Drunken Watching of… WCW/nWo Halloween Havoc

So. As of right this second, I haven’t had a drink yet. I’ma do up this intro thing. And I’ll start but also start the actual watching as well. It’s something I’ve done before. But. Yeah. Basically… a, “watching of,” is when I watch something and I write down a thought whilst watching, right? Think of it as live tweeting or, an ugly person’s way to do “live reaction” videos. Dun duh duh duhhhhhh!

I’d really like to be able to get back to that yearly tradition of doing a Halloween themed “Watching of…” for October 31st. This is something I haven’t done since 2016. Trouble is, 2016 was packed full with “Watching of…” ramblings due to the election. I did a watching of a shit ton of debates and I just needed to cool it. But yeah. I miss doing these for Halloween. So. Instead of trying to find a decent, worthy enough movie to watch on Netclix, I figured I’d break from the norm and do a wrestling themed Halloween “Watching of…” Kinda like I did for the 12 Days of a Drunken Mess back in 2015.

I’m certain, there were worse Halloween Havoc pay-per-view events. But. WCW/nWo Halloween Havoc would be take place in 1998, of course. You know. The year the company did this weird little “WCW/nWo” gimmick for all of their pay-per-views. It took place October 25, 1998. Exactly 21 years ago as of the time this is being written. It was held in the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in front of 10,663 people. And yeah. It’s most famous for a couple of things.

Firstly, it was pretty terrible. Mostly because of the Hollywood Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior. And of course, this was possibly the moment the proverbial Titanic hit the iceberg as far as the downfall of WCW as a promotion was concerned. During the main event of the show, “Diamond” Dallas Page challenging Goldberg for the WCW Championship, many pay-per-view carriers cut off the show due to WCW going well beyond their allotted runtime.

I’ve recently watched the show since I was doing a watch-through of all of the WCW stuffs that I had cared to (it was just after I did something similar with ECW) and I was pretty surprised by how good the show actually was.

But yeah. I’ll put on some beer goggles and get the show on the road already.

Shall we?

1. I guess I also shouldhave mentioned that Halloween Havoc was one of WCW’s biggest PPV’s on their calandar. Merhaps it’s comparable to SummerSlam? I dunno.

2. 

3. Nitro Girls to open the PPV? The fuck? Apparently, it’s a first. Merhaps a last, right?
4. Next up, Mean Gene interviews Rick Steiner for some reason? I mean. I know Rick vs. Scott Steiner was a big storyline for the time. But come on. Oh yeah. Buff Bagwell was doing Russo swerves on Rick a year before the other, other Vincent made his way into the company. That’s right.

   

5. Ugh. WWE Netowrk taking away WCW themes. BOOOOOO! Both zraven and Jericho’s themes are changed to their WWE themes. BOOOOOOOOOO!
6. This was one of the matches I was surprised by when I watched this show a year ago or henever it was.
7. Both dudes work some good promos pre-match. Jericho’s working face? I mean. This is peak Heel Jericho in WCW. Weird.
8. I mean. Yeah dude. Not much to hae thoughts on at the moment. This is a fun match between one of the best ever. And one of the most underrated workers ever.
9. This three man booth of Tony, Tenay and Heenana is awesome.
10. There’s this weird screen in the background it’s distracting the hell out of me. It’s likke… to the left of the entrance. It’s just flitching the fuck out with the Halloween Havoc logo. It’s weird.
11. God damn the Lion Tamer is so awesome.
12. After the match, weve got a Hollywood Hogan promo. For. Somereason. Ugh. Eric Bischooff. I love hi,. Ddue;s money.
13. RANDOM SIDENOTE: When is Vince gong to be petty Vince and remove ALL mentions of TNT fron WCW stuffs on the Network?

    

14. Man. Meng was an underrated big dude. Dude’s got psychology and intensity like no one els,e. Forreals.
15. I remember Wrath was on a winning streak at the time. And yeah. This should be good. For what it is. And I mean. It starts off with that there somersault thing on the outside. Kinda.Who knew Brian Clarke could pull that out of his ass, right?
16. RANDOM SIDENOTE: It’s so fucking awesome hearing Tony Schiavone on AEW Dynamite again. I love it. So damn much.
17. Wrath just did a rock Bottom? Basically.
18. Wrath wins. But. NEVERMIND THAT SHIT1 HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!

