WCW Halloween Havoc 1993 Recap – An Minnesotan Review
By Eric Darsie
Sunday, October 24th, 1993 – Lakefront Arena – New Orleans, Louisiana – One of the most famous pay-per-views World Championship Wrestling put on every October, Halloween Havoc was a October favorite of mine to rent from the video rental store when I was growing up. A personal favorite of mine had to be the 1993 Halloween Havoc, main evented by WCW Champion Big Van Vader facing Cactus Jack in a “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” Texas Death match. A match that always influenced me on wanting to rent this in the mid-90s.
Let’s get into the review!
The show opens up with a video package of some kids out trick-or-treating, advertising for Halloween Havoc. The kids argue over what’s good or not for which house to go to for candy. I never remember arguing with my friends when I went out for candy on Halloween night. They walked up to a scary looking mansion and the gate behind them closed. One kid said that it looks haunted and why not go home to watch the pay-per-view? When they rang a bell for the house, Tony Schiavone answered the door. They asked him why he wasn’t at the pay-per-view, and he was answering their questions creepy. I love it! Schiavone was trying to creep the children out, hyping up the Cactus Jack versus Vader main event match! The kids weren’t scared or impressed with the main event match, so Tony told them to watch what he could do, and took off his mask and revealed that he’s a monster!
After that, we go live to the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans and pyro went off and Eric Bischoff welcomes us to the show as the host of the pay-per-view! After Bischoff welcomes us to the show, he sent us down to ringside and Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura welcomed us to the show as well, and hyped up the main event match with Vader and Cactus Jack.
Harlem Heat and the Equalizer versus Ice Train, Charlie Norris, and the Shockmaster – 20 minute time limit
One thing that I was surprised that I didn’t remember was the original names Harlem Heat came in as, Kane and Kole. I prefer their real names over their gimmick names, Stevie Ray and Booker T.
Charlie Norris’ gimmick is a Native American. Good, since when I first saw his name on the marquee, I thought he may have been a Chuck Norris rip-off. Thank goodness that I was wrong!
Ice Train and Booker T. started the match. I guess Booker’s name back than was Kole, so I figured out which Harlem Heat played who for their gimmick names.
Both Booker and Ice Train tried to out power one another and Ice Train got the early advantage because he’s ripped compared to Booker. Sorry Kole, you aren’t the body builder Ice Train is.
Norris and Stevie Ray got into the ring with one another and the few spots they did with one another got the fans into the match. The Shockmaster got tagged in with Norris had the upper hand and the fans popped, since the Shockmaster was a former WWF superstar.
Later in the match, the Equalizer entered the match for the first time against the Ice Train. Man, that skullet that man was sporting was great! Besides that, I never heard of the Equalizer before. I guess I can Wikipedia him later when I have time to figure out who he is.
One move I was impressed with was the closeline that the Equalizer hit onto Charlie Norris out of the corner. It reminded me a lot of John “Bradshaw” Layfield’s Closeline from Hell!
The finish of the match came when the Shockmaster slapped on the massive bear hug onto one of the guys from Harlem Heat and connected with the splash, along with the three count! A combination I don’t recall seeing before and a combination that I enjoy seeing from a bigger guy.
Winners: the Shockmaster, Ice Train, and Charlie Norris
Rating: ¾* – I have to say a good opener for the card, if it was anywhere other than the opening match, I don’t think the fans would of gotten into it as they did. The guys worked hard for what they put on, I have to say not the greatest match I’ve seen, and not the best six-man tag match I’ve seen either, but for 1993 standards, I won’t complain.
After the match, the six wrestlers kept brawling with one another, which caused a pop from the crowd, and something I enjoyed, because it helped get me into the rest of the card.
We got sent backstage when Eric Bischoff interviewed Terry Taylor, who will be a referee later in the night, and Bischoff told the fans that Taylor will be the second referee for the Rick Rude versus Ric Flair match later on. Taylor said that he’s made a lot of bad decisions before in his life and he will make the right decision as the ref of the Rude vs. Flair match.
Paul Orndorff (with the Assassin) vs. Ricky Steamboat – 20 minute time limit
Knowing what kind of competitors these two guys are, I am surprised this wasn’t the first match, since they can easily start the card off on the right foot and get the crowd in a good mood. Let’s see how this match turns out.
When the opening bell sounded, Mr. Wonderful attacked Steamboat since he had his back turned and was waving at the fans. A great way to keep whatever heel heat Orndorff had on him during this time. That’s one thing I appreciate about the beginning of this match, the heel took an early advantage of the babyface when the opportunity was given.
