WWF Coliseum Video Collection: World Tour ‘96 (1997)

 

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: World Tour ‘96 (1997)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features Ahmed Johnson getting fired up on Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Gorilla Monsoon hosts from the studio. He looks sick here, like he was already starting to deteriorate. Poor guy… I never noticed it as a kid, but it’s pretty obvious

The New Rockers v Yokozuna and Ahmed Johnson: From Kuwait City, Kuwait, on May 9 1996. Even though they were both babyfaces, and even though they’d both teamed before at a major show like WrestleMania, I still did a double take at that babyface team. Joined in progress with the babyfaces dominating Leif Cassidy, so Marty Jannetty tries to come in, but Yokozuna dispatches them both. Yoko is looking really out of shape here. Marty tags in and goes to the eyes, but an attempt (a stupid attempt, frankly) at a cross corner whip ends badly for him, and Yokozuna delivers a short-clothesline. Tag to Ahmed for a flying axehandle, so Marty begs off in the corner, then dives off the middle when Ahmed takes the bait. Ahmed catches him, so Marty begs off again, and Johnson actually puts him down. That allows Jannetty to nail him with a 2nd rope dropkick, and he passes to Cassidy for a flying axehandle of his own. The Rockers work Johnson over, but it doesn’t last long, and Yokozuna catches a tag. Yokozuna knocks both Rockers around, and Ahmed comes back in, Roseanne Barr the door! Leif eats a sitout tiger bomb for two, and Yokozuna finishes him off with the Banzai drop at 5:26 shown of 12:46. Too much was cut here to give a rating to it, but what was shown was mostly okay. I will say that the babyface team didn’t work for logistical reasons. Like, Ahmed is the ideal hot tag guy, but since Yokozuna wasn’t in shape to carry the match, it left Ahmed to take the beating in the heat segment. And then Yoko gets the hot tag, and can barely even do that. 

Ahmed Johnson loves the Kuwaiti people

Bret Hart v Steve Austin: From Kuwait City, Kuwait, on May 9 1996. Joined in progress with Austin trying to sucker Hart into the corner, but Bret wise to him. Austin manages to talk him into a test-of-strength, and Steve needs a cheap shot to turn it around on the Hitman. Hart manages a northern lights suplex to escape, and Bret gets a wristlock on. Steve forces a criss cross and dumps the Hitman to the outside, and Austin follows with an axehandle from the apron. Back in, Austin puts the boots to him and covers for two, and Steve continues to hammer on the Hitman from there. Austin works a chinlock, but Hart fights free, and throws a bodypress for two. Steve cuts him off with a clothesline for two, and a straddling ropechoke follows. Steve with a stomp to the groin for two, but Bret manages to get a sleeper on, so Steve drops down with a jawbreaker to shake him off. Austin stays on him with a turnbuckle smash, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Hart catches him with a clothesline on the rebound. Great execution on that sequence. Bret keeps coming with an inverted atomic drop and an elbowsmash, and he takes Steve to the mat with a bulldog for two. A Russian legsweep gets another two, and a small package is worth two. Hart uses a backbreaker to set up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop, but Steve gets his boot up to block. That allows Austin to recover with the cobra clutch, but Hart counters with an inside cradle for two. Steve looks for a suplex to keep control, but Bret swiftly counters to the Sharpshooter at 10:27 shown of 16:37. This was solid, but Austin’s offense was really lacking here. Like, it was fine during the back-and-forth stuff, but the heat segment was pretty much all stomping and kicking. * ½ 

Kuwait Cup Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Davey Boy Smith v Duke Droese: From Kuwait City, Kuwait, on May 9 1996. Joined in progress with Bulldog unloading in the corner, and he delivers a cross corner whip. Another cross corner whip sees Droese flipping over the top to the outside, but Duke manages a slingshot sunset flip on the way back in, getting two. Duke pops up, but Bulldog meets him with a clothesline for two, and he grounds Droese in a chinlock. Bulldog with a legdrop for two, and he goes back to the chinlock from there. Droese fights free, so Davey throws a backelbow to cut him off, and he goes to a reverse chinlock. Droese escapes, and manages to get on the comeback trail this time. A powerslam leads to the tilt-a-whirl, but he kind of drops the ball, and just delivers a regular backbreaker instead. Duke goes up for a flying headbutt drop, but Smith dodges, and delivers the running powerslam at 6:53 shown of 10:36. This was pretty bad, but points to Droese for trying a dive there. ¼*

Kuwait Cup Tournament Semifinal Match: Owen Hart v Ahmed Johnson: From Kuwait City, Kuwait, on May 11 1996. Joined in progress with Owen taunting him. Ahmed manages to start working the leg, and Hart bails. Back in, Johnson calls for a test-of-strength, and he easily dominates that. Hart tries to wrestle him with a front-facelock, but Johnson easily powers out, so Hart slaps him. Johnson chases, and Hart suckers him into giving up the high ground, and Owen pounces. He puts the boots to Johnson, and a straddling ropechoke connects. Owen with a ropeburn, and a spinheel kick finds the mark. Johnson took that terribly. Hart with a legdrop for two, so Ahmed tries a press-slam, but Hart rakes the eyes to topple him for two. Backdrop, but Johnson stops short, and delivers the sitout tiger bomb at 7:33 shown. I’m not sure how much was cut here, but it didn’t look like much. This was pretty bad, regardless. DUD

Kuwait Cup Tournament Final Match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley v Ahmed Johnson: From Kuwait City, Kuwait, on May 12 1996. Joined in progress with HHH dumping him to the outside, and whipping Johnson into the steps. Johnson nearly beats the count, so HHH hops back out and smashes his head into the steps, but Ahmed beats the count again, so HHH delivers a flying axehandle for two. Helmsely works him over, and a high knee gets him two. HHH works a chinlock, but Ahmed fights free, so HHH throws a knee to keep control. He hammers Johnson in the corner, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Johnson catches him with a rotating spinebuster on the rebound. Ahmed goes for the tiger bomb, but Hunter manages a backdrop, and a kneedrop gets two. Into the corner for abuse, but Johnson returns fire, and a cross corner whip flips Helmsley over the buckles. Johnson stays on him with a press-slam, and a kneelift gets him two. Ahmed unloads in the corner, but a charge hits HHH’s boot. Another charge also misses, and HHH hooks a leveraged pin for two. Ahmed tries a backdrop, but HHH counters with a swinging neckbreaker for two, but his own attempt at a backdrop goes sideways when Johnson counters to the sitout tiger bomb at 15:01 shown of 21:03. This was not well booked. Johnson wasn’t geared to working long matches like this, and Helmlsey wasn’t experienced enough to carry the bulk of it yet at this point in his career. That resulted in a pretty dull final. ½*

Gorilla signs off

BUExperience: Very odd selection of matches for this one. Like, what was the point of airing Bulldog/Droese? If you’re showing the path to the finals, why not put one of HHH’s earlier round wins in there? And it’s not like the Bulldog match was even particularly good to warrant the inclusion.

Still, I give this a pass for the sheer uniqueness of it all.

A good addition to your Coliseum Collection.