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With WWF seemingly wrapped up for the year, WCW soldiered on even with Flair's arrival up north with Halloween Havoc. Eleven matches were offered up, starting with the Chamber of Horrors Match. Truly, this match was a chamber of horrors for those who witnessed it live or on their TV screens.

The match saw El Gigante, Sting and the Steiner Brothers locked in a steel cage against Abdullah the Butcher, Cactus Jack, Big Van Vader and the Diamond Studd. In the middle of the ring was an electric chair, instrumental to the match in that the only way to win was to strap an opponent into the chair and then hit the switch, electrocuting the wrestler strapped in. The match ended with Abdullah the Butcher being strapped in and “electrocuted” in front of the crowd.

After that, wrestling rapper P.N. News and wrestling lumberjack Big Josh defeated the Creatures, followed by Bobby Eaton defeating Terry Taylor. Johnny B. Badd defeated Jimmy Garvin while Steve Austin and Dustin Rhodes wrestled to a time limit draw for Austin's WCW World Television Championship.

Football player and powerlifter Bill Kazmaier defeated Oz while wrestling rock star Van Hammer defeated Doug Somers in his PPV debut. The finals for the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship saw Brian Pillman defeat Ricky Morton to become the inaugural champion while the masked “Halloween Phantom” defeated Tom Zenk and then unmasked to reveal Rick Rude.

Horsemen members Barry Windham and Larry Zbyszko kept the WCW World Tag Team Championship against the Patriots. In the main event, Lex Luger, backed by Ron Simmons, faced off against Paul Orndorff (with Arn Anderson in his corner) in a two-out-of-three falls match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, Luger keeping his title. While the loss of Flair was hard, people were slowly becoming receptive to Luger as champion thanks to his feud with the Horsemen.


Starrcade 1991 continues the theme of unconventional Starrcade booking with the BattleBowl Battle Royal, a battle royal featuring all the winners of the night's previous matches. Those matches were tag matches picked under the “Lethal Lottery” where the teams were chosen at random, resulting in some strange combinations.

For a start, the Fabulous Freebirds are put on opposite sides in the opener, with Jimmy Garvin teaming with Marcus Bagwell while Michael Hayes tags with Tracy Smothers. The team of “Stunning” Steve Austin and “Ravishing” Rick Rude is a more sensible match-up, especially compared to their opponents, Big Josh and Van Hammer.

Dustin Rhodes and Ricky Morton faced off against Horseman Larry Zbyszko and former Dude With Attitude El Gigante. Bill Kazmaier, of all people, tagged with Jushin Thunder Liger to a winning effort against Diamond Dallas Page and Mike Graham. WCW World Champion Lex Luger teamed up with the Enforcer Arn Anderson in an uneasy alliance to defeat Terry Taylor and Tom Zenk.

Ricky Steamboat makes his WCW PPV debut by teaming with Todd Champion against Cactus Jack and Buddy Lee Parker. Sting, top babyface, teamed with Abdullah the Butcher against Brian Pillman and Bobby Eaton. Vader was put into an unnecessary tag team with Mr. Hughes to demolish Rick Steiner and the Nightstalker.

In the final Lethal Lottery matches, Scott Steiner and Firebreaker Chip beat the team of Johnny B. Badd and Arachnaman (Brad Armstrong in a costume that got WCW in trouble with Marvel) while Ron Simmons and Tommy Rich beat Steve Armstrong and P.N. News.

In the main event, Sting won the BattleBowl, last eliminating Lex Luger. Once again, Sting was in position to go for the World Title, with many hoping he would get another run with the belt.


The WWF did another odd experiment to close out 1991; putting a PPV on Tuesday. The result wasn't successful, with only five matches on the card actually televised, but it's still worth noting as part of wrestling history.

In the opening match, Ric Flair defeated Roddy Piper, followed by Bret Hart keeping his Intercontinental Championship against Skinner. The British Bulldog beat the Warlord while Ted DiBiase teamed with the Repo Man (former Demolition Smash as a heel repossession agent) to beat the team of Virgil and El Matador (Tito Santana in a mask.)

In the main event, we see a now babyface Randy Savage defending his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Roberts, having turned heel, began stalking and tormenting Elizabeth. However, Savage still felt affection for Elizabeth in spite of their separation and came to her aid, turning face against the Snake. Their match itself was good, but ended in a controversial double pin that saw Savage stripped of the title with the WWF putting it up for grabs at their next PPV event.

The Royal Rumble.