WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Demolition (1989)

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Demolition (1989)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features Demolition, and promises that we will ‘witness the power.’ The power of the WWF? Each sold separately, dig it? 

WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition host from the studio, and we get a full, clear version of the theme here, without the usual crowd noise/commentary over it. Off to a good start!

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Strike Force v Demolition: From WrestleMania IV, March 27 1988 in Atlantic City New Jersey. Rick Martel starts with Smash, and gets smashed. That was quite a blitz. Rick tries a bodypress, but gets caught, so Tito Santana rushes in to dropkick him onto Smash. That draws Ax in for a brawl, and the tag champs clean house. Dust settles back on Martel and Smash, and Rick works a wristlock. Tag to Tito for a 2nd rope elbowsmash, and he grabs his own wristlock, but Smash knees free and tags. Ax hustles in, but gets caught with an armdrag into an armbar. Tag back to Martel as the champions take turns working Ax's arm, but he rakes the eyes, and passes back to Smash. Smash walks into an armdrag, and Strike Force go back to their wristlocking fun, but Tito walks into a cheap shot, and the challengers take control. They cut the ring in half on Santana, but Tito manages to win a criss cross with Ax with the jumping forearm for the tag. Martel is a maison of fire, and manages to get Smash in the Boston Crab, so Ax grabs Mr. Fuji's cane, and bashes Rick with it for Smash to pin at 8:02 - kicking off Demolition's record title reign. Really flat match. ¼*

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Demolition v The Hart Foundation: From SummerSlam, August 29 1988 in New York City. Demolition have former Foundation manager Jimmy Hart in their corner for this one. Ax starts with Bret Hart, and he puts a pounding on the Hitman. Bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, but Bret rolls out of the way, and unloads with rights. Rollup gets two, and Ax tags out. Smash rushes in, but runs into a pair of armdrags, and Hart tags. Jim Neidhart works the arm, but a cheap shot from Ax turns the tide, and the tag champions go to work cutting the ring in half on the Anvil. Jim manages to block a backdrop from Ax to allow the tag, and Hart cleans house on both champions, but gets reversed into the corner by Smash. The champs viciously work Bret's shoulder while cutting the ring in half, and try to show mercy by dumping him to the outside for a countout, but Bret fights to beat the count in! The Demos don't appreciate that, but Hart manages to win a criss cross with Ax, and puts him down with a hangman's clothesline. Smash distracts the referee so that he misses the tag to Neidhart, however, and Demolition go back to work. Smash misses a cross corner charge though, and Neidhart gets the tag for reals! He's a house of arson, and the crowd is just going nuts for the Hart's! Cool tandem spot during the brawl sequence sees Bret use the top rope to slingshot the Anvil into a plancha on Smash, and back inside, Jim running powerslams him for two. Bret whips Neidhart into Smash for two, and delivers a backbreaker for two - count broken by Ax. That triggers another brawl, and Jimmy Hart passes Ax his megaphone - Bret getting walloped to allow Smash the pin at 9:49. A little rushed, but it got really good towards the end, with the Hart's doing a great job of transitioning to working babyface. * ½

Back in the studio, Demolition recall the time Mr. Fuji dumped them at Survivor Series

