WCW Halloween Havoc 89'

WCW Halloween Havoc 89': Settling the Score

Philadelphia, PA - October 1989

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Ric Flair is the reigning NWA/WCW World Champion, Lex Luger holds the United States Championship, The Great Muta is the Television Champion, and the World Tag Team Champions are The Fabulous Freebirds.

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

Halloween Havoc 89' kicks off with The Z-Man taking on Mike Rotundo. The Z-Man's debut a few weeks earlier at a Clash of the Champions show was one of my least favorite viewing experiences of the year and Rotundo is the textbook definition of a pedestrian worker so I did not enjoy this one at all. The wrestling wasn't bad, it just wasn't exciting and the Philadelphia crowd let them know it, booing both guys during their introductions, getting only mildly excited about any of the action, and then booing the finish. Below average not because the work wasn't good but because this was the opposite of a "hot opener." Extra half-point for Z-Man hocking a huge loogie at the tail end of the match. (1.5/5)

Bruno Sammartino is backstage. Cool.

A six-man tag match follows - Jim Cornette and his squadron of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and The Midnight Express taking on longtime rivals The Samoan SWAT Team and relative newcomer The Samoan Savage (with manager Sir Oliver Humperdink). The Savage is known more by his previous name, The Tonga Kid, but as I'm not super knowledgable of the Samoans of the 80s, I don't know too much about him. Before the match begins, the teams nearly come to blows on the outside, but the action does start in earnest soon after with Stan Lane and The Savage going out. The action spills outside again almost immediately and the crowd pops huge, obviously craving the hard-hitting action that the previous match lacked. Dr. Death is the MVP for his team, his offense so intense and explosive that the audience has no choice but to react. Speaking of reaction, when Eaton gets atomic dropped on the guardrail on the outside minutes later, the crowd gives the kind of reaction that your average table spot off a ladder wouldn't get in today's WWE - it really shows just how much audience expectations have changed over the years (and, to some degree, how hot a Philadelphia crowd could be in this era). Back in the ring, the Samoans beat down Eaton and Cornette works hard to get the crowd behind the Midnight Express member. Williams come in on the hot tag and cleans house with all sorts of big slams, the crowd exploding (even when Lane and the Savage botch a swinging neckbreaker/DDT spot). The biggest pop of the match might come, though, when Cornette nails Humperdink with his racket, which just goes to show how over Cornette was as a babyface despite years of working as a heel. Solid ending that furthers the rivalry which, based on crowd reactions, could've seemingly run forever without tiring out the audience. I'm not a huge fan of 6-mans, but this one was clearly better than average. (3/5)

Backstage, Terry Funk is with Gary Hart. Funk is looking lean and mean and promises to turn Ric Flair into fried chicken. Not long enough to be considered one of his classic promos, but still a pretty good 30 second spot.

"Wildfire" Tommy Rich makes his way out to a chorus of boos next. The Philadelphia crowd absolutely loathes him and he doesn't give them any reason to change their minds, screwing up a sunset flip on his opponent, The Cuban Assassin, a few minutes in. Rich actually looked fairly decent against Luger at the Clash  before this but here he, in the unforgiving light of a hostile crowd, the Wildfire looks burnt out. Restholds galore leading to an ugly looking finish that may have worked for Lou Thesz 50 years earlier, but doesn't work even in 1989. (0.5/5)

The NWA Tag Team Championships are on the line next- The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Dynamic Dudes. Jim Cornette comes down with the surfers to try to save them from getting booed out of the building, but it doesn't work too well as The Freebirds are mega-over. Unlike the prior bout, though, the "unexpected" reaction doesn't totally wreck the match as the Freebirds play to the crowd but still maintain their heel work style, dominating the babyfaces and getting in some sneaky cheap shots too (much to the crowd's delight). When the Dudes aren't woefully off-target with their double dropkicks, they actually have some decent double-team maneuvers and wisely stick to what was likely the gameplan going in - brief flurries of flashy offense and Shane Douglass selling. On paper, this match did not have me salivating, but it is far more fun and watchable than one might assume due to the crowd's big reactions and the Freebirds looking like they are having an absolute ball putting the boots to the ultra uncool Dudes. (3/5)

