WWF Off The Top Rope

Over the weekend I had the urge to pull a few mid 90s Coliseum Videos off of the shelf, starting with this memory – Off The Top Rope. In late 1995 the WWF started advertising a new budget line of 60-minute tapes, similar to the ones released just a couple years earlier. These new releases all focused on the latter half of 94, which is an era of questionable quality to say the least.

I received a couple of these tapes for Christmas 95 and was elated to have a few new Coliseum titles of my very own. It was still so rare to actually own legitimate tapes, so it was a tremendous surprise to find these under the tree on Christmas morning. I have no memory of where my mom would have picked these up from. Sears, maybe? Out of a catalog? Maybe even Walmart, which was still new in town at the time. Regardless, I was stoked to have some new wrestling tapes. Objectively, these tapes suck, with subpar Raw matches and a few ‘exclusives’ but that did not deter me from watching them over and over again. Man, in these pre-internet times, I’d happily throw this shit in and watch it to the point where the tape is now making horrible squealing noises.

WWF The Hart Foundation

I felt like watching a Coliseum classic the other week and decided to check out one I hadn’t seen in many years, that being this tape exclusively on the Hart Foundation. Released later in 1987, this captures the rise of Harts to tag team champions, the inclusion of Dangerous Danny Davis into the group, and most memorably, and their victory at Wrestlemania III.

This tape is a pretty big memory. I was a fan of the Harts even when they were bad guys and absolutely loved their LJN figures. I became a massive fan in the spring of 88 when they turned good and began feuding with Jimmy Hart. I probably first rented this tape right around this face turn, because I hated seeing Danny Davis with them. I remember renting it a couple times as kid, but like a lot of ancient Coliseum vids, this one disappeared from rental shops in the early 90s. I finally came across it again in the early 2000s when I discovered a weird local north end shop with a dusty and ancient Coliseum vids section. This was one of the first tapes I rented and copied from that store. It was awesome seeing it again! Even all these years later, I still remember it so well, and it’s still a fantastic release.

WWF Bloopers, Bleeps, & Bodyslams

Another classic tape that I rented a few times in junior high school. I remember first renting this over summer holidays between grade 7 and 8, and in my mind, these 94 Coliseum Videos were quite rare. I definitely remember a lot of the very early 90s Coliseum Videos sitting on video store shelves deep into the decade, but these mid period tapes seemed to disappear pretty quickly. With the downturn in wrestling in the 90s, these probably were just taking up shelf space for the most part, and stores dumped them off quick.

Hillbilly Jim is the host of this tape for whatever fucking reason! I remember reading that he worked in the video division of the WWF for years after he retired from the ring. He’s working out in the gym at Titan Towers and he promises us a good ol’ fashion side splitting time. All of the Hillbilly segments just sucked and he was fucking annoying whenever he was on screen.

WWF WrestleFest 1994

Here’s another classic Coliseum Video that I clearly remember renting in junior high school when it was first released. The 94 era of Coliseum Videos was surprisingly really good, and the match quality is excellent. This is easily one of the best releases for matches alone. Because of the dip in popularity of wrestling in the mid 90s, a lot of these tapes didn’t seem to last long on rental shelves and would often disappear a year or so later. It was usually the PPVs that would stick around the local video stores for years and years. I had always remembered this tape as being great and it was an early eBay purchase I made in the 00s. It has been forever since I last watched and was excited to see if it was as good as I remembered.

Macho Man Randy Savage is hosting this tape presumably from his home closet, where he’s surrounded by all his ring entrance attire. He occasionally gives some sort of fashion critique in between matches, but it’s mostly rambly nonsense “Ooooh yeah, IRS yeahhh, wearing suspenders, ooooohhh I don’t know, yeahhh….” They don’t bother playing up the Wrestlefest concept at all, much like the 93 tape.

1) Randy Savage pinned Rick Martel at 9:21 with a bodyslam and the flying elbowsmash after Martel hit the ringpost shoulder-first (1/12/94; Fayetteville, NC)

Great match to kick things off. Martel’s return in fall 93 was excellent and he was putting on great matches until he left the company again in the spring of 94. Over time, I’ve hugely come to appreciate the Model’s matches and what a fantastic worker he was. Him and Savage are really battling it out early on, with Martel even catching Savage with a punch to the face, causing swelling under his eye. Gorilla Monsoon and Stan Lane are on the call for most of the matches, which was kind of disappointing, as I was hoping for a tape full of Monsoon and Polo again. Really good pace to this match overall, and Savage comes back and finishes Martel off clean with the big elbow. Damn, Savage was still so fucking great in early 94, really wish they would have kept him hot after the Crush feud ended at Mania X.

2) WWF Tag Team Champions Marty Jannetty & the 1-2-3 Kid defeated the Headshrinkers (w/ Afa) via reverse decision; the challengers originally won the match and the titles at 10:17 when Samu pinned the Kid after Afa interfered and dropped the Kid with a Samoan Drop but referee Mike Chioda came out, told referee Bill Alphonso what happened, and the champions were declared the winners (1/11/94; Florence, SC)

Here’s a super rarity! This is the ONLY tag team title defense for Jannetty and the Kid during their brief title reign. They didn’t even defend the titles on house shows. They had won the titles in a surprise change the day before this taping on Raw and would lose the belts back a week later. On top of that, this match is pretty great. A high energy and intense tag team match, with both teams looking good. The Shrinkers were just murdering the Kid at points, and he could take a great beating. The ending of the match is all kinds of nuts as AFA gets in the ring while the ref is distracted and works over the Kid, even planting him with a Samoan drop, and the Headsrinkers seemingly win the titles. Another ref runs down to overturn this and they just randomly award the match to the Kid and Jannetty. What a great match and weird rarity.

As hyped on the cover for this tape, Men on a Mission come out to do the Wrestlefest Rap! I laughed my butt off at this nonsense, and Oscar was as unintelligible as always, but damn catchy nonetheless!

3) The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) pinned Adam Bomb (w/ Johnny Polo) at 2:42 with a chokeslam, just as Polo climbed into the ring in an attempt to break the cover (9/28/93; Worcester, MA)

Interesting that this quickie was from fall 93. It was a solid big man battle, and was pretty good even though it was super short. They criminally underutilized Bomb, and I was pondering the possibility that this could have been the match for SummerSlam 93. Rather than the useless Mr. Hughes, they could have debuted Bomb with Wippleman, since they ended up together anyway, and Bomb could have beaten down the Undertaker and Paul Bearer and stolen the urn. Would have lead to a far better match then the useless RIP match. Anyway, Undertaker puts him away easy with the chokeslam. Man, Bomb was jobbing hard on a lot of these Coliseum Videos.

4) Bret & Owen Hart fought Rick & Scott Steiner to a double count-out at 24:55 when, after Bret and Rick were knocked to the floor, Scott and Owen came off the top onto their opponents on the floor; after the bout, the fight was broken up by referees until Scott grabbed a mic and said the Steiners came here to beat the Harts and challenged them to get back in the ring; moments later, after the fight was again broken up, the four men shook hands and hugged out of respect (1/11/94; Florence, SC)

THIS is the five-star hidden classic that this Coliseum Video is best known for. I’ve watched this match a ton of times but it’s always amazing. I last reviewed this match in the Hart & Soul DVD collection and I echo all those same thoughts today. I feel this match somehow even gets better and better as time goes on. If they had a December PPV back in 93, this definitely should have been a featured match and would have been fondly remembered as one of the greatest PPV matches of the early 90s. It’s a true classic that was buried on this tape instead. Both teams are going all out and hitting super hard, just murdering each other with really stiff shots and wrestling holds. I wonder if there was a little bit of a shoot aspect to this one, as it did involve two ultra-competitive sets of brothers? I can’t say enough great things about the match itself, and the fun schmozz that it boils down to in the end. Fucking fantastic – this is my favorite kind of pro wrestling.

