Buddy Rose !

[Matt D]

Of the Saturday TV we don't have for early 81, one is Buddy vs Andre, one on one. That kills me. I just want to see Buddy Rose vs Andre the Giant. Is that too much to ask? I don't ask for much.

[Ricky Jackson]

I'm at a point in my life where Andre vs Buddy in 81 is a dream match. That sucks.

[Matt D]

Alright, so with the gaps we have here I'm trying to make sense of things. The feud with Youngblood lasts at least into May here. Buddy threw the belt into the river and was fined $2500 which was used to make a new belt (apparently he also put up $2500 of his money saying Oliver could beat Youngblood. I don't think it was the same $2500). He blindsided Youngblood when Owen told him to personally hand over the belt and he was suspended (and thus went to Hawaii for a couple of weeks). Andre comes in for a few shots and feuds with Buddy (and a battle royal). The highlight from what I've been able to see are two pretty good Strap matches (one vs Oliver and one vs Destroyer) where Jay wins. Then the Destroyer beats Jay for the belt for a week.

 

So, the Destroyer: I actually thought it was Beyer at first. There was just something old and gritty about the guy in his ring work and interviews and he was working in Canada at this point, so far as I can tell. It wasn't that out there, really. Apparently, though, it's David "Fidel" Sierra (the Cuban Assassin) and man, that's a confusing proposition considering "The Cuban/Fidel Cortez" was in the area. Sierra would have been around 20-21 and you have to think Cortez was a big influence on his later character. He's pretty good this early into his career regardless.

 

Anyway, our next bit of Buddy footage takes us all the way to May 1: this means we miss out on

Jan 10: Jay Youngblood, Joe Lightfoot & Ricky Romero defeat Buddy Rose, Rip Oliver & The Destroyer...

Jan 17: n/a

Jan 24: Buddy Rose defeats Jay Youngblood...

Jan 31: Jay Youngblood & Ricky Romero defeat Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver by DQ

Feb 7: Buddy Rose & The Destroyer vs. Buzz Sawyer & Matt Borne - Draw

Feb 14: Buddy Rose vs. Buzz Sawyer - Draw

Feb 21: Buddy Rose defeats Siva Afi

Feb 28: Andre The Giant defeats Buddy Rose

March 7: Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver vs. Buzz Sawyer & Matt Borne - Draw

March 14: Buddy Rose vs. Johnny Boyd - Draw

March 21: ?

March 28: ?

April 4: ?

April 11: ?

April 18: ?

April 25: ?

 

After a certain point, Cagematch starts to fail me here. But here's what I do see from wiki:

Title history:

The Destroyer March 14, 1981

Jay Youngblood March 21, 1981

Buddy Rose April 9, 1981

Jay Youngblood April 11, 1981

Buddy Rose April 21, 1981

Matt Borne April 29, 1981

Buddy Rose April 30, 1981

 

It feels like Memphis style hotshotting of the belt here. The Borne one night run is interesting. Anyway,

 

Buddy Rose © vs Jay Youngblood - 2/3 Falls - Title Match - May 1, 1981

 

Buddy finally has music. I think it's I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross. Bonnema complains that the acoustics in the arena are not that good. Owen's out to announce that Buddy had just won the title in Salem on Thursday so this is now for the title (originally when booked it actually had Buddy CHALLENGING so that's the irony, I guess). Buddy's wearing the ceremonial Indian headdress and who knows how he got that. I like the look of the new belt even if it's a little busy. The underlying story here is that Buddy is proclaiming that he's going to fly over Mount St. Helens (which, remember, erupted in 1980) and toss the belt into the volcano the next day (like he did over the Freemont Bridge with the old belt. Bonnema says he went along on the ride for that since he didn't think Buddy would actually do it). So basically, Youngblood is fighting to save the belt by winning it here. Jay gets on the mic and promises the fans to defend the honor of the belt and the promotion and whatever else. They're also building to an already signed Strap match, probably on the upcoming Tuesday.

 

Rope running to start including a huge sunset flip by Jay that has the crowd going nuts. Buddy disengages and tries to calm them down. Jay hits a quick backslide for two and Buddy disengages again, huffing and visibly frustrated, trying to calm the crowd down. Buddy puts on a full nelson and quickly turns it into a backslide for only two. More frustration. Buddy goes for a grounded crucifix and Youngblood keeps rolling it into a pin attempt of his own and Buddy's putting on a great emotive performance here. I'm not sure I've seen a Buddy match START with a pin attempt sequence like this before (also remember we're in 1981 here). Jay locks on a full nelson of his own and unlike Buddy he tries to work it. Buddy drops down and tries to kick back but Youngblood turns it into another near fall. They disengage again. I like the way they're going in and out of these. Putting some space in the middle makes everything resonate more than some of the sprintier pin attempt wars I've seen. Another bit of solid rope running culminating with a Youngblood cross body and another pin attempt and, of course, more Buddy frustration and disengagement and stalling.

 

Buddy goes for a headlock to slow things down but gets tossed off and they do a bit more rope running with Buddy hanging on to the rope to avoid the chop and jive walking around the ring in celebration. Buddy drives him to the ropes but actually makes a clean break and jive struts a bit more. Jay drives Rose back to the ropes and instead of breaking chops him right over the top rope. Buddy's irate outside as Jay celebrates inside the ring to the fans' elation. Buddy's back in and as Jay's sort of looking to the crowd, Buddy grabs Youngblood's legs and catapult's him into the corner. He goes for a dropkick but Jay gets his legs and catapults him right outside. Buddy comes back in and complains some more. Finish to the fall has Buddy sneaking around Youngblood and hitting an O'Connor Roll out of the corner. He rolls through twice though, which is kind of novel. I really liked the first fall. I know lots and lots of people who wouldn't. It was almost all pin attempts and schitck/stalling/character work but the thing breathed really well and the pin attempts were very competitive and they managed to stick enough other STUFF in there to be interesting. Very enjoyable if you like storytelling.

 

Second fall starts with a headlock base. Bonnema plays up that Jay has to win two straight falls to regain the title. Buddy's great at working from underneath in a headlock so this is all really good with the highlight being Buddy almost hitting the Robinson backbreaker off the ropes but Jay taking him around in a huge headlock takeover and going back to the base. Bonnema's solid here explaining how the first fall was ultimately a failure for Youngblood so he's come out with another strategy. He's grinding away with the headlock as Buddy sells and stooges and tries to get out only to end up back in it. At one point Jay makes the fans count thirty times as he grinds down with the headlock. Buddy sells it like death to his neck, which leads to a great legrop by the ropes by Youngblood. They end up back in the headlock and he grinds AGAIN all the way to forty this time. It's a spectacle at this point and that's it for Buddy. He gets pinned after Jay lets him go. Pretty awesome stuff.

