Buddy Rose !

[JerryvonKramer]

Awesome post.

 

Will - is it possible just to get discs 1-6 of your Rose set? Or some way of having a bonus 79 disc for the Portland set? Send 15% commission to Matt D.

[Matt D]

Thanks guys.

 

Back to the write-ups.

 

Rose/Bass/Sheepherders vs Piper/Martel/Savage/Stasiak -2/3 Falls - 1/5/80

 

Well on paper this sounds great. There's a level of excitement here as this is right before the Martel vs Race match and Borne/Martel just ALMOST won the big tag titles (it was reversed). Faces work over Bass to start. Buddy comes in and sizes off against piper to the joy of the crowd. This is probably the fastest I've ever seen Roddy moves as he does a good job of keeping up with Buddy. It ends well with a cool little roll up out of a leapfrog. Heels get Piper in their corner and take over. Miller has a great knee drop to the throat. I love Bass' elbows into a chinlock too. He does them repeatedly and they keep it interesting. He keeps his knee on Piper's head to contain him to make the tag. Piper has come backs but they keep him in their corner. The faces keep trying to get in but they just make it worse for Piper who is selling this stuff like a dead man. Miller tosses Piper into the corner and it's actually really great. He does this jumping finish to it. Just little things. The heels are swarming on the apron and everywhere else. Bass goes up to the top but gets nailed by Savage on the outside leading to the hot tag to Stasiak. Good FIP, good hot tag. And Stasiak cleaning house is awesome before Martel gets to come in and look like a million bucks vs Buddy who dives into the ring post for him. He also takes this cool little double kick to the gut from Savage and Martel like it was a bazooka hitting him.

 

Faces take over on the arm. There's a crazy feel to this match given all the guys here. Martel has a lot of good arm offense even at this point and Buddy is really selling for him. Faces keep switching off as Williams ties to sneak in repeatedly. I like how Stasiak and Savage work together. Great old man pairing. Buddy is just getting wrenched to hell here. Someone needs to bring back Stasiak's pumphandle winglock. He pumps it fourteen times as the fans count along. Buddy finally makes it out mercifully and they start on Williams with Piper hitting some great arm drags. Buddy takes a powder mid-match after all that arm punishment making it 4 on 3. heels are getting overwhelmed here. One guy after the next ends up in an armlock. Buddy tries to come out with an elbow pad and haphazardly walks right into Dutch Savage's fist unknowingly. This is a long face control segment after the lengthy FIP on Piper but it's pretty entertaining considering who's in there. We're pretty deep into Heel in Peril territory though with the faces screwing around and cheating behind the ref's back and little heel hope spots after eye rakes and what not.

 

After a heart punch tease on Bass (Who drops down), they finally get Savage into their corner and the heels take back over. Buddy hits a DOUBLE AXE HANDLE on the prone Savage using his loaded elbow pad, but then he misses an elbow drop. Miller comes in, eats some knees on a big splash attempt and Savage gets a hot tag into Stasiak. Heels pull into the corner and go nuts on the corner pole with his leg which was hurt last week vs the Sheepherders. Buddy its another prone double axe handle, this time onto the leg. Great stuff. Bass puts him into a half crab and despite Piper trying to break it up. There's the fall.

 

I would have liked it if they built up the Stasiak leg situation a bit more at some point earlier in the fall but what we ended up getting was really good. Really fun fall with the Buddy Arm stuff building to the finish in an interesting way.

 

Second fall: As per Portland rules a limping Stasiak has to start vs Bass. Bass is trying to get the leg so we get some circling/positioning. They play up that Savage and Stasiak were working up a plan. It takes one touch for a tag to be possible. Bass gets a kick in on the leg but Stasiak immediately dives to Savage. Very cool stuff. Bass refuses to get out of his corner and Savage tosses him into his partners finally drawing him out. I haven't gotten to see much of Savage in this so it's good to see some. He's full of tricks. Piper tags in. Bit of stalling before a reset and a series of lock ups with Bass outpowering Piper. Roddy fails on a slam and gets slammed huge by Bass.They do a knucklelock test of strength but with Bass winning soundly. He's got great facial expressions. Crowd is behind Roddy who outfinesses Bass and hits some dropkicks. They move on to a headlock/headscissors exchange. This has been a pretty good story within a story. Savage at one point grabs Roddy's legs when he's in the headscissors to try to get him out. Eventually Roddy ends back up in the corner. Williams does a back elbow followed by a cool jumping elbow drop. Miller comes in and tries a back elbow but Piper ducks it for a hope spot that after three well-done detours leads to the hot tag to Martel who hits a rana into a pin on Buddy. Martel hits some nice offense on Buddy but the heels keep breaking up pins. Faces grind down on Rose including Piper doing a killer barrage of punches. There's only a minute left here and everything breaks down with all 8 guys in the ring fighting in the corners. Faces do a unison battering ram into the center of the ring with the heels' heads. Piper is in control as time runs out. Heels win since they got the only fall.

 

This had some of the best action I've seen and I really liked the first fall. The second fall had a few mini stories building towards the chaos of the end before it just petered out. The guys in this were just so good at what they did.

[Matt D]

Really great Frank Dusek turn and promo to set up a future match, but that's neither here nor there.

 

Buddy vs Stasiak - 2/3 Falls - January 19, 1980

 

Buddy starts out by challenging Martel and Piper for a Playboy Hair Match. Stan comes out boxing and Buddy goes out to stall. The audience participation part of the first fall is Stasiak winding Buddy around with a headlock fifteen times. He hangs on to the hair to keep Buddy in the headlock but breaks it and we have more stalling. Buddy goes for the Robinson backbreaker too early and gets pummeled for his trouble followed by a heart punch tease. After more stalling and another reset, Buddy goes for a hammerlock but gets his leg tripped out an Stasiak works over the ankle before trying to make a wish. He goes back to the ankle and this goes a little long though Buddy's desperation grabs for the ropes and general selling makes it. Stan's doing a good job too but it's just not that compelling. Buddy finally rakes his eyes and locks o a headlock only to get knee-breakered. Stasiak starts punching and kicking the hamstring/knee which Buddy sells huge. Another heart punch tease but Buddy gouges again and finally takes over, while still limping about.

 

He chokes Stasiak on the bottom rope and forces him to roll outside and we get a mini king of the mountain which makes a bunch of sense here and gets the fans riled. Stasiak reverses a whip into the corner once he gets in and clobbers Buddy with the heart punch for the first fall. This was pretty good but I've seen better out of them.

 

Second fall starts with Buddy complaining about the heart punch. Stasiak just smiles grimly and tries to do it again but misses and hits the turnbuckle. Buddy hits the floor, but jumps back in and goes for a quick roll up and then a funny little spot where he keeps trying to pull the tights and gets caught. Stasiak powers out of the full nelson and then does a goofy tight pulling roll up of is own to the delight of the fans. Funny stuff and Buddy gets furious. Knucklelock test of strength. Stasiak gets the better of it and when Rose starts to pull back, he gets hit by a pretty good dropkick. Stasiak locks on a nervehold and Buddy's selling is funny. He's really stooging here. He gets a couple of knees in and hits a slam leading to the inside backbreaker. He's pissed off though and picks up Stasiak at 2 so he can nail a top rope kneedrop into the spine. He gets the three fall and then hits another and almost gets dqed.

 

And, actually we don't have the third fall so I have no idea how this one ended. It didn't really hold a candle to the other matches between them but the comedy stuff was a lot of fun.

