WWF Coliseum Video Collection: 'Macho Man' Randy Savage & Elizabeth (1986) (Version II)

 

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: 'Macho Man' Randy Savage & Elizabeth (1986)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features Randy and Elizabeth

Gene Okerlund hosts from the control center

Hulk Hogan v Rusty Brooks: From the November 9 1985 episode of Championship Wrestling (taped October 22) in Poughkeepsie New York, with the WWF Title not on the line. Randy and Elizabeth are out to mock and challenge Hogan, allowing Brooks to sneak attack. He gets a couple of shots in, but Hogan quickly fights him off, and hits the legdrop at 0:38. Afterwards, Savage dives in to attack Hulk, but Hogan fights him off. Well, sure, who could take him seriously when he couldn’t even be bothered to properly color coordinate his gear. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Randy Savage: From New York City on January 27 1986. The fact that a Randy Savage video starts with a Hulk Hogan match about tells you everything you need to know about their dynamic. Joined in progress with Hulk in control. He hits a big boot on a bloody Macho Man, and the Hulkster dumps him to the outside for a beating on the floor. Hogan tries to post him, but Liz blocks his path, and Savage sends Hogan into it. Randy rolls in, and it’s a countout win for the challenger at 1:08 shown of 8:33. Obviously, no rating, but it looked like a fun brawl. Oddly, in the V1 review, I had a full match here, but with a different finish. I have no idea what happened there. 

WWF Title Lumberjack Match: Hulk Hogan v Randy Savage: From New York on February 17 1986, with Savage’s WWF Intercontinental title not on the line. Hulk goes to town at the bell, and he even blasts Macho with the title belt a few times. Hogan with a side suplex, and Savage wants to bail, but the lumberjacks block him. Hulk responds by throwing Randy to the wolves, and the Hulkster delivers an elbowsmash on the way back inside. Hulk uses a bearhug to railroad Macho into the corner, and a cross corner backelbow connects. Hulk with an atomic drop, but King Kong Bundy trips him up as he goes for the legdrop. Hulk attacks him on the outside, but that buys Savage recovery time, and he rakes Hogan’s eyes. Savage with a high knee and a flying axehandle for two, and he dumps the champ to the outside for the heel lumberjacks to abuse. Bundy gives him an avalanche against the post to aggravate Hulk’s taped up ribs (injured at Bundy’s hands), and Macho puts the boots to the ribs as Hulk is rolled in. Savage with a flying axehandle to the ribs for two, and a hangman clothesline gets him two. Randy rips off the rib tape and goes to work, and another flying axe to the ribs gets the challenger two. Savage with the flying elbowdrop, but it only gets two, and triggers the HULK UP!! Jabs! Big Boot! Legdrop! 7:38! I think one of the babyface lumberjacks tripped Savage up there, though they don’t really note it. A reply reveals that it was George Steele. This was fun. ** ¼ (Original rating: * ½)

On Tuesday Night Titans, Randy is ranting about Hulk Hogan (complete with a cool ‘Hulk Who?’ t-shirt), when a courier arrives with flowers for Miss Elizabeth, courtesy of George Steele

Randy Savage v George Steele: From Saturday Night's Main Event on January 4 1986 (taped December 19 1985) in Tampa Florida. While Savage is busy yelling at some fan, Steele makes advances on Elizabeth before the bell, and that does not sit well with the Macho Man once he notices. Of note, a pre-fame Dean Malenko is the referee for this one. Kind of weird to think that it would take him a full ten years after this before he found success in the big two. Steele chases him out of the ring, and bites him once he's in. Savage takes an over the top bump to the outside, but Steele gets distracted by Elizabeth, and as a result, loses the high ground. Savage clobbers him on the way back in, but walks into a bodyslam - only for George to get busy with the turnbuckle pad rather than finish him. That (and another timely distraction from Liz) allow Macho to finish with a flying axehandle at 4:06. These two wrestled roughly a million times in 1986, and despite being their first meeting, this was about on par with every other match they had. I'd have preferred Savage wrestled the referee, frankly. ¼*

Okerlund is outside of Savage’s house, where a some newlyweds are hanging around, desperate to meet the Macho Man. That goes nowhere, but then we get Gene touring the house. I’m guessing that wasn’t Savage’s home, probably Vince’s? So Savage holds court by the pool, cutting promos on anything and everything, until the bride from earlier bursts in, and falls in the pool to end the segment. This wasn’t great, but Randy was so incredibly amazing that everything he touched turned to gold

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Tito Santana v Randy Savage: From Boston Massachusetts on February 8 1986. Joined in progress with Macho missing a kneedrop, allowing Santana to go after the leg. Tito gets a figure four on, but Macho makes the ropes, and desperately pulls out a weapon. Tito doesn’t see it, and keeps coming with a suplex, but Savage blocks another figure four. Santana tries a side suplex, but Randy bops him with the weapon, and wins the title at 2:19 shown of 10:29. Too much cut to rate, but the full match was about two-stars. 

