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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 20, 2024 2:25:23 GMT 1
A quick update:
This weekend, I'll be posting the brackets for the 2002 Crockett Cup. Next weekend, I'll have my post on Halloween Havoc 2002, featuring the finals of The Crockett Cup.
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 23, 2024 5:46:28 GMT 1
Apologies folks! Sunday was a little busier than I thought. Tomorrow (Tuesday), I will post the brackets, but what I can reveal right now is that I'll be dividing the tournament into four regions, named after wrestlers who are either former Crockett Cup Winners, or former Crockett Cup Finalists.
The 1st Region (the northwest quadrant) will be the Dusty Rhodes Region.
The 2nd Region (the southwest quadrant) will be the Nikita Koloff Region.
The 3rd Region (the northeast quadrant) will be the Magnum T.A. Region.
The 4th Region (the southeast quadrant) will be the Tully Blanchard Region.
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 24, 2024 2:02:19 GMT 1
Here we go!
For the sake of clarity, each region will have eleven teams, and as the regions are revealed you'll see that a number of babyface teams are being forced to take a bit of a longer path compared to some of the heel teams (thanks to WCW President Ric Flair).
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 24, 2024 2:30:45 GMT 1
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 24, 2024 2:55:41 GMT 1
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 24, 2024 3:45:05 GMT 1
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 30, 2024 4:15:27 GMT 1
Part LVIII: WCW Halloween Havoc 2002
It's October....you know what that means! Yes, it's time for Halloween Havoc which, of course, is one of the biggest shows of the year for WCW. As has become tradition, Halloween Havoc plays host to the Finals of the annual Crockett Cup Tournament, and this year's edition of the tournament was on the biggest ever. 44 Teams in the main tournament with a 16 Team Play-In/Qualifying Tournament (so that makes 59 Teams in total). I'll follow up a little later with the actual filled out brackets, but in terms of who won each of the regions, the results are as follows:- Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero) won The Dusty Rhodes Region.- Awesome Giants (Mike Awesome & The Giant) won The Nikita Koloff Region.- World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) won The Magnum T.A. Region.- Edge & Rey Mysterio won the Tully Blanchard Region.The semifinals took place on the October 17th edition of Thunder. Los Guerreros defeated Awesome Giants (in what some would consider a pretty big upset) to win the first semifinal, and World's Greatest Tag Team defeated Edge and Rey Mysterio in the second semifinal, and thus, the finals of the 2002 Crockett Cup would see Los Guerreros battle World's Greatest Tag Team. On one side of things, you have a team that hasn't even been on the WCW roster for a full year, and the fact that they've risen up the ranks so quickly is a huge accomplishment (much like their teammate Brock Lesnar rose up so quickly in the singles ranks). On the other side, you have Los Guerreros. What's interesting about them is that while they have been doing some....lying, cheating, and stealing....throughout the entire tournament, the fans have started to take to them as babyfaces. That turn was cemented on the final Nitro before Halloween Havoc, when they were on the losing end of a WGTT beatdown (which later led to a big, fired up promo from Eddie and Chavo). Who will come out on top as the 2002 Crockett Cup Champions?!With the Crockett Cup Tournament taking up much of the time on WCW television through the end of September and most of October, I used that to set up various matches that would ultimately end up on the Halloween Havoc card. The biggest of those was the WCW World Heavyweight Title bout, as Brock Lesnar would be defending the WCW World Heavyweight Title against Bret Hart. This came about after Brock Lesnar cost Bret and Owen Hart their Crockett Cup Tournament match against World's Greatest Tag Team (which was the finals of The Magnum T.A. Region) on the October 14th Nitro. Bret cut a furious promo a short time later, and challenged Lesnar to a World Title bout at the PPV. Eric Bischoff was initially dismissive of The Hitman's demand (we all know the history with those two), but Lesnar decided to accept Bret's challenge. Lesnar would go on to attack and injure Owen Hart in the lead up to the show. Despite not being 100%, Owen declared that he would still be in the corner of his older brother as tries to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title for the second time.Another title bout that was set up through the tournament was the semi-main event for the WCW World Tag Team Titles. A pretty