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I'm not sure what to make of this, really. The match was excellent, but was Buddy legit injured? Was this a cover for another injury Buddy may have needed treatment/surgery on? Or was the whole thing done just to build Curt's resume, since it sounded like they wanted him to be the standard bearer for the faces, at least until Billy Jack got a bit more experience? I'd need to know which this was before I can pass judgement on how effective it was. Assuming for a second that it was number three, Buddy must have thought a ton of Curt to do an injury angle like that. No other face that we've seen, not even Piper, has been able to beat him to the point where he had to be stretchered out. This wasn't any fluke either; once Buddy's attack before the bell fizzled out, Curt controlled most of the rest of the match, doing tremendous work on Buddy's arm. Even though I'd seen Buddy's bedside interview in the extras where he put over the dropkick that hurt him, I thought for a minute that Curt had also broken or severely injured his arm; that's how good Curt's work on it was. I don't ever recall seeing this kind of fire in him in the AWA, at least until he turned. He was kind of bland, a nice hard-working kid next door, kind of like Greg Gagne (which may have been the idea). His mic skills need a bit of work, but other than that he's got the whole package, though of course he wouldn't reach the top of his game for several years. Again, though, I have to take issue with Dutch going too far in an effort to put Portland and its wrestlers over. If Curt sold out MSG eight times, why in the hell did he ever bother to come back to Portland? Any fool knows that New York is the largest, richest city in the world, so it stands to reason that he'd be making more money there than he'd ever make in Portland. Even vengeance for a knee injury wouldn't be worth jeopardizing that kind of a living, at least not to a normal person, and wrestling audiences are made of normal people. When you have to count on them not being smart enough and/or not caring enough to stop and think about what you're saying for more than one second, you probably shouldn't be saying it in the first place. What's the matter with just saying that Curt toured the East Coast for a while, wrestled at MSG (the top arena in the biggest city in America), and is now back home and looking for vengeance on Buddy? Whether the injury was legit or not, they did a fine job making Buddy's stretcher job into the big deal it deserved to be: showing the towel Sandy wrapped around Buddy's neck to protect it from injury, making sure that Sandy told Curt (and the viewers) that Buddy was going to the hospital and had no feeling in his arm, and making sure that the fans cleared the way for the stretcher as Buddy was taken back to the locker room. Dutch and Coss did a great job of making sure the viewers understood that Curt had done what no one else had by promising vengeance on Buddy and getting it, then promoting Curt's upcoming title match. As we take leave of our scene, we don't need Dutch to tell us that Curt's the new star in Portland (though he does anyway); we've seen it with our own eyes, and are ready to follow this new star wherever he may go in the business. This may be the best bit of storytelling I've seen out of Portland so far in five and a half discs, and I'm certainly anxious to see the next chapter unfold.

So it does. I just Foogled the name "Michinoku Japan" and found that out. Thanks, Tim!

First fall: ​A prison yard match is basically a lumberjack strap match. Any time one of the wrestlers goes outside the ring, the lumberjacks go after him with their whips/straps until they bail back into the ring. So far, Curt's the only one who's been thrown out, and he came back in after one lash from Assassin (who according to Dutch has wet his strap to make it cut flesh more easily). Somehow, I get the feeling that we'd have seen a lot more action outside the ring if this hadn't been on TV. They really didn't want guys to bleed too much, and I can't say I blame them, although that sort of negates the purpose of putting a match like this on TV. Curt gets the first fall by backflipping out of Convict's over-the-shoulder backbreaker, catching him in a back suplex, and bridging to score the pin. He's up one fall to none with about twelve minutes of disc time remaining. Who is this Convict? He's a powerful guy, whoever he is, and he knows how to work body parts, as he spends most of the fall targeting Curt's back. Curt gets very little offense, to the point that even a desperation shoulderblock pops both the crowd and the announcers. Dutch continues to be a great source of old-time wrestling information. For instance, I never knew that an over-the-shoulder backbreaker can also be called an Atlas (as in Charles, I suppose) backbreaker. I also enjoyed hearing about his strap matches with Bull Ramos and his wet strap. It seems to me that a wet strap would be an unfair advantage for the heel and should thus be illegal, but I've never heard such a thing mentioned during a match which uses straps until this one. Convict piledrives Curt after the bell, which should leave Curt at some kind of disadvantage going forward. (As an aside, Stan Stasiak is the guest referee for this match.) ​Second fall: ​I had no idea that Convict was someone sent by Buddy to cripple Curt. If that's the case, he didn't get the job done, as Curt withstands a frightful beating, then comes back to defeat Convict in two straight falls with a dropkick off the top. I'm guessing that we won't see Convict again; your shelf life isn't too long when you lose your specialty match in two straight falls. We got a lot more action outside the ring with the straps in this fall, particularly Assassin against Curt. If I hadn't seen the interview at the end where Curt was attacked by Ali Hassan (who sounds about as Iranian as Coss does) I'd swear that they were trying to start a Curt-Assassin program. The biggest pop of the fall came when Curt, whose back had been destroyed for most of the first two falls by both Convict's power moves and the straps, slammed Convict. That may not seem like much today, but back then slams were still a big deal if a guy weighed over two fifty or stood taller than about six-five. Stasiak shouldn't have been counting Convict when he had the claw on Curt, even if it was a smother. That's what "anything goes" means; guys get to smother each other if they want to. I really hate when refs try to enforce rules in no-rules matches, no matter what the supposed reason is. It makes me wonder why they even booked a no-rules match to begin with. Good point by Dutch about Convict wearing his outfit into the ring so the strap shots wouldn't hurt him. That didn't look like the type of outfit that would tear easily either (so someone could gain access to the wearer's back or legs). I liked Curt still selling the effects of the match in the postmatch interview. Hassan calling Curt "Hatchet" drew a mild chuckle from me, although he should remember that hatchets can be dangerous too if they're used right. Curt should never have fallen for the "You want the belt?" routine; it never ends well when the person who's asked the question answers "Yes". I think we have the death match on the set, and I can't wait to see it.

