El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: For Each Show Host, A Match

Week 56: For Each Show Host, A Match

EB: We continue on the road to Aniversario 91, as four matches have been officially signed. The main event is scheduled to be Carlos Colon vs Ron Garvin for the Universal title, but Dino Bravo has been making noise about wanting that title match for himself. Bravo made a surprise appearance at Noche de Campeones where he made a surprise attack on Carlos Colon. It looks like we finally have a decision with regards to whether Bravo gets the match or not. Meanwhile, Carlos is dealing with the Polyneasian Prince, Gen. Akbar’s latest recruit and someone who seems to be focused on injuring Carlos before Aniversario. They faced each other last week in Caguas after having quite the brawl at the TV taping, and it looks like the rivalry has escalated. They are set to face off once more in a barbed wire match.

In other Aniversario news, Bronco remains out due to the fireball attack but promises revenge on Akbar at Aniversario. Meanwhile, Profe keeps spiraling a bit with the idea of having to face Monster Ripper, in part due to the constant needling from Hugo Savinovich over the situation. One final piece of news, TNT has been cleared for action and has set his sights on getting back the TV title from King Kong. Now let’s go to the west coast version of Super Estrellas de la Lucha Libre from June 1 and see what the decision regarding Dino Bravo is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0tpp1n8IWI

Hugo welcomes the viewers to the show and goes over what we will see today, including Universal champion Carlos Colon (in a rare tv studio match) taking on King Kong. During the rundown Hugo makes mention of Dino Bravo being the number one contender for the Universal title and the man who will face Carlos at Aniversario, so it looks like the commission made the decision to change the match to Colon vs Bravo. Since this is the west coast edition of Super Estrellas, all mentions of Aniversario are focused on the Friday card in San German. Hugo updates the viewers on the most recent developments for that card, but not before hyping up the air conditioning, ample parking and security available at the facility in San German. The main event for Friday July 5 is Carlos Colon defending the Universal title against Dino Bravo. It is official, since Bravo and Profe were alleging that Carlos was ducking Bravo out of fear. To help Bravo’s cause, it seems that Profe went to Ron Garvin and paid him off to step aside. Garvin called the WWC commission and relinquished his title shot. Add to that Carlos wanting payback for the attack Bravo did at Noche de Campeones and here we are with Bravo now challenging Carlos at Aniversario.

Also scheduled is a first time ever match in Puerto Rico as a man faces a woman, and Hugo says that Monster Ripper is favored against Profe. Dick Murdoch vs Giant Warrior and Bronco vs Skandor Akbar in a vengeance match round out the signed matches so far, there will be 6 other matches so stay tuned as new updates are made. Next week there will be information about where you can purchase tickets for the show, and with that let’s go to the ring for our first match. 

King Kong vs. Carlos Colon

Our first match is a surprising one, as Carlos Colon takes on King Kong. This is a non-title match and Hugo mentions this is a dangerous opponent for Carlos. Akbar is not at ringside with Kong, but Hugo says that it will be a big boost for Devastation Inc if Kong defeats Carlos here. The first minutes of the match are all about establishing Kong’s size and strength advantage, he shoves Carlos down a few times and works him over with nerve holds. The match continues with Kong in control, with Hugo saying it's surprising that Kong is having such a dominant showing against Calros, who trains diligently. Hugo sends a hellos to the viewers watching in the different countries the program airs and it sure seems that this match is to help establish if Carlos can handle bigger and stronger opponents such as Dino Bravo. After six or seven minutes, Colon makes a comeback after dodging a corner splash. The offensive flurry is ended when Kong uses his weight to belly bump Colon on a corner charge. Kong picks Colon up for a slam and Carlos grabs the ropes to prevent it. The referee tells Colon to let go and kicks Colon’s hands off the ropes. The sudden momentum shift seems to unbalance Kong and he falls down with Colon on top. The ref makes a count and Carlos wins the match, although it looks more like it was luck. This may be a sign that Carlos may have a tough time against Bravo unless he really prepares.

MD: Not a long match but kind of an interesting one since we haven’t seen Colon face someone this size in a while. Kong really had Colon’s number for the first two thirds of this, overpowering him and then leaning down on him hard with clubbers and nerveholds. Colon dodged a corner charge and took over. There was some sense that he had worn him down with a rope-a-dope though it didn’t quite have enough time to play out. Kong was so active that it sort of worked though. He came out of the corner with a Vader Attack though but Colon held on to the top rope on a slam attempt and when the ref kicked the hands out, he fell on him for a quick three. If Kong was leaving the territory this was a good way to have him do business on TV on the way out. Otherwise, it was a weird thing to give away.

EB: Dino Bravo is in the studio for another promo about facing Carlos Colon, only this time the match is officially a go. Bravo says that he tracked Colon to his backyard and on his first visit to the island almost broke Colon’s neck. Bravo has his number and he will become the new Universal champion at Aniversario 91. Carlos Colon is next and says that Aniversario 91 is going to be an important night for him. Not only is he facing the world strongest man and a great wrestler, Colon has a personal score to settle with Bravo after the humiliation he received at Noche de Campeones. Hugo makes note that this is not only for the title but also a chance for Carlos to represent Puerto Ricans well. Carlos says that the fans know Bravo's accomplishments and it is a tough task he faces, but with the fans support he will come out with the win. The segment ends with an Aniversari 91 card rundown featuring the four announced matches so far.

MD: Bravo just seemed happy to be there, talking about how Colon was the ambassador to the world but that Bravo had come to his backyard and could have broken his neck. He had to ask Profe for confirmation on the fact it was called Aniversario but said that Colon should bring his heart and his belt and he’d take both. As a kid from New England in 1991, I would have probably seen Bravo as a bigger star than Ron Garvin but I still have my doubts here.

Billy Joe Travis & Gran Mendoza vs. Ricky Santana & Tito Carrion

EB: We go back to Miramar for our next match but it seems that an argument is happening at the commentary desk. Billy Joe Travis is there with El Galana Mendoza and El Profe, they are up next. Instead of being in the ring, Travis is angrily yelling at Hugo Savinovich, it seems Travis is angry about comments Hugo has made about him. Hugo dismisses Travis and tells him to get in the ring, he doesn’t want to talk to Travis right now. Profe has to drag Travis away so they can go to the ring for their match. As Travis and Mendoza enter the ring, the camera shows Hugo and Eliud at the commentary desk and Hugo is angry, explaining to Eliud that this guy Travis brought up Hugo’s wife again and Hugo is not having that. It looks like there have been some verbal jabs between Travis and Hugo in recent weeks but we haven't seen them on the TV episode versions we have. Still, Hugo says that if Travis has any issues with him that’s fine but he should stick to talking about Hugo and not his wife. Eliud adds that Travis took it further by shoving Hugo and Hugo says he’ll compose himself because he is a professional and has a job to do. 

In the ring, Mendoza and Travis are facing Ricky Santana and Tito Carrion. Travis and Santana lock up and Hugo asks Eliud to continue with the commentating for now. Santana and Carrion get the early advantage on Travis, as Hugo has calmed down enough to join Eliud on commentary. Hugo says that he's pretty sure that El Profe is behind all of this by goading Travis and getting him riled up to go after Hugo. Hugo thinks it’s because of all the comments and grief he has given Profe over the Monster Ripper situation. Hugo draws the line at having his wife and family brought into this though. As Travis and Mendoza take over on Carrion, Hugo continues going off, saying that this has to be Profe and other people that are likely jealous of the good work Hugo does on the TV shows and that he’s not going to continue letting this go. The rudos continue working over Carrion and Profe decides to go over and needle Hugo about what happened. Hugoa accuses Profe about being behind all of this and Profe just laughs, saying all he did was tell Travis the truth about all the garbage Hugo was saying about Travis. In the ring, the rudos continue isolating Carrion and, despite a brief flurry from Carrion, win the match after a Mendoza DDT. Post match, an angry Travis once again makes a beeline towards Hugos and starts yelling and shoving him a bit before being pulled away.

MD: Travis was an awesome heatseeker. He has some things I love in USWA Texas right around this time if I’m not mistaken, and he was getting right in Hugo’s face before the match. It’s funny that on a card where they already have Profe vs Ripper and (if I’m not mistaken) Akbar vs Bronco, they’re looking to maybe do Hugo vs Travis too, but I guess it would fit a theme. This was effective (in part because it was so unusual) nonetheless.

Travis was a natural fit here, leaning his face in so Santana could take a swipe, then nailing him with sweeping punches and slaps of his own. He stooged big when it was time, and then, once they got Tito in, they leaned hard on him, drawing Santana in a couple of times that just made the double teaming worse. Real mauling. Carrion finally got a comeback but it was brief as he ran right into Mendoza’s knee and ate a DDT. Post-match Travis jawed with Hugo at the desk some more.

EB: Skandor Akbar has an interview and talks about not being certain that Bronco will make it to Aniversario. Akbar is retired and pays other people to fight for him, but he is not happy at being forced by the WWC to face Bronco. But he has a plan and Bronco better be careful. Bronco responds by telephone as they replay video of the fireball incident. Bronco says he has burn marks, blisters and scars from Akbar’s fireball but promises that at Aniversario he will get his revenge. 

MD: Akbar wasn’t happy with having to face Bronco. He said he was the godfather, the general, and retired, rich enough to pay others to wrestle but WWC was forcing the issue. He sounded frazzled, focusing both on the idea that Bronco might be too hurt to wrestle due to the burn but also that it could happen again or he might have a trick up his sleeve. Bronco, despite not being in the studio, was spirited as ever and fans would certainly think he was showing up for this one.

Rod Price vs. Herbert Gonzalez

EB: Rod Price is in action against Herbert Gonzalez and this match is a showcase for the man who says he is the perfect wrestler. Herbert gets no offense and Price shows off some nice moves as Hugo and Eliud talk up Price's credentials and background. Price gets the win after a shoulder tackle. Let’s see what waves Price can make in Puerto Rico.

MD: On paper, Price really fits in too but I’ll need to see something more competitive. He steamrolled Herbert here, belly to belly, hotshot, leg drop, fist drop, a goofy roll into an elbow in the corner and a great jumping shoulder tackle, all while Akbar gloated on the outside. 

EB: Giant Warrior is in the studio to talk about his scheduled match against Dick Murdoch. Warrior says that Murdoch won’t get any vindication at Warrior’s expense. He'll keep an eye out for Joe Don Smith but his main focus is on Dick Murdoch.

MD: Interesting bit here is that they did half, translated, and then did the other half. You don’t usually see Hugo actually ask a follow up question (this time about Joe Don Smith) that way. I can’t say that Murdoch vs Giant Warrior is exactly what I’d want for my #2 match on the PPV relative to Murdoch vs Invader or TNT but they had run through some of these pairings already I guess and it’s not like Warrior wasn’t heavily established by now. 

Brad Anderson vs. Huracan Castillo Jr.

EB: Up next is Brad Andersn taking on Huracan Castillo and there may be fireworks considering that Profe and Monster Ripper are at ringside. And immediately Ripper tries to go after Profe but instead Profe hides behind Brad Anderson. Ripper still goes after him and Profe decides to flee to the locker room instead of getting caught by Ripper. Profe stays in the shadows of the entrance as Ripper calls him a chicken, but runs back out when Ripper goes back to ringside. The match starts and it is pretty even in the first minute until Castillo catches Anderson with an atomic drop that sends Anderson through the ropes to the outside. Profe rubs Anderson’s booboo before  Brad gets back in the ring. As the match continues, Profe heads over to the commentary desk and explains that he’s trying to avoid any incident since the commissioner has been going around levying fines as of late and Profe doesn’t want to risk his license (although he wants nothing more than to give Ripper a slap in the face). Anderson works a chinlock on Castillo and Ripper again tries to chase after Profe (who hides behind the commentators). This match is really a backdrop for the Profe and Ripper rivalry. Castillo ends up making a comeback but it’s the managers that lead to the finish. Profe distracts the ref so that Anderson can get the advantage, but Ripper takes that opening to shake the ropes and cause Anderson to fall from the turnbuckle. Castillo gets the pin right after and he and Ripper head back to the locker room.

