Coliseum Video WrestleMania Cards

In lieu of doing another wrestling VHS box post, I felt like I should maybe come up with something a little bit different this time. So, I thought it'd be fun to look at the first eight WrestleMania events, which are chronicled in a set released through Coliseum Video, the WWF's home video distributor at the time, in 1993.

These cards are pretty basic with some artwork detailing the event, like this one from the first WrestleMania in 1985. The back gives a brief description of the event. These cards came in three card panels that were given out as a free gift when you rented a WWF tape from your local video store.

Some of the cards would feature artwork very similar to the VHS box cover, others like these from WrestleMania 2 and WrestleMania III featured generic pictures or posed shots. The one thing I don't really like about the WrestleMania 2 card is the fact they didn't use the giant red "2" from the original logo.

WrestleMania IV and V were odd in that they were held in the same venue, Trump Plaza (aka the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall) in back to back years, 1988 and 1989. Also, WrestleMania IV was interesting in that it was the beginning of the year long story between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage which led to them facing each other at WrestleMania V for the WWF Title.

In 1990, the WWF went across the border for WrestleMania VI and ran the Skydome in Toronto to feature the title vs. title showdown of Hulk Hogan against Ultimate Warrior. For this card, I wish they would have used the VHS artwork instead of just a generic Ultimate Warrior picture. The VHS cover is awesome with a space background and the two just looking as crazy as humanly possible.

These two are some of my favorite early WrestleMania shows. I've already detailed my love for WrestleMania VIII in the original VHS box posts but I think often WrestleMania VII gets overlooked. It's got a great match between Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage, the WrestleMania debut of the Undertaker, and the final pay-per-view match of the original Hart Foundation. There's also the main event with Hulk Hogan facing Sgt. Slaughter.

Completing the nine-card set is this promo card of WrestleMania IX. When these cards were produced, the event had yet to take place but going back and looking at it now, it was a very unique show with a Roman coliseum theme to it. While I think it gets a bad rap as the "worst WrestleMania ever" in a lot of countdowns (WrestleMania 11 and WrestleMania 32 are far worse), it's a fun show to watch. 

That does it for a quick look at these WrestleMania cards from Coliseum Video. I hope everyone enjoys the marathon show that WrestleMania will be this year!

Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #12

The 2019 edition of the Royal Rumble is tonight from Chase Field in Phoenix. With it being Royal Rumble day, you know what that means, time for the twelfth edition of "Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes". For those who aren't familiar, this is where I chat a little bit about classic wrestling VHS tape covers using scans I've found on the internet.

So, without further adieu, here are four more classic WWF VHS tapes you may (or may not) remember.

King of the Ring 1994

Scan credit: The Canadian Collection

This tape brings back memories for me. The library in town was still in it's original location, which was half of an old house in the middle of town, and it had a decent selection of WWF tapes. Most of the time they'd be rented out but I could always find one or two on the shelf at any given time. This was one of them. I rented this tape who knows how many times and enjoyed it every time I watched it. I remember watching it for the first time and being amazed at how Razor Ramon, who was guest commentator Art Donovan's pick, made it to the finals and how the Bret Hart vs. Diesel match was early on in the show, which would make sense later on in the show. 

When I first saw this tape available on the library shelf, the "champion vs champion" match and also the Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler match advertised on the front is what grabbed me, also there's the giant classic King of the Ring logo, which I honestly miss. The back of the case has the tournament bracket and also mentions the Tag Team Title match with Yokozuna & Crush going up against the Headshrinkers. The tournament itself is pretty fun and the Bret/Diesel match may be my favorite one they ever did against each other, but Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler is quite possibly the worst WWF/WWE main event match ever.

Paul Bearer's Hits from the Crypt (1994)

Scan credit: VHS Wasteland

This is a weird one. As you can probably tell by the title, this particular tape is hosted by Paul Bearer and features a very unique collection of matches, as is the norm with these compilation tapes. Honestly, I was hoping to see Paul Bearer featured a little more prominently on the cover instead of Lex Luger but still, it grabs you. The match line-up is all kinds of bizarre with the highlight being Randy Savage and Lex Luger teaming up against Yokozuna and Crush. There's also a weird six-man tag with Men on a Mission & Doink against The Quebecers & Jeff Jarrett. Look at the back, the featured matches are listed on a tombstone! That's pretty cool. I know that this tape is on the WWE Network and I think I'm going to have to make a point to watch it.

