WCW Halloween Havoc ‘98
October 25, 1998
Las Vegas, NV
Reviewed on November 24, 2014
Off the heels of the destruction of the War Games gimmick…Hogan vs. Warrior! A lot has been made about this match over time, mainly that Hogan had Warrior brought in to get his win back. Whatever. Let’s just be surprised that this match didn’t main event the show.
The Warrior was the latest in line for an attempt by WCW to overtake the ratings war that the WWF was more or less winning. If WCW just had Goldberg wrestle top or even near top guys (like Jericho) I think WCW would have been more competitive. Instead, he’s stuck wrestling Meng in World Title matches somehow. Goldberg’s PPV title defense list so far: Curt Hennig in the semi-main at Bash at the Beach (understandable though), a battle royal victory at Road Wild (less understandable) and a no-show at Fall Brawl (completely unacceptable). That does change here though, for what it is worth.
Still, WCW was on a long road down…and things would get worse before they got better.
Note: I am reviewing this PPV as if the power doesn’t go out before the main event. Yes, many PPV subscribers lost connection to the show. Probably because it set for a three hour slot, and this running time here reads 3:15.
The Card
Hogan-Warrior hype video. I don’t even understand it all really. You are telling me they couldn’t have used Goldberg in Warrior’s place for this feud? That would have drawn HUGE.
The Halloween Havoc ’98 set is awesome.
The Nitro Girls? Um…this isn’t Nitro. How about we don’t waste time? Jeez.
Rick Steiner interview with Mean Gene. This is a PPV right? How about some matches?
Buff Bagwell is out here. Apparently he’s sick of Scott Steiner. He wants to help out Rick. I mean I know how this turns out…but its OBVIOUS Buff is gonna betray him, isn’t it?
Rick Steiner is a dumbass.
Eight minutes in…and we have a match!
WCW Television Championship
Chris Jericho© vs. Raven
Kinda funny background. Two guys who got over as heels basically putting together their own programs in 1998 was Raven and Chris Jericho. Raven just finished his feud with Saturn. Jericho was in the midst of trying to get a PPV match with Goldberg. We’re told this was just added…which means two of the most talented acts of WCW ’98 weren’t even on the card.
Raven also has a losing streak gimmick going on. I hate that idea as guys on losing streaks shouldn’t be getting title shots.
Jericho’s actually playing the face here. Raven decides he doesn’t want to wrestle, but Jericho wants to please his Jerichoholics. Jericho’s promo is a foreshadowing of his 2000 style.
Jericho gets impaled on the steel railing. Action packed from the start.
Raven hits a dropkick after running up the steps, and Jericho yells “HELP ME!” Awesome.
Some great sequences. Raven actually ducks Jericho’s back jump kick which leads to a belly to belly.
Fans really getting behind Raven here.
Jericho survives the Evenflow!
Chris Jericho retains by submission in 7:49. Raven crashes into Kanyon on the apron, but almost gets a 2nd Evenflow…until Jericho counters into the Lion Tamer. Quick tap out. Announcers talk about someone like Raven tapping out quickly, implying he just quit the match.
Seriously, a Hogan promo?
Meng vs. Wrath
Somersault off the apron from Wrath! He should have used that when he was Adam Bomb.
Wrath pins Meng in 4:23. Impressive Meltdown for the win. Wrath gets a good pop too. Meng didn’t seem to really be, er…trying, but this probably was Wrath’s best workrate run. The fans were into him…until Nash squashed him.
#1 Contender to the Cruiserweight Championship
Juventud Guerrera vs. Disco Inferno
This match has a really stupid ending that isn’t realized until Nitro the next night. Just note that the Cruiserweight Title match is tonight.
Disco in the Cruiserweight division is rather meh…although I believe he did the weight limit gimmick deal. I just don’t understand why we have Disco going for the Cruiser title when you have guys like Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero on the roster.
Disco busts out a macarana. Great stuff.
Very good back and forth match here.
Disco Inferno pins Juventud Guerrera in 9:39. Jumping piledriver downs Juvi for the pin! I’ll get into why this was stupid after Disco vs. Kidman. This was quite a good match though. Pretty good start to the PPV wrestling wise at least.
NITRO GIRLS AGAIN?!
Scott Steiner comes out to challenge Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell for the Tag titles. For some reason Steiner can replace Scott Hall in the Hall and Giant tag team. Whatever. FREEBIRD RULES!
Scott Steiner agrees that if Bagwell and Rick win the titles, he’ll face Rick one on one.
Fit Finlay vs. Alex Wright
Apparently Fit Finlay ended Alex Wright’s dad’s career with a broken leg 15 years ago or something.
Alex Wright pins Fit Finlay in 5:09. Neckbreaker out of nowhere for the win. Boring match. If you told me Finlay would be an upper midcard guy in WWE eight years later I woulda called you crazy.
Ernest Miller interview about him being the greatest.
Saturn vs. Lodi
I guess this is a spinoff of the Saturn vs. Flock feud?
Saturn’s new look just doesn’t work.
Saturn got no reaction. What a shame. He was mega over a month ago.
Saturn pins Lodi in 3:50. Death Valley Driver for the win. Total squash. Not sure why it was on PPV. Lodi was a bit funny trying to keep track of his signs I guess.
Nitro Girls a third time. It’s not fucking Nitro.
WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Billy Kidman© vs. Disco Inferno
Kidman beat Juvi for the title the night after Fall Brawl. Disco is here due to his win earlier tonight.
Disco nails the piledriver…but it’s not enough.
We get a macarana driver attempt, but Kidman facebusters Disco out of it.
