Halloween Havoc (2018)

The logo for Halloween Havoc 2018

**Halloween Havoc (2018)** was a professional wrestling pay per view produced by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for their SmackDown brand. It took place Sunday, November 4, 2018 from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. It was the first event in the WHEI Halloween Havoc chronology and the 13th in the overall Halloween Havoc chronology. It was also the second SmackDown exclusive pay per view of Season 3 and the seventh pay per view of season 3 overall.

The event continued the Halloween Havoc chronology previously established by World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

In the main event Daniel Bryan defeated Kenny Omega to retain the WHEI WWE Championship.

Also at the event Hangman Page ended Ironman's reign as WHEI Hardcore Champion, Carmella defeated Bayley to become a 2 time SmackDown Women's Champion, and The War Hawks SmackDown Division (Will & Heath) defeated the Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.

## Background

The card consisted of matches resulting from scripted storylines that play out on WHEI's SmackDown brand. Storylines play out on the War Hawks' weekly show on Twitch *Friday Night SmackDown Live*. Wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters as they build tension that leads to a match or series of matches leading into the event.

The primary feud heading into the event was between Daniel Bryan and Kenny Omega with the two feuding over the WHEI WWE Championship. At No Mercy the previous month Bryan defeated Sami Zayn in a rematch from SummerSlam to retain the title. The next episode of SmackDown Ironman set up qualifying matches for a #1 Contenders Match the next week. That night Kenny Omega and The Undertaker advanced by defeating Bobby Roode and Booker T respectively. While the Universe Mode was on hiatus Omega defeated Undertaker to advance to the title Match at Halloween Havoc.

A secondary feud heading into the event was between Braun Strowman, Big E and Cody Rhodes with the three feuding over the WHEI United States Championship. At No Mercy, Cody, with the Young Bucks at ringside, defeated The New Day's Big E to win the championship. The following episode SmackDown, Strowman answered an open challenge by Rhodes and defeated him to win the title. The next week Ironman announced that both Rhodes and Big E would recieve their rematches at Halloween Havoc.

Another secondary feud heading into the event was between SmackDown General Manager Ironman and the Bullet Club's "Hangman" Page with the two feuding over the WHEI Hardcore Championship. At No Mercy Ironman defeated sAnitY's Eric Young to retain the championship. The following episode of SmackDown Page defeated Mankind, Rhyno, and Albert in a hardcore fatal 4 way elimination match to earn a shot at the title.

Another feud heading into the event was between The Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) and The War Hawks SmackDown Division (Will & Heath) with the teams feuding over the WHEI SmackDown Tag Team Championship. At No Mercy, the Outsiders defeated Sanity's Killian Dane and Alexander Wolfe to retain the title. The next episode of SmackDown Ironman set up qualifying matches to determine the next challengers, The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) defeated The War Hawks SmackDown Division (Will and Heath) and Evolution (Batista & Ric Flair) defeated The New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) to advance, until Ironman realized Flair was a Raw superstar, this caused him to tell Batista that while Evolution itself was disqualified, he was not, and could find a new partner. Batista promised to do so before the next week. The next week, Will and Heath defeated Batista and his replacement partner, the newcomer KOR, to challenge The Outsiders at Halloween Havoc.

Another feud heading into the event is between Bayley and Carmella with the two feuding over the WHEI SmackDown Women's Championship. At No Mercy, Bayley defeated Sanity's Nikki Cross to retain the title. The next episode of SmackDown Carmella won an 8 woman pin and submission only battle royal by last eliminating Angelina Love to earn the right to face Bayley for the title.

## Event

### Preliminary Matches

The pay per view opened with a match between KOR and Ivan Dyer. After dominating much of the match KOR hit a corner Powerslam on Ivan to win the match.

Next was a Tables, Ladders, & Chairs Match for the WHEI Hardcore Championship with SmackDown General Manager Ironman defending against Bullet Club member Hangman Page. Despite Ironman dominating the match and nearly getting the title down Page powerbombed the champion off the ladder, climbed it, and retrieved the title to win the match and the title.

After that was a match between Batista and Chris Jericho. After dominating the entire match Batista hit a Spinebuster followed shortly after by a Batista Bomb to win the match.

Then was a Triple Threat Match for the WHEI United States Championship with Braun Strowman defending against former champions Big E and Cody Rhodes. After an excellent match in which it wasn't clear at points who was going to walk out the winner Strowman hit the Running Powerslam on Big E while Cody was down to win the match and retain the championship.

Following that was a match for the WHEI SmackDown Tag Team Championship with the Outsiders defending against The War Hawks SmackDown Division (Will and Heath). Following a great back and forth match with lots of great tag team wrestling Will hit a Last Will on Hall after Heath knocked Nash out of the ring and pinned him to win the match and the championship. By virtue of being a member of the War Hawks SmackDown Division Ironman is also recognized as a champion under the freebird rule.

The penultimate match was for the WHEI SmackDown Women's Championship with champion Bayley defending against Carmella. After a short back and forth match Carmella applied the Code Of Silence and forced Bayley to submit to win the match and the championship.

### Main Event

The main event was for the WHEI WWE Championship with Daniel Bryan defending against Kenny Omega. After a relatively short but very hard fought match in which Bryan kicked out of the One Winged Angel. Bryan hit Omega with the Running Knee Strike to win the match and retain the championship.