently That Matters
My favourite wrestler in the match was Zaria.
Unfortunately, Kelani Jordan is currently operating as a heel, which made it seem unlikely that another heel would win. La Catalina therefore looked like a plausible choice. She has presence, crowd appeal and enough crossover intrigue to make the Halloween Havoc match interesting.
Then Zaria got the longest entrance and came out last.
Interesting.
Zaria entered as NXT North American Champion, and NXT presented her arrival with considerably more ceremony than some of the women representing supposedly bigger championships elsewhere.
They didn’t need to.
Wrestling tells you hierarchy through entrances, commentary, camera angles and who gets to stand dramatically at the top of the ramp while everyone else waits.
Zaria looked like Mechagodzilla arriving at a council meeting. Technically, everyone was invited to participate, but one enormous metallic problem was clearly in the room.
The bell rang.
Over-the-top-rope rules.
Chaos.
Lovely.
Izzi Dame Says Hello to Several Security Guards
Layla Diggs was the first elimination, which felt particularly cruel considering her recent trajectory.
Then Zaria eliminated Izzi Dame.
Statement made.
I immediately wondered whether this could become the foundation for a proper feud. Izzi hasn’t seemed particularly invested in The Culling lately, and WWE could turn her face if it wants.
Zaria, meanwhile, responded to eliminating her by cheerfully waving and shouting:
“BYE!”
The accent somehow made it better.
I love professional wrestling.
Izzi responded to being eliminated from a wrestling match by attacking several members of NXT security, because this industry doesn’t generally reward emotional regulation.
There was far too much happening to follow everything. Kiana James was working on Thea Hail in one corner. Ivy Nile was there, which reminded me that I enjoy her fitness videos on YouTube. The Elegance Brand were still knocking around.
Then came one of my favourite little sequences.
Arianna Grace looked towards The Elegance Brand. They looked towards her. Everyone appeared excited. For approximately three seconds, it seemed we had spontaneously created a three-woman alliance.
Then they looked towards Reina Volcan.
Volcan had already demonstrated that fighting her was a terrible idea.
The Elegance Brand reconsidered their new friendship and immediately turned on Arianna instead.
Perfect.
This is the sort of betrayal battle royals exist for. No elaborate motivation. No six-week storyline. Just three people silently reaching the conclusion that friendship is considerably less attractive when a large, angry woman is standing nearby.
Then one member of The Elegance Brand turned on the other.
Then Thea Hail eliminated both.
By this stage, commentary announced there were 12 left.
Somehow.
Zaria and Izzi Dame Decide the Battle Royal Isn’t Enough
Xia Brookside was still alive. TNA lives!
Reina Volcan needed multiple women to remove her and reacted about as calmly as you would expect a wrestling powerhouse called Reina Volcan to.
Then things returned to Zaria.
She and fellow Australian Indi Hartwell briefly squared up before the moment dissolved. La Catalina ate an F5. Zaria was rolling.
And then Izzi Dame returned.
She had been eliminated ages ago, but the rules become a loose philosophical framework once someone has developed a grudge.
Izzi tried to jump Zaria. Zaria reversed it and sent her outside again, enthusiastically gesturing that she had now eliminated her TWICE.
This was getting wonderfully stupid.
Unfortunately for Zaria, the distraction mattered. Kali Armstrong dumped her out, ending what looked like one of the match’s strongest performances. Zaria and Izzi then continued fighting outside.
Forget Halloween Havoc’s championship for a moment.
Give me Zaria versus Izzi Dame.
Kali Armstrong Had Actually Won This, Until She Hadn’t
Thea Hail went next, eliminated by Kiana James.
That hurt.
Then Armstrong started clearing house. La Catalina went. Kiana James went. Lizzy Rain eventually went.
And suddenly Kali Armstrong had apparently won the whole thing.
Except there had been something bothering me.
Lady Shani.
I hadn’t seen her eliminated.
This is where WWE got me.
What I had been watching wasn’t actually Lady Shani.
It was Wren Sinclair.
Sinclair was supposed to be suspended, but had entered disguised in Lady Shani’s purple gear and mask. Earlier, when she ended up outside the ring, she went under the bottom rope instead of over the top. Therefore, she had never technically been eliminated.
Armstrong celebrated.
“Lady Shani” returned.
Armstrong went over the top.
Then the mask came off.
WREN SINCLAIR.
Outrageous.
I completely bought it.
That is probably my favourite thing about the match. Wrestling surprises are increasingly difficult because everyone knows everyone, social media reports everything, and half the audience has already developed seventeen theories before the opening credits finish.
This one just worked.
Is Wren Sinclair Mexican?
Wren also has a nice extra layer in using a Mexican luchadora identity.
Wren Sinclair’s real name is Madison Dombkowski, and she is half-Mexican through her mother’s side, with both Mexican and Polish heritage.
That obviously doesn’t make stealing another wrestler’s mask particularly diplomatic.
Lady Shani was understandably unimpressed afterwards, while NXT management was left with the slightly awkward problem of a suspended wrestler apparently earning a championship opportunity while disguised as somebody else.
Normal workplace stuff.
Is NXT on Netflix in the UK?
In the UK, WWE NXT is available on Netflix as part of WWE’s current UK streaming arrangement. So if you’re searching for “Is NXT on Netflix in the UK?”, “WWE NXT Live”, or “Is NXT on any streaming service?”, British viewers can follow the weekly show on Netflix.
And the current NXT roster is increasingly difficult to define anyway.
I came in expecting La Catalina as a possible winner, hoping Zaria would get something substantial, and mainly interested in seeing which TNA wrestlers showed up.
Instead, Zaria and Izzi Dame became the feud I want to see next, Kali Armstrong got an excellent near-win, and Wren Sinclair won a championship opportunity through what amounts to wrestling identity fraud and an extremely favourable interpretation of the rulebook.
It shouldn’t have worked quite this well. It did.
Twenty women collide
A borrowed mask steals the night
Wren waits underneath