Kidman retains in 10:49. Shooting Star Press for the win. Not as good as Disco-Juvi earlier, but still good. Here’s why’s it’s stupid. Kidman would defend the Cruiser title on Nitro against….
Juventud Guerrera! Whatever.
WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Giant and Scott Steiner © vs. Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell
Chucky references. Oh goodie.
It takes about four minutes for Bagwell to turn on Rick. Rick looking like an idiot was a big reason he didn’t get over from this. He was getting a great reaction before all this too. It would only get worse for Rick sadly.
Rick Steiner wins the title in 8:24. What? Rick Steiner makes the comeback and hits a Top Rope Bulldog on the Giant to win the title! HUGE reaction!
Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner
Buff Bagwell comes back in a disguise and nails Rick Steiner with a slapjack. The disguise was totally unnecessary.
Rick Steiner pins Scott Steiner in 5:00. Top rope bulldog for the win. Really disappointing for a grudge match. It still only goes downhill for Rick…unless you were a Judy Bagwell fan.
Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash
Story here: The Outsiders broke up when the NWO factions split, with Hall picking Hollywood.
In my opinion, this should have happened at Starrcade.
Hall was doing his “drunk” angle at this time. It actually leads to Hall pretending he’s wasted to get a cheap shot on Nash.
Early Hall dominance….then a Hall promo. Wasting time for sure.
Nash eventually takes control…then beats the crap out of Hall for a good five minutes.
Scott Hall wins via countout in 14:19. Nash hits two Jackknife Powerbombs (he fucks up each though)…tells Hall to suck it…then walks out. Not sure if that was ever explained. As we will see with Hogan-Warrior later, this was a match that was a lot better years ago in the WWF with Vince calling the shots (Summerslam ’94). It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good either.
Nitro Girls for the fourth time.
WCW United States Championship
Bret Hart © vs. Sting
Another match that shoulda been slated for Starrcade!
I’m not even sure if Bret is NWO here. He didn’t use NWO music here.
Mike Tenay says this won’t be a technical wrestling match. I guess he’s never watched Bret Hart or something.
This is marketed as the Sharpshooter vs. the Scorpion.
Pretty boring first half…even though there’s nothing really wrong with this match. Just seems like two guys going through the motions.
Bret legdropping the ref is a highlight of the match.
Bret Hart wins when Sting doesn’t answer the ref in the Sharpshooter in 15:09. Bret beats the crap out of Sting with a baseball bat then locks him in the Sharpshooter. How un-Bret Hart like. Also pretty boring and disappointing for a dream match like Bret vs. Sting.
Sting does a stretcher job and wouldn’t be seen until March or so.
Hollywood Hogan vs. The Warrior
We are shown Horace Hogan getting beat down by NWO Hollywood. I would think Horace isn’t a big enough name to interfere here…
The opening sequence isn’t that bad!
Really weird criss crossing off the ropes spot leading to a bodyslam from Hogan…which Warrior no sells!
Random ref bump…and Hogan adds a kneedrop for no reason. Really hasn’t been that awful so far.
The famous logroll spot. Hogan misses two elbowdrops, and Warriors rolls into him with…a roll attack?
It only goes downhill from here. Hogan tries to light some flash paper to throw a fireball at Warrior…and instead it blows up in his face.
Hollywood Hogan pinned The Warrior in 14:07. Horace Hogan comes in and nails Warrior with a chair shot for the Hogan victory. The opening sequence was decent but it went downhill from there. Sharply downhill. Warrior and Hogan do a whole lot of nothing for the last 11 minutes with highlights being a logroll spot, a failed fireball spot and a match as important as this one ending with Horace Hogan involved in the finish. That doesn’t even consider the many missed kicks and messed up bumps taken (specifically by Warrior). Horrible. One of the worst PPV matches ever. Luckily, WCW didn’t put it as the main event!
WCW World Championship
Goldberg © vs. Diamond Dallas Page
I never liked the security for Goldberg. If you are so tough, why need security?
Pretty cool lockup that goes flying out of the ring.
Goldberg completed a backflip…but Page smartly trips him a second time! Great spot!
Nice drop toehold from Page. Great match so far!
Flying hurricanrana from DDP!
Page calls for the Diamond Cutter….and gets speared! Goldberg got him good too!
One of the most iconic moments in WCW history…Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer…only for Page to twist it into the Diamond Cutter! Page can’t capitalize though.
Goldberg retains by pin in 10:29. Page suplex gets turned into the Jackhammer for the win. Easily Goldberg’s best match ever, and arguably Page’s as well. Perfectly complimented the ideas of Goldberg the destroyer against the underdog Page. If there’s an argument to say that you could have built a company around Page, this match would be the launching point of the argument. Great match. It also tremendously helped the PPV.
I can’t give this PPV too much credit as there was a lot of bad and waste. Less is more would be a perfect description of this show. We don’t need the Nitro Girls four times. We don’t need matches like Saturn vs. Lodi or Finlay vs. Alex Wright. We don’t need non-sensical cruiserweight division booking. What we do need is more main events like Goldberg vs. Page and more openers like Raven vs. Jericho. Overall, the card was pretty good and a hell of a big improvement over Fall Brawl.
There’s only so much you can do though when one of the worst PPV matches of all time is on the card though. Warrior vs. Hogan was a joke. Nash vs. Hall wasn’t much better. Page and Goldberg saved this main events for sure.
Fun fact: Warrior made one more appearance on Nitro the next night…and it was the last time Nitro beat RAW for a full night.
But good thing for WCW is that they didn’t keep the Warrior on TV. His time had past.
Sadly in a few months Hogan wouldn’t realize his had as well.
Final Grade: C+