WCW Halloween Havoc 1993

The Halloween Havoc series continues, with 1993.

From New Orleans, LA (Louisiana, not the one where the celebrities are, dumbass. Well, unless they can pick up some publicity). Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura. Tony is dressed up as Jesse, which needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.



Opening Six Man Tag Team Match: Harlem Heat & The Equalizer v Shockmaster, Charlie Norris & Ice Train: This was very early in Heat's run, and they were still being billed as Kole and Kane. Ice Train starts off with Booker T (like fucking hell I'm bothering to remember 'Kole' and 'Kane'), as I marvel at the fact that WCW didn't just throw the three black guys together as a team. Progress. He ICES UP, however, and the entire face side take turns abusing him until he gets off a tag to Equalizer. He doesn't fare any better, however, until Norris blows a cross corner charge, and Harlem Heat properly abuse him. Early version of the axe kick (done with a weird pivot) gets two, but a flying splash misses, and Norris tags Shockmaster. Fat splash finishes Booker shortly after at 9:45. This was fine for an opener, with minimal resting, but nobody was doing anything particularly exciting out there. ½*.

Paul Orndorff v Ricky Steamboat: Orndorff with a big backdrop to start, and we spill to the outside, where Steamboat takes a slam on the rampway. Orndorff tries to win it by countout early, but Steamboat launches himself back in with a clothesline. It misses, however, and Orndorff drops him with a side suplex for a series a two counts. And let the restholds begin! In this case, and long sequence with Steamboat switching up between a hammerlock and an armbar, as frankly, The Dragon doesn't look all that motivated tonight. Though, to be fair, if I were working in 1993 WCW, I'm not sure how motivated I would be, either. He dumps Orndorff with a couple of post and rail shots to the arm, and then it's right back to the resthold. Orndorff, the seasoned veteran, actually makes the mistake of trying an elbowdrop with the bad arm, which at least misses, but come on! That would be okay for, say, Alex Wright at this point, but not Paul Orndorff. He still manages a flying elbow smash (seriously, dude?), and a double knockout spot has me seriously hoping for a ten count. Steamboat with a flying chop for two, and a regular version gets two. Backdrop gets countered with a faceslam, and Orndorff tries the piledriver, but gets countered, and Steamboat with a slingshot into the corner for two. Flying bodypress, but the Assassin (Orndorff's manager) has the referee caught up, and he doesn't count. Steamboat gets dumped, and the Assassin nails him with a loaded mask shot, causing a countout at 18:35. Match certainly picked up towards the end, but it was way too long, especially for that ending. Ricky could still 'go' at this point, as the last year of his active career quite clearly showed, but this match needed ten minutes trimmed off of it, and better booking. ¾*.

WCW Television Title Match: Steven Regal v Davey Boy Smith: They actually bust out Michael Buffer to do the introductions, because it's a title match. Wow, they really must have loved throwing away Ted Turner's money. Were they lighting farts with hundred dollar bills, too? I mean, don't get me wrong, Buffer certainly adds prestige in certain situations, but for a Television title match? They fight over a wristlock to start, giving Davey a chance to do hit flippy floppy counters. I think the world missed out on a Bulldog/RVD showdown when we still had the chance. The amount of cartwheels alone would have been mind-blowing. Regal busts out his own cartwheel (making sure to smirk while he does it), which earns him a monkey flip, and they go into a beautiful reversal sequence, fighting over a snapmare. Davey blows a 2^nd attempt at a monkey flip, and slaps on a surfboard, drawing 'ooohs' from the crowd, and rightly so. Regal catches him with a knee off of a criss cross, and hits a great looking senton. European uppercuts (I always used to love that variation as a kid) leave Davey a pile of goo, and Regal goes for the kill, tying him up in a galaxy of submission holds. Davey gets a fantastic pinfall reversal off of test of strength for two, and hits the running powerslam, but it only gets two! Piledriver, but the time limit expires at 15:00, and Regal retains. Looks like somebody missed their mark there, as I would guess the clock should have run out as Davey was trying for the pin after his finisher - not after Regal kicks out of it, and he tries something else. Match was very good, but, hey, where's the ending? ***.

