# Halloween Havoc

Halloween Havoc is a professional wrestling event currently produced by WWE. Since 2020, it has been held annually for the company's developmental brand, NXT. As the name implies, it is a Halloween-themed show held in October.
It was originally produced as an annual pay-per-view (PPV) event by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1989 until 2000. The first two events were held when WCW was still affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) before WCW split from the NWA in January 1991. The final five events under WCW (1996–2000) were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.
WWE—at that time still known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)—purchased the assets of WCW in March 2001. Nineteen years later, Halloween Havoc was revived as an annual event for WWE's NXT brand in 2020. The 2020, 2021, and 2023 editions were held as special episodes of NXT's weekly television program, with the latter broadcast as a two-week event. The 2022 edition aired via WWE's livestreaming platforms, with the 2024 event to also air via this medium, subsequently returning to a singular night.

## History

In 1989, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) scheduled a Halloween-themed pay-per-view (PPV) event for October 28, 1989, at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event was aptly named Halloween Havoc. A second Halloween Havoc was scheduled for the following year, thus establishing Halloween Havoc as an annual PPV for WCW. This second event was also the final Halloween Havoc produced by WCW under the NWA banner as WCW split from the NWA in January 1991.
The 2000 event was the final Halloween Havoc produced by WCW, as in March 2001, WCW was acquired by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF); the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002 ("WWE" became an orphaned initialism in 2011). After 19 years since the acquisition of WCW, WWE revived Halloween Havoc for their developmental brand, NXT. Both the 2020 and 2021 events were held as television special episodes of the NXT television program, which aired on the USA Network. The 2022 event, however, was held as a livestreaming event, airing on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets. The event returned to being a television special in 2023, but was expanded to a two-part special of NXT on the USA Network. It then returned to livestreaming in 2024 and to one night.
The 1994 and 1995 events were both held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan before becoming a main stay at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1996 to 2000. From the event's revival in 2020 to 2023, it was held at NXT's home venue, the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The 2024 event marks the first time that NXT Halloween Havoc would take place outside of the WWE Performance Center.
In 2014, all WCW PPVs, including Halloween Havoc, were made available on WWE's streaming service, the WWE Network. Since March 2021, they are also available on Peacock in the United States as the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock at that time. From 2020 to 2023, Halloween Havoc carried the NXT logo until it was replaced by the WWE logo from 2024.

## Events

| WCW/nWo co-branded event | NXT-branded event |
| # | Event | Date | City | Venue | Main event(s) |
| National Wrestling Alliance: World Championship Wrestling |||||||
| 1 | Halloween Havoc (1989) | October 28, 1989 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Philadelphia Civic Center | Ric Flair and Sting vs. The Great Muta and Terry Funk in a Thunderdome match with Bruno Sammartino as special guest referee |
| 2 | Halloween Havoc (1990) | October 27, 1990 | Chicago, Illinois | UIC Pavilion | Sting (c) vs. Sid Vicious for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship |
| World Championship Wrestling |||||||
| 3 | Halloween Havoc (1991) | October 27, 1991 | Chattanooga, Tennessee | UTC Arena | Lex Luger (c) vs. Ron Simmons in a two-out-of-three falls match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship |
| 4 | Halloween Havoc (1992) | October 25, 1992 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Philadelphia Civic Center | Sting vs. Jake Roberts in a Coal Miner's Glove match |
| 5 | Halloween Havoc (1993) | October 24, 1993 | New Orleans, Louisiana | Lakefront Arena | Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack in a Texas Death match |
| 6 | Halloween Havoc (1994) | October 23, 1994 | Detroit, Michigan | Joe Louis Arena | Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Ric Flair in a Steel Cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with Mr. T as special guest referee |
| 7 | Halloween Havoc (1995) | October 29, 1995 | Detroit, Michigan | Joe Louis Arena | Hulk Hogan (c) vs. The Giant for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship |
| 8 | Halloween Havoc (1996) | October 27, 1996 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Hollywood Hogan (c) vs. Randy Savage for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship |
| 9 | Halloween Havoc (1997) | October 26, 1997 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Roddy Piper vs. Hollywood Hogan in a Steel Cage match |
| 10 | Halloween Havoc (1998) | October 25, 1998 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Goldberg (c) vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship |
| 11 | Halloween Havoc (1999) | October 24, 1999 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Sting (c) vs. Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship |
| 12 | Halloween Havoc (2000) | October 29, 2000 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Goldberg vs. KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) in a Handicap elimination match |
| WWE: NXT |||||||
| 13 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2020) | October 28, 2020 | Orlando, Florida | WWE Performance Center | Io Shirai (c) vs. Candice LeRae in a Tables, Ladders, and Scares match for the NXT Women's Championship |
| 14 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2021) | October 26, 2021 | Orlando, Florida | WWE Performance Center | Tommaso Ciampa (c) vs. Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship |
| 15 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2022) | October 22, 2022 | Orlando, Florida | WWE Performance Center | Bron Breakker (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh for the NXT Championship |
| 16 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2023) | October 24, 2023 | Orlando, Florida | WWE Performance Center | Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria for the NXT Women's Championship |
| 16 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2023) | October 31, 2023 | Orlando, Florida | WWE Performance Center | Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Championship |
| 17 | Halloween Havoc (2024) | October 27, 2024 | Hershey, Pennsylvania | Giant Center | Trick Williams (c) vs. Ethan Page in a Devil's Playground match for the NXT Championship |
| (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match |||||||