WWF Coliseum Video Collection: WrestleFest ’88

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: WrestleFest ’88

Unlike most Coliseum Videos, this wasn’t a compilation tape, but rather a card recorded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in late July 1988, specifically for release on videotape.

From Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Your Hosts are Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Superstar Billy Graham – in front of a large crowd, in an open-air baseball stadium.


Opening Match: The Killer Bees v The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers: Jim Brunzell and Raymond Rougeau start, and Raymond smoothly dodges a backelbow by bailing to the floor. Back in, they fight over a headlock - with Raymond controlling - so Brunzell takes him down with a headscissors... takedown. Both guys tag, and B. Brian Blair gets Jacques in an armbar. Criss cross allows Rougeau a monkey flip, but he showboats, and Blair kills him with a clothesline. Tag back to Raymond, and he gets Brunzell into a standing anklelock, as the Rougeau’s try to cut the ring in half, but Blair gets the tag, and they wishbone Raymond. Leglock, but he makes the ropes and gets the tag off to Jacques. He stupidly wastes times stretching his brothers ass-muscle, and gets rolled up for two. He does manage another anklelock, but takes a turn into the wrong part of town, and the Bee's lock his ankle. Boston Crab by Blair, but Raymond passes Jacques the ropes to break it up, and then hooks his own Boston Crab. Chain-wrestling sequence allows Blair a full-nelson, but a cheap shot puts him back on the mat. Rougeau’s with their abdominal stretch/savate kick combo for two, and Raymond hooks a reverse chinlock. Low blow turns the tide, and Brunzell is a house of arson. Figure four on Jacques, but Raymond breaks it up, so he tries a dropkick. Four-way brawl breaks out, and Brunzell goes for a powerslam, but Raymond shoves him over, and Jacques lands on top for the pin at 14:00. Solid, really old school-style tag match - with the heels never missing a chance at a double-team, or cheap shot - though a bit too much stalling at points. *

Bret Hart v Bad News Brown: This stems from the WrestleMania IV battle royal, as they were making an attempt at pushing Bret as a singles star. Bad News hides in the corner - under the guise of wanting to yell at some fans - and gets the best of the initial tie-up, ramming Hart into the turnbuckles. Bret returns the favor, and slams him, but misses a blind charge. Bad News heads up, but Bret meets him with a slam off the top for two. Suplex gets two, and a backbreaker - but Bad News rakes the eyes. Ghetto Blaster (an enzuigiri) misses, and Hart backdrops him to the outside. He follows with a plancha, and inside, a bodypress gets two. Sunset flip for two. Backbreaker gets two. Rollup, but Bad News reverses, and gets the pin with a handful of pink tights at 6:26. Took a little while to get started, but fun, well paced stuff. *

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Honky Tonk Man v Jim Duggan: Honky predictably stalls to start, but Duggan gets hold of him, and unloads a ten punch count, and Honky bails to regroup. Duggan drags him back in, and starts clotheslining everything, setting up the 3-Point Stance - but Honky manager Jimmy Hart gets involved, and it's a disqualification at 4:38. All punch-kick, before the usual cheap ending. DUD

The Bolsheviks v The Powers of Pain: Nikolai Volkoff and The Barbarian start, and Nikolai actually tries to get into a power-showdown with him. Shockingly, that doesn't quite work out, so he tags Boris Zhukov to give it a go. He gets quickly powerslammed, and both guys tag out. Volkoff keeps acting like a retard by asking for a test-of-strength, and even with the obligatory cheap shot, can't get Warlord down. He does manage to dodge a blind charge from Barbarian, though, and the Bolsheviks work to cut the ring in half. Double-clothesline gets reversed, however, and Warlord tags back in. He's a house of arson, and the Powers finish Zhukov with their powerslam/flying headbutt combo at 6:47. Match didn't really have the proper time to work the formula, but I'm not too confident that these two teams would have done much better with twenty minutes. Pretty much perfect for the squash they were going for. ¼*

Jim Neidhart v Lanny Poffo: Neidhart tries a sneak attack, but Poffo decks him. 2^nd rope moonsault, but Neidhart gets the knees up, and decimates him for forearm shots. Blind charge misses, but a powerslam doesn't, and Neidhart gets the pin at 2:34. This was literally two minutes of forearm smashes. DUD

