I watched this tape almost a month ago, so my memory might be a little hazy on some things. This edition is a huge memory, as I definitely remember renting this as a kid a couple of times and loving it. It was released in 87, during my initial wrestling mania phase. It’s funny how at the time these tapes seemed so much longer, and it felt like it took an entire afternoon to watch the whole thing. But in reality most of these tapes are only an hour and a half in length. Imagine being a kid nowadays and trying to sit through a three hour Raw every week!
I last watched Vol. 12 about 10 years ago after finding it at a weird video store. I think Matt may have watched it with me at the time, as I remember going nuts over the weird matches and talking about what a memory this was from when I was a kid.
The tape was hosted by newcomer Craig DeGeorge, who’s absolutely horrible in his delivery and ruins a lot of these 87 tapes, along with the equally irritating Johnny V. They host from an updated set, rather than the old TV control centre that was used for all previous Coliseum Videos.
1) Kamala (w/ Mr. Fuji & Kimchee) pinned Ricky Steamboat at 6:01 with a splash after throwing Steamboat off the top, moments after Steamboat kicked away an interfering Kimchee (6/20/87; Philadelphia Spectrum)
The first of THREE Kamala matches on this tape! No wonder I love this edition. Kamala has always been one of my favorite wrestlers. Sure there’s zero workrate to speak of, but Kamala is a true oddity – a bizarre attraction and a unique individual. As a kid I was terrified of Kamala, and this fear lead to my fascination with him. His matches are so strange and off-the-wall that I’m instantly drawn to them. This was during the time when they were jobbing out Steamboat as punishment for him requesting time off. It’s a fun match as Steamboat is able to use his quickness to avoid Kamala, but eventually the mighty Ugandan catches him and beats him down. A huge splash finishes off the Dragon after interference from Kimchee. Did Kamala ever win a non-squash match clean?
2) Kamala (w/ the Wizard & Kimchee) pinned Tito Santana with a splash at 6:43 after the Wizard tripped Santana as he ran the ropes; after the bout, Santana dropkicked Kamala to the floor (11/20/86; Rockford, IL; Metro Centre)
The second Kamala match is a dark match from a Wrestling Challenge taping. I wish the WWF would have released more of these types of dark matches, since it’s great to see these unique battles under the bright lights and with the proper production of a TV taping, rather than a dark house show. This was another fun match, similar in style to the Steamboat match, with Tito relying on quickness, but ultimately falling in the end due to outside interference. Most fans probably hated these matches, but I loved them!
3) Big, Super, & Piper Machine defeated King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, & Bobby Heenan at 10:15 when Piper pinned Studd after a bodyslam and an accidental elbow drop from Bundy, who attempted to break up the cover (10/4/86; Boston Garden)
At first I thought – “Oh fuck, not another Machines match”, but then I was surprisingly entertained, thanks to the zany addition of Piper Machine. This was at the tail end of the Machines time in the WWF. Piper adds some much needed hilarity to the boredom, but constantly pulling up his mask behind the ref’s back and taunting Heenan. It was also fun to see Piper battling Bundy and Studd, as I don’t know of any other time he wrestled either of them. Piper actually gets the pin on Studd, which is nice for a change in a Machines match!
4) Brutus Beefcake defeated Johnny V via submission with the sleeper at 3:20; after the bout, Beefcake cut some of Valiant’s hair and then was forced to wake up his opponent, otherwise the decision would be reversed (5/2/87; Boston Garden)
The post-Wrestlemania 3 feud between Beefcake and his former manager is featured on a bunch of Coliseum Videos. This wasn’t much of a match, but fans were hot for Beefcake and especially his new gimmick. The Barber gimmick really makes no sense, other than him cutting Adonis’ hair, but it gave Beefcake a much needed individual identity and really got him over with the fans. Fun to see V humiliated at the end of the match.
5) Gorilla Monsoon & US Champion Pedro Morales defeated WWWF International Tag Team Champions the Mongols in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match; fall #1 – Gito pinned Monsoon following two boots off the top to the back; fall #2 – the champions were disqualified for illegal double teaming of Monsoon; fall #3 – Morales pinned Gito following two dropkicks and a splash (12/16/70; Philadelphia Arena)
A match from the archives that I expected to be boring, but was actually fun to watch! Most interestingly, one of the Mongols is clearly Nikolai Volkoff but they pretend that’s not the case. Very weird to expose this in the heavily protected kayfabe era. This match is clipped, but the action that’s shown is pretty good. The Mongols were solid heels who worked well as a team, and it was fun to see Gorilla Monsoon wrestle. The fans were big time into Monsoon and Morales and went nuts for the finish, even thought they didn’t win the belts.
6) Paul Orndorff (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated George Steele via disqualification at 6:00 when Steele swung a steel chair at the referee; before the bout Heenan tore up a poster of Miss Elizabeth, distracting George during the match as he attempted to put the remains back together; after the match Orndorff attacked Steele and was about to hit him with the chair but Steele blocked the move and chased Orndorff away with it (1/19/87; Madison Square Garden)
The nefarious antics of Heenan before the match really cracked me up. I laughed as he ripped up the Elizabeth poster, and Monsoon went nuts about how disgusting this was. The match itself was typical Steele crap, but it was fun to see Orndorff work him over. It was the usual DQ finish, which makes no sense, since Orndorff was a main eventer at the time. He should have easily pinned Steele, rather than the dumb nonsense with a chair.
7) WWF Women’s Champion the Fabulous Moolah pinned WWF Women’s Tag Team Champion Leilani Kai at 10:10 with a double axe handle and roll up after dropkicking the challenger into the referee (12/26/86; Madison Square Garden)
The only real yawner on this tape is this suckfest of a match. Moolah is so old and boring at this time, and Kai isn’t much better. So it made for a boring ten minutes.
8) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Kamala (w/ the Wizard & Kimchee) at 7:45 with a bodyslam and legdrop (12/6/86; Boston Garden)
The THIRD Kamala match! And it’s a great one! Hogan and Kamala had great chemistry. Kamala was brought in during the fall of 86 mainly to be another monster for Hogan to battle. Their matches were zany brawls with lots of punching, scratching, choking, etc. Kamala really pushed Hogan to the limit and probably in 86 or 87 he may have even seemed to be a real threat to the champ. I loved this match, and was surprised that Hogan pinned Kamala clean.
This was one of the best Best of the WWF tapes that I’ve seen thus far. I bet most internet fans would immediately throw this one in the garbage, but I loved it.
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