WCW "Halloween Havoc 1999"

[adamclark52]

WCW “Halloween Havoc 1999”
October 24th, 1999
From the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Tony Schiavone and Bobby “the Brain” Heenan

Tonight: Goldberg challenges Sid Vicious for the WCW United States Championship, Sting defends the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Hulk Hogan and all the other major titles are on the line.

Breaking News: Rey Mysterio has suffered an injury and cannot compete tonight so he and Konnan have been stripped of the WCW World Tag Team Championships and there will be a six-man Falls Count Anywhere Tag Team Street Fight to determine the new tag team champions.

For the WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Disco Inferno (champion) vs. Lash Leroux
This was a damn good match. I can’t believe I’m saying the word “good” in the same block as “Disco Inferno”. I’m going to have to go re-evaluate my life now.

...okay, I’m back.
Winner: Disco Inferno

Footage from earlier in the day when Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko arrived at the arena. Perry Saturn asked them where they’ve been and they tell him that he and Shane Douglas can shove the Revolution up their asses.

Harlem Heat are ready for tonight’s Falls Count Anywhere Street Fight for the WCW Tag Team Championships.

Falls Count Anywhere Street Fight for the vacant WCW World Tag Team Championships
The First Family (Brian Knobs and Hugh Morris) w/Jimmy Hart vs. Harlem Heat vs. the Filthy Animals (Konnan and Kidman)
This was an entertaining stOOpid brawl but they should have had it later in the card when the crowd had cooled down a bit. The ending was a mess.
Winners: Harlem Heat (new WCW World Tag Team Champions)

Ric and David Flair have arrived at the arena and Ric is pissed.

Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly come to the ring and she cuts a terribly awkward promo. DDP takes the mic and calls the Flairs out. They both can cut promos but the material they had to work with here was just so bad. In the end DDP changes his match with Ric Flair later tonight to a Strap Match.

Goldberg is backstage looking for Sid Vicious.

Mike Teney announces that all members of the Filthy Animals and the Revolution have been barred from ringside during Eddie Guerrero’s match with Perry Saturn.

Perry Saturn vs. Eddie Guerrero
This was a great f***ing match! Perry Saturn was owning it. But then Ric Flair came out and hit Eddie with a crowbar (he was pissed at Eddie for stealing his watch on Nitro the previous week) and ruined it.
Winner: no contest

Goldberg is backstage beating the shit out of Sid, who’s busted open but ready for more.

Buff Bagwell comes out to deflate the entire show. He has a problem with the two new writers from “up north” and Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett comes out and they fight. Lex Luger comes one and accidentally hits Bagwell with Jarretts guitar, which doesn’t break and probably gave Bagwell a concussion. He hit him with the part of the guitar where the neck attaches to the body and that is a HARD part.

Sid is getting stitched up but he wants to fight.

Eddie Guerrero is hurting backstage after Flairs attack and he calls all the Filthy Animals together to “take care of things”.

Brad Armstrong vs. Berlyn w/the Wall
I was about to say that this pay per view was turning into an episode of Nitro...but this just turned it into an episode of Thunder. When I saw Armstrong all I could wonder was if this was before or after he did that character ripping his brother Road Dogg off? I’d have enjoyed if he’d have came out like that rather than the blandest of the bland he was here.
Winner: Brad Armstrong

Mike Teney is backstage with Ric Flair, who tells the Filthy Animals they know where to find him but he’s also ready for his Strap Match against Diamond Dallas Page.

For the WCW World Television Championship
Chris Benoit (champion) vs. Rick Steiner
This was pretty much a savage beating which was even harder to watch what with most of the damage being done to Benoits head.
Winner: Rick Steiner (new WCW World Television Championship) via a double-cross on Benoit by Dean Malenko

Mike Teney is backstage with Bret Hart, who was hurt in an earlier attack from Lex Luger but is still going to wrestle him tonight.

Lex Luger w/Elizabeth vs. Bret Hart
This was a pretty boring match. Elizabeth is the only reason to watch it.
Winner: Lex Luger

Goldberg says he’s going to rip Sid’s head off his body.

Medusa comes out wearing a bikini to model the WCW Nitro cologne. This was hilarious thanks to Bobby Heenan. Medusa says that the new writing and powers that be are bullshit.

The Hulk Hogan verses Sting match is supposed to be next but Hogan doesn’t come out when his music plays. Sting comes out then Hogan’s music plays again and he comes out but in street clothes with an upset look on his face. He lays down in the ring and...

For the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Hulk Hogan vs. Sting (champion)
...let’s Sting pin him.
Winner: Sting

As Goldberg makes his way to the ring he’s attacked from behind by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

For the WCW United States Championship
Sid Vicious (champion) vs. Goldberg
Sid was pretty awesome during this match. But Sid is always awesome. He was still bleeding from Goldbergs attack an hour earlier and he looked like an unstoppable monster in this match even though he was getting his ass kicked for most of it.
Winner: Goldberg (new WCW United States Champion) via referee stoppage due to blood

Sting comes out and says he didn’t come here for a night off; he wants a fight. He issues an open challenge and he wants a fight after the next match.