5) WWF World Champion Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Mr. Perfect at 7:48 with a splash in the corner, thrust to the throat, and the Bonzai Drop after Fuji distracted the challenger by grabbing his foot from the floor (10/19/93; Glens Falls, NY)

Wow, another crazy rarity on this tape, from the tail end of Mr. Perfect’s comeback face run. He’d be gone from the WWF 10 days later, a mystery that bugged me for years after. Super cool to see Perfect getting a heavyweight title shot against Yokozuna, who just dominates the majority of the match. It’s pretty slow paced, but I loved seeing Perfect trying all kinds of desperation tactics to wrest the title. Surprisingly, Yoko wins mostly clean, squashing Perfect with the banzai drop after some light interference from Fuji.

6) Razor Ramon defeated WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel) via disqualification at 13:07 when referee Tim White saw Diesel pulled the champion out of the ring as the challenger covered Michaels after hitting the Razor’s Edge (9/1/93; Saginaw, MI)

Yet another great match and another fun rarity on a tape full of them! This match was taped just prior to Michaels either quitting or being suspended from the WWF, leading to the IC title being held up and the awesome battle royal on Raw. Razor Ramon was firmly in the IC title picture and was massively over as a face. Fans were just going bananas seeing him lay into Michaels in this match. And man, what a fucking awesome match this was. Michaels and Ramon had crazy great chemistry in the ring! I’m absolutely blown away by how great all their 93/94 matches are; whether in singles or tags, they always put on a classic. They also smartly used Diesel at this time, and he was paying dividends as Shawn’s bodyguard. The fans here in Saginaw were losing their shit thinking Razor would be taking the title, only for Diesel to save the champ in a typically convoluted ending. Really fun match.

6) Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) pinned Bret Hart at 10:40 when Owen Hart interfered as Diesel was caught in the Sharpshooter and referee Earl Hebner was distracted by Shawn Michaels inside the ring and punched Bret in the face before running backstage (2/22/94; Bethlehem, PA)

Speaking of Diesel, this tape concludes with a really hard hitting battle between Diesel and the WWF champion, Bret Hart, months before their standout King of the Ring battle. This is another lost classic on a tape full of them, as Bret was one of Diesel’s best opponents. He really knew how to get the most out the big guy and sold his ass off for Diesel’s punishing offense. I think Bret deserves a ton of credit for legitimizing Diesel in 94 and really helped put him on the map. Super good match to end a tape full of them! Damn, this Coliseum Video is EXCELLENT! Easily one of the best of all time.

WWF Hulkamania 2

I had a craving for some classic mid 80s era Hulkamania the other week, and after browsing through the site, realized that I have never reviewed this legendary tape. Hulkamania 2 is a MASSIVE memory! I rented this tape a ton of times as a little Hulkamaniac and just loved it. It was definitely my favorite of the early Hulkamania tapes and remained a go-to rental well into the early 90s.

Hosted by none other than Mean Gene Okerlund, this tape mainly follows the Hulkster’s amazing 1986 year, centered around the huge split with Paul Orndorff. Man did I love that angle! I have that whole section of this tape burned in my memory. One of the WWF’s greatest heel turns of all time. All Hogan segments and matches were just magical during these years, and he was really hitting his stride at this point. His matches felt like a true spectacle, as the fans and atmosphere in every arena was just electric. Having watched Hulkamania 5 and 6 a couple months ago, it’s interesting to note how different Hogan matches of the mid 80s were. They were a lot less formulaic and were usually wild brawls. Hogan used all kinds of different finishes, and it wasn’t always just the standard big boot/leg drop combo.

1) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Hillbilly Jim defeated Big John Studd & King Kong Bundy (w/ Bobby Heenan) via disqualification when Heenan interfered at around the 12-minute mark and kicked Hogan as Hogan had Studd covered following the legdrop (4/22/86; Madison Square Garden)

The tape kicks off in the Mecca of mid 80s Hulkamania, that of course being MSG. It’s interesting to see Hogan tag up with Hillbilly Jim, considering their angle together was over a year old at this point. Hogan endlessly battled Bundy and Studd during these years, and the matches were usually pretty gonzo. The crowd in MSG is just molten for everything in this one, as the Hogan and Bundy feud was still fresh. The wrestling is objectively shitty, but fuck it, it was awesome watching these huge hosses just throw down. The match unsurprisingly ends in a DQ, as Hogan’s battles with Studd and Bundy would continue on.

2) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned King Kong Bundy with a powerslam at 6:11 after the challenger hit the corner (10/12/85; Boston Garden)

LOL more Hogan-Bundy! The tape jumps back a couple months earlier to a fall 85 showdown between these two. There’s tons of debate on the net about whether or not Hogan-Bundy was an effective main event for Wrestlemania 2, and many point out how played out their feud was by that time. Case in point here, as the Hulkster pins Bundy clean with a power slam at six minutes. Not exactly a threat to the title. The match itself was nothing special, but fuck damn, that crowd in Boston was just mental for the Hulkster. The building is practically shaking when Hogan pins Bundy!

3) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned WWF IC Champion Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth) with the legdrop at 7:12 (6/27/86; Boston Garden)

All of these matches are such huge memories, totally brings me back to watching this tape in my parent’s basement in the late 80s. Hogan and Savage were selling out arenas in late 85, and continued to draw big into 86. Hulk Hogan deserves a lot of credit for being able to work exciting matches with a variety of opponents and styles. What a contrast from working with Bundy to working with the Macho Man. Hogan also had a lot of speed for a man his size and could believably keep up with the wild Macho Man. This was another short and simple match that saw the Hulkster going over clean. But out of the front jumped a ‘lady’ who attacked the Hulkster, this of course being Adrian Adonis in disguise. Macho and Adorable put the beat down on Hogan until he cleared them from the ring.
Next is a whole packaged on the Hulk Hogan – Paul Orndorff saga, including relevant highlights leading up to the big split. Paul Orndorff was increasingly jealous over Hulk Hogan’s popularity and perceived him to be a selfish asshole (hard to disagree lol), and was beyond pissed when the Hulkster never answered or returned his phone call. Hogan was full of excuses, but insisted they bury the hatchet. It all came to a head during a huge tag team main event on Championship Wrestler, the predecessor to WWF Superstars.

4) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff defeated King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) via disqualification at 6:04 when Bundy and Studd refused to stop double-teaming Hogan and referee Dave Hebner was knocked to the floor; prior to the match, Hogan and Orndorff were seen talking backstage about the missed phone call that started friction between the two, with Hogan telling Orndorff to let it go; after the bout, Orndorff made the save for the champion and raised his hand in victory before dropping him with a clothesline and following with the piledriver (6/24/86; Poughkeepsie, NY)

You could just feel the tension and the drama during this match. Paul Orndorff looked to be showing up Hogan, every chance he got. When the Hulkster accidentally clocked Orndorff in the head, you could tell things were ready to blow. Studd and Bundy get DQ’d and Orndorff chases them from the ring. Then, in a moment for the ages, he helps up Hogan and raises his arm, only to clothesline him to the mat and bury him with a piledriver!! This was FUCKING AWESOME!! What an amazing heel turn. The first time anyone of note turned on the Hulkster during his WWF run. To cap it all off, Orndorff celebrates with Bundy, Studd, and Heenan in the back! What an all-time classic moment, and one of the best heel turns of the 80s, setting the box office on fire.

5) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff (w/ Bobby Heenan) in a steel cage match at 10:42 by exiting over the top after hitting the legdrop on the challenger and sending an interfering Heenan into the cage; both men simultaneously left the cage from opposite sides of the ring earlier in the bout and the winner was inconclusive so the match continued (Saturday Night’s Main Event – 12/14/86; Hartford, CT)

For some reason, they jumped way ahead to the SNME steel cage match for this feud. I seemed to remember a different Hogan-Orndorff match being on here, but maybe I’m thinking of another tape. I’ve seen this match a ton of times, so I just skimmed through it this time.

6) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Brutus Beefcake at 12:35 with a roll up after Beefcake accidentally hit Johnny V with the running kneelift as V was on the ring apron (8/17/85; Landover, MD; Captial Centre)

Wow, the chronology of this tape is completely all over the place! For some reason, this tape goes way back to summer 85 for this basic house show match between Hogan and Beefcake. Kinda cool to see a rare match from the Cap Center featured. The match was kind of a letdown, but again, was a super huge memory. Pretty basic stuff, and of course Hogan lets his buddy really work him over. And because it’s his future Megamaniac in there, Hogan can’t win with the legdrop and has to beat Beefcake with a roll up and outside interference instead.

7) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & George Steele defeated WWF IC Champion Randy Savage & Adrian Adonis at 10:28 when Hogan pinned Adonis with the legdrop after Savage accidentally backdropped his partner and was knocked to the floor (8/9/86; Boston Garden)

This ‘match’ came about after the Savage-Adonis double teaming moment featured earlier on this tape. Pure insanity to start, as Hogan bites a turnbuckle along with George the Animal Steele. They both use the foam stuffing to rake their opponents’ eyes and the ring is just a mess. Tons of stalling and false starts before this ever gets going. This match is all kinds of chaos and is a pure slice of 80s nostalgia. Adonis and Savage were pinballs in there, bumping their asses off for Hogan. Steele was completely useless, but sold enough to get the hot tag to the Hulkster. Again, the crazy hot crowd just made this match that much more exciting. Big boot and legdrop on Adonis sends this one home.

8) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Kamala (w/ the Wizard & Kimchee) via disqualification at 6:39 when the Wizard tripped up Hogan from the outside and then held his legs down for Kamala to splash him twice (12/26/86; Madison Square Garden)

YES! I LOVE these late 80s Hogan-Kamala matches. Just awesome brawls. The fans were hugely invested in this feud, and the matches almost always ended in a DQ, as they routinely drew big crowds together. Hogan wrote a really touching tribute to his long-time friend when news broke of Kamala’s passing back in August. Such a sad tragedy what ended up happening to Kamala later in life. This match here was a classic 80s quickie, with lots of outside interference and shenanigans. I truly laughed out loud when Hogan slapped his stomach and mocked the Uganda Headhunter. I was really surprised at how many of these classic Hogan matches were less than 10 minutes in length, yet felt so much longer because of the entrances and all the post match brawling. Having grown up loving this stuff so much, it’s truly impossible to be objective when it comes to these Hogan matches. I cherish them so much lol.

9) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan (as Hulk Machine), Big & Super Machine defeated King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, & Bobby Heenan at 8:45 when Hogan pinned Studd with a bodyslam and the legdrop (9/22/86; Madison Square Garden)

This packed tape ends with a Machines match. You know, this is one angle I’ve just never cared for. There seems to be a lot of love for the wacky Machines gimmick around the net, but I never was a huge fan. It’s funny how Hogan was STILL wrestling Bundy and Studd in the fall of 86! Holy shit – talk about a feud that never ended. Studd would be gone from the WWF soon, and Hogan would go on to have more matches with Bundy throughout 87 and into 88. Surprisingly it’s Studd who’s pinned clean to end this one, not Heenan.
Damn, Hulkamania 2! What a fun and fantastic trip down memory lane!

Inside the WWF

I kinda hit a wall with watching Coliseum Vids recently. I’m really curious to check out these late era releases from 94 and 95, but they don’t really bring back the amazing memories that earlier Coliseum Vids do. These 94 releases especially remind me of some crappy and awkward times in junior high school. On the plus side, they also remind me about the later days of going to memory video stores like TVS, which was becoming increasingly rarer as time went on. Because of the decline in wrestling’s popularity, local video stores weren’t bringing in boatloads of tapes like they used to, so sometimes it would be hard to come across actual new release tapes.

All that being said, I ended up really enjoying Inside the WWF. I surprisingly remembered it really well, even though I’ve only seen it a couple times. This tape featured a lot of great matches from the second half of 93, with some truly fantastic segments in between.

Gorilla Monsoon was the main host for this tape, situated in the studio and pitching to the different matches and segments. Johnny Polo was the secondary host, leading viewers on a tour of the WWF production facility. This was AWESOME to see! I loved seeing the massive tape library, editing suites, the studio setup, etc. As an old-school production nerd that works in this industry, I absolutely love seeing this kind of stuff. I honestly could have watched a Coliseum Video featuring only of tour of the WWF’s facility.

Johnny Polo was an interesting addition to the WWF in summer 93. He came in unannounced as Adam Bomb’s manager for whatever reason – a pairing that made no sense – and then was suddenly managing the Quebecers – also unannounced. He and the Quebecers were a great trio surprisingly, and Polo had instant charisma on TV. He was suddenly commentating and also appearing on shows like All American Wrestling. In various shoots, Raven talked about how the WWF was really high on his abilities and wanted him to join the production side full-time, but instead he wanted to keep wrestling. I’m not the hugest Raven fan, but I really liked his Johnny Polo work, and especially his commentary.

This tape features two interesting new commentary pairings – Gorilla Monsoon and Johnny Polo, and Stan Lane and Ted Dibiase. I might be in the minority, but I really liked Dibiase as an evil commentator. He was far better in the booth than managing his shitty Corporation. Monsoon and Polo were a phenomenal pairing! Many on the internet have compared their dynamic to a kindly granddad/ bratty grandkid. Polo catches Monsoon off-guard with little jokes and quips, and even some light shoot comments. It’s hilarious to hear Monsoon busting out all his classic lines like “Will you be serious!” to Polo’s remarks. I laughed so hard during one segment when Monsoon was pitching to Polo – “does that guy need help or what?!” Classic hilarious Monsoon!

1) The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) pinned Crush (w/ Mr. Fuji) at 7:02 after reversing Crush’s attempt at a tombstone into one of his own (11/30/93; Springfield, MA)

Fairly plodding match, typical of most of Undertaker’s 93 work. But the commentary was just ace! Polo was hilarious, calling him the Underwear-Taker. It took him a couple times before Monsoon finally caught on and chastised him for it. Polo keeps putting Monsoon on the spot, asking him questions about other old-timers and dropping in hilarious quips. Polo hilariously keeps roasting Joey Marella, really antagonizing Monsoon. As a massive Gorilla Monsoon fan, this was pure aural joy! Monsoon would refuse to answer a lot of Polo’s questions, like “Hey Gorilla, what was your longest match? Who was it against?” Monsoon would keep trying to get the focus back on the match and steer clear of Polo’s curveball questions. Just fantastic commentary! The classic look of the Springfield Civic Center for this Wrestling Challenge taping sure brought back a lot of memories too. They started using the cool neon WWF sign, previously seen on Raw, for Challenge by fall 93 and into 94. Such a memory of this era. There was so much other stuff to listen to and look at, that I barely paid attention to this slow punch and kick fest. The ending was cool, as Crush tried to tombstone the Undertaker, but Taker reversed into his own tombstone for the pin. Such a cool spot! I remember being so blown away when I first saw it. 

