El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario Fallout

Week 12: Aniversario Fallout

EB: Aniversario from Bayamon is over but we still have one final piece from Mayaguez to look at. It’s the Universal title match between Carlos Colon and Sadistic Steve Strong. Due to the result of the title match the previous night in Bayamon, the roles are reversed and it is Colon that is the defending champion going into the match. And as was the case in Bayamon where a stipulation (barbed wire) was added to the match in the final lead up, this match also has an added stipulation. In this case, Colon vs Strong in Mayaguez is now a cage match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DowBkGTGnTo

We join the match in progress as Carlos appears to be applying the same strategy of trying to take out one of Strong’s legs in order to set up the figure four leglock. There’s no barbed wire to punish your opponent with, but the cage still makes sure that there is no escape and (more importantly) no easy interference. The crowd cheers on Carlos as he keeps working on Strong’s leg and, after keeping the attack focused on the leg, eventually Carlos manages to get the figure four leglock on after hitting a body slam on Strong. The crowd amps up as Colon keeps the pressure on. Strong continues to fight and resist the hold as a close-up on Carlos reveals he is bleeding from his forehead. Strong manages to reverse the hold, with the pressure now being applied to Carlos. In  pain, Carlos manages to reach the ropes in order to get the hold broken. Carlos tries to get up but Steve Strong quickly hits a succession of three elbow drops to the back of Colon’s head and neck to keep him down. Strong sends Colon into the ropes and hits him with a clothesline (which happens to be the arm he has ‘Damian’ on). Strong hits another elbow drop and goes for the over, but decides to pull up Colon at two. Strong wants to deliver more punishment and finish off Carlitos. After keeping Carlos down with a headbutt, Strong backs off and repositions ‘Damian’ on his arm. His intent is clear, Strong wants to hit Carlos with the loaded clothesline. Strong sends Carlos into the ropes, but Carlos blocks the clothesline and hits a crucifix on Strong for the three count. The crowd goes wild in celebration at Carlos getting the win.

MD: Between the blood running down Colon’s face, the chip on Strong’s shoulder, and the fact the two of them were trapped in the cage, there was almost certainly a great match here. We just get a few minutes of the finish. Where we come in, Colon had turned the corner towards the comeback after what was almost certainly a grisly beating and both wrestlers were throwing kicks. Colon got the advantage, targeted the leg, and put on what felt like it would be an absolutely definitive and inescapable figure four. There was nowhere to go and no one to help Strong. However, he may no longer be champion, but he was still an absolute beast and he was able to turn it around and then retake the advantage, including a massive lariat. When he went for it again, however, Colon climbed up into a crucifix pin to steal a win. A good couple of minutes but the real transcendent serenity to be found in a match like this is always in the beatdown and that glorious moment of comeback and those things we don’t have.

EB: With Aniversario weekend complete, let’s review how things stand and how they would develop in CSP throughout the month of October.
With their Caribbean tag title win, the team of Los Mercenarios will become a regular presence in the territory. The team of Angel Acevedo and Jerry Morrow would eventually face the former champions of Miguelito Perez and Huracan Castillo Jr but would be successful in holding on to their newly won Caribbean tag titles.

Super Medico retained his World Junior title against Gran Mendoza (who was a replacement for Jeff Jarrett). A couple of weeks after the event, Super Medico faced a new challenger in Brett Sawyer. This was a tecnico vs tecnico match which we join in progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OfmqTJCBIk

