Halloween Havoc '89 Page 2
· NWA World tag title match: The Freebirds v. The Dynamic Dudes
Finally, something to work with. The Dudes have Jim Cornette with them here and nearly get booed out of the building by the Philly crowd, which is hugely ironic today considering that Shane Douglas became the darling of Philly a few years later. The much cooler Freebirds get a massive face pop. Welcome to Philly. I hate both teams passionately. For some reason, Garvin is only one to bring his belt. Michael's moonwalk gets a good pop. We cut to Johnny Ace holding Garvin in a side headlock and tormenting Hayes. The Dudes clear the ring with some fancy double-teams and get a huge heel pop. They don't know how to react.
Then, in a glorious moment, the crowd starts chanting "You suck" when Ace gets in the ring. Hayes pops Ace from outside with a cheap shot and gets a big face pop. This is Bizarro World, folks. This crowd has to be heard to be believed. Ace is outside the ring and Garvin keeps kicking him in the head to keep him out. A huge "Freebirds" chant breaks out. Ace is caught in the corner and MAN this crowd is bloodthirsty. Hayes with a double-whip clothesline to the corner and goes for the DDT, but Ace blocks. Hot tag to Shane Douglas, who clears the ring to another heel pop. Pier-six and the crowd is getting downright hostile. Dudes go for the double-slingshot suplex on Garvin but Hayes hooks Ace's leg from the outside and Garvin falls on top for the pin and it's one of the biggest face pops I've ever heard. *1/2
· The Steiner Brothers v. Doom
This would be the debut of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed as Doom, managed by Woman. They were masked at the time, but there were only two black guys in the NWA at the time, so the choices were pretty limited to begin with, so it was no huge secret. For those who care, Nancy Sullivan started showing up at ringside during Rick Steiner's matches as a nerdy fan called "Robin Green," cheering him on. Rick and Robin went on a date, and she began showing up in the Steiners' corner, despite the fact that Missy Hyatt was their manager. Finally, Hyatt told Green to take a hike, and she got upset and dumped Rick and changed her name to Woman, then found Doom as her revenge. Women, go fig. This was well before Doom developed talent as a team.
Lots of stalling to start as Doom runs after every major power move. Rick gets caught in the corner fairly soon into this and pummelled by Simmons, er, Doom #1. Headlock on Rick, so he pushes Simmons into his corner and Scott comes off the top with a clothesline. Rick gets pummelled again. Scott tagged in and he goes right to ruling the earth with a gourdbuster. He ducks a clothesline and hits a belly-to-back. Awesome. Scott is a shell of his former greatness these days. Scott gets tripped by Reed, leading to more double-teaming. Basic stuff from Doom: Bodyslam, double-elbow, punches, clotheslines, etc. Scott used to try anything, now he tries nothing. It's like two different people, so maybe it's a good thing he did such a drastic image change. It's hard enough reconciling them as it is.
The usual cheap heat heel tactics (choke, toss over the top, Woman interferes) from Doom. How did they ever get good? They were the DOA of 1989 and they went on to greatness. Life is weird. The match continues dragging as Scott is powerslammed (gee, guess which Doom guy that is?) for two. More cheap heat segments with the false tag, leading to a spike-piledriver while the ref's back is turned. It only gets two. Hot tag to Rick for real, and he cleans house with the usual, which was new back then. Scott in, Frankensteiner on Simmons as Rick powerslams Reed. Ref is distracted outside with Scott and Simmons, leaving Woman to load up Reed's mask. Reed headbutts Rick with the LOADED MASK OF DOOM! for the upset win. Bad match from a great team. *1/4 The Steiners would squash the Freebirds for the tag titles a few weeks later, and would eventually lose them to this very team after they lost their masks and gained credibility.
· US Title match: Lex Luger v. Brian Pillman
Before the injuries and the drugs and the shoot interviews, Pillman was GOD. And speaking of things that would never happen today, Luger gets a massive face pop here in Philly, even as a heel. The Rock is currently doing Luger's heel schtick, by the way. Luger ruled it back then. Luger was even more over as a face as a heel than as a face. Try reading that again if it doesn't make sense. Luger hammers on Pillman to start and trash talks him. Pillman gets tossed, but jumps back in and spears Lex. Chops, a 6-inch whip and a backdrop, and Luger bails. Baseball slide. More chops (whoo!) outside the ring and Luger gets tossed in. Air Pillman attempt but Luger bails. Chase outside and Luger decks him as he comes in. More punishment in the corner. Crowd is divided 50/50.
