WCW Halloween Havoc 1992 (Version II)

Original Airdate: October 25, 1992

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura

Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, and Michael Hayes v Tom Zenk, Shane Douglas, and Johnny Gunn: The future ECW faithful are sitting in the front row here, interestingly enough in the same seats they would later occupy every week at the ECW Arena. Arn starts with Johnny, and quickly takes a bump to the floor before bringing Bobby in to hammer Gunn. Criss cross goes Johnny's way with a backdrop and a dropkick, and Hayes tags in. He quickly throws a cheap shot, but runs into a hiptoss, and Douglas tags in to work the arm. It's pretty funny watching Shane Douglas play a pretty boy babyface in front of the same fans who later adored him as a hardcore legend. Shane backdrops Bobby and hits a headscissors before passing to Zenk to wishbone Eaton. Wow, Gunn and Zenk are hard to tell apart. Thank God they're at least wearing different colored tights, or else I'd be screwed. Tom runs into a side suplex from Anderson, and Hayes hits a pointed elbowdrop before grounding him in a chinlock. The heels cut the ring in half on Zenk, as the announcers openly acknowledge that the crowd seems to be supporting the heels. That's so much better than when the WWE insults our intelligence by pretending it isn't happening. Shane gets the tag, but before he can suplex Anderson, Eaton clips his knee, and they go to work on the part. Shane escapes a figure four long enough for the hot tag to Gunn, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Zenk nails Hayes with a superkick in the chaos, with Gunn capitalizing with a Thesz-press at 11:03. Decent enough. * ¼ (Original rating: ¾*)

Ricky Steamboat v Brian Pillman: This is the closest we ever got to Steamboat wrestling in ECW, basically. Feeling out process to start, with the Dragon dominating. He skins the cat when Brian tries tossing him over the top, and hooks a rollup for two, but gets sent into the turnbuckle. He plays dead long enough to sucker Pillman into an armbar, and a backdrop leads to a bodyslam, so Brian takes a cheap shot. That just pisses Steamboat off, however, and he matslams Pillman before unleashing some chops. Brian turns the tables by playing possum and nailing Ricky to turn the tide, and a headscissors gets two. Hiptoss, but Ricky counters with a backslide for two, so Brian delivers a facebuster. Superplex is countered with a gourdbuster, but Brian manages to dropkick Steamboat out of the air for two. He argues the count, allowing Steamboat to come at him with a side suplex, but Brian reverses a whip into the ropes to hook a sleeper. Ricky drops into the corner to force a break, so Pillman snaps his throat across the top rope and goes up - only to have Steamboat slam him off! Brian bails, but Ricky is on him with chops - only to run into a knee as he tries to bring Pillman back in. Pillman with some chops of his own, but the Dragon responds in kind, so Brian bails again. This time Steamboat is able to dodge the knee on the way back inside, but a corner charge ends badly, and Pillman hits a 2^nd rope flying bodypress for two. Steamboat responds with a backbreaker to setup a flying sunset flip for two - triggering a reversal sequence that ends in the Dragon holding a cradle for the pin at 10:34. Hot stuff, baby, this evening. Hot stuff, baby, tonight. *** ¼ (Original rating: *** ¼)

WCW United States Title No Disqualification Match: Big Van Vader v Nikita Koloff: Vader is pinch hitting for US champ Rick Rude here, in a weird bit of booking, and Madusa is barred from ringside. They slug it out early on (with Vader laying in some stiff blows on the challenger), and Vader hits an avalanche to setup a big clothesline. He dumps Koloff to the outside, but makes the mistake of turning his back, and Nikita comes in fiery. Inverted bodypress gets two, and Koloff tries grounding the mastodon in a chinlock, but Vader powers up quickly, and starts lobbing some more stiff shots in the corner. Another avalanche misses, however, and Koloff schoolboys him for two. Bodypress gets two, and Vader bails to regroup. Nikita is hot on his tail, but a whip into the guardrail gets reversed, and Vader drops him across it for good measure. Nikita tries to bail INTO the ring to get away from this monster, but Vader pulls him back to the floor to whack with a chair before leaving his ass out there to die. The crowd is just on fire for the violence, too. Koloff tries a slingshot sunset flip back in, but Vader counters with a seated senton splash, and he controls another slugfest with the challenger before casually chokeslamming him to setup a 2^nd rope flying splash for two. He grounds Koloff in a chinlock, which Nikita tries to escape with a side suplex, but that doesn't end well. Looks like a miscommunication there, with Koloff really straining himself. Vader tries a vertical suplex, but Koloff reverses, and he starts to mount a comeback effort in the corner. Series of shoulderblocks get two, and a bodyslam is worth two. Elbowdrop for two, and a clothesline sends Vader over the top - the crowd telling him to pick his ass up and finish Nikita off! Gotta love Philly. Koloff follows out for a brawl, but the Russian Sickle against the post misses, and Vader powerbombs him for the pin at 11:54. And that's basically the end of Koloff's career. Brutal, ultra stiff action here. Reading the original review, it looks like I must have been watching a heavily clipped version, and this was definitely better than that. *** ¼ (Original rating: ½*)