Thie first half of this was excellent, with both ladies working over each other's legs expertly, particularly Toyota. But just like in most joshi matches, the story gets sacrificed for the usual "pull out all the stops regardless" finish, which almost never fits the match it's being used in and most of the time makes it irrelevant and meaningless. If I hadn't paid so much money for these discs, I'd skip right to the start of the 2.9s in joshi bouts, since that's the only section that matters. It's even useless to say who the better worker is in most of these bouts, since that doesn't much matter either. The more of joshi I watch, the more I wish it had been skipped in favor of some lesser but still vital American stuff. Put me in NitroFan's camp when it comes to the piledrivers on the floor. I'll never ​understand why getting your head smashed into a wooden or concrete floor isn't an automatic match-ender and stretcher job, regardless of country or style. What, are the necks of Japanese wrestlers not made of human flesh and bone? Talk about rubbing the fans' noses in how fake wrestling is. How do these promoters escape the same type of wrath and scorn Vince takes on a daily basis? There are times that joshi is about as realistic as Gigante's ridiculous Giant Gonzalez bodysuit.

​First fall: ​It's interesting to see Stasiak as the face in peril; usually in matches like this teaming an old guy with a young guy, it's the young guy who takes the beating. Stan gets almost no offense in, and Oliver and Assassin use a version of what would later be known as the Hart Attack to get the pin and take a 1-0 lead with about eleven minutes in disc time remaining. This is Billy Jack's first chronological appearance on the set if I remember correctly, and he looks about sixteen with no beard and those long sideburns. The plain brown trunks are taking a bit of getting used to as well. What I found most interesting was Dutch's rundown of who would be coming to Portland, especially one Buddy H. Roberts. Of course, we know him as Buddy Jack​, but I can see Don making him change one of his names to avoid confusion. The thing is, we know that the Freebirds were about to be super hot in Texas, and Dutch didn't mention either Hayes or Gordy. So what was the deal supposed to be? Somehow, I don't see the Birds dominating Portland like they did Dallas, not with Buddy and Oliver ahead of them as heels. If they'd turned face, they would have had Billy Jack to contend with regularly, plus Piper's special appearances in a territory where he was a bigger added attraction than Andre. No wonder they decided to stay down in Texas, which turned out to be the move that made their careers. I know Dutch owns part of the territory and it behooves him to put it over, but saying that WWF wrestlers couldn't make it in Portland is ludicrous. First of all, a lot of them already had​. Second of all, if Portland's tougher than New York, why did Buddy leave to go there? Why is MSG the mecca for wrestling all over the world, the one arena most wrestlers wanted to compete in even if they had no intention of doing the whole WWF circuit? Why brag about the attendance record Buddy set one minute, then deride the New York fans as not loyal the next? There's putting over your own territory and then there's talking through your hat, and Dutch was doing the latter loud and clear in this case. ​Second fall: ​Oliver and Assassin continue to work over Stasiak, targeting his lower back. After several tries, Stan finally tags in Billy Jack, who applies the full nelson off of an Irish whip and gets the submission on Assassin to even the bout at a fall apiece with about five and a half minutes of disc time remaining. Billy Jack must have been extremely limited around this time, because he doesn't even punch or kick; he just goes straight for the full nelson. I'm sure he knew some of the other basics too, but did he know them well enough to use them credibly in a match? I guess we'll find out in the third fall. I like the way they're building Billy Jack up as a monster no one wants to face, even top heels like Oliver. Even if he turns out to be rather green at this time (as he almost certainly will), every move he executes will seem like a big deal this way, and the fans will be behind him even more than they would normally be behind a home state boy. I noticed earlier in the disc that Billy Jack's already dedicating matches to his dad. Boy, did Don get a lot of mileage out of that part of Billy Jack's story. I wonder how Papa Haynes felt about being a minor celebrity in Portland. ​Third fall: ​We get a real shock finish, as Oliver has just taken over on Billy Jack and has him up for a slam when Stasiak dropkicks him in the back. Billy Jack falls on top of Oliver for the deciding pin, and we have new Northwest tag team champions. I'm not sure which was the bigger surprise: a team like Stan and Billy Jack winning the belts or the winning move being a Staiak dropkick. Dutch sounded like he didn't even know that Stan knew what a dropkick was, and given how Stan's wrestled for most of his career you can hardly blame him. Before that, we get a growing pains spot for Billy Jack, as he's ordered to break a side headlock after Assassin claims that he pulled his (Assassin's) mask and gets Sandy to believe him. Of course, not only did Billy Jack not pull the mask, Assassin didn't even pull his own mask as Coss claimed, which makes both Coss and Sandy look foolish. There has to be a better way to pull that spot off in the future. I think we can safely say that the Sheik who's coming to Portland isn't Farhat; this one apparently does magic tricks that leave Dutch flabbergasted. Farhat was many things in his career, but a magician was never one of them. Line of the Night goes to Dutch: "Stasiak dropkicking is like saying that the Pope isn't Polish!" Hmmmm, I think ​I knew what he meant. The question is, did ​he?

