My Favorite Angle Ever

I've been a wrestling fan for 20+ years. My first exposure to wrestling was back in the beginning of Hulkamania. The wrestling world was covered in kayfabe, and most fans really thought it was real. I can remember as a youngster, sitting down to catch WCW Saturday Night on TBS - usually right before an Atlanta Braves game. It was those WCW weekends that brought me what I now recall fairly well, and have always considered my favorite angle - ever.

Enough suspense? OK! The feud between Sting and Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk and The Great Muta ranks as #1 in my mind. It was full of the essence of WCW (Flair and Sting), hardcore blood, and just seemed well-written. It brought two major feuds of the year (1989) together, merging Sting vs. Muta with Flair vs. Funk. At the time, Sting was in his second year with what was then technically still Jim Crockett Promotions. Muta was one of the megastars in Japan. Funk had retired (the first time) about 6 years earlier, but had returned and was at war with The Nature Boy. The late Gary Hart served as manager to Muta and Funk, while the oft-maligned Ole Anderson was in Flair and Sting's corner.

For those who are not aware of the way these feuds had begun, Funk had made some rather disparaging remarks about Flair after being a judge during Flair's match against Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar. He challenged Flair for the title, coming out of retirement to do so. Flair retorted that Funk would have to climb the rankings and earn a title shot, to which Funk responded by delivering a stiff-looking piledriver on a table to Flair. It broke Flair's neck. In the case of Sting and Muta, the two had been battling over the Television Title since Muta had arrived from Championship Wrestling from Florida earlier in the year.

Not long after the Great American Bash, Flair and Sting united forces. Funk and Muta ran-in on Sting and attacked him during a tag match, and Flair made the save. At the time, I cannot recall a single fan who could honestly say they saw this coming. This is why it worked so well! Eddie Gilbert, who had been Sting's partner during the match he was attacked, couldn't seem to hold back his smile during the interview segment that followed. A young Jim Ross got comments from Gilbert, Sting and Flair to close the show, leaving fans wondering what was next. What was next was some of the wildest, bloodiest brawls WCW had ever produced - almost unheard of in American wrestling at the time.

As I scour the Internet for footage and writeups of the events that followed, I am reminded of how insane Halloween Havoc was back in '89. If you consider yourself a wrestling fan and you've not seen this event (October 28, 1989), find it! The match between Flair/Sting and Funk/Muta has been given rave reviews by many, and garnered a 4 * rating.