Medico and Sawyer are circling each other in a face-off as Hugo on commentary mentions how this match has been quite the showcase of technical wrestling and it’s been a tremendous back and forth between the two tecnicos. Sawyer gets a small package off a lock up for a two count. They lock up again and this time Medico gets a two count of an inside cradle. Medico tries to grab Sawyer's leg, but it is countered into a back slide. However, Medico’s legs land in the ropes and the ref signals at Sawyer to break the pin attempt (which Sawyer does after a delay). Medico seems a bit annoyed at the delay in releasing the back slide, as Sawyer circles the ring a bit and seems to make a comment to someone in the crowd. Sawyer hits a side headlock which Medico breaks by sending Sawyer into the ropes. A series of criss-crosses leads to Medico getting a sunset flip on Sawyer but Sawyer manages to keep his balance and does not fall down. Instead, Sawyer maneuvers both he and Medico (who is still trying to turn him over into the sunset flip pin attempt) near the ropes. Sawyer sits down on Medico’s chest for a pinfall attempt. As the referee starts counting, Sawyer grabs onto the top rope with both hands in order to gain more leverage and prevent Medico from kicking out. The ref counts three and we have a new World Junior champion.

Post-match we get an unexpected development. As the ref raises Sawyer's hand indicating he is the winner, Medico comes over visibly upset and complains to the ref that Sawyer was grabbing the ropes. You can also see some of the crowd also visibly pointing at the ref and trying to signal what had happened (and we even see a few things get thrown into the ring). Medico starts arguing with Sawyer about him holding the top rope while Sawyer signals that the three count was made. Sawyer lifts the belt and Medico continues arguing with Sawyer about what he did (as the crowd also seems to be complaining as well). Both wrestlers leave the ring and, since it just so happens both are tecnicos, they are heading to the same locker room. Medico continues arguing and shoving Sawyer about what happened as the crowd starts throwing things at Sawyer. The argument and shoving by Medico continues all the way into the dugout, up the stairs and into the locker room. Sawyer sits in a chair and ignores Medico who continues asking him why did he hold onto the ropes. Medico gets more angry as Sawyer just ignores Medico and tries to untie his boots. Eventually, Sawyer stands up and asks if Medico has a f###ing problem and Medico shoves Sawyer down. Sawyer gets up and the two start fighting in the locker room. After a while, the tecnicos rush in to break it up and you can see both Sawyer and Medico are bleeding from their foreheads. This situation has gotten out of hand.

MD: Interesting stuff. Sawyer, Buzz’s brother who we know from Georgia and Portland primarily, is another guy who was past his last big run but still had something left to add. Despite this being for the Junior title, there was a real Buddy Rose vibe to Brett here. He had extra girth and looked like the heat was getting to him, but could still go on fast exchanges. The post match angle in the locker room was intense. I’m sure they weren’t playing off of it specifically, but I can imagine how the backstage area would feel just a bit more out of control during this period, right? It certainly felt novel and like things were getting very much out of hand.

EB: As result of the ending of this match and resulting altercation in the locker room, a rematch was scheduled between the new champion Brett Sawyer and the former champion Super Medico.

Mark and Chris Youngblood made a triumphant return to Puerto Rico at Aniversario by capturing the World tag team titles from the team of Rip Rogers and Abudda Dein. The former champs would split up after Aniversario, with Abudda Dein returning to singles competition. Rip Rogers would attempt to regain the World tag titles from the Youngbloods but with a new partner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yE9pqYKsfA

Rip’s partner is none other than Chicky Starr, sporting a new haircut thanks to his loss to TNT at Aniversario. The match is joined in progress as we see Rip and Chicky use an object that they picked up from the ground and attack Mark Youngblood. Hugo on commentary is saying that the blame for this goes to whoever was the irresponsible fan (and he stresses irresponsible a couple of times) that threw the object near the ring. Chickly and Rip maintain the advantage thanks to their cheating, with Rip putting Mark into a sleeperhold (as Hugo on commentary exhorts young viewers to not play around and use these holds which can really mess you up). Mark manages to break the hold and tags in Chris, who tees off on Rip and Chicky. All four men end up in the ring. An attempt to smash the rudos together leads to Chicky and Chris crashing into each other instead.  Chris ends up loopy outside the ring as Mark is double teamed by Rip and Chicky. Mark is held by Chicky and Rip goes for a clothesline, but Mark dodges and Chicky is hit instead. In the confusion after the hit, Chris comes off the top rope with a crossbody onto Rip. Chicky breaks it up at two. However, as the ref takes Chicky out of the ring, the Youngbloods are able to hit a slingshot splash onto Rip for the pinfall win. The Youngbloods retain the World tag team titles.

