Dynamite Kid & The Assassin vs. Buddy Rose & Curt Henning (2/3 Falls) (10/29/83)

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Dynamite Kid & The Assassin vs. Buddy Rose & Curt Henning (2/3 Falls) (10/29/83)

Disc 7

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First fall: ​This is the first of the four-match tag series pitting The Clan against Portland's top faces. We didn't know how the last (fourth) one ended, but Dynamite and Assassin walked out with the belts against Buddy and Billy Jack. Now Buddy's teaming with former sworn enemy Curt Hennig.

 

This fall had some tremendous action; in fact, it would have been almost a complete match in itself. Curt and Buddy thoroughly worked over Dynamite's arm, and the heels retaliated by trapping Buddy in the ring and working him over. Eventually Buddy made the tag to Curt, but Assassin's loaded mask came into play, as he caught Curt in the ribs with it to Sandy Barr's blind side. From then on, it was easy pickings, and the champions finished Curt off with a combination suplex lift/powerslam from the top. Dynamite got the fall, and the champions lead 1-0 with about ten minutes of disc time remaining.

 

Say what you will about The Clan; their tag team work is exquisite. The finisher (which deserves some sort of name; that's how devastating it looks) was one that I wish the Bulldogs would have stolen, and the rest of their work, particularly the FIP segment on Buddy, was textbook. Part of that was due to Buddy, who's really mastered the art of playing sympathetic babyface while not going all Ricky Morton about it.

 

This feud's really starting to hit its groove. In addition to the tag team issues, you have Dynamite/Curt over the Northwest title, Buddy/Dynamite, also over the title, and Curt/Assassin over Assassin's mask. (Don't worry, I'm sure Buddy and Assassin aren't exactly exchanging Christmas cards either.) Plus, Oliver has apparently destroyed Jules Strongbow's headdress, which is another reason the faces want a piece of him. The multiple layers of this feud make it compelling wrestling no matter who's in the ring.

 

I'm guessing Oliver's been warned to stay away from ringside, which would explain his absence. I wonder if he'll try to interfere to save the titles for Dynamite and Assassin; in the Billy Jack match I've already seen, the champions simply refuse to get in the ring during the third fall, which leads to whatever the decision was.

 

I'd love to see Stasiak join the war against The Clan, but with young talents like Curt and Billy Jack whose careers will benefit from being involved, plus Buddy being as over as he is, I understand why he's soft-pedaling his own problems with Rip and company. It's not like they need him in order to make the matches better.

 

Second fall: ​The champions spend the majority of the fall working over Curt's back, which was damaged by the first fall finisher. After a few nearfalls, Buddy finally gets the tag and cleans house a bit, then Curt tags back in. A doubleteam by the champs fails as Curt catches them both with one mighty dropkick, then hits a back suplex on Assassin and bridges to score the pin and even the bout at one fall apiece with about six minutes remaining.

 

One point that Stan brought up on commentary is what makes this feud so refreshing to me: As badly as all four men want to hurt each other, they want to ​wrestle​, not simply beat each other up. All four guys are showing off their repertoires for everyone to see, and it makes for great viewing. I don't know how long it'll last; there's bound to be a bloody brawl or two somewhere in this feud's future. But for now, it's nice to see good hard wrestling action even in a feud with such obvious hatred.

 

Apparently this isn't a title match, as Coss clearly said just before the start of the third fall that Curt and Buddy would have to win this match to get a shot at the Northwest belts. Since these two teams have a rematch on this disc which aired two weeks later, I'll guess that Curt and Buddy win this fall and set up a title match.

 

By the way, this is the first time I've seen Curt wear his famous blue trunks with the white swoosh that he wore all the way through his AWA run and into his first days as Mr. Perfect. I'm guessing that he switched to a singlet at least partially because of the back trouble he developed which came to a head at SummerSlam '91, much like Andre wore a singlet as a heel to conceal his back brace after his surgery in the fall of '86.

 

Third fall: ​This one doesn't last long. Assassin changes from a gold hood to a black one between falls, and Stan speculates that it means he's up to something. How right he is, as late in the fall with all four men in the ring, Dynamite holds Curt while Assassin comes off the ropes. Curt ducks out of the way just in time, and Assassin butts Dynamite right in the forehead, busting him wide open for the third match in a row and sending him out of the ring. Dynamite sees the blood and goes wild, grabbing a chair and bringing it into the ring. He proceeds to wear both Buddy and Curt out with it, then eliminates both of them from the ring, sending Curt flying over the top rope. The champions are disqualified, but it doesn't help them, as Buddy and Curt now have earned a title shot for the following week.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a masked man change masks in the middle of a match for any reason whatsoever. If Buddy and Curt were smart, they'd get a clause in the title match contract stipulating that any change in masks during the match by Assassin means both an automatic DQ ​​and ​a title change.

 

I thought that Buddy was busted open sometime during the first fall, but we don't see blood on him at any point in the match, although he was clearly butted by Assassin's (first) loaded hood. Could Buddy have been so into the match that he forgot to blade when he was supposed to?

 

I've mentioned before how naturally muscular Dynamite looks in these matches, although he was most likely already on the juice to some extent. With that look plus Davey Boy's, the Bulldogs could have been just as over as they were if not more so. It's a shame that Dynamite, like Billy Graham before him. overdid it to the point that he's now a physically broken shell of a man. It didn't have to be this way.

 

According to the both the match listing and the disc menu, Oliver takes Dynamite's place against Buddy and Curt the following week, Either the listings are wrong or some sort of shenanigans are afoot with The Clan. Knowing them, I'd bet on the latter. (Of course, Dynamite could be too hurt to wrestle as well, but I'm still betting on some sort of funny business.)