[1998-10-25-WCW-Halloween Havoc] Rick Steiner vs The Giant & Scott Steiner

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes sees Giant make a failed attempt to come off the top rope and then eat a pinfall from Rick Steiner. Rick has no business pinning The Giant in 1998, but since it was known he was WWF bound by this point anyway, I guess it's not so bad. Scott manages to avoid Rick. They went to the trouble of the turn and could never even book a straight up singles match with Steiner vs Steiner. What's wrong with WCW? We do end up getting them in an extended stretch against each other after The Giant is out of the picture, but there's no reason for Giant to even be involved. Rick wins the WCW World Tag Team Title by himself and picks an interesting partner in Judy Bagwell. Rick vs Scott stuff is okay but disappointing. A "fan" shows up in a mask and attacks Rick with a slapjack and it's obviously Bagwell, who swerved Rick for the SECOND TIME in this feud. They have the nerve to try copying spots from Austin-Foley at Over The Edge but they do it in the stupidest way possible.

[Gregor]

A "fan" shows up in a mask and attacks Rick with a slapjack and it's obviously Bagwell, who swerved Rick for the SECOND TIME in this feud.

Unbelievably, this was the third time - Buff feigned another neck injury at Fall Brawl and was loaded into an ambulance before jumping out to attack Rick.

[soup23]

Impressive missile dropkick from Giant. I really hated all of this. NOthing made sense and enough of the Buff swerves. Rick ends up winning the tag titles by himself.

[Beast]

I loved this. Wasn't watching WCW in 1998, but through PWI and a decade-plus of online wrestling rants/reviews, I have an idea of how ridiculous it became.

 

I'm watching Halloween Havoc 1998 for the first time ever and this follows one great match (Raven vs. Chris Jericho) and one good match (Juvy vs. Disco Inferno). My impression of the Steiner feud was that Rick never got his revenge, but here he just demolishes three nWo members singlehandedly. Very satisfying.

 

This show so far has gotten me so pumped for WCW 1998. The crowd is so into everything, the wrestling itself isn't particularly rushed and tell good stories, and the characters are varied. I'd watch any WCW 1998 PPV, Nitro, or Thunder before Survivor Series 2014.

[Migs]

They put Rick over really strong here, and of course I can't recall them doing anything more with Rick until his heel turn.

[PeteF3]

Rick PINS THE GIANT down 2-on-1 in a handicap match so Giant is officially counting the days until he's gone, I guess. Rick is now the WCW Tag Team Champions, by himself. This whole set-up is goofy and nonsensical, but damned if the crowd isn't into it. This is the most over Rick has been since he was facing off against the Varsity Club. Both Steiners were fucked by injuries at this point so I get overbooking this and loading it up with gaga, and I admit I found it fun to see Scott going up for and taking all of Rick's trademark offense. And I say that as someone with no interest in this feud or seeing these two wrestle each other. Of course there's some Oh, WCW moments like the bell ringing when Bagwell interferes, and it's kind of hilarious that Bagwell, while manipulating the referee, still has the integrity to honor Rick's kickouts. This all definitely falls under the label of "entertaining crap."