I watch a fair few old WWF events, often through downloading old VHS tapes that have been converted to DVD, I love watching the old Coliseum video tapes on the big screen on DVD, its amazing the quality of the transfers people have got. I thought since I watch a good number it would be interesting to review old events/videos, having watched this one today, this is obviously a good place to start.
Now I saw UK Rampage 1993 when I was a kid. It was on Sky Sports which I didn't have when I was younger but often a neighbour would video events for me because she had Sky TV. The thing with UK events is because they weren't televised in the US you weren't going to get your title changes, that was a given, but you generally had some top caliber stars come over for the events and you would have some solid matches, generally centred around The British Bulldog.
Now Rampage '93 was a week after Wrestlemania IX, the event where Bret Hart dropped his strap to Yokozuna who mere seconds later lost it to Hulk Hogan. Also on the card you had the likes of Shawn Michaels, Tatanka, Lex Luger, The Steiner Brothers, Razor Ramon, Money Inc. The card aside Randy Savage wrestled from time to time and Bam Bam Bigelow amongst other solid talents were active in the promotion so they definately had the quality to put on a good wrestling show.
We kick off with Lord Alfred Hayes welcoming us to Sheffield England and the WWF's latest broadcaster, Jim Ross and broadcast journalist Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. With Ross and Heenan calling the action you know you are in safe hands, after a bit of banter we go to the ring for the first match of the evening. It's Headshrinker Fatu with Afa. Nice choice, the better of the Headshrinkers and his opponent, it is Brian Knobs of The Nasty Boys. Now a tag match between the 2 teams would of made more sense but these guys are alright brawlers, there is potential here. Well I was wrong, the crowd is hot for this match but it is extremely dull, featuring more rest holds than you would find in a Randy Orton match the finish comes after Fatu has his feets in the ropes as he goes for a roll-up, after the boring match you at least expect a finish with a devasting move or something impressive, the match featured way too much stalling and playing to the crowd.
We go to the back and Lord Alfred Hayes is there with Doink The Clown. Now this IS quality, this is back when Doink was a heel and as an evil clown he really was very good in the role. Lord Alfred asks him about how he defeated Crush a week ago when another Doink appeared and after a bit of banter we find out his opponent is going to be Kamala. Not good. Kamala cannot work a good match, its just isn't possible. Thankfully this match is saved by, the commentary team and a few comedy routines. Doink has a stick found on him at the start of the match when he is padded down, its an obvious joke but it works, the guy playing Doink at this point had the quality mannerisms to pull it off. The match, thankfully short, finished when Kamala could not grasp the concept of how to pin somebody and Doink got him with a roll-up (I'm seeing a pattern emerging here).
To the back and its Lord Alfred again and this time he is with Mr. Perfect. Perfect spends more time talking about Luger and how they are meeting later on the UK Tour than talking about his opponent, who turns out to be, Headshrinker Samu. By this point you are starting to wonder whether the talented guys on the roster got stuck in traffic, I mean why give someone as good as Perfect, Samu for an opponent, and on Live TV. The worst thing here is, the match is much longer than the first two. I think the believe that Perfect could carry the match meant they were given far too much time. Samu spent the majority of the match beating down Perfect, using (you guessed it) restholds and playing to the crowd. The finish came when Samu missed a splash off the top and Perfect nailed a beautiful looking Perfect Plex! Finally a nice finish.
After a quick WWF promo package (featuring many stars you won't be seeing on this show) we are back and on his way out is the legendary...
Damien Demento, and his opponent, its Bob Backlund who is so goofy he is walking back and forth and doing squats on the spot while wearing some of the most boring ring attire ever. This match followed the pattern set before it, kick, punch, resthold, playing to the crowd and the finish came with, a roll-up. Backlund with the easy win, surely they are saving the best matches until later, I know this is about a 2 hour show and we have just reached the hour mark.
In the back with Perfect and Lord Alfred again, Perfect tells us how Samu is one of his toughest ever opponents and he continues to talk up his beef with Lex Luger.
