The event received mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics, with many considering it to be an improvement over the previous year's event, as well as the NXT Women's Championship match receiving universal acclaim along with the NXT North American Championship receiving praise.
On August 24, 2025, at Heatwave, it was announced that the sixth Halloween Havoc for NXT, and 18th overall, would be held as a livestreaming event on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona. The event was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, and the WWE Network in a select few countries that had not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first Halloween Havoc to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January in those areas.[5]
Beginning with Halloween Havoc in 2024, all major NXT events (with the exception of the 2025 editions of The Great American Bash and No Mercy, which were changed for promotional purposes) are branded solely with the WWE logo instead of the NXT logo. However, while the 2025 Halloween Havoc was originally promoted with just the WWE logo, this was later changed to include the NXT logo.
The event included six matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT.[6][7]
At NXT vs. TNA Showdown, Total Nonstop Action's The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) defeated NXT's DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) in a Winners Take All match to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship and win the NXT Tag Team Championship, becoming the first TNA-contracted wrestlers to hold a WWE title.[8] On the following episode of NXT, a rematch for the NXT Tag Team Championship was scheduled for Halloween Havoc, although it was not confirmed if it would be Lennox, Griffin, Saquon Shugars, or Cutler James that would represent DarkState. Later that night, The Hardy Boyz were attacked by DarkState.[9] The following week, The Hardy Boyz, reviving their "Broken" personas for the first time in WWE (although Matt previously did a "Woken" version of the character) announced that the bout would be a Broken Rules match.[10]
At NXT No Mercy, Ricky Saints won the NXT Championship.[11] On the following episode of NXT, Saints was announced as the captain of the men's Team NXT against Team TNA at NXT vs. TNA Showdown.[12] During the match, Williams walked out on Saints after Saints inadvertently tagged himself in, which infuriated Williams. This ultimately cost Team NXT the match.[8] On the next episode of NXT, Saints called out Williams and challenged him to a title match at Halloween Havoc. A video message on the tron played with Williams stating that he would face Saints on his own time. Later that night, Williams attacked Saints backstage, accepting the challenge for Halloween Havoc, with a contract signing subsequently announced for the following episode.[9]
At Worlds Collide: Las Vegas, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide's (AAA) El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. successfully defended the AAA Latin American Championship in a fatal four-way match also involving NXT North American ChampionEthan Page, although Page was not pinned.[13] After that, Wagner Jr. and Page began a rivalry, and after Page's successful title defense at NXT No Mercy, Wagner Jr. stated his intentions of challenging for Page's title.[11] On the October 14 episode of NXT, after Wagner Jr. won his match, he called out Page. After that, Page revealed that he would be facing Wagner Jr. for the NXT North American Championship at Halloween Havoc, with Wagner Jr. subsequently also revealing that, after speaking with NXT General Manager Ava, the match would be a Day of the Dead match.[9]
At NXT vs. TNA Showdown, NXT Women's North American Champion and WWE Women's Speed ChampionSol Ruca and Zaria talked, with Ruca stating that she and Zaria would become the new WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. However, they were both interrupted by Blake Monroe, who called Ruca greedy for wanting three titles, and stated that Ruca was just using Zaria, who then replied that Monroe was after Ruca's championships, with Monroe stating that she was simply after the NXT Women's North American Championship.[8] Zaria then faced Monroe on the following episode. During the match, Ruca appeared at ringside to prevent Monroe from using a chair on Zaria, however, Monroe hit Zaria with a hair pick, winning the match. Later that night, Zaria also competed in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, with Ruca at ringside. However, Monroe appeared and attacked Ruca, with Zaria eliminating herself to aid Ruca.[9] On that week's SmackDown, Monroe was in the crowd for Ruca and Zaria's WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match where it was announced that Monroe would challenge Ruca for the NXT Women's North American Championship at Halloween Havoc. During the match, Monroe distracted Ruca, costing her and Zaria the title.[14] On October 21, it was announced that on that night's NXT, Ruca would provide an update on an injury that she suffered during the tag team championship match.[15] There, Ruca revealed that she was not medically cleared to compete at Halloween Havoc. Zaria then offered to defend the NXT Women's North American Championship on Ruca's behalf, which was agreed by Ruca and NXT General Manager Ava.[10]
On the October 21 episode of NXT, TNA X Division ChampionLeon Slater successfully defended his championship with Je'Von Evans in his corner. After that, Evans stated that he wanted to be at Halloween Havoc with Slater, who stated that they both should be at the same side, which Evans agreed. Both then called out any team, and they were interrupted by Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide's La Parka and Mr. Iguana. Iguana then revealed that after speaking with NXT General Manager Ava, they would face Slater and Evans in a tag team match at Halloween Havoc.[10]
Reception
John Moore of Pro Wrestling Dot Net stated that the venue "was a smaller college arena, but it looked good and large enough on TV". He expected the event to get a grade of B, which it was "given the storyline development, but they gave it A stakes with meaningful and logical title changes". For the NXT Championship match, Moore called it a "well worked match" but "nothing really above and beyond. That combined with the rushed build might have made this the least interesting match on the show in the end given how nuanced the other matches were with gimmicks, time, and title changes". For the NXT Women's Championship match, Moore called it a "well worked match" and called Izzi Dame's interference as being "set up a good feud for Izzi and Tatum down the road, and Tatum might have a short title reign because of it". Moore called the NXT North American Championship match "a bit slow and ploddy for the first half to the point where it was dragging", but "Page and Wagner picked things up in the 2nd half".[16]
Kevin Berge of Bleacher Report gave Halloween Havoc a grade of B-, calling it "an up-and-down event that showed that NXT is on the right path but may not be fully ready to commit to a changing of the guard", as "too much that came before overshadowed the NXT Championship match in terms of excitement or pure action". Berge called the NXT Women's Championship match, which he graded A+, "the real centerpiece of the show", as Jacy Jayne and Tatum Paxley "had the crowd hooked and invested throughout in the improbable rise of the perennial underdog, making the win feel all the sweeter". The Broken Rules match, which received a grade of B-, "was a spot fest the crowd adored and elevated DarkState back to the top of the tag team division". Berge concluded by stating that "there were more wins than misses for Halloween Havoc, and a reshuffle to focus on what the fans wanted to see most would have made this show truly great".[17]
Aftermath
The following episode of NXT opened with Trick Williams attacking people in the production area until Ricky Saints intervened. Later, NXT General Manager Ava announced that they would face each other in a Last Man Standing match on the November 11 episode.[18]
Also on NXT, Sol Ruca vacated the WWE Women's Speed Championship and NXT General Manager Ava announced that a tournament would begin the following week to determine the new champion.[18]
Tatum Paxley talked about her NXT Women's Championship win, but was interrupted by Izzi Dame, who didn't think Paxley was the kind of champion who could call for an open challenge. Paxley spun the wheel, with it landing on Lola Vice. Their match ended in a no-contest after interference by Fatal Influence (Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Lainey Reid).[18] A six-woman tag team match took place the following week which Fatal Influence won when Jayne pinned Dame.[19]
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