I liked this match a lot better than the '86 version. Buddy was a lot closer to his peak at this time, and he really showed off, including slingshotting himself over the top rope and inti the ring at one point. He may have looked like a fat slob, but he sure didn't move like one. I liked the finish; it's rare for a heel to come up with a legal trick to get the win. I've seen the double leg hook finish a couple of times before, most notably when Randy Savage beat Dynamite Kid with it at the Wrestling Classic in '85. the difference was that it came off of a superplex in that match. As much as I liked the match, I could have done without the postmatch. This is the sixth disc I've watched, the third with matches on it, and I've seen Buddy beat up Sandy Barr in what seems like just about every bout he's in. Not just shove him around like Flair did to Tommy Young, but push, kick, choke, kneel on, and hit with a chair. How in the hell has he not been suspended ten times over? I get that Sandy was a wrestler and can take the abuse, but that's not the point. If wrestlers aren't supposed to touch the refs, then they need to be fined or have something else happen to them when they do it. I know suspending him would do no good for anyone, but they need to start fining him or punishing him in some other way in order for their rules to have some teeth to them. While they're at it, they should probably punish him for piledriving Pardee on the chair too. I loved Dutch practically waxing poetic about Buddy's robe, which really was a beauty, especially in a territory where most of the guys come out in either a T-shirt or as generic a jacket as they can possibly find. They really made a big deal about Buddy's stint in New York, as they should have. But they didn't put over the guys like Backlund or Morales that helped Buddy set those records. I thought they'd at least give Bobby an acknowledgement, since most of the fans probably knew that he was WWF World champion, but they didn't. Dutch also mentions the other guys who left Portland and went east (Jesse Ventura, Piper), and says that Oliver would be on his way out soon "whether we or he likes it or not". Strangely, that run never happened. I could just imagine Oliver getting together with Albano about this time and driving Vince crazy during interviews. I'm not sure how he and Backlund would have worked together, but he'd have been a hell of a bounty hunter for Capper against Snuka, stretcher and all. They're also putting over the rookie Billy Jack heavily, and you can tell that Don really sees money in him, as he's going in almost right off the bat against Buddy. I don't think we have any matches between them on the set, though, and that's a shame, because they seemed destined for a hell of a feud. Observation of the Night: Dutch talking about how so many guys have hit the post so hard that it's developed an inward curve. That's one of those things that doesn't make sense until you sit down and think about it for a while. Was Farhat still touring this late? Coss promotes an appearance by The Sheik at one of the upcoming holiday cards, and I was wondering if this was ​The ​Sheik or someone else using the gimmick (with his permission, I hope).

The first fall might have been the most physical match or section of a match I've ever seen from midgets, as Estrada and Espectrito beat the living hell out of the tecnicos in just about every possible way. The second and third falls didn't stand out quite as much, but there's no comparing any of this to the half-baked comedy that most American midget matches are. I have a hard time clicking with most non-singles lucha matches, but this one was something special. The spot I'll remember most was each of the technicos taking am extremely high flapjack. Most off the time when that move is done, the guys doing it just stretch out their opponents to arm's length and drop them face-first, but Sagrada and Octagoncito really went up into the lights.

It was tough to judge from such a short clip, but I don't think Teddy looked too bad here. I get John's point about the brutality of the All-Japan style probably being too much for him by this point in his career, especially since he already had neck issues. For one night and a kind of surprise win, though, he was fine. He and Stan steamrolled Kawada and Taue like I haven't seen anyone else, including Misawa and company, do yet, and it was a welcome change. Stan was far too established in Japan to consider this, but I wonder if Teddy would have been taken more seriously as a manager if he'd brought Stan with him as the first member of the Million Dollar Corporation. I didn't watch much wrestling in real time by '94, but I remember cringing when after weeks of buildup over his return, Teddy's first client was an ancient Nikolai Volkoff, and his second client was a slightly less ancient King Kong Bundy (who Vince tried to give the King gimmick to for about five seconds because his name started with the word; he never reached the coronation stage, but I clearly remember Teddy doing promos touting Bundy as the new King of the WWF).

The brawl was fabulous (no pun intended), but it's hard to believe that we're only a few months away from Double J. Jeff still doesn't know how to cut a decent fired up promo after all these years. Here Tommy attacks his father and the Jarrett family name, claiming that Papa quit wrestling when he couldn't use his career to pick up young girls, and the closest thing we get to a threat is "You're challenging for the title, and that's all ​you're doing"? What does the upcoming match have to do with what Tommy said? Is it true or not? Jeff didn't have to go into detail, but he needed to deny the allegations forcefully, and he didn't. It's like he hadn't seen Tommy's promo and had no idea how to respond to it, so he just ignored it. It's interesting that Tommy referenced his past in the York Foundation and wore a suit. He looked much more heelish doing it in Memphis than he ever did in Atlanta. I could have done without Prentice, who still doesn't impress me one bit as a manager. I understand that they needed a heel mouthpiece, but surely they could have done better than him. Once and for all, Corey, heels don't have to "get outta here" just because you say so. If you want them out so bad, get your ass in the ring and try and drive them out yourself. Lance and Dave did the same schtick, of course, but they didn't sound like whiny little brats when they did it. I would have died laughing if Bert had said to him, "Of course we're not supposed to be out here! That's the idea, idiot!" I know Lawler's got other things on his mind, but since he's still Jeff's partner, and since he and Tommy had one of the most famous feuds in Memphis history, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make an appearance in this feud before all's said and done.

My favoritr part was Lawler saying that Vince knew all along that Bret would win at King of the Ring. Oh, if the people of Memphis had only been aware of how true that was........... It's hard to believe, but Vince is out-talking Lawler here. I've said it before: This ​is how Mr. McMahon should have been portrayed. The cold, calculating, Machiavellian manipulator is infinitely more detestable than the goofy clown who bellows, "YOU'RE FIRRRREEEEED!" at the top of his lungs two or three times a show. Of course​ he sent Gigante after Lawler. Why wouldn't he send the biggest weapon at the WWF's disposal to cripple one of its most vocal enemies? Even if he's not supposed to be the owner, being the lead announcer it would make sense that he'd be tight with those in power, who certainly could have authorized him to be the front man for their campaign to protect Bret and cripple Lawler. I didn't know Gigante and Lawler had ever been partners, either in Memphis or the WWF proper. Knowing Vince, he could have made that up to fit with the whole "Everyone's wising up to the real ​Lawler" routine. As usual, Lawler admits that he may be unpopular everywhere else, but that doesn't matter as long as the Memphis fans still believe in him, which they undoubtedly do. I continue to marvel at his ability to spin some of the terrible things he's done to Bret and others to his advantage with the hometown fans. Of course, it helps that there's no real competition for the crown, as Jeff's the only one within shouting distance of Lawler's popularity in Memphis, and even that's more a primal scream from a mountaintop half a world away than a shout. Two people whom I'd love to see in this angle on the WWF's side: Gino and Jack Tunney. Tunney's just stodgy enough to really get up Lawler's nose, and I'd love to hear Gino cut a heel promo just once, since he never got a chance to talk when he was actually a heel.

The problem was, he knew that he wouldn't ​be getting another opportunity. That was made to be the whole selling point of the match at SummerSlam. Now that he knows he won't be champion for a good long time, if ever, what is there left to do but laugh and say "Aw, shucks"? Well, that and act as if the title's secondary to the support of the fans and his own belief in God, neither of which is believable for one second. The thing was, Vince had to know that telling the story this way would go over like a lead balloon. He was too smart not ​to know it. So the question becomes, "Why do this to your new supposed lead babyface?" I can't figure a good answer for that, except that Vince thought that stealing and promoting Luger was a slap in the face to WCW, never stopping to realize that WCW was overjoyed to be rid of Luger after his title reign fizzled out so completely. I still maintain that Vince somehow learned about Luger making a mess of that reign and was determined to show him what it would have been like to be champion without him ever getting the title. I know that sounds far-fetched, but this whole setup was too well-planned and executed to simply be a brain fart or a blown opportunity. I guess the bigger question is why Luger, who by his own admission didn't need to be a wrestler financially, agreed to sit still for it.

Great promo from Tracy, but what do promoters have against talking about their talent's Japan tours? Why do they always have to go out "injured"? Would it have killed SMW's business for Les to say at Fire on the Mountain, "After this match, Tracy's heading to Japan for three weeks, but he wants to go over there as the Smoky Mountain heavyweight champion"? That aside, I like thre fact that Tracy's not yelling, screaming, and swearing here. This is a deadly calm, serious promo that should scare the pants off of anyone named in it. The fiant hint of mocking in his tone doesn't hurt either. I could have done without more of the "witch with a capital B" routine as it related to Tammy, though. Say the word "bitch" for once in your life, Tracy. You won't be any less of a good ol' boy if you do, I promise. This might have been a good spot for a tag match, with Tracy and a partner going against Brian and Tony. It could have been used to further the dissension between them that was started at Fire on the Mountain, although judging from the match listings I think we'll see plenty of that soon enough.

I thought I was going to see something pathetic here, but Borga is actually pretty good. The provlem is, who can take Finland seriously as an enemy of the United States? The only time we even think about Finland is duting the Winter Olympics, where we always seem to play them in hockey. That's as close to being an "ememy" as Finland gets. If the Cold War had still been going on, Halme would have made an ideal Russian to take what had been Volkoff's place, but unfortunately it wasn't. Vince apparently wanted to make Luger into a latter-day Sarge, who always fights the good fight for America. The problem is, his only real foreign menace type is the guy Luger couldn't take the title from at SummerSlam. At this point, it might have been best to end the American hero stuff and just have Luger be a regular babyface, although that still leaves the problem of who to pit him against.

I thought for sure that Jesse would pull the upset, the way he was giving Oliver all he could handle. But the veteran capitalized on a mistake and put him away, as so often happens in matches like this. Jesse looked excellent here, and Rip went all out to make him seem like a threat. Savage and Coss really put over his credentials, and although he didn't do anything spectacular, it was easy to see that he knew what he was doing out there. It's a shame that Vince saddled him (no pun intended) with the Jimmy Jack Funk gimmick, which from what I remember consisted mostly of his Lone Ranger mask, his noose, and his ability to do nothing while taking a beating. You would think that a third supposed Funk brother would at least be permitted to show a little skill, but I don't believe he ever was. As big a deal as Savage and Coss made out of Sandy's impartiality, it was still wrong to have him referee this match. Didn't Don have any ​other refs on the payroll? I'm honestly surprised that Oliver didn't make a bigger deal out of it before the match, and if Jesse had been just a little bit bigger star he almost would have had to. As it was, Dutch's comments about Sandy seemed like a case of "he who doth protest too much". That said, I liked the chemistry between him and Coss. He was clearly the play-by-play guy here, which was only right since he was the experienced wrestler. I liked his gentle digs at Don, who must have been a hell of a sport to put up with them even if they were meant in fun. Dutch also put over Jesse as a threat to Oliver by going into great depth about his background as an amateur wrestler, and the fact that he actually knew Jesse as a child (well enough to call him by his middle name, no less) only added to his credibility. I could have done without his seeming annoyance at the kids who call the office to get the details on Kids' Nights, though. Maybe they didn't write down all the particulars, or maybe their parents told them to call on their (the parents') behalf, you never know. It sounds almost like they'd gotten some prank calls in the days leading up to this show and Dutch wanted to put a stop to them. Spot of the match has to be Oliver grabbing Sandy's hair to get out of Jesse's armbar. I know they're father and son, Rip, but surely they don't look that ​much alike! I wonder if any matches on this set ended with someone being taken out of the arena on Rip's special stretcher. Someone really put some thought into designing the thing, that's for sure.

First fall: ​Now I know why Piper stayed loyal to Don Owen and made his home in Portland. My God, what an ovation. Even after such a relatively short time, he was like Bruno in Pittsburgh and Flair in Charlotte. I've never seen the ovations Moondog Mayne got in Portland, but if Frank says Piper's were louder, I can only imagine how big they were. Buddy and Oliver nearly broke the land speed record leaving the ring until the crowd calmed down just a little. I'm a bit surprised that Don used Thesz as a ref here. You'd think they he would have used Lou in a match with regular rules so the crowd could see him do something instead of just standing around waiting to count pins. I'm betting he gets involved in one of the last two falls somehow just to make it worth his time and trouble, and also so the TV audience can see him in action. The action was hard to follow by design, but I noticed that what little teamwork there was, Piper and Regal had the better of it, working both more doubleteams and more stereo spots. But Buddy and Rip took the first fall when Buddy stungunned Piper on the top rope and got the pin. The Army leads one to nothing with about twelve minutes of disc time remaining. I don't think they'd go to the trouble of putting Piper on TV if he wasn't going over in the end, so I think Piper and Regal will take the next two falls. Second fall: ​The Army dominates the action here, hitting several impressive stereo spots including a reverse chinlock that almost puts Regal out. But the faces rally to take the fall, as Piper uses the airplane spin to finish Buddy and tie the bout at a fall apiece. There's a Piper/Regal promo between falls, so by the time the third fall gets to the ring, we're down to less than two minutes of disc time remaining by my unofficial count. An I the only one who wants to see how Piper would do against Oliver in a singles match? If they ever had one, it's not on this set. I was shocked to see Piper use the airplane spin as a finisher here. His finisher for Vince was a sleeper, usually applied so far under the chin that it was actually a blatant choke (especially during his heel run). I think the airplane spin would have been much more effective, and him lifting the likes of Hogan and JYD would have put him over as a powerhouse despite his relatively small size. My best guess was that the move was protected for Mike Rotundo, who was in the WWF by the time Rod's wrestling career really got rolling. I was also surprised that Rod threw such a good dropkick. He never attempted that move in the WWF regardless of which side of the fence he was on. I wonder what else we missed out on by just seeing his WWF run for the most part. We'll probably find out more when we get to the Crockett and NWA territorial sets, if we ever do. I liked Regal's off-the-cuff nickname of "Dynamite and Lightning" for his team with Piper. I don't know how well they would have worked as a long-term team, but they've sure done well so far in this match. I loved Piper promising to donate his purse to Muscular Dystrophy if he can get an NWA World title match in Portland. Knowing Rod, I'll bet he did it too. Line of the Night goes to Rod, describing the difference between the fans of Portland and Buddy: "You people soar with the eagles; Rose scratches with the chickens." Third fall: ​This fall takes less than a minute, as Buddy and Oliver throw the faces outside, then Buddy goes crazy with a chair to cause a DQ and award Piper and Regal the match, which makes Rod undefeated for his Northwest tour, according to Frank. I don't think they wanted to have someone who was staying (Buddy or Oliver) be pinned by someone who was technically an outsider like Piper, and Regal wasn't on their level yet, so this was probably the only possible finish. I don't think Piper ever got a World title shot at the Rose Garden, so we'll never know if Frank was right about Rod's ability to sell out there. I'd have loved to see a Piper-Race NWA World title bout no matter where it was from, but by the time Rod finally became a serious contender, Flair had the belt. Thesz never got physically involved, which disappointed me a little. I'd have loved to see him sock Buddy or Oliver just once for the hell of it.

