The SmarK Retro Repost – Halloween Havoc 1995

– Live from Detroit, Michigan.

– Your hosts are Tony and Bobby.

– We are informed that Ric Flair has been attacked by Arn Anderson &
Brian Pillman outside the arena, which may put the tag match with Flair
& Sting against Anderson & Pillman in jeopardy.

– Opening match, TV title: Diamond Dallas Page v. Johnny B. Badd.
Remember when DDP was doing the opening match? “Badd” comes out of the
dressing room, but the real one jumps DDP from behind to start the
match. Bit of a brawl outside the ring, as Badd takes out Max Muscle and
then puts a bucket on Page’s head. Whatever. Back in the ring and Badd
with an armbar. Did Kim get a nosejob between then and now? Long
wristlock-and-reversal sequence to waste time. Badd with a hiptoss into
a cover for two. Badd with one of the TEN PUNCHES OF DOOM!, but Page
dumps him face-first on the turnbuckle. Kimberly refuses to give him a
“10”. See, Kimberly’s function used to be hanging around Page’s matches
and holding up a big “10” sign whenever DDP did a good move. Yes, they
actually pay people to think this stuff up. Page with some kicks and
punches for a couple of two counts. Cross-corner whip, reversal and
belly to back by DDP. Kim relents and gives him a 10, albeit
reluctantly. Pancake piledriver for two. See, the angle was that DDP won
7 million dollars playing bingo, but it was actually Kim’s card, so
she’s pissed off that he’s getting all the money. It led to a big feud
with DDP and Badd that led to Badd leaving for the WWF. DDP with the
lucha-esque “El Chinlocko Reverso”. Badd with a backslide for two. Page
with a clothesline. Page was horrible at this point, btw. Sunset flip
try but Page sits on the shoulders for two and then Badd finishes the
move for two. Page bodyslam for two. Another Greco-Roman chinlock. Badd
escapes, but Maxx Muscle helps Page take him down again. I don’t know
what became of Maxx, but he was just a big roid freak so I don’t really
care. Back to the chinlock. Crowd is comatose. Badd with a belly to back
to escape. Badd makes the superman comeback with a pair of atomic drops
and a series of lefts. Flying headscissors and Badd off the top with a
double axehandle, which Kimberly gives a 10, but the referee only gives
two. Ligerbomb for two. Hiptoss reversed into a DDT by DDP. Only gets t
wo. Diamond Cutter, but Badd holds the ropes and gets two. To the corner
for the 10 PUNCHES OF DOOM! and DDP bails out over the top. Badd chases
with a somersault plancha and tosses DDP back in, then slingshot
splashes him for two. Maxx grabs him from the outside, miscommunication
from the heels and Badd rolls him up for two. Badd gets dumped out and
Maxx misses a charge at him. Another miscommunication spot and it’s
enough for a new champion as Badd gets the pin. Bad match with a good
ending to save it. **

– Zodiac (w/ Rey Mysterio’s music) v. Randy Savage. Zodiac is of course
Brutus “the Booty Disciple Clipmaster without a Face” Beefcake. Savage
and Zodiac fight outside the ring as an idiot fan runs into the ring.
Security and the ref kick the crap out of the little puke to a big pop
from the fans. They get back in and Savage finishes it about 10 seconds
later with the big elbow. DUD

– Hotline shill as Gene notes Jimmy Hart was talking to someone he used
to represent in another federation. Quick soundbites from Johnny B.

– Revenge match: Road Warrior Hawk v. Kurasawa. No, it’s not the
Japanese filmmaker, although if I made that joke only mdb and 5 or 6
others would probably get it anyway. Kurasawa is just some Japanese guy
who liked to work on the arm. He wasn’t over, in case you couldn’t
guess. Hawk batters him to start with the shoulderblock and neckbreaker.
Fistdrop for two. Another two. Chops. Cross-corner charge misses but
Hawk doesn’t sell. Gut wrench suplex by Hawk. Powerbomb, but Parker
hooks the leg, allowing Kurasawa to slam Hawk, but miss an elbow off the
top. Hawk clotheslines him over the top, then comes off the apron and
clotheslines Parker. Hawk hits the ringpost, allowing Kurasawa to hit a
pair of suplexes back in the ring and pin Hawk. Que? Parker was holding
the ropes, but that came out of nowhere. Still, surprisingly decent
match out of Hawk. **1/2

