WingedEagle

Hope this makes sense -- I think its easier to produce a good match with strong offense and poor/minimal selling than one with poor offense, but selling is an absolutely necessary condition for and typically more responsible for producing a great match.

Good man! Assuming you meant PR & Portland. I'm going through Buddy Rose's 1979 online and will then mix in the Portland set with PR viewing.

This was such a fun, refreshing change of pace after the wild Funk & Hansen action. The babyfaces work quick tags and armbar action so there's a ton of movement and activity early on. Love Ron Starr jawing with Invader #3 on the apron and then taking a fun bump to the floor after being crotched. Terry enters to eat a bunch of bunches and provide some comedy as Invader #1 is repeatedly smashing his head in the corner and Terry's momentum sees that continue even when Invader lets him go, until Dory is over to put an end to those shenanigans. Now its Starr's turn to pinball around for the babyfaces as this extended shine gives everyone in the match an opportunity to perform. Brief heel control on Invader #1 before a quick hot tag to Mascaras and we get a 6 way brawl that ends up as a double DQ. This was a really hot, brisk match that felt like stage one in setting up a bigger, hotter feud. ***1/4

El Profe is suspended in a cage this time following his interference in the first match. We get a long TNT nerve hold. Really long. Perhaps the kind that even makes one switch the disc to 1.5x speed. That part was terrible. Colon eventually punches out but eats a superkick and now finds himself locked in the Cobra Clutch, where like the first match he's struggling but unable to break it until throwing a back kick low. TNT bleeds and we get a double countout. Nothing special until the end and post-match. **

So this is not Hansen/Colon. TNT throws some nice, quick strikes early. The focus then becomes putting over TNT's Cobra Clutch, which Colon does very effectively by trying to continually kick off the the corner to break but is unable to do so. The ref eventually stops it but it appears he may have given Colon a DQ win for interference. Would've preferred a clean finish but this was solid. The foaming at the mouth afterwards was unnecessary. **3/4

Colon is the aggressor this time out as he jumps Hansen at his entrance and again it takes Stan forever to remove his chaps, which absolutely heightens the intensity and violence they're projecting. They quickly make their way around foul territory at Hiram Bithorn and they maul each other against the backstop, fencing, the ring and everywhere possible to draw juice. Some great post shots here as well that really swing momentum and build to Hansen posting the Lariat arm when Colon ducks. Colon Cartwheel, punching and biting turn the volume up before Hansen loads the pad for another finish that extends the feud. Yet another awesome Hansen performance and brawl from Colon. ***3/4

Yeah. He's not exaggerating. This match was crazy, especially because you had no idea it was coming. Puerto Rico easily takes the prize for coolest and most diverse buildings. We join this one in progress with Invader & Perez brawling all over the place on multi-colored & paneled floor that screams 1980s. Punching and smashing each other into the paneling and all over the building. You really can't do a match like this justice with a description, but its wild, bloody and the crowd is eating up every single thing they do from the moment we pick it up. All of this punching is so gritty, violent and incredibly well paced. Nothing is rushed and between the blood and timing its all terrific. Perez controls the early portions to set up Invader punching his way back into things. Perez back on top after a table shot and they tease a sick bump over a railing and down stairs. Invader somehow safely hooks his legs and eats punches before pulling himself back to the floor. Chair shot to Perez, then punching and biting and teasing tossing Perez down the stairs. He eventually does so, but in such a fashion that Perez can pretty much safely run down the steps to avoid anything too risky, but it still makes for a great visual and moment that the crowd loves. Only real knock here is the relative absence of a finish, or at the very least a clear one as Perez seems to bail and Invader is declared the winner by the ref. Just a fantastic brawl with a number of unique wrinkles. ****1/4

Boricua, as always, thanks for the background. Haven't been good about integrating the extras into the set yet. Hopefully get there before finishing it but either way they will be watched.

This is the first match I'd call 5 stars. I seriously think Invader 1's selling after the chair shot all the way to the finish might be my favorite selling I've ever seen. Yeah, I actually went back and gave it another look. I liked it, but it just didn't connect for me as any kind of classic. But hey, different strokes and such, right? The stadium brawl was a more engaging watch and the the street fight vs. Al Perez blew both out of the water. Hope to comment on that one tomorrow. LOVED it.

