The Halloween Havoc Experiment Part 3: Halloween Havoc '91; An Evening of Terrifying Destruction

So, hopefully this is week three of my experiment of watching all of WCW's exciting Halloween Havoc series. Do remember that my ramblings are just as much a writing exercise for me as they are a hopefully enjoyable reading exercise for my small audience. If you haven't followed them before please check-out Wrestlecrap.com or OSWR.com on your internets of YouTube. They are much more detailed than me. The former has a great write up on this very PPV that should make an appearance in the weeks leading up to Halloween, while the latter has covered Havoc '95 which I'll eventually get to. In the meanwhile...do enjoy the best graphics that 1991 had to offer...looks like a rehash of '90 to me.

Again, it may be the Mandela effect, but I think TBS used this on the Tom and Jerry Halloween Special too.

Another nice poster with a Halloween feel for 'An Evening of Terrify Destruction!'; It's a bit of a long subtitile to be honest, I'm pretty sure they do away with them before too long.

This time the announce crew is Tony Shiovone and Jim Ross with Eric Bischoff and  Missy Hyat doing the backstage stuff. No outfit for Tony or JR this year, but Missy and Eric eventually appear dressed up...but first earlier today...we see guys arriving at the areana. A regularly dressed Eric had quick interviews with Cactus Jack and Abdulla the Butcher who both did a lot of nonsense. Eventually Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham pull up, and Windham's arm is taken out by the Enforcers--

 They drive to the hospital. The injury takes Windham out of the Chamber of Horrors Match, but Dustin returns to take on Stunning Steve Austin later in the night.

Eric Bischoff as Dracula and Missy Hyatt as a flapper girl. She was cute in the getup. The pair of them especially Missy, spend most of the night looking for the 'WCW Halloween Phantom'

1991 was a good horror year with Silence of the Lambs winning the Oscar. A few other scary movies included Cape Fear, Freddy's Dead, Child's Play 3 and Earnest Scared Stupid...and don't forget 'Cool as Ice'. In music Paula Abdul, R.E.M., U2 and Bryan Adams were big that year. I really like 'Baby Baby' by Amy Grant...it doesn't seem that old. In TV, it was a little stange for debuts. You have things like Dinosaurs and Home Improvement that don't feel all that dated, but then you have something like 'The Statler Brothers Show'...all due respect as I love them in the GTA games, but doesn't that feel older than dirt? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_in_film

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1991

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1991

                                                 The Chamber of Horrors Match:

El Gigante, Sting, and the Steiner Brothers vs. Abdullah the Butcher, The Diamond Studd, Cactus Jack and Big Van Vader (12:33)

They didn't waste any time going for the gimmick match this year. This makes '91 better than the others because you get to the good stuff right away. The production values on this thing are infamous. There is a cartoonish, amateur "graveyard" set in the entry way with a lot of inside jokes on the tombstones...speaking of tombstones:

El Gigante  (January 31, 1966 – September 22, 2010) possibly better known as Giant Gonzales in his abysmal WWF(E) run.

Big Van Vader (May 14, 1955 – June 18, 2018) one of the greatest big men in wrestling. Only recently lost him as of my writing. He was dominant in WCW--until Hulk Hogan showed up to ruin it, and had something of a push in WWF(E), but was never as big here as he was in Japan. Most fans say it was the Hogan factor that more or less did him in. Still well known and respected among fans though. 

The rest of the crew are still with us as of this writing. Every wrestling fan knows Sting and the Steiners. The Diamond Studd was an early gimmick by Big Scott Hall who is best known by that name or his WWF(E) character 'Razor Ramon', Abdullah the Butcher was legendary during the territory days and this bleeds into this time frame. Often called a "garbage or hardcore" wrestler he was very entertaining. Cactus Jack of course is one of the many personalities of hardcore legend Mick Foley who went on to become Mankind and Dude Love in WWF(E). 

The match, which appears to me to take place in the same style of steel cage as was used in the inaugural Halloween Havoc except now with a smaller cage inside containing an electric chair, is just a total mess as you have heard/expected. The rules were supposed to have the two teams fight each other until one man is strapped into the chair. At that point another man pulls the switch to win. Unfortunately, it looked like every man for himself a lot of the time and the 'kill switch' kept falling down. They also introduced the Refer-eye cam which was an extra large piece of headgear that shot awkward footage and made the refs look...special?

Eventually, Cactus accidentally fries his own teammate Abdullah. There were "Ghouls" on the exit ramp with a stretcher to help the eventual loser to the morgue, I guess, but in the end Abdullah was revived by Cactus. Abdullah then attacked Cactus and the Ghouls, but eventually they all made their way off stage. What a mess, but you need to see it! * (as a match)...***** (as a train wreck). 

....off to a fantastic start I'd say!

Big Josh and P.N. News vs. The Creatures (5:16)

This tag match features a lot of people that you probably don't know so well. I use Wikipedia for everything information wise, and here we go P.N.News in this gimmick is a "rap master". Remember wrestling is often behind in trends and this is the case here as P.N. is a lot like the Fat Boys, MC Hammer or Will Smith of positive rap fame. He has a shape similar to Bam Bam Bigelow and has a lot of his move-set if I remember correctly. Believe it or not P.N. still wrestles on the indy circuit today under the name of Cannonball Grizzly. Big Josh (July 27, 1957 – June 28, 2013) was a lumberjack gimmick for wrestler Matt Borne who is probably best known as the original Doink the Clown in WWF(E). Borne was an excellent wrestler and it's easy to tell when he stopped being Doink. This lumberjack gimmick doesn't do much. The Creatures were a masked team probably used exclusively for Havoc. The only info on Wiki says that one of them was a wrestler better known as 'Jumpin' Joey Maggs (July 1, 1969 – October 15, 2006).