Strap Match
Diamond Dallas Page w/Kimberly vs. Ric Flair
This is a different strap match. Instead of having to touch the four corners of the ring to win it’s just a strap to keep the guys in close proximity to one another. The two hated each other so why would they need a strap to keep them together if they wanted to go at each other’s throats? This was a good older school match that would have been better off on a show ten years earlier. I think someone f***ed up at the end. Something happened with the referees count then he called for the bell anyway.
Winner: Diamond Dallas Page
Afterwards DDP continues to beat on Ric Flair, and David Flair when he tries to come to his father’s rescue.

As Ric Flair is being taken out on a stretcher the Filthy Animals attack him, throw him into an ambulance and drive off.

Sting comes out to give someone the chance to accept his open challenge. And his challenge is accepted by: GOLDBERG!

Sting vs. Goldberg
The commentators kept reiterating that this match wasn’t for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship so it made perfect sense that the referee gave the title to Goldberg when it was done.
Winner: Goldberg (new WCW World Heavyweight Champion)
Sting is pretty pissed. Not because he lost but because the match was non-title.

Bobby Herman’s last words as the broadcast ends with Sting hitting referee Charles Robinson with a Scorpion Death Drop: “…why not”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
To quote Tony Schiavone: “I guess he’s the world champion?”. That’s how this show can best be summed up. There was so much to take in that it felt like I was watching three shows.

It started out good and there was some damn good wrestling on it. But as it wore on the “Russo influence” became more and more visibly apparent. He’d been with the company for about three weeks at this point so this was probably the first show he had complete control over. It was nowhere near as atrocious as the product would be six or seven months later but it did feel more like a WWF show. Even moreso it felt like a new beginning. The vibe was fresher towards the beginning and it was nice to watch a WCW show that wasn’t anchored by the nWo. But as I said as it wore on it got a little old and it honestly ended a confusing mess. By the end it felt like no one knew what was going on, which is normal in any environment when there’s a huge shift at the top. But at the beginning there was this excitement from everything of what good things were on the horizon and then as it progressed it felt like it started dawning on everyone that they weren’t getting exactly what they were hoping for with Russo.

It’s really too bad because at the beginning it was one of the best WCW pay per views I’d seen. I really enjoyed the cruiserweight match, the Television title match, Guerrero’s match with Saturn, the United States title match and the strap match. But almost every match and every segment ended an overbooked mess.

The commentary was really good tonight. Heenan was “on” and Schiavone seemed to be having a really good time too. By the end they were both as confused as everyone else.

The crowd was kinda shit, but it was a Vegas crowd. They chanted “boring” during Guerrero and Benoits matches.

I still think Russo was a mole sent in by the WWF to destroy WCW from within.

[Shark]

Kind of downplaying the mess the ending of the tag title match was. Booker and Stevie pin Knobbs in the back, this goes unseen by the crowd in the arena. As Harlem Heat are walking back to the ring, there's another pin in the ring. The referees argue over what happened, finally the actual winner is announced to the confused crowd.

[adamclark52]

Mar 27, 2020 21:38:46 GMT -5 Shark said:

Kind of downplaying the mess the ending of the tag title match was. Booker and Stevie pin Knobbs in the back, this goes unseen by the crowd in the arena. As Harlem Heat are walking back to the ring, there's another pin in the ring. The referees argue over what happened, finally the actual winner is announced to the confused crowd.

Yeah, I was going to go on how it was dumb too that they decided to have two referees when having three would have made much more sense

But then the rest of the show happened.

[Shark]

Mar 27, 2020 21:40:34 GMT -5 adamclark52 said:

Mar 27, 2020 21:38:46 GMT -5 Shark said:

Kind of downplaying the mess the ending of the tag title match was. Booker and Stevie pin Knobbs in the back, this goes unseen by the crowd in the arena. As Harlem Heat are walking back to the ring, there's another pin in the ring. The referees argue over what happened, finally the actual winner is announced to the confused crowd.

Yeah, I was going to go on how it was dumb too that they decided to have two referees when having three would have made much more sense

But then the rest of the show happened.

I think it was fairly common for WCW to have something happen in the back that the crowd is unaware of. The NWO attack in 1996 when Nash lawn darted Rey into the trailer happened and the audience was never told about it. They got restless because like 40 minutes went by with nothing happening. Then the first match they get after has High Voltage in it.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

"THE STUFF NIGHTMARES ARE MADE OF"

I mean yeah, that's the perfect tagline.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Mar 27, 2020 21:38:46 GMT -5 Shark said:

Kind of downplaying the mess the ending of the tag title match was. Booker and Stevie pin Knobbs in the back, this goes unseen by the crowd in the arena. As Harlem Heat are walking back to the ring, there's another pin in the ring. The referees argue over what happened, finally the actual winner is announced to the confused crowd.

Can absolutely confirm that the crowd had no idea the match ended in the back.

Me as a 12 year old was thrilled that Goldberg was once again US and World champion at my first ever live PPV, but LOL.

