Welcome to part 2 of 4 in this month’s Halloween Havoc themed column! Part 2 features a match from each of the 1993, 1994, and 1995 Halloween Havoc Events. I’m doing this a bit out of order, as the 1992 Havoc will be featured with 1996 and 1997 in part 3 next week. Hope you enjoy!
Halloween Havoc, October 24, 1993 from New Orleans, LA
World Television Champion Steven Regal defending against the British Bulldog: Regal was one of WCW’s most underrated and underused talents of the mid 90’s. During his reign as TV Champion, Regal defended his title against the British Bulldog at the ’93 HH event. Regal and Bulldog put on one of the most technically sound matches of the night, and wrestled all the way to a fifteen minute time limit draw. Regal was WCW’s stable TV champ during the mid 90’s and Bulldog only wrestled for a short time in the company. This is definitely a match worth watching for it’s high technical quality.
British Bulldog: After failing to win any major championships in WCW, Bulldog returned to the WWE in August of 1994 and would wrestle strong at the mid card level until a heel turn in late 1995. The heel turn led to the Bulldog having a rematch with Bret Hart at the December 1995 In Your House event, where Bulldog would fail to capture the WWE Championship from the Hitman. Bulldog then began feuding with Shawn Michaels for the WWE title in May and June of 1996. Bulldog could not succeed in beating Shawn for the title in two separate ppv main events. Bulldog would put over Psycho Sid at Summerslam that year in a number one contender’s match for the WWF title, and went on to form a Tag Team with Owen Hart. Bulldog became the first European Champion in early 1997 while holding the tag titles with Owen, and formed the New Hart Foundation with Owen and Bret shortly thereafter. Bulldog left the company immediately after Bret in November 1997 and went to WCW. He saw very little success there and saw even less success in 1999 when he returned to the WWE. Bulldog passed away in 2002.
William Regal: Regal would capture four television titles during his time in WCW, but would fail to capture tag team gold as one half of the Blue Bloods(Triple H being his original partner and Bobby Eaton replacing him). Regal would achieve more success in the WWE, winning four world tag titles with Lance Storm, Tajiri, and Eugene as his partners. Regal also won the Hardcore title on three occasions , held the IC title twice and the European title four times. Regal also served as the commissioner in 2000 and won the 2008 King of the Ring tournament. Regal wrestled three notable matches with CM Punk(January 2008 finals of the KOTR tourny, July 2008 for Punk’s WHC, and January 2008 where Regal lost the IC title to CM Punk). Regal now serves as a filler for Smackdown, Superstars, and NXT.
Halloween Havoc, October 23, 1994 from Detroit, MI
Vader w/ Harley Race VS The Guardian Angel: The Guardian Angel, Aka the Big Bossman, had been feuding with Vader throughout 1994. These two gave us a short back and forth brawl that resulted in the two fighting on the outside as well as the inside of the ring. If you want to see a straight up fight(better than what we saw with Hogan/Sting the other night, that is), then this is a match for you to look at. Bossman was dominant in the closing minutes of the match until Vader hit a series of punches to knock Bossman off his feet. Vader then leaped from the middle rope and was slammed in mid-air by the Bossman. Bossman then hit the diving headbutt and Vader was able to kickout! Vader eventually turned momentum and hit the Vader Bomb, but Bossman was also able to kickout! Bossman reversed a second Bomb attempt and was able to gain momentum. Vader kicked out of several slams and Bossman got distracted by Harley Race when he hit the sidewalk slam on the big man. Bossman was able to suplex Race into the ring, but Vader hit the big splash as Bossman landed the suplex on Race and picked up the quick pinfall. Good match from two bigger athletes.
