WCW’s Halloween Havoc 1997 was a historic event for a number of reasons, including the main event between Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper in a steel cage.
Miraculously, Vince McMahon never booked a Hogan vs. Piper singles match on a major pay per view during the WWF’s heyday in the 1980s. (I’m not counting the mostly forgotten The Wrestling Classic PPV from 1985, which the Hulkster won via DQ.)
However, as great as the cage match sounds on paper, it wasn’t even the highlight of the night at Halloween
Havoc. While the card was full of future Hall of Famers who would continue showing up on our TV screens for years, the event is now mainly remembered from two of WCW’s smallest stars, Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, who not only stole the show, but gave viewers a glimpse of wrestling’s future.
Much more on Rey and Eddie later, but a little background first. Last week, I put up apoll for Cageside Seats readers to choose a Halloween Havoc for me to do a deep dive on, and 1997’s event edged out the 1993 Havoc. I do encourage anyone who’s a fan of that era of wrestling to give 1993’s a watch. The main event saw Cactus Jack take on Big Van Vader in a Texas Death Match, and the card features solid wrestling from legends like Ric Flair, Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Paul Orndorff, and many more.
As for the poll winner: The 1997 event — the ninth Havoc overall — took place October 27 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada, and 12,457 very enthusiastic fans packed the venue.
An important fact to keep in mind is that this Halloween Havoc occurred during WCW’s hottest streak, when the company had done the seemingly impossible feat of beating the then-WWF in ratings. In fact, the event was held during the still-legendary streak of the 83 consecutive weeks of WCW Monday Night Nitro beating Monday Night Raw in television ratings.
The ultimate winner of the Monday Night War, WWE, has fortunately uploaded Halloween Havoc 1997 in its entirety on the company’s WCW YouTube page.
The festivities started with some talk from the commentary team, and boy, what a team. WCW mainstay (and current AEW employee) Tony Schiavone was joined by the incomparable Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes, who thankfully can’t hide his charisma behind an uncharacteristically clean-cut look.
Soon enough, though, the show began with a strong start.
Yuji Nagata vs. Último Dragón
Mike Tenay joined the table for the first match between Yuji Nagata (with Sonny Onoo in his corner) against Último Dragón. What followed was an exciting match between two Japanese stars looking to impress the American crowd. Whereas Dragón used a more high-flying repertoire, Nagata employed something akin to Strong Style, and overall the match proved a strong way to kick off the night.
Honestly, if you’re going do a re-watch of the show, don’t skip this one.
Result: Nagata won after Dragón tapped out to an armbar.
Grade: A-
Chris Jericho vs. Gedo
This unannounced match between two stars who had competed in Japan’s Super J-Cup tournament a couple of years earlier is certainly worth attention for the simple fact of seeing a young Jericho in his athletic prime.
Tenay referred to Gedo as the Dusty Rhodes of Japan, and Gedo would go on to have a long and respectable career in his home country, including time in the late incarnation of The Bullet Club.
This was another fun match, though it might be best remembered for a really ugly botch. After going up for a top rope Frankensteiner, Jericho tumbled hard right on his head in a gruesome landing. (The commentery team covered the hiccup by claiming Gedo blocked it.) Somehow, he recovered without needing an X sign from the ref, and managed to get Gedo into a Liontamer for the win. But the overall strong outing felt rushed getting to the ending.
Result: Jericho won via submission
Grade: B
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero
NOTE: Not yet! Although this was the third match of the night, I decided to save the best for last in this write-up. So, hold on…
Mongo McMichael vs. Alex Wright
Steve “Mongo” McMichael was a football legend. He’s a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame, and was a member of the infamous Chicago Bears team that won Super Bowl XX.
He was also a pro wrestler for a few years, and he was featured on WCW’s programming when it was the hottest wrestling promotion on the planet. Hell, he was a member of The Four Horseman!
But I’m not sure anyone ever mistook Mongo as a more important wrestler than football star. No matter. He was in (arguably) the greatest faction in wrestling history, and had more than one wild story he could share about Ric Flair.
At the time of this Halloween Havoc, he was feuding with his wife, Debra. Yes, really. (In a real storyline that seems like a work, Debra went on to have a brief run as Mrs. Steve Austin.) Mongo was taking on various wrestlers fighting on behalf of Debra, and at Halloween Havoc, that was one Alex Wright.
The German wrestler showed a lot of potential when he arrived in WCW, but Wright never really caught on with fans. The latter could also be said about this match. The two men exchanged some amateur moves to show Mongo did his training, but the commentary team didn’t even bother to pretend to be interested in this match, instead spending most of the run time hyping the main event.
