Halloween Havoc '96

Legacy Review

Halloween Havoc '96

October 27, 1996 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

Think the Slim Jim Battle Royale at Summerslam was over the top? Think again. This is Halloween Havoc presented by Slim Jim at the peak of the Slim Jim/Randy Savage partnership and they are EVERYWHERE. The ring posts are even dressed up like Slim Jims.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Dean Malenko def Rey Mysterio Jr (c) in 18:32- Mike Tenay joins the booth for this one. Malenko has one of Mysterio's masks that he stole on weekly TV. He jumps Mysterio to start but we don't see it because the camera was on the crowd. Back suplex from Malenko for 2. He hits a spinebuster and goes for an early cloverleaf. Mysterio escapes. Long counter run, Malenko catches a moonsault, Mysterio pushes him into the corner, more counters, and Mysterio hits a drop toe hold that plants Malenko right on his nose. Springboard into a flying headscissors. Malenko powders and Mysterio does the 619 spin that he did for dive teases back then. Malenko gets the mask he stole. Mysterio springboard dropkicks him off the apron. Somersault senton! Mysterio reclaims the mask and swaps masks midmatch in the ring, managing to keep his face away from the cameras. Probably best not to ask what the mask smells like on the inside, lord knows what Malenko did with it. Spinny cradle from Mysterio for 2. Malenko counters another spin into a side suplex, then throws Mysterio on the top rope. He hooks on a single leg crab, then transitions into a bow and arrow type stretch. They go up top and Malenko hits a back superplex for 2. Head scissors. Mysterio rolls and gets a foot on the rope. Big Malenko delayed suplex for 2. Mysterio agiles his way into a small package. Malenko pops back up and hits an immediate basement dropkick. Camel clutch from Malenko. Tiltawhirl backbreaker. They go to the floor and Malenko runs Mysterio's back into the apron. Back in Malenko hooks on a sleeper, with a quick grounding and grapevine. After arm drops Malenko throws Mysterio back into the mat and puts the sleeper back on. More arm drops. Malenko kills Mysterio's momentum with a knee to the gut. Hammerlock suplex for 2. Both guys end up on the apron around the corner, both climb up, and both punch sending them both falling down to the floor! Mysterio tries to get something going on the floor but Malenko gives him a quick low blow to cut it off. Back in Mysterio counters another tiltawhirl for 2. Springboard senton and magistral cradle for 2. Mysterio tries for a poisonrana but Malenko blocks it. Standing switches, counters, and Mysterio works into a Euro clutch for 2. Malenko hits a huge clothesline in response. Another straight suplex for 2. Mysterio uses speed and momentum to get Malenko down to the floor. Springboard corkscrew to the floor! Back in Mysterio hits the hurricanrana with a cradle for a long 2. Another springboard....into a Malenko powerbomb! Mysterio kicks out! They both go up top again. Malenko sets up for the super gutbuster. Mysterio fights out. He goes for a hurricanrana but Malenko shoves him off. Back up again. Malenko gets Mysterio with a gutwrench powerbomb off the top! That gets the pin and Malenko the title back! Pretty decent pop for that win too, starting a trend we'd see tonight of heels getting cheered. You can't go wrong with these two. ****

 

