WWF WRESTLING’S AMAZING MANAGERS (WF011)
Following BEST OF THE WWF VOLUME 3 comes this unique tape. As I said before World Class Championship Wrestling set the standard by highlighting heels as well as babyfaces. The WWF then beat everyone to the punch by highlighting its managers in this one. Up until the 1990’s managers were just as important as the wrestlers because they could draw heat on themselves and the guys they managed. Managers could be wrestlers that were getting old but could talk (Lou Albano, Freddie Blassie, Bobby Heenan) or they came from outside the business but could talk better than anyone (Jimmy Hart). Back then managers were abundant in territories and promotions but they have all but died off today. It’s a shame because guys like Shelton Benjamin who couldn’t really talk could have used someone like Jimmy Hart or Jim Cornette to get him over. Not everyone needed a manager, they could talk just fine on his own, but the manager gave him that certain x-factor to be hated even more. Mr. Perfect is the…perfect example shall we say. He could cut a promo by himself but put Bobby Heenan with him and the chemistry was great. Of course this is all in hindsight, today we go back to 1985 to look at the managers of the World Wrestling Federation at the time. We begin with the Coliseum Video opening and we are hosted by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Unfortunately his sense of humor and style are replaced by him reading off cue cards. He says we’re going to highlight Captain Lou Albano, Freddie Blassie, Hillbilly Jim, Johnny V, The Grand Wizard, Jimmy Hart, Mr. Fuji, Heenan himself, Fabulous Moolah, Miss Elizabeth and Cyndi Lauper. He references the October/November issue of WWF Magazine (which was bi-monthly at the time) which highlighted the managers. If that issue was already out in the streets that means this tape is definitely between November-December 1985.
We begin with Don “The Magnificent” Muraco sunbathing on a beach with 3 bikini clad girls giving him a rubdown. Heenan’s voiceover explains Don trains well until Mr. Fuji and after a highlight of Muraco running through a pagoda, he’s shown back on the beach with his arms around the ladies next to Mr Fuji (in full derby hat and coattails). Muraco says he’s got prettier women, a prettier country (didn’t know Hawaii was its own country) and he’s better looking. Fuji chimes in saying Muraco is the best before we get to our first match.
Match 1
Junkyard Dog and Ricky Steamboat vs Mr Fuji and Don “The Magnificent” Muraco
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
August 17, 1985 in the Capitol Center in Landover, MD was the date for the semi-retired Fuji to step in the ring with his protégé against a makeshift team of two popular stars in the Dog and Steamboat. Dog is in the red tights, Steamboat black, Muraco and Fuji in standard. The heels cut the faces off as soon as they hit the ring. Fuji has Steamboat in one corner and Muraco with Dog in the other. The faces reverse whips and sends Muraco and Fuji into each other. Steamboat pounds on Fuji while still wearing his karate gi. Ricky takes his black belt off and chokes Fuji with it. Finally Monsoon and Ventura can be heard on commentary. Its funny because up to this point in the previous 10 videos, this announce combination had yet to be used. This has the feel of Wrestlemania (they did 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 together) to it with them on commentary. Dog does his doggie headbutts on the ground to Muraco. Monsoon references Muraco choking out Steamboat with the belt on a previous show. Steamboat then sets his sights on Muraco while Dog stalks Mr. Fuji. Steamboat throws Muraco off the ropes then chokes him with the belt before whipping him with it. Finally referee Dick Woehrle pulls the belt away from Ricky and Steamboat takes his gi off. Monsoon and Ventura ask if the bell ever rang and obviously it didn’t. Steamboat unloads on Muraco and sends him through the ropes and to the outside. Ricky follows him to the floor and throws him into the ring post. Dog drops Fuji in the ring as Ricky sends Muraco over the steel guardrail with a right hand. Junkyard doggie headbutts Fuji on the ground inside the ring as Steamboat chucks Muraco into the third row. Dog bites Fuji in the ring which causes him to bail to the outside as Steamboat runs into the ring and jumps out of it on the other side to chase Fuji down. Steamboat atomic drops Fuji on the floor as Dog comes over to clock Muraco who had made his way back to ringside. Dog tosses Muraco back inside as Steamboat makes his way to the top rope. Ricky catches Muraco with a flying karate chop then drops another one on him. We get a TAPE EDIT and both Muraco and Steamboat are dazed on the floor. Muraco makes his way over to tag Fuji as Steamboat crawls into the wrong corner. Fuji stuns Steamboat with his own karate chops and a scoop slam. Fuji does a falling headbutt to the gonads and is NOT dq’d for it showing how in the 80’s, anything