WCW/nWo: Halloween Havoc 1998

Yep. Hogan/Warrior 2.

10/25/1998

Las Vegas, Nevada

Commentary: Tony, Mike Tenay and The Brain

• The Nitro Girls “Dance” to kick things off.

• Gene interviews Rick Steiner who may have been the dumbest character in Wrestling history. Buff Bagwell arrives and talks him into letting him be his corner man. Yep. That’ll be fine.

• Raven complains about being forced into a Television Title match. He tried to bail before Jericho called him a loser.

Television Championship: (C) Chris Jericho v Raven

Not a bad little match but it definitely would have been better with a defined heel or face. I hate losing streak gimmicks even if it did lead to the short lived Ferris Bueller era of Raven. It was alright. 1-1

Winner: Jericho with the Lion Tamer.

• Hogan and Uncle Eric join us. They recap the beating of Horace Hogan just in case we didn’t see it and definitely not to set up a swerve for later on.

Meng v Wrath

This was alright. They were billing Wrath as “undefeated” so Nash could beat him later. They went a little bit slowly towards the end but I thought that played alright into the whole “giants beating one another to death” deal. I’ll allow it. 2-2

Winner: Wrath with the Meltdown.

• Kidman is with Lee Marshall for the website interview.

Winner gets Cruiserweight shot later: Disco Inferno v Juventud Guerrera

This went on too long, had too many botches and I don’t like either dude enough to let it slide. They seriously were not on the same page for half of this. Not on my watch 2-3.

Winner: Disco with a piledriver.

• Nitro Girls are back but now with more clothes. The commentary team turns into twelve year olds.

• Scott Steiner joins us with a mic. Apparently on a show that famously went over on time and cost them millions of dollars random promos were needed to set things up for this show. So it’s Giant and Scott v Rick and Buff for the Tag titles now. Adding JJ and the Giant to this promo didn’t help much. If The nWo loses we still get the Steiners match. Yes, this was as convoluted as it sounds plus they are adding more to this messed up show. LOST MILLIONS.

Fit Finlay v Alex Wright

Alex Wright came to play in this one. Finlay nailed him with his usual force but Alex gave it right back. The crowd didn’t really give a shit but I always respect people hurting one another for my entertainment. 3-4

Winner: Wright gets the pin after a Hangman’s Noose Neck breaker.

• The Cat is with Lee for the site. He is still the greatest.

Lodi v Saturn

THEY ADDED THIS MATCH. It was nothing. Lodi ran away a bunch and got squashed. Like, what were they thinking with the timing of this show? 3-5

Winner: Saturn with the DVD.

• We get a Steiner issue recap and then the Nitro Girls again. Yep. The main event is cut off for lack of time.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Disco Inferno v (C) Kidman

This was a hell of a lot better than the first Disco match by a mile. Kidman was on a roll for a bit after he left the Flock and apparently his brand of Flippy stuff was way easier for Disco to keep up with. Not a classic or anything but definitely held my attention which is as good as you can get for a Disco match. 4-6

Winner: Kidman retained after a Shooting Star Press.

WCW Tag Team Championship: (C) Scott Steiner/The Giant v Rick Steiner/Buff Bagwell

Shockingly Buff turned on Rick and abandoned him early on to fend for himself. It was as good as a handicap match was going to be. The Giant nailing Scott with a missile dropkick was enough for a point though. 5-7

Winner: Rick after some miscommunication and a top rope bulldog to the Giant.

Rick Steiner v Scott Steiner

This was all story and not so much a match. Bagwell came back out to interfere again but somehow Rick Steiner was made to be the toughest dude on the planet. It was fun WCW rarely got to look good so I’ll give it a point. 6-8

Winner: Rick after another bulldog.

• Recap of the history of the Outsiders. The drunk Scott Hall gimmick was a bad look, especially today. If you notice the show slowly starts going downhill from here.

Scott Hall v Kevin Nash

Sloooooow. Hall started the match by dumping his drink in Nash’s eye and put a beat down on him for 7-8 minutes before the match even started. I guess the “story” was Nash teaching his friend a lesson but it just came off as uncomfortable and the pace was garbage. 6-9

Winner: Hall by countout after Nash destroyed him and took a walk.

• More Nitro Girls, this time with multicolor wigs. TIME MANAGEMENT.

United States Championship: (C) Bret Hart v Sting

Wolfpack Sting always looked funny but never more so than here with a goatee under his paint. Bret stalling in the beginning is not what we needed after the last match. I think they believed that they had a classic mapped out but it just seemed off to me. No BAD just not what you would expect from these two and disappointing. Not my favorite. 6-10

Winner: Bret won after 25 bat shots and a Sharpshooter.

• Sting gets stretchered out because this show needed to be longer. The hubris of this company to just think that the PPV companies would just extend their time like this. Also they mentioned showing a K-Dogg music video earlier that we didn’t get to see on this version. Jeeze.

Hollywood Hogan v Warrior

Warrior is GASSED from his run to the ring. Wowsa, he looked like he may die. This was as bad as advertised. Everything from the pace, the crowd response, the messed up fireball to Warrior’s in ring conditioning was awful. Historically bad match. 6-11

Winner: Hogan wins after a chairshot from Horace.

• After the match they attempt to set the Warrior on fire before security breaks it up. Cluster from beginning to end.

• Michael Buffer is out because of time wasting etc.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: DDP v (C) Goldberg

One of Goldberg’s best matches but would have been better had he not needed 20 seconds of rest between every move. Still a good main event made better by following a bunch of junk in a row. DDP tried. 7-12

Winner: Goldberg with the Jackhammer.

Final Tally? 7-12 They tried to add too much stuff to a show that was already bloated to begin with. The first half was fine but nothing memorable and the second half (minus the main) was memorable but for all the wrong reasons.

All Images Available at WWE.com

Follow me right here.