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.

Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #9: Another WrestleMania Edition

It's WrestleMania Sunday and you know what that means .... time once again for a trip back in the time machine to look at some old WWF VHS boxes! I found a bunch more scans online and picked out a bunch more of WrestleMania VHS covers to examine. 

WrestleMania 2 (1986)

Scan credit: VHS Wasteland

I know I actually used to own this tape sometime back in the early 2000s but I can't remember exactly when. It had to have been around 2001 because I clearly remember making a homemade VHS cover for my copy of WrestleMania 17 I taped off pay-per-view based on this box. Anyway, when I first watched this show, I thought it was kind of boring but it's a show that has definitely grown on me.

The unique thing about this show is that it's the first (and only) time that the WWF broadcast a show on pay-per-view from three different venues. I always thought that the first half of the show is pretty dull with all the undercard matches from the New York being four minutes or less and the Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T boxing match being pretty boring, but the matches got better starting with the NFL vs. WWF battle royal in Chicago and the British Bulldogs vs. Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake match, which seems to get overlooked at lot. The LA portion has some really fun matches with Ricky Steamboat against Hercules, The Funk Brothers against Tito Santana and the Junk Yard Dog, and, of course, the main event of Hulk Hogan against King Kong Bundy, which I always thought was a bit of an odd choice.

WrestleMania IV (1988)

Scan credit: The Canadian Collection

I don't know why, but there's something I've always kind of liked about this particular WrestleMania. Maybe it's the setting in the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (called Trump Plaza by the WWF), maybe it the funky opening graphic with the casino slot machine, maybe it's the fact it's got a little bit of everything from a 16-man tournament, to a battle royal, to completely random undercard bouts. It's just a fun show to watch. This being the first WWF show that was nearly four hours long, when it was released it was split into two tapes, and look at that price ... $59.95 for two tapes? Sign me up! Plus, how could you not love the fact there was a pop-up Hulk Hogan in the middle of the case. Don't believe me?

Scan Credit: The Canadian Collection

I rented this show when I was a kid from the local Blockbuster Video and I remember being fascinated with the show. So much, in fact, that I built a set and an entrance ramp out of K-NEX toys for my wrestling figures. In the realm of the WWF, this show started the year-long Mega Powers storyline with Randy Savage winning the tournament to capture the WWF Championship with the help of Hulk Hogan. Over the next year, the two teamed together with the seeds of jealousy slowing being sewn here and there. Finally, near the beginning of 1989, on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event if I'm not mistaken, Savage turned heel and attacked Hogan in the locker room as Hogan was looking after and injured Miss Elizabeth in the locker room. Savage's attack on Hogan cemented him a a bona-fide heel which led into the main event of WrestleMania V. Speaking of which ...

WrestleMania V (1989)

Scan Credit: The Canadian Collection

As much as I like WrestleMania IV, that's how much I really don't like WrestleMania V. From the first shot inside the arena, it feels like it's just a hand-me-down show. To start with, it's held in the exact same venue as the year before and, something I don't think anyone else has ever picked up on, they used the exact same banners but just put tape over the "I" in IV. To me, that just sort of screams low rent. The card itself has a ton of random undercard matches, but there are a few decent ones including a fun Rockers vs. Twin Towers match, the first in the Ultimate Warrior/Rick Rude series which would carry on through the summer, and Owen Hart's first WrestleMania match as the Blue Blazer against Mr. Perfect.

The box itself is a mystery to me too. The front is a full-bleed design with barely a mention of Coliseum Video, except for the lower left corner. It's also a normal sized box at a time when Coliseum Video was putting all it's tapes out in oversized boxes. I always though that was kind of strange as everything before and after was in the oversized boxes (except for WrestleMania IV but that was two tapes long) up until late 1992. The front has a generic fire background with Hogan and Randy Savage and the back is pretty basic with a black background, the WrestleMania logo and the long list of all the matches on the show. I remember watching this when I first rented it and it felt interminable and it still does to this day. It ranks second on my list of worst WrestleManias, just ahead of WrestleMania XI.

WrestleMania IX (1993)

Scan Credit: The Canadian Collection

I think this show gets a lot of unnecessary grief but if you sit down and watch it and actually give it a chance, then it's not a bad show at all. Sure, it's cheesy with the Roman coliseum get-up, announcers dressed in togas, and other wacky stuff, but there are some pretty fun matches, especially the Headshrinkers vs. Steiners match, the WWF debut of Jim Ross on commentary (and the banter between him an Bobby Heenan is great), and it's got Bret Hart's first WWF Championship match at WrestleMania. The thing that makes a lot of people mad though at the end of this show is the fact that Hulk Hogan swoops in at the end of the show and beats Yokozuna in 90 seconds in an impromptu match to win the WWF title. That doesn't really bother me though as this is a fun show I really enjoy watching from time to time.

