I understand pro wrestling is fake. I have it on good authority that Star Wars and The X-Files are also fake but I still enjoy them. Pro wrestling is essentially a very long running serial. If you turn on the most popular pro wrestling show of the day you'll find stories with roots going back years. It's often compared to a soap opera and I won't argue about that.
I find the continuity of pro wrestling interesting. I also like making large timeline diagrams. I've thought for a while about making a diagram connecting wrestlers who appeared in each Wrestlemania. Something that illustrates how wrestlers moved up and down the roster across events. Then I remembered there are like 40 Wrestlemanias and decided to start smaller.
Halloween Havoc was my favorite WCW show of the year even though it was usually objectively bad. Maybe always. I just like Halloween themed things and trainwreck wresting events, can I have that? So that's the continuity timeline I'll try first. If this works out then maybe I'll try a longer running event.
The goal of this again is:
I'm not including the NXT reboot. It's good and everything, the gap is just too long.
Now for some of the usual trigger warnings that come up when discussing pro wrestling... many of the names here died prematurely, some by their own hand. At least one name on this list committed horrible crimes. About a dozen of these wrestlers have never been convicted of a (serious) crime but are otherwise garbage human beings. I can't really describe why I enjoy this incredibly seedy form of entertainment. If you don't know anything about pro wrestling, because you follow my RSS feed hoping to see new catalog scans, I implore you to not Google any name on this image as a safety precaution.
Here's the timeline image (click for full-size):
I think the colors are self-explanatory, which means they probably aren't. Here's the deal:
Important note - I got the rosters from Wikipedia because the versions of Halloween Havoc available on streaming are missing matches. I think the early ones are really the home VHS releases of the shows.
Some observations:
There was never a Halloween Havoc video game. Naming games after PPVs was more of a WWF/E thing. WCW Mayhem is the closest option.
A hypothetical situation: You are in charge of producing a Halloween Havoc game. The style of Wrestlemania: The Arcade game or WWF in Your House fits it best. The engine isn't terribly important. Your budget allows licensing 22 wrestlers, 20 in the main roster and 2 unlockable legends. The latter 2 are ones who didn't have many appearances in the Halloween Havoc series but are big enough icons that omitting them would be wrong.
So then who are the 20 most essential wrestlers for capturing the spirit of Halloween Havoc?
I said the engine isn't important but it has to include alternate skins. Many of the most essential wrestlers changed gimmicks or appearance over the years. Sting and Scott Steiner are the only two who appeared on both the first and last Halloween Havoc. Their looks transformed quite a bit in that time. Kevin Nash performed under 4 different personas in this PPV series. So let's assume that including one wrestler has all their variants.
I think the 20 picks, in order of importance, are:
As for the 2 hidden legends, I would pick Terry Funk and Steve Austin. Terry Funk I hope is an obvious choice here. He headlined the first Halloween Havoc and appeared in one more. He's also an unquestionable legend of the business. Steve Austin is one of the most popular wrestlers of all time, even if many fans never saw his WCW matches.
This means legends like Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, and Warrior are left out. I'm OK with that. They are all more associated with WWF/E, their WCW runs feel like footnotes. Steve Austin of course is more well known for his time in WWF/E too. He had a very respectable WCW run though. I remember thinking he was going to be the next Ric Flair, which was a massive underestimation. His spots in Halloween Havoc were in the mid/low section of the card, in the same range as Shane Douglas and Dustin Rhodes. Either of those two would be great hidden legends as well.
I nearly left Brett Hart off this list. He was the hardest to place. His WCW run was so disappointing, you don't need me to tell you that. He had two matches, the one against Sting was relatively good compared to the rest of the 1998 event. If someone argued Brian Pillman should have that spot I wouldn't challenge them.
There are some issues with this roster. If the game has a hypothetical tag team mode it needs Butch Reed and Rick Steiner included at a minimum. It's also a shame to leave out the Freebirds and Filthy Animals. If it's in the style of Wrestlemania: The Arcade game or WWF in Your House then there's no tag team mode.
There are some very good undercard wrestlers missing too. Meng, Bobby Eaton, Ricky Morton, Alex Wright, Disco Inferno, Billy Kidman, and apparently even Paul Orndorff deserve spots in a larger roster that included opening matches. A WCW Mayhem style game would need them. The Nintendo 64 is the most logical system for this game to exist on I suppose. If I ever stumble into a ludicrous amount of money you know what I'm financing.
Alright, so this was fun to look at. If you spot any errors don't be afraid to contact me. There's no way I got this thing completely right on the first try.
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