WCW Halloween Havoc 1992

Truck on towards actual Halloween with our Halloween Havoc series, coming up on the ’92 show. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the 1991 Havoc, however, but I will work to get a hold of one, and fill in that blank eventually.

From Philadelphia, PA your hosts are Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura.



Opening Six Man Tag Team Match: Tom Zenk, Johnny Gunn & Shane Douglas v Arn Anderson, Michael Hayes & Bobby Eaton: Anderson and Gunn start, and Johnny quickly gets out foxed, so Zenk dropkicks Arn off of the top rope, to the unpadded floor. Ah yes, the Bill Watts era. Eaton comes in to avenge him, but gets caught with a backdrop/dropkick combo, and Shane comes in to work an armbar. He gets a headscissors takedown, and Zenk tags in to slap on a figure four, but manages to get a tag off to Anderson. He hits a quick side suplex, and dumps it to Hayes, who grabs a chinlock. Seriously?! You waited, resting on the apron to run in and jump him with a fucking chinlock?! And in a six man? He follows it up with a reverse chinlock, as apparently even reaching for a tag might be too taxing. Suplex is reversed, and both guys tag, giving us Douglas/Anderson. That... that doesn't go well for Shane, and Arn decimates his knee. Eaton with a flying kneedrop onto... the knee, and a figure four. He enhances it by using Hayes for leverage, even though it isn't a resthold, and perfectly acceptable in context. Tags to Hayes and Gunn, and the heels eat bodyslams. Big brawl breaks out, and Gunn catches Hayes with a Thesz press for the pin at 11:02. Energetic enough opener, but God, Michael Hayes could drag down a goddamn Beatles melody. ¾*.

Brian Pillman v Ricky Steamboat: They go back and forth for a while, but things heat up as Pillman goes for a suplerplex, but gets faceslamed off, but still has enough wits about him to catch Steamboat with a dropkick when he tries a bodypress on the way down for two! Side suplex, and he grabs a sleeper, riding him from behind for full leverage. The crowd's buying it, but Steamboat rams him into the corner to break, and then slams him off the top. Chopfest ensues, and Pillman gets a flying bodypress for two. Slam countered into a backbreaker by Steamboat, and he hits a flying sunset flip for two. It leads to a reversal sequence, which Steamboat wins, for the pinfall, at 10:25. Fun, fast paced match. *** ¼.

No Disqualifiction WCW United States Title Match: Vader v Nikita Koloff: Rick Rude was actually the US Champion at this point, but because he was scheduled to wrestle later, Vader defended the title for him - which is actually very Russo-esqe booking for 1992. Serious slugfest to start, until Koloff gets caught in the corner, and eats an avalanche. A 2^nd misses, however, and Koloff rolls him up for two. Bodypress gets two, and Vader bails. Koloff tries to post him, but Vader moves, and Koloff near breaks his arm running into the ringpost. Back inside, Vader smells blood, and drops him with the powerbomb for the pin in 5:00 to 'retain.' Not a bad match, but not long enough to really go anywhere. ½*.

NWA & WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes v Steve Williams and Steve Austin: This was during the period when the NWA and WCW titles were unified. And, also, before Steve Austin became the biggest star in the history of history. Rhodes and Williams start, and Dustin eats a series of clotheslines, but outmanuvers him into his own. Both men tag out, and Windham and and Dustin play pinball, and cut the ring in half, until Austin catches Windham with a jab, and tags out to Dr. Death. Big slugfest ensues, won by Barry, surprisingly, but he misses a bodyblock off of a criss cross, and gets dropkicked to the floor. He counters a suplex back in with a roll up for two, but gets caught by Austin, and now it's their turn to cut the ring in half - although their offense is generally far superior to Barry & Dustin's array of clotheslines. Austin tries to catch Windham with a superplex, but that's simply going too far, and Barry won't have that shit so he tosses him off, and a flying clothesline gets two. Double knockout spot finally allows him to get the tag off to Dustin, and he's a house of arson. Bulldog on Austin gets two, saved by Williams, but Dustin is still running around setting things ablaze like a little fuck, so Dr. Death simply decks him. Hey, works at parties, too. Austin with an overhead backbreaker, and they go into the Flair bridge counter sequence for a couple of two counts, as Jesse starts talking about the possibility of a time limit draw occuring. Nah, they wouldn't do that, don't worry. Williams with a gourgous suplex for two, and an overhead suplex for good measure. He and Austin trade off on Rhodes, and he gets a blingtag to Windham. He comes in anyway, triggering a a referee bump during the big brawl, and Austin pins Barry when a second referee runs in to count the fall at 28:00. WCW pops up a 'time remaining' countdown clock, despite the fact that, supposedly, we have just seen the ending. The match keeps going, as the pinfall wasn't legal, though it's fallen apart into a giant brawl. The dust settles on Rhodes/Austin, with Dustin hitting a tombstone, but the time limit expires at 30:00. Too long for what it was, with a few logical gaps to boot, but everyone out there knows how to work a broadway. ¾*.

