6 Ups And 1 Down From NXT Halloween Havoc (28 Oct)

1. LeRae Of The Warrior

The most impressive thing about the night's main-event was that it followed Ripley vs Gonzales. Not because that match felt impossible to live up to, but because two women who are 5 foot 2 inches tall, and weigh a little over 100lbs, put on a more brutal, more physical, more bone-shaking exhibition than the division's two legitimate heavyweights.

After a comically worked wheel spin (Oh! Would you look at that! It just stopped on the best one! And now the belt is magically above the ring!!) the two went straight for the toys and beat the p*ss out of each other. Ring steps, laptops, ladders, microphones, body-parts; Shirai missed a moonsault onto a pile of chairs man! Time and time again, Candice managed to counter Io's offence into something hard and steely.

Given the comedy sketches we've seen from the Gargano's of late, this match was a revelation for Candice. She's very much been in the comic and wrestling shadow of her own husband the last few weeks, but this match was lightyears ahead of anything we've seen on NXT in the last few months, never mind what Gargano's been doing.

The brutality, the craft, the ingenuity, everything that went into this match was a TakeOver main-event in all but name. Io's title run has been incredible, but when it does eventually end Candice marked herself out tonight as the most deserving future incumbent in the entire division. If anything it was a relief that her first NXT Women's Championship wasn't won thanks mostly to some dork in a mask.

What a match, what a show, and what a wrestler.