Hello everyone! After a brief hiatus from these, I’m back with another round of Flashback Thoughts from PPVs of the past. This month, I’m taking a look at WCW Halloween Havoc 1993!
-And what would Halloween Havoc be without a corny Halloween themed opening with Tony Schiavone!
-That intro seriously took 4 minutes. Gotta love corny 1990s wrestling.
Harlem Heat and The Equalizer vs Shockmaster, Ice Train and Charlie Norris
-This match has Booker T and a whole lot of nothing.
-The Shockmaster still seems to be over even after his debut debacle. That seriously amazes me, even in 1990s wrestling.
-The wrestling in this match is bad. Really bad. I can’t believe a future Hall of Famer is in this match. And a legit one too.
-What a cluster**** finish. Shockmaster hits a bear hug slam. Stevie Ray goes to break up the count but instead starts going after the faces coming in to the ring. So Shockmaster and his team pick up the win.
Paul Orndorff (w/The Assassin) vs Ricky Steamboat
-The crowd is chanting Paula at Mr. Wonderful.
-I kind of wish at times we could go back to the 1990s of pro wrestling and not deal with smarky crowds who care more about being cool than the action going on in the ring.
-You would expect more action inside the ring from these two. But most of it is happening on the outside, and it is a lot of stalling.
-Orndorff wins via countout after The Assassin put something in his mask and headbutt Steamboat, laying him out on the outside. Underwhelming match considering the two men involved.
WCW Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Sir William) vs The British Bulldog
-Michael Buffer used to do ring intros for TV Title matches? At least it made the Title seem important.
-I’ve always thought that the British Bulldog could have been a main eventer for either the WWE or WCW. Too bad he never really got to that point.
-The first five minutes of this match has been nothing of showman and one-ups manship.
-Watching Steven Regal hit these upper cuts, you wonder if that is where Antonio Cesaro learned how to deliver them.
-British Bulldog hits the Piledriver, but the time limit expires right as the referee is about to count to three. It is a time limit draw folks.
-Vader comes out to spin the wheel, and it lands on Texas Death Match. Sadly we don’t get a repeat of the Coal Miners Glove Match this year.
United States Championship: “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes vs “Stunning” Steve Austin
-This is Dustin Rhodes, before he was saddled with every type of weird gimmick possible.
-Actually, this might be Dustin’s worst gimmick of his career.
-This is easily the best match of the night so far.
-Austin thinks he’s won but Nick Patrick realizes Austin had his feet on the ropes, even though he counted to three. Rhodes then rolls up Austin for the win. After the match Austin nails Rhodes with the belt.
Tag Team Championship: Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio (c) (w/Teddy Long) vs The Nasty Boys (w/Teddy Long)
-Teddy Long involved in a tag match and he didn’t even make it himself? Mind. Blown.
-Bagwell kisses Missy and she runs off in disgust. Chances are that wasn’t the worst thing Missy had in her mouth all night.
-Just from the short work I’ve seen in this match so far, I could understand why WCW saw some potential in Bagwell. It’s a shame it didn’t work out for him.
-On the other side of things, I never got the love some people had for the Nasty Boys. Sure they would be a cool nostalgic act, but during their prime they were really nothing in the ring.
-All hell breaks loose. Sags ends up hitting Scorpio with his boot and Knobs rolls over onto Scorpio to give the Nasty Boys the win.
Sid Vicious (w/Col. Parker) vs Sting
-This match is to determine the franchise of WCW. I don’t know if anyone ever used the term “franchise” and Sid in the same sentence.
-Col. Parker was always an underrated manager to me. Would have liked to see more of him.
-A lot of this match is taking place outside the ring as well. But here it is being used to at least cover Sid’s limitations in the ring.
-But the one thing I will always say about Sid: That man had a good amount of charisma. I think that is part of the reason why some fans would cheer for him.
-It may just be my opinion, but Sting in mid-1990s WWE would have been MONEY.
-Sting wins with a roll up after Col. Parker accidentally held down Sid’s leg on a pin attempt earlier, which caused a distraction.
WCW International Championship: Ravishing Rick Rude (c) vs Ric Flair
-Terry Taylor is the second referee in this match because Rude used a foreign object to win the Title from Flair. And this is the closest Terry Taylor ever got to the main event in the WWE or WCW.
-Flair is working as the face here, months after his return from the WWE.
-Flair off the top rope to the outside with a forearm. Remember when Flair was young enough and healthy enough to do such things?
-This match is slow moving. It is one move, then a break, then on to the next one. Also a couple long submissions.
-A double ref bump! Rude tries to use the foreign object but Flair counters, then hits Rude with it. After the cameraman moved it then gave it to Flair again. But Randy Anderson saw Flair use the object so he’s DQ’d before Taylor counts to three.
Texas Death Match: Vader (w/Harley Race) vs Cactus Jack
-Not even a minute in and Vader takes the mask off. Did he ever finish a match with it on?
-Even though Vader is the WCW Champ, the Title is not on the line. Which is weird for a singles match involving the Champ on a PPV.
-So if you score a pinfall, there is a 30 second rest period, then the man pinned has ten seconds to get up. That’s way too much to score a win.
-The crowd is into this match, mostly because the WCW crowd back then wasn’t really used to this.
-Cactus is on Vader’s back, so Vader falls right back and lands on Cactus with all of his weight on the elevated ramp. Ouch.
-Vader DDTs Cactus on a chair then pins him. Cactus gets up and DDTs Vader and the ref starts counting both of them, even though Cactus never pinned him. Cactus gets up but Harley Race uses a taser on Cactus. Vader gets up and scores the win.
The show had a screwy finish in almost every match, including the four title matches. A lot of the matches I was looking forward to watching disappointed, especially Steamboat/Orndorff. The Texas Death Match was fun for the time period obviously. Slow moving show.
Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka
