Halloween Havoc '93

Legacy Review

Halloween Havoc '93

October 24, 1993 from the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Another one of WCW's (in)famous long mini-movie skits opens the show, with Tony freaking out the Stranger Things B cast. For the second straight Halloween Havoc the stipulation for the main event will be decided by Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal.

The Shockmaster, Ice Train and Charlie Norris def Harlem Heat and The Equalizer in 9:45- A month after having the whole War Games match booked around him being an unbeatable monster Shockmaster is already in the opening match with, apologies to Harlem Heat, a bunch of nobodies. At this point Harlem Heat was not yet somebody, but they would be. Everyone in this match is green as hell or just plain awful, and in some cases both, so don't expect a hot opener. Train and Kole (Booker T) start with a lot of crowd playing. After getting run over Kole tries to slam Train and fails. Kane (Stevie Ray) takes some buckle shots from Train and Kole walks into an armdrag from Norris. The faces work Kole's arm and he sells to the cheap seats. Train easily kicks out of a Harlem Heat double team. Equalizer kicks a lot. Ventura: "He ain't sure what he's doing in there half the time". Shoot comments that weren't meant to be shoot comments. Norris and Equalizer are in at the same time and are wearing nearly identical gear. Black trunks, brown boot coverings. It's like they coordinated. Equalizer wants Shockmaster and gets run over. Norris gets hit from behind. Equalizer big boot and clothesline. The heels are very visibly giving Norris detailed spot calls. Kole kneedrop for 2. Weak scissors kick. That'd get better with time. Norris dodges a splash and tags. Shockmaster runs wild. Bearhug on Kole. Belated donnybrook while Shockmaster drops Kole down and pins him. 1/2*

Terry Taylor is introduced as the second referee assigned for the Rude/Flair title match.

"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/The Assassin) def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat by countout in 18:35- Orndorff is subbing for an injured Yoshi Kwan, turning it into a bit of a revenge match as Steamboat beat Orndorff for the TV title on a recent Clash. Orndorff gets a jump from behind. Backdrop. Steamboat rolls out to think and Orndorff ambushes him again on the floor. Steamboat gets slammed on the ramp. Long pause with little happening....until Steamboat dives over the top rope! Orndorff dodges it! Saito suplex for 2. Steamboat takes Orndorff down by the arm while both are running and arm work will be the theme of the next 5 minutes or so of the match. After a crossbody for a 2 count Steamboat posts Orndorff's arm several times. Ref Nick Patrick physically pulls Steamboat down from the top rope to allow Orndorff to get back in. Steamboat does some very Pete Dunne/Marty Scurll like joint manipulation on Orndorff's fingers, sadly without the big snap. Steamboat's going pretty heelish here. If they wanted to really make things interesting and do a double turn (way too high level thinking for '93 WCW) they're doing the groundwork right here. Orndorff hides in the corner. They go out again and Orndorff takes a stair shot. Patrick holds Steamboat back again and Orndorff pulls him down face first into the apron. He throws Steamboat over the guardrail! Orndorff elbow off the top in the ring and arrogant cover for 2. Crossbody collision. Orndorff tries an illegal leverage pin. Patrick kicks his hands off the ropes. Steamboat hits a couple of chops off the top rope. Orndorff counters a backdrop with a faceplant and goes for a piledriver. Steamboat reverses and they do the bridge spot. Steamboat slingshots Orndorff into the top buckle and stacks him up for a long 2. Crossbody off the top! Assassin distracts Patrick, and by the time he gets over to count Orndorff kicks out. Patrick gets involved again. Steamboat pulls him away, giving Orndorff an opening to throw him over the top to the floor. Assassin loads up his mask old school style and headbutts Steamboat. Steamboat can't get back in and is counted out. Not a horrible match from two old pros, but that was a long way to go for that weak ass finish. **1/2

 