2) Razor Ramon & Marty Jannetty defeated WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels & Diesel when Razor pinned Michaels at 11:30 with a uranagi after Jannetty hit Michaels with a superkick (7/27/93; Plattsburgh, NY)

Pretty cool exclusive match! I could definitely see this headlining an In Your House in early 94 if it existed then. Razor was a fresh face at this point and it made sense to pair him with someone as over as Marty was in summer 93. Most interesting – this was Diesel’s first ever WWF match. He was still getting his gear and look down, so it was really cool to see a match so early in his run. Razor would of course work a ton with Michaels and Diesel the following year, but that was still a long ways away. The fans were super hot for this match, and it was a solid back and forth battle. Michaels and Jannetty always tore down the house during these summer 93 months, and Jannetty of course had issues with Diesel costing him the IC title. All of this made for a great match with a cool finish that sees Razor pin the IC champ clean – with a rock bottom no less!

3) Tatanka defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon) via count-out at 12:49 after hitting the Samoan Drop on the floor; after the match, Luna distracted Tatanka before Bigelow attacked Tatanka from behind and knocked him out with an enzuiguri (9/1/93; Saginaw, MI)

Tatanka and Bigelow always had great matches and this was a really great feud that just faded away during the fall. Fuck that shitty Bigelow-Doink feud. They could have kept Tatanka-Bigelow going up to Mania X. Tatanka comes after Bigelow with the tomahawk at first, which was a cool touch. Great brawl to start before Bigelow starts to overpower him and take control. Both guys are really laying into each other, with Tatanka dropping Bigelow hard with a Samoan drop on the floor to gain the countout win. Lots of chaos after the match with Bigelow and Luna trying to cut Tatanka’s hair before Tatanka fights back.

4) Bret Hart defeated Adam Bomb (w/ Johnny Polo) via submission with the Sharpshooter at 11:38 after throwing Bomb off the top (8/31/93; Grand Rapids, MI)

Always awesome to see Bret squaring off against a fearsome newcomer. Adam Bomb debuted in June 93 but pretty much floundered for a year, never having a really feud or doing anything of note. He had cool music and cool gear and I definitely expected to see him start getting a massive push – never happened. Too bad. Bret gets a pretty good match out of Bomb here, trying to keep him grounded. Bomb just regularly wears the Hitman down with a chinlock – not exactly the powerful offense I was expecting. I know the WWF was in trouble, but I really like some of these smaller arenas they were taping in. They all had a unique atmosphere, like this classic arena in Grand Rapids. And the crowd is super hot for the Hitman. Despite not having the title, Bret had a solid 93 and was always put over strong. He makes Bomb submit to the sharpshooter for a satisfying victory. Another good match on this tape!

5) Randy Savage defeated Doink the Clown via reverse decision at 9:17; Doink originally won the match via count-out after switching places with a second Doink, then hiding under the ring and grabbing Savage’s leg to prevent him from getting back in the ring; after the match, Savage attacked Doink and chased him backstage; moments later, Savage returned with referee Joey Marella to drag the second Doink from underneath the ring; once Savage brought out the original Doink, he threw him to the floor before Marella changed the initial decision (6/14/93; Columbus, OH)

Monsoon and Polo are hilarious on commentary during this match! Polo ragging on this arena in Columbus being a part of a shopping mall made me lol. Savage and Doink had a solid Raw mini feud for a couple weeks in summer 93. I just love these rare Macho Man matches. He was still damn great in the ring and could work an exciting match when he was motivated. Such a shame that he didn’t wrestle at Mania IX or SummerSlam. Him and Doink have a spirited battle here, including some great brawling on the outside. The ending is completely stupid as we get the double Doinks working together to cheat and beat Savage by countout, only for Savage to chase away one Doink and eventually pull the other Doink out from under the ring and Marella reverses the decision. Why?! That was never done in any other Doink match! What a dumb ending, but who fucking cares – heel Doink and the Macho Man are awesome!

6) WWF IC Champion Razor Ramon defeated Ludvig Borga via reverse decision at 10:08; Borga originally won the match and title at 6:58 following a clothesline off the top but referee Earl Hebner noticed after the pinfall that Razor’s foot was on the bottom rope during the cover so the contest was ruled to continue; Borga scored a second pinfall after Hebner was knocked out and Shawn Michaels ran out and hit Razor over the back with the fake IC title belt as the champion attempted the Razor’s Edge; after Borga was named the new champion, referee Joey Marella came out and told Hebner what happened, with Hebner then changing the call (12/14/93; Lowell, MA)

What a weird ass match! It’s the match I remembered best from this whole tape. Borga gets screwed TWICE out of winning the IC title during this one match. Yes, two Dusty finishes in the same damn match. Borga is just working over Ramon during the early going, laying in all his punches and power moves. Ramon is a deceptively big guy and actually lands some great stuff on Borga. Just a real hard hitting battle. As you can see in the description, Borga nails Ramon with the flying clothesline and pins him for three. His music plays and he celebrates with the IC title, but Razor’s foot is under the rope so the match continues. Shawn Michaels races down later to hit Razor with the title and Borga pins him AGAIN! But a second ref comes down and overturns the decision and the match abruptly ends. What an overbooked clusterfuck! A unique pairing, but wow, what a shitty conclusion.

7) Lex Luger defeated WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel) via count-out at 9:05 when Michaels walked out of the match after the challenger kicked Michaels off the top turnbuckle to the floor (8/31/93; Grand Rapids, MI)

I love these kinds of hidden ‘dream matches’ buried on Coliseum Videos. Interestingly this match and the Bret-Bomb match are from the Superstars taping right after SummerSlam 93. Luger is fresh off his career-sinking countout victory. Looks like he’s the master of the count-out as here again he beats Michaels in the cheapest way possible. Why is Luger even in an IC title match? He’s also still rocking his SummerSlam gear for this one. This match isn’t anything spectacular, but it’s cool to see these guys wrestling at this point in history. 

8) WWF World Champion Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji) defeated Bret Hart in a steel cage match at 18:20 by escaping through the door, just before Hart touched the floor by escaping over the top, moments after Fuji twice threw salt into the challenger’s face (12/15/93; Augusta, ME)

Talk about hidden gems – this was a great match! A real hard fought war in the cage. Bret and Yoko usually had good matches, and this was fantastic. Definitely could have headlined a September In You House or something. This was a real long, main event quality battle. Monsoon is awesome on the call, as he’s in disbelief that Bret continuously keeps trying to climb the cage to escape, rather than use the door. Monsoon grows more frustrated with the Hitman’s strategy as the match wears on. I love it when the commentators are invested in these matches. Bret fights through Mr Fuji’s repeated interference and still looks close to victory. They pull off a really close photo finish, with Yoko just narrowly making it out the door to retain the title.

What a damn great tape this ended up being! I REALLY enjoyed Johnny Polo as a host and as a commentator. Honestly, he should have just made bank as a commentator for the rest of his career. He could have been the main heel commentator for years to come and was so damn entertaining. Watching this has got me back in the mood for more Coliseum action!

WWF Hulkamania 6

This is the last tape in the Hulkamania series and it’s one of the more bizarre Coliseum Video releases. It covers the Hulkster’s inconsistent 1991 run, and his last true year of being the number one guy in the company. Hogan’s matches in 91 were nearly all against Earthquake and Sgt Slaughter and later in the year against the Undertaker and Ric Flair. There wasn’t much variety in Hogan’s opponents, which is really unfortunate. Back in the day, Hogan wrestled everyone up and down the card, taking on any and all villains. I really wish we could have got some wacky matches in 91 like Hogan against the likes of Repo Man, Skinner, or even the Warlord. As such, we ended up with this weird patchwork of matches.

