El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: La Batalla Final

Week 14: La Batalla Final

It has been nine months since Sadistic Steve Strong's arrival in CSP. We have followed his path of destruction and chaos throughout 1989, which included him winning the Universal title, injuring Carlos Colon’s shoulder, facing off against nearly every top tecnico in the territory, and main eventing Aniversario. The fallout from Aniversario has resulted in the Universal title being held up and now we have arrived at what has been named ‘La Batalla Final’ (The Final Battle). This encounter between Colon and Strong will decide the Universal champion. It will also result in one of the two men leaving the territory. The stakes are high for Thanksgiving Day.

This late 1989 period is one where results are more spotty compared to earlier in the year. As such, we don’t really have the full lineup for the Thanksgiving Day card but we do have some results and matches which we’ll talk about shortly. But before then, let’s check in on some of the wrestlers and how things are going as we head towards the end of November.

First, we’ll catch up feud wise with what’s been happening with Invader #1, TNT, Super Medico. Gary Albright and some others next time, but do know that they’ve been active and all of them were likely on the Thanksgiving Day card (I suspect Invader against either Abudda Dein or Gary Albright, Medico likely defended the World Junior title, and TNT likely faced off against one of Chicky’s guys). For some of these wrestlers whose roles on the Thanksgiving Day card aren’t clear, let’s check on how they’re performing on TV.

As we’ve seen previously, besides being the reigning World Junior champion, Super Medico has been taking on a few of the rudos in matches taped for tv. While he has made a good showing of himself, Medico ended up on the losing end vs Manny Fernandez and Leo Burke. Let’s see him in action once more, this time against Abudda Dein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1mgsQXi6I

As we saw earlier, Abudda has been back in singles competition since losing the World tag titles at Aniversario. He is coming off a series of matches with Invader #1 where he was unsuccessful in bringing back the Puerto Rico title to El Profe’s Real Academia stable. Also,  by this point the chatter around his suspected to be loaded boot has increased during his most recent series with Invader #1. Here Abudda is taking on Super Medico. They start with an exchange of various arm wringers, leading to Abudda going to the ropes to break the hold and going outside to regroup. Profe comes over to give Dein some advice and Dein takes control with a knee to the stomach once he gets back in the ring, Medico manages to regain control by countering out of a side headlock and works Dein’s arm. The commentators (Hector Moyano and Eliud Gonzalez) mention that Medico has the quickness advantage and can nearly match Dein in strength. Medico continues to maintain the upper hand in the hold exchanges and settles into a side headlock, one that Dein tries to get out of by grabbing onto Medico’s mask. The referee stops Dein each time he tries to grab the mask. Dein manages to send Medico into the ropes but Medico keeps countering Dein’s attempts at getting offense in. Back to the side headlock, which Dein once again counters by sending Medico into the ropes. A bodypress attempt by Medico is countered into a backbreaker, allowing Dein to grab control of the match. Dein drops Medico throat first on the top rope and continues to work Medico’s throat area with foot chokes. Eliud mentions that they have to work fast because there's only a 10 minute time limit for this match (it seems this is the standard tv match time limit in CSP). Medico manages to regain control by kicking Dein in the head coming off the ropes. Medico hits a flurry of punches and a sunset flip gets two. A dropkick sends Dein outside and the referee stops Medico from going after Dein. With the ref’s back turned, Dein takes the opportunity to load up his boot by stomping it against the mat three times. He kicks Medico in the gut and goes for a pin attempt, but referee El Vikingo has turned around earlier just as Dein was finishing ‘loading’ his boot by stomping it on the mat. It looks like the secret’s out regarding Abudda’s boot  as El Vikingo shakes his finger at Dein and calls for the bell. Dein is disqualified for using a loaded boot. The referee raises the downed Medico’s arm declaring him the winner while Dein leaves the ring celebrating like he had won the match.

MD: A little less than five minutes here. I was expecting Dein to win with the boot but the ref caught him. Before that, Medico had the advantage wrestling wise, but Dein was able to assert himself through his power and cheating, primarily targeting the throat. Medico looked good fighting from underneath here and Dein look sufficiently cruel and unyielding. For a guy who didn’t have too many big runs elsewhere, Dein was credible in this role.