Ten Tag Team Survivor Series Elimination Match: Demolition, The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, The Brain Busters, The Bolsheviks, and The Conquistadors v The Powers of Pain, The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, The Rockers, and The Young Stallions: From Survivor Series, November 24 1988 in Richfield Ohio. Joined in progress as it’s down to Demolition and the Conquistadors against the Powers and Bulldogs, and Smash holds Kid in a headvise while the crowd watches the Rockers brawl to the dressing rooms with the Busters. Kid fights out, but gets clobbered by Dos before he can tag, and the Conquistadors cut the ring in half - only for Uno to miss a fucking swanton bomb to allow the tag to Warlord. Wow! Lots of quick tags on both sides of things, as even Jesse openly notes what a joke it is that the Conquistadors are still in this thing. He ain't kidding! Davey tries to put them away with the Running Powerslam, but forgets to do that whole 'cover for the pin' thing, and Ax tags. Ginkgo biloba, buddy. Or maybe I should just say 'koo koo kachoo,' because when he's not reminding me of Pedro, Kid is a dead wringer for Sgt. Pepper era George Harrison. The heels work Barbarian over, but Dos can't hold up his end, and runs into a tandem-backelbow from Barbarian and Smith. Kid gives Dos a gutwrench suplex for two, followed by a falling headbutt for two. Flying Headbutt on Smash misses, however, and the Bulldogs are gone at 36:18. Barbarian hustles in, but gets worked over in the heel corner again. Here's a thought: how about letting Warlord try? I mean, literally every time Barbarian comes in against the Demos, he ends up in trouble. As if on cue, Barbarian tags to Warlord - who promptly misses a charge in the corner, and ends up in trouble. The Demos don't really have any great moves, but man, they really knew how to make simple stuff like axehandles look effective. Well, at least they tried. Mr. Fuji then to whack him with the cane for good measure - either that, or he's going senile and thinks he's in the match, because he hops up on the apron and stays there for an extended period, with everyone ignoring him. I get it. Probably for the best to just let the little guy tucker himself out. Fuji gets sick of waiting, however, and punishes his boys by intentionally pulling down the rope when Smash runs them - Smash getting counted out as a result at 39:48. The Demos are none too happy about that, so Fuji whacks Ax with the cane to remind him who's in charge. That doesn't end well for him, and he takes a bodyslam on the outside before the Demos walk out. But now suddenly the Powers ignore the match, and hop to the outside - helping Fuji up, and letting him stand in their corner before going back in and killing Uno at 42:25.

Survivors: The Powers of Pain

Afterwards, the Powers hoist Fuji up on their shoulders, until Demolition run in to clean house - cementing the double turn, though a lot of the fans seem to think Fuji has simply turned face. Can you imagine? The order of the eliminations made perfect sense here for the most part, but the Conquistadors in at the finish? Really? They were job guys for Sam Houston and Blue Blazer on the house shows at that point! It would've been kinda cool had they just went all in with it, and let them win via countout while the Powers were busy helping Fuji up, though. An insanely entertaining, dream combination filled tag match here, totally living up to expectations - both in 1988 and retrospectively. I mean, it's over forty minutes long, and even managed to avoid being overly repetitive in an era when ten minute matches tended to be repetitive! Cap that all off with a historic double-turn, and you've got a bonafide classic here. ****

Back in the studio, Demolition hype up the next match as one of their first matches without Fuji. Even though it was actually taped before Survivor Series even took place. But it looks like they were taping stuff for the post Survivor Series episodes of Wrestling Challenge that night, so it makes sense that they would be working without Fuji to keep continuity 

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Demolition v The Bolsheviks: From Prime Time Wrestling on August 28 1989 (taped October 26 1988) in Salisbury Maryland. Interestingly, the ring announcer accidentally announce Mr. Fuji in the champions’ corner, though he isn’t actually there. The Russians try a sneak attack before the bell, but the champs fight them off, and the dust settles with Smash holding Nikolai Volkoff in a wristlock. Tag to Ax to work the same, and then back to Smash to keep wrenching the arm. The champs take turns working the arm, as Lord Alfred Hayes tries way too hard to analyze things, and ends up sounding like Austin Powers allowing himself to introduce… himself. Boris Zhukov manages to catch a tag, but the Demos immediately fight him off, and go to work on him instead. Hilariously, the announcers are having trouble telling the Russians apart. Really? They’re not even wearing similar gear! They’re lucky Jesse Ventura wasn’t out there with them, he’d have torn them both apart. The Demos continue controlling, until the Russians try to get control, but the champs just aren’t having it whatsoever, and turn it into a brawl. The Russians double up on Smash, but Ax makes another save, and Zhukov eats the pin at 8:04. This was fine for what it was, and worth checking out for the first time Demolition worked without Fuji. ½*

