The Furious Flashbacks – Halloween Havoc ‘90

Someone asked me the other day how many of these WCW reviews I was intending on doing. Well, I have three huge stacks of tapes in front of me. Most of them have multiple PPV’s on and soforth. I’m missing a great deal between 1994 and 2000 but in general it’ll be quite the intense run of shows. So, kick back, grab a beer and settle in for a series of WCW review type antics.

Back in 1990 WCW put the title on Sting. Seeing as Flair being in the title picture was played out Ole Anderson came up with the concept of the Black Scorpion to hound Sting at every turn. Eventually he’d be unveiled and Sting would wrestle him for the title. Great idea, except Ole didn’t know who was going to play the part. So, at this point, it’s nobody and nothing but a silly gimmick that no one really buys.

We’re in Chicago, Illinois. Hosts are Jim Ross with a fucking fedora on and Paul E. Dangerously. The backstage interviews are now done by Tony Schiavone. Looks like Solie got retired.

Ricky Morton/Tommy Rich v Midnight Express w/Jim Cornette

I need to get me some Smokey Mountain Wrestling. I’ve always been a big fan of Jim Cornette and his booking ideals. This would be the Midnights last hurrah in WCW before heading off to create SMW (bar Eaton who was still under WCW contract). This probably would have been against the Rock N Roll’s but Robert Gibson buggered his knee up. Ricky Morton is getting older by the second. Eaton gives a clean break but trash talks Morton. Eaton biels Morton and bad mouths him again. Rich tries to get some clapping going. He looks drunk. Eaton slaps Morton and back elbows him to a huge pop. Eaton comes off the top but gets caught on the way down. They get a criss-cross going and Morton gets the better of it with a rana. Rich is still clapping. He’s wasted. Lane comes in blind and Morton gets caught in a backdrop powerslam move. Nice! Lane hits a slingshot lariat. Eaton comes in with an elbow drop for 2. Morton has gotten himself isolated from the clapping Tommy Rich. Morton misses in the corner but the Midnights struggle to capitalise on the floor. Cornette sneaks in a racket shot to the throat though. There we go. Lane adds a clothesline on the floor. Lane goes all Karate Kid. “I know Kung-Fu”. Show me. Morton gets a sunset flip but Cornette distracts impartial referee Nick Patrick. Lane takes it to the floor again where Morton gets slammed. He’s then slammed on the ramp and ROCKET LAUNCHER ONTO THE RAMP! Lane gets needlessly complex on the cover for 2. Eaton comes in blind with a SWEET Diamond Cutter. Slingshot backbreaker gets 2. Man, Eaton was like a God back then. Cornette throws another racket shot to the neck of Morton. Rich gets drawn in and impartial referee Nick Patrick misses Morton getting thrown over the top rope. Morton dodges Eaton on the floor though and Morton hits a rana on the floor. Morton gets an inside cradle back inside for 2. ALABAMA JAM leaves Morton pancaked. Eaton wants him counted out rather than pinned. Morton beats the count but gets beaten up some more. Lane throws a lot of kicks in particular. Ricky starts no selling. He’s MORTONING UP! ROCKET LAUNCHER…gets knees. Hot tag to Rich and he cleans house. Thesz press gets 2. Morton gets back in there for a donnybrook. Rich goes up top but Cornette nails him with the racket. The Southern Boys come out here to mock Cornette. In the confusion Rich nails Lane with Cornette’s own racket for the pin at 13.58. Rich spent like 60 seconds in that match. Anyone could have been Morton’s tag partner. ***1/4. Great match, dodgy finish. With the Midnights leaving anyway they could have just lost clean.

PROMO TIME – Sting gets interviewed by Fat Tony while the crowd goes nuts. Sting fucks up his promo really badly and talks absolute nonsense. He sounds like Rocky Balboa on cheap speed. His rambling is interupted by The Black Scorpion. He makes an audience member disappear while someone (Ole) does a stupid voice over talking about black magic. One tiny security member, a small woman I might add, manages to hold Sting back. Who thought this was a good idea? Show of hands. Apart from you, Ole. You’re fired. Well, you’re fired in two months.

