WWF Coliseum Video Collection: WrestleFest ’91 (1991)

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: WrestleFest ’91 (1991)

Coliseum Video compilation – hosted by a 'recently retired' Randy Savage. The cover of the tape features the ‘Texas Tornado’ Kerry Von Erich, and promises a new feature on how the WWF’s managers see the action from ringside.


The Ultimate Warrior v Earthquake: From a TV Taping, February 1991. Earthquake jumps him on the way in, but Warrior casually shrugs him off, and takes him down with a diving shoulderblock. Earthquake bails to the floor to regroup, allowing manager Jimmy Hart to distract Warrior, and 'Quake to jump him on the way back in. Earthquake works the back, and grabs a bearhug. That goes on for a good two minutes, until Warrior fades, and 'Quake drops an elbow. Earthquake Buttsplash, but it only gets two, 'cause he's BLOWING UP!! Series of Clotheslines! Bodyslam! Splash! 5:40! Bad, plodding match - but thankfully short. Still, not off to a good start. -½*

Big Bossman v The Mountie: From a TV Taping, early 1991. This is the 'Manager Cam' segment promised, which basically means the camera stays over Mountie manager Jimmy Hart's shoulder for the duration, and he's hooked up to a microphone, so we can hear him on the commentary track. If there's one guy whose voice doesn't need amplification, it's Jimmy Hart. Thankfully he doesn't spend the whole match blaring through the megaphone. Bossman throws him around - beating him from end to end of the ring - until Bossman misses a blind charge. Mountie works the leg, and wraps the knee around the ringpost for good measure - with Hart's cheering sounding like he's closing in on a massive orgasm. Mountie must have been distracted by it, too, 'cause he walks into a Bossman Slam at 6:30. Just going through the motions, with the 'Cam' gimmick being the focus. DUD

The Rockers v Power and Glory: From a TV Taping, April 1991. These two teams were actually supposed to be engaged in a feud for the Tag Titles around this period, but The Rockers' planned victory over the Hart Foundation for the titles got nixed, leaving them both in limbo for the bulk of 1991. Lots of jawing and stalling, until Shawn Michaels starts with Paul Roma, and gets him in a hammerlock. Roma makes the ropes, but Shawn goes back to the well, so Roma sends him a more direct message with a sharp backelbow. He still gets caught with a rana - triggering a four-way brawl ('He's doing shit we can't pronounce! Get him!!') and the Rockers clean house with stereo-superkicks. The dusty settles on Marty Jannetty and Roma, with Hercules distracting Marty for Paul to nail from behind. Dropkick puts Marty down, and a double-team backelbow helps Roma and Hercules cut the ring in half. They work Marty over, but Roma misses a blind charge, and Shawn's a house of arson. Four-way brawl breaks out, and the Rockers dominate with double-teams, but P&G manager Slick gets involved, and the Rockers stupidly engage him - getting counted out at 12:00. Afterwards, the Rockers steal Slick's pimp hat. Almost as good as a win! Dull, but competent. *

The Texas Tornado v Ted DiBiase: From a TV Taping, February 1991. Tornado rubs salt in DiBiase's wounds, bringing out DiBiase's recently parted lover, Virgil. Miraculously, he only tries to sell four 8x10's on the way to ringside (time was limited, but the entrance still took a good fifteen minutes, as he cornered various nine year olds, and tried to finagle twenties out of them), though that's a path of his own choice, as he was making plenty good money with DiBiase. Should have held his tongue. Virgil distracts him by filing for unemployment, allowing Tornado to jump him, and go absolutely ballistic. DiBiase sells it all with glee, until he suckers Tornado into the corner, and posts him. Inside, DiBiase hammers away, and dumps the Tornado to give him a chance to properly chew Virgil out. DiBiase with a slam back in, but Virgil hooks the ankle, and Tornado topples him for the pinfall at 6:25. All angle. ¼*

Davey Boy Smith v Haku: From a TV Taping, early 1991. They trade armbars to start, with Haku controlling with a various array of hair pulls and eye pokes. Smith manages to overpower him, and keeps going after the arm, but gets hit with an inverted atomic drop off of a monkey flip attempt. Haku works the testes, and hits a well executed piledriver (Davey sold it by staying vertical for a good three seconds) for two. Sleeper, but Bulldog powers out, so Haku switches to a chinlock. Davey powers out of that, too, and they get into a headbutt stalemate (guess we're adding the English to those impervious to headbutts), and Davey with a crucifix for the pin at 7:57. Haku was strictly enhancement talent at this point. ¼*