EB: Somebody we need to keep our eyes on is Manny Fernandez. After Aniversario, Manny helped Chicky attack Carlos Colon as a result of Chicky feeling that Steve Strong had been robbed of the Universal title. Manny’s been on a bit of a winning streak on tv and he looks to continue his winning ways against Huracan Castillo Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65sWRi4tZU

Huracan has been recently immersed in a tag feud with Los Mercenarios since losing the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario. But with Miguelito Perez having won the Puerto Rico title, both Castillo and Perez have also taken a few more singles matches recently. Here is one such case as Castillo tries his luck against Manny Fernandez. As both men face off to start, Hector Moyano mentions that hurricanes in Puerto Rico bring bad memories but this one here (Castillo) is loved by the fans. A few lockups are exchanged and it becomes clear that Castillo is not backing down, shoving Manny when they broke one of the lock ups. A few exchanges early on see Castillo get the better of Manny, but Manny gets some words from Chicky and decides to go for Castillo’s leg when they lock up again. Chicky talks smack to the camera which is drowned out by some chanting fans. Manny continues to work on the leg while on the mat as Castillo tries to fight out of it. This is pretty much the middle portion of the match, with Manny working the leg in different holds on the mat. Castillo tries maneuvering Manny into a couple of pin attempts but Manny manages to kick out and continue with the hold. The end of the match comes when they take it off the mat. Castillo manages to come back on Manny after a kick of the ropes. Castillo hits a series of moves including a slam and an elbow drop, but Manny cuts him off with a punch to the stomach. Manny knocks Castillo down coming off the ropes and, when doing a criss cross, catches Castillo with a DDT for two.  Castillo tries to counter with a standing switch into a cradle, but Manny holds onto the rope and sends Castillo tumbling backwards on the mat. This sets up Manny’s standing elbow smash and Manny gets the win. We’ll have to see if this winning streak catapults Manny into a title opportunity against one of the territory's champions.

MD: There was a cute bit at the start as the commentary carefully links Castillo to the recent hurricane due to his nickname. Between some of the new footage and just delving into what’s out there, we have a bit more of this Manny/Chicky run than we initially thought, which is good as he fit in so well here. He was only 35 or so here, really a prime age to anchor a territory even if he probably had a lot of wear and tear on the wheels. They worked a chunk of this on the mat with Castillo going for a cross armbreaker and Manny trying to keep a leglock. It opened up after that with Manny beating Castillo down and Castillo trying to fire up before they went into the finish, with Manny catching Castillo out of nowhere with a DDT and then hitting a twisting back elbow off the ropes. This made me want to see Chicky and Manny go up against Castillo and Perez.

EB: Let’s talk about what we do know about the Thanksgiving Day show. On tv it was announced that the Youngbloods would be defending the World tag titles against Los Mercenarios. While we’ll talk a bit more about these two teams and any potential result from Thanksgiving Day next time, let's take this opportunity to further showcase both teams in action  (and take advantage that we have some rarely seen matches available).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTP_yQhPz0

Once again Los Mercenarios are facing Maelo Huertas and a tag partner on tv, with Herbert Gonzalez being Maelo’s partner this time. The tecnicos in these matches against Los Mercenarios have made a good showing of themselves, although Los Mercenarios have proven too wily and managed to remain victorious. This match is not that different from what we’ve previously seen. Maelo gets some shine when he’s in the ring to start, getting the better of Mercenario #1 (Acevedo) and then Mercenario #2 (Morrow) to start before tagging Herbert in. To his credit Herbert maintains control with a side headlock for  a few moments, before Mercenario #2 works out of the hold and tags in Mercenario #1. Herbert manages to reverse an armlock but gets trapped in the corner. An attempted double team fails when Herbert ducks out of the way. Herbert keeps up the pressure and tags Maelo in, who continues on the offensive attack. The tecnicos are giving a good fight to Los Mercenarios.  Mercenario #2 is tagged back in and the tide turns after a knee to the back of Maelo when he was coming off the ropes. Los Mercenarios continue to show that they'll rely on wily shortcuts to get and maintain their advantage. Los Mercenarios work over Maelo for a while but Maelo is able to counter with a clothesline and tags in Herbert. All four men end up in the ring and it looks like the tecnicos may be getting control of the match. However, as the referee is escorting Maelo out of the ring, Los Mercenarios sneak in and hit a double DDT on Herbert and steal the win. It’s very clear how Los Mercenarios are operating as Caribbean tag champions.