What he said. Hansen absolutely brought out the best in Colon and delivered a pace and energy unmatched by anyone else I've seen in Puerto Rico. I originally watched this feud a year or two ago and had this as their second best outing behind the cage match. That's still the case thus far. The ref is destroyed and Hansen soon uses everything he can get his hands on to murder Colon. Carlos Colon isn't a particularly expressive seller. He's willing to bleed and abuse his body as we've seen in the Abdullah matches. He does that here but due to the nature and impact of Hansen's offense compared with Abby's the way he staggers about and goes down hits on a different note. Colon teases the comeback on a couple occasions but Hansen's able to cut them short each time before finishing things with a loaded lariat while setting up return encounters. They cut an incredible pace here and is really an all time brawl given how hard and quick they accomplish things. This is how you kick off a blood feud. Did Hansen work Puerto Rico at all leading up to this match or literally come to town and wreck this havoc? ****1/4

Another incredible promo from Funk before the match. He's going to win Universal Title and never return to this pig farm. Lots of heel stooging and stalking around ringside from Funk. Piledriver on the floor and Colon bleeds. They work a sleeper that doesn't do much for me nor really fit into the territory, but Funk pulling the hair during the hold was a nice wrinkle. Comedy selling off the nut shot to break it and then Colon's cartwheel tells the crowd its time to wake up. On this occasion Carlos sets up the Figure-Four with some leg work, but then we get interference from Dory Jr. and a screwy finish. It appears to start pouring just after they wrap it up which is good fortune for everyone there. Curious why Terry & Colon didn't connect the way Colon did with Hansen or even Abby. ***1/4

Abby opens with his standard offense of punches and throat jabs, which I will apparently always love. Colon bleeds quickly and Abby bites it because Hepatitis. I've finished 3 discs of this set and not remotely tired of the brawling and violence. Colon punching his way back into things and the carthwheel cues the crowd that its time to go crazy for a comeback. Props to Abby for selling like hell here -- whether its punching, clawing at a cut or bumping through the ropes to the damn floor, you absolutely can't say he doesn't put Colon over here. The low blow with the weapon was beyond silly for me, but its always cool to see Abdullah take a monkey flip and suplex so we'll accept it. Great fun and violence while it lasted but the shenanigans hold it back from being their best. ***1/2

This is similar to Funk/Windham, but with a whole lot more comedy and stooging in place of some violence and intensity. Its thus not a classic here but a fun outing and singular Terry Funk performance. The early boxing was a ton of fun and sets up some comedy with Funk trying to hide a branding iron. Between that, an all-time sell of a nut shot, throwing chairs against the netting protecting fans and a much more exaggerated version of the spot from the Windham match with Funk getting a chair hung around his head, this was almost a parody of that. Well done though. Business picks up down the stretch and we get a similar finish here as well. On its own this might fare all the more better, but pales next to the Windham outing. Still very fun with great comedy and good action. ***3/4

Cowboy Funk! How do you not love Funk bouncing off the ropes and his general ring movement & demeanor in the early stages of a match building up to and around a lockup? Some early comedy and stooging as he bounce outside and gets read to fight the camera man, then throws a chair into the ring. American menace Terry Funk! Funk is raging and threatening everyone. May not want to take that tact with local police. He spits at Windham and bails, then posts Barry when he follows and the heat is on. Piledriver on the floor! Another one! Tosses Barry into chairs! Just awesome violence and intensity here. Windham selling and bumping like a fool here, but somehow this still feels like the Terry Funk show as he just dominates the scene. Funk punching away and Barry even incorporates a Buddy Rose bump to the floor. Funk just pounding away with punches and finally a back kick low, but knocks himself loopy with headbutts and soon bumps to the floor when they collide running the ropes. Windham takes over outside and posts Funk, then works in punches & chops around Terry swinging wildly before slamming him into a table. Funk is just incredible selling everything here. Windham with an awesome jumping piledriver in the ring that only gets a 2 count! Barry takes it back outside and pays Funk back with a piledriver on the floor of his own, that sees Funk sell it with that great, seizure-like shaky leg. Its worth nothing that this is my absolute favorite kind of heel Terry Funk. We got the comedy bits out of the way early and then got into the meat with a mixture of committed, crazed violence and unparalled selling. Fantastic spot where Terry eats a punch and falls right into position for another piledriver. So ridiculously smooth and didn't feel forced at all. Back in the ring Funk tries for a reverse neckbreaker but Barry grabs the ropes to block it and drops a knee for a 2 count in yet another tremendous spot. This isn't even peak Barry Windham. He may not have Funk's presence in 1986, but this match doesn't reach this level without him bringing his "A" game. Funk is desperate now so while he can look for the Spinning Toehold its just something else for Windham to counter as the babyface is in absolute control here. One of the better sunset flip spots I've seen gets a great near fall. Just incredible timing and exection. Funk manages to get a chair wrapped around his head on the floor that lets Windham punch it off. Now that is how you use a prop. False finish when the ref counts 3 on a Windham jumping lariat but then realizes Funk's foot was on the rope, which sets up a cradle with tights for the win. With a proper finish this may very well have been one of the best matches of the 80s. I loved it that much. But I didn't love the finish, and that matters. Either way this is the runaway top match in Puerto Rico thus far and a straight classic. How did we never get to see them do this again here? In Crockett? Florida? Somewhere? Definitely missed out on one hell of a feud. A crazed Funk promo setting up his match the next night against Martel wraps things up, and its as awesome and out of control as this match. ****1/2

