Remembering WCW Halloween Havoc

1995

This was a card loaded with all the big names in WCW at once.  Lex Luger, Sting, Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan all took part in some of the biggest matches of the night.  In a zany moment, The Giant was tossed off a Cobo Hall by Hulk Hogan after a Monster truck battle but somehow lived.  It was a good thing he did prevail, because later in the main event, The Giant would win the World Title over Hogan with some help from Lex Luger and Jimmy Hart.  Both of which turned on Hogan during the match and became “evil”. 

It should be noted that Sabu made a rare appearance on the undercard of this show in a winning effort over Mr. JL.  In another instant classic it was Johny B Badd and DDP tearing down the house for 17 plus minutes before Badd walked away with the match and the Diamond Doll. 

This card was so loaded that names like Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit fought in the dark matches.  We also thought we’d see a dream tag match with Ric Flair and Sting becoming partners to take on Brian Pillman and Arn Anderson but it turned out to be a ruse just for Flair and the Horesmen to beat up Sting.  Despite the hokey ending that featured a mummy, the card was actually pretty good!

1996

The entire show was built around Macho Man Randy Savage taking on the recently turned evil Hollywood Hulk Hogan.  This is the beginning of WCW making some odd decisions.  Savage losing to Hogan was smartly done, but then having a 20 minute snoozefest promo for the returning Rowdy Roddy Piper to follow was awful.  The back and forth with Piper and Hogan was terrible and awkward, closing the show on a lousy note. 

The best match of the night was the opening contest between Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.  On a card loaded with big names, the Malenko vs Mysterio match easily stole the show.  No other match was even in their ball park.

1997

This was one of the worst cards in WCW History.  Which, much like WrestleMania 13 with Austin vs Hart, makes it truly incredible that one of the greatest matches in company history came out of such of a debacle of a show.

Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero put on a match for the ages.  A match so good that wrestling purists have acclaimed it as one of the greatest ever.  A match so dramatic and entertaining, that even non wrestling fans have chosen to watch it countless times over.  The two men were at their very best and it showed.  While they tore down the house in WWE several times together later on in their careers, they were already established stars at that point.  On this night, they had something to prove, and looked amazing doing it.  Do yourself a huge favor, dial up the WWE network, and rewatch this one right now!  Easily the greatest match in WCW History!

The lousy main event really put a damper on things.  Once again, Rowdy Roddy Piper refused to let anyone beat him, even the champ Hollywood Hulk Hogan.  Thus, for the third time inside of a year, he went over on the champ in a non-title match.  The fact this was a cage match with two broken down veterans didn’t help matters.  All eyes were already on Sting vs Hogan at Starrcade at this point anyway, and it clearly showed with a horrendous effort.  

 

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