Coliseum Comfort: Best of the WWF Vol. 5
It's the Best of the WWF, for the FIFTH time! FIVE volumes of this shit already!
We're hosted by Mean "Gene" Okerlund at WWF Video Control. He's hosted things like "Wrestling's Country Boys"! I am watching this by candlelight. I mean and the light it provides by itself but the candle is making it very romantical in here.
LISTEN TO THIS LINEUP! The Killer Bees! Paul Orndorff! Wendi Richter! Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake defending the tag belts against the Bulldogs! Tito Santana defending the IC title against Jesse "The Body" Ventura! THIS IS NOT ALL! AN EIGHT-MAN TAG TEAM BOUT! MR. FUJI SOAP OPERA! AND STARTING US OFF THE BATTLE OF THE ISLANDS!!!!!!!!
Don "The Magnificent" Muraco vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
Nov. 25, 1985 - New York, NY
This is from MSG. "Don 'The Magnificent' Muraco" is how Gene intros this match so I'm going with it. Both of these men are from the Hawaiian islands. Steamboat was born in New York and went to Florida before he graduated high school, but sure, why not! Muraco is actually from Hawaii.
The camera spots a guy wearing a turban in the crowd and Gorilla says the show has "an international flair." Gorilla and Jesse critique a Steamboat chinlock that has sort of a crank to it, Jesse pointing out that the referee should check on that because Steamboat has his hand over Muraco's mouth and may be suffocating him, to which Gorilla replies, "Yeah and the move isn't worth a shit if you do it like this anyway."
Steamer getting the better of this early. His attempts to use his speed aren't what's doing it, because Muraco is prepared for all that, so Ricky is just kind of grinding away on the mat. I am using "headcanon" to explain away Muraco not wanting to do a whole lot. And nowadays a guy like Steamboat, or today's sort of rough equivalents, are going to go all out whenever you see them. That didn't fly in this era. Steamboat needs light nights, too, they were on the road constantly.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Tape Machines Are Rolling to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.