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WCW Halloween Havoc 1998 Review: Results, Analysis and Grades

Michael Whitlow
Michael Whitlow

Daily DDT

Photo Credit: WrestlingForum.com

With everyone in the Halloween spirit this time of the year, we took a look back at the most proper pay-per-view this time of the year: WCW’s Halloween Havoc. Here’s a review of the 1998 pay-per-view from Las Vegas.

World Championship Wrestling as a whole didn’t get much right after the year of 1998 and it ultimately led to the company being purchased by Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation three years later.

Hell, even one of their best pay-per-views of the year had not one, but two of the more infamous gaffes in the company’s 14-year history. Not only did a wrestler burn his mustache and eyebrows, fans didn’t even get to witness the finish of the main event until the next night on Monday Night Nitro.

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You can now see why this company went out of business, can’t you? How can you have the Nitro Girls and botch so much during a pay-per-view? You’re World Championship Wrestling, that’s why.

With that being said, here’s a throwback review of WCW’s Halloween Havoc from 1998, where five championship matches took place, including a one-on-one bout between WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg and the number one contender Diamond Dallas Page.

Next: The Non-Title Portion of the Undercard

Screenshot via WWE Network

The (non-title) Halloween Havoc 1998 card

  • Wrath defeated Meng
  • Disco Inferno defeated Juventud Guerrera to become the number one contender for the WCW Cruiserwight Championship
  • Alex Wright defeated Fit Finlay
  • Perry Saturn defeated Lodi
  • Rick Steiner defeated Scott Steiner
  • Scott Hall defeated Kevin Nash via countout
  • Hollywood Hulk Hogan defeated The Warrior

The title portion of the Halloween Havoc 1998 card

  • Chris Jericho defeated Raven to retain the WCW World Television Championship
  • Billy Kidman defeated Disco Inferno to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship
  • Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell defeated The Giant and Scott Steiner to win the vacant WCW World Tag Team titles
  • Bret Hart defeated Sting to retain the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
  • Goldberg defeated Diamond Dallas Page to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Next: Positives

Screenshot via WWE Network

Positives

  • How much talent appeared on the 1998 version of the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view? Chris Jericho and Raven kicked off the three-plus-hour event. At this point in his career, Jericho wasn’t the Chris Jericho that will eventually enter the WWE Hall of Fame, but he was still talented and loaded with charisma and excitement. As for Raven, it’s Raven. He’s saw it all and did it all. You name a wrestling organization, Raven probably competed in it.
  • One of the things WCW did get right during their time in business: the Cruiserweight Division. There was not one, but two cruiserweight matches during this Halloween Havoc pay-per-view. Disco Inferno defeated Juventud Guerrera in the third match of the night, then competed against Billy Kidman later in the night for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Over 20 minutes of fast-paced action? Sign me up for that.

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  • The hype and the talent that led to the hype. Look at the names on this card: Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Bret Hart, Sting, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, The Warrior, Diamond Dallas Page and Bill Goldberg. What’s insane about all of this talent: those performers performed all in a row in the last hour of the show. For WCW to keep up with WWF in the ratings/buy rate categories, they had to get some big names. They did that … and then some.
  • There will be more mention about this later, but the main event of the night: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight title. In terms of Halloween Havoc matches over the 12 years the pay-per-view was around, this match might have been the best of all-time. In this match, it didn’t matter that there was no clear heel, as both men were fan favorites. It’s not a good thing for a title match to only be a little over 10 minutes, but this match was great from start-to-finish.

Next: Negatives

Screenshot via WWE Network

Negatives

  • There have been some botches that stick out more than others throughout pro wrestling’s long history. Halloween Havoc in 1998 might have brought one of the more famous botches. The plan for the end of the Hollywood Hulk Hogan-The Warrior match was for Hogan to lit a piece of flash paper on fire and burn The Warrior’s eyes to distract him and win the match. Well, things didn’t go as planned, and Hogan actually burned himself in the process. The match was already an all-time dud, and things didn’t get better when Horace Hogan — Hollywood Hogan’s nephew — improvised and hit Warrior with one of the worst chair shots in the history of wrestling.

