WCW Halloween Havoc 1994
by Scrooge McSuck
- It's time for some more Halloween action, and when you think Halloween, you think WCW's annual PPV held in the month of October... Thanksgiving Thumpin'! Okay, that was a terrible joke. No, it's Halloween Havoc. I won't be covering all of the PPV's, mostly because I only have access to a few, and just because I'm 'capping the 1994 edition does not mean I won't suck it up and do any of the shows from 1990-1993 (1989 is already covered). I figured this would be a great start, because it's yet another awkward time for WCW where they were trying to find their identity. I guess the option for this era is "Land of 1,000 WWF Cast-offs", as we will see with each passing match.
- Originally broadcasted on Pay-Per-View, on October 23rd, 1994, from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, MI. Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan are handling all the commentary, and Mean Gene Okerlund is hanging around doing interviews and all that other backstage garbage. I would like to point out the cheesy Halloween-style graphics for the night, with generic ghosts and witches plastered all over the place. Awesome (sarcasm).
WCW Television Championship Match:
Johnny B. Badd © vs. The Honkytonk Man:
... Oh come on! What the hell is the Honkytonk Man doing, not only wrestling, but challenging for a championship?! THIS is the opening match? When I first watched this show on PPV, I was in shock that he was hanging around, since his last WWF appearance, wrestling wise, was the end of 1990. Badd has toned down his persona a bit, but he's still a little Tutti Frutti, especially with the fangs he's sporting in honor of Halloween. Badd won the title at Fall Brawl from Lord Steven Regal, and whenever you think of ANY match with Regal, it sounds like a complete contrast in style. Lockup, and Honky works the arm, but Badd quickly counters and returns the favor. Badd with an atomic drop and some hair messin', sending Honky out of the ring in frustration. Back in the ring, and Honky with a snapmare, followed by a fist drop. Badd fights back with roundhouse rights, but a knee to the midsection breaks the momentum. Irish whip, and HTM with a back elbow, followed by the best rest-hold ever... a chinlock. Schiavone and Heenan spend a lot of the match hyping the main event. Badd mounts a comeback, but goes down following another knee to the midsection. We see Muhammad Ali sitting at ringside, and it's always hard to see him in that condition. Badd surprises HTM with a sunset flip for a two count. Honky with a snapmare, then back into the chinlock as we get the countdown for the time limit... we all know what that means. Badd escapes and plants Honky with a pair of slams, but misses an elbow, and Honky covers for a two count. Honky goes for the finish, but Badd counters with a back drop. Whip to the corner, and Badd misses a charge. Honky tosses Badd out of the ring and comes off the apron with an axehandle. Back in the ring, Honky with a snapmare and another chinlock? Badd with elbows, then mounts Honky for some punchin' in the corner. Badd goes all boxer on Honky and lays him out with a knee lift. Irish whip and a back elbow from Badd, but the Kiss That Don't Miss actually misses, and Honky takes Badd down with a back suplex. They choke each other and slug it out, then kind of tussle around the canvas until Badd goes for a small package as the Time Limit expires at 9:54... well, I guess that's almost 10-minutes. Honky tries some post-match shenanigans, but Badd fends him off. Lame. Boring and pointless. They were scheduled for a rematch at Starrcade, but Honky balked because of a lack of contract (or having to job while doing a paid-per-appearance deal).
- We take a look back at the Clash of the Champions held on August 21st, 1994. Hulk Hogan was scheduled to defend the WCW Championship against Ric Flair, but the Black Scorpion whacked Hogan's knee with a rubber lead pipe. Hogan, hero to millions, not only returned from the hospital, but he WALKED back, in his yellow panties I might add, then made his title defense against Ric Flair, and was on the verge of victory before the Black Scorpion returned, again, to beat on Hogan's leg... it's probably Arn Anderson, judging from the body build. They probably didn't know who this masked man was, either, until the day of the show. On an episode of the Main Event, Hogan and Dave Sullivan teamed up to take on Flair and "the Masked Man", but ANOTHER Black Scorpion (damn messengers...) makes the "save" and do ANOTHER beating on Hogan. Ahem... STUPID!