I’ve watched this tape a ton of times over the years. I have great memories of renting it with all my various wrestling buddies. No idea why we kept going back to this tape over other volumes in the Hulkamania series. Most likely because it was so readily available. Every damn video store in the neighborhood had a copy of this sitting on their shelves deep into the late 90s. One standout memory was renting it with Matt over summer holidays in junior high school. We thought Hogan was so funny and laughed till we nearly puked at all his interviews and cartoony antics.

Sean Mooney is once again the host for this volume and is on a set adorned by Hulk’s merchandise. There’s Hogan crap piled up everywhere around Mooney! Much like Hulkamania 4, this has a scrapbook style presentation, with Mooney talking about the past and present of Hogan’s career.

1) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned the Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) at 4:34 with a roll up after Taker accidentally knocked Bearer off the ring apron (7/29/91; Worcester, MA)

This is still a real weird What The Fuck head scratcher of an inclusion. The Undertaker jumps Hogan before the bell and it’s an all out brawl to start. Undertaker dominates Hogan early and the crowd is just going bananas. Hogan battles back and we get all the expected choking and no-selling. Undertaker tombstones Hogan, but Hogan FUCKING KICKS OUT and Hulks Up! Why??? Paul Bearer tries to interfere, but Hogan dodges and Taker crashes into Bearer, leading to Hogan scoring the pin with a quick roll up. Okay, I get this was likely done to get a huge pop out of the TV taping fans in the arena, but why the hell include this total burial here?

Oh dear, it’s Hulk Hogan with his best buds Brutus Beefcake (looking like the hugest fucking spazz on the planet, making dumb bug-eyed expressions into the camera) and the Macho Man working out at the gym. Pretty cool to see Hogan and Macho being buddies again, but this segment was ridiculous. Mean Gene shows up and the Mega Powers/Maniacs start UNDRESSING Mean Gene, getting him prepped for a workout, which Gene was definitely not expecting. They have Gene lay down on a weight bench on his stomach so he can work his legs, and we get some uncomfortable grunting from Mean Gene while the camera gets in extra close to his face. Uhhh… Back in the studio, Mooney, with a completely straight face says that Okerlund was double teamed by Savage and Beefcake while Hogan critiqued their technique. Well then.

But there was a time when Hogan and Savage were no longer friends, says Mooney, segueing into an old ass match from 1989.

2) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan (w/ Miss Elizabeth) pinned Randy Savage (w/ Sensational Sherri) with a clothesline and the legdrop at 12:01 as Elizabeth held Sherri back from interfering (10/13/89; Paris, France)

This was featured on a previous tape I reviewed and it wasn’t very good. These Hogan-Savage matches in late 89 were so different from earlier in the year. Maybe they were just sick of wrestling each other at this point, as the fiery intensity was gone, and it was all just nonsense.

3) Hulk Hogan pinned Stan Hansen with the axe bomber at 12:32 after a boot to the face (4/13/90; Tokyo Dome)

The inclusion of this rare Japanese match just baffled the fuck out of us as kids. As a dedicated Apter nerd, I knew all about Hansen from the mags even back then, but still had no fucking clue why the hell he was featured on a WWF Coliseum Video. Most interestingly, this was taken from one of the WWF/SWS supershows from the Egg Dome. Damn, I really need to dig these bizarre videos out and watch them because there is some surreal matches held under the WWF banner. Despite the weird decision, this match was damn awesome. Hogan and Hansen are a great match for each other., and Hogan was an entirely different guy in Japan. The crowd seems split between the two guys. Hansen immediately starts roughing everyone up around ringside, including bowling over the ring announcer. Hansen tries fighting Hulk to start, but Hogan starts taking him down with MAT WRESTLING! Holy shit! It’s so bizarre to see Hogan using drop toe holds and shit. This erupts into an all out stiff brawl, going in and out of the ring. Hansen’s just insane, hitting at people all around ringside and punching fans. Things just get more crazy as this goes on, with Hogan slamming Hansen through a table and even busting him open! Hansen matches the violence and Hogan is bleeding as well! To quote one of our old classic sayings – this was more ECW than ECW! Just two big hosses beating the shit out of each other. Hogan wins with his classic Japanese finisher – the axe bomber. Damn, what a true hidden gem!

4) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated King Kong Bundy (w/ Bobby Heenan) in a steel cage match at 10:18 by escaping over the top after kicking Bundy from the cage to the mat (WrestleMania II – 4/7/86; Los Angeles, CA)

The WTF parade continues with them going all the way back to Wrestlemania II. Why the fuck include this match?! What a strange and old ass choice for a collection released in 91. Since I haven’t seen this in forever I gave it a watch. Right away the weird production of Wrestlemania II hits you like a slap in the face. Hogan and Bundy are wrestling in a pitch black arena. You can’t even see the front row! It looks like it was just shot in a studio. The commentators are the oddball trio of Jesse Ventura (who sounds like he’s commentating from an old AM radio), Lord Alfred Hayes, and Elvira. Seriously, that’s your main event commentary team? This match was more action packed then I remembered, but man, what a piss poor choice for a Wrestlemania main event. Because they’re working with a short time frame, the action never slows and the cage comes into play early. Bundy is targeting Hogan’s banged up ribs, which Hogan barely sells. Elvira is so clueless on commentary, but at least adds something a little special to this goofball match. Bundy keeps going for the door, with Hogan desperately hanging on to win at times. Everything just goes into fast forward in the last few minutes, with Hogan no-selling two avalanches, then slamming Bundy like his ribs were never hurt and then climbs out while Bundy tries for the door. Ehhhh…. I guess this was alright as a fun Hogan formula match. But really, there were far better options for a Wrestlemania main event. I’m sure for the right payday, they could have had an epic Hogan-Piper blowoff in the cage, with Hogan going over.

5) Hulk Hogan defeated Gen. Adnan via disqualification at 1:04 when Sgt. Slaughter came to the ring and attacked Hogan from behind with the WWF World Title belt (3/11/91; Pensacola, FL)

6) Hulk Hogan pinned WWF World Champion Sgt. Slaughter (w/ Gen. Adnan) to win the title at 20:23 with the legdrop after a boot to the face (WrestleMania VII – 3/24/91; Los Angeles, CA)

Yeah no. I’m tired of watching Hogan-Slaughter stuff, having seen all this a year or two ago. So weird though how they warped from Hogan-Bundy to suddenly Hogan-Slaughter on this mishmash tape.

7) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Jim Duggan defeated Sgt. Slaughter & Col. Mustafa (w/ Gen. Adnan) at 4:05 when Hogan pinned Mustafa with an inside cradle immediately after Adnan threw powder into Hogan’s eyes (7/9/91; Edmonton, Alberta)

Hahaha, wow, this was just AWFUL. This is the kind of exclusive crap that lures me into these tapes though. No memory of this match and that’s probably a good thing as it was just sad. Iron Sheik/Colonel Mustafa had ZERO place in the WWF at this time and it’s insane that he hangs and around and actually makes it to pay per views! Hogan and Duggan were stupidly over, but this was a complete mess from start to finish. Even the ref didn’t give a shit about this match, as Duggan was blatantly hitting Slaughter and Mustafa with the 2×4. It also seemed like Hogan and Sheik just said “fuck this” as Hogan pins him with the world’s worst inside cradle for the win truly out of nowhere. Really? No big boot and legdrop? Come on!

