WCW/NWA Halloween Havoc 1990
by Sean Swift

Why yes, I'm still alive, and I'M (STILL) BUSTER TIME, though you're of course forgiven if you thought otherwise.

Now, this probably won't be my best, but hey, I have a valid reason: I'm an idiot. A big one. With computer access only at my father's house, all I had to do was remember to bring my HH 89/90 tape to this residence. That's it. Not exactly a mission for the Green Berets, I know. However, every single time I come here, I always forget one thing...the tape, of course. So, in the interest of actually sending SOMETHING to the mighty BTM, I managed to find a report I did on this which I wrote around, ohhh, 1999 or so. I'll clean it up as much as I can...just don't laugh *too* much.

Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously call the action.

The Nasty Boys vs. The Steiner Brothers (US Tag Team Titles match): This is a fuckin' hidden classic, and since I haven't seen their matches against Cactus and Payne, is the best Nasty Boys match ever for my money, until someone proves otherwise.

The Steiners start a brawl before the bell, but what’s even more noteworthy is the brightly-colored orange ring, with black-and-orange striped ropes. It’s as ugly as it sounds. Anyway, things start out quickly on the outside with Scott Steiner and Jerry Sags. Sags gets drilled against the pole, but counters with a whip to the rail and a pretty nice chairshot. Back in, and Scott hits the first big move with an overhead belly-to-belly superplex. Sags gets in a bulldog, and some forearm shots. He telegraphs the back body drop, and eats a Tiger Driver...like the Philly crowd, this one is going apeshit for the Steiners.

The Steiners double-team the Nasties, culminating in the top-rope bulldog that Rick made famous later. Knobs breaks up the cover with a chairshot to Scott’s back, setting up their half of the match’s psychology. Scott now plays Face-in-Peril, as the Nasties work on his back. Brian Knobs actually looks like a wrestler here, executing a side slam and a powerslam. Sags works in a pumphandle slam, and starts headbutting the back. As a side note, the announcing is great during this match. Ross walks the fans through the psychology of the match, while Dangerously assists in this, while cheering like hell for the heels. It’s too bad he doesn’t do it anymore, because he has all the great qualities of Jerry Lawler, with none of the annoying crap (screaming for puppies, and that shit). (NOTE: This was of course written before the Invasion, and I still like Heyman as color commentator, and he's still better than Lawler. So there.)

This match also has the rare resthold that works, as Sags bearhugs Scott for a while...after four minutes of working on Scott’s lower back. Scott comes up with a nice counter, getting out of it via a belly-to-belly suplex. This is sorta a Race to Tag, but both Knobs and Rick come in. Rick Steinerlines him, but takes a nice bump over the top rope as he misses the second one. The Nasties hit a spike piledriver, but the ref decides after counting two to get Knobs out of the ring. OK, that makes sense how? Rick takes advantage by drilling Sags in the back with a chair. Race to tag is interrupted by Scott ducking a punch and hitting a backdrop suplex. Sags has been busted open, but it’s only a trickle.

Another Race to Tag, Sags wins, and they continue to work over Scott. We have extended bearhug spot # 2, but again, I can’t complain too much considering it actually makes sense. Sags locks in a Boston Crab, and we can see he’s juicing a bit more now. Steiner bridges out, and flips him over. Nice little counter, but he still can’t make the tag. Knobs locks in a camel clutch, as Scott’s Face-in-Peril clock ticks past 9 minutes. Scott gets to his feet, and falls back to get out of the hold. Gary Micheal Cappetta tells us that 15 minutes have gone by at 12:13. Guess they’re counting entrances too. Assisted Irish whip gets nothing but turnbuckles for Knobs, and Scott completes the set with a Steinerline for Sags. Finally, after 11 straight minutes of being beaten on, Scott makes the hot tag to Rick to a HUGE pop.

Rick cleans house with punches, Steinerlines, and a nice belly-to-belly. All 4 men are now in, but it doesn’t last long. Scott is nailing Sags with corner mount punches, but Sags gets out by simply tossing him over the top. The Nasties double-team Rick, and toss him outside too. The Nasties celebrates, but get double-Steinerlined from the top rope by Rick. However, he gets double-teamed again, before they go outside to double-slam Scott’s back on the floor. Double-whip on Rick from the Nasties, but the double-lariat is ducked. Scott trips them both from the outside, drags Sags out, and whips him into the post. Steinerline for Knobs from Rick. Scott whips Knobs, (kinda blown) Frankensteiner!!!

This match has anything you can ask for. For the purists, you had the psychology of the Nasties working on Scott’s back for 11 minutes. For fans of big moves, you had the Tiger Driver, the top-rope double-Steinerline, the suplexes, and so on. For fans of violence, you had the chairshots, and Sags' blood. And, when I watched this in my younger days of total Steiner markdom, the Frankensteiner was definitely among some of my biggest mark-out moments ever. Wonderful, wonderful match. (Rick/Scott (win) def. Knobs (loss)/Sags, Frankensteiner, 15:26)

The Nasties beat up the Steiners post-match, and later, they attack Scott during a post-match interview. A bit of overkill, maybe?

Doom vs. Arn Anderson/Ric Flair (World Tag Team titles match): Doom are the champions here, but Arn is also TV champion. Doom had dropped Woman by this point, and were now managed by Teddy Long. Arn and Ron Simmons start us off. Basically, this is similar to the Doom/Steiners match from the last year’s Havoc...the story is that they have to use their power advantage to overcome the technical superiority of their opponents.

