Grimmas and Coliseum Home Videos

[Grimmas]

I started reviewing all the CHVs in chronological order on my blog, but GWE kind of killed my momentum there. Thus I am bringing it to PWO.

 

Note: I'm skipping pay-per-views, because it's pointless to look at those here.

 

The first three can be found here. I watched the others without reviewing them, but here is the quick details.

 

WF001: Wrestling's Bloopers, Bleeps, & Bodyslams

HIghlight? Almost nothing, maybe Butcher Vachon's wedding

Recommend? Avoid at all costs. Bad comedy, matches cut to seconds, just a brutal tape.

 

WF002: Hulkamania

Highlight? Hulk Hogan vs Big John Studd (12/10/1984) ****

Recommend? Hell yes. That Studd match rules, but there is also a great Hogan-Dr. D match that is bloody and Hogan making protein shakes!

 

WF003: The Best of the WWF, Volume 1

Highlight? The Bruno vs Larry Z feud

Recommend? Sure. You have the Bruno/Larry Z feud detailed, plus the fun Hogan/Mean Gene training videos.

 

WF005; The WWF's Most Unusual Matches

Highlight? Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine (Lumberjack, 3/17/1985) **** 1/4

Recommend? If you haven't seen the above match, then yeah, go for it. Otherwise it's a middling tape.

 

WF006: Andre the Giant

Highlight? The Andre the Giant hair cutting angle.

Recommend? Not really

 

WF007: Best of the WWF, Volume 2

Highlight? Don Muraco vs Pedro Morales (1/22/1983)

Recommend? Yes! That match! Minis! Martel & Garea matches! Plus a really good Paul Orndorff vs Tito Santana match!

 

WF008: Biggest, Smallest, Strangest, Strongest

Highlight? Iron Sheik and Persian Clubs

Recommend? No. It's like the Bloopers tape, it's horrible and nothing gets more than a minute.

 

WF009: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's Greatest Hits

Highlight? Roddy Piper & David Schultz vs Andre the Giant & Jimmy Snuka (3/20/1984) *** 3/4

Recommend? Yes! Best tape so far! Highlights of Piper-Mr. T. Highlights of Piper-Snuka. That great tag match above, that everybody needs to watch and should be on the WWF 80s tape upcoming! Plus some more Piper Pit fun and Lou Thesz makes an appearance as a referee!

[Ricky Jackson]

Oh come on man, Biggest, Smallest, Strangest and Strongest is greatest of all CHV tapes. Or at least I thought so when I was 14

[Grimmas]

Oh come on man, Biggest, Smallest, Strangest and Strongest is greatest of all CHV tapes. Or at least I thought so when I was 14

More bang for your buck, at least. There is two million things on that tape. What's so frustrating is that you get excited for an Andre match, then it's like a minute and it cuts away. Then you get excited for a minis match and you get a few minutes, then onto the next thing. It's so frustrating!

[JRH]

Are you going to review the 60 minute "collectors series" tapes as well?

[Grimmas]

Are you going to review the 60 minute "collectors series" tapes as well?

We'll see when I get there. Going through chronologically. It's basically anything I can find.

 

Watched the next tape and it was fun stuff. Thoughts coming later today.

[Grimmas]

WF010: The Best of the WWF Volume III

Vince McMahon is back as the host, I think he's below Gorilla, Jesse and Mean Gene, but he's still pretty decent.

The Good

Roddy Piper vs Jimmy Snuka (Strap Match, 7/20/1984)

This was a fun little brawl with tons of heat. A huge shock to me was seeing Piper being pinned. I thought he wasn't pinned in the WWF? One thing that hampers this is that they let Ventura over dub the commentary solo. That's never that good. Still, if you love heat and punches and hate, this is pretty fun. ***

Ricky Steamboat vs Bob Orton Jr. (7/20/1985)

If you take away the longest shine sequence in history (with Steamboat working over the casted arm of Orton) and the shitty finish (Orton gets DQ'ed for using the cast) this was pretty awesome. They had good chemistry and there was a lot of twists and turns, which you wouldn't expect in the WWF house show match from this time frame. *** 1/2

The British Bulldogs vs Rene Goulet & Johnny Rodz (4/22/1985)

What a jobber super team! Does Kelly know about this match? This was a really surprising match in that the jobbers did get a nice long heat sequence. A really solid southern tag with some really cool spots by the Bulldogs.

