NXT Halloween Havoc was a hit, thanks in no small part to host Shotzi Blackheart. Steve Cook has a pitch for more Shotzi in charge of NXT!

Let’s be honest.

The Wednesday Night War has been as much of a war as the US invading Grenada was a war. AEW Dynamite has been kicking WWE NXT’s ass for most of the time. There have been some occasions where NXT got the upper hand on viewership, but AEW has been owning those prime demos and overall viewership for most of the past several months.

NXT has gotten the upper hand when they’ve embraced wrestling’s past. It’s funny, because WWE noticed this when Cody got the copyright to “Bash at the Beach”. One of WCW’s premier shows, and up until that point WWE’s policy was to pretend that WCW didn’t exist, because they saw no value in that brand. After all, WWE won the Monday night war! Also, the WCW mid-carders they signed after didn’t get over enough for an Invasion. Obviously, WCW wasn’t worth a shit and the horrible booking of all WCW talent in the Invasion angle was deserved.

Once “AEW Bash at the Beach” got over, WWE took notice.

They saw how the named episodes got over, and they saw how those named episodes had WCW names. As much as some wanted to deny it back in the day when everybody insisted that most fans liked ECW more than WCW, there was some WCW nostalgia! They also had more political power than the folks behind AEW, so any claim they made on one of Dusty’s names for WCW’s shows would carry more weight.

If Cody wanted to claim copyright on any of his father’s names for shows, he would be denied because the U.S. President is a friend of Vince McMahon. Cody got Bash at the Beach while WWE was sleeping on those WCW trademarks, which was a good get because that was one of WCW’s biggest shows each year it took place. Also because Chris Jericho likes to hold a Jeri-Cruise once a year, so some matches on that boat make sense as a Bash at the Beach. I mean, maybe Jericho has donated enough money to Donald to change his mind…except that Linda McMahon is one of the top fundraisers for that cause. Whoops!

Why am I getting political? People don’t like that!

So let’s get back to the wrestling wing of this situation. Once the WWE brass figured out that those WCW show names still had value, they clamped down on those names. Which I don’t blame them for, since Dusty came up with some great names for shows while working for WCW/Jim Crockett Promotions/whoever else WWE has in their video library. Not only were they great names, but those names were put on shows that people fondly remember.

We saw it back in July when NXT presented the Great American Bash. The GAB started out as a stadium/arena tour for JCP in the mid-1980s, with mixed results attendance-wise but also some great matches. NXT’s Great American Bash lasted two weeks, and the second week was the last time NXT won the viewership battle over AEW…

Until Halloween Havoc.

NXT really leaned into the Halloween Havoc gimmick. They even brought back the Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal business, which backfired for WCW one out of two times they did it because they weren’t smart enough to gimmick the wheel the first time. It was still recognized as a great idea, which WWE brought back from time to time when Eric Bischoff hosted Raw Roulette. What wrestling fan doesn’t like the idea of match stipulations being decided by the spin of a wheel? Seems natural to me.

We also need to pay homage to the host of NXT Halloween Havoc, which somebody behind the scenes was smart enough to let happen. Who better to host Halloween Havoc than a woman arguably creepier than anybody else to not enter the Undead Realm? We all know that Shotzi Blackheart could have been a suspect in the #WhoShotBravo saga, but she went a different route. The fact of the matter is that the one thing WWE has been lacking in their women’s divisions on Raw, SmackDown or NXT is a little bit of the dark side. They have some heels, no doubt about it, but they still lack that true connection to the dark side. Every division on every wrestling show needs that.

Shotzi Blackheart has that connection.

Sure, we all love her. We worry whenever she does some stupid looking bump that gives me material for Botched columns. I don’t like using those, as I’m a big fan of everything that Shotzi Blackheart brings to the table. Including that connection to the dark side of the ring.

Shotzi’s success in the role of host of Halloween Havoc can only be a boon to her career. She’s proven her worth as a hostess of destruction. You can use that on either side of the face/heel fence. Father James Mitchell became a cult hero in TNA/Impact Wrestling for nearly two decades, and I think he’ll get to that two decade mark pretty easily since he’s that talented.

We love people that bring us to that dark side. James Mitchell, Paul Bearer, Shotzi Blackheart. These people bring a feeling to our hearts we didn’t know was there, for better or worse. Most wrestling fans are open to folks from the dark side, even if we shouldn’t be. We saw Paul Bearer lead the Undertaker as a babyface. We’ve seen James Mitchell get over as a babyface even if TNA/Impact Wrestling didn’t intend for that to happen. People just love that dark side. That was a thing back in the day, and I doubt that’s changed in 2020.

So here’s what we’ve learned this week.

1. Using old WCW names draws attention.
2. Shotzi Blackheart draws attention.

I can get behind both of these ideas, as an old man that remembers these WCW shows, and being attracted to Shotzi…ok, I shouldn’t have admitted that last part even if it doesn’t matter. I could get Me Tooed out of this business if I wrote it somewhere else. As things stand, I can just state the obvious.

NXT was getting absolutely murdered in the ratings until Shotzi Blackheart took control.

If I was WWE I would give her the book. Couldn’t hurt!