-10/27/91
-From Chattanooga, TN
-The matches left off the video are: Big Josh & PN News def. The Creatures, Bobby Eaton def. Terrence Taylor, Bill Kazmeier def. Oz, Van Hammer def. Doug Summers, and Brian Pillman def. Richard Morton to become the 1st WCW Light Heavyweight Champion.
-Hosts are JR & Tony.
-JR previews the show, and notes that we don't know the identity of the WCW Halloween Phantom. Tony says Barry Windham was attacked earlier today, and cannot compete in the Chamber of Horrors match.
-EARLIER TODAY: Eric Bischoff is in the parking lot, greeting wrestlers as they arrive at the arena. When Windham & Dustin Rhodes arrive, Arn Anderson & Larry Zybyszko slam a car door on Windham's arm.
-Match 1 is the "Chamber of Horrors": El Gigante, The Steiner Brothers, & United States Champion Sting VS Big Van Vader, Diamond Studd, Cactus Jack, & Abdullah the Butcher
-Everyone comes out to the same generic "scary" music except for Sting, who has his own. Jack brings a chainsaw with him. Jack & Abby go after Sting before he even gets to the cage. Nick Patrick has a camera on his head. Sting beats everyone on the other team with a kendo stick. A masked man jumps out of one of the caskets that are in the cage, and promptly gets beaten down by the Steiners. Sting & Vader go at it, bringing the crowd to life.
The chair is lowered, and Jack has to roll out of the way before he gets crushed by it. Vader gets rick in the chair, but Rick fights out of it. Rick throws a coffin lid at Jack's head. "Ghouls" make their way down the ramp with a stretcher. Rick bashes Jack's head into the cage. Jack gets busted wide open. Cactus and Sting climb the cage, and Sting sends Cactus down. Jack flies over the top rope and into the cage off a whip from Sting.
Everyone just wanders aimlessly for a bit. Sting got opened up somehow, Abby is too, of course. Studd almost gets Scott in the chair, but takes a stick to the nuts from Rick. Abby gets Rick in the chair as Cactus Jack prepares to throw the switch. Rick gets Abby in the chair and shackles him down. Cactus isn't paying attention, and he throws the switch to lose the match and "electrocute" Abby.
Not so much a match as it was a complete clusterfuck. I can appreciate them trying something different, but they went way too overboard with the Halloween theme, and the idea of a wrestler getting put into an electric chair is really fucking stupid.
-Cactus Jack tries to revive Abby by yelling in his face. It somehow works, and Abby goes nuts, attacking Jack, and the ghouls.
-"I guess when he opened his eyes, he thought he was in heaven, and realized he shouldn't be there..."-Tony Schiavone.
-Match 2: Jimmy Garvin (w/Michael Hayes) VS Johnny B. Badd (w/Teddy Long)
-JR laughs at a "Michael PMS Hayes" sign. Garvin is filling in for an "injured" Hayes. Freebirds play faces here, leading the crowd in the Atlanta Braves' tomahawk chop. You know you're over-the-top flamboyant when THE FREEBIRDS are giving you a "WTF?" look. Crowd is pretty split. There's a "Freebirds suck" chant, then more tomahawk chopping and a "DDT" chant.
Crowd pops huge when Garvin backdrops Badd over the top, and then Hayes punches Badd in the face. Garvin runs the ropes twice before hitting Badd in the face with a forearm. Badd lands some body punches and a leaping clothesline. Badd chokes Garvin with a cloth. Badd comes off the top with an ugly sunset flip for two. Crowd dies down dramatically with Badd on offense. Garvin counters a double axe handle with a punch to the stomach.
Badd misses an elbow in the corner, and flies out over the top. The two bash heads when they try a leap frog at the same time. Garvin hits the DDT, but Teddy has the referee distracted. Garvin turns right into a Badd left hand for the pin, as Teddy pushes Garvin's leg off the rope. Michael Hayes nails Teddy, and tries to explain what happened to the ref. JR refers to Teddy as "peanut head". First time for that?
-JR sends it TO THE BACK to Missy Hyatt (dressed as a showgirl). She can't find the WCW Halloween Phantom. Missy bugs Bobby Eaton, who is carrying a pumpkin because that's what people do around Halloween. Eaton says he wants to go celebrate his winning a match and leaves her.
-Match 3 for the Television Championship: Steve Austin [c] (w/Lady Blossom) VS Dustin Rhodes
-Dustin scores with a big clothesline and a dropkick for two. They go through a series of moves and counters, ending with Dustin clotheslining Austin out over the top. Austin counters a side headlock with a suplex for two. Austin blocks a bulldog. Match is slow, so JR takes time to bitch about managers constantly getting involved in matches. Dustin misses a cross body and bounces off the mat out to the floor.
Austin pounds away on Dustin, busting Dustin wide open. Match picks up as Austin pounces on the injury. Austin hits a gutwrench suplex for two. Match slows down again as Austin uses a headlock with the ropes for leverage. Dustin tries for a monkey flip, but Austin blocks it, and knocks Dustin for a flip with a clothesline. They fight over a small package, then Dustin hits a lariat for two. Dustin misses a dropkick, and Austin gets two off that.
