February 7, 2009
Matt Peddycord

WCW Halloween Havoc
October 29, 1995
Detroit, MI
Joe Louis Arena

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hulk Hogan (7/17/1994)
WCW U.S. Champion: Sting (6/18/1995)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat (10/28/1995)
WCW World Television Champion: Diamond Dallas Page (9/17/1995)

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Bobby Heenan.

Hogan and Giant are already messing around with those monster trucks up on top of Cobo Hall!

WCW World Television Champion Diamond Dallas Page (w/The Diamond Doll & Maxx Muscle) vs. Johnny B. Badd
So DDP and Maxx Muscle cost Badd his US title shot by slashing his tires to make him SUPER late for that match with Sting. Why did Page do it? Because he feels since he’s the TV champ, he should be the US champ too. Well it really doesn’t work that way, buddy. Page has the Badd Blaster by the way. Badd has a guy that looks like him from behind wear his robe and back out the entrance only so the real Johnny B. Badd can sneak attack Page by coming through the crowd and into the ring. Badd knee-lifts and tosses Page out. Maxx tries to nail him from behind, fails at it, and delivers a double-noggin knocker. Page spills out into the crowd for WWF ATTITUDE crowd action! Badd finds a pail and puts it on Page’s head for an ear clap and then throws him face-first into the ringpost. Back in the ring, Badd slows it down with an armbar. Badd wants a ten-count corner punch, but Page has other ideas and drops Badd’s face on the top turnbuckle. Page wants a ten from Kimberly and she refuses! He works over Badd in the corner and delivers a back suplex. He points at Kimberly to throw up another ten sign. She finally does, but she’s not too happy about it. Pancake slam by Page gets two. Badd tries to come out of a chinlock, but DDP slams his head back onto the mat for two. Backslide by Badd gets two, but then he turns around into a clothesline. Sunset flip? Nope. Page blocks with a punch and kneels down across Badd’s shoulders for two. Badd reverses for 1-2-NO! Badd escapes a chinlock into an overhead wristlock, but Page gets some assistance from Maxx Muscle to yank Badd back down to the mat. Now Maxx distracts ref Nick Patrick while DDP chokes Badd with his wrist tape. Kimberly is not happy with this! Of course Page is being sneaky by choking him while he’s got on a chinlock. Badd tries to come out of it again into an overhead wristlock. Maxx tries to provide the muscle, but Page can’t reach him and takes a back suplex. Badd mounts a comeback with an atomic drop from both sides of Page. Tilt-a-whirl headscissors! Flying double ax-handle connects on Page’s head. Badd wants a ten from Kimberly and he gets a ten from Kimberly! Cover by Badd, 1-2-NO! Sitout powerbomb from Badd gets 1-2-NO! Page counters a hiptoss into a DDT to turn the tide. Cover, 1-2-NO! DIAMOND CUTTER is blocked as Badd grabs the top rope. He gets two off that. Page is dumped out to the floor as Badd delivers the somersault plancha on both Page and Maxx! Back in, Badd hits a slingshot splash on Page for 1-2-NO! Heel miscommunication ensues as Badd rolls up Page for 1-2-NO! Badd gets thrown out to Maxx Muscle, who is promptly posted. Wait, no he’s not. More heel miscommunication goes down as Page gets nailed by Maxx. Badd nails Maxx with the TOOTIE FROOTIE PUNCH! He covers Page for 1-2-3. (17:02) Other than the finish seeming a little anticlimactic, it’s a pretty good match. Badd regains the TV title for the second time and Kimberly is all smiles. ***¼

Randy Savage vs. Zodiac
Zodiac’s using Rey Mysterio’s music. Well I guess it would actually be the other way around. This was supposed to be Savage vs. Kamala, but he’s already left WCW by this point. Does it really matter? If Savage wins this match and Luger wins his match, then Savage gets to wrestle Luger later on in the program. A CRAZY (is that Stevie Richards?) fan jumps in the ring to get at Savage pretty much right after the bell sounds. To get the camera off him while security intervenes, Savage and Zodiac take it to the floor. Back in, Savage puts Zodiac away with the MACHO ELBOW! (1:30) Nothing. ¼*

