WWF Coliseum Video Collection: The Best of the WWF: Volume II (1985)

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: The Best of the WWF: Volume II (1985)

Coliseum Video compilation – hosted by Gorilla Monsoon. The cover of the tape features Mr. Fuji and promises Midget Madness, PLUS Surprise Endings. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Save something for next time, guys!

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Soul Patrol v Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch: From April 1984. Rocky Johnson (father of The Rock) starts with Adrian Adonis, and gets right into armdragging the shit out of him. Murdoch runs in, but takes a series of armdrags as well, and Adrian ends up on the mat in an armbar. Adonis manages a scoop slam to allow the tag to Murdoch, but he runs into yet another armdrag, and Tony Atlas tags in to work an armbar of his own. Dick catches him with an elbow during a cross corner charge to turn the tide, and he corners him for Adonis to double-team. The challengers cut the ring in half on Atlas, but Adonis takes a fist to the face, and Johnson gets the tag to trigger a four-way brawl. Rocky looks to finish Adrian with a Boston crab, but Murdoch breaks it up, and Adrian cradles him to win the titles at 4:54. Kind of a quickie, but well paced, and historically significant, so worth inclusion. Plus, Johnson's johnson gave us The Rock, so he's always worth checking out. ¼*

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Pedro Morales v Don Muraco: Speaking of 'The Rock!' From January 1983, as Morales attacks him during the entrances, and beats the piss out of poor Don before even taking his title belt off. Pedro with a sunset flip for two, and a hard right hand puts the challenger on the floor, and Pedro teases diving out after him from the top rope, but Don hides under the ring. Damn, that would have been sick for 1983. Hell, it would have been pretty wild TODAY, especially when you consider that the floor was all exposed concrete back then. Inside, Don tries to outmaneuver the champ during a criss cross, but gets stomped. Morales goes in for the kill, but takes a mulekick, and Don chokes him with his torn t-shirt, so Pedro blasts him with a mule kick of his own. A blind charge misses, however, and Muraco goes to work on the knee as we clip to him trying the figure four, but getting launched into the post as a block. Morales fires up with a modified backbreaker, and he slaps on a Boston crab, but the knee gives out before he can really wrench it on. He tries a powerslam, but the knee gives out again, and Muraco topples him for the title at 8:25 shown of 11:34. This was pretty much a total squash for Pedro with a fluke win for Muraco. Decent match - a bit clipped, but I can still safely call it at ½*

Pedro Morales v Killer Kowalski: From July 1974. Kowalski controls in the early going, shoving Pedro into the corner for some abuse - biting and all. Pedro tries a right hand to turn it around, but Kowalski shoots at the leg, and starts pounding the knee. Must of done a good job of it, too, since Muraco still capitalized on it nine years later. No wonder they called him the 'Killer!' Clip to Kowalski working a leglock until Pedro fires back with more punches, and Killer begs off. Kowalski keeps after the leg, but Pedro keeps turning it into a fight, and Kowalski is outmatched. He wisely sweeps the leg when the referee steps in, and slaps the stomach clawhold on as we clip to later - Kowalski with the hold still applied. Morales breaks with a series of axehandles, and hits a backdrop, but gets caught in the stomach claw again as commentator Jesse Ventura gets the hold over by explaining how it stops organ functions. They brawl to the floor shortly after, and the final result is a double countout at 8:30 shown. Not sure how long this was without clipping, but what we saw was decent - albeit, very slow for modern audiences.

Midget Madness: We gets clips of a Jamaica Kid/Billy the Kid v Sky Low/Little Brutus tag match that looks to be from the 60s or 70s based on the colors and film type. We also get clipped of Sky Low and Little Brutus taking on Sonny Boy Haynes and Joey Russell in what looks almost like fan cam footage (though it isn't). Moving along...

Chief Jay Strongbow v Professor Toru Tanaka: From December 1977. They get into a big, proper, Royal Rumble '90-style criss cross at the bell, until Strongbow slaps on a standing side-headlock. Tanaka quickly breaks, but walks into a closed fist as he charges. Lots of slow, 'feeling out process' stuff here, as they trade various armholds that don't go anywhere. Tanaka eventually gets him on the mat in an armbar, but Strongbow counters into a headscissors and we clip to Tanaka choking him from behind. We finally work up to the ending, as both guys trade rights, but the referee catches Tanaka going for a handful of salt, and disqualifies him at 8:42. Really slow, really boring stuff here. I'm honestly not sure why they ever bothered digging this out of the vault. Only entraining bit: the referee is dressed like an extra from a Scorsese picture, or something. Seriously, did they find this guy walking on the street outside of the arena and just give him a refereeing job?

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Tito Santana v Paul Orndorff: From September 1984. Tito controls with a hammerlock in the early going, and switches to an overhead wristlock as he takes his challenger to the mat. Orndorff forces it up to a vertical base, but takes a shoulderblock, and Tito wrestles him back down to the mat for another hammerlock. Paul with a series of backelbows to break, but he misses an elbowdrop, and takes an armdrag into an armbar. Clip to Tito still holding the armbar firm, but taking an inverted atomic drop to force a break, and getting stomped by the challenger. Orndorff puts him on the floor with a kneelift, and follows with an atomic drop out there - though really, he should be rolling Tito in and finishing him since he can't win the title by countout. Orndorff stupidly leaves him out there to take the count, and luckily for him Santana makes it. Paul responds by snapping his neck across the ropes and shoving him back out - again not even bothering to try and bring him in for the title. Tito tries a sunset flip back in, but Orndorff blocks, and stomps him. Chinlock by the challenger, and a side suplex is worth two. Santana with a fluke powerslam for two, but Orndorff retains the momentum with a few closed fists for two. Tito manages to lift his knees when Orndorff tries a 2^nd rope splash, and he slams the challenger. Slingshot gets two, but a criss cross ends in Orndorff clotheslining him for two. Paul with a kneelift, but time expires before he can score the fall, and we have a time limit draw at 14:27 shown of 20:00. Competent, but like their bore fest at The Wrestling Classic, it was quite dull. The crowd was totally into it the whole way through, though. *

Surprise Endings: We get a montage of various 'surprise' endings, such as Rocky Johnson accidentally getting himself disqualified in an Intercontinental Title match against Don Muraco (his son would have better luck), Andre the Giant beating the shit out of dudes, and Gorilla Monsoon losing his cool as he acts as a special referee.

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Rick Martel and Tony Garea v Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito: From October 1981. Martel dominates Fuji in the early going, and gives Saito an armdrag for good measure. Fuji takes a bodypress out of the ropes for two, and ends up in an armbar as the champs cut the ring in half. A cheap shot allows the tag to Saito, and the challengers work to cut the ring in half on Garea. Saito misses a blind charge to allow the tag back to Martel, and he's a house of arson to trigger a four-way brawl - Fuji throwing a handful of sale into Rick's eyes to allow Saito to reverse a flying bodypress for the titles at 9:48. The historical significance makes it well worth inclusion, and it was fairly energetic, but still a DUD

BUExperience: No real classic matches or hidden gems, but three historically significant title changes definitely keep it from being a total waste of time – especially three title changes that haven’t been endlessly covered on newer WWE releases. A decent addition to your Coliseum Collection.