[Matt D]

Buddy Rose vs Martel - 2/3 Falls - First Fall Only - 2/9/80

 

I was worried we weren't going to have this at all. As it is, it seems like I just have the first fall to watch here. Bonnema brags that they have a main event to show them since most territories never show a main event. Martel won the belt the previous Thursday in Salem in two falls so Buddy is the challenger here. They actually shake to begin. Great stuff to begin with some wrestling/reversals followed by an awesome quick paced rope running and ending with a Martel 'rana for a near fall. Martel could keep up with Buddy better than anyone else in the territory at this point. Buddy takes a powder and comes back into a headlock, followed by a tease of the rope running, a great drop toehold and a really good Martel reversal to start armwork, which, as we all know by now, is a definite strength of Martel's. Here it's just a hammerlock but Martel really works it and Buddy's as good as always in selling and trying to get out. Really unique attempt to get out through going off the ropes. I've seen hang-on spots but never this particular one before. They switch it into wing lock (with Martel doing a great standing knee into the elbow too). It really looks like he's trying to wrench Buddy's arm off here. Buddy kicks out, but misses an elbow and gets armdragged into Oregon before they go back to another armlock, almost a cross arm breaker, but with Martel jamming his knee into Buddy's shoulder, allowing for just brutal looking selling from Buddy. Great facial expressions. This is really an extended version of the Buddy-Getting-Outwrestled-No-Matter-What shtick he uses sometimes but it's really turned up to 11. Martel has sort of a reverse top-wrist lock and he just grinds it making it look really nasty. Buddy is trying to escalate his way out of this including believably going for a flying head scissors! Martel doesn't let him get him over and really looks like a champion here. Buddy goes for the nose but ends up pinned and has to let go. This has been almost ten minutes of Martel working Buddy's arm but it's been incredibly compelling and well-worked. Rose FINALLY gets an edge, tossing Martel over the top but he steamboats back in and hits a dropkick as the crowd erupts.

 

Buddy goes for it again, Martel hangs on. Buddy's ready for it, but Martel headscissors him out. Buddy runs in, reverses a corner whip. Martel goes for a flash second rope body press, but Buddy ducks it. He starts in almost immediately on the now hurt ribs, making sure to sell just how battered he is in the process. Buddy honing in on a body part is a work of beauty. He does a slingshot where Martel's ribs go into the ropes and he ends up with his back draped over Buddy's knees. Martel fights up but ends up almost pinned. Buddy does it again; this time Martel makes it to the ropes but Buddy goes right back onto the back. Buddy does a great shoulder thrust into the shoulder, but goes for it again and Martel sunset flips him for a near fall. Buddy goes for the inside backbreaker. Martel blocks. Martel goes for it. Buddy blocks. Buddy goes for it. Hits it for the three count. I wish that Buddy had sold the arm JUST a little more because he usually does but it almost didn't matter since the last few minutes were so good. He also might have gone back to it in the later falls, which I don't have here so I don't know, maybe it paid off later.

 

This was great. If it's just a taste to come for what they have later in the year, I'm excited.

 

Buddy Rose vs Frank Dusek - 2/3 Falls - 2/18/80

 

Set up for this is great. Dusek is a lower card journeyman heel. Rose comes to the ring during a match of his vs Dutch Savage and starts coaching him. Dusek wants nothing to do with it and eventually gets pissed and unloads on Buddy to the fan's (and Dutch's delight). Then we get a promo saying that he found out Buddy was keeping him out of the top of the card and that he doesn't care what the fans think but he's going to go after Buddy. Good, compelling stuff. Pre-match Dusek helps to get over with the crowd by saying he doesn't care about money (Buddy had just flaunted money in a DB Cooper promo) and tossing it into the crowd. He just wants Buddy.

 

Anyone vs Buddy is pretty over but the a lot of the fans have taken a shine to Frank. This is for the title and he puts it around his waist before the match as a taunt, not letting Buddy get it back. Hopefully someone took some pictures of Dusek with it on so he had something to remember this moment. Dusek has some big offense early but also completely misses on an elbow drop, maybe the worst I've ever seen. Regardless Buddy is making him look great. Finally, he heads out for a break. Awesome, awesome spot. Buddy refuses to get in and is hanging by the ringpost, and Dusek just punches the fingers causing Buddy to fall off. I've never seen that before. Buddy takes over for a minute but then runs shoulder first into the turnbuckle and eats a really clumsy suplex out of a pile driver pick up. I don't know if Dusek was nervous or just not used to this sort of role but while he has good energy and has the fans behind him, there's definitely some question about what he's doing in there. Story early, in part is that Dusek wants him so badly that he keeps breaking the count and lets Rose rest as long as he wants. Finally Dusek had enough and grabbed a chair. Buddy runs back in first Dusek drops the chair and then slingshots Buddy out, following it up with an elbow from the apron. Despite the clumsiness this is pretty good stuff.

 

Rose finally makes it back in but uses Sandy Barr as a shield. He ducks and Rose eats a punch to the nose. Dusek hits a back suplex and lifts Buddy up at 2. He pays for a moment later by missing a fist drop off the ropes. Buddy tosses him over the top. Buddy follows him out to slam his head on the apron, but Dusek reverses and they tease a pile driver, but Buddy reverses it. Big moment. Buddy rolls him in, does some huge knees to the spine, before hitting the inside backbreaker. He doesn't pin him though. Instead he hits a knee drop, insult to injury and takes the pin. Very good first fall as Buddy was good enough to mask the sloppiness.

 

Second fall starts with Dusek hurting on the outside from eating punishment between falls. Buddy does a great billy goat butt while he's on the apron to knock him out again. He gets back in and but can't mount any offense. Buddy smothers him with a front facelock on the mat and the fans do a decent enough "We want Frank" chant, for Frank Dusek that is. Buddy does a good job of working the hold, with hope spots and enough moving about to keep it interesting. It's a pretty smart segment considering Dusek's apparent limitations. He finally gets a low knee to get out but Buddy's back on top of him with a good chinlock. Dusek gets out with an eye gouge. This is a solid heat segment with Dusek doing a very good job of trying to fight back in the most vulnerable way possible with very short, ineffectual hope spots and Buddy just giving him a beating but being unable to put him away. Finally Dusek gets his knees up on a splash and a shot in before reversing a whip into the corner. Buddy goes for the inside backbreaker but Dusek floats around, hits a hangman's clothesline off the ropes and slaps on the Cobra Clutch. Buddy fights but can't get out and that's the second fall. Really good stuff.

 

Third fall has some position, fighting til a Dusek russian leg sweep knocks them both down. Rose get sup first, goes for a slam but can't hold him and gets pinned. Tries for another but gets rolled up and then ends up in an abdominal stretch, a nice one too as Dusek punches the ribs. It doesn't last long before Buddy hip tosses him out. Very even here. Buddy gets a kick during a back body drop attempt by Dusek. Buddy goes for the inside backbreaker but, in the first time I've seen this in the portland I've been watching, Dusek kicks Barr accidentally. Buddy goes up to the top for another knee drop but Piper runs out (they were teasing a hair match between them) to push him off the ropes. Dusek snaps on the Cobra again, but Bass runs out and drags him out. Barr counts out Rose for the win. They set up Rose/Dusek vs Bass/Rose post match.

 

I really liked this. Great performance by Buddy in a very smart match, overcoming either jitters or just clumsiness from Dusek.

[Ricky Jackson]

Watched the Rose/Dusek angle and match last night--great stuff.

 

Also, this thread needs a bit of this to crank it up another notch:

[Graham Crackers]

Also, this thread needs a bit of this to crank it up another notch:

Thank you so much for posting this.

[Matt D]

Real life struck, but I'm back watching Buddy matches. Unfortunately I don't have time for the April Martel vs Buddy match tonight. I do have time for

 

Rose vs Steve Pardee - 2/3 Falls - March 22, 1980

 

They're really building to the Piper vs Rose blow off match. Piper's gone through the Sheepherders and taken Luke Williams' hair. Etc. This might be JIP as Pardee starts with a headlock and already looks blown up. Rose does a big suplex out of it and starts to really pick apart Pardee. Knee. Stomp. Choke on the top rope. A really nice open hand strike or two and a crazy back body drop where Pardee got twisted in midair. Robinson backbreaker and that's the fall. Buddy does a Rockers' flip over the rope between falls. Not much to this but all well executed and certainly builds him up for the big match.