Diamond Dallas Page def Eddie Guerrero in 13:44- This is billed as the "Battle for the Ring". Guerrero defeated DDP at the last Clash in August to supposedly win DDP's Battlebowl ring. DDP subsequently claimed that he lost the ring and has no idea where it is and isn't sure he was ever given a ring in the first place anyway. Increasingly obvious NWO ref Nick Patrick is assigned this match, wearing a neck brace and wincing in pain the whole match from something that happened on Nitro I can't remember. He does a hell of a job selling it though. DDP spits at Guerrero and Guerrero charges in. Backfist slap from DDP. Takedown from Guerrero and they brawl on the mat, rolling out to the floor. Guerrero gets run into the barricade. DDP goes into some arm work back in. Guerrero gets a hiptoss and armdrag. He tiltawhirl counters into a headlock. The headlock goes on for a while, but is never dull thanks to DDP's constant escape attempts only for Guerrero to get him back into it. Eventually DDP locks in a facelock. Guerrero bridges up and snap mares out. He dropkicks DDP into his rope pose, then punches him to the floor. Guerrero teases a dive and a plancha but sees DDP ready to counter and lands on his feet, then hits a chop and whips DDP into the guardrail. Slingshot senton back in. DDP pushes Guerrero into the corner and crotches him on the top rope. Patrick did not like that at all. Guerrero falls to the floor. DDP double ax handle off the apron. He goes for a leverage pin back in and Patrick catches it. Huge faceplant backdrop from DDP. Gutwrench gutbuster for 2. He hooks on an abdominal stretch and tries for rope leverage but Patrick is all over it. Guerrero hiptosses out. DDP hits a jawbreaker. Guerrero tries a tiltawhirl but DDP work it into a slam for 2. DDP gets upset at the count and shoves Patrick. Patrick shoves back! Guerrero covers DDP off it for 2! Nice. DDP and Patrick argue some more, with DDP backing off into the corner and finally offering a handshake that Patrick takes. Slugfest. Guerrero does a casual eye poke. DDP low bridges him to the floor. He goes for a gutwrench back in but Guerrero rolls into a roll up for 2. Lots of rapid fire cradle counters for near falls follow. Huge DDP clothesline to a pretty good pop. Are we in Vegas or Philly? Arrogant slow cover for 2. He goes for the faceplant again but Guerrero counters with a dropkick. DDP does the huge punt kick miss and Lebron flop. Guerrero hits some punches and a European uppercut. Mounted punches and another uppercut. DDP is selling like a madman. He goes to the floor. Guerrero crossbody off the top to the floor! Cover back in and DDP gets a foot on the rope. He snaps Guerrero over the top rope. Flapjack for 2. Powerbomb for 2. DDP pulls Guerrero up, hits the worst looking Diamond Cutter ever, and gets the pin. Pretty flat finish. Apparently Guerrero got hurt late in the match, probably on the crossbody to the floor, and they rushed the finish so he could get looked at. Shame, they were going damn good up to that point. DDP's improvement the past year has been incredible. We're also slowly starting to see some of the more heelish characteristics that would become synonymous with Eddie. Oh look, DDP found the ring! Probably right where he left it. It's always the last place you look. ***

Tenay and Savage host one of the worst prize drawings on a wrestling show ever. Not THE worst, that will always be the house giveaway at In Your House 1. Hey wrestling fans! Log onto Compuserve on that newfangled internet thing and you can hear the LIVE AUDIO of the PPV through RealAudio! As a teenager in the '90s that was there on the internet almost from the start this brings back so many memories. Wonder how much buffering you had to sit through for it to work. Next we go to Ted DiBiase, who's MC'ing at the separate NWO entrance area that's been set up in the crowd. He gets some words from the Giant, who then goes through the crowd for his match. Everyone in the group will do that tonight. The NWO, men of the people.

 

The Giant def Jeff Jarrett (w/Ric Flair) by DQ in 9:55- Giant has the US title belt, but it's a belt that he stole from actual champ Flair (who's on the shelf with a shoulder injury), not one he won. Jarrett has made the first of his many Monday Night Wars era promotion jumps, and for some reason WCW decided to bring him in as a face after he spent his whole initial WWF run as a heel. Being contrarian, I guess. Pairing him up with Flair didn't help any, at least here, he gets nothing from the Vegas crowd. DiBiase offered him a spot in the NWO on his debut and Jarrett refused, deciding to back up the Horsemen instead, so he's now an NWO target. Jarrett and Giant go nose to chest after the bell. Giant shoves. Jarrett hits him with a forearm and struts. Speed run and Jarrett gets another shot in. Giant is getting annoyed. Jarrett puts on a headlock. Bad move. Giant tosses him clear across the ring. Reset and Jarrett does some more dodging. Giant tosses him again. The crowd is starting to get behind Giant. I think we might be in Philly. Or Canada. Jarrett ducks a clothesline and hooks on a sleeper. Giant backs him into the corner but Jarrett gets it back on. Another backing and Giant gets free. Jarrett hits mounted punches. Giant looks wobbly....until Jarrett runs into a big boot. Cover and foot on rope. Elbow drop to Jarrett's back. And another to Jarrett's beltline. Backbreaker and stretch. Flair gets on the mic to distract Giant. Slow slugfest. Jarrett tries coming off the second rope. Giant catches him and hits another backbreaker. After some more back softening up Giant puts on a bear hug. Jarrett bites out. Slide under and dropkicks from Jarrett. He tries to slam Giant and it goes how you'd expect. Long 2 count for Giant on that. Jarrett gets a boot up in the corner. Double ax handle off the second rope and Giant is wobbelegged. Crossbody off the top! Giant's down! Jarrett gets a 2 count out of it. He goes for the figure four. Giant pushes out and sends Jarrett to the floor. Jarrett dodges and Giant runs into the Slim Jim post. Figure four on the floor! Giant goozles to get out! Flair comes from behind and low blows Giant, drawing the cheap DQ. Afterward the Horsemen all run in to back Jarrett up. Giant doesn't push the issue and leaves. Weak ass finish but Jarrett, a natural heel, did a very nice job of playing the bouncy babyface foil for Giant whether or not the crowd was behind him. **1/2

