WCW Halloween Havoc 1989

Date: 10/28/1989

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Announcers: Jim Ross & Bob Caudle

The Setup 

After blending the Flair-Funk and Sting-Muta programs into one at the end of Great American Bash ‘89, we have a tag match here in a Thunderdome cage with Bruno Sammartino as a special referee in his home state of Pennsylvania. It should also be noted that this is a month after Clash VIII, where Funk attempted to murder Ric Flair by suffocating him with a plastic bag; so the heat was ratcheted all the way up for this one. 

The Business

Wrestlenomics has the show doing 175,000 PPV buys. Trying to decipher early WCW PPV buys can be difficult, but this was a record for WCW PPVs at the time and wasn’t topped until Sting beat Flair for the NWA title at Bash ‘90. The Flair-Funk feud doesn’t get enough credit for increasing in business as it went along, climaxing with a monster Clash rating for the I Quit Match. 

Prowrestlinghistory reports that the show drew 7,300 fans, with a gate of $104,234. The list of six-fogire gates at WCW pre-Hogan is very short; so this was a strong business show all the way around. 

Results 

Tom Zenk def. Mike Rotunda in 13:23. The crowd was not fans of Zenk, Rotunda, or Syracuse University. They worked a very paint-by-numbers opener that may have been over at Center Stage, but Philly wasn’t having it. Zenk rolled through a Rotunda crossbody off the second rope for the win. *

The Samoan Swat Team & Samoan Savage def. The Midnight Express & Steve Williams in 18:23. I loved any time the Midnights and Doc teamed in 1989 because Doc brought something extra to the team as a powerful ass-kicker. I’m also one of the biggest fucking Sam Fatu marks, and he always worked well with Doc as a big guy that could bump all over. The case in point was Eaton’s hot tag to Doc, and he went apeshit on all the Samoans, hitting all of his power stuff. Lane ended up in the ring, accidentally collided with Cornette, and Savage rolled him up for the win. This was intended to create tension between Cornette and the Midnights, ultimately leading to them turning heel on the Dynamic Dudes. This was a little longer than it needed to be, but still a very good match. ***1/4 

Tommy Rich def. The Cuban Assassin in 8:29. There were a lot of armbars in this match, and the crowd hated it and Rich. Why the fuck was this on PPV to begin with? Rich won with a Thesz press and got out of there as if he’d rather be anywhere else in the world. This was boring and ineffective. 3/4*

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Fabulous Freebirds (C) def. The Dynamic Dudes in 11:28. Oof, Zenk and Rich came across like Hulk Hogan at his peak of popularity compared to the poor Dudes. The fans hated them from the start, and their dislike only intensified as they continued. On top of it, the match was a little clumsy, as the Dudes were far from polished, which was another reason the crowd hated them in the Northeast, besides the lame gimmick. Hayes tripped Ace, and Garvin got the pin for a rather unimpressive finish. *1/2

Doom def. The Steiner Brothers in 15:32. This was the unveiling of Doom as a tag team, and it was obvious to ten-year-old me that they were Butch Reed and Ron Simmons under masks. The Steiners hit all their power shit early, and these matches generally worked because Doom was big but took all of their stuff. In a moment of savagery, Doom hit a spike piledriver on Scott. Since the match was built around Woman fucking over Rick, he got the hot tag and went nuts, somehow ending up with Woman in the ring alone, much to the crowd’s delight. However, Simmons headbutted him with the loaded mask for the win. I really enjoyed this match, but it’s too bad they had Doom go 0-3 at Starrcade after a strong debut. Also, why couldn’t they just be Ron Simmons and Butch Reed? ***1/2 

NWA United States Heavyweight Title Match: Lex Luger (C) def. Brian Pillman in 16:49. The crowd loved Luger and wanted to hate Pillman, but he did start to win them over with solid, believable-looking work. I thought this was a little clunky in spots, but it was a good big-man versus little-man match overall. Pillman always did a good job making his stuff look believable with much bigger opponents, and Luger bumped and sold very well, as this was probably the best in-ring run of his career. Luger ended up winning with a hotshot, which the crowd popped huge for. ***

The Road Warriors def. The Skyscrapers via DQ in 11:39. The Northeast fans could not wait for this fucking match. I thought it was fun for what it was, just watching these monsters beat the shit out of each other. Sid still looked green and probably the least enthused about actually selling, but he did hit a boss ass helicopter powerbomb on Hawk. Hawk did a good job of selling to break up some of the “roar” or no-selling spots. Animal got the hot tag and had Sid covered after a powerslam, but Teddy Long ran in and hit him with Norman’s stupid key for the DQ. I hated the finish, but the match was fine for the most part. **

Thunderdome Match: Ric Flair & Sting def. Terry Funk & The Great Muta in 23:46. There was a lot to this. First, the top of the cage was “electrified” so that no one could escape or get in. Second, as mentioned, Bruno was the referee. Third, Gary Hart was in the heels’ corner, and Ole in the babyfaces’, and the match could only end when either threw in the towel for their respective team. They had some loose paper caught at the top of the cage before it began, and it literally caught fire until Muta misted it to put it out. This started as a traditional tag, but that went out the window, and we had an excellent and wild brawl with everyone. Late in the match, Sting was swaying back and forth on a rope, kicking Terry Funk like fucking Tarzan. The heels tied Sting up with said rope and gave Flair a spike piledriver, only for Sting to untie himself and fly from the cage onto Funk to break up the pin. Holy shit! Funk was in a figure four, and Sting hit him with a splash for good measure. Hart wouldn’t throw in the towel, but Bruno decked Muta (who fell to the floor), and then Ole punched Hart, sending the towel into the ring for the finish. ***3/4 

Recommendation 

Thumbs up. There wasn’t much in terms of promos and angles here, so if you’re looking for a straight wrestling show, this one’s for you. I had half of the matches at *** or better, including a main that ended with Bruno Sammartino laying out the Great Muta and raising the hands of the babyfaces at the end. I’m not sure what the thought process was behind Tommy Rich vs. Dave Sierra, but the crowd did their part by vociferously disliking the match, so even that ended up being morbidly entertaining. The Philly savages positively hated the whitest of white meat babyfaces, Tom Zenk and the Dynamic Dudes, which was also oddly entertaining, especially watching the Freebirds egg it on and essentially play babyfaces in the tag title match. Luckily, the most questionable aspects of this show were addressed early.