Buddy Rose !

[ohtani's jacket]

Promos about the round or something else?

[Matt D]

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.

They were all things that weren't done or were done differently in the months (and years) prior so the crowd would have noticed the difference. I wouldn't have noticed or mentioned it otherwise. Context matters.

[ohtani's jacket]

It's pro-wrestling. You should be able to take a date to the Portland Arena and have her understand the context of a non-disqualification match. They could have wrestled that same match under DQ rules and it wouldn't have made an iota of difference. I just watched the Piper/Martel vs. Rose/Wiskowski match that disintegrates into a brawl and I don't think folks need context to understand that. It's not for me to say whether there's subtle usages of the stip or not as I've barely watched any Portland, but in the context of no-DQ matches in other territories around the world that was not the type of match I'd expect. But it was still really good.

[Matt D]

I'm not saying you can't compare it to a no DQ match in another territory. I'm just saying that there were elements in that match that the crowd would pick up on that you may not have due to a lack of exposure. It was a good match, but it also is enhanced on another level you might have missed (through no fault of your own).

[Dylan Waco]

Portland was episodic wrestling. The idea that context wouldn't or shouldn't matter is bizarre. The matches can (and do) stand on their own, but context will hep them, which is hardly uncommon in wrestling

[ohtani's jacket]

We're not really talking about episodic content, though. We're talking about subtle details that may take years to pick up on, such as why this no-DQ match was a clever play on the stip.

 

For me Portland takes a bit of getting used to. With the Piper/Martel tag, Piper playing the FIP in the first fall and then Martel in the second kind of threw me. Because of the break between falls, it almost felt as though there was a reset and I was watching two different matches. I liked the match a lot, but I dunno how much of a contextual thing this and how much it has to do with form and structure.

[Matt D]

Buddy vs Mike Popovich - 8/23/1980 - 1 Fall to a Finish

 

Popovich was an All-American from University of Oregon who just went through Sandy Barr's school. He'd debuted on an earlier card in a special attraction match but since Martel lost a loser leaves town and someone else was injured Owen puts him into a match with Buddy. They make a big deal about Martel being gone and the fact someone gives Popovich flowers before they match. They even made sure to thank the kids for continuing to come out with Martel gone.

 

Buddy starts with an arm bar but Popovich eventually reverses it. He's moving a bit gingerly in there and his arm clubbers look stilted with his knees to the elbow and stomps looking worse but it's a good idea. They're taking things nice and slow. He gets Buddy down but Buddy kips up and they reverse the arm bar back and forth a few times til Buddy makes it to the ropes. Buddy clubbers him on the ropes to intimidate the rookie but Popvich pops him right back and Buddy retreats and takes a time out through the ropes, before suckering Popovich in with a kick. Buddy takes over here with pretty simple stuff, including a full nelson which I haven't seen him try to do for a year or so. Popovich straight out powers out of it and puts him in one of his own. They're doing a pretty good job putting over Popovich's strength and basic wrestling skill.

 

Buddy struggles for a but bit finally drops down with the help of the ropes and turns it into a headscissors, which is a pretty weird way to get out of a full nelson. Popovich does a kip up of his own, but Buddy sneaks around with a beautifully timed sneakshot to the kidneys and starts honing in, culminating in a bear hug. Popovich undermines the arms and puts Buddy into a far bigger bearhug. Buddy cheats to get out but Popovich reverses a shot into the turnbuckle and really takes over. Buddy ends up begging off and getting leveraged out of the corner. He gets a cheap grounded kick in and starts playing king of the mountain with Popovich, kneeling on the apron and punching down. KOTMs get over the face as dangerous to the more desperate heel, generally.

 

Anyway, the big angle here is that Savage (the ref) grabs for the mask from behind to stop this. and Buddy grabs him through the ropes, getting Dutch's leg tied up there. At that point Buddy goes to town briefly on the stuck leg, landing on it off the top before Popovich can come in for the save. They sell this as a potentially broken leg for Dutch and Popovich wins via DQ and then carries Savage to the back.

 

So this was a match. Buddy did a pretty good job carrying the green guy and making him look like an up and coming threat with both power and skill, but maybe not as good a job as I've seen him manage in the past or was expecting. I have no idea just how many matches Popovich had under his belt though. Wrestlingdata.com has this as his first match and Bonnema only mentioned one other. If that's the case, I suppose it is pretty impressive after all.

[Matt D]

Battle Royal - 8/30/1980

 

I really enjoyed the last one of these I saw. In there we have Stasiak, Popovich (fresh off of a full nelson win vs Wiskowski who lost a loser leaves town match with .. Boyd? Piper? someone, but who is fulfilling his contractual obligations), a twenty-one year old Eric Embry, Wiskowski, Rick "dellasara?" who I don't recognize, Rip Oliver, Boyd, Ricky Hunter, Chris f'n Colt, Joe Lightfoot (who I haven't seen in the territory before), The Cuban (Cortez), and Rose. I'll bullet point this like last time.

 

- Heels congregate on one side. Faces on the other in the announcements. This is for $20K

-Colt immediately bolts out of the ring and Sandy Barr yells at him. Go Chris Colt. He sneaks his way back in and almost immediately gets tossed. Boo. Barr has to elbow him to get him to leave.