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Sir William) and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith go to a 15:00 time limit draw- Regal hesitates to lock up because Bulldog is a dead common Mancunian. The first 5 minutes of the match is several really good mat wrestling sequences, with Bulldog playing Regal's game perfectly rather than trying to take over with power right out of the gate. Regal missells a monkey flip and Bulldog hooks him in a surfboard. William provides a distraction for Regal to get a shot in. Bulldog crossbody for 2. Regal with a knee to the gut and senton for 2. Bulldog does a Bret bump. Regal European uppercuts. Bulldog sunset flip for 2. Five minutes left. Regal starts working half nelson/crossface style submission holds to play defense for the time limit. Four minutes left. Bulldog powers out and hits a clothesline. Regal gets a knee up in the corner and wraps Bulldog back up, tying his legs up this time too. Three minutes. Bulldog lifts Regal up but Regal gets a punch to the ribs and falls on Bulldog for 2. Another hold wrap up. Two minutes. Bulldog lifts again. This time Regal falls on the apron, gets another gut shot and cover for 2. One minute. Bulldog clothesline. Suplex. Powerslam! I think they mistimed that, there's still time left so Regal has to kick out of Bulldog's finisher. Bulldog hits a piledriver, and while the ref is counting that cover time expires. Solid time limit match, but they couldn't keep up the momentum of the great mat wrestling in the opening part of the match. **3/4

Vader and Harley Race come out to spin the wheel for the main event. Fortunately this year they remembered to rig the wheel to make sure they get what they want this time instead of some naff option like Coal Miner's Glove. The wheel stops on Texas Death Match and all is well.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes (c) def "Stunning" Steve Austin in 14:23- These guys had some good matches over the TV title in '91, you'd think with two more years of seasoning they should be able to cook up a classic here. Austin's still repping the Hollywood Blondes while Pillman's out hurt. During intros Austin clearly wants Buffer to get a move on. So do we all. Cautious start. Austin slaps and grins. Rough lock up. Another Austin slap and he bails to the floor, all the while making it clear he knows exactly what he's doing trying to rile up Rhodes. He was on top of his character game at this point for sure. Dustin fights a Boston Crab attempt and flips Austin over. Speed run. Austin hits a back elbow. Snap mare and cover for 2. Dustin snap mare followed by ground and pound. Another long speed run ends with a Dustin dropkick. Dustin dodges in the corner, causing Austin to knee the top turnbuckle and fall to the floor. As he limps around on the floor gentleman Dustin gives him plenty of time to try to shake it off. After Austin gets back in he tries to dodge Dustin's attempts to go for the knee, but eventually gets too close and Dustin hits a kneebreaker. Knee work follows. Austin kicks Dustin south of Del Rio behind the ref's back. He pulls the pad off his good knee and kneedrops Dustin for 2. Dustin tries a slingshot, but Austin blocks it and falls on Dustin again with his good knee. Slugfest. Dustin backdrop and flying clothesline for 2. Austin blocks the bulldog and Dustin ends up in the tree of woe. Dustin roll up and small package for 2. He blocks a stun gun attempt and they trade cradles for 2. Austin gets a leverage cover with his feet on the ropes. The ref counts 3, but waves it off before the bell rings as he saw the feet on the rope after. Austin thinks he won and tries to get the belt. Dustin rolls him up, and the ref counts 3 even though I'm pretty sure Austin kicked out. Austin gets the belt and whacks Dustin with it, and takes it with him when he leaves. Another unnecessarily overcomplicated finish, and the match itself barely got into second gear. Not nearly what you'd expect from these two. *3/4

 

Footage of Bagwell and Scorpio beating the Nastys for the tag titles "last night" (it was really pretaped weeks before).

