-- We open with a few teasers/ads. The first is a spot with the Blue Blazer, where Owen Hart's superhero alter-ego tells fans he loves to fly high, but kids should say no to smoking. Owen breaks a handful if cigarettes to bring the point home.

Then we get the full movie trailer for the infamous No Holds Barred motion picture abortion starring Hulk Hogan as Rip and Tom "Tiny" Lister as Zeus. The trailer shows, among other things, Joan Severance (Hogan's on-screen love interest) in her bra, Zeus crushing cinderblocks into dust with his fists, and Hogan using a running double axehandle to shatter a mirror that bears the likeness of Zeus. For more on No Holds Barred, which also featured Stan Hansen, Demolition Ax, and other wrestling stars, check out this 2001 edition of Circa about the movie.

Next up is the original Slim Jim commercial featuring the Ultimate Warrior. Over the years, we've come to associate Randy "Macho Man" Savage with the Slim Jim endorsement deal, but it was actually the Warrior who got the gig first. In fact, I think the Warrior's first falling-out with WWE resulted in Randy Savage picking up the Slim Jim endorsement once Jim Hellwig was out of the promotion. I believe the loss of that deal to Randy Savage was also a sore spot for the Warrior, but then again, the Warrior bitches about everything anyway.

Our last teaser is a blue screen listing upcoming Coliseum video releases: Best of the WWF Volume 20, Demolition, and WWF Fan Favorites, all due for an August 9, 1989, release. Check your local... eBay.

-- The video opens with our host, Sean Mooney, standing outside the entrance to WWF Headquarters. Mooney promises to take us on a tour of the building throughout the video, but things are off to a shaky start as Lord Alfred Hayes disses Mooney on a handshake as he passes through the door. Mooney tries to enter behind Alfred, but a security guard says he isn't getting in without proper ID.

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake vs. "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig.

We're at Madison Square Garden. Our commentators for this match are Alfred Hayes and a man who sounds like former AWA announcer Ron Trongard, but I can't verify that yet. By the way, Trongard passed away last week at the age of 72. Rest in peace, sir.

Hennig was relatively fresh off his championship run in the AWA himself, and was still wearing his short AWA trunks instead of the singlet he's better known for.

They lock up a couple of times to start, with Beefcake shoving Perfect into the corner to break each time. Perfect tries for a reverse gutwrench and gets an elbow to his head. Beefcake grabs a standing side headlock. They run the ropes and Perfect gains control with a drop toe hold and transitions it to a headlock, which Beefcake reverses to a standing hammerlock. Perfect steps through the ropes to break the hold. A close-up shows Beefcake is busted open on the bridge of his nose.

Test of strength sequence with Beefcake getting the advantage, until Perfect steps through it to break the hold, giving Beefcake an arm wringer, a knife edge chop, a forearm to the gut and a kneelift in quick succession. Now that's taking control of a match. Perfect hammers away at Beefcake's gut in the corner. Perfect rakes the back and then goes to a chinlock. I can now confirm that the other commentator is indeed Ron Trongard of AWA fame, because he just identified himself.

Beefcake stands up and smashes Perfect's head on the turnbuckle to break the chinlock. Perfect and Beefcake exchange forearms and chops before Perfect goes to the eyes for the advantage. Perfect lays the boots and knees into Beefcake's lower back, softening him up for the Perfect Plex. Beffcake does his own version of Hogan's Hulk-Up, and Hennig tries fighting it off with a flurry of punches in the corner. Beefcake eventually reverses that and punches Hennig in the corner, as Hennig sails over the top rope to sell the final punch. Beefcake follows with a turnbuckle smash, an atomic drop and another punch. Hennig sells those 150 percent, jumping headfirst into a turnbuckle on the atomic drop, and doing a sideways corkscrew to sell the punch. Leave it to Hennig to make the most bland offense look totally devastating. Beefcake with a back bodydrop. Beefcake's getting ready to put the sleeper hold on Perfect, but Outlaw Ron Bass (whom Beefcake was feuding with at the time) shows up at ringside and starts going through Beefcake's duffle bag-o-barber tools. Beefcake goes outside to brawl with Bass, and Perfect follows him out for the double team on Beefcake, just long enough to slip back into the ring and win via countout.
Winner: "Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig (via countout).