After the match we get promos from El Profe and Monster Ripper. Profe says that he is fed up with the insults and has reached the point of not caring about being a gentleman. Since he is being forced to do the match, Profe will take this opportunity to use Ripper as an example that a woman's place is in the home, tending to their husbands and doing the household chores. . Maybe Ripper is infatuated with Profe and that is why she wants to get her hands on him but Profe is going to forget she is a woman and will beat her up at Aniversario. Monster Ripper responds by saying Profe will respect women and reminds Profe that she is not like the women from around here. She will fight on behalf of all of the women in the world and she will hit him hard.

MD: Ripper was out with Castillo. Profe was out with Anderson. Really, the match took a backseat to their antics as Ripper chased Profe to the back once or twice. I’m not sure about the chemistry between Castillo and Anderson (probably down to Anderson), but there also wasn’t a lot to latch on to here. Castillo had his nice jumping knee on the comeback. Finish was muddled as Profe distracted for no reason as Anderson was going to the top, allowing Ripper to shake the ropes and Castillo to steal a win. Post match promos seemed to be what you’d expect for a man vs woman match. I’d almost rather have had Ripper defeat a guy (Exotico would have been perfect but we haven’t seen him for a while) as part of the build instead.

EB: Skandor Akbar is in the studio with Rod Price, a recent arrival to his stable. Price has several nicknames it looks like. Akbar talks up Price's physique and wrestling skills. 

MD: Akbar touted all of Price’s attributes and called him Rugged and Mr. Perfect. Price said he was a Dude with a Tude and Hugo had to figure out how to translate it.

Dino Bravo vs. George Anderson from WWF Superstars

EB: We get a Dino Bravo squash match courtesy of the WWF. We still haven’t seen Bravo wrestle in Puerto Rico but that will change soon.

MD: Bravo has some weirdly babyface coded offense, both an inverted atomic drop and an airplane spin. I hate how he sets up the side slam with a kick to the gut. If he had done it after the airplane spin, it would have been much better and less stilted. The WWF heat machine is droning and distracting in a way I don’t usually notice. Wonder if it has something to do with the Hugo voice over on the sound mix. It would have been nice to have Bravo in studio for a squash. I bet it’d have a different feel.

EB: Dick Murdoch and Joe Don Smith offer some comments about the scheduled match with Giant Warrior. Murdoch is miffed that he is booked against Giant Warrior because he wants Carlos Colon again. If Murdoch has to annihilate someone else to get that, he will do that. The episode then ends with the previously seen TNT and Ron Garvin music videos and Hugo's sign off.

MD: Now I feel bad for questioning Giant Warrior because Joe Don and Murdoch feel the same way I do. But Murdoch says Warrior should say bye to his loved ones because he’s going to lift him up for the brainbuster and send him to the hospital.

EB: So we’ve seen how Aniversario is shaping up on the west coast, but we have a big card scheduled for tonight in Bayamon. Let’s go to part of the Campeones episode from June 1 to get the latest news.

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

The video starts with Hugo in the Aniversario 91 control center, where he is explaining the confirmation of Colon vs. Bravo and the whole deal with Ron Garvin stepping down. Hugo also talks about the incident that happened last Wednesday in Miramar with Billy Joe Travis. It’s the same incident we saw on Super Estrellas but we get some additional footage. It seems Carlos Colon has come out to the commentary desk and Hugo is asking Carlos if El Ejercito de la Justicia would help Hugo train if he decides to challenge Travis to a match. Carlos says of course they will and promises in front of everyone that he will be the first one to train Hugo. Hugo yells out ‘You got it Mr. Travis’ and it looks like we have another match for Aniversario 91. Giant Warrior also approaches Hugo and offers his help in training Hugo. The control center wraps up by reminding the dates for Aniversario 91.

MD: We see a little bit more of what occurred after the match from the last show. Because (at the urging of Profe, says Hugo) Travis insulted both Hugo and his wife, he said he’d fight Travis. Colon offers to help. Giant Warrior offers to train, and we’ve got another non-wrestler vs wrestler match for Aniversario. After this we get just a glimpse of a pretty cool looking Road to Aniversario video.

EB: We then get a card rundown for tonight in Bayamon:  Carlos Colon vs Polynesian Prince in a barbed wire match; in a super challenge Invader #1 vs Ron Garvin; Giant Warrior vs. Dino Bravo; rematch for the TV title as King Kong defends against the returning TNT; Super Medico #3 defends the Caribbean title against Dick Murdoch; Galan Mendoza & Billy Joe Travis defend the Caribbean tag titles against the Caribbean Express with Monster Ripper handcuffed to El Profe at ringside; Brad Anderson defends the World Junior title against Ricky Santana; and Invader #4 & Mr. Ito vs. Rod Price & Action Jackson. Also, tomorrow they will be in Caguas with Carlos Colon vs. Ron Garvin; Invader #1 vs. Dino Bravo; TNT & Giant Warrior vs. Polynesian Prince & Dick Murdoch; Super Medico #3 vs. King Kong, Castillo, Perez & Santana  vs. Mendoza, Travis & Price; Invader #4 vs Brad Anderson; and Mr. Ito vs. Action Jackson.

We cut to Skandor Akbar and Polynesian Prince in the studio, with Akbar talking about tonight’s barbed wire match. Clips are shown of last week’s match between Colon and Prince, with Akbar saying Carlos gave Prince his best shot and it didn’t get the job done. Tonight Prince will finish Colon and then Colon will call Akbar master. Prince just chews on some straw while Akbar is talking. Then Akbar talks about tomorrow’s tag match against TNT & Giant Warrior.

MD: The card they’re promoting with the Prince vs Colon barbed wire rematch is really good. Invader vs Garvin. Giant Warrior vs Bravo. King Kong vs TNT. Super Medico III vs Murdoch. Caribbean Express vs Travis/Mendoza with Profe and Ripper handcuffed together. Anderson vs Santana. Plus Invader IV. Mr. Ito. Rod Price. And Action Jackson. That’s a really strong show. Another show has Colon vs Garvin, Invader vs Bravo. TNT/Warrior vs Prince/Murdoch and Medico vs Kong. So some good shows in the lead up to Aniversario. The most interesting part of the Akbar promo was him talking about how many favorites Murdoch had done for Devastation Inc. over the years.

EB: El Profe is with Travis and Mendoza, and they talk about tonight’s title defense against the ‘Chicken’ Express. Travis starts by calling Puerto Rico ‘his island’ and insults Hugo Savinovich and his wife. Profe is happy that he will be handcuffed to Monster Ripper so he can stop her from doing her underhanded cheating. Mendoza talks about tomorrow's six man tag and says something that gets bleeped. 

MD: Travis was leaning hard into this saying he’d not just beat Hugo but beat his wife as well.

EB: Ron Garvin is here and is looking forward to knocking out Invader #1 tonight. Invader has to prove to Garvin that he can knock Garvin out. Garvin is confident he can knock Invader out, ask Carlos Colon about that.

MD: Garvin having to come up with about six ways to show off his fists as Hugo was translating his promo doesn’t quite reach Scott Hall levels of amusement but it comes close.

Brad Anderson vs. Ricky Santana

EB: Our main event for this episode of Campeones is the World Junior title match from last week in Caguas, as Ricky Santana challenges Brad Anderson. The match starts with Profe goading Santana into chasing him outside the ring, allowing Anderson to surprise attack Santana when he rounded a corner. Sanatna quickly recovers however, and decks both Anderson and Profe. Santana is back in the ring as Anderson is trying to revive Profe on the outside, but has to race back in to avoid the countout. The wrestlers exchange shoves and punches with Saatana winning the exchange. It looks like Profe massaging Anderson’s booboo is a regular part of their act, as he does it again after Anderson got atomic dropped by Santana. On commentary Hugo and Profe are arguing about their upcoming Aniversario matches and who will fare better, and also about Profe’s insistence of making fun of wrestlers' nationalities. Ricky continued in control as we got to commercial break.

Back from the break and Santana is doing a sunset flip for a two count. Based on the commentary, it looks like Profe had thrown Ricky into one of the posts, which gave Anderson the opening to take control of the match. Profe claims that Santana fell into the post and he was only near him to try to help him back up. Santana is bleeding and Anderson works him over with a rear chinlock. Anderson misses a legdrop and Ricky comes back, highlighted by a foul kick to Anderson when the ref wasn’t looking. As Ricky gets fired up, Hugo has the video crew show a brief moment of when Profe threw Ricky into the post so the fans can see what a liar Profe is. Another punch exchange is won by Santana. Ricky goes for a flying body press but accidentally takes out both Anderson and the ref. Ricky covers but there is no one to count. Ricky starts punching Anderson again, with Anderson countering with a backdrop that sends Santana over the top rope to the floor right by where the referee is coming to. Santana gets on the apron and exchanges more punches with Anderson. Brad tries to suplex Santana in but Ricky shifts his weight and lands on top of Anderson. A second referee runs in and does the three count. Santana has won the title… or so it seems. Turns out the first referee saw Anderson throw Santana over the top rope and awarded the decision to Sanatan by dq. Anderson remains the champion. 

MD: On paper, this pairing was getting old, but this had enough Puerto Rico hooha to make it work. Profe distracted Santana for an Anderson ambush on the floor to begin but when he held him, Santana ducked and Andreson took his manager out on the floor. Fun stuff. Back in the ring, Santana controlled for a while as Brad stooged. One big problem with Anderson is that his transitions tend to be fairly weak, a lot of just pressing someone into the corner and taking over. The big damage was done during the break as Profe had posted Santana though, opening him up. That was a good visual during the chinlock at least. Finish was wonky and Dusty-ish, with the ref getting taken out on a flying body press by Santana and Santana then hefted over the top by Anderson. A second ref came in to count a pin on the way back in but the first one had seen the over the top hefting and ruled it a DQ instead of a title switch. It’s the Junior title. Just switch the thing back and forth, right? Overachieving match overall though, especially fun for Profe trying to explain what he did and didn’t do on commentary.

EB: We have video for two of the matches from the June 1 house show from Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel. Before getting to those matches, let’s discuss some of the other results from that card. As would be expected, Dino Bravo picked up the win against Giant Warrior in his first match in Puerto Rico on his way to Aniversario 91. Titles wise, Super Medico #3 retained his title against Dick Murdoch, while the Caribbean Express and Ricky Santana regained their titles. As for Invader #1 and Ron Garvin, we’ll discuss what happened in their match next time. 

That leaves the TV title match and the barbed wire match, which are the two matches we have footage for. First, TNT has made his return and is getting a chance to get revenge against King Kong  and possibly win the TV title back. Let’s see how that goes for him.

TNT vs. King Kong - June 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x8W7Pcf8aU

We join this match in progress as King Kong is stomping a downed TNT. Kong sends TNT into the ropes and knocks him down with a belly bump.  Kong casually steps on TNT and continues attacking him. As the blows continue, TNT starts gathering himself and fires back. Eventually TNT is able to knock Kong down after two clotheslines. An eye rake by Kong stops TNT’s surge and Kong splashes TNT in the corner. TNT is sent into the ropes and ducks a Kong clothesline, setting up a dynamite kick that staggers Kong. A second one staggers him more but Kong does not go down. TNT comes off the ropes with a flying spin kick and finally knocks Kong down. TNT makes the over and gets the three count. TNT has regained the TV title and defeated the monster that had put him on the shelf.

MD: Just two minutes here. Kong controls for a bit, moving around well and with credible shots. I liked TNT’s hulk up here. Kong still squashes him in the corner but TNT ducks a shot and starts laying in the kicks, with Kong as a big canvas for his offense, making it look great. TNT hits the jumping kick and scores a decisive win.

