Continuing on with more 1980s WWF action, I wanted to re-watch one of the Coliseum Videos that I’ve seen the most, Even More Unusual Matches. This is a hugely memorable tape for me, as I found a copy at the flea market in the late 90s, albeit with no cover or case. It was still an actual, real Coliseum Video though, which seemed so rare to own at the time. I watched the shit out of this tape and love all the matches on here. It’s from that sweet first half of 87 era, with some late 86 mixed in.
The horrendous, yet memory duo of Craig DeGeorge and Johnny V host this tape and suck as per usual. I was reading up on DeGeorge, who was super young here, and how he’s had a lengthy and successful broadcast career in pro sports. V is his usual loudmouth self, and funny enough, I kind of enjoy him more now that I’m older. I still long for Gorilla Monsoon hosting these things.
The gimmick of this tape is Even More Unusual Matches, so we get all kinds of stipulations and wacky stuff on here. I just ate this all up when I was younger, and especially in the late 90s, as this was a close to a hardcore wrestling tape as the WWF put out in the 80s, so I would constantly watch these brawls.
1) Bruno Sammartino defeated WWF IC Champion Randy Savage via disqualification in a lumberjack match at 4:14 when King Kong Bundy interfered and attacked the challenger as Sammartino had Savage caught in the bearhug; after the bout, Sammartino and Ricky Steamboat were the sole survivors of a brawl involving all of the lumberjacks; lumberjacks included: Ricky Steamboat, Frenchy Martin, Dino Bravo, SD Jones, Koko B. Ware, Haku, King Kong Bundy, Sika, and several others (2/7/87; Boston Garden)
What a crazy match to kick things off with! The Savage-Sammartino mini feud is a really fun highlight of early 87, being featured on a number of these tapes. Bruno is still in phenomenal shape, despite looking like a grandpa, and him and Savage have an insane brawl to start. So much excitement for Ricky Steamboat being one of the lumberjacks, as he desperately wants to get a piece of the Macho Man. On the heel side of things, King Kong Bundy is directing traffic and getting his shots in on Bruno. Despite being under 5 minutes, this is great, just all action. Bundy ends up causing the DQ by jumping Bruno from behind and then things spiral out of control, with Steamboat finally almost getting a hold of Savage while the fans are losing their minds! Fantastic stuff!
2) The Islanders won a $50,000 tag team battle royal by last eliminating King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd at 10:20; other teams included the Moondogs, SD Jones & Mike Rotundo, Chief Jay Strongbow & Steve Gatorwolf, WWF Tag Team Champions Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart, B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell, the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff, Big & Super Machine, Jacques & Raymond Rougeau, and Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake (10/19/86; Madison Square Garden)
Man I love battle royals! Love seeing all these teams and the couple makeshift teams rounding things out. Just takes me right back to renting these tapes as a kid and doing things like dumping out my LJN wrestlers and having a battle royal while watching along on TV. Huge memories! The jobber teams get dumped early, as Bundy and Studd dominate this thing. Of course they bungle things in the end and run into each other, allowing the Islanders to pick up the win. It always seemed like the good guy Islanders were on the verge of a push, but they never did much, other than picking up the odd win on house shows such as this. Really fun to see all these classic 80s teams in this one.
3) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned King Harley Race (w/ Bobby Heenan) in a Texas Death Match at 9:56 after hitting him with the title belt after Race accidentally delivered a diving headubtt onto the belt (6/14/87; Madison Square Garden)
This was as hardcore as the WWF would get in the late 80s, before really santizing the product in 1988. This still had some of the old territorial feel like in the early months of Hogan’s reign back in 84. King Harley Race seemed to have a lot of matches against the Hulkster in 87 and into 88, and as a kid, I never realized what a huge dream match this would have been considered, with the former NWA heavyweight champion in there. As a kid, I always thought of the King as a grizzled old goofball, not realizing what a legend he was. This match shows some of that old NWA fire, as Race and the Hulkster brawl all around ringside in MSG. It gives the match such a chaotic feel, especially with the rabid fans going crazy and all of the officials and such scattering around ringside. They get in some shots with the heavily padded MSG chairs, which Race and Hogan sell like death and the crowd goes nuts for. Race wears down the Hulkster in the ring, hitting his sweet gutwrench suplex for a near fall. Harley Race also takes all kinds of comedy bumps during the match, like his slow falling headbutt during the finish. Hogan moves and Race goes face first into the title. Hogan smashes him in the head with the belt and picks up the ‘lucky’ win. Exciting ‘hardcore’ match for the era.
4) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned King Harley Race (w/ Bobby Heenan) in a Texas Death Match at 9:46 after hitting him with the title belt after Race accidentally delivered a diving headubtt onto the belt (6/6/87; Boston Garden)
Bizarrely, they jump right into the “rematch,” which actually took place earlier than the preceding MSG match. I guess pre internet, the majority of fans wouldn’t know this little detail. This match is nearly identical to the MSG one, yet seems a lot better and more intense. Hogan looked much more vicious in this match too. So odd though that they would place these matches back to back, as it kind of gives away the illusion, with Hogan and Race working in the same moves and spots and following the same formula. If it was later on the tape that would make somewhat more sense. That was an “even more unusual” decision by Coliseum Video, har har. Anyway, I liked this Texas Death match in Boston better and the finish seemed more crisp too. Fun to see Hogan wrestling in different gear for both of these matches!
