• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Review Of My Side Of The Story: Magnum/Koloff

Posted: Oct 8th 2008 By: CMBurnham

If you watched NWA/WCW Saturday Night back in the mid-1980?s or read the Pro Wrestling Illustrated type magazines you knew of the feud between the "Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff and the "vastly popular" Magnum T. A.. It was the personification of good vs. evil and the Cold War which was still going strong. It was a battle that had the Russian holding the US Heavyweight title and the American wanting it back for his country. The feud could have gone for years but fate stepped in when Magnum AKA Terry Wayne Allen was nearly killed in a car crash that ended his career. Shortly after Koloff was turned face joining then NWA booker "the American Dream" Dusty Rhodes in the "Super Powers" tag team which won the 1987 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup with Magnum in their corner.

Both men have done shoot interviews but never together. Until now thanks to www.kayfabecommentaries.com who brought the two together for their My Side of the Story DVD series. The concept is simple: Allen and Koloff AKA Scott Simpson are interviewed separately with the same questions and Sean Oliver?s crew edits them in sequence. After the questions are done, Oliver brings the two men into the room to talk about the past. This is the second in the series, the first being former WWE Intercontinental champions Greg Valentine and Tito Santana. Like that DVD this one comes with a booklet outlining the feud and significant moments during it as well as bios on both men.

I gave the Valentine/Santana disc a good review. But I prefer this one because both men seem to have genuinely enjoyed working the storyline and each others company, meaning it wasn?t just another angle to them. This feud made Simpson a national name while it elevated Allen to the main event level on the NWA roster. I was shocked at the honesty Simpson gives about his level of inexperience in the business when he was paired up with the veteran Allen. It might take you a few minutes to get used to Simpson talking without the Nikita Koloff Russian accent (I know I did.) Both give honest answers and were a pleasure to listen to. Like any non-WWE produced DVD the one flaw of this DVD is the lack of matches (WWE owns the NWA/WCW tape library, commie bastards.) I would have loved to have seen all of the best of seven series for the US title on this presentation but that?s not to be.

You can buy this DVD from www.kayfabecommentaries.com where you can purchase items from their excellent Guest Booker series including the new Jerry Jarrett DVD.

Tags: NWA/WCW, Nikita Koloff, Magnum T. A., Dusty Rhodes, WWE, Greg Valentine