 

Second fall is just Buddy grinding down. Eventually he grinds enough that Pardee gets really opened up. He bites the wound and Pardee bleeds all over the place. He's really brutal on the wound-working here. Will would approve. Sandy Barr, however, does not and he awards the fall to Pardee. When Buddy pulls back, pissed off, he has blood over his face from biting the wound. Ghastly. Pardee is just a bloody mess. This was all pretty sudden. They were trying to decide whether to award just the fall to Pardee or the match and Buddy rushes back out to destroy Pardee even more. The crowd is livid. Barr throws out the match and Buddy is beyond pleased. Eventually Piper comes out for a go home interview for the big match. This was pretty effective stuff and it's sort of amazing how much damage Buddy was able to do in such a small amount of time.

[Matt D]

Rose vs Martel - Non-Title - 2/3 Falls - April 26, 1980

 

Rose obviously lost the hair match vs Piper as he has a mask with a wig on it. It's amazingly awesome. Buddy takes a powder to begin and they start doing their stuff. Martel out-athleticisms Rose in a wrestling exchange. Buddy jumps outside again and tries to calm the hot crowd down. I love watching these two run the ropes. Buddy gets the advantage with a drop toe hold. He looks ridiculous with the mask and does a really killer elevated leglock before slapping on a nasty cross-legged toehold. He puts his weight down upon it and loads up his forearm for the crowd before nailing him. Martel's really selling this. Buddy's stuff is so good here and the payoff is amazing as Martel goes for the wig to get out only to get punched in the leg. Buddy follows up with a bunch of brutal kicks and leg dives and then an Indian Deathlock. Great stuff. I love that they went almost right to the heat in this first fall. After really working it, Martel rolls over to reverse it and it's a much cooler looking visual than a normal figure four reversal. Buddy flips it back over and locks it in again though he has a harder time keeping his shoulders up this time. Again, great stuff. Martel jams his palm against Buddy's chin to force him down and it's actually a pretty dynamic hope spot, especially once it starts to let him unload and escape. He's selling the leg huge though and it lets Buddy keep right on him. Bonnema goes on about the people Buddy has crippled and it's very effective announcing. Buddy goes for another leglock but Martel rolls him up for a hope cradle. Buddy has ton of varied and solid looking leg offense and this is all quite compelling. Buddy wrenches the leg and Martel desperately goes to anything to get out but can't.

 

Buddy goes for another butt drop on the leg in the ropes but Martel moves in a good callback spot into what looked like it'd be a transition but Martel goes for an atomic drop and jams his own bad leg in the process selling it like death. Buddy pulls him out and slams his leg twice into the ringpost then hits a beauty of a shin breaker and slaps on an immediate half crab for the fall. This was a great promise for the rest of the match. It wasn't as dynamic as a lot of other first falls I've seen in Portland because there wasn't much of a shine and no real comeback to speak of but it was super focused and created a mood and feel for the next falls.

 

Second fall starts with an announcement that despite the damage to his leg, Martel will continue the match. He limps down to the ring. Buddy shoots for the leg from the get go and Martel dances back. After a minute or so Buddy scores a great takedown and scissors up the leg. Buddy puts on another half crab but Martel is under the ropes. Buddy's relentless with a damaging blows until he drags Martel out again to slam the leg into the pole but Martel, on the second attempt, grabs Buddy's head and slams it into the pole. Martel, pissed off, rolls out after Buddy instead of taking the sure thing count out and picks him up, slamming his back into the pole. He's selling the leg really well throughout, between every single blow he lays in on Buddy's back. Great performance. He slams his back into the post again and the crowd is unglued here. Martel keeps limping in to break the count so he can do more damage.

 

He finally rolls him back in and hits some great elbow drops, selling after each one. Crowd is still nuts as Martel does axehandle after axehandle into the spine. He's just demolishing him but he's doing one of the best sell-jobs-on-offense I've ever seen. He finally puts on the Boston Crab on and Buddy gives it up. Awesome, awesome comeback.

 

Third fall has Martel taking the fight right to Buddy. He whips him into the corner and stumbles around clubbering the back. He hits a big backbreaker but uses his right leg so he doesn't hurt himself like last time. He's still selling after almost every shot though and it slow him down enough that Buddy can try to fight back but Martel hits a belly to back to reverse an attempt at a stalling headlock. Martel is dogged on the back until Buddy rakes the eyes but can't hit a slam due to his back hurting. The crowd goes nuts and even more so as Martel locks on an Abdominal stretch, but Rose grabs the hair and gets out quickly. Martel comes back quickly and wears him down a bit more before going for the mask. They end up with Buddy on the floor and Martel in the ring and he gets it off but the camera cuts to the Sheepherders coming in to cover him up. The live fans get to see it but the TV crowd doesn't. Buddy runs to the back and gets counted out and you know, I like it even if it's not exactly "Sports-driven" and is a little wonky. It was a great story driven finish that played perfectly into Buddy's character and was a very, very clear victory for Martel that sent the fans home wildly happy.

 

This was tremendous and I'm glad it lived up to the hype. It's really up there with Martel's best AWA stuff. His selling was brilliant and his offense was so fiery and spirited. I think the fact that he wasn't quite as experienced helped in some ways because it meant the match took less tangents. It was extremely focused and that made everything all the more logical and meaningful. That Buddy wrestled this match and really had this performance while wearing the goofy match which is not something he was used to at all can't be overlooked. Ultimately, it used the 2/3 falls structure as well as any match I've seen out of Portland as of yet.

[Exposer]

Matt, your reviews make me want to go back and watch some of this shit from the Buddy comp. Goddamn, I love the Rose-Martel series.

[Johnny Sorrow]

[Matt D]

Buddy vs Martel - 5/17/80 - 2/3 Falls for the Title

 

Buddy is still rocking the ridiculous white mask/wig. Some lady gives Martel flowers before the match. Oh man! It's so Buddy can destroy them. So carny. Sandy Barr throws the belt down in disgust. It's a ploy so Buddy can get in and ambush Martel who chases him but Rick gets the upper hand quickly and Buddy has to take a powder. Great start. The females in the crowd are erupting and Barr is still selling it like Rose committed some blasphemy. It finally settles down with Martel locking on a headlock but the crowd is still riotous. This is some of the most excited I've ever seen a crowd for an extended headlock, but Martel really grinds it in and Buddy's trying desperately to calm them down (Which just makes them stay loud, of course). Every time Buddy goes for Martel's hair or something we get more noise. Buddy pushes him off the ropes and they do this amazing dueling shoulder block/super-fast sunset flip spot. It's great. Then Martel locks back on the headlock. Did Martel pop the territory with females or something? I feel like I'm watching an 84 RnR match in mid south or something. They keep building to Buddy trying something and Martel doing something big (in this case a frankensteiner) before locking the headlock back on. This feels a lot more like AWA Martel with a base that they go in and out of and Buddy's a great foil for him. The crowd is hotter for Martel here than any AWA crowd I can think of which is a testament to how he's been booked, to Buddy, and to the Portland atmosphere. It's adding a lot to what would otherwise still be a very good first fall. Buddy finally gets out and goes for a dropkick but Martel catches him and I think Buddy does the most amazing sell of a catapult into the corner I've ever seen.

 

Martel goes into the corner to come off with the headlock again but Buddy turns it into a back suplex. Buddy's hurting but takes over with his usual nice looking offense, focusing on the back. The fans are really rallying for Martel here. He hits a Calf Branding but does it into the square of the back instead of the head. Holy crap. Then a huge Robinson backbreaker and that's the fall and the fans are irate. GREAT first fall. Extremely straightforward but just absolutely beautiful pro wrestling. If that was the entire match it would be a great match.

