WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Grudge Matches (1986)

 

WWF Coliseum Video Collection: Grudge Matches (1986)

Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features lots of guys in blue tights

Gorilla Monsoon hosts from the control center 

WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Don Muraco: From New York City on May 20 1985. Muraco attacks before the bell, and the announcers are, of course, quick to note that Mr. Fuji would know all about Pearl Harbor. Don unloads on him, but Hulk catches a second wind, and starts slugging back. Muraco ends up on the outside, so Hulk chases with a clothesline on the floor, and holy shit, this crowd is losing their minds for every movement the Hulkster makes. Hulk with an atomic drop on the floor, and a cross corner clothesline connects on the way back inside. Bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, and Hogan unloads with mounted punches, so Don bails. Hulk chases to nail him with a chair out there, and a headbutt follows. Inside, Hulk side suplexes him, and the crowd still hasn’t died down here. It’s like one sustained pop for the entire match. Hulk chucks him over the top for a shot into the post, and Muraco is busted open. Hogan vertical suplexes him back into the ring, and a bodyslam sets up the legdrop, but Fuji gets Muraco’s foot onto the rope to save. That allows Fuji to pass the challenger some salt, and he chucks it into Hogan’s eyes for the DQ at 6:18. * ½

Terry Funk v Junkyard Dog: From Championship Wrestling in Poughkeepsie New York on February 15 1986 (taped January 28 1986). Funk attacks before the bell, and dumps Dog to the outside to hammer on, but Dog responds in kind. Inside, Dog backdrops him, and follows with a bodyslam, and a series of headbutts to force Terry back to the outside. Funk wants to slug it out as he comes back in, but that goes badly for him, and Dog uses a series of turnbuckle smashes to stagger him. Jimmy Hart tries a distraction, but Dog hits Funk with a clothesline for two. That brings Hart in with a branding iron, but Dog fights him off, and grabs the weapon for himself. He goes after Terry with it, but here’s Dory Funk Jr (in his debut) to make the save (and cause the DQ) at 3:13. I’m surprised they allowed Dory to come in with a shirt and tie, as opposed to in his wrestling gear. That was abnormal for this promotion. Anyway, the match was fun, even if it wasn’t much. ½*

Terry Funk v Junkyard Dog: From Saturday Night's Main Event in Hershey Pennsylvania on November 2 1985 (taped October 31). They’re kind of positioning this as a rematch from the Championship Wrestling match, though a little thing called ‘calendars’ would dispel that. Dog jumps him before the bell, and goes to work with right hands. He stops to take out Jimmy Hart, and when Funk attempts a cheap shot, Dog crotches him on the top rope, and bounces him there. Back in, Terry manages a bodyslam, but misses an elbowdrop, and Dog delivers a bodyslam of his own, then ups the ante by slamming Terry out of the ring onto the exposed floor! That's a pretty crazy bump, especially for the pre-floor mat era. Today, ringside is so padded up, it's probably safer to take that bump than it was to get slammed INSIDE of the ring in 1985. Back in, Dog with a third slam, but Hart trips him up during a criss cross. Dog goes after him on the floor, and Funk tries another sneak attack, but the Dog is ready again - backdropping him on the exposed floor! Back in, Terry is finally able to put him down with a series of jabs for two, and he grabs a sleeper, but JYD gets the ropes, then reverses. Hart hops onto the apron to protest, so Dog goes after him again, but this time Terry is able to capitalize by whacking him with the megaphone for the pin at 5:16. Not a classic, but good TV, with Funk bumping all over the place like a madman, and a cheap finish to further the angle for the house show blowoffs. * ¼

