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Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Best of the WWF Volume 20
Host: Sean Mooney
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Lord Alfred Hayes
So this is clearly part of the Best of series. Basically what was done was take a bunch of house show matches, give them commentary, and release about an hour and forty five minutes of them on a tape. I always loved this idea but they stopped making them with I believe this being the very last one. There’s possibly a theme coming in but I’m not sure. Anyway, these are always a mixed bag so let’s get to it.
Based on the clips in the opening highlights, I’d put this about 1989 post Mania of that year, so likely early summer.
There’s an anniversary party since it’s the 20th anniversary of the series. The guest list includes, Gorilla, Jesse, Schiavone, Heenan, the Hart Foundation, Ultimate Warrior and Hogan. But first we get a match. What a concept!
Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler
Best of? Seriously? Oh these commentators could make my head hurt. I think we’re in Philadelphia here but I’m not positive. This was a feud coming off of Mania and Rooster rebelling against Heenan, so Bobby sent Brawler after him. Yeah there’s a reason why he never went anywhere. Brawler is a force to be reckoned with apparently. That’s just comical. He’s not a great wrestler though. Hayes is annoying as hell a lot of the time.
Again, this is on the Best of the WWF…why? Hayes’ latest great insight is that Brawler is a brawler. Oh that makes my head hurt. We get a close up of the Brawler and Hayes says he’s not a very good looking man. Pat Patterson would disagree. This is closing in on ten minutes and it’s just bare bones stuff. I think someone hit a hip toss for the biggest move of the match. Rooster gets a sunset flip for the pin and next to no reaction.
Rating: D. Oh man this was boring. Just WAY too long for a match with the Brooklyn Brawler in there. Also I can’t stand Terry Taylor so that has something to do with it also. I know you can have a decent match with really basic moves, but this wasn’t it.
Brother Love shows up at the party and thinks it’s for him. Sean says he’s not on the guest list, despite listing him earlier.
Bad News Brown vs. Brutus Beefcake
This looks like Boston. Ah it is ok then. Brown jumps him early on which makes sense. Damn he was ahead of his time to put it mildly. It’s all him to start us off here. I wonder if he ever just wanted to beat the hell out of some of these guys, knowing no one could beat him in a straight fight.
Brutus headbutts Brown and it doesn’t work, apparently due to how hard Brown’s head is. So he punches him and that works. He follows that up with the worst looking high cross body ever. The sleeper is countered and Brown grabs a mic. He tries to cut Brutus’ hair and fights with a referee. During the argument he gets rolled up for the pin. Ok then.
Rating: D-. This was even worse. Beefcake was just WORTHLESS here as he botched whatever he tried that was beyond a punch. This just wasn’t any good at all and came off like a bad match. The ending sucked too. Just bad all around.
Brother Love harasses Sean.
King Haku vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
This is for the crown. Vince and Jesse are the commentators here. This was from a Superstars taping so this had definitely been seen by a few people. Jesse never likes Hacksaw to put it mildly. These two were semi-joined at the hip over the years, constantly fighting each other in bad matches. It lasts like 2 minutes and the three point clothesline gets Duggan the crown.
Rating: N/A. This was just for the switch and nothing more. Duggan held the crown for a few months before we got King Savage for like a year.
We get the coronation too. It’s all the midcard faces there and we see Haku, Heenan and Andre watching while saying they don’t want to watch. Duggan looks like a goofy idiot and it works rather well. Love the patriot being a king.
Still no guests at the party other than Love.
Battle Royal
There are 16 people in here and we’re in Ontario, Canada. Akeem is out in like 8 seconds. I’m not going to try to list off all the people in there. Boss Man, Hennig, Harts, Honky, Martel, Hillbilly Jim, Tito Santana, Valentine, Brawler, Blazer, Rooster, Demolition and a few jobbers I think. See? I didn’t list them all.
Everyone is on one side of the ring here and it looks kind of weird. Ah that’s better. Axe goes out. Powers gets LAUNCHED out and Honky is out like a second later. Some jobber is out. Blazer is out. They’re going out kind of fast all of a sudden so I’m sorry for the lack of talking. Brawler goes out. Rooster is out and we’re about halfway out. Before I finish typing that Valentine goes out.
Ok we have Smash, Boss Man, Hennig, Martel, Santana…screw it they’re going out too fast. Boss Man and Smash are gone. Final four: Hennig, Hart, Tito and Martel. Wow that’s a hell of a tag match. They pair off as you would expect them to and them switch off. Tito tries to put Martel out but Hennig sneaks up for the elimination to get us to three.