Jesse Ventura even called Steamboat out on that, the Dragon shouldn’t of been playing to the fans and been giving Mr. Wonderful the attention he deserves. That’s one thing I enjoy about Jesse, giving us some wisdom, one proverb at a time.
Within a few minutes of having the advantage, Orndorff took the beating he was dishing out on Steamboat to the outside, even bodyslamming him on the wooden ramp. Something that I feel brings this match up, even though this match has been one-sided, giving Paul Orndorff the early advantage and grappling the Dragon in any place around the ring.
Shortly after they brought the brawl back inside the ring, Steamboat gained the advantage with an awesome looking arm hook. Both men ran to opposite sides of the ring and when they came back, Steamboat jumped into the air and hooked Orndorff’s arm, making both men go flying into the air, seemingly bringing Mr. Wonderful’s arm out of socket. The Dragon took a few minutes working on Orndorff’s arm, weakening it for later in the match.
A spot in the match I enjoyed was when Ricky Steamboat was working on Paul Orndorff’s fingers and Ventura was calling the Dragon out on it. “The Body” was questioning why the Dragon had to do something dirty and cheap like that to gain an advantage on someone who he already had the advantage on anyway.
Mr. Wonderful tried to rolled out of the ring to get distance with him and the Dragon and Steamboat followed and brought the damage to the Dragon. Once too many times the Dragon left Orndorff alone and Mr. Wonderful got a second wind and gained the upper hand on the Dragon, firing up against him and sent him over the steal railing and into the crowd.
Turning point of the match had to be when both men ran to the ropes and tried to hit a flying cross body on one another and both men laid around, hurt. Both men tried to roll one another up with pin attempts, only to each other kicking out (or for Orndorff, the ref caught him holding onto the ropes and the ref kicking his hands off of the ropes, which always brings a smile to my face).
The ending of the match came when Steamboat was on the outside of the ring and the Assassin put a foreign object in his mask and headbutted the Dragon, causing him to be knocked out and being counted out.
Winner: Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff
Rating: *** 1/3* — To my surprise, the crowd was into this match, which made it better in my eyes, and both men were able to keep my interest high during the whole match. I don’t think there was any low point during the match, even when both men had the advance and was beating down their opponent for what seemed to be minutes on end. They mixed it up from grappling inside the squared circle and brawling on the outside by the fans, which made this match worth while. If you want to see a well-worked match, seek this match out. One of the best technical matches I’ve seen in a very long time.
Before the next match, Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura wanted to talk about the Big Gold Belt. That belt is recognized as a World Heavyweight title, and it’ll be recognized as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship by the WCW International Board, or something like that.
WCW World Television Championship: Davey Boy Smith versus Lord Steven Regal (champion – with Sir William) – 15 minute time limit
Jesse mentioned during the British Bulldog’s entrances that there’s a little girl in Minnesota (he name dropped her, but I didn’t catch her name) that loves Davey Boy Smith. Ventura put over that his fandom goes all the way to Minnesota, putting over the Bulldog.
Thinking of it, the WCW Television title has to be one of my favorite titles because it was based upon a championship being defended every television show. The NWA and WCW for the longest time always put great, technical wrestlers as the Television Champion, knowing that they have to defend the title at every show. Regal was a great choice during this time frame for WCW.
For the first few minutes of the match, both guys were showing one another up with counters and cartwheels (yes, both the British Bulldog and William Regal did cartwheels) and I popped for them, not knowing that both men can do one, and do one well. Great work, gentlemen.
After showing the fans live and on pay-per-view, both men started to chain-wrestle one another, and I enjoyed that, coming off that awesome Orndorff vs. Steamboat match in the previous match. Man, I forgot how great 1993 WCW wrestling actually was. They had a lot of great wrestlers back during this time.
An awesome spot I loved during the match that showed off Davey Boy’s strength was when Smith put Regal in the Surfboard submission, putting Lord Steven up in the air with the Bulldog’s leg and arm strength. A move that I feel like isn’t as well appreciated that it ought to be.
Around the ten minute mark, Regal had Smith in an unusual submission hold, wearing out the Bulldog, who’s been down on the mat for a few minutes, with Regal working holds on the Bulldog, keeping him on a short leash.
