WCW Halloween Havoc 1996
WCW Halloween Havoc 1996
NR | 27 October 1996 (USA)
WCW Halloween Havoc 1996 Trailers

Hollywood Hogan defends the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against "The Macho Man" Randy Savage. The Outsiders face Harlem Heat for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. "The Total Package" Lex Luger takes on "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson. Dean Malenko takes on Rey Misterio Jr. for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and much more!

Reviews
SlyGuy21

1st Match: Rey Mysterio vs Dean Malenko, WCW Cruiserweight Championship. While this isn't as good as their previous encounters, it's still a great way to start the show. It slows down a little in the middle, mostly so Malenko can technically dissect Rey, but other than that, it's got great action and the crowd's really into it. Rating: 4/52nd Match: DDP vs Eddie Guerrero. Not as good as DDP's match with Chavo from the previous show, but they do the best they can here. Even at 13 minutes though, the match goes longer than it needs to, making the ending anticlimactic. Still entertaining enough. Rating: 3.5/53rd Match: Big Show vs Jeff Jarrett. I literally forgot Jarrett existed, I completely forgot he left WWF a few months before this, and I've already completely forgotten this match. Big Show can have an entertaining match, but not here. I remember Jarrett trying to act as a face, which doesn't work because his whole gimmick is that he's an obnoxious country musician wannabe. It's not even 7 minutes, and the match is still slow. Also Flair low blows Show for absolutely no reason, having the match end in a DQ. That was pointless. Rating: 1.5/54th Match: Chris Jericho vs X-Pac. Again, forgot X-Pac left WWF awhile ago too. The match is pretty good, the problem is Nick Patrick. I already didn't like Patrick, but now he's a heel ref who gives slow counts for the nWo's opponents, so you can imagine what I think of that. Jericho and Waltman do a good job though, and I guess it adds more to the nWo stable as a whole. Rating: 3.5/55th Match: Lex Luger vs Arn Anderson. I think I've finally figured out the problem with Lex Luger, he has no moves. Other than punches, clotheslines, and the torture rack, he has literally nothing else. So his opponent has to change their moveset in order to adapt to his limited one. Now this wouldn't be a problem if Luger had charisma, but he doesn't, he has the personality of a toaster. So the match drags on for 12 minutes, with Arn losing and being taken to the hospital. This is only really here to set up the Horsemen leaving and not being there for the next match. Boring, next. Rating: 1.5/56th Match: The Faces of Fear vs Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael. So they're still trying to pass off the Dungeon of Doom as a threat, even though the nWo became Public Enemy #1 a few months ago. At least the match has some high points, like good double team work from the Faces of Fear and Benoit winning was a good idea. After the match, the Dungeon completely destroys Benoit and McMichael, which will probably further this feud that doesn't need to exist. Rating: 3.5/57th Match: Harlem Heat vs The Outsiders, WCW World Tag Team Championships. It was kind of obvious that Hall and Nash would win this, but they keep the match entertaining for being so obvious. Harlem Heat does whatever they can to be faces, but Hall and Nash get cheered out of the building. If anything it shows how the nWo was becoming more popular with crowds, even when they were supposed to be defacto bad guys. The match has some good moments, and Hall and Nash winning did a lot to add to the nWo's threat level. Rating: 3.5/58th Match: Hollywood Hogan vs Rabdy Savage, No DQ match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan comes out with a toupee on, which surprised me, because I thought it was his legit hair. Typical heel stalling by Hogan, which makes it even better once Savage gets ahold of him and rips his hair off. The match is actually a pretty entertaining brawl, certainly not a technical masterpiece, but still fun because it has chair shots and it goes all over the ring area. Nick Patrick comes out once Randy Anderson gets KOd, and after Big Show chokeslams Savage on the floor, Hogan retains the belt. After the match, Roddy Piper shows up to verbally rip Hogan a new one and calls Big Show "Sprout". I thought that was funny. An entertaining brawl to close the show. Rating: 3.5/5Final Rating: 6 out of 10. Even though 2 matches on this card are insanely boring for me, it's got enough entertaining matches for me to recommend it. Not the best WCW show this year, but you could do a lot worse, believe me.RIP Chris Benoit & RIP Eddie Guerrero

