WCW Halloween Havoc 1995
In my quest to watch the worst of the worst, I decided to watch Halloween Havoc 1995, which featured the Yeti... er, sorry the Yetay! Sorry I had to. Never seen this one before, the only thing I know about this show is the above mentioned abortion, and the ass backwards outcome, so let's get to it.
Our opening video package, highlighting Giant's dominance and the Dungeon of Doom, their Monster Truck Sumo Match and Hogan's turn to the dark side.
We're live from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Tony Schiavone and the late Bobby Heenan are doing commentary for this show. We see Giant and Hogan playing cat and mouse already in their monster trucks, because... reasons. We also learn Flair was attacked by Pillman and Arn prior to the show, and his status for tonight is up in the air.
We get a package for our first match. B. Badd was supposed to face Sting for the US Title, having beaten Pillman at Fall Brawl, Pillman coming out in his stead. Johnny shows up at the end of the show to say he had a flat tire, only for DDP to come in and calls him stupid and a zero. DDP's henchman reveals by accident that he was the one who gave him flat tires, leading to this match.
WCW Television Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (c) (w/ Diamond Doll Kimberly & Max Muscle) vs Johnny B. Badd
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Tony tells us that DDP and Badd were supposed to have a tag title shot together, only for Page to turn on him before the match, to add further to this match. We also get an update on Flair,he's sustained some injury and... that's it. Great update. Badd has a decoy come out for his entrance so he can sneak in behind and get the jump on a waiting Page to get this match started.
Badd starts out hot, throwing Page around and even takes out Max momentarily before getting back in the ring, working Page's arm a while. Badd goes for a 10 punch in the corner but Page slips out, dropping Badd face first on the top turnbuckle. Kimberly holds up a 10 card no and then, seemingly reluctantly, I guess ahead of her alignment with Booty Man in a couple months.
Most of this match feels like it's just rest holds, with a few moves her and there. Kimberly is not having any of Page's dirty tactis in this one, she does raise the 10 card after a nice flying headscissor by Badd.
Page goes for a Diamond Cutter out of the corner but Badd holds onto the rope. Badd goes for the 10 count again but they go over the top rope, and I guess we're in the era where throwing someone over the top is a disqualification since commentary bring it up. Badd hits the Badd Day as he rolls Page back in but it's a near fall. Page gets Badd in a nelson for Max to nail him, but he nails Page and knocks him out, allowing Badd to get the win in 17:04. There really wasn't a whole lot to this match.
Kimberly looks on pleased as we go to replays. Commentary hype up Hogan vs Giant, mentioning it's Giant's first match, and they try their best to hype up the Monster Truck match, then go to our next match.
Zodiac of the Dungeon of Doom vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Zodiac, one of the many faces of Ed Leslie, and the future Booty Man, from the Land of Yin and Yang. Macho has to win his match here, and Luger has to win his match later to face each other later in this show. Why?
The most exciting part of this match is when a fan jumps the ring and tries to go after Savage, with no luck. Apparently Kamala was suppose to be in Zodiac's place, but got scared of Savage and got beat up by Kevin Sullivan. Anyways, Savage wins with his diving elbow in 1:31.
We get replays of the elbow and the pin, then cut to Mean Gene in the back.
He plugs the WCW hotline and then brings in the new TV champ. He says there's gonna be a celebration in Detroit, about how he's dreamed since being a kid of winning the title, puts over DDP, his intestinal fortitude in a super hyper promo. He says he'll buy Gene dinner and he'll sing Tutti Frutti in honor of his win.
We go back to footage from Clash of Champions, where Kurasawa breaks Hawk's arm ahead of a tag match with Sting.
Kurasawa (w/ Col. Robert Parker) vs Road Warrior Hawk
Hawk dominates most of this match until Parker trips him up. Kurasawa nails a scoop slam, but misses an elbow off the top. Kurasawa gets clotheslined over the ropes, Hawk off the apron into Parker. and Kurasawa comes from behind to ram him into the ring post.
Back in the ring, Kurasawa with the advantage with a back body drop of sorts, then a Samoan drop. Kurasawa goes for the pin with the ropes as leverage, Parker grabs his leg to further aid, and gets the cheap win in 3:18. Could've been better if given more time, crowd clearly was not into at all though.
