WWF High Flyers

[Guest TSMAdmin]

WWF High Flyers

 

This happens to be the first wrestling video I ever owned as my brother gave it to me for Christmas over 12 years ago. I have watched this video a countless number of times and always loved it while growing up. Now we’ll see if it can pass the test of time and hold up as a great video. It has the sweet ass old school WWF “What the world is watching” intro that I always mark out for. “Mean” Gene Okerlund is our host and he welcomes us from a WWF control room.

 

Virgil (w/”Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase) vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth)

 

Howard Finkel introduces Savage as the Undisputed WWF Champion so this match is probably from the summer on 1988. Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are announcing this one which looks to be from a WWF Superstars taping. Savage takes his title and chases Virgil from the ring. Once Savage takes notice of Dibiase, Virgil sneaks into the ring and attacks from behind to start the match. Virgil clubs Savage and whips him around the ring for the opening moments of this match. Shoulderblocks in the corner by Virgil. Virgil distracts the ref and allows Dibiase to work over Savage from the outside. Bodyslam by Vigril. He quickly goes to the top ropes and misses a huge splash as Savage moves out of the way. Macho Man hits a knee to the back and then a quick double axe handle from the top. Savage slams Virgil setting him up for the big elbow but the Million Dollar Man distracts Savage, drawing him to the outside of the ring. A chase ensues and Dibiase uses Elizabeth as a shield as Virgil attacks him from behind. Back in the ring and Virgil controls Savage with a couple of elbows. Savages gets tossed to the outside and Liz makes sure he is all right. The heels toss Savage back into the ring and make their way over to Elizabeth. Dibiase whips out a roll of hundreds and tries to buy Liz off. He really should have asked her “if she wants to make $14 the hard way.” She distracts the heels long enough for Savage to come off the top rope to the outside with a double axe handle. Once Savage has taken both men out he puts Virgil back into the ring. A hot shot and the big elbow from the top rope finishes Virgil off at 5:10.

 

MATCH RATING: **1/2

 

WHY: Virgil actually held his own in the match against one of the very best at the time, Randy Savage. Having Ted Dibiase in his corner only helped things too as both heels received some nice heat from the crowd, while Savage was insanely over. Good start to the tape.

 

The Conquistadors vs. The Rockers

 

This match is obviously from a Boston Garden show. Our announcers are Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, and “Superstar” Billy Graham just to try my patience. For the sake of my sanity I’m not even going to try and label the Conquistadors as 1 and 2 for the play by play of this match. Marty starts out with the smaller Conquistador. They lock up and Jannetty gets accused of trying to pull the mask off. Jannetty gets arm dragged and appears to hurt his knee so he tags in to Michaels. The Conquistador control Michaels to start with some power moves, and Michael tags Jannetty back in who controls with some quick offence which draws the other Conquistador into the ring. They both bail after dropkicks. Marty locks back up with the Conquistador and goes right to work on his arm. Conquistadors make the tag and try a double team but Jannetty grabs both men in a monkey flip position and holds it until Michaels enters the ring and dropkicks both masked men in the back. They both bail to the outside folling the monkey flip. Nice move there. A close up of Jannetty’s face would indicate that he partied pretty hard the night before this match. Michaels gets tagged in and keeps working on the arm. Marty back in and hits a dropkick. He continues to work the arm until an illegal knee to the back puts the Conquistadors in control. The Conquistadors work over Marty with some 80’s jobber offense. They tag in and out as they please and also display so decent tag team heel tactics. Both masked men and using a lot of punching, kicking, and elbows. Conquistadors switch illegally without tagging. Double clothesline sees both men down on the mat looking for a tag. Both men tag and Michaels controls both Conquistadors with ease. Michaels goes to the top tope and hits a wicked fist drop from the top. The count gets broken up as the Conquistador drops an elbow on his fallen teammate. The Rockers each have a Conquistador on opposite turnbuckles. They try an irish whip but both men reverse sending the Rockers crashing into each other and Michaels bails out of the ring. Now one Conquistador holds Jannetty as the other runs off the ropes, but Marty ducks, sending a Conquistador to the floor. Jannetty irish whips the remaining Conquistador into the ropes, and ducks as his runs back allowing Michaels to come off the top rope with a high cross body to get the pin at 9:40.

 

MATCH RATING: **

 

WHY: Not a bad match by any means but there wasn’t anything special about it either which could have bumped the rating up another ½ to * star. The Rockers were in great form as they usually were and kept the crowd pumped with their high flying, and at the time unique offense.