MD: Pretty complete for a five minute match, maybe too much so as I’m not sure the Mercenarios should be giving up so much, even if Cuban Assassin is a great bumping stooge. Morrow has a couple of bumps in him each match too. The more I see of Maelo the more sense I get that he excelled in his role at the top of the enhancement guys. He was always on, always fighting, had some dynamic, explosive offense, and bumped big. He took a great butterfly suplex from Morrow here. He rolled into a nice hot tag too. Morrow and the Assassin were just too good at working behind the ref’s back though and they hit a double DDT out of nowhere for the pin.

EB: Let’s also check in on the Youngbloods, who are taking on an odd couple team in Abudda Dein and El Exotico (although maybe not that odd if you remember that Dein has just teamed for a couple of months with Rip Rogers).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAxdeFch7ko

We have some interesting looks here as the combatants are arriving to the ring. Exotico has heart frame shades and a spray can that he is using to spray the ring. We heard Hector Moyano mention that Exotico did this in a previous match but here we get to see his pre-match method of dealing with stinky opponents. The Youngbloods arrive and we see that Chris is wearing his ceremonial skull mask. Moyano mentions that the ring is very fragrant after Exotico did his thing with the spray can. Everyone starts getting on Exotico’s case, with the crowd catcalling him ,the Youngbloods making gestures at him and even the commentators making a comment or two about how he goes about things (it’s 1989 after all). Exotico and Chris start off and Exotico has no luck in there against Chris. Dein tries to help by grabbing Chris at one point but the double team gets botched when Chris gets out of the way. Chris tags Mark in, who then dropkicks Exotico. After fleeing to his corner and hugging Dein for protection, Exotico complains about having his hair pulled. Dein starts complaining about that happening as well and, for some reason, grabs Exotico by the hair and starts shaking him around to show the referee what had supposedly happened. As Dein finishes doing this, Mark sneaks up behind Exotico and basically pinches his butt. Exotico is not happy about that but Mark continues with the advantage once they lock up again. El Profe goes over to the commentary table and defends Exotico by saying ‘he’s just a delicate young man, don’t be thinking what it’s not, he’s just delicate’. Over three minutes in Dein finally gets tagged in but doesn’t fare much better than Exotico. This match has been all Youngbloods so far. Dein makes the tag to Exotico and, surprisingly, Exotico goes on a successful offensive flurry (including an eye poke). It doesn’t last long as Mark counters a suplex attempt and tags Chris back in. After a brief moment where all four men end up in the ring, Exotico gets isolated and falls victim to a slingshot splash. The Youngbloods get a dominant win.

MD: I went back to isolate a version of this with the entrances too. Exotico had the glasses, was spraying Arrogance all over the place, and put his arm on Profe’s shoulder only for Profe to shrug him off. Thankfully, Dein helped him take off his robe so he could pose, though. Chris had the cool skull mask too so all was right with the wrestling world. Profe, to his infinite credit, expressed some concern for Exoitco as the Youngbloods were tossing him around. Very little heat here. Lots of begging off and stooging. Dein was sort of dragged down by his partner and felt more on his level than as the name guy teamed with the enhancement guy. The Youngbloods were pretty good at asserting themselves too, which maybe didn’t help. Still, it’s fun to see Exotico do his thing.

EB: With his winning record so far in CSP, Leo Burke is challenging for the Caribbean title on Thanksgiving. This will be a tough opponent for the reigning champion Miguel Perez Jr. Let’s go to that match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5IxwGKYK14