Jake Roberts v Rick Rude: Another chapter in their long feud over Rude's sexual advances towards Jake's wife. Jake goes right at him - firing off a series of nut shots (that'll stop the advances!), until Rude bails. More nut shots setup the DDT, but Rude hits the deck, and bails again. He lures Jake into a chase, jumping him on the way back in, and hooks a chinlock. Jake finally breaks out (it was a loooong chinlock), but misses a blind charge, and Rude snaps his neck across the top rope. Flying fistdrop, but he makes the mistake of posing, and gets rolled up for two. Jake is too battered to immediately capitalize, though, but he manages to crotch Rude on the top rope to slow him down. Series of jabs, and a kneelift, but Rude dodges the DDT again. Short-clothesline, and Jake literally threatens to fuck him in the middle of the ring - making bold Wedding Crashers-esque thrusting motions. Considering Jake just tried to pants him when he dodged the DDT, that is more than a little disturbing. DDT (just call it a roofie!), but Rude trips the referee into the line of fire to cushion his fall. Jake keeps hammering, so Rude decides to take a walk, and when Roberts follows we have a double countout at 15:44. They really should have went with a DQ off of the more creative DDT spot. Match was way too slow for a blood feud like theirs - a problem with many of their encounters, as they had a hot angle, but delivered dull matches. Still, chinlock and ball shot aficionados should check it out. ¼*

Weasel Suit Match: Bobby Heenan v The Ultimate Warrior: Loser wears a weasel suit - a gimmick Bobby Heenan revived from his time in the AWA years before. Fittingly, The Crusher works as guest ring announcer, as he was one of the people who coined the 'weasel' term for Heenan - though they clip him out of the video release. Heenan refuses to get into the ring, so Warrior goes a'chasin'. Heenan forces him to run around the ring a couple of times, so Warrior eventually tires of it, and crouches behind the ring steps to catch him by surprise. Inside, he goes ballistic, so Heenan pulls something out of his tights, and jabs him in the throat - then plays a brilliant bit of hiding it is various places to avoid getting caught during referee pat downs. Warrior eventually starts no-selling, and Heenan takes a Flair Flip before getting locked in a sleeper at 5:00. Afterwards, with Heenan unconscious, Warrior forces him into the suit, and his reaction upon waking is as great as ever - though, I want to make it clear that I do not approve of forcing someone into being a furry. DUD - but fun.

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Demolition v The British Bulldogs: Smash and Davey Boy Smith start off, and Davey quickly gets a sunset flip for two. The Bulldogs work an armbar, but Smash railroads Dynamite Kid into the wrong corner, and tags Ax. Backdrop, but Kid clobbers him, and gives him a turn at getting armbarred. Bodyslam turns the tide, and the Demos go ballistic on him with axehandles in the corner. Smash with a headvice, as the champs cut the ring in half. Smash blind charge misses, though, and he gets the tag off to Davey. He's an abbey of arson, and backdrops Ax for two, before getting nailed in the nuts. Tag back to Kid, but he's a much smaller abbey, and gets whacked with Demo manager Mr. Fuji's cane to gives the champs the pin at 7:08. A couple of nice, crisp spots from the Bulldogs - but not a great match, overall. ½*

Ken Patera v Dino Bravo: Patera jumps him at the bell, and chokes him with his ring jacket. Backdrop, and a powerslam for two, so Bravo bails. Patera drags him back in, but gets caught with an inverted atomic drop, but throws a backelbow to slow Dino down. Inside cradle for two, but a blind charge misses, and Bravo finishes with a sidewalk slam at 3:28. Energetic little squash. ¼*

Main Event: Cage Match: Hulk Hogan v Andre the Giant: Hogan tries to go right at him, but Andre gets his hands around the throat - and Hogan has nowhere to run or hide inside of the cage! Hulk manages to railroad him into the corner for a ten-punch, but gets caught with more choking. Andre ties him to the cage with his own t-shirt, but it takes manager Bobby Heenan to clue him in that now may be the time to try and escape. Andre finally catches on, and heads for the door, but Hogan manages to tear the t-shirt away (somehow!) and stop him. Andre chops him down, and goes for the door again, but once more the Hulkster stops him with a chokehold. Andre responds by tearing off the turnbuckle pad, and ramming him into it - which seems kinda redundant when they're already surrounded by a cage. Andre unloads the headbutts, but can't make it out the door again thanks to pesky Hogan. Hulk starts throwing clotheslines to stagger the Giant, and hits the legdrop. That draws Bobby Heenan in to stop an escape attempt, so Hogan kills him, too. Andre uses the distraction to try and climb (seriously?!), but Hulkamania's running wild, and shit, so they have no chance, and Hogan escapes at 10:03. Horrible match, but this was the hottest program in wrestling, and was exactly what the crowd wanted. Still, horrible match. - ½*

BUExperience: Coliseum cut a few matches from the show – most notably a Randy Savage WWF Title defense against Ted DiBiase, which would later end up on Savage’s DVD over twenty years later – which would have been welcome additions to the tape. Overall, not horrible – but certainly not one to add to your Coliseum Collection.