MD: We just get the last few minutes including a hot tag from Mark to Chris and the finish. The bit of beatdown we see looked good; Chicky was in rare form, his hair cut, looking from afar like the slimiest Bob Backlund imaginable. He had some great strikes and stooged like a champ too. Rip was Rip, so he partnered with him well, but Chicky made him look almost mundane. Anyway, the Youngbloods kept pressing post-hot tag with Chicky saving Rip until he tripped on the ropes and couldn’t anymore.

EB: However, Rip’s time in CSP would soon wrap up, with Rogers losing the Caribbean singles title he held to Miguelito Perez in early November. As for Rip’s former tag partner, Abudda Dein would find himself back in singles competition but with a heavier scrutiny around his suspicious boot. The controversy surrounding Abudda’s boot would come to a head when during a match an attempt was made to uncover if the boot was loaded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4nj_FF7S64

Dein’s opponent is prelim wrestler Tito Carrion, who doesn't have much luck in this match. Dein dominates throughout, at one point tossing Carrion to the floor and taking advantage of the ref making the count on Tito to load up his boot. Dein hits a boot to the head on Tito when he tries to get in the ring and proceeds to hit him with another after Tito gets thrown back in. Dein wins the match as Tito is busted open. Dein continues to attack the worse for wear Carrion post match, leading to Invader coming out to try to make the save. His first attempt is foiled by Profe grabbing onto Invader’s leg and allowing Dein to hit Invader with a  boot to the head. Invader is stunned outside as Dein continues to attack Tito, but eventually manages to get to his feet. Invader punches Profe and bodyslams him on the floor, and then gets in the ring to go right after Dein. Invader knocks Dein down and immediately grabs him by the leg to try to get Dein’s boot off. Will we finally discover if that boot is loaded? Dein fights Invader off but Invader manages to knock Dein back down and once again tries to unlace Dein’s boot. The boot is off! And Invader immediately hits Dein with it on the head, which busts Dein open. Invader tries to hit Dein again but a kick to the groin by Dein stops Invader. Dein grabs his boot and hightails it out of the ring before the boot can be checked. Dein helps Profe to his feet and they both amble back to the locker room as Invader is left laying in the ring from the kick to the groin and bleeding from his head.

MD: Look, Tito wasn’t a world beater, but he at least put up a fight in there, and that boot had to be loaded from a kayfabe perspective, because the stomp that Dein won with didn’t look like much of anything at all. There wasn’t any tricky loading or big wind up or anything. Just a sort of casual stomp and the pin. The post match was spirited though, with Dein bleeding in a moment where you wouldn’t think that he would (as the visual focus would have been on the boot instead). Things definitely feel chaotic this week as they heat things up again post Aniversario.

EB: This incident would lead to a short feud between Abudda Dein and Invader, one where Abudda was unsuccessful in capturing the Puerto Rico title.

TNT had been successful in retaining his name and paint, while also remaining the TV champion. However, will Chicky Starr drop the enmity with TNT after what happened at Aniversario? We’ll find out shortly.

Speaking of Chicky Starr, his Club Deportivo had been operating basically with only Chicky and Steve Strong as active members for most of the summer and fall. But after experiencing a less than stellar Aniversario with the loss of the Universal title and failing to strip TNT of his name and paint, it was time to bring in reinforcements. The first such reinforcement is someone we saw return at Aniversario, one Manny Fernandez. Manny would not waste time in terms of making an impression on TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTNEfhwycRw

Chicky is with Manny and wearing a cap to hide his haircut. This is a nice back and forth match where Manny manages to get the win after Super Medico misses a crossbody attempt and gets hit with Manny’s elbow to the face. Manny Fernandez is back in Puerto Rico and who knows what he and Chicky will get up to.

