October 9, 2008
Matt Peddycord

WCW Halloween Havoc 1993
October 24, 1993
New Orleans, LA
Lakefront Arena

The current WCW & NWA Champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Big Van Vader (3/17/1993)
WCW International World Champion: Rick Rude (9/19/1993)
WCW U.S. Champion: Dustin Rhodes (8/30/1993)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell (10/4/1993)
WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (9/19/1993)

The intro to the show is just DY-NO-MITE by the way. It’s one of those high-budget deals where they spent more money on production, than they’ll make from ticket sales. Tony Schiavone invites some innocent young trick-or-treaters into his home because they’re looking for a scary time. Since the kids aren’t impressed when Tony tells them about “spin the wheel, make the deal”, he rips off his face to reveal that he’s actually a big, huge fly monster. Not fly like in the ’70s, he’s a big insect that annoys the crap out of you.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura. Tony’s dressed up as Jesse Ventura while Jesse decides to be an evil gynecologist for Halloween. Right.

The Shockmaster, Ice Train & Charlie Norris vs. Harlem Heat & The Equalizer

What is with this New Orleans crowd? They must be so wasted, they think Shockmaster is a hot chick or something. Uncle Fred is getting some crazy face reactions in this match. Equalizer still sucks so much, WCW won’t let him wrestle a singles match on PPV. Not that he ever stopped sucking when they finally let him wrestle a singles match. Harlem Heat are still going by the names Kole and Kane, but I’m sticking with Booker T and Stevie Ray so as to not confuse. Ice Train thumps Booker T around to start because he’s BIG. “Chuck” Norris and Shockmaster take turns twisting on Booker’s arm. Stevie Ray kicks Ice Train as he comes off the ropes and causes him to stumble into a Booker T dropkick. Equalizer tags in and screws things up for his team after telegraphing a backdrop. Shockmaster SLAMS Equalizer as the “WHOOMP THERE IT IS!” chants start up. That makes me feel so old. Can you imagine that song being playing on your local rap station now? Norris comes in and chops Equalizer down for a nearfall. If Wahoo’s watching, I’m sure he’s smiling and shaking his head at how lame that chop just was. Harlem Heat distracts Norris, allowing Equalizer to hit him from behind. Booker T delivers his scissor kick – only he twirls before he kicks the guy back then. It’s a lot more flash and less cool-looking when he actually connects with the kick. That gets two. Booker misses a splash off the middle rope and Shockmaster gets the hot tag. Tugboat’s running wild! Booker T runs into a bearhug drop (?) and Shockmaster picks up the win over Booker for the second PPV in a row. (9:45) Poor Booker. This was about what you would expect. *

Ricky Steamboat vs. Paul Orndorff (w/The Assassin)

Yoshi Kwan is injured, so Orndorff is his replacement. I’d rather have this anyway. This is during the Dusty Rhodes/Assassin feud that they were trying to rekindle from Georgia Championship Wrestling for some ungodly reason. Dusty’s booking here if that helps you understand. It probably doesn’t, but just go with it. Orndorff attacks Steamboat as he takes his dragon wings off. Steamboat rolls Orndorff up off the ropes for two and turns around into a clothesline that puts him on the floor. Orndorff slams Steamboat on the rampway and heads back into the ring to pose, allowing Steamboat to regroup and charge in with a crossbody. Oops, Paula sees it coming and moves out of the way. Steamboat goes to work on the arm with a flip over hammerlock and some armbars. Onto the floor they go where Steamboat sends Orndorff shoulder-first into the ringpost a couple times. Vicious! Back in, Steamboat tries to break Orndorff’s hand by splitting the fingers. Ventura ~ “That is TOTALLY illegal!” They head back out to the floor where Steamboat rams Orndorff’s head into some steps. During a conference with the ref, Orndorff yanks Steamboat off the apron and smashes his head into the apron a bunch as retribution for the last several minutes. Orndorff even throws Steamboat over the safety rail! Back in, Orndorff hits an elbow for two. Orndorff tries to cheat to win by grabbing the top rope, but ref Nick Patrick kicks him off into a rollup for two. Now they head to the rampway where Steamboat comes off with a Judo Chop. A running atomic drop puts Orndorff back in the ring for another Flying Judo Chop. Cover, 1-2-NO! Double-chop gets two. Steamboat telegraphs a backdrop and Orndorff slams his face into the mat to make him pay. It’s PILEDRIVER time! No! Steamboat counters with a backdrop and falls down on top to set up a backslide sequence. Instead of going down to his knees to block, Orndorff flips him over into position for the PILEDRIVER. Steamboat counters and catapults Orndorff into the corner for 1-2-NO! Steamboat hits the FLYING BODYPRESS, but ref Nick Patrick’s daddy The Assassin is up on the apron. Probably arguing over why he couldn’t have been a crooked referee after all these years. Steamboat delivers a pair of jumping shoulderblocks for nearfalls. He chops Orndorff up against the ropes, causing the ref to get involved. Steamboat shoves him away and charges at Orndorff, who ducks and pulls the top rope down to send Steamboat flying out to The Assassin. While Orndorff has the ref’s attention, Assassin sneaks an international object in his mask and headbutts Steamboat in the back of the head to cause him to be counted out. Orndorff wins! (18:36) I loved seeing Steamboat cheat for once, but with Orndorff ultimately being the better cheater. ***½

WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) vs. Davey Boy Smith

His lordship doesn’t want to hook up with this commoner to begin things. Once they do lock-up, it becomes a game of “can you top this?” in mat wrestling. Some good stuff in there and the crowd responds well to it. DBS escapes a cravat and applies a surfboard. Sir William gets up on the apron and causes DBS to break the hold and scare him away, but that allows Regal to nail him from behind. Regal goes low with a running knee and connects with the somersault splash for two. Just when you think Ventura might not reference Edouard Carpentier for that move, he does. Regal hooks the cravat again. Davey Boy elbows out and mounts his comeback with four minutes left to go in the time limit. He runs into a knee in the corner and gets stuck in a half nelson on the mat. Three minutes left. DBS comes back with a neat rollup with a minute to go. He hits a suplex and the RUNNING POWERSLAM! Cover, 1-2-NO! Oops, looks like they got ahead of themselves there as though that should’ve been the finish. DBS hits a piledriver and covers as the time limit expires. (15:00) Lord Steven Regal was awesome during this period and brought out the best in Davey Boy Smith here by going back to their mat-based roots. Good stuff. ***

WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Dustin Rhodes vs. Steve Austin

Sign in the audience ~ “‘Stunning’ Steve is the wrestler of the ’90s.” See! Wrestling fans aren’t stupid. The Blondes were still a team at this point, by the way. Austin slaps Rhodes and heads out to the floor to screw around. Austin hits his knee in the corner and takes a nasty bump to the floor to start up some legwork for Dustin. He escapes a legbar and kicks Rhodes in the balls to get a break. Austin lowers a kneepad and drops the knee across Dustin’s face. He tries to lift him up off the ground, but Dustin tugs a little harder and whips Austin into the corner. Austin manages to catch himself in mid-move and springs out of the corner for another knee drop. Nice. Cover, 1-2-NO! Austin starts slapping which just wakes up Dustin. Rhodes hits a Lariat because he’s proud to be a Texan and only gets two. Rhodes wants the BULLDOG, but Austin saves himself by crotching him in the corner. Austin wails away on him, but Rhodes gets a quick rollup for two. Inside cradle gets two. Austin tries for the STUNGUN out of nowhere, but Rhodes pounds out of it. Now Austin tries for the Ric Flair pin and the ref counts three, but changes his mind afterwards and says he saw Austin’s feet on the ropes. While Austin raises his arms in celebration, Dustin comes up behind him with a rollup for 1-2-3. (14:25) A Dusty Finish in his own sons match? What a saboteur. They had a better match two years before, as this took a while to get going. Austin busts open Rhodes with the US belt afterwards. **¼

WCW World Tag Team Champions Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell (w/Teddy Long) vs. The Nasty Boys (w/Missy Hyatt)

