WWF Coliseum Video Collection: The Best of the WWF: Volume V (1986)

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: The Best of the WWF: Volume V (1986)

Coliseum Video compilation – hosted by Gene Okerlund. The cover of the tape features Ricky Steamboat, and promises ‘Island Fury’ when the Dragon takes on Don Muraco!

Ricky Steamboat v Don Muraco: From November 1985. Island Fury! Steamboat scares him into the corner with the threat of kicks as the bell sounds, and a criss cross goes Ricky's way with an enzuigiri. That puts Muraco out on the floor, and he runs, but Steamboat traps him in the corner again with the threat of more kicks. Muraco with a chop into a snapmare to take Steamboat down, but the Dragon catches him with a snapmare of his own, and adds a somersault necksnap. Don bails to the floor to break the momentum, but walks into chops on the way back in, and Steamboat snapmares him into a headvise (called a 'neckbreaker' by commentator Gorilla Monsoon). Next great bit: they cut to some crowd shots during the resthold, and they focus in on a few guys in turbans, with Gorilla explaining that this match is an 'International event!' Steamboat with a backdrop and a pair of armdrags setup a drop-toehold into an STF. More crowd shots, and a bored looking kid is dubbed a 'concerned youngster' by Monsoon. Well, at least the kid hadn't just starred in a blockbuster holiday film this time, I guess. Steamboat shifts into a front-facelock when Muraco tries to escape, and we clip to later with Ricky still wrenching the hold on. Don uses an inverted atomic drop to break, and he unloads on the Dragon with clotheslines. Into the corner for a turnbuckle smash, and another one into the post draws blood. Don gets nasty by jamming his thumb into the cut (that's hygienic...), and indeed, the Dragon has really tapped an artery here. Out to the floor, Muraco fires the dazed Dragon into the post with a slingshot, and he brings him back in for a 2^nd rope axehandle. Don rakes the cut again, but Steamboat fires off a series of chops to knock him into the corner, but a cross corner whip is reversed, and Muraco blasts him with a clothesline as he comes stumbling out. He dumps Ricky out to the floor again for manager Mr. Fuji to abuse, but Ricky steals the cane away from him, and brings it into the ring. The referee goes down as Steamboat and Muraco have a tug-of-war over the cane, and Ricky wins with another enzuigiri. He whacks Don with the cane, but the referee catches him, and disqualifies Steamboat at 15:30 shown of 16:37. Pretty slow house show fare here until the gory bladejob, but competent - Steamboat selling the beating nicely, blood and all. ½*

The Hart Foundation v The Killer Bees: From September 1985. The Harts are still in their early blue gear here, and it's a good thing they switched to pink, because they look totally unremarkable otherwise. Bret Hart starts with Jim Brunzell, but takes a pair of dropkicks, and Brunzell tags out to B. Brian Blair. Blair with a quick sunset flip for two, but an attempt at an armbar gets him a backelbow, and Bret tags out to Jim Neidhart. The Anvil holds Blair in a side-headlock, and switches to a bearhug, but a backelbow allows the tag back to Brunzell. He comes in hot, but a cheap shot from Bret takes the pep out of his step, and the Harts double-team. Bret with a backbreaker and a legdrop as they cut the ring in half, but he misses a dive into the ropes, and Blair gets the tag. He's a hive of fire, but a four-way brawl quickly breaks out, and the referee throws it out at 4:31. Okay. Kind of a quickie for the era, but decent while it lasted. ¾*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Barry O and The Hart Foundation v Paul Orndorff and The Killer Bees: From October 1985, and joined in progress with the heels triple-teaming Jim Brunzell in the corner. Bret hits a backbreaker as they cut the ring in half, but Barry O screws it up, and Jim slips through his legs to tag Orndorff. Paul is a house of arson, and a bearhug/dropkick combo with Brunzell puts Barry away at 1:40 shown of 4:20. Not enough shown to rate, but it was super short unclipped, so I'm guessing this was on par with the previous bout. Surprised they didn't show it unclipped considering how short it was.

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Dream Team v The British Bulldogs: From September 1985. Greg Valentine starts with Dynamite Kid, and quickly ends up in a standing side-headlock. He tries to whip Kid into the ropes, but takes a shoulderblock, and backs off to regroup. Both men tag, and Davey Boy Smith controls Brutus Beefcake with a wristlock. Beefcake tries a bodyslam to break, but Davey holds onto the arm and rolls through for two. He and Kid work in some quick tandem stuff to draw Valentine in, but Davey is ready with dropkicks for both men, and covers Beefcake for two. Tag to Greg for a double-team backelbow, and a bodyslam, but an elbowdrop misses, and Davey gets to the corner. Kid with a backbreaker for two, and a falling headbutt gets two. That's enough to trigger a four-way brawl, and Team manager Johnny V shoves Dynamite off the top rope to draw a disqualification at 4:18. Not quite the WrestleMania 2 match, but you could see them working stuff out for later. Plus, The British Bulldogs could do no wrong at this point - their stuff crisp and fresh. ¾*