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callanvass

Live from Las Vegas, NevadaAttendance: 10,000Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes & Bobby HeenanCruiserweight ChampionshipRey Mysterio Jr. (C) Vs Dean MalenkoMalenko wins the title after a powerbomb from the top. You're not gonna find many better openers than this! Aside from a few moments with some boring rest holds, this match clicks on all cylinders. I could watch these two wrestle all day. The scary thing is this isn't even close to what these two are capable of.***3/4Diamond Dallas Paige Vs Eddie GuererroDDP wins with the Diamond Cutter. This was a pretty good match between these two. DDP's ground game meshed well with Eddie's high- flying style. I wouldn't call it anything outstanding, but it was a good match. My only complaint is that DDP's Diamond Cutter was sloppy here.***Ted Dibiase says Jeff Jarrett is stupid because he refused to join the nWo. Jeff Jarrett told the nWo to stick it. The Giant says that's pretty good advice. The Giant will stick Jarrett to the wall, the floor, the ceiling, and when it's all said and done, he's gonna chokeslam Jarrett. Everybody goes through the glue factory. The Giant Vs Jeff Jarrett (W/Ric Flair)The Giant wins by DQ after Flair comes in and delivers a low blow to the Giant. It's too weird seeing Jarrett as a babyface. He played a babyface in TNA as well, and I didn't like it then either. As far as the match goes, it was OK for a David vs Goliath scenario. Jarrett's offense was believable enough.**Ted Dibiase and Syxx both say Jericho is a fine athlete, but tonight, Jericho's gonna get crucified against Syxx.Syxx Vs Chris JerichoSyxx wins with a roundhouse kick. It's not without controversy. Nick Patrick kept counting slow when Jericho had a pin attempt. I was pumped for this one. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but it's still well above average. There are plenty of high-flying moves and quality wrestling to enjoy.***1/4Lex Luger Vs Arn AndersonLuger wins with the Torture Rack. Luger does some heavy damage to Arn's back to the point where Arn has to be carried out on a stretcher. This match lacked intensity for a feud that was intense. I'd call it distinctly average. This was somewhat Arn's swan song as a wrestler. He wouldn't wrestle very much after this due to all the injuries suffered over the years.**The Faces of Fear (Meng & The Barbarian) (W/Jimmy Hart) Vs Chris Beniot & Steve McMichael (W/Debra & Woman)Beniot and McMichael win after some chicanery from The Four Horsemen, The Four Horsemen pay for it after the match by getting their asses kicked severely by The Dungeon of Doom. This match was OK at best. The Faces of Fear had some cool moves and shockingly looked really good. Beniot looked like a badass after the match by taking on everybody. Overall, it advanced things well, even if the match wasn't great.*3/4Tag Team ChampionshipHarlem Heat (C) (W/Sister Sherri & Col. Rob Parker) Vs The OutsidersThe Outsiders win the titles after Nash nails Stevie Ray with Parker's cane. This match was mediocre with an obvious result. It lacked any kind of spark at all. I was amused at the "Razor and Diesel" chants, though.*1/2World Heavyweight ChampionshipHulk Hogan (C) (W/Ted Dibiase & The Giant) Vs "Macho Man" Randy SavageSavage has the match won with the flying elbow from the top, but Nick Patrick stops counting at two. The Giant comes down and chokeslams Savage on the floor. The Giant rolls Hogan on top of Savage and gets the win. This was an overbooked mess! It's a crying shame because these two are capable of really good matches together. They didn't need all of this over protection. *1/2Roddy Piper makes a surprise appearance at the end of the show. Piper comes up with a great line. "I'm not here to represent WCW, NWA, the SPCA, or the SOB. But I can be one SOB when I wanna be" Piper says he's just as big an icon in wrestling as Hogan is. Hogan tries to cut Piper off by sucking up to him by saying he and Piper were neck and neck in wrestling. Piper says at Wrestlemania, Hogan wasn't able to beat him. Piper's the only guy Hogan's never been able to beat. Piper says it's the fans who made Hogan. Piper takes Hogan's belt and they bicker as Halloween Havoc goes off the air.Thoughts: Piper and Hogan isn't something that really excites me in 1996. Piper was excellent and intense on the microphone as usual. He made some good points about Hogan. Hogan did a fine job of playing the arrogant heel.This PPV really goes downhill after a while. Piper's appearance and the Cruiserweight Championship are worth seeing, but not much else.5/10 overall.

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amanwhorocks

1. WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Dean Malenko Vs. Champ-Rey Mysterio, Jr. - Classic Holds, classic submission, prepare yourself for HQ bout. Which match I should give 10/10 if this one not? New champ. 10/102. Diamond Dallas Page Vs. Eddie Guerrero - Eddy and DDP fit each other well. Beautiful cooperation. 9.5/103. Giant Vs. Jeff Jarrett - Power wrestling with DQ ending. Ric Flair wasting around the ring for Jarrett. 6/104. Syxx Vs. Chris Jericho - Nick Patrick screwed Jericho with fast count :/ Another lost for Jericho 7.5/105. Arn Anderson Vs. Lex Luger - Luger almost all the match worked on Anderson's back, what was strategic and pretty boring too. Anderson did it same way, on Luger's back. Lex, by the way, applied very poor Catapult and both guys overacted like hell. That wasn't good. Luger won by Torture Rack. 5.5/106. Faces of Fear Vs. Steve McMichael/Chris Benoit - Surprisingly good action even by the FoF. Benoit was, like always, best performer. McMichael didn't get Barbarian so he walked around like an idiot when Benoit pinned Meng. 6.5/107. WCW Tag Team Championship: The Outsiders Vs. Champs-Harlem Heat - New champs. Nothing so special. 6/108. WCW World Heavyweight Title Match: Champ-Hollywood Hogan Vs. Macho Man - Hogan is terrible wrestler but great heel. Patrick screwed Savage (and WCW second time this evening), which fought like for his life. Big victory for Hollywood. Then Piper approached and let his mouth ran on Hogan. Regardless, match wasn't so boring like Hogan and Savage confrontation could be. 6/10

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