WCW Tag Team Championship Match:
Stars & Stripes © vs. Pretty Wonderful:
(Marcus Alexander Bagwell & The Patriot vs. Paul Roma & Paul Orndorff)...I don't think there's much backstory to this one. I think Stars & Stripes upset Pretty Wonderful for the titles a few weeks back, so here's a rematch. I wonder if Paul Orndorff was thinking how horrible it must've been to go from selling out arenas headlining with Hulk Hogan to teaming with Paul flippin' Roma. I guess this is a step up from being the Worst Horsemen, though, for Roma. Orndorff and Patriot lockup, and it's a clean break, I guess. Orndorff sweeps the legs and it's a slugfest already. Bagwell with a slam on Roma, and a clothesline sends him over the top rope... where's the DQ?! Patriot to the top rope, and he comes down with a sledge on Orndorff. Roma tags in, as does Bagwell, and he works the arm of Roma. Roma takes Bagwell down with a slam, then comes off the top rope with a fist drop. Irish whip, and Bagwell with a cross body press, followed by an arm drag and wristlock. Patriot tags in and a double hip toss gets a two count. Bagwell comes back in with a top rope sunset flip for a two count. Orndorff tags in, gets tripped up, and Bagwell works the arm. Bagwell with a pair of slams, followed by a clothesline, knocking Orndorff out of the ring. Back inside, Orndorff takes Bagwell down with a headlock, and Roma tags in to drop a series of elbows across the midsection. Roma with knees to the chest, then Orndorff gets a few shots in from the apron. Patriot gets the tag in and charges in the corner with a clothesline, then covers Roma for a two count. Patriot works the arm, and the crowd is sitting on their hands.
Bagwell tags back in, and continues to play Punk-in-Peril. Orndorff does a funky dance before dropping an elbow to a surprisingly big pop... what the fuck!? Bagwell blows an irish whip spot as Schiavone notes how old Orndorff is (yeah, smart move). Roma with an elbow from the top rope as the crowd chants U-S-A... um... yeah, we'll leave that alone. Roma is from New York and Orndorff from Tampa, so chanting U-S-A is really a dig at them. Roma with a side back breaker as Schiavone notes Tiger Stadium is one of the "last great ballparks... except for Yankee Stadium." I guess Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are just insignificant places in comparison to Tiger Stadium. Bagwell surprises Roma with a twisting cross body (called a flying head scissors by Schiavone) for a two count. Roma slaps on a bearhug to keep Bagwell grounded. Orndorff tags in and connects with a running dropkick, then drops an elbow (called a knee) between the legs. Orndorff slaps on a front facelock, and PLEASE don't do that spot... please? Orndorff releases the hold and connects with a knee, then takes Bagwell's head off with a clothesline to another pop. Who knew Mo-town was Pro-Orndorff? Orndorff goes for a suplex, but Bagwell counters with his own for a two count. Bagwell with a back slide for another close fall, but Roma breaks the attempt up. Whip to the corner, and Orndorff eats foot. Bagwell slaps on a sleeper hold, but Roma comes in and cleans his clock again. Everyone slugs it out (no hot tag?), with the champs taking the challengers down with clotheslines. Bagwell with a fisherman suplex on Orndorff, but Roma hits an elbow drop off the top rope, and Orndorff covers for the tag titles at 13:47 to another big pop. This crowd must really hate Marcus Bagwell. Match was decent, but the surprising reactions from the crowd made it more entertaining.
- We recap WCW's answer to the Hart Brothers Feud... the Sullivan "Brothers" Feud! Oh Lord, where do I begin with this one... Dave Sullivan, formerly known as the Equalizer, was very special, mentally, and his "brother", Kevin, who I guess came out from obscurity over the past few years for another run in WCW, took advantage of this. Then, suddenly Hulk Hogan became Dave Sullivan's hero, and this really upset Kevin... yeah, really stupid. The running joke seems to be that because Dave Sullivan was dyslexic, it was a surprise WCW didn't run with it and call him "Evad", because we all know the creative process of WCW writers. Take something stupid, then make it more stupid.
