Shining a Spotlight 10.21.10: Halloween Havoc ’90

Looking back 20 years is to see the wrestling business at a time of real change. WWF was trying to move away from Hulk Hogan as the only major guy but the Ultimate Warrior’s lunatic act just wasn’t working with the fans as champion. For WCW, it was a much different situation as they should have been riding high with the biggest face in the company gaining the big belt but it didn’t quite work out that way. Indeed, that victory actually marked a downturn in business, a slow slide that, in many ways, WCW never truly recovered from and would haunt them over the next decade. So it’s interesting to look back at how things changed with this company with one of their biggest shows. A show that had some good stuff but others poor and a main event that ended as a total mess, a sign of the chaos going on backstage that would soon affect the company’s bottom line big-time.

The Setup

1990 began with such promise for WCW (then still going under the NWA banner) as 1989 had been a fantastic year with Ric Flair trading the World title with Ricky Steamboat in a trilogy of matches still acclaimed today. Flair then moved on to a bloody war with Terry Funk that culminated in a fantastic “I Quit” match that ended with U.S. Champion Lex Luger attacking Flair. The topper was Starrcade as Sting won a special tournament to get a title shot against Flair at the same time he was recruited into a reformed Four Horsemen. Flair himself was carrying on booking duties for the company and his apparent plan was to have the Horsemen turn on Sting, drop the title to Sting in February and push him as a great face champion.

Unfortunately, things took a nasty turn when Sting suffered a very real leg injury, putting him on the shelf for months. Luger was put in his place for the title match with a quick face turn but Flair didn’t think Luger was set for champion and the match ended in a no-contest. Rematches followed with Luger continuing to come up short and fan buzz faded a bit with the feud obviously going nowhere, just filler until Sting returned. Ole Anderson managed to convince WCW chief Jim Herd that the problem was Flair. So, in the first of many mistakes he’d make in his tenure, Herd removed Flair as booker in favor of Ole. Ole immediately started cutting costs by bringing in some older guys like the Junkyard Dog who could work cheap. This cost-cutting helped push the Road Warriors out of the NWA to WWF and the house shows suffered. Things did pick up as Sting finally beat Flair for the title in July, an overbooked and too-short bout but still great to see Sting with the belt.

However, instead of the logical series of rematches with Flair or a feud with Luger, Sting was pretty much left without any serious challengers. Ole (in a combination of his own feelings and pressure from Herd) started to push Flair down the mid-card, feeling he was past his prime. The Bill Apter magazines followed suit, putting out articles on how Flair was pretty much done. It’s laughable now but then again, Flair had been in the business nearly two decades by this point and the idea he would still be putting on great matches twenty years later seemed outrageous. The future was supposed to be Sting but Ole couldn’t come up with any real viable options. So, he decided to create one.

The Black Scorpion has become part of wrestling infamy but you can understand the basic concept: A mysterious masked figure who’d talk in the shadows, making it sound like he had a past with Sting and threatening to destroy him. It was obvious that WCW wanted the fans to think it could be the Ultimate Warrior, who had teamed with Sting as the Blade Runners way back in the old UWF and there are rumors Herd and Ole honestly thought they might be able to get him. You know, sort of like how the Detroit Lions redo their entire offensive strategy just in case Tom Brady decided to leave a championship team for one of the worst in the NFL. Supposedly, they were hoping to get the Angel of Death, another guy who teamed with Sting before either were famous. The fact was, Ole seemed to have no idea who the Scorpion was going to be and just kept on pushing this threat with no real payoff in mind.

It should be noted that one thing Turner’s influence did help WCW out with big-time was the PPV market. The company’s first attempts to break into PPV had been disasters but under Turner, things were clicking better. They pretty much had only three shows set regularly: The Great American Bash, Starrcade and Halloween Havoc. The latter had been created the year before and was a pretty good show overall. WCW thus hoped to use it as a good addition to the regular PPV calendar. The result is an interesting look at a show that took place in a company in real flux, trying to establish itself with a new champion but held back a bit by their past…not to mention one crazy finale.

Halloween Havoc 90. October 27, 1990, UIC Pavilion, Chicago.

