El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Captain Redneck Goes Caribbean

Week 42: Captain Redneck Goes Caribbean

EB: Thanks to his win in the Royal Rumble match CSP held on January 12, the Original TNT had been bragging about beating Carlos Colon, who was the last person eliminated. Carlos took exception to this due to it being a multi person, everyone against everyone type of match and that Original TNT had been the last one in, so a one on one match was signed. The match took place on January 19 in Caguas and Carlos won by disqualification when El Profe interfered. Carlos had Original TNT in the figure four leglock and El Profe jumped into the ring to break it up with an elbow drop. This was done in front of the ref and caused the disqualification. However, Profe was successful in getting Carlos to release the hold, allowing Original TNT to immediately pounce on Carlos and put him in the cobra sleeper. The ref called for the bell to get Original TNT to break the hold but he kept it on, his intention was to put Carlos out. Suddenly, someone ran out of the stairwell towards the ring, it was TNT! He was not scheduled for that night’s card but had just returned from his tour of Japan. TNT kicked Original TNt from behind, causing the cobra hold to be broken. TNT then put the Cobra Dinamita on Original TNT as the crowd cheered on. Original TNT struggled but was taken down to the mat. Meanwhile, Carlos had gone after El Profe, chasing him around ringside. Profe would eventually run away down the stairs. In the ring, TNT had put to sleep the Original TNT and left him unconscious on the mat. After Original TNT had been left sleeping, TNT made his way to the ringside table and grabbed a microphone. As TNT addressed the crowd. Profe reappeared from the stairs and went to the ring to check on the still unconscious Original TNT. On the mic, TNT mentioned he had put that guy (pointing at the ting) to sleep and “Now, I want that impostor to drop the name and take off the paint, because whether it is here, China or Japan, the only TNT is me!”. 

One other notable happening that occurred during the week is that we have new Caribbean tag champions. The January 19 match between the Super Medicos and Mendoza & Valentine ended a bit controversially, with the bell ringing signaling a time limit draw just as the rudos had the cover on one of the Super Medicos (of course, this was after cheating with the loaded glove). A rematch was held at the January 23 TV taping, where Mendoza and Valentine ended up bloody messes but walked away with the Caribbean tag titles after once again using Mendoza’s loaded glove. We’ll discuss some of the other happenings from January 19 as we go along, but for now let’s go to the Campeones episode from January 26.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSjc-kb_E

Hugo and El Profe are our hosts, with Hugo welcoming the viewers as always to the 4pm time slot on TeleOnce. Hugo then introduces his co-host as the supreme leader of El Club Deportivo, his majesty El Profe (which Hugo qualifies by stating this is how El Profe was asking to be introduced). Profe is pleased by the intro and Hugo also comments that he sees Profe is matching his mask colors with his suits for the show. Profe starts talking about how good he looks and Hugo ignores him and talks about what we’ll see on today’s episode. We’ll get our first look at ‘Captain Redneck’ Dick Murdoch as he faces Huracan Castillo Jr. in a match from the Three Kings Day show. We’ll also have the latest in the rivalry between the Super Medicos and Rick Valentine & Galan Mendoza, a Caribbean title match from Christmas Day as Bronco #1 defends against Ivan Koloff, and the fire match between the Super Medicos and Valentine & Eric Embry. Hugo mentions this was the match where Embry was injured and thus taken out, to which Profe responds that thank goodness Galan Mendoza stepped up as Rick Valentine’s new tag partner. 

Tonight they will be in Caguas, where there will be  rematch for the World tag titles between the champions the Texas Hangmen and the challengers Invader #1 & Bronco #1. An important stipulation for the rematch is that the bullropes are banned from ringside, which means that they played a role in helping the Hangmen win during the lumberjack match held on January 19. Profe seems a bit worried about the bullropes being banned but he clarifies that they’ve only served to equalize things and they won’t be necessary tonight. 

