WCW Halloween Havoc 1998 pt1

This gets a makeshift box cover with the starship WCW logo that just looks odd. Speaking of which, we start with a grey blur of Hogan. This show apparently aired free on WCW.com at the time and we see the OWN. We get a rundown of the big matches - of a 13 match card. The set here is outstanding and easily one of the best ever in the company's history.

Heenan, Tony, and Tenay are on commentary. it's so odd to have them hype up the biggest match in history - a WWF rematch. Heenan puts on a little gold mask and Tony just no-sells it and stares at Tenay. Nitro Girls are out to dance and make their PPV debut here. Gene is out here to interview Rick Steiner to get his thoughts on his match with Scott later. Buff is out in FUBU - the ultimate sign of '98. He recaps the history of Buff, Scott, and Rick here. Buff has Rick's back here. That'll end nicely for him. A Superman-clad fan poses. Raven vs. Jericho is up for the TV Title in a bonus match. This is a slide for Raven, who earlier was a legit thing in pop culture with the US Title reign and DDP feud.

We get a crowd shot and holy shit is there a packed house here. Jericho's WWF theme is dubbed in here. He's got a Monday Night Jericho shirt and they need to make that NOW. The TNT part would have to be nixed, sadly. Raven bitches about his losing streak and goes to leave. Jericho calls him out on being a chickenshit and wants a match. Odd heel behavior here. MORE TALKING. What is this, Raw? Raven sets up the steps and does a run-up dropkick off of them.

Jericho hits a stungun and a triangle dropkick. Jericho jump off the apron into Raven...who easily moves and Jericho just hits the railing. Raven takes a wacky flip bump into the barricade. Raven locks on a sleeper, but Jericho back suplexes him. Jericho takes the buckle pad off, and eats it with a slingshot. Raven ducks a spinkick and eats a belly to belly for 2. Jericho goes for the crab, locks it on, but Raven gets the ropes. EVENFLOW! GETS 2! Schoolboy with the jorts gets 2 for Jericho. Ballshot by Jericho leads to Kanyon coming out for some reason, bonking heads with Raven, who taps to the Liontamer. Jericho's wacky jump for joy after the win rules.

Hogan and Bischoff come out for the Raw Opening Promo on PPV portion of the show. The NWO Nitro shirt is on Hogan because they had at on of them, and it's a solid logo. We see Hogan beat up Horace on Nitro. Time for a second match! Meng is out to face Wrath - who is so big a star that he gets his name graphic up TWICE. Heel vs. Heel for the second match in a row. Wrath hits a flip dive and then SMASHES MENG INTO THE BUCKLE. That doesn't go well for him. MENG ROLLS OUT OF THE MELTDOWN AND HITS A MULE KICK. Nice stuff there. Meng kinda hits a sloppy lariat in the corner. SUNSET FLIP is countered. Uranage hits for 2, but the Meltdown wins. Kidman and Lee Marshll are backstage talking about Juvi vs. Disco for a shot at Kidman's title.

Disco comes out and THE FANS DANCE TO HIS THEME. Well hell, he actually seems like a star. Juvi is out in purple and orange - looking even more absurd than Disco. Disco starts with CRUISERWEIGHT MUDHOLE STOMPS and a sideslam. They botch a rocker dropper before Juvi finally lands it. He gets a wonky headscissors off the apron too. Disco hits the second rope elbow before a chinlock. Disco outsmarts Juvi, who dives on him and Disco bumps before the move. Disco's Macarena elbow doesn't work. Piledriver hits and wins it. Good-looking piledriver there.

Nitro Girls dance around some more. They're dressed rather skimpily for WCW, but the idea of having a showgirls-esque act here does work. Scott Steiner comes out with a live mic and HOLY JESUS is he jacked. He wants the match changed to Rick and Buff against Scott and the Giant. Great! JJ comes out to spoil their fun. JJ agrees to the match, but only if Scott agrees to face Rick for 5 minutes if Rick and Buff win. And then the heels just leave - so much for the impromptu nature of this.

Finlay comes out with a ridiculous black and neon green-striped getup. Alex Wright comes out for this, which should actually be a solid little matchup. Heenan says that Alex is in this to get revenge for his dad, who had his leg broken by Finlay in a match years before. CONTEXT! Wright takes him out with an armdrag and dances. Finlay hits his awesome snapmare-ELBOW TO THE HEAD bit. They trade uppercuts and Wright hits a running uppercut - that looked great. Finlay hits the slingshot backbreaker. Wright and Finlay take each other out over the top with a crossbody. Finlay misses a corner charge and eats a neckbreaker - giving Wright the win. Well, that was a darn fine little match - best on the show so far. Lee chats with The Cat. Apparently, the Cat Bo line was a number for a WCW office member - ha!

Lodi is out with signs. Lodi apparently still wrestles now. Saturn comes out looking like a member of the Village People. Actually, it's even more absurd. Lodi, in his leather booty shorts, is dressed in a subdued manner compared to Saturn. I remember getting this show on PPV and I guess I in part paid for LODI VS. SATURN. Saturn drops him on his head during an exploder and wins with the DVD. Great falcon arrow too.