Chicago has always had hot crowds and were a bit more receptive to the NWA than most Northern cities at the time. The commentators were Jim Ross (dressed like a 1920’s gangster) and Paul Heyman (as a vampire). The show opened with what was going to be yet another entry in the seemingly endless (yet always awesome) Rock ‘N Roll Express vs Midnight Express feud. However, the Freebirds had injured Robert Gibson’s knee so Tommy Rich took his place. The fact the Midnights came out to a big face pop should have been a sign this would be an unusual match. Rich was a bit out of place but by this point, Morton, Eaton and Lane could pull of a match together in their sleep. We got the classic Midnight double-teaming as they would nail Morton with a guillotine off the ropes, Cornett ramming him in the throat with his tennis racket, then distracting the ref from a sunset flip pin by Morton. Lane then tossed Morton onto the long rampway leading to the ring so he could do a launching dive onto him. Ricky Morton really should be remembered better for the insane amount of punishment he’d sell like crazy as he was treated to neckbreakers, rammed into the ringpost on the outside and Eaton’s Alabama Jam legdrop from the top rope. The best part is that Rich was on the outside, trying to warm up the crowd with clapping but they kept cheering the Midnights. Instead of going for a pin, Eaton demanded the ref count to ten but Morton was up at eight. After more double-teaming, Lane went for another flying splash but Morton lifted up his knees and took the opportunity to tag in Rich at last. Wildfire erupted on the heels with punches and a Thesz Press on Lane but Eaton broke up the three count. At this point, the Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong), who’d been feuding with the Midnights for a while, came down dressed like Cornette with rackets and suits. They yanked down Cornette and that led to massive brawling with Cornette’s racket eventually finding itself into Morton’s hand, who used it to nail Lane for the three count. A messy end but a good match that would mark the last major bout of the Midnights as Lane and Cornette would leave the NWA to start Smokey Mountain.

After that we got an interview segment of infamy. Tony Schiavone (dressed like the Phantom of the Opera) was on a stage talking to Sting about his upcoming main event match. Suddenly, the Black Scorpion (basically just a guy in a big cloak and hood) showed up behind Sting, grabbed a female stageworker, dragged her over to the other side of the stage where a curtain was raised. Sting pulled away from other ring workers (who, oddly, didn’t want him to help their co-worker) and pulled the curtain back to show no one there. The Scorpion appeared back on the stage and pushed the girl to Sting before vanishing. Crazy but topped weeks later when the Scorpion turned a female “fan” into a tiger. Say what you will about heels today, you don’t seem them acting like Doug Henning.

A couple of forgettable bouts followed, so forgettable that Turner edited them out of the show’s VHS release. Terry Taylor beat Bill Irwin in a surprisingly long match while Brad Armstrong defeated J.W. Storm in a bout that was better off put as a “dark match.” The Southern Boys were back to face the Master Blasters, who were WCW’s attempt to fill in for the absent Road Warriors but showed none of the promise. WCW was trying to build back up the tag division but the match itself was rather poor with the Blasters ending up victorious. Another tag bout followed as the Renegade Warriors (Chris and Mark Youngblood) took on the Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) who were accompanied by an aide named Little Richard. The bout was nothing too special, set up by the Freebirds attacking an Indian cousin of the Youngbloods. It was pretty clear that Jay Youngblood got the major wrestling genes as his brothers, while fair, just weren’t as good and seemed out of their league against the Freebirds. You can usually count on Garvin and Hayes to make a match at least watchable but they started stalling worse than Larry Zybsko, killing time over and over again with hip tosses and long chinlocks. After getting controlled by the Freebirds for a while, Chris hit a tag to Mark that got just about no reaction. He tossed them into corners for a stereo ten-punch and Richard got yanked into the ring for some pounding. Mark went for a rollup off the ropes on Garvin that allowed Hayes to hit a DDT to finally end a bout that was about ten minutes too long for the crowd’s liking.

Thankfully, things picked up big-time with the next match. Having started out the year as NWA World tag team champions, the Steiners had dropped the belts to Doom but bounced back to win the U.S. Tag titles. WCW had managed a mini-coup in landing the Nasty Boys, who had proven themselves in the AWA and Florida and were ready for their big break. The Nasties had laid out the Steiners in a brutal attack weeks earlier so the stage was set for a good matchup. But no one expected the wild brawl that would follow as things kicked right at the bell with Rick and Knobbs brawling in the ring as Sags hit Scott with a chair on the outside. Sags then hit a superplex but Scott kicked out and nailed him with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Sags would try for a backdrop but Scott turned it into a double-armed power bomb then lifted Sags on his shoulders, which allowed Rick to leap off the top rope and hit him with a flying bulldog. Keep in mind, this was 1990, you did not see crazy shit like this in U.S. rings so the crowd pop was nuts. You’d think they’d have saved that for the climax but the match continued after Knobbs broke up the pin with a steel chair. They then worked on Scott’s back with stretches and blows. Rick nailed a Steinerline but when he went for another, he got dumped to the outside. That gave the Nasties the chance to hit Scott with a spike piledriver. Knobbs covered but as the ref pushed Sags out, Rick ran in to hit Knobbs with a chair. Sags managed to make a tag for Knobbs to get a bearhug but got a big boot in return. Knobbs managed to tag in Sags again so they could double-team Scott. Sags was bleeding by this point as he got Scott into a Boston Crab which Scott managed to get out of but couldn’t make a tag as he got put in a camel clutch. Scott finally struck back with a double-Steinerline to tag in Rick, who slammed both Nasties with multiple clotheslines and blows. He hit Knobbs with a belly to belly for two, Scott racing in to help but got dumped so the Nasties could double-team Rick, dumping him over the top only to have him leap back with double Steinerlines. He whipped Sags to Scott, who rammed his head into a ringpost, Rick hitting another Steinerline on Knobbs that set up the Frankensteiner for the pin. Afterward, the Nasties beat the Steiners down and left with the belts. It was a fantastic affair that solidified the Steiners as the best tag team in wrestling at the time and elevated the Nasty Boys majorly for fans. However, in an unbelievable piece of short-sightedness, WCW had failed to sign the Nasties up to a major contract so WWF was able to snatch them up and push them to the tag titles there in months.