Renegade Warriors v Fabulous Freebirds

Chris & Mark Youngblood ladies and gentlemen, one of the worst tag teams of all time. Meanwhile from Badstreet, USA the Freebirds are gayer than ever. Freebirds have “Little Richard Marley” or Rocky King in their corner impersonating Robert Gibson complete with knee brace and crutch. Hayes’ spangly silver braces are gayer than anything Goldust ever did and he kissed a man. Chris Youngblood does some horrible chaining while JR keeps calling him “young”. Yeah, that’s all he’s got going for him. Hayes cheap shots him between his eyes and Garvin hits a back suplex. Over the top rope with him behind the ref’s back. Rocky King gets a few licks in and Garvin turns up the heat…WITH A CHINLOCK! Yeah, rock and roll! Then Hayes tags in for a chinlock. More booking genius putting these two teams together. Crowd is chanting “DDT” because they don’t want to see the Youngbloods anymore. Crowd wants the DDT but Hayes hooks another devastating chinlock. Thankfully this has been clipped down from 15 minutes to 7 at this point. Could have easily clipped it down to 2. Chris escapes the DDT much to the crowd’s disappointment. Hayes adds another minute worth of chinlock. Chris hits a crossbody for 2 then it’s back to the chinlock. Hayes goes up top but gets caught and thrown off. “Hot” tag to the other Youngblood. I say “hot” because there’s NO reaction whatsoever. No one gives a shit about this team. They still try to play to the crowd who are actively against them by this point. Hayes hits a DDT to a HUGE pop and that finishes at 12.36 shown. DUD. Fucking awful match. Mercifully clipped down from a much longer fucking awful match. The Youngbloods can just fuck off back to the reservation because they suck. Pardon my excessive use of language but I really need it to convey how truly abysmal they are.

PROMO TIME – The Horsemen (minus the conspicuously absent Barry Windham) cut a promo on Doom and Sting. Crowd is very pro-Flair. Sid’s claim to be “Four Horsemen forever” is a little odd considering his inability to stay any place during the softball season.

US tag titles – Steiner Brothers (c) v Nasty Boys

HUGE brawl to start. Saggs doesn’t fuck about. He rails Scott and then waffles him in the back of the head with a chair. He goes for a superplex but Scott gets out and BELLY TO BELLIES him off the top. Saggs hits a bulldog but Scott rams his head into the buckles a few times. TIGER DRIVER and Rick stops Knobbs from interfering. DOOMSDAY BULLDOG! Knobbs runs in with a chair on the ref’s blind side though and waffles Scott with it…for 2. Sideslam and a powerslam for 2. Scott is selling his back intensely. Saggs in for a pumphandle slam. PIN, damn it! Saggs headbutts the back a lot. Gutwrench slam gets 2. Nasty’s switch behind the ref’s back and continue to work the spine. Shades of Wilbur Snyder is on. Saggs holds on for added leverage but Rick runs in to stop it. Saggs hooks on a BORE-HUG! Scott blocks that into a White Thunder belly to belly. Rick is in…STEINERLINE! Saggs ducks another one though and Rick falls out landing on his head. SPIKED PILEDRIVER on Scott but Knobbs is too slow leaving the ring for a pin and Rick sneaks in to blether Saggs with a chair shot. Scott back suplexes him and he’s bleeding. Knobbs tags in to stop Scott tagging out. Knobbs with a BORE-HUG himself. Nasty’s manage to keep Scott away from tagging out and Rick is so upset he comes in again. Saggs is still bleeding but he’s able to slap on a Boston crab. Scott powers out. Knobbs comes back in to hook a chinlock. Scott powers out of that too but he’s too tired afterwards to tag out. Saggs goes to the throat but Knobbs misses in the corner and Saggs catches a Steinerline. Hot tag to Rick and he cleans house. Rolling belly to belly gets 2 with Saggs saving. Everyone in again. Saggs throws Scott outside though. Nasty’s spend too long celebrating and get caught with a double diving Steinerline from Rick. Nasty’s double team some more and the ref has lost control. Scott gets slammed on the floor just to make sure he’s not getting back up. Scott trips both guys and pulls Saggs out. Knobbs eats a Steinerline. Scott dives back in with the FRANKENSTEINER and back then that was DEATH! Match over at 15.22. ***. Solid performance from the Nasty’s but the Steiners did a lot of work too.

