Halloween Havoc 2000: Hocus Bogus

It is amazing to think that it’s been 19 years since we have witnessed a Halloween Havoc event of any kind.

The show was always remembered as being one of the top two shows of the year, alongside Starrcade, where rivalries came to ahead and for having one of the most detailed and elaborate entrance sets of any pay per view. By 2000, WCW budget cuts were apparent, as the roster had evolved to a much younger generation (although a couple years too late) and ratings were a clear indicator that the company was on its last leg. Unfortunately, this was not the big sendoff that this historic event deserved. Many fans hope that one day either WWE or AEW will bring back Halloween Havoc and after I watched this show, I’d love to see it come back if it means erasing this debacle.

WCW Tag Team Championship: Natural Born Thrillers (Mark Jindrak & Shawn O’Haire) © def. Boogie Knights (Disco Inferno & Alex Wright) and The Filthy Animals (Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio)

This match was contested under 3-way Triangle Rules, which means that one competitor from each team would be in the ring at one time, so it would always be a triple threat match. It’s so easy to forget how athletic Jindrak and O’Haire were and how much potential they had considering that their talents were wasted in WWE. This was a decent opener to start with, but it did turn sloppy at times when the match broke down with all men in the ring at once. The announcers (Tony Schiavone, Stevie Ray, Mark Madden and Konnan for this match only) seemed lost at times during the frenzy.

WCW Hardcore Championship: Reno © def. Sgt. AWOL (The Wall)

I really like having trash cans filled with weapons bungee corded to each ring post. The action stayed outside the ring for the most part. Reno eventually won with a Roll of the Dice (today’s Cross Rhodes) onto an unset table, which was a weird spot. The match was way too long and should had ended after a double table spot off the ramp about seven minutes in, but we get about seven mins on top of that, at least that’s what it felt like. The match went backstage and went downhill from there, reminding me of Bruce Prichard on Something To Wrestle With discussing how hardcore matches being away from the fans drains the excitement out of the arena.

BACKSTAGE SEGMENT:

If you catch it, there is a very bad editing job here. Shawn Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo came out at the end of the Hardcore Title match in their wrestling gear for a post-match beating on AWOL. WCW immediately went to backstage footage with the Natural Born Thrillers and Shane Douglas, but magically, Palumbo and Stasiak are in workout clothes. It takes a good 15 seconds before the “earlier today” text pops up on the screen. Douglas was in the process of thanking the Thrillers for taking out Konnan at the end of the Tag Title Match and for even retaining their titles. Either WCW could see into the future or Stasiak and Palumbo changed their clothes and cloned themselves very quickly for that “live” segment. When they go back to the announce table, Schiavone, Ray and Madden all have a very puzzled look on their faces.

Col. Cajun & Lieutenant Loco (Lash Leroux & Chavo Guerrero Jr.) def. The Perfect Event (Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo)

Amazingly, for a match that was just announced, Palumbo and Stasiak are back in their wrestling gear. Madden mentions that he had a conversation with Chavo Guerrero Sr. earlier in the day and said that he hoped that The Perfect Event had some kind of sympathy towards his son and didn’t beat him up too badly. This is fine, but doesn’t at all make sense considering that when the match started, they were discussing about how the match was just announced after the previous match post-match angle. Hopefully one day, announcers will know exactly what is going on and keep their stories consistent. ONE DAY!!! Ok match, but didn’t deserve to be on this stage.

Konnan & Tygress def. Shane Douglas & Torrie Wilson

There is absolutely nothing to see here except for a good 10 minutes of Torrie Wilson cosplaying as Wonder Woman. Now that’s amazing.

DNA First Blood match: Buff Bagwell def. David Flair

This is only happening because David Flair wants a sample of Bagwell’s blood so that he could have a DNA test done in time for Nitro to find out whether or not Buff Daddy was Stacy Keibler’s Daddy for one night, which of course, led to her being pregnant. Buff won after a chairshot to the head, which then cued up Lex Luger’s 500th heel turn as he laid Buff open outside the ring just enough that David gets his sample back to the waiting doctors in the locker room. Before anybody comments, I’m pretty sure Russo was gone by this point, but I’m going to argue that this storyline could be a layover idea of his. Finally, the storyline was just dropped after Stacy announced that she faked the whole thing and then disappeared until March just in time for WCW to close its doors.

Kickboxing match for Sole Commissionership of WCW: Mike Sanders def. Ernest Miller by count out

Don’t watch this because boxing matches of any kind don’t mix well with pro wrestling. WCW clearly never saw Brawl for All. The match was set for three two-minute rounds. Sanders won via count out after the third round had already ended. It was explained that they were having an overtime round so we had a clear winner. I don’t watch boxing, but I’m sure there are judges stationed ringside to make that decision for us, not the “WCW booking committee.”

Mike Awesome def. Vampiro

Vampiro’s character is perfect for this pay per view, but it’s easy to see how the “That 70’s Guy” gimmick just killed Mike Awesome. This is the match where a fan in the stands tried to head butt Awesome and then got his ass kicked. The timestamp for this moment on WWE Network is 1:27:27. This is easily worst match of the night – Dave Meltzer gave it -2 ½ stars. He may have been a little harsher on it than my opinion, but I’m also a fan of both Vampiro and Awesome.

WCW United States Championship Handicap match: Gen. Rection (Hugh Morrus) def. Jim Duggan & Lance Storm ©

This is ok. Rection and Storm have great chemistry together, but sadly, having Duggan in this match drags it down. It’s a good storyline, but this was clearly done to get the title onto Rection without Storm taking the loss. At least WCW was trying to keep Storm, one of its best wrestlers on the roster at this point, strong.

Jeff Jarrett def. Sting

This was weird, but for some reason I enjoyed it. Jarrett had several different Stings come down throughout the match to represent the different versions throughout his career: Surfer Sting, Crow Sting, NWO Wolfpack Sting and about three more. I’m pretty sure the one Sting that came from under the ring would later become Chris Harris of America’s Most Wanted (or Braden Walker for you knock knock joke fans). The OG Sting would destroy all these fake Stings until the mandatory guitar shot from Jeff Jarrett got “The Chosen One” the win.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Booker T © def. Scott Steiner by DQ

This was the breakout match for Scott Steiner as a singles wrestler. Like Sting at Clash of the Champions or JBL at Judgment Day 2004, this established “Big Poppa Pump” as a main eventer. However, this has a bad ending that makes Steiner look like an idiot because he loses his temper and attacks the referee, which gave Booker T a DQ win to retain the title.

Handicap Elimination match: Goldberg def. Kronik (Brian Adams & Brian Clark)

A four-minute main event is a slap in the face. I get the point that WCW was trying make by having Goldberg be dominate and continue his new streak, but this completely killed Kronik. Goldberg would pin Clark after spearing him through a table. The bell rang to indicate the end of the match, but the referee waved it off only for Schiavone to say “I guess it’s an elimination match?” One minute later, Goldberg would defeat Adams with a Jackhammer and just as quickly as this match start and ends, Halloween Havoc goes off the air with Goldberg celebrating his victory.

Overall, this is not a good show. This is just about as WCW 2000 as you can get. Many will argue the reasons why WCW folded, but inconsistent storylines, absurd matches and nonsensical finishes on a regular basis is what I see when I go back and watch.

Best Match: Sting vs. Jarrett because I loved the multiple Stings getting destroyed throughout the match and it looked like the real Sting was having fun doing it.

Worst Match: Awesome vs. Vampiro, which is sad but it just seemed like these guys didn’t gel together.