 

WWF Woman’s Tag Team Title Match

The Jumping Bomb Angels (champions) vs. The Glamour Girls (w/Jimmy Hart)

 

The announcing team here is Mooney and Hayes again. The Angels try a quick double team but get clotheslined for their efforts. Sukie Yamasaki starts out with Leilani Kai, and hits a nice HHH style jumping knee to the face. Kai looks for the tag but Judy Martin doesn’t look to excited about getting into the ring. Martin finally gets tagged in and Sukie goes right to work on her. Sukie quickly tags in Noriyo Tatino and she takes over the arm. Noriyo goes for a high cross body off of an irish whip and gets slammed hard for her efforts. Nice spot as she kips up to her feet while in the pin, and then hits a couple of quick dropkicks on the stunned Martin. Tag back into Sukie who hits a nice arm drag from the top rope to Martin that sends her tumbling to her own corner. Kai hugs the post and shakes her head refusing to get into the ring. Finally Kai gets tagged in against her will and hits a boot to the mid section. She picks Sukie up in a firemans carry, but drops Sukie back on her feet. Sukie hits a kick to Kai’s gut and then locks on an Octopus, which was a more that Tajiri used quite a bit while back in ECW. Martin runs in to break it up but Noriyo catches her in an abdominal stretch. The ref of this match really sucks as he is taking his sweet ass time to even make a one count. Kai takes over on Noriyo and then tags in to Martin who goes to work on the legs of Noriyo. Irish whip into the corner and Noriyo tries a sunset flip out of the corner that gets two. Tag in to Sukie who gets irish whipped to the same corner, but is able to get both of her feet up to stop the charging Judy Martin. Martin catches her feet and pull of off the top ropes almost powerbombing her. Splash by Martin gets two. Kai gets tagged in but gets slammed off the top rope for her troubles and the ref is distracted as Sukie gets at least an 8 count. Martin tagged back in and she boots Sukie down to the mat. Double team irish whips sees both Glamour Girls eat a Sukie dropkick. Hot tag to Noriyo who hits a couple of nice knees, and then a flying headbutt (!) and a high cross body. That gets a two count. Double arm suplex see the count get interrupted by Kai. A clothesline off the second turnbuckle gets another two count before being broken up again. Noriyo climbs to the top rope and try a high cross body but ends up dropped her own partner with the move. Martin whips Noriyo in the ropes but gets reversed and rolled up quickly for the three count at about 8:01.

 

MATCH RATING: ***

 

WHY: I wasn’t expecting to like this one as for years I always fast forwarded over that particular match on the tape never really giving it a chance. Was I ever wrong. If all woman’s wrestling was a good as this match was I would be a happy man. The Jumping Bomb Angles were outstanding and had the crowd behind them every second of this one. The Glamour Girls worked hard too and while they obviously could not match wrestling skills with the girls from Japan they held their own too. Great match, and huge props to the Jumping Bomb Angels for this one.

 

The Shadows vs. The Young Stallions

 

The Shadows were a jobber team played by Randy Colley and Jose Luis Rivera, who we all ready seen on this tape as one half of the Conquistadors. Mooney and Hayes treat us to commentary again. Both of the Stallions are just ripped here. Roma locks up with Shadow 1 who is fatter of the Shadows. Roma arm drags the Shadow several time and goes to work on the arm. Tag in to Jim Powers and he takes over on the arm. Shadows tags and number 2 comes in and gets arm dragged to start. He stalls, bitching that his mask was pulled. Side headlock by Shadow 2 who gets whipped into the topes and takes Powers down with a shoulder block. Off the ropes again and Powers leapfrogs and hit another nice arm drag on Shadow 2. Hayes claims that we have seen the Shadows many times before and they always prove to be successful. coughBullshitcough. Shadow 2 takes over on Powers and chokes him on the ropes. Irish whip sees Powers him a high cross body to take the Shadow down. Roma tagged in and they his a double elbow. Powers tagged back in and he uses a firemans carry to take the Shadow down to the mat. He goes to work on the arm again, and keeps things on the mat while holding an armbar. Roma in off the top rope and he hits a double ax handle on Shadow 2’s arm. Powers back in and they hit a double dropkick on the Shadow. Back to the arm for Powers, who then tags in Roma. Roma hits a drop toe hold and goes for the mask but gets nailed by Shadow 1 who takes control of the match. Back suplex on Roma gets a two count, and the Shadow hits a few knees to the back. Shadow 2 back in and he uses the tag rope to choke out Roma. Shadow 2 tags out and the bigger Shadow is in the ring. They double clothesline Roma. Shadow 1 locks on a bearhug and Roma breaks with a shot to the face. Shadow 1 locks on a Canadian Back Breaker, which Roma flips out of to backdrop the Shadow. Powers gets the hot tag and controls both of the Shadows. He locks a sleeper on Shadow 1 that gets quickly broken up by Shadow 2. That draws Roma into the ring and all four men are brawling. Shadow 1 gets dumped quickly and Shadow 2 backs Powers into his own corner allowing him to make the blind tag to Roma. Powers irish whips Shadow 2 into the corner and Rome hits a wicked sunset flip off the top rope for the three count at 11:17.

