[1980-05-24-PNW] Buddy Rose & The Sheepherders vs Dutch Savage, Rick Martel & Roddy Piper

[SAMS]

1980-05-24
PNW
Buddy Rose & The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams) vs. Dutch Savage, Rick Martel & Roddy Piper
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Six Man Tag Team Match
Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA
Card
★★★

There’s a certain slapstick quality to the comedy up in Portland that is wholly unique to the area and often is driven by Rose and his character. This six man tag sowed the seeds of discontent within the Army while sprinkling in some good old fashioned flag humour.
Savage was the main FIP and Martel and Piper were merely used as powder kegs that exploded intermittently. They brought the intensity and the fire, but each maybe had only a couple minutes in the ring as the legal man. It was really Rose that was the rug that tied the room together here, wilfully refusing to tag in early on to annoy the Sheepherders, messing around with the NZ flag between falls to piss them off some more whilst also directing the action in the ring. For example, for the first fall, Rose was the one to pull Savage from the ring, post him in the corner and then reminded Williams not to pursue him out on the floor to ensure the count out victory.
The second fall ended with both Williams and Rose caught in Sleeper holds, with Williams being left unconscious for the entire break before the beginning of the second. The final had Sandy Barr distracted, allowing the Sheepherders to nail Piper in the head with the NZ flag as it looked like he might take out Rose with another Sleeper.
There was a lot of post-match around setting up an upcoming Coal Miner's Glove match etc., but it all tied in and was part of the attraction. Perhaps not the best match bell to bell, but the whole presentation was solidly delivered and the ongoing feud between The Army and Martel and Piper is going along swimmingly.