Curt Hennig vs. Ali Hassan (Death Match) (4/30/83)

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Curt Hennig vs. Ali Hassan (Death Match) (4/30/83)

Disc 6

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First fall: ​This is an Iranian death match. The rules are simple: A second of each wrestler's choosing (Assassin for Hassan, Billy Jack for Curt) ties his opponent to the turnbuckles. It's up to each wrestler to free themselves by whatever means they can. If they can do this, they can pummel their opponent at will without the opponent being able to do a thing about it until he​ can get free. There's no disqualification, and two out of three falls determines the winner.

 

So we're set. Both seconds tie their man's opponent to the buckles, and it's a race to see who can gain the advantage by untying themselves first. Or it would have been, except that we're running short on time and getting time calls from the time Don leaves the ring after making the opening announcements. Each man thus throws off their ropes at the exact same time, and we're left with a straight no-DQ match, and Curt wins the first fall with a flying bodypress, taking a 1-0 lead with about nine minutes of disc rime remaining.

 

This may be the most useless stip match I've ever seen. Dutch makes a big deal about how tightly Billy Jack and Assassin are tying the knots, puts Hassan over as a magical escape artists who can appear and disappear literally at will, makes it sound like Curt's in for the beating of his life because of how Assassin hogtied him, and just like that Curt's free of the ropes and the whole reason for the match is gone. Why book a match that requires a long build when you know that you're on a time schedule because of TV? What's the difference between this match and any other now? There's not even any time to put the stip over as dangerous, because it's dispensed with in about sixty seconds.

 

Curt looks really good, and I'm betting that with so little time left we're in for a sweep, especially since Don puts over in his introduction how Curt ran The Convict out of Portland and has just about done the same to Buddy. Hassan's gotten in no offense at all; the only time he's been active so far is when he berated Don during the introductions about letting kids in free the following week because he's a prince and no one, not even Don, deserves to look upon his body for free, Don answers that it's his promotion and he'll do what he wants to do.

 

I'm guessing Hassan is at least an associate of the Clan, since Assassin's seconding him here.

 

Second fall: ​This one's surprisingly quick. Curt dominates most of it, busting Hassan open on the ringpost. But just when the sweep seems inevitable, Curt misses another flying bodypress from the second turnbuckle, and Hassan pounces with a reverse neckbreaker, then covers and gets the three count. We're even at a fall apiece with about five minutes of disc time remaining.

 

I just realized that the Sheik who was talked about as Assassin's partner a couple of matches ago is actually Hassan. No wonder Assassin's his second here. (I thought it might have been Farhat, although I've never heard of him working in the Northwest.)

 

Of all things to have on your tights. "Oil". Come on, Hassan, show some pride in your "country". At least The Iron Sheik has "Iran" on some of his tights. (For the record, Hassan looks and sounds about as Iranian as President Reagan did. As it turns out, he's former WWF jobber and referee Jack Krueger.)

 

​Third fall: ​We get some good action here, including low blows by both guys and Hassan kicking out of the Ax. In the end, the bout ends in a TV time limit draw with both men still slugging away. In postmatch interview, we learn that Curt beat Hassan for the Northwest title the night before, only to lose it somehow thanks to Oliver's interference. Curt promises to get the belt back if it's the last thing he does, and we fade out.

 

Apparently, this is the first time Hassan hasn't won an Iranian death match, though he's lost a few by reverse decision, which I didn't think was possible in an anything goes match.

 

This is as good as any place to ask: What was the proper name for Portland's belts? Don calls them the Northwest belts in his introductions, but Dutch always refers to them as the Pacific Coast belts.