The match was really nothing. You couldn't get away with this on a PPV nowadays, and probably not on a regular weekly episode. Big Josh and P.N. News more or less squash the creatures. *

Bobby Eaton vs. Terrance Taylor with Alexandra York of the York Foundation (16:00)

With all due respect to the gentlemen involved...16:00!! We've seen Bobby before in his more famous role as one half of the Midnight Express. He isn't so bad as a singles wrestler and he's in good shape here. The York Foundation was supposed to be a stable of wrestlers led by Mike Rotunda in a new gimmick, Michael Wallstreet. Rotunda, who looked a bit like Michael Douglas, was going to be a take on the character Douglas played in the 'Wallstreet' movie...from 1987 again, wrestling is always behind on trends...The character was to be rich something along the lines of The Million Dollar Man and he'd be managed by Alexandra York--better known as Marlena/Teri, the manager of Goldust in WWF(E)--who would use her super laptop computer to analyse opponents and lead her men to victory. Anyhoo...Rotunda left for WWF(E) wherein he teamed famously with the Million Dollar Man as Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) as a part of Money Inc. Meanwhile WCW was left holding the bag with the York Foundation and decided to repackage a lot of their mid-card guys to be York Foundation members including Terrance Taylor. Terrance--A.K.A. The Red Rooster in WWF(E) and Terry Taylor in the territories--was a pretty good worker. Unfortunately, the Red Rooster gimmick in the WWF(E) was memorable for all the wrong reasons and he was never able to get over it. 

Eaton gets the win here in a pretty solid match. The problem is that it's too long and again sitting in 2018 and looking at angles that you know are going nowhere is kind of tough. One striking thing to me is that the Midnight Express is already done at this point. This is when the Mandela Effect is strong because I could have sworn they lasted longer than '91. I give the match **.

Johnny B. Badd (with Teddy Long) vs. Jimmy Garvin (with Michael Hayes) (8:16)

For the third Havoc in a row we get the 'Birds doing some work and popping the crowd. This time they are decked out in Atlanta Braves gear and Michael Hayes is pretending to have a broken arm.

For those not in the know. The Braves blew up huge in '91 as they faced the Minnesota Twins in the World Series...they were and are my home team and they would go on to loose many World Series--what's the plural on that--before finally winning it all in 1995. They were considered the Buffalo Bills of baseball, but at least we finally got one. Anyhow, they had people doing the 'Tomahawk Chop" which became a big deal like the wave. Is it still PC to 'chop' today? I like in the UAE and have been away from the States for so long that I'm not sure what's offensive anymore.

Garvin's opponent, Johnny B. Badd, a "gay" Little Richard gimmick probably is offensive. To be clear he wasn't Goldust levels with the mind games and never did any "gayness" but the effeminate side was definitely the focus of early Johnny B. Badd matches. I think the "B.Badd" gimmick is much more fondly remembered than his Mark Mero stuff in WWF(E) which is a rarity when comparing what gimmicks are memorable between the companies. Mero may be best known for bringing in Sable--his ex-wife and wife of Brock Lesnar nowadays--into WWF(E) during that run. Sable legitimately became a bigger star than he was. Here he's managed by Teddy Long of Smackdown GM fame this time without the giant metal key.

This is a good match, and I always like the 'beautiful man' character (Goldust, Adrian Street, Vega from Streetfighter) and almost any incarnation of the 'Birds will be good for me, but as I mentioned before the Freebirds were getting long in the tooth, and for his part Johnny B. is just as green as the 'Birds are grey. The crowd was once again clearly with the Birds, and I do think Johnny was supposed to be heel, but he didn't get much in terms of 'heat' and he also played up to the crowd who seemed to already be warming to him. I can give it **1/2 and I'm being generous.

 

 Steve Austin with Lady Blossom vs. Dustin Rhodes for the WCW TV Championship (15:00)

If you don't know who these guys would become, then why waste time reading a wrestling review? Dustin Rhodes, the son of Dusty Rhodes and brother of Cody Rhodes, would go on to be Goldust in the WWE. He was a major star and still competes today. Steve Austin becomes arguably the greatest draw in wrestling history as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin--he was merely "Stunning" here. Lady Blossom was his wife back then and she is the one who came up with the "Stone Cold" name. I'm proud to say that I was a "Stunning" Steve Austin fan from the beginning, but I must admit that I would have never imagined him getting as big as he was or even having the "Stone Cold" gimmick.

A few things I'll mention here that we don't get too much today. Number one is a TV title which we could use today so badly. This title was defended once per week on TV. Back in the old days there would rarely be a title match on "free" TV. TV shows mostly featured squash matches between a star and a jobber. Feuds would be built and championship matches discussed, but you had to go to a house show or later buy the PPV for the payoff. Introducing a TV title had at least one good match--generally speaking--per week. They were very exciting and it gave guys a chance to do something. NWA/WCW and later ECW had great TV titles. The WWE should take notes and come up with one, especially having the network and everything. 

Number 2, time limit draws. In a good match, a time limit draw is another way to build someone up without lowering the other guy. It's another trick up the booking sleeve besides DQs and count outs. It should be used rarely, but that doesn't mean to not use it at all. The same goes for the old "over the top rope" DQ rule. It's just another way to finish a match and give us variety--if you are unwilling to to do the always preferable clean fall.  They do wrestle to the time limit draw here. The closing moments are very exciting. ****

Bill Kazmaier vs. Oz (3:59)

Kazmaier is a former pro-football player doing a "world's strongest man" gimmick. I have no lasting memory of him, but he seems like a good guy. Oz was one of many infamous WCW gimmicks for Kevin Nash--known best for his Diesel gimmick in WWF(E) and wrestling under his own name during the NWO angle and beyond. The Oz gimmick is based off of  'The Wizard of Oz' which Turner had the film rights to. He wore green wizard robes and sometimes an old man wizard mask. This is our second squash with Kazmaier going over with the "torture rack" style back breaker. I don't know if they were hoping to pair him vs. Luger in a feud down the line, but it never happened as far as I know. *

Van Hammer vs. Doug Somers (1:13)

Our third squash match follows with Van Hammer--a heavy metal gimmick--vs. Doug Somers (September 22, 1951 – May 16, 2017)--a long-time performer from the territory days. Aside from watching Hammer act like a head-banging idiot with his prop guitar during the entrance, there's nothing to see. *

Brian Pillman vs. Richard Morton with Alexandra York for the WCW Light Heavyweight Title (12:45)