This was tremendous. I don't think it's quite a Match of the Year candidate overall, but it's definitely the SMW Match of the Year so far. Morton deserves extra in his paycheck for starting the match and surviving to the end. I know Dr. Tom started with him, but he didn't bleed nearly as much as Ricky did. He had a target on his back for the Criminals the way Corny did for the Army, and they beat him to death. The problem with having the handcuffed wrestlers stay in the ring was that there were too many bodies in the ring to follow the action clearly. Everyone tended to congregate in one corner or the other to use the cuffs, which only made things worse. That said, the handcuff rules probably should have been used back in the early days of WarGames, where if you saw that JJ Dillon was teaming with the Horsemen you knew the finish even before you got to the arena. Of course, Corny submits here to disprove my point, but in this case the entire match wasn't about the teams, it was about Bullet Bob and Corny, period. One had to beat the other, and Corny winning may have resulted in a legitimate riot. Bossman didn't do much except kick at the cage to make sure no one tried to get in before their time and slug one of the Bruise Brothers. Still, he was a better choice for ref than poor little Mark Curtis, who might have gotten accidentally squashed or run over with everyone in the ring. That was another difference between this match and WarGames; in WarGames, the refs stayed outside. That probably would have happened here too if Corny hadn't gotten Bossman or someone similar to officiate. The promos beforehand were about what you would expect, but I liked Corny trying to guilt-trip Bossman into taking the side of the Criminals by bringing up their past. Of course, it didn't work, but the fact that Corny kept trying showed attention to detail and continuity, which most promotions had either forgotten about or only used selectively by now. I missed at least a couple of Scott's low blows on the way in due to the general confusion, but it's a hell of a way to enter the ring. My favorite entrance was Corny's; as you might expect, all of his bravado left him when his time came up, and Curtis had to literally shove him into the cage. Who could blame him, though? That wasn't exactly Cowabunga that he was getting in there with. The commentary was first-rate, although Les and Dutch understandably had trouble following the action after a while. These two are a wonderful team, and as I said in another thread, Dutch is much better now that he doesn't have to lean heel quite so hard. I liked how he said that he had no empathy for either Morton or Corny, because they signed for the match and should have known what they were getting into, which is exactly right, as Les said. Both of them did a superb job setting up the inevitable confrontation between Bullet Bob and Corny, which of course was the whole point of the match. I liked Les going back into the history books to try and find someone who had bled worse than Morton, and wasn't it a coincidence that he just so happened to pick a match that Bullet Bob was involved in? I liked the camouflage motif that the Army was supposedly going with, but I don't think Scott or Steve got the memo from their dad, at least that I could tell. Ricky and Bullet Bob looked good in it, but what was the deal with Gibson being the only one to wear a shirt in the ring (other than Corny, of course)? Could Corny have been thinking about making Candido an Army member when he first came in, thus explaining why he was the one who brought the key to the cuffs to let out the Criminals? I know Chris and Tammy were a couple, and they're a great fit professionally as well, but why else would it be him in particular coming to Corny's aid? I guess Killer Kyle was long gone, The submission may have been a little quick even for Corny, but as we've seen, this wasn't the end of the Bullet Bob-Corny feud or anything close to it. Call it the end of round one, if anything.

