WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Even More Unusual Matches (1987)

 

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Even More Unusual Matches (1987)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features Hercules, and reminds us that this is going to be 'bizarre.' I expect many British Bulldog matches

Craig DeGeorge and Johnny Valiant host from the studio

WWF Intercontinental Title Lumberjack Match: Randy Savage v Bruno Sammartino: From Boston Massachusetts on February 7 1987. Macho attacks before the bell, and heads right upstairs for a flying axehandle, but Sammartino blocks. Bruno runs wild for a bit, so Macho tries bailing, but gets tossed back in by the lumberjacks. Sammartino keeps running wild, so Savage tries running again, but the lumberjacks are on him. Sammartino unloads with rights, putting Randy on the floor again, so we can establish the gimmick again. Bruno with a series of turnbuckle smashes, so Savage pulls a weapon out, and jams it in Bruno’s eye. That allows him to turn the tide, and Macho goes to work. He dumps the challenger to the outside for the heel lumberjacks to abuse, and Randy hits him with a flying axehandle for two. Elbowdrop gets the champion another two, and a shoulderblock sends him out again, but Bruno fights off the heels this time, coming back in on his own. He sends Savage into the turnbuckles a few times, then tosses Macho over the top - right at the feet of Ricky Steamboat! The Dragon gets some revenge before rolling Randy in, and Sammartino is ready with a bearhug! Savage looks to be done, but lumberjack King Kong Bundy runs in for the DQ at 4:15. Tons of energy and heat here, even if the actual work was nothing. Sammartino had great energy for a dude in his fifties, too. ¾*

$50,000 12-Team Tag Team Battle Royal: From New York City on October 19 1986. We’re joined in progress, with Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart doing a double elimination to eliminate their respective teams. We get down to the Islanders against King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd, and both teams stop to strategize. The strategy: slugfest! Bundy catches Tama with an avalanche, but a double team on Haku backfires, and Bundy ends up accidentally knocking Studd over the top at 5:18 shown of 10:20. I can safely call this a DUD

WWF Title Texas Death Match: Hulk Hogan v Harley Race: From New York on June 14 1987. Hats off to Howard Finkel warning the crowd that anyone in the first few rows is staying ‘at their own peril.’ Love it. Race attacks before the bell, but Hulk backdrops him over the top. Hogan chases after him with punches on the outside, and Harley eats the guardrail. Inside, Hulk unloads with mounted punches, and a chop sends Harley back to the outside. Race catches the champion with a mulekick on the way back in, and he goes to work, putting the boots to the Hulkster. Race with a piledriver for two, and a snapmare sets up a headbutt drop. A gutwrench suplex gets Harley two, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Race takes a bump over the top. Hogan chases, but gets distracted by Bobby Heenan, and Harley sends him into the post. Race uses a chair out there, but a headbutt drop on the floor misses, and Hulk takes him in for a big boot. Hulk keeps coming with an atomic drop, and a clothesline knocks Harley out of the ring - Race taking a nice bump into a stack of chairs on the way. Hulk follows to post his challenger, and Hulk uses the chair, before unloading punches in the aisle. Race goes low to set up a piledriver on the floor, and now the headbutt drop out there works. Race grabs the title belt and whacks Hulk with it on the way into the ring, but a flying headbutt drop misses, and Harley lands on the belt! Hulk brains him with the belt from there, and that’s enough for the pin at 9:59. This was a lot of fun, with some really wild stuff for 1987 in the WWF. Race was bumping like a complete lunatic here, too. ** ½  