Ricky Morton is the second repackaged wrestler from The York Foundation to appear tonight dressing and acting exactly the same as he always has except for once in a while checking in with York and her supercomputer and going by the name Richard. He faces Pillman (R.I.P.) who at this point was due for a championship. This was the finals of a tourney to crown the first WCW Light Heavyweight Champion. The action is fast and good for the most part with Morton doing a little bit of heel stalling here and there. As I said for the most he doesn't work as a heel. BTW, in case the stable is done before the next Halloween Havoc, The York Foundation also repackaged Tommy Rich as Thomas Rich to much the same effect. He and Morton had been teaming during this time with Terrance Taylor as the stable leader. Morton has had good singles runs in the past including a memorable feud with Ric Flair himself. Brian for his part, has always been better as a heel for me, but he does a good job here eventually capturing the title. **1/2

The Halloween Phantom vs. Tom Zenk (1:27)

Squash match number four features Z-man (R.I.P.) vs. The Halloween Phantom who's identity remained a mystery up until the point he enters the ring for a savvy fan. The Phantom was of course the legendary Rick Rude (December 7, 1958 – April 20, 1999). The match is a squash to introduce Rude as a force to be reckoned with. He does all of his signatures and Tony Schiovone references the "rude awakening" finisher by name eliminating any "mystery" that may may have eluded near-sighted fans.  **

The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Larry Zbysko) vs. The Patriots (Todd Champion and Firebreaker Chip) (9:51)

This match features one of my least favorite bookings in wrestling. The Enforcers--Anderson, of four horsemen fame and Zbysko, long-time rival to Bruno Sammartino--were the U.S. Champs, but this match is not for the titles. The Patriots were Todd Champion and his partner Firebreaker Chip. They aren't exactly stiffs in the ring, but again this is a case where our faces didn't go anywhere. The crowd is audibly cheering for Arn and Larry. Note: There are conflicting reports as to which belts were involved and who were the champs. I believe the Enforcers have the titles and they win the match over the Patriots, but the titles, whichever they were, were never on the line. I hate that. Why not put the title on the line? It's a PPV and the champs went over anyway. **1/2 for The Enforcers and their team work.  

~At some point in the night Paul E. Dangerously appears with Madusa--Alundra Blaze in WWF(E)--and they unmask The WCW Halloween Phantom revealing him to be Rick Rude to the surprise of people who missed the earlier match I guess.~

Lex Luger with Harley Race vs. Ron Simmons with Dusty Rhodes two-out-of-three-falls match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (18:59) 

According to the Wiki, Lex Luger was supposed to be the face taking on the heel Mr. Hughes--in the same Wiki I found out that Hughes was also in the York Foundation at one point--but instead they made Hughes a bodyguard for Luger. Luger became top heel in the Flairless WCW and the powers that be looked for a hero in Ron Simmons. The corner man for Ron Simmons was the legendary "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015) while Luger has Handsome Harley Race--another legendary champion from the 70's/very early 80's. 

This is a hard hitting affair and a really good match if you are into power wrestling. Simmons dominates the entire match and takes the first fall. There is a nice "screwy" finish for fall number 2 wherein Harley causes it to appear as if Ron Simmons threw Luger over the top rope. That's an automatic disqualification giving the fall to Luger. Tied at one fall each, Simmons dominates until Luger steals it to retain the title. At some point Dusty got his hands on Harley, but otherwise--aside from Harley really coming through on that second fall--the corner men didn't do all that much. I like power wrestling and WCW is coming up on an era that I find particularly enjoyable. I give this one ***.

I don't review these things move for move...as it's obvious to see. There are plenty of other guys who do that...and they do it on video so it's easier for viewer and pundit alike. But, I  do try to let you know a little wrestling lore if you're interested. Just keep in mind these 'facts' come from my shaky memory.  In WCW there were five distinct flavors:

1. The Territory Days: Crockett Promotions was a part of the NWA. TBS had a show called Championship Wrestling from Georgia which eventually became World Championship Wrestling. This kind of 'rasslin'...the best kind if you ask me...featured the stars of Crockett Promotions. This is where you get Ric Flair, the Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes, The Russians, Magnum T.A. and all the rest of your classic 70's -80's guys...they also picked up Sting, the Steiners, and Dr. Death among others when they merged with the old UWF. Overspending eventually led to the outright sale of the company to Turner Broadcasting.
2. Turner Days Pre-Hogan: This is where we are right now in these Havoc PPV events. Crockett had more or less sold out to Turner who still loved wrestling, and purchased the company. This is another great time if you ask me. Flair is missing for a while as he went to WWF(E) as the "real" world champion and even captured the WWF(E) title famously in the '92 Rumble. Without Flair, they turned to Luger, Sting and Ron Simmons. The Rasslin' flavor was still there and they'd yet to become WWF-lite. There was a lot of Wrestlecrap but a lot of good stuff too. A video game came out of this era as did PPVs as the centerpiece of money making. Pro-wrestling regularly won the cable time slot for Turner, but ultimately budgeting problems continued to plague the company.
3. Turner Days Hulk Hogan: This is a terrible time if you're a WCW fan. They really banked on ol' Red and Yellow Hogan and all his cronies. The heels--most prominently the cartoonish Dungeon of Doom--were all fodder for Hogan and friends, but WWF(E) let the Hulkster go for a reason. His act was stale and he was being booed out of the building. This was even worse in WCW during this time period as the Hulk had long expired his expiration date at this time...and it was far too early for nostalgia. This was more or less a money losing proposition until...
4. Turner Days Early Monday Night Wars: When they turned Hogan heel they had something and regularly beat the WWF(E). They really were hot at the time the NWO, Sting and Goldberg were huge stars. They were finally making big time cash here, but they used Turner like an ATM allegedly--over paying with guaranteed contracts, bringing in people who never wrestled, and stunt booking of celebrities set the stage for a great fall in spite of a lot of people making a lot of money at the time...and regularly beating Monday Night Raw.
5. Time Warner Late Monday Night Wars: When Turner sold/merged with Time Warner, WCW was a part of the deal. The big bosses didn't care anything about wrestling. The product at this time had never moved beyond NWO which had played out. Bringing in different bookers did nothing to improve the situation and eventually McMahon buys the whole thing and in essence, if not point of fact, shuts it down. In his defense, there was no way to rehabilitate the brand at this point which was running on past glories. In a way we should be glad that WWF(E) won these wars as had WCW won we may not have a national promotion today nor a network like WWE as the powers at Time Warner couldn't have cared less about our niche product. 