 

MATCH RATING: **

 

WHY: This was a decent contest which you probably would have seen as a house show opener back in 1988. The Young Stallions were good, but a little boring. The Shadows worked hard for a pair of jobbers and made the Stallions look exciting along the way. The end of the match was spectacular as it was the first time I had ever seen a wrestler use a sunset flip from the top rope half way across the ring to get a pinfall.

 

The Blue Blazer & Koko B. Ware (w/Frankie) vs. “Dangerous” Danny Davis & Jose Estrada

 

Mooney and Hayes are again on commentary and I really don’t know why I expected anything other. The Blazer dances with Koko as they get into the ring, showing us just how white Owen Hart really was. I had never realized it before but this is the team of High Energy teaming up, years before they were jobbing left right and centre to everyone in the WWF. Estrada is the other half of the Conquistadors, and not current NWA: TNA underachiever Jorge Estrada. Koko and Davis start out and David wants a handshake before they lock up. Koko doesn’t oblige and they lockup as David pushes Koko to the corner. Koko drops him win one shot and he tags in to Estrada who gets hip tossed quickly. Koko tags in the Blazer who sticks an armlock on Estrada who quickly reverses. The Blazer reverses him with Owen’s trademark flipping armlock reversal move. Does it even have a name? Estrada takes back over with a knees to the mid section. Blind tag to Koko as Owen whips Estrada into the ropes. Koko and the Blazer both leapfrog him and then his a nice hip toss/back body drop combo that sends Estrada down. Blazer hits a dropkick that sends Estrada to the outside. Baseball slide dropkick sends Estrada down on the outside. Sling shot back in and the Blazer hammers away on Jose. Estrada reverses with a finger to the eyes and Davis gets tagged in. He hits the Blue Blazer with some crappy offense, and tags into Estrada. Estrada hits a nice elbow off the ropes. Davis back in and the Blazer sunset flips his back body drop attempt only to have it broken up by Estrada. Front face lock by Davis and he gets pushed into the corner. Irish whip to the other side and the Blazer leaps to the second turnbuckle and gets a one count on Davis. Tag back in to Estrada and he kicks away at the Blazer on the mat. Davis back in and he hits a bodyslam before climbing to the outside. Davis goes up to the top turnbuckle and catches a shot to the mid section as he is one his way down. Koko tags in as does Estrada and Koko dropkicks him down. Powerslam by Koko, and now all four men are in the ring. Meeting of the minds for the heels sees Davis bail to the mat and then get tossed outside the ring. Koko tries to control Estrada but he takes over on Koko and tags in Davis. Davis hammers away at Koko on the Mat. Estrada back in and he trades punches with Koko. A finger to the eyes puts the jobbers/heels back in control. Davis back in and an irish whip attempt fails as Koko hits a high cross body and tags in Owen. Estrada back in the ring and he eats a dropkick. Davis tags back in as does Koko and this match is really falling apart at this point. Koko is tossed to the outside, and Estrada boots him from the apron. Estrada back in and Koko makes a blind tag to Owen who climbs the ropes. Koko takes Estrada down allowing the Blue Blazer to hit a huge splash off the top ropes to get the pin at 9:53.

 

MATCH RATING: *1/2

 

WHY: This was nothing more than a typical Saturday morning main event as the heels controlled much of the match but put in little offense along the way. Davis and Estrada just sucked ass in this one, and even Koko was more useless as normal. The Blue Blazer looked pretty good, but that is a given considering who is under the mask.

 

“Mean” Gene wraps things up from the control centre and says nothing of interest.

 

OVERALL: The odds speak for themselves and this tapes was a pretty decent showing. Nothing except the last match sucked and if you want to view a really good woman’s match I would suggest getting this tape for the Jumping Bomb Angels/Glamour Girls match.

 

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