    

19. Eh. The Disco Inferno thing. I mean. Yeah. He basically sucks. There’s definitely SOME place for him in wrestling. I mean. There should be. But. Like. Come on. In the cruiserweight division? Sure Jericho graduated out of the division. But Come on, dude. Disco? Eh. I dunno. I don’t hate the dude. But I definitely don’t like him.
20. Juvi pulled a rocker dropper out of his ass! Or as I called it, as Uncensored, Censored Materaial!
21. Bizarre exchange… with like a standing Dragon Sleeper involved. Somehow.
22. Disco wins.
23. Nitro girls again. And. Tony informs us, we’ll have the debut of Konnan’s new music video tonight. I wonder where all that runtime wetn.
24. Scott Steiner promo now. Again. Wuhappun?!
25. Sp Rick vs. Scott never happened? It’s a tag match now. Alright.

    

26. I mean. Sure. Europe is a thing.
27. Sucks that the Dancin’ Fools aren’t a thing already. They had a good thing going with Magnum TOKYO back at Road Wild. I remember that.
28. Boring chants like three minutes in.
29. So. Alex Wright wins. Oh wells. I didn’t pay attention to this. Because. Alex Wright shouldn’t exist.
30. And. For sure. Erbest, “The Cat” Miller should never have existed. Ugh.

    

31. Again. Something that TOTALLY needs to exist.
32. Damn it. I just had a point to make. But I totally forgot it.
33. Something about “Sign Guy?” And… something else. Ugh.
34. OH! lodi was billed, ‘From anywhere besides Las Vegas, Nevada!” So. He pre-stole a reverse ECW Chilly Willy gimmick! Just like he stole Sign Guy Dudley’s gimmick! Asshole!
35. At the tie, Saturn was bad ass. Another underrated dude.
36. Saturn wins. Of course.
37. More Nitro Girls…. WUHHAPPEN?1!

    

38. I mean. Disco’s a ecent worker. And a comedy character. Like. I SHOULD love this guy. But… I just don’t. Outside of the Dancin’ Fools. (ESPECIALLY when Magnum TOKYO got involved)
39. I mean. I dunno.
40. Shit dude. This match is actually pretty good. I’m surprised.
41. Kidman wins with like. Yeah udde. Sleeper match of the night so far. I was impressed.

    

42. Basically I already know Bugg turns. And Rick Steiner still wins. Cause Rick Steiner chooses Kenny Chaos as his tag team championship partner person.
43. Stuffs about Chucky. You know. Child’s Play Chucky dumbness was a part of this build. Wich. Just. Ugh.
44. HALT I AM REPTAR!
45. Scott Steiner is sportng the Superman “S” on his trunks. Cause. You know. Warner Bros.
46. Uh. I mean. WHat else is there to say? Rick is mounting a comeback before he gets turned on.
47. LMAO. That last sentrance sounds amazing. Beavis and Butt-head style.
48. PRE-RUSSO! SWERVE!
49. giant’s missile dropkick is pretty cool.
50. Steiner wins. Lol… Uh… Rick Steiner wins. so. He gets Scott for 15 minutes? OR something?
51. WUHHAPPEN?!
52. uH… tHIS steiner v Steiner Dawn of Hurricanranas is still going.
53. Bagwell interferes with a Clinton mask. Of course. This is 98, est we forgeet.
54. Rick overcomes all odds. Cause. Things.

    

55. So. Yeah. This is the last appearance of “drunk” Scott Hall, if I’m not mistaken. But. Yeah. Here he is. In all of his “drunk” glory. So.
56. But. I don’t remember this match. So. Sorry. This rambling’s been mostly boring, I’m sure. But. Dude. I’m instreste in watching this.
57. Pretty cool brawl happening. Hall was faking the drunk thing this time. Now he’s calling for a mic?
58. Scott Hall is so God damn awesome. Ugh.
59. I mean. This match is pretty God damned dumb, altogether. BUt. Ugh. Hall’s got that uncanny psychological ability. The only thing that’s come CLOSE to his awesomeness is Dolph Ziggler. But even Ziggles falls short to Hall’s psychology. Selling. All that. Ugh.
60. Nash said something about “shit.” So. Cool? EEDGY!
61. Now Nash is going on about drinks. So.
62. “I’m an alcoholic and that’s all I can say, I call into work cause all I do is frollic and play, I swallow grenades I take about a bottle a day.”
63. RANDOM SIDENOTE: Something about Eminem and Fox News just happened? Something about Secret Service? I dunno.
64. lol. “Jackhammer time!” CCORDING to tONY Schee a vone. Of course he meant “Jackknife.” And everything but still.
65. “ere comes the second half of the double.” Thanks, Bobby!
66. Nash does crotch chops and walks off. So.
67. Now Hall’s acting drunk again. Cause he got his ass kicked.
68. More Nitro Girs?! the fuck dude? WUHHAPPUN?!

