WWF World Tour 91

I watched a ton of wrestling while staying out in Pinawa last week, as has been the tradition of the last few summers. I was really looking forward to digging into these 91/early 92 Coliseum Vids. So many huge memories associated with these tapes!

This Coliseum Vid is a pretty huge memory. I purchased this tape along with World Tour 92 used out of a bin at some classic video store, like TVS or Home Movie Rentals, sometime in the late 90s. Despite being two of the rare actual Coliseum Vids I owned, I never give either tape much of a chance. I liked World Tour 92 a lot better, and I don’t think I ever even watched all of World Tour 91. I remember thinking the tape would be full of nothing but boring tour card matches (so why the fuck did I even buy it lol). Later in the 90s I ended up giving my copy of World Tour 91 to Matt. What a weird personal history I have with this tape!

So finally after all these years I watched this whole thing and was quite surprised that the majority of the matches are from regular US TV tapings. Not much of a ‘world tour’ after all lol. Turns out I missed seeing some pretty interesting stuff.

Lord Alfred is the host of the tape, and he’s taking the train across England presumably, but I wasn’t paying much attention to his boring drivel. Late in the tape we get a surprisingly funny and ridiculous segment where Lord Alfred tries to teach mealtime etiquette to Sensational Sherri and the Brooklyn Brawler. This goes predictably awry quick for Alfred, but I was laughing through it. Lots of great one liners and over-the-top ridiculousness.

1) Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty (w/ Andre the Giant) defeated the Orient Express (w/ Mr. Fuji) at 15:46 when Jannetty pinned Kato with a double flying fistdrop off the top after Andre hit Kato with Fuji’s cane (UK Rampage ’91 – 4/24/91; London Arena)

This match was taken from the UK Rampage 91 event that I watched and reviewed last summer, so I skipped over it. It’s the one match I remember best from my original viewing of this tape. I guess I considered it a “boring tour card” match back then lol.

2) Jim Neidhart pinned the Warlord with a roll up at 13:31 after Warlord hit the turnbuckle (UK Rampage ’91 – 4/24/91; London Arena)

Also pilfered from the UK Rampage 91 event. Why didn’t they just release that whole event in the US instead of a handful of matches scattered over these Coliseum Vids? Next!

3) Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth) pinned Rick Martel at 6:01 with the flying elbow drop after executing a piledriver on the floor; this was deemed Savage’s final bout as he had signed for it prior to losing the career match at WrestleMania VII (3/26/91; Las Vegas, NV)

Wow! So this is super rare and interesting! This is a rare Macho Man face match from the tapings immediately after Wrestlemania VII. Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes hype it up that Savage signed for this match in advance of his retirement match (why in the hell would he be signed for match against the Model?!) and he’s fulfilling his contractual obligations. Savage enters with Miss F’N Elizabeth by his side to a massive pop! This was confusing; did all these fans at the Vegas TV taping see Wrestlemania VII? Was there a promo earlier in the night with Savage putting him over as a face? Did people just cheer him cause of Miss Elizabeth? It’s nuts, the guy was a top heel just days before this TV taping. So weird. The match itself is bananas, as Savage really takes it to Martel. It’s quite an intense back and forth battle. Martel controls at points, but Savage fights back hard. The conclusion is pretty crazy, as Savage first piledrives Martel on the floor, then finishes him off with the big elbow! What an awesome surprise this match turned out to be.

4) Ted Dibiase (w/ Sensational Sherri) defeated Roddy Piper via disqualification at 6:45 when Piper hit Dibiase, Sherri, and the referee with his crutch, which Dibiase brought to the ring (4/16/91; Cedar Rapids, IA)

