garretta

Good enough. Looking forward to your comments in the future!

Great work, Magnum. All three of your scenarions (dour, six, and eight weeks) feel much more like Memphis while allowing Lawler to sell his injuries properly. I'd probably go with the four-week scenario simply because it's been proven that houses go down sharply when Lawler's not around. I might also keep Mr. Hot Stuff around a bit longer and have Lawler do the unmasking when he gets back, but that's just my twist. The way you had it would work just as well. One question, if I may: I've noticed you comment on most promos and interviews, but not much on matches. Why is that?

First fall: ​Chronologically, this is the third of the three six-mans featuring the RBA and the Clan on this disc, but it's the second one I'm watching. The RBA starts out fast, working on Oliver's arm and Assassin's back and using rapid-fire tags, but eventually, Dr. Tom is exposed as the weak link in the Army's chain, and he takes a tremendous pounding, although he occasionally gets in a shot of his own to keep hope alive. He finally gets the hot tag to Hack, who starts off on fire but is brought back down to earth when he misses a dropkick on Big Ed. Eventually he falls victim to a Wiskowski powerslam plus a loaded headbutt off the top from Assassin, and the Clan leads one fall to none approximately sixteen minutes (disc time) into the match. As I expected going in, Dr. Tom is the FIP, as he's great at it. He takes his lumps, but he also shoes just enough fire to tell the fans that he's still into the match. It's kind of weird watching him in this role when I'm used to seeing him as a heel in the nineties with the Heavenly Bodies, but it's also a nice change of pace. I wasn't aware that Hack's return lasted long enough for him to form a regular team with Dr. Tom; I thought he was just passing through for a couple of weeks, kind of like Piper (although Rod only returned for one card that I know of). it was strange to see Wiskowski slam all three members of the RBA; before this, I've only seen strongman faces perform a spot like that. Ed looked good, though, especially when he threw Buddy (who's not exactly small, remember) into the corner as if he weighed almost nothing. There was a lot of hype about the upcoming handicap match for the following Tuesday featuring Andre. My question is, who's going to be the fourth for the Clan? The only other heel even loosely associated with them is Mike Miller, and Rip's gone out of his way on at least one interview we've seen to say that there are three and only ​three official Clan members. (It ​was​ Miller, according to Wrestling Data.) Interesting that Stasiak mentioned that Andre would try to get out of his booking in Texas in order to be part of the following Saturday's battle royal in Portland. If Fritz got wind of him saying that, I'm sire it really made his day, assuming that he was booked in Dallas to begin with. (According to Wrestling Data, Andre didn't wrestle anywhere on April 21, although that site's data is notoriously incomplete.) A note to Sandy Barr: Please stop trying to find the object in Assassin's mask after ​he's already used it and gotten a pinfall. It makes you look a day late and a dollar short. Make a bigger deal of searching him ​before ​the match instead. Second fall: ​The Clan continues to dominate, first working over Hack, then Dr. Tom. But despite their best efforts, the faces don't go down, and eventually Hack gets the hot tag. After a few moments, he flattens Assassin with a Thesz press and holds on for the three count. We're even at a fall apiece with about seven minutes of disc time remaining. We haven't seen a whole lot of Buddy in this match; was he hurt, or are they just saving him for that last super-hot tag in the final fall. Normally, he's in there a lot more, since he's the one most of the crowd came to see. Coss and Stan had a nice little discussion about Andre at the beginning of the fall. They referenced Stan supposedly knocking Andre out with the heart punch (he may have, but I don't recall hearing about it) and talked about Andre never being slammed. I was always curious to know how many territories promoted Andre; in other words, how many of the McMahon myths about him did they use? I guess that him being unslammable was one of the basic ones; what better way to draw a crowd than to have someone try to do what's known the world over to be almost impossible? That Thesz press from Hack looked just a bit high, but that could have just been the camera angle. I loved Big Ed's rather twisted history of Oregon. He doesn't fit too well with Oliver and Assassin promo-wise; they talk tough and scream, while Ed's smoother and sounds classier, if you can call a heel not named Nick Bockwinkel classy. He and Stasiak have good chemistry, as we saw when Stan teased him about his ranch. I felt bad for Coss when I heard that it was his picture of Andre that Oliver ripped up. Darn those heels anyway! When will they learn to respect a hard-working announcer's property? ​Third fall: ​This fall seems to be a reset at first, with the faces working over Oliver's arm. But eventually Buddy gets trapped in the ring and busted wide open by the Clan, who beat him thoroughly until Hack and Dr. Tom can take no more. Before long, we have bonzo gonzo, but things don't end happily for the RBA, as Oliver takes advantage of the chaos to thumb Buddy in the throat. Buddy goes down, Oliver covers, and the Clan has its second straight six-man win. Matt Borne comes in to clean house with a chair, but it's much too little and far too late. Even though the fall was so short, a complete story was still told, and we even got blood from Buddy. I'm not sure I'd have had the Clan go over here, though I guess they did it to set up a situation where only Andre can turn things around for the RBA. We on this disc will have to settle for Piper (who isn't too bad of a consolation prize if I say so myself). The interview at the end with Matt and Buddy where Buddy hit himself in the head with a chair was another classic Rose promo in a set full of them. Matt was great too, especially when he made fun of Big Ed's "history lessons". I liked the subtle buildup for a confrontation between Big Ed and Andre, including the possibility of Ed slamming Andre. They've really made this into the ultimate battle in the RBA-Clan war, and I hope they were rewarded with a sellout for their efforts, because they sure deserved one. As for me, I can't wait to see the Hot Rod and the Playboy on the same side! I forgot to mention that one of the ropes broke again. This has to be at least the third match on this set where part of the ring broke. Come on, Don. If you don't have the money to buy more than one ring, at least make sure that the one you have is completely safe before the matches start.

What kind of promo is it when Colonel Parker makes more sense than Austin? Fuller reached back into the Tennessee Stud's book of quotations for the line about Pillman hitting no harder than a fruit fly, and that line was the best of the segment hands down. Meanwhile, if Pillman's a great wrestler and the toughest man you've ever known outside of yourself, Steve, why did you turn on him? Austin never really answers that question, because his supposed "reason" (Brian not being available when Austin and Regal lost the belts) is clearly not true. Pillman was right there at ringside, albeit with an injured foot. Also, Steve, if you're as great as you claim, shouldn't you have been able to adjust to a new partner, especially one as skilled as Regal? Seriously, the loss of the belts happened too long ago to really be an issue. They needed to create an entirely new reason for this feud, and as I said before Fuller's mere presence in Austin's life was plenty good enough. How Dusty whiffed on such a ready-made angle is beyond me. Even using the real-life reason for the breakup (Austin wants to go it alone, since he feels he's the bigger star) would have been better than what we got. So it was Fuller who first used the name "Psycho Sid", huh? Talk about being able to tell the future! I don't know what happened to turn Fuller and Sid on each other, but I can't wait to find out. I also wouldn't mind seeing a match between Sid and Austin, if one exists out there.

Okay, now ​this is getting embarrassing. Adults with even a sliver of actual potential is one thing, but once we start getting into kids doing it mostly for laughs, it's time to pull the plug. Unfortunately, this "contest" continues until the end of the year. The only guy I liked here was the first one. I wonder what a power drop is supposed to be.

Vince's bump may be the thing I remember most from this. He had​ to have been in some kind of training in order to take it; otherwise, he may have suffered legit bruises and maybe even a broken bone. Heenan did a good job calling this, which kind of surprised me. I thought he'd lost a good deal of his ability to be serious. I loved Vince defending Savage and lambasting Heenan even though Bobby ​was the one who stayed at the table and did his job. That's so typical of babyface shill Vince. The brawl itself wasn't a hell of a lot because everyone was trying to break it up, but it served its purpose in letting the world know that the friendship between Savage and Crush was over once and for all. I wonder what Crush's opponent did, or if he even bothered coming out (remember, we never saw him on TV). In all seriousness, I'm glad that this is it for Savage in the booth for a while. He's been getting worse and worse as time goes on, and now he's not only uninformative, he's becoming increasingly difficult to understand. It's good to see him getting back in the ring on a more frequent basis, and I'll be interested to see how this feud plays out over the next few months.

Gret thought, Magnum, but how do you keep Eddie from being arrested and imprisoned before any of this takes place? You're not getting it any more than anyone else in this thread has. Eddie was going to jail for real ​if Lawler hadn't come back on the show and basically said (without using the actual words), "This is an angle, everyone. He didn't hurt me; I'm just trying to get you to come out and see us fake fight in two days." Business and proper wrestling build weren't even a consideration, nor should they have been. On another note, eight weeks is far too long for a territory like Memphis to run one angle. Hell. Lawler went through three or four separate challengers in eight weeks many different times, One show is rushing it, but you need to have Lawler back in the studio and ready to wrestle within two weeks tops or business tanks. Maybe you can stretch it to three if you have Dundee take his part, and he's just about the only one who could. Besides, Eddie still needs to make a living, and Memphis won't pay him to sit at home. What if he goes somewhere else and likes it there over the eight weeks he's "suspended"? Who takes his place? Or do we just forget the whole thing? Finally (and this is a nitpick): Lawler on a leg press machine? I seem to remember that the man bragged about never stepping into a gym in his life (except possibly for rehab of a legit injury), so why would he agree to do it for a fake ​injury when it's so much easier just to pop down to WMC and hold court?

First fall: ​This is the first of the three six-man tags on this disc that will put a cap on the feud between the RBA and the Clan. This one was directly set up by Wiskowski's interference in the tag title match the previous week, which cost Matt and Curt the belts. Rip's the obvious target for the faces as the fall begins, and everyone has a grand old time beating on him. But he starts to work on Curt's injured knee, and before long the Clan's in full command, applying various submission holds plus a few headbutts from Assassin's loaded hood. It's Assassin who scores the fall for his side as well; he gets Curt to submit to a spinning toehold to give the Clan a one fall to none lead with about twelve and a half minutes of disc time remaining. Wise move by Curt to submit; each side had a fall to give, and there's no sense in risking permanent knee damage when you don't have to, especially when you've already been hospitalized with a serious knee injury. The Clan is the better team of the two right now; they were able to trap Curt in their corner and almost destroy his knee. They even applied the same submission hold to wear it down: the spinning toehold. We've seen teams do that before on this set with various holds, and it's a good sign of a team that, to paraphrase Arn Anderson, works individually but thinks collectively. If there's one individual matchup out of all the possibilities that the crowd wants to see right now, it's probably Buddy vs. Big Ed, especially after the comments Big Ed made about Buddy being the Gutless Wrestler of the Year (which is untrue both figuratively and literally, as Mr. Wiskowski of all people should know). Once again Assassin uses his head, both literally and figuratively, as his headbutts help to injure Curt's knee. No other promotion used loaded apparel quite like Portland did, be it Oliver's loaded thumb (among others) or Assassin's loaded mask. I liked Stan talking about the strange new world that will be waiting for Hack when he returns. Hopefully he'll jell with Buddy quickly, because if this fall was any indication the RBA's going to need all the help they can get in this series of matches. ​Second fall: ​There's not a lot to this fall; Curt's in the ring the whole time, and the Clan keeps punishing his injured knee. Several times he tries to get over to his corner for the tag, but he's always cut off. Finally, the Clan gets a little too bold for their own good, and while Sandy's in their corner telling them to knock it off, Buddy and Matt run in, fire Rip into the ropes, and blast him with a double dropkick, then push Curt on top of him for the pin. We're even at a fall apiece with about five minutes of disc time remaining. While scoring the fall the way they did got a huge pop, it may not have been the best thing for the RBA, as Curt still needs to tag out desperately and has to start the third fall with an enraged Oliver. Plus, he fell to the outside during the celebration (which the cameras didn't catch; it was mentioned by Coss and Stan) and hit his knee, which has most likely injured it even more. Stupid Line of the Night goes to Coss, after he found out that Curt fell on his knee: "He may be in pain, but at least he's enjoying it more (now that the faces have tied the match)". As usual when announcers open their mouths and insert their feet, Coss was trying to say something halfway intelligent and ended up sounding completely brainless. What's the matter with simply saying, "Even though he's hurt, Curt's glad that his team has tied this match"? ​Third fall: Curt tags out quickly, and Buddy comes in to clean house only to get trapped in the Clan corner himself. Eventually the same thing happens to Matt as well. His triple-team beating leads to the deciding fall, as Rip thumbs him in the throat to Sandy's blind side. The leader of the Clan covers, and the faces come in to break up the pin too late. The Clan takes the match, two falls to one. The Clan was never really in danger of losing this fall; they were hardly even put on the run. This may be the first time I've seen all the members of a face team play FIP in a fall lasting less than five minutes, which is mind-boggling. One thing the RBA needs to work on for the next bout is keeping their emotions in check. Borne in particular distracted Sandy numerous times during the first two falls, which only added to Curt's difficulties. Of course, with guys like Hack and Piper coming in, that may be easier said than done. While Hack figures to be an asset to the RBA, I'll be interested to see what a youngster like Dr. Tom brings to the table at this early stage in his career. We already know what Piper's going to bring: mayhem with a capital M. The Clan may have won this first battle, but the war's still up for grabs!

​First fall: ​This isn't just about the Buddy-Rip feud; it's about the guest referee, as Billy Jack has returned home to prepare for a World title match against Flair that happens the following Tuesday. He tried to get Oliver to agree to a warmup match, but Rip wouldn't do it, so he took the special referee gig in this one instead. For all the hype, he's been like most guest refs so far, which is to say heavy on the intimidation factor but just as easily fooled as Sandy or any other ref, particularly when it comes to Oliver's taped thumb, which he's used almost at will on both Buddy's midsection and shoulder. Incidentally, that's what I like about how Oliver uses the thumb; he uses it on every possible body part, not just the throat or as part of a nervehold. I'd imagine that a spiked thumb would hurt just as much and do just as much damage no matter where it was used, and it's good to see that Oliver feels the same. Buddy sells the thing like death whenever he's hit, which helps tremendously. I like how Billy Jack wanting to wrestle Oliver but not getting a match with him factors into the storyline. Rip thought that he'd disposed of Billy Jack, only to find him in the position of being able to screw him (Oliver) out of the Northwest title. Not only that, but Don and the NWA have given a rare Flair match to Billy Jack instead of him, and he's ​the Northwest champion. It's not a matter of ​if this whole cocktail blows up, but when​. Buddy's mic time before the match doesn't help, as he exposes Rip for the coward that he is and promises to beat him fair and square, which he proceeds to do in the first fall. He's in control early, but Rip takes over with the help of his thumb, plus an ill-timed ringpost charge from Buddy that results in him injuring his shoulder. After using the thumb several times, Rip sets up a shoulderbreaker, only to have Buddy wriggle out and wrap him up in a sunset flip. Billy Jack counts three, and Buddy takes a one fall to none lead with about seven and a half minutes of disc time remaining. Something tells me that this won't go three falls unless Rip gets the quickest pin of all time, because you just know​ that he's going to get into it with Billy Jack. What else are guest refs for? Second fall: ​This is a case of "he who lives by the thumb dies by the thumb". Buddy continues the excellent legwork he did on Rip throughout the first fall, only for Rip to gain the advantage with the thumb. Billy Jack asks the crowd whether Rip used the thumb or not, and of course they say yes, so Billy Jack's really on the lookout for it. The next time Rip goes to use it, Billy Jack steps in front of him. We go round and round a couple of times, then Rip decides to use it anyway, only for Buddy to block it and use it on him. Rip goes down, Billy Jack counts three, and we have a new Northwest champion. Even though my prediction about Rip and Billy Jack getting into it ended up wrong, I'm kind of glad we got a different finish. It especially fit because everyone knew that, love of the fans aside, Buddy had no compunction whatsoever about using Rip's thumb against him. I loved Buddy's work on Rip's leg, as I said above. This match could have been just a knockdown, dragout fight given the history between these two, but work like this made the viewing experience infinitely more pleasurable. By the way, the hold Buddy was trying to set up which Stan called a "figure four Boston crab" was the scorpion deathlock. The double main event for the following Tuesday sounds wonderful. I only wish one of the two matches had made tape (though we have a Flair defense against Billy Jack from October coming up on this disc, plus some six-mans involving Buddy and Rip). This really belongs back in the first fall, but I liked Buddy talking about the days he took off over the past week just to be ready for this match. We hear all the time about athletes in other individual sports skipping certain competitions to be ready for others, so why shouldn't it happen in wrestling?

This one built really slowly but was a humdinger by the end, with each man trying to take out the other on the floor and several near-double countouts in the third fall. I'm not sure what precipitated Art's interference, but it certainly was a turning point in the match, and the brawl afterward (even with del Santo as a peacemaker instead of a participant) was the best part of the whole thing. I've watched so much wrestling lately that I'm having a hard time remembering the other matches between these two that we saw this year, but Metal was a much more fluid worker here than I seem to remember him being earlier. I don't think del Santo was lacking so much as Metal had improved since the last time we saw these two wrestle. Art has at least two hot feuds on his docket now: Metal and Octagon. I'll be interested to find out if any of his matches with either one of them made either the final part of this Yearbook or the first few months of the '94 one.

Thanks for the issue, AJ!

But not a relevant one, and that's the key. People complain that absolutely everything on TV should sell a program or push an issue, then let Vince skate with stuff that doesn't. Make up your minds. There should be no such thing as "nothing more, nothing less". Either stuff furthers an issue or it doesn't, or the people saying that everything should are full of crap. I vote for the latter.

First fall: ​For one of the few times we see on this set, Buddy actively stalls to avoid a beating; it's over six minutes into the match before these two actually lock up for good. Once they do, Buddy has the advantage at first, but Destroyer takes over, and before long Buddy is piledriven. Destroyer covers, but pulls Buddy up at two in favor of delivering more punishment. He throws a few more punches, then hooks the leg and allows Sandy to count three. He leads the match one fall to none with around twelve minutes of disc time remaining. Much like Assassin, part of Destroyer's gimmick is that he supposedly hides objects in his mask. It's a measure of how popular he is, or more accurately how hated Buddy is, that when he uses the headvutt at one point, Frank says, "Not a word from the fans about something being in (Destroyer's) mask. He's their hero." Frank pays quite a bit of attention to Buddy's wife Toni Rae in this fall, putting over her credentials as a former homecoming queen and second place finisher in the Miss Milwaukie (Oregon) contest. I'm still not entirely sure what their story is; were they legitimately married and divorced within six months, or did they stay married for a while longer in real life but get an onscreen divorce so Buddy could reassume the Playboy persona? Speaking as a fan, I'm glad Buddy didn't stall often, but it was a treat watching him do it here. He was a master at it, but also knew when to tie up at least briefly to keep the crowd from becoming bored, which is something guys like Larry Zbyszko didn't feel the need to do. Destroyer doesn't overdo the "pick up my enemy at two so I can punish him" bit, probably because he knows he's got at least one more fall to wrestle and doesn't want to give Buddy the advantage. That's another spot that can lose its effectiveness if it's overdone; we'll see whether Destroyer's tune changes if a similar situation arises in either the second or third falls. ​Second fall: This fall belongs entirely to Buddy. He jumps Destroyer from behind before the masked man can ever get in the ring, ramming his head into the ringpost, then goes to work outside, at various points hitting both a bodyslam and an atomic drop on the floor. Destroyer gets in just enough offense to avoid being unmasked, and eventually goes down to the side backbreaker. We're even at a fall apiece with about five minutes of disc time remaining. We don't often see or hear Sandy make a big deal out of lecturing Buddy in later discs, mostly because he knows it won't do any good. But he gives Buddy a pretty good tongue lashing here about his actions outside the ring, at least according to Frank. The camera's busy catching Destroyer limp around with his bad back, which is something useful to the match at least. I'd have rather seen Sandy and Buddy argue a bit, though. Frank makes a big deal about having no more commercials in the program, so we may have enough time for a decision of some kind in the upcoming third fall. It almost seems like Frank blames the fans for Destroyer being jumped, as he talks about how Destroyer was busy with them and wasn't paying attention to Buddy. It was more the tone of his voice than what he actually said, Maybe it was a subtle way to remind the crowd not to bother their favorite wrestlers when they're making their way to the ring because they (the fans) could cause them to be defeated and/or injured. ​​Third fall: It's Destroyer's turn to attack before the bell, as he rams Buddy's head into the timekeeper's bell, busting him wide open. The match gets in the ring briefly, but after Destroyer unloads with a headbutt, Buddy bails out and heads for the Crow's Nest. When he gets there, he tells Destroyer that he can have this match; he's saving himself for the tag match the following Tuesday when Oliver can protect him. It's a case of open mouth insert foot, though, as Destroyer calls Don down, then asks him to postpone the tag match until the following Saturday and give him a lights-out match with Buddy on Tuesday instead. He even offers to give Don his mask before the match starts, and Don agrees, much to Buddy's chagrin. It's kind of weird to see a guy who wants vengeance on someone else so badly that he'll give up his greatest advantage to get it, but that's what we have here. This in essence ends the Destroyer gimmick, as he vows to sign matches in all of the other cities and towns in the Portland loop and give up his mask before each one. Buddy claims to already know who the guy is, which means that it's probably someone who's been in Portland before. We won't get to find out, as this is Destroyer's last appearance on the set. Buddy may be the only heel in history to admit that he ran out on a match because he'd rather be in a tag match with a partner to protect him. That's part of why I like him so much; he frankly admits who and what he is upfront, and it's up to his opponents to try to stop him, which few have ever come close to doing. Frank talks about how the bell is mounted on a piece of plywood, which makes me wonder if Buddy might have been busted open hardway by the nails that were presumably sticking out of the plywood instead of the bell itself.

Actually, Curtis started out as Terry's manager and was "bought" by Teddy early in the match, at least from what I could tell. This wasn't a whole lot, but Teddy still busted out a few moves we hadn't seen from the Million Dollar Man character, including the figure-four and a nice-looking Jake Roberts-style DDT. We saw the Funk spinning toehold from Terry, and it looked like he piledrove Teddy on the floor at one point, which is a dangerous bump to take for someone with a legitimate neck injury like Teddy had. The fini9sh was to be expected; I doubt that either man really wanted to put the other over cleanly in front of such a small crowd. I know this was a handheld, but even for a handheld the quality of the camerawork was subpar. Not only did the camera jiggle continuously and go out of focus, but there was no attempt to follow the match outside the ring, which meant that I had to guess what was going on out there. Philly-area wrestling fans should know by now that their city brings out the extreme in almost everyone, and to be prepared to go anywhere in the building to follow the action if need be. This would eliminate things like seeing Terry give Teddy a piledriver on the concrete, then Teddy turning up with the advantage a minute or so later. (Bensalem is a suburb of Philadelphia; among other things, it houses the area's thoroughbred racetrack, Philadelphia Park. or just Parx, as it's now known.) Mark sure took a pounding from Terry after the match; I thought his head would wear holes in the announce table. One question, though: What was he doing in Philly on a Saturday night? I'm sure SMW was running a spot show somewhere. Could it be that whatever promotion was running this show could afford to pay more than Corny could for an evening's work? It looked like Tod Gordon was the bald guy who comforted Terry after the match was over. ECW was still an NWA member promotion at the time. so that wouldn't exactly be shocking news. Still, isn't it a bit weird that two NWA promotions ran one city at the same time, especially as late as 1993?

I don't know what to make of this. First of all, why wasn't this a title match? Why wouldn't Cactus want to take the one thing away that Vader treasures most in the world? Why go through all of this for nothing tangible? Crazy is crazy, but sometimes the Cactus Jack character is truly stupid. Jesse had it right: This was a fight, not a match. Worse yet, it was an ECW-style weapons-fest. There was so little man-to-man brawling that it was hard to tell who was the tougher man, which is supposed to be the point of matches like this. Any fool can use objects and take bumps like these two (particularly Mick) did; it requires no skill, only a willingness to die for the so-called business. Don't get the wrong idea; I'm fine with a few chair/table shots and a "Holy shit" bump or two in a match like this, but not ten or twelve apiece like we got here. Even Harley got into the act with the DDT he took on the ramp afterward, which he had no business taking, particularly after he'd just been seen taking the exact same bump the night before. Even Tony and Jesse were shocked and/or disgusted by what they were seeing after a while, and who could blame them? Not only was the finish wrong, the layout of the falls was wrong. I don't care if falls supposedly don't count in a match like this, they're still being scored, and Cactus pinned Vader no less than three times, all of them with ease. Vader got just one fall, and only won the match because Harley and his Tazer got involved at just the right time. That's supposed to be a World champion? That's supposed to be the toughest man in the business? Bullshit. The only thing saving the Flair-Vader feud is that Flair didn't exactly cover himself in glory against Rude either. I don't know how in the hell WCW's going to promote this feud as anything worth watching between now and Starrcade, but it'll sure be interesting to find out. My two favorite spots in the match were both courtesy of Nick Patrick. The first one is when he refused to go down into Vader's grave to count a potential fall. Somebody must have told him to go, because he can be heard loudly and adamantly refusing; even Tony has to mention it. The second is when one of the guys throws a table into the ring. Nick goes to toss it out, remembers the rules of the match, makes a visible "what the hell" body gesture, and sets the table up in the corner so the guys can use it to their hearts' content. God bless you, Nick, you made some of this slop worth watching. I think the rest period before the ten-count is designed to protect against guys getting accidentally knocked out and ruining the overall finish. It wouldn't have mattered here since the match was non-title, but WCW would have felt foolish if they'd had to put the belt on Cactus because Vader got himself knocked out legit and couldn't continue a title match, and with the MGM/Disney tapings, they could have stood to lose a lot of money if they'd had to edit or scrap shows already in the can. I didn't know Mick was out to end his career that night. He must have changed his mind at some point, because he's still there nowadays although a good many people would prefer that he go far, far away. Jesse had plenty of good lines, since there wasn't a whole lot of strategy to get over in a match like this, but my choice for Line of the Night states the obvious: "The one good thing about this match is that these two guys were already ugly; they can't possibly get any uglier." I understood Tony dressing up as Jesse (and he didn't look bad either), but was Jesse really supposed to be a doctor? I honestly don't recognize that as a doctor's outfit of any sort. That was Cappetta announcing Vader as the winner at the end, not Penzer.

