Live from Philadelphia, PAYour hosts are Jim Ross & Bob CaudleMike Rotunda Vs "The Z Man" Tom ZenkZenk gets a chorus of boos during his introduction. Philly doesn't like pretty boys. Zenk wins by reversing the momentum of a cross- body by Rotunda off the top turnbuckle. This was a pretty boring opener with too much stalling and far too many rest holds. It got to the point where JR had to talk about rotunda's amateur wrestling credentials a lot. The crowd was fun, though, booing Zenk every chance they had. *1/4The Midnight Express & "Dr. Death" Steve Williams (W/Jim Cornette) Vs The Samoan Swat Team & The Samoan Savage (W/ Sir Oliver Humperdink) It's surreal to see Cornette as a face! The Samoan Swat Team are The original Headshrinkers. The Samoan Swat Team wins when Cornette drills Humperdink with his tennis racket on the apron, then one of the Swat Team members nails Stan Lane into Cornette's tennis racket and pins Lane. This was far more fun than I expected it to be! The chaotic nature really served this match well and there was never a dull moment. Williams was over like rover in this match. The crowd went nuts for everything Williams did.***1/2The Cuban Assassin Vs Tommy RichTommy Rich wins with a Lou Thez press. This is a match that could cure your insomnia. If anyone's looking for something to put them to sleep, this match might do it. The crowd crapped all over it too withTommy Rich sucks and boring chants. 1/2* (Half a star)Tag Team ChampionshipThe Fabulous Freebirds (C) Vs The Dynamic Dudes (W/Jim Cornette)The Dynamic Dudes are Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace (John Laurinaits. I can't help but picture CM Punk's epic pipe bombs on Laurinaits when I see him with a mullet. The Freebirds retain the titles. The match was relatively crappy, but the atmosphere was electric. The Freebirds are supposed to be heels, yet they were over as F*** in Philly. There were deafening Boos and Freebird chants throughout the match. I'd argue that this is worth a watch just for the crowd atmosphere alone. *The Steiner Brothers Vs Doom (W/Woman)Doom is consisted of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed. Doom wins, thanks to some chicanery from Woman. This was a solid tag match. Watching the Steiner's suplex the hell out of people never gets old. I'm not saying Doom was terrible, but The Steiner's made this as good as it was. ***United States ChampionshipLex Luger (C) Vs Flyin' Brian PillmanLuger wins with a stun gun off the ropes. This was a decent match for the most part. Pillman managed to inject enough life into it with his high-flying arsenal to make this watchable. Unfortunately, it's bogged down by slowness at the start. As much as they tried to say how big of a star Luger is and how high is potential is, he was never really that great. **1/4The Road Warriors (W/Paul Ellering) Vs The Skyscrapers (W/Teddy Long)The Skyscrapers are Danny Spivey & Sid Vicious. The Road Warriors win by disqualification after the use of a foreign object by The Skyscrapers. Power was the name of the game here. The result turned out to be very boring. The Skyscrapers were booked well as unstoppable monsters, but it quickly grew tiresome when it produced no excitement. Strangely enough, Sid Vicious is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time*Thunderdome Cage MatchThe Great Muta & Terry Funk (W/Gary Hart) Vs Ric Flair & Sting (W/Ole Anderson) Bruno Sammartino is the guest referee. There are no disqualifications, no time limit. The only way you win is when either Ole Anderson or Gary Hart throw in the towel. The cage is similar to Hell in a Cell, just a slightly different structure. The cage is also full of electricity. Flair and Sting win when Gary Hart throws in the towel. This was a unique concept with some creative spots, but I don't think they went as far as they could go by a long shot. They played it safe for the most part. It was a fairly solid match, just a rather ordinary one. **3/4Final Thoughts:This was an OK PPV. The main-event was decent, but nothing that will shake your world. The Thunderdome Cage is a cool concept, but it didn't really pan out, at least for my liking. The best match on this show was the six-man tag with The Midnight Express & Steve Williams Vs The Samoan Swat Team. The crowd was electric most of the night and very vocal. They often made some of the poorer matches fun because of their enthusiasm. It's worth a watch once, but nothing more than that.5.8/10
... View MoreLet's see what was on card of first Halloween Havoc ever.1. Captain Mike Rotunda Vs. Z-Man - Crowd were bored. 5/10 2. Samoan Swat Team Vs. Dr. Death/Midnight Express 5.5/10 3. Tommy Rich Vs. The Cuban Assassin - Many "boring" chants. 4/10 4. Tag Team Title Match: Champs-The Freebirds Vs. Dynamic Dudes 6/10 5. The Steiner Brothers Vs. Doom - Good old Steiners. remember Rick in 1999 with his Gay-biker image, horrible. Good old days... 6.5/10 6. US. Title Match: Brian Pillman Vs. Champ-Lex Luger - I know Luger is Bad wrestler, but this match doesn't suck like I expected. 6/10 7. The Skyscrapers Vs. Road Warriors 6/10 8. Cage: Sting/Ric Flair Vs. Terry Funk/Great Muta 6.5/10 There were some decent matches. Yeah... but nothing special, even the main event was average...
... View MoreWhen Ted Turner change what has become Georgia Championship Wrestling to World Championship Wrestling who would know 10 years later the competition would buy them out(WWE). This was wrestling at it's best. None of that storyline crap or sports entertainment stuff. This was real wrestling. Hopefully with this re-vamped NWA-TNA some of the glory will come back.
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