The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Halloween Havoc ’92

The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Halloween Havoc ‘92

Three horrible main events. It’s like 1998 came early.

We’re in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hosts are Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura.

Tony Schiavone and Bruno Sammartino introduce us to the show. The first mention is for the Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match. Keep in mind they tried to sell the show on this match. Here are the 12 potential matches –

1. Texas Bull Rope
2. Spinners’ Choice
3. Russian Chain Match
4. Dog Collar Match
5. “I Quit”
6. Barbed Wire
7. Cage
8. Lumberjacks with belts
9. Prince of Darkness
10. Texas Death Match
11. Coal Miner’s Glove Match
12. First Blood

Any sensible company would have gimmicked the wheel so it landed on a good match that people wanted to see. Like the potentially tasty barbed wire match, a cage match, a Texas deathmatch or a first blood match. Obviously WCW didn’t have the common sense to do it that way and had no idea what match was going to go down before we started. It probably didn’t help either that Bill Watts had this blind hatred of Jake Roberts and would never allow him to get over despite him being the biggest signing WCW had made in 1992. All that personal spite just got in the way of them making money together.

In a second stupid move of the night Ron Simmons, who’d snuck past Vader to win the WCW title despite Vader being over and Simmons being not, defends against perennial midcarder the Barbarian. Quite why it’s not Cactus Jack instead is anyone’s guess as Simmons’ title run came to a screeching halt shortly afterwards and Vader took the belt back as if nothing had happened.

In the third dumb move of the night Terry Gordy isn’t here so Steve Austin subs in for him in the still being pushed Miracle Violence Connection. Yeah Bill Watts sure loved that Dr Death.

Brian Pillman v Ricky Steamboat

Crap. At the last show, Great American Bash ’92, I rather foolishly said that WCW never put this match on. D’Oh. That’s my memory for ya. This is post heel turn for Pillman. They start with some counters until Pillman kicks Steamboat off a cover into the turnbuckle. He’s playing possum though (provoking JR to use the word “subterfuge”, which could well be a wrestling first) and goes to work on Pillman’s arm. Steamboat with a choke lift while the crowd get on Pillman’s case. Pillman starts countering Irish whips by dropping to one knee (different) and he plays possum on Steamboat clocking him with a clothesline. Pillman with a flying headscissors for 2. Steamboat sneaks into a backslide for 2 but Pillman pummels him some more. Pillman looks for a superplex but that’s blocked into a front superplex. Steamboat comes off the top – BUT GETS MET WITH A DROPKICK…for 2. Pillman argues the count and that gets him back suplexed. Both men down, Pillman gets up first and hooks a sleeper but Steamboat runs him into the buckles. Pillman gets upset and hangs Steamboat up on the ropes. Pillman goes upstairs but Steamboat slams him off. Pillman’s begging off is rather reminiscent of Ric Flair. Pillman bails and Steamboat brings him back in. Steamboat’s eagerness to pursue leaves him open though and Pillman lays in the chops. Pillman hits a crossbody off the ropes for 2. Steamboat hits a backbreaker and climbs to hit a sunset flip for 2 into a near falls except the last fall Pillman can’t kick out of and gets pinned at 10.32. ***1/2. I can’t help thinking that could have been better. Still it was fast paced affair with plenty of psychology. Nothing to dislike about it but it just felt like it came up short of it’s potential. Maybe Pillman was dogging it slightly compared to before Watts started there but still showing up with some effort out of respect for Steamboat.

Fat Tony gets a word with Bill Watts. Kensuke Sasaki is a guest referee tonight and Rude has selected Harley Race to referee for him. Watts adds that Gordy is suspended indefinitely for being in breach of contract (or fired in other words – anyone care to explain that one?) Rude has a substitute in his US title match. Vader replaces him against Nikita Koloff.

US title – Vader v Nikita Koloff

Keep in mind that Rick Rude is the US champion so now we have a title match that the champion isn’t even in. For those who thought WCW didn’t start getting really dumb until 1993 here’s some proof to the contrary. This is no DQ and Madusa is banned from ringside. Rude looks weird without his moustache. Ole Anderson gives Race and Rude the boot from ringside leaving Vader alone in this match. All I can hope for here is Vader beating the living hell out of Koloff. To be fair to him Koloff is just as stiff back as they just beat the crap out of each other. I see the ECW Hat Guy at ringside encouraging Koloff to go after Vader. Oh, now you look like a babyface lovin’ chump! Vader finishes this one off with the powerbomb at 4.19. Whoa, Koloff got seriously buried there. ** for the Vader squash job. Koloff would be gone shortly afterwards anyway. You’ll notice, perhaps, a lack of stability in WCW at this time?

BACKSTAGE Teddy Long is on interviews and he talks to Dr Death and Austin. The future Texas Rattlesnake says there’s no game plan. They look confident.

