| Halloween Havoc | |
| Promotions: | World Championship Wrestling (1989–2000) WWE (2020–present) |
| Brands: | WCW/nWo (1998) NXT (2020–present) |
| Firstevent: | 1989 |
| Featuredmatches: | Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal (1992–1993, 2020–present) |
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.
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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] From 2020 to 2023, Halloween Havoc carried the NXT logo until it was replaced by the WWE logo from 2024.
| WCW/nWo co-branded event | NXT (WWE brand) | NXT-branded event |
| Event | Date | City | Venue | Main event(s) | Ref | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 28, 1989 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Philadelphia Civic Center | [4] | ||||||
| 2 | October 27, 1990 | Chicago, Illinois | UIC Pavilion | [5] | ||||||
| World Championship Wrestling | ||||||||||
| 3 | October 27, 1991 | Chattanooga, Tennessee | UTC Arena | [6] | ||||||
| 4 | October 25, 1992 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Philadelphia Civic Center | [7] | ||||||
| 5 | October 24, 1993 | New Orleans, Louisiana | Lakefront Arena | [8] | ||||||
| 6 | October 23, 1994 | Detroit, Michigan | Joe Louis Arena | [9] | ||||||
| 7 | October 29, 1995 | [10] | ||||||||
| 8 | October 27, 1996 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | [11] | ||||||
| 9 | October 26, 1997 | [12] | ||||||||
| 10 | October 25, 1998 | [13] | ||||||||
| 11 | October 24, 1999 | [14] | ||||||||
| 12 | October 29, 2000 | [15] | ||||||||
| WWE | ||||||||||
| 13 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2020) | October 28, 2020 | Orlando, Florida | WWE Performance Center | [16] | |||||
| 14 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2021) | October 26, 2021 | [17] | |||||||
| 15 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2022) | October 22, 2022 | [18] | |||||||
| 16 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2023) | October 24, 2023 | [19] | |||||||
| October 31, 2023 | [20] | |||||||||
| 17 | NXT Halloween Havoc (2024) | October 27, 2024 | Hershey, Pennsylvania | Giant Center | [21] | |||||