I’ve been quite generous to most of these Coliseum Videos, even the shitty ones, but this tape is a whole other level of crappy garbage. It was a grinding chore to sit through most of this, and I found myself daydreaming, falling asleep, and eventually doing other things while it was playing. I don’t know why, but I just find the back half of 1990 to be dreadfully dull. None of the feuds were clicking with me and they’d thrown in the towel on the Warrior’s title reign by this point.
I actually own this VHS tape. It was from the same haul of tapes I bought at that store in Wawa as mentioned in my Supertape 2 review. Should have just tossed this one into Lake Ontario when I had the chance.
I was just praising Mooney and Lord Alfred, but on this tape, their schtick was beyond irritating. They were pretending to be co-pilots in an airplane for some reason, and Mooney used all kinds of airline puns to introduce the matches. Blech.
1) Mr. Perfect defeated WWF IC Champion Kerry Von Erich via count-out at 7:37 after the champion hit the steel ring post shoulder-first (9/16/90; Toronto, Ontario; Maple Leaf Gardens)
What’s the deal with the Texas Tornado? The guy blew into the WWF like an F5 tornado in early summer, had the great victory over Perfect at SummerSlam, then dissipated into a light breeze by the fall. His ring work seemed to have fallen off a cliff. This tour card match from Toronto was terrible. I’m quite surprised by how many duds Mr. Perfect has had on these Coliseum Videos. He could dog a match perfectly it seems. This was a sloppy, boring mess that ended in a cheap countout.
2) The Barbarian pinned Jimmy Snuka at 15:02 with his feet on the ropes following a boot to the face as Snuka charged the corner (6/17/90; Toronto, Ontario; Maple Leaf Gardens)
Oh fuck no, another tedious Barbarian-Snuka match, made worse by the fact that it’s from a Toronto house show. Slow pace can’t even describe this. This was endless, truly like watching paint dry. Snuka was wearing these weird plain black trunks for some reason. My mind was wandering to how roided up the Superfly was in 89-91. This match was truly all headlocks and long boring bearhugs. Finally the Barbarian wins and mercifully puts an end to this misery.
3) Tugboat defeated Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart) via disqualification at 6:22 when Dino Bravo interfered as Earthquake was tied in the ring ropes and Tugboat was attempting to attack Jimmy Hart on the ring apron
This is one of the highlights of this sad sack tape. I couldn’t find info on where it was taped, likely Springfield, MA, but who the fuck cares. I kind of enjoyed this bruising battle of behemoths. It’s hard hitting, with some cool moves thrown in, like Tugboat going for a dropkick. I actually laughed my butt off when of course Dino Bravo ran down and caused the DQ! LOL! Tugboat surprisingly clears the ring solo and celebrates his cheap victory.
Oh boy! It’s time for an LOD profile! Normally this would be pretty good, but given the matches picked, it wasn’t.
4) WWF World Champion Ultimate Warrior & the Legion of Doom defeated Demolition Axe, Smash, & Crush when Warrior pinned Smash with the shoulderblock / splash combo at 13:04 (9/21/90; Madison Square Garden)
Man, this is just a sad reminder on how they had completely given up on the Warrior. Why in the hell was he thrown into this feud between LOD and Demolition? A feud that bombed from the get-go thanks to Crush being involved. Is there even an LOD vs Ax & Smash match out there? I was at least hoping for something better since this was MSG and Ax was still involved, but nope, it was slow and plodding. After adding Crush, Demolition’s style changed drastically. No longer did they pummel and demolish their opponents. They resorted to cheap heel tag team tactics and a reliance on shit like chokes and illegal tags. That just totally wrecked this feud. And Crush sucked on the team, plain and simple. As always, Warrior and LOD were victorious, and this feud plods along for a couple more months.
5) The Legion of Doom defeated Demolition Smash & Crush (w/ Mr. Fuji) at 10:01 when Road Warrior Hawk pinned Smash following the clothesline off the top rope as Smash attempted a piledriver on Road Warrior Animal (11/20/90; Syracuse, NY)
Fucking hell! We just watched a shitty LOD vs Demolition match! What the hell! This was from a TV taping, and of course it was Smash and Crush in there for Demolition. This dragged and sucked because Crush couldn’t even execute a simple move like a bearhug at this time effectively. And what the fuck is up with bearhugs on this damn tape? At least LOD are winning their profile matches, unlike most other Coliseum profiles.
Next we get one of those goofy Lord Alfred Hayes ‘Call of the Action’ segments where he analyzes a jobber match. What’s interesting is that it’s a Shane Douglas squash match. Neat. I don’t remember seeing too many of those. Douglas seemed to be poised to get a minor push, but doesn’t last much past the 91 Rumble. Unusual that they brought him in without any real gimmick.
6) Paul Roma (w/ Hercules) pinned Marty Jannetty at 13:38 when Hercules swept Jannetty’s feet from under him and held the leg down during the cover after Jannetty attempted a slam (9/21/90; Madison Square Garden)
Oh man, from the same tour card as the six man tag. What’s the deal with all these tour card matches? Yet another slow paced match that just dragged forever. The Rockers-Power & Glory feud was pretty hot at SummerSlam, but fizzles out by Survivor Series 90. Shawn Michaels’ big return ended up being nothing to write home about. This goes on and on until shockingly Paul Roma pins Marty Jannetty! Never saw that one coming.
7) Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil) defeated the Big Bossman via disqualification at 10:59 when the Bossman brought Virgil into the ring and attacked both he and Dibiase (8/8/90; Providence, RI; Civic Center)
This was by far the best match on the tape and it was average at best. Dibiase’s feud with the Big Bossman was such a head scratcher, as it went absolutely nowhere and ended without any real explanation. It was a great setup pre Wrestlemania VI to turn the Bossman face and built over the following months, but then was just forgotten about by Summerslam when it should have at least been on the PPV. Instead Dibiase turns his attention to buying Sapphire for reasons also unexplained. The Big Bossman was on fire as a new face and would have, in my opinion, his best year in 91. Bossman brought a lot of intensity to his matches, but Dibiase kept the pace slow. Ted Dibiase inexplicably wins by DQ in a call that baffles both Sean Mooney and myself. Good match aside from the lame ass ending.
8) Jake Roberts defeated WWF IC Champion Mr. Perfect (w/ Bobby Heenan) via disqualification at 10:23 when Heenan prevented Roberts from executing the DDT (8/15/90; Utica, NY)
I was excited to see this rare singles match between Jake and Perfect. Some might call it methodical, most others, like myself, would call it downright boring. This dragged along at a snail’s pace. Lots of slow mat wrestling, without much effort put forth by either guy. Probably suffering the effects of last night’s hangover and four hours of a TV taping. Wouldn’t you know it, Jake the Snake wins by DQ. Heenan gets Perfect out of the ring before Roberts could unleash Damian. What a cool visual that would have been.
I was near tears with boredom by the time this tape wrapped up. It was a long, brutal watch. I remember seeing it once before, likely during a 92 sleepover, but lost interest right away and did other ridiculous shit while it was on.
the RepoDan Wrestling Institution 