When there was a minute to go, the Bulldog finally gained an upper hand on the champion, trying to defeat the champion before the time limit expired. Right when there was ten seconds left of the match, the Bulldog nailed the piledriver on Regal and went for the cover, and got to the count of two before the time limit expired.
Winner: Time-limit draw – Steven Regal retains the WCW Television title
Rating: * – Wasn’t a show-stealing performance out of William Regal but he defiantly got a good match out of the British Bulldog. I felt like this brought the fans down in the arena, even though they were still into the match, but wasn’t like the match prior. If Regal wasn’t in the match, I feel like this match wouldn’t of been as good as it was and I feel like Regal carried that match for the whole thing. I know during William Regal’s WCW TV title run, he often would do time-limit draws, but often be one of the best matches of the night, if not the best match. He defiantly did a great job carrying the Bulldog through this match, but in my eyes, wasn’t a show-stealing performance.
Oh yeah, Michael Buffer was our ring announcer for the match. A nice touch by WCW but an expense that wasn’t needed. At least WCW tried to differentiate themselves from the WWE and using Michael Buffer for title matches and main events for pay-per-views were one great way to do that.
After the match, we were sent to Eric Bischoff at the stage and the WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader, along with his manager Harley Race, came out to “Spin the Wheel and Make the Deal” for his main event match against Cactus Jack. Race says something on the mic, which I couldn’t understand, and Vader spun the wheel, and it laded on the Texas Death Match stipulation. After that, we were sent back to the ring and to Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura.
WCW United States Championship Match: “Stunning” Steve Austin versus “the Natural” Dustin Rhodes
When Steve Austin came out, the camera panned to a sign saying that he’ll be the wrestler of the 90’s. I have to agree with that sign; Steve Austin did become the wrestler of the 1990’s, but not for WCW, but for their competition.
Something that surprised me was when the United States Champion’s theme hit and Dustin Rhodes came down, he got a good response from the crowd. It made me smile that he got a good pop from the crowd. In addition to that, it also makes me smile knowing that I’m about to see two future WWE stars that’ll be main eventers (or close to it) in about four years after this match.
This match started out pretty slow, both men sizing one another up and not trying to make the wrong move right away. Defiantly a great way to differentiate from previous matches on the card. After typing this, Jesse Ventura even mentions the same thing at the announcer’s table. I’m happy I’m not the only one to observe that.
Something that both announcers mentioned at the table was Steve Austin and Dustin Rhodes have been tag teaming for the better part of the last year, and Ventura and Schiavone wondered if both men would have the endurance to compete in this singles match, since both men aren’t able to tag their partner out when they get winded. To me, what those two men did is gold, giving us history of both men who are in the squared-circle entertaining us.
Both guys are wrestling a slow match, using a lot of submission holds, wearing one another down. Like said, a great way to make their match different from other matches on the card and other matches that will follow before the show is over.
Towards the end of the match, Rhodes and Austin started to quicken the pace of their match, which caused the fans to get more into the match. Rhodes went for the bulldog he’s known for and Austin side stepped him and threw him to the top rope, crotching him up there, giving Austin the opportunity to gain the upper hand.
The finish of the match came when Austin used the ropes to pin Rhodes, but when the referee counted the three, he saw Austin’s feet were up on the ropes, so he called off the three count, which caused Austin to find the belt, thinking he won, but Rhodes came up behind his challenger and rolled him up for the victory.
Winner: Dustin Rhodes, retaining the United States title
Rating: * – It was a good match but the pacing was really slow and I feel like both men did nothing during the slow part of the match. The match was most interesting when they brought up the pace at the end. If they kept the match up like that, I feel like the match would have been better. To my surprise, the fans were into the match more than I was, which is a good thing, I suppose.
After the bell, Steve Austin found the United States Championship and stunned him with the belt. With the belt shot, Dustin Rhodes was busted wide open over the forehead, and Stunning Steve walks off with the belt, even though he lost the match.
Ventura and Schiavone show us a video package from WCW Saturday Night between the next match, where the Nasty Boys fought Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio. Sags had the victory but picked up Bagwell, and because of that mistake, their opponents were able to pick up the upset and became the WCW Tag Team Champions.
WCW World Tag Team Championship: the Nasty Boys (Brian Knob and Jerry Sags – with Missy Hyatt) versus Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio (champions – with Teddy Long)
It makes me happy that Flash Funk and Buff Daddy were a tag team in the early 90s in World Championship Wrestling and were the World Tag Team Champions. Besides that, Michael Buffer introduced them with the greatest Smackdown General Manager, Teddy Long, what could be better for this newly crowned Tag Team Champs?
