The Greatest Wrestling Stars Of The ‘80s (3-DVD Set)

Well, look who’s back! Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. After a six month absence I return with a look at one of the bigger WWE releases of the year, and with this I kinda ended up on a WWE DVD shopping spree, and as such, I’ll have a review of a few others in the weeks and months to come. Or I’ll vanish again until 2006. We’ll just have to wait and see.

A lot of ground to cover, and I’m just not going to waste a sentence. Aside from this one.

Very cool format as we get a profile of 15 WWE, NWA, and AWA stars spread out over three discs. You get a 10-15 minute profile of the star, and on the extras section you get a match and a promo highlighting said individual. I’m taking the easier route and just telling you what matches and what interviews correspond with what wrestler. Star ratings where necessary.

The stars:

Bobby Heenan – featuring clips of Heenan managing Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens in the AWA, Bill Apter presenting Heenan with the PWI Manager of the Year award, and a brief look at every man he managed in the WWF (that includes the Brooklyn Brawler). Highlights of his WWF career are featured including the Andre-Studd Slam Challenge at WrestleMania, his experience at WMIII, as well as his broadcast partnership with Gorilla Monsoon and his short-lived talk show. It’s a good segment, but if you have read either of Heenan’s books, there is no new information here.

-Ultimate Warrior vs. Bobby Heenan -Loser Wears a Weasel Suit (MSG-6/25/88) This is a pretty bad Ultimate Warrior match, and that says a LOT. Warrior manages to sell more for Heenan here than in the majority of his World title defenses, but what we’re left with is a pretty bad match that seems copied move for move from Heenan’s AWA weasel matches in the 80s. Heenan’s post match antics are pretty funny though. Ѕ* just for that.

-The Bobby Heenan Show (7/10/89) -Not the entire show, but the segment where we meet Jamison, and before you all groan, Jamison was pretty funny here. This was before McMahon went nuts with him a few years later. Here Jamison just plays the befuddled idiot who unknowingly plays straight man to Heenan’s cruel abuse. I’ve always felt this segment was the highlight of the series (aside of course from the interview with porn star Heather Hunter.) And let me emphasis one more time: Jamison WAS NOT comedian Andy Kindler.

Junkyard Dog– Since Mid-South is one of the few territories Vince doesn’t own the footage to, we only get Mid-Atlantic footage of his early days. His WWF highlights include TNT interviews, the SNME where he brought his mother, and his juking and jiving with some severely white kids after his matches. We get a brief look at his NWA return in 1990, and his last public appearance at ECW Wrestlepalooza in a touching moment from 1998. It’s a good tribute, but his lack of major feuds in the WWF (his Funk series is pretty much ignored) prevents the piece from really going too far in-depth with his WWF career.

-Junkyard Dog vs. Randy Savage -Wrestling Classic Finals (11/7/85) -Fun little match where Randy Savage bumps like a madman and makes himself and JYD look like a million bucks. Fitting choice because this probably was JYD’s peak in the WWF.

-Junkyard Dog performs “Grab Them Cakes” at the Slammys with Vickie Sue Robinson. Remember “Puttin’ on the Hits” where average people would lip synch hit songs? That’s exactly what this segment conjures up memories of. Though JYD I must say is dressed up as one bad mutha…………..

Sgt. Slaughter– This is a bizarre one, as for some reason, the WWE saw fit to completely rewrite history. Apparently, Slaughter started in the AWA, feuded with Boris Zuchov, and won the AWA World title. THEN he went to the NWA and WWF to feud with the Iron Sheik? HUH?!?!? Well, ignoring the chronological mishap, and the out-right lie about his AWA title win, what we DO get is clips of the infamous Alley Fight with Pat Patterson, Slaughter’s NWA tag title run with Don Kernodle, his feud with the Iron Shiek, and his tasteless run as an Iraqi sympathizer that led to death threats and people breaking into his home. Also included is a cute AWA promo that takes some thinly veiled shots at Corporal Kirchner and “Rambo” Greg Gagne, as well at a look at the ultra-rare LJN-esque Sgt. Slaughter wrestling figure. This is one of the better profiles, barring the inaccuracies at the beginning.

-Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik (MSG-5/21/84) This is from one of the blacked out MSG cards and as such to my knowledge this is the first time this match has ever been made available. And it’s a pretty solid match as Slaughter hits the standard gusher and bleeds like a bastard for most of the match, comparable to his Alley Fight and Boot Camp bladejobs easily. This would be the match that led to the infamous Boot Camp bloodbath a month later. And Gene Okerlund does an amazing job on commentary, almost making you think the Sarge is about to die. ***1/4

-Also included are two stories from the Sarge, one about how he unintentionally humiliated Jim Brunzell, Billy Robinson, and Verne Gagne at Verne’s training camp, and the other is his meeting with Ronald Reagan in 1984. Both stories are very entertaining.

Greg Valentine– This one is also great. We get a great promo from a bloodied Ric Flair after a Valentine title defense, very rare clips of Greg Valentine winning the US title from Roddy Piper by bloodying his ear to such a degree that Valentine’s fist becomes covered in blood when he hits it, and the dog collar chain match that followed. We get a profile of the Santana-Valentine feud that Tito called the “most real feud he’s been in,” and Valentine’s tag title run with Brutus Beefcake in the Dream Team, including their title win, and their series with the British Bulldogs. The “Piper loses his hearing” footage is great stuff on its own. But it’s great how thoroughly it covers Greg’s career up to about 1987 which is about when he started to get lost in the shuffle.

-Greg Valentine vs. Tito Santana -Lumberjack Match (MSG 3/17/85) -This is maybe one of the few GOOD Lumberjack matches, and about the only one with a clean finish. With WrestleMania two weeks later, and considering the placement of each man on the card, the finish is pretty obvious, but it’s a fun match with a finish that kept both men strong.

-Greg gets a backrub -Tuesday Night Titans (7/17/84) -Whether the woman who is rubbing Greg is really his wife or not I’m not sure, but it’s a pretty good interview by TNT standards. “Why are you laughing, Vince?”

Roddy Piper– We cover Piper’s 10 second debut match, his training by Johnny Rodz, how he became a manager, his series with Ric Flair in the early 80s, his appearance at Starrcade (Piper confuses PPV with closed circuit), the infamous attack on Albano, Cyndi Lauper, and her boyfriend/manager Dave Wolff while a confused Dick Clark looks on, his War to Settle the Score with Hogan, WrestleMania, and his real life hatred with Mr. T (with some KILLER clips featuring Piper with a mohawk, Piper presenting T with paintings showing him crippled, and an unprepared T getting a cup of water chucked in his face.) And of course we get tons of clips of Piper’s Pit highlighting Frank Williams, Andre the Giant, Jimmy Snuka, Adrian Adonis, and Harley Race.

-Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine -Dog Collar Chain Match (Starrcade 11/24/83) The granddaddy of them all, and one of the more brutal matches with Piper somehow blading his ear giving a rather disturbing visual. Classic match tainted only by the fact that Piper would leave the NWA shortly after this bout. But a ***Ѕ epic.

-Piper’s Pit with Haiti Kid (3/7/86) -In what I’ve always felt was one of the more disturbing episodes of Piper’s Pit, Bob Orton holds downs midget wrestler The Haiti Kid while Piper tapes his mouth shut and cuts his hair into a mohawk.

And the Easter Eggs:

-Roddy Piper cuts an insane promo from 1982 about how he wants a title.
-Roddy Piper talks about a promo he cut that hit a nerve with Dusty Rhodes by telling the audience that Rhodes looked like he just had a litter of puppies.

Whew! That’s only Disc 1.

Disc 2

Jerry “The King” Lawler -Lawler tells us how Jackie Fargo broke him into the sport, how he got his nickname, clips of his infamous match with Andy Kaufman (of surprisingly bad quality), his AWA title win over Curt Hennig (and the accidental Fargo “four count”), the SuperClash III controversy, his use of the piledriver, his never-ending face/heel relationship with Bill Dundee, and his broadcasting career on RAW, including what he can say to get Ross worked up during the shows.

-Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich -Unification Match (SuperClash III- 12/13/88) Another good old bloodbath as the World Class and AWA titles become unified. For about three weeks.

-Jerry Lawler in the locker room after winning the AWA World title

-Jerry Lawler tells a great story about how intense of an opponent Jos LeDuc was.

Arn Anderson -This one may be one of the weaker profiles as much of it is taken directly off of the Ric Flair DVD, but we do learn of Arn’s early days growing up, his training, and his association with the Horsemen. We learn about his neck injury (which unbeknownest to me was caused during the 1989 series with The Rockers), and there are clips of his retirement speech from 1997. Way too much time is spent on his childhood, and there is almost no time spent on his Horsemen feuds, his WWF run, or much of anything. A minor disappointment.