Kurasawa makes the quick exit while Hawk poses in the corner and makes his way to the back as we go to replays.
We cut to Mean Gene who brings in Macho Man who paces back and forth, Gene hyping up his possible match with Luger later on. Macho... well, he cuts a Macho promo, bringing up his friendship with Hogan and says he can beat him if they ever get in the ring, and that he'll beat Luger later if it happens. Gene asks him about the Monster Truck Match later, and we get more classic Macho. It's hard to do him justice.
Back to the arena for our next match.
J.L. vs Sabu (w/ Sheik)
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: For those not in the know, J.L. is Jerry Lynn in luchador get up, mask and all. I had no clue until I googled this guy. It's weird seeing Sabu in a WCW ring.
Match quickly goes to the outside as Lynn nails a baseball slide, only for Sabu to throw him into the guard rail. Sabu with a springboard moonsault off the apron into Lynn and Sheik, that didn't take long. Sabu whipped into the guardrail as he shows concern for Sheik, then Lynn dives off the corner onto Sabu.
Back in the ring, Sabu whips Lynn into the corner, follows and hops onto the second rope, misses a moonsault. Lynn up top with a moonsault and a two count. Sitout powerbomb on Sabu for another two count. Sabu whipped into the corner and Lynn follows and misses, Sabu with a slingshot leg drop from the apron for another two count. Sabu up top, but Lynn nails a back suplex for a two count.
Lynn up top but Sabu cuts him off, climbing up with him for a victory roll off the top for another near fall, Sheik back up. Sabu goes up but Lynn nails a dropkick, knocking Sabu to the floor. Sabu back to the apron and drops Lynn throat first across the rope, then a springboard moonsault onto Lynn for the win in 3:27. Again, another match that was way too short.
As the bell is rung, Sheik throws a fireball in Lynn's face. Sabu poses for the crowd before leaving the ring, Lynn writhing on the mat as we go to replays.
We go to commentary who hype up the Monster Truck match and the Giant, who talk about what he's done up to this point. Then we cut to the lair of The Taskmaster... which is just the Master and Taskmaster by the entrance way. Master screams his promo and honestly can't make out what the hell he's saying. He does mention something about a total eclipse of the Sullivan and says "my son" and Sullivan a ton, and mentions the Giant and destructing Hulkamania. Sullivan hypes up the Yetay, how Hogan's dark side is out of control, says their Monster Truck is stronger and Hogan has no friends, lightning doesn't strike twice.
Back to commentary who talk about the Yetay on Nitro and being here tonight as an insurance policy. We cut to Mean Gene with Hogan, Jimmy Hart and the winner of a motorcycle sweepstake and a few other people. Hogan cuts a Hogan promo (brother), despite being in his dark side, this is all Hulkamania babyface Hogan, says brother about a dozen times. Nothing important here.
We get a promo for World War 3, the next PPV before we go back to the arena to commentary, hyping up the three-ring, 60 men battle royal, saying the winner will get a shot at the WCW Title. They try to hype up the monster trucks some more, before we go to our next match.
Meng of the Dungeon of Doom (w/ The Taskmaster) vs "The Total Package" Lex Luger
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: So Luger has to win this match to face Macho Man later. No idea what happens if he loses, I guess no match? Crowd is hot for Luger, and basically dead for Meng. Commentary bring up how Meng helped Luger beat Shark the previous night, I guess teasing Luger joining the Dungeon.
Heenan points out the inconsistency in having Sullivan in Meng's corner if Luger is also in the Dungeon of Doom, which is the least of the problems with this storyline. We do get an update on Flair that he's being tended to, which you'd thing that would've happened already. Setting the stupidity of DoD, this is a fairly decent match.
In the end, Meng grabs a golden spike from his boot amd jabs it into Luger's throat, goes for the pin and... Taskmaster comes in and kicks Luger, giving him the DQ in 13:13? Eh?
Meng argues with Sullivan, Sullivan tries to explain himself, and Tony says he did it so Luger can face Savage I guess.
Back to Okerlund, in the back with the Giant. Gene hypes up the monster trucks some more, and Giant does his best to impersonate Hogan, and it's just cringy. Meanwhile he's manhandling Okerlund, who talks about his power and suggest he hold the mic next time, making Giant laugh, then tries to hype up the actual title match before we go back to the ring.
