WCW Halloween Havoc 2000

WCW Halloween Havoc 2000

Las Vegas, NV - October 2000

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Booker T is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Lance Storm holds the United States Title, Mike Sanders is the Cruiserweight Champion, and Reno holds the Hardcore Champion. The WCW World Tag Team Champions are Jindrak and O'Haire. 

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden, and Stevie Ray

There was a time when Halloween Havoc was arguably WCW's SummerSlam or Royal Rumble, a show that wasn't quite at the level of WrestleMania (that would be Starrcade), but was only one rung below, a highly-anticipated, major event unlike any other in the entire sport. Of all the PPV names and brands that WWE could and should lift from WCW today, Halloween Havoc is the easy first choice, its theme singular enough to feel special but broad enough to be recycled annually.

Since its inception in 1989, there were great editions (90' and 96') and some really not-so-great editions (94' and 99'), with some stellar matches (Guerrero vs. Mysterio from 97') and some of the worst matches ever (Kevin Sullivan vs. "Evad" Sullivan). How would the final edition go? Would it at least have one match that was as good as DDP/Badd from 95'? Or a segment as awesome as Roddy Piper's debut at the tail end of the 96' edition? 

The show begins with the WCW World Tag Team Titles on the line in a triple threat match with Jindrak and O'Haire defending against The Boogie Knights (Alex Wright and Disco Inferno) and the Filthy Animals' Mysterio and Kidman. There's enough talent in the ring to make this match no worse than average as this one is wrestled at a brisk space and there are lots of cool spots. The crowd seems to want ladders and tables like they were getting with the Hardys and The Dudleys in WWE at the time, but kudos to the 6 men here for keeping it relatively straight and just delivering good sequences. This isn't a revolutionary match or anything and Jindrak and O'Haire, despite some good offense, still don't have anything going for them gimmick-wise or in terms of personality. Meanwhile Wright and Disco have become such straight characters that their charm is wasted too. After the champs retain, the rest of the Natural Born Thrillers come to the ring and attack The Filthy Animals (including Konnan, who was commentary) before being saved by The Wall. Not a bad opener. (2.5/5)

The aforementioned The Wall stays in the ring and challenges the reigning WCW Hardcore Champion Reno next. This was an improvement on some of the lamer hardcore matches that WCW had put on in 2000, many of which were cartoonish and repetitive and took place backstage. Still, like in the opener, part of the problem is that neither The Wall nor Reno have actual gimmicks or personalities, which is particularly a shame in the case of The Wall because, by this point, he'd actually been a part of some of "The New WCW"'s more spectacular moments - chokeslamming David Flair through a stack of tables and Crowbar off of a huge scaffold at one point. Reno had less of a resume, but looked like a Mortal Kombat character (something that had helped Mortis stand out years earlier). The Wall had put on some pounds since his debut, which made him look like a poor man's Sandman despite him probably being a better worker. The spots here are not very good, likely because The Wall doesn't actually have the power to hoist up Reno the way he did smaller guys like Kidman. Also, the finish and post-match makes no sense and Stevie Ray actually points it out on commentary. When Stevie Ray is poking holes in the storyline presented on-screen, that's a problem. Again, this is an improvement on some of the more recent Hardcore Title matches that WCW had put on PPV because some of those were absolutely dreadful and this one only sucks. (1/5)

And, for the third match in a row, we have another variation of the "gang wars" that dominated WCW's midcard at the time - Palumbo and Stasiak of the Natural Born Thrillers stable taking on Lt. Loco and General Rection of the Misfits in Action stable. You'd have to be the biggest Chavo Guerrero fan on the planet to go out of your way to watch this match. Its not bad, its just not good or PPV worthy - though I'm not sure WCW as a whole was "PPV worthy" in October 2000. On commentary, Schiavone, Madden, and Stevie Ray put most of the attention on the miscommunications and fractured relationship of The Perfect Event with Madden emphasizing just how much better Palumbo is than Stasiak. He's not wrong, but its kind of like saying diarrhea is better than explosive diarrhea. The crowd doesn't care at all about this and nor did I. (1/5)

Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson team up to take on Tygress and Konnan next. Before the match starts, Douglas cuts a promo and its made clear that Konnan was injured earlier in the night. Tygress comes out and tries to take on both of them on her own, which shows some guts and gets a respectable response because of it. When the numbers game is too much, Konnan shows up and after selling the damage he suffered earlier for maybe 30-40 seconds, he springs up and acts like he was never injured at all, hitting his trademark rolling clothesline and then some considerably less impressive moves. This match features at least two unnecessary false finishes and would've been more tolerable with 2-3 minutes shaved off - though I will readily admit that I took many of the Russo Era PPVs to task for featuring so many sub-5 minute matches. So what's worse - decent matches that run too long or bad matches that are at least kept short? I'm not sure, but this match isn't worth your time and a transcript of Mark Madden's awful jokes during it could likely be used as Exhibit A for him being one of the worst commentators in pro-wrestling history. (1.5/5)

Buff Bagwell took on David Flair in a "Who's Your Daddy?" match (really a First Blood match with a dumb name). This might be David Flair's best match, which is kind of crazy considering that Bagwell hasn't had a decent match in what feels like years. What works here (and didn't work in most every other David Flair match) is that this one is wrestled with some actual psychology and there's a decent story to the match, specifically that Buff Bagwell treats Flair like a non-challenge and David Flair is treating this like the most important fight of his life. That contrast means that Bagwell's gloating and comedy work makes sense here as he treats the lunatic Flair like a nuisance rather than a legit threat. Flair leans heavily into his old man's bag of tricks, but again, in this paternity-centered context, it works more than in the past, when David seemed to be mocking his father rather than  naturally channeling him. The difference is crucial because David Flair isn't a good athlete or legit tough guy and should've never been treated like a threat to anybody and yet he, for whatever reason, was at times (and I'd say the same for Shane O-Mac). David Flair slices himself pretty good at the end and then we get the return of Lex Luger, who (unsurprisingly) turns on Bagwell. This is treated like a huge twist, but wasn't Luger affiliated with Ric Flair and not Bagwell before his departure? I feel like Bagwell and Luger may have even been feuding before Luger left - and boom, a cursory search on Cagematch reveals I'm right. They actually wrestled for the WCW World Tag Team Championships at Spring Stampede 2000 as part of the Millionaire's Club/New Blood storyline and, even after that, had a match against each other on Thunder so, yeah, Luger "turning on" Bagwell didn't really make sense storyline-wise. Oh well, this was still better than I expected it to be because I expected it to be complete horseshit. (2/5)

The Commissionership of WCW is on the line next in a Kickboxing Match between legitimate kickboxer Ernest "The Cat" Miller and Mike Sanders. Sanders reminds me of a slightly smaller Ken Kennedy as he has some natural charisma but for whatever reason never reached his full potential. Miller dominates this one (as he should) with Sanders doing a great job of making The Cat's blows look legit. Shane Douglas shows up and ends up helping Sanders win by countout - but because so many matches have ended with some sort of bullshit interference, it means nothing. While its not entirely clear why Douglas would want to help Sanders and the Natural Born Thrillers (aside from them all being heels), its also not an interesting turn of events so I don't really care what the reason is/would be. Points awarded for the kickboxing aspect of this match being treated somewhat seriously, but this is still not anything to seek out. (1.5/5)

In yet another disappointing match, "That 70s Guy" Mike Awesome takes on Vampiro next. The overbooking begins before the match even begins as Mike Awesome inexplicably puts the title shot he has on Nitro the next night on the line. In kayfabe, its not explained why he would do that. In non-kayfabe, one wonders, if this match was to be a Number One Contender's match, why didn't the writers just book it that way weeks earlier to promote it as such? Awesome is still solid in the ring, but Vampiro's clumsiness has officially surpassed his overness by this point. At his peak, Vampiro's look and character made him one of the company's most promising future stars, but his sloppiness can't be ignored (and might be the reason he was given zero runs in the WWE). Mike Awesome ends up winning the match with a not-so-hot Awesomebomb from the top rope, which makes him putting the title shot on the line dumber in retrospect. Like, what purpose did adding that wrinkle serve aside from making it clear that Vampiro is an idiot for goading Awesome into putting the title shot on the line and not having a plan to cheat him out of it? This was sub-average because the transitions were mostly non-existent and nearly everything Vampiro did, including his bumping, looked drunken. Very little chemistry between these two. (1/5)