straightforward build, as Edge and Rey Mysterio defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit to win The Tully Blanchard Region of the Crockett Cup. Angle and Benoit attacked them after the match, and later cost the Edge/Mysterio duo their semifinal match against World's Greatest Tag Team. The champions would gave even more momentum on the final Thunder before the PPV, as they, along with Chael Sonnen, defeated the trio of Edge, Rey Mystero, and The Great Sasuke. They dealt event more damage when Angle helped Chael Sonnen win the WCW Cruiserweight Title from Mysterio on the October 26th edition of Saturday Night. Despite all of these setbacks, Edge and Mysterio still had confidence going into Las Vegas. They beat Angle and Benoit before, and they felt they could just as easily do it all again on their way to claiming tag team gold.The ongoing battles between WCW and The Flair Administration are set to continue on this Halloween Havoc card. Mike Awesome and The Giant (collectively known as Awesome Giants) managed to defeat Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam to win The Nikita Koloff Region of The Crockett Cup. However, their issues didn't end there. After a pair of singles bouts on the October 21st Nitro, it was announced the two teams would square off once again, but this time....in a Tag Team Ambulance Match. Meanwhile, WCW United States Champion Booker T was facing challenges of his own. He had just overcome Chris Kanyon to capture that title, but now he was having run-ins with Kanyon's regular tag team partner, Diamond Dallas Page. Booker T figured pretty early on that The Flair Administration would try to find a way to get involved, so when the title bout was announced for the PPV, Booker T proposed a stipulation to ensure that things would be a bit more even....a Lumberjack Match. The list of lumberjacks would include members of The Flair Administration as well as mid-card babyfaces like AJ Styles, America's Most Wanted, and Raven (to name a few).The ongoing feud between Sting and WCW President Ric Flair also continued on this show. After Sting, alongside Booker T, defeated The Flairs (Ric and David) in one of the earlier rounds of The Crockett Cup, The Flair Administration attacked the babyface duo before their tournament bout against World's Greatest Tag Team. While Booker T and Sting fought valiantly, the injuries from their earlier attack were too much to overcome. Flair would then book himself against Sting in a Submission Match on the October 14th Nitro, with the odds CLEARLY stacked against Sting from the jump (Arn Anderson as the Special Guest Referee, JJ Dillon as the Special Guest Timekeeper, and Animal as the Special Guest Enforcer). As you might've guessed, Flair won in what was practically a handicap match, but Sting would attack Flair on the following Thunder, and challenged him to a Las Vegas Death Match at Halloween Havoc. Can Flair and his cronies steal another victory, or can Sting once again put The Nature Boy in his place?Three more matches left to discuss, and two of them are title matches. First up is Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg in a Ladder Match for the WCW Full Throttle Title. Goldberg has been one of the main faces leading the charge of The Flair Administration (and had a couple of clashes with them in The Crockett Cup). After he and Raven were unable to advance further in the tournament, Goldberg decided that it was time for him to back into the WCW World Heavyweight Title picture, and one path to a title shot was via the WCW Full Throttle Title. He entered, and won, a #1 Contender's Battle Royal on the October 21st Nitro to earn a shot against Chris Jericho at Halloween Havoc. Of course, the fact that the title is being defended on PPV meant that there would be no ten-minute time limit, and that it could be defended in special stipulation matches. In order to stack the odds against Goldberg, Jericho had a clause put in the contract for the match that allowed him to pick the stipulation, and he decided on a Ladder Match. Can Goldberg get closer to getting back the top prize in WCW, or will Jericho continue his march to being the final WCW Full Throttle Title holder for a second year in a row?The remaining title bout sees Christian defending the WCW Hardcore Title against Rhino. As you might expect, this is a title that changes hands pretty frequently. Hurricane Helms had been holding the title since August, but late September/early October (while The Crockett Cup was going on) he got into a brief television feud with Brock Lesnar and Eric Bischoff, which saw him defend the WCW Hardcore Title against Bischoff before getting match against Lesnar for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. The FBI would take advantage of a weakened Hurricane Helms, and just a few days after the Lesnar title