MD: They covered a lot of ground in around 6 minutes here making for a very complete TV match. Of note, Manny and Chicky continue to have natural chemistry; Chicky was out there with a hat. Super Medico outwrestled Manny early. Manny took over with a kick to the gut and leaned hard on him with a headbutt and knee drop. Super Medico fought out of a chinlock and kept pressing, but Manny finally shut him down. Just a nice example of a compact star vs star TV match that would have worked on WWF or WCW TV in 89.

EB: Chicky would also bring in Leo Burke as the newest member of his Club Deportivo. Leo was billed as the true master of the figure four leglock and he would put his mastery of the hold on display in his matches. One such display was against a returning Ron Starr (Chicky’s ‘cousin’ who had a falling out with Chicky the previous year).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESAigD-MjtU&t=23s

We’ll talk more about Ron Starr and his history in CSP in a future installment. Here he is making his return to Puerto Rico as a tecnico and is taking on his ‘cousin's’ newest client in Leo Burke. We join the match in progress as Burke launches Ron into the ropes, leading to both men colliding and falling down. Ron makes it to his feet first and hits a couple of headbutts to knock Leo Burke down. A pinfall attempt gets two. Hugo on commentary calls Burke the master of the figure four. Burke gets an abdominal stretch on Ron, but Ron counters it into a side legsweep for a two count. After exchanging a few blows, Burke launches Ron into the ropes but Ron counters with a knee to the face which sends Burke to the outside of the ring. Ron gives chase and hits a series of chops on Burke, However, Ron misses a charge on Leo (who is standing in front of the ringpost), which leads to Ron hitting his knee on the post. Back in the ring, Burke capitalizes on the injured leg and puts Ron in the figure four. Ron gives up but Burke refuses to break the hold as Ron continues to yell in pain. Eventually the ref is able to get Burke to break the hold. Chicky gets in the ring and calls off Burke as the ref warns Chicky about Burke not breaking the hold. An impressive win for the master of the figure four.

MD: We have the last almost three minutes of this and, look, when I think of Ron Starr, I think of Leo Burke and when I think of Leo Burke, I think of Ron Starr. Just the definition of journeymen who didn’t get major runs in the 80s in the most traditionally watched territories but always delivered in some of the smaller ones. Starr missed a knee on the outside and crashed into the post and Burke got over that figure four by making him give up to it. Chicky with the hat was giving me Paul E vibes a bit.

EB: Chicky wasn’t the only manager bringing in new reinforcements. El Profe had lost the services of Ivan Koloff after Aniversario but had decided to refocus Abudda Dein in the singles ranks. In addition, Profe also brought in a new wrestler to the territory by the name of Gary Albright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwkITdkl9Y0

The video opens with Profe offering the fans or anyone who dares $5,000 if they are able to break Gary Albright’s hold. It appears no one takes up the challenge, so the match against Armando Fernandez  begins. Hector Moyano puts over the physical size advantage Albright has on his opponent. Eliud Gonzalez also mentions that Albright’s hold must be a very good one if Profe is willing to offer $5,000 to anyone who can break the hold. This match is a showcase for the new arrival, with Albright showing off his size and strength. The commentators do not know what the mystery hold is but catch on when Albright slaps it on (it seems to be some sort of half nelson hold). A quick and impressive submission win for El Profe’s newest stable member.

MD: Man did Albright ever make Armando look like a child in there. He was just huge and imposing. I can’t imagine anyone challenging him for that $5000. Not all of his offense hit with the oomph you’d want (the back elbow and the shoulder thrusts in the corner especially) but he was so big it almost didn’t matter. Armando got one (1) punch in for the entire match and that felt about right to me.