Joe Bob Briggs Memorial "Drive-in Totals": 

8- wrestlers no longer with us--R.I.P.
4- squash matches
1- Screwy "Dusty Finish"--2nd fall of the main event
1-Crazy Halloween Themed Chamber of Horrors
1-Future Icon of the Industry

My match of the night was Steve Austin vs. Dustin Rhodes with the main event being a close second. The Chamber of Horrors match needs to be seen by as many eyes as can stand it. The show has that Halloween feel that you are looking for in a themed PPV, but the matches aren't that great, and as we get deeper into the Havocs they won't be getting any better. Most of the matches can be seen on the Tube and of course all the WCW ppvs are available on the WWE Network.

I recommend the show because it is a fun one, but you may take advantage of the technology of today by either fast forwarding the bad stuff or watching it in multiple sessions. I am doing the latter for reviewing purposes, but the former may be the way you want to go...three down...who knows how many to go.

The Halloween Havoc Experiment Part 2: Halloween Havoc '90: Terrror Rules the Ring

My formatting and the amount of time I spend blogging this experiment will be directly tied to the number of views I'm getting from you guys. I don't mind writing for my audience of ten--on average--but if the numbers drop and nobody cares, well...those that stick around will see a lot fewer pictures. As a writing exercise I'm doing this on my own accord and mean to see it through until the bitter end, but looking for crappy still pics on Google does get a bit tedious, and nobody likes reading a wall of text. Remember all of these PPVs are available on WWE Network, which is where I'm watching, but also many of the matches are on YouTube and the more nefarious sites of your choice...that being said, I had a hard time finding seeders nowadays for classic torrents which is why I'm trying the network...and away we go...

 One of the first snags I'm going to hit in formatting my blog review is that the official video/DVD from back in the day as well as the current version of the PPV on the network has been edited. I am also using Wikipedia as my go to source. Thus, I'll give some brief info from the Wiki about what we missed. I can't review what I haven't seen, but from the looks of things...we're probably better off from having missed the filler.

What was going on in 1990? Politically, it would be more of the same in the good ol' USA. We'll be headed to Gulf War I pretty soon. Bush the first will remain very popular until the economy sours.

Television: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1990_American_television_series_debuts

Plenty going on. Of note the first attempt at a The Flash TV series with John Wesley Shipp tries to catch in on the popularity of last year's Batman movie. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and In Living Color debuted. Both shows would be a launching pad for various talents including the highly paid Will Smith and Jim Carey.

Movies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_in_film

The first Die Hard sequel, the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pretty Woman, Ghost, and Home Alone were all huge and bring back memories for me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1990

So many hits, but Biz Markie's 'Just a Friend' outdid them all, I'm sure.

Why include these things? (BTW they'll get shorter and shorter I predict) Because wrestling doesn't exist in a vacuum. You may think repackaging Tony Atlas as Saba Simba in the WWF(E) is racist, but not really, it was an answer to a popular television mini-series from the late 80's called "Shaka Zulu". You get a guy like "The Juicer" in WCW as a play off of the popular 'Beetlejuice'. You make an Arachniman because of the popularity of Spider-man...and you get sued. Your 'Russian Nightmare' becomes an Allied Power because at the time there was Rocky IV and a real-life thawing of the cold war...at least back then. Wrestling does seem to be about two to three years behind the trends however, except in the cases wherein they are creating the trend themselves such as: Hulkamania, Austin 3:16, NWO, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. On with the show...

 We open with cutting edge graphics from 1990. I'm pretty sure these were recycled from a TBS Tom and Jerry Halloween Special, and I'm certain they'll be recycled again for next year's Havoc. Spoiler Alert: I'm trying to stay at least one PPV ahead of my reviews.

 Good Ol' J.R. and a young Paul E. Dangerously (Heyman) have the call. Halloween shenanigans to start. I suppose Ross is Dick Tracy which was also a popular film of 1990 and Heyman went with the classic Dracula.

Tony Schiavone dressed as the Phantom of the Opera--popular stage play at the time and not to be confused with next year's WCW Phantom--is the backstage reporter. Mandela Effect and laziness to look it up can be blamed if I'm wrong, but if I remember correctly, Mr. Schiavone has just returned from a brief WWF(E) run. Jim Cornette is show here dressed in a Civil War uniform or maybe the Cavalry? I'm not sure, but this is left on the cutting room floor anyway, so it couldn't have been too important.

Dark Matches:

All according to Wikipedia:

Tim Horner over Barry Horowitz: Both perennial jobbers. I like Horowitz who got to have a mini-run in WWF(E) as an unlikely underdog. Tim Horner was always solid in tag-team matches.

Rip Rogers--who I think I remember from WCCW days as a funny heel/jobber--defeated Reno Riggins 

Main Card: Edited

Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton vs. The Midnight Express (Lane and Eaton) with Jim Cornette (20:49)

The ring ropes are done in a festive orange and black while the mat is a burgundy evoking blood an vampire imagery. If you're going to do a themed PPV, do it right. This is a step in the right direction. Tommy Rich was replacing the injured Robert Gibson--I have no idea if the injury was legit or not and I'm not going to look it up. Rich remains lanky and awkward especially compared with the smooth Midnights and Morton. Tommy and Ricky get the win by DQ when Stan uses Cornette's tennis racket. ** The WCW audience is very hot for tag-team action, but there's nothing to see here, and it goes on for much too long. Something tells me I better not review any of the Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournaments.