Right away the four men started out brawling inside the ring and the challengers got knocked out of the ring, and the fans popped when Buff Daddy laid a huge kiss on Missy Hyatt. I’m sorry Missy; I hope you got paid extra for that kiss.
Like the United States title match prior, this tag match is pretty slow for pacing wise. Both teams haven’t been doing anything in particular that I feel like is worth reviewing. Thinking of it, I mentioned that how great 1993 WCW wrestling was, well, that was before this match happened. Wow, I can’t believe WCW also had superstars who weren’t that great and had them face off against each other on pay-per-view.
One positive thing about the match has to be when the Nasty Boys singled out Marcus Bagwell and kept him from tagging Scorpio in. The challengers laid a great beating on Bagwell, enough that the fans were getting tired during the match. Long did a good job as a manager to get the front row into the match.
The finish of the match came (for me, not soon enough) when the managers were distracting the referee and Buff Daddy came over after Long was knocked down to give Missy and Sags a double head butt. After that, the ref was questioning Buff, giving Sags the opportunity to hit Scorpio over the head with his boot when Scorpio was covering Knobs after hitting him with the 450 Splash.
Winners: the Nasty Boys, winning the WCW World Tag Team straps
Rating: 1/10th* – I feel like that’s generous, too. That match was long, boring, and slow, and the four guys didn’t do anything. If you watch the pay-per-view, fast forward this match, this match isn’t worth your time.
After the replay of what happened at the end of the match, we go backstage with Eric Bischoff, who’s standing with Sid Vicious and Col. Rob Parker, trying to interview both men. Bischoff said that everyone’s talking about Sid and Sting, and they’re also talking about their match. Sid said that he’d take Sting’s soul because he’s the master and rule of the world. Oh, okay Sid, if you insist.
Sid Vicious versus Sting
Tony Schiavone told us at home that Sid was the one who issued the challenge, wanting to show the world that he’s the franchise of WCW, not the “Man Called Sting.” At least these two have a reason why they’re facing one another and weren’t thrown in the ring together just for giggles and all.
Once the bell sounded, the competitors started their grappling match at a fast pace, which the fans live happy and got them into the match, which I have to agree with those fans back in 1993. With how the last two matches went, this pacing is something that I appreciate. Knowing that Sid Vicious can’t wrestle that great, either, I hope Sting can bring a good match out of him.
Within a few short minutes into the match, Sid Vicious chokeslammed Sting, like he said he was going to do in the interview before the match. Something that Schiavone questioned, as did I when he was doing it, was he taunted the crowd after the chokeslam, where he could of scored the victory if he went for the pin attempt. I guess Sid was showing us his intelligence.
After every high impact move he hits Sting with, Vicious taunts the crowd. A great heel move but something I question, if Sid said he was going to defeat Sting, why is he taking time to taunt the crowd when he has the opportunity to pin his opponent?
To my surprise, when Sid had Sting outside of the ring and by the ramp way, he grabbed a chair and nailed Sting in the back with it. The referee saw the chair shot and didn’t call for the bell. What the heck ref, was this match a “no disqualification” match? I don’t remember ever hearing that about the match. Call what you see ref!
Whenever the Stinger got the upper hand and a second breath, the fans jumped out of their seats and got into the match. When Sid had the upper hand, the fans didn’t care too much about the match. Poor Sid, maybe in a few months you can get better heat, maybe.
The end of the match saw when Col. Parker tripped Sid up on accident, thinking he tripped Sting, and held his foot down when Sting was covering him for the pin victory. The cameraman caught it on film and the announcers were calling him out on it. Lucky for Sid, he was able to kick out, and when he did, he tapped Parker on the shoulder, scolding him for holding his foot. Once Sid stood up after chewing out Parker, Sting ran up and rolled him up for the win.
Winner: The Man Called Sting
Raiting: * 9/10th* – Coming after the previous two matches and this match being pretty short itself, I think it helped out better than it probably should. Sid didn’t do too much when he had the upper hand, besides hit one or two big moves, taunt the crowd, letting his manager attack Sting behind the ref’s back, and go back and hit Sting with another move. When Sting had the advantage, he quicken the pace, got the fans into the match, and made Sid work for his money. A good Sid Vicious match, thanks to Sting on bringing that out of him.