Dave Sullivan vs. Kevin Sullivan:
Things go from worse to even more worse when Dave Sullivan comes out to possibly the WORST music in the history of wrestling... I Wanna Be a Hulkamaniac, sung by a chorus of kids. Sullivan is wearing a ghetto Hogan-style jacket, bandana, and ring attire, wearing boots given to him by Hogan himself. Wow, recycling from the WWF's Hillbilly Jim introduction. Now that's sad. I don't know why the WWF went with that Huckster nonsense... WCW beat them to it by having Dave Sullivan do the bit a good 18 months earlier. Dave fights off a sneak attack and sends Kevin out of the ring. Back inside, and Kevin wipes him out with a clothesline, then connects with a dropkick. Dave no-sells and rams Kevin to the buckle ten times, then takes him over with a back drop. Kevin uses the tights for leverage to toss Dave out of the ring and sends him into the ring post. Back in the ring, and it's a sucky slugfest. Kevin with a snapmare and shoves a Hulkamania bandana in his mouth. KEvin does his double chest stomp, then pulls an Orndorff, doing the mock-Hogan posing routine. Kevin heads to the top rope, but Dave slams him off and returns the favor of using the bandana. Irish whip and a big boot from the Suckster, but Kevin goes all Friday the 13th Part II on us and uses the bandana as a tool to confuse the retarded person before suckering him in for a sucker punch. The "action" spills outside, and it's another lame slugfest, but Dave beats the count back in and Kevin doesn't, so it's over at 5:17. I guess it's a good thing it was short, but I think it's safe to say that Dave Sullivan might be one of the worst wrestlers in the history of the big two."The Natural" Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson (w/ Col. Parker & Meng):
Interesting backstory to this... Rhodes enlisted Arn Anderson to help him in his feud with Col. Parker and his gaggle of goofballs, including the likes of Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck. Anderson, to the surprise of no one, turned on Rhodes towards the end of their tasg match and joined forces with Parker because... well, he wanted to? Seriously, has anyone ever learned to not trust any of these Horsemen people to be on their side? We all know Sting still hasn't learned his lesson, but I'm sure at least someone has! Meng, is of courrse, Haku, playing the bad-ass bodyguard... which I find as a highly believable occupation for the dude. Rhodes has the most generic, lame, Country music for his entrance. Lockup to start, and it's a clean break, as we see Tommy Hearns sitting at ringside. Anderson with a headlock, followed by a fireman's carry. Rhodes with a head scissors, but Anderson escapes and claims there was a hair pull. Anderson with a headlock into a hammerlock, but Rhodes escapes with a snapmare. Lockup into the ropes, and it's a slugfest, won by the Natural. Whip to the corner, Rhodes blocks a boot and sends Anderson into the corner with an atomic drop, then nails him from behind with a clothesline. Rhodes to the top, but Arn crotches him across the turnbuckle. Anderson follows up, but gets shoved off, and Rhodes hits a top rope clothesline for a two count. Whip to the corner, and Arn comes exploding out with an axehandle across the face. Anderson actually BLOCKS the boot attempt as he comes off the second rope, then drops an elbow instead. THANK YOU, DOUBLE A!!! The action spills outside the ring, where Anderson wraps his own arm around the post by mistake.Back in the ring, Rhodes rams the elbow into the buckle and rolls Anderson up for a quick two count. Rhodes continues to work the arm of Anderson with a variety of holds. Anderson with a yank of the hair, but Rhodes holds on, drops a leg across the arm, and applies a cross armbar. Does anyone remember Col. Parker's time in the WWF as Tennessee Lee? No? Well, you didn't miss much. Rhodes goes for whatever, but Anderson ducks, and Rhodes goes flying over the top rope on his own momentum. Rhodes somehow cleared the ring steps leading up to the ring, too. Anderson works Rhodes over on the apron, then drives a fist to the midsection for a two count. Rhodes does a body scissors to try and counter Anderson pinning his shoulders down, but Anderson counters that with a slingshot under the bottom rope. Wow, Anderson must know the spots I really hate, cause he's making some good spots out of them all. Double clothesline spot, as I sense the match is rapidly heading for a finish. Rhodes wins a slugfest and comes off the ropes with a boot to the side of the head. Irish whip, and Rhodes with a diving clothesline. Rhodes calls for the end, but Anderson counters with a DDT attempt, and Rhodes counters THAT by holding the ropes and drops an elbow for a two count. Rhodes rips off the Stun Gun (Austin is managed by Col. Parker) and threatens to break the hand of Anderson, but misses a knee drop. Anderson goes for a piledriver, but Rhodes back drops free. Anderson holds on with a sunset flip, but only gets two. Rhodes rolls up Anderson, and gets the three count at 9:55. After the match, Anderson wipes Rhodes out with a clothesline and makes him part of the canvas with a DDT.