Action Zone (1997)

Scan credit: VHS Wasteland

By the mid-90s, the WWF was starting to cut back on the amount of tapes that were coming out, especially from Coliseum Video. However, some third party distributors were able to put tapes out featuring WWF action with the Coliseum Video and WWF branding on them. This is one such tape. The matches here look like they're probably somewhere from the late spring/early summer of 1996 just going by the names involved. Also, it's hard to believe the Bushwhackers were still around in 1996. The box itself comes across as pretty generic and the photo on the front sort of gives away the result of one of the featured matches. I've never seen this tape but it's one I'd like to see if I can find sometime.

Wrestling Tough Guys (1990)

Scan credit: VHS Wasteland

Finally, here's a "Collector's Series" tape that was released in 1990. The theme here is "tough guys" so you've got people like Ronnie Garvin, Jim Duggan, and the Powers of Pain featured. It's also a short tape, clocking in at just under 60 minutes. Much like the previous tape, the box art feels a bit generic with a giant picture of Warlord clotheslining one of the Bushwhackers and then photos of headlocks being used in matches on the back. There is one match I'm interested in though, that being Ronnie Garvin vs. Haku, that sound like it would be one heck of a fight.

Well, there's four more classic wrestling tapes that honestly have nothing to do with the Royal Rumble tonight. Anyway, the Rumble should be a good show and I'm really looking forward to the Finn Balor vs. Brock Lesnar match along with both Rumble matches.

Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #11

So, I meant to post this the day of Survivor Series back in November, however, I was stuck in my blog "doldrum" so to speak during that time. So instead, this will be a month late and tonight is the annual "WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs" event (and honestly one of my favorites of the year). What better way to talk about that, than talking about some old wrestling tapes.

Survivor Series 1988

Scan credit: Canadian Collection

The Survivor Series started off in 1987 as a new pay-per-view event designed to piggyback off the success of WrestleMania III and the Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan match that headlined it. It was also run in opposition to the first NWA/JCP pay-per-view event, Starrcade 1987. The 1988 version of the event featured the Mega Powers co-captaining a team against a team co-captained by the Big Boss Man and Akeem, collectively known as the Twin Towers. The most notable thing to come out of this show was the big tag team double turn of the Powers of Pain and Demolition, with Mr. Fuji turning on Demolition and joining up with the Powers of Pain to be their new manager. This led into a match at WrestleMania V between the two with Fuji teaming with the Powers of Pain to challenge Demolition for the tag titles.

I recently watched this event all the way through for the first time and it was an ok show, nothing too insane but provided a good base for some of the event going into WrestleMania 5 the upcoming spring. The VHS covers for the early Survivor Series shows weren't all that impressive either, with this one just showing Hogan and Savage on the front. One other thing I always found interesting was that Coliseum Video labeled the Survivor Series starting with this one as the "2nd Annual" Survivor Series. That would get confusing a bit down the line in the early 90s when it was the "5th Annual" and "6th Annual" on the spine.

WWF Terminators (1996)

Scan credit: Canadian Collection

In the mid-90s, WWF compilation tapes like this seemed to be really hard to find. The only tapes that seemed to be found in video stores and retail stores were the pay-per-view tapes from the "big five". If memory serves me right, tapes like these, were mail order only through the WWF Magazine. This particular tape is a whole lot of matches from early 1996 and includes the infamous football themed "Raw Bowl" match where wrestlers fought in football jerseys. 

While I always liked the tapes of the pay-per-view events, getting to see some of these more rare compilation tapes is a treat for me. I was able to acquire a DVD copy of this tape via someone on a wrestling message board about ten years ago. The first half of the tape is lots of stuff from Raw tapings in early 1996 but my favorite part was the second half with random matches taped before Superstars tapings and a couple really odd matches with Ringmaster (aka Steve Austin) against Fatu and Jake "The Snake" Roberts against Tatanka. This is something I would try to recommend to watch if you can find it.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1995

Scan credit: The Canadian Collection

WCW always had their hits and misses but one thing they always knew how to do right was Halloween. Take for example this box for the 1995 edition of Halloween Havoc. This box just screams "halloween". You've got Hulk Hogan smashing a jack-o-lantern with his bare hands and a funky looking background to boot. On the back The Giant is striking his best "mummy" pose and the match listing is bordered in some type of mystery ooze. 

The event itself wasn't really anything to write home about and is known for the infamous Monster Truck Match between Hulk Hogan and The Giant which culminated in Hogan throwing Giant off the roof of the arena. The actual match between the two occurred shortly thereafter and featured the debut of the Yeti, who proceeded to accomplish absolutely nothing. It's really no stretch to say that the box of this tape may actually be better than the event itself. 