The fans seemed super excited about Sting winning and Col. Parker screwing over Sid. The fans in the first few rows even jumped to their feet, hoping that Sid would chokeslam Col. Parker. Sadly enough, Sid just walked off and Parker followed a few steps behind.
After replays of the Sid versus Sting match, we go backstage to Big Van Vader’s locker room where he’s warming up with Harley Race. Vader tried to quicken his strikes and we see a shot of Cactus Jack, and Jack was sitting and doing the traditional Mankind sitting, swaying back-and-forth.
WCW International World Heavyweight Championship: “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair (with Fifi) versus “Ravishing” Rick Rude (champion)
One of my favorite songs in professional wrestling has to be Rick Rude’s during this time. I wish I owned the WCW theme “Slam Jam” album for I can have a copy of that song and jam out to “Simply Ravishing” when I’m down or at work. Once he got to the ring, Rude grabbed a mic and told all the fans to shut up and feast their eyes on his body and belt. Rude played a great heel!
When Michael Buffer was introducing Ric Flair, some pyro went off up in the rafters. Ventura asked why was pyro going off for the challenger. That’s a good question Governor, since the champion didn’t get any kind of pyro when Buffer introduced him.
Once the bell sounded, Fifi distracted Rude and Flair jumped at the chance of gaining the early advantage. Chops in the corner of the ring, standing vertical suplex, Irish whips into each corner to follow with chops and fists, Flair tried to soften the challenger to weaken him.
Rude got a quick advantage but ran up to the top rope and tried to hit a knee drop, which the challenger moved, and grabbed the champion and slapped on the figure four leg lock, within the “first five minutes of the match” Ventura exclaimed, weakening Rude and working on the wheels of the World Champion.
After grabbing the ropes and being released of the hold, Rude wasn’t able to get back to his feet, giving Flair a change to drag Rude to the ropes and wrap one of his legs around the ring post on the outside of the ring. Ventura questioned why Terry Taylor, who was the outside referee, wasn’t doing anything to stop Flair on gaining the outside advantage.
Shortly after Flair got back into the ring, he slapped on a toehold kind of a submission, weakening Rude more and more. When Flair tried it again, Rude threw him outside of the ring. Flair tried to hit Rude with a sunset flip, Rude sat down on him and grabbed the ropes for extra leverage for the pin, and Taylor unhooked Rude’s fingers, and Ventura was complaining about Taylor stepping in there but not earlier when he called him out on it.
Rude gained the advantage when the brawl went outside of the ring. Rude used the guardrail by the fans, giving the fans a up-close view of Flair, and trying to bust the challenger wide open. After that, they went back in the ring and Rude used some rest holds, trying to make Flair submit, along with coming off the top rope and a fist, trying to beat Flair down for the three-count or to submit.
A beautiful move Rude executed on Flair was when Flair was on the stage and Rude suplexed him back into the ring. When Flair got back up, Rude was waiting for him on the top rope, jumping off the top again with a flying fist to the top of Flair’s head. Rude tried, twice, with a three-count, but Flair kept kicking out at two.
One thing that made me smile was when Rude jumped off the top rope, Flair moved out of the way and was able to Rude’s finisher, the Rude Awakening, on him. Sadly enough, Flair was only able to get a two-count on him.
Another thing that makes me smile about this match is that’s it’s a pretty quick paced match. Both men can put on a great match and both match can wrestle. I feel like both made this match better.
The ending of the match came when referees were knocked out by two different ref bumps, the first ref went outside of the ring and Taylor stayed inside of the ring. Rude went into his tights and pulled out a roll of tape for some taped knuckles and Flair hit him, causing the taped knuckles to go flying onto the mat. Flair went and grabbed them, put them on, laid out Rude with the taped fist, and covered him. Taylor, still in the ring, started to count and before he counted the three, the original ref stopped him, telling him that he saw Flair use the taped fist. The original ref got into Flair’s face about it, than called for the bell and disqualification.
Winner: Rick Rude by disqualification and still the International World Heavyweight Champion
Rating: **** and ½* — I feel like these two men could have a lot of great matches against one another because both men can wrestle at any kind of pace and could have one hell of a technical wrestling match. This whole match went almost twenty minutes and was pretty fast for pacing, other than a few rest holds, but my interest was in the match the whole time. The ending was great, Rude trying to use the taped knuckles, only to have them used right back on him, causing him to retain the championship because the original referee saw Flair use them. I guess they fought at Fall Brawl, I may have to go back and watch that match to see how it holds up against this match. This match was better than I imagined, defiantly worth while going out to see.