challenge, Helms lost the WCW Hardcore Title to Little Guido on the October 10th Thunder. Guido's title reign would only last nine days, as he lost the title to Spike Dudley on the October 19th Saturday Night. Spike, in turn, lost the title two days later on Nitro to Christian. Following a title defense against Taz on the October 24th Thunder, Christian and Don Callas (still a manager for both Christian and Chris Jericho) were putting the boots to both Taz and Spike Dudley before Rhino made the save. Of course, Christian and Rhino have been close friends for many years, so it should be interesting to see how that one turns out.Finally, rounding out the card is a Ten-Man Tag that sees the aforementioned FBI teaming with their regular close associate John Cena to battle the LWO and Yoshihiro Tajiri. This match came together a few days before the PPV. After Tajiri made the save for Super Crazy after John Cena managed to beat him (with assistance from Little Guido) on the October 24th Thunder, the duo teamed up (a notable pairing considering their previous clashes) to defeat Cena and Guido two days later on Saturday Night. A post-match attack from The Mamalukes would lead to the Ten-Man Tag being made for the PPV.With no other title changes to make note of, let's dive right into the PPV (with it's awesome stage setup)!WCW Halloween Havoc 2002October 27th, 2002 - MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, Nevada1.) Ten-Man Tag - John Cena & The FBI (Big Vito, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny Stamboli, & Little Guido) def. The LWO (Juventud Guerrera, La Parka, Psychosis, & Super Crazy) & Yoshihiro Tajiri2.) WCW Hardcore Title - Rhino def. Christian (c)3.) Tag Team Ambulance Match - Awesome Giants (Mike Awesome & The Giant) def. Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam4.) WCW United States Title - Lumberjack Match - Diamond Dallas Page def. Booker T (c)5.) Las Vegas Death Match - Sting def. Ric Flair6.) 2002 Crockett Cup - Finals - Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero) def. World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin)7.) WCW Full Throttle Title - Ladder Match - Goldberg def. Chris Jericho (c)8.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - Edge & Rey Mysterio def. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit (c)9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Bret Hart (with Owen Hart) def. Brock Lesnar (with Eric Bischoff) (c)For Halloween Havoc 2002, I got an overall score of 91%, which is up two perfect from United We Stand in September. Match Of The Night honors went to Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs. Edge and Rey Mysterio for the WCW World Tag Team Titles, which got a score of 96%. It shouldn't be a surprise that those two teams had the best bout on the card considering how great their matches were in OTL. Not too far behind were Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg in a Ladder Match for the WCW Full Throttle Title and Christian vs. Rhino for the WCW Hardcore Title, while both wound up at 92%. Also finishing in the 90% range were Awesome Giants vs. Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam in a Tag Team Ambulance Match and the Crockett Cup Final between Los Guerreros and World's Greatest Tag Team, which earned 91% and 90% respectively. The majority of the rest of the card ended up in the high 80% range. Brock Lesnar vs. Bret Hart for the WCW World Heavyweight Title got a score of 89%, while Ric Flair vs. Sting in a Las Vegas Death Match finished with an 88% score. Finally, Booker T vs. Diamond Dallas Page in a Lumberjack Match for the WCW United States Title earned a 86% score, and the opening Ten-Man Tag ended up with a score of 82%. Once again, a card that was really good and very consistent throughout. Nothing on the show turned out to be average or subpar.I thought this show turned out pretty well. I had the bulk of the card made up for a long time, but I felt the bottom half of the card needed some improvement, so I changed things around as I was putting The Crockett Cup together. There were five title matches on this show, and all five titles changed hands. I'm sure that's not the first time this has happened in this diary, but another example isn't coming to my mind immediately. Four of those five title changes saw babyfaces capture gold (Diamond Dallas Page was the only heel title win of the bunch). Meanwhile, Sting got the victory over Ric Flair in the Las Vegas Death Match, while Awesome Giants won the Tag Team Ambulance Match. Finally, Los Guerreros cemented themselves as one of the top tag teams in WCW by winning the 2002 edition of The Crockett Cup. Is championship gold in their future?
Tune in next time, as I go over Fall Brawl 2002, featuring the return of WarGames!
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