    

69. At the time? For me as a kid? THere was NO other “dream match.” Bigger than this. Forreals. I don’t give a shit about that “Toy Fair?” Magazine thing I purchased. This one time. That had Sting vs. Undertaker action figures battling each other. Around this same time. I think the magazine people put both figures under a lawn mower. Either way. I didn’t give a shit abougt Sting/Taker. I ONLY wanted/cared about Sting/Hart.
70. All I know is that the build for this match was bullshit. Hart’s the heel. Obviously. Sting’s Wolfpac. Last time that’d happened. But.
71. sting. Vs. Hart. Let’s do this/
72. And. Unfortunately. WCW does it shitilly.
73. Or. Merhaps. Bret’s heart wasn’t into it. Or whatever.
74. And. Of course. the maatch stars with a brawl on the outside. Momentarily.
75. Sting’s trying to rock a goatee. For some reason. I dunno how it’s taken me this long to mention this. But.
76. Yeah dude. tht’s the problem with thi match. It’s put together as a brawl. Not a wrestling match. FFS. Bret pulls out a DDT. When id he EVER do that?
77. FFS. Bret’s choking Sting in the corner. Again. Brawl. Not wrestling match. That’s why this. The only time this dream match ever happened, is lamer than it should be. It was built to be this brawl. Hell… I think it was the “go home” Nitro where they had a big brawl that wento the bck and stuffs.
78. I mean. For what it is, a brawl, not wrestling match, it’s good. Their timing and shit seems to be perfrct. But. It’s just. Ugh.
79. This is Goatee Sting. From the evil dimension. Or something.
80. Jesus Christ. No wonder “Bob Sugar” loved low blows as much as he did. This is. AT LEAST the fourth match of the night that had a low blow turn the tide of the match.
81. RANDOM SIDENOTE: I have no idea if “Bob Sugar” (he’s a friend of mie on Facebook, but that’s not his name you dumb eW peopples.) ever watched this show. But The “wrestling matches” he wrote had lots of low blows and stuffs.
82. I mean. The match isn’t bad. At all. It’s just. Disappointing? Superplex on the referee? I don’t think that that’s happened before or since. But. Yeah.
83. Stinger splash hits the ring post. Instresting.
84. Now Bret kills sting with the baseball bat.
85. Bret does his elbow from the second rope… gimmick… but with the bat. Pretty awesome.
86. But yeah. Bret wins cause he killed Sting. Not a wrestling match but a brawl. A GREAT brawl. I mean. It’s not Austin/Bret at Mania 13. But a decent brawl match. Thing.
87. Should’ve been a better match either way. Especially considering that, myself excluded… this is a DREAM match…. period. But. YEah. I guess this is the AJ Styles vs. Nakamora at ‘Mania. Of the era. Or something.
88.  I dunno. Stin’gs being taken to an ambulance and won’t bee seent again until spring next year. Or so.

    

89. The Warrior is “from the one warrior nation.” And I mean. WCW’s TRYING to do an awesome entrance musci for him. But like. Come on. Now it’s picking up. And Warrior’s reacting to it. OK. Now it’s picking jup an je ran. Nevermind. about my criticism about Warrior’s music.
90. But. FFS. The music is the least of my, or any ne ele’s worries. Right?
91. tony Shiavone said, about one of these two. “When it comes to wrestling ability, he’s one of the best ever.” LOLOLOLOL
92. Keep in mind. This is the match that had SUCH amazing buld as Hogan seeing Warrior in a mirror. Like us at home could. But eric Bischoff, who was standing next to Hogan atg the time, couldn’t see him. Andf stuffs.
93. So. Hogan’s being Heel Hollywood great so far, to be honest.
94. I mean. These two aren’t going to work a fie star classic. They never could have. Right? But. FFS. Now. Like… five minutes into the match, Warrior’s calling for a test of strenght. But they go elbow to colar. And brawl. Sigh. Chockes by Hogan. Sigh.Stomps by Hogan. NOW “test of strength. I mea. Instresting, sure. But. Lame. Still. It’s just big dudes being big. And doing nothing else.
95. Test of strengthness is stil going on. A few kicks to the gut by ogan later.
96. Ugh.
97. Boring chants, I hear thee.
98. LMAO. Criss cross unning the ropes. LMAO. Jesus Christ. Pair of body slames. And dude. This si so dumb.
99. Even Hogan being the piece of shit heel that he is. This is so dumb.
100. Brawl on the outside and everything happeneing.
101. Oh my Jesus. Hogan kills Nick Patric. SO MANY LOLZ to have here.
102. Then he calls for nWo Troups. Giant comes out. Kills Hogan acciventally. Vincent comes. Stevie Ray comes. Warrior “fauxe pins” Hogan. BEcaue Giant clotheslined him.
103. Hogan almost pins Warrior, legit, becaue he clotheslined him. Or something.
104. Hogan whips Warrior. wth the belt. Cause that was his gimmick to erase the fact that he couldn’t work a good match and stuffs.
105. Random, face stretching rest holds. So.
106. Hogan does the missing elbows that was a part of hs heel game.
107. I don’t even know. Stuffs happens. Now Hogan goes for the fire spot. And it blows up in his face. Much irony. Such lameness? I don’t know. The three man booth can’t even cover up the botch of the fireball. At all. It’s kinda awesome.
108. Oh. So Hogan blades to recover? I dunno.
109. BUT A BOB SUGAR LOW BLOW HAPPENS! OF COURSE!
110. So. Horrace Hogan shows up. Because. They’ve hyped up that Hogan whipped the shit out of him with his belt on the go-home Nitro. So. RUSSO SWERVE~! YEAR PRIOR TO RUssO!
111. Horrce hits Warrior with a chair. And Hogan wins.

