-I had the opportunity to purchase an old school Coliseum Video last week. Fittingly, it was covering the early portion of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth’s career. This video came out in 1986 and showcased Savage in a number of matches with Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, and even Bruno Sammartino. This won’t be a traditional review like I do with the indy shows but rather a chance to talk about and memorialize one of the best wrestlers of all time by looking at a sampling of his work.
-We begin with the ooooold school WWF theme song that Colt Cabana still uses to this day on his Art of Wrestling podcast during his plug segment. The decade could not be clearer based on this video.
-Gene Okerlund is the host and he does a great job putting over both Savage and Elizabeth in their own way. He even mentions Savage winning matches against WWF champion Hulk Hogan. We’ll even see the macho lifestyle!
-An interview plays as Savage talks about his actions just before Hulk Hogan is about to squash poor Rusty Brooks. Brooks is a giant fat jobber. The balding head and bulbous stomach give away his jobber quality. Hogan wins quickly with the legdrop and Savage pounces. Back and forth they go. Savage cowers away like any good heel should. He and Liz depart.
-Clips of a world title match from Madison Square Garden play next. Savage is bleeding like a pig. Wish we could have seen the whole thing because this came across as being a wild brawl. Liz prevents Hogan from ramming her man into the post. Savage finally posts Hogan and wins by countout. Hogan applies a bearghug and sends Savage into corner after corner. The locker room comes out to break this brawl up. Fast forward to the next show MSG show…
Lumberjack Match- WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan (champion) vs. Randy Savage (WWF Intercontinental Champion) (w/Miss Elizabeth)
Match in Five Words or Less: Hogan Is A Cheater
Match Summary/Analysis: I wish a date was given just for my own historical purposes. Hogan attacks Savage from behind and beats him down unmercifully. He even uses a belt! The referee doesn’t disqualify Hogan for whatever reason. Lord Alfred and Gorilla Monsoon on commentary mention Savage already being the I-C champion so that places this somewhere in 1986. Savage gets no offense in until one of the lumberjacks grabs his legs. Either Bundy or Muraco. Savage grabs the eyes and knees Hogan in the back. Double axe off the top. Heels beat up Hogan on the outside when Savage sends him outside. Savage continues to be the aggressor. Savage pulls tape off Hogan’s ribs. Considering the tape, my bet is this took place between Bundy’s attack on Saturday Night’s Main Event and Wrestlemania 2. You should hear the crowd roaring for Hulk. I bet John Cena wishes he could get this sort of reaction. Savage focuses on Hogan’s ribs. Elbow drop and it’s Hulk up time. Isn’t it amazing in all of their matches, Savage never got to beat Hogan with his finisher. EVER! Someone actually pulls the leg of Savage on the outside. Hogan hits the legdrop for the win. Wasn’t that blatant cheating? And who pulled the leg? Replay shows it was George Steele. The plot thickens. Fairly basic match. They’d go on to do far better.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Randy Savage/7:37/*1/2
-Savage’s appearance on Tuesday Night Titans is shown next. His red workout get-up makes this segment an immediate thumbs up. Savage is angry Elizabeth has a picture in the WWF magazine, but he doesn’t. It gets worse as Elizabeth has flowers delivered to her. In the middle of a talk show? Savage’s creepy paranoia sadly rings true on camera. Vince McMahon points out the stuffing looks like a turnbuckle. Uh oh.
-Intercontinental Championship: Randy Savage (champion)(w/Miss Elizabeth) vs. George Steele (w/Lou Albano)
Match in Five Words or less: Steele Is An Idiot
Match Summary/Analysis: I swear to God a young Dean Malenko is the referee here. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. This is from a Saturday Night’s Main Event based on the cover of the apron. Some shucking and jiving from both men to start. Steele starts out on top until he becomes distracted by Elizabeth. Steele avoids Savage on the outside. Back in and out of the ring as Savage gets the advantage by outsmarting Steele. Steele with a bodyslam. Time to eat some turnbuckle. The champion gets to eat some of it in the face. A quick double axehandle off the top and Savage retains the title. So Elizabeth’s inadvertent distraction costs him. Always a good idea to keep George Steele matches short, and this one was. An angle like this could never work in 2011 because I think more fans would actually buy Savage as a babyface.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL Intercontinental Champion- Randy Savage/4:06/*
-Gene Okerlund is outside Savage’s house and runs into a married couple. They want to see him before going on their honeymoon. Okerlund rules in this segment. The chick running after Savage’s car made me laugh. Next, we take a look at the house and pool. Wonder if this was the real thing. Next is an interview by the pool. Savage talks about having possessions, power, and pride. He talks about doing only one more thing in life and that’s winning the world heavyweight title. Savage talks about living alone and away from people. How amazing close to real life. Okerlund tries interviewing Elizabeth, and Savage of course gets jealous. An urgent phone call comes through as Savage is offered a centerfold for 500 grand. He turns it down! Savage then turns down 400 grand to wrestle three men in Japan. Clearly, the man needs a better financial adviser. The crazy stalker lady returns. Interview ends. So cheesy and awesome all at the same time.
-Highlights of Savage’s Intercontinental championship victory over Tito Santana are shown. Pretty classic ending as Savage takes out some sort of object out of his tights, nails Santana while being suplexed, and wins the title. A great touch as the new champion tosses the object out of the ring.
