Nickrj’s rant for Best of the WWF Volume 11 from Colsieum Video
Your host is Gene Okerlund
All of the matches take place at Madison Square Garden in late 1986/early 1987
Can Am Connection VS The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake and
Greg Valentine)
Rick Martel starts with Valentine. Valentine does a drop toe hold but Martel gets a hammerlock with a few knee drops. Valentine slams Martel but Martel hangs on to the arm. Tom Zenk tags in and continues to work on the arm and does a fireman’s carry followed by a legdrop. Valentine does a hip toss but misses an elbow. Zenk hits a drop kick and goes back to the right arm. Valentine gets up and tags Beefcake. Beefcake gives a hip toss and misses a fist. Beefcake puts Zenk in the corner but Zenk catches a boot and does an atomic drop. Valentine comes in and Zenk does another atomic drop. Valentine gets nailed by Martel in the corner and does a flop. Zenk gets a 2 count. Martel comes back in and hits a flying elbow on the right arm. He continues to wear out the right arm but gets clotheslined on the top rope by Valentine. Beefcake comes in and starts working on Martel. The Dream Team does the elbowdrop into a backbreaker combo for 2. Martel nails a right hand on Valentine but Beefcake comes back in. Beefcake does a resthold but Martel gets up, ducks under two leap frogs and hits a backslide for 2. Beefcake continues to go on Martel. Valentine comes in but Martel fights back again. He sends Valentine into the corner but Valentine reverses it. Valentine hits a suplex for 2. Beefcake comes in and does a high bear hug. He tags Valentine and he hits a double ax handle. Valentine tries for the figure four but Martel reverses it for a one count. Martel and Valentine trade right hands. Valentine gets a rollup for 2. Beefcake comes in and Martel goes under the legs to tag Zenk. Zenk hits a couple of dropkicks on both dreamers and does a knoggin knocker on both. He sends Beefcake into the corner but Beefcake nails him with a clothesline. Beefcake hits a kick in the abs. Valentine comes in and does a ¾ nelson. He gets a 2 count. Zenk gets up and Valentine goes to the ab stretch and hooks the trunks of Zenk for leverage. Valentine hits a stomach breaker and Beefcake comes in and works on the abs of Zenk. Zenk gets caught in an inverted atomic drop for 2. Zenk does a nice bridge and another one. He does a third one and raises the knees to catch Beefcake. Valentine gets the tag and both men get clotheslined. Beefcake comes in illegally and Martel tries to fight back. Beefcake puts Valentine on Zenk but he gets a 2 count. Zenk makes the tag but the ref didn’t see it and puts Martel out. The Dreamers double team Zenk. Valentine misses an elbow. Zenk makes the tag again and this time the ref sees it but Martel gets thrown out of the ring. Valentine who did not see the tag hits a back suplex followed by the figure four. Martel slingshots himself from the apron onto Valentine and gets the pin at 17:06. This was a good opening match ***
George “The Animal” Steele VS Kamala
Oh boy here’s one of my favorites. They both waist a minute until Steel goes after Kimchee and Steele gets knocked out of the ring. They both stall for a minute before Steele steps on Kamala’s foot twice and starts biting him. He goes after Kimchee again and the Grand Wizard. But Kamala nails him with the horn and hits a splash from the side and he hits a splash from the top rope for the pin at 3:14. A terrible match -* Kamala hits another splash and Steele is out of it.
Roddy Piper comes into the ring and says that “THE BOSS IS BACK!” and that he’s still the same no good son of a bitch around. They cut to Bobby and Paul in the ring. Roddy asks Paul who would tag up with him. Bobby says that he would get the King Harley Race as Orndorff’s partner. Bobby and Paul then ask who Roddy Piper would get as a partner. Piper gets “his manager” which is a fan at ringside. He asks him who be his partner and when he says “Hulk Hogan.” The Garden goes nuts as Orndorff and Bobby throw a tantrum and Piper calmly walks away from the ring. Good stuff.
