WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Wham, Bam, Bodyslam (1995)

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Wham, Bam, Bodyslam (1995)

Coliseum Video compilation, hosted by Ted DiBiase – talking on a 90s cell phone. He really is the Million Dollar Man! The cover of the tape features Bull Nakano and Alundra Blayze, and promises action that can only be seen exclusively on Coliseum Home Video.


Lex Luger v Tatanka: From a TV taping, October 1994. Signs in the audience label Tatanka as a 'traitor,' but, really, he was more of a sell-out than a traitor. Who did he commit treason against? Luger's patriotic tights? The WWE Universe? Luger goes right after him, but Tatanka hides out on the floor in hopes that Lex cools down. That takes a while, as the patient Tatanka waits for Lex to get caught up with the referee, then jumps him. Inverted atomic drop, but Luger no-sells, and starts throwing clotheslines. Tatanka tugs the tights to pull him to the floor, as Gorilla Monsoon (on commentary) talks about how Ted DiBiase's father was a 'tremendous individual.' Oddly, it wouldn't be unlikely for you to turn on RAW today and hear that exact sentence. Tatanka with a series of leaping elbowdrops for two, and he hooks a chinlock to give them a break from all the crazy, high impact standing around. Luger finally breaks the hold with a side suplex, but he's still recovering from the devastation that is a chinlock, and gets chopped into the corner. Tatanka misses a blind charge, and takes a kneelift back, followed by a bulldog. Series of clotheslines knock him to the outside, but Luger stupidly goes after him, and it's a double countout at 13:50. All punch-kick stuff here. DUD

Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith v Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart: From the same October 1994 TV taping as the previous match. Bret and Owen start, and they work a stalemate off of the initial lockup. Owen with a hammerlock on the second go, but Bret reverses, and takes him down to the mat with it. Owen uses the hair to get free, so Bret hooks a crucifix for two, and takes him into an armbar. Owen jabs his way out, but gets caught with a monkey flip, and clotheslined to the outside. Bret calls for Neidhart to tag (taunting him with hilarious 'he's fat!!' proclamations to the crowd), until Jim tags in and hooks him in a bearhug 'cause IT’S GLANDULAR, BITCH!!! Tag to Davey, and he wins a power showdown with a shoulderblock, but the Anvil goes to the eyes, and tags Owen back in. Davey nearly takes his head off with a clothesline, and a backdrop sets up the hanging vertical suplex for two. Cheap shot from Neidhart turns the tide, and Owen hits a spinheel kick for two, as they cut the ring in half. Hart Attack (a bearhug/flying clothesline combo popularized by the original Hart Foundation) gets two when Bret saves, so Neidhart forces Davey into the home corner to properly abuse him. Owen tries a neckbreaker for two, but a criss cross ends in a double knockout, so Neidhart comes back in to stop the tag. Miscommunication sees Owen dropkick Neidhart, and Davey is finally able to make the tag to the Hitman. He's a house of arson, and hits Owen with a Russian legsweep for two. Backbreaker and the 2^nd rope elbowdrop for two, and a snap suplex sets up the Sharpshooter - but Neidhart breaks it up. Tag back to Davey for a press slam, but Neidhart breaks that up, too - and we have a four-way brawl. Davey with an inside cradle, so Neidhart rolls Owen on top, but Bret sneaks over and tilts it back in Davey's favor - and that's the pin at 15:37. Fun formula tag match from the Hart Family - well paced, and well worked. **