     

112. OH NO! SOMETHING ABOUT ATTEMPTING TO SET WARRIOR ON FIRE? I dunno.

     

113. So Uh. DDP. Rocking his typical, 80’s hair. In the late 90’s. I mean. It’s awesome. Of course. But it’s noticable. Right? It’s note worthy.
114. Pretty awesome “security” entrance in the back ad shit. Fans go BANANA! PAT PATTERSON STYLE1! When they see Goldber, crowd popped to hell.
115. Jesus. Goldberg overpowering DDP’s collar-elbow tie ups. They go banana! even more. Prerrtcool.
116. I mean. Dude. Goldberg. and DDP are working a KINDA RVD/Lynn type of match to start it off. Legit. Then it devolves into exactly what you’d think the match would be in your head.
117. Not that it’s bad. But. These dudes are in their PRIME and and they’re working a match. And I mean. It’s fucking awesome so far. Again. It doesn’t have THE speed. But they are chaing wrestling like they’re RVD and Lyn n and shit.
118. I mean. Of course. Lynn an RVD are better. But.
119. And. Of course. It devolved into Goldberg doing his power moveset. But. I mean. Come on.
120. He’s NOT  Just Spear and Jackhammer. Nor was he ever ONLY that.
121. Goldberg hist the ringpost. Unlike the time it happened this passed spring. In other words, He gimmickly hit it this time.
122. Ugh. Dude. Both guys are working with so much psychology and selling and shit. It’s awesome.
123. goldberg hit the spear. But he hit the ring post before so he’s not so strong anymore. Now he’s going for the Jackhammer.
124. DDP counters it into a Diamon Cutter. HUGE POP!
125. Jesus. This is awesom.
126. I mean. If you bought rhis PPV in 1998 and it cut off for you, it’s not awesome.
127. But.
128. Jesus Christ.
129. That’s hwo yuu put on a “Hogan vs. Warrior esque” match. With two, NO WHERE NEAR “five star melterz~1” aND MAKE ITG FUCKING WORK.
130. I’m sorry. But it was awesome.

So. Yeah dude. That’s Halloween Havoc. Year of our Lord. 1998.

Mostly filler, legitimately, boring shit. But. Also fun. When it wants to be. Easily, the best WCW PPV main event of the era… probably? Outsie of DDP vs. Saveage at Spring Stampede 97. Merhaps. But. I dunno. Off the top of my head. Just. Yeah. The mostly filler bullshit of the show sucks. The parts where it shines? Is awesome.

The Bret/Sting dream match is a dud as far as “dream matches” are concerned. But it’s still worth a watch. IF FOR NO OTHER REson THAN TO SAY… It’s the only time Sting and Bret Hart had a “legit,” match. An stuffs.

Hogan and Warrior is dumb.

Nash and hll is servicable. Hall’s just past PEAK awesome Hall. But the match is still serviceable mostly on the back of Halls psychology.

DPP and Goldberg isn’t a ******** lassic. Bit it’s a great watch. The crowd’s into it more than any Seth Rollins match these days.

So. Yeah.

The end.

IT’S SPOOOOOOKY!