 

Buddy's able to fight back with an ambush from the get go in the third fall. He does this great drop kick while Jay's on the apron and Youngblood goes sailing to the floor. Jay makes it back to the apron and they fight for a bit until Jay goes for the sunset flip in and Buddy just moves out of the way. Jay hooks on the most meaningful late match headlock ever, but Buddy tosses him off and goes for the Robinson backbreaker. Jay floats over but can't lock in the sleeper but does get a shoulder block off the rope. He hits the ropes. Buddy goes for a punch or clothesline, and Jay slides through his legs and drags him down into a sunset flip position again for the pin as the crowd goes absolutely nuts. Really brisk third fall but it paid off a lot of stuff from earlier in the match. Post match, Buddy destroys Youngblood and Sandy Barr with the belt, but he returns it to Barr in the end. Youngblood saved the title.

 

This was probably one of the best Buddy matches I've ever seen. In the top ten maybe, which is saying a lot.

[Dylan Waco]

Kurt Brown always talks about how they ran Buddy v. Youngblood into the ground on the house show circuit (or it felt that way to him), but every time they brought it back the match was better and all the shows sold out. Then they came back with a show without Buddy on it and the bottom fell out of the town.

[Matt D]

Unlike the Piper and Martel series, I do think there's been improvements from match to match with Youngblood, yeah.

 

Buddy Rose vs Matt Borne - 2/3 Falls - June 6, 1981

 

Apparently Buddy opened up Tony borne last week. Tony Borne is with Matt and Buddy won't start the match until he leaves (which is of course dickish and ironic considering how Buddy always has the army with him). Buddy heads to the back. Tony follows him and basically chases him back in, right into Matt's hands. VQ is tough here, but he beats Buddy a bit until Buddy manages to disengage. Borne's in charge here, tossing Buddy out, tossing him back in, hitting a knee drop, slamming, stomping, etc. Bonnema goes on about a new Portland newsletter and I wonder if anyone has those. It's a bit of a distraction from Borne I THINK biting Buddy in the corner out of nowhere. Buddy checks for blood and Borne hones in with some elbows, and after a back body drop some stomps and nice looking punches. There's definitely the impression he's trying to open Buddy up. Borne sure has a goofy big splash with his legs spread wide. After a two count he goes right back to the forehead. He goes for an airplane spin off the ropes but Buddy slips out to hit the Robinson backbreaker in a really beautiful spot, but it's basically the only damage he did to Borne so far this match and he kicks out. Buddy is pissed and hits a HUGE back body drop. Borne really flies. Buddy hits an atomic drop (goofy sell by Borne) and another Robinson backbreaker and this time it's a three count.

 

Still, Borne kicking out of that even once was a big deal. Bonnema puts him over between falls, likening him to Jimmy Snuka as someone who would go far. Hey, apparently Roddy's coming back in for a few spots with the US title. I wonder if any of that made the TV show.

 

Borne starts the second fall going for a bodyslam but his back's too hurt and he can't manage it. Buddy chucks him across the ring and starts to really hone in on the back. This is his bread and butter and Borne sells it well. Buddy still does little things to put over Borne, like jumping big when Borne kicks out on him. He's dogged on the back however, including one of the best Irish Whips into the corner I've seen in forever and a beautiful high vertical suplex. Buddy goes for a second suplex, but Borne's slowly started his comeback and Borne reverses, hitting one of his own. He's still hurt though. Buddy gets up first, goes for the Robinson backbreaker again but Borne's out over the top. He hits a huge atomic drop. Buddy begs off. Borne is selling big, hanging on to the ropes, but he makes it across the ring and starts unloading on Buddy, including a back body drop and some typical babyface mauling. He goes for the slam again, hitting it this time and following it with a kneedrop. Buddy reverses a whip and goes for another Robinson backbreaker but Borne floats over and hits the airplane spin for the quick pin. Nice short momentum change fall. I like how they played on the first fall.

 

Oh, apparently Velvet Mcintyre and Princess Victoria will be coming in soon too. Women, midgets and Andre. So it goes. Buddy gripes more over the break, this time about Borne pulling his tights to get out of the backbreaker.

 

Buddy starts the third fall slinking out to stall as we get another lecture about not leaving your seat or throwing things. Buddy gets a takedown and then immediately pulls the trunks to an extreme level to try to get a pin. This goes on for a while until the fans were pissed off and Sandy Barr catches him and breaks the pin. Buddy rolls back out to reset. Buddy starts on the arm, really working a standing armbar. This is a perfectly fine shift after going for the backbreaker too many times cost him. Fans are very much behind Borne here. Buddy keeps trying to take him over with a top wristlock but they have Borne bridge back up. Borne finally reverses it and stomps Buddy in the face. Well worked little exchange that moved the crowd. Buddy checks his nose and then comes back with a big bite. Buddy's pissed off now and smells blood. He starts to dismantle Borne with bites and kicks and then a nasty neck wrench. Buddy doesn't do a ton with it, but he doesn't have to. Borne sells it well and it just looks disquieting. Borne starts to fight up. Buddy comes back with a bite and Borne, having had enough, bites right back. Finally, Buddy ends up bleeding which has a real sense of culmination here. Borne hones on in with elbows, punches, and more bites, as well as a nice dropkick.

 

Borne tosses him out and follows right behind. He slams Buddy's face right into a front row chair. Borne tosses him back in and sits behind him, just elbowing away at the wound. Borne lifts up a knee to the face and Buddy ends up tied up in the ropes. Barr is trying to stop this so he can look at Buddy's cup. Borne charges in but thanks to the distraction, Buddy (still tied up in the ropes) gets his feet up at the last second. Both guys are selling the war weariness well. Buddy is a crimson mess. He has the advantage but he can't press it, having to rear back and sell after each shot. Borne starts to fight back again, finally locking on the airplane spin again but Rip Oliver comes out to break it up for the DQ. Tony Borne rushes out to even the odds to set up a tag match for the following week.

 

Another really good match. There are some things that Borne did that I didn't entirely agree with, not even that he did them, but when he did them. For the most part though, this was a really great coming of age showing for Borne. Excellent stuff.

[goc]

I remember reading something about that Matt Borne 1 night run somewhere but I don't remember where. I seem to remember there being a real life fight with Buddy Rose involved.

[Matt D]

So they do the Buddy's been dating Matt Borne's sister for four months and he has an announcement interview on June 20. They also had Piper come in to defend the US belt vs Buddy which had to feel like a good homecoming for him. In response to losing, Buddy wanted a win so he asked Toni Rae Borne to marry him. And then I stopped watching the video and read Meltzer's bio of Matt Borne which I think has a factual error as he said that during the feud with Buddy post him hitting her in real life, he won the title for a night, when he won it earlier in 81, in April, as we documented a few posts ago.

