HITMAN383 Rant for WWF Coliseum Video: Best of the WWF Volume XVIII

- The HITMAN383 Rant for Best of the WWF Volume XVIII, from 1989. I hope this one’s good, since the box doesn’t really tell you much about the tape. Either way, let’s get right to it. (Another one originally written in 2001)

- BTW, I use this system:
***** - Excellent,
**** - Great,
*** - Good,
**- Okay,
* - Decent,
DUD - Awful.

- Your Host is Sean Mooney. Oh, this is gonna be fun.

- WWF Women’s Title Match: Sherri vs. Rockin’ Robin: This is from Paris. Sherri jumps her from behind (Just like her dad. Okay, okay, sorry. That was terrible), but eats boot off a charge. Robin hits a flying back elbow for two, as the video quality of this French show is terrible. Robin dropkicks the champ to the floor, and pounds her on the way back in. Robin gets a side headlock on the mat, which lasts forever. A criss cross leads to Robin slapping her, and another leads to a cross body by the challenger for two. Back to the side headlock, which turns into a front facelock, and goes nowhere. Sherri gets a wristlock in, as I nap. Full Nelson follows. Robin reverses, and drops her on her head for two. This is no Nakano/Blayze, that’s for sure. She throws her to all the turnbuckles next, and a running clothesline gets two. Sherri dumps Robin outside, where she stalls for a while. Back in, Sherri chokes. Robin sneaks in a nice sunset flip for two, but gets slammed. Sherri heads upstairs, but gets slammed off, and Robin does the 10-punch count, but only going to 5. It gets two, and Robin chops away. Sherri misses a cross body, getting Robin two, and a diving clothesline gets two. She misses a dropkick, however, which gets the champ two. Robin gets another sunset flip for two, but takes a Russian leg sweep for two. Robin sneaks in a 2nd rope bulldog, however, to win the title at 12:40. Crapfest, with no flow. - **.

- Jacques Rougeau vs. Brutus Beefcake: This looks to be off of Superstars. Both guys are heatless, however, so Beefcake fires up the old heat machine. Long stall fest to start, as Jacques complains about the clippers being at ringside. They do a few false tie-ups to start, and Rougeau takes over with a knee, and then a dropkick. He misses a second dropkick, however, so Beefcake hits a high knee. Rougeau bails out, which allows Jimmy Hart to distract the Barber, and the Canadian to attack him. Camel clutch applied, as I get pissed at the announce team they have put together for this match. Mooney and Hayes? You feel my pain, don’t you? Rougeau gets sick of the clutch, and puts him in a Boston crab instead. Beefcake makes the ropes, so Jacques tosses him out for Jimmy to abuse. Hart puts him back in, and Rougeau keeps pounding, with no crowd response. He works the back some more, even hooking an abdominal stretch. Hey, in context, it’s fine. He doesn’t use the ropes, however, so I’ve a BIT peeved. Jacques misses a cross body, and gets backdropped by the Barber. Atomic drop follows, and he rams Rougeau into the corner 10 times. A splash hits the knees, however, but Rougeau misses his opportunity by accidentally nailing Jimmy Hart. Beefcake uses the opportunity to hook the sleeper on, and it’s over, but Ray Rougeau runs in to cause a DQ at 9:11. Beefcake cleans house with the clippers, however, and the crowd pops like crazy. Not a very good match, however, as they just went through the motions. DUD.

- The Brain Busters vs. The Young Stallions: This is from Toronto, and has great potential. Powers starts with Anderson, as I realize that ¾ of the guys in this have been Horsemen in their careers. They all deserve that recognition, of course … except Roma. A 4-man brawl breaks out early, won by the faces, and the Busters bail. Back in, Tully and Jim go, which no one wins, as they trade kick ups and such. Roma tags in, and a criss cross allows him a dropkick. Gee, the crowd is dead aren’t they? Anderson gets in, but gets rolled up by Paul for two. He follows with a dropkick, and then kicks BOTH of the Busters’ asses. They get Tully down, and work him over, which is an odd formula. Usually the heels dominate, but here it’s the reverse. The Stallions pound his leg, and hip toss him to the mat. He tries a flying headscissors, but Arn decks him to stop it. The Enforcer kicks his ass some, and hits a spinebuster slam for two. NOW we get to the formula, as the Horsemen make Roma their bitch. Anderson hooks in an abdominal stretch, but uses Tully for leverage to redeem it. He tags Tully in, who misses an elbow drop, but Paul is unable to tag. Anderson comes in illegally, and slams him for two. Roma gets a low blow to get Arn away from him, but Tully gets in to stop any tagging action. Suplex is blocked, however, and Paul suplexes him back. Both guys make the tag, and Powers dropkicks both guys, and then slams them. He rams their heads together for good measure, and now everyone brawls. The Busters get rammed together again, but they cheat to win, and hit a combination sunset flip to get the pin at 12:15. Nothing match that didn’t go anywhere. ½*.

