[1990-10-27-NWA-Halloween Havoc] Sting vs Sid Vicious

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Inexcusably heatless for a PPV main event. You could tell that they wanted Sting's running lariat on the ramp to be one for the highlight reel. It did get a pop, but I'm surprised at how quiet the crowd is when they've been really into the rest of the show.

 

But that's not the reason this here. This is -- the most (in)famous finish of the early PPV era. Sting and Sid brawl out of sight then head back to the ring. Sting gets pinned and Sid wins the title, or so we think. Sting crosses paths with the Fake Sting, which the crack WCW production crew completely misses and is a key moment, then comes back to the ring and pins Sid after a Stinger Splash and inside cradle while balloons and pyro are still going off for the presumed title change. This was a clever idea for a finish, but they couldn't execute it at all, the production was terrible and it's made meaningless by never really being mentioned again.

[PeteF3]

Funny you mention the crowd. It's struck me that the crowd has been quiet most of the night. Not just for the tag title match but for the Midnights as well. Not "heatless," per se, more of a "sit and watch intently" way, almost like a stereotypical Japanese crowd. They do pop for the stuff designed to get pops, so they're paying attention. Just not a lot of sustained volume.

 

Sting works really, really hard here. The best way--maybe the only way--to get a good match out of Sid is to have him stand there like a brick wall and let a Sting or Shawn Michaels just bounce off of him repeatedly. This is not a great match and maybe the whole thing doesn't stand up, but the action we see here is pretty decent because of the match layout and Sting going balls-to-the-wall. I actually thought the Fake Sting was pretty well-executed at first. It's a complicated set-up as you have to get Sting and Sid to the back, but you just had a DCOR in a major match earlier so Ric and Arn need to be out to distract the ref. Then the camera keeps a wide shot on Windham so that it legitimately looks like it's the real Sting. Crowd certainly buys it, too. Then it falls apart as Barry runs away and the cameras miss Sting confronting him in the aisle. Setting off the fireworks and balloons was kind of a clever touch, but since when do they set off balloons and fireworks for heel title victories? The fake Sting is so convincing that the crowd seems to have no clue at all what's supposed to be going on as looking closely at most of the reactions, they clearly thought it was a legit title change.

 

I like the idea and parts of the execution, but Windham needed to hang around at ringside longer so everyone could get to see the real Sting confront him. This was a case of booking to a TV audience at the expense of the live crowd, and it showed.

[soup23]

Windham has always looked good as the fake Sting and based on the camera angles you cant really tell shit.

 

I think the crowd for this show was hit or miss mostly. Action here is not great but not terrible either. Stings run was really doomed by this point.

[Kevin Ridge]

The running lariat from Sting down the ramp into the ring was awesome. Sid leaves the ring in a title match but does come back. Flair and Arn ringside. Sid wins by just falling on top of Sting when he was doing a bodyslam. Something is up. It was a bogus Sting! Referee can now tell the difference and the match resumes. Sting with the small package to win. Interesting booking to that finish.

[BackToBionic]

I had a WCW magazine that had a clear photo of Windham as Sting and even there he was passable so I think it was well-done by the wrestlers. It's just that the storyline was pretty convoluted that made this fall apart.

[garretta]

Call me crazy, but I liked this finish. It was right out of the Horsemen playbook, or would have been if they'd ever had a member who'd looked like Dusty, Magnum, Luger, etc. It would have been ingenious if Nick Patrick hadn't caught on to it, but he did. I loved the look of chagrin on Sid's face once he'd been pinned. It was like he was thinking, "Damn! A foolproof plan down the toilet!"

 

We saw Sting confront Barry in the aisle on replay, so I'll forgive the production crew for missing it live. I think that they might have even deliberately not shown that part on TV in order to build suspense; what some of you are calling a mistake might actually have been executed according to plan, whether you agree with the plan or not.