[Shark]

This was the last WCW PPV I would ever buy. Mania and Havoc were always my choices for PPVs, I was limited to 2 a year. After this one, I was finished with Havoc.

[agent817]

Ah, I remember watching this in *ahem* another way.

Anyway, looking back, this definitely had Vince Russo written all over it. I also remember Madusa looking damn hot in a bikini to model that Nitro cologne. Also, were the Filthy Animals faces or heels? Or were they tweeners? Because I remember the ambulance bit and them hijacking it with Flair inside it and then the following night on Nitro, it was implied that they were going to bury him alive.

Though there is this brooding curiosity that makes me want to revisit it on The Network.

[adamclark52]

Mar 28, 2020 0:06:48 GMT -5 agent817 said:

Ah, I remember watching this in *ahem* another way.

Anyway, looking back, this definitely had Vince Russo written all over it. I also remember Madusa looking damn hot in a bikini to model that Nitro cologne. Also, were the Filthy Animals faces or heels? Or were they tweeners? Because I remember the ambulance bit and them hijacking it with Flair inside it and then the following night on Nitro, it was implied that they were going to bury him alive.

Though there is this brooding curiosity that makes me want to revisit it on The Network.

I have no idea who were faces and who were heels on this show.

[Shark]

Mar 28, 2020 0:06:48 GMT -5 agent817 said:

Ah, I remember watching this in *ahem* another way.

Anyway, looking back, this definitely had Vince Russo written all over it. I also remember Madusa looking damn hot in a bikini to model that Nitro cologne. Also, were the Filthy Animals faces or heels? Or were they tweeners? Because I remember the ambulance bit and them hijacking it with Flair inside it and then the following night on Nitro, it was implied that they were going to bury him alive.

Though there is this brooding curiosity that makes me want to revisit it on The Network.

The oddest thing about that to me was Heenan spent the whole segment talking about how bad the cologne smelled. Tony wasn't really correcting him either. Weird to spend a whole segment burying a product you were trying to sell. 

[mauled]

Bret Hart is jobbing to Lex Luger. That's just wrong no matter how you slice it

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

“Starts out fine, then immediately goes off the rails” sums up so many WCW pay-per-views from this period and this show is definitely exhibit A.

[XIII]

Mar 28, 2020 10:59:49 GMT -5 Jumpin' Jesse Walsh said:

“Starts out fine, then immediately goes off the rails” sums up so many WCW pay-per-views from this period and this show is definitely exhibit A.

Typically once the workhorses were done and the writers started actually writing things for the featured players the show’s historically went to shit.

[Deleted]

Mar 28, 2020 9:07:51 GMT -5 mauled said:

Bret Hart is jobbing to Lex Luger. That's just wrong no matter how you slice it

He was coming off 3 career ending injuries in the prior 3 weeks according to Schiavone all at the hands of Luger.He shattered his face and the same ankle twice with a baseball bat.

[Ryushinku]

Goldberg-Sid here is a great example of rather mediocre punch-kick wrestling that's massively enlivened by the angle and a primo quality blade job from Sid.
It adds a ton of drama and manages the double-whammy of making Goldberg look like a badass for busting him up so bad but also Sid a badass for refusing to back down.

When they tried just having a straight match at Mayhem the next month, it's a damp squib (in addition to being too short).

[Ben Wyatt]

Mar 28, 2020 1:10:36 GMT -5 adamclark52 said:

Mar 28, 2020 0:06:48 GMT -5 agent817 said:

Ah, I remember watching this in *ahem* another way.

Anyway, looking back, this definitely had Vince Russo written all over it. I also remember Madusa looking damn hot in a bikini to model that Nitro cologne. Also, were the Filthy Animals faces or heels? Or were they tweeners? Because I remember the ambulance bit and them hijacking it with Flair inside it and then the following night on Nitro, it was implied that they were going to bury him alive.

Though there is this brooding curiosity that makes me want to revisit it on The Network.

I have no idea who were faces and who were heels on this show.

Yes.  

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

This was a weird show because it was ostensibly Russo and Ferrera wrapping up the storylines started by the booking committee that had been running things after Bischoff's ousting right before Fall Brawl. So it had been something like four weeks of typical mid-1999 WCW programming, then one week of Russo craziness leading into the show. At the time it felt like a needed reprieve after the horrific summer of Kevin Nash having the book and WCW collapsing in on itself like a dying star of boredom, but yeah, none of this really aged well. What I'll always appreciate is a lot of the lower midcarders actually starting to get storyline from this point on, as WCW Saturday Night filler like Lash LeRoux started to get screentime and the separate universes that existed between WCW main events and the rest of the card started to break down a little.

[Ryushinku]

It was a really lame way for Sting's final WCW World Championship to end, too.

Hotshotting it to Goldberg with no build would've been weak, but faking out that hotshot and having Sting lose it for clobbering the ref afterwards was weak sauce, considering the amount of lax DQ rules, weapon shots, interference and ref abuse that were happening every week on Nitros and Thunder.