- My gut tells me they brought Stasiak in special for this. He's mainly targeting Rose and Wiskowski. Boyd is paired with the Cuban who he's had a few matches with lately.

-It probably sucked to be Ricky Hunter. It's one thing to be a jobber, but a jobber in Portland?

-Buddy went through the ropes and Boyd chased after and they did some fun brawling in the crowd and around the ring for a few minutes before Boyd tosses him back in. Buddy then almost goes out. He's great in these. Just stooging his ass off with big dramatic flailing. They finally do a thing where Rose and Stasiak get eliminated together by Emery of all people.

-It ends up with Popovich, Boyd, Oliver, and the Cuban, who Stasiak eliminated but Barr didn't see it. I thought for a second they were going to put Popovich over huge but he gets double-teamed by the army and eliminated, leaving a feisty Boyd to fight against the heels alone for about a minute before he gets tossed too. They had Wiskowki hit the Cuban by accident earlier in the match but didn't make much out of it. Now it's down to him and Oliver so this should be sort of interesting.

-Wait, scrap that, for some ungodly reason, they're letting Popovich back in. Anyway, he tries to toss Oliver and Boyd, from the outside helped, and this is a heap of screwed up BS. I've never seen a battle royal where the last two guys had honestly been eliminated earlier in the match but were just allowed back in because, oops, they were supposed to be the last two guys. Ha! The Cuban almost had Popovich eliminated and Boyd casually walked around the ring and pulled him out too.

 

What a BS Battle Royal. Total Portland booking to put him over strong like this. Good thought. They just really messed up the delivery. The last Battle Royal was way better due to more Colt, more Rose, and more Piper.

[ohtani's jacket]

Is it just me or does Sandy Barr kind of suck? In the span of two matches I saw him get punched by Lonnie Mayne and pop back up like nothing had happened and glance at then ignore Wiskowski attacking Piper in a lumberjack match.

[Childs]

Not just you. Barr was a very involved ref, but his tone was all over the fucking place.

[Matt D]

Buddy Rose vs Roddy Piper - 9/13/80 - 2/3 Falls - Title match

 

Buddy's finally done with the wig and has shorter brown hair and a 1980 mustache (Piper had taken the mask off RIGHT after Buddy declared he'd keep it off if someone could take it from him). He cut a great promo this same night going over what he and Piper had done in the last many months to set up their loser leaves town match on Tuesday. I love Don Owen's passive aggressive griping about loser leaves town matches and how they hurt his bottom line. Obviously this match is to set up the next card, so we'll see what they do with it. One of the real stories of 1980 to me is how great a babyface Piper was. Buddy has three shirts on. One is the Superman Logo, one is "Champion" and one is "Truest Champion."

 

Buddy rolls out and stalls to begin, jawing with the crowd. He does it again, with Barr stopping Roddy from giving chase. Crowd is chanting Bye Bye Rose. They lock up and Buddy cheapshots a turnbuckle treatment instead o a clean break. He manages a few more such assaults before locking on a chinlock in the middle of the ring. They keep working it, with Piper trying for the hair, only to get stopped by Barr. Rose moves right into a neck clench, but Roddy turns it around and punches to the midsection and thumbs to the face before unloading with a flurry finished with a running punch in the corner. He hits a double eyepoke and Buddy's sell is great, and then starts the boxing before finishing it with the sleeper. Again, they work it with Buddy trying two rams in the corner. Roddy hangs on and puts him to sleep for the first fall. This was fine but just a taste of what they've given us before. My guess is that they're giving the fans sort of an elated high since Roddy was going to lose on Tuesday.

 

Sandy Barr seems to have woken up Rose between falls. This means that Rose is ready for an ambush as Roddy comes back. He slams his head right into the ringpost and Piper bleeds. Buddy gives him the Goodhelmet special and attacks the wound with clubbing blows, jabs and biting. Roddy kicks out of a lazy cover and it looks like he's about to do his trademark punch drunk comeback but Buddy just keeps on him, including this great flurry from behind on the ground. After another cover. Roddy finally snaps and starts to fight back, kicking and punching over and over. He's still bleeding and groggy though, so Buddy catches him with a kick and a slam. After a cover, Buddy goes for another fall but Piper sneaks out the back and rolls him up for the pin, and in two falls, the title. Buddy, pissed off, goes for a chair attack but Piper gets it and fights back. Eventually, the faces come in to try to stop him and he just unloads on all of them too. This is a great last hurrah for Piper and is a good showcase of how over he was here but they've had plenty of better matches.

[ohtani's jacket]

After watching and re-watching the Rose vs. Adonis, Piper and Martel feuds, I enjoyed watching Buddy work against a more limited opponent in the form of Stan Stasiak, though I liked Stasiak's puncher gimmick. The more of this stuff you watch, the more Frank Bonnema grows on you, but the way he'd prattle on about how it could take weaks for some men to recover from the heart punch and how some never did only for Rose to shake it off *every single time* made me want to head down to Sandy Barr's flea market and point it out to the man himself.

