[1995-10-29-WWF-Halloween Havoc] Ric Flair & Sting vs Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I've seen this a million times. It's still great to watch as a Flair performance ("Come on, Stinger! I'm here!"), and it still makes no sense (Why does Flair need to turn on Sting? Why not just reunite the Horsemen? Not sure what he gained from it ...) Anyway, I understand Sting's frustration. And it's also interesting that Flair complained on his shoot that Flair vs Arn was cut short, when it was in the WON at the time that Flair was insistent on turning heel again while WCW wanted him to stay a babyface because he was so over (which he was).

[El-P]

I've seen this a million times. It's still great to watch as a Flair performance ("Come on, Stinger! I'm here!"), and it still makes no sense (Why does Flair need to turn on Sting? Why not just reunite the Horsemen? Not sure what he gained from it ...)

Because making Sting his little bitch never gets old to Flair. This is the angle that put Sting over the edge as the dumbest babyface ever.

[Johnny Guitar]

I love this angle.

 

It feels like the swan song for early WCW.

 

 

Going in you knew that Sting was going to get fucked over. Thats what Flair & Arn did. Fuck Sting over. They'd done it before and they'd do it again.

 

Pillman had been Sting's friend in the past. But he'd gone heel with Austin. So he was untrustworthy.

 

Arn & Flair had both been to the WWF for a quick run, whilst Sting & Pillman had stayed in WCW.

 

These guys along with Luger and Eaton, were the only people with ties left to the early years of the company. After this people in WCW were linked with the WWF or ECW mainly.

 

Flair, Arn & Pillman beating down Sting. Four guys who'd been with company for years. Everything that had happened since 1989, felt like it had been building to this moment.

[Tim Evans]

This was so great. Easily one of Heenan's best WCW calls and Flair was just awesome in his turn. Everyone knew it was coming but it worked. Flair struts and then punches Sting right in the face. I like Sting fighting back after the turn.

[Laney]

I'm not sure exactly where I stand on this one. On one hand Flair did an excellent job here in executing the turn. Flair coming out bandaged up to help out Sting only to turn on him and reveal that he was never attack was done perfectly.

 

On the other hand, it made no sense, especially how they played it off like this was the plan all along. Flair and Arn pretending to feud with each other and having Pillman come to Arn's aid so that Flair has to beg for Sting to help him. The whole plan just seems really convoluted.

 

Also, I have to say that I was not a fan of the match itself. The beatdown on Sting before Flair's run-in just seemed to go on for too long. Sting also played off a little two strong when it was 2-on-1 for my taste.

[El-P]

Great angle, great beatdown, great face-in-peril segment, great hot-tag, great double-cross, great Sting fiery comeback, great beatdown again. The fan in the first row going crazy for the Sting beatdown is awesome.

 

So yeah, let's just pretend Arn & Flair made up after Fall Brawl, decided to reunite the Horsemen and fuck around with Sting just for the hell of it.

[PeteF3]

No, the angle makes no sense, for the reasons Loss stated. But goddamned if this isn't one of the most glorious moments of the year. I forgot just how good of a match this was before the angle, and how agonizingly long they teased us with the hot tag to Flair. Just some masterful work on the part of Sting and Arn, with some good contributions by Pillman and Flair being a tornado working the apron. And it seemed to blindside the fans, as they seem genuinely pissed at this turn of events and litter the ring with garbage for the first but certainly not last time. Okerlund: "This is one of the most despicable acts I've ever seen." You ain't seen nothing yet, Gene.

 

It should also be noted that Tony Schiavone was absolutely fantastic for all of this. Arn knocking Sting into Pillman was a great nod to history and Schiavone was right on top of it, pointing out that that was a favorite tactic of Ole & Gene Anderson. And I love his reaction to the turn--"This is beyond sick, this is DEMENTED." 1995 is a horrible year for announcers but Tony is clearly the best working a national stage.

[Mrzfn]

I actually thought the angle did make sense, though I'm almost certainly giving it more thought than the bookers did. The whole point of Arn vs. Flair was Arn wanted Flair to prove he was still the old Flair, THE MAN, the guy he dedicated his career to following. So, what is more vintage Flair than screwing over Sting? So the original conflict is real, then after Fall Brawl Flair approaches Arn with this plan and Arn is convinced that Flair is back to his old self and re-aligns with him in secret, and Pillman comes along because he's quietly been a Flair guy forever and of course he wants to be a Horsemen.

 

Probably more in my head than in the canon, but still I think it works.

[Robert S]

Having watched this the first time in decades (probably since it aired initially), I thought Flair did a surprisingly bad job on the apron. He strutted around a couple of times, but for such a long heat segment, he should have done more. He missed to do the obvious things like pounding on the turnbuckle to get the crowd the clap along or better chant something like "let's go Sting". As a result the crowd died down a couple of times at the later points of the heat, something that should not have happened.