WCW Halloween Havoc 1994

Oh, what a difference a year makes. By the fall of 1994, WCW had signed Hulk Hogan, and was in the process of changing the entire direction of their product. The shows no longer looked like dimly lit indy hell (although, they were starting to come around to better production values by that point, anyway), and there are more than twice as many people in the arena than the year before. Or any previous Havoc, for that matter. On the way out were guys like Mick Foley and Steve Austin, while Hogan associates like the Honky Tonk Man, Brutus Beefcake, Jim Duggan, and almost anyone else who worked for the WWF in the late 80s started crowding the roster.

From Detroit, MI, your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Gene Okerlund, as the WWF influence already starts to show.


Opening WCW Television Title Match: Johnny B. Badd v The Honky Tonk Man: I kept typing 'Hinky Tink Man.' We may end up going with that. We'll see, no promises. Stallfest to start, until Badd gets a sunset flip for two, but gets chinlocked for having the gaul to try and actually speed the match up. Hinky Tink tries a rope assisted pin for two, and dumps him, but then realizes, 'wait, what am I fucking retarded? Titles don't change hands by countout. They change by chinlocks!' so he pulls him back in and does just that. Badd comes back with his Golden Gloves routine, but the time limit expires at 10:00. Ah, great. Will we never know who'll win a fight between Elvis and Little Richard?! Match was not only horrible, but had a bullshit finish to really make it bad. Not only that, but whose even heard of a ten minute time limit, anyway? -*.

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Stars and Stripes v Pretty Wonderful: The Patriot and Paul Orndorff start off, and the champs play pinball with him. Both men tag out, and Paul Roma hits an impressive flying headbutt, but gets caught with a bodypress off of a criss cross for two. Flying sunset flip gets two, and both teams take turns doing fairly uninteresting heat segments. I prefer that style to one long heat segment on a single guy for the bulk of the match, but these four are going the punchy-kicky route, with a few stop offs for elbow drops and slams. Roma with a super sloppy dropkick (it didn't even make contact), and Bagwell with an equally sloppy springboard bodypress, as both men sell like they've just spent an hour with Vader (he can supposedly be quite uninteresting on road trips). Bagwell catches Orndorff in a fisherman's suplex, but Roma comes off of the top with a gorgeous flying elbow to break it up, and we have new champions at 13:47. Roma actually pulled out the best spots in this one, though the match itself was sloppy, unfocused, and did not work at all. ½*.

Dave Sullivan v Kevin Sullivan: WCW's answer to the Hart Brothers feud, only with mental incompetence, and kayfabe brothers, as opposed to brothers kayfabing. I should note that Dave's entrance theme ("I Wanna Be a Hulkamaniac") doesn't even make any sense as, what, now you need to qualify to cheer Hulk Hogan? Ventura would have a field day with this. Dave gets suckered into a chase right away, and pounded, but he does his best Hulk Hogan impression to come back. Backdrop, but he eats tiny boot off of a cross corner clothesline. It's like watching Hogan/Andre, but Andre shrunk, and Hogan got fat and retarded. Like current Hulk, basically. Kevin with a pair of double stomps, but he gets slammed off of the top, and Dave HULKS UP!! but suddenly has second thought about finishing his little (size wise) brother. He gets dumped moments later, but the referee counts the worlds most illogical countout (as in, I don't even understand how Kevin was out there long enough for a C/O to occur, and Dave broke the count) at 5:17. Yeah, the Hart Brothers this was not. This wasn't even the Hart Brothers taking a shit. DUD.