Left on the Cutting Room Floor:

Terry Taylor defeats Bill Irwin: Taylor is probably most infamous for his WWF(E) Red Rooster gimmick while long-time wrestling star "Cowboy" Bill Irwin was repackaged by WWF(E) as the hockey player--the Goon. N/A

Brad Armstrong (June 15th 1962-November 1st 2012) defeats J.W.Storm whom I've never heard of. For his part Armstrong was a part of the famous wrestling Armstrong Family. The most notable members being brother "Road Dog" Jessie James Armstrong of DX?New Age Outlaws fame in WWF(E) and father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong--who wrestled, masked for the most part, in various territories back in the old days. Brad had many gimmicks including the Arachniman one that I mentioned earlier. He was always a good hand--primarily for NWA/WCW--and should have had even more success than he did. N/A

The Master Blasters defeated the Southern Boys: Your MB team, Blade and Steel consisted of partners better known as Al Green and Kevin Nash (Diesel) while the Southern Boys were made up of the pair Tracy Smothers and another Armstrong brother--Steve Armstrong. Jim Cornette was involved as manager for one of these teams...maybe the Southern Boys based on that outfit from earlier, but this is cutting room floor, so who knows? N/A

Back to the Card:

     

The Freebirds (Michael P.S. Hayes and Jimmy "JAM" Garvin with Little Richard Marley) vs. The Renegade Warriors (Chris Youngblood and Mark Youngblood):(17:28)

I discussed this incarnation of the 'Birds in my review of Halloween Havoc '89. This time they are with Rocky King--a long time journeymen in NWA/WCW who, according to Wikipedia is still involved in the independent scene to this day--who has been repackaged as Little Richard Marley. In the storyline Marley is responsible for the injury to Robert Gibson of the Rock and Roll Express. To get cheap heat, Marley is dressed in a version of the R&R costume. BTW Brad Armstrong was a 'Bird at one time donning a mask and taking the name of Fantasia/Badstreet. Just in case I never  have another occasion to mention them. Bam Bam Terry Gordy( April 23rd 1961-July 16, 2001) and Buddy Jack Roberts (May 16th, 1947-November 26th 2012) along with Hayes were the members of the original,classic Freebirds line-up in the territory days.  Just like last year, the Birds should be the heels, but they are getting at least as many cheers as their babyface opponents. The Renegade Warriors were a Native American tag-team consisting of brothers Chris and Mark Youngblood. They've had long careers with Mark continuing to be involved with the independent scene to this day.

There isn't much to this match. The Youngbloods aren't outright booed out of the building the way 'The Dynamic Dudes'  were last year, but the 'Birds still get the lion's share of the cheers and eventually pick up the victory. ** 1/2

 The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) vs. The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobbs): (15:24)

Both of these teams are famous and all the participants are still with us today, so I won't go into too much background here. It was still early in the career of the 'Nasties and they were being effectively pushed as monster heels. Time hasn't been kind to the 'Nasties as far as "Wrestling Pundits" are concerned due to their overall sloppy brawling style, but back in the old days, they were very much over with fans. They also did a lot of charity work and are generally considered to be very nice guys in real life. As to this match, the Steiners are clearly superior. The 'Nasties do a lot of brawling moves, but are easily out performed by the Brothers. The Steiners get the win defending their NWA U.S. Tag Team Championships. The 'Nasties attacked the Steiner's and the Ref after the fight to keep their heat. ** 1/2. I'm no snob, but it's the best I can give this one. 

Another Match Bites the Dust:

Of all the cut matches, this one seems like it would have been the most interesting to me. It was the Junkyard Dog (December 13th 1952-June 2, 1998) vs. Moondog Rex: JYD picked up the win when he stole the Moondog's bone and smashed him with it...according to the Wiki. N/A

 Doom with Teddy Long vs. Ric Flair and Arn Anderson: (18:20)

Doom--defending world tag team champions--are now without their masks and are managed by Teddy Long instead of Woman. Flair and Anderson are tagging amongst themselves without additional Horesemen at the moment, but just wait. It's a very good match between the four with the Horsemen getting the most cheers. The match length is no problem when you've got guys that know how to use the psychology and work well together. The problems here are the double-count out finish and the fact that as presented by the Network we're on our fourth tag match in a row. Still ***

NOTE: Both a U.S. tag-team belt and  World tag team title defense. As presented by the network, we've had four tag matches in a row. Keep in mind that we thankfully lost an additional tag-team affair on the cutting room floor. In this day and age, there are only so many tag-team matches that I can take even when the teams are good.

Stan Hansen vs. Lex Luger: (9:30)

This was for the U.S. singles title which Luger had held for 523 days. It was a hard hitting and stiff affair that eventually saw Hansen pick up the win. ***

The Main Event:...and not a moment too soon:

 Sting Vs. Sid Viscious for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship:

Neither of these men need an introduction. Multi-time world heavyweight champions and top tier performers for the "Big Two" when that meant something. I would argue that Sting has had the most success and by far the most longevity while Sid is very memorable and obviously physically imposing. This match is fine with a smaller guy using his speed and agility against the big guy using his power move set. The ending screws it up. It's not so bad that they tried to swerve with a bogus Sting as portrayed by Barry Windham--who is clearly having fun as evidenced here:

 

    ...but the time it took to set it up...just a few seconds mind you, but clearly awkward and hard to follow, just takes you out of it. For a few seconds it looks as if Sid pinned the real Sting...seconds later comes the reveal that it was a fake...Sting quickly does away with Sid after the match is restarted and he retains the title.  ** 1/2 and I'm being kind. This wouldn't be the last time Sting would be haunted by clones of himself. At least here it made some sense to do it because it was Halloween.

The night ends with Sting giving an interview talking about The Black Scorpion. Alright, so the Black Scorpion is an infamous NWA/WCW gimmick. This mysterious, masked wrestler dressed all haunted Sting with cryptic video packages giving hints to his identity. The Scorpion was always in silhouette and voiced by Ole Anderson. Rumors abounded that the character would be a person from Sting's past, but eventually they just went with the idea of it having been Ric Flair the whole time playing "mind games". Earlier on this night the Scorpion performed a magic show of sorts during an interview with Sting. The dark wizard, Scorpion made a woman disappear and then reappear much to Sting's chagrin...and to much overacting on the part of the announce crew. The magic segment is so well remembered that the Wikipedia page doesn't mention it, and I can't remember at what point in the card it happened. 

