This was a hilarious Coliseum Video that I’ve never seen before. I vividly remember this cassette always collecting dust on various video store shelves. As a kid, I never truly gave women’s wrestling a chance. It wasn’t for some sexist reason or anything; it was more to do with the fact that until the 2000s, the WWF just never really gave us a reason to care about the matches or characters, especially back in the 80s when the division mainly revolved around the beastly Fabulous Moolah. After the short hot period during the rock n’ wrestling era, women’s matches were rare on PPVs and non-existent on SNME or Superstars, so there just wasn’t much to be invested in.
Interestingly, from what I’ve read, the WWF was initially planning to release Royal Rumble 88 on Coliseum Video in this slot, but instead chose to replace it with this. They had even advertised the Royal Rumble release on another tape (originally called Battle Royal), but it never came to light.
The video was hosted by dirty old Mean Gene Okerlund, which just had to be a rib! Mean Gene was already salivating in the opening moments at the prospect of hosting a tape dedicated to the ladies of the WWF.
1) Spider Lady pinned WWF Women’s Champion Wendi Richter to win the title at 6:38 with a small package even though the champion clearly kicked out before 3; after the bout, Richter continued attacking the challenger and pulled her mask off to reveal her as the Fabulous Moolah, not realizing the match had ended and – once she did – she refused to give up the championship belt (11/25/85; Madison Square Garden)
The tape opens with the complete burial of Wendi Richter, which had happened three years earlier by this point. There was zero reason to include this, other than being petty. I reviewed this match in detail on a previous Coliseum release. It’s a surreal match and Richter clearly has no clue what the fuck is going on with that old bag Moolah.
Speaking of Moolah, she joins Mean Gene next to talk about her career. Was Moolah supposed to be a face at this time? She was on the face side of the women’s tag at Survivor Series 87, and Sherri was being presented as a heel, but Moolah still was booed out of the building. Even in these Mean Gene segments she comes across like a heel. Mean Gene talks about Moolah’s incredible career and plays some footage of her in a match in the 1950s, which Moolah declares was actually in the 70s lol.
2) Debbie Combs defeated WWF Women’s Champion the Fabulous Moolah via count-out at 8:49 after sending the champion into the steel ring post with an atomic drop on the floor (5/18/87; Madison Square Garden)
I find it hard to watch this Moolah stuff. By many accounts, she was a horrible person who did horrible things and ruined many lives and careers. It later came out that Moolah was taking a cut of the pay for a lot of the women that wrestled in the WWF in the 80s, among other alleged terrible things. Plus Moolah’s matches just fucking sucked. She completely ruined women’s wrestling in the WWF in the 80s.
As Mean Gene continues his interview with Moolah, suddenly “Peggy Sue” shows up!!! This was a HUGE LOL moment on this tape. I had forgot all about “Peggy Sue”‘ helping Honky Tonk Man in his feud with Brutus Beefcake at this time! What a memory! Mean Gene decides to get a little handsy with Peggy Sue, obviously ribbing Jimmy Hart. Y’know, this whole tape could be used as a #metoo case study.
3) WWF Women’s Tag Team Champions Judy Martin & Lelani Kai (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated the Jumping Bomb Angels at 13:59 when Kai scored the pin following a powerbomb from Martin (11/24/87; Madison Square Garden)
More Moolah bullshit crossed my mind here, as she sabotaged the careers of both of these teams, screwing them out of a planned match at Wrestlemania V and depriving American audiences of further awesomeness from the Angels. That aside, this was an excellent fucking match! The Garden crowd starts out quiet, but roars to life as the Angels deliver their explosive offense. This was a typically fantastic match between these two tag teams, who had excellent natural chemistry with each other. The Bomb Angels were so innovative and exciting, and kudos to Martin and Kai for working equally hard to make these matches special. At the start of 1988 it seemed like the women’s division was actually beginning to mean something again, but Moolah of course ruined that. Fantastic match with a great heel finish as the Glamour Girls retained the titles.