EB: And now let's see how Carlos Colon fares against the Polynesian Prince as the ring is encased in barbed wire.

Carlos Colon vs. Polynesian Prince - Barbwire Match - June 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9b7r8GSoHc

We join the match with Carlos already in the ring and the Polynesian Prince climbing over the ropes into the ring. The ropes have barbed wire wrapped around them. The match is a bit tentative to start, with Colon doing a side headlock and Prince attacking but not with much aggressiveness. As this is going on, Hugo shills the PPV broadcast of Aniversario 91 on the cable system this is being broadcast on. The match continues with Prince in control, using chokes and biting offense but again it does not come across as being aggressive considering the type of attacks.Carlos starts bleeding and Prince attacks the forehead. Carlos ends up going into the barbed wire off some blows from Prince, but it comes off more as incidental than done with purpose by Prince. The match continues with some standard spots of trying to push your opponent's face in the wire and Prince pulls out a foreign object to attack Colon with. Prince controls the first half of the match but once Carlos makes his comeback it is all Colon. Prince bleeds as Carlos starts throwing Prince into the barbed wire and attacking the cut on Prince’s forehead. Carlos ducks a clothesline and hits a back suplex that sets up Prince for the figure four. Prince submits and Carlos Colon has won the barbed wire match. Post match, Carlos decides to dish out some more punishment to Prince and make sure the rivalry is settled once and for all.

MD: It’s great we have this one but I’m not quite sure it lives up to other Colon barbed wire matches. Some of that could be the muted sound, of course, but a lot of it was how they treated the barbed wire. Prince went into it early. He responded by hitting a foul and taking over for quite a while. Colon came back and punished him for much of the rest of the match, leaving both men bloody. There were a lot of whips back into the wire and Prince was deep into character as he responded with an almost dancing sort of Kamala-esque selling. There just wasn’t enough gravitas in trying not to end up in it maybe? The best bit was actually Colon having to adapt his comeback headbutts and getting Prince from behind. Finish had him locking in the figure-four and the wire here almost was more useful to keep any potential interference out so Prince had no choice but to give up.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, more matches are signed for Aniversario including Ron Garvin getting a new opponent for the event. We also will see who Mr. Ito and Hugo Savinovich starts his training as we continue on the road to Aniversario 91.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Christmas Revenge

Week 39: Christmas Revenge

EB: We’re nearing the end of our runthrough of 1990 and we have hit another stretch where results and footage are a bit scarce. What we do have is concentrated more in the latter half of December, so before talking about the final weeks of the year let’s take a moment to review where things stand as December begins.

The Texas Hangmen have had a series of matches vs La Pareja Increible of Carlos Colon and TNT. As we enter December, Carlos is going to shift away from battling the Hangmen, as his responsibilities as Universal champion come calling. He is set to defend the Universal title on December 15 against a new challenger, one that has not really had a run before in CSP. Direct from the World Wrestling Federation, it is Greg Valentine (back to his signature blonde look after  the end of Rhythm n’ Blues). 

TNT is still in the fight against the World tag team champions the Texas Hangmen, but he needs a tag partner with Colon otherwise engaged. It just so happens that Invader #1 has made a recovery from the hanging the Texas Hangmen gave him in mid October, and he has been cleared to return to active wrestling duty. Invader wants to get revenge on the Texas Hangmen and that chance will happen on December 15, as he will team with TNT.

The feud between the Super Medicos and Eric Embry & Rick Valentine has been going on for almost three months. As we get into December, the two teams had an apuestas elimination match where the last person eliminated would lose either their mask or their hair. The two teams continued their rivalry over the Caribbean tag titles, including a time limit draw that resulted in a no time limit rematch happening on December 15. A key part of this feud has been the involvement of Monster Ripper and Sasha, and both ladies are still actively involved. Ripper is scheduled to defend the Women’s World title against Sasha on December 15.

As for the remaining titles, Huracan Castillo Jr. remains as the World Junior champion after defeating Billy Joe Travis in their feud, while Kim Duk has been able to hold onto the Caribbean title for the past few months. However, Duk has a title defense scheduled for December 15 against El Bronco #1, a wrestler who in his short time in CSP has become a fan favorite. Speaking of fan favorites, Giant Warrior makes his return to CSP after being on a month long Japan tour.. He is set for action on December 15 against another World Wrestling Federation wrestler in The Barbarian.

So with this summary, it is time to look at the last couple of weeks in1990. We have a mix of results and matches from December 15, clips from the December 22 episode of Superestrellas and also some matches from the December 25 Christmas Day show that ended the year. Let’s begin with a match from the big December 15 card, as Giant Warrior makes his return and faces The Barbarian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnFyCJr1qmI

This match is from a video release about a year or so after the match took place, so again the commentary is after the fact . This is Giant Warrior’s first big match since returning from Japan and this is also a return for The Barbarian, who had previously been in CSP in 1984 (Barbarian actually faced Invader #1 at that year’s Aniversario show). The video begins with El Profe leading Barbarian to the ring, Giant Warrior already having made his entrance. It is a battle of big men here in CSP. The Barbarian takes his time getting his ring entrance attire off and finally the bell rings. A lockup leads to Warrior backing Barbarian into a corner, and on the break they start shoving each other. Warrior pumps up the crowd while Barbarian resets for another lockup. Warrior gets a side headlock that leads to Barbarian sending Warrior into the ropes. Barbarian puts his head down too early and gets kicked in the face by Warrior. The third lockup leads to Barbarian gaining control with several arm wringers. Barbarian works the arm, but Giant Warrior is able to counter with an arm wringer of his own and starts working over Barbarian’s arm. The match continues with Warrior in control until an eyerake from Barbarian leads to Warrior being tossed outside. Barbarian follows and both men fight on the field. Warrior gets the better of Barbarian and once back in the ring, Warrior works over Barbarian’s arm once more. 

A pin attempt by Warrior after an atomic drop and a clothesline only gets two. From there, Barbarian is able to find an opening and takes over the match, working Warrior over with several blows and a rear chinlock. Warrior starts fading and the ref does the arm lift check. Warrior is able to keep his arms up on the third check and starts getting fired up. Warrior fights out of the chinlock but a knee to the stomach from Barbarian stops any further comeback. Barbarian hits several punches, and when the ref gets Barbarian to back off, El Profe takes advantage and gets a hit on Giant Warrior. A series of headbutts from Barbarian leads to a pinfall attempt, but Warrior breaks it by getting his leg on the middle rope.  Barbarian gets a slam to set up an elbow drop from the turnbuckle, but he takes too long and Warrior rolls out of the way. Warrior goes on the attack, making an unsuccessful pin attempt after a clothesline in the corner. A back elbow gets two, and it seems that momentum is favoring Giant Warrior. A slam and a legdrop only get two. Warrior signals for the big boot but Kim Duk runs out from the dugout upon seeing this. Warrior gets distracted by Kim Duk (who has gotten on the ring apron). With Warrior and the ref distracted by Kim Duk, Barbarian takes off his boot and clocks Warrior from behind with it. Barbarian makes the cover (while slyly tossing the boot out of the ring to Kim Duk) and the ref makes the three count. The Barbarian has defeated  Giant Warrior thanks to Kim Duk’s help. Not the successful return Warrior was likely hoping for. The rudos celebrate the win on their way back to the dugout. 

MD: This got a lot of time (12 minute video) but was overall good. Warrior seems well trained, right? He’s a little bit gangly and awkward but can still hit things clean enough. He can move around in there. He really tries to engage and work the crowd. I think he lacks some natural charisma but he’s doing the right things generally. Barbarian looked good here. He came out in his WWF 1990 garb with the antlers and everything. Just like Warrior can punch down, he was able to punch up here and his shots looked good. They built to a lengthy chinlock but it’s not like Barbarian wasn’t straining and working it. Big transition was Barbarian missing a rope walk elbow drop. Warrior was loading up the boot when Kim Duk came in and interfered, allowing Barbarian to get a cheapshot with his own boot used as a weapon for the win. I’m up for more Barbarian but against some of the other babyfaces. Amusingly, they mentioned a bunch of other giants on commentary including Baba, Andre, and El Gigante of Argentina.

EB: We have a title change happening at Bayamon on December 15, with El Bronco #1 defeating Kim Duk to become the new Caribbean champion. It’s quite the accomplishment for someone who has not been in the territory long, and it’ll be interesting to see where El Bronco goes from here. We do not have footage of the match but to celebrate Bronco’s victory, we do have a music video. The video features clips from Bronco’s initial intro vignette where he arrives in Puerto Rico, highlights from matches against Rick Valentine, El Exotico, El Condor and Grizzly Boone, and of course dancing with Amarilis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Naop1qYpc

MD: It’s a good act, right? Dancing neighbor. Black and red mask. Dancing valet. Latin American NWA champion. The drop down DDT. The Mongolian type chops. I don’t know about the dance itself, but it does seem like the sort of thing that would get over. I’m not sure I have a great sense of who he is from this, but I do have a good sense of what he is, and it makes for a solid mid-card act.

EB: One of the big matches for the December 15 card is the tag match featuring Invader #1’s return. We have the full match video, once again from the raw house show footage so there’s no commentary (but you’ll get to hear the crowd loud and clear).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x49ewXyjj7c

We have Invader and TNT waiting in the ring as the Texas Hangmen are on their way out. Psycho and Killer stop at a distance, so they can remove their bullropes and World tag title belts. They are both wearing studded leather masks for their entrance which they remove as well. Eliud Gonzlez makes the ring introductions (with the crowd heavily cheering both TNT and Invader). The tecnicos rush to meet the Hangmen just as they are getting into the ring and the action is underway. TNT fights one of the Hangmen in the ring, while Invader tosses the other one outside. Judging by the hair sticking out from the mask, I’d say Killer is outside with Invader and Psycho is in the ring with TNT. For the next four minutes, the tecnicos run over both Hangmen. Invader attacks Killer around the ballfield, smashing him into the announcer’s table, the playing field, into the ringpost and near the crowd. TNT is doing the same to Psycho in the ring, at one point using his karate belt to choke Psycho. The crowd is electric for all of this, cheering on the tecnicos as they run over the Hangmen. TNT and Psycho also head outside of the ring and they continue fighting on the field. Invader once again rams Killer into the small ringside table and then picks it up to hit Killer over the head. Psycho tries to head over to help his partner, but TNT grabs him from behind. TNT holds Psycho so Invader can get some hits in. Finally, all four men get in the ring, but the tecnicos continue with the advantage. What appears to be a smoke bomb goes off at ringside and TNT exits the ring, leaving Invader and Killer. Invader presses the attack, hitting a Garvin stomp on Killer. TNT is tagged in and handles both Hangmen with kicks. 

The tecnicos continue in control until about the 8 minute mark, where the Hangmen are able to stop TNT and turn the tide in their favor. The Hangmen control the next part of the match with their usual assortment of double teaming behind the ref’s back. TNT (who it looks has started to bleed) is thrown to the outside, but Invader rushes over to prevent any further attack (including hitting a foul kick on one of the Hangmen). Invader helps TNT into the ring near the tecnico corner, but Psycho quickly grabs TNT and puts him in an armbar. TNT is able to briefly fight out of the hold with several blows, but Killer runs in from behind to knock TNT down. Psycho again puts TNT in an armbar as the crowd tries to cheer TNT on. Psycho attempts a pin after a clothesline but Invader makes the save. The Hangmen work TNT over in their corner and Killer is tagged back in. The Hangmen continue in control until TNT and Psycho collide, and then Psycho misses a follow up splash. Both men tag their partners and Invader cleans house for a bit on both Hangmen. TNT recovers and gets back in the ring. All four men are in the ring, with the tecnicos taking control and ramming the Hangmen into each other. TNT and  Psycho go to the outside, leaving Invader with Killer in the ring. 