Tag titles – Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes (c) v Steve Williams/Steve Austin

I think this is the only time the two Steve Williams’ ever teamed up. Although Austin wasn’t actually born Steve Williams he certainly tried to wrestle as it until realising Doc already had the handle. Rhodes and Doc have a FOOTBALL SHOWDOWN. Doc jumps over it and clotheslines Rhodes. Doc charges into the corner and Rhodes catches him with a clothesline. Windham comes in and the champs are working at Doc’s arm. Rhodes back in but Doc counters and goes to work on his arm. Rhodes jumps over the ropes to break the hold on the arm and hits a dropkick. Austin comes in as Doc is shook up. Windham comes in and Austin dropkicks him. Windham comes back with a dropkick. Rhodes in and Austin goes to work on his leg. Rhodes clotheslines him for 2. Windham in with a clothesline for 2. Windham hits a vertical suplex for 2. Austin goes to the eyes and tags Doc in. Windham tries to hit him with a flying lariat but Doc ducks it sending Windham to the floor. Doc tries to suplex him back in but that’s blocked and Austin gets the tag. He drops the elbow off the 2nd buckle for 2. Vertical suplex gets 2. Doc in and Windham tries for a sleeper so Doc runs him into the buckles. Austin back in to work at the arm and uses a roll up with the tights for 2. Hammerlock slam from Austin and Doc comes back in to clubber at Windham. Powerslam gets 2. Doc works at a chinlock but Windham jawbreakers out. Austin in and he looks for a superplex but it’s blocked. Diving lariat gets 2 for Windham. As soon as that doesn’t get it done he tags out to Rhodes who levels Austin with a lariat. Running bulldog gets 2 with Doc saving. Doc blindsides Rhodes with a clothesline for a 2 count. Doc with a Stinger Splash and a Boston crab. The challengers tag and Austin pins for 2. Austin looks for the over the shoulder backbreaker but Windham comes in to break it up. They go to a near falls, which Rhodes gets 100% of until Austin clocks him with a clothesline. Rhodes tries for the flip, flop and fly so Austin knocks him on his ass and uses the ropes for 2. Ref spots that so in comes Doc. Snap suplex w/floatover gets 2. Doc wails on Rhodes opening up an existing cut over his left eye. Austin in with a powerslam but he misses with a follow up elbow. He looks for a slam but Rhodes rolls him up for 2. Austin brings Doc back in because he’s making too many mistakes. Trapping suplex from Doc gets 2. Belly to belly gets 2. Austin back in and we’re approaching the time limit. Austin works at a half crab but that doesn’t get it done. Rhodes kicks out and tags out but the ref misses it. Rhodes now gets an ass kicking on the blindside. Ref is knocked out while everyone continues to brawl. Doc gives Windham a lariat and a new ref runs in to count 3 at 28.24 BUT Windham wasn’t legal. Doc and Austin celebrate but in comes Rhodes to roll up Austin for 2. Windham and Doc are brawling outside while Rhodes hammers on Austin. Rhodes with a TOMBSTONE but he’s too tired to follow up. The time limit is running out as Rhodes pins for 2. We have a 30-minute time limit draw. ****. Good match although a little slow to start with. In retrospect they were building up to something, which is good.

BACKSTAGE, well, front stage Fat Tony is with Paul E, Handsome Harley and Vader. Paul says he’s entirely 100% responsible for Rick Rude’s success. That brings Madusa out here and Paul has had it with her. Has he now? Yes, yes he has. Paul says he’s the Dangerous Alliance. He’s dominant, superior and an M-A-N while Madusa is subservient because she’s just a chick that takes orders. He calls her a hooker and Madusa is crying. She’s also fired. And stupid. Paul E gets a kick in the face for that and Madusa kicks the shit out of him on the stage. Crowd loves it and so does Jesse Ventura. Paul E wants her let loose and calls her a bitch but is forced to run away as Madusa breaks loose of security. Great segment. Paul Heyman was SO good on the mic. Oddly enough Watts wanted to fire Heyman as well but decided against it because Heyman’s Dad is a lawyer.

SPIN THE WHEEL – Make the Deal. Out here is Sting to spin the aforementioned wheel and make that there deal. Because the wheel isn’t gimmicked it lands on Coal Miner’s Glove match to a collective “eh?” from the Philly fans. The other consideration is that the wheel is gimmicked and someone in the booking department is a retard. Or they were aiming for First Blood and fucked up. Regardless it’s an entirely stupid situation.