EB: As we saw after the Universal title match in Bayamon, Steve Strong was interviewed wanting another match against Carlos Colon. A rematch was signed between Carlos Colon and Steve Strong for October 28. Let’s go to that match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MhXGNmh8Q

This footage of the match is from a Clasicos airing many years later, so the commentary doesn’t really add much in terms of at the time context. We join the match with Strong and Colon fighting outside of the ring. Strong has the better of Colon and lifts him up on his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Strong proceeds to go towards one of the ring posts and proceeds to ram Colon’s left shoulder into it. It’s the shoulder that had been previously injured and it seems Strong’s gameplan is to try to take it out again. Strong shoves Colon into the ring. A bleeding Carlos is trying to gather himself on the mat as Strong gets up on the middle turnbuckle and taunts the crowds with his hand pose. Colon gets to his feet but Strong charges him with a tackle and hits a ddt to put Colon down. Strong hits an elbow drop and covers but only gets two. Strong hits a shoulder tackle and a legdrop, but again only gets two. Strong staggers Colon with some clubbing blows to the head and proceeds to bite the cut on Colon’s forehead. Strong misses an elbow drop and Colon starts getting fired up as the shoulder strap comes down. A series of punches and headbutts leads to Carlos hitting a cartwheel to fire up the crowd. Carlos continues on the offensive attack but Strong manages to counter with a clothesline to knock Colon down for a two count. Strong hits a nice piledriver on Carlos and slowly makes the pin.  It only gets two which frustrates Strong, who decides to go to the corner and adjust ‘Damian’ on his forearm. Another clothesline and elbow drop only get two and Strong is really starting to get frustrated with the ref. Strong hits a back bodydrop on Carlos and sends him into the ropes for another one. This second one ends up with Carlos being backdropped onto the referee Isaac Rosario and knocking him out.of the ring. A clothesline attempt from Strong is ducked by Carlos, who hits a back suplex on Strong (the same maneuver he used to win at Aniversario in Bayamon). Both men are down in the ring. Chicky, who has been outside seconding Strong, gets close to the ring and the camera catches him loading something into Strong's arm protector. Chicky then casually walks away, passing behind Isaac Rosario on the outside. El Vikingo runs into the ring to take over referee duties as both Colon and Strong have gotten to their feet. Strong hits a loaded clothesline on Carlos and gets the pin! It looks like Strong has regained the Universal title. Vikingo goes to hand the title belt to Strong but Isaac Rosario makes his way back into the ring and stops Vikingo. Isaac tries to get at Strong’s arm protector to find the foreign object in it but Strong yanks his arm away. Vikingo starts pointing at Strong’s arm and also asks to check it but Strong refuses. Rain starts falling as Vikingo calls for the bell to ring and it seems both Rosario and Vikingo are conferring. Strong refuses to have his arm checked and leaves the ring, as El Vikingo checks on Carlos and goes to consult with the commission members at ringside. While this is going on, the camera catches Chicky putting something away in his pocket. Strong makes a motion for them to check his arm protector as Chicky tries to shoo the camera away. The ringside doctor tries to check on the bleeding Carlos. However, Carlos rolls out of the ring and makes an immediate charge at Strong. Strong kicks Colon in the gut and walks away with Chicky and security to the locker room as the rain keeps falling. Carlos is then helped by the ringside doctor as he makes his way in the opposite direction of Strong.

MD: This was all pretty iconic. It is the best Strong has looked to me so far, as he’d really grown into his role. Looks wise, when he smirks, he comes off exactly like a slimy jock 80s movie villain should. We come in with them brawling on the outside, but Strong soon takes over and hits all of his big stuff. Carlos comes back including the cartwheel but Strong actually cuts him off and scores the pile driver only for Colon to kick out. Definitely rousing stuff here. They kind of goof the ref bump, which was a good idea (Colon crashing into the ref during a back body drop) and have to run the spot twice, but the end effect is Chicky loading up the arm guard for a loaded clothesline, the win, and then the contested finish. These two could work together extremely well by this point.