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (w/Missy Hyatt) def 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell (c) (w/Teddy Long) in 14:38- Funny bit at the start where Tony and Ventura try to justify how Hyatt's hair got about 3 feet shorter overnight. The perils of so much pretaping. The Nastys pose with the belts and get ambushed from behind. Double belt shot from the faces, but the ref lets it go because the bell hasn't rung yet. Bagwell kisses Hyatt! Talk about taking your life in your own hands. The bell rings and we reset with Saggs and Bagwell. It's all angry Nastys early. Bagwell (barely) slides under and dropkicks them both. Scorpio crossbody off the top onto both heels! Both Nastys are sent to the floor. Scorpio with a plancha! Face double teams on Knobbs back in. Scorpio out-agiles Knobbs all over the place. Not hard. It's about the same level of difficulty as outhinking the Bushwhackers. Face double tackle for 2. Bagwell Thesz press for 2. More high octane double teams before Scorpio slows things down with arm work. Bagwell gets in and immediately gets caught in the heel corner. It's clear who the weak link of the team is. The Nastys do a double team hot shot, but Bagwell overshoots and falls almost straight to the floor. Hyatt slaps Bagwell in return for the stolen kiss earlier. I think the kiss was more hazardous to his health than the slap. Saggs back suplex on the floor. Knobbs suplexes him back in and the Nastys work some surprisingly zesty quick tags instead of bogging the match down with rest holds like usual. They work the ref to get some double teams in. It almost backfires but Knobbs cuts the tag off and hooks in a bear hug. Huge Saggs clothesline. He's slow to cover and Bagwell kicks out. They do the usual "ref didn't see the tag" spot. Bagwell dodges a splash in the corner and gets the real tag. Scorpio cleans house, even though he completely whiffs one of his spinning heel kicks. Moonsault on Knobbs. Everyone in the pool! I mean everyone, Long and Hyatt are fighting on the apron! Scorpio hits Knobbs with the 450 splash. The ref is distracted so Saggs nails Scorpio with his boot, Knobbs covers, and the Nastys get the titles back! It's the same finish you've seen the Nasty Boys do 100 times before. That aside though, I didn't completely hate this. The faces (well, Scorpio) hit all their big spots in the beginning, and the usually useless Nastys were going a little harder than usual. **

 

Sting def Sid Vicious (w/Col Robert Parker) in 10:41- Since there's no titles involved this match is to determine the "franchise of WCW". Parker distracts and Sid jumps. Sting hits a slam and clothesline. He clotheslines Sid on the apron and suplexes him back in. Sid powders and Sting follows. Brawl through the crowd! What is this, 1998 WWF? Back in Sting hits a clothesline off the top for 2. Parker grabs Sting's boot. Sid goozles and choke slams him. There's been way too much action, Sid needs to slow this shit down and does so in usual Sid fashion. Side suplex. Parker gets a couple of chokes in. Sting rolls out and chases Parker. Sid nails Sting with a chair shot. Well, I say "nails", really nudged him with the thick padded part of the chair. The Spanish Inquisition's soft cushions probably do more damage (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition). Sting gets dropped on the rail. Sid reverse chinlock. Sting's comeback gets cut off with a powerslam for 2. Sid bear hug. Sting fights out but runs into a Sid boot. More bear hug. Sting fights out again and this time blocks the boot. Faceplant. Stinger Splash! A second one! They fumble around over by where Parker is, a clear setup. Parker grabs both boots, then pulls down on Sid's and holds him down. Sid just kicks out of a pin, then looks at Parker with a "WTF" face. Parker swears he didn't realize it was Sid's boot. That's the way it's supposed to be, but watching it in reality there was no way in hell Parker couldn't tell which boot was which. While they're arguing Sting rolls Sid up for 3. Another overconvoluted finish. Seeing a pattern tonight? Afterward Parker pleads his case some more but Sid walks out on him. This would be the catalyst for Sid's face turn. All in all, as much as Sting tried in the first part, it's a Sid match. 3/4*

Sid's face turn was finalized the next week on TV and was supposed to lead to a massive push, culminating in being the man to take Vader down at Starrcade to end his year long title reign. In fact they already had footage in the can of Sid with the WCW globe and stars belt from their massive pretaping blitz. But all that had to be thrown away when soon after this show, during WCW's UK tour, Sid tried to murder Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors and was promptly fired. Sid would go down to the USWA for the next year and a half before WWF took him back in '95.

 

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship: "Ravishing" Rick Rude (c) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Fifi) by DQ in 19:22- This is a rematch from Fall Brawl, where Rude won the Big Gold Belt for the first time. Rude's got great Halloween themed tights tonight. Flair comes in hot. Delayed suplex. Corner clothesline. Rude gets a knee up in the opposite corner. He misses a kneedrop off the top rope. Flair with a kneebreaker. Figure four! Right in the middle of the ring! Rude fights it for a while and finally just reaches out enough to grab a rope. Flair posts the knee and hits a chop block. Rude pulls Flair's tights to send him to the floor. Flair sunset flips back in. Chops. Flair crossbody and both guys tumble over the top to the floor. Flair ax handle off the top to the floor. That's cool and all, but they did the exact same stuff in their last match. He goes up top again and this time Rude catches him with a punch to the gut coming down. Taylor takes a chair away from Rude. Flair takes a rail shot. Flair Flop! Rude backbreaker and double chinlock back in. He gives Fifi a hip swivel. Ax handle off the top from Rude, but he tweaked his knee again coming down. Flair Flip! He took a cameraman out on the way down! Rude suplexes him back in. Another ax handle off the top for 2. Slug/chopfest. Rude gets a corner whip and clothesline for 2, then locks in a bear hug. Flair ducks a clothesline and hooks on a sleeper. Rude back him into the corner. Flair with a Rude Awakening! He's slow to cover and Rude kicks out. Flair backslide for 2. He tries coming off the top again, Rude gets his boots up. After some whip reversals the ref gets squashed in the corner. Taylor comes in....and immediately gets run over by Rude. Oy vey. Rude gets knucks out of his tights, which is what he used to win the title. Flair ducks and hits a back suplex. Flair gets the knucks and pops Rude with them! Taylor counts....but stops just before 3. The main ref stopped him and says he saw Flair use the knucks, and DQ's him. Rude tries to carry Fifi away after the bell. Flair stops him. Both guys were on autopilot and we have yet another stupid finish. **