Rick Martel v Greg Valentine: From a TV Taping, March 1991. Valentine goes with a hammerlock to start, but Martel dives into the ropes, so Greg gives him a stiff shove, and puts him on the floor. Rick spends a few minutes out there to regroup, but I guess he doesn't come up with much, 'cause Valentine gets him right in a side-headlock as he steps back in. Martel tries to fire back, but misses a blind charge - banging up his knee in the process. Valentine goes right to work on it, and hooks a spinning toehold, but Martel goes to the eyes, and dumps him. He limps out after him, but Valentine beats the count in, so Martel nails him with a 2^nd rope axehandle to the lower back. Abdominal stretch, but Valentine manages to hiptoss free, so Martel goes back to the 2^nd rope - only to get nailed on the way down this time. Slugfest goes Greg's way, and he hits an atomic drop to put Martel on the floor, but stupidly follows, and a brawl out there leads to them both getting counted out  at 8:34. The usual, stall-filled Martel match from this era - though it had a nice helping of psychology. ½*

Koko B. Ware v The Warlord: From a TV Taping, early 1991. Warlord overpowers him to start (no shit!), so Koko starts sticking and moving, frustrating the big man - until he clobbers Koko with a forearm for his troubles. Backdrop puts Koko on the floor, but the Birdman flies back inside with a sunset flip - only to get decked. Two birds, one fist. Warlord hugs him like a bear, but an elbowdrop misses, and Koko fires fists of fury! Schoolboy for two, and a missile dropkick gets two. Bodypress, but Warlord sidesteps him, and hits a running powerslam to finish at 6:40. Dull stuff. DUD

The Hart Foundation v The Legion of Doom: From a TV Taping, March 1991. The Harts were still WWF Tag Champions at this point, but they don't bring the belts with them - leading me to think this was originally taped for TV to air after WrestleMania, or that they knew this was for Coliseum, and would air after the title loss. Jim Neidhart starts with Animal, and they do the predictable power-stalemate, ending with a double knockout. Animal with a diving shoulderblock to take the advantage, but Hawk gets overpowered, and railroaded right into Bret. Hart with a rollup, but Hawk blocks, and backdrops him to the floor. He follows with a series of headbutts, but gets caught with a swinging neckbreaker for two. Tag back to Neidhart, but Hawk continues to overpower, so the Harts throw a cheap shot to turn the tide, and establish themselves as the heels in a face/face match. They hammer it home by double-teaming Hawk on the floor, and Neidhart clotheslines him for two. Bret with a backbreaker for two, and the Harts cut the ring in half with their old school heel tactics - but Hawk dodges a Neidhart slingshot, and gets the tag. Animal's a house of arson, and the Doomsday Device looks to finish Bret - but Neidhart shoves Hawk off of the top rope. The Harts take the opportunity to double-team some more, and Neidhart launches Bret at Animal - only for him to counter with a powerslam for the pin at 12:21. Afterwards, they make nice. Sure, both teams weren't at their peaks anymore, but this was still a total dream match - even if it didn't quite live up to expectations. Also fun to see the Harts work as heels one last time during their original run. The Foundation would lose the titles to the Nasty Boys the next week at WrestleMania, who would in turn lose them to the LOD at SummerSlam. *

Marty Jannetty v Tanaka: From a house show, March 1991. Tanaka kicks things off with kicks, but gets caught with a forearm out of a big criss cross. Tanaka bails to regroup, so Marty drops in to visit with a plancha, then works the count. Back in, they circle each other for a while, so Tanaka manager Mr. Fuji distracts Marty, allowing Tanaka to tear off the top turnbuckle. Unfortunately, Tanaka fumbles around with it for so long ('damn you, Granny Knot!!'), it ends up looking silly - with Jannetty and the referee jawing with Fuji for over longer than believable with their backs turned. Tanaka doesn't quite manage to get it all the way off, but they still work a spot off of it, and Tanaka dumps him. Inside, Tanaka headbutts the nuts, but misses a blind charge, and Jannetty capitalizes with a 2^nd rope bulldog for two. Tanaka tries a rope-assisted pinfall, but gets caught by the referee, and goes with a savate kick instead. Diving forearm for two, and a diving axehandle sets up a tombstone - but Marty reverses with brilliantly executed version of his own for the pin at 10:50. These two are both fantastic - and this sounds good on paper - but it was the usual, slow house show match. ½*

BUExperience:  Hart Foundation/Legion of Doom is interesting for historical purposes – the rest isn’t interesting, period. Overall, not a good addition to your Coliseum Collection.