-- Sean Mooney finally weaseled his way inside of WWF Headquarters and is standing in front of shelves of VHS video archives. Some tiny guy with a moustache tells Mooney to go far down an aisle to find the next match, then pushes a button to move two rows of shelves together and trick Mooney.

Demolition (Ax & Smash, C) vs. The Powers of Pain (Warlord & Barbarian, w/Mr. Fuji)
WWF World Tag Team Title Match

We're at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisc. This is from the same card as the 1989 Main Event on NBC, and you can see the Main Event banners hanging in the arena. That was the show where the Megapowers broke up, with Randy Savage accusing Hulk Hogan of lusting after Elizabeth. Our commentators this time are Tony Schiavone and Lord Alfred. Man, between the "Voice of the AWA" Ron Trongard and the eternally-associated-with-WCW Schiavone, there is an eclectic mix of announcers on this video.

Ax pummels Barbarian and tosses him out of the ring while Smash and Warlord duke it out in the corner. Smash irish whips Warlord and takes him over with a snap mare. Smash peppers Warlord with nine or 10 forearm smashes to the chest, then tags in Ax for the double clothesline. Ax twists the head of Warlord while facing Mr. Fuji. "How's that, Stooge!" Ax taunts. Smash tag in and irish whips Warlord, but eats turnbuckle when he follows through. Barbarian tags in and tries for the patented big boot to the face, but Smash catches the leg and throws him to the mat. Smash tags in Ax and they double-team Barbarian with forearm smashes until he falls to the mat. And then, more forearm smashes from Ax. Ax runs over and decks Warlord in the corner for good measure. Warlord enters the ring and Ax corners him, but Mr. Fuji smacks Ax in the knee and chokes him out with the cane while the referee is distracted.

On the outside, Warlord holds Ax so Fuji can hit him with the cane again. They get back in the ring and Warlord puts the boots to Ax. The referee asks Warlord to back off because Ax is near the ropes, so Barbarian chokes Ax while the ref is busy with Warlord. Barbarian tags in. Shoulder breaker and nerve pinch by Barbarian. Warlord tags in and resumes the nerve pinch. Warlord tags Barbarian back in and the cameraman misses what Barbarian does to Ax, but the commentators sell it anyway. Whatever it was knocked Ax to the outside. They get back in and Barbarian headbutts Ax, tags in Warlord, and Warlord starts hammering on Ax. Lots of quick tags in this match considering it's a couple of power teams. Warlord sends Ax to the ropes and ducks for the back bodydrop, but Ax finally gains an advantage with a forearm to the back.

Hot tag to Smash, who cleans house and clotheslines Barbarian to the outside. Smash with a hotshot on Warlord, but Barbarian is back in for the double team. They do their finisher on Smash, which I forget the name of ... it's a cross between a Hart Attack and a Doomsday Device, where Warlord holds Smash in a bearhug and Barbarian clotheslines him from the top rope. Ax breaks up the pin attempt. Ax tosses Barbarian out. Mr. Fuji is on the apron. Ax decks him, and the referee gets in Fuji's face, just in time for Ax to go apeshit with Fuji's cane, beating the hell out of the Powers of Pain. Fuji finally gets in the ring to throw salt in Ax's eyes, and THAT the referee catches.
Winners: Demolition (via DQ).

Postmatch, Fuji breaks the cane over Ax's back.

-- Mooney's standing in front of the "office" of Jesse "The Body" Ventura. He knocks on the door, promising an exclusive interview. A good-looking woman (in a 1980s sort of way) answers the door and takes Mooney's message. She comes back out with a note from Ventura reading "MOONEY GET LOST!" Mooney pretends it says "Let's do lunch" and sends us to a Ventura match from the archives.

Jesse "The Body" Ventura vs. Tony Garea.

We're back at Madison Square Garden in NYC. This was 1984 or thereabouts. This time, it's Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred on commentary. Lord Alfred must have had a Coliseum Video clause in his contract or something.

Ventura makes Garea wait while he removes numerous earrings and pieces of jewelry before the match. Ventura with a duck under and a kidney punch to start. He flexes his muscles for the crowd while Garea sells the punch. Garea chases Ventura out of the ring as Jesse plays the chickenshit heel for a bit. Ventura with another duck under, but this time he uses an open-hand slap to the kidneys because the referee is watching for the illegal closed fist. The ref gets out of position, so Ventura goes back to the closed fist. Garea gets fed up and gives Ventura a closed fist to the kidneys in return, and the crowd cheers. Remember when the little things like illegal closed fists were enough to draw a crowd reaction?

