Halloween Havoc

Happy Stinky Saturday Everyone!

I’m afraid I’ve lost the Stinker Hat with all the reader requests, so if you want to post some in the comments section I’ll make note of them just so I have something in reserve in case I can’t find the hat again. It’s my Miami Dolphin’s hat too so I hope I find it!

This week’s show is the first pay per view of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara’s disastrous first run in WCW, where they took a company that might still have been salvaged and tanked buy rates to the point of no return. But hey, the ratings ever-so-slightly improved, so that was worth utterly destroying the pay per view business and essentially throwing millions of dollars out of the window wasn’t it.

Halloween Havoc was only partially built up by the Gruesome Twosome, so it ended up doing WCW’s last somewhat decent buy rate and then buy rates plummeted from that point onwards, as Russ-Ara were more interested in wacky skits and crash TV, none of which made fans actually want to buy the pay per views.

This show has a number of bad matches on it, and was a jarring switch to a more WWF/E styled product, which WCW fans didn’t want as they (gasp) LIKED the fact that WCW was actually DIFFERENT from the WWF, as it gave them an ALTERNATIVE to watch instead of WWF-lite. Sadly this was a lesson the Russ-Ara duo would never learn.

Let’s see if this show really is a Stinker or whether time has been kind to it.

Halloween Havoc 2022
Date: October 22, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T

We’re back to the themed shows and this one has some potential, if nothing else for the set alone. How WWE waited twenty years to bring this back is beyond me, but we could be in for a very fun show this week. Or it’s going to be a big crossover between NXT and Chucky because he has to be around every year. Let’s get to it.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Last week I reviewed WCW Halloween Havoc 2000, which is a pretty awful show, so I decided to review a Halloween Havoc show that has the capacity to be a bit more fun in the form of the 1991 offering. The Main Event on this one is Lex Luger Vs Ron Simmons, but we’ve also got some interesting matches on the undercard, including Terry Taylor and Bobby Eaton going at it during Bobby’s brief babyface singles run.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooood Day!

Back with another Stinker Review, as I watch a show that has a reputation for being mince and then decide if that reputation is deserved or not. Next month will be another reader request and there’s still time to put suggestions either in the comments or via email to [email protected]

This show was poorly received back in the day, so much so that it almost broke poor Scott Keith and he was moved enough to declare the worst pay per view of the entire year. Still though, maybe time has been a bit kinder to it and it isn’t quite as awful as Scott said? I mean, it almost certainly is like, but I’ll give it a chance at the very least…

NXT
Date: October 26, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

It’s another special show this time around with Halloween Havoc. Last year’s edition did rather well but now we need to see if they can do the same with the new cast. The main event is Tommaso Ciampa defending the NXT Title against Bron Breakker, plus a bunch of Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal matches. Let’s get to it.

Hello You!

Back again with another Stinker Review, with today’s request coming courtesy of Adam Gray.

For those not au fait, these reviews are kind of like what the fine folk over at Wrestle Crap do, as I take a look at a show that is widely regarded to be awful and see if it truly deserves it’s stinky reputation or not. We’re going to have a short break from Stinkers after this one as I’m going to be reviewing Survivor Series and Starrcade Main Events over the coming weeks, with issue 1 of the Survivor Series reviews dropping tomorrow, but rest assured I’ve got a nice little list going made up of Stinker requests, with a special one planned for when we hit the December holiday season, so keep a look out for that.

As always, if you have any requests then please stick them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list. Once the list gets big enough we’ll pick one out of the hat and review it.

Seeing as today is Old Hallows Eve and most of you will probably be bummed that you can’t attend wacky parties or take your kids trick and/or treating, I’ve decided to do a special Halloween themed addition of the Stinker Reviews, with Halloween Havoc 95 being the event in question, as it was the first HH event to be requested.

This show is mostly known for two things, one involving Ric Flair and the other Hulk Hogan. One is more fondly regarded than the other, and I’ll leave it up to you to guess which one is which. The big draw coming into this event was that Hogan would face The Giant twice, firstly in a Monster Truck contest and then in the ring with the World Title on the line. This all came about because Giant crushed Hulkies motorbike with a Monster Truck and then gurned at him like a toddler who has taken a #2 on the carpet whilst Hogan feebly tried to get at him.

The other big story was that Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman had formed a team and had been ganging up on Ric Flair. With nowhere else to turn, Flair had gone to long-time rival Sting and requested that he tag with him. Sting had of course said no at first, but Flair was persistent and Sting finally agreed, with the caveat that if Flair betrayed him then there would be heck to pay.

So yeah, that’s our two big storylines going into the show, let’s see how the show plays out as we watch some SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKY Wrestling!!!

Last time out I listed what I believed to be the six best matches from WWF/WWE’s No Mercy event. This time I’ll be taking a look at what was traditionally WCW’s October offering in the form of Halloween Havoc.

As always, this is just my own personal picks and it isn’t supposed to be some sort of objective list or anything. If I leave out a match that you think warrants inclusion then please feel free to put it down in the comments section below. As with previous lists, I’ll be listing the matches in chronological order.

So without further to do, let’s get to it!

Live from Chattanooga, TN

Airdate: October 27, 1991

Attendance:  8,900 (4,400 paid)

Hosted by Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone

Can Simmons capture gold in Chattanooga? Who will become the new light heavyweight champion? Also, who is the WCW Phantom? Read on!

NWA Halloween Havoc ’90

Live from Chicago, IL

Airdate: October 27, 1990

Attendance:  8,000 (sold out)

Hosted by Jim Ross & Paul E. Dangerously

Can Sting overcome Sid while still dealing with the Black Scorpion? What trick does the Black Scorpion have up his sleeve? Read on!

Live from Philadelphia, PA

Airdate: October 28, 1989

Attendance:  7,300

Hosted by Jim Ross & Bob Caudle

Put Flair, Funk, Sting, and Muta in a cage. Mix in electricity, Gary Hart, and a Philly crowd. Will the recipe be a masterpiece? Or a disaster? Read on!

Halloween Havoc 2000
Date: October 29, 2000
Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 7,582
Commentators: Stevie Ray, Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden

It’s at least a double main event tonight and you could argue a triple with Kronik vs. Goldberg, Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett and Booker T. defending the World Title against Scott Steiner. After that though the card falls off a cliff and hits every single rock on the way down. Let’s get to it.