The Hulkamania series is so enjoyable for both great matches and moments, but also all the random garbage. It sucks that this is the last one. Too bad they never made Hulkamania 7 in 92 featuring matches from late 91 and early 92. There was easily a ton of stuff to put on there!

WWF Hulkamania Forever

Continuing on with my current Hulk Hogan obsession I decided to check out Hulkamania Forever, which recaps the Hulkster’s largely unmemorable 1990 run. This is the anomaly in the Hulkamania series, as it really should be Hulkamania 5, but is instead named Hulkamania Forever. That naming inconsistency is irritating considering they did release Hulkamania 6 the following year. Pre internet I always wondered if there actually was a Hulkamania 5 released, but nope this was it. This was also around the time when various discount Hulk Hogan tapes started popping up everywhere further confusing things.

As I’ve talked about before, the period between Wrestlemania VI and Survivor Series 1990 was kind of on and off for my fandom. As such, I wasn’t renting as many wrestling tapes during these months, and I don’t have any memories of ever renting Hulkamania Forever. 1990 was so uninteresting to me for a long time that I had no desire whatsoever to watch a lot of these tapes. There’s always a possibility that Matt and I rented this years later, when we would rent almost anything and everything wrestling wise, and just watched it in the background, but no big memories stand out.

The more I think about it, the stronger my stance is that Hulkamania peaked at Wrestlemania VI. It was pretty much downhill from there as Hogan was more interested in breaking in to Hollywood with his crappy movies. His matches became far more formulaic and routine, and he essentially wrestled the same handful of opponents over the next two years. Hogan was no longer facing great workers like Macho Man and Mr. Perfect and seemed far less motivated to do anything more than the usual, especially in 1990.

This tape doesn’t follow the same fun and wacky format as Hulkamania 4. Instead Sean Mooney is the host and narrator for this journey through Hulk Hogan’s 1990 career.

1) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan (w/ Miss Elizabeth) pinned Randy Savage (w/ Sensational Sherri) with the legdrop at around the 14-minute mark (10/10/89; London, England; London Arena)

I was disappointed by the match selection because I’ve watched the majority of these matches in more recent years so I was skipping through them for the most part, including this one, which is still fresh in my mind.

2) The Genius defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via count-out at 7:34 after Mr. Perfect, who appeared ringside mid-way through the bout, hit Hogan from behind with the belt as Hogan attempted to climb back inside the ring (Saturday Night’s Main Event – 10/31/89; Topeka, KS)

What a weird ass match to feature! Why pick this nonsense? I was hoping for a couple Hogan-Perfect matches on this tape, but nope. Man that sucks.

We get to see a whole bunch of buildup to the Ultimate Showdown at Wrestlemania VI, including the same footage I’ve watched a hundred times of Earthquake in his poo colored tights attacking Hogan during a match with Dino Bravo.

3) WWF IC Champion the Ultimate Warrior pinned WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan to win the title at 22:50 with a splash after Hogan missed the legdrop (WrestleMania VI – 4/1/90; Toronto, Ontario; Skydome)

Makes sense this is included on here, but I wasn’t in the mood for watching this for the thousandth time.

The whole second half of the tape is mostly dedicated to the Hulkster’s feud with Earthquake. Y’know, this feud never really captivated me. They did a great job of building up the Earthquake, but he never challenged the Warrior and his only mission was seemingly to end Hulkamania. Earthquake was a great worker for a big man and definitely a believable monster in the era, but his whole run against Hogan felt like it was lacking something special. If it was over the title it certainly would have made more sense. The WWF really booked themselves into a corner with the Ultimate Warrior title change. I think they were banking on Hogan spending far more time making movies and being away from the ring. Once Hogan was back, all the focus was on him and the Warrior felt more like an afterthought, doing random six man tags against Demolition and having mid-card feuds with cooled off heels.

4) Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart) via disqualification at 8:39 when Jimmy Hart broke the pinfall after Hogan’s legdrop (4/30/90; Madison Square Garden)

One of the few exclusive matches on this tape, taking place shortly before the Brother Love Show attack. This was about as basic a formula Hogan match as you’ll find. Lots of brawling, lots of teasing the slam, lots of terrible selling. This just wasn’t very good, which again, is too bad because Quake was certainly awesome during this time otherwise. Hogan even kicks out of the vertical big splash and Hulks Up. Yes, the same move that seemingly kills him weeks later.

The whole Brother Love Show attack is featured, which looks so tame, especially compared to the more brutal beatings Hogan previously took. Of course as a kid, I thought Hogan was crippled from such a horrible beat down. They even show the classic sad Hulk Hogan music video set to the slowed down Real American, that makes it look like the Hulkster might be dead.

5) Hulk Hogan (w/ the Big Bossman) defeated Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart & Dino Bravo) via count-out at 13:16 after Hogan slammed his opponent onto the time keeper’s table (Summer Slam 1990 – 8/27/90; Philadelphia Spectrum)

I’m not a huge fan of this SummerSlam 90 match so I cruised past this as well.

6) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Ted Dibiase (w/ Zeus) at 8:00 with a small package after Dibiase accidentally hit Zeus (Saturday Night’s Main Event – 9/21/89; Cincinnati, OH; Riverfront Coliseum)

WHAT THE FUCK?!? Why in the middle of all this Hogan-Quake stuff do they go back a year earlier and feature Hogan-Dibiase from SNME, including Zeus?! This is some seriously shoddy match selection.

Also somewhere on this tape they feature a short segment with Hulk Hogan on the set of Suburban Commando. This includes some great unintentional hilarity like Hulk Hogan putting over Christopher Lloyd and Shelly Duvall (from the hit movie Popeye says Hogan) as Hulkamaniacs who want to see him get back in the ring and win the title.

7) Hulk Hogan & Tugboat defeated Earthquake & Dino Bravo (w/ Dino Bravo) at 8:12 when Hogan pinned Bravo with a roll up following a boot to the face (8/28/90; Hershey, PA; Hersheypark Arena)

Another exclusive match and it’s pretty much a geeky cartoon. I’ll never understand the ridiculous Tugboat push and his whole thing about suddenly being the Hulkster’s best friend. There’s a lot of stories about how they were setting up Tugboat as the next fat man to turn on Hogan and feud with him, which would have been atrocious. It sure seems like they were heading in that direction, especially when Hogan eliminates Tugboat in the Rumble. Anyway, this match is nothing special, which is sad considering Hogan and Earthquake were supposedly embroiled in a hate-filled war. Hogan wins with a simple roll up on Bravo and the fans start exiting the arena, as this was clearly the end of a long TV taping.

Well this was disappointing. There has to be more interesting Hogan matches from 1990. I’m really curious to dig more into that year and find some better stuff.

WWF UK Fan Favorites 1993

I greatly enjoyed watching through another tape in the line of the WWF’s UK only releases. Much like Battle Royal at Albert Hall and UK Rampage 91, this video was never released in North America. I wish there was more of this kind of stuff out there! It’s amazing just how much stuff I’ve been digging up and watching from 91 – 93, my all-time favorite era of WWF fandom.

Much like some of the other UK compilations, Coliseum just randomly selected various TV matches and added mostly new commentary to them. Mean Gene Okerlund and Bobby the Brain Heenan are the hosts of the tape, and they pop up between matches to sift through letters and pretend that people actually wrote in to request these “exclusive” matches. Okerlund and Heenan are HILARIOUS as expected. Heenan mocks the letters and the UK in general, while Okerlund of course does his masterful used car salesman pitch for the matches. Mean Gene and the Brain are highly underrated as a team.

