What a great and weird tape this was! I never knew about this tape until a couple years ago when I found a complete list of every Coliseum Video released. There were a number of weird titles I’ve never heard of and I’ve been tracking them down since, mainly as downloads off of the wrestling torrent sites I frequent. I was extremely excited when I came across this beauty as it has some truly weird matches. I know I have never watched this tape, and I don’t recall ever seeing it at any of the video stores I visited as a kid.
Interestingly all of the matches on this tape are from TV tapings in May and June 89 in northern states. This makes the tape even more awesome as there are no dark and boring house show matches. I love the weird TV taping matches the most. And it’s so cool to see the small buildings the WWF used to tape in at the time. Tony Schiavone and Lord Alfred Hayes commentate for all the matches and Shiavone even makes a point of mentioning each city they are in. I love this kind of stuff! Sean Mooney hosts the tape and thanks all of the fans and goes on about how it’s the fans that ultimately are the best matchmakers. That’s hilarious considering the parade of zany matches on this tape. He talks about WWF fans coming in all shapes and sizes, and we clips of little kids and big fat dudes. LOL!
Before each match, a clip is shown featuring a fan, or fans, saying a match they would love to see. These are all clearly setup and were shot after they already selected the matches for this tape. It’s obvious right off the bat as the first two dweebs say they want to see Koko B Ware battle the Brooklyn Brawler! LOL! Granted that’s the kind of match me and you would have selected, but nobody in their right mind would call that a “fan favorite”! Also before each match, the two participants cut awesome promos. To make this even more awesome, the tape kicked off with a Brooklyn Brawler promo where he talked about smashing Koko B Ware, lol!!!
1. Koko B. Ware pinned the Brooklyn Brawler at 10:15 with the Ghost Buster after a missile dropkick (6/89; Rochester, NY)
Yes, really! A 10 minute Koko-Brawler match on Coliseum Video! Awesome! Interestingly Koko is still using Piledriver as his music in 89. I don’t remember much about Koko’s 89 career, so I’m not sure when the even more awesome Bird Bird Bird music debuted. It’s actually a surprisingly good match as Brawler puts Koko to the test after surviving an initial flurry of offense. The Brawler is pretty sloppy, but Koko makes him look pretty good in the ring. Koko lands a mighty missile dropkick, then plants Brawler with a ghostbuster to end a surprisingly hard fought match!
The next fan “picks” Dusty Rhodes to face Greg Valentine! Ugh, why subject the world to this boredom!
2. Dusty Rhodes pinned Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) with a roll up at 10:15 as Valentine was distracted by Ron Garvin, who came ringside and pulled Hart off the apron when he attempted to interfere (6/28/89; Niagra Falls, NY)
Yup, as expected this was a snorefest. It’s weird watching Dusty toil in the WWF mid-card after seeing him in endless NWA main events and major angles. Six months after fiercely battling the Road Warriors, Rhodes is being beaten into near submission by Greg the Hammer Valentine! Rhodes was wrestling in slow motion here. Interestingly, Schiavone and Hayes talk about how Valentine favors long matches, but Hayes pointed out that Rhodes has battled in many one hour classics. It’s the only time I’ve ever heard anything about Rhodes’ past mentioned in the WWF. Rhodes wins with a sloppy roll-up after Garvin comes down and prevents Jimmy Hart from interfering, distracting Valentine.
An attractive female fan requests to see the Hart Foundation battle the Twin Towers! Now this is a match I want to see!
3. The Big Bossman & Akeem (w/ Slick) defeated Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart via count-out at 13:15 when all four men began brawling in the floor but Akeem was able to return to the ring before the 10-count; after the contest, the Hart Foundation attacked their opponents, handcuffed Slick to the ring rope, and left ringside with the key (5/17/89; Duluth, MN)
This match was awesome! I don’t recall Bret facing the Bossman or Akeem at any other point in his career. Neidhart starts the match and goes toe to toe with both Towers, before they’re able to neutralize Bret and punish him for most of the match. The match follows a pretty simple formula, as Bret gets his ass beat by the two monsters, but they would rather punish him than pin him. He eventually makes the big tag to the Anvil and the place goes bananas. The action spills for the floor where we get a pretty great four man brawl. Akeem outsmarts everyone by rolling back into the ring. I didn’t see that coming at all! I thought it would be Bret, so that was a cool swerve and interesting to see the Towers win by countout. Great match!
A fan wants to see Mr. Perfect face Tito Santana, and I agree with him, as Perfect and Santana always deliver a classic!
4. Mr. Perfect pinned Tito Santana at 9:59 with a knee to the back and holding the tights after Santana became distracted by Rick Martel at ringside (6/7/89; Rockford, IL)
Great technical battle. Unlike Tito-Rude from Supertape, this match follows a fast pace, with both wrestlers evenly matching each other in holds and counters. Just a great, fun match. The Model makes an appearance and saves Mr. Perfect by putting his foot on the bottom rope. Tito is up and yelling at Martel, which allows Perfect to get the sneaky victory. Awesome to see two heels helping each other out. Hayes suggests that Perfect talked to the Model in the back before the match. Yes, logic and continuity even on Coliseum Video! Man wrestling used to be awesome.
The next fan thinks it will be awesome to see Superfly Jimmy Snuka wrestle Ted Dibiase. I’m not so sure.
5. Superfly Jimmy Snuka pinned Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil) at 8:20 with a roll up after Dibiase collided with Virgil on the ring apron (5/17/89; LaCrosse, WI)
This match was identical to the Snuka-Dibiase match I saw at the Winnipeg Arena two days after this taping was held! I remembered it instantly, including the classic beginning where Superfly steals Dibiase’s money and hands it out to the fans. This match just clicked in my head and I remembered all of the spots, including the finish. However, this match is a prime example as to why the WWF stopped drawing in 1990 – guys like Dibiase lost endlessly to mid-carders and a year later he’s getting main event title shots. Makes no sense. Even worse is that Superfly sinks to the lower mid-card in early 89. Dibiase should have at least lost by DQ or something.
Next up, the fans want to see the Ultimate Warrior team with King Duggan to battle Rick Rude and Andre the Giant! Cool, weird main event for this tape! The pre-match promos are pure gold, especially the Duggan-Warrior promo!
6. The Ultimate Warrior & King Jim Duggan defeated WWF IC Champion Ravishing Rick Rude & Andre the Giant (w/ Bobby Heenan) at 12:47 when Warrior pinned Rude with a splash after Duggan hit Rude in the back with his 2×4 (6/6/89; Madison, WI)
Another awesome match to end this tape! Duggan and Warrior are a hilarious team and are ridiculously over with the fans. Warrior even has Duggan shake the ropes. Also interesting is that Rick Rude wears his Wrestlemania 5 tights! I thought those disappeared after the event, but here they were. The action is great in this match, and Rude is the punching bag for the first half until Andre gets control of Duggan. The Warrior comes in on the hot tag and all hell breaks loose. The finish is pretty zany as Duggan wallops Rude with the 2×4 behind the ref’s back and the Warrior splashes and covers him. Wow, a rare cheating good guy victory! The crowd goes berserk as Duggan and Warrior celebrate.
Man! This tape was awesome! And at 90 minutes it just flew by. I dug up a couple more treasures from 89, and will watch those next before continuing on with 1990.
the RepoDan Wrestling Institution 