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Razor Ramon v Jeff Jarrett: From the same October 1994 taping as the two previous bouts. Jarrett catches him with an armdrag out of the initial tie-up, and is ready to have himself declared the winner right then and there. Unfortunately, they're not under Tito Santana rules, so no dice. He does it again, but a third try gets him bitch slapped. Well, third time may be the charm - but not when the first two were already successful. Much like my orgasms. Razor with a blockbuster for two, and he hooks an armbar to keep Jarrett on the mat. Jeff with a series of dropkicks to turn the tide, and a nice side suplex gets two. Flying bodypress, but Razor rolls through for two - only to get caught with a clothesline, and hooked in a chinlock. Razor with a backslide for two, but he can't build momentum, so Jarrett whips him into the corner a few times. Enzuigiri misses, but Razor still can't capitalize, and Jeff goes back to the chinlock. Razor with a side suplex to break, and both struggle to their feet for a slugfest - going Razor's way. Blind charge misses, however, and Ramon goes flying over the top - banging his knee on the way, and getting counted out at 11:20. However, the title doesn't change hands by countout, so Jarrett challenges him to get back in and settle things. Razor obliges, and of course, gets pummeled on the way in. Jarrett with a backdrop, but he walks right into the Razor's Edge, and Ramon retains at 14:00. They ran this finish over and over on house shows and dark matches in late '94, before modifying it to Jarrett winning the title at the Royal Rumble. And that's basically what this match was - a house show version of the better pay per view match that is built to. **

Well Dunn v The Bushwhackers: From a TV taping, November 1994. They're in an arena so small here (like, ECW Arena small) that the standard sized WWF banners hanging over the ring are distractingly huge. Bushwhackers start with their usual ass-biting double-team, and continue to work the part with atomic drops to clean house.  Well and Butch, and the heels easily dominate, so the 'Whackers run their usual double-teams to clean house again. The heels keep dominating once it settles back to one-on-one action, and cut the ring in half - but Luke makes the tag, and Butch is an outhouse of fire, pinning Well at 7:57. There was ass psychology, I guess. -*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Lex Luger and The Smoking Gunns v Tatanka, Shawn Michaels, and Diesel: From a TV taping, September 1994 Joined in progress with Luger and Michaels squaring off, and Shawn tries a side-headlock, but he gets press slammed right into Diesel, and a six-way brawl breaks out. The faces clean house (with Shawn bumping like a pinball all around ringside), before the dust settles on Bart Gunn and Diesel. Diesel destroys him with ease, and tags Tatanka - but he gets caught with a bodypress for two. Bart with a dropkick, and tags Billy Gunn for a sidewalk slam/leaping legdrop combo. Tag to Luger, but Tatanka bails for Michaels to avoid the wrath of Luger. Luger takes his frustrations out on Shawn instead, but Bart Gunn runs into a cheap shot from Diesel to turn the tide. The heels cut the ring in half on Bart (with Shawn talking shit at them the whole time - regardless of whether he's in the ring or not), until Bart catches him with a faceslam, and gets the tag off to Billy. Barn of fire, but a flying bulldog triggers a six-way brawl - Luger finally getting his hands on Tatanka. Billy walks into a Powerbomb from Diesel in the chaos, and Shawn pins him at 9:19 of 9:36 (the first few seconds were clipped off, likely because the Gunns were subbing for The Headshrinkers, and they were trying to avoid the intros) - which is certainly enough where I think I can still comfortably give it a fair rating. Match was energetic, and made good use of tags throughout. * ¼

