1980s Portland General Thoughts

[goodhelmet]

Post them here. I'll start moving over thoughts from the Village Green section.

[Robert S]

Repost from the Village Green Preservation Society:

 

My rankings for Disc 1:

 

Buddy Rose vs. Rick Martel (2/3 falls) (4/26/80)
Buddy Rose vs. Rick Martel (2/3 falls) (5/10/80)
Roddy Piper & Rick Martel vs. Luke Williams & Butch Miller (2/3 Falls) (5/31/80)
Harley Race vs. Rick Martel (2/3 Falls) (1/12/80)
Buddy Rose & Ed Wiskowski vs. Roddy Piper & Rick Martel (2/3 Falls) (8/2/80)
Roddy Piper & Rick Martel vs. Luke Williams & Butch Miller (2/3 Falls) (5/3/80)
Ed Wiskowski vs. Rick Martel (2/3 Falls) (7/12/80)
Buddy Rose vs. Butch Miller (2/3 Falls) (6/7/80)

[JKWebb]

Repost from Village Green:

 

I've been posting my thoughts as much as possible in the 80's threads. It has been amazing watching Buddy Rose work his magic in Portland. I have finished the first three discs and plan to start disc 4 tonight. I've probably reviewed 5 or 6 matches in there. The first disc is out of this world! Truthfully, my favorite part of the set thus far has been Roddy Piper though. His wild brawling and throwing punches and promos, it's just off the charts. He's over like The Beatles in Portland, and what better heel to have a solid foundation there other than Buddy Rose. There are some truly great Piper performances in there. One that comes to mind is vs. Ed Wiskowski on 08/23/1980. There is a great match with Rose and Wiskowsi vs. Piper and Martel on 08/02/1980. That one is probably my second or third favorite match thus far. My favorite match on the set so far is Buddy Rose vs. Rick Martel 04/26/1980. Martel is so awesome and so over in Portland as well. Other than the AWA set, this is the most I've watched Rose in bulk, and it has totally lived up to the hype. One of my favorite Rose moments thus far - I think it came against Brett Sawyer - He rolls him up early on and the match and gets really frustrated with Sandy Baker (ref) showing him how fast he needs to count to three (of course in this case very fast).... then Sawyer goes for a pin on him, so Sandy counts extra fast, ha and Buddy is so pissed... He then shows Sandy how to count "correctly" but he is counting extremely slow... of course this backfires on him too... and so on... great in his role... looking forward to more!

 

Oh yeah, and just to add... Martel/Piper vs. Sheepherders stuff is great too - 05/31/1980 is just great TV - Rose taking credit for all their success is just awesome during this feud and where it eventually goes...

[JKWebb]

Repost from Village Green:

 

I'm almost finished with Disc 7 of the Portland set. I've really been enjoying everything. I've become quite the fan of The Assassin, as he is someone I don't think I've really watched much of prior to this. It also has me sucked into the 2/3 falls main events. I like how those work and how they can play into the booking by keeping all of the talents strong. I don't think anything has topped 04/26/1980 yet, but everything has been super consistent and strong. Lot's of really good matches. I've really enjoyed the Hennig/Rose/Jack vs. "The Clan" of Assassin/Rip Oliver/Dynamite Kid that has been going (around discs 6 and 7). Dynamite Kid's head is shaved about halfway through the feud, but I'm not sure that it ever gets explained. It might get explained in the extras, or maybe I missed it somehow. I'm wondering if it was match related - seems likely. I'm loving this set.

[JKWebb]

I finished up the with the matches last night and working my way through the extras. This set was a ton of fun and exactly what I was looking for in regards to a deep dive into Portland. The late 80s stuff lost a step for me in comparison to the first 8 discs, but 9 and 10 have still been really fun. I didn't go into in my previous posts, but I also thought Curt Hennig was really great during his Portland run. My favorite match from the set still remains 4/26/1980, and most of my takeaways were discussed above.