Had your fill of celluloid goblins and ghoulies this year? Prepare for something completely different, an alternative to all of those monster movies. Just in time to celebrate All Hallow’s Eve we have the very best of WCW’s Halloween Havoc.
Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff and Madusa get into the Halloween spirit. Courtesy: WWE/WCW.
10. Halloween Havoc 1991: Steve Austin (c) (with Lady Blossom) vs. Dustin Rhodes – WCW World Television Championship Match
Before he was Stone Cold and after he was Stunning, Austin faced The Natural in a merciless match for the WCW World Television Championship. Lady Blossom was Jeanie Clarke, who would later go on to marry Austin and her later reference to his tea getting “stone cold” resulted in his eventual Stone Cold gimmick.
9. Halloween Havoc 1989 – The Skyscrapers (Dan Spivey and Sid Vicious) (with Teddy Long) versus The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) (with Paul Ellering)
I can hear them now. People will whine and complain that Spivey and Vicious (Psycho Sid) weren’t the most well-rounded performers in the wrestling business. While that may be so, the two powerhouses were a great match for The Road Warriors. When have you ever seen a team actually dwarf The Road Warriors in size and stature? It was just four monsters just beating the living hell out of each other but sometimes that is all you need for a good time.
8. Halloween Havoc 1993 – Rick Rude (c) versus Ric Flair – WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match
Terry Taylor is your special referee for this one. What also makes this match so unique is that Rude and Flair only had a handful of matches against each other and most of them were at house shows in WCW. It was a rare treat to see these two on opposite sides of the ring.
7. Halloween Havoc 1989 – Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons) (with Woman) versus The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner)
You had to be a fan at the time to really appreciate this rivalry. In what were the first big steps in her incredible career Woman unleashed Doom upon WCW. Their arrival began as a sneak attack on Scott Steiner as Woman lured him into a limousine for that infamous beat-down. The Steiner Brothers finally got their hands on Doom at Halloween Havoc and the result was a hard-hitting, bruising bout.
6. Halloween Havoc 1998 – Bret Hart (c) versus Sting – WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Match
The Sharp Shooter versus The Scorpion Death Lock. A true dream match between WWE and WCW’s franchise players throughout the 1990s. The ending may have been a letdown as fans would rather have had a decisive and clean winner but that finish wasn’t a blemish at on this much-anticipated meeting between the wrestling icons.
The intro for Halloween Havoc 1989. Courtesy: WWE/WCW.
5. Halloween Havoc – 1997 – Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) versus Diamond Dallas Page – Las Vegas Sudden Death Match
Not only did Savage and Page put each other through the proverbial meat grinder but Miss Elizabeth and Kimberly opened a can of whoop ass on each other as well. Talk about your bonus content. Dusty Rhodes’ commentary throughout this match is hilarious. You can tell he was having a great time watching these two batter and bash each other with assorted “plunder.”
4. Halloween Havoc 1997 – Eddy Guerrero (c) versus Rey Mysterio Jr. – WCW Cruiserweight Championship versus Mask Match
Not only is this one of the best Halloween Havoc matches but this is also one of the best overall matches you will ever see. Eddie and Rey steal the show as only they can. Having “The Professor” Mike Tenay call this match further elevates it as a classic you cannot miss.
3. Halloween Havoc 1994 – Hulk Hogan (c) (with Jimmy Hart) versus Ric Flair (with Sensuous Sherri) – Steel Cage Retirement, WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
On the marque you don’t get any bigger than Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Lock them inside a steel cage and put up Flair’s career against Hogan’s WCW World Heavyweight Championship and you have the makings of a titanic tussle. Add Mr. T as the referee and appearances by Avalanche and one of Hogan’s friends now turned enemy into the mix and a combustible situation turns into a raging inferno. Okay, it wasn’t that crazy but still this cage match is one wild ride.
2. Halloween Havoc 1993 – Big Van Vader (with Harley Race) versus Cactus Jack – Texas Death Match
This feud has more twists and turns than an episode of Stranger Things. Vader powerbombs Jack causing Mrs. Foley’s baby boy to lose his memory. Cactus disappears for weeks on end. WCW even sends out a reporter to find him. When Cactus is finally located in back alleys of Cleveland he has no idea who he really is. Jack has suffered amnesia and believes he is a sailor. We later discover it was all a ruse to mess with Vader. All of this nonsense eventually leads to Vader and Jack going all Terry Funk on each other in the Lakefront Arena. We never did find out what happened to poor old Swampy though.
1. Halloween Havoc 1989 – Ric Flair and Sting (with Ole Anderson) versus The Great Muta and Terry Funk (with Gary Hart) – Thunderdome Match
Before the WWE decided to rip-off from George Miller’s Mad Max series, WCW did it first recycling the Thunderdome concept in 1989 a full 10 years after the first film in the franchise was released. It is not often you have these four icons in match never mind in a steel cage in which the sides are “electrified” and there are all sorts of ropes, webs and other nonsense hanging from the sides of it. The Great Muta finds out that being a technician doesn’t really work well in Thunderdome. Ric Flair shocks fans by NOT bleeding in a cage match. Terry Funk goes mental. The Stinger swings like Tarzan and dominates Muta. What’s not to like? This match beyond any other truly represents the spirit of WCW’s Halloween Havoc.
Honourable Mentions
Tony Schiavone as The Phantom of the Opera interviews Scott Steiner. Courtesy: WW/WCW.
Halloween Havoc 1990 – The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) (c) versus The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) – NWA United States Tag Team Championship Match
Halloween Havoc 1989 – Brian Pillman versus Lex Luger – NWA United States Championship Match
Halloween Havoc 1992 – Ricky Steamboat versus Brian Pillman
Halloween Havoc 1997 – Curt Hennig (c) versus Ric Flair – WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Match
Halloween Havoc 1990 – Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) (c) (with Teddy Long) versus Ric Flair and Arn Anderson – NWA World Tag Team Championship Match
Halloween Havoc 1993 – Paul Orndorff (with The Assassin) versus Ricky Steamboat
Halloween Havoc 1996 – Dean Malenko versus Rey Misterio Jr. – WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match
Halloween Havoc 1995 – Sting and Ric Flair versus Brian Pillman and Arn Anderson
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