NWA & WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham v Steve Williams and Steve Austin: Austin is subbing for Terry Gordy here. Both teams feel each other out to start, with the champions generally controlling. Windham sends Austin to the outside with a big right hand during a criss cross, but Steve manages to get the better of Dustin during a reversal sequence - only to miss a cross corner charge. He tries a monkeyflip, but Dustin blocks that as well, and delivers a lariat for two. Tag to Barry with a big clothesline for two, and a floatover suplex gets two. Steve rakes the eyes to allow the tag to Williams, but Barry is ready with a drop-toehold to avoid the charging challenger. Williams tries railroading him into the corner, but Windham holds his own in a slugfest - only to miss a bodypress, and go crashing out of the ring! Williams uses a dropkick to keep him off the apron, but a vertical suplex back in is countered with a rollup, so Austin tags in to help double team a bit. Austin with a bodyslam to setup a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, and a vertical suplex is worth two. Back to Williams, so Windham tries a sleeper, but Steve drops him into the corner, and hits a bodypress for two. The challengers cut the ring in half on Windham, but Barry blocks a superplex from Austin, and hits a flying clothesline for two. That leads to a criss cross that ends in a double knockout spot, and Rhodes gets the tag! He comes in hot on both challengers, and a jumping clothesline hits on Austin to setup the Bulldog - only for Williams to save at two! Windham comes in to help, but the referee cuts him off, and Williams is able to blast Rhodes with a clothesline to give Austin a two count! Fire adequately extinguished, the challengers cut the ring in half on their new victim, until Rhodes fights off a half-crab by Austin for the tag - the referee missing it! Windham comes in anyway, and the protesting referee is quickly bumped. That allows Williams to nail Windham with a lariat, and Austin covers - a second referee counting a pinfall at 28:00! But wait, the first referee is quickly back on his feet, and still knows Windham isn't legal, so we re-start. That was a cute bit of booking, since no one expected the makeshift team to win the belts here, and now the crowd is reenergized for the real finish. They're on their feet as Rhodes sneaks in with a rollup on Austin for two, while Windham and Williams brawl on the outside - Roseanne Barr the door! Dustin hits Austin with a jumping clothesline for two, and an elbowdrop gets two - less than a minute remaining on the clock! Austin manages to fight Rhodes off long enough to try a tombstone, but Dustin reverses for two, and time expires at 30:28. This was solid stuff, with a relative lack of restholds for a thirty minute match, and worked in a completely different style than that boring mat-oriented Bash outing. ** ¾ (Original rating: ¾*)

NWA World Title Match: Masahiro Chono v Rick Rude: Harley Race and Kensuke Sasaki act as special guest referees for this - Harley inside, Sasaki outside. Feeling out process to start. Rude looks weird clean shaven. Some people were just meant to have facial hair, and Rick's one of them. Chono starts hammering the back with kicks until Rude bails to the outside for Madusa to massage, but Sasaki breaks it up and orders him back inside. Chono is waiting with a vertical suplex in from the apron, and a pair of cross corner whips follow. Snapmare sets up a Boston crab, but Rude looks to escape, so Chono works a reverse chinlock. The previously hot crowd looks bored out of their minds here, and resorts to yelling at each other to keep themselves entertained. There's a little kid sitting right beside all the hardcore ECW fans, and he hilariously joins in with their dickish behavior, including hitting on Madusa. See, that's the kind of hilarious shit I'd never notice if this was match wasn't boring as all fuck. After a long resthold exhibition, Chono takes Rude down for the STF, but Rick manages to block the crossface to stay in the game. He hits a piledriver for two, but Chono dodges a flying axehandle, so Rude snapmares him over for a chinlock. That was an awkward looking sequence, and looked like a miscommunication there. I think Chono wasn't supposed to dodge that axehandle, and it came off poorly. Rude keeps the glacial pace moving with a sleeper, as the crowd gets so restless that a fight breaks out, and everybody watches that instead of the ring. They should have given those fans a cut of the gate. Rude lets off the sleeper so he can try a flying dropkick, but Chono avoids it. Running big boot, but Rude dodges, and Race eats it instead. Chono tosses Rick over the top in the chaos, but a suplex back in is countered with the Rude Awakening - no referee to count! Rick goes up with a flying kneedrop, but Chono dodges, and gets the STF applied - Sasaki running in to call for the submission at 22:34. Ah, but Race says he saw Chono toss Rude over the top, and elects to disqualify Chono over it. Kind of needless, given that Chono was already the champion. I'm not a huge fan of the Dusty Finish, but it generally makes a lot more sense when you think you have a title change, but then it isn't after all. Retiree Race took the best bumps of the entire match! This one is coming off of a pretty famous match where Chono won the NWA title by beating Rude in a tournament final in Japan - one which is considered to be a classic. This match is less famous than it is infamous, however. The original may be considered to be a classic, but this one is basically a turd. What's sad is that I've now seen this terrible match several times, but I've yet to see the Japan match. -¼* (Original rating: DUD)

