WCW Halloween Havoc 1999

From Las Vegas, Nevada; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.

Opening WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Disco Inferno v Lash LeRoux: LeRoux makes the mistake of turning his back on the champ, and gets clobbered with a clothesline, then stomped in the corner. Disco with a DDT, but a backdrop is blocked with a dropkick, and Lash bodyslams him for two. Powerslam gets two, and a pair of elbowdrops for two. Lash tosses him out to the floor for a shot into the steps, and an overhead suplex on the way back in gets two. Lash with a flying rana for two, and it's chinlock time. Disco manages a clothesline to break, and he tries tossing LeRoux out to catch a breather, but the challenger skins-the-cat back in, and hits a backbreaker. Headscissors takedown, but Disco drops him on his face to block, and hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. Russian legsweep sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, and a piledriver gets two. LeRoux catches him in a sitout powerbomb as he tries to finish, and he goes for the Whiplash, but Disco counters into an inverted atomic drop, and hits the Chartbuster to finish at 7:35. Lash was making a lot of effort here, but his timing and execution were way off - which was be expected, given that he was only a year into his wrestling career at this point. * ½

WCW World Tag Team Title Triple Threat Street Fight: The Filthy Animals v Harlem Heat v The First Family: This is for the vacant titles - vacated when Rey Mysterio Jr suffered an injury. For some reason, the Animals have the tag belts with them anyway. And by 'some reason' I mean WCW. They get right into a brawl, and it spills out to the floor within seconds of the bell, and into the crowd seconds after that. Well, saves me from having to fast-forward, so thanks! Everyone trades random weapon shots, until the big controversial finish, as Harlem Heat brawls to the locker rooms with Brian Knobs, whack him with a prop mummy (no, really), and Booker T pins him at 5:02. However, apparently (we don't see it on camera), Kidman has pinned Hugh Morrus in the ring as well. After some debate, the Heat are awarded the titles, as their pinfall came first. And I could not care less. Like, really and truly. No less if I tried with all my heart. DUD

Eddie Guerrero v Saturn: Big criss cross to start, ending in Saturn stungunning Eddie, and then clotheslining him for two. Another criss cross goes Eddie's way with a dropkick to the knee, and he tosses Saturn over the top for a whip into the rail. Inside, Saturn blocks a rana with a powerbomb, and follows with a springboard bodypress for two before grabbing a wristlock. Eddie escapes, so Saturn flapjacks him, and slaps on a cross-armbreaker. Eddie escapes again, but this time manages a snapmare before Saturn can grab him again - only to have a German suplex countered into a head-and-arm suplex for two. Saturn switches gears and goes for the leg with a grapevine, but Eddie rakes the eyes, and hits a side suplex for two. Eddie keeps things on the mat with an armscissors, but Saturn powers up, and hits a springboard moonsault for two. Second try, but Guerrero blocks with his knees, and hits a brainbuster. He goes for the Frog Splash, but Saturn rolls out of the way - only for a springboard bodypress to get blocked with a dropkick by Guerrero. Eddie with a rana, but Saturn alley-oops him into the corner, and Northern lights superplexes him. Crucifix powerbomb off the top to finish, but Eddie reverse somersaults out, and dropkicks him into a sitting position on the turnbuckle, then superplexes his ass down. Oh, but out comes Ric Flair to attack (Guerrero had recently stolen his Rolex), and there's a disqualification at 11:12. Wow, how low was morale in this promotion when these two can't break one-star? ¾*

Berlyn v Brad Armstrong: Armstrong manages to overpower Berlyn into the corner, but takes a cheap shot, and Berlyn goes for the arm. They trade hammerlocks, and Armstrong catches him with a dropkick for two. Headlock, but Berlyn side suplexes him, and hits a powerbomb for two. Leg lariat and a regular lariat get two, and a series of elbowdrops are worth two. Neckbreaker, but Armstrong grabs the ropes to block, and actually gets the shock pin off of it at 4:23. They were going for the 1-2-3 Kid/Razor Ramon thing here, where the enhancement guy gets an unexpected win, but unlike in that situation, Armstrong never really went anywhere. Bad match, too - basically a TV squash with a swerve ending. DUD

WCW Television Title Match: Chris Benoit v Rick Steiner: Steiner gets right to stalling by hanging out on the floor, though that strategy is more befitting of a heel champion than a challenger. He manages to lure Benoit into a chase, and clobbers him, of course. Into the ring, Steiner unloads forearms, and a clothesline, followed by a visually impressive alley-oop powerslam for two. 2^nd rope bulldog, but Benoit blocks, and superplexes him. Crippler Crossface, but Rick dives for the ropes and bails, so Benoit dives out after him with a tope. The brawl around ringside for a bit (with Benoit taking the majority of the bumps), and inside Chris manages a dropkick for two. Rick responds by bailing to the floor to stall again, as the crowd takes a collective nap. He catches Benoit with a low blow on the way back in, and he goes for the leg with some half-assed submission stuff that Benoit does his best to sell. Chinlock, as I spot Bill Apter at ringside in an nWo shirt. That's not really notable, I just don't have anything else to talk about with this match, and have plenty of time to survey the crowd. Rick with an inverted powerbomb into the corner for two, and a pair of release German suplexes get two. Note: the time between those three moves was a good minute each - Rick is just sleep walking out there. Benoit fires back with a DDT and a diving shoulderblock (time between moves: seconds), and the three-alarm rolling German suplexes get two. Steiner bumps the referee to both distract Benoit and avoid getting pinned, but ends up taking a head-and-arm suplex when he tries a chairshot. Chris goes for the kill (bad choice of words?) with a flying headbutt, but Rick blocks with the chair. Out runs Dean Malenko, but he turns on Benoit with a chairshot, and Steiner gets the easy pin at 12:49. Just terrible. It's not like Benoit wasn't trying, but there's only so much he could do when all he had to work with was restholds and stalling. Plus, Steiner deliberately attacked the referee. Why was he even counting the fall? DQ, right there! DUD