goes really. Fuji makes the tag to Muraco who drops Steamboat with a clothesline. Muraco throws Ricky into his corner and distracts Woehrle and the Dog long enough for Fuji to choke Steamboat in the corner. Ventura shills the intelligence of Muraco to stand in front of Woehrle so Fuji can go to work. Muraco makes the tag who continues to chop away at Ricky. Fuji goes for the nervehold and we get another TAPE EDIT to Steamboat making the hot tag to JYD while Muraco is in the ring. Dog unloads on Muraco in the corner and drops an intruding Fuji as well. Dog rams their heads together and decks Muraco with a clothesline. Steamboat cheers from the second rope as Dog covers Muraco for 1….2…no, close but no. JYD executes a Russian leg sweep but the cover only gets two. JYD drops Muraco twice with shoulderblocks but is nailed from the back by Fuji with a karate kick. Dog crumples to the mat and Muraco drops a series of elbows on him. Muraco senses victory and sends Dog off but eats a boot to the head (yeah yeah) for his trouble. Steamboat gets the hot tag and unloads on Muraco with chops and right hands. Steamboat staggers Muraco into the corner where Fuji gets the blind tag. Steamboat sends Muraco off who ducks under a chop, but Steamboat leapfrogs over him. Fuji reaches into his tights for salt but Steamboat dropkicks Muraco into Fooj and the salt flies everywhere. Steamboat sunset flips Fuji and Woehrle is smart enough to know he’s the legal man…1….2…3 and its over. After the match Fuji and Muraco get Dog tied up in the ropes and they go to work on Steamboat. They both lock in a nerve hold until Dog breaks free, grabs his chain, enters the ring and cleans house. Muraco and Fuji bail as we end it there. Bad match due to the drastic editing and it didn’t highlight Fuji at all, which was supposed to be the point.
Time of match: Who knows
Winners: Ricky Steamboat and Junkyard Dog by pinfall
Next up is “Luscious” Johnny Valiant. We’re shown an interview on TNT with Vince interviewing Valiant with protégé Brutus Beefcake next to him. Vince asks Johnny why Beefcake chose him and not the other managers around. Johnny cuts a promo saying Beefcake knows talent and has good taste. Vince asks him why Beefcake is so successful and Johnny says the combination of the two. Johnny “Nobody’s going to give him a bum steer while I’m around.” That could be taken the wrong way easily. Anyway let’s see Johnny in the ring.
Match 2
“Luscious” Johnny Valiant vs Steve Lombardi
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
This is actually from the same card as the first one in the Capitol Center on August 17, 1985. Lombardi is now known as Brooklyn Brawler although he’s always been a jobber. Heenan brings up how Johnny and JERRY Valiant won the WWF tag team belts in 1979. I can’t make this up, they brought in veteran John “The Stomper” Hill to become Jerry Valiant to replace “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant after Jimmy contacted hepatitis. Then when Jimmy recovered, they defended the belts as a six man using the Freebird rule until Jerry left the company. Lombardi is in the back trunks while Valiant dons the long black tights. Valiant threatens the crowd before locking up. A go-behind by Lombardi is countered with a right hand by Valiant. Johnny chokes Lombardi on the second rope, goes outside and grabs a camera cable. He chokes him with it and the ref does absolutely nothing. Back inside Valiant tosses Lombardi through the ropes and to the outside. Valiant moves Monsoon’s tv monitor and rams Lombardi face first into the announce table. Johnny chokes Lombardi on the guard rail and rams his head against it. Ventura says he hasn’t seen Valiant wrestle in a while but he’s glad that Johnny V is the same heel Jesse remembers. Johnny climbs on the apron and kicks Lombardi back into the steel. Johnny brings Lombardi into the crowd and slams him on the concrete floor to a big pop. As Valiant makes his way back to the ring and poses, you would think HE’S the babyface judging by the crowd pop. Valiant gets back in the ring but the referee doesn’t count at all. Lombardi hobbles back to the ring, pulls Valiant underneath the bottom rope and clocks him with a right hand. Lombardi rams Valiant’s head into the steel and chases him back into the crowd then scoop slams him on the concrete. Lombardi runs back to the ring but Dick Woehrle refuses to count out Johnny. Valiant stumbles back to ringside but Lombardi catches him with forearms to the chest. Steve rams Johnny into the buckle then brings him in the hard way. Lombardi rallies with right hands but Valiant reverses a whip and sends Steve into the corner where Johnny clotheslines him down. Johnny drops an elbow and covers for 1..2….3 and its over. After the bell Johnny throws him through the ropes and to the outside as the announcer gets in to announce Valiant has won. Why couldn’t they have done something similar for Fuji instead of showing him jobbing to Steamboat? Oh yeah, he’s asian and Valiant is white.