WWF Survivor Series 1991

Scan credit: The Canadian Collection

Whenever I see this cover, I always think it has to do with Halloween but it doesn't. The 1991 Survivor Series tagline was "The Gravest Challenge" as the main event featured Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Title against the Undertaker. The box just has a spooky feel to it with the tombstone in the background, the dark leaves, etc. It's one of those boxes where the artwork just absolutely grabs you and that was the case for a number of VHS boxes during this time. Whoever was in charge of the artwork was on the top of their game!

This event holds the distinction of being the first Survivor Series to have a WWF Championship match. The match itself set off a chain reaction of things, starting with Ric Flair interference in the match which lead to a Hogan/Undertaker rematch a week later at a special Tuesday night pay-per-view. That match, and the chaos in it, led to the title being vacated and being given to the winner of the 1992 Royal Rumble match (which is a classic). That was such a fun time period and probably the peak of that whole early 90s era.

So theres another batch of old wrestling video tape boxes. I'm going to try to get another round of these out for Royal Rumble but since that's only about six weeks away, I may just hold off until WrestleMania weekend.

2018 WWE Heritage Jumbo Pack

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, last week I was sick with a bad cough. While it still hasn't quite gone away completely, it's better to the point where I feel like can now function normally. I felt well enough last Saturday to drag myself out of bed and go with the family on our annual Target Halloween run. While we were there, I decided to treat myself to a few jumbo packs of baseball and wrestling Heritage. The baseball packs left a lot to be desired so I decided just to share the WWE Heritage pack, as honestly, these are the cards I was most excited about.

This year for WWE, Topps used the 1989 baseball design and, wow, it's works perfectly. For the Raw brand stars, the wave at the bottom is red, Smackdown blue, and NXT yellow. Baron Corbin is now the GM of the Raw show with Drew McIntryre holding the Raw tag titles with Dolph Ziggler. I was pretty happy to get the Ruby Riott RC as she's one of my favorites to watch.

The Smackdown contingent of the pack was far less interesting ... perennial lower-card star in Sin Cara, Peyton Royce who's one half of the "mean girls" duo The Iiconics with Bille Kay, and Tamina who is ... well, I'm not sure where she is right now.

Tag teams and stables get the horizontal card treatment. The Undisputed Era are by far the top group in NXT currently. Not pictured on the card though is Roderick Strong who, along with his tag team partner Kyle O'Reilly (far left) had a great run of matches with Mustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) over the NXT tag titles this past summer. As far the the duo of Benjamin and Gable .... well, Benjamin is now a singles wrestler on the blue brand while Gable is over on Raw teaming with Bobby Roode.

There were four insert cards in the middle of the pack, a bronze parallel of Lana, a blue parallel of Tony Nese, a Randy Savage tribute card talking about his match at WrestleMania X, and a Bobby Roode card made in the style of the Topps Glossy rookies set.

Finally, there were four legends cards in the back of the pack. The design is very similar to the 1989 Topps Big cards. I like that they used the legends cards in a different design this time to differentiate them from the rest of the set.

While I didn't get any of the top stars in the pack, this was still a super fun pack to rip. The 1989 Topps design feels very natural, not like a baseball design was shoehorned into wrestling cards. I definitely recommend grabbing a few packs of this if you're out and about. You won't be disappointed.

Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #8

It's Royal Rumble day! Hooray!

This means it's time again for another go around with some old school wrestling VHS boxes. I'd put this series on hiatus last year because I ran out of tapes to scan. While I have yet to add any new tapes to the collection, I did manage to find some good quality scans of tape covers online, so that's what this edition will consist of. I'll give full credit of where the scan came from in the caption.

In this particular edition, since it's Royal Rumble day and since the event turns 30 today, I thought there'd be nothing better than to look at some old Royal Rumble covers. I've gotten covers from most of the early Rumbles except for 1988 (which was never released on video) and 1992 (sadly, I couldn't find a good scan of the front and back cover anywhere).

WWF Royal Rumble 1989

Scan credit: The Canadian Collection

This was the first Royal Rumble event broadcast on pay-per-view and the first one with 30 participants. The prior year it was shown on the USA Network and only featured 20 entrants. I just re-watched this recently and it was a decent show, nothing special, but the Rumble match told a good story throughout. I also liked the six-man tag match and the Haku vs. Harley Race match, which got cut out of the VHS release. I hadn't actually seen this box since I rented the tape ages and ages ago from a place called West Coast Video, which had the largest wrestling selection in town. I got the tape, took it back to my grandparents house, and popped it in the VCR in the basement. That was the last time I saw this show until recently. As a matter of fact, I think that was the last tape I ever rented from that store as I'm pretty sure it closed shortly after.

