Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Buddy Rose !


Dylan Waco

Recommended Posts

I'm writing an extended post about the Matt Borne/Buddy Rose timeline because it confuses me.

 

It needs to be noted that this night, the woman who sits in the front row, yells at Buddy, and bakes everyone banana bread, Irene (who Bonnema calls their "consulting referee" is in the hospital. Chung Lee has debuted. I refuse to figure out who he is. Apparently "times are tough" since Owen's offering kids nights now and again.

 

Buddy Rose/Stan Stasiak vs Rocky Johnson/King Parsons - 2/3 Falls - Tag Title - 11/28/81

 

Stan and Buddy are the champs. Rocky is hunting for Buddy, so we know how this is going to work. Stasiak starts. Buddy wants nothing to do with Johnson. Johnson gets a quick shot to the ribs on Stasiak and tags to Parsons. After a quick hammerlock Buddy comes in, perfectly willing to face Parsons. Parsons puts on a headlock, gets to the corner for a tag and buddy runs for the hills. He slides halfway back in and tries to tag. They fans start to get irate. Barr doesn't allow it since he wasn't fully in the ring. Buddy rolls in and quickly tags. Fun stuff. Johnson puts on an armbar but Buddy won't accept the tag from Stasiak. Repeat. Both heels are great at this shtick. Ha! Stasiak has a headlock on Johnson so Buddy finally accepts the tag, but the second he does, Rocky sneaks out like a ghost. Buddy storms around the ring pissed off and ultimately we get a brisk but entertaining rope running exchange. Buddy gets a brief advantage but Johnson does his thing bouncing up and hiptossing Rose. Tag to Parsons and they start on the arm with wrenches and headbutts, axehandles and clubbering. Very solid shine work with a lot of repetition for fan involvement and quick tags. Buddy sells like a king, including trying to attack Johnson's head only to writhe in pain and shake his hand. They work out of the armbar as a base once or twice to let Buddy try to escape but the faces keep control, making sure to vary their offense and keep things interesting. Particularly nice was a grounded top wristlock by Johnson that he was really grinding with Buddy selling it like death. It ends in my favorite Portland submission, the endless pumphandle over the shoulder. Fifteen times (with the fans counting) and Buddy gives it up. Really entertaining shine, half comedy and story and half face domination armwork with everyone playing their role perfectly. Almost exactly what a first fall, establishing a new threat should be.

 

Second fall starts with Stan trying to start, which is, of course a no go. Rose gets a momentary armwrench but quickly assaulted on his left arm again. Eye rake and a rush to get Stasiak in. Parsons gets driven immediately to the corner and gets swarmed. Johnson tries to break it up which lets the heels double team more, and it looks like he'll be the FIP for the second fall. Stasiak with a pretty good shoulder hold, with a hair pull cut off, which pisses off Johnson and lets Buddy make an illegal switch. Buddy's shit eating grin as Barr questions him is great. Stasiak back in and another use of the hair as Barr is talking to Johnson. Stasiak feeds Parson's arm to Buddy on the outside who slams it around the pole even as Johnson tries to stop it. This stuff is great, as Johnson keeps trying to get Buddy on the outside who manages to cheapshot Parsons every time Johnson starts to head back to his corner. Heels keep on switching and cheating and doing some armwork of their own and rose making use of Barr's distraction to BITE. They're really ratcheting up the heat, including Buddy reaching over the ropes to grab Parsons and cut off a comeback, and more froggy attacking on the outside as Parsons tries to run. For some reason I really like Stasiak's shoulder claw. I know it's a weird thing to like but he just torques it somehow. Regardless, he gets the submission with it. Afterwords, Buddy continues to be amazing running around and getting a last cheapshot in.