Time of match: 4:34
Winner: Johnny Valiant by pinfall
Let’s go back in time to see a younger, much slimmer Muraco being managed by the flamboyant Grand Wizard of wrestling. Vince McMahon in a blue suit interviews Wizard (who’s wearing pants with one pantleg yellow and the other green) and Muraco at ringside. Muraco is in standard blue trunks with a blue warmup jacket. Wizard says he and Muraco are together as a team. He says it’s the fans honor and privilege to get to see Muraco here. He says that not only is Don the best surfer but also the best wrestler. Wizard sends it to Muraco who calls himself not only an athlete but an artist as well. Muraco says he’s the greatest wrestling machine and he’s given up surfing to be the best wrestler. Muraco cuts a decent promo before sending it back to Wizard. Muraco sheds his ring jacket to show is good physique but it was nowhere near what he would later become. Vince asks why he aligned himself with Wizard and Muraco says he needed someone intelligent. He says he needed Wizard to help him hurt people and to break his opponents. Don gets some heel heat by saying the fans know about suffering since they live in this “dirty area”. Wizard closes by saying that Muraco will take on all comers and we cut here. I didn’t get to describe Wizard much in BIGGEST, SMALLEST, STRANGEST, STRONGEST other than the type of manager he was. His real name was Ernie Roth and he was never a wrestler himself. He was famous for being the mouthpiece of The Sheik (Eddie Farhat, not the Iron) during the territorial era. Eventually he made his way to New York and became one of the “unholy trio” of heel managers along with Captain Lou and Freddie Blassie. There’s a famous picture of the three of them behind a teenager named Paul Heyman, who would become a great heel manager of his own. Unfortunately Wizard died of a heart attack on October 12, 1983 at the age of 57, robbing the world of one of the greatest heel managers ever. After he died, Muraco would then take on Mr Fuji as his manager while Ernie’s other protégé, Sgt Slaughter, would salute his empty corner for a while.
Now its Freddie Blassie’s turn. We’re shown The Unamericanz promo at Wrestlemania 1 but Heenan talks over it. Onto the actual match from Wrestlemania.
Match 3
The Un-Americanz (Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Sheik) with Freddie Blassie vs The US Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo) with Captain Lou Albano for the WWF Tag Team Championship
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
This match is clipped for this tape’s purposes. We pick up at the point where Volkoff hits a knee to the mid-section, boots him on the ground and rams Rotundo’s head once again into Sheik’s boot. The heels double team Rotundo before Sheik applies an abdominal stretch as the camera pans to Blassie and Albano trading invectives. Rotundo escapes and Volkoff tags in but Mike finally makes it to Windham, who fires away at Nikolai with fists and a dropkick. Windham hits the bulldog and covers for 1..2…nope, Sheik cuts him off. Rotundo gets in and dropkicks Sheik to the floor but Blassie sneaks the cane into Sheik’s hands. The ref is distracted by Rotundo as Sheik breaks the cane over the back of Windham who crumbles to the floor. Nikolai rolls him over and covers for 1….2…3 and we got new tag team champions. Sheik becomes the first man since Pedro Morales to be World champion and tag team champion. We’re shown the instant replay of the victory and we go to the post-match interview. Mean Gene interviews the new champs and scoffs at Blassie for using the cane. Freddie “Cane? What cane? I didn’t have no cane!” Heenan’s voiceover says “Ahhh Freddie, a little white lie.” before Sheik and Volkoff finish their interview. I personally would have shown Sheik beating Backlund for the WWF title but I guess it was already seen on video so this match was something new I guess.
Time of match: An edited 2:16
Winners: Sheik and Volkoff by pinfall (new Tag Team champion)
We head right on in to the next match.