WWF Title Lumberjack Match: Bret Hart v Owen Hart: From a TV taping, August 1994 - a couple of weeks before their SummerSlam match. Bret unloads on him in the corner, and hits a quick inverted atomic drop into a DDT to put Owen on the floor for the lumberjacks to play with, so Owen rakes the eyes on the way back in, and dumps his brother for some abuse. Inside, the challenger hooks a camel clutch, but Bret powers out, so Owen tries a chinlock. Bret breaks, and dodges lumberjack Jeff Jarrett on his way to hooking the Sharpshooter - but lumberjack Jim Neidhart breaks it up behind the referee's back, and it's mayhem as Owen wins the WWF Title at 3:06. All the heels hoist him up on their shoulders in a bizzaro-WrestleMania X moment, but another referee runs in to stop this gross miscarriage of justice, and the match restarts - after they manage to pry the title from Owen's hands. Frustrated, Owen charges, but Bret sidesteps, and his younger brother goes flying into the post. Bret with a chinlock, but Owen uses the hair to break - only to get bodypressed out of a criss cross for two. Another criss cross ends with a kneelift from Owen, and he dumps Bret for the heel lumberjacks to play with. Inside, Owen with an enzuigiri for two, and a series of uppercuts leaves Bret punch-drunk for Owen to dropkick back to the lumberjacks. Back in, Owen with a suplex for two, and a tombstone (SummerSlam '97-style) sets up a flying splash - but Bret rolls out of the way. Owen takes the chest-first cross corner bump for two, and a Russian legsweep gets two. Inside cradle for two, and a backbreaker sets up the 2^nd rope elbowdrop for two. Neidhart gets involved again, but a miscommunication allows Bret to schoolboy his brother for the pin at 13:50. Heated up towards the end, and was not surprisingly well worked throughout - but there was a lot of resting and working around the lumberjack gimmick for the most part. * ¾

WWF Women's Title Match: Alundra Blayze v Bull Nakano: From a TV taping, October 1994. These two pretty much literally were the Women's 'Division' for most of 1994, in the days long before the Divas. Nakano tries to overpower in the early going, so Blayze starts throwing lightning kicks - only to get caught with a pair of vicious hairpull slams. Faceslam and a legdrop get two, and a chokeslam for two. Blayze Flair Flips to avoid a cross corner, but gets slammed off of the top, and piledriven for two. Nakano with a nasty looking anklelock, but Blayze won't give, so Nakano turns it into a surfboard. Still nothing, so she goes with her always impressive surfboard Sharpshooter. Alundra powers into a bridge, but gets buttsplashed for two, and Nakano with a 2^nd rope bulldog to leave the champ on her back. Bull tries to choke the life out of her, and slams her for two, but Blayze bridges again - only to walk into a cheap shot from Nakano manager Luna Vachon. That allows Bull to hit a well executed slingshot DDT for two, but gets caught in a desperation crucifix (a lot of people pull those out in desperation) for two. Nakano with a gutwrench powerbomb, but a flying legdrop misses, and Blayze hits a pair of dropkicks. 2^nd rope version gets two, and a German suplex retains the title at 10:19. Good match, filled with crisp, hard hitting maneuvers, and nice transitions. ***

20-Man Battle Royal: From a TV taping, August 1994. We've got: Yokozuna, Diesel, The 1-2-3 Kid, The Heavenly Bodies, The Smoking Gunns, Typhoon, The Headshrinkers, Bam Bam Bigelow, Bob Holly, Nikolai Volkoff, Mabel, Jeff Jarrett, Bob Backlund, Kwang, IRS, Duke Droese, and Adam Bomb. Yokozuna's the obvious favorite, so everyone immediately gangs up to get rid of him right after the opening bell. Usual kick-punch battle royal fare - the highlight being Diesel singlehandedly tossing Typhoon and Mabel, and drawing a strong 'Diesel' chant, especially for a heel. Everyone gangs up to get rid of him next, but the crowd cheers him all the way home, and he'd get pushed up to the WWF Title a couple of months later. It gets down to Backlund, Kid, Jarrett, and Billy Gunn - and Bob goes right for the Kid, as Jarrett backdrops Billy out. The heels gang up on the little guy, but he skins-the-cat off of a Jarrett elimination, and dumps him during his celebration. That allows Backlund to sneak up with the Crossface Chickenwing to incapacitate Kid, and he dumps him for the victory at 12:26. I generally don't like battle royals, but this was fine for what it was - putting the re-elevated Backlund over, as well as letting Diesel look strong. ½*

BUExperience: No lost gems, but outside of the horrible Bushwhackers match (man, how many times will I end up typing that sentence in my lifetime), a lot of fun stuff from a generally bad period, and a good addition to your Coliseum Collection.