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!

More Stuff From the Scrapbook!

As I work on trying to figure out my next card post, I wanted to share some more items that were in my old scrapbook that I found last weekend. So here is a bunch of random stuff from the scrapbook that I though would be of interest. Enjoy!

 

 

First up, we have a scorecard from 1995. Looking at the front of it, I think I was a little ambitious thinking the Reds would win the pennant. Perhaps I was thinking of the NL Central pennant as I know the Reds got swept in the NLCS that year by the Braves. The inside is blank so I'm not sure which game this is but the Dodgers were the visiting team. Also, take a look at the September 1st promotion under the "Riverfront Happenings" section ... yes, National Packtime Baseball Card Night featuring a free collectors set from each of the six major card companies. Wait, there were six major card companies? Topps, Upper Deck, Donruss, Score and Fleer are the ones I can think of ... would Pinnacle be the sixth?

This is a program from Brian Pillman Memorial Show I went to back in high school. For a few years in the late 90s and early 2000s, our local wrestling organization, HWA, put on a memorial show and fundraiser for the family of Brian Pillman, a former Bengals players and pro wrestler who passed away at age 35 in 1997. These shows would always feature talent from the three top national companies (WWF, WCW, and ECW), local and regional outfits such as HWA and Ohio Valley Wrestling, and retired stars from different regions. This particular program was signed by local wrestler Shark Boy. There is another copy of this program that I have framed and hanging on my wall that has autographs from a number of people who appeared on the show such as Ricky Steamboat, Sean Casey from the Reds, referee Scott Dickinson, and Race Steele. 

A completely random team picture of the 1996 Cincinnati Bengals. I'm not sure why I have this, where I got it from, or why it was folded into quarters. I've only been to one Bengals game in my life so I'm guessing that's probably where it came from. Some of the players I remember on this team are Jeff Blake, Carl Pickens, Doug Pelfrey, Ki-Jana Carter, Joe Walter (who has an awesome sandwich named after him at Izzy's), Darnay Scott, and Dan Wilkinson. 1996 was also Dave Shula's last year as head coach as he was canned about halfway into the season after a 1-6 record in favor of Bruce Coslet who lead the team to a 7-2 record the rest of the way. 

Finally, a couple newspaper clippings to close this out.

The Reds getting Ken Griffey Jr. in the trade from the Mariners in February 2000 was one of the biggest news stories in the last 20 years. Hard to believe that was over 15 years ago and Griffey had one good year in 2000 before injuries started getting the best of him. The article above is from our local newspaper at the time, the Middletown Journal. Interesting to note though too that Griffey's jersey is number 24.

Finally, one of the biggest things to ever happen to the local mall, an autograph signing featuring WWF stars Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart, and Debra. This was when wrestling was at its peak in the late 1990s and these three were doing this appearance right before the matches that night in Cincinnati. I'm in that picture somewhere, in the mass of humanity at the back. I remember pulling up to the mall from the main road and seeing the autograph line wrapped around it twice. Going in, standing by the record shop, the place was just jammed with people and I could barely see anything but I was able catch a quick glimpse of the wrestlers. Sad to think that a month after this, Owen Hart died in a tragic accident during a live pay-per-view broadcast. Currently, this mall is a ghost town with only a few stores remaining in the mall itself. However, on the bright side, new anchors are opening up in the mall and will hopefully help it start to come back.

I wonder, does anyone else out there have a scrapbook like this? If so, what do you have in it? If not, and you were to start one, what would you put in it?

Oh, and Happy October to everyone! It's the most awesome month of the year, filled with playoff baseball, horror movies on TV, haunted attractions, and fall festivals! Go out and make the most of it while you can.