POST MATCH the Nasty Boys waffle the Steiners with the tag belts.

PROMO TIME – Scott gets a word with Fat Tony but Rick is a bit messed up from getting run into the ring post. Scott tells the Nasty Boys they bit off more than they could chew. He says they’re not done with them until a concession vendor smacks him with his tray of goodies. It’s Jerry Saggs in disguise! Knobbs claims the war has just begun.

Tag titles – Doom (c) v Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

Another tag match? That’s four in a row. Simmons is too powerful for Arn so Arn refuses to clean break. That gets him punched in the mouth and suplexed. Flair dives in but so does Reed. Doom appear very ready for the Horsemen shenanigans. Flair kicks Simmons in the back and Arn suplexes him but Simmons doesn’t sell at all. Now Doom do the same and Simmons adds in a powerslam for 2 showing he can capitalise on an advantage. Flair dives in there again but Simmons cuts them both down with a double clothesline. Teddy Long slaps Flair. Uh oh. Crowd gets somewhat hushed after that. Flair comes in legally to style and profile. He positions the referee to kick Reed in the stomach. He positions the ref again for a punch to the face. Reed decides he’s only taking one chop before firing up and hitting a press slam. Arn runs in but Simmons press slams him. Flair walks into a biel then runs into a clothesline. He goes to the eyes to get back on track. Flair chops but Reed punches back. Hmm, that’s cheating. Ref doesn’t seem to care too much. Reed avoids the chops again. He just doesn’t want to take them. That’s my theory. Flair takes a header into the mat. He’s whipped into the corner and he wipes out the cameraman. He tries to chop Simmons but big Ron backs him down BIG TIME. Arn gets back in but Reed hits him with a high knee. Double clothesline gets 2. I’ve always hated Ron Simmons’ covers. Horsemen double team and Simmons takes a knee to the back of the head. Arn back in – SPINEBUSTER! That gets 2 and Simmons KICKS OUT…WITH AUTHORATAH! Flair in to take out the knee. Shinbreaker and Arn comes back in to work that body part as well. Flair back in with a back suplex. FIGURE FOUR! Arn helps him to cheat TO THE MAX. Everytime Reed complains Arn jumps in and adds a few stomps to the knee. That’s when he’s not adding in leverage by hauling on Flair’s arms. Simmons turns it over but Flair is able to tag out. Arn hooks a leglock and Flair grabs his hand for extra pressure. Simmons tries a dropkick but misses and gets pinned for 2. Flair in with a shoulderblock but Naitch bounces off. Flair grabs a leg and the Horsemen are keeping Simmons isolated well. Simmons hits a sunset flip but the Horsemen tag in the midst of it so Simmons gets neither a pin nor a break. Simmons ducks a chop and hits a clothesline. He landed on his knee as well. That’s making little difference to his lack of selling. He takes another knee first bump on a facebuster. Reed tags in and that doesn’t sit too well with me. Reed cleans house. Reed hits a shoulderblock for 2. Everyone comes in and Arn tries for a piledriver. Simmons hits a shoulderblock on him off the top with Flair saving. Arn catches Reed with a DDT for 2. Simmons saved there. Everyone in and the ref can’t get it sorted out. The brawl carries out to the floor and everyone gets counted out at 18.19. BOO! ***1/2. Great match with a great story but no finish at all. I’m also somewhat disappointed with Ron Simmons for his selling but he took the beating well.

BACKSTAGE Stan Hansen rants about Lex Luger with tobacco spit running all down his face. That’s disgusting.

