WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Wrestling’s Greatest Champions (1991)

 

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Wrestling’s Greatest Champions (1991)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features Randy Savage holding Miss Elizabeth on his shoulder from the climax of WrestleMania IV, while the back cover features the Hart Foundation following their tag title win at SummerSlam ’90. It’s a testament to how memorable their productions used to be that I can pick those shots out of a lineup, even now

Lord Alfred Hayes hosts from the Hall of Champions at Titan Towers. Which is basically a hallway with a bunch of framed photos on it. Well, even that's closer to a physical hall of fame than anything we've ever gotten

 

We start with clips of the buildup to the champion v champion match at WrestleMania VI, and even get treated to Earthquake's shit brown tights. I kind of forgot how much involvement Earthquake had with these guys during the build. They really should have put him in there as Warrior's first challenger instead of trying to reheat the Rick Rude program. This all leads to clips of the match itself, where WWF Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior defeated WWF Champion Hulk Hogan to win both titles. I've seen the match a million times, and I still can't get help getting caught up in it. Probably Hulk's best match, ever

 

Back in the Hall of Champions, Hayes tries to look up Miss Elizabeth's skirt. It's a photo, Al. This leads to clips of Randy Savage's four tournament wins at WrestleMania IV, culminating in becoming WWF Champion for the first time. Kind of weird that we're going backwards, but whatever. At the time of this tape's release, Savage was retired, so it's kind of a nice look back

 

WWF Title Match: Randy Savage v Andre the Giant: House show action from New York New York on September 19 1988. We're joined in progress, with Andre choking him down, and frankly Savage deserves it for that ugly color combination. It's like he took all the colors Hogan was known for in the 80s, and combined them into one outfit. Macho fights him off and gets Andre tied in the ropes for a choke of his own, and the champ comes off the top with a flying axehandle. To the top again for the Flying Elbowdrop, but Andre dodges, and how slow would you have to be to have 1988 Andre the Giant outmoving you? I mean, how do you miss THAT target? Andre ends up on the outside, where he goes after Elizabeth, and you can guess how Randy reacts to that one. And it's a double countout at 4:37 shown (of about ten minutes total). I won't rate it because it was so heavily clipped, but if that climax was that dull, I can only imagine. Probably a DUD. This led to a rematch at the next MSG show in October, which I HAVE seen in full, and it was shit

 

We take a look back at the Hart Foundation winning the WWF Tag Team Title from the British Bulldogs back in 1987, followed by their more recent title win over Demolition at SummerSlam '90

 

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Hart Foundation v Power & Glory: From a live event in London Ontario Canada on December 13 1990. Joined in progress again, with Bret Hart trying a bodypress on Hercules, but getting caught in a bodyslam. That leads to the tag to Paul Roma, and he dives in on the Hitman with a flying axehandle, but Bret throws a fist to the gut to block. Tag to Jim Neidhart, and what kind of small ass building were they working in for this show? It looks like a RAW taping from late 1994, or something. The challengers use a double team to put Neidhart on the outside, and that's enough to turn the tide. They go to work on Jim, with Bret doing a great job of selling the urgency of trying to save his partner from the various heel cheating tactics of the challengers. Very few people got every aspect of pro-wrestling quite like Bret Hart did, and he's one of the most underrated tag wrestlers in history. Anvil fights them off long enough to make the hot tag to Bret, and Roseanne Barr the door! Bret runs wild, so the heels try to sucker him into a cradle, but Neidhart rolls it over while Hercules is gloating - allowing Hart the pin on Roma at 7:32 shown (of about thirteen minutes). I think I can safely call a rating on this one. ½*

 

Next up, the Intercontinental Title, which gives us clips of Mr. Perfect's tournament wins over Jimmy Snuka and Tito Santana to win the title in 1990. Looking at the brackets, I'm surprised they actually booked byes for BOTH guys through the Semifinal round? I guess it adds some realism, but come on! That leads to clips of Kerry Von Erich winning the title at SummerSlam '90, and then Perfect winning it back a few months later

 