Backstage, Hugh G. Rection cuts a passionate promo about wanting to win back Major Gunns and take the United States Title from Lance Storm (who will also have Jim Duggan on his side) in this handicap match for the strap. Rection's promo is delivered with plenty of gusto, almost enough to make one forget that his ring name is a lame dick joke, he's trying to win back the rights to a legit porn star, and that the Misfits in Action have the single-worst theme song in the history of wrestling. Honestly, I actually feel for Rection a little bit because he wasn't fighting an uphill battle, he was wrestling out of a 30-foot pit lined with barbed-wired Wrestlecrap. Fortunately, for this match, he's got Lance Storm as one of his opponents and Storm was arguably (along with 3-Count) the best part of WCW at the end of 2000, a heat magnet doing a simple gimmick but doing it right. Duggan's heel turn felt forced, but its undeniable that it pissed off live crowds too. The action in this match isn't anything to write home about, but its light years more spirited and better-executed than anything we've seen for the past hour. Because this is WCW, they mistime the ending as Elix Skipper of Team Canada shows up to help Storm and Duggan (who don't need his help and have things well under coSntrol) but gets taken out by Major Gunns (who had been forced to join Team Canada months earlier). Major Gunns "turn" distracts Storm and Rection is able to win the title from Duggan, furthering this storyline. This match wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great either. (2.5/5)

Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting follows, a match that I'd argue is "above average" just because of the insane plot of it. Basically, in the build-up to this bout, Jarrett had come out dressed as "Surfer" Sting and lambasted the Stinger for being a "has been," a guy that had been the "Face of WCW" but no longer deserved to be considered "The Franchise." When the match begins, its a straight-up affair, but soon, various "Stings" show up, each one dressed like a different era of Sting's career. Now, its not like these Fake Stings come out and perform great moves or that the Stinger himself ups his level of intensity or workrate with each new challenge, but it does make this way more entertaining than a typical Jarrett/Sting match likely would be. Its the kind of match you just know that Vince Russo had probably pitched a dozen times for The Undertaker but that Vince knew would come out so ridiculous that it would be laughable. McMahon was right - this is a ridiculous concept for a match - but it works because Jarrett is the kind of cocky-and-corny heel that would believe these shenanigans to be clever and Sting's costumes really did define the different eras of his career. I'm not sure any other two characters could pull this off. I mean, Triple H would be too serious to pull this crap with Taker. You'd never see Randy Orton try this with Kane. But Jarrett and Sting? It feels right for both guys. My biggest gripe was with the finish as Sting's no-selling is tiresome after seeing him take out a half-dozen guys, including one who nails him with a guitar. The right guy wins the match - I just wish they would've gotten there in a way that made Jarrett look more credible and didn't needlessly protect Sting, a guy that had been so inconsistently booked over the years that treating him like a Superman didn't make a ton of sense in 2000. (3/5)