US title – Lex Luger (c) v Stan Hansen

I like Hansen but I really like Hansen working with Japanese guys who don’t mind him stiffing the shit out of them. Hansen v Luger isn’t a dream match for me. Hansen wastes no time wailing on Luger but Luger comes back fast with some horrible gimmicked punches. Well, normally they’re fine but Hansen has a different style. Hansen brings that strongstyle some more and drops an elbow for 2. Luger slams him but Hansen doesn’t stay down too long and knees Luger in the head. Well, Luger shouldn’t have been going “come on” to the crowd, should he? Hansen resorts to just punching Luger in the head. Hansen misses in the corner and he spills out to the floor. Luger strikes him in gimmicked fashion again. It looks so obvious when the other guy isn’t doing it because he doesn’t need to. Luger wails away and hits a hip toss. He drives a few elbows to the throat for 2. Hansen hits a suplex and drops the elbow for 2. Hansen drops his knee pad to drop a knee with more bone than pad. Hansen with a bulldog for 2. Hansen with a spinebuster, sort of, to cut off Luger’s 10 count punches. Hansen misses with an elbow drop off the second rope. Luger dropkicks him. Vertical suplex gets 2. Hansen accidentally elbows the ref in the face. Luger clotheslines him as Hansen is setting up the lariat. Dan Spivey is out here and he passes in the cowbell. Luger ducks the shot and hits a bulldog. He calls for the finish but runs head long into the LARIATOOOOOO. Hansen pins Luger’s corpse at 9.28. New US champ. **1/2. Decent enough match. I could have lived without Luger being in it but that’s pretty much the way I felt about Luger from here on out. Well, maybe a couple of years of decent matches but nothing more than that. A replay shows the lariat hit the side of the head rather than the neck area.

PROMO TIME – Teddy Long. He says he’s proved to everyone that Doom is the meanest and toughest tag team in wrestling. He says Doom are done with the Horsemen because they couldn’t win.

MEANWHILE Missy Hyatte joins the commentary team. She’s not looking quite so good by this point.

NWA title – Sting (c) v Sid Vicious

Sid hails from “anywhere he darn well pleases”. Yeah! Tell ‘em Sid. Sting turns his back, like a moron, and Sid clubs him. Sting tries for a crossbody but gets caught with a backbreaker. Sting no sells and grabs a leg but Sid bails on him. Sting chases and Sid gets shoved into the post. Sting grabs the arm and starts working at it. Sid misses again and hurts his shoulder some more. Sting is established by this point as far quicker. Sid nearly guffs a headlock takeover but ends up going a simpler route with a clothesline. Sting tries for a sunset flip but Sid blocks once only to get caught out for 2. Sid clotheslines Sting right back down for 2. Sid goes to a nervehold for a breather, Sting powers out but Sid powerslams him for 2. Stinger Splash misses. Sid drew him in there. Sid takes the chance to club away across the ropes. Sid is too slow though and Sting dives off the top rope with a crossbody for 1. Whoa, sayeth the crowd with the quick kick out. Sid clubs away and appears to be all out of ideas. Sting catches him with a bulldog but runs right into a big boot. They brawl out onto the ramp where Sting gets slammed. Sid celebrates back in the ring but Sting is up! He hits a running dive back into the ring. Sid is wiped out and bails but Sting hits a pescado on him. Horsemen are out here and Sting battles back to the locker room with Sid. The Horsemen prevent a count out somehow. “Sting” comes back out and tries to slam Sid who falls on top for the pin at 11.42. Hmm, something a bit screwy about that. “Sting” quite blatantly wasn’t but was instead Barry Windham made up to look like Sting, hence his absence earlier. Pyro goes off but Sting strolls back out looking confused. Balloons are raining down but STINGER SPLASH and Sting retains at 12.36. *3/4. Slow match with lots of Sid clubbing and the finish was ‘out there’. Not how you’d want to end a PPV.

Overall PPV Thoughts –

Well we had three good tag matches but the cartoonish nature of the whole Sting angle (whichever one you want – Black Scorpion or the double Sting thing) brings the general vibe of the show down. The main event was really disappointing and I can’t help but feel this was no good for Sting’s big push. If you can ignore booking stupidity the actual wrestling isn’t bad though. Kind of a general comment about WCW history…thumbs in the middle.