EB: So after that ending, who is the Universal champion? Well, due to the way the match ended the decision was made by the commission to hold up the Universal title. Neither Carlos Colon nor Steve Strong is the champion. With the title held up and the status of what will be done unclear, tempers would flare during a taping of Campeones de la Lucha Libre, a show where Carlos Colon and Chicky Starr served as co-hosts with Hugo Savinovich. The two would start arguing over who tried to steal the win in the Universal title match (Colon angry at Chicky’s interference by loading Strong’s arm protector and Chicky claiming that they stole the title from Strong who had won fair and square). The argument got heated and..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhUiWoChU2s

Hugo explains that they will show us an incident that happened between Carlitos and Chicky Starr in Salinas. We cut to Chciky Starr (wearing his crown) saying that he didn’t try to steal anything, you’re the only thief here (referring to Carlos), all the public knows this. Carlos reaches over arguing with Chicky, leading to Chicky yelling ‘Don't touch me! You don’t have to touch me! Simply this, you stole that title from Steve Strong and you know this well! You know what I think of you? (slaps Carlos in the face) This is what I think of you!’ Carlos grabs Chicky and hits him with a headbutt as Chicky’s crown flies off his head. Carlos goes after Chicky by tearing at his tuxedo jacket, but Chicky surprises Carlos with either powder or a spray blast in the face. Carlos is blinded and down. Chicky starts motioning to someone off camera and we see Manny Fernandez run in. Both Manny and Chicky attack Carlos, with Manny hitting piledriver and both men tearing away at Colon’s clothes. Manny continues attacking the bleeding Colon as it becomes clear that Chicky has a spray can as he starts spraying Carlos with it. They continue attacking and tearing away at Colon’s clothing but help finally arrives in the form of Carlos Colon Sr (or Don Carlos if you prefer) and a few of the tecnicos. Chicky and Manny make a run to the dugout with Don Carlos giving chase. Don Carlos tries to take a swing at Manny’s back but is unable to stop his running momentum and just completely eats a fall into the dugout (Hugo on commentary: ‘Wow, Carlitos’ dad fell down’). Carlitos is left in a pretty bad way as JYD and Invader are shown helping Don Carlos back from the dugout and over to where Carlitos is. TNT checks on Carlos and is joined by Invader (you can see Chicky’s crown is still lying on the ground near Carlitos). JYD is making sure Don Carlos is okay, but Don Carlos waves him off and motions to JYD that he should check on Carlitos. Invader and TNT place Carlitos on a stretcher to carry him back to the locker room so he can receive medical attention.

MD: Just a great, bloody angle with an explosive pile driver, a torn suit, and real concern as they brought in Colon’s dad. One thing to note here is that even before Manny attacked, Chicky had already thrown the powder in Carlos’ face. His minions and cronies would come and go but Chicky was the constant and they had to keep him strong, even if it was just in an underhanded sort of way.

EB: As November began, the situation regarding the held up title would soon begin to clear up. So let’s go to Hugo welcoming us to what is either the Nov 4 or Nov 11 tv show and learn what the latest updates and goings on are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w0gB_23wk8

Hugo gives a few updates. First he talks about the World Junior title situation, where he mentions that Brett Sawyer did not appear for the rematch with Super Medico scheduled for the previous week. Therefore, it was ruled that Super Medico regained the title via forfeit. Hugo also runs down the card they have tonight that will inaugurate the new arena in Yabucoa (we’ll look at the card lineup shortly). The big news is an update regarding the Universal title situation.Chicky Starr has thrown out a challenge on behalf of Steve Strong for a match to decide who the Universal champion will be. The catch? If Carlos loses he must retire but if Steve Strong loses then Strong will leave Puerto Rico. There must be no time limit, no disqualification and there must be a winner. Both Colon’s and Chicky’s lawyers are going over the contract for this proposed match and we just have to see if Carlos will accept this challenge.

Strong and Chicky would express their discontent at the title being held up in a promo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ48_u8W2XQ

After the first promo we see a brief clip of Hugo announcing that the title has been held up and also see the version of the show opening around this time. It includes a few second clips of the chain match between Invader and Ivan Koloff and the Caribbean tag title match between Perez and Castillo and Los Mercenarios from Aniversario. There is also a second bonus promo from a few months before when Strong was still Universal champion and he and Chicky were going to face Invader and JYD in a tag team match.