WWF Royal Rumble 1990

Scan credit: VHS Wasteland

The Royal Rumble was starting to finally find it's feet by this time and 1990 was an interesting show, especially with the underneath matches. It's probably best remembered, at least by hardcore wrestling fans, for the excellent submission match between Ronnie Garvin and Greg Valentine. It also had a memorable face-off between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior that teased their match against each other at WrestleMania 6. Also, there's a very unfamiliar voice on commentary as long-time WCW announcer Tony Schiavone called the action with Jesse Ventura. Schiavone would wrap up his WWF run soon after and head back to WCW.

WWF Royal Rumble 1991

Scan Credit: VHS Wasteland

Here we have a very strong contender for one of my favorite VHS covers of a wrestling tape ever. I mean, just look at it. How could you not call this a work of art. You've got every major star of the time rumbling down a dark alley in search of a fight. It has a very gritty, almost gang warfare aspect to it. The back though, isn't as impressive with the matches and some studio shots of the wrestlers. The design on the front though was so amazing that it was brought back the next year (1992) and ten years later (2001). It should be noted as well that the tape did not contain "each and every exciting match" as the Koko B. Ware vs. Mountie match was cut out for time. It did, however, contain the awesome opening tag match between the Rockers and the Orient Express and the historic WWF Championship change when Sgt. Slaughter beat Ultimate Warrior to set up Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania VII.

WWF Royal Rumble 1993

Scan Credit: The Canadian Collection

The WWF in 1993 was in the midst of change from the Hulk Hogan era to the New Generation era. I remember the first time I watched this particular event, I didn't really like it and to be honest, I found the Rumble match kind of boring. However, this show has really grown on me and now when I'm in the mood for a show from this time period, I tend to put this on. While the Rumble match on this show is still a bit boring and predictable, the undercard is what really makes this show shine with an awesome Steiner Brothers vs Beverly Brothers match, a really good Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty match, a fun match between Big Boss Man and Bam Bam Bigelow (in what was Boss Man's final WWF pay-per-view until 1998) and a good Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon match. This was also the last pay-per-view that Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan would call together and it was the last one  where Monsoon himself was the lead play-by-play announcer for the company as he would be replaced by Jim Ross at WrestleMania.

WWF Royal Rumble 1994

Scan Credit: The Canadian Collection

I'll wrap up this post with one of the most memorable shows (and not in a good way) of the mid-90s. This is the show most remembered for two things. First, the goofy "levitation" of the Undertaker after he was beaten by about 12 of the most random collection of heels, or bad guys, in the company. Then, there was the whole co-winner of debacle at the end of the Rumble match itself where Bret Hart and Lex Luger supposedly both touched the ground at the same time. It was a bad ending for a bad show. The box art however, kind of makes up for it with the pretty fun cartoonish drawing of everyone just battling each other. The background kind of looks like their coming out of a TV as well. Just a really fun cover for a really interesting time period.

Well, that does it for this round of VHS boxes. Hope everyone enjoys the Royal Rumble tonight and the first "double Rumble" in WWE history with both a men's and a women's Rumble match. Hopefully, I'll be able to find enough scans to continue this series as it's really one of my favorites to write.

Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #5

Tonight is SummerSlam, WWE's self-proclaimed biggest party of the summer. As is tradition here, anytime one of WWE's four tent pole events happens, I look at some old wrestling video boxes. For this installment, I'm going to go way back in the archives and check out some of the old non-PPV tapes that Coliseum Video released. Let's dive in!

Even More Unusual Matches (1987)

For the majority of their early releases, Coliseum Video issued tapes in these large, plastic clamshell cases, similar to what Disney would release their tapes in during the 1990s (Lion King for example). This particular tape was a sequel to one of the first round of tapes released by Coliseum Video and the WWF in 1985 and contains all sorts of crazy matches taped in arenas in Canada and the U.S., however most of the matches came from the monthly Madison Square Garden shows that were broadcast on the MSG Network. Some of the more fun matches on this tape include Randy Savage vs. Bruno Sammartino in a Lumberjack Match, a Bunkhouse Battle Royal, and a series of Texas Death Matches between Hulk Hogan and Harley Race. Personally, I like these older tapes more than the more common ones from the early 1990s as these are much harder to find in playable condition and just in general, they are a lot of fun to watch.