- We flashback to Fall Brawl, where due to an unfortunate injury, Ricky Steamboat had to retire from the ring, and back out of his match with "Stunning" Steve Austin, for the United States Title. However, WCW President-Commissioner-Whatever Nick Bockwinkel orders that a title match must take place and introduces Austin's challenger... the debut of Jim Duggan? Then Duggan wins the title in about 30-seconds. WHA?!?!?! Iknow some have been around longer than others, but let's tally the WWF Cast-offs, so far... Honkytonk Man, Jim Duggan, Haku, and to lesser extents, Paul Roma and Paul Orndorff (I neglected Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan as far as on-air personalities). There's still more to come. A LOT more. All of these guys were used in high profile and prominent roles, too, while guys like Johnny B. Badd and Steve Austin were disgraced by being in the ring with thesre has-beens.
WCW United States Championship Match:
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan © vs. "Stunning" Steve Austin:
Who in the unholy hell green-lighted JIM DUGGAN winning the second most important title in the company?! This HAD to be some major Hogan influence, otherwise it's just retarded and illogical booking. Austin jumps Duggan during his pre-match sucking up to fans and pounds away on him in the corner. Whip to the corner, and Duggan comes charging out with a pair of clotheslines, followed by a scoop slam. Irish whip, and Duggan slaps on a sleeper hold. Austin counters an atomic drop and stomps away at the knee of Duggan. At least Austin is getting some offense in this match... Austin continues to work the leg and slaps on a toe hold, but Duggan kicks him off and rolls Austin up for a two count. Austin goes back to the leg, but lands ass-first on the canvas, and goes flying out of the ring following an atomic drop. I just noticed Austin as "U.S. Champ" on the back of his trunks. Austin offers a handshake, but Duggan can't be THAT stupid. Duggan with a side headlock, followed by a shoulder block. Austin with a boot to the midsection, and a double axehandle from the second rope. Austin to the second turnbuckle, and he connects with another axehandle. Austin goes for a third, but Duggan nails him coming off the ropes and pounds away with his usual slugging offense. Austin goes low behind the referee's back, then does some mudhole stomping in the corner. Referee Nick Patrick pulls Austin away from Duggan with a handful of hair, and if Monsoon were there, he would be all over the referee for getting physically involved in the match. Austin to the second rope, and he hits the Bret Hart elbow drop for a two count. Austin to the top rope, and he misses a knee drop. Duggan 'Tard's Up, and rams Austin into the buckle. Irish whip, and Duggan with a back drop. Duggan with more clotheslines, but Austin back drops him over the top rope and that draws a Disqualification at 8:05... wait, why? Duggan's own momentum lead to that! What a horse shit finish. Austin was made to look inferior again, even if he didn't have to lay down for the job this time. What a crock of shit.
- Sting shows up to talk, because this night is all about Hulk Hogan, so Sting isn't important enough to be featured in an actual match... again, WWF Lite.