 

Paul really was in his groove on commentary here. I liked how he kept saying that Sid needed to take the match back into the ring instead of fighting Sting on the ramp and on the floor. That sounds like something that an astute manager (which Paul always was, and presumably still is) would say. JR might have blown the finish by saying that Barry was the fake Sting a bit too early, but that's something we'll most likely never know for sure.

 

I wish we had all of Sting's postmatch interview; it cut off just as he was saying something about the Scorpion. Was he supposed to have turned Barry into the fake Sting, according to the real one? It makes sense that the real Sting would think that, given the other things that had happened earlier on the card courtesy of the Scorpion.

 

This was a whole lot better than it had any right to be, considering how it was booked. The sad thing is, Ole and company wouldn't thank their lucky stars and quit while they were only slightly behind.

[drew wardlaw]

This isn't that bad of a match really. Sting's ramp lariat is huge. I think Sting gives a good performance in the match, he works really hard and makes Sid look huge, but has fire and good offense to not look weak. The finish is just very confusing looking on TV, due to production mistakes.

[dawho5]

Good idea, bad execution. You know, given WCW's history of awful ideas, at least they got the damn idea right here. It seems like it would be a Horsemen thing.

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Champion Sting vs Sid Vicious - NWA Halloween Havoc ‘90

Lots of interesting context…this is Sid’s first competitive televised singles match in the NWA. Period. Not just his first title shot. Not just his first PPV main event. His first competitive televised singles match of any kind. He had a long layoff from November 89 to June of 90 but that is unfathomable today. It was interesting watch that in mind and this also being Sting’s first PPV title defense since GAB. Besides the Wargames ‘91 I know very little about Sid version of the Horsemen. Due to Black Scorpion angle which dominated commentary, the second half of 1990 is not a period of NWA that I have pursued due to the poor reviews. Just had an interesting thought. How much better would it have been if Barry Windham was the Black Scorpion. Windham/Sid split off from Flair/AA because they were holding them back. Windham was trying all these ruses to get the title to him or Sid. Just a thought. 
 

The match was interesting after the domination of Flair in 88, 89 and early 90, we see the 90s may look like… Blond, Muscular and Big. Even someone like Hogan who paved the way for a Sting or a Sid was trained old school and had some general wrestling he could fall back on. Sting and Sid don’t have that. I am really interested to see how these guys less than 5 years into the biz would start this match left to their own devices

True to form there is no lock up or test of strength. It is right into it. Sid turns to play to the crowd so Sting follows suit but it was a ruse and Sid clubs him. Sting tries to hurl his body at Sid but Sid catches which establishes Sid’s size and strength advantage. The uptempo beginning actually had me thinking this match might exceed expectations. Sting takes it outside and throws Sid into some hard metal objects. Then the match grinds to a halt and it grinds for a very long time. Sting nor Sid are two wrestlers who are very interesting working on top. Sting is terrible working holds. They are both kind of awkward and stilted in between spots. Sid’s loves the headlock, headscissor, Kip Up, Clubbing Forearm transition. Sid’s heat segment is pretty horrible outside the Sting hope spots. Missed Stinger splash. Sting top rope crossbody. Gone are all those cool power moves against the Roadies and Steiners and they have been replaced by nerve holds and clubbering. 
 

The two big Sting spots at the end are fine, running down the ramp and leaping over the top rope was cool would’ve been better if Sid was closer and the slingshot plancha was great. The finish with Barry Windham switching out with Sting so Sid could pin him and then Sting coming back with a Stinger Splash to pin Sid was so silly. I understand you have to protect Sid but there’s better ways to do that. 
 

Terrible finish aside, this is still a bad match by two relatively green wrestlers. It is really interesting to watch it play out and see what they do. The beginning shine so their aversion to wrestling. However, they don’t seem to know to innovate the control segments. They are NOT outside the box thinkers. They do the control segments how they were taught and how others do them. However that is neither wrestlers strength. If they came out throwing bombs and Sid tossed Sting around and Sting hurled his body at Sid like a missile, there’s a world where this is a great match but that’s just Sting/Vader or Sid/Shawn. Which tells me Vader and Shawn were the true brains behind the operation.