As Halloween draws near, it seems appropriate to reflect on professional wrestling’s spookiest spectacle: “Halloween Havoc.” From 1989 to 2000, the pay-per-view was WCW’s window into the macabre – evoking images of pumpkins, fog machines, and electrified steel cages.
While the event has been revived by WWE and reintroduced into the pro-wrestling zeitgeist thanks to NXT, it just doesn’t have the same b-movie charm that WCW’s fated iterations did. Between the thunder effects, dim lighting, and fog rolling over the entranceways, ”Haloween Havoc” found common ground between Saturday morning wrestling and a creature-feature movie marathon – designed to be unearthed on a grainy VHS in its original 4:3 aspect ratio.
Every October, I indulge in a “Halloween Havoc” marathon of my own – admiring WCW’s loveletter to All Hallow’s Eve. In doing so, I’ve compiled my own “best of” compilation from the pay-per-view.
These are the five best matches in “Halloween Havoc” history:
5. The Steiner Bros. vs. The Nasty Boys
Oct. 27, 1990
On a show that featured five tag team matches, it was a deeply personal affair between the Steiner Brothers and Nasty Boys that stole the show. While the sheer physicality is off the charts, it’s the psychology that elevates this match to ethereal levels – adhering to the tried-and-true southern tag formula.
4. Hollywood Hogan vs. Randy Savage
Oct. 27, 1996
Leading a nascent nWo, Hollywood Hogan defended his WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Savage in the main event of “Halloween Havoc ‘96” Here, the former Mega Powers shifted the paradigm of their lauded “WrestleMania V” match on its head, with Hogan now cast as the antagonist.
3. Steve Austin vs. Dustin Rhodes
Oct. 27, 1991
In 1991, Steve Austin and Dustin Rhodes seemed destined to inherit professional wrestling’s future. This match is proof positive of that, demonstrating their innate charisma, spatial awareness, and god-given ability. The true beauty of this match is that it offers us a window into a world that never was.
2. Cactus Jack vs. Big Van Vader
Oct. 24, 1993
A Texas Death match to decide the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. There was no more fitting stage for this match than “Halloween Havoc.” Big Van Vader and Cactus Jack were more akin to Universal Monsters than professional wrestlers. Here, like in “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman,” they met in a horror movie mash-up of their own.
1. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero
Oct. 26, 1997
In a business that romanticizes the traveling world champion’s hour-long thrillers of the seventies and eighties, there’s beauty in brevity. Just shy of 14 minutes, Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero’s apuestas match from “Halloween Havoc ‘97” proved to be the event’s crown jewel. This isn’t just the best match in “Halloween Havoc” history, it’s one of the best matches in professional wrestling history.
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