WCW Halloween Havoc 1996 Results and Review

Poster For Halloween Havoc 1996

Going back to 1996 the New World Order was in full effect. Hollywood Hulk Hogan had defeated The Giant at Hog Wild, he had turned heel at Bash at the Beach and was going through every main eventer. Then came The Macho Man to lay claim to the title, before he too joined the New World Order.

Halloween Havoc 1996 was held on October 27, 1996 in Las Vegas. There were a legit 10,000 people there, and the crowd was hot at various times. There were 10 total matches, with 7 of them being on PPV. Here’s how it went down.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1996 Results

Dean Malenko defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. in the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship
Diamond Dallas Page defeated Eddie Guerrero
The Giant defeated Jeff Jarrett by DQ
Syxx defeated Chris Jericho
Lex Luger defeated Arn Anderson
Steve McMichael and Chris Benoit defeated The Faces of Fear
The Outsiders defeated Harlem Heat for the WCW Tag Team Championship
Hollywood Hogan defeated Randy Savage in the WCW World Title Match

WCW Halloween Havoc 1996 Review

Dean Malenko defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. in the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship

The opening match was an instant classic. Under 20 minutes long, and yet better than most of the WWE cruiserweight matches that you’ve ever seen. Malenko put on a show with Mysterio. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen these guys clash for the title. Lots of great back and forth, lots of high spots, and Malenko’s psychology taking the passenger seat at times.

Diamond Dallas Page defeated Eddie Guerrero

This was a stiff match. It wasn’t that great at all. It had a lot of good moments, but let’s be honest, the two weren’t in their prime just yet.

The Giant defeated Jeff Jarrett by DQ

The Giant was able to win a match against Jeff Jarrett, but not without some interference and well, this was less than stellar in under 7 minutes.

Syxx defeated Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho should’ve won this back and forth match. Syxx was good, no doubt, but Jericho was shining here with a lot of crisp offense. It would eventually break down and Syxx would get the win, but barely. Great overall match, with under 10 minutes of action, but lots of great momentum shifts.

Lex Luger defeated Arn Anderson

The crowd was going nuts for this one. Arn Anderson was amazing here, and Lex Luger was put through a good overall match. At under 13 minutes, this was a fast moving, great back and forth match that played to the crowd at various levels. When Lex Luger put Anderson into the Torture Rack, things really gained a whole new level. The crowd blew up to all new levels, and it was a fun romp.

Steve McMichael and Chris Benoit defeated The Faces of Fear

This was a somewhat boring match. Meng and The Barbarian were monsters, and it showed here. The two were able to put on a hard hitting battle with the Four Horseman members, and it wasn’t half bad. Sure, it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t half bad, good stuff if you like big man matches.

The Outsiders defeated Harlem Heat for the WCW Tag Team Championship

The Outsiders had good chemistry with Harlem Heat, and this match showed the two could work well together. Harlem Heat had too much going on with Sister Sherri and Col. Parker, and that led to their downfall here. Hall and Nash finally pick up the tag titles, and this would be a momentum swing for the New World Order.

Hollywood Hogan defeated Randy Savage in the WCW World Title Match

At under 20 minutes, this was less than classic between the two. However, the fans were all into this one. Randy Savage was blown up midway, and Hogan was not at his best either. But the two knew how to worked the crowd. I didn’t think this was a great match at all, but the fact that the two could get the crowd into a feeding frenzy was great to see. The match broke down into Randy Savage hitting two major elbows on Hogan, but Nick Patrick wouldn’t count the 3. That led to a break down, and eventually Hogan would win with interference from the New World Order. Oh, and Hogan had a wig on, it was great.

To end the show, Roddy Piper came to the ring, and things broke down. That would set up a feud between Hogan and Piper that would go into Superbrawl in February, but I already talked about that, and their match at Starrcade. You can click those links to see those reviews.

Overall, Halloween Havoc 1996 wasn’t that great. But it didn’t suck like most of the WCW events did in the mid 1990s. This was a great showcase of talent, and there was enough to keep me interested at times. The best match was the opener and the Lex Luger match. Other than that, this was an ok show. Get the VHS tape for the best version of this, not the WWE Network edited option.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1989 Results and Review Better Wrestling VHS Series

In an effort to go back and watch more and more wrestling, I have decided to review older VHS tapes. As you may or may not know, at the height of my tape collecting, I had 1400 wrestling videos. I had amassed a huge collection before getting married and selling it all off. Now with the network, you can relive the action. As such, here we go, a review of the 1989 classic Halloween Havoc from the Philadelphia Civic Center in Pennsylvania. Before a crowd of roughly 7,000, this was one hell of a night for wrestling, and here are my thoughts.