 

Every time I watch a Rose match, I always come away thinking I saw more from his opponent than I did from Rose. I can't decide whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. I know he has some good looking offence, but he seems to work from beneath a lot. That's good in the sense that he puts his opponent over and everybody looks good facing Rose, but I sometimes wish he'd work from the top a bit more. Are there any bouts where he's in control a bit more?

[Matt D]

First off, I'm glad you liked the Stasiak matches, OJ. I haven't been able to get anyone to watch them, really, and I think they're interesting.

 

Anyway, I had the first fall written up and then the baby KO'ed the post and now I'm starting over here.

 

Rose/Oliver vs Jay Youngblood/Joe Lightfoot - Nov 8 1980 - 2/3 Falls

 

Youngblood is the new (returned) big face in the region. It's basically just him and Boyd right now on top. Youngblood/Lightfoot are the tag champs having beaten Oliver/Cortez. Rose, subsequently dumped Cortez the Cuban so I think that he might be on the way to a face run now which should be surreal. This is non-title on the idea that if the heels win they should get a shot. This makes Bonnema go on about how Jesse Ventura was the first guy to wear his belt into the ring even if it was a non-title match. Anyway, the story of the first fall is that Rose wants nothing to do with Youngblood.

 

Oliver forces Youngblood into the corner, hits him, pisses him off, does it again, and then Youngblood comes back chopping. Finally Jay tags Lightfoot in and they start the headlock base that will cover most of the fall. Oliver is actually pretty good on the bottom here, reaching for hair or tights and constantly struggling. Oliver pushes him off and goes for a back body drop but Lightfoot cartwheels around it and puts the headlock back on. Buddy runs in but is cut off by Jay, forcing him to dive out of the ring. Pretty good sequence all around. Tag to Youngblood who does few chops to the crowd's delight and slap the headlock on again. Buddy tries an ambush and gets double chopped for his trouble. Lightfoot back in. Oliver is able to press him to his own corner and tag Buddy but Joe immediately fights back, including flipping out of an armdrag to his feet (A for effort) and a big monkeyflip in the corner. Youngblood tags in and Rose runs for the hills. Oliver starts on Jay with the taped thumb to the throat and finally Buddy accepts the tag so that he can fight a weakened Jay. He hits huge flying back elbow and then celebrates just as big but Youngblood is right up and Rose runs to Oliver again. Faces tag and do a double chop and two shoulder roll sentons by Lightfoot and that's the first fall. We've seen this stuff before. It sets up Rose vs Youngblood for later and really makes the newcomers look great.

 

Second fall starts with Bonnema spelling out the story of the first fall, how Oliver basically had to fight two on one since Rose wanted nothing to do with Youngblood. I think the more you listen to him, the better you realize he was as an announcer, honestly. Youngblood and Oliver to start the second fall. Almost immediately back into a headlock again and this time, Oliver does a great job of working it and trying to get the pin reversal, really deep with the tight and hair pulling. I wish we had a better angle of Youngblood fighting out of it. Oliver's up but down again almost immediately. He then goes for an upsidedown cravat reversal attempt but Youngblood rolls right through it. Oliver tosses him off, puts his head down and gets nailed for it. Finally Lightfoot comes in and gets nailed again including the head jammer before Buddy finally comes in again to give us our long-overdue heat segment. Great slam and then a headlock to keep Joe from tagging. He comes close and Oliver runs in to grab the tights distracting the ref while Buddy takes out Jay. He then rolls him back to the middle of the ring for two and takes him into the heel corner. Oliver back in and Lightfoot is doing fine here as FIP. Both faces have been pretty good on the apron in that role. This is the first i've seen Oliver in a match like this, I think and he's pretty good at the fundamentals. He's grinding down on the chinlock. It's not the most exciting stuff, the face headlock base and the heel chinlock base here but it's being well worked at least. They stay in the corner, cheat when they can, do quick switches. Buddy, though, is good enough to know to vary up what he does and turns it into a neck vice. Lightfoot gets a knee up to Buddy's skull but Buddy cuts him off before he can make the tag. Lightfoot tries to do a bodypress out of the corner by running up the turnbuckles but gets caught in a huge flub which just makes Buddy grin satisfied and clubber him down. Great recovery.

 

They do a great hope spot that goes like this: Oliver brings Lightfoot back to the corner. Lightfoot fights back and goes for a double noggin knocker. Heels power out of it. Rose holds Lightfoot. Lightfoot ducks so that Oliver hits him. Nice little twist on things. Oliver's able to cut him off though. Lightfoot isn't great but this is still a good FIP section because they're just sticking to what works so well and layering in the hope spots and cut offs liberally. Lightfoot's at least able to present desperation, with my favorite bit of it being a last ditch attempt to trip Oliver that does him no good. He'll punch and chop up but get eye raked, or hit Rose in the corner and crawl towards Youngblood but Rose will just drop down into a seated chinlock. Another great spot follows: Jay's so into trying to get the tag that he lets go of the turnbuckle/tag rope. Barr turns around and admonishes him, and when Jay looks away, Buddy pounces up out of the seated chinlock and blindsides him off the apron. Lightfoot goes for the tag and no one's there. Oliver comes in while Buddy's stomping on Jay KOTM-like and when Barr admonishes him Buddy just chokes Joe in the middle of the ring. Pretty masterful stuff. Buddy finally goes for a back body drop, gets kicked, and Lightfoot does a great leaping-over-Rose tag to bring Jay in finally. Youngblood kills both guys with chops. Fans are going nuts. He does the war dance. Lightfoot really wants back for revenge in so they tag. Youngblood tosses Rose against the ropes but Lightfoot misses a huge dropkick. About a minute later, Buddy hits the Bossman Slam style Billy Robinson backbreaker off the ropes and that's the second fall. Very solid FIP and the story of the match is still about making Jay look great. It's doing what it's supposed to.

