Recently, weapons in WWE have been saved for special occasions, like betrayals and intense premium live event contests. Even then, when they are used, they are relatively restrained — the most unique spots will probably be fire extinguisher-related (my personal favorite), or hair whip-related (my second personal favorite). So, when Dijak and Gacy were announced to have a No Disqualification match after Dijak launched Gacy into a dumpster last week, nobody was expecting their match to be as chaotic as it was. Come Vengeance Day, and Dijak and Gacy have to follow an awesome Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic finals match. Dijak and Gacy must have known that they needed to pick their sick, twisted minds for something to wow the “NXT” audience.

Consider the “NXT” audience, and me, sufficiently wow-ed.

When Dijak pulled out his signature nightstick, I was intrigued. When Gacy pulled out a collapsible club, I knew we were about to enter some “Star Wars” territory. They clashed their melee weapons in a sequence that looked like it should have been in a medieval sword fighting reenactment, and not a WWE ring. Then, the two men went to the outside — Dijak by force, and Gacy by choice.

Here, I expected Gacy to keep his foot on the gas pedal, and deliver some hand-to-hand blows to his opponent. Instead, he used his field trip to the outside to peruse the under-the-ring weapons catalog, and began throwing all sorts of accessories into the ring: trash cans, duct tape, probably other things that I’m forgetting. Gacy kept the theme going by using a steel chair to prop up a slowly-recovering Dijak, then used the steel steps to give his rolling senton some momentum. It all made sense: the theme of this match was weaponry, and both men were armed to the teeth throughout the entire contest.

I would be doing you all a disservice to not mention some of the most insane moments during the match. Dijak’s dive from the apron to a toy-covered table five feet away will live in my head, rent-free, for the rest of the week. When was the last time you watched someone blindfold another person with duct tape in a WWE ring? These two competitors pulled out all the spots, and left no possibility for pain unexplored. It paid off in spades.

Do I think that all WWE stipulation matches should have this level of gratuitous weaponry? Not really. The novelty of a match as weapons-intensive as tonight’s was is part of the appeal, and to oversaturate WWE programming with similar fights would diminish their impact. However, when the tensions between two Superstars are at an all-time high, creative and utterly unhinged offense can create a match that will not be so easily forgotten. “NXT” is developmental, experimental. I would love to see the main roster take notes from the successes of this match and its involved talent, and deliver a truly extreme match sometime in the future.

Written by Angeline Phu