Dustin Rhodes v Arn Anderson: Well executed wrestling sequence to start, but Arn complains of a hair pull. That spot got funnier and funnier over the years, as Arn's hair got thinner and thinner. Dustin responds by simply punching him in the face, and hitting an atomic drop. Upstairs, but Arn crotches him (hey, gotta teach him to respect his elders - no better way than by guaranteeing he can't have young'uns), but a superplex fails, and Dustin with a flying clothesline for two. To the floor, Arn misses a shot to the post, and gets rolled up back inside for two. Dustin charges, but Arn ducks, and Rhodes goes absolutely flying into to aisle. I mean, shit - he should have gotten a pilots license before trying that bump. Back inside, that gets Arn a series of two counts. Double knockout spot leads to a slugfest and Dustin catches him with the jumping clothesline for two. Arn with the DDT off of a criss cross, but Dustin wisely counters by simply grabbing the ropes. He continues to use the ropes by hitting a stungun, but Arn gets a sunset flip (using the ropes, of course), until the referee sees it, and Dustin reverses for the pin at 9:50. Excellent chemistry, timing, and booking. ***.

WCW United States Title Match: Jim Duggan v Steve Austin: Austin jumps him before the bell, and stomps a mudhole, but doesn't quite walk it dry, giving Duggan a chance to slam him around. He counters a side suplex, however, and takes out Hacksaw's knee. Duggan with a roll up, giving him a good look at Austin's special tights for the evening: 'US CHAMP.' Atomic drop puts him on the floor, as Austin runs into that dude who always showed up to mid-90s shows dressed like Hulk Hogan. I always picture that guys life - spending all his income on front row tickets, travel expenses, and endless amounts of tear away t-shirts. Likely living in a shitty studio crawling with water bugs somewhere - mail and burger wrappers piling up, as he's only there three days a week when he's not 'ON THE ROAD WITH THE GUYS, BROTHER!' I imagine his heartbreaks in '93 when Hogan went on hiatus (his face at the King of the Ring haunts my dreams some nights), and, of course '96 at the Bash at the Beach, when he, well, likely killed himself on the streets of Daytona. And the saddest part is, whoever lives in his shitty, water bug apartment now probably doesn’t even care about Hulk Hogan. Anyway, Austin hits a 2^nd rope elbow drop, but misses a second, and gets backdropped. Duggan unloads, but charges, and gets dumped over the top, causing Austin to be disqualified at 8:02, since actually blowing feuds off on major pay per views would be retarded. The match was a DUD, and knows it.

Vader v The Guardian Angel: Vader runs into Muhammad Ali at ringside (sitting with Sting), and pays his respects (not to mention, scares the shit out of his kid), but I think Ali is still caught up trying to figure out why Elvis and Little Richard were fighting earlier. Angel makes the mistake of actually slapping Vader around to start, and gets put into the corner for the full Vader treatment. And it looks like he gave it to him extra good, too, maybe showing off for Ali. To the floor, Vader eats the rail, but Angel stupidly wastes his time getting into a mini-match with Harley Race (Vader's manager) as opposed to focusing on Vader. It does lead to a neat spot where Angel slams Vader - right onto Race, though. Avalanche, and a suplex hit, but Vader come back with a series of jabs, again looking to be showboating for Ali. Dive off of the 2nd rope gets caught with a powerslam, however, and Angel hits a flying headbutt for two. Enzuigiri, but he gets caught in a slam by Vader, and the Vaderbomb looks to finish - but it only gets two! Another try hits the knees (big surprise there, I know), and Angel splashes him for two. Spinebuster gets two, and the not quite Bossman Slam hits, but Harley Race gets involved again, and Vader splashes him for the victory at 8:17. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: always have a manager. It doesn't matter how much of a cut they take - it's worth it every time. Match was a solid brawl, but needed a better ending as a blowoff to a feud that had been going on some six months. ***. Afterwards, Vader showboats for Ali some more, and it looks like this bromance is on! Of course, the term didn't exist in 1994 - so maybe Vader just wants to fuck him.