 

Johnson gives Parsons advice between falls, and Parsons comes out bobbing and weaving and jabbing. Stasiak, super grumpy old man that he is, just shrugs it off and hands off the arm to Buddy on the outside who drapes it over the top. I really like Stasiak's punches to the shoulder. His clubbering of it, not as much. It's not as effective either as Parson's able to come back with another jab with his good arm, bearing out Rocky's advice and making it to the corner.

 

Stasiak tries to cut him off, but Johnson does the super athletic thing, rolls under a punch, hits the Thesz Press. Buddy can't get back into the ring in time and the faces win the belts (or belt as one is apparently missing).

 

I thought this was really good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 241
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Regal is still injured and is giving up the belt and going home to heal. It means they won't get the blowoff match with Borne over his quizzical heel turn. No sign of Stasiak this week. Rose wants a 6 man army match with anyone (Rocky/King/Hack). It was a really good army promo. The previous Tuesday Johnson had beat Rose and Buddy had to get taken back by Masters. Johnson is lined up against Masters. There's talk of LLT.

 

Buddy Rose/Matt Borne vs Rocky Johnson/King Parsons © - 2/3 Falls - 12/5/81 - Non-Title

 

Johnson and Borne to start. This will be the first heel Borne I've seen from this period. Some sloppy heel miscommunication comedy to start. Obviously, when Borne hits Rose by accident there's that underlying real life stuff that the crowd knows. They're gracious after the fact. Johnson really did have a pretty good act. Some good rope running by Borne/Johnson and then hammy cowardly heel powder-taking by Buddy who tried to sneak in for the cheapshot. Borne moves Johnson into the corner and they double team and take over. Buddy starts some legwork. Fans chant "Rocky." Heels make a wish and Borne starts to work over the leg, giving Johnson some mild hope stuff. Rocky finally kicks out but Borne makes a quick tag and then does a great job of cutting him off. Buddy keeps on the leg. Parsons tries to break it up but this just lets the heel make an illegal switch. Borne's leg stuff looks a bit "huggy." Buddy's is pretty nasty, grapevining the leg in a toehold and leaning in with the tights to help him. Johnson tries to fight back but he's stuck too close for the corner. Parsons gets frustrated, gets chased out by Barr, and Buddy slams the leg into the post multiple times. Borne pulls him to the center of the ring, locks in the spinning toehold, and gets the fall. Textbook tag wrestling.

 

I know there were some questions about the narrative of the 2/3 falls. Here, Borne goes for Johnson's leg but Johnson scrambles to the corner and tags Parsons in. It's not really a hot tag. It's more of a reset with the heels getting beat up a bit and hitting the floor. Borne tries for a full nelson. Parsons reversed it. Buddy stopped his punch. Borne reversed it. Buddy went for a punch and Parsons ducked. We're back to the comedy shine stuff with that underlying tension that they're trying to shrug aside. Buddy in and they trade some kneelifts off the rope. We're definitely in a reset shine here, with Parsons looking good. Borne eats an awkward kneelift and a headbutt, then a really high back body drop. Buddy tags in reluctantly. They're doing a lot of reversals to make Parsons look great. He tosses Buddy into the corner and the ring falls apart! Johnson is IMMEDIATELY in to slam the loose turnbuckle into Buddy's head, but Borne breaks up a pin as everything breaks down. Johnson comes back in. Borne grabs his leg and tries to slam his leg into the pole on the outside again but Johnson powers him into it and does his little back sommersault up. As he does so, the leg magically becomes okay. He dropkicks Buddy, then hits a sunset flip for the second fall. If you buy the adrenaline/magic recuperative powers of the heated comeback move, this was pretty good with a nice callback. If not, I'd understand.I missed the tag to Johnson, at the least.