 

But anyway, that feud is in the future and for now we're at:

 

Rose/Oliver vs Piper/Regal - Tornado Tag - 2/3 Falls - June 20, 1981

 

Ugh Steve Regal. Apparently he's PNW champ. Beats me. Anyway, Piper gets a hero's welcome. He's insanely over. Bonnema can't even get a word in over the crowd. God do I love that US belt. it might be my favorite belt of all time. This has to be the biggest cheer Regal ever got in his life, just by association. Oh yeah, by the way, the ref is Lou Thesz. Bonnema begrudgingly says that Piper is more over than even the late Lonnie Mayne. Heels stall. Thesz counts. I don't know if Oliver's hair's grown out or he's blonder than before or what but he visually makes for a good match with Rose. They go back to back like in a movie and face off against the faces. Then they drop down and slink back out of the ring. Regal looks like the world's worst 1990 Jeff Jarrett or a slightly lukewarm Hollywood Bob Holly.

 

Anyway, heels are going to stall forever, so Piper calls a time out, checks his boot and then does a leg dive out of nowhere with Regal stumbling behind. Clever way to start the match. Double Nogging Knocker on the heels. Faces lay stomps in and toss them letting the fans count manically along with Thesz. Heels come back in at the last second and it breaks down to chaos. (Buddy managed a leg trip of his own). Heels try to bulldog the faces into each other but get reversed. That's the story here. Heels keep trying to get an advantage and get mangled. Regal has a pretty good legdrop to the leg and he does this to Buddy a few times until Piper switches partners and Buddy looks up to see him and freaks out. Faces make a wish on Buddy and then on Oliver and the fans are loving everything about this, even as the heels sell their legs. Regal is sort of following a second behind Piper. Piper does a snap mare and a stomp. Then Regal does it. Piper locks on a sleeper. Regal can't get Oliver in it in time and he breaks it up. It's a clever transition if intentional. Oliver gets the Asiatic thumb on Regal and that's sort of enjoyable. Buddy stomps Piper out and starts beating on him out there. Nice looking punches and slams into the apron. Buddy tries to suplex Piper on the outside and just holds him up there and it looks like it's not going to end well, but Piper reverses it and suplexes Buddy sort of into a tree of woe over the ropes from the outside in and unloads. Oliver comes around and gets blasted for his effort. Everyone back in the ring and Piper knocks himself for a huge loop into the turnbuckle pole missing a splash on Buddy. Regal dropkicks Oliver but Buddy doesn't have an opponent anymore and he nails him as hes' getting up. Heels toss Regal out, hit a double clothesline on the top rope on Regal and then a Tidal Wave style tandem stomp off the second rope to finish Piper. Really fun brawl of a first fall with a lot of innovative stuff way before its time.

 

Oh apparently Stasiak is a heel and part of the army now. Beats me. Faces come back from the curtain but get caught coming in and put in neck wrenches. The camera keeps cutting to irate fans. Cool little cutoff spot here as Oliver has Regal in one and Rose has Piper in the other and as Regal starts to come back, Buddy, still holding Piper down, kicks him to stop the comeback. Heels slam the faces repeatedly but then they both miss kneeedrops. Faces milk it a few seconds but start their comeback with Buddy getting tied in the ropes and Oliver tossed right into him. They tie up Oliver as well and start unloading. Piper's got the best quick punches. Oliver starts to come undone in the ropes so the faces charge, one after the other, at Buddy but both run into boots for a transition tease. It ends with Oliver holding Piper and Rose going for a huge drop kick but Piper ducking. Roddy's doing the head shaking. They whip the heels into each other and Rose goes out. Roddy follows and slams him into a chair. Faces hit a really nice double drop kick but Buddy just gets in to break it up. Giant ear claps by the faces, again with Regal following Roddy's lead. They toss out Oliver and then unload on Buddy in the corner. Regal tosses him into Roddy's airplane spin. Oliver rushes into the spinning feet, and the crowd erupts as the faces win the second fall via pinfall.

 

Faces cut a promo between falls. Piper's great and really talks up the crowd and gives the fight vs Muscular Dystrophy a shout . Super babyface. They're laying the potential seeds for Piper vs Race to sell out the coliseum maybe. Anyway, there are three minutes left and the heels ambush again. Buddy gets right to it, whacking Piper with a chair on the outside. He gets Regal as he comes over to help. Regal rolls in. Thesz calls for the bell. Piper gets the chair. They either DQ or count out the heels. Pretty much a nothing third fall but the first two were a lot of fun. Best Regal match I've seen.

 

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.

The gap between falls is to sell concessions and get Owen more money, by the way.

[Matt D]

Inclement weather means I get to write this up instead of toiling through my 1.25 hour commute to work.

 

There's a great talk show segment that was posted too, where they have Borne and Buddy in. Buddy's great saying that he really wants to team up with his brother in law. They also show footage of a six man from the week before with Borne/Hack Sawyer/Regal vs Stasiak/Oliver/Buddy which has a blistering rope running segment with Buddy and Borne and a fun machine gun arm drape spot by Buddy. It's too bad we don't have that. The best part is when it comes back from commercial break with the show's elevator music in the background of the action.

 

$1500 Battle Royal - 8/29/81

 

Let's see, Stasiak, Oliver, CHRIS COLT, Tiny Anderson, Destroyer, Buddy. That's who I hear announced. King Parsons is in there. Matt Borne is in there as is his dad I think. Hack Sawyer, who apparently wrestled Buddy at some point because he rushes right at him and starts kicking at the leg. Regal. The VQ on this is really rough for a battle royal, so I'm depending on Bonnema for the most part. Oh good, Colt is a member of the army now. Buddy sells a headbutt from Parsons by almost going over the top. Great stooging bump. There goes Colt. He never lasts long in these. Parsons has Destroyer pretty much on top of Buddy and it's pretty funny. There's a headbutt war going on with Destroyer (And the loaded mask) and Parsons. Hack Sawyer is patently ridiculous. Buddy rolls out and hides in the corner of the ring. At this point it's Oliver/Destoyer/Rose and Matt Borne/Regal left in. Buddy sneaks back into the ring, but Regal ducks a punch as Buddy hits Oliver. They've been keeping Rose away from Borne for the most part. It was built up big when they got in during the six man the week before. According to Meltzer that is because people didn't think brother-in-laws would fight. They get Regal out, but then Borne drops Sawyer and Oliver, so now the two are matched up and the crowd is into it.

 

Tony Borne comes on down to ringside to keep an eye on them. They glance at him and only after he nods does Matt chase after Buddy, who runs around the ring before rolling back in. he immediately starts bumping all over the ring for Borne. Regal stays at ringside to watch too. Borne gets Buddy up in the airplane spin, but keeps punishing him instead of tossing him. This lasts til he misses a high knee in the corner. Buddy starts on the leg with butt drops with the leg draped over the bottom rope, but after two of these, Borne shifts his foot around and shoves Buddy over the top with it in a pretty novel spot for the win. It sure looks like kids swarm the ringside area to celebrate post match.

 

Anyway, this was fun, but the VQ made it pretty rough. It's one of those signs of how protected booking (Even with real life reasons) can make a match up really pop a crowd in a situation like this.

[shoe]

I tweeted Rip Rogers about the greatness of the Rose/Martel.Rip replied how it was all Buddy telling him what to do.