Garea gets Ventura down and goes to a knee to the head, followed by a wristlock. (And yes, I do know a wristlock from a wristwatch, thank you.) Garea switches to an arm wringer, and Jesse Ventura counters with an eye rake. Ventura uses the ropes for another eye rake to Garea. Garea plays possum as Jesse follows up, slamming Ventura's arm on the top rope and going back to the armbar. THe run the ropes and Garea gets a shoulderblock. They run the ropes one more time and Ventura tosses Garea over the ropes. Garea's neck gets trapped between the top and middle ropes, as Ventura uses the mishap to his advantage to choke Garea out. Lord Alfred and Gorilla Monsoon are absolutely livid at this disgusting display by Ventura. Garea gets freed up, but he's on empty as Ventura lays on the boots. Ventura picks Garea up and chokes him against the top rope one more time. Pin attempt, but Garea kicks out. Ventura with a chop. Ventura attempts a clothesline but Garea ducks and connects on a back elbow.

Ventura is begging for a time out now that Garea is back in control. For how limited Jesse Ventura was as a wrestler, he really was an entertaining heel. Garea gives Ventura a turnbuckle smash and tries for an abdominal stretch, but Ventura uses his momentum to dump Garea out of the ring. Sunset flip gets two for Garea. High cross body by Garea gets two. Ventura begs off into the corner and Garea follows with punches. You can see Ventura tell Garea something, and since this is where they go to the finish, you can guess what they were discussing. Ventura reverses an irish whip attempt and tries catching Garea on a scoop slam on the rebound, but Garea reverses and runs Ventura into the corner face first. Ventura ducks at the last second, sending Garea into the turnbuckle instead. Elbow drop by Ventura, and that finishes Garea for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Jesse "The Body" Ventura (pinfall).

-- Sean Mooney gets kicked out of the control room.

Harlem Street Fight: Randy "Macho Man" Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. Bad News Brown.

Your announcers are Schiavone and Lord Alfred, and despite the match name, I don't think we're really in Harlem. Call me crazy.

Savage and Brown are both in street clothes to sell the gimmick. This was during Savage's first WWF World Title reign, and it was also around the time when Bad News Brown was considered one of better heels on the roster. Years later, Bad News would say that Vince McMahon went back on a promise to give him a WWF Title run. If Brown ever did win the WWF Title, it probably was scheduled to happen in this general era (1989-ish), although with guys like Rick Rude, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, and others still in great form, it's not like Bad News Brown was McMahon's only option for a heel champion (or even his best option). I always liked Bad News, but sometimes you gotta look at the facts.

Savage tries to rush into the ring to start, but Bad News gets ghetto on his ass right quick, sending him to the outside. Bad News gets a chair and chokes Savage with it in the ring. Bad News tosses Savage to the outside again. Bad News Brown is wearing a New York Mets cutoff T-shirt... and he wonders why he never won the big one. Heh... oh yes. I went there. They duke it out on the outside and Savage regains control, ramming Brown into a table at ringside (but not through it) and tossing him back in for the flying double axehandle. Savage takes off his weightlifting belt and whips Brown in the chest with it. Savage chokes Brown with the belt. Savage gets a chair and comes off the top rope with it, but Brown counters with a fist to the gut. Brown rams Savage in the chest with the chair. They go outside and Brown throws Savage over the railing and into the crowd. A fan at ringside actually helps toss Savage back over the guardrail... funny. Brown set up a table in the corner of the ring. He tries irish-whipping Savage into it but Savage reverses, sending Brown into the referee, and both of them through the table. Brown recovers quickly and hits Savage with the Ghetto Blaster, but the referee took the brunt of the table spot so nobody counts the cover. Brown wakes up the referee. He bodyslams Savage and covers him again, but the referee falls flat on his face and passes out again in a bit of comedy. Brown is now slapping the referee in the head to wake him back up. The ref is revived, so Brown tries another bodyslam. This time, Savage reverses it into a backslide pinfall, and a second referee runs in to count the 3.
Winner: Randy "Macho Man" Savage (via pinfall).

Bad News goes ballistic and beats up the second referee. Savage comes to the rescue and they brawl some more after the match. A third referee tries to break it up and Bad News takes him out, too. Now the wrestlers are coming out to break it up. We've got Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Ronnie Garvin, Paul Roma, Danny Davis, "Red Rooster" Terry Taylor, and IRON MIKE SHARPE~! Something funny must have happened, because Roma, Davis and Valentine are totally out of character and laughing their asses off while breaking up the fight.