Match 4
George “The Animal” Steele (with Captain Lou Albano) vs Nikolai Volkoff (with Freddie Blassie)
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Alfred Hays
July 13, 1985 in Madison Square Garden saw this unique matchup of the unpredictable Steele against the big Russian. Volkoff sings the Soviet Union anthem and is pelted with garbage until Steele and Albano hit the ring to stop the singing. Steele chases everyone including Howard Finkel out of the ring. Volkoff and Blassie are irate outside the ring as Steele taunts them from inside. Albano calms down Steele and George takes his t-shirt off. Albano exits as the bell dings and we’re under way. Volkoff taunts the crowd and George himself as Steele just looks at him. Steele does the Animal taunt that sends Nikolai bailing for the apron to consult with Blassie. More Animal taunting sends Volkoff bailing for the apron again. Back inside Blassie distracts George long enough for Nikolai to get a boot to the gut in the corner. Nikoali unloads but Steele rallies with forearms to the back. Steele bites Nikolai on the nose and stuns the Russian. Nikolai recovers and stomps Steele in the corner. A running stomp and a knee drop sends Steele to the mat before Nikolai gets in a few more stomps. Steele nails Volkoff with a sucker punch to the gonads and the ref misses it. Monsoon says it should have been a DQ and Steele then bites open the top turnbuckle, his signature. Alfred “He’s going for his favorite junk food.” Wow, a funny one liner from Alfred. He was actually good in the 80’s commentaries, how’d he get so boring in the 90’s? Steele grabs a handful of stuffings and rakes Volkoff in the face with it. Steele applies a headlock but is distracted by Blassie again allowing Volkoff to nail him with forearms to the back. Albano hops up on the apron to protest which allows Blassie to nail George in the ribs with his cane three times. Nikolai continues to attack Steele inside the ring as Albano confronts Blassie outside of it. Nikolai chokes George in the corner as Blassie nails Albano in the back with the cane. Steele bails to the outside and Blassie nails him with the cane. Steele stalks Blassie by the announce table but Volkoff nails him from behind and sends him into the steel guardrail. Nikolai nails George with forearms while Albano can take no more and rakes Blassie’s eyes. Blassie and Volkoff bail to the back as the bell rings, signaling a double count-out. Steele and Albano give chase as Howard Finkel announces the decision. Some fans wondered why Blassie didn’t take a bump or two and the answer was Blassie was 67 years old with bad knees at the time. Funny how Albano was 50, Steele was 48 and Nikolai was the youngest at 37. Blassie wrote in his book that Albano was like his little brother so it must have been fun to work with him in this one. Bad match but it highlighted the managers so it served its purpose.
Time of match: 4:17
Winner: No one (Double countout)
Let’s switch gears to the “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart. We’re on the set of TNT with Jimmy and his new protégé Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. Valentine was previously managed by Lou Albano until Captain Lou turned face and the heel Valentine went with Jimmy, the new man in town fresh from his tour of the Memphis and Georgia territories. Greg is wearing a leather jacket, jeans, t-shirt, aviators and his IC belt while Jimmy has flamboyant shoes that Vince himself has the camera zoom in on. Valentine brings up Jimmy’s legitimate past with The Gentrys and their number one song “Keep on dancing”. He says Jimmy is REAL rock n roll, not the rock n wrestling that was going on at the time. Valentine says he knows Lou Albano is nothing but a slob and Lou was bringing him down. Vince asks what will happen at Wrestlemania when Valentine meets JYD (this must have been recorded before the first Wrestlemania). Jimmy hypes up Dog and says he’s going to use Another One Bites The Dust as his entrance theme but he and Greg will be playing it at the end after they win. Greg says JYD is the “baddest black athlete” a much more tuned down promo than his more infamous one that’s for sure. Valentine hits himself in the head with the belt to show how tough he is and he can withstand the Dog’s headbutts as Jimmy tries to stop him. Valentine says he’s been champ for 6 months and his win over Tito Santana was no fluke. He calls himself the best champion and not that “chump” Hulk Hogan. He says he and Jimmy will be together for a long, long time. That was no BS, they were together for 5 solid years before Valentine split from Jimmy and still lasted another year without him. Valentine left in 1992 and Hart left in 1993, 7 and 8 years respectively. Paul Heyman was with Brock Lesnar for 6 months in 2002 and CM Punk for a little under a year between 2012-13, compare that with Hart and Valentine together for 5 years. Anyway, Vince asks Jimmy why Greg is so confident and Jimmy says he’s got Valentine in great shape. He claims Greg was 265 pounds when he was with Lou and now he’s 250 pounds under his tutelage. Vince asks Jimmy if Greg doesn’t win, would he take credit for the loss. Jimmy scoffs and puts his hands over Greg’s ears saying “don’t even talk like that.” Haha! We end as Jimmy and Greg proclaim victory for Wrestlemania.
Switching gears again to Cyndi Lauper. The hottest female pop star was managing Wendi Richter for a while and now we’re shown highlights of Richter’s battle with Fabulous Moolah from Brawl To End It All. Its heavily clipped to just 2 minutes and not worth going over again. Basically Richter beats Moolah and she selects Leilani Kai as a protégé to get the title off of Wendi, which she eventually does. Now we go to the Wrestlemania 1 pre-recorded interviews. Okerlund interviews Lauper and Richter then Cyndi in her thick Brooklyn accent she’s gonna get her hands on Moolah. Richter says she’s gonna get her belt back as the camera cuts off allowing Moolah and Leilani to enter. Moolah is wearing flamboyant glasses and Okerlund says don’t tell Ventura about them so he doesn’t get any ideas. Leilani says she’s going to beat Richter by any means necessary. Now we cut to highlights of the women’s match and once again its heavily clipped and not worth repeating blow for blow. Richter pins Leilani to win the women’s title.