[Matt D]

I actually mostly believe that, because you can see a huge difference in the Race vs Martel match from the very beginning of 1980 and the Buddy series. You can also see a huge difference in Martel between 80 and what we've seen in 83 onward but the Buddy matches are still so damn good.

[shoe]

It's cool to look at things like that. Like after Martel worked Rose the light went on and he got it . For Luger and Austin I always felt it was after working Steamboat that they got it.

[Matt D]

I'm not entirely saying that Rose taught him but of course Michaels credits Buddy with teaching him a hell of a lot.

 

Aynway, I am falling way behind here.

 

Buddy Rose/Kim Song vs Matt Borne/Hack Sawyer - 9/12/81 - 2/3 Falls

 

There's a promo introducing Kim Song that I absolutely love. Buddy, knowing Kim doesn't know English just runs circles around him while he stands right next to him. It's awesome stuff. Anyway, I'm glad this is Borne and not Regal. I don't think the "incident" has happened yet, but there's still a lot of heat between Borne and Buddy, not the least over that Borne turned his brother-in-law down to be partners. They're going one-on-one on Tuesday. Luke Brown's the ref here and I really do love his red "Referee" shirt. Apparently he was Dutch Savage's half brother and wrestled against him and with him years before. Bonnema makes the important distinction: "Judo chops are legal, karate chops are not." Kim and Buddy bow to each other and here we go. I've not seen a ton of Song but I'm curious how they compare to the awesome team of Bockwinkel and Saito. Song, by the way, is not Kim Sung Ho, who wrestled in the 70s. There's some debate on exactly who he was. All you really need to know is that he's got astoundingly stereotypical facial expressions and a karate/hard head gimmick.

 

They do a great job of establishing what sort of threat Song is right from the get go. He presses Borne against the ropes and rears back throwing a giant backhand chop. Borne ducks it and scrambles across the ring and Sawyer complains. It's a little thing but instantly, the fans know that yes, Song is a martial arts threat, and if he hits that chop, it's bad news. All in about fifteen seconds with no actual contact. Pro wrestling is great. Then they do the same thing in the corner with a straight thrust "karate chop." Anyway Borne tries to counter this with wrestling, but Song responds with kicks (Borne sells them huge) and a slam before missing a giant legdrop off the ropes. Borne hones in with an atomic drop and drags Song back into his corner so Hack can do one too. Hack (who I will liken to a mix between Eugene and Spike Dudley today) goes for another one but Song reverses it into a beautiful Russian Leg Sweep which he follows with a nice knee drop and a terrible "judo kick." They run the missed leg drop again to the delight of the crowd but Song dives across the ring for the tag and Buddy lawn darts Hack with a great press slam. this allows Buddy to stooge for the fans for a bit.

 

Hack comes back in and ends up in a back body drop toss. Buddy against smaller guys can be really fun because he's able to kick out just the meanest looking power offense and you know he's probably enjoying the crap out of it. They start working a headlock with Buddy keeping Hack away from the corner. Finally he tags Song who starts unleashing the chop. They protect it well enough, too as Borne has to make the save. Heels are working well in controlling the ring. It's a fun pairing. They do a great looking turnbuckle treatment reversal spot with Buddy eating the corner then Hack walks over to the heel corner and tries to do it to Song, who is, of course, immune to such things. Song comes in and does it to Hack which draws Borne in so that things break down. The chaos allows Buddy to goozle Sawyer. When Borne complains, Buddy tosses Hack so that Song can attack him on the outside. Borne's fiery as hell in this match and rushes around to brawl with Song again who weeble wobble sells it. Buddy uses the headlock to contain Sawyer again but he makes it to the corner and Borne flies in with a sunset flip off the top while Buddy had the headlock on Sawyer and that's the first fall. Crowd was super into it. Nice little heel-tactic based FIP there.

 

Second fall starts with Buddy trying to sneak Song in, first by default and then before touching Borne, with a tag. this is followed by another bow to Song, some stalling in the corner, and a quick touch on Borne's chest before he scrambles back to his corner and tags Song in. Amazing that I haven't seen him do this before because it's such intuitive stooging. Song goes for the hair with a take down and Borne flies back up menacing him out of the ring. Borne is, as I said, really fiery. The attempts of communication between Buddy and Song are pretty enjoyable. After a ducked judo chop, Song slows things down and requests a test of strength. He immediately kicks born to drive him down and kicks him back down every time he starts to fight up. Borne finally breaks it and takes over which starts a mid match mini shine on the arm including Hack coming off the top with an axehandle to it and Song flipping over like nobody's business on an arm wringer/legdrop on the arm combo. I hate that I can't help but like Sawyer. He's do damn plucky, like a goofier Brady Boone. Nice little transition sequence here: Song rolls up Sawyer and then uses the ropes for leverage. Borne comes in and pulls him off with the tights. Ref pulls Borne out. Sawyer gets another armbar on. Buddy complains about Borne. Ref checks on Borne. Buddy grabs Sawyer's hair to pull him down, letting song take back over. Rose comes in and hits the big back elbow and a great little walk-up kneedrop. Buddy slams him and tags Song who FINALLY hits the legdrop (Borne breaks up the pin but Sawyer goes to the wrong corner) and then a BEAUTIFUL butterfly suplex (Borne breaks up the pin but Song tosses Saywer back into the heel corner). Buddy comes in and locks on a bear hug, again keeping Sawyer away from his corner. RIGHT when Hack's about to get the tag, Song rushes in and pulls him back; he makes the tag but the ref is distracted and misses it. He has to force Borne back out while the heels take advantage with the super illegal Song karate chop. Ah, tag team wrestling. Song hits a much cooler kick on Sawyer but Sawyer kicks out (on his own which is important once and a while for a plucky babyface underdog). Song cuts him off with a nasty kneedrop to the back of the head though.

 

Buddy tags in and locks the headlock cut off again but this time Sawyer back body drops him out of it and hits the hot tag. Borne bursts in and cuts through the heels before unloading on Buddy. He gets too close to the heel corner though and Song beats him up from behind. This brings Sawyer in and the ref has to pull him out. Meanwhile, Borne's got Buddy up in the airplane spin which is his finish, but Song comes in, hits the big headbutt and Buddy basically falls on him for the three count. Bock/Saito is actually a GREAT comparison to Rose/Song so far. I'm happily surprised.

 

Third fall takes its time to get back to the ring and then even more time as Buddy stooges and stalls and does the chest tap on Borne again before tagging out. What a glorious jerk. Then Song comes over for instruction and Buddy starts doing these hilarious over the top hand signals.

 

 

This is followed by more of Borne trying to slam Songs' head into the turnbuckle. All he gets for his trouble is a headbutt and some clubbering and a lovely opportunity to eat the turnbuckle himself. Buddy tags in. He's chewing gum visibly here which not something I've seen out of him before I don't think. Borne takes a big back body drop and then, after getting dragged back to the middle of the ring, a delayed vertical suplex. Buddy sells his own head after the fact and tags Song in who hits a nice back suplex.