Back to ringside and already in the ring its, The Brooklyn Brawler, the guy who wins one match a decade, this one is going to be a tricky one to call, and his opponent, its Typhoon. By this point the crowd have gone a bit dead, to their credit up until this match they have kept loud through every resthold, stomping the floor and clapping their hands as the babyface rises up out of the chinlock or sleep hold (those things really did get the crowd on the age of their seats back in the day). Back to this match and the Brawler has got in a surprising amount of offense on Typhoon who is clearly not being booked as a monster. The crowd has been dead throughout until Lombardi locks on a sleeper hold, the referee lifts up Typhoon's arm once...it drops....twice....its drops...a third time....it...wait...he's not done, the crowd start chanting, Typhoon is back to his feet, he irish whips the Brawler into the corner and goes for a big splash but misses and he's back to the floor, Brawler sensing victory attempts to body slam him but he can't lift him, Typhoon whips him into the corner again, big splash connects and he picks him up and body slams him, 1, 2, 3 and its over. Now I forget whether that was Typhoon's finisher or not, but if it was, he needs a new one, or needs to execute it better, take Mark Henry, when he hits The World's Strongest Slam it looks damaging.
In the back and Lord Alfred is interviewing Lex Luger who tells us how wonderful he is, back to ringside and its some familiar music, its Shawn Michaels and he is coming out to the Sexy Boy theme performed by Sensational Sherri. We have an Intercontinental Title match on our hands, and his opponent is, Crush, the Hawaian monster, who is super over, and as Heenan explains, Liverpool is a suburb of Hawaii, and we also get told about how Sheffield is famous for its steel and how they defeated Sheffield United in the FA Cup Semi-Final (There are many more UK references with it being on Sky Sports, Heenan calls everyone Limeys, Ross claims how he adores the place, etc. and so on) but back to the match. This is actually quite a good match, Michaels is doing is usual bouncing around the ring and over selling the shots of Crush before a rake of the eyes gives him the advantage, Michaels controls much of the match before Crush powers back, the crowd is behind him, the match is about to really hit its stride and....Michaels rolls out of the ring, grabs his belt and walks off, about 5 seconds later the bell rings and keeps ringing as Crush goes after Michaels and drags him back, he hits a beautiful Til-A-Whirl-Backbreaker on Michaels before locking on his submission finisher "The Cranium Crusher" (I always loved this move, and did the kids in the crowd who were clenching their hands together in the motion of the crusher, ready for the move), Michaels was out cold, and the ref holds Crush's hand up and he has the belt in hand, only for the ring announcer to tell us Crush wins...by count out. (How many cheap finishes are there going to be? Surely thats it now, its Main Event time next)
In the ring its Bobby Heenan and he is interview Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji. Heenan tells Yokozuna how Hacksaw Jim Duggan is after him and has a 2x4 that he is calling his chop stick. After brushing off the Duggan threat and claiming he would be getting his WWF Title back (Well Fuji said it, Zuna didn't speak), Yokozuna sat at ringside. Lex Luger headed out to ringside ready for his Main Event with Jim Duggan. And here comes Duggan, 2x4 and American flag in hand and all the UK fans are chanting U..S...A, no wonder Heenan is mocking them. Once again this match was the pits, after some poor brawling Luger distracts the ref and Yokozuna hits Duggan with the Banzai Drop on the outside. Duggan is rolled back in and this match looks to be over, but...here comes Mr. Perfect to save the day. Its not long before he gets beat down and Yokozuna has him lined up for a Banzai Drop, Perfect moves though and Duggan 2x4 in hand clears the ring of the heels as Duggan and Perfect stand tall, Heenan and Ross say good night. Part of me hopes for some behind the scenes bit tagged onto the end but all we get is a bodybuilding promo and Randy Savage promoting the WWF fan club where you get an audio cassette and some sticker book, good times...Dig It!
So. I first saw this event in 1993 and to be honest I only remembered the last 2 matches were on the card, and only remembered the finish of the IC Match (I have it on another DVD), and 16 years later, its was a novel experience rewatching this event but boy was it bad, and I own other UK Rampages and this one was a lot worse, it was insulting the talent they put on and who they left off.My next review will be the "Bashed in the USA" tape, which should be better, it has 3 Shawn Michaels matches on it
If anyone else feels like reviewing old events to, go for it
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