 

Buddy and Lightfoot start the third fall. Buddy starts on the upper back, including this great kick up and around. Lightfoot tries to land on his feet after a back body drop but can't quite do it. You kind of see why he never became more of a star. Buddy recovers. Bonnema covers it up. Oliver comes in and puts on a big carry bearhug. Lightfoot tries to punch out but gets rammed into the heel corner for his trouble. Buddy tries for another bearhug off the ropes but Lightfoot turns it into a Thesz press. Totally logical spot I've never seen before. Buddy trips Joe on the way to the corner and he makes the tag to Oliver before Lightfoot can tag. Oliver puts on another bearhug. Lightfoot out with the clap to the ears for another hope spot and cut off. Jay's finally had enough and comes in to break up a chinlock but that just lets Buddy climb the ropes without a tag and hit a double sledge. Lightfoot hits the world's worst cross body block off the ropes. Another cut off and into a front headlock segment where Lightfoot keeps trying to reverse it but Buddy grinds down and finally forces him into the heel corner. Oliver grinds down more with his knee and the headlock as Buddy taunts from the apron. Hope spots up the wahoo including Lightfoot clotheslining Buddy (on the apron) on the top rope but they just keep churning the heat here as Youngblood works the crowd as cheerleader. I have to admit that Lightfoot's not the best guy in the world here and it oscillates between a real dramatic struggle and a little plodding. They get really close to a tag but Rose comes in to just kick Lightfoot on the ass causing Barr to be distracted and miss it. Barr forces Jay out and the heels get a revenge double clotheslining on the top rope on Oliver.

 

Final hot tag is a bit weird as Rose is in and Lightfoot just gets close enough in a headlock that Jay can do a blind tag that Rose misses. He unloads on the heels. Youngblood hits a bit suplex on Buddy and starts the war dance again. Rose is selling in this great weeble wobble way for the chops. Buddy at least fights back with eyerakes but Jay's just too much for him. He finally crawls to his corner and Jay starts on Oliver. Buddy keeps breaking up two counts. Great finish here. Lightfoot gets pissed off by the pin breakups and comes in. Barr drags him out while Jay goes for a slam on Oliver. Buddy grabs Jay's hair by behind and Oliver falls on him for the three count. It looked really good.

 

So this was kind of something we've seen before but in a more extreme way. Very long match, maybe too long. It did what it was supposed in getting Jay over big though. Lightfoot was really rough but Oliver, in my mind, looked pretty good. I wouldn't put it over the great Portland tags but it was competent and functional and I'm glad I saw it.

[Matt D]

Rose/Oliver vs Lightfoot/Youngblood © - 2/3 Falls - Title Match - Nov 15, 1980

 

Exciting stuff. They played drum music on the "tape recorder" for the champs. First time I've heard music in Portland (past Roddy's bagpipes). Bonnema says the fans are chanting "Indian Power." Bonnema mentions Steamboat again too, talking about Jay's past and I wish we had him here instead of Lightfoot. Ah well. Oliver and Youngblood to begin. Youngblood teases a punch in the ropes, but does a clean break and then they go right into an arm drag and arm work, first an arm bar and then a nice looking hammerlock. Oliver tries to grab hair or choke or clubber or whatever he can do to get out. And this is really the story of the first part of the shine here with Lightfoot coming in and taking over. Eventually, after a brief rope-running segment, Oliver manages to tag Buddy in. Lightfoot screws up the back body drop-land on his feet again. Buddy recovers well again and slaps on a headlock. Lightfoot eventually tosses him off (after he garners a chant) and ducks down so Buddy runs right into a blow from Youngblood just in off the apron. This lets Youngblood finally get in with him and they go into a headlock base. Eventually they go into a really great rope-running bit, some lightning quick dropdowns, ending with a Sunset Flip by Jay and Oliver coming in to break it up and then tag in. He takes over with a headlock of his own. Lightfoot is the world's least interesting Robert Gibson on the outside. They go in and out of the headlock with Oliver cutting off hope spots with power moves. They manage a good sense of struggle here. At one point, Jay almost has it reversed but Buddy turns him over from the outside. Masterful stuff, perfectly timed. Youngblood finally gets out and presses Oliver against the ropes but Buddy blind tags in and hits a huge back body drop followed by an even huger press slam. He celebrates afterwards, deservedly. Buddy misses a seat drop on the ropes, however, and Oliver tags in and cuts off Jay at the last second, before grinding down with a chinlock. Jay gets his arm up at two, but Oliver knees him to the back of the skull and grinds it back in again. Great camera shot of Youngblood reaching for the tag, but they get him back into the corner and Buddy comes back in with another huge lawn dart throw and then the big flying back elbow. Lightfoot breaks up the pin but the heels use the distraction to doubleteam. Jay fights back but Oliver cuts him off with the taped thumb. Great FIP. Buddy hits the Robinson backbreaker out of nowhere, but Youngblood is able to just drape his foot over both the rope and Barr. I've not seen anyone ever get out of that before, which shows how protected it was and how protected they were keeping Youngblood here. Oliver holds his knee out and Buddy walks over to drop him on it with a backbreaker. he hits another one in the center of the ring and that's the three count for the first fall. Long fall but they kept it varied and interesting. Good stuff.