NWA title – Masa Chono (c) v Rick Rude

Two guest referees out here. Both Kensuke Sasaki and Harley Race. Madusa is still in Rude’s corner. Rude wins the coin toss so Race is the in ring official while Sasaki will be the outside official. Crowd gets bored with all this pre-match nonsense and chants “We Want Flair”. Well, it is Philly. Chono works at an armbar while the crowd entertains itself by screaming “WHOOO” for a few minutes. Chono looks like he’s all set to totally half-ass this match. I can spot it when someone is phoning it in right from the opening bell and he’s doing so. So nothing happens for the first 4 minutes or so before Chono goes for the STF but Rude blocks his head off leaving Chono with a leg and nothing else. They sit in that for a minute before Chono gives up on it and opts for some striking instead. Rude stuffs him with a piledriver for 2. The sloppy cover near the ropes gives Chono ample space to put his foot on the bottom strand. Sasaki is all over Madusa on the floor to make sure she doesn’t interfere. Rude goes a chinlock for 5 minutes because Chono can’t be bothered to get out of it. Crowd amuses itself by watching a fight between two of their own, which is probably a damn sight more entertaining. Rude tries coming off the top when that’s settled down but Chono moves out of the way. Then he YAKUZA KIIIIIICKS Harley Race clean out of the ring. Rude gets tossed outside and he manages to bump Sasaki in the process. How can they get that convoluted? Two wrestlers as referees and they’ve both been bumped. RUDE AWAKENING and it would be over but BOTH refs are down. Rude misses with a knee drop to follow and Chono hooks him up in the STF. Sasaki dives in and claims Rude quit but Race over rules him because he’s the in ring official. ½*. That was so dull.

Race claims a DQ with Chono throwing Rude over the top rope. Hiro Matsuda is out here and Sasaki and Race get into a brawl. Sasaki ends up cleaning house on Race and Rude drawing the biggest reaction of the match. Thankfully that match was clipped on my tape by around 12 minutes. I can’t even begin to understand how boring that must have been.

WCW title – Ron Simmons (c) v Barbarian

HA. HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that’s Barbarian in a WCW title match. On a PPV. Luckily he has Cactus Jack in his corner to make him moderately interesting but there’s not one single person in the arena that buys him as a threat to that belt. As if to show that in the ring Simmons just clubs Barbarian down in the corner. Cactus pulls him out for advice. Probably “hang him up on the ropes” because that’s what he does. Oh and “run him into the post while I run interference” because that’s next. Simmons gets a sunset flip for 2 but the crowd is DEAD. But that’s what happens when your best wrestler and most over guy is the manager. It’s so basic. Barbarian misses with an elbow off the ropes. Spinebuster slam gets 2. Barbarian does some suspect selling for clotheslines and gets caught with a football shoulderblock. Cactus runs interference again. Barbarian kicks Simmons out of the ring and Cactus throws him back in to be pinned. Barbarian connects with a Flying Barbarian for 2. Well, that’s your lot. JR tries to sell it as being a miracle kick out but no one is buying. Still. Barbarian promptly runs into a powerslam and gets pinned at 7.22. DUD. That was a title match? Eesh.

Coal Miner’s Glove match – Sting v Jake Roberts

This isn’t sanctioned by WCW. I would say “that’s because it’s going to suck” but it’s not as if WCW don’t book their own matches that suck. Jake Roberts was making his WCW PPV debut here before Watts tore up his contract. Jake in return has promised to piss on his grave. No love lost there. Seeing as both Watts and Roberts are still alive we haven’t discovered whether he’ll actually go through with his promise. JR talks about the cobra that Jake has and they have anti-cobra venom solution, or something along those lines, just in case someone is bitten.

To kick things off they take it in turns to get thrown off the top rope. Seriously, how are you going to get that glove down after 30 seconds? When has that ever happened? Crowd has been successfully killed by this point btw. They’re all ready to go home and don’t really care what happens here. Jake takes it to the floor with the intent of posting Sting but ends up getting posted himself. Twice. Sting heads up the pole, which is unusually tall, but Jake pulls him down and back suplexes him. I’m getting tired just watching this. It’s the third bore in a row and my eyes are trying to close. Sting works the arm. Jake works the back. Jake uses a chair because he’s the heel. Jake chokes Sting with his wrist tape. Stinger Splash misses. Jake ignores his injured arm for the short arm clothesline. DDT and Sting must know that Jake is on his way out as soon as he’d come in because he barely sells it. Sting climbs for the glove but out comes Cactus with a cobra for Jake. Sting bashes Jake in the back with the glove, the arm would have been better, and the cobra “bites” Jake while Sting pins him at 10.33. I say “bites” because Jake is just holding it near his face. Hardly a Randy Savage arm job. ½*. Boring with a bad finish. Jake, having been bitten by a cobra, was promptly gone from WCW programming.

Any mention of Erik Watts has been edited off this tape. Bonus.

The 411: Great tag match and a decent opener but there’s nothing else to enjoy here. The title matches at the top end are particularly embarrassing. Chono was lazy in his match, Barbarian never should have been in his and Jake Roberts was a dead man walking for the main event. Ron Simmons was a lame duck champion as Bill Watts tried to recapture his Junkyard Dog formula for having a successful black guy on top of the company. On paper this wasn’t even a bad card. Chono v Rude should have alone been a showstealer. Not to mention Steamboat-Pillman and Sting-Roberts but the card doesn’t deliver. After Madusa’s firing the show goes totally down the toilet. Thumbs in the middle with a recommendation to strongly avoid the top end of the show.

Final Score:  4.5   [ Poor ]