Andrew Lutzke
After the last Clash, the following events unfolded:
Sid Vicious was named number one contender to Sting’s World title. The Black Scorpion declared he didn’t want Sting’s title, he wanted his life.
Ric Flair put over Sting at house shows around the horn. JYD beat Arn Anderson at many of those same house shows via pinfall in under 10 seconds.
Many of the same feuds remained unsettled as the Southern Boys/Freebirds, DOOM/Rock and Roll Express and Steiners/Midnight Express pairings continued to build to rematches on TV. Robert Gibson suffered a legit knee injury, which was blamed on the Freebirds.
DOOM and the Horsemen got into a war of words during an interview session, this led to a brawl between the teams later on during the show.
In a sign that WCW had big plans for Scott Steiner, they had Ric Flair put him over on TV via pinfall after some ringside shenanigans.
The Nasty Boyz attacked The Steiners during a contract signing for their US Tag Title match upcoming at Halloween Havoc.
WCW offered buy 1 get 1 free tickets to a TV taping in Georgia and still barely drew 1,000 fans.
One half of the Maximum Overdrive tag team that the Steiners dismantled at the Clash was re-named JW Storm and given a mild singles push.
Jobber Rocky King joined the Freebirds entourage as “Little Richard Marley”. The Birds laid a beat down to newcomer Allen Iron Eagle (Joe Gomez) and fellow newcomers Mark and Chris Youngblood declared war on the Freebirds for hurting a fellow Indian.
Jim Herd pursued bringing in Tiny “Zeus” Lister to wrestle(!) and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan paid a visit to WCW headquarters to discuss a possible jump to Turnerland.
“The Juicer” Art Barr debuted, Dan Spivey returned and Fatu and Tama quit the promotion. Paul Orndorff left WCW and headed for the UWF.
Halloween Havoc took place October 27th. 1990.
Jim Ross (dressed as a gangster) and Paul E Dangerously (dressed as a vampire) call the action
Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich vs. The Midnight Express
Robert Gibson is out with an injury – as mentioned above. The faces are dressed like greasers. Cornette was upset with the booking here as he thought the Express and the Steiners were going to have a rematch at this event. Herd vetoed his planned angle where the Express would tar and feather the Steiners to build to a match at this PPV.
So many mullets! Eaton out wrestles Morton to start. Morton uses speed to counter and sends Eaton head over heels and bailing to the floor. The Express double-team Morton and that allows Lane to nail a swank powerslam and springboard clothesline. Eaton misses a high-risk move as he barrels down toward Morton on the cement. Corny and his tennis racquet make sure that the heels maintain control.
Lane shows off his martial arts as Morton does what he does best and sells,sells,sells. Lane slams Morton on the cement and the ramp and that sets up Eaton nailing a splash from the top rope to the ramp! Eaton nails a “Diamond Cutter” and uses the ropes to propel Morton unto his knee. Corny joins in the fun with another racquet shot.
The heels then ramp up the cheating further when Lane tosses Morton over the top rope with the ref distracted and then Lane plays dead to dissolve suspicion of any chicanery. Morton manages to send Eaton into the ring post and nails a hurricanrana on the cement. Morton is too beat up to make his way over for a tag. Eaton hit the Alabama Jam back in but chooses not to go for the pin.
Morton starts to no sell Lane’s punches but he’s downed once again. Eaton lands on Ricky’s knees on a top rope splash and Rich is finally able to tag in. All four men brawl and Corny whacks Rich with his racquet. Before a pin can be made the Southern Boys show up and distract the Express. Rich manages to hit Lane with Corny’s racquet and make the pin amidst the chaos. Very good match. Cornette and Lane would leave WCW soon after this card.
Sting stumbles over a promo. Any wonder why he struggled to draw money? The Black Scorpion shows up and demonstrates his black magic as he teleports himself and a “fan” as Sting tries to play cat and mouse.
Mark and Chris Youngblood vs. Michael Hayes and Jimmy “Jam” Garvin
Mark chops away at the chunky Hayes and Garvin. Chris jumps in with a flying double clothesline. The Freebirds are outdone until they start cheating. Both teams trade rest holds and thankfully at least JR and Heyman are entertaining on the call. Headlocks and other basic stuff eats up time as they gave this match SEVENTEEN MINUTES!?!?!!? How many shitty long Freebirds matches did WCW book on PPV before they realized they stink? The WWE Network has the edited version of this PPV for some reason, and the edited form of this match is still all restholds! Even JR mentions that the heels are using tons of headlocks. Mark Youngblood makes the hot tag and the crowd cheers for the heels. Hayes sneaks in with a DDT behind the refs back to finish this. Painfully dull!
Arn Anderson tells the fans that DOOM vs. The Horsemen will be all bad guys going at it. Flair WOO’s and Sid screams. Barry Windham is conspicuous by his absence…hmmmm…
US Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers vs. The Nasty Boyz
A four-way brawl erupts. Scott and Saggs hit each other with the ring post, chairs and the railing. Scott escapes a superplex and nails a belly to belly from the top rope instead. Scott nails the double underhook suplex and a double team bulldog from the top rope. Knobbs breaks up the obvious 3 count with a chair shot. The ref did a poor job of pretending to be distracted there.
The heels start to work over Scott’s back that had been injured by the Nasties weeks earlier. Rick gets impatient with all the double-teaming and charges the ring – that only allows the Boyz to cheat even more. Scott fights out of a bear hug by tossing Saggs with a belly to belly. Rick runs in and Steinerlines Knobbs. He then charges at Saggs and misses, he ends up flying out of the ring. The heels deliver a spike piledriver on Scott, but Rick sneaks in with a chair and wallops Saggs to break up the pin much like Knobbs did earlier.