– Jerry Lynn v. Sabu. Yes, you read that right. Sabu worked for WCW for
a couple of months in 1995, including this show. Sabu with an Asai
moonsault right away. Lynn responds with a cross-body off the top to the
floor. Back in and Lynn with a moonsault press for two. Ligerbomb for
two. Charge misses and Sabu with a slingshot legdrop for two. Lynn with
a belly to back for two. Lynn to the top and Sabu knocks him down and
gives him a victory roll off the top for two. Sabu on the second rope
and Lynn dropkicks him out of the ring. This is a total spotfest. Sabu
finishes it with a slingshot moonsault out of nowhere for the pin. The
Sheik tosses a fireball in Lynn’s face for fun. A bad match by today’s
standards, but this was totally unlike anything ever seen in WCW at the
time. **

– We go to the Taskmaster’s lair, as King Curtis yells a lot and
Sullivan looks menacing. I should point out that Eric Bischoff was
running WCW at the time. Not that I’m saying it was his idea, but he
could very well have said “No, this is stupid, I don’t want to air this
on my PPV” but he chose not to.

– Mean Gene has some folks who won some motorcycle contest. Hogan
(dressed like Hollywood Hogan without the painted beard) and Jimmy Hart
present a bike.

– Meng v. Lex Luger. Meng actually sells some stuff here. If Luger can
win, he’ll wrestle Savage later because they some sort of issue. The
Dungeon of Doom feud was so horribly confusing that I can’t even
remember what the Luger-Savage thing was about. Luger with his usual
stuff and they end up outside the ring, where Luger rams Meng’s arm into
the ringpost. Wow, psychology and stuff. Meng kicks away. But Luger
makes the comeback…then misses a charge to the corner. Luger tries a
belly to back but Meng falls on him for two. Shoulderbreaker allows Meng
the chance to stall. More kicks. Piledriver for two. Choking. Belly to
back for two. I’m bored. Luger is (slowly) tossed out of the ring and
Sullivan has words with him. The announcers speculate that Luger might
be in cahoots, thus marking the last time any member of the WCW announce
team made an intelligent comment. Back in and more kicks from Meng.
They’ve given this fucking match like 15 minutes so far. Meng misses a
dropkick and Luger dumps him out of the ring. Luger suplexes him back in
off the apron. Three clotheslines to put Meng down and a backdrop.
Another clothesline, and another. Why does he use the one move he can
never hit so extensively? But wait, Meng has an international object in
his boot and he nails Luger with it…but Sullivan comes in to break up
the count, giving Luger the win by DQ. Uh, guys, if Sullivan broke up
that pin then LUGER should have been DQ’d. Well, whatever. 1/2*

– Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman v. Ric Flair & Sting. Everyone knew what
was going to happen here, but it was still great to watch. Anderson and
Flair had been bickering leading up to this, and they finally fought at
Fall Brawl, with Pillman interfering, allowing Anderson to get the pin.
So Flair begged Sting for help, bringing out a dozen kids painted with
Stinger paint to plead for Sting’s help in a tag match. So Sting agreed.
But Flair got “attacked” earlier in the evening and Sting comes out
alone here. Sting and Arn start as the crowd chants “We Want Flair.”
They do a full-nelson reversal spot and Arn bails. More chants from the
crowd. Sting cleans house on both heels and they bail again. Pillman
entices Sting to chase him outside but the attempted double-team fails
as Sting takes out both guys. Arn & Brian are getting nowhere here.
Sting press-slams Pillman, who tags out to Arn. Arn with some forearms
and a piledriver try, but Sting reverses to a catapult that knocks
Pillman off the apron to the railing. Boxing match between Sting and
Arn, which Arn loses. Arn rams Sting’s head into Pillman’s to turn the
tide. Whip and forearm shot to the gut. Stomp to the midsection…and
Flair charges into the ring in street clothes as the crowd goes beserk!
Pillman hammers Sting into the railing as Flair takes his place on the
apron. Flair has a huge bandage on his head. Pillman hammers on Sting in
the corner and Sting fights out, but gets caught in the wrong corner and
double-teamed. Flair has the crowd in the palm of his hand. He takes off
his shoe and swats at Arn with it to break up a chinlock. Sting lifts
the knees on a Pillman splash, and Sting fights over to his corner to
make the hot tag…but Arn catches him in time with a belly to back for
two. Pillman antagonizes Flair enough to draw him away from the corner
while Arn hammers Sting some more. Abdominal stretch on Sting, with the
requesite cheating. Pillman mouths off at Flair and rubs Sting’s face
into the mat. Half-crab with the requesite cheat ing. Field-goal kick to
the ribs by Pillman for two. Double-teaming in the corner, but Sting
fights outs against Arn, only to get caught with the spinebuster for
two. Pillman with the elbow to the knee. Double-team leg split and Arn
works on Sting’s knee some more. Flair is yelling inspirational words to
Sting from the apron. God, this is so classic. Flair is the man. Sting
escapes an Arn bearhug put Pillman takes him down again right away.
Chops in the corner (whoo). Kind of a half-nelson by Pillman. But Sting
fights out of the corner again, and rams the heels’ heads together to
take them out. He sucks up every ounce of energy…and tags Flair! The
crowd goes nuts! FLAIR TURNS ON STING! The Horsemen ride again and the
crowd is absolutely shell-shocked. A beatdown results to bring the angle
to it’s payoff. See, this is how it should have happened this time
around: Flair and Anderson allow themselves to be demoralized by
Bischoff to the point where they relent and join the nWo, then one day
flip out and destroy some poor nWo sap. Psychological warfare at it’s
finest. ***

