WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Bashed in the USA (1993) (Version II)

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Bashed in the USA (1993)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover of the tape features Mr. Perfect hitting Razor Ramon with a chair at Survivor Series ’92, and promises a profile on Shawn Michaels. Who’d have thought then that, of those three guys paired off, Michaels/Ramon would be the one that changed the game. The back features both Perfect and Earthquake sexually harassing guys, and promises a segment on Bret Hart’s artwork

Mr. Perfect hosts, from the (then new) Champion Stamp Company store on the upper west side of Manhattan. How nice it is to live in our modern world, when I can just do a quick Google based on the sign in the background, and see exactly what and where this store is. Adds a whole new level of enjoyment for me. I didn’t realize stamp collecting was popular enough to support a full sized store in Manhattan, where real estate is astronomically expensive. Let alone in 2018. Anyway, the theme here is that Perfect is putting this poor clerk through her paces as he searches for the perfect stamp to add to his collection

Razor Ramon v Big Boss Man: This is a TV taping dark match from Green Bay Wisconsin on December 14 1992. Razor demands a kiss from the female ring announcer, but gets rebuffed. Today, he'd get fired. Boss Man snaps Ramon's toothpick in half, so you know he means business. Meanwhile, Razor talks tough, but is quick to stall on the outside, frustrating Boss Man. Boss Man messes with him right back by then doing the same thing once Razor is ready to lock up. Ha! They finally make contact some two minutes in, and there's lots of posturing as they trade off. Ramon dominates a test-of-strength, and uses a few kicks to stop Boss Man from reversing him. Boss Man uses a schoolboy for two, and a small package gets two. Pair of corner whips set up a ten-punch count, so Razor grabs the nightstick, but Boss Man sees it coming, and ducks. He turnbuckle smashes the Bad Guy, but eats boot on a charge, and Razor scores a leveraged pin at 7:47. Very basic, house show style match, with lots of comedy bits to energize the crowd. That has its place too. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

Back at the stamp store, Mr. Perfect talks about his past run ins with Razor Ramon, leading to clips of Survivor Series '92. Shame Razor turned face, and we never got a Perfect/Ramon program. Well, not a 'shame' exactly, since it was awesome, but still. Oddly, the back cover for this advertises a Perfect/Ramon match, but it doesn't appear on the tape, for whatever reason

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Rick Martel and Money Inc. v Tatanka and High Energy: Another TV taping dark match, this one from June 3 1992 in Cornwall Ontario Canada. One thing I loved about the WWF over WCW was that the champions always came out with their belt, regardless of whether or not the title was on the line. Ted DiBiase starts with Owen Hart, and dominates the Rocket with armdrags, then casually bodyslams him - getting increasingly cocky with each successful exchange. Owen uses that against him to win a criss cross with a dropkick, but that brings Irwin R. Schyster in, and before you know it, all six men are going at it! The babyfaces clean house, and the dust settles on Tatanka and Martel. Man, those two feuded forever in 1992. Tatanka dominates him, until Rick bails to tagging IRS. Tatanka takes Irwin down for a legdrop across the arm, then passes to Koko B. Ware for a flying axehandle, followed by a bodypress for two. Dropkick and a bodyslam all connect, and IRS is left begging off. A cheap shot from DiBiase helps his cause, however, and the heels pounce on Koko. He manages to fight Ted off with a swinging neckbreaker to allow the tag to Tatanka, but the Native American Superstar misses a charge, and Martel comes in to put the boots to him. The heels cut the ring in half on Tatanka, but he manages to reverses a vertical suplex from IRS, and it's hot tag Owen! Backdrop for DiBiase! Clothesline for IRS, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! In the chaos, IRS ends up on top of Koko, and despite neither being legal, that's a three count at 12:12. The announcers note that right away, and in a nice heel touch, they vacate the premises immediately, before the referee has too much time to think about it. Strictly paint-by-numbers, but watchable. * (Original rating: ¼*)

Back at the stamp store, Perfect is auditioning for a role on the Sopranos

Gene Okerlund and WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels are in the studio to introduce the promised profile on the Heartbreak Kid