Jesse Ventura hosts the Body Shop, with Randy on as a guest to celebrate his new Intercontinental title belt 

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Randy Savage v Tito Santana: From New York on March 16 1986. Joined in progress again, with Santana making a fired up comeback, from the looks of it. Tito with a backdrop ahead of the figure four, but Macho goes to the eyes to block. Randy bails, so Santana chases, but it’s a ploy, and Savage sends him into the rail. Inside, Macho tries an Irish whip, but it backfires when Santana rebounds with a bodypress. He locks the figure four, and Savage can’t reverse, so he shoves down the referee to draw an intentional DQ at 2:20 shown of 9:28. Too much clipping to rate, but the finishes were always hot during this period, so it’s not like it wasn’t entertaining.

WWF Intercontinental Title No Disqualification Match: Randy Savage v Tito Santana: From New York, April 22 1986. Joined in progress with Savage dumping Santana to the outside, and Randy grabs a chair, but Tito fights him off before he can use it. Tito with an earringer on the floor, and he tries a suplex on the way back in, but Savage counters with a swinging neckbreaker for two. Randy with a ropechoke, and they spill back to the outside, where Macho grabs the chair again. He manages to get a shot off this time, but an attempt at a flying axehandle on the floor gets blocked when Tito swings the chair. Inside, Tito pops him with a forearm to set up mounted punches, so Macho bails. Santana chases, and sends him into the rail out there, then into the announce table, before taking it back inside. Tito with a flying elbowsmash to set up the figure four, but Savage goes to the eyes to block. Tito bails to avoid a pinning combination, so Macho chases, and they slug it out. Randy tries to punctuate it with the post, but Santana reverses, and Macho is busted open. Macho staggers back in, still in the fight, but battered. He tries going on offense, but he’s wounded, and Tito fights him off. Randy stays in the fight through a slugfest, but the referee tries getting in the way, so Macho decks him as well. That allows Tito to come at him with the jumping forearm, but there’s no referee. Tito goes to revive him, but that allows Macho to recover. Santana stays on him with a bodyslam, but the referee is still down, so no count on the cover. Tito goes to revive him again, and he hooks a rollup for two - reversed by the champion for three at 7:36 shown of 18:52. I really wish we got the complete match here, because it looked like a good one.

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Randy Savage v Tito Santana: From New York on May 19 1986, with Bruno Sammartino as the special guest referee this time. Gosh, how long did they milk this thing for? Tito goes to a wristlock to start, but Savage is in the ropes, and bails to the outside to regroup. He stalls for a while, but manages an armdrag on the way back in. Santana with one of his own, so Savage grabs a side-headlock, but Tito gets into the ropes. Savage gets into Bruno’s face over the physicality of the break, but Sammartino doesn’t back down, of course. Tito keeps coming, but gets suckered on the ropes, and Macho dives with a flying axehandle. Chinlock, but Santana escapes, so Savage dumps him to the outside for a flying axehandle on the floor. Inside for a slugfest, which turns into a criss cross, and they collide for a double knockout spot. Macho is up first with a flying axehandle, but Tito blocks, and throws a knee to send the champ to the outside. Tito hustles him back inside, and a backdrop sends the champion flying. Figure four, but Macho is in the ropes before Santana can even get it on. Santana charges in the corner, but he’s too worked up, and gets caught with a knee. Savage covers for two, and tries a bodyslam, but Tito counters with a cradle for two. Santana with fists of fury, and he goes for the figure four again, but Randy rakes the eyes to block. Savage fires off a gutwrench suplex for two, and an atomic drop backfires when Tito sweeps it into a figure four on the landing! Nice move there! But, unfortunately for Santana, here’s Adrian Adonis to break it up for the DQ at 13:25. This was fine, but the no DQ match seemed better, and I wish we got an unclipped version of that one instead. * ½ (Original rating: *)

Gorilla catches up with Savage and Adonis, who are going to team up against Sammartino and Santana 

Randy Savage and Adrian Adonis v Bruno Sammartino and Tito Santana: From New York on June 14 1986, as the Savage/Santana feud just keeps on going. The babyfaces fight off the sneak attack before the bell, and clean house. The dust settles on Savage and Sammartino, and Bruno goes to town. Bruno with a big boot for two, and he passes to Tito to get his fire in. The babyfaces continue to pinball Savage, until Adonis tags in… and gets pinballed. A distraction from Savage allows Adrian a side suplex on Tito, and Macho tags in, but is met with fists from Sammartino. Macho just keeps selling like crazy for the babyfaces, until the heels manage to cheap shot Santana again. They fail to properly cut the ring in half, however, and Sammartino catches a tag - Roseanne Barr the door! In the chaos, the babyfaces are counted out at 9:42. More ‘fun’ than ‘good.’ ¼*

BUExperience: They did a good job of highlighting Savage’s WWF run to that point, but the run was so short that it wasn’t really ready for a highlight reel yet. Unless you’re just really, really into the Savage/Santana feud, then this is very much for you.

A decent addition to your Coliseum Collection.