All four men brawl to start and both Race and Orndorff are thrown out of the ring. All four men continue to brawl in the ring. Race is now in with Piper and Piper works on the right arm but gets slam. Race misses an elbow and grabs the right arm and tags Hogan. Hogan hits a double ax handle on the right arm and grabs it and tags Piper again as he hits a flying fist drop. Hogan tags in again and hits a big boot on the elbow. Piper comes in again and hits an uppercut on the right arm. Piper goes to a nerve pinch but gets head butted into the wrong corner and Orndorff starts working on him. Piper tags Hogan again and drapes Race’s right arm over the top rope. Piper grabs the right arm again but gets rammed into the wrong corner and Race hits a belly to belly suplex and a knee drop. Orndorff tags in nails a fistdrop from the top. Piper gets knocked outside the ring. He gets back in and takes a clothesline. Race comes in and hits an elbow. Hogan illegally comes in and Race hits another clothesline. He hits a power slam and tags Orndorff and does a double chinlock. Piper comes back and does a sunset flip but gets nailed. Race hits a suplex and a kneedrop. Orndorff comes in and Piper starts fighting back and Hogan comes in again but gets ushered back as both Race and Orndorff double team Piper. Piper tries to get to his own corner Race hits a heabutt but Piper tags Hogan. Hogan goes to work on Race and Orndorff. He hits a double knoggin knocker. Hogan hits a atomic drop a clothesline and his legdrop but Orndorff stops the count. Hogan goes after Bobby Heenan but Piper gets double teamed. Orndorff goes for a clothesline but he nails Race instead and Piper gets the cover at 8:15. This wasn’t that bad of a match **1/2 afterward Hogan gets triple teamed but he goes after Heenan and sends him into the post.
Six Man Elimination Match Adrian Adonis, King Harley Race and Randy “Macho Man” Savage VS Roddy Piper, The Junkyard Dog and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
This is similar to a survivor series match and Howard Finkel explains the rules. Okerlund explains that Slick is the color commentator here, all these men would face in indvidual matches at Wrestlemania III and that this is the last time Piper would ever appear at MSG. Piper starts with Adonis but Adonis tags in Savage. Piper nails Race on the outside and chases Savage out of the ring. Steamboat and Savage go at it and Steamboat hits a nice arm drag. The King comes in and so does JYD. He hits Race with some headbutts and knocks him out of the ring. Race comes back in and JYD knocks Race out of the ring again. Race hits a belly to belly and tags Savage who chokes JYD he covers JYD for one and goes to the tops but Steamboat shakes the ropes and hits a headbutt and JYD as well. Steamboat comes in and goes to work on Savage. He gets kicked in the head though and Adonis comes in and hits a back suplex. Steamboat kicks him in the corner and tags Piper. He catches Adonis on the outside and all six men start brawling in the corner. Race and Adonis hit a double suplex on Piper. Steamboat comes in and gets rammed into the turnbuckle. Adonis gets rammed into the corner by Piper but hits Good Night Irene but Piper breaks it by ramming him into the corner and hits a sleeper of his own but the King stops it. JYD and Savage come in. JYD slams Savage for 2 but Race breaks it up. Adonis comes in and hits JYD in the head. Oops JYD starts hammering Adonis and they both spill out of the ring. All 6 men are outside the ring. They get back in and Piper hits a back suplex on Race for 2. And JYD and Adonis are counted out at 7:49. Piper and Race continue and Race hits a clothesline. Both Race and Savage double team him in the corner. Savage comes in and works on Savage. Piper rams Savage into the corner. Race comes in and hits a kneedrop. Savage starts choking Piper on the top rope and misses a butt splash on the ropes. Race comes in and tries a suplex but Piper reverses it and tags Steamboat. Steamboat hammers away on Steamboat and chops away at him. He slides under the legs and hits another chop for 2. Piper and Steamboat hit a double clothesline on Race. Steamboat goes to the top and hits a flying chop but Savage stops the count. Steamboat hits a small package but Savage comes in and reverses it and Race pins Steamboat at 11:41. Steamboat wishes Piper good luck before he leaves. He goes after Race and sends him into the corner. But Savage comes in and hits Piper. Piper fights away on Race and hits him out of the ring and the King takes a seat. Savage tries to hit Piper with a chair but Piper blocks hit and Race hits him to take advantage. Savage chokes Piper over the top and hits a double ax handle from the top for 2. Race comes in and they both work on Piper but Piper fights back on both but Race hits him from behind. Race hits a power slam for 2. Piper reverses a gut wrench suplex but Savage stops the count. Race holds Piper and Savage goes for a double ax handle from the top but Piper ducks and hits Race and Piper pins Race at 15:41. Down to Savage and Piper. Piper sends Savage into Race. Piper hits a bulldog on Savage and bites his hand. Savage spits on Piper which gets him mad. Savage runs out of the ring and catches Piper inside. Piper hits a sunset flip but gets nailed. Savage hits a clothesline for 2. Savage nails an elbow on the throat for another 2. Savage tries to slam Piper but Piper falls on him for 2. Savage is choking Piper. Piper places him in a high choke hold and hits some rights on Savage. They both get knocked down and Savage is out of the ring. Piper gets up first and then acts like he dead which prompts Savage to hit the flying elbow but tricks him and Savage misses. And Piper small packages Savage for the pin at 20:21. A very good match which is not well known ***1/2
Gene Okerlund interviews Roddy Piper on his last appearance on Saturday Night’s Main Event in March 1987. Then they show a tribute to Piper which was also shown on SNME.