WCW United States Title Match: Dustin Rhodes v Steve Austin: Austin plays head games with him in the early going, dodging him, and sneaking in cheap shots. He actually gets a two count off of a simple snapmare, so Dustin tries it, too, but instead of actually trying for a pinfall (because, hey, it's a fucking snapmare), he just pounds the fuck away on him. Dustin with a dropkick off of a criss cross, and Austin gets dumped, hurting his knee. He tries to beg off, but Dustin is on him with a kneebreaker, and a leglock. Slugfest, and Dustin catches him with a backdrop and a jumping clothesline gets two. Bulldog looks to finish, but Austin counters it by crotching him on the top turnbuckle. As opposed to anything even remotely interesting happening out of that set up, the referee just helps him down, however. Oh, how sweet. Austin tries a spinebuster, but gets pounded, so he bails, and suckers Rhodes into a chase, ending with a spinebuster and two feet on the ropes, and we have a new champion at 14:10. Oh, but the referee saw the feet, and Dustin quickly rolls him up to retain at 14:23. I liked the callback to last year, with the false finish, but this match was slower than a Terrence Malick film. ¼*.

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio v The Nasty Boys: Bagwell and Scorpio were fresh off of winning the titles the night before from the Nasties on WCW Saturday Night, while the Nasties were just plain fresh. And not, like, black people style 'fresh,' I mean they smell. Bad, to be clear. Bagwell starts off but gets overwhelmed by the smell, until he dodges a double big boot, and Scorpio flies off the top with a bodypress to take out both Nasties. On the floor, Scorpio continues the assault, diving after them with a plancha. Back in, he uses an underhook rollup on Knobs for two, and he and Bagwell take turns working the arm of whichever Nasty happens to be tagged in - pretty much negating the point of a heat segment. The Nasties come back by nearly killing Bagwell with a double stungun, and a side suplex on the floor. Luckily for him, Bill Watts is gone by this point, and there are actually pads out there. Back in, Knobs looks to finish with a suplex, but it only gets two, so he does the next logical thing: restholds. The Nasties miss a double cross corner splash, and Bagwell finally makes the tag. Spinkicks for everyone! Moonsault on Knobs for two, and the 450 splash looks to finish, but Sags gets a cheap shot with the title belt in, and Knobs gets the pin at 14:38. This was decent, if unspectacular. *. A lot of people piss on the Nasties (I'm speaking strictly in a metaphorical sense here, mind you) for supposedly getting by due to their relationship to Hulk Hogan. Now, I'm by no means a Nasty Boys defender/fan, but, to be clear, their initial WWF run was directly due to their success in WCW (see: Havoc 1990), which had nothing to do with Hulk Hogan, and when they returned to WCW, they were already given multiple tag title runs well before Hogan was even in talks to jump ship. They're by no means a great team (hell, they’re a pretty outright shitty team), but whatever they are, they are mostly based on their own merit.

Sting v Sid: Sid jumps him, but gets slammed, and suplexed, so he bails to the floor to regroup. Sting doesn't let him breath, however, tossing him into the crowd, including a visually impressive bump to the rail. Back in, Sting with a flying clothesline for two, but Robert Parker (Sid's manager) trips him up, allowing Sid a chokeslam. Sid looked absolutely terrifying at this point, and I can completely understand why they had him penciled in for the Starrcade main event. Sloppy looking sidewalk slam, and they go to the floor where Sid love taps Sting with a chair. I'm typing harder. Inside, a powerslam gets two, and it's resthold time! Love tapping takes it out of big Sid! He doesn't skimp, though. We do all the Sid favorites! Bearhug! Chinlock! Shitting! Dropping a deuce is literally the point of no return for Sting, though, and he comes back with a bulldog, and a pair of Stinger Splashes. Parker tries to get involved again, but a miscommunication gets Sid rolled up at 10:40, which is odd booking as he was set to main event Starrcade, and this was when wins and losses still meant something. He would be gone from WCW within weeks, after having what I'll diplomatically call an 'incident' with Arn Anderson. Match was fine for what it was, though Sid looked very sloppy at many points. ½*.