Cross-corner whip on Pillman leads to a flying bodyblock by Pillman for two. Pillman works on the arm to slow things down. Luger with a hiptoss which Pillman reverses out of mid-air and goes back to the arm. To the corner, cross-corner whip and charge but Luger eats boot. Pillman goes for the Money Shot and Lex moves. Luger whips him and does the "upsy-daisy" facefirst plant. Throat-first to the top rope. Running clothesline, which he could actually hit realistically in '89. Pillman with chops to fight back (whoo!). But Pillman puts his head down and gets booted and clotheslined, front and back. Crowd is 70/30 for Luger. Elbows to the head. Hanging suplex for two. Elbowdrop, but Pillman's fighting back again.
Luger tosses him to relieve the pressure. Pillman sunset flips him on the way in for two. Luger goes for a lariat but Pillman ducks and Luger goes flying. Chops in the corner by Pillman and the TEN PUNCHES OF DOOM!, but Luger atomic drops him out and sets up for the superplex. Pillman shoves him off and sunset flips him for two. Chops (whoo!) and a flying elbow. Chops (whoo!) and a backdrop. Pillman nails Air Pillman but Luger's got a foot on the ropes. Rude Awakening and Pillman to the top, but Luger moves. Clothesline misses, but Luger catches Pillman on a bodypress and stun-guns him for the three count to retain the title. Bitchin' match. ****
· The Skyscrapers v. The Road Warriors
Ah, for the days when all was right with the world. The Skyscrapers literally dwarf the Warriors. This would be what JR would call a Slobberknocker. Nobody's selling nothin'. Spivey and Hawk trade shoulderblocks before Hawk does a diving one to get him off his feet and out of the ring. Sid blows his first move, a clothesline, which Hawk pretends to have ducked in order to cover. Double-slam by the Warriors but Sid no-sells. Shoulderblock exchange by Animal and Sid. Again, a flying shoulderblock takes him down and out. Okay, we're going nowhere here.
Test of strength gives Hawk and Sid plenty of time to plan spots. Hawk pushes him to the corner and monkey flips him. WHOA, A WRESTLING MOVE! Sid no-sells. Animal dominates Spivey, but Hawk tags in and gets caught in the corner. Sid wipes out Hawk with a clothesline and a helicopter slam. Sidewalk slam by Spivey for two. Spivey no-sells a clothesline and baseball slides Hawk. Double-whip clothesline on Hawk that looks terrible. Sid scowls a lot. Spivey puts his head down but it doesn't matter because he no-sells the kick to the head. He no-sells a suplex and tags Sid back in. I'm surprised someone didn't shoot on these punks. Hot tag to Animal, not seen of course. Avalanche by Spivey, but he eats boot on the second one. Real hot tag to Animal, who dropkicks Spivey and shoulderblocks him, then gets into a melee with Sid. Pier-six erupts. Powerslam on Sid but Teddy Long tosses in the GOLD KEY OF DEATH! for the weak DQ. Don't even ask about the key, I don't even remember what it was for. 1/2*
· Thundercage match: Terry Funk & Great Muta v. Ric Flair & Sting
Bruno Sammartino is the guest ref. This was a true Thundercage, as the cage is electrified on top and the only way to win is by having your second throw in the towel. Gary Hart represents the heels, Ole Anderson represents the faces. The cage is a Hell in the Cell type deal, covering all of ringside and going about 30 feet in the air. No roof, but the top is slanted inwards and electrified to prevent escape. It starts out as a regular tag match that happens to be inside a cage. Flair and Funk start, and Flair dumps Funk over the top rope, just because he can. Sting gets in and follows suit. Flair nearly takes the skin off Funk's chest with a chop. OUUUUUUUUCH! Muta gets some too.
Sting ranks on Muta. Flair in with the rapid-fire punches to the head and a nasty atomic drop. Then it finally turns into a psychotic brawl. Flair and Funk ram each other into the cage while Sting and Muta try some wrestling. Sting with the flying head-smash on both heels. They try some more wrestling then everyone starts climbing the cage. Funk is hanging off the top and Flair starts chopping away on him. What a dick. They switch off as Sting beats on Funk and Flair figure-fours Muta in the ring. Flair gets distracted by Funk and Muta gives him an enzuigiri while Flair is on the second rope. Vicious kick, too. Funk ties Sting up on the cage as Muta applies the bridged deathlock to Flair. Stuff piledriver on Flair.
Sting is still having problems getting free. He gets loose and dives off the cage onto Funk. Whoa. More brawling and Muta goes for the moonsault but gets crotched by Sting. Flair gets the figure-four on Funk and Sting dives off with splashes to add to the move. Brutal. Gary Hart gets into a fight with Ole Anderson as Bruno decks Muta. Ole nails Hart and the towel goes flying, which Bruno sees, and stops the match. Some brutal spots but pretty disappointing overall. **1/2
The Bottom Line: I liked this show, but not as much as the incredible WrestleWar/Bash double-shot that came before it. Still, some good stuff wraps up a good year for the NWA, if we assume that Starrcade '89 didn't happen. ;)
Mildly recommended.