 

Lightfoot massages Youngblood's back between falls. Awww. Anyway, it's Buddy and Jay to start the second fall. Buddy stalls by complaining that Lightfoot was bouncing up and down on the ropes from the outside instead of how he should be standing. Then he mocks Indians and finally blindsides Youngblood, going for the big slam again. Jay drops down and rolls him up for two, but Buddy gets up and takes over on the back again. Oliver comes in and keeps it up, finally putting on the bear hug as the fans chant for Jay, who sells it all well before headbutting out. Right back to the back with a double axehandle though and a tag in to Buddy. Big double back body drop on Youngblood. He's pretty damn good at this role. Back to the Oliver bearhug. He rears back for the BIIIIIIG chop but Buddy grabs his hand from the apron to cut it off. Nice little touch. Lightfoot is dangling over the top rope to try to get the tag, but Buddy goes for an ambush and Lightfoot leaves his spot to chase him off. Youngblood goes for the tag. Lightfoot isn't there. Buddy taps his head like a genius. Buddy in. Youngblood fighting out of the corner, but Buddy grabs his foot and Oliver runs in to stop it. Lightfoot comes in to complain. Heels do an illegal switch. It's an artform, even when Barr doesn't allow it. They go for the double back body drop again and Youngblood hits a double sunset flip, but gets caught in the corner by Buddy again. He hits an inverted atomic drop out of it and the fans go nuts. He stumbles around, fights off Oliver, until he eats the thumb to the throat again. Man, I thought he was going to tag there. This is really good. Oliver stomps away and then goes for the argentinian backbreaker over the shoulder. It looks great. Lightfoot had enough and runs in to break it up but Buddy just comes right in. He misses an elbow though, and Youngblood in three or four moves outfinesses and out toughs him and makes the tag as the place comes UNGLUED. After a dropkick Lightfoot tags Jay (not selling) back in. They hit a double chop and Jay hits a flying big splash type chop off the rope for the pin. I'll call that one adrenaline and let it go. Jay's selling post pin, with Lightfoot bracing him as he celebrates around the ring. Hell of a first two falls. That's how you really ramp a crowd up.

 

Third fall starts with the heels trying to start with Oliver and when that doesn't work, they complain about the double judo chop. Jay sells the back. Buddy is cautious. Lightfoot is bouncing around clapping. Buddy has a "Jack Lemmon in the Great Race" thing going here with the dark hair and the mustache. Lots of feeling out til Buddy does an ambush kick and tosses youngblood out. Oliver slams his back into the pole and then they drape him over the bottom rope against the apron, leaving him for dead. We're right back to heat on Youngblood. Awesome. Youngblood fights back and they collide together. Heat and hope, but Buddy grabs his leg and drags him out of the ring, doing a bearhug charge into the post again. Youngblood (Still selling huge) fights back finally and makes the dive into the corner. Lightfoot back in, and then right into Buddy's knee in the corner. Oliver in as they keep trying to put Lightfoot away. Apparently there's only two minutes left. Lightfoot rolls up Oliver and Buddy makes the save. It all breaks down after that, with Youngblood dragging Buddy out and draping his arm over and over against the pole. It's the same arm that Buddy injured on Youngblood a few years ago which Bonnema points out. Meanwhile, Oliver and Lightfoot are scrapping in the ring. Oliver finally grinds him down using the thumb to the throat repeatedly, even as Youngblood keeps destroying Buddy's arm on the outside. Faces drape the heels arms over the top rope in unison as the bell rings due to the time.

 

Yeah, this was great. Tag matches don't HAVE to be structured this way but it sure helps when they are.

[Matt D]

Army (Rose/Oliver/Cortez/Destroyer) vs Youngblood/Lightfoot/Buzz Sawyer/Boyd - Last fall of a 2/3 Falls match - Nov 22, 1980

 

My mysterious source (a really easy to find youtube channel) only seems to have the clipped third fall up which is a bummer as I was really looking forward to this. We work with what we have though. They're using a wide camera angle to get all of the guys so it's a little hard to see what's going on. They start with Buddy working on Lightfoot. Destroyer in and Lightfoot fights back but gets cut off. Rose takes him to the heel corner, goes for a turnbuckle treatment, but he slams Oliver and Cortez' head together and makes a hot tag to Youngblood who starts the war dance on Destroyer. Youngblood misses a dropkick, eats a grounded headbutt by Destroyer(I love how that's his primary offensive move) and the heels tag Oliver in and cut off the ring. Heels are working well here. Lots of double teaming where one guy holds Youngblood and the other one hits him. Which sets up Oliver accidentally hitting Cortez and Youngblood scoring the pin. Oliver slaps Cortez post match and fights back, including doing this hilarious thing where he turns around in a circle to get the fans excited. The army swarm and use the Castro Head on a Pole to just decimate Cortez, with Oliver doing most of the dirty work. The faces finally make the save. Post match Cortez does a pretty impassioned bloody promo.