 

Syxx def Chris Jericho in 9:49- Syxx (Sean Waltman, the former 1-2-3 Kid and future X-Pac in WWF) finally made his contract shenanigans delayed debut on Nitro just after Fall Brawl as the sixth member of the NWO, hence the name. Wonder what his name would have been if he'd been the fourth man as originally planned. He swings a kick and strikes a martial arts pose after the bell. Jericho gets a takedown as they feel each other out. Hammerlock exchange. A long speed/dodge run ends in a stalemate. We see some Dungeon of Doom members have taken some ringside seats. Jericho gets a series of armdrags, followed by a big corner chop and corner clothesline. He goes up top. Syxx dropkicks him to the floor! Senton plancha from Syxx. He stomps all over Jericho's face back in. Chops and corner kicks. Jericho blocks a swing kick but gets hit by the other foot. Dodge in the corner and Syxx crashes into the top turnbuckle. Jericho comes back with punches and a backdrop. A back kick sends Syxx to the floor. Jericho crossbody off the top to the floor! Back elbow off the top back in for 2. Syxx lifts Jericho up in the corner and drops him face first on the top turnbuckle. He tries coming off the top. Jericho dropkicks him in midair! He covers but Nick Patrick is slow to start the count because of that damn hurt neck. Faceplant and Lionsault, followed by a Euro clutch. Again Patrick is slow off the mark and Syxx kicks out. The crowd starts to boo the obvious biased officiating, about the first time all night they've had a "normal" reaction. After some more dodges Jericho hits a crossbody off the top and there's yet another slow count. Syxx hits a spin kick and covers. Patrick is down in an instant and counts a quick 3. Jericho gets pissed at Patrick, who bails and helps Syxx back to the back. Just an OK match even before all the Patrick BS started up. **1/4

 

"The Total Package" Lex Luger def Arn Anderson in 12:22- This is fallout from War Games, where Luger and Arn were pissed at each other for losing. Sting is brought up but nowhere to be found as he's still on his "I'm pissed off at everyone" sabbatical. They jaw for a bit before Arn jumps and works Luger over. After a bit Luger decides he's done enough selling and hits a press slam, then 360 clotheslines Arn to the floor. Double ax handle off the apron. Luger runs Arn's back into the Slim Jim post. Powerslam back in. The DOD contingent in the crowd is openly rooting for Luger. Luger works over Arn's back, setting him up for the Torture Rack. Arn gets a back elbow in the corner. Luger crotches him over the top turnbuckle and Arn falls down into a tree of woe type position. Luger gives him some more back shots. Arn hits the World's Greatest Spinebuster outta nowhere and both guys are down. Arn shoves Luger down to the floor. He rams Luger's back around into almost every available object. Back in it's Arn's turn to do some back softening up. Abdominal stretch in the corner with middle rope leverage that the ref eventually catches. Luger blocks a DDT. Arn shoves Luger into the ref. They go to the floor. Arn gets a chair but Luger dodges the shot. He slingshots Arn into the post. Suplex on the floor. Luger gets the chair and works Arn over with it. Back in with a recovered ref Luger calls for the Rack, hooks it on, and Arn submits. Pretty dull match. *1/2

Luger refuses to let the Rack go after the bell. When he finally does Arn is clearly hurt. Flair and Jarrett run out to check on him. It's not directly related to the injury angle but this would turn out to be the last PPV singles match of Arn Anderson's great career, one that should get him into the Hall of Fame on his own, not just as part of the Horsemen. After that Mean Gene is still out negotiating a new contract so Lee Marshall does the Hotline shill, telling us there's exclusive news on Sting.

