In 1998, WCW promised fans an epic rematch between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior at Halloween Havoc and a chance to relive the magic of WrestleMania VI. But instead of glory, this clash delivered confusion, botches, and an unforgettable disaster that fans still talk about for all the wrong reasons. Let’s dive into why this rematch became a nightmare that cast a dark shadow over Halloween Havoc’s legacy.
Tensions high—Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan square off before their disastrous Halloween Havoc 1998 rematch. Photo Credit: WWE.
Halloween Havoc’s Iconic Beginnings
Halloween Havoc, a holiday-themed pay-per-view, originally ran in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1989 to 2000. The inaugural event took place on October 28th, 1989, at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in association with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
The Halloween Havoc set: WCW’s spooky setup for one of wrestling’s most popular events. Photo Credit: WWE.
While Halloween Havoc has produced many memorable moments over the years, one particular event stands out in the “Well, that didn’t work!” category.
The Anticipated Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior Rematch
Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior face off on WCW Monday Nitro, on October 12th, 1998, setting the stage for their highly anticipated but ill-fated rematch. Photo Credit: WWE.
What could and should have been one of the greatest pay-per-views of all time turned out to be quite a disaster.
The rematch between Hulk Hogan and Warrior (his legal name by this point) was a battle between two stubborn veterans, with many fans referring to it as the worst match of all time. Let’s dig into what happened.
The Main Event That Fell Apart: Hogan vs. Warrior II
The rematch begins: Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior II at Halloween Havoc—a bout no one would forget. Photo Credit: WWE.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awarded it a minimum score of minus five stars out of five, the lowest ever for a WCW contest, and readers voted it “Worst Match of the Year.”
Power Slam magazine readers cast the same vote, with editor Fin Martin calling it “one of the worst matches ever held.” Even Gene Okerlund described the contest as a “disaster.”
WrestleMania VI vs. Halloween Havoc: Two Very Different Battles
The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan collided in their legendary WrestleMania VI clash on April 1st, 1990, in Toronto’s SkyDome. This battle for the WWF Championship marked a high point in wrestling history and set the stage for their controversial rematch eight years later at WCW’s Halloween Havoc. Photo Credit: WWE. Artwork by Pro Wrestling Stories.
Comparing the iconic WrestleMania VI bout and the ill-fated Halloween Havoc 1998 rematch, Warrior once remarked, “It’s weird that my best match ever was with Hogan, and at the same time, my worst match ever was with Hogan.”
Hogan shared similar sentiments, and felt the Halloween Havoc contest was ‘ruined’ by his own botching of a spot he himself devised, in which he was supposed to ‘burn’ the Warrior with flash paper.
With hundreds of amazing Pro Wrestling Stories to dive into, where do you start? Get the inside scoop – join our exclusive community of wrestling fans! Receive 10 hand-picked stories curated just for YOU, exclusive weekly content, and an instant welcome gift when you sign up today!
A Fire Mishap: Breaking Down the Disaster of Hogan vs. Warrior II at Halloween Havoc 1998
Hulk Hogan’s flash-paper mishap burned his face, derailing the much-hyped rematch against the Ultimate Warrior at Halloween Havoc 1998 on October 25, 1998. Photo Credit: WWE.
The highly anticipated rematch between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior at Halloween Havoc 1998 turned out to be a spectacle for all the wrong reasons. Let’s break down this infamous bout step-by-step:
The match began with Warrior making his entrance to a decent pop from the crowd. Hogan followed, accompanied by his nephew Horace. As the bell rang, the two circled each other, with Warrior taunting Hogan and the crowd chanting for both wrestlers.
The early stages of the match were slow-paced, with Hogan and Warrior trading basic moves and neither gaining a clear advantage. The action picked up when Warrior clotheslined Hogan out of the ring. Hogan, attempting to regain control, tried to use flash paper to “burn” Warrior. However, this spot went horribly wrong when Hogan accidentally burned his own face, legitimately singeing his mustache and eyebrows.