 

Yep, the guy who walks around with a Castro head on a stick is turning face. I think after watching two years or so of Portland I'm finally starting to see some angles replay. Buddy being afraid of Youngblood was something we'd seen before with Stasiak and the heart punch. This was reminiscent of the Piper/Brooks turn on Piper, though the execution was different with the faces helping Cortez after the match. It almost felt like the Gagne/Blackwell hug. This sets up Oliver vs Cortez around the circuit. Boyd and Rose is still the main match with Rose/Oliver vs Lightfoot/Youngblood being the other big match. Shame we didn't have this full match here.

[soup23]

Did we get a definitive answer to why all the big talent left in the latter part of 1980. I am interested to watch these tags because it seems like miracle work from Buddy at how sucessful they are given who is in the match.

[Matt D]

I'm not entirely sure. From what I understand, Piper claims that George Scott who was booking mid-atlantic invited him to the Carolinas. Vince Sr. called Martel after seeing him a while before from his Atlanta work, so with those two it was just new opportunities. I have no idea why the Sheepherders left or where they went next, especially leaving right after Boyd came in. It started to become a running joke, Owen getting more and more frustrated as loser leaves town matches kept happening.

[Matt D]

So we don't have every episode of Portland TV, right? What we have is great. What we're missing is this:

 

3/8/80 Portland - Handicap Match - Andre The Giant & Roddy Piper beat Buddy Rose & Ron Bass & Butch Miller & Luke Williams

 

God dammit.

[Childs]

It's all too common for me to watch an episode of the TV, hear them allude to something super cool "next week" and then realize we don't have "next week." That's piled on top of them hyping non-TV matches involving all kinds of cool stips.

 

I love watching Portland TV, but as with most '80s footage, it presents its share of tantalizing agonies.

[Matt D]

It's all too common for me to watch an episode of the TV, hear them allude to something super cool "next week" and then realize we don't have "next week." That's piled on top of them hyping non-TV matches involving all kinds of cool stips.

So many never taped Coal Miner's Glove matches.

[Childs]

I mean, don't you want to see every example there is of Buddy working a mask, hair or loser-leaves-town-match? None of them could be bad, right?

 

I also wish we had Piper challenging Flair for the NWA title in Portland. Regardless of the work, the atmosphere must have been nutty.

 

Anyhow, just have to be happy that 1980-84 Portland is as well-documented as it is compared to other feds.

[Matt D]

Speaking of "We only have x amount of this? really?"

 

5:46 of Buddy/Lord Littlebrook/Tokyo Joe vs Boyd/Lone Eagle/Cowboy Lang - Dec 6, 1980

 

This is some time in and there is only six minutes left minutes in and there is no justice in the world. Lone Eagle is in the ring and it starts with him being somehow magically propelled into Buddy's knee (Rose is on the apron). Presumably he was tossed in by Lord Littlebrook but who knows. LLB and Joe do a double kick after the tag and then Joe does a big back body drop to Lone Eagle and goes for the pin. Lang does this awesome spot where he breaks up the pin by just stepping on it and keeps on going to hit Littlebrook on the apron. Joe gets to the corner and Buddy kind of directs traffic so he tags LLB, who runs in and prevents the hot tag. Even Portland midget wrestling had great tag team fundamentals. Littlebrook puts Lone Eagle into the bearhug and slams him into the heel corner. Buddy distracts Barr to allow for despicable heel choking. Boyd gets pissed off and chases Buddy through the ropes and in and out of the ring. They do this great little this way, that way thing. Man Buddy + Midgets vs Face Lawler + midgets would have been the best suvivor series match ever.

 

Anyway, Barr tries to get Boyd out of the ring and Buddy does a cheapshot kick, before doing this awesome whooping taunt and dance on the apron. This has only gone on for a minute and I already wrote a paragraph. That's just how great Buddy + midgets is. Joe's in and thanks to Buddy's coaching he does a suplex bodyslam and a nasty knee to the throat. Joe tosses him off the ropes and Buddy's in to do a kneeling back body drop on poor Lone Eagle. then he does the whooping "Woo Hoo!" again. Lone Eagle had been working in hope moments pretty well and finally chops out and rolls to the corner but doesn't QUITE make it. Thankfully, he's just enough time to go the extra distance and make the last second tag to a red hot Cowboy Lang who then whips Joe into Littlebrook (who Bonnema randomly calls "Billy the Kid"). Back body drop and then Lang pulls Joe back away from the tag to Rose and puts him in the world's #1 and best possible atomic drop ever. This thing should be an animated gif. It really should. I feel like Lang did it on the AWA set too. Bonnema really wants a wrestler named Billy the Kid to be in this match.