Joe Bob Briggs Memorial "Drive-in Totals": 

4- matches left on the cutting room floor

1- Double Count Out finish

4-Tag matches
1-Bogus Sting

1-wrestling Armstrong who is no longer with us: R.I.P.

My match of the night is Lex Luger vs. Stan Hansen.  I didn't do much of a write up about as doing the play by play isn't necessarily my purpose, but it is a really stiff and brutal affair especially by WCW standards. Worth looking up. As to the rest...if you don't have the nostalgia for this stuff, I just don't think you'll enjoy it as much as I and others of my age will. Being able to fast forward or to watch the card in smaller doses helps.

The Halloween Havoc Experiment: Part 1 Halloween Havoc '89: Settling the Score

With RPG a Day winding down for another year, and my desire to write about nerdy things not being fully satiated, I've decided to take it upon myself to view and review every WCW Halloween Havoc PPV. There were twelve such PPVs in all that ran from the good ol' days of 1989 up until the dying days of WCW in 2000. With the advent of WWE Network and the ability to see these PPVs as they happened--sans some of the entrance music WWE would have had to pay royalties to use--I arrive armed with optimism and a free one month subscription to the network. Finally, I'll be able to watch all the stuff I missed as a kid...and some of the stuff I wish I had missed as a teen/young adult. Obviously, if you have the network you can follow along. My reviews will be soft, thoughtful and hopefully funny. Without further ado...Haloween Haoc 1989: Settling the Score.

What was happening '89? I was a fifteen year old going to school in Riverdale, GA in the United States. The summer blockbusters of '89 included: Batman, Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, The Abyss, and the great Weekend at Bernie's. As to horror...since it is Halloween and all...we had the fifth entries in the Elm Street and Halloween series as well as a trip to Manhattan for Jason. As for TV: The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Family Matters, and Saved by the Bell all got their start. The only song that mattered was 'Buffalo Stance' by Neneh Cherry. In politics? We sure weren't as PC as we are today. George H.W. Bush had just taken office in January '89 after eight consecutive years under Reagan. The Berlin Wall came down and we lost Japanese Emperor, Hirohito.

Into that mixed up world came the inaugural Halloween Havoc PPV. The announce team was Bob Caudle and Jim Ross. Backstage interviews were presided over by Chris Cruise and the Dean of Wrestling, Gordon Solie (January 26, 1929-July 27th, 2000)  Aside from the Halloween font, a couple of shots of fans wearing masks, and some light decorations on the "Thunder Dome" cage, there wasn't much 'Halloween' in the havoc. As we go through, I expect the level of 'Halloweenieness' to increase.

The Card:

1. The Z-Man (Tom Zenk) vs. Mike Rotunda
2. The Samoan Swat Team with Sir Oliver Humperdink vs. The Midnight Express and Dr. Death Steve Williams with Jim Cornette
3. "Wildfire" Tommy Rich vs. The Cuban Assassin
4. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Dynamic Dudes with Jim Cornette
5.  Doom with Woman vs. The Steiner Brothers
6. Lex Luger vs. Flyin' Brian Pillman
7. The Road Warriors with Paul Ellering vs. The Skyscrapers with Teddy Long
8. Ric Flair and Sting with Ole Anderson vs. Terry Funk and the Great Muta with Gary Hart in the Thunderdome Cage match with special referee Bruno Sammartino

  The Z-Man vs. Mike Rotunda (13:23 all timings via Wikipedia)

We begin with the Z-Man (November 30, 1958-December 9, 2017) who was probably best known for his WWF run as Tom Zenk wherein he teamed with Rick Martel in the 'Can-Am Connection' versus Mike Rotunda who is arguably better known for his run as Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) in the WWF. I'm a huge NWA/WCW fan, but time after time I find that these guys are more famous for their 'wacky' WWF(E) gimmicks than their more reality based runs in my preferred organization. I should also note that Rotunda is the father of current WWE superstars: Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt, and the brother-in-law of Barry Windham.

It's a game effort from both guys, but sitting here in 2018, I know that neither of them really go anywhere...especially not in WCW. Rotunda was coming off of a fairly memorable run as the 'captain' of the Varsity Club faction, but this is more of an attempted push for Z-Man. As a kid he was one of the ones we didn't pay any attention of. My brother and I called him the Zzzzzzz-Man. Z-Man does pull out a win when he reverses Rotunda's backwards (?) flying body press from the second rope. **1/2 

The Samoan Swat Team with Sir Oliver Humperdink vs. The Midnight Express and Dr. Death Steve Williams with Jim Cornette (18:23)

Running down the participants of note: wrestlers known better as Rikishi and the Tonga Kid/Tama of The Islanders fame are a part of the SST faction--Tonga/Tama being billed as the Samoan Savage. The final member of the group, Samu is a part of the same wrestling family albeit lesser known. Their manager Sir Oliver Humperdink (January 16th 1949-March 20th 2011) gained a bit of fame as a manager. I remember him managing Bam Bam Bigelow during his initial run in WWF. Here he's often referred to as The Big Kahuna. I've also heard him referred to as "Big Daddy Dink" on an occasion or two. On the other side you have the molten hot Midnight Express--the Beautiful Bobby Eaton and Sweet Stan Lane combination--along with Steve "Dr. Death" Williams (May 14th 1960-December 29th, 2009). Dr.Death was awesome. It's too bad that for the most part his run in WWF(E) and later run during the "Monday Night Wars" period WCW didn't show what all the hype was about. For those of us who followed him in the UWF and this early NWA/WCW time frame, we saw how badass he could be. His career was much bigger in Japan, and now with the aid of the internet, interested parties could do worse than to look him up. The team was managed by Jim Cornette, who of course is a well known manager from the '80s. 