-The Andersons vs. Wahoo McDaniel & Billy Jack Haynes (Starrcade 11/28/85) -Andersons are the National tag champions against the US champs McDaniel and Haynes. Kind of an odd choice of match, it’s relatively short, good but not great, and this may have been one of the few Starrcade 85 bouts without blood. I guess the goal is to get as many Starrcade matches on DVD as possible. With Rhodes-Flair and TA-Blanchard available, I guess this was the next one down.

-Arn cuts a promo on World Championship Wrestling (1/21/86)

Dusty Rhodes -The only person profiled who chose not to participate, I gotta give credit. As much as Dusty was treated like crap in 1989 and 1990, he’s treated like a king here. With crystal clear AWA footage from his Texas Outlaw days with Dick Murdoch in 1973, what looks like 8mm footage of his NWA title win over Harley Race in 1981, promos from his early WWF days in the late 70s, and tons of promos from his NWA days, this is one the more impressive ones video-wise.. Special emphasis is placed on his feud with Ric Flair, including the Horsemen breaking his leg in 1985 to Dusty winning the title in the cage at the Bash in 1986 (complete with guy in the front row standing on his chair and falling off of it in a drunken stupor.) Considering Rhodes is working for the competition, this is a very impressive profile.

-Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair $1,000,000 to the winner (Starrcade 11/22/84) -Absolutely awful match. I reviewed Starrcade ‘84 long ago, and to me this was quite possibly the worst NWA main event of the Crockett years. Bad match and bad booking, I would have preferred any other Rhodes-Flair match to this one.

-Dusty Rhodes promo from 5/7/85

Ricky Steamboat– I think this one is my favorite pieces. It’s really great to see Steamboat again, though if you haven’t seen him, you’ll be surprised how much he has aged. He starts off with a great story about the training regiment he went through with The Iron Sheik as his teacher (other students including Ric Flair, Jim Brunzell, and Buck Zumhofe, and I think he’s only mentioned solely to show a bizarre clip of him) and progresses to the classic series of Steamboat-Flair. From there, Steamboat reveals the secret of why he felt his matches were as good as they were, and how he gained so much respect from his fellow workers, Ricky talks about his partnership with Jay Youngblood, his most enjoyable matches, his WWF run including clips of the classic WMIII match against Randy Savage, and his classic trilogy with Ric Flair in 1989. Steamboat is allowed to tell his own story, and for that, I think his becomes the most personal. Interesting comments from Steve Austin, Don Muraco, Chris Jericho, and Ric Flair.

-Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair (Chi-Town Rumble 2/20/89) Match one in what is widely considered the greatest trilogy of matches in wrestling history as Steamboat returns to win the NWA title with a finish designed to tell the world that the Rhodes booking era was over. ****Ѕ I consider the WrestleWar match to be the best, this one is a close second, and the 60 minute Clash battle third. All are ****+. And with this, the whole trilogy is now on DVD.

-Steamboat explains how he got his name, and why promoters frowned on using his real name Richard Blood, despite it being a great wrestling name. He also explains what led to his “Dragon” nickname in 1985. Thankfully, the Godawful 1991 Dragon days are ignored.

Ric Flair– What exactly could possibly be covered that wasn’t on the Ultimate Flair DVD? Not much. His childhood, 1975 plane crash, his first NWA title win over Rhodes (no footage, but we do get David Crockett screwing up the announcement the week after as only he can), his Harley Race series, the Horsemen days, his Rhodes series, and the Flair party held on RAW in 2003 (had to fit HHH on this disc SOMEWHERE.) Basically it’s a Cliffs Notes version of the Flair DVD.

Ric Flair vs. Jay Youngblood (2/3/82) -Ricky Steamboat serves as color man for his tag team partner, and this is another interesting match choice, but I see it as Steamboat choosing this match to pay tribute to his late partner. Good match that shows Jay’s abilities and features a post match interview with Ric Flair. Also check out a VERY young Terry Taylor and Jake Roberts at the end of the match.

The Four Horsemen promote Bash ‘86 on World Championship Wrestling (6/21/86) God Flair was gold on the SuperStation.

