WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Hulk Hogan - Real American (1989)

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Hulk Hogan - Real American (1989)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features Hulk Hogan grunting on the toilet while lifting weights

Gene Okerlund hosts from the control center. The same one were Todd Pettengill would later host Mania, so you know the quality is baked right in

Cage Match: Hulk Hogan v Andre the Giant: From WrestleFest in Milwaukee Wisconsin on July 31 1988. Oddly, Gene introduces this as being on an ‘August night,’ which, no. Hulk tries coming at him with fists to kick start the match, which quickly proves to be a mistake. Andre chokes Hulk with Hogan’s own t-shirt. Andre works him over in his usual dull, late 80s fashion, but Hulk fights back in the corner, and climbs the ropes to bootchoke him against the top turnbuckle. Ten-punch count, but Andre comes back with another choke, since that’s about all he can manage at this point. Andre goes for the door, but Hulk manages to grab the ankle to stop him, so Andre goes to a bearhug to slow Hogan down. Hulk escapes and tries climbing, but Andre pulls him down, and delivers an elbowdrop. He goes for the door again, but Hulk cuts him off, and delivers an axehandle. Andre quickly fights him off, and goes back to pounding, drawing blood from the Hulkster. Andre sends him into the cage a few times (with Hulk taking the ‘bump’ into the area between the metal), but Hogan cuts off another escape attempt. He makes a comeback, and delivers the legdrop, so Bobby Heenan runs in to prevent an escape. That allows Andre to try and climb (which is pretty crazy for him, all considered), but Hogan knocks him down, and the Giant ends up caught in the ropes. Hulk takes out Bobby for good measure, and he’s left with a clear path up and over at 9:54. Andre looked terrible here, barely mobile, and all his stuff looking loose and phony. And that’s not even touching on how poor his selling was at this stage. It’s astounding to think that he still had a tag title run ahead of him, though that really was the perfect use of him for his last hurrah. -¼* (Original rating: -½*)

WWF Title Flag Match: Hulk Hogan v Nikolai Volkoff: From Saturday Night's Main Event on October 5 1985 (taped October 3) in East Rutherford New Jersey. Winner gets to waive his countries flag - though the point is kind of negated when both guys come out waiving their respective flags on the way to the ring. Volkoff attacks from behind while Hulk waves the flag, and unloads a few turnbuckle smashes on the champion. Hulk fights back with a turnbuckle smash of his own, and adds a cross corner clothesline, followed by an elbowdrop and a headbutt. Big boot puts Nikolai on the outside, but Volkoff reverses him into the post out there. The sound sweetening is really out of control here, like one of those old Coliseum Video tapes. Back in, Nikolai hammers him with a 2nd rope axehandle, and adds an ugly press-backbreaker - ugly mostly because he gives Hogan a really nasty wedgie in the process. Given that Hulk is wearing the all-white gear tonight, the editors must have had a ball editing out any skid marks in post. It gets two, as McMahon actually has the balls to say that Volkoff is the stronger of the two with a straight face. Piledriver, but Hogan backdrops him to block, and starts slugging, so Volkoff cuts him off with a boot to the face, then adds a bodyslam for two - only to trigger the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Legdrop! 5:17! Afterwards, Hogan spits on the Soviet flag, then wipes his boot with it, before raising old glory. The match was nothing but the usual Hogan formula, but the crowd loved it, and that's what counts. ½*

Hulk Hogan v King Haku: From Saturday Night's Main Event October 29 1988 (taped October 25) in Baltimore Maryland. Hogan has Elizabeth in his corner, and having a woman's touch immediately reaps rewards, because for once he's wearing the exact same gear to the ring as he was in the pre-match interview. He also makes a big show of not allowing her to hold the ropes open for him (as she does for Randy Savage), instead holding them open for her. And this is still OCTOBER! I really miss slow burn angles like that, that take their time to develop and grow. Haku attacks, but Hulk fights him off with some back scratches, and then clotheslines him. Bobby Heenan trips the Hulkster up, however, and Haku chokes him down to take control. Nervehold, but Hulk fights out, so Haku superkicks him to the outside. He tries a tomahawk chop off the apron, but Hogan shoves Heenan into the flight path instead, and clowns around with the king's crown. Cross corner whip, but Haku rebounds out of the corner with a lariat, and executes a falling headbutt. Vertical suplex triggers the HULK UP!! however. Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! 6:16! Fine for what it was. ¾*

Hulk Hogan workout music video

WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Ted DiBiase: From Houston Texas on December 11 1987. This is about the only intriguing match on this set. Hulk forces him in to kick start the match, and a clothesline finds the mark early. Atomic drop sends DiBiase over the top, and Hulk follows to bash his head together with Virgil’s. Hulk snapmares him back into the ring, and the big boot sends him right back out! Virgil comes in, so Hulk dispatches him with the big boot as well, and challenges Andre the Giant to try him. DiBiase stalls on the outside, and rightly so, Hogan is acting like a complete maniac. Inside, Hogan uses a drop-toehold, but Ted fights off the hold, and actually manages to dump the champion to the outside. That was a pretty cool sequence. DiBiase follows to hammer Hogan on the outside, but Hulk comes back with a bodyslam on the way back in, so Andre trips him up for the DQ at 6:02. The crowd shits all over that one, but the referee decides to boot Andre from ringside instead, and let the match continue. Probably a good call, considering they weren’t really drawing very well in the town already, and that kind of booking wouldn’t have helped. Ted attacks as the match restarts, and uses a trio of elbowdrops, ahead of a 2nd rope elbowsmash for two. DiBiase with a clothesline to set up a trio of fistdrops for two, but he inadvertently triggers the HULK UP!! Big Boot! Beating For Virgil! Schoolboy! 8:16! (9:26 total). This wasn’t especially good, and Hulk never let DiBiase look like much of a threat, even with all the interference. ¾*

 

Gene wraps up by reminding us again that Hulk is a real American. Glad we got that cleared up, I was worried I might have to stop the video there for a second

BUExperience: This is one of those cheap hour jobs here, with a lot of stuff recycled from TV shows, and not even an exclusive promo or segment from Hogan. Hogan/DiBiase sounded interesting on paper only because I hadn’t seen any of the matches from their 1987 run before, but it wasn’t particularly good.

And neither is this tape. 

Not a good addition to your Coliseum Collection