This critical error led to an improvised and chaotic sequence.
Hogan’s nephew, Horace, interfered, hitting Warrior with what Sports Illustrated writer Luke Winkie dubbed “the most unsatisfying chair shot in history.”
The match continued with more awkward exchanges and a lack of cooperation between the two wrestlers, their strained personal relationship further compounding the match’s issues.
As the bout progressed, it became clear that Hogan and Warrior were struggling to recreate the magic of their WrestleMania VI encounter. The crowd’s enthusiasm waned as the match dragged on with little cohesion or compelling action.
The finish came when Horace Hogan interfered again, allowing Hulk Hogan to hit his signature leg drop on Warrior for the pin. The entire match lasted about 14 minutes but felt much longer to viewers due to its poor quality and lack of excitement.
Wrestling critics and fans alike panned the match. The bout has since been referred to as one of the worst matches in wrestling history, a far cry from the classic encounter these two legends had delivered eight years earlier.
Hogan took full responsibility for the bout’s failure, unequivocally stating, “It was my fault.”
Eric Bischoff’s Take on the Hogan-Warrior Halloween Havoc Disaster
Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1998—a costly event that marked one of WCW’s biggest blunders on October 25th that year. Photo Credit: WWE.
Former WCW president Eric Bischoff conceded to critical opinion, admitting that Hogan vs. Warrior II was one of the worst matches in history and that it “pretty much stunk up the joint.”
However, Bischoff dismissed the notion that he had hired Warrior solely to lose to Hogan as retribution for Hogan’s WrestleMania VI loss, claiming that this belief was “not true” and that its proponents were “drinking their own Kool-Aid.”
Warrior’s Regrets: Why He Disliked the Hogan Rematch
The Ultimate Warrior later regretted his Halloween Havoc rematch with Hulk Hogan, calling it “repulsive” and driven by “Ted Turner’s checkbook.” Photo Credit: WWE.
Warrior, on the other hand, expressed his disdain for the rematch, stating, “They used Ted Turner’s checkbook to buy me to come back to lose a match to Hulk Hogan. It was repulsive, to me, when I finally realized it. And if I would have known, I would never have gone back for all the money that they gave me.”
WrestleCrap journalist Art O’Donnell and Fin Martin of Power Slam have also disputed Bischoff’s claims, with the latter writing that WCW “hired Warrior at great expense in May 1998 specifically to massage the Hogan ego.”
Halloween Havoc 1998’s Broadcast Disaster
Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg faced off at Halloween Havoc 1998 on October 25, moments before pay-per-view feeds unexpectedly cut, leaving many fans in the dark. WCW aired the match on Nitro the next night. Photo Credit: WWE.
WCW’s Halloween Havoc 1998 ran an unprecedented three-and-a-half hours, exceeding the standard three-hour runtime. This oversight led to a major blunder, as many pay-per-view feeds abruptly ended while the highly anticipated main event between Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page was still underway.
In an attempt to rectify the situation, WCW aired the match the following night on Nitro for free. WWE journalist Kevin Powers praised the Goldberg vs. DDP bout as the best-ever held at a Halloween Havoc event while criticizing the Hogan vs. Warrior debacle.
Powers wrote, “It’s hard to believe that thousands of pay-per-view customers missed the main event of Halloween Havoc 1998 because WCW ran out of broadcast time.”
He continued, “By some cruel twist of fate, fans did get to watch the disastrous WrestleMania VI rematch between The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, only to see their screens go black just as Diamond Dallas Page prepared to lock up with undefeated WCW Champion Goldberg in what was the best match in the October event’s 11-year span.”
Sports Illustrated writer Luke Winkie echoed this sentiment, stating, “It’s a great match. If more TVs carried this match, maybe the Warrior/Hogan disaster would be less remembered.”
A vignette of Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior aired before their highly anticipated Halloween Havoc rematch on October 25th, 1998, which became infamous for going over time. Photo Credit: WWE.