The TV title will also be decided in a six man tournament tonight. The first round matches will be announced that night and the three winners will then draw numbers to see who gets a bye to the finals, with the other two wrestling first and the winner facing the third wrestler afterwards in a no DQ, no countout, there must be a winner match to crown the new TV champion. Let’s go to our first match, which is our first look at Dick Murdock in CSP.

Murdoch’s opponent is Huracan Castillo Jr., who is a substitute for the originally scheduled Jimmy Snuka. Murdoch immediately attacks Castillo just before the bell rings, raking the eyes repeatedly. Murdoch still has his ring jacket on as he continues going for the eyes. The ref warns Murdoch about having an object in his hands, which Murdoch tosses away. Murdoch does the horn symbol to the crowd and finally takes off his ring jacket. Murdoch continues punching Castillo and yelling at the fans, but gets distracted by thrown debris. Castillo uses this opening to fire off some counterpunches of his own, causing Murdoch to head for the corner and beg off in the most amazing way possible. While Murdoch begs off, Hugo and Profe have the following conversation about Captain Redneck: 

Hugo - “All of a sudden they’ve got him dancing rock and roll in the corner. Castillo is dominating now and showing Murdoch that if he wants to fight, a fight he will get.”

Profe -  “This Redneck is a weird man, he is one of those wrestling veterans that they call a redneck, you know what that means? They’re crazy, wild, they drive big trucks…”

Hugo - “And very racist.”

Profe - “Very racist, they hate Puerto Ricans  and blacks, they…”

Hugo - “They hate everyone but their own redneck race. But..”

Profe - “He’s even a member of the KKK”.

From here Hugo says he won’t go into that but that whatever criticisms you can have about Murdoch’s character, you have to give him credit for his experience, being a vicious rudo and that he is looking to dominate here in CSP. By this point in the match, Murdoch has regained control and starts using a foreign object to attack Castillo. Profe and Hugo talk about Murodch’s legendary tag team of the Outlaws with Dusty Rhodes, as Castillo rolls out of the ring. Murdoch follows after him, picking up some debris thrown by the fans, and he uses it to attack Castillo. Hugo makes a point that Murdoch’s attacks have been with objects tossed in by irresponsible people that are an embarrassment to the sport of wrestling. Profe says that those are El Ejercito de la Justicia fans that do that, Club Deportivo fans are well behaved. Meanwhile, Murdoch has taken Castillo over to the fence area and rammed Huracan into it.  Murdoch heads back into the ring and grabs another piece of debris, as Castillo slowly makes his way back as wel. Hugo continues on his rant about the small group of fans that throw stuff into the ring, insisting that the tecnicos should give a message to the fans to not do that. “It gives a bad image of all of us.”  

Murdoch continues in control as we go to commercial, but when we return Castillo starts making a comeback. Murdoch starts begging and cowering when Huracan starts punching him. Castillo rams Dick’s head into the turnbuckle, causing Dick to fall to the mat after stumbling for a bit. Murdoch rakes Castillo’s eyes, but acts as if he got hit in the eyes as well so that the ref doesn’t call attention to Dick’s actions. Castillso gets punched to the outside, with Murdoch following and stalking Castillo. Dick tries to ram Castillo into the fence again, but Huracan blocks and Murdoch gets rammed instead. Murdcohs stumbles around as Huracan continues the attack, with Murdoch even sitting on a chair and getting knocked over. Castillo hits a dropkick on the outside as the bell rings, it looks like we have a double countout. Castillo attempts to continue his attack but Murdoch takes him down with a low blow. Murdoch then hits Castillo with a brainbuster on the ballfield, leaving Huracan spasming on the ground. Profe says that it looks like El Ejercito de la Justicia has a big enemy in Dick Murdoch. 