The Guardian Angel vs. Vader (w/ Harley Race):
The count continues, with the freshly relocated Big Boss Man dressing up as a member of the Guardian Angels. I never knew until recently, but Boss Man actually debuted in WCW dressed exactly like his WWF persona, sans a few patches on his shirt. These two have fought a bunch of times, for no major reason or anything, just because they can. Each time it seems like Vader wins because the Angel is either a loser or a cheater who isn't smart enough to cheat behind the back of the referee. The Guardian Angel is introduced as "The man who stans for law and order"... Okay, even with a completely different gimmick, they're still ripping off the WWF character!!! We see Sting sitting next to Muhammad Ali, chatting away. Vader comes over and screams "Who da' man? You da' man!" at Ali.For no reason, Guardian Angel takes out Harley Race before the bell. Lockup into the corner, and Angel with a bitch slap. Repeat! Vader with his punk out punches and clubbing blows across the chest. Take that, you Big Boss Bitch! Vader with a pair of short-arm clotheslines, knocking Guardian Angel out of the ring. Angel reverses a whip into the security rail and follows in with a clothesline, then tosses Race into the ring again for more nonsensical beatings. Vader heads back in, and Angel picks Vader up and drops him on top of Race. Angel with an elbow drop, followed by a leg drop across the midsection. Whip to the corner, and Angel follows in with an avalanche. Vader fights back with rights and lefts, but Angel uses the power of Law and Order™ to take him over with a suplex. Angel with a charging big boot, but once again Vader no-sells it, and floors the Angel with a clothesline. Vader to the second rope, but the Angel catches him in midair for a slam. Angel to the top rope, and he comes down with a headbutt for a two count. Hey look, Sting is watching a WWF babyface take on the Monster Vader! Angel with an enziguri, followed by a clothesline that knocks Vader over the top rope. No DQ? Back in the ring, and Vader wipes the Angel out with a clothesline, but he sells hurting his own arm with the move. Vader slams the Angel in the corner, then heads to the second rope and crushes him with the Vader-Bomb, but that only gets a two count. Vader goes up once again, but this time meets the knees of the Guardian Angel. The Angel with a splash, and that gets a two count. Boss Man with a spinebuster for another two count. Irish whip, and the Sidewalk Slam from the Angel connects, but Race distracts him, allowing Vader time to recover. angel brings him into the ring with a suplex, but Vader crushes him with a splash instantly afterwards, and covers for the three count at 8:18... what an idiot. Match was pretty entertaining, but it's the same finish we saw in the entire recap video... Guardian Angel becomes distracted by Harley Race, loses because of it. I've never seen someone lose EVERY SINGLE MATCH in their program like this.
The Nasty Boys vs. Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck (w/ Col. Parker & Meng):
I thought Fall Brawl was supposed to be the end of The Nasty Boys program with the Stud Stable of Col. Parker...guess not. Terry Funk is back for yet another random run that really never goes anywhere or does anything of significance. Bunkhouse Buck is... well, I don't really know well enough to care, but here he's a disgusting redneck. I think. The Nasty Boys are joining the list of WWF cast-offs, although like Orndorff, it's less impactful than, say, Jim Duggan or Boss Man, but still counts. Sags has a pumpkin with him, and Knobbs has cheap masks of Beavis and Butt-Head. Slugfest to start, with the Nasty Boys gaining the early advantage. Oh LORD, that one dorky Hulk Hogan fan is at ringside... you know the one I'm talking about. Bobby Heenan doing an impersonation of Beavis and Butt-Head is... well, I don't know. The fact he actually knows what they are is scary enough. There's a lot of stalling taking place. Knobbs with a headlock on Funk. Sags tags in, takes him over with a snapmare, and gives Funk the 1994 edition of the Stink-Face, then Knobbs gives him the pit-stop. Terry Funk responds by calling Sags a son of a bitch. Sags fights his way out of the heel corner, and Knobbs tags in to work over Bunkhouse Buck. Is there a reason why Terry Funk is being treated like such a scrub? Funk grabs a chair