Billy Jack Haynes & Buddy Rose vs. Assassin & Rip Oliver (2/3 Falls) (7/23/83)

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Billy Jack Haynes & Buddy Rose vs. Assassin & Rip Oliver (2/3 Falls) (7/23/83)

Disc 6

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First fall: ​This is another in the tag series between the RBA and the Clan. It takes place three weeks before ​Buddy and Billy Jack's non-title win over Oliver and Assassin that we saw earlier in this disc, nut it's for the Northwest tag team belts.

 

This one belongs almost completely to the RBA. Buddy starts the fall by trying to break Oliver's arm on the steel post, and things progress merrily from there. For his part, Billy Jack spends most of the fall trying to unmask Assassin to no avail, thanks mostly to Dandy Sandy. In the end he settles for almost taking Assassin's head off with a clothesline at about the eleven-minute mark in disc time to get a three count and put his team up one fall to none.

 

It's early enough in Buddy's turn that he's mostly focused on Oliver, almost to the exclusion of trying to wrestle a smart tag match. He would improve in this regard later on once the immediate impulse to strangle Oliver on sight subsided a bit. This leaves Billy Jack to take care of Assassin for the most part, although we see enough of him against Rip to remind us that there's still an issue there.

 

Speaking of which, what's Sandy's problem with guys trying to unmask masked wrestlers? I can see him wanting to protect Buddy from being snatched bald back in '80, but in Assassin's case, he's publically promised $2500 to anyone who can unmask him. Why not let the wrestlers actually try and collect it? It's not like they can walk up to Assassin nice as pie and ask, "Would you mind taking your mask off, please? I need $2500 rather desperately at the moment."

 

Who or what on earth is Gladstone's Rub-A-Dub, which is the name on the front of the Ripper's T-shirt here?

 

It was nice of Dutch and Coss to say hi to Billy Jack's dad and put him over as such a good man. Too bad his son turned out to be (by most reports, anyway) an absolute sociopath.

 

Dutch and Coss continue to show excellent chemistry, and Dutch in particular sounds like he's still having a blast calling the bouts. There are a lot of great exchanges between the two in this fall, but my favorite concerns Billy Jack, who both men are unapologetically over the moon about:

 

Dutch: You wouldn't want to run into a body like that in a dark alley.

Coss: Or even in a light one!

 

Frank wasn't given to hyperbole and/or overexcitement in most cases, but I wonder if he would have broken that pattern for a hometown hero like Billy Jack had he (Frank) still been alive when Billy Jack debited.

 

​Second fall: ​The challengers begin the fall by working over Assassin's back, but the tide turns, and eventually Buddy becomes the FIP for all but the last minute or so of the fall. Billy Jack eventually gets the hot tag, but the good feelings don't last too long, as Assassin kicks him when he puts his head down for a backdrop, then pins him after a textbook reverse neckbreaker to even the bout at a fall apiece. The PA announces that there are eight minutes of wrestling time left just prior to the beginning of the third fall.

 

This is from back in the first fall, but I loved how Dutch and Coss put Assassin and Oliver over as worthy champions while not endorsing their tactics. That's a difficult line for announcers to walk, and there are only a few who even try, let alone managing to be as convincing as Dutch and Coss are here.

 

Dutch isn't normally given to hyperbole, but I had to laugh when he said that he thought Billy Jack could match strength with Andre, who was still the Eighth Winder of he World in all his glory at this point. I wouldn't have given Billy Jack a snowball's chance in the desert against Andre in a strength contest; of course, it turns out that Billy Jack was most likely stronger than Andre, at least where lifting where lifting weights was concerned.

 

Nice job by Dutch warning kids not to try wrestling moves at home so they won't get hurt. Some promotions were still encouraging their viewers to try out the holds for themselves if they thought the wrestlers were taking it easy or not giving their all.

 

I enjoyed the discussion of the advantage Buddy has in bring lefthanded. I didn't understand some of it, but regardless it isn't the type of insight you hear very often on wrestling programs, which is enough reason to thoroughly appreciate it.

 

We haven't seen Assassin's loaded hood come into play yet, though it wouldn't surprise me to see it at some point in the third fall. The same goes for Billy Jack's full nelson.

 

Buddy deserves some type of award for trying to undo Assassin's mask while laying on the canvas looking up at him. That's another spot I've never seen anything like before.

 

Third fall: ​Just after I said that we hadn't seen Assassin's loaded hood yet, he uses it on Billy Jack to start the third fall. Interestingly enough, he targets Billy Jack's shoulder rather than his head. The champions work over Billy Jack for the first part of the fall, but he gets free and tags Buddy, who comes in ready to kill. Billy Jack comes in ready to help, but ends up costing his team when Assassin points his presence out to Sandy. Buddy then lifts him in a back suplex, only for Oliver to take his knee out with the best clip this side of the Oregon Ducks. Buddy lands full force on the back of his head, and is stunned enough that Assassin can cover him and get the three count.

 

After the match, the Clan attacks Billy Jack and doubleteams him until Curt makes the save with a chair. Later, in the Crow's Nest, Rip's bragging about the Clan's latest win when the RBA shows up and clears them out. They vow vengeance in the following week's six-man tag, which won't be televised.

 

Kudos to Coss for calling out the fan who threw his or her drink into the ring. Just imagine the calamity that could have caused if the match had still been going on.

 

I understand that the faces were supposed to be disgusted by all that had gone on during the show, but they could have said a few more words about the following week's six-man match. A few isolated syllables and hand gestures do not a sellout make.

 

I loved Dutch's protest about being in the middle of the brawl in the Crow's Nest. I also liked him reminding the (presumably) outraged audience that Buddy would have happily done what Oliver just had a mere three months before. That's called keeping events in perspective, folks, and it isn't often seen in wrestling today, where not even those in charge of writing the shows have much memory beyond the previous week.