McMichael still looked awkward throughout the match despite the previously mentioned training, and honestly, there’s no reason viewers should be interested in this either. I would say skip it, but a notable moment happened at the end when Goldberg jumped into the ring and landed a spear on Mongo, which he followed up with Jackhammer. Goldberg then threw Der Wunderkind on Mongo for the pin.
Goldberg had only recently arrived in WCW and had only just started the legendary undefeated streak that was (allegedly) the longest of any wrestler until the record was broken by a far superior wrester.
Result: Wright pinned Mongo
Grade: D-
Jacqueline vs. Disco Inferno
I mentally blocked this match out of my memory, and I would give anything to push it out again. For anyone blissfully unaware of Disco Inferno, he was a dancing heel who, for some reason, was pushed on the midcard in the hottest wrestling promotion in the world at the time.
On the other side of the ring, Jacqueline, aka Jackie Moore, is now rightfully considered a legend of women’s wrestling who enjoyed a long run in every major production en route to the WWE Hall of Fame. As such, she can’t be blamed for this clunker of a match.
Disco did some standard heel stalling early on, but Jacqueline landed some hard blows and delivered a Maivia Hurricane. She eventually picked up the win via a school boy. The commentators only real came alive when it appeared Jacqueline nearly avoided a wardrobe malfunction.
Result: Jacqueline pinned Disco Inferno
Grade: F
Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig
The Nature Boy challenging the former Mr. Perfect for the WCW United States Championship means there’s no way this match could go badly.
Well, it didn’t go badly, but it also didn’t reach the heights of previous encounters between these two legends. There’s some fun in the fact that Curt wore a robe he stole from Flair to the ring, though he had ripped the sleeves off.
The robe appeared again later in the match, but the commentary team spent most of the time still prattling on about the main event. Even if this match is somewhat lackluster by these two men’s very high standards, it could still be shown to green wrestlers as a lesson on how to sell for your opponent.
The finish was a bummer, there’s no other way to put it. Flair hooked Henning upside down on a turnbuckle, placed the U.S. belt around Curt’s face, and stomped him. The ref immediately called for a DQ and was met with a Ric punch.
Result: Henning beat Flair via disqualification
Grade: C
Scott Hall vs. Lex Luger
Hall’s issues with Larry Zbyszko was framed as the central theme of this match, even though the crowd was pretty stoked about watching Luger during this run. Larry served as special guest referee, so of course, there was all of the expected shenanigans. Syxx (Sean Waltman’s goofiest name) also interfered, as did Eric Bischoff.
Syxx hit Luger when the ref couldn’t see, setting Hall up for The Outsiders’ Edge. Zyszko counted three for Hall to win before thinking it over, requesting a replay, and restarting the match. Luger then got Big Scott into The Torture Rack for the win. Hall and Bisch (at his smarmiest) then proceeded to beat down Larry.
Result: Luger beat Hall via submission
Grade: C-
“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page
A “Las Vegas Sudden Death Match” meant the victory would go to the last man standing, and there’s genuine excitement in this rivalry.
Though Savage may not have been in his prime, he never stopped short of giving his all. Page was amidst one of the unlikeliest success stories in wrestling, and both men brought the goods.
They brawled all over the arena, and Rhodes damn near lost his voice shouting in glee over the carnage. Macho Elbows and Diamond Cutters couldn’t keep either star down for the 10-count, but an imposter Sting with a baseball bat to the ribs of Page did the trick.
Result: Savages beat Page
Grade: B+
The Main Event: Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper in a steel cage!
To help sell the magnitude of this matchup, legendary announcer Michael Buffer handled the introductions. Really, though, this would have been the biggest match in the world ten years earlier, and even legends can feel overshadowed by outstanding performances from younger talent elsewhere on the card.
Also, this marked the third time the Hulkster, who is world champion and de facto leader of nWo here, and then-WCW commissioner Roddy faced off on a WCW PPV in a year’s time. No matter, because…a steel cage.
Piper first got the better of Hogan at Starrcade 1996, then Hogan got his win back at WCW SuperBrawl VII. And a major quibble I have with this Halloween Havoc match is that it was billed as a non-title bout, which basically tipped off the result.
Neither of these icons would be mistaken for ring technicians at any point in their careers (and I’m not counting social media clips of a young Hulk in Japan), but they were both on the decline here. Roddy made up for a lot of his limitations with his fieriness, whereas, let’s be honest, Hogan was pretty bad at this point. Yes, his heel work and mic skills remained among the best in the business, but his actual wrestling was plodding and unimaginative.
Even still, there’s no denying the star power on display when seeing these two square off at any point in their careers, and charisma goes a long way to keeping this match engaging.
The enormous cage brought to mind the WWF’s blue cage from the 1980s, and both men sold the physical toll that being flung against metal can have on a body. It also must have been incredible for the live crowd to see Piper and Hogan scaling the cage and trading blows at the top.