Switching gears to Bobby Heenan. We’re shown the pre-recorded interview for Wrestlemania…..wow. This whole tape was centered around Wrestlemania before and after it seems. Studd and Heenan enter with the duffel bag of money and its funny to see Okerlund try to stick his hand in as Heenan swats it away. Heenan “There’s only 2 people that are gonna see this money, me and Studd….make it 3, the teller at the bank when we deposit the money.” We’re shown the end of the Wrestlemania match where Andre slams Studd, grabs the bag of money, throws some of it around and watches it get stolen by Heenan. Now we’re going to TNT where Bobby Heenan gives love advice. Remember BLOOPERS, BLEEPS AND BODYSLAMS where Blassie, Albano and Johnny V did it? Now its Bobby’s turn. Bobby is wearing a fresh white suit with a heart for his lapel while Vince looks to be in gray corduroy. Bobby says he doesn’t usually do this as Vince says no one has done it and this is the first time. So Bobby was first huh? The first letter says wrestlers are supposedly great lovers and asks why that is. Bobby says its true and wrestlers are the second best lovers in the world. Vince asks who’s first and Bobby answers the managers. Vince “I should have known that” The next question comes from a 69 year old lady who says her husband doesn’t want her anymore and asks what can she do. Bobby says to hop out of the rocker, rip off the wool shawl she’s wearing, take the bun out of her hear, take the corrective hose off and put on some cologne. Heenan says “You know the cologne ‘evening in Paris’ well hers is probably ‘afternoon in the Bronx’. Bobby says he finds this boring and Vince says these are legitimate questions. Vince says the final letter reads that the woman’s husband has a 6 inch…scar on his face that’s a turnoff. Vince cracks up and can’t complete the letter, even the background camera guys can be heard laughing. Vince composes himself just long enough to finish asking what the wife can do to overcome the 6 incher. Heenan cracks a smile but still remains in character as Vince continues to crack up. Bobby “The way she writes and the way she talks about her husband, she should be thankful her husband has 6 inches of anything. On his face, in the back yard or in the garage.” This causes Vince to crack up again but then composes himself to ask that wrestlers have scars, even Heenan. Bobby answers he’s not after old ladies or this one complaining about looks. Vince asks what she can do and Heenan answers that she can wear blinders or glasses or put a bag over his head. Haha! Vince says we’re through here and we’ll be back with the Iron Sheik next. That could have been the harem party covered in Bloopers but its not shown on this tape. On to the next bout.
Match 5
Andre the Giant vs “Big” John Studd with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
This looks to be the exact same arena as the other matches on this tape but Monsoon says we’re in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada to see the giants battle it out. We’re joined in progress as Studd and Andre are locked up. Studd works over the left arm as Andre grabs the hair and headbutts him. Another headbutt stuns Studd but John counters a backdrop by dropping the giant with a kick to the head. Studd drops two elbows as Heenan hops up on the apron with a pair of scissors. He hands Studd the scissors but Andre grabs Studd’s wrist and bites it. Andre headbutts and chops Studd then kicks Heenan who attempts to retrieve the scissors. Andre punches him out of the ring and grabs the scissors. He grabs Studd, punches him and slams him to the mat. He goes to cut Studd’s hair as Ventura scoffs….but have no fear Jesse for Bundy is here. King Kong Bundy makes his way to the ring and nails Andre just as he’s finished cutting a strand of hair off. Bundy repeatedly nails Andre with forearms as Studd gathers his bearings. Andre tries to fight back but Studd tackles him to the ground, allowing Bundy to land a big splash. Studd continues to hold the legs and Bundy splashes Andre again….and again. The ref tries to get Bundy out of there but to no avail as Heenan whips Bundy who splashes Andree for a 4th time. Cousin Junior, Rick McGraw, The Killer Bees and Lanny Poffo (none of which have yet to appear on video at this point) hit the ring to save Andre. Studd is irate at Andre cutting a bit of his hair as Bundy and Heenan try to calm him down in the entrance way. Bundy was fast becoming a monster heel and this match is what set up the big Saturday Night’s Main Event showndown between Andre and Hogan teaming against Bundy and Studd. By the way, “Quick Draw” Rick McGraw passed away on November 1st, 1985 shortly before this video was released. A shame he went so soon.