 

Chris Benoit and Steve "Mongo" McMichael (w/Woman and Debra) def The Faces of Fear (w/Jimmy Hart) in 9:23- Somehow the Horsemen/Dungeon of Doom feud continues despite the NWO sucking almost all the oxygen out of the room. Tony mentions that Flair and Jarrett left with Arn in an ambulance, which will be important later. Meng and Mongo start with Meng swinging a kick and Mongo quickly backing up. Shoulderblock standoff. Meng no sells a clothesline. HUGE Mongo tackle and Meng goes down! That was legit full speed. Both sides tag and Barbarian comes out aggressive on Benoit. Benoit maneuvers into hitting a northern lights suplex for 2. Clothesline from Barbarian. Benoit fights off a Boston crab and both sides swap again. Mongo wants a football snap. Meng wants to have a sumo exchange. Mongo accepts those terms, and quickly gets beaten back by Meng's superior hand technique. Mongo hits chop block tackles to Meng's legs. Superkick from Meng and Mongo goes down. The FOF work Mongo over a bit. Mongo hits Meng with a dropkick. Meng swats away a second one. Mongo dodges a senton (before Meng even left his feet) and tags. Benoit comes out firing chops. Barbarian PLANTS Benoit with a huge powerbomb! Big crowd reaction for that. Benoit goes Horseman in peril. He fights off a Barbarian superplex but gets crotched. Barbarian goes back up and belly to belly superplexes Benoit all the way across the ring! Cover for 2. The FOF hit a dual headbutt off the top rope. Mongo breaks the pin up. Suplex/top rope big splash FOF double team. Mongo pulls Benoit out. Debra gets him his briefcase and he whacks Meng with it! Benoit hits the headbutt off the top and gets the pin. Way better than it had any right to be, everyone here had their working boots on. **3/4

An enraged FOF attack the Horsemen after the bell, quickly backed up by the DOD members that were in the crowd once they know that Horsemen backup isn't coming as they're on the way to the hospital with Arn. Kevin Sullivan corners Woman and takes his shirt off. Uh, I don't want to know what he's thinking about doing and I'm pretty sure it would be against Turner's "family TV" guidelines. Oh, he just turns around and kicks Benoit. Good, no one needed to see that.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Outsiders def Harlem Heat (c) (w/Col. Robert Parker and Sister Sherri) in 13:07- The very pro-Outsiders crowd chants "Diesel" and "Ramon". Hall and Booker start with Booker getting the toothpick flip. Lots of caution. The crowd gets distracted by something. Commentary first says it's NWO related then realize it's just someone doing something stupid and move on. Booker armdrags out of a lockup. Arm wringer and hook kick. "Come on sucka!". Speed run and Hall gets hiptossed over the top to the floor. Ray hops down and gets a shot in. Tag and Hall spits on Ray. Nash tags in and gives the crowd a quick Diesel pose. Forearms to Ray. Corner knees and elbows. Ray gets a back elbow counter and clothesline then pounds Nash down in the corner. Sherri gets an eye rake in. Booker scissors kick for 2. Nash side suplex on Ray. Hall bulldog off the second rope for 2. Booker flying forearm for 2. Nash whacks Booker from behind on the apron and Hall hits a clothesline for 2. Nash big boot. Snake eyes. Hall hits a choke slam. He catches Booker trying a crossbody and hits the fallaway slam. Sherri gets on the apron. She slaps Hall! Hall kisses Sherri! Parker is furious. To be fair so is Sherri. Booker kicks Hall down. Hall puts on a sleeper. Booker escapes and puts his own on to a good deal of boos from the crowd. Hall crotches him on the top rope to get out. Midring collision. Tag to Ray. He press slams Hall into Nash. DONNYBROOK! The Harlem Hangover hits! For some reason Parker gets in the ring. Nash cuts him off, steals his cane, nails Ray with it, and drapes Hall over for the pin! The Outsiders finally win the tag titles that, in my opinion, they should have won months ago when the NWO first formed. Good match, Harlem Heat's best in a long while. ***1/4