 

Johnson and a hesitant Buddy to start. Buddy draws a line on the mat. Johnson crosses it. Johnson draws one. Buddy does not. They do a THIRD heel miscommunication spot with Borne not paying attention and Buddy getting whipped into him off the apron. I have no idea what they're going for but Bonnema sells it as Borne's fault. Buddy ends up tied in the ropes. Faces use Borne's head as a battering ram. Buddy eats a butt butt but Borne makes the save and Buddy's able to tag him in. Borne is portraying pissed off and hot pretty well. Parsons tosses Borne (who takes a big bump) over the top, then Buddy. Johnson gets his hands on Buddy and tosses him into the post. Buddy walks around ringside hurt and Borne's on his own and immediately into a grinding (and counting) headlock by Parsons. Borne uses the tights to get him off and Buddy, from the outside tries to slam Buddy's head into the turnbuckle but it's reversed. Borne uses the distraction to get him from behind and they start to doubleteam. Ref takes out Johnson and heels have control. Buddy his his big back elbow and a dropkick. Parsons hits a kick and gets the now very hot tag to Johnson, who clears house. Johnson locks on a sleeper. Borne is controlled by Parsons and Masters comes out for the DQ. Hack Sawyer comes out to equalize things and immediately goes after Borne, since he's pretty much taking the Regal spot. This sets up the six man nicely.

 

I don't necessarily think that the 2/3 fall format has to be shine fall/heat fall/comeback fall. Here, the first fall had Shine+Heat leading to the pin. The second started with a small comeback and then a face domination shine for Parsons with a brief heat tease that led to the finish. We rolled back into the face domination to start the third fall until Parsons took some heat leading to the hot tag and comeback/finish. It wasn't as streamlined or beautiful as the last tag but it did accomplish some things, had callbacks and an overarching story (the Johnson legwork fueled by the heel tactics and Parsons' hot headedness, Johnson preventing it at the end of the second fall, the ongoing heel miscommunication, and Parsons really getting to shine). Pretty good stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

BATTLE ROYAL - June 14, 1980 Heels and faces pair off as teams, but Buddy takes a powder letting the Sheepherders toss Volkoff. Fans go NUTS. -A Fan runs in from the crowd with a cane. He starts taking out the security guards, coming REAL close to nailing a female one by accident which is kind of a jarring image. In the melee, one Sheepherder goes out. Buddy sets up the other for a shot and they toss him and that is how Ed Wiskowski returned to Portland. Very fun battle royal with a great stooging performance by Buddy and a really good one by Piper. Post-match the faces run back in and the heels run, with Wiskowski getting in a shoving match with a fan on the way out.

 

Yeah, what was up with that finish with the security? Like they were legit trying to do their jobs before getting involved in a wrestling angle. This battle royal was fun to watch though. Especially after having to watch some Canadian battle royal with Kiniski. Thanks Ricky Jackson!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, the new board ran roughshod over my formatting of these things. Also, there were some gaps on what got posted on youtube so I'm reevaluating what to do moving forward. I know I can find one or two of the matches undated as is. Very likely I'll just do the best I can. I know Dylan wanted me to get to the Dynamite Kid stuff in 82 (I think) so I will soldier on.

 

That battle royal is one of my favorites ever, I think, by the by.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Guest aceman

Bit behind because I was out of town so today I do two and then go back to my regular schedule.Buddy Match Review Number Twenty!Buddy Rose v. Steve Pardee - Portland TV 12/18/82Early on Buddy was an absolute offensive machine here. He fucking kills Pardee with a brutal knee and stomp and then hits an awesome dropkick off of a rope running exchange. Buddy is a guy who is rightfully known for his bumping, timing and schtick so it is cool to be able to point to that flurry as an example of how strong an offensive wrestler he could be as well.Pardee comes back off a drop down spot with a nice arm drag. Cool spot with Buddy going for a chop and whiffing wildly. Pardee does a nice job controlling the arm and they did a really cool spot with Buddy hitting a drop toehold off the ropes but still being able to get into position to go back to the hammerlock. Rose hits a nice suplex for a near fall and follows this up by just pitching Pardee to the floor. Pardee fights his way back in and hits a sunset flip for a near fall and then catches Buddy with a forearm off a leapfrog. Buddy takes his crazy full rotation bump into the corner and then gets posted when he leans up for his trouble. Pardee reverses an inside out suplex attempt but Buddy hooked the leg on impact and scored the fall with a roll up. Really awesome tv main event. Post-match angle with Pardee getting piledriven on a chair and Billy Jack making the save was awesome too.Again this is cool as you get to see Buddy work as an offensive dynamo.

