WCW Halloween Havoc, Las Vegas, NV
One thing I think was key about the nWo’s early days is Hall and Nash, who had been top singles stars in the WWF, came back to WCW and worked as high profile stars but also as a tag team. They were after the tag belts. Hogan was The Guy for the nWo as far as going after the big belt but Hall and Nash worked tags and still became bigger stars than ever. It was unusual for the U.S. at that point in 1996 to have “a tag team” be two top stars like that, and not just for a one-off or whatever. Anyway, this is The Outsiders making their first challenge for the WCW tag belts.
Harlem Heat have Sister Sherri and Col. Parker in their corner, that was a whole ordeal for quite a long time. Dusty: “Harlem Heat has been together a long time, they’re brothers of the road, brothers of the street.” Dusty they are literally actual brothers.
Outsiders take the belts and hold them up before the match can start, which most of the crowd like. It took many months for me to adjust to seeing Hall and Nash in WCW; they’d been there before, but not like this, obviously, and it really did feel crazy that they were over there to me, little 14 year old motherfucker. It was unlike any “guy shows up in a different promotion” thing I’d ever experienced personally.
Hall toothpicks Booker and taunts him, Booker not much falling for it.
Dusty Rhodes: “Harlem Heat need to use their spinwheel kicks and stuff.”
Tony Schiavone: “Spinwheel kicks. And stuff. You’re right.”
A little crowd disturbance, but Booker makes the first move. They are really taking their time here. Booker hits a back heel kick and instead of following up with further offense, just taunts Hall on the mat, then has a quick moment with Stevie Ray when Hall gets up. They pick it up for a moment and Hall lands a couple of his hard, slapping right hands, something he really perfected during his Razor Ramon run.
Hall takes a borderline comical bump over the top to the floor, which referee Mark Curtis doesn’t call as a DQ. Heenan’s fine with it, but he’s not going to lie like Dusty and Tony do about “momentum carrying him out,” as he rightly points out that Booker absolutely hiplocked him out there.
A lot of the story here, and this is another thing that worked with the early nWo stuff, is that you had guys like Harlem Heat, career heels in WCW, stepping up heroically and standing their ground against The Outsiders. Everyone got fresh matches with the nWo lads at first because they weren’t on the good or bad side, they were against both.
Hall spits at Stevie Ray. This is not something I would do, and the crowd react with a gasp. Stevie is perfectly subtle, not moving, not emotionally reacting, just staring it down. And the tag is made to Nash, so we’ve got the big(ger) boys ready to fight.
Nash takes it to Stevie, battering him into the corner, but Stevie catches Nash with an elbow and drops him with a clothesline. Nash smart enough to know that even if they have a lot of the crowd behind them, they are functionally playing the heels, and he has to show some ass. And he does, as Stevie just pummels Nash down to the canvas, and Sherri gets a shot in, raking Kevin’s eyes when the referee is distracted.
Booker back in and drills Nash with a scissor kick. Quick tag back to Stevie, and Nash has to really start fighting back to get this to even again, droppking Stevie with a side slam so he can tag Hall back. Second rope bulldog from Hall gets two. Stevie back with a vicious counter clothesline after that.
That tentative start makes the last few minutes here seem even better, even hotter. Booker back in and gets two off a forearm, then grabs a chinlock to settle it down so they can pick it back up for the climax. Nash knees Booker in the back, Hall throws a big lariat and gets two before tagging the big man back in.
Big foot from Nash, and he’s got anger on his face now. The nWo’s arrogance worked because they’d always be pissed off when the WCW guys fought back. Hall gets two on his cool chokeslam. Hall staying a step ahead of Booker right now, catching him in the fallaway slam. Sherri on the apron, Hall approaches and she slaps his shit. So he plants one on her. “He’s swappin’ spit with Sherri, right here in the damn desert!” Dusty shouts. Col. Parker is upset but he can’t do much about it unless he wants to whip it out and knock Hall cold.
Hall and Booker trade sleepholds so that people can pay attention to Sherri and Parker if they want. Booker gets dropped on the top rope, nuts first, then they collide and both men are down, both in the wrong corner.
Stevie gets the tag and does a number. Harlem Heat hot tags were not a normal thing; again, they had been heels their whole WCW career. Booker hits the Harlem Hangover on Hall, but Mark Curtis is distracted by Booker trying to get out (Stevie’s the legal man. Nash comes in, cuts off Parker, and Parker, a coward, gives Nash his cane, which is used on Stevie, but not for the finish, it’s just two dudes down again. I don’t know why Parker ever carried a cane, he already had a third leg.
But that does wind up the finish. Eventually, Hall just rolls over, drapes the arm, and The Outsiders are the WCW tag team champions.
It’s a good match, hot crowd, everyone is used in the way they work best. Booker has all the explosive stuff for his side, Hall’s the workhorse for his, and you try to get Nash and Stevie in mainly to throw some bombs. The first Nash vs Stevie bit is really good considering neither of those guys were known for their work, although I think in many respects it’s long since time to reevaluate Nash a little. He wasn’t Bryan Danielson, obviously, but he also wasn’t El Gigante. It’s not a great match, but it served its purpose correctly and everyone did what they came to do.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
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