MD: Talk about a guy made for a territory. Murdoch was electric here. The only person I can compare him to is Funk in the mid 80s when he came in. Just constant stooging and antics. I’ve seen the criticisms that Murdoch would get too goofy at the wrong time but there’s almost no wrong time on the mid-card in Puerto Rico. He begged off early and it was wonderful. The fans tossed something into the ring and he screwed with it for a minute as Castillo made it back in only to whack him and then hand it to the ref blaming the crowd for the entire state of affairs. He made a massive showing of sneaking up behind Castillo to choke him and then tried to run him into the stadium fence only to take the bump. He hit the most blatant and flagrant foul I’ve ever seen in Puerto Rico and then crushed Castillo with the brainbuster on the field. So over the top, absolutely 

EB: The match is followed by a  series of promos from three of the participants in tonight’s TV title tournament. The focus of the interviews is to mention that each of the participants is looking to win the tournament, but also to send a message to their current feud rival. Scott Hall has a rope with him and he warns Giant warrior that he will use it to pay back Warrior for attacking him last week with the big boot. Kim Duk (holding a baseball bat) and El Profe talk about the tournament but also send a warning to Migueliro Perez. For his part, Miguelirto puts over the TV title as the second most important singles title in the WWC and that he promises to win the tournament. But he also wants to get his hands on Kim Duk for throwing salt in his face and attacking him with the kendo stick last week.

We also get a rundown of tonight’s card in Caguas: a rematch for the World tag titles as the Texas Hangmen face Invader #1 & Bronco #1; the tournament for the TV title featuring TNT, Scott Hall, Giant Warrior, Original TNT, Miguelito Perez and Kim Duk; a no time limit rematch for the Caribbean tag titles as the Super Medicos challenge Galan Mendoza & Rick Valentine; Sasha defends the Women’s World title against Monster Ripper; and other great stars.   

MD: I’m sure Esteban will explain this better, but it seems like we’ve got Hall vs Warrior, Duk vs Perez, and Original TNT vs TNT, and then the winners do a coin flip to see who is the odd man out and gets a bye into the finals for the TV Title. I remember Global doing something similar not too long after this where three people were vying for the title and someone (I want to say Eddie Gilbert) got the bye. Hall says he’s going to have a friend with him and that Giant Warrior beat him with his boot. Duk didn’t give us much to work with. Perez gave us more. One note on the card presentation: we saw a glimpse of a super bloody Rick Valentine and Galan Mendoza and I wish we saw what led to THAT. Ah well.

EB: Our next match is from Christmas Day 1990, as Bronco #1 defends his recently won Caribbean title against the fearsome Ivan Kooff. As they start, Ivan tries to punch Bronco in the midsection, but hits Bronco’s weight belt and complains about hurting his hand. Profe on commentary also starts complaining but Hugo defends Bronco by saying that it’s been approved as ring wear by the WWC, he doesn’t use it as a weapon and it hasn’t hurt anyone else so far (calling into question that Koloff was faking it). They work some holds, with Koloff getting a hammerlock and Bronco countering with a stepover takedown. Bronco works Koloff over on the mat, as Hugo mentions how Bronco has won the fans over in his short time in Puerto Rico. Koloff tries to punch Bronco but gets knocked down via a counter punch, which causes Ivan to complain again to the ref. A lockup leads to Bronco getting a wristlock on Ivan, which he eventually counters with a takedown but Bronco quickly gets out of it before Ivan can lock a hold in. Bronco does some of his hopping to get the crowd into it. They continue working holds as we go to commercial break, and we come back to Bronco ramming Ivan’s head into the turnbuckle. Bronco attempts an unsuccessful cover. Ivan takes over with a punch to the throat and rams Bronco’s head into the turnbuckle (where Ivan had conveniently placed part of his chain over the pad). Ivan gets a swinging neckbreaker and legdrop, but Bronco starts getting fired up and launches a counterattack. Bronco gets a backdrop, but Ivan grabs onto Bronco’s belt and throws him to the outside. Ivan knocks Bronco off the apron but on the second attempt to punch Bronco off, Ivan accidentally hits the ref and knocks him down. Ivan tries to suplex Bronco into the ring but ends up tripping over the ref instead. The momentum carries Bronco over and on top of Koloff, allowing Bronco to get the pinfall. Bronco retains the Caribbean title over Ivan Koloff. Bronco has his hand raised as Koloff complains it was only a two count.