-- Mooney tries to get a guy named Chuck to tell him how the tape machines work in the control room. Everyone gives him the cold shoulder again.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts & Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Andre the Giant & Ravishing Rick Rude (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan).

This appears to be from a Wrestling Challenge TV taping. Jake Roberts and Jim Duggan are the two upper-midcard babyfaces that got a run with Andre the Giant right after Hulk Hogan took some time off to film No Holds Barred. In Duggan's case, they booked him as a hero for being able to drop Andre with his 2x4. In Jake Roberts' case, the story was that Andre the Giant was deathly afraid of snakes, and thus, Roberts was the one guy who could exploit Andre's main weakness (besides total immobility and advancing age). Roberts also had a pretty hot feud going with Rick Rude the year prior to this, based on Rick Rude hitting on Roberts' wife Cheryl at ringside and having her face airbrushed onto the crotch of his tights.

Andre starts off by mauling Duggan like a hungry bear looking for table scraps. He smashes Duggan to a couple of different turnbuckles and follows with a headbutt. Tag in to Rick Rude, who snap mares Duggan over and drops the fist. Rude goes to the second ropes and misses a fist drop. Duggan tags in Roberts and the crowd goes nuts. Jake peppers Rude with fists and boots to the delight of the audience. Andre comes in and Jake meets him with a kneelift. Andre falls backward and ties himself up in the ropes. With Andre helpless, Duggan comes in, and Duggan and Roberts use Rick Rude's head as a battering ram into Andre's chest. Roberts with a gutbuster on Rude, but Andre comes in to attack Jake and stop the onslaught. Rude drops a fist on Jake. Rude sends Jake head-first into Andre's knee in the corner, and then kicks him in the balls for good measure.

Snap mare into a chinlock by Rude. Jake fights up, but Rude tags Andre in, who chokes Jake Roberts with a front facelock using his shoulder strap. Andre tags Rude in, and Rude goes back to the chinlock. Rude turns it into a pin attempt and Roberts kicks out. Rude goes to the top rope and accidentally crotches himself on it. Woops! Andre evens the score by coming in and ramming Roberts into a turnbuckle, so now both legal guys are down and out. Rude tags Andre, who cuts Jake off before he can tag Duggan. Andre corners Jake and tries for the butt press, but Jake escapes and Andre is hurt from hitting the turnbuckle.

Hot tag to Hacksaw, who lays the boots to Andre in the corner and climbs the ropes to pound away. Hacksaw shoulderblocks Andre into the corner. Andre jacks Duggan's jaw against his knee to gain the advantage. Rude tags in, still selling the injured balls. He chokes Duggan on the ropes. Rude swivels the hips and dukes it out with Duggan, winning with an eye rake. Momentarily blinded, Duggan wanders into Andre's corner and gets a head butt to go. Rude covers, but Duggan gets the foot on the ropes. Rude pounds on Duggan and swivels his hips some more. Duggan's back up and both guys are groggy, knocking themselves silly on a double shoulder block. Rude looks for a tag, but stumbles into Jake Roberts' corner by accident and eats a fist.

Hot tag to Roberts, who puts the fists to Rude. Short-arm clothesline and kneelift by Roberts, who is setting up the DDT... except Andre comes in to stop him. Andre was a lot more mobile in this match than I remember him being in 1989. Andre headbutts Duggan. The referee tries to get Andre out of the ring while Rick Rude puts Jake Roberts in the Rude Awakening, but doesn't see Duggan come back in the other side and hit Rude with the 2x4 in the ribs. Jake Roberts covers Rude for the pin. Pretty fun match here.
Winners: Jake "The Snake" Roberts & Hacksaw Jim Duggan (via pinfall).

-- Mooney's in the audio room now, where he turns up the volume and blasts out a guy wearing headphones.

Special Segment: The Making of the Million Dollar Belt.

This is the series of vignettes the WWF showed to promote the debut of Ted DiBiase's custom-made Million Dollar Belt. The first is Ted DiBiase riding in the back of a limo in Greenwich, Connecticut, on the way to the "finest jeweler in the entire world" with trusty sidekick Virgil. DiBiase tells the staff of the jewelry store he's not interested in any of their little trinkets and wants to speak to the jeweler himself. DiBiase asks him to design something befitting of a man of his stature... something that will make the world recognize him for what he is: the finest wrestler in the world. He wants a million dollar championship belt with gold and diamonds galore. The jeweler says he doesn't think anyone's ever done that before and doesn't know if he can pull it off. DiBiase says he CAN make it... and DiBiase CAN afford it.

