[1991-10-27-WCW-Halloween Havoc] WCW Phantom and Paul E. Dangerously

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Eric Bischoff is the only announcer dressed up. This had to have been a rib. Paul E. Dangerously has some earth shattering news. He talks about being removed from the color commentator spot on TBS, which is weird, because he's been on the show every week. That aside, Paul E. is out to bankrupt WCW by destroying their heroes. He's going to start with Sting. I think this is Madusa's debut, but they act like everyone already knew who she was. Phantom unmasks as RICK RUDE and things are going to start getting interesting in WCW very quickly. Great pickup for WCW, and they really used him well. Bischoff's bewildered facial expression during all of this is great. Yay Dangerous Alliance!

[BackToBionic]

For years, my only knowledge of this angle was through the Marvel comics. I have to say The Ghoul costume was better than The Phantom.

[PeteF3]

I don't know how long it lasted but Dangerously's suspension was a shoot--apparently he leaked plans to the Torch about a planned Luger vs. Lawler unification match. Dangerously cuts a scorched earth promo on WCW for suspending him, but not revoking his manager's license. Madusa has been assigned to bring Paul E. the man who can take out Sting--the WCW Halloween Phantom, aka Rick Rude. He's an instant breath of fresh air for this company, and this setting is fresh for Rude, who was badly stagnating a year ago.

[Kevin Ridge]

Dangerously services as a broadcast journalist is no longer needed in WCW. Paul E. ain’t about to go away that easy. Him and Madusa have found themselves someone to get rid of Sting. Rick Rude has arrived in WCW. About time.

[soup23]

I loved the promo Paul gave here and even though it was inevitable that Rude was under the hood after the match he had earlier, it was still a great reveal with the woman shrieking music, his tights, and him cutting a Rude promo. This felt like a big pickup for WCW and them turning things around.

[BruiserBrody]

Tony outed the Phantom as Rude earlier in the night, which kind of killed the surprise.

[PhilTLL]

Eric Bischoff is the only announcer dressed up. This had to have been a rib.

Note that this means he ostensibly changed from a tuxedo during the outside interviews into a full costume here. Missy is also in a costume, I guess, although it's hard to tell as Madusa continues the hilarious evening dress trend here.

 

Paul E. ~~was indeed on every show leading up to this~~ (he wasn't! I forgot I had skipped a lot the last two weeks leading up to the PPV) pretty much looked like a jackass on a regular basis, but who cares? This is one of the best "debuts," storylines, and stables of the era.

[garretta]

This one had way too much screaming for my tastes, considering who was doing it. Heyman I could buy as pissed off under the circumstances, but what the hell happened to Rude? He's much better as a smooth-talking sleazeball than he is as a screaming, slobbering maniac. I guess Dusty must have liked the "new Rude" stuff we saw in the WWF last year, because that's who we've got here. Unfortunately, most of what made Rude different was lost in the change. Hopefully this version will be better; I've heard some good things, but I haven't seen it for myself yet.

 

Nice to see Medusa, but that probably means the Rude Awakenings are out the window. Sorry, ladies!

 

Actually, I might have preferred Heyman making a deal with Race to buy Luger's services. If you're heading to the top, why make the U.S. title your main focus? Why not have the World champion as your main hired gun and use him to cripple Sting? Of course, considering that Luger was gone in just a few months it worked out for the best, but there was no way to know that at the time.

 

Bischoff was actually good here, treating Heyman's rant like the hot air it was complete with eyerolls until Rude was revealed. By the way, I'll bet the part about watching Rude sitting in the back watching the World Series was a shoot; he was a native Minnesotan, of course, and that was the night of Game 7, when the Twins beat the Braves, of all teams, to win the Series.

[Loss]

It was actually known at the time that Luger would be gone. Well, not known 100%, but he had checked out mentally and it was pretty obvious and he wasn't expected to be around over the long haul at all. Also, a fun fact: the entire Dangerous Alliance angle was originally offered to Jim Cornette, who turned it down. Much like the WWF wanted Cornette to come in with Flair and he turned that down too. I think it worked out better in both cases.

[garretta]

I've read the stuff about Corny elsewhere, Loss. I wonder how different a WCW version of Camp Cornette would have looked from the Dangerous Alliance. I'd have to guess Stan and Bobby would have been back together as the MX, but I really can't see Corny with Rude, Austin or Zbyszko. Arn would have been a natural, though.

 

As for Flair, he was a better fit with Heenan on paper, but with Bobby not wanting to stay at ringside, Corny would have been a better replacement than Hennig by a million miles. Of course, JJ Dillon was right there in the front office, but Vince was supposedly scared that him appearing with Flair would have led fans to demand the reform of the Horsemen, which might not have been the worst idea if they could have found the right guys. Since the common thread at the time was an issue with Hogan, my group would have been (without regard to the roles established by the original group in JCP) Flair, Jake, Taker, and DiBiase. Not the ideal Horsemen group by Crockett standards, but one hell of a WWF heel stable for sure.

[dawho5]

I liked Paul E.'s promo a lot. Rude's not so much as I thought he was too over the top for Rick Rude.I am looking forward to seeing how this plays out though!