Let's look at the box though, the front is all kinds of crazy with Caesar's Palace in the background, representing the bright lights of Las Vegas, Bret Hart and Yokozuna because they face each other in the main event, Brutus Beefcake and Hulk Hogan because their in the co-main event, and ... Jimmy Hart? Not sure what warrants him being on the cover but oh well. The back is about what you would expect from a WWF tape with the match listing and some studio photos. One match that's listed that didn't take place is Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Kamala, which is a shame as I would've liked to have seen that.

WrestleMania XV (1999)

Scan Credit: The Canadian Collection

Normally I try to keep these posts in the Coliseum Video era but this particular show is special for me as it's the first wrestling pay-per-view event I ever ordered. It was the spring of 1999 and I was at the tail end of eight grade. I remember always asking my mom if I could order a pay-per-view show. Eventually, she said I could but I would owe her the price of the show, which was $30. I agreed and I ordered the show. To me, it was a new experience as I had never seen any pay-per-view event before let alone a wrestling show.

The main draw on this show was definitely Austin vs. Rock. It was the first meeting ever between the two and it had all the appeal of the Mega Powers a generation before, the two top names in the company battling it out for the top prize in the industry. Sure, there were parts of the show I was disappointed in such as the Undertaker vs Big Boss Man Hell in a Cell match and Big Show's first match for the WWF on pay-per-view but overall, I enjoyed the show and to this day it's a show I still like to revisit from time to time just to bring back the thrill of seeing my first pay-per-view all over again.

That wraps up another edition of Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes. I know I focused more on nostalgia this time around that the actual VHS boxes themselves but sometimes this stuff just writes itself. WrestleMania this year looks like a really interesting show. I haven't had time to watch a lot of Raw and Smackdown leading into it but I've been checking out the highlights and I'm pretty excited. With the return of Daniel Bryan, the debut of Ronda Rousey, A.J. Styles fighting Shinsuke Nakamura, and Roman Reigns battling Brock Lesnar (again), it should be a fun show.

Enjoy WrestleMania everyone!

Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #7

It's Royal Rumble day! You know what that means, it's time for another round of Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes. These are the last of the scans of the tapes that I have in my collection so if I continue this on, it'll be pictures I've found via the internet.

Super Slams (1995)

This is one of those tapes that was released by someone other than Coliseum Video. While they produced the tape, it wasn't released by them. Regardless, these tapes always had some interesting matches and were always an easy watch since they clocked in at just around 60 minutes each. This particular tape has a pretty interesting match with Undertaker vs. Tatanka and Jeff Jarrett facing Adam Bomb. The front of the box is pretty cool with the big action shot of Jeff Jarrett getting tossed into the ropes. The back though is pretty bland with just some text and a few stills.

Global Warfare (1993)

I bought this tape long ago right off the shelf at the local Family Video, one of the few video chains still in existence. A friend and I were killing some time one day so we decided to stop in just to browse around. The place was empty aside from the guy working the desk. As we looked around, I noticed a section with a ton of VHS for rent. There was a sticker on it that said ($2.99 rental/$5.99 purchase). I had no interest in renting it as I was probably never going to go back so I just decided to buy it outright. I've watched the tape a few times since then. It's not the best tape in the world but it does have a pretty fun match between Mr. Perfect and Samu. The whole theme of the tape is that it's matches filmed around the world with songwriting tips in between each match from Jimmy Hart, which I could do without.

UFC 18: Road to the Heavyweight Title (1999)

I know this isn't a WWF tape but it didn't feel right to leave this out so I decided to include it here. I picked this up for a mere two bucks from the awesome used DVD/video/game store next to Maverick's card shop in Dayton. This is from a pretty dark period in UFC history, as they had been kicked off all major cable outlets completely due to the perceived brutality of the events and were only available if you had satellite. This was part of the "Road to the Heavyweight Title" series in which UFC determined a new Heavyweight Champion after Randy Couture vacated the belt. Quite a few big names including Pat Miletich, Tito Ortiz, Mark Coleman, and Pedro Rizzo competed on the card. It also featured Bas Rutten making his debut in the United States dispatching Tsuyoshi Kosaka via TKO.

In Your House: Ground Zero (1997)

I could be wrong on this but I believe this was the first tape that WWF distributed in house, without using Coliseum Video. By this time, Coliseum Video was starting to be phased out with the final Coliseum releases coming in November of 1997. This tape was never released in stores to the best of my knowledge and was only available by ordering through the WWF magazine. The card on this wasn't too impressive either, with Bret Hart defending the WWF title against the Patriot, a four way tag match for the Tag Team titles, and a Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker main event which was probably the best match on the whole show.

Bashed in the USA (1993)

I found this tape buried in a bin of miscellaneous stuff one day while doing some cleaning and organizing. I haven't watched it in years but I would really like to watch it someday. Maybe when I have some downtime, I'll fire up the VCR and pop this in. The line up looks pretty interesting with  a 40-man battle royal, Razor Ramon vs. Big Boss Man, and a pretty wild six-man tag. I'm not sure what the title of the tape has to do with anything though, perhaps it was released around the 4th of July? Not sure.

