‘WWE Vintage Collection TV Report #73 – October 25^th, 2009

Shown on Sky Sports in the U.K.

By Stephen Lyon.

This week: The conclusion of a Halloween-themed month of shows. This week’s sub-theme was the 'Best of WCW Halloween Havoc'. Matches featured were: Chris Jericho vs Raven (1998); The Halloween Phantom vs Tom Zenk (WCW debut of Ravishing Rick Rude, 1991); Harlem Heat vs Kevin Nash & Scott Hall (1996); and Lex Luger vs Flyin' Brian Pillman (1989).

The Show:

Show opened with the excellent WWE tribute video to the late Captain Lou Albano.

1) WCW TV Champion, Chris Jericho retained his title, defeating Raven. This match was from the 'WCW Halloween Havoc 1998' pay-per-view event, held in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 25th, 1998. Announcers for this match were Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan & Mike Tenay. This was an unadvertised, impromptu match, placed on the show on the night. Raven did some mic work before the match, refusing to wrestle. Jericho then sarcastically insulted Raven, claiming all the Jericholics came to see him wrestle, and how it would be a huge honour to face Raven in a match. He called the Flock 'a bunch of losers and idiots', which prompted Raven to run to the ring and start fighting Jericho, and the match was on. Jericho put the boots to him, then whipped Raven with his own leather jacket. Both guys were heels, but the crowd were solidly behind Jericho for this one. Raven clotheslined Jericho over the top rope to ringside, and went over with the move as well. Outside the ring, Raven suplexed Jericho on to the ring steps, then used the steps as a springboard to jump off and dropkick Jericho.

After a commercial break, Jericho knocked Raven to the outside again with a springboard dropkick, but then missed a plancha dive through the ropes, hitting his head on the guardrail. Back in the ring, Raven had Jericho in a sleeperhold, but Jericho broke free and gave Raven a belly-to-back suplex. Jericho exposed one of the steel turnbuckles, but Raven powerbombed Jericho, then catapulted him into the turnbuckle. Jericho fought back and placed Raven in the liontamer, but Raven reached the ropes to break the hold. Raven hit his own finisher, the Evenflow DDT, but only scored a two count. The finish of the match came when Chris Kanyon came to ringside and jumped on to the ring apron to interfere. Jericho collided with Kanyon, but as Raven attempted to roll up Jericho, Jericho sat down on Raven, and turned the move into a liontamer, with Raven tapping out straight away. This was a very good match, wrestled at a fast pace and was very entertaining. Amazing to think this was thrown together as a last minute addition to the pay-per-view, but then again, that was the story of WCW during this disorganised, counter-productive era.

2) The Halloween Phantom (Ravishing Rick Rude) defeated Tom Zenk. This match was from the ‘WCW Halloween Havoc 1991' pay-per-view event, held in Chattanooga, Tennessee on October 27th, 1991. Announcers for this match were Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone. The Halloween Phantom was a one-time only gimmick, used as a vehicle to debut Rude. He came to the ring wearing a black bodysuit and half-black, half-white mask, and immediately began pounding on Tom Zenk. This was pretty much a squash, although Zenk did get a dropkick in. The Phantom finished off Zenk with the famous Rude Awakening neckbreaker, prompting the announcers to allude to who the mystery man may be.

After the match, Eric Bischoff (dressed as 'Dracula', this was back when WCW had the announcers dress up in lame costumes for the Halloween show) interviewed Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa on the ring ramp. Dangerously ranted about how WCW management had been trying to get rid of him, and that in order to get his revenge, he was going to dismantle WCW from within, brick-by-brick. He'd asked Madusa to find him the man who could get rid of Sting. They brought in the Halloween Phantom, who then unmasked as Ravishing Rick Rude. Rude then cut a great promo on Sting, calling him a 'low life scumbag', and Dangerously called Rude 'the next United States Champion'. This was a really entertaining segment and great debut for Rude.  

