[1991-10-27-WCW-Halloween Havoc] Lex Luger vs Ron Simmons (2/3 falls)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The first PPV main event of the post-Flair era. No one will confuse Luger with Ric Flair, but he puts on an excellent performance in this match, giving Simmons tons of offense, taking some nice bumps for Simmons' big offense, and timing his kickouts in a way that built heat throughout the match. The detail work in this match was really good in that respect. I also think Race and Dusty added a lot to this at ringside building drama. I loved Simmons complaining about all the eye gouging from Luger between falls, and the finish to the second fall is a pretty clever screwjob. The crowd started off a little skeptical of this one, but really got into all the pin attempts by the end, which I credit to Luger selling so much for Simmons. I almost wish he'd fought back a little more in the first fall, but I think the goal was to make people think Simmons had a fighting chance of winning this thing. And for a guy unproven in singles matches on top, they did a hell of a job in that regard. Good match.

[PeteF3]

What a striking comparison to the Jumbo/Kawada match. One isn't going to confuse this with the Triple Crown bout but they're both laid out similarly and both are out to accomplish the same thing--take a guy with potential star power but who isn't seen as true championship material yet, and try to get across that they're capable of winning it all. Simmons dominates the first fall and wins quickly, but Race uses a clever trick to frame Simmons for throwing Luger over the top rope to equalize. The first two falls were slow going but the atmosphere between falls with Dusty's pep talking and the on-point, pure-sports commentary was terrific. The third fall is when this really gets good, as Luger goes nuts unloading on Simmons, only for Ron to Hulk Up and get off a rash of near-falls before Luger gets a refreshingly clean victory. Luger's PPV hot streak has not subsided yet. Ross and Schiavone have made for an excellent announce team tonight--maybe this is the role that suited Schiavone the best.

[Kevin Ridge]

Luger’s piledriver is called the Attitude Adjustment? Simmons gets the first fall via spinebuster. That was pretty quick. Simmons really had Luger on the ropes in the second fall but got too reckless with his tackle attempts. I did not like the second fall finish as Race’s involvement was too obvious with referee right there. Simmons was just so close here to winning multiple times. Definitely one of the best matches of his I’ve seen. Excellent performance by Luger and I liked the finish with Simmons hitting ring post after one too many big tackles. Better than I expected going in.

[soup23]

Really liked this. A lot of factors were up against it (short on time, unestablished new champ, new challenger in first main event) but they crafted a match that played to each of their strengths and Luger looks poised to have a lengthy reign with the belt. The finish to each fall built on top of one another and the addition of Race and Dusty added a little sizzle to the match overall. Pleasure to watch.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger vs Ron Simmons - WCW Halloween Havoc 1991 2 Out of 3 Falls

 

As big of a Luger fan as I am, I have not seen this match, which represent his only successful PPV World title defense for his reign. It is the Hurricanes vs. Seminoles in the Squared Circle BABY! For some reason, JR does not sound as excited as I thought he would be for such a marquee college football match up probably because it was not Big 8 football. Wow, that was an unexpected Dusty sighting and the first time I have seen him in video since his death. Damn. Luger has Harley Race in his corner. The first fall is tentative. Luger takes over on a missed dropkick, but does not do much. SImmons shows off some nifty power moves that wakes up the crowd climaxing with a spinebuster that earns him the first fall.

Dusty was awesome in the break between falls preaching the virtues of offense. Dusty is just one of those people that got it.

As awesome as Dusty is, Luger crushed it in the second fall. Luger was channeling his best inner Flair. From the begging off in the corner and ropes, big back bumps and constant underhanded cheating, he was putting on a marvelous heel champion performance. Two things to key in, one that I was impressed he stole from Flair and the other he did better than a typical Flair performance. An integral part of what makes Flair work is that he is always trying to get the upper hand. He is perpetual motion throwing things and seeing what sticks. This allows the babyface to look awesome because they best Flair at every turn. It is the not bumps that make Flair it is this psychology that underpins his every action that makes him a genius. Luger is smart enough (from having wrestled Flair a gazillion times) to incorporate that in this match when this lost on many Flair wannabes. Secondly, Luger sells the back better than I think Flair would in these circumstances. He is selling right out the gate and making it obvious for Simmons to target it. Once he is on offense, he sells for a good time into his offensive attack. The sell of the back after the powerslam is such a nice, nice touch. Mucho respecto, Mr. Luger! I do wish Luger did vary it up on offense a bit more. The transition was perfect side-stepping Simmons sending him crashing to the outside. From there, he used typical heel tactics, which is fine, but he is such a great power wrestler it would have been refreshing to seen some more power in addition to that aforementioned powerslam. The finish was some serious weak sauce. With Luger going for the cross body with Simmons up against the ropes and Harley holding onto Simmons meaning Luger went over the top. Clearly, Luger's own momentum caused him to go over the top. This is an easy no call. Ref calls for the DQ. I think he is on the take? What do you guys think?