Halloween Havoc 1989 (October 28, 1989)

Tom Zenk defeated Mike Rotunda

You may know Mike Rotunda as IRS in the WWF but here he was part of the Varsity Club. As for Zenk, he’s known as Z-Man and he didn’t really get to far in WWE as far as I know. However, he has some serious talent. He reminds of Rick Martel, and well he was part of the Pan Am connection. This was a 13 minute, finesse wrestling match, with some good spots overall, and classic old school wrestling action.

The Samoan Swat Team defeated The Midnight Express and Dr. Death Steve Williams

This wasn’t half bad. It was a match that was fast paced, hard hitting, and featured a lot of crowd interaction. The crowd was going insane for everything that each team did, especially when Jim Cornette got involved.

Tommy Rich defeated The Cuban Assassin

Not a good match. Rich was looking old. Cuban Assassin was on his way out, so this must’ve been the bathroom break match.

The Fabulous Freebirds defeated The Dynamic Dudes (Tag Team Title Match)

Holy crap, Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas coming out with skateboards and neon gear! This was hilarious to see, and a bad idea. However, the match featured The Fabulous Freebirds, and they were the champions in this match. Michael Hayes came out without the tag title, and Garvin had one around his waist. That seemed odd to me. Overall, the match wasn’t half bad, and the Freebirds were way over with the crowd, and of course after around 11 minutes, they won this one.

Doom defeated The Steiner Brothers

Holy crap, The Steiner Brothers were over, and they were so fast in ring. Doom is Butch Reed and Ron Simmons and they had a hard time keeping up with the Steiners. Also, note, Nancy Benoit was the manager of Doom. Whatever the case is, the Steiners lost this one after getting distracted. However, they put the boots to Doom, and Scott Steiner was really impressive in this one. Holy crap, the dude can move, and the Frankensteiner is a thing of beauty.

Lex Luger defeated Brian Pillman (United States Championship)

Lex Luger and Pillman tore the house down in my opinion. This match was just under 17 minutes, and the two put on a classic. Pillman was flying around, but Luger was doing power moves and trying to ground and pound his way through this one. Eventually Pillman missed from the top rope, and Luger capitalized. A great overall match in my view.

The Road Warriors defeated The Skyscrapers

This was another hard hitting tag team match. Holy crap was it hard hitting. The Road Warriors weren’t selling as much, and you could tell. It was very noticeable that Sid Vicious was NOT as tough as Hawk or Animal. The match went by nicely, but it was The Road Warriors that got the win with a DQ finish. A young Teddy Long was here, so that was interesting.

Ric Flair and Sting defeated The Great Muta and Terry Funk in a Thunderdome Cage Match with Bruno Sammartino as special guest referee

And away we go, the main event was an insane wrestling match, that was very strange. The Thunderdome cage match was supposed to have an electrified top. I didn’t really see that come into play much. However, this match turned into a brawl fast, and you will absolutely be surprised how ripped Terry Funk was in 1989. Furthermore, Sting and Flair teaming without Flair turning on him. Muta was undefeated at this point, and the four guys in this match absolutely fought a hard hitting brawling cage match. Not a lot of blood or anything, but a lot of just straight chops, suplexes and Sting flying off the top rope a lot. Good overall main event, but a little old school for many tastes.

Halloween Havoc 1989 Overall rating: 8 out 10

The best part of this show was the U.S. Title match, alongside the Steiners and the Samoan Swat Team. This type of wrestling was far and away better than the WWF product at the time, that’s for sure. I had a blast with this one, and the crowd reactions are the best with this. The crowd was distinctly involved with all the matches, and the main event had them going absolutely insane.

I recommend buying Halloween Havoc 1989 on VHS, because it's unedited. If you see it on the network, the music, and some of the signs, and broadcast has been edited for time, and WWE's only standards! Click here to get the UNEDITED version. 

Rare Wrestling Finds: Halloween Havoc 89 VHS

This week's rare wrestling find has me looking through amazon to search for a good copy of WCW Halloween Havoc 1989 on vhs. This was never released on dvd, and it is relatively rare. I know a lot of people didn't watch WCW because it was not WWF or WWE, but the late 80's and mid 90's stuff was awesome. I promise it's worth the investment.

The matches that occurred at Halloween Havoc 1989 live from the Philadelphia Civic Center featured many old stars, including:

Tom Zenk defeated Mike Rotunda

The Samoan Swat Team (Samu, Fatu and The Samoan Savage) defeated The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) and Steve Williams (with Jim Cornette)

Tommy Rich defeated The Cuban Assassin

The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) defeated The Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace) (with Jim Cornette)

Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) (with Woman) defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott)


Lex Luger defeated Brian Pillman

The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) (with Paul Ellering) defeated The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey) (with Teddy Long)

Ric Flair and Sting (with Ole Anderson) defeated The Great Muta and Terry Funk (with Gary Hart) (with Bruno Sammartino as special guest referee) in a Thunderdome match

You can purchase this vhs by clicking here.



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