Near the end, two more imposter Stings came out, and then a few more. This seems silly out of context, but this was a big angle in 1997. And in what would have been unthinkable a decade earlier, Piper kicked out after receiving two big leg drops.
While the Stings may have been distracting for Hogan, Savage interjecting himself proved more consequential. Coming off the very top of the cage, Macho accidentally hit Hogan instead of Piper, and Rowdy capitalized by locking Hulk in a sleeper hold. The ref soon called for the bell after Hogan’s arm remained limp following a third attempt at raising it.
But the night ended with Savage and Hogan getting the upper hand on Piper by handcuffing Hot Rod to the cage for a beatdown, before a “fan” in a Sting mask climbed in from the crowd, only to also get wrecked.
Result: Piper won via sleeperhold
Grade: C–
Again, this was far from the best match of the night, and probably wasn’t even the second or third most interesting to watch now, at least from a wrestling perspective. But a big reason for that was the high bar that WCW was operating on at the time.
The bar that night was set by Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, and it’s impossible to imagine there was anyone on planet Earth who could match them.
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero
Many people say this is the best match in WCW history, while some go so far as to say it’s one of the greatest matches in all of wrestling history. I’m not sure how far I would go with the hyperbole, but the match is certainly thrilling without a miscue or dull moment.
While Rey still continues to defy time by still competing at a high level, words can’t describe just how fast and agile he was here. Eddie, meanwhile, was carving out what would go on to be recognized as one the greatest heel personas the wrestling world has ever seen. More than 20 years after his tragic passing, Guerrero is still cited as an inspiration by many of today’s stars, and his talent was on full display at Halloween Havoc 1997.
Words can’t do this match any justice, and it feels silly to even try to sum up the action. You REALLY have to watch this if you haven’t ever seen it. And if you haven’t seen it recently, do yourself a favor and put it on now. There are certainly much worse ways to spend 14 minutes.
Speaking of the match time, this could have easily gone on for twice as long.
Some stage setting: This was a mask versus title match, as Eddie was the cruiserweight champion at the time, and Rey wore the now-legendary Phantom-inspired bodysuit. As he did throughout his WCW run, Mysterio wrestling with “Jr.” attached to his name, as his uncle was the original Rey Mysterio.
In place of trying to break down this incredible match, I’ll include some random notes I typed out while watching. First was how I hadn’t ever noticed how much Dominik Mysterio seemingly modeled his exaggerated mullet after Eddie’s hair during this period, and you can see how much Dom smartly borrowed from Eddie’s in-ring playbook by watching this match.
Some of the match highlights for me were Rey hitting a crossbody in which he damn near went over Eddie’s head but resulted in both men going over the top rope; Eddie countering an impressive aerial move from the apron to send Rey hard onto the floor; Eddie hit a tiltawhirl backbreaker that looked devastating, as well as a powerbomb that looked as strong as one executed by much larger competitors; Rey countered a hold into a springboard DDT from the top rope in a crazy sequence; Eddie executed a nice Gory Special, named after his father; With Rey hanging upside down, Eddie missed a running dropkick to crotch himself on the ring post; and Rey landed a a beautiful corkscrew moonsault.
It’s impossible to overstate how masterful Eddie’s heel work was at this Halloween Havoc. The man was without peer at getting heat. He taunted the fans, employed dastardly tactics in the ring, and constantly attempted to rip Rey’s mask apart at every opportunity. The crowd responded with “Eddie sucks” chants throughout the match.
In the end, though, the fans got what they wanted, and Rey came out the winner. Eddie went for a Razor’s Edge off the top turnbuckle, but Mysterio countered it into a hurricanrana and then a roll up for the pin.
Result: Rey pinned Eddie to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Grade: A+
Overall takeaway: Halloween Havoc 1997 exists as a pretty accurate snapshot of WCW at the time. It contains all the highs of the company, as well as the lows and the very era-specific angles.
But, again, those highs never got higher than Rey versus Eddie. The match was fast-paced and aggressive, with one inspired moment after another, and both men sold for their lives. While the pace feels more commonplace in modern wrestling, the fans in Nevada must have been knocked out by what they were witnessing that night.
These two would fiercely battle again, of course, over the years and in WWE, but they never quite had the level of magic seen here. WWE has thus far inducted two matches into its Hall of Fame: Andre the Giant versus Hogan from WrestleMania III, and Steven Austin versus Bret Hart from WrestleMania 13. When the company gets around to giving that honor to a match from WCW, Rey vs. Eddie should be the first on the list.
What do you think, Cagesiders? Any impressions or memories of Halloween Havoc 1997 you’d like to share? Please do so in the comments.