Road Warrior Hawk vs. Kurasawa (w/Col. Robert Parker)
Kurasawa broke Hawk’s arm back at the Clash and now he’s want REVENGE~! Hawk wastes no time getting at Kurasawa with a shoulderblock and a reverse neckbreaker for a series of two-counts. Hawk misses a corner charge and runs shoulder-first into the post. Kurasawa grabs on the arm, but Hawk says NO and pounds him down. Powerbomb by Hawk, but then Parker trips him up for a powerslam. Kurasawa misses a flying elbow drop and takes a clothesline to the floor. Hawk delivers a flying clothesline off the apron to wipe out Parker. Outside, Hawk gets posted. Back inside, Kurasawa gives Hawk a Samoan drop and covers with his feet on the ropes for 1-2-3. (3:18) Wow, somebody pinned Hawk. I think I would have rather seen Hawk destroy Disco Inferno for what he did on Nitro, even though this match makes more sense. ¾*

Sabu (w/The Original Sheik) vs. Mr. JL
Mr. JL = Jerry Lynn wearing a mask and bodysuit. This is Sheik’s one shot deal in WCW to appear for his nephew Sabu. Plus we’re in Detroit, which is the Sheik’s territory. This would be a rematch from Nitro where Sabu picked up the win with the Camel Clutch. They start off on the floor where one of them messes up JL’s sliding headscissors. Since that goes nowhere, Sabu throws JL into the guardrail and delivers a springboard moonsault. He actually takes out Sheik as well! Crazy. JL avoids a charge and comes off the top down on Sabu. Inside the ring, JL launches Sabu onto the top turnbuckle. Sabu wants a moonsault press, but JL moves and gives Sabu one of his own for two. Sitout powerbomb on Sabu gets two. JL misses a corner charge and does that Bobby Eaton straddle in the corner. However, JL stops Sabu on the top and gives him a German suplex for two. It’s not as cool as it sounds. Victory roll bomb off the top from Sabu gets another two-count. Sabu heads to the top again, but JL dropkicks him to the floor. On his way back in, Sabu necksnaps JL and delivers a split-legged moonsault for the 1-2-3. (3:26) Kind of a mess. Certainly not as good as their other WCW match. Afterwards, Sheik throws a fireball in JL’s face just because. It’s a good thing that mask was flame retardant! This would be Sabu’s one and only WCW PPV, as he would return to ECW just in time for November to Remember ‘95 – arguably the greatest ECW show ever. **

Lex Luger vs. Meng (w/Kevin Sullivan)
As a part of the Halloween Havoc set, there’s a tombstone with the Crockett name on it. What’s that about? I alluded to it earlier, but if Lex gets past Meng he gets the rematch with Savage. Plus there’s the question of whether or not Luger is in the Dungeon of Doom or not, so we look to answer that question tonight. To begin things, Luger actually manhandles Meng with turnbuckle smashes and a catapult. Lex takes Meng to the floor with a clothesline and then posts him a couple times. Some arm work from Luger goes nowhere. Meng takes over and aggravates the neck and shoulders of Luger with a shoulderbreaker and a piledriver. It’s chinlock time! Luger elbows out and lands a high crossbody for two. Meng delivers a back suplex for two. Luger gets dumped out to Kevin Sullivan. He doesn’t attack him, he just talks to him. Meng keeps Luger on the floor to give Sullivan multiple chances to put the boots to him, but Sullivan won’t do it. Back inside, Meng continues the beatdown while on the split-screen, they show a clip of Bobby Heenan eating sushi with Sonny Oono. Luger hits a suplex and starts firing off clotheslines, but it takes three of them to put Meng on his back side. Lex delivers a powerslam and calls for the TORTURE RACK! While Luger’s flapping his arms, Meng pulls out the GOLDEN SPIKE and jabs Luger in the throat with it in plain sight of the referee! Meng covers for 1-2-NO! Sullivan hops in the ring and stomps Luger to give him the match by DQ. (13:13) Meng looks more confused than usual. What’s the heck, bro? Seems like a stupid finish now, but it makes more sense later. Match was nothing. Long and dull. Now we get Luger vs. Savage later, as if there was any doubt. ½*