This match video is from a Campeones airing about two weeks after the Thanksgiving Day show, so the commentary does provide a bit of context about certain happenings. In this case, Carlos Colon is talking about a match he had with Leo Burke the previous week that went to a draw.  I mention this because this is a thread we’ll pick back up next time. As for this match, we are at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon. Burke has been presented as the master of the figure-four in his run so far and is looking to bring the Caribbean title to El Club Deportivo. Miguel tries to charge at Leo right at the bell but both Leo and Chicky are in the corner complaining to the ref that Burke has not taken his jacket off. The ref tells Chicky to get out of the ring as Burke goes to the apron and then to the floor. Chicky comes over to help Leo take off the jacket and the two share a hug as the crowd gives them static. Hugo on commentary starts asking Chicky about the nature of the hug,  which Chicky answers by saying that the hug means something that’s not Hugo’s or anyone else’s business. Carlos mentions that all of Leo’s complaining about the jacket is mind games by Burke and that an inexperienced wrestler might be taken in by these mind games if not careful. Carlos also credits Burke with being a great wrestler. Burke slows the pace of the match down by exiting the ring when Miguel tries to lock up. Eventually, Leo gets caught by Miguel and falls victim to an offensive flurry. Burke escapes to the outside and complains to Chicky about a blow to the eyes. Burke gets back in and Miguel takes control again on offense. Hugo mentions that Miguel is in control but Carlos responds that he seems to be anxious and aggressive and that you have to be careful against someone like Leo Burke. You have to be more calculated in your approach. Burkle continues stalling outside of the ring after once more escaping Miguelito’s attack. Leo finally gains control with a hairpull (something Chicky denies on commentary). We go to and come back from a commercial break with Burke working on Miguelito's arm. Hugo mentions that Burke is a very smart wrestler as he broke the hold when the ref caught him but quickly slapped it back on (so the break was no longer forced). Burke continues working on the arm. Miguelito gets some blows in but another hairpull allows Burke to continue in control and work the arm. The crowd tries to rally behind Miguelito, who after a while of being worked over, manages to rally and fire off some punches to knock Burke off him. Miguelito goes on the attack and gets a few pinfall attempts (including one off a bodyslam into a legdrop). But on another slam attempt, Burke grabs Miguelito’s leg and doesn’t let go, allowing Burke to trip Perez to the mat. Burke quickly puts Miguelito in the figure four, and although Perez tries to hold out, the referee calls for the bell .We have a new Caribbean champion! As Isaac Rosario motions for the title belt, Burke continues to keep the figure four locked in (something we’ve seen him do in his previous matches). But unlike those other instances where Burke broke the hold when the ref warned him, Burke refuses to break the hold despite several attempts by the ref to get Burke to break the hold. As a result, the referee reverses the decision and disqualifies Burke. Miguel remains the Caribbean champion but Burke has shown that he knows how to do damage with that figure four leglock of his. Burke finally breaks the hold when TNT and Super Medico run in to help Miguelito.

MD: Carlos is on commentary here and they’re talking about an hour long match he had with Burke the previous week that went to a draw and that sounds amazing. We obviously do not have it. Burke was excellent here, spending the first five minutes stooging and having his arm worked over and stalling again and again. He took over with hairpulls and they ratcheted up the heat with hope spots and perfectly timed cutoffs. When Perez finally came back, the place came unglued. Then out of nowhere after a slam, Burke snuck in a trip and locked in the figure four. Perez tried to fight but had to give up and the crowd was visibly upset. Burke kept the hold on, however, and the decision got reversed. It didn’t necessarily make anyone happy (maybe relieved) but it kept Burke elevated while keeping the belt on Perez and giving Chicky something to complain about.

EB: According to the Wrestling Observer both Koko B Ware and Harley Race worked the Thanksgiving Day show for CSP. And we actually have Koko’s match from this show, as he takes on El Profe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iYI05GxgvI

