[1994-10-23-WCW-Halloween Havoc] Arn Anderson vs Dustin Rhodes

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Kevin Ridge]

You can tell that Tony and Bobby already hate each other. Anderson argues with the referee that he is getting his hair pulled. Still enough on the back of the head to be plausible. Anderson blocks the raised foot when he jumps off the middle rope. He side steps and then drops an elbow anyways. Like that little spot.

 

Dustin misses big on a clothesline attempt and barely avoids the rings steps when going to the outside. Could have screwed up his shoulder big there. Rhodes grabs Arn around the midsection with the body vice. Anderson cleverly spins towards the ropes and catapults Dustin throat first against the bottom rope. Nice way to get out of that move.

 

Anderson almost gets the win with the help of the ropes but referee catches it before counting the three. He goes to argue with the referee but gets rolled up by Dustin for the victory. Arn was totally outsmarting him until the end. Parker, Meng and Arn beat up Dustin after the match.

[Loss]

I like how Arn seems ready for every standard spot that he normally falls for, like the flip flop fly. He even has a counter ready for Dustin putting up the boot off of the axehandle from the middle rope thing he seemed to always want to try. Dustin works over his arm after he misses a clothesline attempt and hits the ringpost on the outside. The crowd doesn't really react to much of it, I guess because the feud was blown off at War Games and there probably wasn't much reason for this match ... at least not at this stage. I wish the crowd had gotten into this more, as this built well, had some great wrestling and counters and solid psychology. They seemed motivated to do something fresh and thoughtful, but it just didn't quite click like it should have, despite being a good match.

[Exposer]

This was a good match. It lacked heat because in all honesty this feud was already over. Like Loss, I really enjoyed Arn having a counter for all of Dustin's signature spots. Dustin takes an insane bump over the ropes and to the floor. It looked like he had to try and avoid hitting the steps in mid-air. Dustin worked on the arm some too. The finish was okay for what it was.

[soup23]

Really good southern style match and there was still juice left in Dustin vs. Parker's charges. Arn was really good in this match as a wily veteran and Dustin took some crazy bumps including his flying bump to the floor.

[El-P]

Odd booking to have another match between the two after the Wargames. Still, it was a very good match with tons of crisp work and a good build of intensity. Lot of really good counters. Far from their classic in January 1992, but they were not given the time to do it either. Post-match beating, the feud goes on. Well, it really diminishes the value of Wargames, but I can take more of Arn vs Dustin any day so I'm ok with this.

[PeteF3]

Not one of the higher-end matches for Arn or Dustin, but a good solid well-worked bout nevertheless. Lots of really neat counters and counters to counters here, like Arn countering the body scissors and avoiding the foot-to-the-face move on the axhandle, as well as Dustin using the ropes to block the DDT. Dustin gets sort of a fluky rollup pin and gets creamed after the match, so evidently they were planning to keep going with this.

[Zenjo]

A reasonable enough match, although not close to their January 1992 encounter, which was actually taped in December 1991. The problem was that they were trying to fit a 15m structure into a 10m timeframe. I'd imagine they were instructed to do this at the last minute, otherwise they'd have planned a better fitting 10m match.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson - Halloween Havoc 1994

 

Coming off the feel-good Wargames the previous month the Rhodes' family got their revenge on Parker's Studd Stable. I figured this would be the singles blowoff so that Dustin could get a big win over AA, but then I remembered Dustin was still feuding Parker & the Blacktop Bully when he left in early 1995. This was wrestled more like a fun TV match than a heated grudge match built over Double A turning on Dustin at Bash at the Beach in July. I liked the heel in peril at the beginning. Dustin had a counter for everything Arn threw at him. Arn suckerpunches him, he clobbers him. Arn tries to smash him into the post, Dustin moves and Arn hits his arm. It was a fun way for Dustin to earn his shine. Dustin takes an insane bump over the top rope clears the steel stairs and lands in the aisleway. That was wild. He really launched himself. Heat segment is wicked short. Dustin fires up after Arn rakes his face across the ropes. Good Southern slugfest, but just as it is heating up they go him. Dustin lariat gets two. Dustin hooks the ropes to avoid the DDT, which is in line with Dustin being prepared for Arn. Arn holds the ropes on a sunset flip, ref kicks off the arms, Dustin rolls him up for three. Arn lays him out after the match. Definite TV match feel, short, fun, babyface gets a solid win but heel lays him out. Which is weird because it should have been a blowoff. Not nearly as good as the '92 match, but still fun. ***

[cactus]

Man, Arn has to be one of the smartest workers ever. Although this lacks the heat from their opening segment they had during the Wargames match, this a gritty, technical bout. Dustin looked like a megastar babyface here. I reckon he would of went on to be a bigger deal if he wasn't southern as WCW looks to be moving away from being classed as a southern wrestling promotion around this time. I love the small details this has like Dustin pulling down his kneepad before attempting a knee drop. Arn teasing the DDT was great too. I'll have to check out their 1992 match at some point as I loved this. 

★★★½