3) Kevin Nash & Scott Hall defeated Harlem Heat (w/Colonel Robert Parker & Sister Sherri Martel in their corner) to win the WCW Tag Team titles. This match was from the ‘WCW Halloween Havoc 1996' pay-per-view event, held in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 27th, 1996. Announcers for this match were Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan & Dusty Rhodes. Harlem Heat were supposed to be the babyfaces and Nash & Hall the heels, but of course, it was the complete opposite here. Scott Hall squared off with Booker T, with T hiplocking Hall to the outside. Hall came back in and spat at Stevie Ray, then gave T a uranage suplex. He followed this up with a fallaway slam on T. Sherri jumped on to the ring apron and slapped Hall. Hall responded by kissing Sherri (total babyface spot) leading the crowd to chant 'Razor, Razor'. Stevie Ray eventually made the hot tag, and worked over both Outsiders. Finish of the match came when Harlem Heat hit the Harlem Hangover, but the referee was distracted. Colonel Robert Parker inexplicably climbed into the ring, so Nash grabbed his cane and used it on Stevie Ray, leading to Hall pinning Ray for the title win and huge crowd pop.

4) NWA U.S. Champion, Lex Luger defeated Flyin' Brian Pillman. This match was from the 'WCW Halloween Havoc 1989' pay-per-view event, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 28th, 1989. Announcers for this match were Jim Ross & Bob Caudle. Flyin' Brian made his ring entrance surrounded by a female cheerleading squad. Luger attacked Pillman at the start of the match, throwing him face first into the turnbuckle, then slamming him. Pillman showed great fire, coming straight back at Luger, using chops, backdropping him and dropkicking him. After a commercial break, Luger was back in control, giving Pillman a standing vertical suplex for a nearfall. Pillman escaped to the ring apron and used a sunset flip on Luger, but Luger came back and used an inverted atomic drop on Pillman. Flyin' Brian wasn't about to give up, and used 'Air Pillman' (springboard dropkick off the ropes) on Luger for a nearfall. The finish of the match came when Pillman missed a top rope dropkick, and Luger then used snake eyes, dropping Pillman throat-first across the top rope, before pinning him for the title-retaining win. This was a very good match.   

Gene Okerlund closed the show by announcing that next week will see the start of the annual retrospective look-back at the Survivor Series.

Closing thoughts: This was a very good show this week. Jericho vs Raven and Luger vs Pillman were all-action matches. Rude as the 'Halloween Phantom' vs Zenk, followed by the interview segment with himself, Dangerously and Madusa was very entertaining. Nash & Hall vs Harlem Heat was a bearable match, despite the screwed up crowd reactions. I was expecting this show to be a burial of WCW (featuring the likes of the 'Chamber of Horrors' match from 1991, with Abdullah the Butcher getting electrocuted in the cage), so this exceeded my expectations. Next week sees the start of the annual Survivor Series retrospective. Last year's retrospective ended with the 1997 event, so hopefully they will remember this and begin with the 1998 event onwards.

Match Results:

1) WCW TV Champion, Chris Jericho defeated Raven via submission (‘WCW Halloween Havoc 1998' pay-per-view event - Las Vegas, Nevada: 25/10/98). 

2) The Halloween Phantom (Ravishing Rick Rude) defeated Tom Zenk (‘WCW Halloween Havoc 1991' pay-per-view event - Chattanooga, Tennessee: 27/10/91). 

3) Kevin Nash & Scott Hall defeated Harlem Heat to win the WCW Tag Team titles (‘WCW Halloween Havoc 1996' pay-per-view event - Las Vegas, Nevada: 27/10/96). 

4) NWA U.S. Champion, Lex Luger defeated Flyin' Brian Pillman (‘WCW Halloween Havoc 1989' pay-per-view event - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 28/10/89). 

Please note: I DO NOT sell DVDs or tapes of any of these shows. Sorry!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s report. For other reports like this one, be sure to check it out my website archive at http://www.classicwrestlingreports.com .

It’s no longer updated, but this website carries all of my previous WWE Classics tv reports that have been featured on the old WrestlingObserver.com website.

As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Until next week, have a good week.

Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.