"The Enforcer" Arn Anderson & Flyin' Brian of the Four Horsemen vs WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Sting & "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts; Sting is out to go this alone, commentary have no idea what Flair's status is right now.
Chants for Flair as Sting manages to hold his own, until Flair makes his way out about halfway through the match, a huge bandage on his head, slack and shoes rather than his usual attire, wanting to get his hands on Arn right away but the ref has to hold him off. Flair spends the match trying to get the tag and trying to help Sting, but Arn and Brian hold Sting off and intercept any attempts to tag out, beating the hell out of Sting for a while. Crowd eat it all up, wanting Flair to get in and help Sting badly.
Finally Sting gets his opening, Brian and Arn both down and reaches the corner and tags Ric in to a huge pop... and nails Sting with a right hand as he comes off the ropes. It's three on one now and the ref's lost control, Sting tries hard to fight back. I think the ref is calling for the bell, but never rings, another ref comes in to try and pull them off, but Sting has no fight left. The bell is finally rung, and according to Wikipedia, Sting and, technically, Flair win by DQ in 18 minutes.
Okerlund makes his way out as the beatdown continues, and he plugs the hotline again as refs check on Sting and the Horsemen head toward the back. Okerlund pulls them aside for an interview and Ric takes the mic. He takes us back to school, saying you don't jump on double A, play around with Flyin' Brian, don't mess with the Nature Boy and don't talk or breathe unless the Horsemen tell you to. Brian woos, Arn says to be careful what you wish for as he calls the fans bloodthirsty, and tell them to deal with it. Flair ays the Horsemen are reunited and it feels good before they go to the back. Okerlund calls it one of the worst things he's ever recalled happening, before asking Doug Dillinger what Sting's condition is before sending it back to commentary as Sting is helped to the back.
They question how far planned this was, and Heenan even had been fooled, but looks on in glee.
We go to a young Mike Tenay in the locker room with Luger, asking him about the bizarre finish to his match earlier. I think Luger almost calls WCW the World Wrestling Federation, says that his good friend Sting wanted this match to happen for whatever reason. Luger says he might not be 100%, but he's gonna be all over Savage, and he's gonna be the greatest wrestler and the world champion, getting through Savage to get there. Fairly good promo.
Back to commentary, who hype up that match, the WCW Title match and... (sigh) the next match. Heenan calls Hogan a disgrace and he shouldn't be the champion. He says Hogan should be pushed off the roof and be dragged back to the arena to be beaten, before we get a video package. From Giant throwing "his father" Andre's shirt at Hogan in Huntington Beach, to crashing through the Dungeon wall to attack Hogan, to Hoan declaring war for another attack. To Giant running over Hogan's cycle in his monster truck, to Giant snapping Hogan's neck at Fall Brawl. Giant would attack several wrestlers on an episode of Nitro, and Hogan would get his neck snapped again before his mustache is shaved. Hogan back out in all black, then we see the Master bring out the Yeti on the go home episode of Nitro. Then we see footage of the monster trucks being built. Jesus Christ this is a mass.
Bischoff and Bob Chandler have joined Heenan on commentary. Bob is apparently the guy Hogan went to to make him a super powerful monster truck, who goes on to hype up Hogan's truck and gets into the specifics.
We cut to the roof of Cobo Hall as Hogan and Giant talk a bit of trash, as some guy goes over the rules. There's a circle set up, and the truck has to be completely out of the ring to lose this match, and I guess these things are gonna be hooked bumper to bumper. Apparently two charges have been set up somewhere in this circle too?
Monster Truck Sumo Match: WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan vs The Giant
This is about as exciting as it sounds. Bischoff tries to make it sound exciting, and I'm pretty sure the crowd is dead. This thing goes about 4:09 from the first rev of engines, to Bischoff calling the end of it, with Hogan winning.
They get out and Giant goes after Hogan by the edge of the roof, and of course, Giant galls over the side. Hogan runs off to get help as commentary are shocked. Crowd aren't as dead as I thought. Heenan and co play it up like Giant is actually dead, and we go to the ring for our next match as Bischoff leaves.
"The Total Package" Lex Luger vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Tony rejoins commentary and Heenan blames Hogan, while they continue to feign worry for a dead Giant.