Easter Eggs:

-Ricky Steamboat talks about wrestling with Shane Douglas in front of 18 people due to a blizzard.
-Roddy Piper describes the greatest Dusty Rhodes promo he has ever seen. You’ll ever see it as emotionally beautiful or terribly exploitive.

And we’re on to Disc 3

“Superfly” Jimmy Snuka– Snuka tells his own story and to my surprise, he makes perfect sense. He touches on his days growing up in Fiji and later Hawaii, his Superfly leap, his physique, his feud with Roddy Piper, and his infamous cage match with Don Muraco. Nothing too terribly informative, and I really wish they had taken time to talk about his heel days (his days with Albano and a match against Pedro Morales are glossed over.) By the way, the beginning of the profile does showcase one of the worst sells of a jobber you’ll ever see. I can’t believe it made it on here.

-“Superfly” Jimmy Snuka vs. Bob Backlund -Steel Cage (6/28/82) It annoys me to no end that they keep putting the wrong date for this match. On the Cage DVD and here, they list the date as 5/19/80, which was the classic Backlund-Patera match. God knows what date they’ll put if that ever gets released. Anyway, this is an infamous match, because Snuka busts out the top of the cage splash and misses. It was also called Match of the Year by some, occasionally Match of the Decade by others. It’s a good match, borderline very good, but it is a tad overrated. But I’m happy to have it in full on DVD.

-Jimmy Snuka does an insane interview on TNT (6/26/84) Possibly one of the big highlights of the whole DVD, we get Snuka even more whacked out than usual. He speaks barely above a whisper the entire time, gives coked out answers, and ultimately Lord Alfred Hayes ends up doing the interview for him. Snuka was sent to rehab later in the year, and it’s pretty apparent why. This is fascinating to watch and as an added bonus, you also get the complete episode of Piper’s Pit where Piper hits him with a coconut and whips him with a belt.

“Cowboy” Bob Orton– Lots of Mid-Atlantic footage, Piper tells a story about asking Orton to not wrestle as well so the others could catch up, a look at his unique interview style, his real life friendship with Roddy Piper, people trying to fight him in real life, and the infamous cast that lasted for a year. And we take a look at his role in the finish at WrestleMania. It’s nice to see Orton get his due after getting blown off for much of his WWF career, even if it is mainly because his son has gotten such a push years later.

-Bob Orton vs. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka (2/18/85) Great match to pick as this is what started the cast angle as Orton rams his own elbow into the post. This was one of the final blow-offs in the Piper-Snuka feud as Snuka was fed the bodyguard while Piper got Hogan later in the show.

-Bob Orton goes to the doctor (5/10/85) This would be three months later as Orton’s injury should be healed by now, and it’s a cute little skit where Piper and Orton get some good lines off.

Iron Sheik– This is another of the better profiles as they go pretty in depth of his career, and as a favor to us, they give us subtitles for his broken English. They start back with his Hussein Arab character in 1979 and his first go-around with Bob Backlund, his Persian clubs angle, his NWA days with Paul Ellering and Paul Jones (and a phone number that they forget to block out), his shocking title win over Backlund and why Backlund chose him to lose to, his being offered $100,000 to shoot on Hogan in MSG, his bloodbath with Sgt. Slaughter, his tag team with Nikolai Volkoff, (to my shock) his drug arrest with Jim Duggan in 1987, and his return in 1991 as Col. Mustafa. I got to say, people often talk about what a nut the Sheik is, but he comes off great here, one of the more no-nonsense profiles here.

-The Iron Sheik vs. Bob Backlund (12/26/83) -Sheik wins the belt in one of the biggest MSG shockers ever. To go along with the surrealistic angle, is the weird lighting that occurred for this show only where you can actually see the entire crowd. This is virtually a squash.

-The Iron Sheik swings the Persian clubs (12/7/83) Nothing much, I’d rather they’d have shown Sheik attacking Backlund with them as a companion piece.

“Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff– We start with his days in Atlanta with a brief look at a tag match with him and Tommy Rich, it then proceeds to his WWF days being one of the first men raided by Vince, his maineventing WrestleMania, his face turn against Piper, his classic feud with Hogan including the “phone call,” the heel turn, his backstage interview afterwards, and his steel cage match. Orndorff explains why the feud worked so well (he really could kick his ass), and he explains his love-hate relationship with Hogan, and it finishes with his days training people in WCW.