Rambo Ron looks incredibly grimy here. Given that attire and the stadium brawl that this followed, they oddly work a rather straight match with Invader using a hammlerock on the mat. Where's the blood? Starr kicks out at 1 off a chop. I love a 1 count kickout when not overused. Starr bailing for cover as Invader winds up for a huge punch arguably puts it over stronger than taking the punch. He then tells the crowd he's so smart and its great to see that kind of heel work. A woman is out to interfere by nailing Invader with a chair shot which brings the requisite blood and we eventually build to Invader's comeback with punches that pop the crowd. The finish here also held this back for me as it seemed rather sudden, but yet another fun, fast brawl leading up to it. ***1/4

No idea who's who as their outfits are basically identical and have similar builds. That doesn't matter for the opening, which features a ton of rapid fire punching that is just terrific. Unfortunately it peaked there as what follows is a long sleeper to presumably get their cardio back and a number of ref bumps. Lot of promise in that opening segment but not much of value thereafter. **1/2

This was some kind of crazy. They begin brawling in foul territory, down the stadium perimeter and then up into the stands and along the first concourse before eventually making their way into the ring. If we give points for creativity, set design and cinematography then this is close to a five star classic. It is incredibly unique and heated with highlights including one woman near the field who has to be held back from going after Starr, the obligatory WWC blood and a never ending supply of punches, chops and belt shots. After that 10 minute tour of the stadium we make our way to the ring where Starr hits a double underhook suplex and awesome flying sitout splash, before Invader gets his knees up on the second splash. Two flaws here -- 1) I didn't love the ref keeping a tight grip on the weight belt once they returned to the ring as though he needed to manage that prop for them, and 2) the double knockout finish didn't do anything for me. After everything else leading up to it that felt kind of flat. Nonetheless this was incredibly unique and a lot of fun. Hell of a way to kick off disc 3. ***1/4

What are the goals of your promotion?

Basketball has only been back for a couple hours and I'm already loving it and completely stoked about this season. Cannot wait for the Finals. NBA season means less time watching old wrestling each week, but sacrifices must be made.

1985, '86 & '89 sure feel like the easy picks. 86 probably gets the edge because it was a much better year for Japan, and while '85 was incredible with everything you get in Midsouth and Flair's stops around the country, '86 still gives you his matches with Garvin, Morton, Windham and Dusty, the Tully/Garvin classic and a year of peak Horsemen. Plus an incredibly year from the AWA. '89 is so incredible for the NWA & All Japan as well as angle-wise in WWF, but the depth across promotions likely can't match up. Probably not a popular choice, but if we can ignore booking and just go on sheer volume of quality matches then the last couple years are really a great time. With WWE having as many hours of TV and PPV as they do every week/month, NJ shows every month and much more during G1, new stuff popping up from the UK, Mexico and US Indys just about every week, we're very possibly getting a great number of good matches on a regular basis than at any other time. Many will hardly be memorable, but a number of reasons, but the output is really incredible.

Cosign. Its been a godsend. Never again am I watching anything on the PC. Can't believe I did so for so long.

I haven't watched the finals yet, but Omega gave a very similar performance there. Goto is not Naito, so the match doesn't reach the level of this one but it wasn't too far off.

This is what I fully expect. Just seems odd that AJ would throw that out there when we know how much Vince hates hyping things he can't deliver. Then again, AJ seems like he's actually handling his own account. But he had to get the image from somewhere.

What in the world is going on here? https://twitter.com/AJStylesOrg/status/789193575737073668

Don't you worry my friend, the classics are coming edit. I count 6 matches I'd rate 5 stars 6??? Even if I'm more prudish on stars than others, apparently I haven't even scratched the surface. Yeah I absolutely cannot wait for the Funk stuff. The weekend cannot come soon enough. Hoping to start disc 3 then, which shouldn't be a problem with football season already over.