Time of match: Joined in progress
Winner: Andre the Giant by DQ
Now for one of the most famous and important segments in wrestling history. Free agent heel “Macho Man” Randy Savage has entered the WWF and is looking for a manager, marking this as his first appearance on Coliseum Video. He had been signed away from Memphis and he was last seen losing a Loser Leaves match to Jerry Lawler on June 7, 1985. We’re shown the July 19, 1985 episode of WWF where Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart and Freddie Blassie make their pitches to sign the Macho Man. Bobby shakes Randy’s hand and hypes him up as the most sought after star. Bobby claims he’s the number one manager which causes Jimmy Hart to laugh at him and Blassie to point out that Paul Orndorff fired him on live tv (without mentioning Orndorff by name). Heenan was supposed to be Orndorff’s manager despite his run with Piper so when he and Piper split, he and Heenan split as well. Heenan brings up how The Unamericans lost the WWF tag belts (back to Windham and Rotundo also not mentioned by name) while Blassie counters that at least his crew had them. Savage himself is the voice of reason to clam the heel managers down. Heenan asks if Randy likes the way he dresses and his style of living and says he can improve it. Heenan’s sales pitch is that he can make Savage a rich man soon and Randy says “He’s got a pojnt. This guy here is smart!” Heenan says that they should sign up and go but Jimmy and Freddie stop him. Jimmy Hart speaks next and says opportunity has knocked. Jimmy’s sales pitch is that while everyone else is spending money hand over fist, he can SAVE Savage a lot of money by shopping at K-Mart. Normally this is a ridiculous sales pitch but because Jimmy is so entertaining he pulls it off and has Savage almost convinced to sign up. Bobby “You wanna go shopping a Beverly Hills with me or go shopping at K-Mart with Jimmy?” Jimmy “Shop at K-Mart baby, save your money.” Savage “They’re confusing me man.” Vince says “I guess Jimmy is agreeing to work for less money” and Jimmy agrees. Hart brings up how he’s managing Bundy, Valentine and the Hart Foundation and Savage would be an excellent addition. Heenan “That’s a birdcall you just heard, its called cheap.” Savage says Bobby as a sense of humor and Jimmy counters with “10,000 comedians are out of work and Bobby’s trying to be one.” Finally its Blassie’s turn. He says he’s the only one who’s managed a world champion and he can get Savage as many diamonds as he wants. He pulls out a huge wad that looks to be 3 grand in cash and say that would be Randy’s walking around money. He guarantees Savage would make more money than ever and would be wearing outlandish attire to the ring. Jimmy laughs at Blassie as Savage takes his shirt off and poses for everyone. Blassie says he’ll pay 25% more than anyone else and won’t take a penny until Savage is world champion. Savage says that sounds good as Vince says we’re cutting to commercial. We then cut to Savage’s match which sets up which manager he chooses.
Match 6
Jim Young vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage with Freddie Blassie, Jimmy Hart, Mr. Fuji, Johnny Valiant and Bobby Heenan
Commentators: Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino
We finally find out who Randy’s manager is….right after this squash match from July 30, 1985. Savage has all the heel managers with him as he makes his entrance wearing the green tights. Savage starts with an arm drag and a distraction by the bevy of managers has Young’s back turned long enough for Randy to get in a knee to the back. Randy throws him out of the ring and goes up to the top rope where he hits the flying axehandle. Randy tosses Jim back in and delayed suplexes him to the center of the ring. Savage goes upstairs and drops the FLYING ELBOW. The cover gets 1…..2….3 good night. Simple squash which served its purpose.
Time of match: 1:14
Winner: Randy Savage by pinfall
After the match, all the managers gather in the ring as Savage grabs the mic. He thanks everyone for their support and shills each and every one of them. Savage then says he’s the future WWF world champion (good call) and his manager is behind the door. He’s pointing toward the entrance of the arena meaning his manager is NOT amongst the heels in the ring. A spotlight shows on the orange double doors and Savage says “Here…SHE comes.” The doors open and out walks an absolutely gorgeous lady. Even Bruno on commentary is taken aback by her looks and of course Vince drools over her. Savage shows her off around the ring and all the managers nod in approval. Savage exits with his new valet before she even gets a name. As if you couldn’t guess, that was 24 year old Miss Elizabeth, Randy’s real life wife. There had been several valets in the territories such as Baby Doll, Sunshine, Lady Alexandra, Prescious, Woman, Dark Journey, etc but the WWF never really had one…until now. Savage dropped a bombshell by forgoing the male managers for a valet, one that he kept for the next 4 years.