Tito stays at ringside and pulls the rope down to get rid of Martel. Hennig takes a clothesline and Bret wins! This was surprising as he meant nothing at the time as far as singles stuff went.
Rating: C-. Nothing special here but at the same time it’s a battle royal so how much can you ask for it to do? The Hart win was a nice surprise and it got a nice pop from the crowd. Nothing great but it’s not terrible at all.
Brother Love plays with noisemakers. He was great at being annoying.
Hart Foundation vs. Fabulous Rougeau Brothers
Brother Love is the guest referee for no apparent reason. We’re in Milwaukee. This was a dark match at The Main Event where the Mega Powers exploded, which was on my first birthday. Something tells me this is going to be good just based on who is in there. He hugs the Rougeaus to start. He scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.
Oh damn it someone gave him a mic. Love says he’s not ready for this to start yet and a lot of people get annoyed with his stalling. This is kind of funny as he babbles on forever. Anvil finally grabs the mic and says START THE MATCH and we get the bell. We stall even more as this is getting a tad annoying. Bret gets a nice head fake into an elbow for a cover and Love counts two in about the time you could get to 9 or so.
It’s one of those matches. Even Hayes, who was kind of close to being a heel announcer, is skeptical about this. Hart gets a rollup for about a 9 count but Jacques reverses into a cover of his own which naturally gets a fast count. This is an old standard but it works every time.
Jim’s beard has grown during this match. I’m thinking about 9 inches or so. I’ve always been amused by choking in wrestling. How can human beings survive being choked for like twenty seconds or something like that? It’s just hilarious when you think about how over the top it gets. Jacques actually hooks the toe on an abdominal stretch. That’s not something you see everyday. Anvil gets his leg worked on as Love has insane heat on him.
Love intentionally turns his head when Anvil is about to tag. Nice one. After Jim plays possum to get in through a funny moment, Bret destroys the Rougeaus by himself. He gets a LONG two on Raymond but just before three Love has to go and tell the camera that he loves it. Raymond gets a rollup and Bret gets his shoulder up but Love counts three anyway. Naturally the Harts beat Love up afterwards to a GREAT pop.
Rating: B. For a comedy match, this was pretty good. Love as the evil referee was great and the ending made sense. These teams always had great chemistry together so the wrestling was there. The extra dynamic of Love in there helped a lot so I can’t complain much here at all.
Love and Mooney argue about the match but Love wants cake to end the fighting. Some production guy wants to know where the guests are because we’re running out of tape. That’s rather comical.
Hulk Hogan vs. Rick Rude
Back in Boston I believe. This is a pairing you don’t see that often to say the least. Gorilla and Jimmy Hart of all people are the commentators here. This is an older match as you can tell due to the belt Hogan has. Rude is apparently an arm wrestling champion so Heenan challenges Hogan to an arm wrestling match.
Nothing happens of course so there we are. Rude wants to arm wrestle more. This is just down on the mat so it’s likely not legitimate. They go left handed actually and since it’s pro wrestling arm wrestling you know the drill here. Now we get to the normal match. Hogan hitting Heenan is always nice to see.
According to commentary, the Harts are still with Jimmy and Honky is IC Champion so we’re at least before Summerslam 88. Hogan goes after Heenan since it’s in his blood I guess and Rude jumps him. Rude gets a wooden chair shot in to take over and prove he’s the heel.
Jimmy says Hogan is likely the best champion ever. WOW. Let’s hit that chinlock! Hogan starts his comeback but gets caught in Rude’s backbreaker since there wasn’t a Rude Awakening yet. Rude lets go early and goes up top. Heenan insists Hogan gave up. Here’s the familiar ending and you know the deal.
Rating: C-. Standard Hogan match from this era which had the crowd going so you can’t complain much really. Hogan knew what he was doing back in this era to put it mildly and it worked like it always did. Short and sweet but that’s how it was supposed to be.
Sean gets hit in the face with a cake and Tony shows up. Apparently the party was in the next room the whole time. Yeah that’s not very funny.
Overall Rating: D+. For an hour and a half home video, this wasn’t too bad I guess. I mean it’s certainly not great but for six matches that are all at least watchable, this would have been worth a rental or like 8 bucks or something like that. It’s cool to see house show matches and dark matches as it’s new material if nothing else so I can’t complain there. Like I said, nothing special at all, but not terrible.