In his bookControversy Creates Cash, former WCW president Eric Bischoff shared his perspective on the Halloween Havoc 1998 debacle.
“Talk about your **** storms,” Bischoff wrote. “Our 1998 Halloween Havoc Pay-Per-View ran about fifteen minutes over the time allotted. A large portion of the paying audience went dark and missed the end of the match. As bad as that was, the fallout from trying to fix it was even worse.”
Bischoff explained the unpredictable nature of wrestling matches, stating, “Matches go longer than they should for any number of reasons. Wrestling isn’t a science. When you send a wrestler out and say, ‘Okay, you have ten minutes to get your match in,’ sometimes they get it to within thirty seconds. Sometimes, they go five minutes over. At a pay-per-view where there are eight or nine matches, if four or five go significantly over, you end up going into your main event short of time.”
The Difficult Choice Behind Halloween Havoc’s Main Event
The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan squaring off in their Halloween Havoc 1998 rematch, but timing issues would make this bout a historic failure. Photo Credit: WWE.
Eric Bischoff further elaborated on the tough decisions faced when main events are at risk of being cut short.
“The main event is the reason that most people buy the pay-per-view, and it’s usually supposed to go twenty or twenty-five minutes. So you’re faced with a tough situation. If the match ends when it’s supposed to end—say after only seven minutes—it leaves a bad taste in the consumers’ mouths,” he wrote.
“On the other hand, if you go over, you run the real risk of losing your satellite time. Unless you’ve made prior arrangements, you go off the bird when your time is up.”
How Timing Issues Sabotaged Halloween Havoc 1998
Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior’s rematch at Halloween Havoc 1998 went down as one of wrestling’s most notorious botches. Photo Credit: WWE.
Bischoff resumed, “I don’t remember exactly what happened at Halloween Havoc, but I assume that the earlier matches ran over significantly.
“At some point, we realized we had a problem, and we scrambled. We got hold of the pay-per-view companies and explained what was going on, asking for more satellite time. For the most part, we were given reason to believe that we had the additional time.
“The pay-per-view industry wasn’t as sophisticated back then as it is now. For whatever reason, while some of our customers ended up getting the signal, the majority did not. Most of the people who had bought the pay-per-view never saw the finish.”
Halloween Havoc’s Unforgettable Disaster
Halloween Havoc 1998 became infamous for Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior’s botched rematch, marking a night of wrestling hype gone wrong. Photo Credit: WWE.
Halloween Havoc 1998 went down in history not for triumph but for failure. Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior’s rematch was supposed to capture the magic of their WrestleMania clash but instead became an infamous blunder that fans couldn’t forget.
From fire mishaps to timing issues, the rematch taught WCW tough lessons and solidified Halloween Havoc’s 1998 installment as a cautionary tale of what happens when hype goes wrong.
How The Great Muta Rescued Halloween Havoc’s First Show
WCW’s first Halloween Havoc on October 28, 1989, nearly ended in disaster until The Great Muta stepped up, saving the show with quick thinking. Photo Credit: WWE. Artwork by Pro Wrestling Stories.
Pro Wrestling Stories is committed to accurate, unbiased wrestling content rigorously fact-checked and verified by our team of researchers and editors. Any inaccuracies are quickly corrected, with updates timestamped in the article's byline header.
Got a correction, tip, or story idea for Pro Wrestling Stories? Contact us! Learn about our editorial standards here. Ever wanted to learn more about the people behind Pro Wrestling Stories? Meet our team of authors!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us provide free content for you to enjoy!
JP Zarka is the founder of Pro Wrestling Stories, established in 2015, where he guides the site's creative vision as editor-in-chief. From 2018 to 2019, he hosted and produced The Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo, brother of WWE legend Macho Man Randy Savage. His diverse background includes roles as a school teacher, assistant principal, published author, musician with the London-based band Sterling Avenue, and being a proud father of two amazing daughters. He has appeared on the television show Autopsy: The Last Hours Of and contributed research for programming on ITV and BBC.
Author: 
