Halloween Havoc (2023)

The 2023 **Halloween Havoc**, was the ninth annual Halloween Havoc professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Battle Zone, Intensity and NexGen brand divisions. It took place on October 29, 2023, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The card comprised a total of twelve matches, with nine matches airing on pay-per-view and three matches airing on the *Sunday Night Heat* pre-show. WCCW promoted the card as featuring a triple main event: Kris Statlander vs. Nikki Cross vs. Su Yung vs. "La Bruja" Raven Ray for the WCCW International Championship in a Raven's Nest match; "Rated-R Superstar" Edge vs. Brandon War inside Hell in a Cell for the WCCW World Championship; and Goldberg vs. Drew McIntyre in a Scottish Rules match for the World Heavyweight Championship.

## Production

### Background

Halloween Havoc was first established by Denver Professional Wrestling Association (later, the WCCW) in 1963 as a house show supercard called Halloween Hell Night. The event was an annual tradition until 1975 when it was discontinued. Halloween Havoc then debuted in 2015 as a spiritual successor to Halloween Hell Night, and borrowing its name from the former World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view of the same name.

### Storylines

The event included matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WCCW's writers on the Battle Zone and Intensity brands, while storylines are produced on WCCW's weekly television shows, *Tuesday Night Battle Zone* and *Friday Night Intensity.*

## Event

### Pre-Show

The event kicked off with the preshow airing on ESPN on ABC and the ESPN+ streaming service as an episode of *Sunday Night Heat*. The first match of the night saw Shotzi and Liv Morgan spin the Wheel of Doom and compete in a Weapons Wild match. Shotzi would dominate the match from bell-to-bell, making an example out of Liv Morgan.

The featured bout was a Four Corners Tag Team ladder match to determine the #1 contender for the WCCW Women's Tag Team Championship. It featured the teams of Country Dominance facing off against Chelsea Green & Doudrop and The Life of the Party and Storm & Nox. The match started off with everyone in the ring but quickly fell to bedlam with every woman brawling at ringside. Chelsea Green whiplashed Katana Chance into the barricade and proceeded to fight her throughout the crowd. Meanwhile, Storm & Nox double teamed Mickie James while Gisele Shaw attempted to fight off Doudrop. As the match went on, Tegan Nox and Toni Storm would continue to dominate and it was Toni Storm who ascended the ladder to retrieve the match contract for Breaking Barriers.

The third and final match to air on *Sunday Night Heat* was the WCCW YouTube Championship match between The Miz and Logan Paul. The Miz started the match off strong and dominated the opening stages but could not keep up with Logan Paul's speed and athleticism, losing the match in five and a half minutes.

### Preliminary matches

The event opened with a series of horror-themed vignettes before a video of the host of Halloween Havoc, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark performing "Burn Witch Burn" began playing. Elvira then appeared on stage to announce the opening match: the WCCW United States Championship match between defending champion Sami Zayn and challenger "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio. Both men came out strong with the fight quickly spilling into ringside. After a few near countouts, Zayn threw Mysterio back into the ring to continue his assault on the Judgement Day member. Dirty Dom would counter for a two-count but eventually it was Zayn earning the pinfall victory to retain.

The second match of the night saw Kevin Owens and Seth "Freakin" Rollins spin the Wheel of Doom to end up in a Trick or Street Fight. Owens dominated the match from bell-to-bell, getting the submission victory in just under three minutes by taking the fight to ringside and hitting multiple stunners.

Up next was the highly anticipated rematch between the New Age Outlaws and The Acclaimed, once again for the WCCW World Tag Team Championship. The two teams had been feuding for weeks, including an intense elimination tag team match back at Super Showdown, so this match quickly turned into a fight. Despite efforts by Anthony Bowens to turn the tides in The Acclaimed's favor early on, "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn had other plans in mind for his former protégé. Gunn threw Bowens over the top rope and proceeded to attack him at ringside, throwing him headfirst into the steel steps before going for the Famousasser. Max Caster then came to Bowen's aid drawing Road Dogg's attention and allowing Gunn to reenter the ring and break the referee's count. Immediately returning to ringside to continue his assault, Bowens countered and sent Gunn into the crowd allowing him to make the tag on Caster. Gunn barely managed to break the count and get the tag, leaving Caster and Road Dogg to battle it out. After a lengthy war, Road Dogg managed to get the pin over Max Caster to earn the victory and begin New Age Outlaws' first ever run as WCCW World Tag Team Champions.