Luger offers a handshake to start out but Macho kicks him in the gut instead right hands in the corner but Luger follows with a clothesline. Commentary spend most of this match talking about Giant being possibly dead. Jimmy Hart comes out about a minute or two in as Luger works Savage in the corner with kicks and stomps to the mid section. Savage takes a swing at the ref for some reason as Luger takes control.
Savage fights back to his feet momentarily before tossing Savage to the side. Commentary gets annoying real fast. Savage sends Luger face first into the rail and the ring steps a couple times. Back in the ring, Savage goes up top but Luger nails him in the midsection. Hart on the apron to argue with the ref, Luger rolls up Savage but the ref is still distracted. Luger gets whipped into Hart, Savage goes up top and nails the elbow for the win in 5:26. I could have given this a pass if commentary didn't annoy me the whole time.
Savage leaves the ring as Luger looks around, I presume for Hart before we go to replays. Back to commentary, and Buffer's going to the ring as Heenan yells about what's going on outside. He leaves pissed off to find out more details. Heenan quickly returns saying he can't get outside with people blocking his way out, and complains more about getting no answers. We go to replays of the monster trucks, oh joy, then we see Giant fall off the roof again. Heenan gets on his knees and begs for some information, and I think Tony is trying not to laugh at this stupidity. They spend too much time on this, fuck.
We finally go to Michael Buffer in the ring for our main event.
WCW World Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs The Giant of the Dungeon of Doom (w/ The Taskmaster)
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Buffer starts to introduce Giant, but Hogan comes out first, the King of Hulkamania, the Hulkster, Hogan takes the mic from Buffer, and says what happened wasn't supposed to happen, and apologizes what happened to Giant, and alludes to Giant being dead, but Giant comes out without a single scratch or mark on him, and Hogan looks on shocked. Well that was a complete waste of time. Commentary try to find answers, but they can't explain this stupidity, and Hogan rips off his shirt to reveal... another shirt, and the bell is rung to get this started.
Hogan's got Taskmaster's facepaint on his forehead, because I guess of his dark side. As far as a match goes, this is pretty dull stuff. Hogan manages to dump Giant over the ropes to the outside and him and Sullivan start to head to the back, but Hogan knocks them into each other. Back in the ring, to more of the standard stuff.
Giant nails a chokeslams Hogan to a decent pop, but Hogan kicks out of a pin attempt and hulks up. Hogan punches, a boot, and Hogan rakes the eyes, picking Giant up and slamming him to the mat, then a leg drop. Jimmy Hart nails the referee as Hogan goes for the pin, I guess turning on Hogan now. Jimmy nails Hogan with the title belt next and Hogan goes after him, before Giant comes up and applies the bearhug. Sullivan and Hart cheering him on as Hart calls out for someone, and out come Luger and Savage. Savage tries to save Hogan but Hart knocks him on his ass. Luger goes after Savage, and as all this goes down, it happens: THE YETAY!
The Yeti wraps his arms around Giant and Hogan and... I guess starts dry humping Hogan. Hogan slumps as Giant releases him and Luger applies the Torture Rack, then one for Savage.
Finally the ref comes to and... raises Giant's hand? Giant wins by DQ I guess, but Buffer announces the belt can't change hands by DQ, multiple times, even though Giant poses with the title. How Giant has won this I don't know. The bell never rings for the match to end officially.
Trash is being thrown into the ring as the heels embrace in the ring and we go to replays. Hogan and Savage finally start to come to as the ref checks on them, and the doctor comes in to check on Hogan.
Back to commentary to recap what just happened. Heenan tries to tell us the crowd are looking on in disbelief, but it''s clearly visible that everyone's leaving. Tony tells us Nitro will be live from Dayton the next night to get answers hopefully. He insists Hogan is still champion as we get credits for the show.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Holy hell what a mess. Aside from the Horsemen match with Sting, there's really nothing worth seeing on this show. Somehow Giant won the match, despite Hart attacking the referee as he's now aligned with Giant, and despite Buffer repeating that the title can't be won by DQ, Giant does in fact become the WCW Champion in his first match with the company.
We do get an explanation on the next night on Nitro for how Giant became champion, as Hart apparently had it put in the contract that Giant could win by DQ, but that still doesn't explain anything. Giant would be stripped of the championship a week later, and the title would be put on the line in the 60-Man three ring battle royal at World War 3, in which Savage would go on to win.