 

Anyway this all leads to a horribly demeaning but mindnumbingly awesome fight where Joe is Buddy's shoulders and Lone Eagle (I think) is on Boyd's and they got at it until Buddy and Joe tumble over. HA! And then Cowboy Lang puts BOYD up on his shoulders. Oh man, then Tokyo Joe tries to get Buddy up on his shoulders and you know how this is going to end. Hilarious. Once they get up Boyd is all over Buddy and the crowd is enjoying this more than you can imagine. Body slams and knee drops Buddy and then tags in Lang to legdrop him for a one count. Boyd puts his head down and gets kicked but makes a tag to Lone Eagle, who starts darting around the ring to avoid Buddy. Buddy keeps kicking Boyd and gets bitten from behind for his trouble. He starts chasing Lone Eagle around the ringside area. Buddy charges after him into the ring, runs right into a fist from Boyd in the corner. Boyd picks up Lone Eagle and uses him as a melee weapon against (let's go with) Tokyo Joe, and that's the three count.

 

Post match Buddy gets his heat back by giving Lang the Robinson backbreaker after Boyd had left the ring. What a jerk. This was exceptional fun but man do I ever wish there was another 6 minute of it.

[Matt D]

Buddy vs Jay Youngblood - 2/3 Falls - Title - Dec 27, 1980

 

So in the meantime, Wiskowski's come back, Oliver's crippled Embry and apparently the Army (in the form of the Destroyer) took out Lightfoot. Bonnema mentions how Rose took out Youngblood back in 77-78 again. As best as I can tell, this was set up by Youngblood winning a battle royal as Buddy had been dodging him. Oh man, Buddy prays in the corner before the match. For some reason I find that hilarious. He gets a ton of heat for it. He's blonde again too. Good for him. Buddy pushes him into the corner but Jay flips it around and starts unloading. I really like his standing double axe-handle but the crowd likes the jumping chop more. Buddy sells the migrane and escapes to the apron. Bonnema says he's the strawberry blonde playboy again and that he's basically ruled the roost for five years. When does he leave Portland? 85? That means he has an almost ten year run as a promotional Ace in a promotion with a weekly loop and that gives a lot away on TV.

 

Buddy's back in and immediately working a standing armbar, putting his whole body into it and wrenching away, hammering to cut off Youngblood's attempt to fight back. Youngblood's selling is strong here, as each attempt to punch back causes him agony and allows Rose to hang on, grab the hair and take back over. Youngblood finally creates some distance and but Buddy eyepokes to take back over. After a few chops, he moves Youngblood into the corner and uses the ropes to grind down on the arm. Jay fights back again, making sure to sell huge when he accidentally punches with the bad hand. The subsequent hesitation allows for Buddy to get a cheapshot kick in and start to dismantle Youngblood again.

 

The adrenaline finally kicks in and Youngblood starts to comeback, shrugging off the pain from the hand. His selling has been so broad up until now that it's weirdly acceptable because you know it was by design. He's not just randomly forgetting to sell to get his stuff in. It's part of the story. Buddy turns it around midway through the comeback and they start a big rope running sequence that ends with Buddy trying to go for the Robinson backbreaker but Youngblood riding through, rolling him up off the ropes, and bridging back to win the first fall. This wasn't spaced out exactly as I would have wanted but what they actually did do was all well done and the fans loved the finish.

 

Second fall starts with Youngblood getting revenge on Buddy's left arm. There's only 7 minutes remaining here. Jay steps over and straddles the arm bar and really works it, waving it back and forth and jumping on it. He does two of the nicer looking legdrops onto an arm that you'll see and then starts hammering again. Buddy whiffs and gets wrenched more and pumphandled for his trouble. Jay's showing a fairly huge variety of nice looking armwork here. Buddy tries to fight back again but he gets tomahawk chopped and his arm clotheslined over the top for his trouble. Jay's in complete control here. Jay works a top wristlock and Buddy's facial expressions are great as ever.

 

Buddy finally knees Youngblood out of the ring but Jay immediately grabs Buddy's arm on the apron and drags him to the pole, wrapping it around it. Buddy still manages to catch Jay coming in and in a beautiful exchange, he tries to replicate the roll up off the ropes that lost him the first fall. Jay rolls through, does a double leg trip from behind and drops an elbow on the arm. Great sequence. Jay starts clubbering the arm. Buddy tosses him off but gets put into a backslide off the ropes and this might be as excited I've heard Bonnema for a two count. Jay goes back to the armbar base, and Buddy is selling all over the ring. He clotheslines the arm over the top rope again, then goes up. Buddy tries to give him the old Flair throw off the top but Jay hangs on and rolls through for a nearfall. They're definitely pulling out some novel stuff here.

 

Jay hits a doublechop and Buddy sloooooowly falls backwards. He's selling as if he's been through a war. Two-count, followed by another chop off the ropes for another two. The crowd is really hot for this. Buddy catches Jay with his legs as he bends over to pick him up, but can't roll him over and eats another two count. Another chop to the head. Buddy's late match selling here is awesome. He's selling the arm. He's selling the whole body. He finally hits the ground and at the announcement that there's a minute left, he starts to desperately jog around the ring, in and out to break the count, to stall the time limit out. What a dick! This might be the first time in Portland that I'd be worried about a riot. They call Jay the winner since he won the only fall and Buddy thinks he's going to keep the belt, but Barr goes into business for himself (and prevents the riot), by holding the belt up and making it so next Saturday Rose is going to have to win two straight falls as the match will continue. Yeah, I think I would have bought a ticket for that. Great promotional idea and the match itself was really good. I wish that Jay hadn't totally given up on the arm selling after the first fall but the story sort of shifted from arm selling to revenge arm work so I'm not going to complain too much.