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Mr. Perfect v Davey Boy Smith: TV taping dark match from Fresno California on June 18 1991. Bulldog powers him around at the bell, so Perfect wisely bails to the outside to regroup. He gets some words of wisdom from Coach out there, and manages to grab a side-headlock on the way back in, but Davey quickly powers out, and sends the champion flying with a shoulderblock. Perfect is such a, ahem, perfect opponent for a guy like Bulldog, though it would be even more fun with the heel/face dynamics reversed. Smith calls for a test-of-strength, but Perfect is understandably hesitant, and we get some mileage out of that for a bit. They finally lock up, and Perfect goes right into extreme oversell mode, and it's pretty glorious. Bulldog with a crucifix for two, but Perfect counters to a backdrop with a sunset flip for two - complete with pulling Davey's tights down for leverage, prompting a mom in the front row to quickly cover her child's eyes, in a funny moment. Pinfall reversal sequence ends in a rope break, so Perfect tries bailing again, but Bulldog holds the hair to keep him inside, so Perfect punches him in the puppies to shake him off. Turnbuckle smash, but Davey reverses, and unloads a series of them. Perfect shakes him off by going downstairs again with a mulekick, and this time he's able to follow up, punting Bulldog in the ribs a few times to set up a Boston crab. Bulldog powers out of the hold, so Perfect knocks him to the outside with a standing dropkick, and Coach puts the boots to him out there. He does a terrible job of it, too. That draws Bret Hart out to make the save (complete with his decidedly not-great early singles run gear), but the damage is done, and Perfect hits Bulldog with a somersault necksnap for two. Perfect overselling even kickouts is awesome. Perfect with chops and a sleeper, but Smith powers out, so Perfect tries a whip into the ropes, only to get reversed. That allows Davey to drop him crotch-first across the top rope, and he starts making a comeback, but the referee gets bumped in the process. Say what you will about Earl Hebner's officiating, but the dude knew how to take a bump right. The collision allows the champ to set up the Perfectplex, but Smith counters with a small package. That draws Coach in to attack, but Bret cuts him off, and counts the pin for Bulldog himself. That's meaningless of course, leading to Perfect brawling with Hart, until the referee recovers, sees them, and disqualifies Bulldog over it at 9:35. A really basic - but fun - match. It's a shame we never got a proper match between the two where they put it into high gear. * ½ (Original rating: ½*)

 

Back to the WWF Title, as we get a music video (set to Real American) highlighting Hulk Hogan's three world title wins at this point. Kind of funny seeing Donald Trump in the front row for two of them

 

WWF Title Desert Storm Match: Hulk Hogan v Sgt. Slaughter: House show action from New York City on June 3 1991. The match can only end by surrender. This is also joined in progress, but I've reviewed the full match before, so I'm just going to paste that here. Hulk is dressed like a commando here, which I'm guessing (see also: hoping) he borrowed from the set of his latest movie. He may also be ‘going commando’ here, though hopefully we won’t have to find that out for certain. Hogan throws powder in his eyes right away, then blasts him with the title belt, and his own helmet. Hulk steals the riding crop and goes to work with that, then dumps Sarge to the outside for a trip into the steps. Hogan chokes him with some electrical cables out there before bringing the now bloody challenger back in, and choking him with a flag. The referee isn't even in the ring for this, since it's not even standard submissions that will end it, but 'unconditional surrenders.' Hulk continues to beat him from pillar to post with anything not tied down, and the axe bomber sets up a slingshot into the corner. Slaughter tries going low, but Hogan ignores it, and starts working the cut, so Sarge goes to the eyes to buy himself some time. He uses it to undo his tool belt to whack Hogan with a canteen, and another shot with it sends the Hulkster to the outside. Slaughter follows to smash Hogan into the guardrail, and we get a funny spot where Sarge knocks Hulk into the rail so hard that it sends some poor little Hulkamaniac flying back a couple of seats. Poor little bugger. Back in, Slaughter works him over with a belt, but gets overpowered by a chair (in a silly spot) to allow Hogan to get hold of it and use the weapon. Slaughter fights him off with a poorly executed Russian legsweep before successfully using the chair to setup the Camel Clutch, but he can't get it properly applies, and Hulk escapes. Sarge goes up to try and finish, but he's so battered that he ends up falling off of the top rope, and by the time he's able to pick himself up and try again, Hulk slams him down. Slaughter gets desperate, and takes off his boot to use as a weapon, but Hogan blocks by throwing a well timed fireball in his face, and I'm guessing poor Sarge's mustache got good and singed on that one! Hulk unloads with the boot, and slaps on his own (sloppy) camel clutch for the win at 15:34. Given how definitive that ending was, I'm surprised they still tried to market SummerSlam with Hulk/Slaughter on top in this same building. ** ½

 

Hayes wraps up, and I'm pretty sure the poor man had a stroke at some point during the Desert Storm match, because he takes about four minutes to get a sentence out

BUExperience: It’s no big deal now, in the era of the Network and YouTube, but having all these title changes on a single tape would have made this one of my prized possessions during childhood. This isn’t my childhood anymore, though.

Not a good addition to your Coliseum Collection.