WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 (Version II)

Original Airdate: October 29, 1995

From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

Opening WCW Television Title Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Johnny B. Badd: Badd sneaks in through the crowd to jump Page, and puts him down with a kneelift right away, then sends him over the top with a corner whip. That summons Max Muscle over to try and help the champ, but Johnny fights him off, and they spill into the crowd, where Badd whips Page back over the guardrail. He finds a random bucket out there, and puts it over Page's head for a shot into the post, then inside with a drop-toehold into an armbar. Quite the opening salvo there from Johnny. DDP escapes the armbar, so Johnny hiptosses him for two, and a dropkick puts Page in the corner for a ten-punch - countered with a hotshot. He pounds on his challenger for a while, and hits a side suplex, followed by a forward-falling piledriver for two. That's a cool spot that you never saw enough of. DDP works a chinlock, but Badd counters a hiptoss into a backslide for two, so Dallas drops him with a short-clothesline for two. Backdrop, but Johnny uses a sunset flip for two, so Page again cuts him off, this time with a kneelift. Scoop powerslam gets two, and we go back to the chinlock. Page tears off a strand of his wrist tape to choke Johnny down with, but Diamond Doll doesn't approve. If memes were a thing in 1995, we'd totally see a Diamond Doll Judges You one. Badd fights out of the choke with a side suplex, and manages an inverted atomic drop before Page can cut him off again. Johnny with a standard atomic drop, and a few right hands rattle Dallas for a headscissors takedown. Badd with a flying axehandle, and Doll actually gives him a 'ten' for it. Badd with a sitout powerbomb for two, but a powerslam is countered with a DDT for two. Diamond Cutter, but Badd holds the ropes to block, and Page ends up taking a spill over the top. Johnny dives after him with a somersault plancha, and he adds a slingshot splash for two on the way back in. That brings Max into play again, but his interference backfires, and Johnny schoolboys the champion for two. Page desperately dumps him to the outside, but Muscle fucks up again, and we have a new champion at 17:00! Maybe a little on the long side for what they brought to the table, but totally watchable. ** (Original rating: * ½)

Randy Savage v Zodiac: Zodiac attacks him from behind, when suddenly a fan runs into the ring, and they have to spill to the outside while the referee holds him back until security can show up. He's really wild too, looking like he wants to kill Savage. They should have signed that kid as the newest member of the Dungeon of Doom. It's kinda early in the show for anyone to be drunk enough to charge the ring, no? And besides, how drunk would you have to be where you think it's a wise move to pick a fight with the MACHO MAN?! Anyway, once he's cleared off (still wildly thrashing the whole way up the aisle), Zodiac hits Macho with a bodyslam, but Savage shrugs it off, and finishes him with the Flying Elbowdrop at 1:29. Barely a match. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Road Warrior Hawk v Kurasawa: Hawk blitzes him to start, hitting a jumping shoulderblock, and a neckbreaker to set up a fistdrop for two. Charge in the corner misses, but Hawk totally no-sells it, and gutwrench slams him. He follows with a powerbomb, so Colonel Robert Parker trips him up, and Kurasawa capitalizes with a bodyslam, but misses a flying elbowdrop. Usually works for Savage. Hawk knocks him over the top with a clothesline, but gets distracted by Parker again, and sent into the post. Inside, Kurasawa backdrop drivers him, and a Samoan drop follows for a leveraged pin at 3:18. Kind of a mess, but it was quick. ¼* (Original rating: *)

Mr. JL v Sabu: I'm honestly not sure why they put Jerry Lynn under a mask, since he had good look to play a plucky babyface. Sabu charges in, but JL sends him to the outside - only to miss a baseball slide, and get him with a springboard moonsault press out there. Sabu tries a whip into the rail, but JL reverses, so Sabu tries a bodypress, but JL ducks. JL dives off the top with a flying bodypress before taking things inside, where Sabu misses a flying moonsault press. JL hits his own for two, and a sitout powerbomb is worth two. Charge misses, allowing Sabu a slingshot somersault legdrop for two, but he gets bridging German suplexed for two while climbing the ropes! JL goes up, but Sabu follows, and hits a victory roll off the top for two! Sabu climbs again, but JL uses a springboard dropkick to knock him over the top to the outside, but Sabu fights off the follow-up, and hits a slingshot moonsault for the pin at 3:24! Short, but ALL action, and full of stuff you didn't see a lot of in the US in 1995! *** (Original rating: **)