For those curious, this is the card scheduled that night for Yabucoa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C76LfVJOUMg

The main event is a cage match between Carlos Colon and Chicky Starr (not surprised after the attack we saw). We are getting a rematch between Sawyer and new champion Super Medico for the World Junior title and it also looks like Chicky has not forgotten about what happened with TNT at Aniversario, as his stable member Leo Burke is facing TNT tonight. Here we have Leo Burke talking about his upcoming match with TNT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHDf2ZwBhII

And if you’re wondering, the Angel of Death did appear that weekend as Chicky’s newest acquisition, but it’s a case of grand opening and grand closing with this tenure. Still, we at least get a Sports Shop segment out of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WgElsTjzVA

Before this specific tv episode ended, we got our answer regarding Carlos Colon accepting Chicky Starr’s challenge. The answer is yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQs7cQAQpM

Hugo is with Carlos and Chicky as they have the contract for the proposed Universal title match with them on a table. Both men have agreed with the contract stipulations and now it is just a matter of making it official by signing the copies of the contract. Hugo tells Chicky to behave while he explains to the viewers what is going on and goes over the conditions. No time limit, no disqualification and there must be a winner. The winner gets the Universal title and the loser must hold to their specific stipulation. If Carlos loses he must retire. If Strong loses he must leave Puerto Rico. Carlos and Chicky make some final comments before making the match official. What will be known as La Batalla Final (The Final Battle) is now official for Thanksgiving Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHDf2ZwBhII

As part of the hype for the cage match that night, we get a Chicky Starr music video and promos from Chicky and Carlos talking about the cage match.

First the music video.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajQ9Zj8Mt58

Chicky starts by saying that if Carlos thinks he is going to finish Chicky Starr, he’s not going to get it since he and El Club Deportivo will finish with Colon first. After the music video, we get Chicky reading a proclamation where he says “The king proclaims for the year 1989, the king of wrestling Chicky Starr proclaims that the year 1989 will be the final year of Carlos colon as a professional wrestler. The king has spoken.”
We also get promos from Carlos and Chicky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og2TY1q7up4

Chciky wants Carlos to understand that he has a lot of experience in cage matches. So does Carlos, but he will immediately be on Carlos as soon as the door closes. He promises that any trick could come from his sleeve and he will walk out of the winner. Carlos will have to be taken out on a stretcher and to the hospital ‘you damned filthy black’. (Like I’ve mentioned before, Chicky would sometimes go over the line insulting his opponents).  

Carlos says that he doesn’t care if Chicky brings objects to the ring, inside the cage Chicky can’t run, Carlos wants to give Chicky what he deserves and he’ll give Chicky a beating like never before to avenge what Chicky’s done to him. Hugo also asks Carlos about the upcoming match on Thanksgiving Day and whether he feels he has made a mistake agreeing to the stipulations. Carlos does not think he made a mistake but he's aware it’s a serious match and of the gravity of the stipulations if he loses. He’s not ready to retire and even if he were, he’s not going to let people like Steve Strong and Chicky Starr dictate when that will be. He studied the contract and talked it over with his wife and family, and he feels this is the only way he will be able to banish this beast from Puerto Rico. He’s confident, and with the crowd’s and the supreme being’s help, he will walk out the winner.

MD: Some scattered thoughts on these last clips. It’s a shame Sawyer wasn’t there for the match because that was such a hot angle in my mind. It’s just the risk one takes with this stuff. Card is Subject to Change nowhere more than Puerto Rico it seems. They were amazing at increasing the stakes in that Memphis sort of way, though. The gimmick going from Colon just surviving Strong and getting the title to him potentially having to leave Puerto Rico and retire if he loses would definitely inspire attention. And Chicky coming to a formal contract signing in the crown and robe is pure Chicky. I haven’t actually seen an Angel of Death match in ages, but the gimmick of the bionic hand should have worked well in PR and he was definitely looking like a giant Gary Hart at this point.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, the clock is winding down on 1989 as we head towards The Final Battle. Who will finally triumph between Carlos Colon and Steve Strong?