The British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation (7/13/1985)

It goes to curfew, obviously. The edit made this very exciting, but a lot was cut out.

Adrians Adonis, Big John Studd, & Bobby Heenan vs George Steele, Mike Rotundo, & Barry Windham (6/21/1985)

It's amazing they used horrible therapy sketches to help turn Steele babyface. Question, is there anything better in wrestling than seeing Bobby Heenan run away? A heated little contest that ends with Steele going crazy. It was a harmless contest.

David Sammartino vs Brutus Beefcake (WrestleMania, 3/31/1985)

We get only a few minutes until Bruno and Valiant jump the ring. The crowd goes NUTS for Bruno. The match stinks, but luckily it was edited down to just the finish.

Battle Royal (2/10/1984)

Bob Boyer? This is pretty star heavy with Hogan, Studd and Andre. Paul Orndorff killing Rocky Johnson on the floor after he was out was great, although Rocky's super human bloody comeback seemed a bit quick. The ending was kind of shocking with Hogan and Andre going at it and Studd sneaking up from behind and tossing both for the win.

The Bad

David & Bruno Sammartino vs Johnny Valiant & Brutus Beefcake (5/20/1985)

David is certainly no Bruno, even when he is doing the exact same spots right after his dad. This went on waay too long and was only good during the short stints Bruno was in there kicking ass. David playing FIP with Johnny Valiant trying to carry Brutus Beefcake is not good wrestling.

King Kong Bundy tries on wigs and Lord Alfred finds it hilarious. What's annoying is that Hart thought Bundy was looking good and Vince agreed, but somehow Lord Alfred laughing like an idiot was enough to embarrass them.

King Kong Bundy vs Tony Garea (6/21/1985)

Garea got a surprising amount of offense, but this was a 5 minute squash.

The Ugly

George "The Animal" Steele gets psychotherapy.

This is pretty awful comedy. Hypnosis doesn't fix Geroge Steele. Looking back at this, it's insane how mental illness was looked at in the 80s. After hypnosis we go to shock therapy. It doesn't work either. Steele freaks out and the doctor gets called a quack.

In The End

Highlight? Ricky Steamboat vs Bob Orton Jr. (7/20/1985) *** 1/2

Recommend? Why not, the good outweighed the bad. If you don't mind solid wrestling and some bad comedy mixed in. Nothing you need to go out of your way to see though.

 

Next Up: AMAZING MANAGERS!!

[Ricky Jackson]

I reviewed the Rodz tag a while back. It was his last MSG match and the Bulldogs first.

 

Piper never being pinned before Mania 8 is a myth he perpetuated over the years. Still, he was only pinned a couple times. Against Flair at MSG in, I think, Oct 91 is another

[Johnny Sorrow]

Do you really think that the George Steele bits were actually how mental illness was looked at in the Eighties? 😂

[Grimmas]

Do you really think that the George Steele bits were actually how mental illness was looked at in the Eighties?

no.maybe i should leave the jokes to you?

[TheU_2001]

I love these old tapes. When I was younger I had many of them, some hidden gems are in there too, but there is a lot of garbage on them looking back. And lots of clipping which I can't stand. But still so much fun. Thanks for the reviews, I checked out the blog too, looks nice. I'm going to have to watch some of your top 100 matches that I haven't seen.

[Grimmas]

WF011: Wrestling's Amazing Managers

 

 

Bobby Heenan is a first-time host here. He's pretty funny through out and it's an obvious good choice.

 

The Good

 

Don Muraco & Mr. Fuji vs Ricky Steamboat & Junkyard Dog (8/17/1985)

 

Before the match we get Muraco on a beach getting massaged by three girls in bikinis. As for the match, we get a really long shine including Steamboat getting his revenge by choking Muraco with the karate belt. Finally Steamboat is the face in peril and what's strange to see is that Fuji is a valuable member of the team. He's actually treated as a credible partner. We get a second face in peril with Dog this time and then Steamboat gets the HOT tag and I mean HOT! Lots of editing so no rating, but just a fun tag match.

 

Johnny Valiant vs Steve Lombardi (8/17/1985)

 

A nothing segment on TNT with Valiant and Beefcake before the match. However the match is clearly awesome! Valiant is a master cheater using a cable to choke, the announcer's table, the guardrail and body slamming Lombardi onto the concrete. He even flexes to piss the crowd off even more. Lombardi gets a little comeback and slams him on the floor in retaliation. HUGE LARIAT by Valiant leads to the win. Valiant is freaking awesome!!