- The Brother Love show with special guest: Hulk Hogan! BUT FIRST, Brother Love brings out Slick instead. That pisses off Hogan, and after some jawing from everyone involved, Hulk beats up everybody. Whatever.

- Buildup of the Jake Roberts/Rick Rude feud, where they fight over Cheryl Roberts. One highlight is Jesse calling Jake a “drunken marine,” and one lowlight is Rude getting completely naked. Eww.

- Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude: Jake goes nuts to start, which the crowd eats up, but he seems to like wristlocks more than moves to get the crowd pumped up. Dumb ass. A criss cross allows Jake to deck him in the gut, but Rude bails out when Roberts tries the DDT. Back in, Jake gets clotheslined. He keeps pounding the Snake man, all while taunting Cheryl. Jake gets thrown into the corner, but barrels out with a clothesline. He hammers Rude down, and hits a gutbuster. He holds him for Cheryl to hit (and since he’s a face, it works, of course), and the ref. threatens to toss her out. We cut (probably due to a commercial on Saturday Night’s Main Event) (Yep. This was from SNME 17) to Rude ramming Jake into the post, and posing. The Snake kicks his ass IN the ring, however, and backdrops him. He calls for the DDT, but gets backdropped by Rude, and the Ravishing One heads up top. He drops a knee on him for two, and tries the Rude Awakening, but Jake bites his way out. A criss cross allows Jake to outsmart him (Jake? Outsmart someone?) and hit the DDT. It’s all over, but Bobby Heenan comes in for the DQ at 7:25. Afterwards, Andre the Giant joins the assault, and they beat down Roberts, but Damien clears everyone out. Not a good match at all, ¼*.

- We get introduced to the Bushwhackers in a series of vintages. I’ve never seen anything so stupid in wrestling. Why wasn’t THIS on the Netcop Busts? Anyway, it’s a bunch of crappy “zany” skits with the Bushwhackers being themselves. G-D help us.

- WWF Title Cage Match: Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase: Finally. This is from MSG sometime in the summer of 1988. DiBiase jumps the champ as he comes in, and works him over. Back elbow hits, and a fist drop follows. He misses a knee drop, but decks Savage anyway, and climbs. Randy catches him, and smashes him repeatedly into the corner. He gets caught by the Million Dollar Man, however, and a backbreaker puts Macho down. DiBiase climbs, but Savage stops the effort, and slams him off. He tries to post the challenger, but Ted blocks, and drops Savage into the turnbuckle. He clotheslines him coming out of the ropes, and drops a fist. He climbs once again, but, as usual, Savage stops him. He tries to climb, but Virgil ends up stopping him. DiBiase still gets rammed into the cage, however, and Randy climbs. Virgil stops him again, and Randy gets hung in the tree of woe. He powers his way out, bashes Ted to the corner, and climbs again. Ted slams him off, and goes for the door, but Savage stops it. A criss cross leads to a double clothesline, and both guys are down. Savage crawls for the door, but the challenger stops the effort, and smacks his face into the mat a few times. This isn’t the kind of match I was expecting, as they are in FULL house show mode here. Another double clothesline puts both guys down, and then both men crawl up the cage. Virgil stops Savage, and DiBiase climbs back down to hammer him. Well THAT made no sense. Savage suplexes him, and then hits an atomic drop. He heads for the door, but Virgil smashes it in his face to piss everyone off. DiBiase takes the opportunity to go out the door, but Savage pulls him back in. They have a slugfest on the mat, won by Savage, and he throws DiBiase into the cage. He climbs up the side, so Virgil tries to stop him, but some kid runs out of the crowd, climbs the cage, and hammers Virgil. Okay. Anyway, the kid gets taken away, and Savage kills Virgil, then climbs out for the win at 12:20. Eh. It was decent, but I didn’t LIKE IT or anything. * ½.

- Bottom Line: The BEST of the WWF? This looked like the WORST of the WWF, as the top match was at * ½. What the hell is that? For an hour-and-a-half tape of 1988 WWF, I could have done MUCH, MUCH better. Don’t bother with this one!

- Strong Recommendation to Avoid.

(I don’t have a lot to add here, as I haven’t seen this one since doing this review in 2001, and don’t remember much. It’s on the list for a BUExperience, though)