WWWF Title Match: Bruno Sammartino v Ivan Koloff: From New York on October 13 1975. Joined in progress, with Koloff getting control, and corner whipping him. Ivan goes to work on the mat, until Bruno fights him off, and throws punches. Clipped to a test-of-strength, and Ivan uses a cheap shot to put the champion down. Bruno fights him off and works a reverse chinlock, then a bearhug. Ivan goes to the eyes to escape, and he works Sammartino over in the same boring, dull punchy-kicky way. Bruno bleeds, but gets fired up, and runs wild. The referee gets bumped, and then the match gets stopped due to blood loss at 8:58 shown of 21:59. 1975 was obviously a very different time, because gosh, this was boring as hell, but the crowd seemed to think it was actually good. Lots of odd things going on here, with Gorilla (on commentary) acting like this was from Ivan’s title reign in 1971, and doesn’t even acknowledge himself on the screen when his 1975 self runs in to help break up the brawl that continues after the bout. 

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Tito Santana v Greg Valentine: From All Star Wrestling in London Ontario Canada on October 13 1984 (taped September 24 1984). Greg takes out Tito’s knee before the match, and the champ is limping his way into the ring. We immediately clip to Tito going off on him in the corner, but Valentine turns the tables, and goes to the leg. Tito gets fired up again, but Valentine goes low to cut him off. Figure four, but Tito blocks. Greg responds by pounding the leg some more, but Tito rebounds with a jumping forearm. Cover, but Greg is in the ropes at two. Tito doesn’t notice, and thinks he has it won, allowing Valentine to recover, and clobber him for the pin at 1:25 shown of 2:52. They couldn’t squeeze the whole match in there? ¼*

Segment on Tito then having to go in for knee surgery following the loss to Valentine, and wow, even Bret Hart never went into surgery just to sell an injury. With that kind of commitment, no wonder he was on the shortlist to be WWF Champion in 1992. Tito sitting in recovery, barely stringing words together, but swearing revenge on Greg is awesome, though

WWF Intercontinental Title Cage Match: Greg Valentine v Tito Santana: From Baltimore Maryland on July 6 1985, aired on the July 23 episode of Prime Time. Greg is hesitant to get in, but Tito forces him, and he’s all fired up! Tito tries to send him into the cage, but Valentine blocks, and tries for the door. Tito keeps him in, and a turnbuckle smash allows Santana to try and escape, but Valentine cuts him off. I get that escaping is how the match is won, but it feels kind of odd that Tito would want to escape after thirty seconds when he supposedly wants to kill Valentine. Greg gets crotched on the top rope, but manages a forearm drop after getting down. Valentine climbs, but Tito knocks him off, winning a slugfest on the top rope. Tito tries to climb over, but Valentine brings him down too, and Tito gets the worst of those falls. Greg with a shoulderbreaker, and he goes for the door, but Santana stops him. Tito hammers him with mounted punches, and he goes for the door, but Valentine cuts him off. Valentine tries the figure four, but Tito blocks, and hits the jumping forearm. Valentine is up first, and delivers a side suplex, then sends Santana into the cage. A 2nd rope elbowsmash connects, allowing Valentine to go for the door, but Tito cuts him off, and makes a comeback. He climbs, but Greg catches up with him at the top. Santana wins the slugfest, and goes over the top of the cage, but Valentine heads for the door. It’s a foot race, and Tito swings around the outside of the cage to kick the door in the champ’s face, then drops to the ground to win the gold at 10:23. This felt kind of odd to me, with Valentine not really targeting the leg, and not as much intense hatred as you’d expect. But part of that may just be that they’re presenting this as a rematch from the first match, but leave out the bit about it being nine months later. ¼*