Ric Flair & Sting vs. Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman
It was reported at the beginning of the show that Ric Flair had been attacked by AA and Pillman and it was uncertain if he would even make the match. So Sting shows up to fight them both by himself. Why? Because his name is Sting and he loves to fight. I guess? It’s not like Sting has any real beef with these two. Okay, maybe he’s not a fan of Pillman. But what good babyface at this time would be? This is the ingredients for instant wrestling goodness if there was. “We want Flair” chants go up and Sting does all he can to get the crowd louder and louder. Arn holds Sting for a double-team, but Sting kicks Pillman off the apron and reverses a full nelson. So Arn regroups. “We want Flair.” Back in, Arn can’t take Sting down with hair-pulling and then takes a kick in the gut for a face slam as Sting cleans house again on the heels. Pillman tries his luck against Sting. He slaps Sting across the face and heads to the floor because he and Arn have a plan. Pillman baits Sting around the ring for Anderson to sneak around and nail Sting, but he knows its coming and decks them both. Sting lets them lick their wounds and gets back in the ring. Pillman wants a handshake and Sting shows his smarts by grabbing hold of him and delivering a press slam. Now Pillman slides over to his corner and tags Arn. They do the spot where Sting catapults AA into Pillman who happens to be on the top rope. Sting then proceeds to launch Pillman down onto the guardrail for his signature chest-first bump. Arn has to go old school Anderson-style on Sting to finally take control of the match by driving Sting’s head into Pillman. HERE COMES FLAIR! He’s in his street duds! Flair’s head is bandaged, but that’s about it. While the ref is busy trying to keep Flair in his corner, Arn throws out Sting for Pillman to have some fun with him. Back in the ring, we see some classic heel tag team wrestling as AA and Pillman do everything possible to keep Sting on their side of the ring. They milk that hot tag for as long as humanly possible. FINALLY, Flair gets the hot tag! Just when you think he’s going to absolutely destroy Arn, Flair goes over and blasts Sting with a forearm. Sting makes it all the more better by trying to fight back against all three men. It’s just not happening though. (17:58) This was classic ’80s-style tag match mixed in with a classic ’80s-style angle. I could watch these four all night long. WOO! ****

After the extended beatdown on Sting, Flair tells us what we already knew – it was all a setup. He explains that if the Horsemen were coming back, they had to come back with a bang and Sting just happened to be the one they needed to make an impact. Flair ~ “Reunited and it feels so good!” Gene is kind of speechless!

It’s time for the MONSTER TRUCK BATTLE! Simply put, it’s a sumo match with the trucks. Hogan wins. Surprise, surprise. Giant attacks Hogan on top of Cobo Hall and tries to throw him off the roof, but Hogan turns the tables on him and that accidentally causes Giant to drop from the roof to the ground below! OH MY GOSH! Don’t worry folks, he’s immortal.

Randy Savage vs. Lex Luger
They act like the Dungeon of Doom never attacked Luger, but Giant did chokeslam him once or twice. Of course Schiavone and Heenan are stunned and concerned about what happened. This is actually a rematch from Nitro where Luger got the win over Savage after Giant interfered and gave Savage a chokeslam, which is something Luger supposedly had no idea it had happened. Luger wants to shake hands and call it a night, but Savage says I’ll raise you with a kick to the stomach! Lex explodes out of the corner with a clothesline and starts slamming Savage’s face into the turnbuckle. Dressed all in black, Jimmy Hart walks down to ringside. Luger stomps Savage down into the corner and chokes him with his boot. They go to the floor and take turns sending one another into the guardrail. Back inside, Savage gets nailed on the way down when he tries a flying double sledge. Jimmy Hart gets up on the apron to talk with ref Nick Patrick. Meanwhile, Savage runs into a knee in the corner as Lex trips him up and tries for a pin with his feet on the ropes. While Jimmy is still talking with Nick Patrick, Savage throws Luger into Jimmy Hart and finishes Lex off with the MACHO ELBOW! (5:23) More confusion and no word on Giant’s condition. *½