-Paul Orndorff vs. Salvatore Bellomo (1/23/84) -Certainly not Orndorff’s bright spot, but it is Orndorff’s MSG debut, and it also marks Roddy Piper’s return to MSG as well. About as good of a Bellomo match as you’ll see, and the ending piledriver is pretty brutal.

-Paul Orndorff vs. Tony Atlas -Posedown (11/27/84) This is from TNT and it occurs at “Cafй Rene,” and to say this is an awkward segment would be a huge understatement, especially when one camera angle stays a tad too long on Paul’s crotch. Quite the impressive restaurant as all the patrons sit in folding chairs. Watch as Orndorff shoves Vince just because he can, and Atlas drop the N-word. Yes, “Nincompoop.”

Hulk Hogan– Again, a tad unnecessary after the Hulk Rules DVD. In a nutshell, we look at his being discovered by the Briscoes, trained by Matsuda, feuded with Andre, went to the AWA, starred in Rocky III, came back to the WWF, won the title. From there it’s a year by year summary starting with WrestleMania in 1985, his apparent disappointment with his Bundy match at WM2 in 1986, his Andre match at WMIII (thankfully Andre isn’t 700lbs nor does he die the next day) in 1987, his break in 1988 to do No Holds Barred and his passing the torch to Randy Savage, and his snatching it back in 1989. It then fast forwards from his loss to Yokozuna in 1993 to his WCW debut to his heel turn to his WWE return and finishes with his Hall of Fame speech. It’s the Cliff Notes Hogan DVD with a 2005 update.

Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik (1/23/84) -the match that started Hulkamania as Hogan wins the belt.

Hulk Hogan vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (2/18/85) -The War to Settle the Score. This was the infamous match that aired on MTV and led to WrestleMania. Nothing match as it barely lasts five minutes, but it’s all angle, as Hogan gets jumped by Paul Orndorff and Mr. T tries to make the save, only to get punked out as well. This is the only time seeing the police interfere seems to be a believable sight.

Hulk Hogan cuts a bizarre promo on Hercules (11/29/86) -Funny, this interview was just being discussed on another board. Hogan hung out in the garden of Eden with his “main squeeze Eve” and he hung and bung on the Titanic. Not Snuka crazy, and not as insane as his WMIV promo, but it is certainly a candidate.

Easter Eggs:

-Jimmy Snuka recieves the 1983 Wrestler of the Year trophy from Victory Magazine. Since Snuka isn’t feuding with anybody, it stays intact.
-The Rogers Corner interview where Snuka breaks up with Lou Albano
-Iron Sheik’s post-match interview after beating Backlund
-Hulk Hogan’s post-match interview after beating Sheik.

And that’s the end.

Very impressive set. What gripes I have are minor.

-Granted, you can’t have a “Greatest 80s” anything without Flair and Hogan, but with the in-depth DVDs on them already out, it just seems a little pointless to profile what has been done so much better elsewhere. I would rather they had profiled other talents that I didn’t have info on like Tito Santana or Don Muraco.

-No Randy Savage. I’m guessing either Savage wanted too much money or Vince still has a grudge with him, but this is a glaring oversight. And the only mentions of him on the DVD show him losing.

-Repetition, especially with WrestleMania. With Hogan, Piper, Orndorff, and Orton all involved in the main event, you get the same story four times (hell, I think you get the Liberace clip all four times too). Piper’s version is great due to his real hatred for Mr. T, the others just seem unnecessary. Also, it comes off a little lazy to see Piper and Flair discuss their feuds when both profiles show the exact same clips.

As it stands, this fulfills a lot of the wishes I had had for a WWE DVD set. 9 MSG matches, 3 Starrcade matches on DVD for the first time, the other Flair-Steamboat match on DVD, and a lot of great interviews with some of the major stars of when I was growing up.

In a way, yes, I kinda wish these would just be matches only, but they are getting better and better with who they talk to and what about. Granted, a lot of this footage seems like it was left over from Confidential (even the old graphics of the show are on some of this), but so much more of it is fresh. To me, the Ricky Steamboat and Iron Sheik profiles alone are worth the lacklusterness of some of the others.

This is a great set, and one that I have spent way too much of my week watching. If you have a huge tape library, yes, a lot of these are repeats from the Coliseum days, but even for the obsessive, there are matches here I guarantee you have never seen before.

Thumbs way up, highly recommeded, A-.

-Sydney Brown