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This is a 5-DVD Set that came out a few years back. I picked it up on some good recommendations from my friends but I never really watched it. I figured now would be as good a time as any. As with all 5 discs, you can choose either from the original commentary or the “special insider commentary” done by Dave Meltzer and Jim Cornette. Yeah I think you know which one I picked.
The Main Program (The Matches)
Each match is introduced by Dave and Jim themselves
1) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Terry Allen
Terry Allen is of course better known as Magnum TA. They circle to start and lock up. Bockwinkel pushes him to the ropes and they break clean. They lock up again and this time Allen pushes Bockwinkel to the ropes and breaks clean. They lock up and Allen gets a take down. They lock up again and Bockwinkel takes him down with a headlock takeover which Allen gets out of. Another lock up which is broken clean. Bockwinkel locks up and pushes Allen to the corner but doesn’t break clean. He whips him to the corner but another whip is reversed and Bockwinkel is sent to the corner. He charges but hits a Bockwinkel high knee. Bockwinkel takes him down and starts working on the arm of Allen. Allen makes the ropes but Bockwinkel goes right back to the arm when Allen gets to his feet. Allen makes the ropes and breaks and sends Bockwinkel to the ropes and bodyslams him. He bodyslams him again and gets a two count. Allen gets a headlock takeover and works a side headlock on the mat. They get to a vertical base and Bockwinkel elbows out and goes right back to an armbar. Allen sends him to the ropes and hiptosses him over and covers for two. Allen takes Bockwinkel over again with a head lock. Bockwinkel gets to a vertical base and backs Allen to the corner causing a break. Bockwinkel starts forearming away and the ref has to pull him off. Bockwinkel goes back and Allen sends him to the corner and forearms him. He hiptosses him and hits a dropkick. An Allen whip to the turnbuckle is reversed and Bockwinkel starts taking over. He hits a piledriver and that’s all she wrote at: 6:28. I WANT MORE! I would love to see these guys go at it for a 20-25 minute match. 6 and a half minutes is way to short for these two. *1/2.
2) Ivan Putski vs. Eddie Mansfield
I’ve never heard of Mansfield. He attacks from behind and takes quick control of Putski. He hits an axehandle from the second rope. Cornette talks about how bitter Mansfield was that he couldn’t get anywhere. Putski comes back and powers him out of the ring. Eddie finally comes back into the ring. Eddie comes back and takes over and drops an elbow from the second rope. He forearms away back before forearms were clubbing and Putski unleashing a forearm of his own and Eddie bails. Eddie makes it to the apron and knife chops Putski. Putski comes back with another punch and Eddie bails again. Geez, Putski’s gotten in three offensive moves and all of them were a punch or forearm. Eddie attacks again but Putski just clubs away. He kicks away and the ref tries to get Putski off of him but he pushes him off and that causes a DQ at 4:20. Horrible match. DUD.
3) Tito Santana vs. Kelly Kiniski
Kiniski works a headlock right away but Santana takes him down into an armbar but Kiniski makes the ropes for the break. Santana goes to the overhead wristlock but gets pushed off. Santana comes right back to the arm and again Kiniski makes the ropes. Santana armdrags him down and goes to an arm bar. Santana gets sent to the ropes and shoulderblocks him down. He armdrags him over and goes back to the arm. He whips him to the rope and drops down but Tito stops in his tracks and dropkicks Kiniski when he stands up. Kiniski gets armdragged down again. Kiniski sends Santana to the ropes and knees him. He drops an elbow and covers for two. Tito sweeps his leg and takes over. He goes back to the arm and takes him down into the armbar but Kiniski stands up and pushes him to the corner. He drives his shoulder into Santana’s gut and punches away. Santana comes right back and kicks him down. He sends him to the ropes and hits a flying forearm for two. Kiniski comes back with some punches and sends Santana to the ropes and Santana ducks a clothesline and hits a crossbody for the pin and the win at: 4:51. Next please. ¼*.
4) The Sheik vs. Tom Jones
No, not THAT Tom Jones. Sheik attacks from behind but Jones comes back and dumps Sheik. They look to be wrestling a grade school gymansium I should note. Stall-o-rama ensues as Sheik does his prayer on the rug. They lock up and Jones takes over and pounds on him in the corner. Sheik comes back with a kick to the gut and takes Jones down and works a hammerlock. That actually gets the submission at 1:48. He won’t break theh old of course so Billy Watson comes in to get him off of Jones. Sheik kicks Watson down and Watson comes back and they exit to the back. Another squash match. DUD.
5) Bobo Brazil vs. Michael Angelo
Angelo starts pounding away on Bobo to start and chokes away at him on the ropes. The ring is realllly small here, smaller than the ECW ring. Angelo sends him face first into the turnbuckle but Bobo no sells and goes to work on Angelo. Bobo starts working on his arm but Angelo eye rakes him to break. He kicks at Bobo in the corner and works him over. He whips him to the ropes and elbows him but Bobo won’t go down. He whips Angelo to the turnbuckle. Another whip is reversed but Angelo gets caught in Bobo’s leg and gets kicked. He gets the Coco Butt (a head butt) and that’s the finish at: 3:51. Another squash match, perfect. DUD.
6) Chief Wahoo McDaniel vs. Tully Blanchard
Tully cheapshots Wahoo to start and Wahoo starts chopping away. Ric Flair stole his chops from Wahoo in fact, as Meltzer tells us. Tully backs off to regroup. They lock up and Tully kicks Wahoo down low and knocks him down. He works him over but Wahoo counters and hiptosses him over. Tully kicks Wahoo but he no sells. Wahoo continues with more chopping and snapmares Tully over into a chinlock. Wahoo gets Tully in an abdominal stretch. Tully hiptosses him over but Wahoo comes back with a suplex. Wahoo was apparently George H. Bush’s favorite wrestler. Tully bails to the apron but Wahoo slingshots him back in. Wahoo whips Tully to the ropes but bends over and gets kickd in the face. Tulyl drops an elbow and covers but Wahoo’s foot makes the ropes. Tully pounds away but Wahoo comes with more chops. Tully takes over again and hits a springboard elbow from the second rope and covers for two. He gets some more quick covers but only for two. Wahoo makes another big comeback but gets booted in the fave to quell that comeback. They exchange punches now and Wahoo sends Tully to the ropes and chops him down. He hits a gutwrench suplex and covers for two. Tully rolls out of the ring to regroup. He makes it to the apron and Wahoo chops him down. Tully grabs his leg and pulls him out and they brawl on the outside. Wahoo shoves the ref down and I guess that ended at 6:15. the match since we go to the next match. Weird ending. Alrightyish match. **.
7) Eddie Gilbert vs. Jerry Lawler
This would be Eddie Gilbert’s dream match from 1984. Eddie has the worst hair here. They lock up and Eddie arm drags Lawler over. They lock up again and this time Eddie bodyslams him. They do another lock up and this time Lawler gets hiptossed over. They lock up and this time Lalwer arm drags him over, then bodyslams him then hiptosses him. Eddie bails to the outside. He returns to the ring and circles and then bails again. He comes back and they lock up. Lawler backs him into a corner and hiptosses him. They lock up and this time Eddie backs Lawler into the corner and punches him in the face. Lawler grabs a head lock and they do the criss cross until Lawler stops, fist cocked and Eddie bails, pointing to his head showing how smart he was to leave the ring and not get punched. Lawler grabs another headlock and is sent to the ropes and shouldberblocks Eddie down. Lawler goes off the ropes and Eddie leapfrogs him but a second leapfrog would see Lawler stop short and punch Eddie down and out of the ring. Things progress slowly as they lock up again. Eddie backs him into the corner and slugs away in the corner. Eddie is in firm control and punches away. Lawler makes the big comeback and off comes the strap. Lawler responds with punches of his own. He goes up for the ten punches but Rude runs in and ends the match in a DQ victory for Lawler at: 6:43. Lawler clears the ring with a chair afterwards. Match was starting to pick up before the DQ. *.
8) The Sheik vs. Tiger Jeet Singh in a Mud Match
Not just any mud match, a HINDU mud match. They wrestle in mud, which is what the WWE divas do now. Singh chokes at Sheik and tosses Sheik’s manager into the mud. Sheik slips around and Singh puts on the Cobra Claw. Sheik manages to escape and the ref is caught up in all of this. Singh puts the claw on but Sheik’s manager interferes allowing Sheik to attack. Singh knocks Sheik outside of the ring so Sheik throws in a chair so Singh nails Sheik with it. He chokes him with the chair so Sheik’s manager comes in and gets nailed with the chair. Singh slugs away at Sheik. Sheik’s manager distracts again and this allows Sheik to choke Singh out for the win. Hank James attacks Sheik all the way to the back and chokes him out. Whole “match” lasted way too long at: 7:27. Awful, just awful. DUD.
