WCW Halloween Havoc 1996: October 27th, 1996 (Rewatched 29 May 2020)

Tonight's the night, WCW Halloween Havoc 1996! This pay-per-view took place on October 27, 1996. It occured at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada! Top to bottom, this card was stacked. Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio Jr, DDP, Eddie Guerrero, The Giant, Jeff Jarrett, Syxx, Chris Jericho, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, The Outsiders, Harlem Heat, Hogan, Savage, and even the debut of Rowdy Roddy Piper! I mean, you can't ask for a better card than that. All of those names are some of the all time greats.

On the WWE Network, the event was about 3 hours long, and did not seem to drag at all.  The WCW vs nWo storyline continued, and now, after the event, the nWo controls the WCW World Title, and the WCW Tag Team Titles. 

So, how good was the show?  It was awesome.  I'm a big WWE fan now, but nothing came close to WCW in the 90's.  Even comparing this to modern WWE, this still is vastly better.  So, let's get into it and talk about the show!

The Show:

Dean Malenko defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr. to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship (18:32)
- This is what "Fight Forever" chants are made for.  These guys put on a heck of a match.

(Battle For The Ring) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Eddy Guerrero (13:44)
- This was a match for the Battlebowl Ring, which was apparently something people in WCW wanted back in the 90's, for some reason.  I never get tired of watching these two fight, though. 

The Giant defeated Jeff Jarrett by disqualification
- For some reason, The Giant has Ric Flair's United States Championship, which he didn't earn.  It was vacated after Flair's injury but I guess WCW management never took it back.  That was a fun little match though.  Giant's a big man, so nice it wasn't a squash.

Syxx defeated Chris Jericho (9:49)
- I gotta admit, this was pretty fun.  Watching young X-Pac and Y2J fighting in WCW.

Lex Luger defeated Arn Anderson (12:22)
- This has been a heck of a card.  I was really excited for this one - two of the all time greats.  The match ended with Arn in the Torture Rack and being carried out on a stretcher.

Steve McMichael and Chris Benoit (w/ Woman and Debra McMichael) defeated The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian) (9:23)
- I can't root for Chris Benoit, so naturally I was all in for the Faces of Fear and was hoping they would win.

The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) defeated Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) (w/ Sister Sherri and Col. Robert Parker) to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship (13:07)
- Two of the best tag teams of all time, it doesn't get any better than this.  And now the nWo is, to use an Undisputed Era phrase, draped in gold. 

Hollywood Hogan defeated Randy Savage to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (18:37)
- It's not like we didn't know the outcome of this going into it.  The nWo was the hottest thing going.  No way would they take the strap off Hogan this soon.  Hogan was looking silly as heck with those hair plugs though.  The announcers even made a joke about it.

Roddy Piper Debut
- After the match, Rowdy Roddy Piper made his debut.  It was pretty awesome, but the promo went on forever and felt awkward at the end.  Heck, WCW even cut it off and ended the show.  But I'm very interested to see this feud develop!