Saggs is busted open from the chair shot. Scott is worn down by both heels for a number of minutes. Rick finally tags in and nails both Boyz with stiff clotheslines. Knobbs is dumped with a belly to belly as another four way breaks out. The faces are both tossed to the floor. Rick sneaks back in with a double clothesline from the top rope. Scott is slammed stiffly on the cement. Knobbs is dropped with a Steinerline and a Frankensteiner finishes him.
The Nasty Boyz attack the Brothers after the match and send Rick into the ringpost several times. Good action.
The Boyz attack Scott after the match at the interview podium. The heels weren’t under a long-term contract and the WWF signed them away soon after this performance.
World Tag Champions DOOM vs. Arn Anderson and Ric Flair
Arn starts as he can more reasonably match power and brawling skills with DOOM. Simmons out powers Arn and delivers suplexes and a powerslam. Flair gives chase after Teddy Long and all four men have a stand off in the middle of the ring. Flair uses underhanded moves to down Reed. Chopping him only pisses Reed off though and he press slams Flair. Arn tries to intervene and Simmons press slams him.
Flair goes back to cheating, so Reed unloads on him Flair is whipped over the top rope and Simmons greets him with a fist. Simmons then stalks Flair down the rampway. DOOM both take turns with Arn until the Horsemen manage to trap him in their corner for some ample double-teaming opportunities. Ron survives a spinebuster. Flair starts to work over Simmons’ knee and Arn takes his shots as well. A figure-four tests Simmons’ mettle but he manages to power out of it.
Simmons tries to make a comeback but an ill-conceived dropkick attempt misses. Anderson is nailed with a low blow but still manages to cut off Ron’s tagging hopes. Flair and Arn continue their beatdown with quick tags and excellent ring control.
Reed finally makes the tag and all four guys end up brawling. Arn tries a piledriver but Reed drives a flying shoulderblock into him. Flair breaks up the pin. Arn hits a DDT. Simmons saves his partner. They all spill out to the floor and end up brawling until the ref counts both teams out. Another good match – this feud will continue for a few more shows.
US Champion Lex Luger vs. Stan Hansen
Hansen attacks at the bell but Lex unloads with a series of rapid punches and Hansen takes a walk to regroup. Hansen clubs away in and out of the ring. Stan misses a charge and topples to the floor. Lex uses the opening to unleash a plethora of punches to the tough Texan. Hansen delivers a suplex with scary ease to the 275 pound Luger. The Bad Man from the Badlands bulldogs the dazed champion but Lex’s conditioning allows him to continue.
Hansen catches Luger with a nasty looking spinebuster. Luger rallies with a suplex but Hansen continues to maul Lex anyway. The ref is bumped and Luger manages to catch Stan with a big clothesline. Dan Spivey runs down and tosses Hansen his bullrope. Lex dodges the blow but runs into the lariat for the shockingly clean pin. Hansen kicked a lot of ass and ended Luger’s 523 day reign as champion. This had to have been a legit shock for the fans at the time. I was 8 when this went down and I’m sure I was just upset that Lex lost. Good match as Hansen forces guys to fight or else he’ll gobble up all the offense.
World Champion Sting vs. Sid Vicious
Sting thinks turning his back on a 6’9 psycho is a good idea, and he gets attacked for it. Sting tries a crossbody but Sid catches him and dumps him on his knee. Sting no sells that and repels Sid to the floor. Sid takes an aggressive edge and it backfires as Sting sends him to the floor and feeds him a mouthful of ringpost.
Sting tries to keep the giant neutralized with armlocks but if you are grabbing Sid, you’re close enough for him to grab you and Sid proves it by delivering a big clothesline. Sid locks on a nerve hold and a chokehold.
Sting gets a brief opening and tries a Stinger splash that misses. Sid clubs away but stops to pose and Sting is able to spring on him. Sid kicks out at one and drops Sting with another clothesline. Sting is beaten down the ramp but Sid stops to pose again and Sting jumps him. Sting sends him to the floor as Flair and Arn come down to the ring and distract the ref.
Sid escapes back into the locker room and Sting follows. He and “Sting” return to ringside and “Sting” tries a slam, Sid falls on top of him for the 3 count. Sid is handed the title and the crowd has a mixed reaction. Suddenly the real Sting runs to the ring with a rope around his wrist and Nick Patrick restarts the match. Sting hits Sid with the title, a Stinger splash and small packages him for the real pin.
The fake “Sting” angle was done well because the camera never caught a good look at Barry Windham’s face when he came in the costume. The director missed the real Sting confronting him in the aisle though and so watching it unfold in real time was confusing, as it wasn’t made apparent what exactly was going on.
A little surprising that Ole Anderson would book this goofy finish, must have been drinking the same stuff as when he came up with the Black Scorpion garbage. The match itself wasn’t very good as Sid was green and limited and Sting wasn’t ready to carry a stiff to a good match yet.
As mentioned earlier, the WWE Network aired the edited version of this PPV, and so these matches were not reviewed: Terry Taylor vs. Bill Irwin, Brad Armstrong vs. JW Storm, The Southern Boys vs. The Master Blasters and JYD vs. Moondog Rex. So I missed nothing…
Final thoughts:
Not a bad card, as everything but the Freebirds match was watchable stuff. The hard hitting action that made the NWA so fun was prevalent for yet another evening of action…but next time…next time I venture to the land of Wrestlecrap for Clash of the Champion’s 13: Thanksgiving Thunder. Pray for me…