I didn't like this at all. First, this was in no way, make, shape, form, or fashion a better Davey Boy performance than SummerSlam '92. He was squashed like a bug here with the exception of a few power spots that ultimately meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Sure, he's a powerful guy. Big deal. Vader had his way with him for ninety percent of the match, and the one time he had a convincing nearfall, Patrick was knocked out. This wasn't a contest at all. Even Harley looked better than Davey did as far as that went; his kneedrop is still a killer even after almost four years of retirement. Honestly, as much as I hate DQ run-ins, we'd have been better off if Mick had come down a few seconds earlier and saved Davey from being pinned. At least then Davey could have still had an issue with Vader that would have kept him semi-relevant. As it was, Bischoff's investment is now totally ruined; no one will ever buy Davey as a serious World title contender again in WCW, if they ever did in the first place. I don't know what was left for him with Vince when he jumped, but it's probably about the same thing as he'll have now: a lucrative but almost certainly meaningless stint in the midcard. I also had an issue with how short this was. Twelve minutes isn't enough time for the type of match that needed to happen here. Those suplexes on the outside should have led to a long stretch of Davey in control and several close nearfalls. As it was, they had no time for anything like that, so we went right to Vader dominance and never really got off of it. There's no law that says the World title match has ​to go on last, especially if you're on a strict two-and-a-half hour schedule. Budget out the time you think you'll need from announcements to finish (about twenty-five minutes should have done the trick) and slot the match accordingly. Michael Buffer can add a lot to a match when used correctly, but not if the viewers are sitting at home saying, "Come on, Buffer, hurry up! We only have twelve minutes left in the show!" I need to be clear about one thing: In no way am I saying that Davey's suplexes on the outside (don't forget the one where he propelled Vader over the railing) weren't impressive, but they should have been better used to tell the story of the match instead of basically being throwaways. (I should have put this up top, but I just now realized that I was probably too harsh on Davey and wanted to soften the blow a tiny bit.) I think Jesse had trouble with the idea that a DQ could cost a champion his title, but he shouldn't have; he was around when Vince ran this exact type of match as Orndorff and Hogan's second trip around the horn back in '86. The sequence went like this, if I recall correctly: 1) A regular match. 2) If they went with a Hogan DQ loss, the DQ rule was waved in the next bout. If they went with a Hogan countout loss, same with the countout rule. If they went with an Orndorff DQ loss, they had a tag match featuring the guy that had interfered on Paul's behalf, usually Adonis so Hogan could team with Piper. 3) The steel cage blowoff. I wonder if the knee injury Davey suffered may have been legit; Tony and Jesse mentioned it a few times, but Vader never really worked on it during the match, although Harley dropped a knee on it afterward. Jesse looked good in the WCW Home Video commercial. Too bad WCW was about eight years late in releasing tapes other than pay-per-views. No major moments on commentary; there was barely enough time to call the match, let alone make any true observations about it.

This was as close to a squash as I've seen in one of these six-mans. Misawa's side was never really in the match; Misawa was himself until he got knocked to the outside, but he had no backup at all. Akiyama looked good mixing it up on the mat with Fuchi, but was otherwise guzzled, and Kikuchi gets more and more useless every time he's in one of these matches. A couple of years ago, they showed him as able to hang with Jumbo and Taue even in defeat; now he's just cannon fodder. It's time to move him down a peg and find another prospect for the end of the bench, as it were. I've never seen a submission hold applied the way Fuchi applied his hold on Akiyama's leg. It looked like he was trying to force Jun's leg up over his own head, which is excruciating to even think about. That's the kind of thing Fuchi brings to these matches that no one else does, not even elite workers like Jumbo used to be and Misawa now is. (I'm not suggesting that Fuchi himself isn't great, but he's not quite on the level of those two.) They kept the Misawa-Kawada stuff to a minimum, probably because it wouldn't do for Kawada to blow right through Misawa the way he did Kikuchi and Akiyama. Taue looked like a world beater as well, and when the Kawada issue inevitably cools off Misawa could have his hands full with Taue next. I didn't see the bump Misawa took to the outside, but they really shouldn't have used chest compressions to bring him around. I'm not sure how many fans saw that going on, but surely Baba didn't want anyone to think that Kawada had hit Misawa hard enough to kill him. What's the matter with splashing water on him instead?

I never really got into this. I've only seen two Michinoku Pro matches before this, both of them on this set, so I had very little idea who was who, plus this seemed like comedy filler instead of a serious contest. Maybe I'll appreciate this style more as I grow more familiar with it. Dumb question from a newbie: Did the name of this promotion have anything to do with Taka's last name? In other words, was the wrestler named after the promotion, was the promotion named after the wrestler, or was it all just a great big coincidence?

This started slowly, but by the end Hikari looked like she could go with Devil. Not beat her, but give her a good match. Her two best spots were the sleeper (which she should have gone back to) and the Fujiwara armbar, both of which Devil sold beautifully. In the end, she was just too much for Hikari, which I'm guessing from what I've read above is the way it should be. Kudos to Hikari for taking three or four straight bumps on the back of her head toward the end of the match. It may not have seemed like much then, but in this day and age where we're so sensitive about concussions and neck injuries, it deserves a mention. As for what I remember from joshi matches, the answer is not much. Even the good ones tend to run together because bot only are the spots similar, but the look of almost all the wrestlers is similar. The two that have really stood out to me are Aja and Bull, who have the most distinct looks I've seen in joshi so far. Other than them, it's almost all a blur. I recognize the workers and enjoy the matches while I'm watching, but that's as far as it goes. Devil's a real crowd pleaser with her mannerisms and such. I know I must have seen her before, but she never made much of an impression until now. Hopefully there's more of her to come on the rest of the set, because I liked what I saw of her here both as a wrestler and as an entertainer.