From the beautiful to the ugly, we go from Miss Elizabeth to the hillbillies. They get their own tape which happens to be the next one in line so I’ll explain in more detail who they are on that one. Right now we’re shown highlights of their debut. September 10, 1985 saw Jim lead his “uncle” and “cousin” to the ring to tackle “Cowboy” Bob Orton’s real life brother Barry and jobber Jerry. I’ll tell the whole story on the next tape but the short version is Hillbilly Jim broke his leg while chasing Brutus Beefcake around ringside during a match. While he was recovering, Uncle Elmer and Cousin Junior took his place in the ring while Jim became the manager. Elmer was ring veteran Stan Frazier and Junior was rookie Lanny Kean who had spent 2 years in Kentucky. All 3 hillbillies are wearing overalls although Elmer’s only go down to his knees while the other two have full body overalls. They jug dance in the ring to overdubbed jugband music as a short Kevin McHale lookalike claps in the crowd. Jim makes his exit as Barry shouts invectives at him. Vince makes note that Hillbilly Jim was in the running for manager of the year which will be decided after the match. Vince asks Jesse who he thinks and Jesse goes with Bobby Heenan for trading The Missing Link and Adrian Adonis for King Kong Bundy. Let’s rewind a bit shall we? Dick Murdoch had left the company leaving Adonis all alone. The Missing Link started in the WWF in May of 1985. One month later, Heenan Family member Ken Patera was convicted of the assault charge that happened the year prior and was sent to prison. Heenan took Adonis to make up for the loss of Patera but his style didn’t fit with Heenan. With Jimmy managing The Hart Foundation, Bundy and Greg Valentine and Heenan down to just Studd, Adonis and Link, the two managers made a trade that sent Bundy to the Heenan Family and Link and Adonis to Hart’s First Family. Now Jimmy had The Foundation, Adonis, Link and Valentine while Heenan had just Studd and Bundy, but the two were the 2 biggest guys in the company behind Andre so it looked to be an even trade. Link left the company a month later and Greg Valentine somehow went from Jimmy Hart to Johnny V. Valentine teamed with Brutus Beefcake to become The Dream Team, which dethroned The US Express for the tag belts shortly before this match. Which brings me to my next point was so much turnover happened in the middle of 1985 that tapes like this were a double edged sword because the casual fans were confused as they were seeing Valentine with Jimmy Hart one minute then Greg with Johnny V the next. The segment cuts after a few shoulderblocks by Elmer on Orton. The actual match will be featured in the upcoming tape so I’ll review it then without the rant I just typed out.
Now back to TNT with Vince interviewing Jimmy Hart and Freddie Blassie the same night as when the two of them (along with Heenan) tried to acquire the services of Randy Savage. Vince tries to cause dissention between the two managers but they poo-poo that idea. Hart blames Heenan and Blassie says Hart’s like a brother to him. Vince stirs the pot by saying Blassie called Hart a cut-rate manager and Blassie says to Jimmy not to listen to Vince and Captain Lou is a slob (a reference thrown out of nowhere but still funny). Vince says Albano could win manager of the year and Hart says if he does, he’ll demand a recount. Vince asks what it would mean to Freddie if he won and Freddie tells Alfred (who’s off-screen) to shut up. He says it doesn’t matter if he wins as long as the women stops sending him love letters. Vince asks Jimmy what it would mean to him and Jimmy says it would be the greatest day of his life. Jimmy says he IS a cut-rate manager as he saves money for him and his clients. He brings up a great point about baseball players getting paid so much just to get hurt. We cut right there and the purpose of this was to set up the next segment where the 1985 Manager of the Year is revealed.
September 10, 1985, the same day as the hillbillies/Barry O showdown saw the manager of the year ceremony take place. King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd stand guard outside the ring while Bobby Heenan, Captain Lou and Hillbilly Jim stand next to the trophy with “Mean” Gene Okerlund our MC for the evening. Okerlund says the WWF has received one million votes and thanks the fans but Heenan grabs the mic. Heenan reels off the heel managers and says they all gave up their votes for Heenan to win. Added with Heenan’s votes alone, Heenan gets 519,711 votes. Bobby proclaims himself the manager of the year and grabs the trophy. Hillbilly Jim asks how many votes he has and Okerlund answers he has 316,428 votes. He asks how many Lou has and 314,166 is the total. Jim then gives up his votes to Lou which means…oh yes…CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO has won the 1985 WWF Manager of the Year award. Heenan goes beserk as Jim congratulates Captain. Heenan then nails Albano with the trophy as Okerlund hightails it out of there. Studd and Bundy hit the ring and suddenly Jim is down 2 against 1. Studd tackles Jim and Bundy splashes him again and again like we saw with Andre earlier in the tape. Heenan smashes the trophy. Bundy splashes Jim again but finally Junior and Elmer make their appearance. The Heenan family bail to the back as the hillbillies tend to Jim and Albano. Great way to maintain heel heat by Heenan’s crew.