Another forgettable bout followed with the Junkyard Dog beating Moondog Rex in three minutes. Then Rick Steiner did an interview with the Nasties (disguised as concession stand workers) laying him out. That was followed by an interesting match between two heel forces. Having started out the year as a masked joke losing to the Steiners, Doom had reasserted themselves after unmasking to reveal Butch Reed and Ron Simmons. But after taking Teddy Long on as their manager, the two found their way to success, beating the Steiners for the World tag team titles and holding strong against various challengers. They got their biggest with Flair and Arn Anderson. The match was sold as strength and youth against experience and guile. It kicked off with Simmons and Arn going at it, Simmons overpowering him and getting a kick in the head by Flair off a whip but shaking it off to nail Arn with a wicked powerslam. Reed got double-teamed in the corner but Ron broke out of it with a double-clothesline. A cool moment had Flair chasing Long on the outside but Teddy slapping him in the face. A cool bit was the commentary as Ross and Heyman pointed out that Flair had been a big tag team guy in his early career and he and Arn were able to gel nicely after all their years together. The bout continued to have the balance sway back and forth as both teams continued to pull out the hard stops, Flair begging for mercy to stab Reed in the eye but Reed no-sold a chop and returned it with a series of his own. Flair staggered for a tag but did his Flop right into Simmons. They ended up on the runway with Simmons chasing Flair to the backstage area and then back to the ring. Arn got in only to take a high knee from Reed and then a double-clothesline from the champs. Simmons got caught in a Boston Crab by Arn with Flair dropping a knee on his head, a pretty wicked move. With things in control, the Horsemen worked on Ron’s back, culminating with a spinebuster by Arn that Simmons somehow kicked out of. Flair came in to spend a few minutes working the leg and then hooked on the figure-four, Arn helping give leverage with the ref concentrating on Simmons. Reed came in to let the ref know and why he was being pushed out, Arn came in to kick at Simmons’ leg while he was in the figure-four. Old-Styled Horsemen cheating, man I miss it.

Simmons managed to reverse the hold so Flair tagged in Arn, who went right back on the leg. He tried a couple of pins but nothing doing and when he went for a splash, Simmons got his knees up. Arn was able to regroup as Simmons sold being too injured to reach his corner, allowing more double-teaming by the Horsemen. They tossed him outside but Flair was the one slammed into the guardrail. Simmons went for a sunset flip but Arn tagged Flair. Simmons managed to get a clothesline but Arn tagged in quick to cut him off from his corner and it was clear by now Simmons was playing the black built version of Ricky Morton. Arn threw him into the ropes for a backdrop but Simmons slammed his face into the canvas to finally tag in Reed who pounded on both Horsemen. He and Flair pounded each other outside while Arn got Simmons into a piledriver only for Reed to come off the top rope with a shoulder block for a two-count. Arn hit a DDT but Simmons broke up the count. All four men went to the outside to pound on each other and the ref soon counted them all out. A weak finish, which is a shame as the bout was really fantastic, old-styled tag team action and making it a heel vs heel encounter was all the cooler.