WWF Women’s Title Match: Wendi Richter v Lelani Kai: From February 1985, taped the same night as the MTV special 'War to Settle the Score.' Joined in progress with Richter getting suckered into the corner, and dropped with a butterfly suplex for two. Kai with a snapmare and a sloppy legdrop, and she chokes Wendi out on the ropes - only to miss a charge, and go flying out to the floor. Fabulous Moolah helps her up out there, but she takes a suplex on the way back in for two. Richter with a facebuster into a surfboard, and we clip to later with Richter holding an armbar. A backdrop ends with a boot to the face for her, though, and Kai slaps on a front-facelock. Wendi makes the ropes to break, but Kai keeps control with a series of rights. Richter manages a pair of kneelifts for two, and a bodypress is worth two. Big boot gets two, and a bodyslam gets two, but the champ gets distracted when Moolah assaults Cyndi Lauper on the outside. That allows Moolah to potato Richter, and Kai rolls her up for the title at 6:45 shown of 11:49. Real piece of shit match (even clipped), but historically significant for its part in setting up the first WrestleMania, and worthy of inclusion on that basis alone.

WWF Women’s Title Match: Wendi Richter v Spider Lady: From November 1985. Pretty famous match here, as the mysterious 'Spider Lady' gets a shot at Richter's title. Joined in progress with Spider Lady stomping Richter to keep her on the floor, but Wendi manages a dropkick. She badly botches a headscissors takedown, and Spider topples her for two. She takes her into the corner for some abuse, but Richter manages to whip her into the ropes - somehow screwing up a clothesline along the way. It still gets two, but a follow-up is cut short, and Spider Lady cradles her for two - only for the referee to count three anyway, and crown a new champion at 2:00 shown of 6:38. If that ending looked weird to you, that's because it was - Spider Lady (revealed to be the Fabulous Moolah after the bell) shooting on Richter, and (with the referee in on it) perpetrating a screw job to get the title off of Richter after a contract/pay dispute with Vince McMahon. Richter has no clue what just happened, and initially thinks the match is still going (she did kick out, after all), but the referee awards it to Moolah. Richter then completely freaks out, and starts attacking her (Moolah hilariously no-selling, and celebrating anyway), and actually wrestles the referee over the title belt like an angry child - Richter refusing to surrender it. The match was clipped to nothing, but it was fascinating and significant stuff – well worth showing.

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Tito Santana v Jesse Ventura: From September 1985. Tito quickly overpowers his challenger out of the initial lockup, but Jesse accuses him of cheating, and forces the referee to intervene. They run that gag a couple more times, and Jesse frustrates him into an overhead wristlock. Tito quickly reverses into a hammerlock, but Jesse has the ropes. Ventura with a standing wristlock, but Santana breaks with a chop, and slaps on a standing side-headlock. A criss cross goes the challengers way with a kneelift, and he works Tito over - focusing on the back. Backbreaker gets two and an atomic drop is worth two. Bearhug, but Tito escapes, and he's good and pissed. Facebuster for Jesse, and Santana mounts him with punches. Figure Four applied, but Ventura quickly gets to the ropes, and rolls out onto the elevated ramp way. Santana follows, and the brawl out there ends in a double countout at 10:00. Paint-by-numbers stuff here, but the crowd loved it. DUD

3/5 Falls Eight-Man Tag Team Match: Andre the Giant, Rocky Johnson, Ivan Putski, and Chief Jay Strongbow v Big John Studd, Samula, and The Wild Samoans: From July 1983 - and you know it's the early 80s with these weird 'best of five or seven falls' matches. Like, seriously, beyond 1985, did we ever see anything other than two out of three in any serious situation? And why did they all seem to take place in Philly? Rocky starts with Samula, and controls with some dropkicks. Tag to Sika, who tries a wristlock, but quickly gets taken down when Rocky kips-up. Tags to Andre and Studd, and Big John quickly bails, but the Giant grabs him by the hair and rams his head into Afa's. Into a Samoans! That's worse than the steel steps! Sika comes in to face the Giant, but gets tossed around, and Andre passes to Strongbow to get his kicks and licks in. That turns into a big brawl right away, and Studd's team gets disqualified at 5:13. The dust settles on Strongbow and Samula, and the heels gang up on him - Sika finishing him with a falling headbutt at 6:00. Ugh, I hate how they stop and actually have the damned ring announcer come in after every fall. Just get on with it! Back to business, the Samoans keep after Strongbow, but Afa walks into a big boot from Andre, and Jay pins him at 6:23. Putski's in next, and he takes out the entire heel team single-handedly - and looks like a goof while doing so. He gets overwhelmed by the Samoans in the corner, but manages to get the tag off to Andre when Samula mistimes a headbutt, and the Giant finishes him at 9:06. Boring, and the stupid 'stop for two minutes after every fall' shit really killed the flow. DUD

BUExperience: Okay, so there aren’t any good matches on this one, but sue me, I liked it. Especially because they kept it mostly geared towards (then) modern stuff, as opposed to a lot of these early releases that focused on stuff from the 70s that was so far before my time that I have trouble relating. Plus, there’s some serious historical significance with the screw job – one they don’t really talk about much these days. Overall, a decent addition to your Coliseum Collection.