 

Second fall starts with Buddy hammering in on the back still (because that's how Portland falls work), including absolutely brutal kicks as Martel is up dangling in the corner. He ends up falling over the ropes and according to Bonnema hit the apron on the way down. Buddy keeps on the back using the ring post. Martel sells like a king. Buddy goes for an abdominal stretch but Martel reverses it. Buddy uses the hair to hip toss him off. Martel's selling huge so Buddy gets up first and starts right back on the spine, including a nice elbow drop, after which he pins him and counts along with the ref arrogantly. Buddy goes for a gutwrench suplex but Martel reverses it. Buddyis up first as Martel is selling but Martel reverses a front vertical suplex as well. Buddy is up first again but this time Martel's ready and he hammers Buddy with a forearm (selling the back afterwards) and then a whip into the corner (still selling), before unloading with fists. He hits a slam (and hey! he sells again). This lets Buddy get back up and try for a whip. Martel reverses it into the sleeper though! That's the fall. I loved the way Martel's comeback built and how he kept selling even to the point that it built into the finish. It was a short fall but it was great. Of course, Martel has to wake up Rose after the fall. Martel is a dick about it though. He finally does it with Buddy spasming accordingly.

 

Third fall starts with Buddy screwing with the turnbuckle. Martel's still selling his back. The fans are shouting and pointing so Barr goes and checks it out. Martel kind of whips around the ring, never letting Rose out of his gaze to check it out too. It does give Rose the rest period he needs and he starts out on Martel only to get reversed into a backslide near fall. Martel unloads in the corner, is reversed in a whip, goes for a reverse body press off the ropes, but hits hard as Buddy ducks. Buddy starts on the back of the neck and then goes for HUGE punches but Martel reverses and they're slugging at each other in the corner now until Martel gets the upper hand. He hits a mare and goes for an elbow drop but misses. Buddy stomps the midsection and goes for a splash but lands on the knees. This is really back and forth but everything is measured and has weight. Martel hits a few shots to the midsection, tosses Buddy into the corner and locks on the sleeper again! Sheepherders come in, nail Barr, and then start on Martel with the flag. Piper and Dutch savage make the save.

 

I don't know. I think this was probably a better match than the April one. I know that one's more highly touted but this was just a beautiful, beautiful match. The first fall was really tight and so well worked. The second fall had a great story that I loved and it was executed brilliantly and then the third fall had a less satisfying finish than the april match but was a more complete, exciting fall, if that makes sense. They're both amazing matches though.

[Ricky Jackson]

Oh yeah, I'm watching this bad boy tonight!

[Matt D]

Ok enough random lucha. Onwards.

 

Buddy And the Army (Buddy/Sheepherders) vs Savage/Martel/Piper - 2/3 Falls - May 24, 1980

 

Pre Match they have a little flag waving contest. The crowd's pretty heated for this already. Buddy tries to destroy Martel's roses again and gets nailed for his trouble. Savage tarts out slamming heads together and clearing house. Meanwhile people are walking around the crowd with that US flag. I remember well our war with New Zealand. Savage drops down and Williams runs into Martel's forearm on the apron Miller hit a kidney shot on Martel but that just pisses him off. He's doing these giant downwards chops to a prone Miller and the fans are loving it. Piper comes in and unloads with a flurry. Bonnema took some time to go on about how Ricky and Roddy were the biggest babyfaces in the territory since Snuka or even Mayne. Buddy is a presence on the outside, breaking up a pin over the top rope but then no one wants to tag in vs Roddy. Buddy delegates Luke in and Savage shows them his ass. Buddy's willing to go in there vs "the old fella with the bad leg though." Buddy goes for it but misses a seat drop in the rope selling it in the stoogiest way possible. Buddy gets the advantage with a kick to the leg, though, and the heels start to really take over on it, cutting off hope spots with ample targeting. Ref is distracted as Williams tries to go in without a tag and Savage hits a low blow and making the hot tag to Martel.

 

Williams gets a knee up on a back body drop though and the heels start on Martel. Despite dirty tactics and smart tags they can't keep him down and he gets advantage, tagging Savage in. Right back to the leg and then into the heels' corner. Faces distract the ref in anger and they put Savage into the ringpost, shoulder first on the outside. Buddy holds back the Sheepherders and despite Martel and the fan trying to explain to the ref what happened if, he counts Savage out for the first fall. Heels celebrate by running the NZ flag around the ring. Buddy pretending to play baseball with it is hilarious and it pays off as the flag flies off and the Sheepherders get incensed.

 

Second fall has the heels back on the same page for the most part. Savage has to start the second fall since that's how it works in Portland and the heels immediately work over the arm/shoulder.Dutch fights back by biting the ear in desperation (Bonnema says it's a thumb to the eye but I see what I see). Buddy makes the quick tag to cut off the hope though. Savage is awesome in roughing hs way out of thee, this time fishhooking Williams in the face. Heels cause the ref to miss the tag to Piper though. Tag to Miller to cut off the hope. Back on the arm. Savage hits a punch off the rope but Buddy reaches in to cut it off. Tag to Williams. Good heat segment. Collision with Williams but both guy are out of position. Savage rolled across the ring and make the hot tag to Piper. It breaks down in a big way until Piper slaps on the sleeper ("Martel has taught Piper the sleeper). Martel gets Buddy in one on the outside and Savage ties up Miller. That's the second fall. Good stuff with the great image of Rose and Williams both unconscious in the ring. They drape the US flag over the heels then fold it up properly before taunting the NZ flag. Rose comes along but the heels can't get Williams awake and the crowd laughs and laughs.

 

Between falls Martel finally wakes him up. The Third fall starts with Piper unloading on Williams. They draw Piper into the corner and try to jam the arm but Piper slaps a sleeper right back on. Miller runs in to break it up and the heels take over momentarily. Buddy tries to punch it out with Piper and pays for it. Piper start on the mask and it all breaks down again. Ref is distracted allowing Miller to hit Piper with the flag and Buddy gets a very quick win.

 

This wasn't at the level of a lot of the other stuff I've been watching but it was sure as hell fun and definitely set up things for the future (Dissension, including the fact that Miller has the next Title shot on Tuesday, which then gets cancelled to set up a six man coal miner's glove match because Savage is so pissed off over the flag finish and the way the Sheepherders were bragging about it).

[Matt D]

Buddy Rose vs Butch Miller - 2/3 Falls - June 7, 1980

 

First and foremost, the blowoff Tag between the Sheepherders and Piper/Martel was great. I loved it. I loved the way the heels got their comeuppance through the falls with the faces still looking vulnerable. That match ended with Buddy accidentally whacking a Sheepherder with the flag and hilariously continuing to attack him post match behind the other's back. Buddy got caught and I have to admit, as much as I looked forward to the Martel vs Rose matches, I am really, really looking forward to seeing Crazy Butch Miller get his hands on Buddy, even if this happened 30+ years ago.

 

Buddy is taking the match under protest because the sponsors demanded it. Bless those sponsors. They had been wrestling in the loop over the last week, with the Herders getting the advantage but we don't have those matches. We have this one. Crowd is hot for Miller and Bonnema sort of plays it up as bewildering for the Sheepherders. Buddy immediately takes a powder. He's still wearing the match/wig. In one of the previous matches in the loop Miller got it off and Buddy took the countout to the back. In another match Buddy teamed with Ivan Volkoff, who from the one match I've seen is pretty rough.

 

Buddy is stalling like he's never stalled before. The crowd is chanting for Miller. He finally gets his hands on him and Buddy sells all around the ring. He tries to escape and Miller hangs on to the tights causing a full moon which is actually not a spot they went to often up until now. Big kneelift and back body drop. Miller stooges for the fans but keeps on Buddy leading to a bump right into the ring post. Buddy tumbles out and sells like he's been killed for twenty minutes, not three as the fans eat it up. Miller rolls out and bites Buddy before stooging for the crowd again. Flying back elbow in the middle of the ring and three elbow drops and the pin.

 

This is seriously the most I've ever seen Buddy squashed and it was the perfect time to do it. Great moment and the crowd loved every second of it. Buddy just made Miller as a babyface in that fall. Butch tosses him out post-pin. Between the falls, Rose tries to loosen the turnbuckle.