There is a lot to say about this match-up. The storyline is that Jim Cornette had begun to advise the 'Dynamic Dudes' (Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace) tag-team. His longtime team, The Midnight Express, had been losing lately and started to accuse Cornette of spending too much time with his new proteges. They faced the SST who were actually a pretty hot act coming out of the World Class Championship Wrestling territory and were being built up as monsters in WCW at this time. The Express were totally over putting on great matches all the time. Tag-team wrestling in general was hot during this period with over half the card consisting of team matches in one form or another. The near 20 minute match is action packed and doesn't slog until perhaps the approach to the end game. The ending sequence itself sees Humperdink climbing the apron to interfere, he's intercepted by Cornette who inadvertently costs his men the match due to an accidental collision. ***1/2

'Wildfire' Tommy Rich vs. Cuban Assassin (8:29)

It's the former world champion 'Wildfire' Tommy Rich vs. The Cuban Assassin. The Assassin who had been all over the place by this point, is best described with the old 'jobber to the stars' enhancement talent label as he would win here and there, but never became a household name. Rich, who was supposedly making a comeback, looked terrible and sloppy. I'm not one of those 'armchair quarterback' wrestling guys, I'm just a long-time fan, and this looked really bad. The body language and everything in Rich's performance just looks off. I don't know if they had any real big plans for him or not in this comeback, but a nearly ten minute jobber match didn't do him any favors. He later gained fame in ECW managing The Full Blooded Italians which was comedic, meta, and overall very good. 

The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Dynamic Dudes with Jim Cornette (11:28)

This was for the World Tag Team Titles. It's the second part of the Cornette story tonight as he is managing his new team 'The Dynamic Dudes' in a title match while his old team 'The Midnight Express' was in the "throw away" six-man match earlier. This is how you subtly tell a story and plant seeds. You don't get enough of this today. Unfortunately, there is something here that you do get a lot of today--the most recent examples being Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte and Roman Reigns vs. anybody--and that is miscasting of face and heel roles. 

The Dynamic Dudes consisting of Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace were supposed to be the faces here, but the crowd hated them. They were booed very audibly for almost everything that they did. Meanwhile, The Fabulous Freebirds--this time consisting of Michael P.S. Hayes and Jimmy Jam Garvin--were supposed to be the heels, but had practically the entire arena on their sides. Beware of the Mandela Effect here, but I remember at this point The 'Birds being a near nostalgia act that was very over, good luck getting them booed especially vs. competition like the Dudes. Anyhow, from the start the roles were being played as "written" but the crowd wasn't having it. Don't get me wrong, they were hot for the match, just not the roles. For their parts, Hayes and Garvin kept doing heelish things to try to save the Dudes from getting booed our of the building. The announce team had to admit that the Freebirds "had their fans" with either Jim Ross or Bob Caudle adding that Hayes had spent some time growing up in Philadelphia. By the end, the 'Birds embraced the crowd and played to them for cheers. The Dudes went for their finisher called, "The Wipeout" which was basically a double backdrop off the ropes. Hayes grabbed one of the Dudes by his foot not allowing him to complete the double-team finisher. Meanwhile, Garvin landed on top of the other Dude and got the pin. *** you get to see a crowd in revolt, an early example of a "Philly Crowd", and a good match for the 'Birds. Full disclosure I'm a mark for Michael P.S. Hayes and have watched him almost literally since I was in diapers. I finally met him one day in the early 90's when he was at the Hot Topic in Southlake Mall in Morrow, GA buying clothes for The Hardy Boys whom he was managing at the time . I nervously approached him and said, "P.S. Hayes, you've always been one of my faves!" he shook my hand and replied, "...Alright, Brother!" A brush with greatness...another one is coming right up. 

Doom with Woman vs. The Steiner Brothers (15:32)

Right away this one is too long. The tag-team matches in this show have been great, and this one is pretty entertaining too, but from a modern sensibility stance, you can have too much of a good thing. Doom consists of 'Hacksaw' Butch Reed, a long-time favorite in various southern territories who was just coming off of a somewhat memorable WWF(E) run as 'The Natural' Butch Reed in Slick's stable--Slick himself was something of a "pimp"/hustler character who managed the likes of: Reed, Big Bossman, Kamala and The One Man Gang/Akeem. The second member of Doom was none other than Ron Simmons. Simmons would later become the first black world heavyweight champion for a major promotion in WCW, lead the first incarnation of 'The Nation of Domination' in the WWF(E), form the Acolytes/A.P.A. with John Bradshaw Layfield also in WWF(E) wherein his "Damn!" catch phrase was born. I shouldn't neglect to mention that brief period in WWF(E) when he debuted in a silly looking Roman helmet and was manged by Sunny (Tammy Sytch) or maybe I should. 

The Steiner Brothers--Rick and Scott--are world famous and need no introduction from me. Scott of course, morphed into the Big Poppa Pump incarnation during the hot period of wrestling and the NWO angle. He's had his problems as you can all read about on the Dirt Sheets Brah!, but Rick seems to be alright. However, for storyline purposes, Rick plays the mentally challenged one. 

In this story Rick was dating a superfan named, Robin Green. Green turned on the Steiners bringing in her own tag-team, Doom, to take them out and eventually win the tag-titles. In the broadcast they note that she wanted to make a splash in the business and that's why she targeted Rick in the beginning. Woman was played by the late, Nancy Benoit (May 17th 1964-June 22nd 2007). I'm not even sure if the family wants the 'Benoit' surname to apply--as if any of them happen to be among the ten people who read my blog--I'm going strictly by her Wikipedia entry. For those not in the know, Chris Benoit who was eventually a well known superstar in WWE snapped and killed both his wife, Nancy and their son. This was another brush with wrestling greatness--and nefariousness--as I met both Nancy and Chris in the old Gold's Gym in Fayettville, GA. I can literally say that I worked out with Chris Benoit. In addition, I helped him to find some Easy Mac for the very family he'd later kill when I worked for a Publix grocery store in the same county. Sad stuff, and Nancy was such a tiny lady. It doesn't come across when she's on screen, but she was really small :(

Anyhow, ugliness aside the tag match was once again hot. The young Scott Steiner was awesome pulling off all kinds of crazy moves while Rick did a lot more of the power end of wrestling. Doom weren't stiff themselves putting on a great brawl with power moves of their own. The finish came when Woman "loaded" the mask of one of the Doom members who then head butted Rick for the win. That's 'Rasslin physics and kind of a dumb ending. *** boarding on ** 1/2 due to length and silly ending. The Steiner Brothers did become famous in wrestling circles, but I wouldn't call them household names. New fans may not even know them. Simmons went on to great things, but the Doom team really didn't. I remember as a kid wishing that they would have continued. 