Tony and Jesse went over the rules of the Texas Death Match. Here are the rules they went over:
[1] No disqualification
[2] Falls don’t count
[3] :30 rest between falls
[4] Falls anyplace in the building
[5] Match continues until one man can’t get to his feet before the 10 count
So, in other words, it’s a Falls Count Anywhere match and a Last Man Standing match, rolled into one. Once you score a pinfall, the opponent has the rest period to recuperate. After the rest period, if the opponent who took the fall can’t get up to the referee’s count of ten, he officially looses.
Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match – Texas Death Match: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader (with Harley Race) versus Cactus Jack
It saddens me that this match wasn’t for the WCW title. I feel like this match would’ve been a little bit better if the title was on the line. I guess with them having two World Champions, they really don’t need both titles to be on the line each supercard that they have.
The match started when Cactus Jack was walking down the ramp and Vader met him before Jack got into the ring. The bell sounded and the match is officially underway!
Another smile came upon my face when Jack had Vader up against the guardrail and Jack grabbed a fan’s camera and used it as a weapon against Vader. If that camera took a picture upon impact, that would be a picture worth keeping. Cactus grabbed a chair and nailed it against Vader’s head.
Once they got into the ring, Vader gained the advantage, striking Jack in the body and in the head, softening him up, giving him a beating of his life.
Two bumps that I felt were when Cactus Jack suplexed Vader from the ring onto the wooden ramp and when Jack gave Vader a back suplex on the ramp. A few seconds after the back suplex, Race came up with a chair to use on Jack, and Jack grabbed it, used it on Race, than used it on Vader.
Cactus Jack scored the first fall when he ran and closelined Vader and got the three count. Vader got a thirty second rest period before the referee started to give him the ten count. Cactus Jack grabbed a cactus from the stage (a wooden cactus) and used that on Vader. Vader fell off the ramp, so Cactus hit the famous flying elbow and scored another fall.
Vader used the stage after the second thirty second rest period to get up during the referees ten count. By the time the match continued, both men were wearing a crimson mask, showing the world that their hatred was “real.”
The third fall came when Vader hit Cactus Jack with a moonsault. Tony Schiavone was surprised when Jack was able to get up to his feet after the rest period and before the referee was able to count to ten. Good job Cactus Jack, you can win this one!
A ugly spot came when Vader hit the DDT on Cactus Jack upon the stage. The referee called for some EMTs to come and check on Jack. Vader pushed everyone out of the way, because he wanted to cover Cactus and gained the fall. The rest period kicked in and Cactus got up before the rest period ended.
Jack hit the DDT on Vader and landed himself on the chair. Race had a electric prodder and hit Jack in the leg with it, causing him to fall back down. Because both men were down when the rest period started, the referee was counting both men down. Vader got up before the referee got up to ten, so he won the match. I would of thought that since Cactus was up before the rest period finished, the ref wouldn’t of had to start the ten count. So the finish of the match was a little bit screwy.
Winner: Vader
Rating: **** — I feel like this match lived up to what was built up during the pay-per-view, and that was an all-out brawl. Both men were bleeding pretty hard and both men took a hard beating. Something that I remember from watching this on VHS about twenty years ago. I feel like the finish hurt the match a little, since Cactus was up when the rest period ended, so I don’t know why referee Nick Patrick started his ten count. Besides the finish, this match was defiantly worth the watch almost twenty years later and still holds up, in my opinion. Looking at another review, I guess the fall came when Vader pinned Cactus after the DDT. I guess that’s how the referee kept counting after the rest period. I’m happy I checked since I was confused there on the decisive fall.
Pay-Per-View Rating: *** and ½* — So, all in all, I feel like this pay-per-view was better than I could ever imagine it to be. Only a few matches in the middle of the card where I felt brought down show, but it was only two matches and the beginning and the ending series of matches brought it back up as a whole.
If you have three full hours to sit down and watch an old show, this one is worthwhile seeking. If not, the Ric Flair versus Rick Rude and the Cactus Jack versus Vader matches are definitely worthwhile seeing if you don’t want to sit down and watch the full show.
I don’t know how World Championship Wrestling could top this show in 1993, besides Starrcade. I am looking forward to watching more WCW shows from this time frame to see if other shows are as good as this. WCW had a lot of great wrestlers during this time that could work with anyone and everyone. I don’t know how they screwed up with the roster they had.
Main Event Status Radio 