Coliseum Corner: 10 Coliseum Video Matches You Thought You’d Never See

PART 1: Welcome to another Coliseum Corner. This latest two part edition looks at ten matches you thought you’d never see on WWF Coliseum Video.

The matches featured in this column are not ranked in order of importance nor entertainment value. They are simply historical moments captured on Coliseum Video that deserve merit based on their rarity or uniqueness. In this part, the five matches listed took place on Pay-Per-View. In part two, the remaining five did not. So without further delay, here are the ten matches on Coliseum Video you thought you’d never see.

 
The Huckster vs. The Nacho Man – WrestleMania XII

During the early days of the Monday Night War and before, WCW had secured many of the top WWF talent by offering them lucrative contracts. The introduction of Monday Nitro had put the World Wrestling Federation under pressure and there didn’t seem to be any way of countering, unti… the spoof.

In January 1996 the WWF introduced Billionaire Ted (Ted Turner), Larry Fling, Scheme Gene, the Huckster and the Nacho Man. These characters appeared on Raw every week, mocking these WCW regulars and Larry King of CNN (WCW’s parent company), mostly criticizing the age of their main event performers.

It resulted in a match between the Huckster and the Nacho man at Wrestlemania XII, which took place on the ‘Free for All’ before the PPV and can only be seen on the Coliseum Video release. The match (if you can call it that), which took place in what looked like a garage, saw these elderly, WCW-like Superstars knock each other out simultaneously to end the match. Vince McMahon’s aim in doing this whole parody was to gain viewership. However, the outcome was more fans tuning into Nitro to see the real versions of the Huckster and the Nacho Man.

 
The Undertaker vs. The Undertaker – SummerSlam 1994

At the 1994 Royal Rumble, Yokozuna successfully defended the WWF Championship against the Undertaker with the help of nine other Superstars in a casket match. This resulted in the Undertaker taking some time away from the ring. Months later, Ted DiBiase (who introduced the Undertaker to the WWF fans in 1990) claimed to have found the Undertaker and was to be the newest acquisition to his Million Dollar Corporation.

Paul Bearer returned to the WWF and revealed that DiBiase’s Undertaker was a fake. He promised that he would bring his Undertaker back to the World Wrestling Federation and lay the imposter to rest. At SummerSlam, both Undertakers stood face to face before the authentic Undertaker made the Million Dollar Man’s imposter Rest In Peace.

 
The Big Bossman vs. The Mountie (Jailhouse Match) – SummerSlam 1991

The Mountie, a corrupt officer of the Royal Mounted Canadian Police, claimed to always get his man as the only law enforcement in the WWF. This didn’t sit too well with the Big Bossman who represented law, order and justice.

The Bossman, a prison guard and the Mountie would meet in a jailhouse match at SummerSlam, with the loser having to spend the night in the local NYPD lockup. On this night, the Bossman beat the Canadian Mountie. But the entertainment didn’t stop there. Vignettes of the Mountie being taken to jail were shown in between matches where his mug shot was taken and his fingerprints documented until he was finally thrown in the slammer. Once in there, an exceptionally large man with and extremely soft voice made it be known that the Mountie was definitely going to get his man again.

 
Psycho Sid, Ahmed Johnson, Shawn Michaels & The British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart, Yokozuna, Razor Ramon & Dean Douglas (Wild Card Match) – Survivor Series 1995

Before the pre-attitude era, it would have been almost impossible to see heels and baby face wrestlers teaming up. This is what made this match a wild card. Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson, the fan favourites, teamed with rule breaking Psycho Sid and Davey Boy Smith. Ordinarily these men would not be associated but they were expected to coexist. On the opposing team were the Bulldogs stable mates; Yokozuna and Owen Hart. Razor Ramon was an enemy to all three of his team mates including one of his current enemies, Dean Douglas.

This elimination match didn’t fail to deliver bizarre situations, but some not so surprising moments occurred. Razor Ramon had tried to co-exist with the Dean with little success. Ramon ended up costing Douglas his place in the match. Psycho Sid didn’t appreciate being eliminated by his own team-mate, so to speak, and power bombed the Heartbreak Kid out of his boots. At the end of the contest, Yokozuna was the last member of his team. Ahmed Johnson did what so many couldn’t and slammed the huge man to the mat. Just as he went to pin Yoko, Davey Boy Smith jumped in and saved his Camp Cornette buddy from being defeated. HBK and Ahmed disposed of him and finished the match.

Perhaps the most perplexing moment of the match was the post-match celebration. Was Jim Cornette in a win-win situation or a no win situation? The survivors of the team and winners of the match; Johnson and Michaels celebrated in the ring. The Bulldog joined them, much to their dismay. James E wanted to celebrate with Davey but also had to commiserate Yoko. Not knowing what to do, he did both. It appears that he was in a win-win situation after all.

 
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels – Survivor Series 1997

By the time Bret Hart had returned from his six month hiatus, fans were already looking forward to his rematch with the Heartbreak Kid after losing the WWF championship to him at WrestleMania XII. The Hit Man has claimed that the match match was supposed to happen at WrestleMania 13, but due to Shawn’s supposed bogus injury, it wasn’t to be. But that’s for another story.

Shawn and Bret were supposed to meet at King of the Ring, but Hart’s knee surgery halted those plans. So on November 9, the rematch would finally take place at the Survivor Series. The reigning and defending champion was unwillingly leaving for WCW (although the money he would be receiving would have made things easier) and was expected to “drop the belt” to Michaels. Bret had refused and decided he would forfeit the title the following night at Raw. His creative control clause for his last thirty days allowed him to make that decision. Many have said; losing in his native country, Canada was not an option. Bret has said, his refusal to lose only applied to Shawn Michaels.

The match itself was an exciting and realistic brawl. Their real-life feud brought legitimacy to the bout. Unaware of what was ahead of him, Hart pummelled the Heartbreak Kid up and down the aisle and into the crowd. When the action returned to the ring, Shawn put Bret into the Sharpshooter as planned, which Bret would then reverse. However, before Hart could put this in motion, Vince McMahon had called for the bell and unbeknownst to Bret had publicly stripped him of the WWF Championship. McMahon was worried that his WWF title would show up on WCW television and felt this was the only way of preventing this from happening.

To become known as the Montreal Screwjob, this is probably one of the most famous moments in wrestling, if not the most famous. Nobody saw it coming, but what fans witnessed was historic, so much so that it’s still talked about regularly today.

 
That’s all for part 1 of matches you thought you’d never see on Coliseum Video. Stay tuned for more soon. In the meantime you can follow me on Twitter (@ColiseumCorner) for more more vintage chatter and some rare photos too.

PART 2