WrestleMania Week: Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes - WrestleMania Edition!

Happy WrestleMania Sunday everyone!

As it is the biggest pro wrestling event of the year, this will be an all WrestleMania edition of the "Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes" series. Unlike the standard four tapes I usually include in these pieces, I'll showcase five of these this time!

WrestleMania III (1987)

Starting this off comes a tape I found just recently that was buried in a crate full of books ... WrestleMania III! The main event is one of the most legendary matches ever, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant in front of over 93,000 people (or so it's claimed) at the Pontiac Silverdome. Also on the card was Randy Savage defending the Intercontinental Championship against Ricky Steamboat in a classic, action packed bout, and Roddy Piper competing in his "farewell match" against Adrian Adonis. This was one of the early WWF tapes as well, judging by the black clamshell box. Also, look at the price on the bottom left corner ... $39.95! That's the same as $85.50 today!

WrestleMania VII (1991)

I mentioned in the first entry in this series that WrestleMania 8 was my favorite WrestleMania of all time. I wouldn't say this one is anywhere near it, but it's still a really, really good show by all accounts and right in the middle of three really good WrestleMania shows. This particular show had a "Stars and Stripes" theme to it since it took place during the Gulf War and we had Sgt. Slaughter, an Iraqi sympathizer, defending the WWF Title against Hulk Hogan. Also, there is a fantastic match between Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage in which the loser must retire. The problem is that on this tape, about five minutes of the match is cut out. I'm not sure why, perhaps to make sure the whole show fit on the tape? 

The case itself is one of the old oversized cases that the WWF did for their tapes for a few years. I really like the design on the front with Hogan and Slaughter face to face and the American flag in the background. The back is pretty basic with just the standard stock photos and the complete card. To be honest, the back of this tape and the back of the WrestleMania 8 tape look nearly identical, except for the color. The front also says that "each and every match" is complete, which as I mentioned earlier, is lies!

WrestleMania X (1994)

There are two matches on this show that make it legendary. First, there was the ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon but before that, a classic match between Owen Hart and Bret Hart opened the show. By this time, the roster had completely flipped over from the Hogan era with most of the stars from that era gone, with the exception of Randy Savage and Earthquake. This would be the final WrestleMania for both as well. There was supposed to be a 10-man tag team match as well on here but it was canceled. This is a show I could watch over and over again as it just breezes by. The box for this though seems pretty standard, at least on the front. The back also looks really squished with the giant logo and all the matches and info having to be crammed into the bottom half.

WrestleMania XI (1995)

Going from one of the better editions of WrestleMania to one of the worst, if not the worst. This show is widely regarding as one of the worst WrestleMania shows ever. In the main event, Lawrence Taylor, yes the NFL player, fought Bam Bam Bigelow. The match was better than it had any right to be, mainly because of Bigelow, but it's still lauded as one of the worst WrestleMania main events of all time. The other thing about this show is that it just didn't have that aura that WrestleMania is supposed to have. It was marred by technical difficulties throughout the show, the arena was small and dark, and when there's a match on it that Bret Hart calls "the worst match of his career", you know you've got a bit of rubbish. The box however isn't that bad. I really like the design on both the front and the back and it really makes you forget just how bad the show really is.

WrestleMania 13 (1997)

The last WrestleMania on this entry and the last one released by Coliseum Video before they went kaput later that year, this show is remembered for one match ... Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin in a Submission Match. If you just mention the words "Bret vs. Austin" to any wrestling fan, their mind immediately goes to this match. It was an all out brawl from bell to bell and has the famous ending of Austin passing out in the sharpshooter and special referee Ken Shamrock stopping the match. Words honestly can not do justice as to how great this match is, so I would advise you to seek it out in any way possible.

That being said, the rest of this show was rather unmemorable and so is this box if you look at it. My biggest issue is that a lot of the poses on the front and the back look very forced and what is Sid holding in his hand on the front cover? I think Coliseum Video knew they were on the way out and did as little as possible for the box cover. Compare it to the others I've show here and see for yourself.

Hope everyone enjoyed these old WrestleMania VHS boxes and WrestleMania week in general. Enjoy WrestleMania tonight and tomorrow is Opening Day for baseball and a return to some baseball card related fun.

WrestleMania Week: Random Wrestling Cards

It's the last day of March and another day in WrestleMania Week. Today I thought I would share some of the better wrestling cards I have in my collection.

I'll start off with some cards of one of my all time favorites, Rob Van Dam. From the first time I saw him wrestle in ECW, I was blown away by how unique his style was. The wild moves like the Van Daminator (where he would spin kick a chair into his opponents face) that was then followed up by the Five Star Frog Splash was usually the end for many opponents. 

This card is from the WWE Raw vs. Smackdown set from 2003. I can't remember where I got this from but if I had to saw, it was probably from the card shop I worked at during this time. The owner would get in wrestling boxes here and there and I'd always partake in a few packs. I'm not sure if I pulled this from a pack or bought it out of the case. I always liked this card because of the die-cut gears on the bottom right.

When I first started watching ECW in the fall of 1999, RVD's main rival was Jerry Lynn. Fast forward to 2001, when WWE (then WWF) brought in RVD and paired him up with Jeff Hardy in a series of matches. Their first was in 2001 at the Invasion pay-per-view and people raved about it. They wrestled each other on and off over the next year or so until Jeff Hardy was released in 2003. I've never been a huge fan of Jeff Hardy but the only reason I bought this card back in the day was because RVD was on it.

These two cards are from the 2003 Fleer WWE Aggression set. Again, another RVD card but this will segue perfectly into the Steve Austin cards in my collection (well, actually my wife's collection). 

I like this card because of the filmstrip design on the top and bottom. It's also a WrestleMania flashback card to the Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels match from WrestleMania 14 in 1998. The match itself has become pretty historic, mostly due to the involvement from Mike Tyson and the fact that Austin won the WWF Title, but also because it was Shawn Michaels' last match for over four years.

The last Steve Austin card is from the 2004 Fleer WWE Chaos line. Honestly, it's a pretty plain card aside from the fact its got a relic on it.

Finally, one of my best pack pulls from last year, this Bruno Sammartino refractor #'d out of 75. I didn't buy a lot of Topps Chrome last year, maybe only about 3-4 packs but this was a really great pull of a true legend. Sammartino is the longest reigning WWE World Champion of all time with two reigns totalling 4,040 days over 11 years. In 2013, after being away from WWE for many years, he was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Hope you enjoyed these random wrestling cards! I'm back tomorrow with more WrestleMania week fun!