I normally skip over these segments, but Sting comes out to 'Spin the Wheel/Make the Deal' for his Main Event match against Jake Roberts. They had a (at least when I was a kid) dream feud going, and for the blowoff, WCW decided to have a hot gimmick match on pay-per-view. Okay so far. Oh, but then they added a demented midget into the mix (really...), and make a mini-movie where lasers shoot out of everyone’s eyes. Also, they didn't bother actually telling anyone what the actually gimmick would be, saying that Sting would determine by spinning a Wheel of Fortune type wheel at the show. Okay, other than the weird midget thing - I can still go along with it. Anyway, the choices are: Texas Bull Rope, Spinners' Choice, Russian Chain, Dog Collar, I Quit, Barbed Wire, Cage, Lumber Jacks with Belts, Prince of Darkness, Texas Death, Coal Miners Glove, and First Blood. Almost all of those sound interesting - except maybe one. So, of course we get Coal Miners Glove. Hey, why not? You've already suckered a bunch of people into buying this show, why not ass rape them a little bit while you've got them there? Sure. Why they didn’t go with something as simple and effective as Texas Death, to this day, I don’t understand.

NWA World Title Match: Masahiro Chono v Rick Rude: Harley Race AND Kensuke Sasaki are special referees. Slow feeling out process to start, as Jesse marvels at the fact that Rude has shaved his mustache for the event tonight. It is, infact, unsettling. His lips look so angry. Like they need therapy, or something. They go to restholds (sorry, 'Devastating Submission Holds') early on, as even Harley Race starts to look a bit bored. Rude gets a nonchalant piledriver for two, and tries a flying axehandle, but Chono simply takes a few steps back to counter. Rude decides to try some lower risk offense, and goes back to the chinlock. Crowd wakes up! - as apparently there is an actual fight taking place in the audience to entertain them. This is on you, Bill Watts. This match is literally driving people to violence. Rude misses a missile dropkick, but ducks Chono's big boot (allowing Race to take a nice bump off of it), and hits the Rude Awakening, but there's no referee. Yep, they're playing dueling referees. Are you sure Vince Russo didn't book this show? Rude regroups, and tries a flying fistdrop, but misses, and gets locked in an STF, and now Sasaki runs in and calls a submission at 22:23. Race runs back in, however, and raises Rude's hand, calling a DQ for the big boot, though that doesn't change the title. Race's decision stands. Bad finish to a bad match. Not bad within the logic of the match, just bad booking in general. They really could have done World Title v US Title, too, since Rude won by DQ, and would have retained, anyway. DUD.

WCW World Title Match: Ron Simmons v The Barbarian: Simmons is a bouncing babyface here, and Barbarian (who was/is never a World Title level contender), is being backed by Cactus Jack. What's retarded here is you have a new title - it doesn't have the prestige of the NWA World Title, and you're trying to establish it. Is the best way to do that really giving the fucking BARBARIAN shots on major pay per views? I mean, Cactus Jack literally standing on the floor - not even booked on this show. Maybe that's an idea? Barbarian controls the early going, and posts the champion on the floor. Inside, Simmons gets a sunset flip to try and mount a comeback, but Barbarian realizes, 'hey, seriously, a fucking sunset flip?' and just continues beating the piss out of him – though not actually, as Simmons does manage to hold it in his tinkler. Simmons has a bit of better luck with a spinebuster, which gets two, and he takes over with shoulderblocks, only to get caught up with Cactus Jack. Barbarian hits his impressive flying headbutt for two, but gets caught in a powerslam, and Simmons retains at 12:40. Nothing to see here, but it was inoffensive. Slightly weird booking, as Simmons used the spinebuster as a transition move here, and finished with a powerslam, when the spinebuster out of nowhere would have been much more appropriate. ¾*.

Main Event: Coal Miner's Glove Match: Sting v Jake Roberts: It's basically a 'weapon on a pole' match, by any other name. Jake checks the stability of the pole to start, which, on all fairness, is probably not a bad idea. He doesn't even bother tying up with Sting, instead running right up the pole. Sting stops that right away, of course, and we starts propers! Hey, you can't blame him for trying. Someone told him Sissy Spacek's panties were up there, and, well, for Jake you don't fuck around with that shit. Or, actually, you do. But that's not something we're getting into during a review of Halloween Havoc 1992. Sting misses a dropkick off of a criss cross, and Jack works the back, looking about twenty pounds heavier, and as many years older than when he left the WWF. To the floor, Jake eats post a couple of times, as Sting works the arm. Sting makes the climb (of the extra tall pole - kudos WCW), but Jake stops him with a side suplex. He remembers to sell the arm, though, and Sting goes back to work on it, and Jesse tries to convince the audience that they didn't get screwed with the Coal Miner's Glove stipulation. They spill to the floor again, and Jake whacks him with a chair and chokes him out with his wrist tape to take control. He suckers Sting into trying the Stinger Splash - which he misses, and Jake nails the short clothesline. DDT, but it takes as much out of him as his arm is still banged up. He climbs, but Sting drops him, and gets the glove himself, as Cactus Jack runs down, and tosses a cobra filled bag in to Jake. Sting pops him once with the loaded glove, causing the snake to 'bite Jake,' and Sting gets the pin at 10:34. The match was fine, and actually quite psychologically sound, but in terms of a hot blow off, failed miserably. Jake never even got hold of the glove, Sting only got off one shot with it, and it all ends with a poor copy of the WWF's snake bite angle from the year before. * ¼, and one of the bigger disappointments of the era. I stand by the idea that they should have went with a Texas Death Match.

BUExperience: Pillman/Steamboat is a lot of fun, but not nearly enough to hold up an entire show, not to mention too short to do so. The rest seems like a lot of missed opportunities, as a result of poor booking. Vader/Koloff could have been interesting, but was over in the blink of an eye, yet the tag title match went a half an hour. The main event was a hot angle, yet was given the most boring of gimmicks to blow off the feud – and even that match wasn’t booked properly. Don’t go out of your way to seek this one out – unless you really, really want to see lasers shooting out of Jake Roberts’ eyes, without doing LSD with him. *.