BRM Reviews WCW Halloween Havoc 1997

[Big Red Machine]

WCW Halloween Havoc 1997 (10/26/1997)- Las Vegas, NV

ULTIMO DRAGON vs. YUJI NAGATA (w/Sonny Onoo)- 6.75/10. Good story

CHRIS JERICHO vs. GEDO- 5.75/10

TITLE VS. MASK MATCH FOR THE WCW CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE: Eddie Guerrero(c) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr- 8/10

MONGO & DEBRA SEGMENT- good

STEVE “MONGO” MCMICHAEL vs. ALEX WRIGHT (w/Debra)- 4/10. Having Goldberg pick Wright up and dump him on Mongo instead of dragging him was a genius idea.

DISCO INFERNO vs. JACQUELYN- DUD! The announcers told us that this match was not sanctioned by either WCW or the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The first five minutes of this match consisted of Disco ducking to the outside and running away from Jackie. Eventually she rolls him up, but he kicks out, then takes her down with a drop toe hold. Then they go back to the running away stuff. We are told that this is because Disco does not want to hit a woman. If he doesn’t want to hit a woman, and the match is unsanctioned… why is he out here? If the match isn’t sanctioned, there should be no penalty for not accepting it… so why did Disco accept it?

Eventually, Jackie, the babyface, gets her hands on Disco and starts pounding on him, but, because he won’t hit her… he doesn’t fight back. So we now have the babyface beating up on someone who won’t fight back. To make sure that this helps nobody at all, Jackie rolls Disco up to get the win while he is arguing with the ref. A complete and total DUD!

WCW UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Curt Hennig(c) vs. Ric Flair- 7.25/10 A great brawl, which was what this needed to be. Flair just charging down to the ring was a great touch. I loved the finish, too.

LARRY ZBYSZKO AS SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: Lex Luger vs. Scott Hall (w/Syxx)- 7/10. Good aftermath, too.

LAS VEGAS DEATH MATCH: Diamond Dallas Page vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth)- 7.75/10

STEEL CAGE MATCH: “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper- 1.25/10. This match made no sense. It seems as if the only way to win is by escaping, as there is no ref in the ring to count pinfalls, and one of the announcers said “if he gets out, it’s over.” Both men went barreling out the door at the same time, so the match should be a draw, right? Nope. There was no bell-ringning or anything. The match just kept going. Later in the match, Hogan hit Piper with a leg drop and called a referee in to count the pin. So if you need someone to count pinfalls, why wasn’t there a referee inside the cage the whole time?

At another point in the match, the ring became surrounded by about eight Stings, and Hogan seemed clearly afraid of them. When Hogan was going to drop down to the floor to escape, one of the Sting’s used his bat to stop him… but then, when Hogan called for help, Randy Savage RAN RIGHT BY TWO STING’S, NEITHER OF WHOM MADE ANY MOVE WHATSOEVER TO STOP HIM!

And from a booking point of view... why the hell wasn’t this a World Title match? Piper, who has beaten Hogan in the past and been screwed out of the WCW title back in February, has stolen the belt from Hogan. We have a cage match to keep the nWo out and Hogan in (which is why Hogan doesn’t want it)… why the hell was the belt not on the line here? If it wasn’t Piper shouldn’t have brought the belt to the ring with him.

I am giving this match a 1.25 because there was some decent brawling between Hogan and Piper and it did have a big-fight atmosphere, as well as one or two good spots.

AFTERMATH- crap. Savage and Hogan beat on Piper until Bishcoff somehow (and for no real reason at all) comes in the ring, followed by one of the Stings (none of the others try to stop Bischoff or get in the ring and save Piper. The Sting who does get into the ring turns out to be not the real Sting, and is easily dispatched by Hogan. Then a fan with Sting facepaint on (not one of the many official Sting impersonators still on the outside, doing nothing) scales the cage and jumps into the ring and is beaten up by Hogan and Savage. The announcers try to sell Hogan and Savage beating this guy up as a despicable act, but it utterly fails because HE JUMPED THE GUARDRAIL AND ATTACKED THEM. Anyway, the crowd is left chanting “WE WANT STING” while Piper is hanging limp from being beaten, a fan dressed as Sting is carried away by security, and a whole bunch of people dressed as Sting stand around the ring doing nothing, the real Sting either being nowhere in sight, or just one of the many ineffectual losers on the outside. Complete and total crap.

Overall, a good show marred by a typically stupid, disappointing and overbooked WCW main event. I would have called it very good if it only had either the dud or the ultra-disappointing near-dud main event, but with both, I just can’t do so, which is a shame, because the rest of the card deserved it. A must-buy from Rey and Eddie fans, though.