1) WWF World Champion Bret Hart defeated Fatu (w/ Afa) via submission with the Sharpshooter at 15:06 after sending Fatu into Samu in the ring, causing Samu’s head to become entangled in the ring ropes

LOL what a way to kick off the tape! Mean Gene will have you believe that a real person actually wrote a letter requesting to see Bret Hart against fucking Fatu! And of course it’s a match from Raw. Maybe much like Canada, Raw wasn’t available in the UK yet, so these matches were possibly exclusive at the time. I just watched this great match on the Best of Raw DVD a couple months ago, so I gave it a pass this time. Still hilarious to see how phony these “fan favorite” matches were.

2) Mr. Perfect pinned Terry Taylor with the Perfect Plex at 9:28 after reversing Taylor’s suplex attempt

Another match taken from Raw. Two matches in and they’ve already exposed the gimmick – no one, absolutely no one, would be writing in to request a Terrific Terry Taylor match in 1993! He was barely above a jabroni during his short return stint to the ring. Interesting that this is the third Taylor-Perfect match I’ve watched in the last couple months, and it’s fascinating how vastly different they were between Wrestlefest, SummerSlam, and now three and a bit years later here on Raw in 93. It’s bizarre Taylor would even return to the company after such an abysmal first run. Anyway, this was a great match. Technically well wrestled at a fast pace. Perfect was on a streak of great matches in early 93 and the NY crowd was so jacked for him. Ric Flair tried to cost Perfect the match, but he was still able to come back and put Taylor away.

3) The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) defeated Bam Bam Bigelow via count-out when Bigelow left ringside at 7:39 after sustaining a chokeslam (3/7/93; Fayetteville, NC)

This was lifted directly from March to Wrestlemania IX so I gave it a pass.

4) Tito Santana defeated Rick Martel via disqualification after Martel sprayed Santana in the eyes with his Arrogance cologne (3/9/92; Mobile, AL)

Wow, this tape jumps wayyyyy back to very early 1992. Hilarious how Martel and Tito were inseparable, no matter what year or gimmick, as this was a match between El Matador and The Model. This was good and enjoyable, with Martel as usual getting the best of Santana, even in defeat. Fans really wanted to see El Matador put him away, but like always, he was unable to decisively beat the Model.

5) Jim Duggan defeated WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels via count-out at 11:17 when the champion escaped through the crowd after being clotheslined over the retaining barrier by the challenger (4/26/93; Manhattan Center)

Geez, these Duggan-Michaels matches are almost on par with Hogan-Andre, having been released on a thousand Coliseum Videos it seems. I don’t think I ever need to watch them again.

6) Virgil defeated the Berzerker via disqualification when the Berzerker grabbed his sword (12/15/92; Madison, WI)

LOL to these old ass recycled Prime Time matches! What kind of sick individual would request this match? Probably myself! This sounds like the kind of nonsense I’d write down in my notebook of “dream matches” during this era. This was a surprisingly fun match, with Virgil working hard as always and surprising the Berzerker with dropkicks and the like. Most shockingly, Virgil wins! The Berzerker was about to try and commit homicide with his sword, but still, a victory for Virgil!

7) WWF World Champion Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair (w/ Mr. Perfect) via disqualification at around the 12-minute mark when Perfect attempted to hit Savage with the title belt but referee Earl Hebner took the belt from him before he could (6/2/92; Ottawa, Ontario)

COOL! An exclusive match on this tape, and a real hidden gem. This match was AWESOME! Taped a couple months after Mania VIII in Ottawa, Macho and Flair had an intense, wild battle. The crowd is just nuts during this match too. Seemingly a fight breaks out, or a couple of them, and a fan jumps in the ring right at the beginning. This just has an out of control feel, with a motivated Savage and Flair wrestling in high gear. Great match stuck in the middle of these random mid-card TV matches on this UK exclusive tape. I was shocked at how good this was. In all the chaos, Perfect finally interferes on Flair’s behalf, and Savage earns the DQ victory. Wow, what a great surprise to find this.

8) Lex Luger pinned Tito Santana at 8:39 with the running forearm (3/9/93; Augusta, GA)

What a weird ass match – the Narcissist vs El Matador! I’ve never seen this before either. It’s weird to see Luger as just a mid-carder. His Narcissist run is so forgettable in hindsight. To me, the Narcissist feels like an entirely different guy. I wonder what the reaction would have been like if Luger’s true debut was emerging out of the helicopter on the 4th of July? I’m sure people would have completely lost their shit. I digress. This was pretty straightforward, but fun to see these two gimmicks clashing. Luger survives Santana’s attack, leading to the predictable knock out win. Fun for the rarity factor alone.

9) Tatanka defeated Papa Shango via disqualification at 5:54 after Shango attempted to use his voodoo stick to shoot Tatanka in the face with (10/28/92; Louisville, KY)

Total nothing match from fall 92. It probably was taken from a Prime Time. Man, Shango was such a disappointment considering how cool his gimmick was. He was a glorified jobber by this point. He tries shooting Tantanka with the sparks from the voodoo stick for the DQ, the same shitty finish he used in a ton of matches from this period. Too bad this sucked.

10) The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) pinned the Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) at 7:28 with the tombstone after Sgt. Slaughter came ringside and prevented the Mountie from leaving ringside (5/18/92; Cincinnati, OH)

Surprisingly a different Undertaker-Mountie match then the one featured on Gravest Matches! Good comedy early with the Mountie taunting and showboating, then of course getting his ass beat. I liked the interference of Slaughter. Him and Mountie had a forgettable feud from spring 92, which some people speculate was originally penciled in as a SummerSlam match. Tombstone and surprisingly a clean win for the Undertaker.

11) Randy Savage pinned Repo Man with the flying elbowsmash at around 13:30 (1/18/93; Manhattan Center)

Back to the early days of Raw, and by early days, this was from the second week of the show. This two week feud was the last thing of note Repo Man did before jobbing his way out the door for the next couple months. I don’t care what the net fans say, Repo Man was fucking awesome! I liked this goofy angle and the match was a lot of fun. Savage sold a lot for Repo, as he always did during this era, before crushing him with the big elbow and reclaiming his stolen hat (how many fucking hats did Savage have anyway?).

12) Shawn Michaels (w/ Sensational Sherri) defeated WWF IC Champion Bret Hart via count-out at 8:50 after Michaels knocked the champion off the apron into the retaining barrier after Hart became distracted by Sherri, who grabbed his leg preventing him from reentering the ring (4/29/92; Syracuse, NY)

Wow, this tape was 2 and a half hours long! It finally concludes with another old match from spring 92 that I’ve seen a hundred times.

I love this era so much, and it’s been a lot of fun digging up all these treasures that I’ve never seen. Pretty sure I still have a lot more 92 and 93 tapes and matches to get to!

WWF Hulkamania 4

I’ve been thinking a lot about Hulk Hogan lately, reminiscing about his glory days in the late 80s. I think Wrestlemania VI is when we hit the peak of Hulkamania, and from there, Hogan’s feuds and matches were never quite as good. 1989 might be Hogan’s best WWF year ring-wise, as he was up against tremendous workers like Macho Man and the Big Bossman on a regular basis. And of course there was all the No Holds Barred stuff. As a kid purely living in the WWF bubble, I thought No Holds Barred was the biggest cinematic release of 1989. On WWF TV and tapes like this, it seemed like No Holds Barred was a smash box office success, and that Hulk Hogan had become an A-list Hollywood celebrity (which was more true a few years earlier). But of course we all know what a colossal flop NHB ended up being.