9) Austin Idol vs. Massao Ito
This is for the international heavyweight title and his manager MAY BE Jimmy Hart under the mask. Ito does the salt toss. They lock up and Ito pushes him to the ropes and doesn’t break clean. He takes control of Idol with the usual Japanese offense. He bodyslams him and chops him into the head. He kicks away at Idol and chops some more. He does a horrible jump kick and whips him to the ropes for a chop. He bodyslams Idol but misses a chop. Idol makes his big comeback and bodyslams Ito. He bodyslams him again and drops an elbow. He punches him down and bodyslams him again. He goes for a spinning toe hold but the manager distracts and Idol follows outside. He wallops Idol with the nunchucks and he’s out. Ito wins via DQ at 3:00. Yeah. ¼*.
10) Tully Blanchard/Gino Hernandez vs. Scott Casey/Terry Allen
Big Gino sucks chant from the crowdas Gino and Casey start off. Casey arm drags him over and they lock up. Casey grabs a headlock and takes Gino over but Gino breaks. Gino tags in Tully but Casey works the arm and tags in Allen. He continues working the arm. Allen as Magnum TA and Tully would wrestle in a ***** match at Starrcade in an I Quit Match. Hernandez is tagged in and Allen works his arm until Gino makes the ropes to break. Tully tags in and elbows Allen. Tully pounds away at Allen who tags into Casey. Casey is a house of fire and sends Tully to the corner. He dumps Gino and bodyslams Tully. The faces punch him in the corner as Gino runs in. Pier six develops as the faces ram the heels heads together. Tully gets covered but his leg is on the rope. Tully makes a comeback and tags in Gino. He whips him to the ropes and kicks Casey in the gut. Case comes back with a big right but Tully pulls him by the trunks to stop. Casey gets a sunset flip for two as Tully is tagged in. Casey makes the hot tag to Allen who works over Tully and grabs a bearhug. Casey is tagged back in and gets a sleeper on Tully but Gino comes in and breaks. Allen is tagged in and grabs the bearhug but Gino interferes, is tagged in and drops his funky elbow for the pin and the win at: 5:42. Formula tag match, *1/2.
11) Terry Taylor vs. Sabu
No, this isn’t the ECW Sabu. This is from the AWA. They circle to start and lock up and they exchange punches and Sabu sends him to the turnbuckle. Sabu does a nice flip to show off and the two square off. Terry grabs the arm and gets a wristlock but Sabu breaks. Taylos gets a hammerlock but Sabu reverses that and takes him down with the hair causing a break. Taylor armdrags Sabu down but Sabu gets up and sends him head first into the turnbuckle. Sabu snapmares him over and scratches his back. Taylor comes back and snapmares him over and elbows away. Sabu comes right back with a big right. He kicks Taylor in the back of the head and whips him to the ropes. He chops Taylor down and drops a chop to his throat. Taylor comes back and shoulders Sabu in the corner but Sabu came right back with a chop to knock Taylor over. Sabu chokes away at him and bites him! He knocks him over and drops a leg. He does it again but misses and Taylor makes the comeback. He bodyslams him and covers for two. He drops the one armed backbreaker and covers for two. He hits a backbreaker for two but Sabu’s foot makes the ropes. Taylor slugs away but Sabu chops Taylor down. Sabu goes for a bodyslam but Taylor cradles him for two. Sabu os back up quickly and kicks away at Taylor.He dumps him out of the ring but Taylor comes back to the apron before the 10 count. Sabu kicks him off the apron again and makes it to the apron and again gets knocked out. He makes the apron but shoulders Sabu down in the gut and sunset flips him for two. Sabu misses a punch and Taylor pounds away. Taylor charges Sabu but gets thrown over the top rope and that’s a DQ victory for Taylor at: 10:06. Alright match that didn’t really do it for me. **.