That does it for this round of Wacky Wrestling VHS boxes. While I've run out of tapes in my personal collection, I might continue this series provided I can find pictures of some interesting VHS boxes online. Enjoy the Rumble everyone!

Then, Now, and Forever

 Happy Royal Rumble weekend everyone!

Then, now, and forever. That's what the WWE states and the end of the signature of every one of their programs. Last fall, Topps released a set using that same name. This is basically their version of an update set for WWE. You get ten packs, plus one relic card for $20.

The base cards use the same design as the baseball set. Of the two big "rookie cards" included in this set, A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura were the two I wanted the most. I got the A.J. card but no Nakamura. I'll settle for Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper cards I suppose.

As is the case with the WWE sets, a good amount of legends are included. I like the fact that they went way back with the Peter Maivia card all the way up to more modern legends like DDP, Yokozuna, and Vader, who was always one of my favorites to watch back in the day.

Cards for the NXT stars are also thrown in to the mix and there was one of these every other pack (at least from what I can remember ... it's been about a month since I opened this). Of the NXT cards included, these are the four people that I enjoy watching the most on that show and it's really cool to see Austin Aries in a WWE card set.

These are bronze parallels that I believe were seeded everyone other pack as well. Basically, if you didn't get an NXT card in the pack, you got one of these. 

Rivalries is the main insert of the set and one of these came out of every pack. I like the design on these but a lot of them are already dated. Plus there were some pretty lame ones like Lana vs. Nikki Bella.

Tribute cards to The Rock were also included. This was an insert set carried across all the WWE brands this past year. Also included but I didn't scan it was a Triple H tribute card.

The box promises one relic card and here it is. What could be inside? Something good? Something bad?

It's a Jimmy Uso card. Not exactly what I was hoping for but then again, I've been spoiled the last two WWE blasters I've opened with really good pulls. I supposed it's time I got a lame one. At least it's a big orange patch and not a standard white patch.

This was a fun, quick break but I think it'll be a while before I invest in a WWE blaster box again. Next time, I'll get packs from the card shop.

Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #6

It's that time again! Time for another WWE tent pole PPV event (Survivor Series) which means its another entry in the Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes series. This is the one-year mark of the series which started last year on Survivor Series Sunday. Join me in raising a glass for this series surviving one year by reading about some old wrestling tapes. 

Invasion '92

My first memory of this tape has nothing to do with actually watching it. When I was a kid, the video store down the street had two WWF tapes, Royal Rumble 1992 and SummerSlam 1994. I constantly rented both of those on a revolving basis. The Royal Rumble tape I remember had Mean Gene at the beginning hocking new releases, one of those being Invasion 92. Many, many years later I found this on eBay at a more than reasonable price and picked it up. While the matches like Hulk Hogan vs. Typhoon and Randy Savage vs. Virgil may not be five star classic, the pure nostalgia of seeing Sean Mooney and the Coliseum Video crew cosplaying as the crew from the USS Enterprise throughout the whole tape worth it.

Monday Night Raw: Prime Cuts

Back in the summer, on a trip up to Maverick's card shop in Kettering, I stopped in to another cool place a few doors down in the same shopping center called Game Swap. I think I've mentioned this before but the place has the exact feel of a video store from the 1990s. DVDs sectioned off by genre, old VHS tapes along the wall, arcade games for 50 cents, and other assorted movie and TV stuff. Toward the end of the VHS wall, they have a section for "sports" and bunched in with said sports tapes are the wrestling tapes. Mostly the tapes are stuff from the Attitude Era but occasionally there's an old Coliseum Video tape hanging out there as well. Such was the case with this tape. There are a few fun matches on here like Mr. Perfect vs. Doink, a 20-man battle royal, and three title changes. The Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty match on here though is definitely recommended viewing. Couple that with the fact that I'm pretty sure this is the only tape Rick Martel was ever featured on the cover of and I'd say this is a really fun tape.

Supertape 4

What's that in your VCR? It's super! It's a tape! It's a Supertape! I always thought that the Supertape name was sort of limiting. Would this still be called "Supertape" if it was re-released on Blu-Ray? Perhaps I'm putting too much though into these things. Anyway, the Supertape series took over the original Best of the WWF Series and this is the 4th of the said series. Only one more Supertape was released after this and that was in January of 1992. Anyway, it's been a while since I've watched this tape but there are some interesting bouts on here, especially Undertaker vs. Tugboat where Undertaker is actually going by the name of Kane the Undertaker, which was shortly after his debut. 

In Your House #1 (May 1995)

Let's end this with a first, the first In Your House that is. In Your House was a series created in 1995 to be ran on the months where there wasn't a tentpole event or King of the Ring. This first one took place on Mother's Day 1995 and has a pretty interesting card. I like the fact that they threw in two bonus matches to make this feel a little bit special. By the way, look at Sid on the cover of this. He looks like he's ready to just ... well, I don't know what. 

Hope everyone enjoys Survivor Series tonight. If anything else, it's definitely going to be an interesting show. 

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.