Our opening video package, highlighting Giant's dominance and the Dungeon of Doom, their Monster Truck Sumo Match and Hogan's turn to the dark side.
We're live from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Tony Schiavone and the late Bobby Heenan are doing commentary for this show. We see Giant and Hogan playing cat and mouse already in their monster trucks, because... reasons. We also learn Flair was attacked by Pillman and Arn prior to the show, and his status for tonight is up in the air.
We get a package for our first match. B. Badd was supposed to face Sting for the US Title, having beaten Pillman at Fall Brawl, Pillman coming out in his stead. Johnny shows up at the end of the show to say he had a flat tire, only for DDP to come in and calls him stupid and a zero. DDP's henchman reveals by accident that he was the one who gave him flat tires, leading to this match.
WCW Television Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (c) (w/ Diamond Doll Kimberly & Max Muscle) vs Johnny B. Badd
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Tony tells us that DDP and Badd were supposed to have a tag title shot together, only for Page to turn on him before the match, to add further to this match. We also get an update on Flair,he's sustained some injury and... that's it. Great update. Badd has a decoy come out for his entrance so he can sneak in behind and get the jump on a waiting Page to get this match started.
Badd starts out hot, throwing Page around and even takes out Max momentarily before getting back in the ring, working Page's arm a while. Badd goes for a 10 punch in the corner but Page slips out, dropping Badd face first on the top turnbuckle. Kimberly holds up a 10 card no and then, seemingly reluctantly, I guess ahead of her alignment with Booty Man in a couple months.
Most of this match feels like it's just rest holds, with a few moves her and there. Kimberly is not having any of Page's dirty tactis in this one, she does raise the 10 card after a nice flying headscissor by Badd.
Page goes for a Diamond Cutter out of the corner but Badd holds onto the rope. Badd goes for the 10 count again but they go over the top rope, and I guess we're in the era where throwing someone over the top is a disqualification since commentary bring it up. Badd hits the Badd Day as he rolls Page back in but it's a near fall. Page gets Badd in a nelson for Max to nail him, but he nails Page and knocks him out, allowing Badd to get the win in 17:04. There really wasn't a whole lot to this match.
Kimberly looks on pleased as we go to replays. Commentary hype up Hogan vs Giant, mentioning it's Giant's first match, and they try their best to hype up the Monster Truck match, then go to our next match.
Zodiac of the Dungeon of Doom vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Zodiac, one of the many faces of Ed Leslie, and the future Booty Man, from the Land of Yin and Yang. Macho has to win his match here, and Luger has to win his match later to face each other later in this show. Why?
The most exciting part of this match is when a fan jumps the ring and tries to go after Savage, with no luck. Apparently Kamala was suppose to be in Zodiac's place, but got scared of Savage and got beat up by Kevin Sullivan. Anyways, Savage wins with his diving elbow in 1:31.
We get replays of the elbow and the pin, then cut to Mean Gene in the back.
He plugs the WCW hotline and then brings in the new TV champ. He says there's gonna be a celebration in Detroit, about how he's dreamed since being a kid of winning the title, puts over DDP, his intestinal fortitude in a super hyper promo. He says he'll buy Gene dinner and he'll sing Tutti Frutti in honor of his win.
We go back to footage from Clash of Champions, where Kurasawa breaks Hawk's arm ahead of a tag match with Sting.
Kurasawa (w/ Col. Robert Parker) vs Road Warrior Hawk
Hawk dominates most of this match until Parker trips him up. Kurasawa nails a scoop slam, but misses an elbow off the top. Kurasawa gets clotheslined over the ropes, Hawk off the apron into Parker. and Kurasawa comes from behind to ram him into the ring post.
Back in the ring, Kurasawa with the advantage with a back body drop of sorts, then a Samoan drop. Kurasawa goes for the pin with the ropes as leverage, Parker grabs his leg to further aid, and gets the cheap win in 3:18. Could've been better if given more time, crowd clearly was not into at all though.
Kurasawa makes the quick exit while Hawk poses in the corner and makes his way to the back as we go to replays.
