Shawn Michaels Doesn’t See NXT Doing Cinematic Matches A Lot, Felt It Worked For NXT Halloween Havoc

The NXT Women’s Title match between Mandy Rose and Alba Fyre took place in two parts at NXT Halloween Havoc. 

The first part happened in cinematic fashion as Toxic Attraction (Rose, Jacy Jayne, & Gigi Dolin) traveled to a haunted house where they were greeted by Fyre and a cast of characters. All four competitors traveled back to the arena to conclude the match in the ring. 

Speaking on the NXT Halloween Havoc post-show media call, Shawn Michaels was asked about NXT going the cinematic route for the bout. 

“That’s one of those situations where, the team here, our creative team, and the studio guys in Stamford do an absolutely fantastic job. That’s people starting at about 8 at night and going until 3:45 in the morning. Mandy, Alba, Jacy, Gigi and about 20 other people working their tails off in the middle of the night. It is different than anything I’ve ever done, but Halloween Havoc…that’s not something I see us doing a lot, but at Halloween Havoc, it feels like it works. Everybody understands we do that to a certain point and the rest comes into the building. I don’t think that’s something we would do on a regular basis by any chance, but when you have a thematic show like Halloween Havoc, and we’ve done them in the past, it feels like it’s been an NXT thing with Halloween Havoc and we wanted to continue with that idea. It seemed to be the perfect match to do it with,” said Michaels. 

NXT has used cinematic styles matches in the past with Halloween Havoc, most notably with Dexter Lumis and Cameron Grimes in 2020 when the two battled in a Haunted House of Terror match. 

Michaels then commented on how he would do in a cinematic bout.

“From my standpoint, I would find them difficult because I’m from a performing standpoint, in the moment. To have to take a totally separate night and go out there and get myself to where I’m supposed to be on Saturday…the few bad movies I’ve done, I found that to be very challenging. That’s what was so interesting about that, being able to turn that on and off without the crowd out there. I’m always very impressed when the talent can pull that off as well as the ladies did,” he said.

Rose, with help from Dolin & Jayne, was victorious in the NXT Women’s Title bout. 

Fans can check out Fightful’s coverage of NXT Halloween Havoc by clicking here. Check out the post-show podcast for a full review of the action by clicking here. 

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