WCW: 5 of the greatest matches in Halloween Havoc history

Vader vs Cactus Jack – Halloween Havoc 1993

When WCW was littered with goofy gimmicks, one man was the realest in the room. That man was Vader. Vader never felt like a pro wrestler, he felt like a fighter. Everything he did felt like it was real, more often than not, because it was.

This Texas Death Match featured a young Cactus Jack. Jack wasn’t the lovable character he became as Mankind, Dude Love, or Ms Foley’s Baby Boy. He was a madman who was impervious to pain.

For 15 minutes, these two took turns beating the hell out of each other. This match never felt like an early 1990s poorly worked pro wrestling match. This felt like a slugfest.

Jack took everything that Vader had, including brutal punches that would knock out an average man. This feud defined what the Bill Watts era of WCW was.

Vader had a dominate run as WCW Champion, only to lose to Ric Flair at Starrcade.  Foley made Vader appear to be an unstoppable force. Vader showed that Foley had what it took to be a top man in any wrestling company. Both men left with more credibility and bruises than before the bell rang.

This match made Cactus Jack a star in WCW. Vader solidified that he was a tough bull of a man, whose punches you could feel through the screen. Jack had scratched the surface of the hero that took everything Vader threw at him, and wouldn’t quit.