WCW World Title Match: Ron Simmons v Barbarian: Feeling out process to start, with both guys displaying their power, and going to stalemates. Simmons eventually manages to out smart Barbarian, and a few shoulderblocks send the challenger to the outside to regroup with manager Cactus Jack. Back in, Barbarian manages to get some traction with clubbering in the corner, but Ron turns the tables, and Barbarian bails. In, Barbarian hammers the champion, and manages to dump him to the outside for a trip into the post. Barbarian keeps control on the way back in, but Ron hooks a sunset flip for two, so Barbarian grounds him in a cobra clutch. Flying elbowdrop misses, and Simmons delivers a spinebuster for two. Bunch of clotheslines and a bodyslam setup the 3-point stance, but Jack distracts the champ, and Barbarian big boots him out of the ring. Cactus rolls him back in for Barbarian to finish, but the flying headbutt only gets two, and Ron powerslams him to retain at 12:43. The previous match has a more infamous reputation, but this is actually an even worse match. It's just that no one EXPECTED this to be any good, like they did Chono/Rude, so the disappointment level is much lower. That's a lesson for you kids: set the bar really low, and you won't disappoint anyone if you fail. But, hey, at least it had a clean finish. -¼* (Original rating: ¾*)

Main Event: Coal Miner's Glove Match: Sting v Jake Roberts: Jake immediately tries climbing the pole, but Sting pulls him down for a pair of bodyslams. He then tries to climb, but Jake cuts him off, and they feel each other out a bit. Nice to see that Jake got himself into shape for his big pay per view main event. I don't have to tell you that was sarcasm, right? Roberts works a side-headlock, so Sting tries a dropkick, but Jake dodges, and unloads a series of knees to the back before tossing the Stinger over the top. He follows for a trip into the post, but Sting reverses, and he adds a few more shots into the post for good measure. That allows Sting to climb the pole, but Jake stops him with a side suplex, so Sting goes to work on the arm that was hurt with the post. That is one extremely tall pole, and it doesn't look especially well attached to the ring post. Jake escapes a hammerlock by trying to hiptoss Sting over the top, but Sting lands on the apron, and crotches Jake on the top turnbuckle to stop him from getting the glove. Sting goes back to the arm, so Jake forces it to the outside, where he whacks Sting with a chair to shake him off. Say what you will about Jake during this run, but his psychology was never lacking. Roberts chokes Sting with some wrist tape, but a running kneelift misses. Stinger Splash also misses, however, and Jake hits a short-clothesline to keep control of the contest. DDT follows, but Sting stops him from getting the glove, and makes his own climb as the ECW guys sense the finish coming, and bail out of the building. Hey, gotta beat that traffic. As Sting climbs, Cactus Jack comes out to give Jake the snake bag, but before Roberts can use the cobra, Sting hits him with the glove - knocking the snake into Jake's face! Sting cradles him for the pin at 10:35 as the snake bites Roberts, though Jake pretty much has the hold the snake there and force it to bite him. Not a great match by any means, but the psychology was sound. Jake looked old and washed up, but still did a great job selling the arm throughout. The finish could have been cool, but came off as silly because the snake failed to play along. * (Original rating: * ¼)

BUExperience: Dueling referees? Screw job finishes? Objects on a pole? Guys defending titles they don't even hold? Snake attacks? Was this booked by Bill Watts or Vince Russo? A trio of good undercard matches, but things fall apart at the top of the card with the boring NWA title match, and the show never manages to recover. The crowd is a lot of fun, and gives the whole show a very proto-ECW flavor, which is especially cool when watching guys like Steamboat or Vader - who never wrestled in ECW - work in that environment. But that's hardly enough to carry a pay per view. Had Chono/Rude lived up to the reputation of the Japan match, you could easily forgive the junk, and give this a thumbs up based on the strength of the undercard alone. As is, not so much.

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