We cut to Mean Gene who brings in Macho Man who paces back and forth, Gene hyping up his possible match with Luger later on. Macho... well, he cuts a Macho promo, bringing up his friendship with Hogan and says he can beat him if they ever get in the ring, and that he'll beat Luger later if it happens. Gene asks him about the Monster Truck Match later, and we get more classic Macho. It's hard to do him justice.
Back to the arena for our next match.
J.L. vs Sabu (w/ Sheik)
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: For those not in the know, J.L. is Jerry Lynn in luchador get up, mask and all. I had no clue until I googled this guy. It's weird seeing Sabu in a WCW ring.
Match quickly goes to the outside as Lynn nails a baseball slide, only for Sabu to throw him into the guard rail. Sabu with a springboard moonsault off the apron into Lynn and Sheik, that didn't take long. Sabu whipped into the guardrail as he shows concern for Sheik, then Lynn dives off the corner onto Sabu.
Back in the ring, Sabu whips Lynn into the corner, follows and hops onto the second rope, misses a moonsault. Lynn up top with a moonsault and a two count. Sitout powerbomb on Sabu for another two count. Sabu whipped into the corner and Lynn follows and misses, Sabu with a slingshot leg drop from the apron for another two count. Sabu up top, but Lynn nails a back suplex for a two count.
Lynn up top but Sabu cuts him off, climbing up with him for a victory roll off the top for another near fall, Sheik back up. Sabu goes up but Lynn nails a dropkick, knocking Sabu to the floor. Sabu back to the apron and drops Lynn throat first across the rope, then a springboard moonsault onto Lynn for the win in 3:27. Again, another match that was way too short.
As the bell is rung, Sheik throws a fireball in Lynn's face. Sabu poses for the crowd before leaving the ring, Lynn writhing on the mat as we go to replays.
We go to commentary who hype up the Monster Truck match and the Giant, who talk about what he's done up to this point. Then we cut to the lair of The Taskmaster... which is just the Master and Taskmaster by the entrance way. Master screams his promo and honestly can't make out what the hell he's saying. He does mention something about a total eclipse of the Sullivan and says "my son" and Sullivan a ton, and mentions the Giant and destructing Hulkamania. Sullivan hypes up the Yetay, how Hogan's dark side is out of control, says their Monster Truck is stronger and Hogan has no friends, lightning doesn't strike twice.
Back to commentary who talk about the Yetay on Nitro and being here tonight as an insurance policy. We cut to Mean Gene with Hogan, Jimmy Hart and the winner of a motorcycle sweepstake and a few other people. Hogan cuts a Hogan promo (brother), despite being in his dark side, this is all Hulkamania babyface Hogan, says brother about a dozen times. Nothing important here.
We get a promo for World War 3, the next PPV before we go back to the arena to commentary, hyping up the three-ring, 60 men battle royal, saying the winner will get a shot at the WCW Title. They try to hype up the monster trucks some more, before we go to our next match.
Meng of the Dungeon of Doom (w/ The Taskmaster) vs "The Total Package" Lex Luger
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: So Luger has to win this match to face Macho Man later. No idea what happens if he loses, I guess no match? Crowd is hot for Luger, and basically dead for Meng. Commentary bring up how Meng helped Luger beat Shark the previous night, I guess teasing Luger joining the Dungeon.
Heenan points out the inconsistency in having Sullivan in Meng's corner if Luger is also in the Dungeon of Doom, which is the least of the problems with this storyline. We do get an update on Flair that he's being tended to, which you'd thing that would've happened already. Setting the stupidity of DoD, this is a fairly decent match.
In the end, Meng grabs a golden spike from his boot amd jabs it into Luger's throat, goes for the pin and... Taskmaster comes in and kicks Luger, giving him the DQ in 13:13? Eh?
Meng argues with Sullivan, Sullivan tries to explain himself, and Tony says he did it so Luger can face Savage I guess.
Back to Okerlund, in the back with the Giant. Gene hypes up the monster trucks some more, and Giant does his best to impersonate Hogan, and it's just cringy. Meanwhile he's manhandling Okerlund, who talks about his power and suggest he hold the mic next time, making Giant laugh, then tries to hype up the actual title match before we go back to the ring.
"The Enforcer" Arn Anderson & Flyin' Brian of the Four Horsemen vs WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Sting & "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts; Sting is out to go this alone, commentary have no idea what Flair's status is right now.