 Flyin' Brian Pillman vs. 'The Total Package' Lex Luger (16:49)

This was for the U.S. Championship and all of the announcers kept putting Brian Pillman (May 22nd, 1962-October 5th 1997) over as he was due for a championship win. In my youth, I didn't care for Brian Pillman until many years later when he became "The Loose Cannon" as a part of The Hart Foundation in WWF(E). My brother and I always called him "Sighin' Brian" because we'd be sighing whenever he came out. Lex Luger, even when he was World Champion always seemed like a second banana to me. He was clearly a superstar and was pushed to high heaven in the "Lex Express" WWF(E) storyline, but he never quite captured stardom in the way of a Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair. I'd say he's comparable with a Randy Orton or Dolph Ziggler today, and I don't mean that to be insulting. You need guys at all levels to fill the roster. Luger was very entertaining over the years, and he's another guy on the long list of guys from the 80's I wish were still able to go. 

In this match they pulled out a lot of the stops, if not all of them. Unfortunately at this point, in a problem that persists even more so today, the PPV was starting to run long in the tooth for me. Luger gets the win in a bit of a fluke fashion and that doesn't help matters. I still give it ***, but to go through nearly 20 minutes and then have Luger go over like that is kind of a let down.

The Road Warriors w/ Paul Ellering vs. The Skyscrapers w/ Teddy Long (11:39)

Another tag match. Of course the Road Warriors: Hawk (January 26, 1957-October 19, 2003) and Animal along with Paul Ellering continue to be world famous and are fondly remembered as one of the toughest teams ever. Except when WWF(E) stuck them with Rocco...

He kinda looks like Eric Bishoff

...and then did it again when they stuck them with Sunny as L.O.D. 2000

Sunny much better looking than Rocco or Easy E.

The Skyscrapers may not be as well known as a unit today, but the individual members were certainly memorable among the wrestling fans. This incarnation features Dan Spivey--late of the Varsity Club faction with Mike Rotunda among others. He had earlier teamed with Rotunda in WWF(E) in the New U.S. Express wherein he replaced Barry Windham and he would later become cult favorite, Waylan Mercy which was an emulation of Robert DeNiro's character in 'Cape Fear'--and Sid Vicious A.K.A. Sid Jusitce/Sycho Sid in his WWF(E) runs. They were managed by Teddy Long who is well known as the long-time GM of WWE Smackdown. The 'Scrapers would have a second incarnation down the line when Spivey is replaced with Mean Mark Callus...better known as The Undertaker.  

The 'Scrapers were one of many monster teams that were built up to face the Road Warriors over the years, and this appears to be early in the feud. It's a hard hitting affair with lots of back and forth exchanges of power moves. In the end the Scrapers lose by DQ when one of them nails one of the Warriors with the heavy metal key that Teddy Long used to carry around. The Warriors eventually wrestle the key away and use it to help beat down the Scrapers. **1/2 I don't know if there is a science to rating these things but the match was entertaining up until the DQ finish. I assume bigger things were in store for the feud down the line, but as I sit in 2018...I sure don't remember much coming out of it. 

 Ric Flair and Sting with Ole Anderson vs. Terry Funk and the Great Muta with Gary Hart in the Thunderdome Cage match with special referee Bruno Sammartino (23:46)

Look at the running time on this one...Ric Flair may well be the 60 minute man and can entertain in the ring to be sure, but this one is a mess. In what would become a Halloween Havoc tradition, we get a lot of shenanigans in the main event. This time it's in the form of the Thunderdome cage match. I know you're all thinking, can't we just get beyond Thunderdome? Well, in this case we cant. The cage, which this photo doesn't do justice to, is somewhat inverted at the top and plus 'electrified' to keep anyone from climbing out. It also has Halloween decorations all around the top. The good guys are Ric Flair and Sting--no need for background on these legends, and they are fighting Terry Funk and The Great Muta--the same holds true here, except I'd mention that Muta was one of the first 'real' "Japanese style" Japanese grapplers...if you can decipher what I'm trying to say. Before Muta most Japanese guys were fat dudes, usually past their wrestling primes doing a couple of karate chops and kicks from time to time. Muta brought real flair to his performances using many acrobatic moves and his infamous spray mist. 

Anyhoo...storyline wise it made no sense to try to climb the cage as the only way you could win is if the opposing corner man threw in the towel for his team. The good guys had Ole Anderson while the bad guys had Gary Hart (January 24th 1942-March 16th 2008). Hart managed a lot of bizarre wrestlers throughout the territories and he was no different in his WCW days. I always liked him and feel he was greatly under rated as a manager. 

This review is running very long in the tooth, so I'll just say that all four men did what they could in the confines of the cage. Inexplicably,  Muta tried to climb out a couple of times and got "shocked" at least once for his effort. Meanwhile there was a rope hanging from one of the corners which Sting swung around on like Tarzan. The end came when Hart and Ole got into a scuffle and Ole was able to make it appear that Hart threw in the towel. Hart--being evil--would have never thrown in the towel on his own in spite of his men being dominated and stuck in "career threatening" submission holds. 

The bout was officiated inconsequentially by the legendary Bruno Sammartino (October 6, 1935-April 18, 2018) who was primarily there to stick it to the WWF(E) which had had a falling out with the legend at the time. In spite of the participants involved the best I can give this is **1/2 stars. It was entertaining in spots but the entire gimmick of the match--the angled cage, the electrified portion of it, and Bruno's involvement--added nothing. The fact that the ending was another wacky finish didn't help matters any. 

Joe Bob Briggs Memorial "Drive-in Totals": 

1- squash match

1- DQ finish

5-Tag matches--various forms including Thunderdome

6-wrestlers and valets who are no longer with us: R.I.P.

My match of the night ends up being the six-man with the SST vs. Midnights and Dr. Death. The PPV on the whole was entertaining, but I really can't recommend it. I've even got nostalgia vibes going for me which younger fans will not.