WWWF Title Match: Superstar Billy Graham v Bruno Sammartino: From New York on August 1 1977, with Gorilla Monsoon as the special guest referee. Gosh, was Gorilla ever not grossly overweight? Billy attacks, but it just fires Bruno up, and he runs wild. Bruno with a backdrop, and he pounds on Graham until Billy just falls out of the ring. Graham manages to get back in, so Bruno just stomps the hell out of him, and this is the kind of fire I was expecting to see in the Valentine/Santana cage match. Billy manages to trip him up and throw some punches of his own, but grabbing a rope is where Gorilla draws the line, and man, for a guy who always criticized officials for getting physically involved, he’s getting very physically involved. Graham misses a kneesmash in the corner, allowing Bruno to go back to kicking the crap out of him, and Graham is doing a great job selling and bumping around here. Bruno gets a half crab on, but Billy makes the ropes, so Bruno drags him off, and goes to a toehold. Billy fights him off, and starts slugging. Graham with a flying kneedrop, but it misses, and Bruno is laughing at his dumb ass for trying that with a bad leg. But then Bruno misses a corner splash, and ends up on the outside. Graham bites him on the way back in, and then blasts him with the title belt for good measure, but Gorilla doesn’t take the DQ bait. Bruno is busted open, but Gorilla checks the cut, and says ‘fuck it, let ‘em go.’ Graham works the cut, but Bruno fights him off, and delivers a bodyslam, so Billy bails. Gorilla drags him back in, and Bruno keeps unloading, and feeds Graham the post to draw some blood on his side. Bruno works the cut, and he’s just going hog wild here. The bearhug looks to finish, so Billy hits Gorilla, but Monsoon won’t take the bait. The hold does get broken, though, and Sammartino keeps hammering the hell out of the cut. Gorilla’s whole shirt is covered in blood as they slug it out here, and Monsoon finally just calls it a draw for blood loss at 12:24 shown of 13:05. It’s no secret that I’m not usually a fan of stuff from this era, but man, this was very different than the usual dull, plodding stuff I loathe. Not that they were doing a lot of big moves (I think there was one bodyslam, and maybe a suplex somewhere in there), but the storytelling and intensity made this work tremendously. ** ¼ 

Hulk Hogan and Mr. T v Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff: From WrestleMania, in New York on March 31 1985. Billy Martin acts as the guest ring announcer (remember when those were a thing?), Liberace is the guest timekeeper (those too), Muhammad Ali is the special guest enforcer, and Pat Patterson acts as the referee. Piper was also at the first Starrcade, as was Bob Orton (in the heel corner). Hogan starts with Orndorff, but wants Piper instead. The heels actually oblige, but now Mr. T is chomping at the bit, and demands a tag. Hulk obliges, so Piper slaps Mr. T across the face. Mr. T responds in kind, so Roddy takes him down in a waistlock, but Mr. T escapes! Mr. T scoops him up for an airplane spin, but Piper freaks out and attacks - triggering a four-way brawl. Orton tries to get involved as well, but Ali hops into the ring to stop him, and damned if he isn't really swinging! The heels decide to walk out, but Hulk begs Patterson not to count them out, and he and T blitz them upon their return. The dust settles on Hogan and Piper, and Hulk delivers an atomic drop, then chokes away. The wide angle here is really annoying, but I guess they wanted Mr. T in the shot the whole time, or something. Hulk and T take turns beating on Piper, and Hogan puts him on the floor with a big boot, but gets clobbered by Orndorff, and the heels cut the ring in half. They destroy him, but Orndorff misses a flying elbowdrop, and Hulk gets the tag! Mr. T is a backlot of fire, but quickly gets overwhelmed against the two experienced grapplers, and taken down. Piper holds a front-facelock, but T manages to use his raw power to fall into a tag back to a recharged Hogan. A brawl breaks out, and Orton interferes - only to end up clobbering Paul with his cast covered arm for Hulk to pin at 13:33. The match wasn't anything particularly special, but it was energetic, well booked, and a veritable who's who of 80s celebrity. If I was buying this show in 1985, I would have absolutely felt that I'd gotten my money's worth out of this. * ¾

BUExperience: I wouldn’t really bother with this one, but I’m also not going to sit here and tell you it’s shit. 

A decent addition to your Coliseum Collection, though the impact has certainly been lessened with how widely available a lot of the entries are. Graham/Sammartino is the exception though, and worth checking out.