Invader has Killer against the ropes and sets up for a heart punch, but is grabbed by the referee since Killer is tied up in the ropes. Invader, thinking it was Psycho, turns around and fires off the heart punch on El Vikingo (who goes flying through the ropes to the outside). With the referee out, Killer knocks Invader down and goes for one of the bullropes. TNT stops Killer from attacking Invader and Invader ends up with the bullrope after a quick tug of war. However, Psycho rushes in and knocks Invader down. He attempts another hanging but can’t hold Invader high enough because there is only one person doing the hanging. Profe comes in to help and Invader takes advantage by kicking Profe away, using the momentum to flip over and out of the hanging. Invader sends Psycho out of the ring and is able to grab Profe. Invader sets up Profe and is able to hang him for a few moments before the Hangmen break it up. The Hangmen again try to hang Invader but TNT stops them, with Invader grabbing the bullrrope again. The tecnicos fight off the Hangmen and chase them all the way to the dugout. Invader and TNT stand tall and walk along the field to the cheers of the crowd, with Invader ringing the cowbell in response. There is no winner and you can bet Invader still wants payback.

MD: You know you’re going to get something good when you hear the buzz of the crowd for Invader and TNT being announced. This is a little wild considering how deep into a blood feud TNT and Invader were not long before. The Hangmen come out with spikey Demolition style masks. Once the bell rings however, Invader gets right to it brawling around the stadium with a Hangman, slamming his head repeatedly into a convenient desk that’s been conveniently placed there. TNT holds down the other in the ring to give Invader a spotlight to shine upon his return but eventually gets into the walking and brawling act as well.

When they hit the ring, TNT and Invader got to beat them all over the place for a bit. Probably what made them viable as a main event act in Puerto Rico (on top of the big heatseeking angles) was that they were very much willing to stooge and flail about and weren’t just monsters. The numbers game won out however and they started a lengthy bit of heat on TNT, including choking him with the rope behind the ref’s back once or twice. Invader made it in finally and the place came unglued. 

He took out the ref but they still built to a big post-match moment of Invader holding up the rope, the Hangmen getting it back and trying to choke him, and Invader flipping backwards onto his feet. He got the rope and hung a writhing, spasming Profe for a bit before the Hangmen saved him. After that TNT recovered and saved Invader and they chased the Hangmen off. Great little bit of booking which gave the fans plenty memorable and meaningful even with a non-finish, leaving much more on the bone.

EB: We finish off our look at the December 15 card by noting the other title changes that occurred that night. Sasha was able to win back the Women’s World title from Monster Ripper, but her allies the Super Medicos were not as fortunate. They lost the Caribbean tag titles to Eric Embry and Rick Valentine under unfortunate circumstances that we will discuss shortly. The Universal title was also defended by Carlos Colon against Greg Valentine, and after the match was over controversy reigned. Valentine had attempted a figure four with his reverse shin guard on, but Colon was able to kick Greg away. However, Valentine ended up colliding with the referee, knocking El Vikingo out of the ring. Colon was able to gain control of the match and put his figure four leglock on Valentine, but there was no ref in the ring. As Colon kept the hold applied, El Vikingo started to get up but was still a bit loopy outside of the ring. Meanwhile, El Profe ran into the ring and hit Colon with a loaded punch, causing the figure four to be broken. Valentine recovered and put on his figure four leglock. Colon struggled in the hold but El Vikingo was still trying to get back in the ring. Finally, referee Victor Quiñones arrived on the scene and, after a few moments, called for the bell indicating Colon had submitted. Valentine and Profe started celebrating with the Universal title but El Vikingo had finally made his way to the ring. Vikingo went over and pulled down Valentine’s arm. It turns out that Vikingo had seen El Profe’s interference and was disqualifying Valentine. The referees started talking the situation over and it was decided that the Universal title would be held up pending a review. 

We now go to the December 22 Superestrelals episode, where we have some clips that provide some direction on where things are going. There’s a big Christmas Day show on Tuesday and we have a few rematches set for that day. The big news (which we don’t have footage for) is that the Universal title will remain held up until December 25, where Carlos Colon and Greg Valentine will have a rematch to determine who the rightful champion is. As for the other matches, we’ll begin with Giant Warrior and his scheduled opponents for Christmas day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0uaYkyIcrA

This is Giant Warrior’s return to the TV tapings after his Japan tour (which Hugo mentions on commentary). As has been the case for the Giant Warrior singles matches we have seen so far from TV, it’s a handicap match. This time Warrior is matched up with El Condor and Johnny Ringo. The two rudos jump Warrior at the bell to try to get a quick advantage, but Warrior stops them with a double clothesline. El Condor rakes the eyes to again try to gain the advantage, but makes the mistake of trying to slam Warrior (which goes as well as you’d expect). Warrior counters with his own bodyslams on Condor and Ringo is tagged in for the rudos. Johnny tries a running shoulder block but ends up bouncing off Warrior on impact. Ringo attempts another shoulder block with the same result, and Warrior hits a high back body drop on Ringo. Condor comes in to help and Warrior just choke lifts and tosses Condor to the corner. Warrior continues in control (including turning Ringo up and over with a clothesline) before signaling for the big boot. Warrior gets the big boot (with Hugo commenting on the aspect of is he really or not really loading up the boot) and gets the three count on Ringo. An impressive TV return for Giant Warrior. 

As for Christmas Day, Warrior has got a rematch with the Barbarian but it will be a tag match. Joining Barbarian is Kim Duk (who interfered in the previous Giant Warrior vs Barbarian match). Joining Giant Warrior as his tag partner is a returning face for the big Christmas Day show, none other than Scott Hall. 

MD: Not much to say here, but Johnny Ringo looked great, both just bouncing off of Warrior with shoulder blocks, and with a nutty flip bump on a clothesline. I’m now of the opinion that Warrior was probably a boon to this specific territory at this specific time in this specific role even if it’s a little counter-intuitive. 

EB: As mentioned above, Sasha had regained the Women’s World title from Monster Ripper in the latest chapter of their ongoing rivalry. The Super Medicos had lost the Caribbean tag titles thanks to Eric Embry tossing fire into Super Medico #1’s face. Medico #1’s left eye has been hurt from the attack but he has demanded a match with the ring surrounded by fire in order to pay back Embry. It’s set to be a Caribbean tag title match as well ,but the new champions have lodged a protest over defending their titles against an unworthy team (in their eyes) and about being put into such a dangerous match. Let’s see what the WWC decides regarding this protest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKQA06Y12pk

Hugo starts the segment by saying that we are going to look at what happened last week in Bayamon, where Eric Embry and Rick Valentine regained the Caribbean tag titles and in the process, threw fire in the face of Super Medico #1. The clip from the no time limit match between the two teams is shown, and the Medicos are in control. Embry and Valentine are bleeding and you can also see that Valentine has a new haircut (so you can guess who was the last person eliminated in the mask vs hair match). Medico #1 crotches Embry on the top rope, while Medico #3 is attacking Valentine in the opposite corner. Medico #1 attempts a cover after a headbutt from the top, but  Valentien comes over to help his partner after having tossed Medico #3 to the outside. Embry rolls to the outside and as Medico #1 fights with Valentine, we see Monster Ripper come over to Embry and toss him some paraphernalia. Ripper gets on the apron but gets inadvertently hit by a Rick Valentine clothesline after Medico #1 ducked. We get a quick cut and we have Medico #3 punching Valentine in a corner, while Medico #1 is punching Ripper on the apron (it looks like he has had enough of Ripper’s interference these past few months). The ref is busy with Valentine and Medico #3, and as Medico #1 continues punching Ripper, Eric Embry pops back up and throws fire into Medico #1’s face. Embry quickly scrambles into the ring as Ripper rolls off the apron, and covers Medico #1. Embry gets the three count and he and Valentine have regained the Caribbean tag titles. Medico #1 is rolling around on the mat in clear distress as the match clip ends.

We go to an interview with the former Women’s champion Monster Ripper and the new Caribbean tag champions Eric Embry and Rick Valentine. It seems that a rematch is happening on Christmas Day, and it will be with the ring surrounded by fire. The champions had lodged a protest about the match, and it will now be non-title but the fire stipulation remains. Valentine mentions that Medico #1’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, but now they are being forced by the WWC to have this match. It won’t matter because they are going to light up the Medicos on Tuesday. Embry insists that the Medicos will not get another title shot because they do not deserve it, they’d have to earn one by winning a match against the champions. Again, they are being forced to wrestle in this match against their wishes. Embry promises to wipe all the grease off of the Medicos and burn them.

The Medicos respond, with Medico #3 angry and promising that they will pay back the rudos for what they did to Medico #1. Hugo makes note that Medico #1 still has a bandaged eye and asks him if the rudos did that to him illegally, is he worried about what they may do with the fire being legal. Medico #1 says that the way he is feeling, he is not afraid of anything. He will be ready for Tuesday, maybe his eye won’t be all the way healed but he certainly will be there. He was attacked with fire and that is why he wanted this fire match, because you fight fire with fire. When Embry comes face to face with him, Embry better be ready for the fight of his life, because as Embry tried to take Medico #1 out, Medico #1 is going to do his best to take Embry out for good. 

MD: We get a clip of the title change where Ripper passes Embry some fabric and he tosses a fireball at Medico 1 for the win. Now Valentine (who has shorter hair and a bandage on his forehead) and Embry won’t put the titles on the line until the Medicos beat them BUT are being forced by the WWC (mentioned by name) to have a fire match with the Medicos. We get their view and see that Medico #1 has a white eyepatch under his mask which is a pretty unique look. 

EB: The other big rematch scheduled for Christmas is Invader #1 and TNT tangling with the Texas Hangmen once more. Let’s watch some promos from both teams about the upcoming rematch. Since we’ve seen the full match, I’ll take this opportunity to highlight the narration Hugo provides for the clip of the match that begins the segment.

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

Hugo (at 0:15): People, the moment has arrived where we will show you what occurred during Invader #1's return to wrestling at the Juan Ramon Loubriel in Bayamon, teaming up with TNT against the Texas Hangmen. Go ahead Mr. Director.

Tape rolls off the end of the match while Hugo narrates.

Hugo: Vengeance match as Invader returns to wrestling, with TNT fighting the Texas Hangmen. They have bloodied the Hangmen, their masks are somewhat torn. There has been fury from the Invader and TNT. And here it is! Look out, the Invader's preparing the heart punch! The referee tries to stop him, but there it is, El Vikingo just received the devastating heart punch! The Hangman takes advantage of the situation, he's grabbed the same rope they used to send him to the hospital. El Vikingo is on the floor! He's (the Hangman) running the ropes to deliver the blow, but TNT tripped him. Invader's trying to take the rope away and he's got it! Wow, he's got the rope. But El Profe's sending the other Hangman in and he's surprised Invader. He's got the rope back. TNT's fighting with the other Hangman outside of the ring and El Profe's yelling for them to hang Invader! TNT's tied up with the other Hangman and here it comes! He's doing it by himself. El Profe comes in to help, but Invader does a tremendous counter and now he's got the rope. The tecnicos are carrying El Vikingo off. Invader's setting up El Profe and, yes, he's hanging El Profe. This crowd is blowing the roof off. But here come the Hangmen to save El Profe. They keep attacking the Invader.

El Ptrofe (at 2:45): The day is almost here and what a sad Christmas it will be for Invader #1 and TNT.

The Hangmen speak as Psycho (thanks Profe for saying who is who here) promises that in two days it will be their Christmas because Invader and TNT are stepping into the war zone with the Hangmen. It will be a bad Christmas for the people of Puerto Rico, since the tecncios will spend Christmas night in the hospital. Killer promises that they will get their noose back and that the people of Puerto Rico will spend Christmas crying. 

Hugo (at 4:38): The Puerto Ricans have that bullrope and that bell. Invader #1 and TNT in a rematch this Tuesday in the Loubriel in Bayamon. What's going to happen Invader #1?