Midget tag team match Pepe Gomez and The Karate Kid VS Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook.
Great what I need now. Midgets. Tokyo starts with the Kid. Tokyo with an armlock and hits a chop. Tokyo sends Kid into the corner. But Kid hits a thrust kick. The kid works on Tokyo in the corner and hits a dropkick. Gomez kicks Littlebrook in the fannie. Both Tokyo and Littlebrook run into each other and Kid and Gomez do some rowboat action using the legs. Tokyo works over Kid. Littlebrook stomps on the neck of Kid and so does Gomez. Tokyo gets caught while Littlebrook doesn’t know. Gomez covers Tokyo for 2. Gomez hits a back drop. But Tokyo catches him. Tokyo hits a slam for 2 and the ref catches Tokyo in mid air and dumps him. Littlebrook tags in and Kid does a full nelson. Tokyo inadventally hits Littlebrook. Kid does another full nelson but Littlebrook reverses it and Tokyo hits Littlebrook again. Littlebrook takes over on Kid. Kid kicks Littlebrook in the face but Littlebrook works on Kid and tags Tokyo. Tokyo hits a backdrop and tags Littlebrook again. Littlebrook hits another backdrop. And another. Tokyo comes in and so does Gomez and Gomez hits a drop kick but misses. Tokyo grabs Gomez Littlebrook climbs on the second but hits a flying bodypress on Tokyo and Gomez and Kid pin Littlebrook and Tokyo at 7:48. No comment ½*
Muraco is wearing a kilt to mock Roddy Piper. Jim takes a peek before the match begins. Jim hammers on Muraco and sends him upside down in the corner and out of the ring. Jim wears the kilt on his head making fun of Muraco. Muraco gets slammed and wants time out. Jim goes to work on the right arm and takes him over with an armdrag. Jim goes into a chinlock and stomps on him. He gets a two count. Jim hits a headbutt. Muraco offers a handshake. Muraco sends Jim down and goes to work on him. He goes into the nerve pinch and goes into a neck snap. Muraco dumps Jim onto the apron. Mr. Fuji gets shoved away from Jim. Jim gets sent into the corner and hits a head scissors. Muraco runs into the big boot. Jim hits a bear hug but Fuji comes in the ring and hits Jim in the back with the cane for the DQ at 6:12. Poor match DUD Afterwards Fuji and Muraco pound away on Jim and they tear his bib overalls. Jim grabs the mic and apologizes to the fans for what happened and challenges Mr. Fuji to a tuxedo match. He tosses his bib overalls in the crowd.
Whoever gets stripped down to his underwear is the loser. Jim is wearing a white tux. He knocks Fuji’s hat away and stomps on it. Fuij starts working on Jim. And tears his shirt. Jim tears away some of his jacket. Fuji tears some more of Jim’s jacket and chokes him with it. Fuji uses the jacket as a whip. Jim tears Fuji’s jacket and shirt off. Fuji hits a low blow and takes off Hillbilly’s shirt. Jim’s tears Fuji’s shirt off and also his pants for the win at 4:16. Terrible match with no wrestling -*
Summary: Well this tape has it’s ups and downs. But the opening tag match is very good along with the Roddy Piper stuff so I’ll go with MILDLY RECOMMENDED. But stop after the Piper stuff.