Lex Luger v Meng: Congratulations go out to WCW, as they've managed to make one of the most legit badass guys in the world of wrestling look like a complete dork with his new entrance cape. If Luger wins this, he wrestles Randy Savage later, since Macho won his own match against the Dungeon of Doom earlier. Luger slugs away at him, and unloads a series of turnbuckle smashes, followed by a catapult into the corner. Looked like that one took every bit of his physical strength to pull that one off, too. More than slamming Yokozuna, even. Meng hooks a small package for two, but a turnbuckle smash of his own gets reversed, and Luger clotheslines him over the top. Lex follows to send him into the post a few times, but it literally comes back to bite him, and Meng topples him during a side suplex for two. Shoulderbreaker follows, and Meng works him over in perhaps the dullest manner imaginable. And I'm a very imaginative guy. Piledriver gets two, and Meng works a chinlock. Lex slugs free, and hits a bodypress for two, but gets shoved into the corner, and kept down with a side suplex for two. Meng tosses him to the outside for Kevin Sullivan to taunt, but Sullivan doesn't physically abuse Luger in any way, adding fuel to the fire that Lex is an undercover Dungeon of Doom member. The announcers are all shocked that Kevin isn't interfering, though to be fair, Lex has been getting pounded for the last five minutes, so it doesn't look like Meng really needs any help at the moment. Whoops, spoke too soon, as Meng misses a dropkick, and Lex is able to reverse a vertical suplex. Luger mounts a comeback, so Meng pulls out a spike, and jabs Luger in the throat with it, but now Sullivan suddenly comes in to attack Luger before Meng can pin, and Lex wins by DQ at 13:12. This was really boring, and could have made the same point in half the time. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

Sting and Ric Flair v Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman: Flair got jumped by Anderson and Pillman earlier in the night, and isn't in the ring as the bell sounds, leaving Sting to go it alone. Sting starts with Anderson, and knocks the Enforcer around to start. Arn ends up on the outside with Pillman to strategize, and apparently whatever plan they land on involves Arn getting bulldogged by Sting on the way back in, 'cause that's exactly what happens. Pillman suckers Sting into a chase to allow Arn to try a sneak attack, but it backfires on them, and both Horsemen end up down on the outside. Inside, Sting press-slams Pillman, so Arn tags in and tries a piledriver, but Sting counters with a catapult into the corner - crotching an attacking Pillman on the top rope! Sting sends Brian flying down into the rail from up there, but gets overwhelmed fighting a two front battle, and the heels take over - just as Ric Flair runs out in street clothes! I get that he got jumped, but he couldn't change? Flair is in the game, but Sting is getting pounded, and the Horsemen cut the ring in half to prevent a tag. The fact that the bulk of the crowd still thinks Flair isn't going to turn on Sting here says a lot about the population of Detroit. Like seriously, maybe you felt one thing coming into the building tonight, but once Flair 'got jumped' before the match, that didn't set off alarm bells for you? Even Sting basically knew it was coming this time, and you have to be pretty dumb to out dumb Sting. The match drags a little as the Horsemen work Sting over, not because they're working in a boring way, but more because the turn is so obvious. Sting finally manages to get the tag off to Flair, and the place explodes, but Ric promptly turns on Sting - getting himself disqualified at 17:56, but also winning the match, since Sting is technically his partner. I loved how Flair didn't even pretend he was gonna lock up with Anderson, just marching right in and nailing Sting right away. Slick Ric, baby! Sting, of course, loses his shit, and tries to make good on his promise of leaving Flair 'dead, dead, dead' if he turns on him, but he gets overwhelmed fighting three guys, and takes an old school Horsemen beat down. I know a lot of people really love this one, but I think a lot of that is residue from the great angle more than what was happening between the ropes. There was a lot of great psychology going on here, but the heat segment dragged a lot, and you couldn't not see the turn coming. * ¾ (Original rating: **)

Sumo Monster Truck Match: Hulk Hogan v Giant: Eric Bischoff and Bob Chandler (creator of the Big Foot monster truck) replace Schiavone on commentary for this one. These two are set to square off for the WCW World Title in the main event, but it wouldn't be a proper showdown if they didn't have a sanctioned crashing of their monster trucks first. Basically, they're on the roof of the adjacent Cobo Hall, their trucks welded together at the front bumper, and the object is to force the other mans truck out of the circle. The segment is presented as being live, but was actually taped the day before. Too bad Vince didn't think to give the results away on Superstars that morning. Anyway, not particularly exciting, but the real good stuff comes after Hogan forces Giant's truck out of the circle for the win, as they start fighting, and Hogan literally throws Giant off the roof of the arena! Well, that's certainly one way to get out of jobbing a title. Too bad Shawn Michaels wasn't watching this one – imagine WrestleMania 13 if he had been. Okay, so Giant's dead. That's a shame. Next match, please