The rematch from their WrestleMania VI main event was nothing more than a complete failure. How bad was it? Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter rated the match -5 out of five stars; the worst rating for a WCW match in history.

  • The Diamond Dallas Page-Goldberg main event was fantastic, but nobody knew until the next night. Yes, the finish of the match wasn’t seen by many fans until the next night on Nitro. How is that possible? Well, just like WWE pay-per-views now, WCW’s pay-per-views ran three hours usually. This pay-per-view ran closer to three-and-a-half hours, which means some pay-per-view feeds were cut off as the main event got going. It was yet another botch that led to the demise of WCW. Fans were given one of the worst matches of all-time and missed one of the event’s greatest matches in the process.
  • Scott Hall’s alcohol problem was brought to the light during this version of the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view. It’s been well-documented and it’s quite a sad story. Throughout the year of 1998, Hall’s drinking issues were brought on camera, which was an atrocious move by WCW. During the month of March in 1998, Hall actually showed up to an event intoxicated and under the influence of painkillers. Hall and long-time friend Kevin Nash had a great rivalry throughout the year — that involved Hall turning on Nash and aligning with nWo Hollywood — but it’s a sad fact that it revolved around Hall’s drug addiction.

Next: The Underrated Moment of the Night

Screenshot via WWE Network

The Underrated Moment of Halloween Havoc

The ending of the Bret Hart-Sting match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship was brutal to watch and yet, it was a sneaky-good finish.

Over a year prior, Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13 when Austin passed out due to blood loss and being locked in the Sharpshooter. Although Hart was the victor, the loss launched Austin into a new realm of stardom. You rarely see “double turns” in wrestling anymore, but the Hart-Austin double turn at WrestleMania 13 was one of those moments you won’t forget.

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For this “dream match”, it wasn’t a double turn, but it was a nice reference, even if it came from the rival company. Both Sting and Bret Hart are defined by the Sharpshooter (or Scorpion Death Lock, whatever pleases you). What sense would it have made for Sting to tap out to seemingly his own maneuver? Sure, Hart and Sting do differ in the execution of the move — Hart locks the legs on his left leg, Sting on right leg — but this finish worked.

Sting was one of the biggest stars — if not, the biggest star — in WCW. That recognition includes Hollywood Hulk Hogan. It’s weird when you see top stars tap out to conclude matches; not that losing to Bret Hart is something to be ashamed of. It’s odd and a little nit-picky, but this made sense. It established Hart as a big-time heel and kept the face label stronger than ever on Sting when the medics drove him out of the ring in an ambulance.

Next: Rating the PPV

Screenshot via WWE Network

Rating the PPV

  • Chris Jericho vs. Raven for the WCW World Television Championship: ***.75 out of five stars.
  • Meng vs. Wrath: *.5 out of five stars.
  • Disco Inferno vs. Juventud Guerrera: ***.5 out of five stars.
  • Alex Wright vs. Fit Finlay: ** out of five stars.
  • Perry Saturn vs. Lodi: ** out of five stars.
  • Billy Kidman vs. Disco Inferno for the WCW Crusierweight Championship: ***.5 out of five stars.
  • Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell vs. The Giant and Scott Steiner for the vacant WCW Tag Team titles: **.75 out of five stars.
  • Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner: *.75 out of five stars.
  • Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash: *** out of five stars.
  • Bret Hart vs. Sting for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: ***.75 out of five stars
  • Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Warrior: LOL out of five stars. (Let’s never talk about this atrocity again.)
  • Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: **** out of five stars.

What are your thoughts on the WCW Halloween Havoc 1998 PPV?

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Michael Whitlow

Michael Whitlow

Michael is a Contributor at FanSided's Netflix Life. When he's not binge-watching the Arrowverse or watching one of the John Mulaney stand-up specials, he works full-time as a sports writer for a small-town newspaper and consumes only the most authentic of Chicago-style hot dogs. You can follow Michael on Twitter (@couldbelikemike).