Dustin hits an atomic drop and a clothesline for two. Dustin throws Austin outside and sends him head-first into the ring post, which busts Austin open. Dustin hits a powerslam for two. Dustin hits a bionic elbow for two. Dustin pounds on Austin's open wound with 30 seconds left. Dustin flips, flops, and flies for two. Dustin hits a cross body off the top for two as the time limit expires. Match started out painfully slow, as they used a lot of headlocks to fill time. Match picked up towards the end, but was still pretty disappointing. Jarring to see so much blood on this show with it not being a factor for some time.
-Match 4: The Z Man VS The WCW Halloween Phantom
-Phantom goes from shielding his face to attacking Zenk in a split second. Phantom hits a vicious clothesline. Close up shots pretty much give away the Phantom's identity. Zenk fights back and hits a dropkick. Phantom no-sells, and quickly finishes with a Rude Awakening. Tony pretty much gives it away by referring to the move as that. Just a quick squash to showcase the Phantom.
-Match 5 for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Enforcers [c] VS United States Tag Team Champions The Patriots
-Larry & Chip start it out. It doesn't go well for Larry. Arn gets in, and it doesn't get any better for him. Todd Champion gets in, and AA quickly turns the tide. Arn gets sent outside. Arn tries a piledriver on the floor, but gets backdropped for his troubles. Enforcers try double-teaming, but Champions is able to floor them both with a double clothesine.
Larry slaps Champion across the face then runs. Larry tags Arn on the way by, allowing Arn to grab Champion and hold him for a kick from Larry. Larry hits a swinging neck breaker for two. Champion becomes the face-in-peril, which seems kind of backwards, considering he is the bigger and apparently less adapt at mat wrestling half of his team. Chip gets the hot tag and hits a big slam on AA for two. Chip smashes into Larry right into a AA spinebuster for the pin. Match was pretty good while it lasted, with the Enforcers completely carrying everything, and doing it well.
-We go to ringside with Eric Bischoff dressed as the world's most effeminite vampire. Eric brings out Paul E. and Madusa. Madusa is as tall as Paul and Eric, but her hair gives her a six inch height advantage. Paul bitches about losing his job as a commentator, and says that WCW forgot he has a manager's license. Paul says he wants to bankrupt WCW, and the way to do that is destroy their heroes. Paul says he's starting at the top; Sting. Paul says he told Madusa to find the man who can eliminate Sting, and he is the WCW Halloween Phantom. Paul brings out the Phantom, who unmasks as Rick Rude. Rude wonders aloud if Sting is as small as he looks on TV. So begins the Dangerous Alliance.
-JR presents a video of Ron Simmons going to the campus of Florida State University to train for the World title match. Ron does a bunch of football drills as more music I remember from NFL Primetime plays.
-Match 6 for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Lex Luger [c] (w/Harley Race & Mr. Hughes) VS Ron Simmons (w/Dusty Rhodes) [2 out of 3 Falls]
-Maybe Dustin could have won the TV title if his dad wasn't too busy latching on to Simmons.
-FIRST FALL: Slow start. Simmons misses a dropkick, and Luger goes to work. JR mentions that Luger call his piledriver the "Attitude Adjustment". Simmons lands a big clothesline and a powerslam, then follows up with a spine buster for a quick pin to go up 1-0.
-SECOND FALL: Nice touch as Luger stays slumped in his corner between falls, and gingerly gets to his feet. Simmons counters a suplex with one of his own, and goes to work on Luger's back. Simmons gets two off a bulldog. Simmons gets a small package for two. Simmon keeps the momentum, getting two off a sunset flip. Luger manages to side step Simmons and send him through the ropes. Luger takes control, and hits a powerslam for two.
Luger holds a rear chinlock for some time. Simmons fights out, avoids a charges, and gets a school boy for two. Simmons gets a backslide for two. Race distracts Simmons, so Dusty goes after Harley. Luger dives at Simmons. Harley holds Simmons' tights so Simmons stays on the mat while Luger goes over, and Nick Patrick DQs Simmons to even the match at 1. I hate the total inconsistency with whether or not that is called.
-THIRD FALL: Luger connects with a cheap shot to start the fall. Luger has been cut around his eye. Simmons Hulks Up and gets two off a clothesline. Simmons hits a superplex for two. They brawl on the outside. Simmons goes for the three point stance, and hits the ring post. Luger finishes with a really shitty Attitude Adjustment to retain 2-1.
Match was OK, but it didn't look like Simmons was quite ready to be a main event guy despite the Jesus Push he was apparently getting at the time. Tony calls it "one of the greatest matches of all time", but I will respectfully disagree.
-JR & Tony recap the main event and the angle with Paul E. and Rick Rude.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Can't really comment on the show as a whole since half the matches are missing, but the home release was nothing special. The opener sucked, and Austin/Dustin was disappointing. Everything else was decent, if unmemorable.
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