Invader: You know Savinovich, the Hangmen are worried about this bullrope because they know that this bullrope is very dangerous. With this bullrope is how they sent me to the hospital. And they know that with this bullrope we could do anything. But TNT and I only have one thing in mind, on December 25th, on a very special day like this, I would like to invite all of the people of Puerto Rico to be there that day. Because when that bell rings, TNT and I will have only one thing in our heads, and that is to try everything possible to hang one of them. It doesn't matter which of the two it is, and if it's possible El Profe too. Because he has laughed enough about this when I was in the hospital. Profe, let me tell you something, when the bell rings that day, you tell your Texas Hangmen that they better buckle their pants up tight, because we only have one thing in mind, and that is vengeance. And it doesn't matter what we have to do Savinovich, but we're going to do it.

Hugo: Wow! TNT?

TNT (at 5:50): You know Invader, as Carlos Colon and I did once already, we threw the rulebook in the garbage. And that's the same thing you and I have to do this Tuesday at the Loubriel in Bayamon, throw the rulebook in the trash. So Texas Hangmen, this next Tuesday, as Invader said, buckle up those pants real tight. Because with this bell and this rope, we are going to hang and we are going to do the impossible to run you out of Puerto Rico, Texas Hangmen...

Invader: That's exactly right TNT! That's what we are going to do!

TNT: So come Texas Hangmen because we're going to fight!

Hugo closes with ‘ Friends, the Puerto Ricans are ready! This Tuesday at the Loubriel. We continue with more of the best wrestling in the world.’

MD: They show the end of the last match with Invader getting Profe and escaping getting hung again, plus Invader and TNT getting the noose. Hangmen say it’s going to be a bad Christmas for the people of Puerto Rico because Invader and TNT will be in the hospital. TNT and Invader retort with their usual passion. Invader has the noose and TNT is in his full hooded entrance gear.

EB: To close out the clips from the December 22 Superestrellas episode, we have a match from August 25, which features the Giant Warrior’s debut in Puerto Rico against  Atkie Mulumba. After the match, there’s a brief clip of Hugo running down part of the Christmas show lineup.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzg2N8IumYg

We’re in Caguas for the debut of Giant Warrior. It's interesting to see him make his entrance through the crowd and step over the ringside barricade. The crowd seems to be very impressed with Warrior, who poses briefly for the crowd before heading towards the ring., Atkie Mulumba is already in the ring, waiting in a corner for Giant Warrior to enter. Warrior again plays to the crowd but gets jumped by Atkie as the bell rings. Both wrestlers exchange blows, with Warrior getting the better of Atkie after an elbow to the head. Atkie starts staggering and a few more blows knock him down. More overhand chops are exchanged and Mulumba takes Warrior over to the ropes to try to choke him. A head smash attempt by Atkie is blocked and Warrior counters with one of his own. Warrior plays to the crowd as he hits a few more turnbuckle smashes and then sends Atkie hard into a corner, where Atkie ends up smashing his head on the ringpost from the momentum. Mulumba takes control thanks to the use of his totem and works a nerve hold. The advantage does not last long as Warrior gets fired up, breaks the hold and eventually gets the big boot to get a clear win over Atkie Mulumba. Quite a debut match and it looks like Warrior is a hit with the local fans. 

We immediately go to  Hugo for the show closer, where he reminds fans to keep their eye on Channel 4 for more of the best wrestling in the world. every Saturday from 12pm to 1pm and every Sunday from 11:30am to 1pm. Hugo wishes all of the viewers a Merry Christmas and reminds them to be mindful during the holidays since there are a lot of kids out and about, to have fun but be very careful (I’m guessing this is either related to drinking too much and/or engaging in reckless use of firearms or fireworks). Hugo also invites the fans to a special activity the Invaders are having the next day in Humacao, a Christmas ‘merengazo’ (basically a concert / party) with several bands taking part, as well as several of the Invaders’ friends like Carlos Colon, the Super Medicos and Miguelito Perez. And the big event coming up Tuesday at 6pm,with tickets on sale at the stadium this Monday. We have a rematch between Carlos Colon (defending the colors of Puerto Rico and the WWC) and Greg Valentine for the held up Universal title, the rematch between Invader #1 and TNT vs the Texas Hangmen, the minis will be in action,  and the match between the Super Medicos and Eric Embry & Rick Valentine with the ring surrounded by fire. Be sure to tune in tomorrow.

MD: Definitive victory to put Warrior over. He was so tall that he could punch down onto the top of Mulumba’s head. Mulumba took over for a brief period with the staff/wand, and a nerve hold, but Warrior tried to get the crowd into it and worked from underneath to fire back. He hit the big boot for the win, remembering to hook the leg midway through. I don’t know if Mulumba was on the way out or what but this really put Warrior over.

EB: We finish our look at 1990 with some of the matches from that Christmas day show. First is a clip from the minis match featuring the teams of  Mascarita Sagrada & Aguilita Solitaria vs. Espectrito & Piratita Morgan 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3bIO1jgxU4

We join the match in progress, with the rudo team working over Aguilita Solitaria in their corner. Espectrito continues in control over Aguilita, sending him into a Morgan kick in the corner. Sagrada tries to come in and help, but Espectrito heads him off with some kicks. In the other corner, Piratita is tearing at Aguilita’s mask. The rudos again double tema Aguilita and end up sending him to the outside. Sagrada sees the opening with the rudos having their backs turned (and this being lucha rules he can come in now that his partner is out of the ring), and punches Espectrito from behind. Sagrada shows off some great acrobatic moves into armdrags (a handspring into an armdrag on Morgan and getting backdropped onto Espectrito for another one), causing the rudos to be off balance and roll outside to stop the momentum. The crowd cheers for the tecnicos and it looks like Piratita and Espectrito are having an argument on the outside, leadng to Morgan shoving Espectrito. The crowd is enjoying this breakdown between the rudos,but it seems that the rudos have gotten back on the same page when the action resumes. Espectrito takes out both tecnicos with kicks  Espectrito celebrates a bit as he continues with kicks on Aguilita, then follows up with a clothesline into the corner. Espectrito gets a submission on Aguilita and when Sagrada tries to break it up, Morgan heads him off. Sagrada dodges Morgan and tries to hit a moonsault off the ropes, but Morgan ducks and Mascarita crashes to the mat. Morgan covers Mascarita and gets a three count. The rudos have won the match. Post match, the rudos continue attacking both tecnicos, leaving them laid out before leaving the ring area.

MD: We get five minutes of this and it’s good for what we get. A little bullying from the rudos to start, Mascarita Sagrada with a big comeback where he clowns them as smoothly as can be, some arguing between then rudos on the pitch, and then Espectrito and Piratita turning things around for a pretty good, clean and straight finish. Post match, Mascarita got lawn darted into the post in a nice spot. I’m surprised they were still running this as an attraction but it’s a good one.

EB: Our next match from Christmas Day is the tag match featuring Scott Hall’s return to Puerto Rico to team up with Giant Warrior to face the rudo combination of Kim Duk and The Barbarian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfcQbO27_G8

Kim Duk and Giant Warrior start off for their teams. El Profe on commentary mentions ‘look at all the great people we have in the ring’, to which Hugo responds that we is too many people. Profe says that his greatness is not in height. Warrior goes for a quick cover but Barbarian breaks it up, and this allows the rudo team to take control with quick tags. Duk and Barbarian are pretty aggressive in their attacks on Warrior, and they take advantage of Hall trying to come in to double team Warrior behind the ref’s back. Hall is able to break up a Barbarian chinlock on Warrior, but for the most part the rudos remain in control throughout the first half of the match. Giant Warrior is able to turn things around after about six minutes by ducking a clothesline and countering with one of his own. But before he can crawl over to Hall to make a tag, Barbarian kicks Hall off the apron in order to stop the tag. Warrior counters a suplex attempt with one of his own and this time is able to make the tag. Hall comes in and attacks both rudos, and Warrior almost immediately gets back in the ring to help out. Warrior and Duk end up outside as Hall punches Barbarian in the corner. As Hall continues punching, the referee gets close to the action and Hall accidentally knocks him down on one of the wind ups. Hall looks to not have noticed this, as he continues punching Barbarian. Meanwhile, Kim Duk rushes back to the ring with a chair and attacks Hall from behind with it. The rudos double team Hall and set him up for a piledriver on the chair, but Warrior is back in the ring and pulls the chair away (although Barbarian still ends up piledriving Hall). Barbarian makes the cover and Warrior swings the chair to hit Barbarian, but he rolls out of the way and Warrior instead hits Hall. The ref lets the match continue for some reason and throws the chair out of the ring. While this is happening, Warrior seems to be apologizing to Hall about what happened, but Barbarian takes advantage of that moment and attacks Hall from behind. The referee tells Warrior to leave the ring and he goes back to the tecnico corner, as Barbarian continues attacking Hall. Scott is able to come back and gets Barbarian in an abominable stretch. Warrior comes in to head off Duk, and while the referee is distracted by them, Preofe sneaks into the ring with the chair and hits Hall with it. A second attempt is stopped by Warrior, who takes the chair from Profe. Hall turns around and sees Warrior with the chair, resulting in Hall immediately attacking Warrior (he had already been hit once before by accident, so I’m guessing he thought Warrior did it again on purpose). Hall continues attacking Warrior, grabbing the chair and hitting Warrior. El Profe is on the apron egging Hall on by yelling that it was Warrior that had hit him with the chair. Hall starts choking Warrior with the edge of the chair but some of the  tecnicos come in to make the save. Hall leaves the ring and complains to the camera about being hit twice. We then go to Hugo and Profe in the studio, with Profe happy about what went down and Hugo declaring that if Hall wants to go with El Profe then he can have him, not a big loss for El Ejercito de la Justicia. El Profe starts talking about how his guys will deal with the tecnicos and Hugo just walks away in disgust as the credits roll. 

MD: What an odd match on paper. Duk had more of a run here than you’d think, but him and Barbarian as a tag team at the very end of 1990? And then Hall with Giant Warrior. This had a long heat on Warrior which was compelling enough if a bit weird on paper. Barbarian looked great in knocking Hall off the apron at one point and ate a suplex on the big come back spot. Hall came in hot but Duk ran in with a chair (it took him a couple of tries to get it between the ropes as it wasn’t a folding chair). Warrior accidentally hit Hall with it after preventing a pile driver on it (but not the pile driver itself). Hall shrugged it off and kept fighting but then Profe hit Hall with a chair and when Hall turned, Warrior had taken it from Profe. Uh oh. Hall showed great emotion in destroying Warrior due to the miscommunication and Profe was pleased with his own brilliance after the fact. I thought Hall was a great babyface earlier in the year so this is a bit of a shame, but he’s probably more worthwhile on the heel side at this point.

EB: Our last match from Christmas Day is the fire match between the Super Medicos and Eric Embry & Rick Valentine. Will we finally have an end to this feud? Let's find out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9hghuCwB0o

The match begins with the Medicos attacking Embry and Valentine on the outside, and they have yet to light the fire on the ring ropes. Hugo explains that the fire will be lit once all four men have entered the ring. Medico #1 tosses Embry into the ring and they continue fighting, as Medico #3 has Valentine on the ground outside continuing his attack. They start lighting the fire as Embry and Medico #1 continue fighting. They leave one side unlit for a few moments as they finally get Valentine and Medico #3 in the ring. With all four men in, they light up the remaining side and now no one can leave until there is a winner. The Medicos control most of the match, as the dynamic is Embry and Valentine trying to fight off being pushed into the fire and not being too successful. Hugo and Profe mention everything that’s happened between the two teams (Valentine lost his hair, a leg was injured, they’ve bloodied each other up, the fire thrown in the face) and that this seems to be another escalation in the rivalry. As the match continues, Hugo makes note that the referee is only there for a pinfall or submission, he cannot disqualify anybody. The Medicos continue in control of the match, although Valentine and Embry do get some brief moments of offense. But the Medicos quickly come back and it is Embry and Valentine that feel the effects of the fire. Profe on commentary says that he is hoping to see one of the Medico’s masks catch on fire and see their head look like a torch. The match reaches a climax when Embry gets a foul blow on one of the Medcios and then the rudos try a double team on the other one. However, the Medico gets out of the way and Embry hits Valentine instead. The blow sends Valentine into the fire and Valentine gets rolled up for the win. But the Medicos are not done yet, as they grab Embry to dish out some more punishment. A headbutt sends Embry backwards into the ropes, where he smashes his face into the flames. Medico #1 continues punching and raking Embry’s eyes as the ringside attendants start removing the fire from the ropes. All four men exit the ring, as the Medicos continue attacking Embry and Valentine all the way to the dugout.  I guess this means the Super Medicos have earned a shot at the Caribbean tag titles based on the champions’ previous protest.