Inside the Steel Cage (1986)

Long before TNA Wrestling (or Impact Wrestling or whatever they're called these days) had their annual all cage match show, there was this tape chronicling some of the best cage matches from around the WWF. In particular, there are a few matches on here that haven't really seen the light of day much on current DVD and Blu-Ray releases such as Andre the Giant vs. Kamala from Toronto and a tag team cage match with Randy Savage & Adrian Adonis facing Bruno Sammartino & Tito Santana. Any tape from this era featuring a cage match also has to include the extremely overrated, at least in my opinion, Don Muraco/Jimmy Snuka cage match where Snuka dives off the top of the cage. As I mentioned previously, these older tapes are really a lot of fun to watch, if you can find them that is.

Andre the Giant (1985)

This particular tape I picked up years ago at the local flea market and I've watched it maybe once. For modern fans, this should look familiar as it was re-released in the late 90s on both VHS on DVD, which makes it the only Coliseum Video tape that wasn't a pay-per-view to be re-issued. The tape is only an hour long but there are a lot of things stuffed in here, especially an especially hard to find boxing match against Gorilla Monsoon from Puerto Rico. 

Wrestlefest '90

The Wrestlefest series ran for most of the Coliseum Video lifespan, debuting in 1988 as a release of a house show at Milwaukee County Stadium (which is a really hard to find tape by the way) and continued with this release. By this time, the switch had been made to the oversized slip covers from the plastic clamshells. I personally prefer the slip covers and the designs are much better. Take this for example as they've taken pictures, presumably from action on the tape, and laid them against a backdrop of the crowd from WrestleMania III. I'll admit, some of the matches on here like Ultimate Warrior vs. Dino Bravo are pretty boring, but popping in a tape like this should take anyone back to being a kid again sitting in front of the TV with a big bowl of popcorn ready to watch some WWF action.

Hope you enjoyed this round of wacky wrestling tapes! Enjoy SummerSlam and there will be more tapes coming up in November when Survivor Series rolls around.

A 2016 Topps WWE Blaster

I bought this on a whim during a Target run where the family and I had to some household items and a few odds and ends. This was the only blaster box of WWE cards they had on the shelf. It was sitting by itself in the dark, shunned away by the other baseball and basketball boxes because of what it contained. Like a lost puppy, I rescued it and brought it home.

I normally shy away from blasters as I've been burnt way too many times, but in my experience WWE ones usually have a good return on investment and provide a little more bang for your buck than a baseball blaster would. This particular one has 10 packs with 7 cards per pack and a bonus pack featuring a mystery relic card and a Triple H tribute card. Seeing as SummerSlam is coming up this weekend, I felt it was appropriate to rip into this. As you'll soon see, I got more than my money's worth out of this.

First up, some current stars. All of these will go in my wrestling binder but the four people I primarily collect in this group are Kevin Owens, Sasha Banks, Cesaro, and Paige.

The nice thing about the WWE sets is that they contain a good number of past stars and this blaster was no exception going from the mainstream of Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage to lesser known (at least to WWF fans) Barry Windham and Kevin Von Erich.

Of the 10 packs, I got six NXT insert cards. I'll admit, this crop isn't anywhere as great as last years group with Finn Balor but at least I got Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn.

It took me a bit to figure out what these were but after doing a quick bit of research, I found out they are bronze parallels. I got what amounted to one in every other pack in this box. 

In every pack there was either an "Anti-Authority Ring Report" or "Authority Database" insert card. I'm not sure what the difference is but seeing as it's the only Sting card I got out of the whole box, I'll take it.

The box also comes with two tribute cards, one to the Rock and another to Triple H. These are fine I guess if you're into collecting the whole tribute set of these. At least they have somewhat of a different look and feel to them from the mainstream and regular insert sets.

Bonus pack time ... you're guaranteed one memorabilia card per blaster. Let's see who it'll be, will it be a scrub or a superstar. It's ...

Samoa Joe! Holy crap! That's definitely not who I was expecting to be staring back at me in the bonus pack! I had this feeling that I'd get some lower card dude like Tyler Breeze or Stardust, not this! Joe is one of my favorites going back to his Ring of Honor days with his no-nonsense hard hitting style. Without a doubt, this is the best think I've ever pulled out of a WWE blaster box.

For picking this up on a whim, I'd say this was a success. If you're into wrestling cards, I'd strongly suggest getting a blaster of this (or any WWE product). It gives you a good sampling with some pretty fun cards plus each box guarantees a relic card. You can't really go wrong with this.