Chants for Flair as Sting manages to hold his own, until Flair makes his way out about halfway through the match, a huge bandage on his head, slack and shoes rather than his usual attire, wanting to get his hands on Arn right away but the ref has to hold him off. Flair spends the match trying to get the tag and trying to help Sting, but Arn and Brian hold Sting off and intercept any attempts to tag out, beating the hell out of Sting for a while. Crowd eat it all up, wanting Flair to get in and help Sting badly.
Finally Sting gets his opening, Brian and Arn both down and reaches the corner and tags Ric in to a huge pop... and nails Sting with a right hand as he comes off the ropes. It's three on one now and the ref's lost control, Sting tries hard to fight back. I think the ref is calling for the bell, but never rings, another ref comes in to try and pull them off, but Sting has no fight left. The bell is finally rung, and according to Wikipedia, Sting and, technically, Flair win by DQ in 18 minutes.
Okerlund makes his way out as the beatdown continues, and he plugs the hotline again as refs check on Sting and the Horsemen head toward the back. Okerlund pulls them aside for an interview and Ric takes the mic. He takes us back to school, saying you don't jump on double A, play around with Flyin' Brian, don't mess with the Nature Boy and don't talk or breathe unless the Horsemen tell you to. Brian woos, Arn says to be careful what you wish for as he calls the fans bloodthirsty, and tell them to deal with it. Flair ays the Horsemen are reunited and it feels good before they go to the back. Okerlund calls it one of the worst things he's ever recalled happening, before asking Doug Dillinger what Sting's condition is before sending it back to commentary as Sting is helped to the back.
They question how far planned this was, and Heenan even had been fooled, but looks on in glee.
We go to a young Mike Tenay in the locker room with Luger, asking him about the bizarre finish to his match earlier. I think Luger almost calls WCW the World Wrestling Federation, says that his good friend Sting wanted this match to happen for whatever reason. Luger says he might not be 100%, but he's gonna be all over Savage, and he's gonna be the greatest wrestler and the world champion, getting through Savage to get there. Fairly good promo.
Back to commentary, who hype up that match, the WCW Title match and... (sigh) the next match. Heenan calls Hogan a disgrace and he shouldn't be the champion. He says Hogan should be pushed off the roof and be dragged back to the arena to be beaten, before we get a video package. From Giant throwing "his father" Andre's shirt at Hogan in Huntington Beach, to crashing through the Dungeon wall to attack Hogan, to Hoan declaring war for another attack. To Giant running over Hogan's cycle in his monster truck, to Giant snapping Hogan's neck at Fall Brawl. Giant would attack several wrestlers on an episode of Nitro, and Hogan would get his neck snapped again before his mustache is shaved. Hogan back out in all black, then we see the Master bring out the Yeti on the go home episode of Nitro. Then we see footage of the monster trucks being built. Jesus Christ this is a mass.
Bischoff and Bob Chandler have joined Heenan on commentary. Bob is apparently the guy Hogan went to to make him a super powerful monster truck, who goes on to hype up Hogan's truck and gets into the specifics.
We cut to the roof of Cobo Hall as Hogan and Giant talk a bit of trash, as some guy goes over the rules. There's a circle set up, and the truck has to be completely out of the ring to lose this match, and I guess these things are gonna be hooked bumper to bumper. Apparently two charges have been set up somewhere in this circle too?
Monster Truck Sumo Match: WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan vs The Giant
This is about as exciting as it sounds. Bischoff tries to make it sound exciting, and I'm pretty sure the crowd is dead. This thing goes about 4:09 from the first rev of engines, to Bischoff calling the end of it, with Hogan winning.
They get out and Giant goes after Hogan by the edge of the roof, and of course, Giant galls over the side. Hogan runs off to get help as commentary are shocked. Crowd aren't as dead as I thought. Heenan and co play it up like Giant is actually dead, and we go to the ring for our next match as Bischoff leaves.
"The Total Package" Lex Luger vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Tony rejoins commentary and Heenan blames Hogan, while they continue to feign worry for a dead Giant.