4) The Jumping Bomb Angels defeated WWF Women’s Tag Team Champions Lelani Kai & Judy Martin (w/ Jimmy Hart) in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls match at 13:56 to win the titles (Royal Rumble 88 – 1/24/88; Hamilton, Ontario)
“Peggy Sue” is going nuts before this match that her team was cheated, ranting and raving about the Jumping Bomb Angels. This excellent match is joined in progress. I’ve seen it a ton of times over the years, but it’s great to see again. It sure is weird that there was no Coliseum Video release of Rumble 88. Great match, with a hot finish. The Angels were over big in 88!
The NEW ladies champion Sensation Sherri comes out to join Mean Gene and Peggy Sue at this point and WOW Sherri looks amazing!! Holy crap!! Mean Gene’s tongue is hanging out as he’s all over the women’s champion. The interplay between Gene, Sherri, and Peggy Sue is absolutely hilarious, with Sue reminding Mean Gene he’s a married man. LOL imagine Mean Gene and Jerry Lawler on commentary together during the attitude era. But hoooo boy, Sherri looks phenomenal here.
5) Sherri Martel pinned WWF Women’s Champion the Fabulous Moolah to win the title at 7:56 by blocking an attempted slam into the ring and reversing it into a cradle (7/24/87; Houston, TX)
I think Moolah was still the heel and Sherri was the face here, but their roles would be reversed in the coming months, even though everyone continued to boo that old haggard beast. I’ve seen this match several times, but it’s always fun to see Sherri win the title. This was taped for Prime Time from a Houston tour card. Sherri does a credible job of wrestling Moolah, and takes a solid beating. The ladies exchange slams on the concrete floor and really lay into each other. Sherri wins with kind of a fluke roll up in a big upset and the crowd pops huge. Even on this fucking tape, they’re revising their history, pretending Moolah has held the belt for the last 40 years. Uhhh…. the first fucking match on this set showed her winning the title back from Richter.
Moolah shows up in the studio to confront Sherri and Peggy Sue gets involved. I laughed my ass off as Moolah rips the wig and scarf off to reveal JIMMY HART! What a surprise! Hart’s fucking hilarious, still doing the Peggy Sue voice and acting shocked and ranting and raving! This was great stuff!
6) WWF Women’s Champion Sherri Martel pinned the Fabulous Moolah at 6:47 after shoving the challenger out of the corner (8/28/87; Houston, TX)
This is pretty cool – a Sherri-Moolah rematch in Houston a month after the title change. They seemed to be attempting to do the face/heel switch at this point, but the crowd is booing both of them it seems. Sherri brought a lot of energy to the ring and is so damn enjoyable to watch. Truly one of the greats of the era and, I’d argue very underappreciated at the time. Sherri wins in a cheating away, but it’s more convincing this time.
Huge LOL to the further shenanigans back in the studio with Jimmy Hart. Mean Gene is in full perv mode here, making all kinds of cracks and openly leering down Sherri’s top. They were obviously playing it for laughs as Sherri is teasing coming on to Mean Gene. This stuff is so campy it’s great!
7) WWF Women’s Champion Sensational Sherri pinned Desiree Peterson at 7:29 by reversing Peterson’s Irish whip and throwing her down by the hair (4/25/88; Madison Square Garden)
Desiree Peterson is from Edmonton, Alberta apparently. I don’t know much about these stars from the later 80s. I’m kind of fascinated to look up the history of some of these other ladies and check out their matches. Sherri has a lot of trouble with her top at the start of the match, as the top strap seems to have broken apart. The first couple minutes of the match are the ref and her trying to fix her outfit while she yells at the crowd to shut up. The match was quite basic, but damn, I enjoy watching Sherri. I also appreciate how these ladies worked a harder, more serious wrestling style at this point, which women’s wrestling has thankfully gone back to in recent years. Sherri oddly wins with a hair toss, and retains her title.
Closing comments from Mean Gene, who looks like a Cheshire cat, Sherri, and Jimmy Hart conclude this wacky and entertaining tape!
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