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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE FIRST HALLOWEEN HAVOC AND THE INFAMOUS ECW FIRE INCIDENT

October 28th

On this day in history in ....

1989 - The first WCW Halloween Havoc Pay-per-view was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Civic Center. Here are the results: 
- Tom Zenk defeated Mike Rotunda by rolling through a cross bodyblock into a pin. 
- The Samoan Swat Team (Samu, Fatu & Samoan Savage) defeated The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) & Steve Williams when Savage pinned Lane after knocking him into manager Jim Cornette during a brawl with everyone fighting at once.
- Tommy Rich defeated The Cuban Assassin with a Thesz Press.
- NWA World Tag Team Champions The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) defeated The Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas & Johnny Ace) when Garvin pinned Douglas. The Dudes were going for a double suplex when Hayes hooked Ace's leg from the outside, and Garvin fell on top of Douglas for the pin. Interesting to note that the Philadelphia crowd loudly supported the heel Freebirds, and booed the babyface Dudes. 
- Doom (Butch Reed & Ron Simmons, under masks) defeated Rick & Scott Steiner when Reed pinned Rick after headbutting him with a foreign object in his mask.
- NWA United States Champion Lex Luger defeated Brian Pillman when he caught a flying bodypress and dropped Pillman across the ropes (Hot Shot/Stun Gun) for the pin.
- The Road Warriors defeated The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious & Dan Spivey) via disqualification when manager Teddy Long interfered.
- Ric Flair & Sting (seconded by Ole Anderson) defeated The Great Muta & Terry Funk (seconded by Gary Hart) in a Thunderdome cage match. The Thunderdome was a cage that covered the ringside area as well as the ring, and had "electrified" fencing at the top to prevent people from leaving. The cage was decorated with "spooky" items, including a rope, which Sting swung around on. Part of the cage actually caught on fire when it was being lowered on the ring, as a fabric decoration brushed against the ring lights (referee Tommy Young patted it out with his bare hands, burning himself). Bruno Sammartino was the guest referee, but the rules stipulated that the match would only end when one of the seconds tossed in the towel. The match ended when Anderson punched Hart, and Hart's towel flew into the ring, ending the bout. 

1995 - Jesse James Armstrong & Tracey Smothers defeated PG-13 for the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending PG-13's ninth reign with the belts.

1995 - ECW ran in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the ECW Arena with a show that would become as famous for what happened at the end of the night as what occurred during the show. Here are the results:
- Axl Rotten defeated Dudley Dudley. After the match, Bubba Ray & Big Dick Dudley attacked Axl.
- The Pitbulls defeated Tony Stetson & Don E. Allen. Jason came to the ring after the match and told the Pitbulls he was wrong to turn on them. This was just a set-up for the Eliminators to attack them. Taz & Rick Steiner made the save.
- Rey Mysterio, Jr. & Konnan defeated Psicosis & La Parka via countout after hitting stereo topes.
- Beulah's Box (an interview segment hosted by Beulah) saw Bill Alfonso attack Tod Gordon, and Beulah ended up beating on Alfonso for ruining her segment.
- Johnny Grunge defeated Stevie Richards in a "Raggedy Ass Ho (Loser Wears A Dress) match" with a reverse DDT. Jason volunteered to wear the dress for Richards, and seemed to enjoy it, when 911 came out and chokeslammed him.
- Mikey Whipwreck defeated The Sandman in a Ladder match to win the ECW World Title. Prior to the bout, Steve Austin came to the ring, and said he wanted a title match with whoever won. He then took Woman, Sandman's manager away from ringside. Whipwreck pinned Sandman with a flying bodypress with the ladder (ECW ladder matches ended with pinfalls, the ladder was simply "in play") and the locker room emptied to celebrate with Whipwreck.
- JT Smith defeated El Puerto Ricano after a Hotshot. The Sandman, enraged over his title loss, came to the ring after the match and beat up both men. 
- Hack Myers vs. Dances with Dudley ended in a no-contest when The Sandman beat both of them up.
- ECW Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio defeated Flyboy Rocco Rock. Rock had caught his shorts on fire after missing a dive onto two tables, the bottom of which was on fire. Scorpio helped Rocco put the flames out, but then turned on him and hit a clothesline for the pin. Due to pre-match stipulations, Scorpio won the ECW World Tag Team Title from Public Enemy and chose Sandman (who came out to fight with Johnny Grunge) as his partner.
- Tommy Dreamer defeated Cactus Jack with a DDT. Cactus walked out of the match at one point, until Terry Funk insulted him and his family on the microphone until he returned to the ring. Post match, Raven DDT'd Dreamer and Cactus DDT'd the referee. Funk tried to make the save with a flaming branding iron, but Raven and Cactus stopped him. 

Mike Johnson, who was there live at ringside, explains what happens next:

Bill Alfonso gave Foley a chair wrapped in a towel that Foley set on fire. He went to hit Funk with it but Dreamer jumped  on top of him and took the shot. Foley then charged Funk and went to hit him with the chair, but Funk ducked out of the ring. What it looked like was supposed to happen was the chair would hit the ropes and bounce back at Foley. Instead the burning towel fell off the chair and landed on Funk's back. Funk went up in one of the most frightening things I have ever seen in my life. Foley tried to grab him but Funk ran around flailing away until the towel fell to the floor. 

In the midst of all this, ECW employees came out with fire extinguishers but in a moment of stupidity, shot them through the ring (as there were small burning pieces of the towel on the mat) spreading mist out into the air, instead of just focusing on the locations where the burning towels were. So now we've got the chaos of Funk going up and everyone coughing from the extinguisher. To top things off, the lights in the building went out as was planned for an angle where Raven would crucify Dreamer in the old Eagle's Nest. Lord knows why that wasn't stopped but for whatever reason, it still went down and a lot of people were really freaked by that because when those lights went out, 95% of the crowd stampeded for the doors, fearing the worst. 

A lot of people were freaked out by that incident and I don't blame them as I remember being furious that evening. If you were in the building that night, you would have thought it was the end of ECW. One fan did later sue claiming injuries after he reached through the guard rail and tried to pat one of the towels out with his hand but lost the case. It was easily the worst moment in the history of the company, in my opinion. Paul Heyman later publicly apologized and promised fire would never be used again, although it was used years later, in a more controlled manner.

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