Invader I vs. Eric Embry (June 1986)

[El Boricua]

Invader I vs. Eric Embry (June 1986)

[elliott]

This starts off with both dudes going toe to toe. With Invader getting a quick advantage. WOW that slapping combo by Invader on Embry was nuts. Speaking of nuts, Embry takes over for a second so Invader kicks him right in the balls. You know normally what I’m digging about these Invader matches is his awesome selling but he’s great knocking the shit out of Embry early on and Embry is great at selling so this is really hitting the sweet spot for me. The brawl inside and outside the ring and back inside. Embry eventually takes over by tossing Invader out of the ring and hitting him with a chair. Crowd is super hot for this. They brawl outside the guardrail and into the crowd with Invader getting busted open. I gotta say I liked Embry on the Texas set a lot but he has been a revelation so far in Puerto Rico as a more vicious Tully Blanchard. He also invents ECW in this match by brawling through the crowd and piledriving Invader through a table. J Beatdown on Invader continues and we get what I this point I feel comfortable calling the typical great Invader selling. Only instead of awesome selling for a bum like Brody, Embry is bring a bunch of cool and good looking offense to the table (those Harley Race headbutts are great). As a life-long Barry Windham fan, I love the double knockdown as a momentum building transition spot and they do a great job with it here. Crowd really great for this match with a lot of kids in the audience and both guys just hitting everything perfectly. I fucking love this match holy shit. Embry hits an insane blade job. Before the set you’d hear Dylan & Goodhelmet talk a lot about Puerto Rico as Memphis and Goodhelemt told me it was more in the extras that the matches. Well this match feels like the sort of thing you’d see in Memphis. Its not as good as the best Lawler vs Dundee or Lawler vs Funk matches, but this shit would compare really well with the best Lawler vs Dutch Mantell matches for sure. Fantastic match. Even better than the one Embry had with Invader III earlier in the set.

[AJS]

Really great match. Fast paced with great crowd heat. Embry in particular looked fantastic and the piledriver through the looked really cool. I think every Embry match on the set before this was excellent, and this is no exception.

[KB8]

Yep. This delivered. Maybe the two MVPs of the set so far, and it met the lofty expectations such a match-up creates. Where has Eric Embry been all my life? I have no recollection of him being THIS good in Texas/USWA. He was phenomenal in this, though. Invader beat on him to start, with big clubs to the chest and an awesome flurry of punches while Embry pinballed all over the place, both inside the ring and outside. And of course Invader kicked him in the balls, because Invader kicks everyone in the balls. Embry would futilely try and crawl away, then he'd beg off and plead for mercy, but Invader would just smash his face into the canvas. This whole first spell was great, basically. But then Embry takes over - through questionable means, obviously - and the match goes up another few levels. In the previous Embry matches he worked mostly from the bottom and/or tailored his offence around cheapshots and brief flurries. This time it was like he'd reached his breaking point and all he wanted to do was beat Invader all around the building. He hits him with a chair, throws him into the ringposts, rams him into a big blue garage door, then piledrives him on a table, which is bonkers for 1986. Some old moo moo-wearing lady in the crowd even tries to take a kick at him. His headbutt off the middle rope looked great, but his falling headbutt from a standing position looked even better, like the Ted DiBiase fist drop of falling headbutts. He really lives up to that Mr. Piledriver moniker as well by absolutely drilling Invader with a jumping piledriver (in addition to the crazy one on the table). Invader bleeds through all of this and Invader taking a bloody beatdown is pretty much can't fail at this point. He is so, so good at it, with his jelly-legged selling and his wild lunges as he's trying to make desperation comebacks. They do a big double knockdown reset spot that Embry really leans into, and that serves as the catalyst for Invader's comeback, which was spectacular. As soon as he chucks Embry out to the floor everyone in the building goes nuts because they know it's payback time, and sure enough Embry pays in blood. The last stretch with both guys trading last-legs punches and punts to the balls and throwing each other into chairs and barricades was out of this world. I think this went about twelve minutes bell to bell and it was truly exceptional. Everything that was promised and my new #1.

[WingedEagle]

Looks like Embry has lost a hair match since we've last seen him. He sells a low blow really well, just like Ron Starr. Some really fun brawling all around the building here. Absolutely loved the spot where Invader dropped his head to set up a back body drop and Embry countered with a flash piledriver. Really great execution on that cut off. Embry bleeds here because someone must always bleed. Looks like we get a double countout, but it comes too soon in a match that more mileage.

 

***

[Migs]

It appears Embry's valet Sasha is now with Invader, and Embry is fired up. Love his exclamations. This is a pretty fun brawl, topped with the piledriver on a table. Embry's response to Invader kicking out of the piledriver later in the match is spectacular. With the one camera and the crowd brawling, this feels very proto ECW. Emery bleeds a gusher. They really love this double countout finish here, but otherwise this was great.

 

***1/4

[dawho5]

I loved that old lady in the crowd giving Embry the death stare and kicking at him. Great brawl, both guys sell the beating they get as well as dish it out. Also, lots of blood.