We get an interesting comment early on from Hugo where he mentions that Koko has been sent as a replacement for an injured Hillbilly Jim. So it looks like Hillbilly Jim may have been initially announced for this show. The crowd is hot for this as we start and it's definitely a treat to see Koko in this environment. El Profe jumps Koko at the bell but Koko counters with a backdrop and a couple of dropkicks that send Profe to the outside. The crowd goes wild as Koko flaps his arms and claps his hands in the ring. El Profe regains his composure on the outside and you can see that Frankie is with Koko, sitting on his perch on the left side of the ring. Profe is not happy with the corwd’s cheers for Koko and raises his arms to ask for the crowd to applaud him (which doesn’t happen). Profe gets back in the ring but immediately runs into a couple of armdrags and a dropkick that sends him flying through the ropes and back outside. El Profe is visibly annoyed and starts jawing with some fans on the outside. Profe gets near Frankie while pacing around the ring, which prompts Koko to head to the ring apron and back Profe off from getting close to Frankie. El Profe gets back in the ring as Koko again fires up the crowd. Profe then decides to get on the middle turnbuckle looking at the crowd and starts hitting some muscle poses (Hugo: El Profe showing off his muscles, unfortunately we don’t see it this way). Koko then starts motioning to the crowd if he should take Profe’s mask off, which gets loud cheers from the crowd. El Profe is not amused with this development. Profe jumps onto the middle turnbuckle to get away from Koko, but Koko catches Profe and slams him off. Koko immediately goes for the laces on Profe’s mask but Profe manages to slide out of the ring. Profe complains to the ref about Koko going after his mask. He gets back in the ring and tries to shake hands with Koko. The crowd yells no at Koko, who looks to consider it. However, when Profe gets closer Koko mocks Profe to the crowd’s delight. El Profe kicks the bottom rope in anger and gets into a boxing stance, which prompts someone from the crowd to yell their approval. El Profe, bewildered by this reaction, turns back to the crowd and starts making calm down gestures, stalling once again. Koko sneaks up behind Profe again and starts undoing the laces of Profe’s mask, but referee El Vikingo pulls Koko off Profe, allowing Profe to bail to the outside. El Profe complains again to the referee about Koko going after his mask and takes his time relacing it. Back in the ring, Koko sends Profe into the turnbuckle but misses a charge into the corner. El Profe finally is in control and proceeds to hit an illegal thrust to the throat. Profe chokes Koko on the bottom rope and starts shouting to the crowd that he is the master here. Koko struggles to get up but Profe is on him with several kicks. Profe places Koko on the middle rope and chokes Koko while taunting Frankie at ringside. Profe breaks and proceeds to choke Koko again while taunting Frankie once more. Profe raises his arms in victory, but Koko starts slapping the mat to get the crowd behind him. Koko lands a headbutt which seems to hurt him a bit (I’m guessing Profe may have his mask loaded) and Profe hits a knee that sends Koko outside. El Profe hits a few blows to keep Koko outside when Koko tries to get in the ring. Hugo on commentary mentions that although Profe is mainly a manager he is someone that is capable in the ring and to not forget that he was World Junior champion at one point as well. Koko finally gets back in the ring by stunning Profe and hitting a sunset flip into the ring. Profe kicks out and immediately drops an elbow on Koko to cut him off. El Profe maintains control but makes the mistake of missing a diving headbutt of the middle rope. Koko ’birds up’ (I mean, what else do you call it?) and proceeds to go on the attack. Koko rams Profe’s head ten times into the turnbuckle and fakes Profe out with a reverse crossbody attempt. This leads to a great dropkick off the top rope and a sunset flip to give Koko the win to the crowd’s delight. A fun match with a hot crowd and two wrestlers just masterfully playing to the crowd.

MD: This was during the period where Koko was fired after the Jim Troy altercation. Profe was in full stooging, stalling, and feeding mode too, but then that’s part of what makes Puerto Rico so great. Great spot early on where Koko teased taking off the mask and Profe hefted himself back to sit on the top turnbuckle in retreat only for Koko to toss him right off. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that done out quite like that. The fans loved the idea of Koko maybe getting Profe’s mask off, but he ended up taking out his own throat on a missed corner splash. That let Profe take over, first targeting the throat and then with a king of the mountain segment. Koko hulked up big with his birdman arm waves and absolutely took Profe’s head off with a missile dropkick. This was very fun for what it was.

EB: The big match for this Thanksgiving card is La Batalla Final for the held up Universal title. No time limit, no disqualification, there must be a winner, Chicky is banned from ringside and the loser must honor their required stipulation (Colon must retire, Strong must leave Puerto Rico).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsXaBb4DgA0

It’s definitely been quite the run for Steve Strong in Puerto Rico and he looks to keep it going by finally getting rid of Carlos Colon. Hugo is doing the ring announcing and runs down the stipulations for the crowd and presents the combatants (with a loud roar for Carlos Colon). This match video is from a 2000’s Carlos Colon dvd release, so we’re getting a years later commentary team that includes El Profe. Strong has cut his hair since the last time we saw him and it does change the vibe a bit on his look. The crowd is hot as the bell rings and Colon and Strong proceed to switch back and forth on being the aggressor, Strong with clubbing blows to Colon’s back and Carlos with focused kicks to Strong’s legs. It’s clear what each man’s strategy for victory is early on, but it is Carlos that in the first few minutes is able to execute his plan of attack more effectively by working on Strong’s leg.  Strong bails to the outside to regroup but is immediately caught in a small package attempt when he gets back in the ring. Carlos is focused and has been able to be ahead of Strong so far in this match. Strong hasn’t really been able to get an advantage so far, so he tries the approach of goading Carlos into a test of strength. Carlos doesn’t go for it, kicking Strong in the stomach and continuing on the offensive. A frustrated Strong once again goes outside and grabs one of the ringside crowd barriers in an attempt to threaten Carlos with it. Security runs over to get the barricade away from Strong. This is a different dynamic from previous encounters between Carlos and Strong, it almost seems like Strong has been thrown off by Carlos having an answer for Strong so far and Carlos is not afraid of Strong at all.