Next up - the debut of Doom, led by "Robin Green" who would become "Woman" but will always be remembered as Nancy Sullivan. Their opponents are Rick and Scott, The Steiner Brothers, who are the first baby faces since the Midnights to actually come out to cheers. What's interesting about this match is how excellent Ron Simmons is despite having only been in the business for a couple years. He bumps great and his offense is surprisingly swift and well-executed. The finish is somewhat predictable as one had to know going in that Woman would get involved and that WCW wasn't dumb enough (at this point) to have Doom get pinned in their debut. A much better, more explosive match than I expected, but not necessarily worth revisiting. (3/5)

The United States Championship is on the line next with Lex Luger defending against "Flyin'" Brian Pillman. Ross and Caudle really play up how inevitable Luger's dominance of the sport is and, at the time, it is hard to argue against them as Luger was not only incredibly over and incredibly impressive in terms of physique, but at 31 years of age, seemed like he was just beginning to peak in ability. Seemed is the key word there as, just five years later, Luger was not nearly as captivating a performer and his star power was in rapid decline in the WWE. I've seen some people call this a great match and while it is certainly no less than average, there are also times when Pillman's wristlock gets tedious and one wishes for just a more defined clash of styles. Instead, this is a straight-up wrestling match with little to no "flying" out of Brian and no through-line or method for Luger's offense. The best stretches are when Pillman is in the underdog role and Luger is dominating, but as its generally a 50/50 contest, the ex-Bengal doesn't really gain the support of the crowd who, at least at first, are much more willing to boo Luger than many of the previous heels on the show. By the end, though, Lex is the babyface and his victory earns a huge pop. Good, not great match that Meltzer rated just a quarter-star above where I put it. (3/5)

A big time showdown is next - The Road Warriors taking on The Skyscrapers in a battle of the behemoths. Like several other matches on this card, on paper, you may not expect much, but the LOD bring their workboots and if you've ever wondered why both the WWE and WCW were so eager to push Sid Vicious to the moon, this is a pretty good showcase as explanation. After some initial slop (two, count' em', two botched clothesline spots in the first few minutes), the match takes a giant step towards watchability when the Skyscrapers take over and Hawk gets to selling (which one might think he'd not be great at, even in 89'). Sid's offense not only looks devastating (his helicopter powerbomb is sick), but he's surprisingly agile here - kipping up at one point but also bumping quite well when the moments calls for it. Spivey may have been the more experienced of the pair, but his charisma level is noticeably lower than everyone else's in this match. Animal comes in for the hot tag and the crowd explodes as they pass the ten-minute mark - roughly 5 minutes beyond what I thought these teams could do and still have me interested. The ratings here are beginning to blur together, but credit must be given to matches that exceed expectations just by being slightly above average. (3/5)

Main event time - Ric Flair and Sting teaming up against The Great Muta and Terry Funk in an Electrified Thunderdome Cage Match! The rules are simple - no pins, no submissions, the match ending when Gary Hart or Ole Anderson, the designated "terminators" throw in the towel on behalf of their team. Bruno Sammaratino is serving as guest referee but does little to nothing until the final stretch, which is somewhat disappointing considering there are multiple times in the match where they could have really teased his involvement (ditto for Ole and Hart). The match begins fairly traditionally and, as the cage is a good few feet away, there's no real suspense until Sammaratino loses control (and makes no effort to regain it) and the straight-up brawling begins. There's no logical reason that the four men decide to start climbing the cage and brawling on it, but the crowd enjoys the spots. Aside from Funk's hand, there's a noticeable lack of blood. Some nicely placed weapons around the ring or under the ring would have really helped this match for me as it doesn't make much sense why the heels would come into this match and not try to wreak havoc with Funk's infamous branding iron (Muta doesn't even spit any mist into his opponents eyes!). Fun brawling in front of a hot crowd, but no real story. This seems like a wasted opportunity to do some real hellacious fighting, but the big spots are pretty cool (Sting diving off the cage wall with a crossbody, for example) and the crowd obviously went apeshit once the wheels came off and the match denigrated into pure violence. Dave Meltzer gave this 4 stars in the Observer, but I reserve that kind of score for a match I'd like to rewatch - this one I won't ever need to. (3.5/5)



With a Kwang score of 2.56-out-of-5, Halloween Havoc 89' is almost like the best Clash of the Champions that never happened. Not a single match sticks out as undeniably great, though fans of "vintage WCW" will find plenty to enjoy in the main event, US Title Match, and at least 2-3 of the multiple tag matches on the card. Less appealing are the opening contest and the awful Rich/Assassin match. As a true pay-per-view, Halloween Havoc 89' probably disappointed, but as a Network watch, its digestible and a fairly complete look at what the NWA was all about at the tail end of the decade. 


FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuever