WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Grand Slams (1986)

 

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Grand Slams (1986)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features no one with a bit of hair on their head, while the back cover features Hulk Hogan getting ready to butt fuck

Gene Okerlund hosts from the control center. This, apparently, is the ‘best of the best.’ But, not the same as the ‘Best of the WWF’ series. That’s a different ‘best’

Wrestling Classic Tournament First Round Match: Nikolai Volkoff v Dynamite Kid: From the Wrestling Classic on November 7 1985 in Chicago Illinois. Not even really a match, as Kid blasts Volkoff with a missile dropkick during his singing of the Soviet national anthem, and scores the fall at 0:08. Nothing, but it was memorable, and I don't think anyone felt particularly short changed at not getting to see Nikolai Volkoff wrestle. Still, DUD

Clips of Tito Santana winning the WWF Intercontinental title from Greg Valentine in Baltimore Maryland on July 6 1985. It’s a cage match, but all we see are the final few seconds, with Santana escaping the cage. Afterwards, Greg smashes up the title belt, which led to the redesign that lasted until 1998, and is still considered by most as the best version of the belt. Definitely would be my choice

King Kong Bundy v SD Jones: From WrestleMania on March 31 1985 in New York City. Jones charges him, but bounces off, and gets trapped in the corner - Bundy immediately hitting the avalanche, and punctuating it with a splash for the pin at 0:24. They announce it as a 'record' 'nine' seconds, and I remember them actually still pushing that lie almost ten years later, when I started watching in 1994. Fake it 'til you make it, I guess. Though it’s especially silly considering they showed a legitimate eight second match to start this very tape! DUD

Roddy Piper visits Mr. T on the set of the A-Team

Clips of the Spider Lady (Fabulous Moolah) shooting on Wendi Richter to win the WWF Women’s title in New York on November 25 1985. Again, just a really short clip here

From Tuesday Night Titans, Kamala eats a live chicken

Clips of a Danny Carpenter v Haiti Kid match

We get a segment on controversial title changes, featuring clips Iron Sheik defeating Bob Backlund for the WWF Title in New York on December 26 1983, Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito taking the WWF Tag Team title from Rick Martel and Tony Garea on July 21 1981 in Allentown Pennsylvania (Martel looks nothing like 'Martel' here), Soul Patrol taking the tag title from the Wild Samoans on December 10 1983 (taped November 15) also in Allentown, Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff winning the tag title from the US Express at WrestleMania I, and Randy Savage picking up the Intercontinental title from Santana on February 8 1986 in Boston Massachusetts. Not much here, but a nice little roll call of title changes 

Clips of Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog v Terry Funk and Hoss Funk from the Los Angeles California portion of WrestleMania 2 on April 7 1986. The sound quality is really bad for this bit

Arm wrestling segment featuring Ivan Putski taking on Jesse Ventura in St Louis Missouri, which ends in Jesse beating him with a chair

Clips of Andre the Giant winning a handicap match against three men. Mobile Andre was a lot more fun to watch than the shell he became by the Hulkamania era

Clips of Gorilla Monsoon refereeing a WWWF Title match between Superstar Billy Graham and Bruno Sammartino on August 1 1977 in New York. Gorilla dwarfs them both here. And considering the years I've spent hearing him rant against officials for getting physically involved in matches, I'm surprised to see him get extremely physical with Graham here. Insane heat for this whole thing, though

Clips of Gorilla taking on Andre in a boxing match from September 23 1977 in San Juan Puerto Rico, with Joe Walcott as the special guest referee. Really grainy footage here, but fun. Monsoon really looked like he was having a good time with it

Clips of Gorilla getting into an altercation with Muhammad Ali on June 2 1976 in Hamburg Pennsylvania, ending in Gorilla getting him in an airplane spin. Gorilla's post match promo is so weird for me to watch, considering how much I associate his voice as that of an announcer, not a dude cutting promos. Let alone heel promos. I still find it somewhat mind blowing that Ali worked wrestling angles during this period. This is just months after the Thriller in Manilla! 

Clips of Hulk Hogan winning the WWF Title from Iron Sheik on January 23 1984 in New York. Okerlund describing this as a "five and a half minute war" with a straight face is impressive

Clips of Gene teaming up with Hulk against George Steele and Mr. Fuji on August 27 1984 in Minneapolis Minnesota. Amazing heat for this. They didn't include the pre-match training videos, sadly, which were hilarious

Clips of the Killer Bees v Hoss Funk and Jimmy Jack Funk at the Big Event on August 28 1986 in Toronto Ontario Canada

Clips of a 20-Man battle royal from Philadelphia Pennsylvania on June 26 1982, ending in pals Tony Atlas and SD Jones as the final two, with Atlas getting the win after a friendly contest

Clips of Andre winning the wrestlers v football players battle royal in Chicago at WrestleMania 2. This is pretty forgettable and dated now, but I remember them still making a big deal about this as a top level WrestleMania Moment up until at least the late 90s

Clips of a 22-Man $50,000 battle royal in New York on July 12 1986, ending in Jimmy Hart (who had been hiding underneath the ring for most of the match) getting the cheap win when Greg Valentine and Junkyard Dog eliminate each other. Fun heel heat

Clips of Andre destroying Killer Khan in a Stretcher match in Philly on November 14 1981. I’ve seen this one in full, and while it isn’t a very good match, it’s a tremendous beating

Clips of Andre slamming Big John Studd at WrestleMania I

Clips of Vince McMahon interviewing Grand Wizard. Too far before my time to resonate with me

Clips of Bobby Heenan coming out to accept a Manager of the Year award, but Hillbilly Jim giving Captain Lou Albano his vote at the last second to tip the scale. That leads to Studd and Bundy coming out and putting a hurting on Jim

Clips of Jimmy Snuka hitting Don Muraco with a splash from the top of the cage after losing an Intercontinental title match to him on October 17 1983 in New York. This ended up becoming a pretty famous moment later on, when it became part of Mick Foley's origin story

BUExperience: Different speed than a lot of the later Coliseum releases, but I thought it was a fun assortment of clips. Especially for that time period, before you could go back and fill in the blanks yourself (or even find a place to read about some of these moments).

A good addition to your Coliseum Collection