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan (c) (w/Ted DiBiase) def "Macho Man" Randy Savage in 18:37- Hogan comes in through the NWO entrance they've been using all night and takes a minute to promote his current movies. He's wearing an absolutely ridiculous spiky haired wig that I think is from one of those movies. Savage's music starts before Buffer is done with his Hogan intro and they have to rewind it and start over. Savage's monster truck comes out to say hi for no reason whatsoever. A big show is made of the Giant getting tossed out before the match starts. Hogan, to the shock of no one, goes into epic stall mode. He's still got his sunglasses on. Finally Hogan grabs a headlock. Hit the ropes, shoulderblock, and Hogan bails to the floor again. More stall. Very slowly Hogan reaches out and knucklelocks with Savage, using it to get a shot in and goes into slow beatdown mode. With the sunglasses still on. Savage ducks a clothesline and fires back. Double ax handle off the top. THE SUNGLASSES ARE OFF! Savage puts them on! Hogan begs off. Savage says nah. THE WIG IS OFF! Now Hogan looks normal. Savage puts the wig on! Now Hogan's pissed. Savage punches him down to the floor. Hogan walks and Savage chases. He stuffs the wig in Hogan's mouth! Chairshot to Hogan's head. The ref blocks another and Hogan takes the opening to attack. Savage's shoulder is run into the post and Hogan crotches him on the guardrail. Chairshot from Hogan. Elizabeth makes her way out. They've basically been playing a copy of their old WWF feud, with Elizabeth caught in the middle of the two. Hogan yells at her and Savage rolls him up for 2. Hogan's tights get pulled down and his thong tan lines get exposed for all the world to see. Savage clotheslines him to the floor. Hogan begs off again and hides behind Elizabeth. Well that should look familiar to Savage. Back in Savage slams Hogan. A knee to the back sends Hogan out again. Hogan drags Savage out and then they repeat the exact same thing they just did- Hogan runs around and hides behind Elizabeth. This time Hogan throws Elizabeth into Savage and attacks. Big boot back in. Elizabeth runs in, checks on Savage, and shields him from Hogan. Hogan drags her into the corner and gives her a quiet dressing down. He goes for the legdrop. Savage dodges! Elizabeth blocks a Hogan punch and steals the knucks that he got from DiBiase. The ref gets clotheslined. DiBiase takes the knucks back. Nick Patrick is out to the groans of everyone. We all know how this is going to end. Savage elbow! Patrick comes in, counts....and stops at 2 because his neck hurts. Savage shoves him down and pulls the neck brace off. Hogan tries to use the knucks again but Savage takes them. He waffles Hogan! Savage goes up top to finish it off. DiBiase drags him down. Giant is back out. He choke slams Savage on the floor, drags him in, drapes Hogan on top, and an unquestioning Patrick counts 3. Don't bother trying to find any kitchen sinks in the MGM Grand, they were all used in this match. The wig stuff was amusing though. 3/4*

Giant brings in a bucket of ice water and dumps it on Hogan to wake him up.. Hogan takes a mic to brag to the crowd, but not long after he starts bagpipe music starts playing. I think we all know what this means. Here comes "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, last seen disrobing Goldust after the Hollywood Backlot Brawl at Wrestlemania 12, making his shock WCW debut. Normally you let the shock be the ending and save the rest for Nitro, right? Nope, not tonight. Piper has a mic with him. He and Hogan proceed to eat up nearly 10 minutes of PPV time rambling and stepping on each other's promos so bad that neither of them can finish a train of thought before being interrupted and sidetracked. It goes on so long that the show goes off air with Piper literally mid-sentence. The rivalry that gave birth to Wrestlemania is being renewed over a decade later, with maybe a tenth of the heat and impact.

The best way I can sum up a lot of the WCW main event moves in this era is this: Hogan had zero interest in working with new guys or trying to make new stars. He only wanted to work with guys that, in his mind, he could "draw money with", which of course meant a rotating cavalcade of the barely motivated or physically past it old guard cashing a paycheck and having one awful PPV main event after another.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Put a good main event on this show and you'd be talking about a borderline great PPV. That will be a recurring theme for most of the shows of the NWO era, at least the ones Hogan deigned to wrestle on.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-