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Kamala: TV taping dark match from Fresno California on January 26 1993. Shawn evades him to start, using his speed to frustrate his challenger, but getting bounced around when he gets caught. Some classic HBK overselling here, no wonder they thought a match with Perfect was a sure four-stars. That goes on until Kamala misses an avalanche, and Shawn capitalizes with a flying clothesline to put the Ugandan Giant down. He hammers away, but Kamala starts rhythmically slapping his belly, and Shawn eats a superkick. More overselling from the champion, until Kamala casually drops him over the top to the outside, and Shawn's had enough. He decides to walk out, but Kamala drags him back - only to take too long, and both men are counted out at 4:31. Kamala was terrible, but Shawn oversold everything to try and make it entertaining. ½* (Original rating: ¼*)

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Skinner: From Prime Time Wrestling on January 4 1993 (taped December 14 1992) in Green Bay Wisconsin (same taping as the Ramon/Boss Man match that opened this tape). While introducing the match, Shawn notes to Okerlund that we're moving up the evolutionary ladder with his selected opponents for the profile. Skinner goes to town in the corner, and a cross corner whip sets up a bodyslam. Punch sends Michaels crashing to the outside, and Skinner chases out there, but loses the high ground in the process and gets stomped. Reversal sequence goes Skinner's way with a clothesline, and a swinging neckbreaker follows, as Shawn continues to oversell like a champ. An Intercontinental champ! Shoulderbreaker gets two, and a backelbow knocks Michaels back to the outside. Guy was getting his cardio in, that much is for sure. Skinner follows again, but gets reversed into the post, and Shawn snaps his throat across the top rope on the way back in. Standing dropkick doesn't really find its mark, but Skinner sells it anyway. Looked like it was his fault anyway, he was out of place. Superkick polishes him off at 4:39. Once again Michaels' selling carries the hell out of this, and Skinner was better at holding up his end than Kamala. * ½ (Original rating: ¾*)

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Virgil: From Prime Time Wrestling on November 30 1992 (taped October 28) in Louisville Kentucky. This is actually taped the day after Shawn won the title, but it hadn't aired yet. Shawn notes that he feels like a zookeeper with his opponents on this tape, so its nice to get to defend against an actual human. Feeling out process to start, with Virgil taking control after winning a criss cross, and using an inverted atomic drop and a dropkick for two. Shawn pokes him in the eyes and unloads in the corner, but misses a charge, and Virgil hits a 2^nd rope flying bodypress for two. Rollup, but Michaels blocks, and drills him with the superkick! Virgil sells it like death, but it doesn't even warrant a cover, since this is still 1992. Standing dropkick connects, and he snapmares his challenger down for a chinlock. Virgil escapes and hooks a backslide for two, but Michaels quickly cuts him off with a clothesline, and adds a vertical suplex. Michaels with a series of jabs, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets matslammed. That allows Virgil to make a comeback, and his own series of jabs gets two. 2^nd rope flying clothesline gets two, but a cross corner high knee misses, and the Teardrop Suplex finishes at 7:09. The editors must have loved this match, because it was featured on multiple Coliseum releases. This was different than the first couple of featured matches, with Michaels dominating the bulk of the match, as opposed to pinballing around the ring. ** (Original rating: ¼*)

Back at the studio, Gene is done talking about Shawn's wrestling ability, he wants to know more about his social life. As usual, it doesn't take long for Okerlund to get creepy

At the stamp store, Perfect continues to be a pain in the ass

40-Man Battle Royal: TV taping dark match from Cincinnati Ohio on May 18 1992. This is billed as the 'first ever' 40-man battle royal, though I'm not sure how accurate that is. Okay, we've got: Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Sgt. Slaughter, Tatanka, Tito Santana, Virgil, Kerry Von Erich, Jim Powers, Barry Horowitz, Repo Man, Kato, Skinner, Brooklyn Brawler, Colonel Mustafa, Crush, Money Inc., The Beverly Brothers, The Nasty Boys, The Legion of Doom, High Energy, The Natural Disasters, and a bunch of jobbers. Usual battle royal punch-kick stuff here (when there's forty men in a ring, there's not really much you can do besides punch and kick, really), and a look around the arena shows a lot of empty seats in the crowd. Apparently lots of paper, too. We get down to Tatanka, Irwin R. Schyster, and the Beverly Brothers - the three heels naturally ganging up on Tatanka. They take turns stomping and dropping elbows on him, but a miscommunication sees Beau Beverly get backdropped over the top. No problem, it's still two on one - Tatanka's done for. They try to launch him out, but Tatanka hangs on, and both heels go flying out at 13:16. I'm not really a fan of battle royals, and this did very little to change my opinion. One thing is notable to me though, as I think this match is where the cover for Invasion of the Bodyslammers came from, despite not being on that tape. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