So with the Hulkster on the brain, I decided to go back and check out some classic Hulkamania from this time period. I remember all the Hulkamania tapes so well, and remember seeing them in video stores deep into the late 90s. I probably only rented this tape a time or two. I loved the Hulkamania tapes more as a kid, but never really rented them in later years. Hogan also changed so much by 91/92 and I was no longer the Hulkamaniac I once was.

Hulkamania 4 is a great scrapbook of the Hulkster in 1989, with a few other random matches thrown in. The format of this tape is all over the place, with Sean Mooney narrating some of it, sometimes taped among the fans, as well as Hulk Hogan himself showing up to talk about matches and angles. As well, some other wrestlers both good and bad pop up to give their thoughts on Hulk Hogan, with the heels of of course insulting him and good guys like Demolition and the Bushwhackers strongly putting him over. I really loved the inclusion of all these other wrestlers! They also include clips of kids and fans yattering on about Hogan, including one girl that made me laugh so hard when she said the Hulkster was “gorgeous”. LOL I don’t think I’ve ever thought of that cartoon character as being appealing to women!

1) Hulk Hogan (w/ Miss Elizabeth) pinned Bad News Brown at 9:44 with a boot to the face and the legdrop (Saturday Night’s Main Event – 2/16/89; Hershey, PA)

The tape is off to a great start with one of my favorite SNME matches of all-time! Of course I had to watch it again. Hulk Hogan was always a great brawler and him and Brown throw down in the early going, fighting all around ringside. The fans are losing their shit, which makes for an incredible electric atmosphere. Bad News was still being positioned as a top threat to the title, so he gets his fair share of offense in. The memory highlight of this match is Bad News heading back to the locker room to look for a weapon and returning with a snow shovel. In a nice touch, Hogan even stops the ref from counting, even though he easily could have won by countout. As Ventura pointed out, Bad News really could care less about winning or losing and was looking to just cripple Hogan. Man I love these kinds of character details! Despite Hogan blocking the attempted shovel beating, Bad News gains control and gets a lot of offense in on Hogan, leading up to the ghetto blaster. Bad News makes the mistake of grabbing the mic and calling for the move, which even Ventura points out as dumb, and leads to Hogan ducking and Hulking Up, quickly dispatching Brown right after. Still so great after all these years!

2) Hulk Hogan pinned Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil) in a lumberjack match at 6:05 with the legdrop after throwing Dibiase off the top rope, despite outside interference from two men wearing Killer Bees face masks (3/12/88; Philadelphia Spectrum)

Super weird inclusion on this tape. This match is taken from a Philly house show, early in 88 when Dibiase and Hogan were feuding leading up to Mania 4. I’m going to have to track down some house shows from this time, because I’d like to find a really good singles Hogan-Dibiase match from this era. This match was pretty disappointing and never really gets going. The focus was on the random assortment of lumberjacks on the outside. For some reason two guys in Killer Bees masks and shirts were getting all the attention. The looked nothing like the Bees, but the story seemed to be Dibiase paying off some kind of goons to hide among the babyface lumberjacks to get at Hogan. The commentators seem clueless to this obvious storyline and act like Dibiase paid off the real Killer Bees. Hogan lazily wins this match in short order and then brawls with one of the “Killer Bees” trying to unmask him only to reveal a second mask. What a disappointing mess.

3) Hulk Hogan defeated the Big Bossman (w/ Slick) in a steel cage match at 11:14 by escaping over the top after handcuffing Bossman to the cage bars, and barely getting to the floor before Bossman escaped out the door (3/18/89; Madison Square Garden)

Tremendous and intense steel cage match! I love this Hogan-Bossman feud, and unlike sacks of shit like King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd, Bossman was so agile for a big man and matched up so well against Hogan, making for really exciting matches. This was intense and hard-hitting, with both wrestlers using the cage and landing heavy bombs. In an amazing and insane spot, that would be done even better on the May 89 SNME, Hulk superplexes the Bossman off the top of the cage! What a sight to see these two massive beasts fall hard onto the canvas. And they sell like they’re dead! Fucking awesome! Bossman blades late in the match, but gains the upperhand. Hogan’s cage matches always ended up a climatic photo-finish, and such was the case here, as Hogan had the Bossman handcuffed to the ropes, but he still almost made it out the door before Hogan climbed out and over. Man what a great match! And of course Hogan beats on Slick after the match, not that he’s racist or anything (at least not yet…)

Included in the promos before the next match is the Honkytonk Man and Jimmy Hart. Honky insults Hogan and claims his guitar is a stronger force than Hulkamania. Hogan’s follow up promo is hilarious as he sings Honky’s music, but changes the words to say he’s taking Honky’s pink Cadillac. This all leads to the next match, also from SNME.

4) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned the Honkytonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart) at 6:14 with the legdrop after hitting both Honky and an interfering Hart with the guitar (Saturday Night’s Main Event – 7/18/89; Worcester, MA)

Another great and hilarious SNME match! Honky was long past the point of being a contender, but this was still from an era where Hogan would take on any and all challengers. It’s all Hogan for the most part, destroying Honky and Jimmy Hart, beating them up in and out of the ring. Honky gains some control, but of course the Hulkster is able to easily fight back. The ending is completely daffy as Hogan drills Honky with his on guitar on the floor, in plain view of the ref who doesn’t give a shit. Ventura is irate and rightly so, because Hogan quickly lands the big legdrop. Why did Hogan have to blatantly cheat to beat the Honky Tonk Man? The fans don’t care and go nuts anyway.

5) Hulk Hogan pinned King Haku (w/ Bobby Heenan) at 8:53 with a bodyslam and the legdrop (8/2/88; Dayton, OH)

Weird to see another old ass match included, but it was an exclusive for this tape, taken from a July 88 Wrestling Challenge taping. We get the unique commentary duo of Tony Schiavone and Sean Mooney. Weird! Hogan and Haku always worked well together, and Haku gets in a lot of his classic offense on the Hulkster. Heenan for some reason is particularly giving in to Hogan from the floor. Pretty much the definition of a formula Hogan match, with a big brawl to start, some power moves, then Haku wearing down the Hulkster before the Hulk Up, leg drop, and pin. Still a fun match to see.

6) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Andre the Giant (w/ Bobby Heenan) with a bodyslam and the legdrop at 12:07 (WrestleMania III – 3/29/87; Pontiac Silverdome)

Well this was a waste of space on this tape. Is this the single most released match in WWF history? How many friggin tapes and DVDs has this match been on? It’s awesome, but I had no interest in watching it again.

Next is a lonnnnnng segment on No Holds Barred. It was kind of cool because they included behind the scenes and making of footage. Honestly, you’d believe No Holds Barred was THE action movie of 1980s based on the WWF at the time. Every show, tape, PPV, everything was about putting over No Holds Barred. As an 8-year-old kid who didn’t follow the news, I 100% bought into all of this bullshit.

7) WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan (w/ Miss Elizabeth) pinned Randy Savage (w/ Sensational Sherri & Zeus) at 8:03 with a clothesline and the legdrop after Elizabeth slapped the challenger in the face (8/89; Fresno, CA)

Awesome to see an exclusive ZEUS appearance! I’ve watched this match a ton of times, as it was also included on a budget Coliseum Video – The Best Of Hulkmania – that I picked up at the flea market way back in the day. A quicker version of the usual Savage-Hogan match, with all the interference you’d expect from Sensational Sherri and Zeus. Of course it was great though. ZEUS was there! Man does this stuff ever take me back!