 

Miller starts the second fall with a bunch of great kidney shots before he goes after the mask as the crowd erupts. It costs him though as Buddy's able to clap his legs around his head. It's just a blip as Miller hits a few throat shots and goes right back to the mask. Buddy gets another cheap shot (eyerake), but Miller reverses a whip into the corner, calls to the fans again, and eats another eyerake. Buddy slaps on a desperate chinlock to contain Miller as the fans chant for him even louder than before. Ref raises the hand twice, but Miller goes right back to the midsection and then throat. Then he starts doing some grade A clubbering to the face/skull. Rose capitalizes on Miller putting his head down with a kick and hits a flying back elbow of his own only to get chucked off at a two count causing more fan eruption. Buddy does these forearm smashes to the skull like Miller had been doing. I've never seen Buddy do them before but they look great. He follows up with a bite. Rope-Jerk to the throat and a nice looking knee drop but Miller chucks him off again. Two corner whips. The second Miller reverses but Buddy gets his knees up, Flairs his feet onto the second rope and gets the lightning pin. He keeps on Miller after the fall. This is pretty simple stuff but it's great due to the heat and due to the sheer vulnerability Buddy is showing. He got out of that fall by the skin of his teeth and it's all in his ringwork. He no longer has back up. He's on his own against a beast in Miller and he's fighting for his life.

 

Third fall starts with the fans chanting for Butch. Buddy tries to fire away but he can't stand toe to toe with Miller and immediately begs off. Buddy gets a lucky kidney shot in the corner, ducks out and slams a leg into the corner from the outside. He then pulls Miller out and slams his head against the pole. Buddy is a shark who smells blood, just battering the hell out of Miller on the outside however he can, occasionally rolling in to break the count. You can't beat a Sheepherder this way though and Miller fights back enough that Buddy can't roll back in and both guys get counted out. Miller's opened up and the two guys are just brawling like crazy. The undercard guys try to break it up and this is really good, really heated stuff. The image of three guys holding back a bloodied Miller is awesome and he gets away anyway! They end up in the ring again. Great brawl post-match. This made Miller look like a million bucks, Rose utterly desperate but still tough enough to get his licks in and definitely made ME want to see more and I'm sure the crowd as well.

 

[Matt D]

BATTLE ROYAL - June 14, 1980

 

They moved the anything goes match with Miller and Rose to the Tuesday after the last match and switched the Battle Royal to Saturday which works for us as we get to see it. I am not going to go through this thing like usual. I'll just point out cool things in bullet point format.

 

-One interesting thing about the portland footage I've been watching is that it's really just the top of the card. Sometimes there's the extra match but i rarely have sense of what's going on in the rest of the card. This is 13 men so it's everyone in the area at the time.

-Steve Pardee, Roddy Piper, Mike Hennesey, Martel, Ricky Hunter, Tough Tony Borne, Sal Martino, Luke and Butch, Chris F'n Colt! Igor Volkoff, Rose, Rip Rogers

-Rose is great from the get go, running in and out of the ring to avoid the Sheepherders. Piper is also great just unloading on everyone.

-The crowd is irate for Rose to go in the ring. Battle Royals were huge draws back then and you can feel the excitement here.

-Ha! Sandy Barr is just chasing Buddy around ringside trying to cajole him in. Now one of the Sheepherders is chasing after him.

-Bonnema says it's a minimum $1500 purse "probably more with side bets" which is such a cool idea that it's a shame it gets brushed over so quickly.

-Okay, this is one of the coolest Battle Royal spots of all time. Sal Martino has Rip held and Pardee is about to dropkick him. Buddy comes flying in the ring, disrupts the dropkick out of nowhere allowing Rip to move and Pardee to accidentally dropkick Martino out. Buddy keeps on moving out of the ring. The timing on this is amazing.

-Buddy pulls Piper's tights from the outside. Piper comes out. Colt comes out and holds him. Martel comes out to break it up and Buddy rabbits around the ring again. He heads down the aisle but Martino is leaving ringside and threatens him back. Everyone hates poor Buddy.

-Piper is going at the Sheepherders (And Pardee) but not Martel. He was really made for 1980 Battle Royals

-I get worried that Chris Colt was eliminated, but he's just hiding. Tony Borne goes and it was nice to see him briefly.

-Buddy pulls Butch under the ring rope and out but gets reversed into the pole and they brawl on the outside.

-Piper and Martel just about have Rip out but Buddy grabs all three of them and pulls the mass of humanity out from the outside. The base villain.

-Chris Colt begs off against Hunter(?) for no reason! Go Chris Colt. Oops. He got eliminated.

-Buddy goes for the leg of Miller again meaning to drag him out but gets dragged in instead. We're down to Sheepherders, Hunter, Volkoff and Rose. Rose sends Volkoff after Hunter, but he's a scrappy fighter. Rose comes to help and they toss him.

-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.

[Ricky Jackson]

Someone should see if Rip Rogers is up for a podcast, or even an invite to PWO or something. He's all over YouTube commenting on old school matches like these.

[Dylan Waco]

Someone should see if Rip Rogers is up for a podcast, or even an invite to PWO or something. He's all over YouTube commenting on old school matches like these.

Dave and I have discussed asking him to come on WC

[goodhelmet]

You need new initials, like TWCP. I keep thinking of Wrestling Classics.

[Matt D]

Buddy vs Butch Miller - Lumberjack Match - June 21, 1980

 

So the new army is Rose, Rogers, and Wiskowski, which is as good as a stable gets. Same crew that was there for the battle royal is there, basically. Buddy still has the hair mask. Miller's early offense is a bunch of shots up and down. The ones to the gut Rose sells huge. I feel like Miller had some of his later mannerisms already a a heel but as a face, they're all there. Buddy can't escape so Butch is all over him with measured blows, stalking around the ring. Rose finally makes it out but he ends up right by Luke and Roddy and gets rolled back in. Miller goes for the mask and Buddy rakes the eyes and takes over.

 

He's in the corner Flair chopping which I haven't seen him do much before. Fans are chanting for Butch but Buddy sends him out by the heels. The faces come over to stop them but Buddy still is able to kick him right back out. They're using the toss-outs as transitions, as Butch comes back with kicks of his own when he comes back in. Rose rabbits! The faces (And Volkoff, the commie scum!) bring him back. No transition this time as Butch keeps on him. He had a pretty good flying back elbow at this point. He follows up with an elbow drop but misses. Rose rolls him up off the rope wanting to end this but Butch kicks out and drives Buddy's head into the mat for a near-fall (With Roddy knocking his feet off the ropes). Buddy tries to rabbit again but gets dragged back. The crowd is loving this. He comes back in to a Miller slam but reverses a pile driver.

 

Buddy hits a body slam of his own and hits a top rope splash! I like how active the lumberjacks are here. This time Luke tried to stop him but Buddy was too quick. Big spot but just a two count. Rose complains too much and Miller starts on him again with a double turnbuckle treatment. He goes for the mask again but Rip is up on the apron. He throws in a chain but Roddy sees it and tries to stop. He gets nailed but it gives Butch time to take out Rose from behind. and get the win I THINK what happens is that he slams into him and Buddy goes crashing into the corner, head hitting his outstretched hands, including the chain. It's a pretty cool, quick visual moment.

 

Everything breaks down post match with Buddy getting the upperhand on the faces with the chain which leads to Roddy finally getting past his differences and teaming with the Sheepherders in a big moment. Very fun for what it was with an extremely clever finish.

 

EDIT: Context matters. There's a Rip vs Roddy match from earlier that night which is super, just a great under-seven minutes match which has a finish where Buddy threw the chain to rip that made the finish of the later match even better. Piper's promo between the two matches is really good too.

[Matt D]

Man, it's been two weeks since more Buddy was posted, but here it is. I'm pumped for it. Apparently Rip ate the fall in the six man so we're ROBBED of a Rose/Rogers/Wiskowski faction. Ah well.