buddy had the back elbow, waist high dropkick & backbreaker. rest of offense was mat based & filler

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Just started reading this thread from the beginning and made it to page 9. I plan on reading the rest soon, I'm really enjoying it a lot and after nearly every post I find myself wanting to contribute little pieces of info.

 

Buddy was a friend who I grew up watching. The first live show I attended the main event was Rose versus Mike Miller and when I first broke in almost 10 years to month later I refereed and the main was Buddy vs Mike Miller. Buddy loved that story and when he introduced me to people he wanted me to repeat it. I've had the chance to wrestle Buddy, be managed by Buddy and travel with him.

 

I've actually sat with Buddy in my living room and watched a bunch of these matches. It was awesome sitting with him as he critiqued different things, and it's funny the things that caught his attention. For instance someone compared him with Flair and I remember once Buddy saying how he hated that when Flair took a backslide he wouldn't kick his legs.

 

Hope you guys continue to post about Buddy's matches here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Matt, please jump in at every possible point with annotations and information. Trust me, it'd be seen as a huge boon to the community and to this thread. I'm sure we could learn a lot that'd help put everything in perspective and provide hugely valuable context. My journey through 1979-81 in Portland has been almost completely textual which is sort of a weird way to do it given the nature of the wrestling business.

 

There was a bit of a gap in the footage I was watching and that threw me, but I'll try to get back into the groove with this stuff next month. I'm hugely looking forward to reaching the face turn and to start to see Buddy in WWF/Japan as I hit that point chronologically. Plus I promised Dylan I'd at least make it to the work with Dynamite Kid to see Buddy out-roperun him. Ideally, I'd get to a couple more sum up essays too, but we'll see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny you brought up the rope running. A lot of the really smooth workers in that era took a lot of pride in hitting the ropes. Buddy would tell people to watch a wrestlers foot work to see if they had the right timing. It meant more in a time when spots were called on the fly.

 

Buddy had an ongoing open challenge in the Portland territory in a foot race. He was a naturally good athlete and was very fast, out of all the challenges I believe he only lost once, and I can't recall who it was. But he would race a ton of guys in the territory. We all know the story of him racing the Portland Winterhawks Semi professional hockey team. It's out there in the tape trading universe too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Buddy Rose vs. Curt Hennig (3/26/83)

 

This was good stuff. Hennig was impressive for a guy with his level of experience, had a great physique and looked fluid working holds. This was a grudge match for an injury Rose had inflicted on Hennig months before, but instead of a brawl or the heated sort of performance Martel gave a few years earlier, they went the "fired up babyface tries to out wrestle, pin and humiliate his nemesis" route. The match ended with an angle and was just an appetizer, but a pretty tasty one.

 

Buddy Rose vs. Curt Hennig (5/28/83)

 

This was really great, perhaps the best Buddy Rose I've seen. He was in really great shape here and they worked the first Portland match I've seen where I could get a rhythm for the falls and the way they overlap and build jeopardy. The first fall was really fun with some great athletic spots and a cool finish. The second fall was the meat of the match and a tremendous tussle and the third fall capped things off with a desperate finishing stretch and a screwy but ultimately satisfying ending. Rose was awesome in this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Buddy Rose vs. Curt Hennig (5/14/83)

 

This was a one fall match with about ten minutes of TV time remaining and was a good piece of TV. Sandy Barr was laid out after taking a bump and Rose took full advantage by busting Hennig open. Pretty cool for what it was.