Luger may have won the second fall, but he is definitely worse for wear needing the ropes to hold him up. Luger uses the ref as a screen to hit a cheapshot. Gotta love Luger's urgency. Simmons' no selling and comeback was perfect. Clothesline and superplex were great false finishes, the should block not so much. Simmons ramming the post with shoulder and then Luger hitting the real Attittude Adjustment for the win was a perfectly acceptable finish. It was weird seeing Luger execute a broomstick match, but hell he was pretty damn good ring general. Simmons was serviceable, but Luger really made him shine in this one. The execution was clunky as all hell in this one, but they had good intentions. The execution and second fall finish mean I can't go higher than ***1/2, but awesome Luger performance!

[garretta]

I hated this one. Luger looked legitimately bad, completely gassed from almost the beginning to the end. He wasn't selling or building drama, he was just lethargic and musclebound. No wonder they were so happy to see him go to Vince; I would be too if he stunk up my pay-per-view like that.

 

I can understand why so many people called this a solid heel performance, because Flair got his ass kicked this way so many times. But he looked a thousand times more energetic doing it, both taking and giving offense. The only good thing Luger did was sell his back to cover for his lethargy, and I'm convinced that's what it was. I'm not even sure he wanted to be out there. That's a shame, because Simmons worked his heart out for all three falls, putting on the performance of his career so far to no good end. He won't even sniff another shot at the belt for a while after getting cleanly pinned in the third fall with the piledriver, which is the only move Luger truly executed all night. I thought the setup, with Ron knocking himself for a loop on the post, was inspired.

 

Race and Dusty were tremendous, particularly Dusty, who sounded exactly like a coach would in keeping with the football theme of the match. Harley worked harder than Luger, particularly when it came to the second fall DQ, which I've never seen anything like in my life. I'm surprised JJ didn't do something like that for a Horsemen title match back in the day. In keeping with my feelings about Luger regarding this match, I wonder if the reason we didn't hear more (actually, almost nothing) from Luger's corner is because he looked so lifeless and Harley was legitimately pissed at him for stinking up the joint so royally, no pun intended. That kind of performance couldn't have been easy for him to watch. Of course, that kind of reaction also added drama to the story being told, as Harley could be portrayed as scared to death that Luger was going to drop the title.

 

JR and Tony were terrific here, and for once JR's football analogies added to the match, as he was able to compare and contrast football and wrestling seamlessly, plus weave in anecdotes about each man's legit college and pro football credentials. Tony was wonderful picking up the strategic points that JR missed along the way, and I'm impressed with these two as a team. I also liked Tony pointing out the past history between Dusty and Harley; each of them was still enough of a player that it meant a little something even all these years later.

 

The crowd wasn't nearly as lively as I thought they'd be, and Luger's living trainwreck of a performance didn't help one iota. Still, they really didn't pop for Ron either, even after he beat Luger so cleanly and quickly in the first fall. I think Dusty was smart to speed things up a bit after this and get to the Luger/Sting buildup; that's the match most WCW fans had wanted since the Bash, and probably the only one involving Luger that would have really excited them on this night.

[dawho5]

I was impressed with both Luger and Simmons. They exceeded my expectations going in and got the crowd rolling by the end. Third fall was really, really good with believable nearfalls for Simmons up until the unfortunate tackle into the post. I'm not sold on the second fall finish entirely, but it accomplishes what it is supposed to. Race and Dusty add to the match without distracting from it, which I wasn't 100% expecting from Dusty. How did this match not make Simmons into a star?

[BruiserBrody]

It's very WCW-like to build a guy up as a college football hero, then not run the show in the area he was a star. On top of that, they have Simmons lose!

[David Mantell]

On 10/19/2015 at 10:58 PM, garretta said:

I hated this one. Luger looked legitimately bad, completely gassed from almost the beginning to the end.

No he was SUPPOSED to be like that, portraying the heel champion in trouble.

The babyface romps it, gets an easy first fall, a bunch of near 2-0s,  flukes losing an equalizer, get a bunch more near second falls then SUDDENLY the heel champ pulls the ace out of the hole by getting Simmons to shoulder himself on the post outside the ring to set up the piledriver win.  Afterwards as the defeated Simmons is screaming on his back in the ring,  a bloody and disheveled but triumphant Luger holds up the belt above his head as he marches from ringside - "If you think I look a mess, you should see the other guy!"  It's his finest moment, in its own way as champ-like as all those nice photos Apter took Aug '91 of Luger with the belt or the Lex/Race/Hughes group promos on Worldwide etc.

I wish Luger had stayed on and had all Vader's title reigns and he could have been the one Simmons beat at the end of the '92 Bash tour to win the belt.

[David Mantell]

On 4/8/2018 at 9:24 PM, BruiserBrody said:

It's very WCW-like to build a guy up as a college football hero, then not run the show in the area he was a star. On top of that, they have Simmons lose!

It's got Dusty's pawprints on it - the chase, not the triumph!!! (crossref Cody in recent months.)  10 months later Simmons got the belt, with Dusty there, from another Harley Race managed champion.

[David Mantell]

On 6/7/2013 at 2:14 AM, Kevin Ridge said:

Luger’s piledriver is called the Attitude Adjustment? 

A reference to the double turn at GAB '91- the moment Luger went into that move was the precise moment when both Luger and Windham's attitudes were adjusted!