WWF Title Texas Death Match: Hulk Hogan v Harley Race: From Boston on June 6 1987. The presentation for this video bills this as a ‘rematch,’ though it took place first. Race tries a sneak attack, but Hulk backdrops him over the top, and Hogan follows, choking him with his t-shirt out there. Hulk hits him with the chair a few times, and sinks his teeth into Harley’s face. Hulk with a smash into the announce table, and an atomic drop follows. Race manages to fight him off with a set of knux, and he catches Hulk with a headbutt drop on the floor. Back in for the first time since the first spot, and Race delivers a piledriver to set up a pair of kneedrops for two. Back to the outside, Hulk eats the rail, and inside, Race uses an elbowdrop for two. Race with a gutwrench suplex for two, and a 2nd rope elbowsmash sets up a kneedrop for two. Vertical suplex, but Hulk reverses, and follows up with a trio of clotheslines, before choking Race with a t-shirt, and unloading mounted punches. Race ends up on the outside, so Hulk chases Heenan, and Race manages to shove the champ into the post. They end up brawling over to the entrance area, and they tear off the curtain, with Race using it to choking Hogan down at ringside. That allows Harley a headbutt drop from the apron, and he grabs the title belt, nailing Hulk with it on the way back in. Race adds a kneedrop before going upstairs, but the flying headbutt drop gets blocked with Hulk pops him with the belt. Hulk adds another shot, and that’s the pin at 9:54. I was surprised that they included two of the same match, since I figured they would be really similar, but hats off to them for working two very different matches. There were similarities, yes, but it wasn’t the same script at all. Running the same finish twice was a big negative, however. Not for them as workers (since it was two different markets), but to the producers of this tape in the era of kayfabe. Race took less crazy bumps in this one, but the overall match was better. ** ¾ 

Chain Match: Hercules v Billy Jack Haynes: From Kitchener Ontario Canada on June 1 1987. Billy wins a tug of war and starts slugging, but Hercules pops him with the chain. That allows Hercules to take control, and he nails Billy with the chain a second time. Hercules chokes him with the chain some, and he hammers Haynes with it until Billy blades. Hercules keeps working him over, until Billy manages to use the chain to crotch him, and they spill to the outside. Billy beats on him with the chain out there, and Hercules is busted open now. Inside, Haynes destroys him in the corner, and he goes for the full nelson, but Hercules rams him into the top turnbuckle before Billy can get the fingers locked. That allows Hercules a leveraged pin at 8:45. This was bloody and certainly did a good job of giving the live crowd their money's worth, but it wasn’t really a ‘good’ match. ¾*

WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match: Leilani Kai and Judy Martin v Penny Mitchell and Candice Pardue: From Boston on November 1 1986. They take forever to get started here, and I really don’t care for this era of women’s wrestling (did/does anyone?), so don’t expect much in the way of play-by-play. The champs retain with a powerbomb at 10:11. Learning that a powerbomb is apparently called the ‘drip dry’ in England was the only interesting thing about this one. ½*

We get a segment on the various animals in the promotion. Nothing to this

Handicap Match: Hulk Hogan and Billy Jack Haynes v Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Danny Davis: From Worcester Massachusetts on April 23 1987. Billy and Jim start, but Neidhart plays games, so Hulk asks to come in. Billy obliges, and Hogan cleans house on both Jim and Bret. The dust settles on Hogan and Hart, and Hulk powers him around. Tag to Haynes for an elbowsmash, and he positively goes to town on Hart on the mat. Back to Hulk for a 2nd rope axehandle, and then back to Billy to work an armbar. Bret forces a criss cross, but gets caught in an inverted atomic drop, and Haynes adds an elbowdrop, but Anvil saves at two. That allows the heels to get control, and they go to work on Haynes. A criss cross with Bret ends in a collision, and Billy is able to make the hot tag to Hulk. Hogan runs wild on Anvil, and he looks to finish, so Bret runs in, and Roseanne Barr the door - Hulk finishing Neidhart with a legdrop at 8:16. I’m very surprised Davis wasn’t the one to eat the pinfall there. This was fine. *

20-Man Bunkhouse Battle Royal: From Boston on January 3 1987. I learned that the WWF did ‘Bunkhouse’ matches only recently, and I’m still surprised. I thought that was strictly a JCP/WCW thing. This one ends when Blackjack Mulligan dumps King Kong Bundy at 7:40. It was a battle royal, you know the drill. DUD

Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Little Louie and Koko Kid v Little John and Billy the Kid: From New York on February 2 1976. You understand that there’s no way in hell I’m doing play by play for a midget match from the 70s, right? I wasn’t doing it for battle royals from the Golden Era, so what chance does this stand? Koko scores the pin here at an endless 7:09. DUD

BUExperience: There were definite ups and downs here, but the two Hogan/Race matches alone make this worth checking out. 

A solid addition to your Coliseum Collection.