Booker T cuts a promo backstage announcing that he's going to give Goldberg more time to be medically cleared and will defend the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the next match (instead of the main event) against Scott Steiner, who is none-too-pleased with this change in schedule. Steiner is a lunatic here and very believable in the role. This isn't a great technical match or anything, but you can clearly see why Steiner was being pushed as the top heel at this point: He got great reactions and excelled as an old school heel, a bully who was unafraid to spit at fans and tell them to fuck off (and I don't think any of these guys were plants either). I read a review that criticized the action for being disjointed, which is true, but the lack of polish and telegraphing is part of this match (and Steiner's) charm as an in-ring competitor. Steiner's matches feel like fights and Booker T does a fine job selling for him. These two had a weird chemistry that resulted in a match that is the opposite of seamless but is more hard-hitting and "real" than anything else on the card. For the first time of the night, Stevie Ray's commentary isn't useless too. Unfortunately, the finish makes absolutely no sense as Steiner goes on a rampage, uses a steel pipe (and doesn't get instantly DQ'ed?), and then attacks all the referees that come down the aisle. I'm not sure if the commentators knew that this was going to be the result because they seem very hesitant to actually call for the bell - almost as if they're wondering (like I was) if Vince Russo was going to show up in a ref shirt and screw Booker T out of the title. That doesn't end up happening which is a good thing and, somehow, a bad thing too. Steiner was over and a great heel and probably should've won the title here to build towards a showdown with Goldberg at Starrcade, so you kind of need him to leave with the title. Having him screw Booker out of the title would theoretically keep Booker T over and maybe draw him some sympathy. On the other hand, every angle and character Vince Russo touched in WCW turned to shit. So Booker retains but gets the crap kicked out of him in the process and Steiner leaves looking a maniac (but also not a smart one as had no real reason to throw the match away). With a stronger 2-3 minutes at the end, this could've been a Match of the Night candidate. (2/5)

Main event time - Goldberg vs. KroNik. I never knew Brian Adams actually wrestled in the last match of the night on a wrestling PPV that wasn't a battle royale. Now I know and I'm kind of disgusted by it. Bryan Clarke, the other half of KroNik, was palatable in his initial run as Wrath and even when they were giving a brief push in 99' (I think?), but together, these two are just a bad imitation of the Road Warriors, no-selling their opponents offense and hitting clumsy (though undeniably impressive) power moves. The storyline leading up to this match was that Goldberg was possibly wrestling with a concussion or some sort of shoulder injury and I'm not sure if he's doing a really great job acting like he's concussed/injured or if he was legitimately suffering from an injury or ailment. At times in this match Goldberg looks like he's wincing in pain and does not want to be anywhere near the ring. I'm guessing he's not enjoying the stiffness of his opponents or the layout of the match - which involves a spear through the table that forces Goldberg to basically put his head through a wooden board. Goldberg wins this, but not handily, pinning both guys separately and building his winning streak to 14-0. This felt like a Nitro match (and not even a Nitro main event). Having Goldberg resurrect his undefeated streak was a curious booking idea, but it wasn't horrendous. I mean, if it works once whose to say it wouldn't work again? Well, just about everyone. The initial Goldberg push may not have been totally above board, but it stretched on long enough and was treated seriously enough to make it work. Here, they were clearly desperate to reset Goldberg and wanted to make fans forget just how dreadful the booking of his character had been for the past 2 years. Having him squash KroNik wasn't a bad idea, but it wasn't an interesting idea or one that anyone would pay to see on PPV (in fact, the source I found online indicates that less than 100k purchase the event, the lowest-performing Havoc of all time). (1/5)


With a Kwang Score of 1.72-out-of-5, Halloween Havoc 2000 is another dingy show in a series of uninspired shows from WCW in 2000. On the plus side, Vince Russo nor Eric Bishoff show up to "change the landscape of wrestling forever" or try any other sort of desperate plea for ratings. On the negative side, a straightforward WCW show in 2000 made it clear why Russo and Bischoff felt the need to try radical swerves and "crash TV." WCW's roster wasn't necessarily thin, but the best talents - Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera, Billy Kidman, DDP, Kanyon, Mike Awesome, 3 Count - had been booked into oblivion and the never-ending stable wars between the Misfits in Action, the Filthy Animals, and the Natural Born Thrillers meant that a bunch more talent was just spinning their tires with no opportunity to break out. At the top of the card, the company was trying to cement certain guys as main eventers - namely Jarrett, Booker T, and Steiner - but none could really compete with the star power the WWE had at the time. As good as Steiner was, for example, his act was still just a throwback at this point while the WWE's "shades of grey" characters were in full swing (and were routinely putting on crowd-pleasing matches). To some people, the single match I rated as above-average is actually one of the worst ever, so its hard to recommend even if you're a fan of crappy wrestling kitsch like myself.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville