dawho5

I'll second Rose making a lot of sense in Portland. Also, Rose is never a bad choice in any match, the guy is all kinds of entertaining.

I loved this. Jovica and Abby both juiced big, Abby again sells like a champ and a way-past-his-prime Victor Jovica gets his moment in the sun in a place he is really over. One thing I have always loved about PR is the way the stip is, as Matt D also puts it, front and center. It is, to me, the way a chain/strap/bullrope match should be wrestled. Trying to win, unless context says you need to beat your opponent savagely for whatever reason, should be first and foremost. Als, Abby's selling here was really great. Have I mentioned that yet?

One bit of circumstance here that will add a little to this match. That last 6-man ended with Colon being "blinded" where they put it out there that he might never be able to see or wrestle again. So that might give a little insight as to why this happens the way it does. Abby's false starts on going to the trunks were really great. Abby using the old heel trick of ducking outside the ropes tells you something is up. He usually doesn't go that route, it's almost like he's a little afraid of Colon even before the nastiness starts. Colon's attack on the eye was grisly and awful and horrible. But completely justified given the circumstances. Abby sells it in the most amazing way. I think the description of him looking like he's gone into shock is right. He looks like a guy who is out on his feet and running on pure instinct. This is a great match not for structure, but for Colon's over-the-top brutal offense even for PR, Abby's selling, the grisly close-up camera work and the revenge Colon exacts for being temporarily blinded. Looking back, maybe not Abdullah's best idea ever.

I liked the brawling here a lot. Invader 1's selling of blood loss even during his comeback is great. Brody seems like he is working hard here and the visual of him just trying to get away from Invader as things start go go against him works better than any selling could if you ask me. The fans carrying Invader off after the match is so Puerto Rico.

Duggan, Mulligan and Hall joining forces is going to make things very interesting.

Those last 3 matches from San Francisco look great!

No, concrete said he wanted to join up. No joke I promise. I have a PM to Jetlag asking if he's okay with concrete1992 joining our swap for the week and we each have 2 matches.

Yeah, two title changes is crazy. Varsity Club stuff is as fun as I imagined it would be. How long until Pillman gets kicked out?

Yeah and that's why the next Abby-Colon match has Colon basically trying to blind Abby with his bare hands.

I'm open to watching two matches this week if Jetlag is.

Chicky assuming Invader fell is the only thing working against this. If you can show me a better, more intense and legitimately scarier scaffold match than this I would be surprised. Chicky bumping after that dropkick so close to the edge of the scaffold had me jumping out of my seat. That suplex was probably one of the stupidest (but holy shit amazing and craziest) things I have ever seen. That scaffold did not look like it was built well enough to take something like that. The struggle over the slam near the edge was another moment I was doubting the sanity of both. Chicky's fall was pretty damn scary too. I'd say the blade job Chicky did is pretty nuts for being 20+ feet in the air too. What if blood loss fucks with your balance at the wrong time? And yeah, Invader 3 in the mask. There are so many reasons they should have never done this and it would just not be allowed today. But those are the same reasons that make it great. The brawling was pretty good too with Chicky getting more and more aggressive as the match went on to stave off Invader 3. It's just those aren't the moments you are going to take away from this match. I respect both of these insanely talented wrestlers for doing this, but I also think they should have been forced to take a psychiatric evaluation afterwards. It truly is a wonder neither or both were not seriously injured or killed.

Opening was great with the highlight being Invader 1 punting Chicky in the balls because, well he's Invader 1. I really liked the shine because both Ron and Chicky are so great at stooging and the guys they are in with have good enough offense to make me believe it. Ron is such a damn beast when he's on offense. I am always impressed by how he can bust out really impactful offense in different ways, sometimes right after a ridiculously good few minutes spent stooging for the babyfaces. Abby grabbing Invader 3's mask during the heat is so awesome. Abby seems really motivated in this match overall really. Finish is all kinds of brawly fun, but a little fast for my tastes. Colon's clothesline comes after what offense on Abby exactly? I know from conversations with Boricua that at one point in 86 Abby blinds Colon. I heard the announcers mention ammonia and I wonder if this might be the blinding.

I was more excited about the UWF vs. Mexico match myself.

My understanding is that it was more about the expectations people had for the results. It's not a criticism I have about it, but I did see several comments about the 1980s being really heavily represented in the top 100. The "too mainstream" was more me kind of summarizing the lack of lucha guys in the top 100, Ric Flair being the #1 guy, etc. There were expectations going in that we were going to avoid those, for the lack of better terminology, cliche elements of the final list. Honestly when I would go into a project like that the only list that I am really worried about is my own. I don't care if nobody else ranks my top 10. Those were mine. Obviously I have interest in other people's ballots, some more than others, but it won't make me think any worse of the project as a whole or my own view on wrestling.

I thought that crossbody by Lane early was really good. The Express definitely know how to use their weight to good effect in squashing Lane. RnR RPMs are good as standard babyfaces in these kind of matches, but not anything above that. They definitely got a pop for that win though.

Davis didn't show a ton of fire on the hot tag but that dropkick was really good. This was one of the matches that sold me on Jaggers on commentary, before he just got to be too much. I'd agree this would not look out of place on WCW TV for the next 5 years.

World Wrestling Council Owner: Victor Quinonez Play-by-Play: Rickin Sanchez Color: Hugo Savinovich Interviewer: Hector Moyano Ring Announcer: Eliud Gonzalez Referees: Tomas Marin, Ricky Vargas, Victor Quinonez Roster: 1. Abdullah Tamba 2. Al Madril 3. Angel Acevedo/Mercenario 1 4. Angelo Rivera/El Profe 5. Bam Bam Bigelow 6. Bart Batten 7. Brad Batten 8. Barrabas 9. Bobby Jaggers 10. Butch Miller 11. Carlos Colon 12. Chicky Starr 13. Don Kent/Super Medico 3 14. Dutch Mantell 15. Eliud Gonzalez (ring announcer) 16. Gama Singh 17. Hector Moyano (announcer/interviewer) 18. Hercules Ayala 19. Hugo Savinovich (announcer) 20. Huracan Castillo Jr. 21. Huracan Castillo Sr. 22. Invader 1 23. Invader 2 24. Invader 3 25. Jerry Morrow/Mercenario 2 26. Jonathan Boyd 27. Juan Rivera/Savio Vega/TNT - 5th degree black belt, cobra dinamita 28. Luke Williams 29. Miguel Perez Jr. 30. Miguel Perez Sr. 31. Mike Davis 32. Rickin Sanchez (announcer) 33. Ricky Santana 34. Ricky Vargas 35. Rip Morgan/the Crusher 36. Ron Starr 37. Steve Strong 38. Super Medico 1 39. Tomas Marin 40. Tommy Lane 41. Victor Jovica 42. Victor Quinonez 43. Victor the Bodyguard

WWC adds: Tomas Marín Ricky Vargas Victor Quiñonez All are referees.

I would guess the expectations of some going in were for a less...mainstream I guess is the word...set of results.

I like Luger vs. Reed a lot. Would be fun matches and a young Lex would end up learning a lot. Midnights vs. JYD/Wahoo will be all kinds of fun heeling. The Armstrongs should pretty much always be in blood feuds.

Regal is a great choice. He brings some things to that division that it sorely needs to spice it up. I like Nish also, he can help keep things from constantly having to go forward and show the value in looking back in time to find new ways of doing things.

To me it's more that projects like this seem like "scheduled" watching. Where I have to watch all of this stuff in a certain amount of time. Once you start that it's very easy to get into a mode where you kill your own enjoyment of the matches because you feel like you have to watch them. I very much prefer to watch what I feel like watching right now and not feel like there is a ticking clock on watching this group of matches. I have found that it helps my enjoyment of wrestling a lot.

I like the mixing of teams, but I do take issue with the pairing of Kobashi and Hansen. Only because Kobashi was Hansen's best opponent, lol. The junior division is a nice addition, I think that one thing you could do is shore up the heavyweight division with some big names like Vader that were not there until 1998 and would have been a breath of fresh air right around 1995-ish. Maybe bring in somebody like Masato Tanaka or a different guy on that level for Akiyama to feud with that wasn't way up there out of his league.

Chaos after that main event! Benoit vs. Douglas would have been a fun match at this time. Not the workrate we wold have gotten 8 years later, but definitely worth a watch.

One thing I truly love about PR is that when they have a stip, they god damn well are gonna use it. Most barbed wire matches make nods to the barbed wired, but in PR it is front and center. The wrestlers are using it early and often, and usually in ways you don't see anywhere else. So while this was not going to blow you away with technique or highspots, it delivers on the promise of two guys trying to maim each other with barbed wire so they can get a win. Which is what a barbed wire match should be. For me it is one of the examples I would hold up as a reason that I love Puerto Rico as a territory.