MD: This is a little bizarre. It’s the only fire match that I’ve ever seen that is mostly a stooging comedy affair. I can’t even count how many times Embry and especially Valentine go careening into the flames and bounce off wildly. Medicos control most of this except for a few times where Embry/Valentine get lucky shots in. It’s always sold big but it’s never decisive. The finish, which is a heel communication bit that sends one into the flame to set up a roll up doesn’t seem particularly worse than any other spot that didn’t lead to a pin. It’s not bad. The stooging is good. You can buy that they never take the fire in the worst place, maybe, but they probably could have accomplished twice as much with half the fire bumps.

EB: And with that, we’ve reached the end of our look at 1990 in Puerto Rico wrestling. We do have some pending results to talk about, specifically what happened in the Invader #1 & TNT vs Texas Hangmen rematch and who is the Universal champion after the Carlos Colon and Greg Valentine rematch. Also, is the feud between the Super Medicos and Eric Embry & Rick Valentine finally over? What about Scott Hall, is he really going with El Profe? We’ll find out the answer to all this and more when we begin our journey through 1991. But first…

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, since we have reached the end of 1990, it seems like a good moment to give some thoughts on our journey so far. So we will have a checkpoint of sorts, where Matt and Esteban are going to talk about what has been covered so far on our journey from mid 89 to 90. What have we learned? What have been our highlights.or surprises so far? How has this changed our thoughts or notions of Puerto Rico wrestling? We’ll give our thoughts on these and other topics as we get ready to move into 1991. 

Read more!

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Caged Hangmen

Week 38: Caged Hangmen

EB: It is mid-November and we have two really hot feuds happening in CSP. The Texas Hangmen have been tangling with La Pareja Increible and so far we have not had any clear winners in their encounters. Colon and TNT are focused on paying back the Hangmen for the abuses they have committed, especially for severely injuring Invader #1. After the last match between the two teams ended and the Hangmen (with el Profe) attacked the tecnicos, TNT and Colon demanded a cage match with the Texas Hangmen and it looks like the challenge has been accepted. 

The other hot feud involves the Super Medicos and Sasha against Eric Embry, Rick Valentine and Monster Ripper. The history between Sasha and Eric Embry has come into play in this rivalry, with Embry stooping to the level of physically attacking Sasha. For this rivalry we have had two new developments, both happening on November 10. The Super Medicos defeated Embry & Valentine for the Caribbean tag titles, getting a victory over the hated rudo team. But on that same day, Sasha lost the Women’s World title back to Monster Ripper, when Eric Embry interfered and hit Sasha on the leg with a bat. The issue between these two groups is far from over as well.

We also have seen a group of new arrivals to CSP in the month of November, with an influx of names from the USWA. The most notable one is Billy Joe Travis, who made a quick impact by winning the World Junior title (although by using a loaded punch to do so). Since his arrival in CSP, Travis has shown a huge disdain for Puerto Ricans and has also had some rematches with Castillo. So far, Travis has used his loaded punch to keep the title, but Castillo is still hot on his trail.

Another notable arrival form the USWA is Jeff Jarrett, who we saw among the members of El Ejercito de la Justicia who came out to help Carlos Colon and TNT when they were being attacked by the Texas Hangmen. Jarrett would make some appearances throughout November and December but does not really get heavily involved in any feuds in these appearances. We do have one match from around this time period featuring Jeff Jarrett in CSP, so let’s go to Bayamon for a match where Jarrett takes on the returning veteran Ivan Koloff. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8cwlQstlOQ

This match happened sometime in the November to early December period. The commentary is from a video release about a year or so later, so the commentary does not really add much context for what was going on at the time the match took place. The veteran Ivan Koloff (with his chain) is making a return to CSP, and is facing Jeff Jarrett. El Profe is again accompanying Koloff at ringside. This is youth vs experience and the first moments of the match showcase the two wrestlers trading holds and working over each other’s arms. The first half of the match is mainly focused on arm work, with Jarrett getting the better of Koloff for the most part. About halfway through the match, Koloff works in a  headscissors on Jarrett that they counter back and forth between a Jarrett headlock and the Koloff headscissors (and we get a nice moment of Ivan trying to pump feeling back into his arm after the damage it had taken during the first part of the match). Koloff eventually rakes Jarrett’s eyes and throws him to the outside, where the momentum shifts towards Koloff. From there, Koloff works over Jarrett and makes some pin attempts, but cannot put Jarrett away. Jarrett gets a sunset flip attempt that Koloff tries to stop by grabbing the ropes, but the ref kicks Ivan’s hands away and the attempt gets a two count. Before going back to attacking Jarrett, Koloff takes a moment to get in El Vikingo’s face about kicking his hands a few moments earlier. Koloff and Jarrett trade blows and Koloff decides to go to the top rope after knocking down Jarrett. However, he takes too long, allowing Jarrett to catch Koloff and throw him down to the mat. Jarrett looks to be in control and, even with Profe tripping him up, is able to get a few pin attempts on Koloff (including a nice crossbody from the top turnbuckle). As the ref backs Jarrett away from the corner, El Profe hands the chain to Koloff. When Jarrett approaches, Ivan decks Jarrett with the chain while Profe distracts the ref, and Ivan makes the cover. The ref starts counting, but then notices the chain lying on the mat. El Vikingo stops his count, picks up the chain and admonishes Koloff. He then raises Jarrett’s hand as the winner, having disqualified Koloff for using the chain. Koloff tries to attack Jarrett post match but is sent out by a dropkick. Jarrett celebrates his win as the video ends. 

MD: As matches go, this was definitely a match. It had a hot few minutes that I really liked and everything before that was 100% sound. Jeff had been wrestling for a while by this point but it’s always good to get time in the ring with a vet like Koloff. Ivan had Profe with him and was a known entity but I wouldn’t say he had a lot of heat and I wouldn’t say the fans really got behind Jeff even though he was a perfectly fine babyface. Maybe part of that is that they wrestled things pretty straightforward for the first ten minutes or so. Lots of in and out of holds. Headlocks, armdrags, that sort of thing. Certainly, Ivan stooged a bit, escaping and ending up right back in, but he didn’t really cheat. Eventually he did hit a belly to back out of a headlock and tossed Jeff out of the ring (after an eyerake to cut him off) to set up a short king of the mountain. Jeff finally fired back but Profe kept getting involved. I thought he might have had him on a flying body press after tossing him off the top (Big bump for old Ivan) but Profe snuck his charge the chain and distracted the ref. Ivan clocked Jeff but didn’t get the chain all the way out of the ring. One thing I really enjoy about Puerto Rico is that for such a down and dirty territory, the heels have their efforts to cheat overturned or caught more often than you’d think.

EB: Another notable new arrival we saw debut is El Bronco #1. Hailing from the Dominican Republic, this tecnico seems to be gaining the fans’ support via his upbeat ring entrances and his performances so far. We go to  a match from what is likely November 10, as Bronco defends his Dominican National title against Grizzly Boone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbK4FxVCBhA

The match video starts with Bronco and a dancing woman already at ringside. She is known as Amarilis, la princesa del ring (the princess of the ring). Grizzly Boone immediately attacks Bronco as the latter is getting into the ring and Eliud Goznalez does the ring introductions as Boone continues his initial attack. Hugo says that Boone wasted no time, he really wants to win that Dominican National title. Grizzly continues his attack with clubbing blows and chokes in the corner, with Hugo mentioning the presence of the gorgeous woman that came out with Bronco (although he won’t say more so as to not get him and Eliud into trouble). Boone continues with several choking attacks, as the announcers mention that it is a good strategy on his part since it does not give Bronco an opening to get back into the match. Boone starts mocking Bronco as he continues in control of the match, making mocking gestures of Bronco’s dance (Eliud calls it some sort of mountain merengue). Hugo lets us know that Amarilis is a professional wrestler in her own right who sometimes accompanies Bronco in his appearances. The turning point of the match comes when Boone misses a charge into the corner, which gives Bronco the opening to come back with a series of ear claps on Boone. Grizzly is staggered and Bronco takes advantage to hit his falling DDT  to score the win. A successful title defense for the Dominican champion. Bronco celebrates with Amarilis outside of the ring, as the music starts up and they do a bit of dancing on their way back to the dugout. 

MD: Very different vibe from the TV squash match. This was Boone just squashing Bronco, especially in the ropes. Quite effectively at that. Once Bronco got out of the way on a huge corner charge, he did his little hop taunt and took over with these pretty great jumping double overhead chops. Very theatrical. Very much for the last row. Then he hit a kick and charged in with his falling DDT. Ended celebratory at least. But I was expecting him to be a bit more of a powerhouse maybe?

EB: As mentioned before, we are now in mid-November, specifically November 17. We have a Superestrellas episode from this date that should help us better understand how everything has been progressing.  This is the west coast version so references will be to the house shows that are happening on Sunday (although the card is likely similar to what is scheduled for November 17 in Bayamon).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCWQpN4V5s4

The video starts with Hugo Savinovich holding up the latest copy of the local wrestling magazine, hyping up how fans can purchase it. We then go the the first match of the program (likely from November 3), as Tom Burton  (billed as Dirty White Boy) is taking on Invader #4. Burton immediately jumps Invader #4 at the bell (as Eliud Gonzalez announces Mario Savoldi as the referee) and hits a series of blows and cheap shots to send Invader #4 to the mat. Our commentary team for this match is Hugo and Eliud. Burton continues with the advantage as the announcers talk about how Invader #4 is looking to get the win against a difficult opponent, someone who has been making waves in the USWA and (according to Hugo) someone who is quite the cheater. Burton  makes an unsuccessful pin attempt after a legdrop and continues his attacks by mixing in blows with some cheap shots behind the ref’s back. Invader #4 has not been able to get any offense in so far as Burton is living up to the Dirty White Boy name. Burton continues in control of the match and makes a couple of unsuccessful pin attempts, but the momentum changes when Burton misses a diving headbutt from the middle turnbuckle. Invader #4 makes a comeback with several chops on Burton, leading to a couple of pin attempts from Invader #4 after a backdrop and a small package. A backslide gets two, but Invader #4 ends up running into Burton’s knee after whipping him into the corner. Burton goes for a slam but Invader #4 counters with another small package for the pinfall. The crowd cheers as Invader #4 rolls out of the ring and gets his hand raised as the victor.

We then go to some promos from El Profe and Invader #4. They are scheduled to face each other the next day in San German. Profe mentions that Invader #4 believes Profe was one of the men responsible for what happened to Invader #1 and he is right about that. Profe is proud of being part of the attack on Invader #1 and dares Invader #4 to get revenge. Profe has faced Invader #4 before and is not afraid of him. This time it will be a fight and while Invader #4 will be looking to get revenge for what happened to his brother, Profe is going to enjoy doing the same thing to Invader #4 and promises that they will take out the members of ‘El Ejercito de la Inmundicia’ one by one. We then go to Hugo with Invader #4 and Maelo is pretty fired up about getting his chance at El Profe. He was the one who prevented the tecnicos from being able to get to the ring to help Maelo’s brother, but tomorrow Profe will pay the consequences. Carlos Colon and TNT will make sure to make the Texas Hangmen pay, but he and El Profe will be face to face and he will make sure to make Profe pay (‘as sure as my name is Invader #4’). 

