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.

New Experiment...Continued Resolutions...State of My Blog.

As I'm writing this I am on the eve of my return to school...which means work for me if you've not read my background.

I have been off for the last six weeks. This time it had to be a 'Staycation' here in the UAE, but it was fun enough. I think I can give a piece of advice for anyone no matter where you live, never go to an outdoor theme park if the humidity is 100%. I don't know exactly what 100% humidity means in weather terms, but the whole family was sweating like crazy throughout our visit of Legoland in Dubai. The plus side was there were very few people at the park and we were able to go to all the rides with no problem. We could have rode multiple times with no problem, but I'm getting old. The baby really enjoyed it and that's what counts.

Those following me regularly know that I've had a fairly good record of following through on New Year's Resolutions this year. Unfortunately, with summer break I've fallen off a lot. I'll give real numbers in a future update, but it's been disastrous. With one week left in August I've averaged maybe one workout per week--not including sweating it out in theme parks and other adventures, but those just don't count. Not a good August at all. Food wise...I've done worse, but I certainly could have done better. The bottom line is that my stomach is just as bloated as it's ever been. I'll have to try to get back on track for a big push to January...on the plus side, I can continue--there isn't really a time limit on these things. Unfortunately, my Bible reading has also stopped during the vacation, but I do continue to listen to sermons every week. It's a hard thing, but when I'm at work and on a schedule I think I do better in all aspects even though I skip here and there due to exhaustion. During vacation time when you think you will have more time to work on these things, you actually do less because of not having a schedule and being lazy. Either way, it looks like I can't win.

Every year in August, I participate in RPG A Day. I tend to get more views when I use that hashtag, but I don't like to use the hashtag when it's not a part of the blog. On the other hand, I like writing entries about interesting things. On the other other hand, although it helps me to work out some things creatively, I don't like to waste too much time writing stuff that no one reads. This school year--beginning--this week. I've decided to watch and review every WCW Halloween Havoc PPV. I'm at a disadvantage because I have no video to show, and wrestling isn't nearly as popular as it once was, but on the plus side, I'm the one writing it, so if people read it, they'll get at least one good laugh per episode. If I get views on these reviews, I'll keep it up throughout the year.

One more new experiment or thread running through this blog will be detailing my efforts in finding a new teaching position. This is the start of my 9th year of work in the UAE having worked 1yr in Taiwan previously. I want to keep working overseas, but I think it's time to find greener pastures. My daughter will shortly turn four years old. Whereas my wife and I can live out in the desert, my daughter needs more stimulus...and I'm a bit leery of her growing up within a lifestyle that is at odds--sometimes--with my personal beliefs. Last year I actually had a contract in hand from China to start this year :( Unfortunately, paperwork and expenses got in the way. This year from day one I want to do the things that will get me out of here. I don't want to be scrambling for a new position in May 2019...otherwise I'm likely to wind up back here again for year 10.