Tag: Halloween Havoc

Vol. 45: Halloween Havoc ’90

Posted on by Seth Zillmann

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October is here and so is our annual episode devoted to WCW’s Halloween Havoc. This year we look at Halloween Havoc 1990 which saw Sting defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Sid Vicious in a match that had one of the craziest finishes in the history of pro wrestling. And that is saying something…

4:30 – Pro Wrestling in 1990

Both WCW and WWF had new faces as top guys in 1990 in the forms of Sting and The Ultimate Warrior respectively. Coincidentally, Sting and Warrior broke into wrestling as a tag team called The Blade Runners. Other top stars in WCW at the time were Lex Luger, Stan Hansen, The Freebirds, and The Steiner Brothers.

10:00 – Storylines and Angles

It’s worth mentioning that the version on Peacock and WWE Network is the same as the home video release from 1990. This version omits several undercard matches, likely due to videotape time limitations.

Express vs. Express

The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) attacked Robert Gibson of The Rock & Roll Express and injured his knee. Gibson injured his knee in real life so this storyline was made to explain his absence. Former NWA World Champion Tommy Rich stepped in to aid Ricky Morton against The Midnights.

The Freebirds vs. The Renegade Warriors

Neither team were champions, but usually, the winner of a match on a major PPV would be seen as the next contender for tag team titles.

The US Tag Team Titles

The Steiner Brothers were well on their way to being a top tag team. The two won the NWA US Tag Championship from The Midnight Express.

World Tag Team Titles

The World Tag Champions, Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) defended the titles against Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. This makes for a heel vs. heel match. However, the crowd treated Flair and Arn like babyfaces

US Title

Lex Luger as a heel defeated a babyface Michael Hayes for the United States Championship in the summer of 1989 and held the title until this event. At 523 days, it is to this day still the longest US Title reign. Luger also turned babyface during this reign while Hayes turned heel to reform The Freebirds with Jimmy Garvin.

Stan Hansen was working for WCW between stints in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Main Event Storyline

Sting became the top babyface in 1990 by defeating Ric Flair for the NWA Title at The Great American Bash. He had actually joined The Horsemen in late 1989 when Arn Anderson returned to WCW after a year-long stint in The WWF. However, Arn’s longtime tag partner, Tully Blanchard, failed a drug test while in WWE so WCW refused to hire him. The Horsemen reshuffled their lineup with Ole Anderson taking Blanchard’s place. This was the first time The Horsemen were presented as a babyface faction as they had been the top heels for Jim Crockett Promotions for the past few years.

The babyface Horsemen run was short-lived. The Horsemen turned on Sting a few months later because Sting challenged Flair to a match for the NWA Title. Unfortunately, Sting suffered a legitimate knee injury at Clash of the Champions when he ran out during a six-man cage match and tried to climb into the cage. The injury put Sting on the shelf for several months and delayed the match. Barry Windham returned to WCW around this time and rejoined The Horsemen. Ole retired from in-ring competition in the Spring of 1990 so then up-and-coming monster Sid Vicious joined the group.

The Main Event Match

The Sting/Vicious main event at Halloween Havoc 1990 went down in history as having one of the craziest finishes of all time. The match spilled to the floor where Sid inexplicably seemed to run away. Sting chased after him and disappeared backstage. A few moments later, the two seemingly ran back into the ring where Sting tried to slam Sid. However, he collapsed under the weight of the 6’9″ Sid and got pinned. Sid was even announced as the new champion until the real Sting ran to the ring with his arm tied up with a rope. It turns out The Horsemen had tied Sting up backstage and Barry Windham went to the ring dressed in an identical outfit. The referee promptly restarted the match and Sting rallied to retain the title.

1:01:30 – The Fallout

There was no rematch or follow-up between Sting and Vicious after Halloween Havoc 1990. WCW’s next PPV was Starrcade in December 1990. Two teams that won matches at Halloween Havoc (Morton/Rich and The Freebirds) would go on to face each other. Doom would again face The Horsemen, only this time it was a Street Fight against Arn Anderson and Barry Windham due to Flair being allegedly injured before the PPV. Starrcade ’90 saw Sting finally defend the title against The Black Scorpion.

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Vol. 40: WCW Halloween Havoc 1989

Posted on by Seth Zillmann

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It’s time to do the annual episode devoted to WCW Halloween Havoc. This time we go all the way back to where it began in 1989.

0:30 – Pro Wrestling in 1989

The entire wrestling business was in a bit of a transitional phase. Ted Turner had bought out Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 so this was the first full-fledged year under his ownership. It was also the year Ric Flair was pushed as the top babyface with no Horsemen backing him up due to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard signing with WWE. Not only that, PPV was still a relatively new concept and wasn’t nearly as established as it became in the 1990s. Thus, the inaugural Halloween Havoc helped set the stage for Sting’s rise to main event status in 1990.