At the stamp store, Perfect does everything short of licking the display stamps

And now, it's time for Bret Hart Art. Whoever was in charge of the graphics for this really missed an opportunity by failing to stylize the last three letters in Bret's last name, instead just writing 'Bret Hart' and then 'art' next to it. Idiots. Anyway, Bret likes to draw. That's basically all there is to it. It's an interesting, if slightly boring segment

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Bret Hart v Rick Martel: From Prime Time Wrestling on July 20 1992 (taped June 1) in Hamilton Ontario Canada. I always loved the way Bret would kiss his title belts before handing them over to the referee. Just a small additional layer to make the belt seem important, and worth fighting over. Bret's rocking some weird alternate boots tonight, that look like he borrowed them from Martel. Feeling out process to start, until the champ clotheslines the Model to the outside. Rick sweeps him out after him, and rams Bret into the apron, but gets reversed into the post. Inside, Martel misses a charge, hitting the post again, and Bret capitalizes by going to work on the arm and shoulder. Backslide gets two, but a Thesz-press is countered with a hotshot, and Martel takes control of things with a chinlock. Bret escapes and tries a sunset flip, but only gets two, and Rick gutwrench suplexes him for two. Backbreaker sets up a slingshot splash, but Bret lifts his knees to block, and delivers an inverted atomic drop to set up a clothesline. Russian legsweep gets two, and a small package is worth two. Backbreakers sets up the Sharpshooter, but Martel pulls the referee down to block, and bashes the champion with his can of perfume! Boston Crab looks to finish, but Shawn Michaels wanders out, and attacks Bret for the DQ at 10:14. I think they were still setting up the originally planned Hart/Michaels match for SummerSlam when this was filmed, but it also worked when repurposed to setting up Michaels/Martel instead. * (Original rating: *)

The Natural Disasters v The Beverly Brothers: From Prime Time Wrestling on July 20 1992 (taped June 30) in Binghamton New York. Interestingly, this originally aired the same day the Disasters actually won the belts from Money Inc. The Beverly's attack before the bell, but an attempt at whipping the Disasters into each other backfires, and they end up getting hit with stereo avalanches. Then cornered for tandem avalanches. Dust settles on Typhoon and Beau Beverly, with Typhoon continuing to use his fat to control, until Beau bails. Unfortunately, the moron bails right on the babyface side of the ring, and gets clobbered by Earthquake out there. It does serve as a distraction to allow Blake Beverly to sneak up on Typhoon with Genius' metal scroll, and the Brothers take over. They cut the ring in half on Typhoon, but he gets away from Beau long enough to tag, and Earthquake belly-to-belly suplexes Blake for two. Scoop powerslam and an elbowdrop get two when Beau saves, so Earthquake dumps him to set up the Earthquake Splash on Blake, but he bails. That leads to both teams fighting on the outside, but the Brothers are more mindful of the count, and beat it in at 7:12. ¼* (Original rating: DUD)

Back at the stamp shop, Perfect plays with the glass onion

Undertaker v Yokozuna: A TV taping dark match from San Antonio Texas on January 5 1993. Undertaker quickly hits a jumping DDT, but misses an elbowdrop, and Yoko clotheslines his dead ass over the top. Crowd is hot for 'Taker tonight! Mr. Fuji tries a cheap shot with the flagpole out there, but Undertaker no-sells, so Yokozuna sends him into the steps instead. Back in, Yokozuna somehow hits an avalanche, despite moving at the speed of fat. Legdrop follows, but Undertaker sits up, so Yoko belly-to-belly suplexes him. Undertaker sits up again, so Yoko starts beating on him with the salt bucket, and that's a DQ at 4:07. Barely a match. And this poor town had to suffer through this match again at Survivor Series in '94, too. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Perfect wraps up at the stamp store, finally finding the perfect stamp... one with his own picture on it. Sadly, it doesn't read 'Minnesota's greatest athlete' anywhere


BUExperience: I think I rented this one a bunch of times as a kid, but with nothing in the way of standout matches, and little in the way of entertaining segments, it’s not the best tape. The Mr. Perfect stuff at the stamp store could have carried this, but using what I’m guessing was an actual clerk instead of an actress left him with little to work with, and most of the segments fell flat. Not a good addition to your Coliseum Collection.