 

Transition is Borne ducking a chop off the ropes and then hitting a really nice dropkick to set up the hot tag. I love how Hack does the crazy Bob Backlund hand motions after hitting a drop kick. He's such an excited lad. Song just clobbers him though leading to another ducked chop and then a Nikolai Volkoff side kick without the spin (i.e. he lifts up his foot and someone runs into the side of it with his stomach) and then a pretty cool frantic judo chop on prone Sawyer from the second rope for the three count. Heels dismantle the faces post match including a chair shot on Borne from the floor in after dodging some angry fans.

 

Yeah, I liked this a good deal. Lots of stooging and heel tricks executed well. It was a showcase to debut song while still having Borne look great and in that it did exactly what it was supposed to. Song overachieved from what i was expecting even if his facial expressions are sort of Kamala level over the top.

[shoe]

Hennig also credits Buddy with a lot of his development as a wrestler .

[Matt D]

Buddy Rose/Kim Song vs Steve Regal/Matt Borne - 9/26/81 - 2/3 Falls

 

This was just days before I was born. This is non-title, best as I can tell and the drama between Borne and Rose is still there but they still haven't hit the point of no return where the police have to stop him from killing Buddy. They're still playing up that Buddy's invitation into the army is still on the table. Apparently Buddy won their last one-on-one match the previous Tuesday. Regal was building to a taped fist match with Stasiak.

 

Back and forth arm stuff and wrestling with Borne and Song to start. Buddy comes in out of nowhere and yanks Borne's hair for no reason just to heat things up. They do some rope running including a really nasty stomp on Song's head. The sky was really the limit for Borne at this point of his career. Buddy comes in and the two of them start wailing on each other with Borne getting the better of it. Regal comes in and if you have to watch a Regal match, it's best to watch one against Buddy at least. Some boring arm work from Regal that Buddy makes look great as the doofus babyface just stands there. Buddy goes for the flying back elbow off the rope and Regal sidesteps. This is followed by a head cracker which Buddy sells like it was polio. Buddy finally gets a kick in and tags to Song. Song gets a few hits in but Regal starts on the arm again, this time with a bit more energetic stuff. Faces tag and Borne comes off the top with a shot on the arm. Quick shine stuff here. Regal comes back in and bores everyone to death with another nothing arm bar on Song. He does hit a nice dropkick leading to a spot where both he and Song go for dropkicks and hit each other. Buddy tries to attack Regal from the apron but gets blocked and knocked off. Regal goes for a sunset flip. They do a fun spot where Song holds on to Rose to prevent going over but Borne comes in to kick them apart and Regal gets a two count until Song claps the legs out to get free. This is followed by another nice roll up out of a fireman's carry and the faces going right back to the arm work. Borne's stuff is more interesting as he adds some kick to his armbar.

 

He eats a rake to the eye letting Song tag out to Buddy. The fans immediately start chanting for Borne even as Buddy hones right in on the forehead cut from Tuesday. The best part of this is him guiding Borne's head right to Songs' teeth. Song tags in and gets off focus for a second until Buddy shouts at him to hone back in. Song goes for a pin but Borne does a huge kick out letting Borne start to recover. Right when he's about to make the tag, Buddy lures Regal away and Borne finds no one where. Song takes back over in a neutral corner with pretty good looking shots. Buddy's able to draw Regal in again which puts him out of position for the tag. Buddy tags back in and keeps on the forehead. He goes for a press slam but Borne floats over and scrambles into the hot tag. Regal cleans house on Buddy until he puts his head down and gets a kick to the face for his trouble. Buddy slams and goes up high but Regal catches him and tosses him off. Regal goes up, Buddy tries to toss him off, but Regal hangs on and turns it into a small package for a pretty good finish to the first fall.

 

Second fall starts with a headlock base. This isn't quite as good as the arm sequence since we don't get Buddy's facial expression. Regal keeps climbing up the ropes with a takeover until buddy punches out with a cheapshot to the gut and Song tags in only to run right into another Regal headlock takeover. We get what looks to be a "can't get anything going" bit but Song rather holds his own. He telegraphs a few things too much from a selling standpoint which never looks good and it all ends with Borne tagging in while he's back in a headlock. Borne rakes the eyes with his foot and goes into a chinlock. They do a back and forth which ends with a really nice atomic drop by Borne that sends Song out. Borne whiplashes him back in over the top rope.

 

Regal tags back in and puts Song in a side headlock but Song is able to lead him to Rose who just nails him. Borne gets pissed off and runs across the ring to knock Buddy off the apron but this just lets Song goozle the hell out of Regal. Rose recovers, tags in and start tearing Regal's face apart which is a wonderful visual considering Regal's now got a cut in his mouth. Rose is a bastard and it's kind of great.He tags in Song who keeps trying to use illegal karate on Regal. One thing I like about this match is the consistency in which Regal/Borne are chasing after buddy every time he tries to interfere. it usually costs the faces in turn.

 

Transition is Regal catching a thumb to the throat and fighting back for a lukewarm tag. Borne hits a huge belly to back suplex but Rose breaks up the pin. Regal comes back in and tosses Song into Borne's foot but can't get the three. Borne back in and Song is reeling. Buddy tries to break up another pin but Borne moves so Buddy gets his own guy. Then, as Regal comes back in, Buddy refuses the tag until Song gets a lucky shot to the throat. with the advantage back, Buddy takes the tag and starts to work back on the mouth/face. Regal fights back and out of it but ends up in the wrong corner and eats another thumb from Song. Buddy hits a slam and then a really awesome elbow drop off the ropes. He puts his head down for a shoulder throw and gets kicked. They do some back and forth off the ropes before Buddy rolls through on Regal's cross body for the second fall. This stuff was fine but Regal's not great.

 

Between falls Bonnema spells out how there are always matches after the show goes off the taping ends, so what happens is that the crowd stays for the next hour and then gets to go home and watch themselves on TV right when they get there as the show's timed to begin right about then. Third fall starts with Buddy hotshotting Regal over the top rope (which I've not seen him don in Portland before). Song in to clubber and hit that nice legdrop again. Regal tries to fight back but Buddy gets his tights from the outside and Song cuts him off. Regal fights back for another lukewarm tag. Borne drives Song back to the corner and Buddy has no choice but to come in. Borne takes him right to the corner and slams his head in ten times. Song breaks up the pin. Borne tosses Buddy out and tags Regal in. He goes for a big drop kick but Buddy hangs on to the ropes and gets the tag to Song. Song does a nice arm twist over the top take over and they announce there are three minutes remaining. Buddy comes in and goes for a back body drop but Regal leapfrogs it for the tag. Borne tosses Buddy into the corner, breaks the turnbuckle and hits a big suplex as the ref tries to fix the ring. Buddy recovers enough to toss Borne into him.

