WWF Barcelona, Spain 1991

WWF @ Barcelona, Spain
Palau Sant Jordi
October 5, 1991

Over the Christmas break, instead of watching the World Jrs or the Spengler BS tournament (yeah I know it’s goofy and awesome, but it sure is pointless as you rightly pointed out lol), I caught up on a lot of late 1991 WWF action. I simply love this period, beginning around August 91 and on. It’s when my fandom really started going through the roof, leading into my full blown fanaticism in 92 and 93.

I love the dark angles from this time and the shift away from Hulkamania. We start to see some great workrate thanks to workhorses like Savage, Flair, and Bret, and even longtime vets like Piper, Jake the Snake, and Ted Dibiase were refreshed and bringing it. We get to see pure evil in the form of the Undertaker and Roberts, and the transition of Sid Justice into a bonafide monster (who unfortunately doesn’t last). It was an exciting time that truly cemented my fandom after being a so/so fan in 90 and early 91.

I have a bunch of weird titles in my collection, stuff I downloaded years ago and completely forgot about, including this unique gem. Before the internet, I never really knew much about these Europe only events. Turns out that there was quite a few of them, especially in the UK, like the 89 and 91 specials I reviewed.

Here we get a special one hour presentation featuring matches from a televised tour card in Barcelona, from October 91. It was only shown in Spain, so we get hilarious Spanish commentary and all the wrestlers name keys are in Spanish. A bunch of matches are obviously left off of this release, but a few were released on various other Coliseum Videos, so I’ll be seeing them eventually.

The Barcelona fans are RED HOT for all the good guys on this show. The atmosphere is crazy, and people are jumping up and down and going bananas for the most basic of moves. And the arena is packed, with nearly 20,000 fans. These overseas tours no doubt helped saved the WWF’s ass during this down era.

1) The Rockers defeated Paul Roma & Hercules at 10:54 when Michaels pinned Roma with a roll up after Hercules accidentally hit his own partner with the steel chain

Great match to kick things off! As I was joking about in my texts, this is really a match between the Rockeros and Poder & Gloria LOL! This European tour is sadly the end of Power & Glory. The front office told the team they were going to be split up after the tour and had no plans for them. Paul Roma was pissed off and quit the WWF after the last show in Paris, never to return. Hercules continued along as a singles jobber to the stars until he was dumped in early 92. It’s really unfortunate, as they were one of the best teams of 1990-91, having great matches with the Rockers, Harts, and LOD. Paul Roma pulls no punches in his shoot interviews about the team, saying they deserved so much more and I agree. He talks about him and Herc being forced to wrestle hurt at Mania VII against the LOD and lose to them in a minute. He talks about the way they dumped Hercules on his ass despite his years of being on top of the cards and previously main eventing against Hulk Hogan. Check out his shoots on YouTube sometime, fascinating stuff. This match is fantastic, all action from bell to bell, and the fans are INSANE. The Rockeros are getting Hogan-level pops from the crowd and the building comes unglued when the Rockers win in the end.

2) The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated the Big Bossman via count-out at 9:17 when the Bossman chased Hart up the aisle after hitting the sidewalk slam on the Mountie

I loved this Mountie-Bossman feud, and their Jailhouse Match was one of the highlights of SummerSlam. Jacques Rougeau did a phenomenal job portraying the over-the-top Mountie, and like a lot of gimmick wrestlers, could back it up in the ring. Highly entertaining. Bossman is fired up and we get a similar match to SummerSlam. Lots of stalling and cheating by the Mountie, with the Bossman getting some heavy shots in. The finish sucks big though and makes no sense, as the Bossman has the Mountie near defeat, but decides to jump to the floor and chase around Jimmy Hart until he’s counted out. Why?? That makes no sense!

3) Davey Boy Smith (w/ Andre the Giant) pinned Earthquake with a powerslam at 8:15 after Andre hit Earthquake with one of his crutches

Here’s a unique match! Can’t recall ever seeing a Bulldog-Earthquake match before, or should I say Bulldog vs Terremondo LOL. The big attraction though is Andre the Giant on the floor, still feuding with Earthquake from earlier in the year. Despite his fragile state and limited mobility, Andre is still an intimidating presence. We get a basic, fairly slow power match. The good stuff comes at the end when Quake sneak attacks Andre on the floor, then sets up the Bulldog for the vertical splash. As he bounces off the ropes, Andre nails him with the crutch and Bulldog impressively powerslams him for the win.

4) Tito Santana pinned the Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) at 13:53 after escaping from the bodybag, hitting three piledrivers, stealing the urn from Bearer, and hitting Taker with it

HOLY… FUCKING… SHIT!!! I could not believe my eyes when I saw this insane finish. YES, you read that result correctly! Going into this card I had no idea this was the main event, I thought it would be a regular 91 showcase match for the Undertaker. I was even thinking this would have been a good match at Wrestlemania VII. Santana was weeks away from debuting his new El Matador gimmick and had been nothing but a jobber to the stars for the whole year. We got some spirited back and forth action and then the Undertaker slowed things down with methodical chokes and offense. Things get weird when the ref gets knocked out and Undertaker decides to stuff Tito into a bodybag. Tito manages to escape the bodybag, plant the Undertaker with THREE PILEDRIVERS and smashes him with the urn as the ref comes to and counts to 3. WHAT THE FUCK!?!? The Undertaker lost in the middle of the ring to Tito F’N Santana!!!!!! Weeks before winning the HT belt!!! No wonder this was never shown in the States! The fans in Barcelona are losing their minds for Tito, who’s from Texas, not even a Spanish country!!! Tito cuts a Spanish promo after the match that sends the fans into a frenzy and I’m left utterly speechless. Holy shit, what a weird surprise on this video!!

At 1 hour, this event zoomed by. The atmosphere and matches made this a really fun watch. I love discovering strange lost gems like this!

Here’s the other matches from the tour card. A few of these I’ll be seeing when watching future Coliseum Videos:

Roddy Piper pinned the Barbarian with a sunset flip at 6:31
Typhoon (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Jim Duggan via disqualification at 8:43 when Duggan used his 2×4 as a weapon; late in the bout, Typhoon tried to use the weapon behind the referee’s back but was stopped by Duggan
WWF Tag Team Champions the Legion of Doom defeated the Nasty Boys (w/ Jimmy Hart) at 11:40 when Road Warrior Hawk pinned Jerry Saggs with the clothesline off the top as Saggs attempted a piledriver to Road Warrior Animal
Ric Flair pinned Kerry Von Erich at 15:15 after knocking Von Erich down with a shoulder through the ropes as he stood on the apron and then sliding in the ring and putting his feet on the ropes for leverage during the cover