Man, finally. I’ve been really wanting to see Dibiase and Piper square off since diving into 91 last year. It’s one of those feuds that just never went anywhere. Completely forgotten about by the fall. They were even on opposing Survivor Series teams, but their recent history wasn’t even acknowledged. It’s like the company hit reset after summer. This match was great, a total neeeyah brawl like all of Piper’s matches from this era. Piper’s still selling the hurt knee from Mania VII, and Dibiase comes down with a crutch, taunting him. Dibiase takes out Piper’s knee with the crutch early and goes to work, focusing on Piper’s bum knee. Piper sways the tide with his usual scrappy brawling and of course Sherri soon finds herself in the ring, and on the receiving end of a kiss from Piper. Never get tired of that gag. Dibiase controls, still focusing on the knee and Piper fights back. The crutch ends up in the ring thanks to Dibiase and Piper goes bananas with it, hitting Dibiase, Sherri on the backside, and finally the ref, earning the DQ. This wasn’t a classic or technical masterpiece, but I sure enjoyed finally seeing a Dibiase-Piper match.

5) Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Jake Roberts via disqualification at 7:36 when Roberts took Lucifer out of the bag after preventing Earthquake from hitting the sit-down splash on the snake (4/16/91; Cedar Rapids, IA)

Talk about feuds that went nowhere. For sure I thought this one was pegged for SummerSlam until they just dropped it with no explanation. It’s like there really needed to be a PPV somewhere between Mania and Slam to cover a lot of these secondary feuds. I’ve gone on about this feud at length in my past 91 reviews. This match was no different, as Quake pretty much steamrolls the Snake, who gets sporadic offense. Man was Jake looking crappy in the ring at this point. The heel turn was sorely needed. Quake wins by DQ after Jake saves his new snake from Quake and takes it out of the bag. Lame ending to a lame match in a lame feud. Too bad.

6) WWF IC Champion Mr. Perfect defeated Shawn Michaels via disqualification at 10:24 when the Big Bossman interfered and hit the champion as Michaels was caught in the Perfect Plex (3/11/91; Pensacola, FL)

This was taken from the Stars & Stripes Forever pre-Mania VII special. Even though I reviewed it not too long ago I watched it again because it was a wild match. Mooney and Lord Alfred provide new commentary and don’t even bother acknowledging that this was from a past show. Still a wild and crazy hidden gem, super enjoyable to watch again.

7) Kendo Nagasaki pinned Jim Duggan at 2:50 with a knee to the midsection and kick to the head (3/30/91; Tokyo Dome)

What in the fuck was this shit? Duggan enters the Tokyo Dome with the US flag, chanting USA and is still big time over. He gets the crowd going with big ‘Hoooooooo’ chants. All well and good. The match gets going and it’s a stiff brawl, with Duggan just dominating Nagasaki. In fact, it’s all Duggan on offense. Out of nowhere, Kendo scores a knee to the stomach, then catches Duggan with a kick to the head and pins him. What in the fuck just happened? Was this a fucked up finish? I didn’t get this at all. And who in their right mind saw this mess as something fit for release on a Coliseum Video? What a disaster.

8) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & the Ultimate Warrior defeated Sgt. Slaughter, Gen. Adnan, & the Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) in a handicap match at 9:45 when Hogan pinned Adnan after Slaughter accidentally clotheslined his partner (3/26/91; Las Vegas, NV)

Interestingly this match is taped two days after Mania VII, well before the Warrior-Undertaker feud began, and wayyy before Hogan’s own issue with the Undertaker. I’ll forever stand by the point that the main event of SummerSlam 91 should have been Hogan & Warrior vs Slaughter & Undertaker. That should have been the real Match Made in Hell. I’ll never understand why they believed that those fucking old ass sacks of shit Adnan and Mustafa deserved to be in there. Speaking of Adnan, he adds fuck all to this match, except for his sole purpose – to eat the pin at the end. This match, while short, is fun while it lasts. It’s all over the place, but has some great action. Plus it’s cool to just see what could (and should) have been the main event of SummerSlam. The ending is weak as shit, as Warrior and Taker battle back to the dressing and Slaughter accidentally hits Adnan with the world’s weakest clothesline, allowing Hogan to toss Slaughter and just lay on Adnan for the pin. Not even the big legdrop? Come on Hulkster! Talk about lazy.

We conclude with Lord Alfred now in front of a green screen… err… London, bidding us ‘cheerio’. LOL What a fun and fascinating tape this turned out to be!