 

Song comes in illegally and headbutts Borne getting the three count from the groggy ref even though he's not the legal man. They brawl post match. So, this wasn't very good. The stuff with Borne in it had good action and Buddy did a great job making Regal look pretty good with Song looking just about as good as he did in the last match if a bit unfocused at times. I can't believe they were pushing Regal on top in both singles and tags at this point.

 

At least all the kids get to run in front of the camera at the end.

[Matt D]

It is going to be a Buddy Rose day for me. I've gotten my hands on the WON Obit Bio too which I've never read and if I get the chance I'll try to listen to the Titans podcast too (though that might wait til next week). The 10/3 Opening is awesome since you see all the kids just standing around waving and jumping around. Everyone in the crowd has BeeGees beards too. This is actually a much tamer version of the opening but gives you some idea of what they'd do to get on TV.

 

 

Buddy Rose/Stan Stasiak vs Matt Borne/Steve Regal - 10/3/81 - 2/3 Falls - Tag Titles

 

I'm expecting this to be fun, but part of that is because I want to see Stasiak punch Regal a lot. Stasiak's robe with a giant heart on the back of it looks like a bathrobe and it's awesome. Pre-Match antics are great. Buddy is SUPER excited because someone in the crowd has a "Buddy Is Great" sign, so he keeps pointing to it and giving the person a thumbs up but the camera can't get it. He finally gets the person to bring it to him and carries it around the ring until Borne rips it apart and steps on it. Buddy responds by saying he wasn't even going to bother trying to invite Borne into the army anymore. Kim Song is already gone btw (Owen claims it's due to immigration papers) and Buddy is facing Regal for the singles belt on the upcoming Tuesday.

 

It's Stasiak and Borne to start. Stasiak no longer has his hands taped up because he lost a match to Regal and that was a stip. He bumps well for Borne to start on a back body drop and drop kick out of the ring but then starts goozling him with a choke where Barr can't see it. Old man heel tactics. He tosses Borne out and Buddy tries to attack on the floor but Regal chases him around the ringside area and into the ring. Borne and Regal are pretty much the kings of overexcited, energetic twit babyfaces. all of this distraction lets Stasiak get Borne from behind again and toss him out. Buddy grabs him on the floor. Regal gives chase. Buddy tries to run Borne into the pull but Borne tosses Buddy into it, just a glancing blow. Stasaik and Borne back inside. Old man eyepoke. Heel Stasiak is great because he just cheats at every opportunity for the hell of it and it's so understated and matter of fact. They reset and Regal and Buddy tag in. Borne gets pissed off about something and they do an illegal switch but Barr makes them switch back. The one okay thing about Regal is that he can move quickly enough that Buddy can do some interesting rope running with him. Here Buddy works the headlock and they move in and out of it a bit and then into armwork by Regal. Buddy really doesn't get to rope run enough. It's great to watch. He gets to the corner and tags Stan in but Regal's right back to the arm, which Stan sells sort of frantically. They go in and out of this. Borne comes in with a big double axehandle on it and takes over with the shine limbwork. He tosses Stan into the heel corner and then gives Buddy this overdramatic bow inviting him into the ring. Fans are very much into Borne vs Buddy, with Buddy bumping around the ring for him. Regal tags in and makes Borne's punches look really good. Tag back to Borne. They do a nice little spot where Regal punches Buddy off the ropes in the gut, causing him to bend over and Borne slingshots into a sunset flip from the outside for the fall. Pretty good shine first fall that still made the heels look devious and dangerous.

 

Second fall starts with the faces doing more armwork, first on Buddy and then to Stasiak. Lots of ten count arm wrenches. Stasiak does this little thing where he sort of shoots under his opponent's arm and gives him a rabbit punch to the ribs. He starts with armwork on his own on Regal, goes to the hair to stop a comeback and tags Buddy in. I think we have a FIP. Regal comes back but Buddy falls into his corner, tags Stasiak and hangs on to the arm. Bonnema makes the claim about Stasiak that I love so, so much. "The King of Madison Square Garden from 1965 to 1975. Wrestled more main events than anyone else and sold it out more times than anyone." Obviously, Portland was located somewhere in Siberia. Anyway, Regal tries to come back again but Buddy grabs his arm from the outside and wraps it around the pole (Borne chases Buddy away; Stasiak keeps on Regal). Regal starts to crawl towards the tag while still in an arm bar and Buddy casually walks around the ring to get Borne off the apron. They do a crowd shot and I need to post it because it's awesome. It's of the fans all warning Borne at once. They were so into this stuff.

 

 

Anyway, Borne kicks Buddy away but it means he's not there for the tag. Really well timed stuff. This is Stasiak pulling him away just as Borne dives back.

 

 

Okay, enough with the images, though it's tempting to grab Buddy pointing to his head after the fact. Regal fights back again but not until a tag was made and they double team him back down. Buddy switches gears to a trap claw that looks pretty nasty. Regal kind of sells before fighting up, hitting a gut punch and making the kind of clumsy hot tag as Stasiak rushes in to stop him. Borne clears house, including slamming their heads together as Rose is teeter tottering between the first and second ropes. Stasiak is cut open now. Buddy's outside and grabs the head of the prone Borne while hiding just below the top of the apron, letting Stasiak attack. Regal comes in pissed and this just lets Stasiak choke Borne with his foot and retake the advantage. Stasiak locks in a trap claw of his own and Borne sells it better than Regal.... like this, actually:

 

 

Borne goes to the eyes, but he's too close to the heel corner and Buddy comes in. Borne comes back and they go toe to toe. Borne gets the advantage and starts biting at Buddy's forehead, punching and trying to open him up. Borne hits a standing vertical suplex but Stasiak breaks up the pin. This prompts Borne to start on Stan who is on the apron from the inside out. Regal comes in as Buddy (the legal man) begins to edge towards his partner. Barr takes Regal out. Buddy holds Borne's arms from behind. HEART PUNCH and the second fall. Pretty good stuff.

 

 

Borne is still reeling but has to start the third fall since he was the legal man at the end of the second. Buddy hits a big flying back elbow on him almost immediately, but he scrambles on his hands and knees for the hot tag. Regal hits the turnbuckle with his knee though and the heels take right back over. Stasiak tags in, pulls Regal to his corner, and puts on a half crab to the damage knee. Buddy pushes on his chest for extra leverage and Regal has to give it up. Heels celebrate right up to the point where Sandy Barr shows his corrupt nature, listens to the fans, and reverses the decision.

 

Much better than the last tag match though some of that was just more Borne and less (or better focused) Regal. Stan Stasiak is tons of fun to watch and anyone who feels otherwise needs to actually watch the matches.

[Badlittlekitten]

I absolutely love the Portland Sports Arena atmosphere. I love the smokiness and the faint hostility that seems to creep underneath. You get Angry Granny, pimpstick cigar man, the leather jacket ruffians and, best of all, lots and lots of screaming girls. Screaming girls are one of the many reasons why 1980's wrestling is the best wrestling. I found the "GO wrestler GO!" chant a bit odd at first but it's great and lovely. I also love the bluntness of Don Owen ("You know I don't like to make loser leaves town matches Buddy. But I hate you. So lets have one next week!") and I enjoy his shit ring announcing. I like the very matter of fact commentary from whoever the commentary guy is, especially when he rips into the fans for getting involved with the action.

