PWI Weekly for October 31, 2022
Halloween Havoc: Now & Then, Spooky Wrestler Gimmicks, More Halloween Fun
DOES THIS EMAIL look a bit spookier than usual? Well, it shouldn’t … after all, this is only the intro paragraph!
Scroll a bit, though, and you’ll see that this Weekly is very much in keeping with the holiday spirit—with the holiday, of course, being All Hallow’s Eve.
We hope you have a ghoulishly good time reading!
WRESTLER OF THE WEEK
On October 22, NXT held its 2022 instalment of Halloween Havoc. How appropriate an occasion it was, as Roxanne Perez finally laid to rest the ghosts of her friendship with Cora Jade. In a Weapons Wild match that saw the two women war all over the arena at the WWE Performance Center, it was Perez who caught Jade with her “Pop Rox” finisher onto a pile of chairs, gaining the win and some long overdue redemption in the process.
THROWBACK CARD OF THE WEEK
PENNSYLVANIA
PHILADELPHIA—World Championship Wrestling Halloween Havoc at the Philadelphia Civic Center: Erik Watts & Van Hammer defeated The Vegas Connection in a dark match … Tom Zenk, Johnny Gunn, & Shane Douglas beat Arn Anderson, Michael Hayes, & Bobby Eaton in a six-man tag team match … Ricky Steamboat pinned Brian Pillman … U.S. champion Big Van Vader beat Nikita Koloff to retain the title … World tag team champions Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes wrestled Steve Williams & Steve Austin to a time-limit draw … Rick Rude beat NWA World heavyweight champion Masahiro Chono to win the title … WCW World heavyweight champion Ron Simmons pinned The Barbarian to retain the title … Sting beat Jake Roberts in a Coal Miner’s Glove Match.
(10-25-92)
A QUICK WORD ABOUT …
Whether it’s the ominous orneriness of The Undertaker, the skeletal skulduggery of LA Park, or the umm … worm-eating of The Boogeyman, the halls of pro wrestling history are haunted by spooky individuals. Though not all of these characters were the best fit for a wrestling show, that hasn’t stopped promoters from trying to make it Halloween all year long with various horror-themed storylines. Japanese wrestling took things a step further in the 1990s, with horror-icon tribute wrestlers Leatherface, Jason The Terrible, and Nightmare Freddy all making wild, no-holds-barred appearances in the country.
FROM THE VAULT
Speaking of Jason The Terrible, the character had quite the run in North America (including Puerto Rico’s WWC) before wreaking havoc in Japan. In the above photo, taken by Bob Leonard, the Canadian native Karl Moffat (as the masked Jason) entraps rival Hiro Hase at a Stampede Wrestling show.