MD: We’re going 0 to Tom Burton here. For the most part he looked ok. There was one corner whip towards the end where Invader IV lost him, but that actually played into the match as he was able to get his knee up on the charge. This had a decent amount of Burton leaning on him and it was fine (one good lariat) before a fairly hot roll-up laden finishing stretch after a missed diving headbutt. Invader even snuck it out with a roll up counter to a bodyslam, which maybe felt like the right move in the end, especially since he was going after Profe to get revenge for what happened to his brother. They set that up with a couple of promos and it’s good undercard booking that makes a ton of sense and I bet it got decent heat. Obviously Profe is still carrying quite the load.

EB: Up next is Monster Ripper’s Castle of Pain, where apparently this week’s guest is Sasha (who has not arrived yet). Ripper has her newly won Women’s World title around her shoulder (she won it back the previous week) and remarks that Sasha has not arrived yet. Ripper mentions that she invited Sasha on because she wanted to confront her face to face about Ripper having become the champion again. One detail that I will mention, Ripper’s Spanish is definitely more Mexican influenced, so she uses some words that are more common to Mexican Spanish rather than Puerto Rican Spanish (and yes ,there are notable differences in the Spanish spoken across the different Latin American countries). Ripper looks around and asks if Sasha is not here yet, to which a voice from far off camera responds ‘No’. Ripper goes on to talk about what an embarrassment this is, it’s clear that Sasha is afraid of her, in fact, everyone is afraid of her. Sasha may have the Super Medicos with her, but on her own Sasha can’t defeat Ripper. Again Ripper asks if Sahsa is here and gets another no, which causes her to sigh and again say that it's an embarrassment and a shame. Ripper promises to bust up Sasha’s face next time they are face to face, Sasha is the embarrassment of Puerto Rico and Ripper will remain the champion and true queen. Ripper cackles as the segment ends. 

MD: Ripper has invited Sasha who does not show up. This lets her cut a promo on her instead. I’m not convinced she actually invited her. It’s a shame though as it could have been a real Hulk Hogan visits the Dungeon of Doom moment with all the smoke flying around.

EB: We get our first look at recent arrival and new World Junior champion Billy Joe Travis. His opponent is Herbert Gonzalez. Travis wants a handshake to start, and Herbert and the announcers are dubious on the sincerity of Travis in making such a gesture. Travis makes a show of wanting the handshake (including getting on his knee)  and then feigns to throw a punch, but Herbert squares up and Travis thinks better of it. Hugo mentions that this Billy Joe Travis has been something, calling the Puerto Rican fans Mexicans, calling Hugo by the wrong name, he changes Huracan Castillo’s name, and it is clear that Travis does not like latinos at all. Travis is stalling about and gets on the turnbuckle to jaw at the fans, who have started yelling at him from the stands. Travis complains to the ref about the crowd chants and Herbert claps along to encourage the chants. Hugo complains that the ref needs to be stricter with Travis about actually wrestling in there instead of stalling about. Travis jumps out of the ring and stares at the crowd, covering his ears at his displeasure with their chanting. Hugo says that any of the wrestlers facing Travis should take advantage when Billy Joe is out doing this stalling and just attack him, since Travis would do the same thing to them (it is clear Hugo is not a fan of Travis, he might be getting Eric Embry flashes here). Travis is back in the ring and again wants the crowd to shut up, and Hugo again mentions that Herbert should be jumping on Travis instead of encouraging the crowd along. Finally, Herbert punches Travis on the back and sends him into the ropes, getting a backdrop. Travis immediately rolls out of the ring and makes a show of holding his back. Billy Joe is annoyed with the crowd and makes like he’s going to hit the cameraman for getting too close to him. Hugo again talks about how all of this stalling and posturing by Travis works in his favor, as it confuses both the ref and his opponent and allows Travis to set up openings for him to attack when the opponent’s guard is down. Travis complains his tights were pulled and Herbert pokes Travis on the butt. Travis finally gets some offense going as Hugo mentions how dangerous Travis is and runs down his accomplishments (including being a current champion in the USWA). Travis gets more aggressive, including hitting a slam on the floor. Eliud brings up tha one advantage Travis has is that he is so quick with his punches that one can’t really see if he is getting away with closed fists. Back in the ring Travis has gotten serious, takes control of the match and even takes some time to antagonize the crowd about how Herbert is faring. Travis gets the win with a reverse splash from the turnbuckle.

We then get promos from Travis and Huracan Castillo about their upcoming match. The two have been embroiled in a series of matches over the World Junior title and it appears the key point of contention has been that Travis has been using a loaded punch to win his matches against Castillo (which is how Travis also became champ in the first place). Travis says that this will be Castillo’s last title shot and also makes sure to call Puerto Ricans Mexicans, says that Hugo’s name is Hector and that Castillo’s name is Herman. Huracan Castillo gets his chance to respond and he is not amused with Travis, calling him a cardboard champion for the way he won the title and has won their rematches with the loaded punch. Castillo says that he has always been fine with getting beaten clean, but not with how Travis has been getting these victories. Hugo talks about all the fan support and protests about how Castillo was wronged and Castillo promosies that tomorrow it will be different. Castillo warns Travis that he better watch out that it’s not Castillo that surprises Travis this time around. 

MD: Really great we get at least this look at Travis. I don’t know if Embry’s coaching him or what. I do remember him being a pretty entertaining heel in USWA Texas around here. The Gonzalez match was a blast. He was way over the top trying to get a handshake to start and then stooged big. He looked like a guy who could anchor the territory honestly. Then he called Castillo “Herman” in the promo and Hugo and Castillo talked about all the support Castillo had in his quest to regain the title.

EB: We have a new wrestler by the name of The Nightmare (not sure who this is), who is taking on Tito Carrion. Eliud mentions that Nightmare had held a World Junior title in the US (seems kinda beefy to me to be a junior heavyweight). Carrion gets an initial advantage off a backdrop but Nightmare quickly takes over by working Carrion’s leg. Hugo mentions the coincidence of both men wearing very similar ring gear as Nightmare continues focusing his attacks on Carrion’s leg. Tito is able to make a brief comeback (including a nice back elbow) but Nightmare soon regains control and eventually wins the match via a superplex. Not sure if this masked wrestler is anyone of note underneath the mask, but it’s a clear win for The Nightmare.   

MD: I guess Embry is bringing in people through USWA? Not sure if this is Ken Wayne (doesn’t seem to be Davis, that’s for sure) or just the mask being ported over. Transitions were weird here as he just stopped Tito short a couple of times. Finishing stretch was good with a backbreaker and suplex before a superplex. Didn’t really give us a sense of who he was or what he wanted though. 

EB: Hugo introduces a clip of what happened the previous week between the Super Medicos and Embry & Valentine. The Super Medicos had won the Caribbean tag titles on November 10 and this footage is from their match on November 11 in San German. It looks like the Super Medicos have a pinfall on Valentine when Monster Ripper gives a boot to Eric Embry, who uses it to attack the Medicos. The referee disqualifies Embry and Valentine but the rudos take advantage to attack the Medicos. Embry and Valentine hold both Medicos in order to give Ripper a chance to attack the Medicos with the boot. As the attack is happening, Sasha runs out (although noticeably limping) with a baseball bat. Sasha attacks Ripper with the bat, but Embry and Valentine come over to help Ripper. Embry grabs the bat and makes a show of hitting the held down Sasha, but the Medicos are able to stop Embry before he gets to swing. Medico #1 chases the rudos away with the bat and it seems that there will be a mixed trios match between the two groups. 

Monster Ripper, Eric Embry and Rick Valentine cut a promo about the trios match tomorrow in San German. Ripper mentions that having the Medicos will not help Sasha since she has Embry and Valentine with her, and between the three of them they will finish off Sasha and the Super Medicos. Valentine says that it is three of the best in the world against a father, a son and their family pet dog. Embry says that everything has gotten out of hand, but tomorrow he will get his hands on Sasha. Embry promises to pay back Sasha for what he has done, and reminds Sasha that he was the one who brought her from nothing. Tomorrow, all of them will pay. The Medicos and Sasha cut a promo in response, it's a quick one but they promise they will get their revenge for what has gone down. Sasha mentions that the Medicos will help her get revenge on ‘Erica’, who cost her the Women’s World title by hitting her leg with a bat during her title defense against Monster Roppr.

We get a full card rundown for the card tomorrow in San German (which again is likely similar to the card for November 17 in Bayamon). Scheduled matches include: Carlos Colon and TNT vs Texas Hangmen in a cage; a mixed trios as the Super Medicos and Sasha take on Monster Ripper, Eric Embry and Rick Valentine; a rematch for the World Junior title as Billy Joe Travis defends against Huracan Castillo Jr; Miguelito Perez vs Kim Duk; Invader # 4 vs El Profe; Nick Ayala vs The Nightmare; and other great stars.

MD: This was all to set up the mixed tag. It’s booking by numbers but two of those numbers are Sasha’s valiant saving of the Medicos and Embry’s menacing of Sasha. Here the match ended on a roll up and interference with a weapon. Then Ripper came in to make it 3 on 2. Sasha made the save but Embry almost got her. Embry goes way over the top in these promos but that’s to be expected, I guess. 

EB: Our next match features Nick Ayala (who we saw work TV matches earlier in 1990) taking on a newcomer in El Chino (who looks a bit like Chicky Starr if he was put in a dryer).  Hugo shines up El Chino on commentary, saying that he is getting his first shot in CSP and wants to show off his ability. Ayala starts off hot, including countering a hiptoss with a monkey flip that sends Chino out of the ring. Hugo again talks about how this wrestler El Chino, although it is his first appearance, he seems to have experience and wants to show it off. Chino gets back in and actually gets some hits on Ayala, as Hugo states that he would like to know more about where this wrestler El Chino is from, he’s shown to have a bit of rudeness to him. El Chino controls for a bit but Ayala counters with some punches, and Chino stumbles and falls back into the ropes. Ayala gets a nice looking dropkick on Chino, hits a slam but then seems unsure of going off the top. Instead he does a legdrop of the middle turnbuckle for two. As Ayala continues in control, Hugo mentions that we’ll have to see if Chino has run out of gas or if he has been knocked loopy from Ayala’s blows. To be honest, with the way Hugo has been talking about Chino I’m starting to think this may be a rib on somebody. Chino whiffs on a reverse crossbody (falling with the grace of a cement sack) and Ayala eventually hits a top rope splash for the win. .   

MD: Ayala was at the bottom of the upcoming card against the Nightmare so he gets a match to shine him up first. Chino looked and worked a little like a poor man’s Chicky Starr actually. Ayala had some nice stuff but seemed maybe a half step lost at times? There was a moment where he wasn’t sure how he wanted to get up onto the turnbuckles for instance. He did do this nice hip toss reversal into a monkey flip that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before and won it in the end with a top rope splash.

EB: We go to last week, as La Pareja Increible takes on the Texas Hangmen. Hugo apologizes for the video quality but the action needs to be shown.TNT gets hit with the bell but eventually tags Carlos in. Carlos also gets decked with the bell. TNT gets back in and the match breaks down and ends in a double countout. This sets up a cage match. El Profe and the Hangmen cut a promo from behind a chain link fence that will be used for the cage. Profe mentions that tomorrow in San German, in a cage just like this one, the Texas Hangmen will take on Carlos Colon and TNT. The Hangmen have a head of lettuce with them and grind it against the cage to show what they will do to Colon and TNT. There is no escape in the cage from the Hangmen. Zero hour is here, the moment of truth is here.