 

Buddy Rose vs. Curt Hennig (7/3/82)

 

This was more along the lines of your classic grudge match with both guys looking to take the other guy out. There was a lot of knee work since that was the injury and attack that ignited the feud, but they dragged it out a bit, and the break between falls remains a real momentum killer for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Buddy Rose/Curt Hennig vs. Dynamite Kid/Assassin, 9/3/83

 

I've been looking forward to seeing some Dynamite Kid in Portland. The best DK match I've seen was his '83 bout against Marty Jones, and while he wasn't as good here as he was in that match, it looks as though '83 might have been his best year. Rose as a face was weird. The crowd were into it, but I found it strange. It's too bad they couldn't find DK a better partner than the Assassin. You'd have to like your Portland to enjoy that cat. Match dragged a bit with the double FIP falls and there really wasn't that much to like about the work. Nothing the heels did was really that compelling and Buddy's hot tag wasn't all that convincing despite the crowd being hot for it. Hennig was a bit quiet and the ending left me feeling short changed, so all in all, a bit flat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Really the first "old" wrestler I ever watched. Heard Dylan talk him up on the Wrestling Culture podcast and he gave me some matches to watch. All of them were great. I even watched several that weren't suggested. Think he had a match with Red Bastien (don't quote me on that) where the entire match was basically a headlock and it was very entertaining. Found Buddy Rose to be legitimately great in every match.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

It's been a while since I watched any Buddy but I watched the Rose/Hennig vs Assassin/DK match, the one where the heels take the titles. (think it's 11/12/83)

 

I have some takeaways:

 

1.) I think Rose was a great face. He moved in and out of things well. He was great working from underneath during the first fall King of the Mountain. I love how he turned some of the same tricks he used to get stooged as a heel to stooge the heels as a face. I think he was good on the apron and was a fun fiery hot tag. He made everything matter.

2.) Hennig was excellent working from underneath. He also has great snappy offense on a comeback or to cut off a heel comeback during a shine. I'd never seen that double monkey roll before. He sold well, he garnered sympathy. I thought he was much better a couple of years later at control offense, of keeping that compelling. He just had a wristlock on and he didn't move in and out of it as a face as well as, let's say, 1984 Martel did. There were moments I was outright bored, frustratingly so.

3. Dynamite is a great heel bully. One of my favorite performances I've ever seen out of him. All it took was him playing the right role. Things that he'd do that would be problematic as an undersized babyface worked great as a heel in a tag garnering heat.

4. I liked assassin here but it's sort of moot to talk about him too much.

 

The match didn't have those fabled Dynamite/Rose workrate fests, so I'll have to watch more. I thought it was okay but not as good as many of the 79-82 tags I've seen so far in Portland.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being that I grew up on this territory and Dynamite was in during what may have been my peak fandom for Portland. I've always felt some of his best work was in Portland, much better than his work in Calgary. Felt as the heel working with Buddy really helped him build his character, heck watching Dynamite on spot shows working with Buddy or Curt Hennig was tremendous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm new here, so I am not sure if this is the right format for this, but I just watched a Buddy Rose match and thought I would share my thoughts:

 

March 4 1978 Buddy Rose vs Jimmy Snuka

 

I really enjoyed this match. Buddy is great jawing with the crowd and stalling, and running out of the ring walking back toward the dressing room refusing to wrestle. It's so awesome seeing old people in the crowd in these matches. It makes wrestling look less nerdy I think. I hope I am going to shows when I'm old. I liked seeing Snuka hit his armdrags on Buddy's left arm, and the announce calling attention to that fact and bringing up Buddy being left handed. It gave the match a story which I liked. I liked Snuka's leapfrog over Buddy. I liked the time limit draw finish, and Buddy's partner coming to the ring along with Jesse Ventura to stand up for Snuka. If i was a fan in 78 it would make me want to see the house show. Definitely a good match.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...