Arn takes control but tries to suplex Simmons onto the floor, and pays for it by getting suplexed himself. The Horsemen use their typical dirty tricks to allow Arn to sneak in a suplex, but Simmons no-sells it and fires away. Simmons gets in a beautiful powerslam, and a double-lariat. Teddy Long slaps Ric Flair, which I'm sure he got his comeuppance for later on. When that mess gets settled, Flair and Reed are in. Flair gets the better of it for a while, btu eventually Reed no-sells and goes to work with power stuff. I don’t mind the no-selling, because Flair’s punching and chopping, and the idea is that they aren’t going to win a power match with Doom.

Reed throws a lot of punches, and doesn’t do much else. Flair does his Flair Flip right into a cameraman, which serves to wake me up after that last sequence. After some more brawling (read as: punch…punch…punch), Anderson turns the tide after Simmons telegraphs a back body drop. A nice spot from the Horsemen follows, as Arn locks Simmons in a Boston Crab, holding him down for Flair to do his trademark kneedrop. This is what they should have been doing for the whole match, as I’m not inclined to believe it would take two veterans 9 minutes to realize that can’t stand toe-to-toe with the other team.

Anderson hits his spinebuster, but Simmons kicks out at 2. Wasn’t that his finisher? Then again, they haven’t been in control at all during the match, so I guess it makes sense. The Horsemen double-team Simmons, working on his knees. Flair hits a backdrop suplex, then locks in the Figure-Four Leglock. Arn assists the figure-four, and stomps away as the ref prevents Reed from coming in several times. Flair keeps it on for a while, but Simmons eventually reverses it. Arn gets the tag, and continues to work the legs. Simmons reverses a whip, but misses a dropkick. Anderson gets the headbutt in during a test of strength, floats over, but tries to splash him from there, and gets a couple of knees in the groinal area.

Anderson’s up first, though, and gets the tag. Flair continues to try and wrestle a power match…why? Simmons gets a sunset flip on Anderson, but in a nice spot, Arn gets the tag as he’s being taken over. Flair misses a back elbow off a whip, and Simmons is able to get a flying lariat in. Race to Tag, Flair wins. Anderson telegraphs a back body drop, allowing Simmons to slam him face-first into the mat, and get the hot tag to Reed.

With Reed in, as you can guess, it’s punches, punches, and more punches. Oh, and a terrible dropkick on Flair. All 4 men are in, but Flair and Reed go to the outside. Reed gets the better of that as Anderson tries to piledrive Simmons. He fails to get him up as Reed ascends the turnbuckles. Reed hits a flying shoulderblock to save his partner, and also get a 2-count. Anderson hits the most beautiful DDT you’ve ever seen on Reed, but Simmons breaks it up. Simmons gets a 2-count on that, and damn has this match ever picked up! Sadly, all 4 men brawl on the outside for the double-countout, a lame ending to a pretty damn good match.

This one took a long time to get going, the segments with Reed in control were pretty pedestrian, and the Horsemen oddly enough didn’t deliver psychologically. However, the match got better the longer it went on. The sequence of near-falls at the end jacked up the excitement factor quite a bit, and would have been great if it was building to a real finish. Still, I’ll never complain about watching these guys go at it for a nice amount of time like they did here. (Horsemen NC Doom, double-countout, 18:18)

Stan "The Lariat" Hansen gets a promo. He spits tobacco juice on a pumpkin, and yells a lot. Umm…OK.

Stan Hansen vs. Lex Luger (US Title match): After all that play-by-play, this provides a lucky break. Bottom line: Uninspired power match that Hansen wins with a sloppy Lariat. (Hansen def. Luger, Lariat, 9:30)

Sting vs. Sid Vicious (World Heavyweight title match): Sting’s the champ, while Vicious is in the Horsemen with Flair, Anderson, and Barry Windham. This is during the Black Scoption feud, mind you. Sid takes control early, until Sting no-sells a backbreaker. Sting goes for the Scorpion Deathlock early, but Sid gets the ropes. A bit later, Sting sends Sid shoulder-first into the post, and then works the arm. At one point, Sting has him in an armbar, and all Sid does is yell at the fans. Umm…shouldn’t you, you know, sell it and stuff?

Sid surprises me by executing a nice kippup out of a headscissors. He takes control from there with his usual boring crap. A cute spot follows where Sting goes for a sunset flip, Sid punches out, but takes too long posing, allowing Sting to finish the sunset flip for 2. Vicious employs a nerve hold, probably just to piss me off. That’s in the same category of ridiculous moves as the heart punch and the Mandible Claw. Sid does do something right though, hitting a nice powerslam a bit later.

Sting makes a brief comeback, but misses the Stinger Splash. Sid beats on him while Sting’s on the apron, but Sting ascends the ropes, and gets a top-rope cross body for 1. More boring crap from Sid, and it’s time to fast-forward. Eventually, Sting makes the comeback and hits a bulldog. They brawl on the ramp, but Sid gets the better of that. Sid celebrates with his back to the ramp, allowing Sting to run back, and hit a springboard plancha back into the ring. He follows with a dropkick and a pescado, and hey, I’m awake! They brawl to the outside, and the Horsemen run in. Flair and Anderson are there, but where’s Windham?

Sid and a taller, fatter Sting come back. "Sting" tries to slam him, Sid falls on top, and gets the 3 count. Nick Patrick gives him the belt, as orange and black balloons fall from the rafters. Pyro goes off, but the real Sting comes back with a rope tied around his wrist. Patrick sees this, and calls for the restart. Sting whacks him with the belt, hits a Stinger Splash, and rolls him up to retain his title.

Well...that was about as good a Sid match as you can expect, I guess. (Sting def. Sid, inside cradle, 12:37)

Overall, there's more bad than good on the tape. Once you get past the crap at the beginning, there's some mighty fine professional wrestling that few people ever talk about. Now I'm getting really lazy, so I'll just end it here. See you next time.

Sean Swift
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