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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 20, 2014 23:42:59 GMT -4
The thing formerly known as Medusa is out to shill the WCW perfume.
Which I think is enough for me tonight.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 20, 2014 23:44:08 GMT -4
Oh, and of course the perfume bit turns into a worked shoot... because Russo.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 7:36:01 GMT -4
So, they follow the Medusa worked shoot with Hogan vs Sting for the title. The title match not going on last is, of course, a Halloween Havoc tradition.
Nice video package before the introductions... Which is longer than the "match" as it's another Russo worked shoot. Hogan immediately lays down in the ring, A confused Sting makes the cover. Three second "match".
I really like how during the introduction they showed every single pro-Hogan or anti-sting sign in the audience... You know, to really drive home the "screw you" to anyone who happened to be looking forward to this.
It immediately cuts to the Goldberg/Sid promo package.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 8:03:28 GMT -4
Sigh...
Okay, Goldberg/Sid is never going to be Steamboat/Flair, right? But by itself, it's a serviceable brawl. The issue here is the narrative.
Goldberg, the closest thing to a top Babyface this company had, attacks Sid backstage earlier in the night. So Sid comes to the ring already wearing a crimson mask and with a big old bullseye on his forehead.
After a brief and meaningless appearance by the outsiders during Goldberg's entrance, Goldberg reopened the wound on Sid's head. Sid bleeds buckets. The referee stops the match due to Sid's excessive bleeding, awarding the belt to Goldberg, though Sid wants to keep fighting.
It's like Austin/Hart from Mania 13 if you took out the great psychology and replaced it with HGH.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 8:07:37 GMT -4
Also, were Rick Steiner and Sid a team? I have no memory of this, but Steiner is the one who comes out to help Sid to the back.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 8:13:51 GMT -4
And sting comes back out to issue an open challenge.
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Post by MT on Oct 21, 2014 8:23:59 GMT -4
You've got more endurance for bad WCW PPV than I do. I can barely force myself to watch a lot of that late WCW stuff. That one was not even one of the most offensively bad shows they did that year. Top three maybe.
You know, according to Russo though it was because no one understood what he was trying to do and they had already taken control from him by the time he got there. You know Russo, the same idiot who keeps lying about his involvement in the Owen Hart incident and lying about how it came about even though the truth was part of a court deposition and a matter of public record.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 8:39:19 GMT -4
DDP/Flair in a strap match is next. Solid brawl, but the crowd is flat for most of it... Probably deflated from the Sting/Hogan thing and the way Goldberg/Sid ended.
This is a strap match that can be won by pinfall or submission... Because Ed Ferrera and Vince Russo have never seen a strap match before.
Screwy ending here. Page hits the Diamond Cutter, makes the cover. Flair doesn't kick out, but referees Charles Robinson stops the count at two as though he did.... Then calls for the bell and declares Page the winner. Page then Diamond Cutters Robinson. If I had to guess, I'd say Robinson just screwed up.
After the match Page beats down Flair. David Flair runs out with a crowbar to save dear old dad, but Kimberly low blows him and gives the crowbar to DDP.... Who nails Flair in the junk with it.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 9:32:02 GMT -4
You've got more endurance for bad WCW PPV than I do. I can barely force myself to watch a lot of that late WCW stuff. That one was not even one of the most offensively bad shows they did that year. Top three maybe. You know, according to Russo though it was because no one understood what he was trying to do and they had already taken control from him by the time he got there. You know Russo, the same idiot who keeps lying about his involvement in the Owen Hart incident and lying about how it came about even though the truth was part of a court deposition and a matter of public record. Breaking them up is the key. The unadvertised main event of Sting/Goldberg will have to wait until after work, but you're right. It's not "offensively bad", aside from the thing with Hogan. The worst thing about Havoc 99 is that you can see the start of all the things that will make WCW all but unwatchable by year's end: The confused, overlapping stories, the lack of clean finishes, the Russo swerves, the worked shoots, the constant vacating and hot shoting of titles, no clear faces or heels, etc. They are all there; they just haven't achieved the purity they would be refined to by the time of say Mayhem. Oh, as you know how to tell if Russo's lying, don't you? He only lies on days ending in "Y". |
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 21:16:57 GMT -4
Goldberg beat Sting in a three minutes and some change. That's twice in this that the last match has been a three minute Goldberg squash.
Clearly it worked so well this time they decided to do it again the next year.
Honestly though, this isn't Goldberg's worst match. Heck it wasn't even his worse match on this PPV.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 21:30:52 GMT -4
Final thoughts on Havoc 99:
Best match: Flair vs Page beats out Eddie/Saturn and Disco/Lash
Worst match: obviously Hogan/Sting is the worst "match", but since it wasn't really a match, let's discount it for a moment. Of the rest, I say Armstrong/Berlyn was the worst because it didn't belong on PPV and was the point from which Berlyn was irreparably damaged.
Counter programming note: earlier this same month, the WWF presented No Mercy, featuring the first tag team ladder match between the Hardy's and Edge & Christian.
All in all, Halloween Havoc 1999 is really bad, it's just disappointing. Watching it, you can't help but wonder what someone else could have done with the company if they had taken over in October of 1999. Probably the financial and political mine field that was WCW would have doomed anyone to eventual failure, but I can't help thinking that someone like Jerry Jarrett or Jim Cornette or Dutch Mantell would have failed less spectacularly.
Roll of the dice to pick the next Havoc gives us: 1994.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 21:41:55 GMT -4
94 is in Detroit, sadly, there's no Monster Truck Sumo match in the offering tonight. Instead, we are promised a career vs career cage match between Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan.
Match based retirement in wrestling is a lot like death to a comic book character.
Which I guess makes Shawn Michaels the wrestling equivalent of Spider-Man's uncle Ben.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 21:49:28 GMT -4
Okay before we get to the first match, there are a few things we have to discuss.
The opening video package is awful. Even by Clinton administration standards.
Brain is wearing a big neck brace. No context. No idea why. Mean Gene makes a passing reference to it as an insurance scam.
The national anthem is sung by... Some guy. I think he was a country artist signed to warner brothers, cause that's who they usually had do these things, but if they said his name I missed it.
I'm not going to critique someone's musical talent, because I have none. But this is not a good rendition of the national anthem. Also the guy is dressed in a shirt that looks like Bob Holly's old "Sparky Plugg" pesudo fire suit.
But... Muhammad Ali is sitting at ring side. So, this is the coolest Hallowen Havoc of them all.
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 21:51:51 GMT -4
Sweet Jesus, the opening contest is Johnny B. Badd defending the TV title against: THE HONKY TONK MAN!!!!
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Post by guiltyparty on Oct 21, 2014 22:05:17 GMT -4
Ten minute time limit draw sees Badd retain.
Not a good match. But we know Honky was pretty much just there for the paycheck.
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