Later on, DiBiase visits the jeweler and tells him the diamonds he has there aren't nearly enough for his belt. He demands more. He returns the next week wearing a suit and a black cape, looking like some kind of millionaire vampire. The belt is ready, and DiBiase is ecstatic to finally have a posession worthy of being around his waist. He unleashes an evil cackle, and we cut to an edition of the Brother Love interview segment the next week, where fans finally get to see the belt in all of its glory. Brother Love convulses in the magnificent beauty of the belt, while Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon (on commentary) wonder in disbelief how many diamonds are actually in that thing. My guess is zero!

Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/ Virgil).

We're in Odessa, Texas, at a taping of Wrestling Challenge. This was during Bret Hart's initial singles push in the WWF, which would be abandoned for another tag team run with Jim Neidhart in 1990, and then renewed for good after that. Virgil demands that ring announcer Mike McGirk refer to DiBiase as the "Million Dollar Champion." Commentators are Tony Schiavone and the omnipresent Lord Alfred Hayes.

Bret Hart starts off fast with a series of punches and a Russian leg sweep. Cover gets two. Bret ducks a DiBiase punch and counters with an atomic drop. Body press gets two for Bret. DiBiase bails to regain his composure. A minute later, they lock up in the ring again. DiBiase punches away and tries for a bodyslam. Bret slips out of the slam attempt and goes for a reverse rollup, but DiBiase counters by holding the ropes. DiBiase jaws with the crowd and walks right into a Bret Hart small package for two. DiBiase bails out of the ring again. Bret Hart slingshots DiBiase back into the ring and headbutts him. DiBiase gets tied up in the ropes... isn't this the third match on this tape where someone does that spot? Yeah, with Garea it was his head. But still.

Bret charges at DiBiase, but the Million Dollar Man moves out of the way and Bret crotches himself sideways on the ropes. DiBiase puts the boots to Bret and chokes him on the mat. DiBiase rams Bret to the turnbuckles. Clothesline by DiBiase. Elbow drop and cover gets two for DiBiase. Elbow to the back of Bret's head off the ropes. Trademark fist drop by DiBiase, followed by a vertical suplex for two. Bret counters a second vertical suplex attempt into one of his own. They duke it out on their knees before DiBiase rakes the eyes and nails a back suplex for two. Hard irish whip to the corner by DiBiase, and another for good measure. Kneeling backbreaker gets two for DiBiase. Bret rolls DiBiase up in a small package out of nowhere for two. That pisses off DiBiase, who stomps Bret and tries for a body slam... but gets rolled up again for two.

DiBiase throws Bret to the outside. DiBiase briefly attacks Bret on the outside and tosses him in for a cover. One, two, nope. Chinlock by DiBiase. Bret fights up from the chinlock into a test of strength position, but DiBiase powers him back into the hold. He abandons the hold for a pin attempt that gets two. DiBiase stomps Bret and tries for a clothesline, which Bret ducks. They nail each other with stereo clotheslines. Both men down. DiBiase rises first and goes to the top rope, but Bret slams him off. They duke it out with Bret winning, and DiBiase starts to beg off. Bret hammers DiBiase in the corner. Reverse elbow and falling elbow gets two for Bret. Backbreaker by Bret, followed by the elbow off the second rope for a close two count. The crowd is loving the near falls. Bret irish whips DiBiase and runs in, but nobody's home for the high knee. DiBiase spots the injured limb and goes to a spinning toe hold, but Bret uses the good leg to kick him out of the ring. Slingshot plancha over the top rope by Bret. They fight on the outside again, and Tim White calls for the double countout.
Winner: No contest (double countout).

-- Sean Mooney gets locked in a set storage room which he thought was the producer's office. And that's the end.

Overall, I would recommend this on the strength of Hart vs. DiBiase, although the finish was pretty weak. The Beefcake-Hennig match had the same problem. Seeing Demolition vs. the Powers of Pain was cool for old time's sake.

Don't drop everything to find a copy of The Best of the WWF Volume 19... but if you find it somewhere, you might want to give it a run through the VCR.