MD: This was pretty good. Another stadium match. Koloff had a lot to give still in a place like this that valued what it did. Bronco was cartoonish but made it work, constantly appealing to the crowd and remaining active and in motion. Here he had a medically approved waist band which Koloff hurt his hand on. Ivan took over, in part by slamming Bronco’s head into the chain that he had brought to the ring and was just hanging out over the top rope. He played King of the Mountain but elbowed the ref who had been trying to pull him back. The ref ended up on his knees; Ivan tried to suplex Bronco in; Bronco fell on him as Ivan tripped over the ref. Clever finish.

EB: Giant Warrior cuts a promo talking about the TV  title tournament and Warrior is confident he will win tonight because he has never lost a match in Caguas. Also, he’s going to pay back Scott Hall for everything Hall has done to him so far.

MD: Warrior is a perfectly fine promo, especially when they have Kim Duk cutting his own, but I do miss the crazy music videos we were getting in 90.

EB: We also get interviews from the two teams involved in the World tag title match tonight, which has the stipulation that the bullropes are barred from ringside (during last week’s lumberjack match some of the wrestlers at ringside got involved and in the confusion the bullrope was used to allow the Hangmen to get the win). Profe says that it will not make a difference, the Hangmen will get the job done tonight. Psycho speaks for both Hangmen, promising that they’ll show tonight that the tecnicos do not deserve any more title shots. Bronco and Invader respond, with Bronco promising that those belts will go to them and Invader mentions that he’s got the mask on because tonight is serious and they will win the tag titles. Time for the Hangmen to show if they can get it done without the bullropes.

MD: Big takeaway here for me is that Invader, now that he’s teaming with a masked guy again, is donning the mask. That’s a nice bit of thematic escalation given who they were facing. Bronco’s promos are akin to how he wrestles, very energetic.

EB: The Campeones episode ends with the fire match we’ve already reviewed between the Super Medicos and Eric Embry & Rick Valentine, though this is your chance to watch it in a normal aspect ratio. The show ends as the wrestlers fight to the dugout, with the commentators reminding the fans that this is the match where Embry was injured and forced to leave the island.

Now we go to the west coast version of Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre from the same day. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtsmLpah0kg

Hugo opens the show by welcoming the viewers and runs down what we will see on today’s program (including TNT’s first match since coming back from Japan). Hugo then talks about the latest happenings in the Super Medicos and Mendoza & Valentine rivalry, asking the director to show what happened the previous week. Mendoza talks about how last week the Medicos paid off the timekeeper to ring the bell to call for a draw when it looked like they were going to lose the Caribbean tag titles. Tonight, Mendoza and Valentine will show who the real Caribbean tag champions are. The Super Medicos then get a chance to respond, with Medico #1 making sure that everyone knows that they did not pay anyone to ring the bell or need anyone to save them. We then go to a Caribbean tag title match from the TV taping, where Mendoza hits Medico #1 with his loaded glove, causing Valentine to fall on top of  Medico #1 and get the pin. A very bloody Mendoza and Valentine have won the Caribbean tag titles. An irate Medico #1 cuts a promo at ringside after the match, demanding that the commissioner grant them a rematch as soon as possible (which the commissioner agreed to). That rematch will be tomorrow in Hormigueros and will have no time limit. Hugo runs down the rest of the card before going to the first match.

MD: I get the sense that Mendoza is a pretty solid promo all things considered. They didn’t have Ripper of Valentine do much here. Medicos were heated and for good reason. Clip has them losing the titles to the loaded glove to break up a move, and then a very effective passionate post match promo at ringside with a bloody mask. We’d seen the loaded boxing glove but this hits different (no pun intended).

