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Pro wrestling is no stranger to wild gimmick matches to try and entice fans to tune in, pay money or buy tickets to the show. The history of sports entertainment has seen such concepts as a Kennel From Hell match (vicious dogs surround the ring), a Judy Bagwell on a Pole match (one of the wrestler's mom was situated on a forklift above the ring) or the King of the Road match (the entire thing was held on top of a moving 18-wheeler truck).
But nothing feels more silly than the concept of the Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match that was held at WCW's Halloween Havoc in 1992. Appropriately for Heistoween, it's also the silliest Halloween themed wrestling match.
It's not the match itself, but all the glitz and glamour surrounding it. Pro wrestling as a sport is full of incredibly cheesy acting from its performers, many of whom are better equipped to do a flip from the top rope than to perform a five-minute monologue.
The conceit for this match is that Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts is the boss of some sort of dive bar where the patrons can choose to spin a wheel consisting of some of the most dangerous matches in pro wrestling. Whatever is chosen by the wheel goes.
After spinning the wheel, Sting and his opponent end up competing in a Coal Miner's Glove match, allegedly one of the 12 most dangerous matches in pro wrestling.
For those unfamiliar, the premise of the match is that a heavy, reinforced glove is placed on a pole, and the wrestlers may climb up to retrieve it. Once they do, the weapon is fair game.
To give the concept some credit, it was used in Mid-South Wrestling in the 1980s and gave the fans a truly bloody encounter between ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan and Ted DiBiase.
The Halloween Havoc match was a bit of a dud, especially considering this was Roberts' first pay-per-view match since leaving the World Wrestling Federation in May.
However, WCW liked the idea of Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal so match that they ran it again the next year. This time, Cactus Jack and Vader squared off in a Texas Death match. This was one is remembered far more fondly thanks to its more ruthless nature. It certainly lived up to the hype far more than the original showcase.
If you're so interested, you can watch, WWE has put up the full event on the WCW YouTube page. The match begins at the 2:29:01 mark.
Come knock on our door tomorrow for even more 31 Days of Heistoween treats.
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