 

Rose/Wiskowski vs Sheepherders - 2/3 Falls - July 5, 1980 - Non-Title

 

Sound is a little muted which is strange for these, but we'll do our best. Face Sheepherders are fun. Butch is dancing along to the "We Want Butch" chants. He's the only man in the world who can sell punches by moving his jaw like he was chewing. Anyway, Wiskowski tries outpunching Miller only to get beaten and slides through the ropes comedically like they were, well, a slide. They do a cute little spot where Rose gets knocked off the apron before the tag and then after the tag. He still has the mask. He draws Williams into the corner, does a cheapshot kick but gets reversed into the corner and Williams starts to dismantle him with strikes. Finally, Wiskowski draws Butch in and as the ref gets him out, he hits a cheapshot on Williams from the outside and the heels take over.

 

Long and uninteresting chinlock on Williams from Wiskowski until Luke uses the hair to get out. Quick tag to buddy cuts off the hope though. Heels are cutting off the ring. Wiskowski's headlock punches are great. They do a parallel spot from before where Ed takes out Miller on the apron (With Buddy hitting he exclamation point on the outside) meaning that Luke, twice, can't get the hot tag. Once Wiskowski sets up a nice roll up nearfall out of it. The second time, Buddy leans in heelishly and when Miller recovers to break up a pin, he's stuck with Barr thus missing a third tag attempt by not being in the corner. He gets knocked off again and Rose attacks him on the outside AGAIN and we get a FOURTH missed tag. This is good, focused stuff as they just keep on tagging in and out and dismantling Williams and deceitfully and brutally preventing a tag. Buddy does the body drop to the shoulders, which is something I've seen Ed do, but not Buddy. Eventually Buddy cheatingly attacks Wiliams from the outside and Butch drives him away from ringside. This means that they can't prevent the hot tag and the crowd comes unglued when they get it. Butch hits his big back elbow and an elbow drop and takes the fall. Really well timed/executed/conceived first fall (And different than anything we've seen over the last year+).

 

Second fall starts with Miller tagging in Williams, who is rightfully pissed and Buddy begging off. Buddy misses a back elbow. Luke hits a flying back elbow and then a knee drop but just for a two count this time. Miller comes back in and riles the crowd up but Buddy dives under the ropes and tries to tag. Barr prevents it and the Sheepherders each take a leg and pull Buddy back to his corner. Funny stuff. When Barr complains, Buddy almost gets the tag again but is cut off hilariously. The transition is fun. Buddy takes two knee drops to the inside of the thigh by Luke and kicks out of a lateral press. Then he grabs Williams' head and claps his legs around it, stunning him long enough to get the tag to Wiskowski. Clever little ring general move out of Buddy.

 

Ed batters a bit and slaps on a chinlock. It's a good camera angle and Luke's expressions sort of make it interesting. Buddy draws Butch in from the apron and then blindsides him to the outside when Barr yells at him. Buddy keeps on Miller outside meaning that when Luke goes for the tag, there's no one there. Heels keep on Williams including a beautiful elbow drop by Buddy and the big diving headbutt from Ed. Buddy keeps Miller from entering the ring from the outside and that's the second fall. It's really cool they went back to their original tactic. The diversity in these matches is amazing. I've seen dozens of tag matches put of portland in 79-80 and this is the first time they've done anything like this and they build the entire match out of it. It's an element of Rose and these matches that you'd never ever know if you didn't see all of them like I'm doing but it's downright amazing. The variation in these matches while keeping everything logical and grounded and reaching such high levels of storytelling on a weekly basis is like nothing I've ever seen or heard of.

 

Between falls, Buddy keeps going to the top and teases jumping off but doesn't get to because Miller gets up or Barr gets in his way. Third fall starts with Williams still beaten up. Buddy shoulder shrugs him out through the bottom rope and they keep on him on the outside until Miller can come and protect him with a nice brotherly hug. Heels draw Williams back to their corner and doubleteam (one holds, one hits). Williams fights back but loses to the numbers' game. This time though, Buddy goes for a big knee off the ropes and Luke moves, meaning that Buddy hits Wiskowski and we get a hot tag. Everything breaks down. Heels are whipped together and Ed goes flying athletically through the ropes. Sheepherders hit the DOUBLE GUTBUSTER which I think is the first time I see them do that. Williams won't leave the ring though and this gives Buddy time to get a chair and start to clear house. He gets DQed but they open up Miller with it. Buddy throws Barr out of the ring but Piper comes out with a chair to clear the ring. Buddy and Ed keep trying to attack from the outside. The fans are so riled that some get involved. Bonnema: "You wouldn't go to a football game and make a tackle." Etc.

 

Anyway, my gushing about variation and switching things up aside, this was a lot of fun. The heels had a tactic which worked for them most of the first fall, backfired leading to the fall itself, and worked wonders leading to the second fall before everything broke down at the end. Great stuff as always. The post match sets up a Cole Miner's Death Match with Piper as ref.

[Matt D]

Rose/Wiskowki/Fidel Cortez vs Sheepherders/Jonthan Boyd - 2/3 Falls - July 19, 1980

 

No idea who Fidel Cortez is. They're still running Rose/Wiskowki vs Sheepherders at the top of the card and hyping a potential double hair match (Wiskoski AND the Sheepherders want nothing to do with it. Buddy would have to take off the mask). Apparently the 'herders at this point are selling gimmick photos of Rose without hair. Brilliant. How is Don Owen not a great promoter? There's a great promo before this where Rose offers Wiskowki his purse money if he goes along with the match. He finally convinces him.

 

Anyway, Cortez has your typical Cuban Assassin Castro look down to the hat and cigar. Boyd gets a HUGE reaction. Cortez and Boyd starts and Cortez is not bad at stooging and has pretty good facial expressions here in the early shine armwork, which is pretty good and moves along nicely. Finally, he forces his way to the corner, tags in Buddy and the crowd pops big for Buddy vs Boyd, so, of course, Rose immediately tags out to Wiskowki and the two of them go at it. Boyd gets the better of it and the crowd is hugely into this. They go back to armwork on Wiskowki and it's all very solid. They cut off Ed getting to the corner a few times, but he finally snatches a leg between his own only to get kicked off right into Rose in a fun comedy spot. Poor Ed finally (and dramatically) reaches Cortez. Buddy tries to interfere immediately thereafter but Boyd runs around and stops him to the crowd's delight. Cortez finally gets lucky and puts a chinlock on Luke, but the fans chant him up and he nails a hart attack clothesline off the ropes and goes right back to armwork. Cortez fights back again, this time on Miller, but Butch reverses a corner whip and ambles to his corner letting Boyd come in.

 

The heels triple team Boyd, with Rose finally getting his chickenshit hands on him, but Boyd comes back huge on Wiskowki, slams him, and hits the big bombs away knee from the top to take the fall. Really entertaining first fall.

 

I wonder if Barr was the only ref in the territory. Past Dutch Savage, occasionally, I haven't seen anyone else ref. That had to be tiring. Anyway, heels tried to sneak another guy in to start the second fall but it had to be Wiskowki. Boyd does this kind of neat nipple nerve lock thing. Heels menace from the outside but faces counter. Miller tags in. Faces double team and Wiskowki stooges back into his corner. Cortez comes in and hits a butt attack to reverse a shoulder throw. Miller starts to sell the shoulder from this and the ensuing stomp to the outside. Cortez looks pretty good to be honest. I'm not sure why I haven't heard of him before. Heels do a King of the Mountain with Barr continuously distracted before finally letting Miller in. This is a perfectly fine heat segment. I like Cortez' overblown stomps, which send Miller out the ring the other side. Heels get him on the outside again as Cortez faces off against Williams on the apron to distract. Miller's back in the ring and they're keeping him from the corner effectively, cutting off the ring and grinding down with pedestrian holds. Miller gets a hope spot off of an eye gough escape but the heels tag quickly and cut it off. He works from underneath, literally with good looking strikes but Buddy gets the tag and cuts him off. They sort of stumble through a back elbow reversal spot and Boyd gets the hot tag and finally gets in with Rose. He keeps tossing Buddy out and dragging him back in but Buddy makes it to his corner to Cortez who gets a quick clothesline or two on Williams, followed by a nice looking grounded cobra clutch and that's the second fall. It's really amazing how Williams is positioned below Miller. You don't think of the Sheepherders like that.

