Back in 1989, before monthly PPVs were a regular thing, Halloween Havoc was a big deal for WCW. It was a good place a few months before Starrcade and could be home to some pretty good matches. Sadly, Halloween Havoc also gained a reputation for some of the dumbest matches and moments in WCW history. That led to several awful matches rated by noted wrestling critic Dave Meltzer.
Surprisingly, several of the more infamously bad Havoc matches like "Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal" or the debut of the Yeti wasn't rated as low as some would think. Many were labeled "duds" but it's remarkable how many Havoc matches earned the distinction of minus stars for Meltzer. From jobbers to the biggest names in WCW, these are Dave Meltzer's 10 lowest-rated Halloween Havoc matches to show how bad this PPV could get.
10 Bill Kazmaier Vs Oz, 1991: Minus ½ Star
One of the two dozen guys in wrestling billed as "the World's Strongest Man," Bill Kazmaier was a beefy guy but not cut out for wrestling. Putting him up against a rookie Kevin Nash as the goofy Oz meant a bad match and that's what fans got.
It was at least mercifully short, with Oz hitting a few moves before Kazmaier got a shouderblock and a torture rack backbreaker for the quick win. That was the end of Oz, even if the win didn't help Kazmaier in the long run.
9 Alex Wright Vs Steve McMichael 1997: Minus ½ Star
Halloween Havoc 1997 had a terrible Hogan-Piper main event capping off one of the better undercards WCW had at the time. But this bout was actually rated worse than the main event for a good reason.
The storyline was McMichael's wife Debra now managing Wright and it was a total mismatch of styles, not helped by the announcers talking about the rest of the show. Mongo had the pin only for Goldberg to interfere to lay him out and let Wright get the victory. This was a poor match that was only outdone by the attention on the awful main event.
8 Buff Bagwell Vs David Flair, 2000, Minus 1 Star
Billed as a "DNA Match," it was really a First Blood battle between two rough workers. David was never a good wrestler and it showed in his pathetic attempts to replicate his father's bumps and moves. Some outside brawling didn't do much until David finally got a nasty chair shot to break him open.
Yet Bagwell didn't seem to understand the rules to hit a Blockbuster on David anyway. It was a total squash that didn't belong on a PPV event, becoming further evidence of how unsuited for wrestling David was.
7 Van Hammer Vs Doug Sommers, 1991: Minus 1 Star
Van Hammer was one of WCW's goofier characters, a supposed "heavy metal" rocker who clearly had no idea how to play his guitar. This was supposed to be Van Hammer against Michael Hayes, but Hayes wasn't able to appear, so instead Doug Somers (long past whatever prime he had) was a substitute.
The match was a glorified squash, barely lasting a minute before Van Hammer won. On the one hand, at least it was shorter than other bouts on this list, but it barely qualified as a match.
6 Lex Luger Vs Meng, 1995: Minus 1 Star
Amazingly, the worst-rated match on this horrible PPV wasn't the infamous Hogan-Giant main event. Rather, it was Luger (in one of two matches he'd have that night) against Meng. For a real-life tough guy, Meng had some pretty lousy matches.
Surprisingly, he had some actual technical work here with the admittedly clever idea of a small package on the Total Package. It was otherwise a slow night with nerve pinches and Meng about to win, but then Kevin Sullivan let Luger win so he'd face Randy Savage later. It was a weird match made odder by Luger joining the Dungeon of Doom later in the night. It took a lot to be the worst-rated match on this show.
5 The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors 1990: Minus 2 stars
It's never a good sign when the team meant to be the babyfaces is booed hard by the fans. That was the fate of the Renegade Warriors as Chris and Mark Youngblood never connected with the crowds. Thus, Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes got cheered, which threw off the match.
At one point, Hayes had a chinlock on Chris that lasted a good four minutes in an incredibly boring match. Chris spent 15 minutes in the ring before a hot tag that did little to wake up the crowd and then Hayes hit a DDT to win. It was 18 minutes with roughly two of them being actual action for a gruesome tag team battle.
4 Chamber Of Horrors, 1991: Minus 2 Stars
It makes total sense that one of the most infamously horrible matches in WCW history got a historically low rating from Meltzer. Sting, Vader, Cactus Jack, Abdullah the Butcher, the Steiner Brothers, and Scott Hall in a cage match could have been a fantastic war.
Instead, WCW had the idea that the only way to win was to lower an electric chair from the ceiling for someone to get "fried" in it. The action was goofy before Abdullah got tossed into the chair and Jack hit the lever "accidentally," with Abdullah acting like he was shocked. The only shocking thing was the rating for this wasn't lower.
3 Mike Awesome Vs Vampiro, 2000: Minus 2 ½ Stars
Much has been written of how badly WCW blew it with Mike Awesome as That 70's Guy and it wasn't helped by this match. He and Vampiro fought in a messy brawl involving tables, chairs, botched moves, and the mistake of trying to get a fan involved.
It wasn't entertaining as a train crash with too much brawling and attempts at spots that went nowhere. Awesome finally won after a couple of powerbombs, but it was a terrible bout that just served as a reminder of how bad Awesome's time in WCW was.
2 Rick Rude Vs Masahiro Chono, 1992: Minus 3 Stars
Just a few weeks earlier, Rick Rude and Mashiro Chono had a brilliant match in Japan for the NWA World title. To say this was a letdown would be an understatement. It wasn't so bad as it was just plain boring, way too many rest holds and the crowd was completely against it. A fight in the stands got more attention (and was a lot more exciting) than this with it dragging on for over 20 minutes.
To top it off, there were two referees, one American and the other Japanese, to make matters worse. It ended with Rude shoved onto both referees for a DQ to end arguably Rude's worst major match ever.
1 Hollywood Hogan Vs Warrior, 1998: Minus 5 Stars
One of Meltzer's all-time worst ratings went to this match, which most will agree seems fitting. After nearly a decade, Hogan and the Warrior finally met again and the result proved how vital Pat Patterson was for their WrestleMania 6 match. Nothing went right, from a test of strength to botched moves, a bizarre "trip by rolling" bit, and the botched fireball attempt that had the crowd laughing.
It was a mercy when Horace Hogan hit the Warrior to let Hollywood end this. The only bright spot is at least WCW didn't make it the main event, but it's still one of the worst matches ever.