Wacky Wrestling VHS Boxes #2!

Before jumping to this, a quick announcement ... I've launched an official Facebook page for the blog! I'll be doing some mini-posts and sharing random things on there along with new blog posts when they go up. So, if you are on Facebook, I'd appreciate the like and a follow. Here's the link:

www.facebook.com/cardboardclubhouse

Shameless plug over.

Now, if you remember back in November, I launched an ongoing series called "Wacky Wrestling VHS Tapes" which will look at and feature random wrestling VHS tapes in my collections. Every time one of the tentpole WWE events airs (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series), one of these posts will be up.

The January tradition known as the Royal Rumble is upon us. It's one of those events that just seems to spark nostalgia upon past and present wrestling fans who can't help but talk about their memories of the event as a youth. This year, the nostalgia is really coming hard as the 1992 Royal Rumble keeps getting brought up as it was the only previous time where the WWE (then WWF) World Title was on the line in the match.

Unfortunately, I don't own any Royal Rumble tapes in my collection. However, since the Rumble match is all about the random draw, here are four random tapes from my collection for your enjoyment.

Crunch Classic (1992)

Here's a tape that sort of has a tie-in to the Royal Rumble as it features Roddy Piper hosting the tape and conveniently the match from the 1992 Royal Rumble where he won the Intercontinental Title from the Mountie. As you can tell, this box has seen better days as the front of it is all beat up and the back sports some handwritten branding informing me where it came from ... in the case, apparently it came from someplace called Food Country

In the late 80's and up through the mid 90's, the WWF issued tapes like this that were nothing but compilations of random matches that were filmed at house shows around the country or filmed before the marathon TV taping sessions they used to do. Case in point, this tape. Just look at the line-up of random stuff ... Jim Neidhart vs. Skinner, Jim Duggan & Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Natural Disasters, and a bunch of other randomness.

Free For All (1997)

This is one of a handful of tapes that were released over the years by independent video companies but still carried the Coliseum Video name but were not included in the Coliseum Video lineage. This particular tape chronicles the first year of the Free For All, which was the live pre-show that the WWF used to do before the pay-per-view on the preview channel.

There's a lot of stuff crammed into this 60-minute tape from the Body Donnas vs. Godwinns match on the WrestleMania 12 pre-show to a minis tag team match from the 1997 Royal Rumble pre-show (hey look, another Rumble tie-in!). Probably the most famous match here is the Steve Austin vs. Yokozuna match that ended in about 90 seconds after Yokozuna fell off the ropes, as you can see on the front cover.

Rampage '92 (1992)

Continuing with the Royal Rumble/battle royal theme, this tape has a big 40-man battle royal on it that featured a bunch of stars thrown in with a bunch of no-name guys. For me, that was the main reason I picked this tape up on Ebay a few years ago. Not only that, but it was sealed!! Less than 10 bucks for an old Coliseum tape that's still factory sealed? Yes, please!

As I mentioned with Crunch Classic, these types of tapes were issued on occasion in between releases of pay-per-view tapes. Looking at the back of the box, it lists perhaps one of the strangest tag team matches I think I've ever heard of ... Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker against Papa Shango and Berzerker. That for me is just enough to fire up the VCR and pop this in.

Slamfest (1995)

I have to admit, this is the second copy of this tape I've gotten. In the late 90s, I was at the CD store in the local mall and was looking over their VHS and DVD section. Mixed in with a but of current tapes, was this. It was sitting all alone on a shelf near the bottom and looked forlorn and forgotten about. Luckily, I was able to convince my mom to buy it for me and I brought it home and watched it all the way through. Eventually, I watched this tape so much that I wore it out and I eventually had to throw it out as it wouldn't play anymore. 

I'd been searching for a copy of it ever since and was shocked to find it thrown in with a bunch of tapes that a friend of mine gave me that a friend of his didn't want. I've watched it since and it still holds up today. The tag match with Bret Hart and British Bulldog against Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart is great but the true gem of this tape is the Shawn Michaels and Diesel vs. Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid tag team match which is one of the best tag team matches that you will ever see ... period. I encourage you to look it up on YouTube if you haven't seen it before. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Hope you enjoyed this entry in the Wacky Wrestling VHS Tapes series. The next entry in this series will be coming up on WrestleMania Sunday and should be fun!

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.