Buddy Rose vs. Matt Borne (2/3 falls) (Lumberjack Match) (6/19/82)

[goodhelmet]

Buddy Rose vs. Matt Borne (2/3 falls) (Lumberjack Match) (6/19/82)

Disc 4

[Lee Benaka]

I'm not sure I would call this a Lumberjack Match. The match featured four "guards", one on each side of the ring. Each of them, according to Don Owens, didn't care much for Rose or Borne. I really like Don Owens. Buddy brought a box of "funeral" lilies to the ring, but the effect was not that dramatic as Buddy was distracted by the fact that the match would be televised, which Buddy did not want. The announcer warned of gore, and we had gore, pretty much from the get-go. Buddy used that deceivingly sharp microphone on Borne to draw first blood, and Rose was shot in the head while down on the floor at ringside a minute later. Rose took a pounding and lost the first fall. Sandy Barr again tried to "revive" the extremely bloody Rose by sitting him up and tapping his shoulders. I'm still don't know what kind of first aid that represents. The second fall began with a long look at Rose leaning in the corner, having gamely not wiped any of the blood from his face. He really looked to be a pathetic mess. Borne took it to Rose in the second fall again, which featured stereo low blows and a surprise and kind of unlikely roll-up by Rose for the second fall. Borne attacked Rose as he tried to enter the ring for the third fall, and before long a big wad of "dog chain" appeared in Rose's hand, and he nailed Borne with it for the pin. Borne didn't sell the chain blow all that extensively and popped up after Rose left the ring. After the match, Borne asked Owens for a chain match, and Owens agreed, but that's it you troublemakers! I really like Don Owens.

[dawho5]

There is a certain charm to Don Owens. Some wrestling terms, like "tag team," he just refuses to utter. It's always "team" or "relay team". And he's always got that annoyed-sounding dad tone when he's dealing with anyone that's the least bit heelish. Either he's a TRUE old-old-old-school wrestling guy who refuses to use all the flashy new terms or he never was into wrestling and doesn't care to learn the jargon. Either way he comes across like a crotchedy old bastard who doesn't care one bit about what you think, which I can dig.

 

Far as the match goes it is more of the same from the previous match between Rose and Borne. Good pacing, lots of blood and guts and...yeah Borne almost no-selling the chain which was pretty bad. So a step below, but still one of my favorites on the set so far.

[garretta]

First fall: ​This is one of the bloodiest matches so far on the set, and that's saying something. Frank insists that this is supposed to be a regular match even though there's no disqualification, but somebody forgot to tell these two. Buddy opens Matt up with the mic, Matt steals a chair from one of the guards and plasters Buddy with it despite Sandy's best efforts to stop him, and before long Frank's comparing the carnage to a 3D monster movie. Eventually, Buddy tries to go up top despite barely being able to move, but Matt catches him and slams him into the ring, drops a knee, then just pounds Buddy until he's ready to score the pin, which he does to go up one fall to none with about twelve minutes of disc time remaining.

 

Frank was great explaining just how disruptive this feud's gotten; it's apparently to the point where none of the other wrestlers care which one of these guys gets rid of the other as long as one of them does so things can get back to normal. I've never heard of any feud being described in quite those terms. The amazing thing is, even though the fans are clearly behind Matt, the rest of the promotion's treating this as a heel-heel feud, similar in some ways to Buddy's upcoming feud with Dave Schultz.

 

I liked Don's explanation of why this bout was being televised despite Buddy's objections. Apparently, both Tom Peterson and the Tonkin family really did ​request that Don put as many main event-level bouts on TV as possible. Don must have seen the sense in listening to them, because not only did he put the bouts on, but the boys worked them like arena matches instead of just cheap throwaways designed to build toward another non-televised match later down the road.

 

This was a different type of lumberjack match with only four guys out there, but they did their job in the same way. I'll bet anything that we'll get some sort of involvement by one or more of them before the match is over. My money's on Miller, the lone heel, to be the instigator.

 

I liked the symbolism of Buddy bringing the funeral lilies, and as usual Frank was right on top of things in mentioning them. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, Buddy got sidetracked arguing with Don about whether the match would be on TV, so he didn't explain them himself, which would have been something to hear.

 

It's not often you hear about wrestlers being involved in local charities when they don't wrestle in the area anymore, but kudos to Piper for still being involved in Portland's Easter Seals fundraising while he's doing most of his wrestling in JCP and Georgia.

 

Will Buddy not going back to the locker room between falls come back to haunt him? He could have at least wiped some of the blood off of his face.

 

​Second fall: ​Matt continues his onslaught until Buddy hits a low blow, then it's his turn on offense for a while. Apparently someone forgot to tell Frank that this was a no-DQ match, which is an inexcusable way to treat your play-by-play guy. At any rate, Matt eventually regains the advantage, but loses the fall when Buddy flips him onto his back almost in self-defense and holds on for a clean three-count. We're tied at a fall apiece with about six minutes of disc time remaining.

 

The way the pin was scored, it's almost like Buddy and Matt forgot that the match was supposed to go three falls, then suddenly remembered and rushed to cram in the second fall before they fell any further behind.

 

Frank's long association with Portland wrestling comes in handy, as he's able to tell the story of how Buddy and Matt didn't like each other even before Matt started wrestling, back when he was just hanging out at arenas watching Tony wrestle. Who knows whether it's true or not, but Frank's believable in telling the story, which is the most important thing.

 

There's at least one tease of trouble with the guards, as Miller's a bit slow helping Buddy back into the ring at one point. There's no real scuffle like I thought there would be, though. Don probably didn't want anyone's attention diverted from the match going on in the ring, which has been wild enough so far.

 

Buddy took the hint and went back to the dressing room this time, and we have about four minutes of wrestling time remaining, according to Frank's guess. I don't think these guys can fight to a clean decision of some sort in just four minutes, but stranger things have happened.

 

Third fall: ​There isn't much time for action, but we do​ get a finish, as Buddy pulls a chain out of his tights and waffles Matt with it to score the winning fall. Matt somehow ends up with the chain after the match, and uses it as the centerpiece for a postmatch promo in which he challenges Buddy to a street fight chain match for the upcoming Tuesday night card. Don reluctantly signs the match, but says that he's sick and tired of both Matt and Buddy, and that this will be the last match the two of them will ever have.

 

Matt's promo was necessary to set up the match for the following Tuesday, so I'll forgive him for not selling Buddy's chain shot for as long as he otherwise might have.

 

I loved the part of the promo where Matt says that he'll beat on Buddy until the people tell him to take the pin. As I said above, Matt's clearly the face in the people's eyes, regardless of the story that Don may be trying to tell.

 

Of course, the chain match wasn't the end between these two; they'd end up as face partners a couple of years later, and when Buddy turned heel again in the summer of 1984, Matt was the man he turned on.