Bret Hart v Lex Luger: Bret goes right for him, and unloads a series of turnbuckle smashes to knock Lex out to the floor. He beats him out there with a shot into the steps, and hits a headbutt on the way back into the ring. Lots of choking, and they brawl back out to the floor, for more shots into the rail and such. Inside, Hart with a series of headbutts to the back, and a Russian legsweep gets him two. Inverted atomic drop and a backbreaker set up the 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, and he goes for the Sharpshooter, but Lex rakes the eyes. They both end up tumbling over the top (in a move-for-move exact copy of the sequence from Royal Rumble '94), and Bret hurts his knee on the landing (one he had previously hurt, prior to the match). Luger pounces on it, and hooks a half-crab in short order - Hart submitting at 7:47. There was a time when this might have been good. Unfortunately, that time was not October 1999. ¼*

WCW World Title Match: Sting v Hulk Hogan: Oh shit, it's that match. Okay, so Hogan stalls his entrance, then eventually comes out in street clothes, whispers something to Sting, and drops to the mat - Stinger pinning him at 0:03. The crowd rightly levels them with 'bullshit' chants for that finish, but Sting isn't satisfied either, and still wants someone - issuing an open challenge for later. The politics of this situation could fill a book, but basically, Vince Russo wanted Hulk Hogan to take some time off, Hogan didn't, so somehow this finish got booked, and Hulk ended up disappearing for a couple of months. This came off horribly, and everyone involved seemed embarrassed to be associated with it - you could practically see Sting blushing through his face paint. DUD?

WCW United States Title Match: Sid Vicious v Goldberg: Oh, but here are Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to attack Goldberg in the aisle during the entrances! Luckily, Goldberg forgets to sell, so the referee doesn't have to call off the match - and thank God, because this crowd would likely riot if they were still awake. Anyway, Sid attacks in the aisle as well, but Goldberg quickly shrugs him off, and kicks his ass around ringside. Sid blades along the way, but manages to catch Goldberg with a big boot on the way into the ring, and he slaps on a camel clutch - though he does it so close to the ropes that Goldberg is actually in them, and the referee has to pretend not to notice. Goldberg powers up with an electric chair for two, and he slaps on a headvise as Sid just gushes blood. Goldberg responds by hammering the gash, and a clothesline gets two. More punching, as Sid's blond hair turns disgustingly red, and Goldberg has to shake pools of blood off of his hands between shots. It just goes on and on like that for a few more minutes (with women in the crowd looking shocked), until the referee finally stops it due to blood loss at 7:11 - Goldberg winning the title. Total, unsatisfying crap. If anything, this garnered Sid sympathy, instead of giving us a satisfying conclusion to their feud. ¼*

Strap Match: Ric Flair v Diamond Dallas Page: This came about when Flair spanked Page's wife, Kimberly. Lots of whipping to start, and they spill out to the floor and into the crowd in short order. Fight up into the stands allows them to expose the business up close with some weak punches, and back at ringside, Flair lunges at Kimberly - forcing her to kiss him. And he's the babyface! Page goes nuts on him in response, and Flair blades - though it looks tame compared to what we just saw in the last match. Over to the announce table, Page whips him some more, and finally back inside of the ring, DDP drops an elbow for two. Flair blows him low to turn the tide, and returns fire with the strap. He uses it to lash Page to the ropes for a few unprotected chops, and he hits the shindrop before going for the knee. Figure Four gets a couple of two counts, but Page makes the ropes. Flair goes back to work with punches, but takes a headbutt to the little Flair's - and I don't mean Charles Robinson. Diamond Cutter, and Flair is done at 12:48. Well, that was anticlimactic. Boring brawl, too. ¼*

WCW World Title Match: Sting v Goldberg: New US Champ Goldberg answers Sting's repeated open challenge for a title match, and here we go - with only a few minutes of airtime left. And now Sting is suddenly in the mood to stall, but Goldberg manages to get him into the corner for a pair of kneelifts and some forearms. Sting gets knocked out to the floor, but Goldberg gets knocked into the post out there, and Sting brings him in for a flying splash - getting two. Spear, but Goldberg no-sells, and spinkicks him. Spear of his own, but Sting sidesteps, and hits the Stinger Splash. Two more for good measure, but Goldberg shrugs it off, and spears him. Jackhammer, and we have a new champion at 3:09. Uh, DUD! Not that this mattered anyway, as they vacated the title the next night on Nitro, since this was a non-sanctioned bout. Whatever.

BUExperience: I’m trying to think of something – anything – I liked about this show, but I’m at a loss. Kimberly’s titties, I guess? The problem with WCW was that it’s not like it was good before Vince Russo showed up (it wasn’t – at all), but it somehow got worse. This was like they took every bad part about WCW pre-Russo, and just amplified those parts, while muting anything that actually was worth seeing. The result? Easily one of the worst pay per views I have ever seen. Easily. DUD