5) Hercules pinned Billy Jack Haynes in a chain match at 8:45 by tying Haynes’ legs with the chain and putting his own feet on the ropes for leverage (6/1/87; Kitchener, Ontario)
The WWF would bizarrely tape house shows in small Ontario hockey arenas and feature some of these matches on Prime Time. I don’t get it at all. Still, it’s fun to see some matches from these shows pop up on random Coliseum Vids, giving us something unique. I like the look of the small arena in Kitchener, which clearly wasn’t very full. This match is slow and plodding, but the kids and 80s metal geeks in the crowd sure love it. It’s just Hercules and Haynes slowly punching each other in the head with the chain, wandering in and out of the ring, and doing some basic wear down holds. Hey, given the schedule of the 80s, I don’t blame them for doing the bare minimum. But I do blame the goofs from Coliseum Video for choosing stuff like this. Haynes bleeds profusely and seems to be on his way to making a big comeback, but Herc wraps up his legs with the chain and cheats by putting his own feet on the ropes. Ehh, whatever, this sucked, but was something unique and different.
6) WWF Women’s Tag Team Champions Lelani Kai & Judy Martin defeated Penny Mitchell & Candice Pardue at around 9:25 following a powerbomb by Martin behind the referee’s back (11/1/86; Boston Garden)
Wow, the future Glamour Girls are teaming up here in late 86. All of the ladies worked hard in this match and it was a fairly hard hitting battle. Given how little the WWF cared about their women’s division, at least they include a bunch of these matches on various videos. The crowd doesn’t give a shit, which kind of sucks the life out of a good battle. The finish is absolutely insane though, as Judy Martin hits a fucking powerbomb for the win! Holy shit! I rewound the finish a bunch of times because I couldn’t believe it. And it was a great looking powerbomb too! Wow!
7) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Billy Jack Haynes defeated Danny Davis & WWF Tag Team Champions the Hart Foundation (w/ Jimmy Hart) in a handicap match at around 9:15 when Hogan pinned Jim Neidhart with the legdrop (4/23/87; Worcester, MA)
Look at this fucking insanity!! I love everything about this weird ass match! I can’t believe Billy Jobber Haynes was in two matches on this tape, but it’s even more mind blowing that he’s teaming with the Hulkster against the Hart Foundation and Dangerous Fucking Danny Davis! Unreal!!! This was all kinds of great, and another extremely rare opportunity to see Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart face off in the WWF. Unfortunately they only lock up a couple of times, as it’s mainly the Anvil working this one. Danny Davis is fucking hilarious as a shit-eating heel, and the crowd wants to see Hogan fuck him up real bad. Haynes gets worked over through most of this, until making the super tag to the Hulkster who cleans house and puts the Anvil away with the legdrop. He clears Davis out of the ring post match. Man! How awesome would a Hulk Hogan-Danny Davis match have been?!
8) Blackjack Mulligan won a bunkhouse battle royal by last eliminating King Kong Bundy; other participants included Mike Rotundo, Don Muraco, Lanny Poffo, Dick Slater, Sika, Hillbilly Jim, Dan Spivey, Jim Neidhart, Mr. Fuji, Brutus Beefcake, Greg Valentine, the Islanders, Cpl. Kirchner, Pete Doherty, Scotty McGee, Jimmy Jack Funk, and Bob Orton Jr. (1/3/87; Boston Garden)
Another HUGE memory! I loved this wacky “come dressed as you are” bunkhouse battle royal, complete with Lanny Poffo in a suit of armor. There was a classic WWF Magazine story about a different one of these battle royals, where Poffo was wearing an even more classic looking suit of armor, but I’ve never come across video of it. This was all kinds of crazy nonsense and the type of 80s WWF crap I just love. Stupidly, the battle royal boils down to that annoying fucking twat Pete Doherty, King Kong Bundy, and Blackjack Mulligan, with Doherty getting involved in Bundy’s elimination. Why did they push that asshole Doherty always on these Boston cards? No one outside of the area could give less of a shit. Ugh, still some of the WWF’s territorial residue. Thankfully Mulligan wins, which makes sense given his roughhouse character.
9) Koko Kid & Little Louie defeated Billy the Kid & Little John in a midgets tag team match when Koko got the pinfall with a leg roll up (2/2/76; Madison Square Garden)
And the tape concludes with this nonsense from the 70s. Yeah, no. Fast forward.
Overall this is an EXCELLENT Coliseum Video, filled with all kinds of unique matches, TWO battle royals, and THREE Hulk Hogan matches! Exactly the type of stuff I love from the WWF in the 80s.
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