 

But aahh . . . sweet Buddy. Buddy Rose was just some fat old tag team bloke that appeared on them Shawn Michaels dvds to me until recently. I'll always remember him trying to impress Shawn and Marty by attempting a back flip off of the top rope, only to weeble-wobble his way onto his bollocks. I appreciated that. He was my favourite part of them Midnight Rocker tags but I had no idea he'd had such a fabulous career before that. I have PWO to thank for that, especially Dylan and all his pimping. Thanks guys!

 

He's such an adorable prat. His offence is dynamic and looks crisp and hurty. For a guy his size his bumping is immense and is funny as fuck. I like the 'calm down calm down' hand gesture he does to stir up the crowd and his general stalling and stooging is the best I've ever seen. He's great at doing all these little things to keep you amused/pissed off from bell to bell. The guy is just endlessly fun to watch and surprises you with various twists in his arsenal and adds little quirks to every match.

 

In the last year or so I have discovered a shit load of wrestlers who I'd rate amongst my favourites today - Hansen, Jumbo, Taue, Kobashi, Kawada, All Japan Terry Funk, Bobby Eaton, Tracy Smothers, Bill Dundee . . . The best thing that I can say about Buddy is that I like him more than any of them. I like him more than anybody apart from maybe Flair and Hokuto. He cheers me up.

[Matt D]

Alright, Xmas is over. There was a lot of other Portland to watch in here, including Chris Colt matches, so I had to get through those first. It's a good thing I did. I wouldn't have realized that they were claiming Kim Song was gone already due to being an illegal alien (that popped the crowd) which is why Stasiak got moved into the tag match. I love the Rose/Borne angle right now. Buddy still wants him to join the army so they can be a family. It's all head games as he says Regal's using him. He wants a match with him with three potential stips if he wins: 1.) Head Shaved or 2.) Leave the Territory or 3.) Join the army and be an family. Borne's choice. Borne comes out and flips the stips. 1.) Leave, 2.) Shave head, or 3.) Go Babyface.

 

I think the domestic abuse is JUST about to happen though (it might have already?) which will heat things up in a big way but will also KO this element of the angle (He announces the divorce on the 21st on the Live at Noon talk show, so I actually think it could happen between the 17th and the 21st but it's probably not worth overthinking. It's interesting to watch Borne's body language, though. FWIW, Rose says the offer is still on the table there). Meanwhile, Buddy and Regal had their match thrown. Buddy won after Stasiak interfered. They'll have a rematch upcoming with the army locked in a cage at ringside.

 

Buddy Rose/Mike Masters vs Matt Borne/Steve Regal - 2/3 Falls - 10/17/81

 

Stasiak, Masters and Rose are now the Army. Masters is an interesting cat. He reminds me, unsurprisingly of Chris Masters, which is not a bad thing to be reminded of. Muscleman, same sort of look (though far less tan and with unfortunate facial hair currently), full nelson, pretty good at working his gimmick in the ring from what I've seen. He also is playing up that once the full nelson is on he can't break it due to the blood in his hands or something, which means he keeps getting DQed after the match is over. Rose and Borne both have red tights on which works to the brother-in-law thing.

 

I still feel bad for everyone involved that Regal is the still the top babyface. Rose and Borne to start. Buddy presses him against the rope with a few shots, but ends up dropkicked. Borne takes out Masters on the apron and both heels take a powder. Borne keeps winning top wristlock exchanges and Buddy, frustrated (and calling a hair pull that didn't happen), tags in Masters. After getting out finessed a bit, Masters wins a top wristlock exchange to Buddy's joy. In the next exchange though, Borne starts to win before Masters uses the hair to throw him off. They go to it again and Borne, pissed off, goes to the hair, to the fans' delight. Fun bit of storytelling to start. They ate four minutes with that and just got the fans more into things.

 

Buddy tags in, gets tossed, gets rolled in, runs from Borne, tries to double team with Masters, but knocks him off the apron. Heels stall. Masters come back in to Borne's chagrin. More babyface finesse stuff as Borne gets Masters in his corner and tags Regal in. Another top wristlock but Regal immediately trips and starts some control armwork. They work out of an armlock with some or Regal's usual stuff. It's perfectly fine. Tag to Borne a nice flying stomp to a held down arm. Borne and Regal are doing a pretty good job with this. Masters is playing up that he's desperate for the tag and Regal, being a putz, finally lets him get it. Buddy slows things down while still stooging like a king for Regal threatening to hit him after a Regal clean break and then running when Regal threatens back. They repeat it for a Buddy clean break. The third one has him press Regal into his own corner and then the heel mauling starts. Lots of fun symmetry spots in this. Heels fully in charge for the first time, controlling the ring and using dirt tactics and a general beat down to the base of the spine. Regal takes a shot into the corner pretty well. I'll give him that. Buddy goes for the Robinson backbreaker to finish him off, but Regal floats over and hits the victory roll ("Regal Ride") for the fall. Nice, enjoyable first fall.

 

Rose does his usual shtick of trying to get his partner to start. Barr has nothing to do with it. Buddy gets a cheapshot to Regal's back, though and makes a quick tag to Masters, who has a bear hug for one of his usual moves and goes right to it. I like how they gave Regal a flash win at the end of the first fall but have gone right back to the heat segment. Bear hugs aren't ever super compelling and Regal's pain face is all scrunchy and terrible but Masters does a pretty good job working it and they do the hope spots well, with Buddy interfering liberally. The context helps too as does the single camera long shot that lets us see Borne and Buddy cheerleading. Hot tag is pretty well laid out with Regal having to fight around the ring to get to Borne. He's a good fiery hot tag and does a great flying elbow drop. Masters desperately tags out to Rose who's not happy to get in there and for good reason as Borne beats him around the ring. Buddy uses his girth to reverse a vertical suplex into one of his own though and Bonnema puts over how tough Buddy is to put away which is really held up by the extended booking over time and it's something a lot of people watching Portland in bits and pieces don't understand.

 

Anyway after a struggle, Rose gets the tag to Masters who is fresher and starts in on Borne. After a minute of mauling he goes for the full nelson. Borne's great at diving out of it twice, the second time positioning him right to make a hot tag to Regal, who takes out Masters. Blind tag to Buddy, though which leads into a nice spot where Masters drops down and Regal runs right into the Robinson backbreaker right on the damaged back for the fall.

 

Regal starts out the third fall strong after the recovery period, but ends up reversed into the corner. Buddy tags Masters right in but after a slam gets tagged in himself and overshoots on trying a press slam. Regal floats over for a quick tag. Borne comes in, knocks buddy around,and puts on the airplane spin. Masters rushes in, though, puts the full nelson on Borne. Regal comes in to even the odds. Bell rings as they throw out the match and Regal and Rose brawl while Masters won't let go of the full nelson in the middle of the ring. All the undercard guys run in to try to break the full nelson and then try to separate Regal and Rose.