[Matt D]

Buddy vs Jay Youngblood - Title - 2/3 Falls - January 2, 1981

 

And now we're on to 1981. I get the feeling the footage is a bit spottier this year, which is a shame, but as always, I'm glad we have whatever we have. Anyway, after last week, this match has a one hour time limit. Buddy's finally back to the full playboy gimmick, with the robe and a valet "bunny" brushing his hair as Don Owen shakes his head in disbelief in the background. Buddy prays in the corner to start again. I'm curious to see if they go back to the arm or if this is going to be a totally different match.

 

Some avoidance/rope running/chops to begin and then Buddy goes straight back to the armbar. That answers that. He's brutal hammering, kicking and wrenching it. Their timing is pretty good as every time Jay rears back to strike, Buddy gets a kick in. He finally takes him down with a hair pull. Buddy's keeping things interesting by varying things up and cheating liberally with the fingers or the trunks. These two are pretty good at this. Jay's selling broadly and Buddy's grinding down and switching things up. The hope spot cutoff is that sort of hooking drive to the mat which I can't explain well but it's good visually. Buddy does this fairly neat if vaguely improbable reverse short arm scissors that I've never seen done quite like this, but for the most part he's working a hammerlock, and it goes a little long, maybe, but it does get the crowd to chant Indian Power leading to Jay's come back. Buddy goes for that whipping hooking dose-e-do thing for a THIRD cutoff here and Jay sidesteps it. Jay goes for a drop toe-hold and rolls through for a headlock but Buddy ducks it and puts him right back into the hammerlock. One knock about Buddy is that maybe he stooges too much and doesn't come off as a threat but when he does a cutoff like that it really makes him look like an extremely competent force.

 

Youngblood makes it up again, but Buddy kicks him away and goes for a monkey flip. Jay cartwheels out. Buddy goes for the dose-e-do flipping arm thing again but Jay rides it down and immediately hooks on an armlock of his own. The fact he did a cartwheel on the arm that had been worked on for ten minutes was pretty much bullshit. Anyway, Jay's hammering away on Buddy's arm; he clotheslines it and Jay starts hammering again. Then another clothesline over the top rope followed by a slam into the ringpost from outside. The fans are going nuts here so even if the blatant no-selling in the come back is annoying, it's definitely what they want. Novel finish here as Buddy submits in the midst of this barrage, during and endless clubber on the arm. Fans erupt for the end of the fall.

 

Second fall starts with Buddy selling his arm. Jay remembers to sell his too, as both guys try to wake their respective limbs up past the pain. This leads to Buddy stalling to try to walk it off outside. Fans try to count Buddy out but that doesn't work. He comes in, tries to ambush Jay, and gets tossed around the ring for his trouble and ends up back in an arm bar, getting clubbered. Buddy repeatedly goes for the eyes and then finally tosses Youngblood out, giving us a very, very well deserved King of the Mountain just to stop Youngblood from killing him. Buddy slams Jay's arm into the ring post (Buddy on the inside, Jay on the floor) twice and then the shoulder as well. Effective transition. Buddy stomps from the inside out and finally lets Jay in before giving him the Anderson slam. He's back to arm work but doing with a bit more impact than in the first fall. The Indian Power chant rouses Jay. Buddy tries to cut it off and run Jay's shoulder into the turnbuckle, but Jay ducks down and Buddy goes head first into it. Jay tries the same thing but Buddy ducks down for revenge. It's too little too late as Jay's in the midst of a comeback now though and starts the war dance, punching and no-selling away.

 

Jay works back on Buddy's arm, with the endless clubbers and nasty looking wrenches over the top rope. Buddy's selling like a champ and we're basically getting a repeat of the whole match up until now. Clotheslines over the top. Shots into the ringpost. Endless clubbers with Buddy desperately trying to fire back as they flail around the ring. It's pretty compelling stuff. Buddy's selling. I honestly think Jay's winded.

 

The finish is awesome. Buddy is so desperate and pissed and in pain and hopeless that he just, in the midst of the armbar, while getting clubbered, unloads on the only guy he CAN hit, Sandy Barr. Then he starts choking him with his knee while still in the armbar. Big Chief Youngblood (who they say is Jay's dad?) comes out to save Barr and stop this farce. Buddy makes a run for it on the outside with Jay giving chase. He tosses Buddy into the post and runs right into a big Chief chop.

 

The end result here as best as I can tell is that Jay gets the title and Buddy gets a suspension and a trip to Hawaii. Yeah, this was fun stuff but the dropping of the arm selling is just not something you'd see in most other Rose matches from 79 or 80. Jay had all the tools but I'm not sure how well he could put it together at this point.

 

The fans really didn't care though.

[shoe]

I've always liked the Buddy/Youngblood stuff. I think Jay, Hennig, and Martel are your only white meat baby faces to really pass through Portland.