– Long video review package of the Giant-Hogan feud.

– Monster Truck Match: Hulk Hogan v. The Giant. I won’t even get into
this one. Needless to say, it’s really fucking stupid. Hogan manages to
push Giant’s truck out of the circle, and then they fight. But see,
Giant was standing too close to the edge of the roof of Cobo Hall, and
Hogan accidentally pushes him off. No, seriously. This is, of course,
available on my Netcop Busts compilation as a shining example of one of
the worst things I’ve ever seen.

– Lex Luger v. Randy Savage. Whereas he was a face in the Meng match,
now Luger is heelish here. Crowd is firmly behind Savage. Jimmy Hart
makes his way to ringside a few seconds in. Luger pounds Savage in the
corner. More rights. Some kicks. Necksnap on the top rope. Heenan flips
out on the never-seen page Woodrow a few times because he’s so upset
about the Giant falling off the roof. Luger with an axehandle on Savage
as he’s draped over the railing. Savage rams Luger to the railing and
STEEL stairs to fight back. Back in and Savage clotheslines him from
behind and goes to the top, but catches a fist in the gut on the way
down. Savage whips Luger to the corner, but eats knee and Luger
cradles…but the ref is distracted by Jimmy. Hart and Luger end up
colliding and Savage hits the big elbow for three. Bad match. 1/2*

– WCW World title match: Hulk Hogan v. The Giant. Hogan enters first and
everyone acts all shocked and stuff when the Giant makes his way out.
Because he FELL OFF THE ROOF OF COBO HALL. And people say Val Venis is
overstated. You know what the sad part is? These guys would go on to
main event THREE MORE PAY PER VIEWS! Hogan with rights but the have no
effect. Btw, if you think Giant is bad now… Bodyslam attempt but Giant
screams like a sideshow freak and breaks out. Cross-corner whip and big
boot. More forearms. Chops in the corner (whoo). Giant yells a lot.
Maybe he should try All-Bran. Maybe he’s passing kidney stones. Boots in
the corner. Cross-corner whip and another boot. Knucklelock brings Hogan
to his knees. And he stays there for a while. Elbow and slam by the
Giant. Legdrop misses and Hogan is revived. Head to the turnbuckle a
couple of times and then the TEN PUNCHES OF DOOM! Biting from Hogan.
FINGERNAIL SCRAPE OF DEATH! Cross-corner whip and clothesline, then more
punches. Whip and clothesline. Another. Another and Giant goes over the
top to the floor. Giant and Sullivan take a walk and Hogan brings them
back. Poke to the eyes. More punches. Shoulderblock but Giant won’t go
down. Again and Giant goes for the chokeslam but Hogan escapes. More
punches and biting. Giant wiht a whip and a backbreaker. Giant stomps on
his hands. Whip and a Giant bearhug. Hogan powers out but gets atomic
dropped. Another bearhug. Hogan powers out again. Punches from Hogan,
but Giant catches him with a chokeslam. Two count and the hulking up
begins. He’s a house of fire, you know. Punches, big boot and bodyslam.
Legdrop, but Jimmy Hart trips up the referee off-camera. Hogan helps him
up and Hart officially turns on Hogan, pasting him with the title belt.
Crowd is shocked. Luger and Savage run in to make the save, but Luger
then further complicates the issue by turning on Savage! Then the Yeti
(Ron Reese) comes in and does the double-team bearhug on Hogan, while,
uh, gyrating his hips. The less said the bette r. The carnage continues.
It is announced that Giant wins by DQ, since Hart was Hogan’s manager.
The next night on Nitro, it was further announced that Hart had
double-crossed Hogan before the match and wrote a waiver of the DQ rule
into the contract, giving Giant the WCW World title. This was actually a
better match than the ones that followed over the years. *1/2

The Bottom Line:

Well, the wrestling wasn’t great (or even good), but the storylines were
actually coherant (if really stupid) and the shock booking approach set
a change of pace for WCW that would redefine the company and propel them
to the top.

A recommended show, historically speaking.