9:00 – Storylines and Angles

The Main Event

Flair was in his seventh reign as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He had successfully regained the title from Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar. Terry Funk, fresh off a stint as an actor, made his return to wrestling that night and challenged Flair for the title. Flair declined, believing Funk had been away from wrestling too long to be considered a top challenger. This enraged Funk, who immediately attacked Flair and piledrove him through a table. This put Flair on the shelf for several weeks, but the two faced off at The Great American Bash with Flair beating Funk to retain the title.

Meanwhile, Keiji Mutoh, aka The Great Muta, was on an excursion to the United States. Muta was at this point undefeated and had beaten Sting for the NWA World Television Championship. The villainous Gary Hart became the manager for both Funk and Muta.

After Flair retained the title at the Great American Bash, Funk and Muta ambushed Flair. Sting ran out for the save and a wild brawl ensued. This solidified Flair and Sting as the top babyfaces and aligned them against Funk, Muta, and Hart.

Tag Teams

Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane were turned babyface after being attacked by the original Midnight Express of Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey managed by Paul E. Dangerously. However, all three heels were either let go or fired soon afterwards and The Samoan SWAT Team (later The Headshrinkers in WWE) were brought in to take their place in the feud. Oliver Humperdink also joined WCW as The SST’s manager.

The Varsity Club of Mike Rotunda, Steve Williams, and Rick Steiner had disbanded with Williams and Steiner going babyface. Steiner had become infatuated with a “nerdy girl” in the audience. That turned out to be a ruse because the girl in question became Woman. She brought in a masked tag team called “Woman’s tag team of Doom”. Rick’s younger brother Scott joined the company to help him in the feud.

There were also several famous tag teams either starting out or entering their primes at this event.

The Fabulous Freebirds went through a change as Terry Gordy quit the team to go to Japan. Buddy Jack retired, leaving Michael Hayes without a partner. Longtime friend Jimmy Garvin then joined Hayes as a new incarnation of The Freebirds. 

The Rest of the Card

Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas formed the tag The Dynamic Dudes and given Jim Cornette as their manager.

The Skyscrapers formed because Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey were the last two men in a battle royal. Teddy Long (years before becoming the general manager of Smackdown) convinced them to team rather than face off.

Of course, the legendary Road Warriors were at their peak during this time.

Rounding out the talent on the card were Tommy Rich, who likely was brought in due to his history in Georgia, a young Brian Pillman, and Z-Man Tom Zenk who worked well as white meat babyface.

Under the Turner banner, WCW had the use of names and media licensed to TBS and TNT. Commercials aired on Turner programming with people like Elvira for the PPV.

30:35 – The Event

Opening Matches

Z-Man p. “Captain” Mike Rotunda after rolling through a bodypress – This was a few years before Rotunda re-joined WWE and got the IRS gimmick name.

The Samoan Swat Team & The Samoan Savage (w/Oliver Humperdink) b. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and The Midnight Express (“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane w/Jim Cornette) when Samu pinned Lane – Williams was the only one that had the toughness of the SST. Bobby had to rely on his mat technique and Stan had to use his educated feet. The finish saw Stan kick Samu and get a visual pin. Cornette hit Humperdink but then Samu hit Stan with a flying forearm from behind and Stan collided with Cornette. These days it would have just been a distraction and a roll-up.

“Wildfire” Tommy Rich p. Cuban Assassin with a Thesz Press 

Undercard

The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hays & Jimmy Garvin) b. The Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace & Shane Douglas w/Jim Cornette) when Garvin pinned Douglas – The Dudes tried their finishing move The Wipeout but Hayes pulled Shane’s leg out from under him causing him to collapse and Garvin to reverse onto Ace.

Doom (w/Woman) b. The Steiner Bros. when Butch Reed pinned Rick with a headbutt -. Steiners had hit their suplex when Woman loaded Butch Reed’s mask and he headbutted Scott

US Champion “The Total Package” Lex Luger p. Brian Pillman with a Stun Gun – Pillman went for a top turnbuckle dropkick. Luger seemed to sell it even though Pillman missed by a mile. The announcers covered by saying Luger was ducking to avoid the dropkick. Luger then dropped Pillman’s neck on the top rope to get the pin.

The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal w/Paul Ellering) b. The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious & Dan Spivey w/Teddy Long) by DQ when Spivey hit Hawk with a heavy metal key – The Warriors looked to have the upper hand when the metal object was brought into play. The match fell apart afterward because a brawl broke out. 

The Main Event

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Sting b. Terry Funk & The Great Muta w/Gary Hart when Gary Hart dropped the towel – Bruno Sammartino served as the special guest referee. The only way to win the match was to have one team’s manager throw in the towel. Muta awesomely put out an unexpected fire by spitting his mist onto the flames. Even though the cage was said to be electrified, all the men still climbed around on it. Flair and Sting even swung around like Tarzan. Flair had Funk in the Figure Four while Sting delivered splashes on him. Gary Hart tried to get in the ring but was punched by Ole Anderson. This caused Hart to drop his towel. Bruno saw the towel on the mat and awarded the match to the babyfaces.

Halloween Havoc would continue to be an annual PPV attraction until WCW closed in 2001.