We then go to Hugo, who is with Carlos and TNT.  Hugo remarks that danger looms and that the Hangmen have promised to destroy Colon and TNT’s faces. We get comments from both wrestlers.

Carlos: Well Hugo, that does not worry us in the least. What I do have to tell you is that, last week they hit us with the rope and they hit us with the bell, but it was not enough to finish us off. Because we then grabbed them, battled them all around the court, but those dogs hid in the locker room. But this week, tomorrow, that is not going to happen tomorrow because we'll be in a cage. And we want to dare them to bring the bullrope, the bell, the belts, the cowbell, the rope, whatever they want. Because TNT, tomorrow night we got to bathe these dogs in blood. Because we have promised the fans that we will get these guys out of Puerto Rico, and we will do that tomorrow in San German.

TNT:  Carlos, and as the message that they left with Hugo says that they're going to destroy our faces against the steel, that's not that easy to do Texas Hangmen. You're going to have to fight nice and pretty with Carlos Colon and myself. Because we have promised the people of Puerto Rico and especially Invader #1 that we will avenge ourselves against these dogs, and if possible we're going to take their masks and we're going to run them out of Puerto Rico. And Texas Hangmen, you have never been in a cage, so when these two Puerto Ricans step into that cage we are going to fight. So Texas Hangmen, bring the best you have, because tomorrow night in San German we are going to give you a good fight.

Hugo: Wow! The Pareja Increible is ready for tomorrow night! Do not miss it, in a cage!

MD: Glad we had the full match here and not just this clip. Just some heated promos. The Hangmen yelled. Profe translated. Colon and TNT were on the same page. Bring on the cage.

EB: We then get a match from late 87 o early 88, with Carlos Colon and TNT  taking on the Ninja Express of Kendo Nagasaki and Mr. Pogo. I won’t recap the match in detail, but it’s a good showcase of how over Colon and TNT were at the time, how hot the TV studio crown in Cataño could get, and also how La Pareja Increible could function when teaming together. It’s also a match against a Profe managed team, so there is also that dynamic on display.  Seconding Colon and TNT is Huracan Castillo Sr, who at the time served as TNT’s manager and mentor. The tecnicos get the win after Profe hits the wrong man. 

MD: Good showcase match for our heroes. First this was a Profe team and he got involved in the finish. Second, they took most of it. There was a brief bit of leaning down on Colon but for the most part they ran through Pogo and Nagasaki (And Nagasaki wasn’t one to get run over usually). I’m not sure about the context here and context matters in PR footage; we know that by now. This was effective to remind people of just what the Texas Hangmen had coming for them though.

EB; To end the episode we have an interview with the still recovering Invader #1. Hugo is at Invader’s home and they are somewhere in the backyard for this interview. Hugo mentions that a lot of fans have been asking about Invader’s condition and here we are to get an update from Invader himself. First, Invader wants to say hello and thank the fans for all of the letters and well wishes he has received. Invader says he is recovering well, the doctor sees him coming along fine, about 95% better. He's just waiting to receive the all clear with regards to being able to get back in the gym and start training. Hugo mentions that it’s tough for an athlete to be sidelined and not be able to train like they usually do. Hugo asks Invader if he knows if he will come back to wrestling, and Invader says it’s still too soon to tell. He wants to first see if he gets the go ahead to start training and then see if he can regain the conditioning he had before the injury. Hugo says that he finds that Invader seems more optimistic as of late, that he looks better, and that last time they talked Hugo felt that Invader was very down. Invader says that what happened to him was a sad situation, an athlete of his condition being bedridden, taken in a stretcher to the ER, he almost died according to the doctor that attended him in the ER. He’s got a family to support and that it’s a rough situation being out. He spent 11 days in the hospital and now it has been four weeks that he has been basically cooped up in his house. Hugo promises that they will keep the fans updated on Invader’s condition. We then get Hugo closing the show by hyping up tomorrow’s house show in San German

MD: They’re leaning hard on the idea that Invader almost died. He’s almost ready to get back training but he doesn’t know if he’ll be coming back as of yet. Heavy sympathy stuff obviously.

EB: To close out this installment, we are going to have our final look at two of the active feuds. First is the rivalry for the World Junior title between Billy Joe Travis and Huracan Castillo. This feud lasted about a month, with Billy Joe winning the title from Castillo on November 3, keeping the title via the use of some loaded punch aided wins, and then Castillo regaining the title about a week after this November 17 program (the title history say November 20 but that is a Tuesday so it is likely off). To settle the feud, Travis and Castillo faced off in scaffold match, one that likely took place at the end of November or early December, since Castillo is the champion going into this match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhb9f4dTapg

This match is from a Japanese release of CSP matches, so the commentary is in Japanese. Travis makes a show of climbing the scaffold, while Castillo looks on from the ground with a focused stare. Eliud Gonzalez does the ring intros as Travis continues slowly climbing and pointing at the ref to keep Castillo back, Travis wants to make his climb up without Castillo attacking him. Travis really milks the climb, taking  over two minutes and at certain points going back down a bit to annoy the crowd and Castillo.  The ref and Castillo get tired of Billy Joe’s stalling and the ref lets Castillo start climbing the scaffold, in essence chasing Travis up there. Travis gets up first and takes advantage by repeatedly kicking Castillo in the face before he can fully climb up. Castillo is stunned but holds on, and Travis starts doing a celebratory dance for the crowd on the scaffold. Travis then grabs Castillo b by the hair, pulling him up onto the platform and the match begins. The scaffold used for this match is a bit wider than ones I’ve previously seen in CSP, allowing for a bit more room to move. Travis maintains the early advantage by ramming Castillo into the scaffold and throwing those quick punches of his. He also makes sure to taunt the crowd by showboating and dancing a bit, which does get the crowd on his case.

Travis telegraphs a punch and Castillo gets a backdrop, causing Travis to start begging off and the crowd to cheer for Castillo to get him. From there we get a couple of attempts by Castillo to send Travis over, with Billy Joe holding on for dear life. On the third attempt, Travis is able to ram Castillo’s face into the scaffold and it’s now Travis who attempts to push his opponent off, giving us our first instance of somebody hanging off the edge with their legs dangling. Castillo is able to get his legs on the scaffold rigging and uses that to push himself back up onto the platform. Travis begs off again but is able to tackle Castillo down. Billy Joe then takes out the knuckles he has been using to win his matches against Castillo and goes over to deck Huracan. Travis hits several punches with the knuckles and then slams Castillo on the platform. Travis goes for another fist drop but loses the knuckles when making contact. Castillo picks them up instead and goes after Travis, paying him back for the times Travis used the weapon before. Two punches send Travis rolling to the side of the platform and now it’s Travis hanging from the edge. Castillo starts stomping away on Billy Joe’s hands, and finally Travis loses his grip and falls to the ring. Huracan Castillo has won the match and the feud.  . 

MD: This was a scaffold match and maybe not the best setting to see this iteration of Travis but it was still pretty fun. The best parts were the beginning and the end. Early on he refused to go all the way up and did an Elvis shake once he did then ambushed Castillo as he tried to follow him. Eventually he got back body dropped which was one of the only actual spots in the match. It was a pretty wide scaffold, so little danger of falling incidentally, just getting pushed off. They hugged the side for a while. Finish was Travis pulling out knucks but missing a fist drop and Castillo getting it. Travis took a pretty nasty bump down onto his legs to end it.

EB: We also have the cage match from November 17 between Carlos Colon & TNT vs the Texas Hangmen. As with the previous match we covered between the two teams, we have the raw video with no commentary. So let's go to Bayamon and this encounter in the cage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li_uhP7ffA4

Colon and TNT are already in the ring as the Hangmen hesitate for a moment in getting into the cage. As soon as Psycho and Killer make their way in, they are attacked by Colon and TNT. There's nowhere to hide as Colon and TNT start using the cage to ram both Hangmen around. Colon starts tearing and biting one of the Hangmen in the head as the tecnicos continue their attack. The structure for this match is similar to the previous encounter, with Colon and TNT taking the fight to the Hangmen early on and controlling the first part of the match . Around the three minute mark the referee finally sends Colon and one of the Hangmen to their corners, leaving tNT and possibly Psycho in the ring.  Colon and TNT work over Psycho while tagging in and out, Colon focusing on the legs and TNT using the cage as a weapon. The match turns in the Hangmen’s favor when Colon puts on a figure four leglock on Psycho, drawing in Killer to break it up and the Hangmen take advantage to stun Colon and take over. The Hangmen work over Carlos for a few minutes, maintaining control with double teams and cutting off Colon’s attempt at fighting back. They bust Carlos open as they continue their attack. The Hangmen start ramming Colon’s head repeatedly against the cage wall and (as promised) start grating Colon’s forehead along the steel cage. The Hangmen make the first pinfall attempt of the match but TNT breaks it up. The Hangmen continue in control, keeping Carlos from being able to tag out.

At about the 12 minute mark, Colon and one of the Hangmen collide heads and both men go down. The Hangmen make the tag but a splash is missed, allowing Carlos the chance to tag in TNT. The crowd ‘hwah’s’ along as TNT attacks both Hangmen. TNT is able to keep them at bay for a while but the two on one advantage comes into play and TNT is thrown into the cage wall. The camera shows Profe raising his arms in celebration, as the Hangmen start working over TNT. Carlos recovers and gets in the ring, with all four men fighting and the tecnicos getting the upper hand. We get a double pin scenario where the ref counts to three and awards the match to Colon and TNT (to be fair, I think TNT was the legal man for the tecnicos). Both teams continue fighting and El Profe takes out a weapon he had hidden and hands it to one of the Hangmen through the cage, The Hangmen start attacking Colon and TNT with the weapon, leaving both men bloodied and down on the mat. The Super Medicos, Bronco and Jeff Jarrett run in to chase the Hangmen off and check on Carlos and TNT. The Hangmen hold up the weapon they were using and celebrate what they did, and you can see that the Hangmen are also busted open. Before leaving ringside, one of the Hangmen goes near the ring and spits through the fence at the tecnicos. Meanwhile, the ringside doctor is checking over Colon and TNT, who are still bleeding and down on the mat. 

MD: Very similar to the last tag match but that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. That meant that TNT and Colon controlled after the initial bit of brawling (and cage shots), using superior teamwork as one of the Hangmen bounced around for them. They’d hit big doubleteams and then go back to the legs to soften him up for the figure four. Once Colon went for it, however, the other Hangman struck and they took over on him. He was great at working from underneath and they were great at drawing the ref and infuriating TNT so that they could double team. While it was a cage match it was more or less under conventional rules past that opening. Whenever TNT tried to get involved they took it out on Colon all the more, including ping ponging him against the cage. Finally he was able to outfinesse one Hangman and make the tag and just like last time, TNT came in hot. Just like last time, however, the numbers game got him and he got beat on until Colon could recover enough to even the odds. They kept things churning here with a double pin. Colon hit a sunset flip while a Hangman reversed a TNT whip and got a belly to belly for simultaneous three counts. Post match, Profe slipped them a pipe and they ended up leaving Colon and TNT bloody until the babyface locker rushed in. I’m not sure it protected the cage match as a gimmick but it certainly kept things hot for whatever would come next.

EB: Based on the outcome of this cage match, I’m pretty certain that we had another match between these two teams, but results are scarce for the last weeks of 1990. This is the last we will see footage wise of Carlos Colon being involved in the feud with the Texas Hangmen. As the month of December unfolds there will be a new challenger awaiting him with regards to the Universal title. As for TNT, he’s still fighting the Texas Hangmen but he will need a partner to take them on. And it just so happens someone has been cleared to return to the ring…

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we get the return of Invader #1 as he gets his chance for revenge against the Texas Hangmen. Also, Giant Warrior returns from his foreign tour and a couple of ‘feds’ make their way to Puerto Rico as we finish our look at 1990.

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