Host: Sean Mooney
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Lord Alfred Hayes
So this is clearly part of the Best of series. Basically what was done was take a bunch of house show matches, give them commentary, and release about an hour and forty five minutes of them on a tape. I always loved this idea but they stopped making them with I believe this being the very last one. There’s possibly a theme coming in but I’m not sure. Anyway, these are always a mixed bag so let’s get to it.
Based on the clips in the opening highlights, I’d put this about 1989 post Mania of that year, so likely early summer.
There’s an anniversary party since it’s the 20th anniversary of the series. The guest list includes, Gorilla, Jesse, Schiavone, Heenan, the Hart Foundation, Ultimate Warrior and Hogan. But first we get a match. What a concept!
Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler
Best of? Seriously? Oh these commentators could make my head hurt. I think we’re in Philadelphia here but I’m not positive. This was a feud coming off of Mania and Rooster rebelling against Heenan, so Bobby sent Brawler after him. Yeah there’s a reason why he never went anywhere. Brawler is a force to be reckoned with apparently. That’s just comical. He’s not a great wrestler though. Hayes is annoying as hell a lot of the time.
Again, this is on the Best of the WWF…why? Hayes’ latest great insight is that Brawler is a brawler. Oh that makes my head hurt. We get a close up of the Brawler and Hayes says he’s not a very good looking man. Pat Patterson would disagree. This is closing in on ten minutes and it’s just bare bones stuff. I think someone hit a hip toss for the biggest move of the match. Rooster gets a sunset flip for the pin and next to no reaction.
Rating: D. Oh man this was boring. Just WAY too long for a match with the Brooklyn Brawler in there. Also I can’t stand Terry Taylor so that has something to do with it also. I know you can have a decent match with really basic moves, but this wasn’t it.
Brother Love shows up at the party and thinks it’s for him. Sean says he’s not on the guest list, despite listing him earlier.
Bad News Brown vs. Brutus Beefcake
This looks like Boston. Ah it is ok then. Brown jumps him early on which makes sense. Damn he was ahead of his time to put it mildly. It’s all him to start us off here. I wonder if he ever just wanted to beat the hell out of some of these guys, knowing no one could beat him in a straight fight.
Brutus headbutts Brown and it doesn’t work, apparently due to how hard Brown’s head is. So he punches him and that works. He follows that up with the worst looking high cross body ever. The sleeper is countered and Brown grabs a mic. He tries to cut Brutus’ hair and fights with a referee. During the argument he gets rolled up for the pin. Ok then.
Rating: D-. This was even worse. Beefcake was just WORTHLESS here as he botched whatever he tried that was beyond a punch. This just wasn’t any good at all and came off like a bad match. The ending sucked too. Just bad all around.
Brother Love harasses Sean.
King Haku vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
This is for the crown. Vince and Jesse are the commentators here. This was from a Superstars taping so this had definitely been seen by a few people. Jesse never likes Hacksaw to put it mildly. These two were semi-joined at the hip over the years, constantly fighting each other in bad matches. It lasts like 2 minutes and the three point clothesline gets Duggan the crown.
Rating: N/A. This was just for the switch and nothing more. Duggan held the crown for a few months before we got King Savage for like a year.
We get the coronation too. It’s all the midcard faces there and we see Haku, Heenan and Andre watching while saying they don’t want to watch. Duggan looks like a goofy idiot and it works rather well. Love the patriot being a king.
Still no guests at the party other than Love.
Battle Royal
There are 16 people in here and we’re in Ontario, Canada. Akeem is out in like 8 seconds. I’m not going to try to list off all the people in there. Boss Man, Hennig, Harts, Honky, Martel, Hillbilly Jim, Tito Santana, Valentine, Brawler, Blazer, Rooster, Demolition and a few jobbers I think. See? I didn’t list them all.
Everyone is on one side of the ring here and it looks kind of weird. Ah that’s better. Axe goes out. Powers gets LAUNCHED out and Honky is out like a second later. Some jobber is out. Blazer is out. They’re going out kind of fast all of a sudden so I’m sorry for the lack of talking. Brawler goes out. Rooster is out and we’re about halfway out. Before I finish typing that Valentine goes out.
Ok we have Smash, Boss Man, Hennig, Martel, Santana…screw it they’re going out too fast. Boss Man and Smash are gone. Final four: Hennig, Hart, Tito and Martel. Wow that’s a hell of a tag match. They pair off as you would expect them to and them switch off. Tito tries to put Martel out but Hennig sneaks up for the elimination to get us to three.