The fourth match of the night was the Up next was the Undisputed WCCW Women's Championship match between Rhea Ripley and Ruby Soho. They spun the Wheel of Doom and landed on "I Quit" match. Rhea Ripley dominated the match from the opening bell, refusing to let up in her assault on the champion. After hitting Riptide twice in a row and preparing for a third, Ruby Soho made the wise decision to throw in the towel, saying the two words no wrestler ever wants to utter: "I quit."

Up next was the highly anticipated Coffin match between "The Icon" Sting and "The Charismatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy for the WCCW Hardcore Championship. The two men both looked strong in this hardcore war, neither were able to gain the upper hand at first. Sting left the ring and retrieved his signature baseball bat from under the ring but Jeff Hardy countered and cracked the bat over Sting's head before hitting a Twist of Fate. The next stages of the match were dominated by Jeff Hardy as the two battled throughout the arena including ringside and briefly in the crowd. When Hardy went for the Swanton Bomb off the barricade, Sting moved out of the way in time to turn the tides back in his favor. Back in the ring, Sting set up a table and set it ablaze before luring Hardy back into the ring. Sting performed a diving elbow onto Hardy through the burning table, incapacitating him enough to allow Sting to place Hardy into the coffin for the victory.

In a short segment, Elvira came out to the ring to announce the attendance at 15,904 but was interrupted by Bayley of Damage CTRL who was complaining about the team's exclusion from the event despite the number of women's matches. In response, Elvira agreed to give Bayley a match. The bell rang but then unfamiliar music hit and both women turned to the stage to see legendary country musician Dolly Parton make her way to the ring to help out Elvira The two women quickly pinned Bayley in less than a minute.

###  Main events

In the first of three main events, "La Bruja" Raven Ray defended her WCCW International Championship against Kris Statlander and Nikki Cross in a Raven's Nest match. After all women were in the ring, Elvira appeared on stage to announce that the match was now a fatal four-way and proceeded to introduce the fourth competitor: Su Yung in her WCCW debut. The 25-minute contest saw all four women equally matched for the majority of the match. Defending champion Raven Ray fought off an early onslaught from the other three women before finding herself in an uneasy alliance with Kris Statlander against Nikki Cross and Su Yung. Eventually, it would be Su Yung scoring the first point after getting Nikki Cross to tap with 14:22 left. The next point would also be scored by Su Yung, with a pinfall over Cross with 8:06 left in the match. Kris Statlander would score soon afterwards with her own pin over Cross with 8:06 left. Defending champion Raven Ray earned a late point with her pin over Su Yung with just 35 seconds to go but the final score would be 2-1-1-0 in favor of Su Yung, earning her her first WCCW championship in her first ever match.

The second of the triple main event saw Brandon War defend his WCCW World Championship against Edge inside of Hell in a Cell. War dominated the early stages of the match, defending his belt with gusto and bravado. War hit Edge with a Superkick before exiting the ring and grabbing a sledgehammer in an attempt to do more damage but Edge was able to counter with a Spear for a one-count. War attempted to fight back with an FU for a one-count followed by a second FU, this time for a two-count. After hitting War with a steel chair, Edge speared War through the cell wall and proceeded to climb to the top where the match turned brutal. War would follow Edge to the top of the cell and perform a Superkick followed by two FUs, the second of which sent Edge crashing through the cell roof to the ring below. After being checked by WCCW medical personnel, the match continued, albeit briefly. Edge hit War with three consecutive spears in order to secure the pinfall victory and the World Championship.

The final match of the evening saw Goldberg challenge Drew McIntyre for his World Heavyweight Championship with McIntyre making the match a Scottish Rules match. Drew McIntyre would score the first pinfall but Goldberg would soon take control of the match, scoring the next two to secure the victory and the championship belt.