Randy Savage v Lex Luger: Lex tries to convince Savage he hasn't sold out to the Dungeon of Doom, but Macho isn't buying it. I'd at least give Lex the benefit of the doubt, considering what happened when Tatanka accused him of selling out the year before. Lex wins a slugfest, and stomps Randy down in the corner, then tosses him to the outside. Lex dives after him with a flying axehandle off of the apron, but Savage reverses him into the rail, and adds a shot into the steps out there for good measure! Back in, Randy tries a flying axehandle, but Luger gut-punches him to block, and hooks a leveraged pin, but Jimmy Hart has the referee distracted, so no count. Lex tries to whip Randy into Hart, but gets reversed, and Savage capitalizes with the Flying Elbowdrop at 5:23. I can guarantee you that if the WWF was booking this, it would have been a lot better. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Giant: This is actually Giant's debut match. Unfortunately, it's obviously off now, what with Hogan killing him, and everything. The best part of the whole thing (and there are a lot of best parts) is the announcers wondering whether or not Giant is going to be able to compete after falling to his death. Hogan comes out, and let's us know what happened was real, and wasn't 'supposed to go down that way' (I'm glossing over about six 'brothers' there), which is just one of many 'Hogan referencing kayfabe' moments from late 1995 - including actually tearing up a copy of the Wrestling Observer newsletter in November. Giant shocks us all by coming out anyway, and even took the time to change out of his monster truck jumpsuit, and into his wrestling gear. That's one hell of a no-sell. I'm sure even Road Warrior Hawk was blushing when he saw that. Of course, no one could tell 'cause of the face paint. Hogan is dressed like his future Hollywood persona here, with only small differences. Hulk slugs away at him, but fails to execute the bodyslam, and Giant slugs back. Giant works a double-knucklelock, but Hogan starts to power up, so Giant throws an elbow, and hits a bodyslam. Hulk manages to get him into the corner for a ten-punch, and he uses a few backrakes on the challenger before corner clotheslining him. Another clothesline sends Giant over the top, so Hulk stops to bash his head together with Kevin Sullivan's before taking things inside. He keeps hammering Giant, but runs into a sidewalk slam for one, and Giant grabs a bearhug. Hulk tries to slug free, so Giant bodyslams him again, and goes back to the hold. I get that Hogan wanted to relive the Andre feud (and who could blame him?), but did they have to rip off the worst parts of broken down Andre's arsenal? Hulk slugs free again, so Giant drills his ass with the Chokeslam, but it triggers the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Eyerake! Bodyslam! Legdrop! But Jimmy Hart takes out the referee for a DQ at 14:30! Hulk doesn't get why his own manager would do that, so Hart whacks him with the title belt to make sure Hogan gets the message! As Giant, Hart, and Sullivan beat Hulk down, Savage and Luger run in to make the save, but Luger quickly turns on Savage to join the DOD! That makes the Sullivan attack on him earlier a little more logical, although why he didn't 'attack' Luger in the first minute of the match to save his guy from wrestling a long match doesn't really make sense. Not to mention that it makes wrestling look phony, since Luger and Meng were apparently on the same team the whole time! Unless Sullivan didn’t let Meng in on the secret, in which case, again, why not attack Luger in the first minute? Further, since Jimmy Hart was also turning to the DOD, why did he cost Luger his match to Savage by distracting the referee? All of those colossal lapses in logic summon an actual mummy to the ring (Yeti) to bearhug Hogan from behind... while swiveling his hips. Talk about a double-team! The Dungeon beat Hogan and Savage down, as Giant takes the WCW Title, since Jimmy Hart had shoehorned a clause into the contract without Hogan’s knowledge, saying that the title could change hands by disqualification. Giant was stripped of it a week later though, setting up the first World War 3 battle royal for it the next month. Match was not only poor from a workrate perspective (punchy-kicky, restholdy, downright awful selling from Giant, all on top of a horrible ending), but outright silly, embarrassing, and openly insulting to your intelligence as a viewer. It did manage to shock the crowd though, which was the intention. What a start Giant had to his career. I mean, how many wrestlers can say they not only won the world title in their DEBUT MATCH, but beat HULK HOGAN to do it? –½* (Original rating: -*)

BUExperience: WCWs terrible pay per view streak continues. You really can’t overstate how important Nitro was for this promotion. Compared to a lot of their earlier pay per views in 1995, this wasn’t necessarily a lot better in the ring (worse, in some cases), but the overall presentation felt a lot better. Going live every week with exciting TV (as opposed to the weekend shows that were pre-taped way in advance that made up their television lineup pre-Nitro) was exactly the kick in the pants this promotion needed, and while this show wasn’t what I would consider ‘good,’ it also didn’t feel like a giant vortex of suck like most of the 1995 shows did.


DUD