 

Third fall starts with Cortez clotheslining Williams (who was still on the apron heading back in) on the top rope). He sells the throat and the heels keep on it cheaply while distracting the ref. Buddy uses a nice cravat. He grinds it and wrenches it well as Williams sells. Then Wiskowki does the same. Most of Luke's hope spots here are eyerakes and bites but the crowd is into them and the cut offs are well timed. Williams' works well from underneath, working towards his corner while in a neck vice. Wiskowski runs around and pulls Miller off the apron to help prevent a hot tag. This is sort of interesting. It's something that I hadn't seen at all in 79-80 and now they've done it two times in a month or so. It was very similar to when they started to implement the ref missing hot tags after never doing that before. You wonder if Wiskowski saw it in another territory and brought it in or what.

 

Anyway, hot tag to Boyd. Crowd goes nuts. He charges into the corner too quickly though and Rose gets his knees up. Considering how hot he's been for Rose all match this was good. Heel start to dismantle him, with Wiskowski and then Cortez doing a revenge claw hold from how Boyd did it to them earlier. This is instead of targeting the shoulder and it's a mistake as Boyd gets out and to the corner for a sort of heatless tag to Williams as Rose comes in. Williams gets some revenge for the long heat segments, but he jams his arm on a missed knee drop and has to roll over for Miller who gets a big pop and immediately starts to beat on Rose. Cortez comes in to break up a pin and everything breaks down. Boyd chases Cortez back to the dressing room, but in the chaos Wiskowski (who had put on the wig and was NOT the legal man) sneaks into the ring and rolls up Miller, grabbing the tights, for a three. Pretty strong finish with the end result being that the Sheepherders are so pissed off they accept the hair tag match, which is now in a cage.

 

Really good six man. Boyd brought a lot to the table and I rather liked Cortez actually.

[Matt D]

Rose/Wiskowski vs Piper/Martel - Tag Titles - 2/3 Falls - Aug 2 1980

 

They'd been playing up how Piper/Martel would get flowers before the matches from fans for months. This match, Rose and Wiskowski get them too. There better damn well be a foreign object in one or something. Anyway, this is because the Sheepherders left the territory after losing that double hair match with the Army. The belts were vacant and Owen put them up between the two logical teams. They're also building to a no DQ title match between Martel and Rose the upcoming Tuesday.

 

Piper and Rose to start. Stooging right from the get go as Wiskowki holds Piper from the outside but Roddy ducks and Buddy nails his partner. This is followed immediately by a ridiculously awesome Rose somersault bump off of a turnbuckle treatment in the corner and both heels bumping huge for Piper's punches to the fans' delight. Bit of back and forth before Martel tags in to a huge pop and he starts unloading on a begging off Buddy. Martel grinds a headlock to a ten count and tags in Piper who's about to grab Rose when he does a slow fall backwards.The timing on this stuff is great. Piper slaps on the headlock, repeats the ten grinds as the fans count along and then hits a dropkick knocking Rose out of the ring. Buddy's falling all over the place on the outside selling, stumbling, and asking for time out. He rolls in to a flying mare, that cool double stomp face split, and a head drop from Piper but manages to get a knee up in the corner and a quick enough tag to Wiskowki that they stop the tag to Martel and we get the beginnings of a heat segment. Great shine.

 

Wiskoski is going back to the double stomach claw he used vs Boyd which is a good visual move for him given his size. Ah, Piper's left side of the back was injured in an attack by the Army apparently, so they're honing in on that especially. Piper's great in the hold, struggling and trying to get over to make the tag. Rose runs around to nail Martel with a cheapshot delaying it and allowing Ed to snap on a nice looking bodyscissors roll to get Piper away from the corner. He keeps the hold on, continuing on the ribs/side while Piper tries to work towards the corner again. Great sense of struggle here as the fans go nuts in support and Martel reaches for all he's worth from outside. At one point, Piper gets his foot over and Martel grabs it, trying to drag him over, but Barr breaks it up. Then Piper starts flailing wildly with his arms to make a potential tag (still in the body scissors) until Wiskowski uses his side to scoot back to the center of the ring and it's all top notch stuff. Rose tags in and slaps the hold on again, doing some big leverage moves to sort of atomic drop Piper on the ma and tries to turn it into a pin. Piper scrambles for the corner, but Rose quickly tags Ed and they cut him off. Piper goes through the legs but Wiskowski manages to position himself between Roddy and Rick. Piper fights his way out of the heel corner, DIVES for the tag with a whipped out arm, but Wiskowki grabs his foot at the last second and pulls him back and then quickly grabs the clawhold again, with a added jab, to stop Piper long enough for Rose to come back in, but Piper's just too determined and he manages to roll away at the last second for the hot tag. That was one of the best hot tag sequences I've ever seen and Martel has almost Promethean fire empowering him as he cleans house, with punches, an awesome looking hip through, a few quick, tight dropkicks, and a 'rana into a pin for the fall. This was one of the best single falls I've seen in Portland and that's saying a lot.

 

Second fall starts with Wiskowski trying to start, but Barr disallows it. Heels conference in the corner and Martel slams their heads together. They do some quick rope running and after a backslide, I thought they were going to keep it up and do Savage/Steamboat near falls for a second. Instead, Rose rolls out and stalls to work the crowd. He walks around the ring, rolls in and tags Wiskowski from a prone position. His mannerisms are really great. Martel and Wiskowski start working a headlock base (Martel in charge). Rose blind tags in after a minute or two but ends up in a headlock too. Martel's very good at working this. His diving reversal of Rose's hairpull is particularly good. Buddy keeps trying to cheat his way out, by grabbing the hair or tights. Piper goads Wiskowki around the apron and then does a blind switch with Martel while Barr is distracted. Barr catches the end of it and looks bemused. It's kind of weird to see Piper do running headlock takeovers off the turnbuckles. Piper positions Buddy into the corner for the tag they do a cute little spot where Piper lets go of the headlock, Buddy rears back, and Martel catches the hand from behind and puts him right back into the headlock. Martel does a great backflip off the turnbuckle and then that corner hiptoss of his I really like. Buddy ducks away from a dropkick though and it's one of the best missed dropkicks I've ever seen. There's this super fast element of flailing feet that's just great.

 

Rose makes it to the corner and Wiskowski starts on Martel's ribs (where he landed after the dropkick). Martel's selling is so good, as in "one of the best ever" good in this. Wiskowski is both methodological and dogged, keeping his offense varied and giving it time to breath as he stalks the selling Martel around the ring. using the ropes as a prop and switching stomps with a slam with a bearhug. He controls ring positioning with the bear hug, which lets Rose cut off a the beginning of a hope spot and tag in, using an argentinian backbreaker, which I've not seen him use before. He marches Martel back into the corner and drops his head onto the turnbuckle before just exchanging it with Wiskowski in a cool looking moment. Piper rushes in to break it up but Wiskowski just slaps on the bear hug again. This is a great heat segment and very different than the Piper one from the first fall. Rose, cheerleading on the outside, jumped on the bottom turnbuckle and broke the rope. I assume that was a mistake. Anyway, Piper gets fed up again and comes in. Barr gets distracted. Buddy comes in without a tag. He clotheslines Piper on the top rope with a catapult and lands him on his knees, working int into a backbreaker hold. Martel bridges up to the ropes and drops a knee. Rose cuts him off and tries to slam his head onto the mat, but Martel reverses it, so Rose desperately punches Piper off the apron to prevent a tag. Great moment. Buddy rolls Martel up but Piper rushes in and starts pounding on him. Barr restrains him. Wiskowski runs in and Rose grabs the broken turnbuckle and smashes it across Martel's back. Wiskowski puts the bear hug back on and drives him down to a pinning situation but Martel tries to fight his way on top out of it. I'm amazed that wasn't the end of the fall. They really protect Martel in this. Barr breaks the hold and Wiskowski clubbers and hits an atomic drop but Piper breaks up the pin. Rose comes in. Martel leap frogs him off the ropes but Buddy turns it around catching him in basically a boss man slam Robinson backbreaker variation that looks awesome and I'm not sure anyone had ever seen before. This time Wiskowski comes in to cut off Piper and that's the second fall. Great stuff, with a finish way ahead of its time in both details and complexity.