EB: We have the Caribbean Express taking on Mendoza & Valentine, with Hugo noting that the rudos were still hurt from the match against the Medicos where they were busted open. Hugo and Eliud are on commentary and the Express start off hot, focusing their attacks on the forehead of Rick Valentine. The Express controlled the first part of the match with quick tags and double team maneuvers (including a nice baseball slide by Castillo on Mendoza). Mendoza gets a DDT on Perez and tags in Valentine, giving the rudos their first control segment of the match. The rudos tas in and out and keep Perez near their corner in order to maintain their advantage, but Perez mounts a brief offensive flurry after an attempted clothesline in a corner. Another missed charge into the corner allows Perez to tag Castrillo in. All four men end up in the ring and in the confusion Castillo comes off the top with a crossbody onto Valentine. However, the ref is busy getting Perez out of the ring, so Mendoza sneaks in a blow with the loaded glove and rolls Valentine on top of Castillo for the pin.   

MD: Good match. I could have used a little more heat in the middle before the comeback but Valentine and Mendoza are wrestling extremely vulnerable so it made sense. They were great early bumping and stooging actually. The Express caught the by surprise pre-match and yanked off their bandages and started some woundwork. Mendoza hardly even seems a step down from Embry here to be honest. I liked the double elbow smash that the Express did but they were very smooth in general. Valentine hit a DDT out of nowhere but they didn’t hold the offense for long. Perez’s stuff looked especially good on the comeback. Mendoza snuck in a fistdrop to break up a pin (with the loaded glove of course) and they stole another one.

EB: After the match we get some promos, first is Migueito Perez who explains why he didn’t appear last week in Hormigueros. It seems that Kim Duk busted up the windshield of Miguelito’s car. Hugo asks Perez if he saw Duk do it, but Perez says that the people that were there saw Duk do it with a baseball bat (which explains why Duk had a baseball bat with him in the promo he did on Campeones). 

We also get promos from the two teams in the no time limit match for the Carribean tag titles. The Medicos tell Mendoza & Valentine to be ready for payback after everyone saw how the rudos stole the titles from them. Mendoza and Valentine cut their promo still bloody from having won the belts. The rudos again reiterate that the Medicos must have paid off the timekeeper but it does not matter now, they are the champions and they don’t need that much time to beat them again tomorrow.

The January 27 card in Hormigueros is as follows: The Texas Hangmen vs Bronco #1 & Invader #1 in a steel cage; the awaited match between TNT and Original TNT; no time limit for the Caribbean tag titles as Galan Mendoza & Rick Valentine take on the Super Medicos; a rematch between Giant Warrior and Scott hall; Miguelito Perez vs Kim Duk; and Huracan Castillo Jr. defends the World Junior title against El Profe. 

MD: They’re really leaning hard into this one. Now we get a great visual promo where Ripper has the belts and Mendoza and Valentine are absolute bloody messes. Everyone gets to talk here and it’s impassioned and effective.

EB: Next is Scott Hall vs Herbert Gonzalez. It’s a short match with Hall making a strong showing and pinning Herbert after the crucifix.

MD: Some of the stuff Hall does here (like controlling the arm down to a legdrop onto it) is the same sort of stuff he was probably doing for years but the confidence and timing just seemed to hit in ways it hadn’t even a year or two before. He dismantled Gonzalez in the ring and dangling over the apron before putting him down with a Vader Bomb type splash and the crucifix. Good squash.

EB: We get another series of promos from the Texas Hangmen and Bronco and Invader. Tomorrow they’ll be in the cage and both teams are looking forward to hurting their opponents in the cage. Invader makes note that no one can interfere, unlike the lumberjack match from the previous week. 

MD: They have an engine now, different lead heroes with different partners up against the Hangmen, all leading to steel cage matches. I’m not sure how much longer it can last but you can always cycle them down to feud with the Castillo/Perez or the Medicos just as easily and build those to cage matches too.

