Vol. 40: WCW Halloween Havoc 1989

What this episode covers

It’s time to do the annual episode devoted to WCW Halloween Havoc. This time we go all the way back to where it began in 1989. 0:30 – Pro Wrestling in 1989 The entire wrestling business was in a bit of a transitional phase. Ted Turner had bought out Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 so this was the first full-fledged year under his ownership. It was also the year Ric Flair was pushed as the top babyface with no Horsemen backing him up due to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard signing with WWE. Not only that, PPV was still a relatively new concept and wasn’t nearly as established as it became in the 1990s. Thus, the inaugural Halloween Havoc helped set the stage for Sting’s rise to main event status in 1990. 9:00 – Storylines and Angles The Main Event Flair was in his seventh reign as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He had successfully regained the title from Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar. Terry Funk, fresh off a stint as an actor, made his return to wrestling that night and challenged Flair for the title. Flair declined, believing Funk had been away from wrestling too long to be considered a top challenger. This enraged Funk, who immediately attacked Flair and piledrove him through a table. This put Flair on the shelf for several weeks, but the two faced off at The Great American Bash with Flair beating Funk to retain the title. Meanwhile, Keiji Mutoh, aka The Great Muta, was on an excursion to the United States. Muta was at this point undefeated and had beaten Sting for the NWA World Television Championship. The villainous Gary Hart became the manager for both Funk and Muta. After Flair retained the title at the Great American Bash, Funk and Muta ambushed Flair. Sting ran out for the save and a wild brawl ensued. This solidified Flair and Sting as the top babyfaces and aligned them against Funk, Muta, and Hart. Tag Teams Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane were turned babyface after being attacked by the original Midnight Express of Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey managed by Paul E. Dangerously. However, all three heels were either let go or fired soon afterwards and The Samoan SWAT Team (later The Headshrinkers in WWE) were brought in to take their place in the feud. Oliver Humperdink also joined WCW as The SST’s manager. The Varsity Club of Mike Rotunda, Steve Williams, and Rick Steiner had disbanded with Williams and Steiner going babyface. Steiner had become infatuated with a “nerdy girl” in the audience. That turned out to be a ruse because the girl in question became Woman. She brought in a masked tag team called “Woman’s tag team of Doom”. Rick’s younger brother Scott joined the company to help him in the feud. There were also several famous tag teams either starting out or entering their primes at this event. The Fabulous Freebirds went through a change as Terry Gordy quit the team to go to Japan. Buddy Jack retired, leaving Michael Hayes without a partner. Longtime friend Jimmy Garvin then joined Hayes as a new incarnation of The Freebirds.  The Rest of the Card Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas formed the tag The Dynamic Dudes...