 

The Grand Wizard and Don Muraco Promo

 

It was great! Wizard says Muraco is the world's best surfer and wrestler and is humble. Muraco then does this egotistical rant which was insane! "I have put aside all my concerns for the ocean. i have put aside all my concerns for the sky and the sea. All my efforts are put into wrestling." I love Muraco!

 

Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik w/ Freddie Blassie vs Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (3/31/1985)

We cut right to the hot tag and Windham hitting a mighty fine bulldog. Cane and new tag champions. So we only got the good parts of the match. What puts this into the good column is the post match promo where Heenan calls out Blassie's white lie.

 

Greg Valentine and Jimmy Hart on TNT

 

Valentine has a "Rock 'n' Roll shirt with a skull on it that is awesome. He loves rock 'n' roll, not punk rock like Lauper. He's bringing in Jimmy Hart as his manager who used to play with the Gentrys who had a huge single. They hype WrestleMania.

 

Andre the Giant vs Big John Studd w/ Bobby Heenan (3/31/1985)

 

We cut right to the finish and Andre throwing out money. Still a cool moment.

 

Bobby Heenan giving love advice on TNT

 

Q: Do wrestlers make great lovers?
A: They are the second best, next to managers.

 

Q: A 69 year old wife says her husband will not make love to her anymore and asks for advice.

A: Get out of the rocker, put on some nice cologne.

 

Q: My husband has a six inch scar on his face, it turns me off. Since most wrestlers have scars, can I get some advice?
A: She should be thankful he has six inches of anything.

 

Andre the Giant vs Big John Studd w/ Bobby Heenan

 

A super fun angle where Studd grabs the scissors to further cut Andre's hair. Andre with the comeback and he grabs the scissors, but Bundy arrives and the two of them squash Andre.

 

Managers attempt to sign Randy Savage

 

Blassie, Hart and Heenan all make their pitches. Heenan offers riches. Jimmy Hart offers a bargain, as he will be cheaper and check out his suit which looks as good as Heenan and Blassie's, but only cost 15.99 from Memphis. Think of the money he can save them. Blassie managed a world champion and can get diamonds.

 

Randy Savage introduces his manager

 

All the managers are there, but he chooses Elizabeth instead. McMahon loses his shit over her beauty.

 

Manager of the Year Award Ceremony

 

Voted by the fans and Mean Gene tells us 1 million votes came in. Heenan was the top heel vote getter at 179,321 votes. However he somehow pools all the heel's votes together and has 519,711 for the win. Runners up were Hillbilly at 519,711 and Albano at 314,166. Hillbilly then gives his votes to Albano, making him the manager of the year. Heenan nails Albano with the trophy and Bundy and Studd squash Hillbilly. What a weird voting system.

 

Lou Albano on TNT

 

Heenan warns us to get out our rolaids, because we are about to be sick. He rambles on in his entertaining fashion.

 

 

The Bad

 

Wendi Richter vs Fabulous Moolah (7/23/1984)

 

Weirdest editing ever we go from mid match to a replay of the finish. WTF?

 

Wendi Richter w/ Cyndi Lauper vs Lelani Kai w/ Fabulous Moolah (3/31/1985)

 

Just clips and it seemed like a botch was still left in. Cyndi is great here though.

 

Uncle Elmer & Couson Junior w/ Hillbilly Jim vs Barry O & Jerry Adams (9/10/1985)

 

We get some fine dancing by Junior and Elmer, but we only get the opening of the match before we move on.

 

Andre the Giant & Pedro Morales vs Lou Albano & Afa (8/23/1980)

 

Albano walks out and Afa gets squashed. This is a prelude to a future tape all on Albano.

 

The Ugly

 

George Steele w/ Lou Albano vs Nikolai Volkoff w// Freddie Blassie (7/13/1985)

 

We get a cool visual of Albano taking Steele to the ring (from backstage) while Volkoff sings. An absolute nothing match where Lou chases Blassie away and a double count out. The announcing here was insane. I know it's the 80s, but Monsoon says "To feel all the Ethiopians you just need to get Volkoff to sing, food will come flying out of everywhere." Not to be turmped by Lord Alred who tries to claim that is how they can raise money for aids in Africa.

 

In The End

 

Highlight? I really loved Valiant cheating like a moffo, but nothing really sticks out on this tape.

Recommend: It's a solid tape, but nothing you need to go out of your way to see.

 

Next up is Wrestling's Country Boys!