EB: We have TNT’s first TV match back from Japan and his scheduled opponent is Kim Duk. The wrestlers are introduced and Duk proceeds to do a salt tossing ritual in each corner before the match starts. As both men feel each other out to start, Eliud mentions that last week TNT made a surprise appearance during the Carlos Colon vs. Original TNt match and put Original TNT out with the Cobra Dinamita. As TNT works over Duk’s arm in the ring, Hugo reminds the fans of the history between TNT and Original TNT. The match progresses with TNT remaining in control by focusing on Duk’s arm despite Kim’s attempts at countering. Things turn in Duk’s favor when TNT misses a spinning kick, allowing Duk to counter with a kick of his own to gain control. However, Duk ends up throwing TNT over the top rope, causing him to be disqualified. But it seems that it was all a plan, as Original tNT runs out to attack the unaware TNT at ringside. Original TNT locks in the cobra sleeper and puts TNT out, with El Profe and Kim Duk watching. Duk even takes out some crew members that made a move to help TNT. Original TNt leaves TNT unconscious on the floor, paying him back for the previous week. Original tNT yells at the unconscious TNT (calling him an impostor) and even slaps him across the face a few times. The rudos leave ringside without waking TNT up, so Victor Jovica (flanked by Giant Warrior and the Caribbean Express) makes his way to ringside to help wake TNT up. TNT comes to but is in rough shape, so the tecnicos take him out on a stretcher to make sure he gets checked out.   

Afterwards we get interviews from Original TNT and TNT about their match tomorrow. TNT has an ornate head mask on and mentions that his throat is still feeling the effects of what Original TNT did. He even has to stop part way through talking because his throat starts acting up. He says that he’ll only address the imposter as ‘perro’ from now on and promises that he will not stop until he takes the paint and name of that impostor ‘perro’. 

MD: Former partners colliding. There was a slight sense of familiarity here, mainly with Duk taking over by ducking a TNT kick. They ran a big angle where Original TNT snuck behind TNT on the floor and put him out (getting revenge on him and setting up their next match). It would have been more effective if it was after a TNT comeback and both him and Duk were on the floor maybe? He still got the heat and it did seem sudden and unexpected but sometimes things in wrestling are paced to click just right and I’m not sure this was.

EB: We end the episode with a couple of videos involving the two wrestlers involved in the Universal title situation. The title is still vacant and it looks like Greg Valentine and El Profe have indeed agreed for Valentine to face Carlos Colon in a cage match to settle things once and for all. We first get a video for Greg valentine set to ‘Here Comes The Hammer’. We get highlights of Greg against various opponents, such as Huracan Castillo, Miguelito Perez, one of the Super Medicos and Carlos Colon. It’s a shame we do not have more footage of Greg Valentine in Puerto Rico, but at least we get a little bit of him in this environment with this video. 

Carlos Colon’s video is next and shows him training at the Albergue Olimpico, doing a more traditional training program in preparation for the upcoming cage match. The video ends with Carlos sending a message of thanks to the fans for the calls and messages. He promises that he is ready physically and mentally for the challenge to come. 

MD: The Valentine video was delightful but it just made me feel sad for all the Valentine stuff we’ve missed out on. Lots of elbows. Moving the kneepad. All the good stuff. Ah well. The Colon video was very olympic. Lots of traditional training including swimming a lane and running a track. We’ve missed some big matches before, obviously, but this whole Valentine run feels like the first full run we’ve been missing.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, if you want to get caught up on what has been happening so far in 1991 we have just the TV episode for you, as we get recaps of all of the major feuds going on. Also the feud between the Texas Hangmen and Invader & Bronco reaches a dangerous peak as Invader’s taped fist enters the picture. And who will finally be crowned the Universal champion when Carlos Colon takes on Greg Valentine inside the steel cage?