Tuesday, May 24, 2011

WWF Coliseum Video: "Inside the WWF"

1) The Undertaker vs. Crush – 3
Funny bit during Taker’s entrance where Monsoon and Johnny Polo go back and forth about the virtues of a plastic Undertaker placemat. Quick! Where can I get one of those! Crush sold a DDT like he woke up from an afternoon nap. Pretty slow paced, methodical match. Nice jumping clothesline from Taker caught Crush flush. Hey, that rhymes! Crush didn’t look good at all, only highlight of his night was when he grabbed a chair and worked over Taker.

2) Marty Jannetty & Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels & Diesel – 4
Things took a while to get going with Shawn stalling at the start and Diesel and Razor taking forever to lock up. Razor took a shot to the buckle and sold it like he had one too many cervezas, not that that’s much of a stretch for him anyway. You can tell it’s the mid-90s as Diesel is rocking a mullet. Jannetty took a hard ass boot from Diesel. Crowd popped for the hot tag and then legal man issues took over. Razor won with a chokeslam! Nice.

3) Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow – 4
Only a minute or two in and Tatanka must’ve slipped on some ice or something because he missed Bigelow’s shoulder tackle by a good six inches but bumped for it anyway. Pretty nice DDT by Tatanka. Bigelow got in a couple good moves. Tatanka looked completely awful. He laid outside forever, like he was waiting for the Republican controlled House to pass a bill in the Democrat controlled Senate, and oversold Luna’s kicks. Gorilla references the EXTERNAL OCCIPITAL PROTUBERANCE!!!! Yes!! Tatanka busted out a nice Samoan drop on the floor. Pretty long match, sloppy at points, but not bad.

4) Bret Hart vs. Adam Bomb – 4
Did Johnny Polo just come out of the shower because his outfit looks like he’s got a bathrobe on. Even DiBiase on commentary says “I’m giving Johnny Polo some money so he can buy some new clothes.” Bret really worked to make Bomb look good. Bomb punched the ringpost, sold it for a bit, then completely forgot about it. Bret took a beating forever. Pretty basic bout here with neither guy really going balls out.

5) Randy Savage vs. Doink – 3
For a mid-90s bout, this was pretty wild as the action kept going in and out of the ring. Doink did a double ax off the top to the floor. The heel Doink character was awesome. This was really in the same vain as the previous Bret/Adam Bomb match. Savage took a beating throughout out the match and getting in some offense here and there. Second Doink runs down and they do the old switch-a-roo and some lame stuff with Savage convincing the ref there were two Doinks. Yuck.

6) Razor Ramon vs. Ludvig Borga – 3
For present day fans, Borga is comparable to Vladimir Koslov. A big guy, foreign dude with very limited offense who got pushed to the sky immediately and then got shoved back down the card almost as quickly. Nice tease of a suplex to the outside by Borga. Borga’s offense consisted primarily of punching and slamming. Big back suplex from Razor off the second rope. Wait, a false finish, a ref bump, AND a Dusty finish in the same match? That was uncreative and completely unnecessary.

7) Shawn Michaels vs. Lex Luger – 5
Man, Shawn was bouncing around like a red rubber dodgeball, getting good mileage out of a shoulderblock and a clothesline. Luger was really fired up, hitting his big moves with a crispness that I haven’t seen out him in a really long time. Crowd was just eating Luger up and loved his every move. Shawn got a good side kick. Lame finish with Shawn bailing and getting counted out. Brawl with Luger and Diesel brawl post-match wasn’t bad.

8) Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna – Steel Cage Match – 5
In the grand scheme of things, Yokozuna is really overlooked. For a guy his size in his prime, he was one of the most mobile and agile big men ever. Fun stuff here where Bret got tossed halfway across the ring, Yoko took a hard shot into the cage, and Bret took a hard whip into the buckle. Nice tease with Bret scraping and clawing trying to get out of the cage through the door and Yoko having a death grip on him. Bret tried a bulldog which ended up with Yoko falling backwards and looking more like a neckbreaker in execution. Yoko sold a shot with a wood bucket like a fish flopping out of water. Why did the referee run in and count a fall? Yoko just laid by the door for the finish waiting for his spot and just suddenly woke up and made his way out of the cage.

4 comments:

Boston Garden Balcony said...

The Hart/Yokozuna cage matches came at a time when Vince had banned blood (much like today), but Hart was a master at performing exciting cage matches without any gigging. I saw a Hart/Yokozuna cage bout at a house show that was quite good, and Hart's cage match with his brother, Owen, at SummerSlam 1994 was well done, too, without any blood.

Adam said...

BGB - Thanks for the comment. I agree with you on the Owen match. It's definitely one of the best cage matches ever.

Jessie said...

I agree....I reviewed that Bret-Owen Cage in the early days....gave it a solid 9, damn near a 10.....hands down top 3 cage matches of all time i would say...

Didge said...

adam your right yoko will never get the props he deserves. the big man could bump.