WCW International World Heavyweight Title Match: Rick Rude v Ric Flair: Terry Taylor is the special enforcer, because God knows if you ever need to strike fear into a mans heart, Terry Taylor would be the man to do it. The title itself, if you don't already know what it is, just consider yourself lucky, and be done with it. Basically, it stemmed from WCW parting with the NWA, but still physically owning the Big Gold Belt, and being too narrow to realize they could start using the Big Gold Belt as the WCW World Title now that no one else laid claim - which they would eventually start doing in 1994 anyway. Flair with the chops to start, and terrific hanging vertical suplex gets one. Good for Rude - that was too early in sell more than that. Rude misses a flying knee, and takes a kneebreaker, and Flair grabs the figure four. Wow, I guess he really does not want to waste any time getting back to Fifi. Rude makes the ropes, however, and like any man paying for a room by the hour, now he's horny. And also pissed. He bashes his leg into the post, and chopblocks him. Hey grabs a leglock, but Rude dumps him, and they fight over a sunset flip on the way back in, with Terry Taylor making sure no one uses the ropes. Yeah, Red Rooster, ruin everyone’s fun. Flair with a great looking Cactus Clothesline, and he follows up with a flying clothesline to the floor. He tries another, but Rude gets him coming down, and grabs a chair, but Taylor pulls it away. Inside, Rude hits a backbreaker, but still sells the knee from earlier. Flying elbow smash gets a series of two counts, and he goes to the restholds. WCW then proves when they earned their reputation, as Flair does the Flip, but the camera man is standing right in the corner, and nearly gets killed (and kills Flair) in the process. Nice guys. It's not like it's, I dunno, one of his signature spots, or something. Might wanna prepare for it/not kill one of your biggest stars. You know, whatever. Rude misses something off the top, and Flair catches Rude with the Rude Awakening for two, and a backslide for two. Suplex, but a flying splash hits the knees, which Rude has the sense to sell the damage to himself as well - if briefly. Referee gets bumped on a criss cross, so Taylor comes in, but he gets nailed, too. Flair with a side suplex, and he gets hold of a pair of Rude's brass knux, and Taylor counts the pin, but the original referee saw the knux shot, and DQ's Flair at 19:22. This was the sort of bullshit finish WCW specialized in, and it really didn't help their 'International World' title gain any credibility. The match itself - while not the dream match I… had dreams of - was respectable, if overlong, and saddled with a bad ending. ** ¼.

Main Event: Texas Death Match: Vader v Cactus Jack: Once again this year, they blow the big angle (though, to WCW's credit, they literally did everything in their power to fuck it up) off with a 'Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal' match, but this time, don't actively ass rape the entire fan base live on pay per view, and actually go with something exciting, and fitting for this particular blow off. Vader was the WCW World Champion at this point, but the title is not on the line. They don't even make it to the ring, brawling in the aisle right away. Vader takes control, and tries to brain Cactus on the post, but misses, and nearly breaking his arm. Jack bites him, and grabs weapons from fans to abuse Vader with, ECW-style, as well as a chair, which he properly uses. I hope Sid was out of the showers by this point, and taking notes. Cactus with a suplex onto the rampway, and then a side suplex. He pounds Vader with some super stiff shots, so Harley Race (Vader's manager) tries to save with a chair, but gets nailed. They brawl over to the entrance area, and fall into an open grave (no Mick, not until three years later...) - the epitaph of which reads 'RIP VADER, in a nice touch' -  and both men take the time to blade while they're down there. Jack with a lariat, and he gets the pin, initiating a ten-count, but Vader's up at three. Jack whacks him with a piece of the set (a cactus, in another nice touch), then throws him off the stage, following him down with the Cactus elbow for another pin. Vader beats the count, so Jack just mercilessly pounds on the gash, and throws a table in the ring. Inside, he tries to Irish whip Vader through it, but it doesn't break, as Vader just pinballs off of it - which didn't look great. To the floor again, Cactus suplexes him onto the rail, but misses a dive into the crowd, and Vader backdrops him out there. Back in, moonsault gets the pin, but Jack's back at three. Vader dumps him (complete with a THUD as he lands on the ramp), so Jack tries a sleeper out there, only to get reverse splashed. Race passes Vader a chair, and he plays Babe Ruth, then DDTs him on it, as the EMT's run out. Vader won't have that shit, though, and shoves everyone out of the way to get the pinfall, but Jack's up before the count can even start. He hits his own DDT, so Race catches him with a taser, and Vader gets the victory at 16:00. Fantastic, brutal brawl, but Cactus needed to go over here. And if he were jobbing, this needed to be more of a situation where is loses after literally giving it all he has, crawling to his feet like Rocky in the last round, and also taking every last bit out of Vader before finally falling apart - not that bullshit taser ending. Still, **** ¼, easy.

BUExperience: The main event alone is enough to keep this out of the DUD-pile, but other than Regal/Smith (which is entirely decent, but nothing to go out of your way to see), this is an entirely forgettable show. Even so, the main event is a lot of fun, and well worth watching. **.