 

Sort of nothing third fall but ultimately a pretty enjoyable match. I don't know if Regal's just most tolerable as a babyface in tag matches or if Buddy's just that good (he is) but he's able to have a different partner each week and manage to get a pretty good match out of him.

[Ricky Jackson]

Masters was a job guy in 1980 WWF who popped up about 6 or so episodes ago on Titans. Seems like he was a rising star for a bit, with a run in LA where he was pushed as well (dying territory, but still). Wrestled as late as 2010 in Jersey against Johnny's pal the Executioner.

[Matt D]

Looking back a second before we move forward. It looks like the biggest thing we missed in the missing summer 1981 footage was the Destroyer face turn and feud with Buddy. We also missed Princess Victoria and Velvet Mcintyre coming in, but it seems like they didn't work mixed matches with Buddy but with Stasiak instead.

 

They're moving on with the Borne/Rose match post-real life incident, but I'm almost certain the match was going to end with either Rose or Borne under the management of the other. Pretty sure the plan is changed to a Loser Leaves Town match. Rose and Stasiak won the tag belts. Regal's belt was held up in the "Army in a Cage" match after Borne came out but I think Regal got it back. I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that Buddy has some lotion that lets him break the Masterslock. They've been building him up to a title shot vs Regal.

 

Buddy Rose vs King Parsons - One Fall - 11/7/81

 

Sandy Barr has a great ref's shirt, yellow with a wrestler guy on the back and BARR written out. Rocky Johnson ("the highest ranking black wrestler in years. At one time had seen him ranked at 4th") has come in, so this is all set up for that. Buddy prays in the corner to start and the fans grumble.

 

Initial top wristlock up is won by Parsons. Buddy complains about the hair. Granny at ringside is pissed. Repeat. I've never noticed Parsons crazy chest tattoo before. Top Wristlock for a third time. This time Buddy goes for the hair and Barr catches it. Buddy garners some heat after the break. A Rose front headlock is reversed with Parons placing him on the top rope. Parsons rears back and Buddy falls off the top to the floor. When he comes back in he claims a tights pull. Rose full nelson is reversed by a Parsons butt thrust. Parsons does a full nelson of his own. Buddy sells it well and goes for the butt thrust too and then leaning forward but Parsons is ready and doesn't break the hold. Buddy drops out of it and rolls but ends up right back in it. I don't know if anyone works these full nelson spots better than Buddy and it's been a while since we've seen them but it's weird to me that he's doing it when Masters is in the territory using the hold as his finish. Buddy finally grabs the leg to get out and then, after getting kicked off a figure four attempt and into the ropes, manages a pretty lame cartwheel and the subsequent taunting. He then turns around right into a dropkick. After a kickout, Buddy takes a powder. Buddy comes back in and gets trounced in a greco-roman knucklelock exchange, this time saying that Parsons was twisting his finger or that the tape on the wrists was illegal or something. The fans are getting increasingly annoyed. Good opening comedy stuff here with a couple of new twists.

 

It ends with Buddy cheapshotting Parsons against the ropes and taking over with the big back elbow. He chokes on the top rope and hits a big back body drop (which Bonnema makes sure to point out that he calls a shoulder throw no matter what anyone else calls it). Buddy plays King of the Mountain but Parsons comes back with a headbutt. You can tell they were planning on Sing staying around since they had talked up previously a battle of the headbutts between them. Buddy sells a punch to the gut off the rope huge. Great over the top sell/bump. Parsons follows this with a flying butt butt. They do a nice bit of roperunning into a ref bump. Buddy follows up with blatant cheating, an extended choke over the top rope. The fans are starting to get restless with one getting too close to the ring when Rocky Johnson comes out of nowhere to save Parsons and knock Buddy out of the ring. Barr recovers in time to count out Rose (who makes a show of it, at least, grabbing the rope at the last second). Parson picks up the win.

 

Fun comedy stuff early. A good ref bump. A nice debut for Johnson. This was functional but did what it was supposed to. I like Parsons in Portland.

 

Buddy Rose vs Rocky Johnson - One Fall - 11/7/81

 

Later in the night, Johnson debuts vs Stasiak with a quick win. It's brisk but enjoyable as Stasiak's grumpy old man demeanor works well with Johnson's stylized moves. Post match, Rocky Johnson tells Don Owen he wants Buddy right then and right there. Owen says sure, and if Buddy refuses he loses his loser leaves town match vs Borne. You can almost tell that they're switching the focus from Borne to Johnson here. I could be wrong since the results from this era are a little sparse. It's weird because Meltzer in both the Borne and Rose bios made a bit deal about how the Borne/Rose feud only picked up after the incident and it's been the exact opposite. Just one big blow off, it seems.

 

Anyway, Buddy's livid, but he has to take the match. Johnson is, of course, immediately over. Buddy immediately slides out under the bottom rope instead of locking up. Fans chanted "We Want Rocky(with Rocky somehow one syllable)" in the Stasiak match. Here, they go all out with the "Rocky, Rocky" chant. Great punch sequence early on. Johnson blocks a barrage and then jabs his way back, ending with a huge wind up and a great Buddy bump/slump into the corner. This match is definitely a showcase for Johnson, who lands out of a monkey flip on his feet. Buddy Rose is as good as anyone in the history of wrestling of putting over another wrestler's attributes and spots with his own body language and reactions. Moreover, he makes everything Johnson is doing look so easy and simple. They work a sequence where Johnson puppets Buddy up and down with a wrist lock.

 

Finally, though, Buddy gets an eyerake in the corner and starts grinding away. This match is all about getting his opponent over in is debut night, so when Rocky kicks out, Buddy goes flying. He finally gets in a cheapshot to take over and starts on the back. A few shots in, Rocky ends up in a bear hug. They work it well, with Rocky selling hard and every time he's about to get a shot in, Buddy cinches it up more. Buddy whips him into the corner hard and locks the bearhug back on. So far as bearhugs go, this is really good. They draw out the final elbow smash that gets him out. Immediately thereafter Buddy goes right back to the back and sets up for the Robinson backbreaker. Johnson floats over and hits an O'Connor Roll off the rope with a nice back bridge for the win. Johnson makes sure to sell the back post-match. Buddy complains about the trunks.

 

That's how you debut a hot new babyface. (that is despite some guy flashing his shirt open in front of the camera, causing Bonnema to randomly go "And Idiots Are now walking In front of the camera.")

[Loss]

Which Rose/Martel match is from 8/9/80? I'm assuming it's on YouTube, but not all of them are dated. Can someone point me to it?

[shoe]

[Loss]

Thank you!

[Loss]

Actually, that appears to be from April 26, not August 9th. I've already watched that one.

[shoe]

Loss scroll further down. It's there.

[Loss]

See it now. Thanks!