[1980-11-15-PNW] Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot vs Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver

[SAMS]

1980-11-15
PNW
Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot (c) vs Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver
NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA
★★★
Card

Feels like the momentum in Portland is building again for the first time since Piper and Martel’s departures and they’ve really got something going with the Youngblood vs Rose dynamic, Youngblood’s desire for payback following his broken arm a few years earlier and the ability to slot the remaining roster into the feud accordingly.
Just like he did the week before, Rose was deliberately ducking Yougblood unless his team had the advantage. Unlike the week before, Lightfoot didn’t have any strong moments here, instead he again botched an attempt to stick the landing on a back body drop (awkwardly landing on his backside and forcing Rose to improvise on the fly) and his apron work left a lot to be desired, tarnishing somewhat a series of excellently built hot tag attempts by the others.
Rose was doing his best Ken Patera impression here. Preening about and launching guys across the ring with body slams, but it was Youngblood who was truly excellent here throughout. Coming in for an early tag he was filled with intensity and set the tone for the match, then once Oliver had gained the advantage on him, he was a textbook face in peril for both of the first two falls. Bumping - check. Selling - check. Well timed, meaningful hope spots - check. He didn’t make it to his corner in the first, succumbing to a couple absolutely jaw dropping backbreakers from Rose, but finally, bit by bit over the second, he built to the hot tag in the second and managed to turn the tide of the match.
The time limit draw was easy to spot a long way off, and they kind of tried to finish with a wild brawl (Youngblood taking Rose to task, obliterating his arm again and again on the ringpost and Lightfoot going at it with Oliver back in the ring), but it didn’t really sync up properly and came across more like they were vamping for time until the bell rang than delivering something really out of control and wild.
After the match Youngblood was interviewed and they set up a 4v4 match for the following Saturday. Rose’s Army against Youngblood, Lightfoot, Boyd and one more. Lightfoot goes to the back to retrieve their fourth member and it’s BUZZ SAWYER! I’ve only seen one match from him so far, a pretty short squash match from a couple weeks earlier, but I’m absolutely ecstatic with this addition to the match. Roll on next week!

[tcg91]

Piper and Martel are gone, but the fans are still crazy hot for this. Rose/Youngblood is the most promising pairing and they do very well, including a long headlock phase that got the match hot instead of killing it. Oliver is a good addition to the mix and supports Rose in his pummelling, while Lightfoot is clearly the weakest link and he sells for most of the contest. They go 30 minutes before the time limit, the match is missing a clean finish to make it awesome, but they were still furiously brawling when the referee stopped them and this is a plus. It's incredible how Rose makes all of his opponent look so good
***3/4