The Nasty Boys v Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck: The Nasties clean house (which, I realize, is an oxymoronic thing to say) to start, and Terry gets the honor of taking the pit stop. He shouts some decidedly not PC things afterwards, and then actually grabs a chair from ringside and just starts beating himself over the head with it. I'm not even sure it was part of the match, as he then tries to bail into the crowd, and no one seems to know what to make of it. Ah, WCW. Where the only reasonable thing to do with your bookings is crack your own skull, and then disappear into the cold Detroit night. That was the tagline for The PowerPlant during the first couple of years, actually, until Scott Hall, of all people, made them change it. He wanted something involving 'crack' and 'skull,' too, but a slightly different variation. The heels eventually have a miscommunication spot, allowing Sags to piledrive Funk through a pumpkin (in a visually impressive spot), and Knobs to get the pin at 7:56. This was a waste of time, as both teams can work well when booked correctly - particularly in 'street fight' style matches - but a straight tag match did not work at all. DUD.

Main Event: WCW World Title Career v Career Cage Match: Hulk Hogan v Ric Flair: Unlike the WWF, where they decided not to run this dream match at all, WCW ran it over, and over, and over again - until everyone got sick of seeing it all together. In this case we're in a cage, with both men putting their careers on the line, plus Mr. T as the special enforcer, 'cause, well, why wouldn’t Mr. T be the special guest enforcer for a career v career steel cage match between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair? Hogan, whose hairline had really been taking a hit around this period in the 90s, doesn't even take the headrag off as the bell sounds. Mr. Sensitive! He takes control early, and beats Flair from end to end of the cage, but Mr. T doesn't approve of the choking! In a cage match! So, he's not really an 'enforcer,' per se, but more of a wet towel. Flair takes over and stomps the knee, but T shoves him off, because... that's... illegal? Fuck, that wouldn't be illegal in a celebrity divas match, let alone a career world title main event more adjectives cage match. Did anybody bother to prep him first? Maybe remind him that he main evented two WrestleManias? Flair gets a great looking hanging vertical suplex (particularly because of the size difference) for two, and climbs, only to get crotched. Hogan with a small package for two, and a backdrop allows him to launch Flair into the cage some more. Side suplex gets two, and Hogan pounds away, again pulled off by T. If you're going to book a cage match, book a cage match. Put T on the floor to prevent interference, or whatever bullshit you've decided he's there for, but not stop actual action. That allows Flair to attack the bad knee (damaged a by a non Black Scorpion-like (they promise!) masked mystery man, who has been stalking Hogan for weeks), and he slaps on the figure four. Hogan reverses it to break, and they finally bump T when he gets in the way of a simple criss cross one too many times. Hey, he had that shit coming. Flair agrees, apparently, as he adds in a few stomps for good measure. Accidentally, of course. Hogan Hulks Up (!!), but Sherri (Flair's manager/designated driver/ho) dives off the top of the cage to stop him, while Flair handcuffs T to the cage to cover all of their bases. Meanwhile, that dirty masked mystery man pops out from under the ring, and clocks Hogan with a bat, allowing Flair another hanging vertical suplex, but Hogan Hulks Up (!!) again. Because, hey, Sherri ruined the first one, and these people paid good money to see what withdrawal looks like. He openly beats Flair AND Sherri (quite viciously with slams and clotheslines, too), and even as Sherri tries to quietly bail, Hogan pulls her back in for more, including the big boot. Wow. Linda should just play a tape of this match at any future court date, and be done with it. Flair eats the big legdrop, and T (still cuffed to the cage) counts the pin at 19:25, ending Ric Flair's long and storied career. The celebration doesn't last, however, as the masked man returns, but Hulkamania's still running wild and shit, so gets quickly beat down and unmasked as Brutus Beefcake. Both men look into each other's eyes, tears forming. Again, Linda, just a copy of this show will do you wonders. I remember this shocking me when I was, you know, nine... but main eventing Starrcade with it was beyond ridiculous. The match itself was solid, though had issues with the flow due to Mr. T's non-stop 'enforcing.' ** ½.


BUExperience:  People love to bitch about ‘The Hogan Era,’ and I can understand a lot of them – no one needs to revisit the Dungeon of Doom – but, honestly, this was the best Havoc in years. It also felt like a very ‘together’ show, as the production values were (while not at the level the WWF was at) miles ahead of where they were even months before, and everything came off as streamlined and professional for the most part. **.