​First fall: ​This one belongs mostly to Billy Jack. It's his return to Portland from Florida and Texas, and he has a party with Kendo, showing off all of his trademark power spots. He doesn't win with the full nelson, though, preferring to come off the second rope with a huge forearm to the throat to get the pin and take a 1-0 lead at approximately the fifteen-minute mark (disc time). Coss (who's working solo here) and the fans are thrilled to have their hometown hero back, and he's just as thrilled to be ​back. Even though Piper may have been more popular for a longer period of time, Billy Jack gets louder pops and knows how to milk them better. He constantly encourages the fans to make noise, whereas Piper just kind of lets whatever's going to happen happen. Nice explanation of the previous history between these two in Florida from Coss. Even the smaller promotions didn't always choose to acknowledge each other's feuds, so it's nice to see Portland doing so here. I wish we could have gotten the kendo stick match on tape. Other than being able to use the sticks as weapons, I have no idea how a match like this would be worked. Don may have been the first person to use the name "Billy Jack Haynes" in the introductions to this match. It's understandable that Billy Jack would want to use his real name as a tribute to his dad, but the name "Billy Jack" was so well-known in the Portland area that I can't blame Don for not wanting to let it go. "Billy Jack Haynes" was the natural compromise. It's just a shame that the man's become such a nutcase over the years, to the point that the name's a great big joke these days. Kendo's not a bad worker for the gimmick he has; he shows here that he at least knows basic wrestling (arm wringers and such) ad he moves really well. He still looks like an accountant out on a spree, though. ​Second fall: ​Kendo takes most of this fall with his precision chops and kicks, plus a well-timed chair to the forehead that busts Billy Jack wide open. This fall actually has two finishes, as Kendo first covers after a side backbreaker. Sandy counts thee, but that finish is ignored. My guess is that Billy Jack was supposed to kick out and forgot. So Kendo fires him into the ropes and nails him with a thrust kick to the jaw. That must have been the planned finish, as this time Billy Jack stays down for three. We're even at a fall apiece with about five minutes of disc time remaining, Don must have planned to use "Billy Jack Haynes" all along, as Big Ed calls him that several rimes in his promo between falls. I loved Coss's reaction to Kendo using a chair on Billy Jack; he calls Kendo an animal. There's just something so honest about a reaction like that, even if it makes him sound like he's never seen a wrestling match before in his life. Similarlym he complains a lot about Kendo's martial arts, even though none of his kicks and chops come near Billy Jack's eyes or throat. Don's warning to the fans about staying away from the ring is being completely ignored, as a wide shot of ringside clearly shows many in the crowd straining to get as close to the ring as they can. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot anyone can do about it except either warn the fans to get close at their own risk, as Don did before the match, or clear the arena, which is not only undesirable but impossible. When was the last time Portland had a non-wrestling manager? I'm sure they had a few over the years, but on this set we haven't seen any, at least so far (I have fourteen matches to go after this one). Third fall: This fall ended in a double countout, and the match was a draw. I accidentally wiped out the commentary I did for this fall. Sorry, guys!

Pete's right; this is a huge ​step down from their first match, and it's neither one of their faults. They're still working as hard as ever, but unlike JR and Gino on All-American​, who added greatly to that match, Vince and Heenan actively subtracted from this one. I usually don't mention commentary first, but keep in mind that Vince owns the company. That means that any match he treats lightly is one that he doesn't want to mean anything. He engaged with Heenan's irrelevancies about Miinnie Pearl and Julia Roberts (among others) a lot more than he usually does, which was sign number one that this match meant nothing until Levy came to ringside. I liked the subtle tease of a Waltman heel turn when Levy tripped Jannetty; of the two, Waltman's the lesser-known quantity, so it would make more sense that he'd be the one to turn. Curiously for that story, It was Marty who was more aggressive with his strikes, but he never turned the match into an out-and-out brawl. I also liked the finish; most of the time in a setup like this, the opponents lose their cool with each other and start brawling, either in the ring or on the floor, and the referee eventually throws the match out. Here, we get the same result in a much more spectacular fashion, as Levy causes both Waltman and Jannetty to nearly kill themselves. I think Waltman could have stood to sell his bump a bit longer, but if he had he wouldn't have been able to help Marty get revenge on Levy. Yes, the make-a-wish spot came out of nowhere. but Levy's sell job of it was one of the highlights of the match. There are quite a few Line of the Night contenders, but my favorite belongs to Heenan, when he called Levy a Cy Young Award winner in T-Ball (the lowest level of Little League baseball, for those of you who don't know; it's usually played by kids between four and seven years old). Honorable mention goes to Bobby's line about Stu's seventy-some year-old gray suit. Even though he'll be gone in a little more than a month, Bobby can still bring the goods when the situation calls for it. If I'm not mistaken, this match eventually led to Waltman and Jannetty becoming full-time tag team partners and eventually WWF tag team champions, and if I'm not mistaken they beat the Quebecers for the titles.

Nice submission win for Malenko. This had slightly more energy than the last bout, but it still dragged too much for my tastes. Plus, I don't think the scoring was right, as I heard the ref call "Escape!" several times without the score being shown on the screen. I've gotten into quite a few of the shoot-style bouts on these Yearbooks, but these last two aren't among them.

Not much happened here, plus we got a huge cut in the middle, as only about twenty-two minutes out of thirty were shown. Greco dominated from what I could tell, but this was way too slow and had an inconclusive finish. In short, this was everything I hate about shoot-style in one great big package. Hopefully Malenko-Ishikawa will be better.