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Giant (w/Kevin Sullivan)
Bobby Heenan continues to go ballistic on Tony Schiavone regarding why he can’t get any word as to what is happening outside with the Giant. Bobby’s doing a great job and probably using some of his frustration with WCW to fuel what he says. Hulk Hogan comes down to the ring in his black and white nWo gear (minus the painted on beard) and fills us in as to what happened to the Giant. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that, dude. And wouldn’t you know it, the Giant and Kevin Sullivan make their way to the ring! HE’S IMMORTAL, YOU IDIOT! Giant chases Hogan out of the ring and for good reason. Once Hogan’s in the ring, he pulls off his doo rag to show the Kevin Sullivan markings on his forehead. Tony ~ “It’s the dark side of Hulk Hogan!” Hulk fires away and tries a slam, but that hardly ever works on the first try! Giant takes over and pounds Hogan down. They work a knucklelock that puts Hogan on his knees. He tries to fight out, but Giant gives him a slam. Giant misses a legdrop and Hogan starts his comeback. Ten-count corner punch follows, as does a bunch of back rakes. Hogan keeps the offense coming with a trifecta of clotheslines to put Giant over the top rope to the floor. Sullivan starts to take Giant up the aisleway to the locker room, but Hogan stops them both for a double noggin knocker. Back to the ring, Hogan continues to punch on the Giant. When that stops working, Giant grabs Hogan for a backbreaker. That gets two. We hit the bearhug. Hogan escapes once, but he goes right back in it. On the second time, he shakes his finger and punches his way out. He charges off the ropes right into a CHOKESLAM! Cover, 1-2-NO! Hulk up time. He points the finger. He fires away and whips Giant in for the Big Boot. He doesn’t go down, so Hogan asks the crowd if they want a slam. Oh yeah they do. He slams him and hits the LEGDROP! Wait a minute. Jimmy Hart just decked ref Randy Anderson with the Big Gold belt. Hogan has no idea what Jimmy just did though. They help the ref up to his feet together, but when Hulk turns his back, Jimmy shoves ref Randy Anderson down and hits Hogan from behind with the belt! Hogan’s not effected though and grabs Jimmy Hart to nail him one good time. Giant saves him by grabbing Hulk for another bearhug. Luger and Savage run down to save Hulk, but then we see Savage go down and Luger starts stomping Savage. In comes the Yeti to violently join in on the hugging of Hogan. He’s just Reese from Raven’s Flock dressed up as a mummy, which is not what a yeti is at all. Whatever. Luger racks Hogan as if there was any doubt as to who’s side he was on here. After Hogan has his turn, Luger racks Savage too. I never heard a bell, but we’re stopping it right here. (17:02) Since it was Hogan’s manager who nailed the ref, Giant wins by DQ. He walks out with the belt too! Also, we find out that Giant is indeed the champion because of an unknown “contract clause” that stated Hogan could lose the belt on a disqualification. It was all a plan! This was slightly more energetic than Hogan/Andre at WrestleMania III, which they were trying to recreate here, but with the overbooking feel of a TNA main event. *

Final Thoughts: Certainly a more historically important PPV than one that’s filled with good wrestling. The return of the Horsemen screwing over Sting stole the show. On the other hand, the Giant making his wrestling debut, falling off a roof of a five story building after having a monster truck sumo battle, and then coming back to beat Hogan is cheesy goodness that’s hard to find these days. You’d be really confused though if you hadn’t been watching Nitro at the time. If you had, you might enjoy this show. I found it to be loads of nostalgic fun. Thumbs up if you’re familiar with the programming, but not so much if you’re picking it out to watch randomly.