 

Third fall has the rope fixed. Martel is still reeling. They start on Martel but he reverses a Wiskowski suplex. Rose gets a phantom tag and tries to cut him off, but Martel reverses a gutwrenchsuplex and then a headlock into a back suplex. He's not able to follow up at all though due to the hurting back and how he keeps using his back to reverse. Rose tags out to Wiskowski who cuts him off but Martel fights back with punches in the corner, selling huge as he does. He's basically using the ropes to stand up and to even help with a forward kick that knocks Wiskowski down. The heels are so dogged in keeping him from tagging though. Wiskowski uses his superior size to drag him back to his corner and Rose comes in. Martel fights his way out of the corner again and this time finally gets the molten hot tag. I'm not sure I've ever seen a hot tag that was harder to work for. It was almost too hard, but not quite.

 

Piper wailing away on Rose in the corner is pretty amazing. The crowd has come unglued. Piper hits some big knee lifts on both heels. Wiskowski begs off but gets a double eye poke for his trouble. Roddy tosses him out but Barr stops him from going after. Rose tries a sneak attack to Piper's back but Piper shrugs it off and just nails him off the apron. It's distraction enough (and just really smart, detailed oriented wrestling, of which Portland might have the distinction for having more of than anywhere else ever) for Wiskowski to come back in and get a cheap punch in. They do a cool combo slingshot, back body drop with Rose coming in and chucking Piper over the top. Buddy tries to go after Piper on the outside but Martel chases him around the ring, pummeling him. This lets Wiskowski work on Piper with all four guys outside of the ring. Piper fights back and they slam the heels together.

 

They're brawling like madmen here with the faces just wailing away and the bell ringing repeatedly and the crowd screaming. Faces finally lock on double sleepers in the center of the ring but they all crash into each other and just end up a mass of humanity. Rose grabs the belts and start using them as weapons. Then Martel grabs one from Barr and uses it a weapon too and it ends up with each team having one belt as the heels take a powder.

 

It ends as a double countout and obviously sets up a money match to come (they push the singles match between Rose/Martel to Saturday and do a lumberjack match on Tuesday). It breaks down AGAIN after they announce it. Definitely a top 10 Portland match from what I've seen and maybe one of the best tag matches I've seen in the whole decade.

[Matt D]

Rose vs Martel © - 2/3 Falls No DQ (Wiskowski barred from arena) - Northwest Heavyweight Championship - August 9, 1980

 

So on Tuesday Martel and Piper won the tag team championship. Don Owen goes on again about how the title match being on TV is due to the sponsors. What a stand up guy. Buddy still has the mask. Martel still has the belt. Dutch Savage is the troubleshooting ref. And Buddy (still wearing the mask+wig) immediately takes a powder. He makes it back in, cheapshots Martel and starts raking the back AND front. He also does one of the best looking whips to the corner I've seen. He's really on top of him here, as aggressive as I've seen him start off a match. Martel usually starts a lot stronger than this. It gets over the importance of the match.

 

Buddy slaps on a headscissors and the fans chant for Martel, who rolls Buddy over and does a somersault out and right into a toehold which he then locks a facelock on. The mask is pretty ragged by this point but we get a great visual of Buddy biting Martel's finger. That breaks the hold and Buddy runs out (selling all the way). Martel chases him around the ring but Buddy rolls in and catches him as he comes on in. He can't stop Martel, though, and soon Rick's racking Buddy's back to the fans' elation. Bonnema's having a hard time here calling Martel Martino and an elbowdrop a knee drop. Martel is keeping on Buddy just like Buddy was keeping on him before. Just attack, attack, attack until he locks on a knee-assisted chinlock and slows things down. It's a bit of a weird base for Martel but he grinds it for a minute before eating a Buddy leg clap. Rose tries to hide behind Savage but Dutch ducks and Martel nails him with a punch before running out of the ring leaving a fired up Martel within. Great visual spot and the fans popped accordingly. What always amazes me about Buddy is how smoothly and effortlessly he pulls this stuff off. Case in point: he hides in the corner trying to get a time out, gets a kick in the rear, and then shot after shot from Martel as he flops around the ring. Finally, he gets a perfectly time knee up as Martel runs into the corner. The smoothness here is just amazing. Everything looks so good and natural and it all makes sense. He works on Martel's throat with a few hidden judo chops and then hits this really good two step dropkick, which I've never seen him do before. Martel kicks out at two. Buddy slaps on a grounded headlock and the fans get behind Martel.

 

Martel starts to fight up but Buddy drives him into the corner and chops away. He then goes for a hip through out but Martel blocks it, hits one, this really smooth back body drop to follow, and then two dropkicks and the rana/pin for the fall. That was a really great finish for him and he should have kept it into the AWA. This was some of the smoothest wrestling I've seen out of them and for the time but it didn't seem at all choreographed. Totally the opposite.

 

Second fall starts with positioning in the center of the ring until Buddy grabs the hair and gets Martel into the corner. He goes for a choke but Martel fights back and Buddy goes on the defensive. Martel starts clubbering and stomping the back and Buddy sells it like death. I love Buddy's jump sell when he gets clubbed. Martel hits a nice gutwrench suplex and Buddy sells. Buddy cheapshots Martel but sells on the slam attempt and ends up battered more and more. I love how he tries to press his back against the turnbuckle so Martel can't get it. It's all moot though because he ends up in the abdominal stretch. Buddy grabs Savages arm and drags himself down to the mat, but Martel is just merciless with the driving knees to the spine. I'm almost starting to pity Buddy here, especially once Martel puts the crab on. Buddy is using the no dq to its fullest not in big broad ways (like chairs) but just by going to the trunks desperately and being able to get away with it. That's how he gets out of the crab but he eats a belly to back a moment later. This is just a mauling. Martel is bringing a lot of great offense here. Buddy gets a lucky, desperate, cheap shot by picking Martel up and dropping him crotch first on the turnbuckle for the second fall, though there's a cut so we don't see the pin. This match has had really subtle uses of the no dq.

 

Third fall starts with Buddy trying to stooge and box but getting outmoved until he lands a kick to block a back body drop. Buddy locks ont he double claw to the ribs/side. Martel's selling is pretty amazing. He has the most pained look on his face ever until he goes for the mask and as he's pulling it off it's almost like time freezing completely as the fans go nuts. There's DARK HAIR under the mask but at the last moment, Buddy gets an eyerake in. He's irate now and hits the nastiest double drop and then an elbow to the weakened midsection. Martel kicks out at two and starts to fight up from his knees with punches. Martel lands a revenge double stomp of his own, then another. This might be Martel's best offensive showcase ever. Buddy gets up and goes for a bulldog but Martel seels him into the corner. Martel tries to do one of his own and ends up in the corner too. Buddy goes for the belly to back into a corner crotch again but Martel flips overbackwards and does it to Buddy! He gets the pin as the crowd erupts. Awesome finish. Great match. It's so hard to put these matches against one another This one was smoother, had better offensive, and smarter use of the stip than I can put into words, plus a pretty epic finish but they're all so damn good.

[ohtani's jacket]

Where do they go between rounds in Portland? It really bugs me how they return to the ring for the next fall. I thought the Rose/Martel DQ match was good, but not a great use of the stip. The things Rose did any heel worth their salt would do in a non-DQ match and Martel's fired up babyface schtick wasn't exactly crossing the line, but I agree that the match had a lot of good offence.

[Dylan Waco]

They go up and cut promos between rounds.