The rules for the main event: falls count anywhere, after a fall there's a 30 second rest period, and after that a wrestler has a 10 count to get to his feet or the match is over. Yes, it's overly convoluted, and no, there's no chance at all that WCW will mess up their own overly convoluted gimmick match rules. Never happened before. This is also a non-title match, which was standard for WCW in a gimmick match.

 

Texas Death Match: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) def Cactus Jack in 15:59- Jack charges Vader on the ramp and it's on! Vader pulls his mask off barely a minute in. Shit's gonna get real. Jack dodges and Vader punches the post. Stiff slugfest. Vader takes a chairshot to the head. Bang bang! They get in the ring. Vader gets a boot up and absolutely MURDERS Jack with a stiff clothesline. Corner beatdown. Jack blocks an apron suplex and suplexes Vader onto the ramp! Jack is bleeding from the punches, one cut just above the eye and the other on his cheek. He back suplexes Vader on the ramp. Race tries to sneak up with a chair but Jack cuts him off and gives Vader more chairshots. They brawl in the graveyard set and fall through the stage! Right into the grave marked "RIP Vader". The ref refuses to go down in the hole to count. Vader emerges from his own grave and is now also bleeding. Jack clotheslines him and gets the first fall. After the rest period Vader is up before 10. Jack hits him with a cactus prop from the stage! There's a conveniently placed table right by the ramp. Cactus Elbow off the ramp to the floor! Jack gets another fall. Vader beats the count again. Jack puts the table in the ring. He sets it up wrong and the ref has to fix it. Vader lays in some more potatoes and goes for a corner whip. Jack reverses it and Vader goes face first into the upright table! Jack drops the table onto him! Vader rolls to the floor. Jack sunset flip to the floor! He drops Vader on the rail, charges and dives, but Vader blocks it and Jack splats on the floor. Vader with a chairshot, and he caught Jack in the back with the legs too. We can see Race has a taser. They get back in the ring. Vader goes to the second rope. No, up top! VADERSAULT! That gets a fall. Jack is up in time. More potatoes. They go out to the ramp again. Chairshot to Jack's head. Vader gives him a DDT on the chair! Medics come out to check on Jack and Vader chases them all off. He covers and gets a fall. Jack gets up and DDTs Vader on the chair. But, we're still in the 30 second rest period. Even Capetta sounds confused counting it down. The ref starts counting both guys after the 30 seconds are up even though Jack hit Vader with a move during the "rest period". Jack is almost up at 8 but Race tasers him in the leg! Vader is up and the ref counts Jack down at 10, giving Vader the win. WCW messed up the overconvoluted rules for a gimmick match. I'm sure you're as shocked as I am. Yet another terrible finish regardless, this was stiff, brutal, and way outside Turner's family friendly comfort zone. Clean up the rules and give it a better finish and this would be an all time classic. ****

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WCW had a dreadful time in the fall of '93 thanks to the pretaping of so many shows sucking wrestler motivation away, and this is another example of it. The problem of too clever by half finishes is also all over this show, something that unfortunately becomes a hallmark of Bishoff era WCW, especially in main events. That said, the main event is pretty must see despite its flaws. It's the kind of hardcore match you never saw from a major American company in the early-mid '90s, hearkening back to some of the NWA's bloody '80s brawls and forward to what ECW would be bringing into the mainstream in the near future.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-