The penultimate match was Lex Luger defending the U.S. title against Stan Hansen. It was a bit odd for Hansen to be challenging for the title as he’d only been with WCW for a few months and hadn’t exactly been setting things afire. Luger had been champion for almost 18 months at this point so it seemed high time to get the belt off him but few suspected Hansen would do it. This was another clash of styles, youth vs age and two hard hitters as well. Hansen kicked it off attacking Luger only to get punched to the outside. They’d go back into the ring for a bit, outside for a bit, then back in with Luger hitting a slam only for Hansen to hit him with a knee to the face. A missed charge by Hansen sent them outside again for more brawling as back in the ring, Luger hit a hiptoss and an elbow drop for two. Hansen headbutted him in the gut and a snap suplex for his own two-count. They traded blows with Luger hitting a bulldog for two, then Hansen hit a slam and a knee drop for another two. Hansen went to the middle rope for an elbow drop but Luger dodged it and smashed Hansen with a dropkick, a slam and a suplex but Hansen kept kicking out. Hansen took control by reversing a corner whip and hitting a clothesline. He pounded on Luger and when the ref tried to pull him back, he ate an elbow that sent him down. Luger came back with a clothesline and prepared to give Hansen the Rack but Dan Spivey (Hansen’s protégé) raced down to the ring and tossed in a cowbell attached to a rope. When Luger charged, Hansen nailed him with the Lariat, ignoring the bell completely as the ref recovered for the three count. Not pretty but not boring either and it was a surprise seeing Hansen being given a major championship. Of course, it would be a brief run as Hansen would sour on WCW and figure Japan was much better suited for him.

Finally we came to the main event as Sting was set to defend the World title against a guy who was a much better pick for a challenger than the Black Scorpion. Say what you will about Sid Vicious but the man’s great selling point has been the fact that he looks like a man who will not only easily kick your ass but enjoy doing it. His link to the Horsemen made him stronger as he just oozed out menace in his early years so the fans were on edge as Sid kicked it off by attacking Sting from behind. He missed a clothesline but caught Sting off a cross body to deliver a wicked backbreaker only for Sting to no-sell it, trip Sid and try for a figure four. They ended up outside with Sting ramming Sid’s head into the post and then hit again in the shoulder. Inside, Sid took Sting down with a headlock but Sting got the head-scissors with Sid doing a cool kip-up to drop Sting with a clothesline. Sid controlled the match with blows, a flying clothesline and a nerve pinch. Sting managed to fight back but missed a Stinger Splash so Sid could pound on him and turn a cross body into another slam. Sid actually showed some nice offense with clotheslines, chokes and chinlocks, slowing the match but selling himself as a real threat. Sting tried to fight back with kicks and his patented face slam into the canvas but ran right into a boot and got sent to the outside. Sid made the mistake of gloating in the ring, allowing Sting to run down the rampway and leap over the ropes to nail him. Sting drop-kicked Sid to the outside and then splashed him over the ropes, now in control.

And here’s where things got nuts.

Flair and Anderson came down to the ring to stop the ref from counting the guys out as Sid and Sting brawled to the back. After a few moments, Sid returned and then a few moments later, Sting came back out. However, it appeared that something had changed; in the course of a few seconds, Sting had suddenly grown six inches and gained twenty pounds. He and Sid fought with “Sting” going for a slam but Sid falling back on him for the three-count. Fireworks started to go off as Sid was given the belt to the shock of the crowd. Suddenly, the real Sting came racing from the back with a broken rope tied to his wrist. He raced into the ring as Sid tried to hit him with the belt but Sting ducked and nailed him with it, then hit a splash. Showing intelligence usually not reserved for WCW referees, the official instantly realized this was the real Sting and made the three-count. The crowd was more confused than happy as the fake Sting (who the astute could now see was Barry Windham) stood outside with the Horsemen, scowling at their master plan coming apart.

The idea was that the Horsemen ambushed Sting and tied him up, then sent Windham in to lay down for Sid. One of my all-time favorite Apter mag articles was an Inside Wrestling story that tried to give a logical explanation to the marks as to how the Horsemen could not only have known what tights Sting would be wearing that night but what color and style his face makeup would be. Needless to say, it didn’t say much in the faith WCW had in Sid that they would resort to say he needed this scheme to become a champion and it didn’t exactly do wonders to Sting’s standing either. This blatant “bait and switch” would be a hard issue with the crowd as well as it would mar a relatively good show and fail to send the message WCW was really ready to step up the fore in this new decade.

Summation

The classic example of a good card ruined by the ending. The tag matches were very good, especially the title ones but what people remember is the main event and a moment that’s been enshrined as pure Wrestlecrap. Looking back, this really should have been a sign to how things were going to be in WCW for the next decade, great highs mixed with some rather poor lows and a finish that seemed determined to annoy as many fans as possible while not making either of the guys involved look that good. It may be a bit forgettable today but in hindsight, this was a show that revealed the problems that would sadly continue to haunt WCW for many years to come.

For this week, the spotlight is off.