12) Wahoo McDaniel/Tommy Rogers/Marty Jannetty vs.Ted Oates/The Grapplers
Jannetty and Oates start off and Oates grabs a headlock. Janetty breaks by sending him to the ropes and hiptosses him and follows with a dropkick. They lock up again and Oates bodyslams Janetty who tags in Grappler one. Janetty arm drags him over and tags in Wahoo. Wahoo grabs a wristlock and works it over. He tags in Rogets and he continues what Wahoo was doing. He takes Grappler 1 down and drops a few legdrops on the arm. He goes to a arm bar but sends Rogers to the ropes. He gets shoulderblocked down but follows with an elbow and takes control. He bodyslams him but misses an elbow from the second rope. Grappler 2 is tagged in but Rogers makes the tag to Wahoo. Wahoo does nothing and tags in Janetty. He drops a legdrop and works the arm of Grappler 2. Grappler 2 brings Janetty to the ropes but Janetty dropkicks him down. He grabs a wristlock and tags in Rogers. He continues with the arm but Grappler 2 breaks by sending him to the ropes. Grappler 2 gets shoulderblocked down but catches Rogers with a powerslam and tags in Grappler 1. He covers for two and tags in Oates. Oates bodyslams Rogers and drops a knee. He hits a high knee and tags in Grappler 1. He hits Rogers with a clothesline and the heels work him over in their corner. Grappler 1 suplexes Rogers and covers but Wahoo reaches in to break the count. Oates is tagged in and he hits another high knee. Now I know where HHH got all his offense. He drops an elbow and that gets a two. He kips up and continues the beating of Rogers. He sends him to the ropes but telegraphs a backbody drop attempt and gets kicked in the face. Grappler 2 is tagged in and he bodyslams him then drops the elbow for two. Grappler 2 grabs a reverse headlock but Rogers elbows out, shoulderblocks down and dodges a dropkick. Rogers misses a dropkick of his own and gets covered for two. Grappler 1 is tagged in and covers for two. He works Rogers over but Rogers powers back and shoulderblocks him down then kicks him. He makes the hot hot hot tag to Janetty who cleans house on all three heels. A Pier Six develops as everyone’s fighting. Everyone bails except Grappler 2 and Janetty. Janetty gets back body dropped but Grappler 2 misses something from the top rope and Janetty hits the Thesz press for the pin and the win at: 10:07. Oates attacks Janetty from behind and piledrives him on a chair. Really good tag match and a nice way to end the series. ***1/4.
DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Check This Out
Three stills shown for Wrestling Observer, eYada.com, and VCI Home Video
2) Chapter Menu
You know what it is!
3) Select Audio
Allows you to select from the original commentary or Daves and Jims.
B) Audio/Visual
It’s presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. It doesn't really come into play since most of the main source is Jim and Dave speaking. The video is about the best you'll find. It varies by match but since some of this stuff will be almost impossible to get in quality like this.
C) Liner Notes
For some reason, discs 1-3 have no liner notes while disc 4 and 5 do. Whoa, settle down there, it’s not much. It’s basically a booklet of all the B-Level movies that VCI has to offer. As they say, all VCI DVD’s have interactive menus, chapter search and Biographical Info.
Wrestling Gold Disc Five: Beat Me If You Can
1) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Terry Allen (*1/2)
2) Ivan Putski vs. Eddie Mansfield (DUD)
3) Tito Santana vs. Kelly Kiniski (1/4*)
4) The Sheik vs. Tom Jones (DUD)
5) Bobo Brazil vs. Michael Angelo (DUD)
6) Chief Wahoo McDaniel vs. Tully Blanchard (**)
7) Eddie Gilbert vs. Jerry Lawler (*)
8) The Sheik vs. Tiger Jeet Singh in a Mud Match (DUD)
9) Austin Idol vs. Massao Ito (1/4*)
10) Tully Blanchard/Gino Hernandez vs. Scott Casey/Terry Allen (*1/2)
11) Terry Taylor vs. Sabu (**)
12) Wahoo McDaniel/Tommy Rogers/Marty Jannetty vs.Ted Oates/The Grapplers (***1/4)
Overall Review
Well, Wrestling Gold sure ended pretty shitily. This disc was just a bunch of squash matches. I mean, why with all the footage that they had put all these squash matches on it? Anyway, as a whole, the series was pretty good but it just felt thrown together. There were no overlying themes except, “This stuff is from the 80’s and it’s not the WWF or NWA or AWA.” They should’ve made it themed discs. Also, way too much of certain people. I like Rude, but he didn’t need to be on as much as he did. Lawler and Savage made a lot of appearences but I like them two and they had pretty decent matches so it’s all good. I’d say the whole set is recommended but I hope that future WG discs will have themes to them and not just a hodge-podge of stuff.
7.5
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