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.
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