Luger offers a handshake to start out but Macho kicks him in the gut instead right hands in the corner but Luger follows with a clothesline. Commentary spend most of this match talking about Giant being possibly dead. Jimmy Hart comes out about a minute or two in as Luger works Savage in the corner with kicks and stomps to the mid section. Savage takes a swing at the ref for some reason as Luger takes control.
Savage fights back to his feet momentarily before tossing Savage to the side. Commentary gets annoying real fast. Savage sends Luger face first into the rail and the ring steps a couple times. Back in the ring, Savage goes up top but Luger nails him in the midsection. Hart on the apron to argue with the ref, Luger rolls up Savage but the ref is still distracted. Luger gets whipped into Hart, Savage goes up top and nails the elbow for the win in 5:26. I could have given this a pass if commentary didn't annoy me the whole time.
Savage leaves the ring as Luger looks around, I presume for Hart before we go to replays. Back to commentary, and Buffer's going to the ring as Heenan yells about what's going on outside. He leaves pissed off to find out more details. Heenan quickly returns saying he can't get outside with people blocking his way out, and complains more about getting no answers. We go to replays of the monster trucks, oh joy, then we see Giant fall off the roof again. Heenan gets on his knees and begs for some information, and I think Tony is trying not to laugh at this stupidity. They spend too much time on this, fuck.
We finally go to Michael Buffer in the ring for our main event.
WCW World Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs The Giant of the Dungeon of Doom (w/ The Taskmaster)
Pre-Match Notes & Thoughts: Buffer starts to introduce Giant, but Hogan comes out first, the King of Hulkamania, the Hulkster, Hogan takes the mic from Buffer, and says what happened wasn't supposed to happen, and apologizes what happened to Giant, and alludes to Giant being dead, but Giant comes out without a single scratch or mark on him, and Hogan looks on shocked. Well that was a complete waste of time. Commentary try to find answers, but they can't explain this stupidity, and Hogan rips off his shirt to reveal... another shirt, and the bell is rung to get this started.
Hogan's got Taskmaster's facepaint on his forehead, because I guess of his dark side. As far as a match goes, this is pretty dull stuff. Hogan manages to dump Giant over the ropes to the outside and him and Sullivan start to head to the back, but Hogan knocks them into each other. Back in the ring, to more of the standard stuff.
Giant nails a chokeslams Hogan to a decent pop, but Hogan kicks out of a pin attempt and hulks up. Hogan punches, a boot, and Hogan rakes the eyes, picking Giant up and slamming him to the mat, then a leg drop. Jimmy Hart nails the referee as Hogan goes for the pin, I guess turning on Hogan now. Jimmy nails Hogan with the title belt next and Hogan goes after him, before Giant comes up and applies the bearhug. Sullivan and Hart cheering him on as Hart calls out for someone, and out come Luger and Savage. Savage tries to save Hogan but Hart knocks him on his ass. Luger goes after Savage, and as all this goes down, it happens: THE YETAY!
The Yeti wraps his arms around Giant and Hogan and... I guess starts dry humping Hogan. Hogan slumps as Giant releases him and Luger applies the Torture Rack, then one for Savage.
Finally the ref comes to and... raises Giant's hand? Giant wins by DQ I guess, but Buffer announces the belt can't change hands by DQ, multiple times, even though Giant poses with the title. How Giant has won this I don't know. The bell never rings for the match to end officially.
Trash is being thrown into the ring as the heels embrace in the ring and we go to replays. Hogan and Savage finally start to come to as the ref checks on them, and the doctor comes in to check on Hogan.
Back to commentary to recap what just happened. Heenan tries to tell us the crowd are looking on in disbelief, but it''s clearly visible that everyone's leaving. Tony tells us Nitro will be live from Dayton the next night to get answers hopefully. He insists Hogan is still champion as we get credits for the show.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Holy hell what a mess. Aside from the Horsemen match with Sting, there's really nothing worth seeing on this show. Somehow Giant won the match, despite Hart attacking the referee as he's now aligned with Giant, and despite Buffer repeating that the title can't be won by DQ, Giant does in fact become the WCW Champion in his first match with the company.
We do get an explanation on the next night on Nitro for how Giant became champion, as Hart apparently had it put in the contract that Giant could win by DQ, but that still doesn't explain anything. Giant would be stripped of the championship a week later, and the title would be put on the line in the 60-Man three ring battle royal at World War 3, in which Savage would go on to win.
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