Tito stays at ringside and pulls the rope down to get rid of Martel. Hennig takes a clothesline and Bret wins! This was surprising as he meant nothing at the time as far as singles stuff went.
Rating: C-. Nothing special here but at the same time it’s a battle royal so how much can you ask for it to do? The Hart win was a nice surprise and it got a nice pop from the crowd. Nothing great but it’s not terrible at all.
Brother Love plays with noisemakers. He was great at being annoying.
Hart Foundation vs. Fabulous Rougeau Brothers
Brother Love is the guest referee for no apparent reason. We’re in Milwaukee. This was a dark match at The Main Event where the Mega Powers exploded, which was on my first birthday. Something tells me this is going to be good just based on who is in there. He hugs the Rougeaus to start. He scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.
Oh damn it someone gave him a mic. Love says he’s not ready for this to start yet and a lot of people get annoyed with his stalling. This is kind of funny as he babbles on forever. Anvil finally grabs the mic and says START THE MATCH and we get the bell. We stall even more as this is getting a tad annoying. Bret gets a nice head fake into an elbow for a cover and Love counts two in about the time you could get to 9 or so.
It’s one of those matches. Even Hayes, who was kind of close to being a heel announcer, is skeptical about this. Hart gets a rollup for about a 9 count but Jacques reverses into a cover of his own which naturally gets a fast count. This is an old standard but it works every time.
Jim’s beard has grown during this match. I’m thinking about 9 inches or so. I’ve always been amused by choking in wrestling. How can human beings survive being choked for like twenty seconds or something like that? It’s just hilarious when you think about how over the top it gets. Jacques actually hooks the toe on an abdominal stretch. That’s not something you see everyday. Anvil gets his leg worked on as Love has insane heat on him.
Love intentionally turns his head when Anvil is about to tag. Nice one. After Jim plays possum to get in through a funny moment, Bret destroys the Rougeaus by himself. He gets a LONG two on Raymond but just before three Love has to go and tell the camera that he loves it. Raymond gets a rollup and Bret gets his shoulder up but Love counts three anyway. Naturally the Harts beat Love up afterwards to a GREAT pop.
Rating: B. For a comedy match, this was pretty good. Love as the evil referee was great and the ending made sense. These teams always had great chemistry together so the wrestling was there. The extra dynamic of Love in there helped a lot so I can’t complain much here at all.
Love and Mooney argue about the match but Love wants cake to end the fighting. Some production guy wants to know where the guests are because we’re running out of tape. That’s rather comical.
Hulk Hogan vs. Rick Rude
Back in Boston I believe. This is a pairing you don’t see that often to say the least. Gorilla and Jimmy Hart of all people are the commentators here. This is an older match as you can tell due to the belt Hogan has. Rude is apparently an arm wrestling champion so Heenan challenges Hogan to an arm wrestling match.
Nothing happens of course so there we are. Rude wants to arm wrestle more. This is just down on the mat so it’s likely not legitimate. They go left handed actually and since it’s pro wrestling arm wrestling you know the drill here. Now we get to the normal match. Hogan hitting Heenan is always nice to see.
According to commentary, the Harts are still with Jimmy and Honky is IC Champion so we’re at least before Summerslam 88. Hogan goes after Heenan since it’s in his blood I guess and Rude jumps him. Rude gets a wooden chair shot in to take over and prove he’s the heel.
Jimmy says Hogan is likely the best champion ever. WOW. Let’s hit that chinlock! Hogan starts his comeback but gets caught in Rude’s backbreaker since there wasn’t a Rude Awakening yet. Rude lets go early and goes up top. Heenan insists Hogan gave up. Here’s the familiar ending and you know the deal.
Rating: C-. Standard Hogan match from this era which had the crowd going so you can’t complain much really. Hogan knew what he was doing back in this era to put it mildly and it worked like it always did. Short and sweet but that’s how it was supposed to be.
Sean gets hit in the face with a cake and Tony shows up. Apparently the party was in the next room the whole time. Yeah that’s not very funny.
Overall Rating: D+. For an hour and a half home video, this wasn’t too bad I guess. I mean it’s certainly not great but for six matches that are all at least watchable, this would have been worth a rental or like 8 bucks or something like that. It’s cool to see house show matches and dark matches as it’s new material if nothing else so I can’t complain there. Like I said, nothing special at all, but not terrible.