-Jesse Ventura has Randy Savage on his talk show. Savage talks about the belt being a gateway to the world title. Keep in mind it’s 1986, so this was true since titles meant something.
-Highlights of the rematch from MSG are shown next as Santana is going crazy on the champion. He goes for a figure four but gets gouged in the eyes. Savage takes a walk on the outside and suckers Santana. He throws the challenger back in after sending him into the rail. Flying forearm by Santana. Figure four. Crowd is going crackers. Savage tosses the referee down. Bell rings and we have ourselves a disqualification. Santana wins but no title.
-Highlights of yet another match from the Garden. This time, there are no disqualifications. Savage stretches the ordinary rules of a match as a good heel should do. Santana nails Savage coming off the top rope with a chair shot. That was pretty hardcore right there. Right hand and Santana continues beating him up instead of pinning him. That’s a pretty dumb babyface right there. Brawl goes back to the outside. Savage sent into the table. Elbow shot to the head on the champion. Figure four but Savage rakes the eyes. Back and forth they go outside. Santana posts Savage. He bleeds something awful. Santana back in the ring. Elizabeth tries to help the champion back in the ring. Savage comes back in the ring. Fist exchange. Referee knocked out by the champ. Santana nails the flying forearm, but there’s no official to count. Santana tries to help him out. Bodyslam and again no count. Did all the other referees die? Savage with a knee to the back. Santana sunset flip. Savage hooks the tights and gets the win. A fantastic match. If I’d seen the whole thing, I’d have rated this an easy four stars. Epic brawl between these two. Even if Monsoon didn’t understand the rules of the match and the fact there couldn’t be any DQs was made obvious at the beginning.
-Intercontinental Championship: Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) (champion) vs. Tito Santana (Referee: Bruno Sammartino)
Match in Five Words or less: Tito Santana Is Underrated
Match Summary/Analysis: I do enjoy the logical story being told with these series of matches. First month was a DQ. Second had an incompetent referee with a no disqualification stipulation. Then there’s this match which we’ll actually get to see the whole thing. Savage stalls a ton before the action starts. A noticeable pop can be heard for Savage. Santana and Savage don’t break in the ropes, so Sammartino breaks for them. Well then. Champion and referee argue. Guillotine across the middle rope. Double axehandle. Sammartino admonishes him. Savage goes for covers. Sammartinto takes soooo long to count. Savage begins yelling at him after another slow count. I don’t blame him for that. Series of shots by Santana. Savage deposits him outside. Double axehandle. He crawls around the ring to deliver more damage. Jumping knee drop. Strike exchange. Double noggin knocker and both men are down. Right hand to the abdomen. Knee lift. Savage outside. Crowd begins cheering as Santana continues his onslaught. Savage catches Santana with double boots to the face. Small package into a series of right hands by Santana. Figure four leglock attempt but Savage out of the way. Gutwrench suplex for two. All of a sudden, someone in a woman’s dress comes down the aisle, kicks Sammartino in the ass, and splashes Santana. Well, it’s Adrian Adonis in an angle that drew millions. Santana tosses out of the ring. Bodyslam by Sammartino. Double axe by Savage. Santana clears the ring with a chair.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Tito Santana by Disqualification (Savage keeps the title)/10:42/***
-Gorilla Monsoon interviews I-C champion Savage and Adonis before their match. Savage has no idea what he’s talking about because he mentions defending the title.
-Randy Savage (Intercontinental Champion)(w/Miss Elizabeth) and Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Bruno Sammartino and Tito Santana
Match in Five Words or less: Heels Are Smarter
Match Summary/Analysis: Heels attack right away. Babyfaces clear them out of the ring quickly. I feel like every tag team match in the 1980s started out this way. Brawl goes all over the place. Savage nearly gets cornered by the babyfaces. Stalling by the heels. Savage goes to the top. Sammartino brings him down the hard way. Babyfaces work the champion over. Savage does a great job bumping around, particularly for the elder Sammartino. Adonis can’t get on the apron for five seconds without being decked. Adonis tags in to huge heat and doesn’t do very well either. Adonis hits a suplex that the camera misses. Sammartino gets control for this team once again on the champion. Heels sent outside. Clearly, whatever they’re doing is failing miserably. Santana nails Savage in the head with a chair right in front of the referee. No DQ? Faces keep letting Savage tag out which is just weird. Adonis finally takes control…briefly. Axehandle by Savage and the heat segment continues. Sammartino brawls with Savage on the outside. Chaos. Savage hits the double axe off the top to the outside. Heels get back in the ring. Sammartino and Santana get counted out. Dug the finish. The heels got pounded for ten minutes and only won because they were smarter than the faces.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Randy Savage and Adrian Adonis/8:42/**3/4
Line of the Night: The man himself, “Savage is more seductive than sex.”
Finish of the Night: Gotta love the way Savage won the I-C title from Santana. A classic ending to a historically important match.
The Verdict: This was a great peek into one of the greatest careers of all time. A lot of Savage’s Memphis heel tendencies were still very prevalent on this collection. This is a great video to watch to see the range of Randy Savage. He shows off his ring skill in some great matches with Tito Santana and a lot of his promo work in the interviews. You also get a chance to see how close the character of Randy Savage may have been to the person. A big thumbs up.
It really was Dean Malenko. He was briefly a referee for the WWF in this time period.