First fall: ​Piper and Martel start off hot, but Buddy and Big Ed attack Piper's previously injured side and back to gain the advantage. After several tag attempts miss by literal inches, Piper finally tags Rick, who comes in on fire against Buddy. Two dropkicks, a hip throw, and a victory roll later, Buddy goes down for the three count, and the faces lead one fall to none approximately sixteen minutes of disc time into the match. The prematch promo where Buddy and Ed gloat about running the Sheeps out of the Northwest is pure gold. They were supposedly called home to New Zealand, according to Don, but that doesn't stop Buddy and Ed from bragging their fool heads off and demanding the tag belts without having to wrestle for them, since the Sheeps had been the champions before they were called home. (For their part, the Sheeps actually tried to give the titles to Piper and Martel, but that wasn't allowed either.) I wish the no-DQ match between Rick and Buddy had made tape. Based on the two matches we have on this disc, it would have been a real barnburner. For that matter, I'd have loved to see a no-DQ match between Rick and Wiskowski. I've never seen a team of heels receive flowers from someone in the crowd, and I definitely have never seen a member of the crowd give flowers to both a heel and a face. Even in 1980, Buddy was a man that most of the Northwest loved to hate. We think of the bodyscissors as a rather elementary move, but Buddy and Big Ed used it to great effect on Piper here. Rod certainly wasn't in any danger of submitting, but if his side was already injured as Frank said it was, this hold could certainly have worn him down quite a bit. We'll see for sure if it has over the next two falls. Very seldom have I seen a series of tag teases as effective as the ones in this fall. Sandy didn't need to look like an idiot or turn his back at just the right time, either; these tags were thwarted by Buddy and Big Ed themselves, which made the eventual hot tag a lor more satisfying in my eyes. Whoever sells Sandy his clothes ought to get a credit on the show every week; he's got to be the most creatively attired regular referee I've ever seen. ​Second fall: ​Piper and Martel briefly look like they're going to get the sweep, but Rick hurts his back before they can get it, and Buddy and Ed destroy it over the rest of the fall. Rick manages to survive two over-the-shoulder backbreakers and an over-the-knee backbreaker, plus a long Wiskowski bearhug and a series of shots from Buddy using the broken bottom rope. In the end, though, he's pinned by Buddy's side backbreaker, and we have a tie match with about thirteen minutes of disc time remaining. The variety of submission holds that we see in this fall is astonishing; about the only one Buddy and Ed missed was the Boston crab, and they'd have probably busted that out if they'd had the time, if only to try to humiliate Rick by making him submit to one of his own favorite finishers. I agree with Phil about how flimsy the Portland rings were; we've already had part of a match wrestled with no ropes on this set. In this case, though, Buddy makes the best of an awful situation by using part of the broken rope as a weapon to attack Rick's back with. The shots he laid in looked plenty vicious, too. Another Frankism: "Suplex carry" for over-the-shoulder backbreaker. Now that Buddy's pinned Rick in a tag match, he ought to get the no-DQ bout for the singles title that he's asking for. We have an interview coming up after this fall; let's see how much of a sportsman Martel ​really ​is. Third fall: ​This is a pretty wild one. Martel takes punishment on his back early, but manages to get over and tag Piper, who cleans house on both Buddy and Ed at first. But Ed takes him down, and in yet another move I've never seen before slingshots Piper into a backdrop from Buddy that sends him over the top rope. From there we have total chaos, with all four men outside. From what I can tell, Wiskowski actually beats the count back in, but Sandy's already decided to call the match a no-contest. From there, we get a wild brawl that ends up with Sandy getting thrown down several times, Dutch getting involved and smacking Buddy, Martel using one of the belts numerous times, and Don coming within inches of getting knocked on his ass by an irate Buddy. It goes from ringside into the ring and eventually into the Crow's Nest, where Frank takes the whole thing in stride, God bless him. In the end, a guard match similar to the one we'll see between Buddy and Matt Borne in '82 is signed for the following Tuesday, in which six guards will surround the ring to make sure everyone stays inside. As I said, I think Ed accidentally ended up back in the ring before he was supposed to be there; even Frank noticed it. But the melee outside the ring was so wild that you could make a case for Sandy throwing the whole thing out regardless. Apparently Buddy will get his singles title match with Rick the following Saturday, although Don forgot to say whether it will be no-DQ or not.

First fall: ​As has been the case in most of these tag matches, the People's Army controls at the start, using the Clan's questionable tactics against them. But Oliver turns things around with a knee on Borne (which the camera misses, and he and Assassin go to work on Matt's upper arm, wrist, and hand. After several agonizing near-misses, Matt tags Curt, who cleans house on both of the champions. Assassin eventually falls victim to the Ax, and the RBA/People's Army takes a 1-0 lead with about sixteen minutes of disc time remaining. I can understand needing to plug and shill for sponsors, but Coss and Stasiak cram so many plugs and what today would be called shoutouts into the first few minutes of the bout that it was overwhelming. For heaven's sake, guys, you've got over a half hour. Spread things out a bit and give your audience a chance to process what you're telling them. (As an aside, even though Stan's mellowed quite a bit, I'm still not sure if I'd buy a car from him!) Matt must have just come back to Portland, because we haven't seen him in any matches since the tail end of '82. I guess the RBA now consists of four main guys, according to the Clan's prematch promo: Buddy, Curt, Matt, and Jules Strongbow. Billy Jack wasn't mentioned, and I wonder where he could be, or if he's injured. Curt and Matt haven't been nearly as smooth as some of the other combinations the RBA has presented during this feud. They do the illegal switches fairly well, but they haven't showed much in the way of legal continuity. On the other hand, Oliver and Assassin remain one of the toughest teams in wrestling at this time, as evidenced by their precision work on Matt's wrist and hand. They did their job so well that Matt needed medical attention between the first and second falls. Wiskowski as part of the Clan was inevitable; Big Ed just doesn't seem to be the type of guy who people would accept as a babyface. He doesn't have Buddy's charisma, and he's not a strong enough in-ring worker to make up for it. He is ​the best interview currently in the clan, with that cheesy, smarmy grin and his oily tone of voice. I liked how he bragged that Buddy was back in the dressing room hanging on every word he said, just like he did when they were partners. I can't wait to see the two of them go at it in the six-mans coming up on this disc. I guess Jules and Miller are headed for a strap match after what we saw earlier, which is perfectly logical. I wonder why the Clan didn't take Miller in to make the sides even up. Just a reminder: We'll see Hack and Piper as guest members of the RBA in the six-mans coming up later in Disc 8. ​Second fall: ​Curt and Matt try their best for the sweep, getting several nearfalls on Oliver early on through vastly improved teamwork, including a spectacular sunset flip off the top from Matt But Rip gains the advantage for the Clan by jamming his taped thumb into Curt's midsection, and that's the body part that they work on for the rest of the fall, particularly with a long bearhug from Assassin. Curt fights his way out and has Assassin going, but he misses the Ax, and Assassin rebounds off the ropes and plants his loaded hood in Curt's chest, which knocks the wind out of him for the last time. Assassin covers and gets three, and we have a tie match with about four minutes of disc time remaining. The cameras again miss the turning point of the fall, Oliver using his thumb on Curt's midsection. I'm not sure if they could have helped it or not, but it's happened more often on this set than any other, and really drives home just how small-time Portland was in spite of its great in-ring action. Coss makes a great point that I've never thought of about how winning the first fall of a two-out-of-three match takes more out of the person or team who won it than the person or team who lost it. If ever you need a kayfabe explanation as to why so few multi-fall matches end in sweeps, that one is perfect. The Clan deserves extra credit for not making a team with two foreign object gimmicks see repetitive. Most promoters would understandably be reluctant to team a guy with a loaded thumb and a guy with a loaded hood, but Don did it, and Oliver and Assassin make it work beautifully. Sandy also plays his part brilliantly; he knows damn well that these two cheat like it's going out of style, but he can never prove it in order to give himself a reason to disqualify them, hence his understandable frustration. I wish we'd actually gotten Rose/Piper-Oliver/Assassin, but I don't think that match ever came off. Ditto Andre's handicap match with Oliver and Assassin, which wouldn't exactly have been a cakewalk for the Giant, as tough as these two are. Did Andre actually appear in Portland in '84? I know that Vince was limiting his non-WWF appearances in North America pretty strictly by this time. I thought Coss and Stasiak did a great job of explaining why ticket prices would be a little higher when guys like Hack, Piper, and Andre were in town. I wonder if anyone actually stayed home because they couldn't afford tickets. Third fall: ​Curt makes an early hot tag to Matt, who comes in on fire. Matt eventually puts the Boston crab on Oliver, and Curt cuts off an interfering Assassin, Just when it looks like the RBA will take the belts, Big Ed comes in and waffles Matt in the back of the head for the automatic DQ. Matt and Curt win the match two falls to one, but Oliver and Assassin remain the champions. A brief brawl follows to set up the six-man series, which will be the next three matches on the disc. And so ends perhaps the most underrated series of tag tam matches I've come across yet. Regardless of which combination was used, the RBA and the Clan put on a show every time they got in the ring together, and it's amazing that we didn't get more title changes than we did, because either side could have taken any of the bouts. (I think we saw two title changes on the set.) The heat was off the charts, and the wrestling and teamwork were superb. I'll remember these matches for a long time, and I'm looking forward to the six-mans, which have been something else in their own way so far.