Scorpio and Bagwell actually just won the belts in an upset the night before on Saturday Night. Bagwell kisses Missy to make everybody overwhelmed with laughter. While Missy (and Bagwell) recuperate, the crowd chants “WHOOMP THERE IT IS” again. Huh. That only seems to happen when there’s a black person in the match. Bagwell receives some clubberin to start, but dropkicks both Nasties and draws them into Scorpio who comes off the top with a flying crossbody. Young Pistols, BAYBEE! The Nasties head to the floor, so Scorpio jumps off Bagwell and planchas out on top of them. Sweet. Back in, the Nasties take some double-team moves from Scorpio and Bagwell. The champs are looking pretty good here. The match turns around in the Nasty Boys favor when Bagwell gets dumped out to the floor and slapped rather hard by Missy. While the ref is with Knobbs and Scorpio, Sags gives Bagwell a back suplex on the floor! In the ring, Knobbs delivers a suplex for two. The Nasties work in their usual sit-down chinlocks and bearhugs. Knobbs ducks low off a whip and Bagwell heads to his corner for a false tag spot. The Nasties try the splash in the corner, but Bagwell avoids Knobbs and nails Sags with a clothesline. HOT TAG TO SCORPIO! He goes SPIN KICK CRAZY on the Nasties! Moonsault Press to Knobbs. Sags elbow drops his partner by accident to break up the pin. It’s a pier-six brawl as Long and Hyatt wind up on the apron slapping each other. Teddy gets knocked down to the floor as Bagwell gives Sags and Missy a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. Meanwhile, Scorpio delivers the DISS THAT DON’T MISS to Knobbs! While the ref is with Bagwell, Sags pulls off his boot and clocks Scorpio in the back of the head. Knobbs turns him over and covers for 1-2-3. The Nasty Boys regain the belts. (14:40) Pretty fun match apart from the typical stuff from the Nasty Boys. Plus, Scorpio and Bagwell really did look good in there. **½

Sting vs. Sid Vicious (w/Col. Robert Parker)

Whoa! There’s an *overzealous* Sting fan in the front row that literally has to be retained by one of his buddies. The dude’s veins are popping out of his neck because Sting is here. Parker distracts Sting to start. That allows Sid to nail him from behind, but one slam changes everything for the Stinger. He beats Sid out of the ring, over the barricade, through the crowd, and back into the ring. Sting gets distracted by Col. Parker again and turns around into a CHOKESLAM! Sid fires up the ol’ extensive moveset by choking and stomping Sting. Parker even joins in on the choking. Sting goes out to grab Parker, but Sid follows and stops him with a double ax handle. While the ref is with Parker, Sid seizes the moment and nails Sting with a REALLY weak chair shot. Now that’s how you grab life by the reins and really make it your own. In the ring, Sting elbows out of a chinlock, but runs into a powerslam. Sting escapes a bearhug and hits the Stinger Splash. Make it two. Parker gets knocked off the apron, but Sid nails Sting from behind once again. Parker starts grabbing ankles again, trips up Sid by accident, and holds the leg down as Sting covers for 1-2-NO! Sid’s not too happy with that. He grabs Parker, so Sting rolls him up off the ropes for 1-2-3. (10:42) They tease a face turn with Sid. Of course a few days later during a drunken argument, Sid would stab Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors and immediately be fired, sooooooo it wouldn’t matter much anyway. It’s a shame they had all that Worldwide footage of Sid with the WCW world title and they never even got to use it. NOT! Worst match of the night, bar none. ½*

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude vs. Ric Flair (w/Fifi)

Just to show you how WCW had no idea what they were doing with this title, the pre-match graphic bills this as the “Match for the Belt”. The challenger gets fireworks and the champ doesn’t. With that logic, even when Flair’s not the champ, he’s the champ. This match has TWO referees – the in-ring referee Randy Anderson and the special enforcer Terry Taylor. Terry Taylor? Yeah, Terry Taylor. Rude throws his best pick-up lines at Fifi and pays for it with some chops and a backdrop. Flair runs into a knee in the corner, but avoids a flying knee drop and hooks the FIGURE-FOUR. Rude makes the ropes, so Flair posts the leg. Flair works a knee bar, but gets yanked out to the floor. Back in, they do the crossbody block spot where both guys fall out to the floor. Rude falls on a chair! OUCH! Flair comes off the top onto Rude with a single sledge. He tries it again, but Rude sees him coming and nails him in the gut. Rude grabs a chair and rears back, but Terry Taylor pulls the chair away from him. Ventura is PISSED! Back in, Rude sits down with a chinlock. Flair escapes, but Rude hits a single sledge off the top – jarring his knee on the fall. Flair comes out of another chinlock and Flair Flips out of the corner onto the apron, but gets met with a clothesline. Rude gives him a suplex back in and comes off the top with another single sledge, but only gets two. Rude hits the bearhug and tries pinning him on the mat, but Flair keeps popping the shoulder up. Flair avoids a third single sledge and hits a RUDE AWAKENING! Delayed cover gets two. Flair comes off the top, but he eats a boot on the way down. Rude whips Flair into ref Randy Anderson, causing Terry Taylor to hop in the ring. He gets knocked down as well. You know Terry, you’re actually a wrestler. You don’t need to sell like you’ve just been shot. Maybe its the ref’s shirt he’s wearing or something. Rude whips out the international object just like at Fall Brawl, but Flair ducks the swing and gives Rude a back suplex. Now Flair has the taped knux and nails Rude in the face! Cover, 1-2-NO! Ref Randy Anderson WHO WAS DOWN ON THE FLOOR stops Taylor from counting and tells him he saw what Flair did to give Rude the match via DQ. (19:22) Randy Anderson completely missed his cue which made the finish look even dumber than it already was planned to be. Dusty Finish aside, this was basically the same match they did at Fall Brawl with about ten minutes cut off from the original. It’s better in that respect, but it’s still lame for a Flair match. These two just did not mesh very well, which is rare for Flair to not mesh with someone. **½

Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) vs. Cactus Jack – Texas Death Match

Earlier in the night, Vader spun the wheel and now its time to complete the deal! Here are the rules: it’s no-DQ, pinfalls do not count, but you have to pin your opponent in order for the 30-second rest period to begin. After all that, the ref starts a ten-count and if your opponent doesn’t get to his feet in time, you win the match. This is the match everyone had been waiting to see since Cactus received a powerbomb on the concrete back in April. No title on the line here, just a big score to settle. They meet on the rampway and brawl like crazy. Vader tries to clothesline Cactus up against the ringpost, but misses. Cactus jabs him with a chair and grabs a fan’s camera to bash Vader in the head. If only there was eBay in 1993. Cactus gets the chair again and nails Vader right in the skull. They make it into the ring where Cactus runs into a boot and gets DRILLED with a clothesline. Vader takes him to the corner for more straight shots to the face. Cactus gets punched out to the rampway and reverses a suplex on Vader to bring him out there as well. Cactus is clearly busted open at this point. He delivers a back suplex and pounds away as Race shows up with a chair. Cactus blocks a chairshot and takes it away from Race for another chairshot to Vader! They continue over to the graveyard set where there’s a hole ready and waiting for Vader to fall into and a tombstone with his name on it. Neat! Cactus goes in with him to lay in some more punches and then walks out to head down the rampway. Vader comes out of the grave all bloody, which is a cool visual. Cactus nails him with a running clothesline and covers for three. The 30-second rest period begins. Vader’s up at two and Cactus grabs another piece of the set and hits Vader with it. Ironically enough, it was a cactus prop. That knocks Vader down off the rampway to the floor where Cactus gives him a flying elbow! That’s another pinfall for Cactus and after the 30-second rest period, Vader’s up at three. Vader’s getting mad now and yanks Cactus off the rampway by his hair! Cactus punches back and tosses a table into the ring. Ref Nick Patrick sets the table up in the corner. Geez, what a bias ref! They head into the ring where Cactus whips Vader into the table for two. They go back to the floor where Cactus delivers a sunset flip off the apron. Vader won’t go down and tries to squash him, but Cactus moves out of the way. Cactus puts Vader into the front row and tries to cannonball into Vader over the railing, but Vader stands back and lets Cactus hit the concrete! Back over the barricade, Vader nails Cactus with a chair. Meanwhile, Harley Race is warming up a tazer. In the ring, Vader delivers a MOONSAULT! That gets three. After the rest period, Cactus is up at three and immediately kicked into the corner for more SICK punches to the face. They go back to the rampway where Cactus jumps on Vader’s back, so he just falls back on top of Cactus. Holy CRAP. That still makes me cringe. Vader blasts Cactus again with a chair, followed by a DDT on the chair! Some trainers run down to check on Cactus, but Vader shoves him them away and covers for three. Vader interrupts the rest period, but Cactus punches back and now Vader receives a DDT on the chair. Once the rest period is over, the ref starts the count on both men. Cactus is almost to his feet when Harley Race whips out his tazer and stuns Cactus as Vader gets to his feet to win the match. (15:57) Everything up to the lame finish was a perfectly put-together brawl from two guys who can DELIVER in that type of match. I don’t really understand why they had to go with the cheap finish, but whatever. Still the best match of 1993 as far as American wrestling goes. ****½

Final Thoughts: Halloween Havoc is widely considered a one-match show and to your average wrestling fan, it is. However, longtime fans of Steamboat and Regal can’t dismiss their matches on the card. I think they’re both excellent and shouldn’t be overlooked. I’ll go with thumbs in the middle and look at this show as a step up for WCW. But then they go and do the Battlebowl PPV, so it’s really like one step forward and two steps back.