First fall: ​This is a totally different match than the first one; as Frank points out, they're more concerned with getting a decision as quickly as possible than trying to hurt one another. There are a lot more nearfalls than there usually are in any one fall of a Portland main event, and some of them are quite close, too. Buddy gets the win with a clean rollup to take a 1-0 lead with about twelve minutes of disc time remaining. Buddy's entrance has to be seen to be believed. I can't think of any other wrestler who could get away with to coming to the ring with a Native American headdress on and Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out" as his entrance music. To their credit, Frank and Don don't bat an eyelash between the two of them, though both of them were probably wondering, "What the hell is this territory coming to, anyway?" It's interesting to me that the few times that there's been cheating so far, Jay's been the one doing it, most notably when he nailed Buddy with a double chop on a break after Buddy had broken cleanly just seconds before. Of course, considering all the crap that Jay's had to put up with from Buddy over the last few months, it's hard to blame him, and the people certainly don't. The big moves of the fall were the slingshots. Buddy's looked like a bit of a botch, but Jay's was picture perfect. Do any wrestlers use a simple move like the slingshot anymore, and how old are the most of rest of us that we can appreciate a move like that? After the finish of the Piper match, I'm hesitant to predict how this one will go. There's apparently a strap match the following Tuesday, and given Jay's performance in the matches we've seen here, it's a safe belt that he's getting the belt back then, so I'm predicting a Jay victory with the third fall coming by DQ so Buddy keeps the belt. Second fall: ​Gorilla Monsoon was wrong. You ​can ​beat someone with a side headlock, and that's what Jay does here, cranking on it no less than seventy-three times (that's an exact count, by the way) and knocking Buddy senseless, then getting the easy pin. We're even at a fall apiece with about six minutes of disc time remaining. I'm rapidly becoming a huge Jay Youngblood fan just from watching him work with Buddy. In the first match, he almost tore Buddy's arm off, and here he almost decapitates him, both times using basic moves like forearm smashes and a headlock. I've never seen such basic moves used in an effort to legally cripple someone during a match like I have in these two matches. "Any move can be a finisher" would have been a hell of a gimmick for Jay to take with him if he wasn't already a Native American. What's next, thirty or forty turns on a spinning toehold? In other news, Frank's really putting over the Borne-Oliver feud that's going on at the same time, comparing their matches to Buddy's. I know we have plenty of matches between these two from later in the decade, but do we have any from "81? After seeing what Jay did in this fall, I'm not sure about the prediction I made above. I wouldn't think that they'd put the belt back on Jay after just two days with a strap match in just three more, but how can Buddy possibly come back from nearly having his head crushed? Third fall: ​Before I forget, what about the threat by Buddy to throw the belt into Mt. Saint Helens if he was able to successfully defend it? If throwing it off a bridge caused a traffic jam, can you imagine the pandemonium if he'd tried to throw it into an actual ​volcano?​ (I'm sure it wouldn't have actually happened, but they sure would have drawn a big crowd in anticipation of it happening.) The theme of this fall is Buddy having Jay scouted. He escapes the headlock (there should actually be another name for what we saw in this match) twice by going to the hair, and moves out of the way of Jay's second attempt at an over-the-top sunset flip after the first one almost cost him the match. But he's so concerned with avoiding the headlock a third time that he drops his guard, and Jay rolls him up for the win and the title. I'm all for a good postmatch attack, but could we please stop beating on poor Sandy Barr without consequences? This has to be the third time on this disc that Buddy not just touches Sandy, but beats on him with nothing done about it. I don't recall ever seeing a ref nailed with a belt before like Buddy did here, and that should be a major suspension if we're going to have any type of rules enforcement in Portland. Seriously, there have been some pretty vile heels in wrestling over the years who haven't gone this far. Why allow Buddy to do it without some type of storyline comeuppance other than a paltry fine?

First fall: ​These two were obviously saving their best for the loser-leave-town match three days later, but their B games were pretty good too. Not much more than a basic brawl, but it was well-done, and Piper won it with a sleeper to go up a fall with eight minutes of disc time remaining. Either we'll get a lucha quick second fall or a draw to set up the following card and truly make it the final showdown. I loved Buddy's three-layered T-shirt ensemble, and now I know where Piper got the idea for the Superman shirts he sometimes wore in the WWF. Buddy's prematch promo was perfect. It put both guys over as almost-equals, not only detailing his own accomplishments but Piper's as well in an even-keeled fashion. He does brag a little about the girls he's been able to attract with his new look, and justifiably so. He looks much better with his natural hair color than he ever did as a bleached blond, and I liked the mustache too. He sounded a bit like the Ric Flair of a few years later when he talked about being "the man", but in the Northwest, he was, ​so why deny it? Don talking about how he was against the loser-leave town match would have sounded a bit strange to me as a mark. You're the promoter, so if you don't want to sign them, then don't. What's Piper going to do, leave anyway? You'd be without him no matter what if he lost, so what's the difference? The part about the price of talent struck me as honest, and ironic too considering where Piper was going (JCP, which is on the East Coast, where Don has to look for talent now). I'm surprised that Piper was allowed to leave without waking Buddy up from the sleeper, especially when a selling point of the hold was that only the wrestler who applied a certain version of the sleeper knew how to bring someone out of it. ​Second fall: This one didn't take long either. Buddy jumped Piper before the bell and busted him open, but Piper wriggled out of a slam attempt and rolled him up from behind to take the match in two straight, with a total match time of about seven minutes. Piper bladed in a weird place: over his left eye, the same place he bladed in the Wiskowski match. Most guys do it right in the center of their foreheads so the blood doesn't accidentally run into their eyes and make them unable to see. I didn't quite catch Buddy wiping Piper's blood off all over Sandy, but a spot like that is exactly why blood is curtailed severely in wrestling these days. Could you imagine the scandal if an innocent ref contracted HIV or hepatitis because one wrestler wiped the blood of another wrestler off on him just for cheap heat? The postmatch brawl was as chaotic as you'd expect, with a blinded Piper swinging at everyone and everything in sight and Buddy running like a rat the second Piper got back to his feet. He was still a rat in the ensuing interview, when he all of a sudden refused the loser-leave-town match. I guess being beaten cleanly twice in seven minutes will make any wrestler ponder his professional mortality. Of course, this backfiref on poor Buddy, as Don not only held him to the match, but assigned a second referee at Piper's request (Red Bastien) and threatened Buddy that he'll lose the second anyone in the Army so much as comes to ringside. I love Buddy ordering his people not to try and help him, and also saying that if he loses he'll offer them any amount they name to cripple Piper. He's obviously been rattled by losing in such decisive fashion, and it's rare to see Buddy Rose rattled. I loved the Army telling Buddy to go ahead and take the match when he tried to get out of it. They sounded supportive, but heels being the opportunists that they always are, you can bet that they were thinking that the Army could be theirs with Buddy out of the way. It's a subtle bit of psychology, but it's there if you look for it,

