DVDVR Puerto Rico 80s Set: Disc 1: El Gran Apollo vs. Buddy Landel (5/8/83)

Disc 1, Match 7: El Gran Apollo vs. Buddy Landel (5/8/83)

I know we're going to get more into the bloody brawls as we go in this set; I've seen the match list. At this point though, I feel like we're judging between which matches had the best worked chinlock segment. That said, this one had a pretty great chinlock and I'm more inclined towards that stuff than most.

So unless I'm wildly mistaken, it seems that Landel really developed his heel act in PR in 82-83. I'm not going to post the weightlifting contest that helped set further this fued,  as it's a bonus on the set, but I am going to post a promo where Hugo spoke and Landel pretended he was Flair in the way he stood and presented himself. Usually in the states in 84-85, he'd have much more of his own spin on the Nature Boy thing. 

And I'm going to post this jobber match vs Angel Diaz which the video says is from 82, namely because Landel just killed the guy and people should see it.

The match itself was pretty much what you'd expect. Landel's an amazing, emotive stooge, and he'd already worked all of that out here, flailing about, bumping big, putting his own little twist on familiar spots. He did a flat back dropdown in the cross-cross, managed to Flair Flop into the second turnbuckle, and had the world's most beautiful high knee cut off on a chinlock hope spot. 

Apollo did his part here too. Puerto Rico fans were endlessly hot and they would chant along to grinding headlocks, which makes them better than fans today. He worked well from underneath in the chinlock too, but that was assisted by Landel's teeth gritting, jawing with the fans, and picture perfect cheating cut offs. He had one of the best dropkicks you'll see in 1983, though, and that was all him. 

The final comeback was a callback on that knee, with Apollo dodging it this time, getting some rabbit punches in, and taking over. Hugo interfered on the finish and one thing I've noticed on the set so far is that the heels don't seem to get away with things quiet as much in PR. That could have easily led to Buddy going over, since it was just a leg grab and nothing overly blatant or highly visual, but I guess they were afraid of angering this fanbase too much. Short and simple but a good match nonetheless and a nice way to gauge just where Buddy was at this stage of his development as a heel (he was far along).