Like the Memphis bout I just talked about, the story of this one wasn't the match; it was the relationship between Tony and Ron and the efforts of Brian and Tammy to destroy them both. From the time Brian pushed Ron's chair right into Tony to turn the match around, any shred of pretense about their motives went right out the window. That made Brian's postmatch attack on Ron disgusting, but hardly surprising. Tammy laughing in the background seemed even worse than the beating Ron took; I can imagine some of the fans thinking that maybe, just maybe Ron had had some positive influence on a girl as young and still impressionable as Tammy, at least to the point where she wouldn't want to see him crippled for real. But such wasn't the case. If there was ever any doubt that Tammy was just plain no good and not some spoiled young kid who let her desires take her down the wrong path, it was erased here. I loved seeing Tony cry over Ron. There's something noble about a bond between a wrestler and a manager that transcends heel/face lines, especially since it seldom happens. The dispute over the bounty probably would have been enough to turn Tony face eventually, but once the fans saw him fighting for his mentor, the turn stuck for good, even after Ron left the promotion. (If I'm not mistaken, Ron stepped aside when they brought Kim back to make her a featured player in Tony's unfortunately curtailed feud with Jake Roberts.) Two minor quibbles that had nothing to do with the main storyline: First, why would the reigning SMW champion bother at all with the TV title? Couldn't they have made this an SMW title match instead? Second, why would Tammy deliberately get her man disqualified when he's got nothing to lose? His title's not on the line, after all. It wouldn't have made one whit of difference in the postmatch if Brian had been defending his title, and the finish would have been understandable, as Tammy would have been trying to save the title for Brian. Dutch's talk about how too much momentum and fire can ultimately hurt a wrestler is the kind of insight that only a ring veteran can provide. He and Jesse are neck and neck for best color guy in the sport at this time, with the Dutchman's old pal Lawler such a distant fourth (behind Heenan) that it's not even funny. I liked Dutch saying that he wished he'd had the power to cancel the match for Brian, but that was another thing that ultimately made no sense. Since when does the challenger​ in a Beat the Champ scenario have even the remotest say in who he wrestles? They should have been talking up how Tony had drawn Brian's name and was looking forward to paying him back for what had happened to Ron. None of the problems I mentioned above could take away from the power of what we saw, though. With Bullet Bob still absent from the scene and the Bodies and Rock 'n' Roll busy elsewhere, this is the hottest angle currently in SMW, and also the freshest. I can't wait to see how it plays out over the rest of 1993.

The highlight of this match wasn't the in-ring action; this was pretty much a bare-knuckles brawl from start to finish. No, what made this match worth seeing was Jamie's commentary. It was almost all standard heel complaining, but he delivered it in such a way that you couldn't help but be entertained. Dave was the perfect straight man for him, calling him out several times for not ​calling Wolfie out, as if the man would criticize his own partner. I liked how he admitted that he still didn't approve of Brian's tactics although he was now a face, but that Brian used those tactics as payback for what Wolfie did to him throughout the bout. I could have done without two attempted interference spots; either Jamie or ​the midget attempting to interfere was okay, but both interfering makes Wolfie look weaker than you'd like one-half of your top heel tag team to look. Am I the only one who wants to see a match between Midget D and Little Eagle? It would probably be wall-to-wall comedy, but Memphis training and booking their own midgets (if that's what they're doing) is definitely a positive development. One thing Dave and Jamie didn't mention: Wolfie's opponent in the hubcap on a pole match. The highlight of the commentary wasn't wrestling-related. It was Jamie blaming Dave for the apparent snowstorm Memphis was having that day. (It would make sense that there was snow in Memphis, as we in Pittsburgh had one of the earliest snowstorms I can remember the very next day. The next earliest one I can remember happened in mid-November of 1980.) Dave no-sold it almost completely; I guess he figured that Jamie's complaining about Brian's tactics was enough of an annoyance. The one good thing about the snow was that It kept Corey at home. The prematch promo was hilarious, talking about how Brian used to beg Jamie and Wolfie for rides to the various towns on the Memphis loop. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the three of them really did​ ride together, mostly because of their similar age and experience levels.

First fall: ​Martel controls most of this fall, working over Harley's arm. But the crafty champion turns the tide by dropping Rick throat first across the top rope, then busts out a piledriver, a reverse neckbreaker, a diving headbutt, and a high suplex in rapid succession. That's too much for the challenger, and it's the suplex that finishes him off. Race leads one fall to none with about nine minutes of disc time remaining. This is a rematch that isn't a rematch, according to Frank. Apparently, there was some sort of controversial decision in a match between Rick and Harley the previous Tuesday, so the NWA wiped the match off the books and ordered a second match (which isn't a rematch because the first match technically never happened), which is what we're watching. Okay, guys, if you say so. (Frank says that Rick deliberately got himself disqualified, but it had to have been Harley who did; otherwise, why would Rick have been rewarded with a second match?) Even though Harley doesn't get a whole lot more offense here than he did against Billy Jack, he looks better here, probably because Rick in 1980 was several country miles better as a worker than Billy Jack was in 1983. Harley had a tough task against Billy Jack if you think about it; he had to lead the match against a rookie who didn't know much more than squat about wrestling while still making said rookie look like a world beater. Here, his job is much easier. The sleeper's being promoted as Rick's money finisher right off the bat on this set, as Harley wastes no time in getting to the ropes the second Rick puts it on him. Piper must have just turned face here, because Rick has only agreed to team with him if he (Rick) loses this match. By the time of the next match on this disc (4/26) Piper and Martel are flourishing as a team and Piper's on his way to becoming the Northwest legend he remains even in death. If there was an LA battle royal in 1980, it must have been one of the last ones, because LeBell didn't stay in business much longer. The MSG tournament that Lonnie Mayne supposedly won is bunk, in case you didn't know. If there had been a tournament at MSG at any point in the seventies (which there wasn't), no one would have won it but Bruno, assuming he was entered. Interesting to hear about Portland Wrestling​'s sponsors putting up a thousand bucks to entice Buddy to sign a hair match. This is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing, and it could only happen in a place like Memphis or Portland where there are true local sponsors. Even regional companies like JCP and statewide promotions like Georgia and Florida had too many sponsors in too many markets to pull something like this off. I wonder if they ran a similar angle in markets like Salem, Eugene and Seattle. There must have been bad weather over the last week in the Northwest, because Frank reads a list of canceled shows and their makeup dates, and he also tips his hat to the few thousand "hearty souls" who made to the House of Action the previous Tuesday. Even in 1980, no one wanted to run any events opposite the Super Bowl, as Frank points out that the spot show running that night has a bell time of 7PM Pacific (The game kicked off at 3 Pacific that year, which is 6 Eastern). ​Second fall: ​Outside of a few lucky headbutts from Harley, Rick dominates this fall, almost getting a submission with what Frank calls a reverse abdominal stretch, then slapping on the sleeper. Harley doesn't offer much resistance, and soon he's in dreamland and we're even at a fall apiece with about three and a half minutes of disc time remaining. I was right about Harley being the one who was deliberately disqualified in the previous match; while he's flailing away in the abdominal stretch, he almost hits Sandy, and Frank surmises that he's trying to get himself disqualified again. Just for the record, Dusty Rhodes' five-day reign as NWA World champion in 1979 wasn't recognized by Don, as Frank says during the first fall that Harley has been champion for three-plus years. I'm guessing that Tommy Rich's reign was similarly ignored in 1981. (I wonder if Dusty's '81 reign was recognized; I haven't watched all the matches from that year yet, but you know that Buddy would have been screaming his head off for a title match if Dusty had been scheduled to come to Portland.) Aniother Frankism: "Spinning suplex drop" for a reverse neckbreaker (from the first fall). What is it with Martel refusing to wake opponents up from the sleeper? He did it against Buddy in the second match between them on the disc, and now he's doing against Harley and blaming the fans for it. I doubt they were planning on turning his heel, so I don't understand why they've done this twice now. Thank heaven Sandy threatened to disqualify him if he didn't wake Harley up. (I watch matches out of order depending on what I'm in the mood for, so if I talk about a match that's yet to come chronologically as if it had already happened, that's why.) ​Third fall: ​Rick gets the sleeper on Harley twice in the final three minutes or so, but Harley escapes outside the ring the first time and the time limit expires the second time. The match ends in a 1-1 time limit draw. I'd never heard the term "flail kick" for a kickout until Frank used it. It's an accurate description of what a kickout is, and I wonder why more announcers didn't use it.