First fall: ​I'd always wondered what a Piper-DeBeers match would be like, and now I know: a total war. Just as Jay and Buddy tried to tear each other's arms off in the last match, so these two try to destroy each other's legs, with tactics both legal and illegal. My favorite spot of the sequence has to be Piper biting the inside of Wiskowski's thigh, which not only puts him over as a total Wildman but is also sound psychology within the match. Big Ed sure can bump when the time is right. He just misses being too theatrical by a hair. Piper's not nearly the bumper Wiskowski is, but does an excellent job selling the leg to make up for it. I liked Don's spiel at the beginning of the match about there being too many loser-leave-town matches lately. "At this rate, I'll be the only one left to get in the ring!" I guess Buddy's hair is still growing back the way he likes it, which is why he's got a mask on.. I saw him with it briefly when it was shown in the extras, and he's much better looking without it. After all the work he did on Ed's knee, Piper won the first fall with a rather sloppy reverse neckbreaker. He's up one-zip with about thirteen minutes of disc time remaining. Second fall: ​This didn't look like it would be too exciting at first, as Piper applied what seemed to be a never-ending nervehold on the back of Wiskowski's neck. Eventually things heated up when the two began to brawl outside, as Wiskowski slammed Piper on the floor and rammed his head into the ice cream vendor's stand. Rod never quite recovered from all the abuse, and eventually Easy Ed won the fall with a diving headbutt from the top. We're even at a fall apiece with five minutes of disc time remaining. It seems that Frank has had to admonish fans about getting out of their seats a lot lately. The guy who got into it with Wiskowski couldn't have been over a hundred and fifty pounds and looked about fifty years old. What could he have been thinking? Imagine a time when Sandy was the backup referee. As for Buddy, how the hell did he get away with injuring Savage (who was refereeing his match at the time) without being suspended or barred for life? Boy, what a tough choice for Seattle viewers, with both the Portland and Seattle versions of the show on at the exact same time. Hopefully somebody got that problem corrected in a hurry, because from what I've understood each show had special content that couldn't be found on the other. Frank's suggestion about taping one of the shows was a good one, but how many people owned VCRs back in the fall of 1980? More than a few years earlier, certainly, but not nearly as many as would own one a few years later. So they called Buddy "The Crippler" before Oliver came along. The stuff you learn from watching this old footage! ​Third fall: ​This one didn't take long, as after a few minutes Buddy interfered when Piper and Wiskowski were fighting outside. Rod fought him off once, but Buddy tripped him the second time, leading to a Wiskowski pin. I'm not sure whether Sandy actually saw the interference or not, but he reversed the decision anyway, which earned him a squashing from Buddy while Ed opened Piper's forehead. The fight eventually spilled into the Crow's Nest, and ended up with Piper accepting Wiskowski's loser-leave-town challenge for the following Wednesday, with Buddy suspended in a cage above the ring. Yet another idiot fan got involved, or maybe it was the same guy from before. At any rate, we got another warning from Frank about fans getting involved in the matches, which makes the third or fourth one on this disc alone. Maybe those who get involved have been out in the rain so long that their brains have rusted. If I remember correctly, Piper won the match a few days later, which sent Big Ed out of the Northwest and set up yet another loser-leave-town between Piper and Buddy, which is the second match on Disc 2.

First fall: ​I've seen plenty of matches involving the Andersons, but seldom have I seen arm work as vicious as this from both guys. Buddy spends the first ten minutes trying to break Jay's arm, then Jay makes up for lost time trying to do the same to Buddy for the last five minutes. Finally, Jay just starts pounding Buddy's arm to death with forearms, and Buddy submits in order to keep said arm attached to his body, which gives Jay a 1-0 lead. Now I'm beginning to see the Buddy everyone's always raved about. Frank puts him over as a crippler who goes after arms and knees in order to put his opponents in the hospital, and as I've noted he lives up to that reputation over the first ten minutes of the fall. This makes simple holds like the hammerlock into killers, and simple spots like the do-si-do reversal into potential game-changers. Usually that spot is a way for babyfaces to gain the advantage, but having Jay miss it three times before finally hitting it builds the suspense expertly, and the crowd goes nuts when he finally hits it. Then comes the submission sequence I've described above, and I can't think of anything else Jay did to Buddy's arm except drive forearm after forearm into his shoulder. (He may have posted it once, but I'm not sure.) We've all seen that spot done for a ten-count from the crowd in various forms. but this time it was a legitimate offensive strategy, and it worked like a charm as Buddy submitted in order to stay in the match. It makes me wonder if someone somewhere kept ramming his opponent's head into a turnbuckle until they passed out cold from a concussion at some point in wrestling history. We're getting beaten over the head with the idea that we may not see all of this match, and since there's only about eight minutes of disc time left that's a real possibility. Frank blames the State Athletic Commission, but I'm wondering if this may have been Don's way of reminding the people that not every good match will be shown for free, and that the only way to make sure you see the top matches from start to finish is live and in person at the Sports Arena. Don didn't look all that flustered seeing Buddy in the ring with his "bunny", as Frank called her; I'd bet he (Buddy) has had quite a few entrances like that during his time in Portland. I laughed at Frank comparing Buddy to Conrad Dobler, an offensive lineman who was one of the dirtiest players in NFL history. He used to bite, stomp, kick, punch, and otherwise maul his opponents on the field, and through it all he was talented enough to be one of the best in the business. Come to think of it, that's actually not a bad comp for Buddy at all. ​Second fall: ​What's the decision here? Was Buddy disqualified for slugging Sandy? Was he counted out? Did Sandy just give Jay the belt for the hell of it? I hope it wasn't Will's decision to cut off the ending like that. It probably should have been a DQ loss for Buddy and no title for Jay. How Buddy's arm wasn't legitimately broken after Jay worked on it the way we saw I'll never know. What a masterful job by both guys, and in the end I almost felt sorry for Buddy, because Jay looked bound and determined to rip his arm clean off and almost made it. Even punching Sandy didn't get Buddy out of trouble. Nice cameo from Jay's dad, whose chops added insult to injury for Buddy. I wonder what he was like as a wrestler. I liked how Buddy didn't forget about working on Jay's arm either. Frank added to this part of the story by mentioning Jay's injury, which was a nice touch and also helped explain why Jay wanted to injure Buddy's arm so badly. I've never seen a heel kneel on a ref's throat to keep him down the way Buddy did with Sandy here. Whatever you may think of Sandy's skills as a ref, you have to admire his physical courage in taking the some of the beatings he does, which are unlike those taken by most refs elsewhere. On a general note, Sandy's decision in the previous Jay-Buddy match was a first for me. Heel champions have tried to run out the clock during title defenses as long as there have been heel champions, and I've never seen them have their belts held up because of it. Either Don was extremely creative with some of his finishes or he let Sandy do whatever the hell he wanted out there as long as he (Don) got the results he wanted. Can't wait to see the April rematch!

This is the same match as 5/9.