Demolition v Rhythm and Blues: From Wrestling Challenge on May 14 1989 (taped April 25) in Des Moines Iowa, and this one is non-title. Smash and Greg Valentine start, and Greg gets control. He goes for the figure four early on, but Smash blocks, so Honky Tonk Man runs in, but Smash fights him off as well. Ax comes in for a double team, and the dust settles on Ax and Honky. The heels manage to get control, and they go to work on Ax, but Greg telegraphs a backdrop, and Smash gets the hot tag! The referee gets bumped, so Ron Garvin hits ringside to play backup referee. He spots Honky using Jimmy Hart’s megaphone, and that’s a DQ at 4:39. ¼*

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Demolition v The Brain Busters: From Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, May 27 1989 (taped April 25) in Des Moines Iowa. Smash starts with Tully Blanchard, and uses his power advantage to toss him around, before Arn Anderson takes a cheap shot to stop a bearhug. Smash shrugs them both off anyway before tagging out to Ax, and Arn eats a backelbow. Bodyslam and a clothesline put him in the champions corner for some abuse, and Smash works a headlock, so Blanchard takes a cheap shot to turn the tide, and Anderson capitalizes with a vertical suplex - only for Smash to no-sell, and bodyslam him! That triggers a brawl, and Tully eats a bodyslam from Ax as the champions clean house. Dust settles on Ax and Blanchard, and Tully's attempts at a slugfest do not end well - Ax dumping him to the floor, where Smash press-slams him back in. Ax then clotheslines him right back out, and poor Bobby Heenan looks to be closing in on a heart attack here. The Demos continue to abuse Blanchard, but another cheap shot turns the tide, and they cut the ring in half on Smash. The level of dickbag heel cheating here is just brilliant from the challengers. Ax finally has enough and falls into the trap of coming in without the tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! The Demos clean house, but the referee gets tagged in the process, and the official call is a DQ win for the challengers at 9:15. That goes over about as well as a poop in church, however, and they brawl all the way to the dressing room. Excellent chemistry between these two teams, as the Demos effortlessly plugged into the Road Warriors' roles (down to the spots, in some cases), and it came off really well. I know people generally refer to their NWA run when referencing Anderson and Blanchard as a team because of the Horsemen and all, but their WWF run is supremely underrated with tons of great matches had with a variety of teams. ***

WWF Tag Team Title Handicap Match: Demolition v Mr. Fuji and The Powers of Pain: From WrestleMania V, April 2 1989 in Atlantic City New Jersey. Talk about a feud that should have been WAY bigger than it turned out to be. Ax starts with Warlord, and evades him in the corner, then pounds him down. Smash tags in to snapmare him over for a chinlock, and Ax tags back in for a headvise. The champions work Warlord over in dull fashion, so the challengers try a triple-team in the corner than results in Barbarian tagging in, but getting clobbered with a bodyslam from Ax. Demolition cut the ring in half on Barbarian, but Ax runs into a cheap shot, and the challengers take over. They work Ax over, as the dead casino crowd just totally kills this already dull match dead. Fuji misses a flying elbowdrop to allow the tag to Smash, and he's a derby of fire! Brawl breaks out, and the Powers try taking advantage of their strength in numbers, but some salt throwing from Fuji backfires, and the Demolition Decapitation retains at 8:55. Total nothing throwaway match, despite being the blow off to months of feuding. ½*

Back in the studio, Demolition wrap up

BUExperience: This tape is really heavy on pay per view and televised matches, which makes it kind of a DUD in the era of such accessibility that we enjoy now, but in 1989, this would have been an amazing tape to have, with a bunch of major matches all in one place. The exclusive matches are all junk, but, in any era, this was a fun look at Demolition’s glory days. 

A decent addition to your Coliseum Collection.