Buddy Rose vs. Matt Borne (2/3 Falls) (5/9/81)

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Buddy Rose vs. Matt Borne (2/3 Falls) (5/9/81)

Disc 2

 

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​First fall: ​I've been looking to dive into this feud for a while after seeing it on the extras.

 

We start with Buddy's patented stalling, this time because Tony, who's seconding Matt, won't leave the ring. Eventually, Buddy gets in after Sandy starts counting him, and for most of this, it's the same old same old, as Buddy takes an almost uninterrupted beating. But he finally wriggles out of Matt's airplane spin attempt, and we see some sustained offense focusing on Matt's back which is very well done. The inside-out (side) backbreaker is treated as a killer move, and although Matt kicks out of one, he goes down to the second and Buddy takes a 1-0 lead.

 

I thought this would be more heated than it turned out to be, but we may be too early in the feud for any sustained heat. It's their first match in the set, if my memory serves.

 

We've still got about twenty-four minutes to go for two falls worth of action, which is unusual pacing for a Portland main event. Usually the first fall is the longest one. I wonder if there's some special reason that it's been booked this way; I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

Piper's returns are already a big deal, as Frank has to read two separate lists of towns to cover his appearances. This is long before he first made his name nationally with GCW on WTBS in 1982. He's not quite Bruno in the Northeast yet, but he's well on his way to getting there.

 

​Second fall: ​You seldom see a match centered around back work, but that's what we have here, as Matt returns the favor for the first fall by targeting Buddy's back with hard slams and suplexes. It's basic but effective, especially when you consider that slams and suplexes were still big moves (and even occasional finishers) in 1981.

 

I thought for sure that Matt's back would give out when he had Buddy in the airplane spin, but it doesn't, and that's the move that evens the bout at a fall apiece with about fifteen minutes of disc time remaining. We've either got a massive run-in and beatdown or a time-limit draw (which I haven't seen yet on this set) coming up.

 

​Third fall: ​Well, I was right. Oliver interferes to give Matt the match by DQ, which leads to a doubleteam and Tony making the save for his son. In the postmatch interview, Tony challenges Buddy and Rip to a tag match with Matt as his partner, and the Army accepts.

 

Before the bleeding started, I marveled at the fact that these two make seemingly basic holds look devastating, like Buddy's reverse chinlock, which he applies with such force that he gets a believable knockout spot out of it. These two also engage in one of the most interesting tests of strength I've seen in quite a while, which is noteworthy because neither one of these guys is your classic power wrestler.

 

It took until the postmatch interview, but we found out why Matt was so anxious to make Buddy bleed, and make no mistake, bleed he did. I'm surprised that we were allowed to see that much blood on TV, quite frankly. I liked the symmetry of Matt biting Buddy until he bled because Buddy had done the same thing to Tony the previous week, and also that Buddy promises to make Matt bleed again the next time they meet. Somehow, I believe him after what we saw here.

 

I'm not quite sure if Oliver knows what he's saying on interviews or not, but someone should tell him that it sounds stupid to call a veteran like Tony "boy" as if he's a raw rookie. Between "boy" and "punk", both of which are way overused in wrestling interviews, there are times that I'm ready to pull my hair out.

 

I've seldom heard an interview cut off in midstream before, but it works well here, as Frank says goodbye with both sides still yelling at each other. Speaking of Frank, his call was steady as always. It's hard to think of any clever or funny lines he used, but his call was good enough not to need things like that. He reminds me of a slightly folksier, less erudite Gordon Solie, and that's definitely a compliment.

 

I'm kind of sorry that the tag match I mentioned above won't be on the set, but we get another singles match between Buddy and Matt later on this disc, and I'm looking forward to it.