and whacks himself in the face over and over again. Okay... someone is off his meds. For a second, I thought he was going to swing it at Muhammad Ali. Buck sneaks up on Sags and chokes him with the tag rope, then sends him into the security rail. Back in the ring, and Sags with a double face buster to the Stud Stable. Knobbs gets the Nasty Tag and unloads on everyone to no reaction from the crowd. Stuff happens until the Jack-o-Lantern comes into play, and Sags piledrives Funk on top of the friggin' thing for the three count at 7:58. Match was just a lot of nothing, but a cute finish. It's like putting a cherry on top of a shit sundae, I guess.WCW World Championship, Steel Cage, Retirement, No Disqualification Match with a Special Referee (Mr. T):
Hulk Hogan © (w/ Jimmy Hart & Brother Bruti) vs. Ric Flair (w/ Sensual Sherri):
Holy SHIT, the radar gun just exploded for two different reasons. One: The over-booking of this match, and second, the amount of cast-offs included. You've got Hogan, Ed Leslie (Brother Bruti, formerly Brutus Beefcake), Jimmy Hart, Sherri, and even Celebrity Mr. T was made famous in the wrestling world by the WWF. It's like... wow, I can't wrap my mind around how much this stinks of a WWF PPV if the WWF didn't want anything to do with it. Michael Buffer does the ring introductions, of course. What is with Sherri being the manager of guys booked for Retirement matches? Was there ever a clear reason why Mr. T was involved in this? Did someone think that because of WrestleMania, a show that took place a decade earlier, meant Mr. T was still a relevant name to anyone? And how about that Real American rip-off, American Made? My God, Jimmy Hart... way to rip yourself off. I guess Hogan didn't need to suck up to the local fans by having Grant Hill with him, or something lame like that. For those that care, that's me mocking having Shaquille O'Neal in Hogan's corner at Bash at the Beach just for the fact it was in Orlando... and holy crap AGAIN, Hogan actually gives the Hogan wanna-be a high five! I'm sorry, the pre-match nonsense is probably the one part of the match I can mock things, at least until the end.
This might be the shortest cage ever, barely taller than the 6'6" Hulk Hogan. Hogan quickly hammers away on Flair in the corner. Whip to the corner, and Hogan with a back drop, followed by a pair of clotheslines. Hogan shoves the bandana in Flair's mouth and pounds on him some more. Mr. T argues with Hogan for not following the rules... in a No DQ Cage Match. (shakes head) Flair uses this opprotunity to take control, but Hogan is in no-sell mode right now and makes Flair taste the cage. Don't forget, this was No Blade Era of WCW, so Flair won't be wearing the crimson mask. Flair regains control, and clips the knee of Hogan. Let's see how long Hogan can remember to sell the dreaded injury tonight. I say 6-minutes. Hey look, Sting is still watching as some WWF guys hog up the card. Now Flair has problems with Mr. T's attitude. Flair rams Hogan into the cage, takes him over with a snapmare, and comes off the ropes with a knee drop. Hogan's lame over-selling is worse than his no-selling. Whip to the corner is reversed, and Hogan follows in with a clothesline. He's still selling the leg, surprisingly. Never mind... 2:16. I WIN! Hogan scoops Flair up an d uses him as a battering ram. Flair climbs the cage for whatever reason, then comes off with an axehandle. Flair with a delayed vertical suplex, but that only gets a two count. Slugfest in the corner, won by Hogan, of course. Flair climbs the cage, but gets rammed into it for his troubles. Whip to the corner, and Hogan meets a boot from Flair on the way in. Flair goes for the Figure-Four, but Hogan counters into a pinning combination for a two count. Flair with chops, but Hogan's doing the Luger/Sting no-sell of it. Whip to the corner, and Hogan takes Flair over with a back drop, then rams him into the cage. Hogan with a back suplex, and that gets a two count. Flair tries climbing out again, and if Hogan were smart, he would just chuck him over. You can't win by escaping the cage, this isn't WWF rules. Hogan with a headlock, but Flair counters with an atomic drop to the knee. Flair drops a knee across the injured leg of Hogan, and it's time to go to school! Flair tears apart the bandages on Hogan's knee and gets into it with Mr. T, just because he has to, I guess.