It looks like Strong may have finally found an opening by catching Carlos with some blows in the corner, but an irish whip results in Strong missing a high knee into the turnbuckle and Colon starts working the leg once more. Strong throws Colon off on the first figure four attempt of the match but Carlos goes right back to attacking Strong. We see a quick shot of some of Carlos’ family in the crowd, as it’s his wife Nancy and two of his children (Stacy and Carly). They’re there supporting Carlos. In the ring, Strong is not able to stay standing due to the attack on his leg and tries to roll outside. Carlos gives chase though, and continues to focus his attack on Strong’s leg. Carlos gets back in the ring as Strong just looks perplexed and lost outside as to how the match is going. Maybe not having Chicky out there is affecting his ability to find an answer to the dominant Colon so far. It looks like Strong has lost one of his most powerful weapons, the ability to inspire fear.

Carlos eventually gets the figure four on Strong but he is able to hold out and fight the hold. A reversal sees Colon suffer the effects of the hold but Carlos manages to reach the ropes to break. Both men struggle to stand but Strong collapses from the damage to his leg. Carlos is hobbling as well, which allows Strong to land a clothesline and a tackle. But Strong’s attacks are coming off as desperate and Carlos starts dodging several of Strong's tackle attempts. Strong is not used to being in this position against an opponent and it’s affecting his strategy. Colon goes back on the attack but Strong hits a DDT to cut Carlos off. This finally gives Strong a clear opening and he hits Colon with a few legdrops. Strong looks to the crowd and it seems he’s starting to regain some of his confidence now that he is in control. Strong adjusts ‘Damian’ on his arm but Carlos counters with a small package attempt for two. Strong goes back on the attack. He sends Carlos to the outside and goes out to attack Colon. It looks like Strong is thinking about trying to injure Carlos by ramming him into the ring apron and then the post. However, Carlos counters and Strong’s the one that gets rammed into the post. Carlos tosses Strong back in the ring, leaps over the top rope and does a cartwheel. Carlos is feeling it and proceeds to do a kick Strong low (the match is no dq after all) and even bites Strong in the face. Crowd starts amping up as it looks like Carlos has the match in hand.  However, Strong counters with a clothesline and covers Colon after a brief offensive flurry for two. Strong hits a piledriver but it gets two. A powerslam attempt gets two. Strong decides to set up his loaded forearm and is able to hit Carlos with it. For the first time all match, Strong starts doing his hand symbols calling upon the powers of his dark gods. Strong pins Carlos but they are too close to the ropes and Colon gets a leg on the rope to stop the pinfall count. Strong is not happy about this and picks Carlos back up. After a few blows Strong puts Carlos up in a back body vice.  Carlos shifts his weight and is able to counter into a bridge for the three count! Strong now has to leave Puerto Rico and Carlos has regained the Universal title once more.
The crowd rushes to celebrate with an exhausted Carlos outside of the ring as an upset Strong goes to grab a piece of the barricade. The crowd is mobbing Carlos and security has to intervene to get them away to allow Carlos to be presented with the title belt. The wave of fans is moving around the ring and headed in Strong’s direction, who wisely backs up and gets inside of the ring. Carlos, who is being helped by a security guard on the outside, decides to get in the ring and attacks Strong before he can get a hit in with the barricade. Strong is chased out of the ring as the crowd once again surrounds Colon to celebrate on the outside. The sadistic one has been vanquished.

MD: For much of this match, it seemed like Strong had lost his magic. He looked bloated, his hair floppy, almost resembling late Wahoo, his gimmicked armguard replaced for tape. He moved a half-step slow. He spent the first seventeen minutes backpeddling, trying to avoid Colon’s shots at his legs, diving and missing attacks, absolutely laden with desperation. This was not the same Steve Strong of a few months earlier. Colon had his number. He survived the figure four, even took over, but something remained missing. The crowd was electric at the start of this, but they only went up so much for Colon’s cartwheel and low blow driven comeback. Then something shifted. Strong took back over. He hit the pile driver. He adjusted something under his arm tape and laid Colon out. He made his devil symbol to the crowd. He was finding himself once again and that fear and dread from his imposing presence permeated through the arena. It was too little and too late, however. He went for the over the shoulder backbreaker and Colon turned it into a pin. It became, once again, a celebratory scene with people rushing Carlos and with Carlos fighting Strong (who had grabbed part of the guardrail) off to vanquish him one last time. I wouldn’t say it was an auspicious ending to Strong’s year of terror, but just enough of that magic came back at the very end to make Colon’s win feel special.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, the clock is almost at midnight for 1989 as we head into December.