Before we get to our next part, Heenan calls Albano a blob and says a future tape is on the way highlighting Albano. I’ll get to that in the future but for now we go back to a TNT interview back when Lou was a heel. Vince asks why Albano isn’t managing the tag team champions and Lou answers his team will be champions again. Albano brings up his appearance in Cyndi Lauper’s videos and takes credit for making her a superstar. Lou “I made her, because what woman ever made it on her own, heh heh.” Vince suggests that his recent foray into music has rendered him ineffective as a wrestling manager and Albano scoffs. He says the Wild Samoans blame him for losing to the Soul Patrol but he says the Samoans should have won. Lou claims that Cyndi is schizophrenic but he can handle it which causes Alfred (off-screen) to laugh. He claims he has a high IQ of 157 and he has a genius brain. Vince asks Albano how much money he takes from Cyndi and the Samoans and he claims Lauper should be paying HIM for his services which causes Vince to cut right then and there. I don’t know why but heel Albano was always 100 times funnier than his cartoonish persona as a babyface. On to the final match on the tape.
Match 7
Captain Lou Albano and Afa vs Andre the Giant and Pedro Morales
Commentators: Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson(??)
We go back in time to August 23, 1980 at the Philadelphia Spectrum to see Afa and Lou challenge the team of future and past WWF champions Andre and Pedro. Was Sika out sick that day or something? Andre is in the blue tights, Pedro in bright orange with Afa in his standard with Albano wearing a similar style to Afa only blue instead of black. Andre sneaks over and rams Afa and Lou’s heads together and Afa barely sells it while Lou just stomps his feet, dances and exits the ring…..wow. We get a TAPE EDIT and now Afa is backing Pedro in the corner where Albano chokes him from behind. Afa goes for the big left hand but Morales moves and Albano takes the punch. Albano gets in the ring and shouts “What the hell you doin?” The unnamed announcer says “heck” to cover up for Albano’s 1970’s curse in case children were watching. Afa pleads his case but Lou leaves and we get another TAPE EDIT where once again Afa backs Morales into their corner. Afa pounds away before Albano tag in. Lou attacks with right hands but when he gets hit, he bails and tags in Afa. Morales grabs Lou by the hair before Afa stops him with a headbutt. Another TAPE EDIT has Albano tagging back in with a forearm to the back of Morales. Another forearm is followed with a scoop slam but Morales takes him down and tags in Andre. Albano retreats to his corner and tags in Afa. Andre greets Afa with a giant punch and a giant boot. The announcers continue to laugh rather than commentate. Andre does his ass spot which causes more laughter then Andre stands on Afa’s hair. Andre puts his head down and eats a kick to the head. Afa drops the giant and chokes him on the second rope. Afa nails Andre with a headbutt before locking in a nerve hold. Andre counters but Albano tags in. Lou kicks away at Andre until the giant stands on his foot. Andre headbutts Albano twice which causes Lou to stagger in the wrong corner. Andre rams Lou’s head into the buckle then tags in Morales. Lou is busted open and Morales cleans house. Morales rams Lou’s head into Afa’s and Albano tippietoes out of the ring and to the back leaving Afa all alone. Morales whips Afa into the giant boot of Andre then makes the cover for 1…2…3 and its over. Terrible, clipped match and all it did was make Albano look bad. Still, there’s no “best of” in the title so the lack of good matches is somewhat expected.
Time of match: Who cares?
Winners: Andre and Pedro by pinfall
The credits roll and afterwards we get Gene Okerlund this time narrating the previews for BEST OF WWF VOLUME 5, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO and TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS. Guess THE WRESTLING CLASSIC gets the shaft. As for this tape, it was mostly a mess. They had to cram about 7-8 managers into an hour and a half and just as easily could have devoted the entire tape to a few of them. Hell, Captain Lou gets one all to himself very soon. A shame Bobby Heenan didn’t get his own for another 25 years (and even then it was a lackluster dvd). Still, the purpose was to highlight the managers and it did just that. Not much more you can ask for. Back then male managers were just as important as the wrestlers they managed and that’s why these guys were legendary. I give it 3 stars out of 5 with 2 points off for lack of good matches and it was a production mess at some times. The next tape after this is WRESTLING’S COUNTRY BOYS so we’ll pick up there.
Timeline: History of WWF/E Home Video 