Flair drags Hogan to the middle of the ring, and slaps on the Figure-Four, but Hogan won't give up! Hogan feels the power of the Hulkamaniacs, wags a finger, and turns the preasure over on Flair, who quickly releases his own hold. Mr. T takes a bump courtesy of Hogan, and you have to be kidding me, that MR.T could be knocked out by that. Flair takes Hogan down with a back suplex, then Flair puts the boots to Mr. T, making him the smartest man alive. Sherri climbs the cage, but Jimmy Hart follows her up and rips off her skirt to the delight of... some people, I guess? Sherri wipes Jimmy Hart out, as well as a camera man, and now STING makes the save... and then his old nemesis the Black Scorpion returns with a lead pipe! Then he beats the crap out of Jimmy Hart with it, to my delight. How can the Black Scorpion exist when he's already in the ring?! Sherri is in the ring, Flair clips the knee of Hogan, and the Black Scorpion is hanging around, possibly taking a dump. In the mean time, Sherri handcuffs Mr. T to the ropes, and Hogan gets thrown into Scorpion's pipe. Flair attempts to cover, but that makes little sense, considering what they did to Mr. T. Flair with another delayed suplex on Hogan, but it's no-sold, and it's Hulk up Time! Hogan lays out both Flair and Sherri with clotheslines and slams. Whip to the corner, and Hogan with a back drop. Hogan then slams Sherri off the top rope, and Flair once again gets caught climbing the cage. WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THAT?! Hogan with a big boot on Sherri, and he's still Hulking Up. Irish whip, big boot, and leg drop from Hogan, and the three count is made at 19:23. Match started off perfectly fine, actually quite well, with a serious tone on commentary, recapping the career of Ric Flair, and midly touching up on Hogan's, too. Then the nonsense began and it just wouldn't stop. An awful way to end a match, especially one of such significant importance. People think that these finishes only started becoming common place during the nWo hey-days, but Hogan did it every fucking month during his reign as champion before that.
- Oh, and don't think the fun is all over... NO WAY! No, after Hogan does his celebrating for another 600 years, the Black Scorpion makes his way back to ringside, but this time, Hogan is ready for him! Hogan cleans his clock and unmasks the Black Scorpion to be... RIC FLAIR! Okay, just kidding, no, it's even lamer this time: It's BROTHER BRUTI! Yes, Hulk Hogan's best friend turned on him! Then Kevin Sullivan comes to ringisde. Then, this juicy bit of audio from Tony Schiavone, "The building is starting to rumble... it's like an Avalanche!" as the Man Formerly Known as Earthquake makes his debut and works Hogan over pretty good. Then Bobby Heenan says "that man Butcher'ed a friendship" in response to Brother Bruti. What is with all these horrible gimmick name dropping on commentary? Sting finally comes back from the dead and makes the save for the Hulkster, and that's the end of the show. Thank God. Sadly, this lead to the WORST Main Event in Starrcade History, Hulk Hogan vs. "The Butcher" for the WCW Championship. Ugh...
Final Thoughts: I'm going to try and explain this from the P.O.V. of a 9-year old watching this as it happened, and then now. As a child, I think I was attracted to this show because of the familiar WWF names, seeing as how I watched 90% WWF and 10% WCW at the time. I didn't mind it, but then I was questioning why everyone had different names and weren't quite true to who they used to be. The lure brought me in, but didn't keep me around, because the product wasn't good, no matter how familiar I was with the wrestlers.
Looking at it now, it's obvious the WCW's ploy WAS to lure in casual WWF fans with so many former stars from the WWF and using them to the maximum advantage. The quality of the matches were quite low, the booking illogical, and the main event a complete mess. The highlight of the show was just a straight up fight between Dustin Rhodes and Arn Anderson, and to a lesser extent, Vader and that Boss, man is he big Guardian Angel. Everything else seemed second rate, uninteresting, and dull. Things would get much worse from here, but Halloween Havoc '94 should've had the WWF name stamped somewhere on it in the credits that rolled at the end of the broadcast.
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