First fall: ​This one starts out hot when Buddy destroys a bouquet of flowers given to Rick by a female fan. According to Frank, Sandy's so disgusted by this that he throws the Northwest belt out of the ring and snaps to the timekeeper, "Ring the damn bell!" Once he does, Rick controls most of the fall with a side headlock, but Buddy hits a back suplex to get out and turn the tide of the action for good. From then on, Buddy's in control, working over Rick's back. Eventually, he hits a Dick Murdoch-style calf brander followed by his patented side backbreaker to get the three count and take a one fall to none lead with about thirteen minutes of disc time remaining. Sandy's letting Buddy get under his skin too much here. It's not so much his reaction to Buddy at the start that I'm talking about; it's how he acted when Buddy was in the side headlock. Most referees will accept a foot over the bottom rope as a reason to break a hold, or at most knock a guy's foot off the bottom rope once. Sandy does so repeatedly here, which is about as clear a sign of bias as a ref can possibly get away with. As awful as Buddy could be at times, he often had a point about the powers that were in Portland being biased against him. Speaking of the side headlock, Buddy must love to be in one (as much as a wrestler can, at any rate), because Rick's the third wrestler that I've seen in this set who controlled most of a fall with it during his match with Buddy. I know other wrestlers use it as a control hold too, but not for the better part of ten minutes, even in a long match. About the only thing missing was the repetitive cranking that Jay Youngblood and Curt Hennig used to work the hold, and we may get that in one of these next two falls. I've never considered Rick a strongman type of wrestler, but Frank correctly pointed out that it takes a tremendous amount of strength to hold on to a side headlock for as long as Rick did here. I never thought of Jimmy Snuka as a strongman either, but once Frank made the analogy between him and Martel, it made me realize that he was right about them both being strongmen in their own way. Frank's really making a run at my top five play-by-play guys of all time list, right up there with Lance, JR, Gino, and Gordon. The person he'd nose out right now? Vince, who was only really good before he bought the WWF. I wish Frank had had time to tell us about the boxing glove match Rick and Buddy had in Salem. It probably wasn't a boxing match per se, from what I could gather. Was it another version of a coal miner's glove match, or did it have a set of rules all its own? I got a kick out of Frank apologizing to his blind listeners for not being able to describe some of the moves Rick was doing because he was moving so fast. My favorite didn't require a whole lot of speed: ramming the back of Buddy's head into the mat to keep him in the side headlock. If I've seen it done the way Rick does it here, I certainly don't remember it. ​Second fall: ​Buddy spends most of the fall working on Rick's back both inside and outside the ring, but it's Rick who almost gets a submission with an abdominal stretch, then reverses two of Buddy's suplex attempts. Eventually a slam aggravates the back, and Buddy pounces, ready for the kill. But he gets caught in the sleeper by Rick, and the champion holds on to put the Playboy out and even the bout at a fall apiece with about five minutes of disc time remaining. Buddy's back work has been superb, just like the work he did on Rick's leg in their first bout. Verne missed an opportunity to bring Buddy in a bit earlier, because I think he'd have been a wonderful challenger against Rick for the AWA belt if he'd been allowed to work to his full potential and not just use cheap heel tactics. Rick never used the sleeper anywhere but Portland that I know of, and that's a shame because the version we see here is lethal. I'm surprised he didn't at least use it when he was doing the Model gimmick in the WWF, but they may have thought that using the sleeper or a similar hold as a finisher should be the exclusive right of Ted DiBiase (who, of course, used the Million Dollar Dream). I found it interesting that Rick refused to wake Buddy up after he got the knockout. For a second I thought that Sandy would disqualify him and give the match to Buddy in two straight, but Rick reluctantly agreed to wake Buddy up in time. The only other face I know who refused to wake up their opponent in a timely fashion was Brutus Beefcake, and that was because he was going to cut his victims' hair as part of the Barber gimmick. Third fall: ​This fall never really gets going, as after a brief brawl Rick catches Buddy in the sleeper again. He's fading for the second time when one of the Sheeps (I think it was Butch, but I'm not sure) comes in and blasts Rick in the back of the head with the flagpole, which is an automatic DQ. The Sheeps and Buddy figure to have a field day, but Piper and Dutch come in to even up the sides. The faces then challenge the Army to a six-man tag the following week. This is only the second outside interference DQ that I can remember on the set, which is something when you consider that I've watched eighty-one matches so far. I wish the six-man had made the set, if for no other reason than I would have liked to see what Dutch was like as an active wrestler, even if he was a bit past his prime. I keep forgetting to give a tip of my virtual hat to the guy who designed Buddy's mask-wig combination. I've never heard of a mask being sewn into a wig before; it's a pretty ingenious setup if you ask me. How many times is it now that a fan's tried to get involved? Fortunately, the camerapeople been smart enough not to show the idiots in question so far.