Big Bossman: Bossman would join the Dungeon of Doom and eventually join the NWO. During the end of his WCW run, Bossman turned face and feuded with members of the NWO. Bossman returned to the WWF in the fall of 1998. Bossman was immediately established in the mid card role and joined Vince McMahon’s Corporation. Bossman would capture the Hardcore Title four times and won the tag team titles with Ken Shamrock while with the group. He went on to have a feud with Al Snow that resulted in the kayface death of Al’s pet Dog, Pepper, that Bossman eventually fed to an unknowing Snow. Bossman’s next controversial feud was for Big Show’s WWF Championship. Bossman mocked the Big Show and kayfabe interrupted his father’s funeral and dragged away the coffin. Bossman would fail to capture the title. Bossman brought in Bull Buchanan to be his tag team partner, but the two only lasted a few months as a tag team. Bossman would serve in a filler role after that until May 2002. He would then serve as an OVW trainer for the WWE until 2003. He died of a heart attack in 2004.
Vader: Vader would go on to win his only US title in WCW at Starrcade from Jim Duggan. Vader would be stripped of the US title in April of 1995 after several attacks on superstars. Throughout 1995, Vader would fail to capture the World Championship from Hulk Hogan in a number of matches contested between the two, and Vader would be fired from WCW in late 1995 after a backstage incident with Paul Orndorff. Vader would join the WWF in January 1996 and make his debut at the Royal Rumble. Vader failed to win the rumble and joined Camp Cornette after that. Vader would pin Shawn Michaels in July that year in a six man tag to earn a WWF Title shot at Summerslam. Vader failed to win the title from Michaels and would go on to feud with the Undertaker, Kane, and Goldust before eventually departing the WWF in 1998. Vader made a few sporadic appearances in Japan, an appearance in TNA, and one final appearance in WWE after that.
Halloween Havoc: October 9, 1995 from Detroit, MI
Johnny B. Badd vs Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW TV Title: The future Wild Man in the WWF, Marc Mero, was able to defeat DDP in this contest despite outside involvement from Max Muscle. Muscle’s interference in this match backfired and allowed Badd to get the victory over Page. This match has some cool high spots in it and is definitely a TV Title match worth taking a glance at. Johnny B. Badd was able to walk away as the new TV Champion.
Marc Mero(Johnny B. Badd): Mero ended up being a three time WCW TV Champion. He would go on to the WWF and win the IC Title in a tournament following Ahmed Johnson’s injury and forfeit of the title. After dropping the title to Triple H in October of 1996, Mero wrestled mid card matches until he suffered a knee injury in early 1997. Mero would go away for six months and his wife, Sable, would become a bigger star than she already was during his absence. Mero would come back with a “Marvelous Marc” gimmick in a boxer type role. He had a storyline feud with his wife and ended up being embarrassed multiple times throughout the angle. Mero would vow to retire in late 1998 if he could not beat Duane Gill. Mero lost the match and left the WWF shortly after. Mero would have sporadic appearances on the XWF and in TNA in 2004 but would never reach championship success in another promotion.
Diamond Dallas Page: Personally, I feel Page was the original watered down version of a guy named Steve Austin. Page was the rebel that went against the big group(NWO), and had a huge fan following. The comparison to Austin comes from the fact that Page wasn’t a very talented wrestler. The guy knew how to work a match, and he knew how to brawl. But let’s face it, DDP was no Bret Hart/Undertaker/Kurt Angle/Dwayne Johnson. Sorry DDP fans; it’s just a fact. The guy was entertaining and fit his time period, but he isn’t one of the best ever. DDP would only hold the TV Title the one time, the WCW tag titles four times, the US Title twice, and the WHC three times. Page failed miserably in his stalker storyline with the Undertaker’s wife in the WWF, and would only hold the tag titles with Kanyon one time and European Championship one time during his time with the company. Page is a guy that will best be known for being the face of WCW during it’s best run, along with guys like Sting and followed unfortunately by Bill Goldberg. Page is perhaps remembered best during his time in the WWE for his phrase, “that’s not a bad thing…that’s a good thing.”
These are all good examples of matches that helped shape WCW into the organization that it was. I often felt that the quality of the pay per view cards and the actual structure of the matches in WCW was far superior than that of the WWF. That’s all for this edition. Next week you’ll get part 3 of HH and part 4 will be put out on Halloween. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
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