Matches from AJPW 11/25/90: WALKING TALL DORY~! NO RESPECT DYNAMITE~! KIDNEY PUNISHING HANSEN/KAWADA~!

The Funks vs. Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith AJPW 11/25/90

ER:  A pretty amazing match that I had never seen, with four standout performances. It's so hard hitting, and these new All Japan Classics episodes showcase that in the best way. The sound on these episodes is incredible, and it puts you right in the middle of this high impact style. I can't imagine what it was like sitting front row for such a physical style as All Japan - let alone be a participant in it! -  but this video makes it feel like I was there 35 years ago. It's one of five Tag League matches smack in the middle of the show, and they kill each other and treat it like a match with actual stakes. It's an awesome Dory match and more evidence that Dynamite Kid's Winter 1990 is him at one of his highest levels. Dory comes off like the tougher, harder hitting Funk, an actual Cool Dory match. The match peaks with the Bulldogs working over Terry's Not As Damaged 46 year old legs in ways that contributed to Terry's Old Knees while Terry scrambles in half a dozen of the greatest attempts at making a hot tag, a face in peril to his big brother's ass kicking tough guy. 

Johnny Smith is at his absolute beefiest; Dynamite is at his most bitter and dangerous, a little guy starting the most violent fights at the bar. It's a great team. Dynamite looks angry the entire match, on the apron, in the ring, and treats Terry like an old man to be put to pasture. Terry works lighter to come off as vulnerable to loss as possible, and is at perhaps his most sexy. Sexy Terry working as Pretty Ricky. Ponytail Terry with his little mustache and the best body of his career. I love Hot Ponytail Terry in his Body Glove tights, and here's Dory in his blue trunks working stiffer than anyone in the match,  maybe anyone on the show (Eric's Note: Kawada and Hansen kick each other so hard in the kidneys later on the card that Dory Funk would have died so let's leave it to saying he worked stiffer than anyone in this match). It adds up to a middle of the card tag match that was worked as a small show main event. 

Listen to how hard they're all smacking each other! Dory's contact on his collar and elbow tie-ups with Johnny were the sound of bodies used to taking hits. When Dory is in against Dynamite, he hits him with uppercuts that are so hard that I don't think Kid had to sell his limbs all going numb. He looked shocked that Dory was hitting him so hard. He tees off hard on Smith and really looks like a mat expert going after Smith's knee and ankle. Everyone worked this super honestly, but Dory's work was the most honest and well executed of all. And here's Dynamite, the by far smallest man in the match and the guy who I'd least want to confront about anything. He goes after Terry with no respect. Maybe my favorite spot in the match, is when Terry is hitting Johnny with headbutt after headbutt before they both go down. Johnny goes down, Terry spirals down after, and the second Terry hits the mat Dynamite's eyes go wide and he scrambles up to the top rope to hit a headbutt to Terry's stomach. He pulls it off so hastily, making it look like a snap impulse, and his knees land full weight one inch from Terry's face. It looked so dangerous and was only one of the things that made this match play so tough. Dynamite is so geared up when he's in against Terry, that they even do a spot where Dynamite presses Terry off him on a kickout and Terry flies several feet from it, like Dynamite was Yokozuna. Dynamite kills Terry with clotheslines to the back of the head, throws him to the floor with a back body drop, and - most incredibly - drags him into a standing stretch muffler that blew me away. Dynamite's body had to be in constant agony and as he locked in the muffler and stood to his feet, clasping his hands while the much larger Terry was hanging upside down in a headstand, his pain was as palpable as any I've seen.  

The Bulldogs working over Terry's knee was some excellent third act cutting off the ring. Dynamite wanted that knee all match, and when he got it he was like a dog with a chew toy. He was slamming Terry's calf over his knee and it looked like one of the most violent pieces of work I've seen. Terry's selling was incredible, crawling and leaping towards Dory while Smith and Dynamite had to keep tackling and blocking. There were some nearfalls that got the big crowd to bite, like one of the most well-used and well-executed rolling inside cradles. Dory pulled the cradle and Smith rolled it over and the movement was so good that Yokohama bought in. Terry's win over Smith was so well done, as Dynamite had totally drained Terry and suddenly one of the biggest stars in wrestling history looked like he could be beaten by Johnny Smith. He has to resort to scrambling on top of Smith during a pinfall exchange and just weigh his body down. The Bulldogs looked like a tough vital team against two legends, and The Funks looked legitimately at the top of their abilities. 

Andre the Giant/Giant Baba vs. The Land of Giants AJPW 11/25/90

ER: Phil and I wrote about this match 7 years ago and I don't think I appreciated it enough then. It seems funny to say that I didn't appreciate an Old Andre match enough, as I think every single review of any Old Andre match I've ever written is me appreciating and analyzing every step he takes. I love the 1990 Tag League old broken but still proud Giants, and we should all be thankful that we got to see them against the worst Fake Road Warriors team ever assembled in a respected promotion. I cannot and will not say it is a great match, because it is not. The Land of Giants - Skywalker Nitron especially, specifically - are total cornballs. Nitron is the goofiest of all, almost surely the goofiest wrestler All Japan used in 1990. You're off the hook Richard Charland and David Sammartino. But part of what makes the match great, is that Andre and Baba know that these two are cornballs, and the gift that brings us is a very active Andre match. 

Andre is old but not nearly as old as he'd look in 1992. He was in the ring a lot against both cornballs and had a bunch of great ideas and ways to attack both of them. He looked really strong, even if Nitron sold some of his offense with the goofy acting only seen from people reading stories to small children in libraries. Andre looked like he had a lot of fun beating these two goofs up. He had two different cantaloupe fist punches, one while holding Nitron in a headlock and the other just thrown to the face and followed up with a NOAH worthy headbutt. He grabbed Masters in a knuckle lock and made it look like he was crushing his hand. The camera had a zoom in on Andre interlacing his fingers with Butch and his fingers were so big they looked like they were forcing Masters' fingers to break apart. It looks like something that would and did drop Masters to a knee. The best part is when he broke the knuckle lock by rearing back and punching Masters in the fingers. 

This match has Andre the fucking Giant holding Rob Zombie's Michael Myers in a bearhug. Freddy vs. Jason is my least favorite Nightmare on Elm Street movie and my least favorite Friday the 13th movie, but Andre the Giant vs. Michael Myers is a horror movie showdown we needed to see and I would have paid money to. There's no way I would have gone into that movie and gotten Andre keeping his bearhug locked in by pulling on The Shape's rattail. Moustapha Akkad wouldn't have had the guts. 

Stan Hansen/Danny Spivey vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Mitsuharu Misawa AJPW 11/25/90

ER: The Funks vs. New Bulldogs was a hard hitting match. Every open hand on chest and back landed with a loud crack and Dory Funk threw in a last hurrah before his 50s with a great Walking Tall badass role. It's great. But then two matches later Kawada and Hansen took such righteous anger out of each other's kidneys that it made me think *I* was going to piss blood. This is some of the toughest wrestling you'll ever see. Hansen is in full force of nature mode and he hits Kawada like a kid in training camp. Every chair, every shoulder, every godforsaken kick, was felt thoroughly. Hansen is such a force of nature, that you're not expecting Kawada to take such a force so head on. Kawada kicks Hansen back even harder and cracks baseball bat shots off the old cowboy's torso. Kawada makes such wicked contact that Hansen's pancreas selling looks like the man is learning how to sell a bruised pancreas in real time. Hansen is the best Train Running Off the Rails impacter in wrestling and it was amazing to see Kawada throw his whole body at a moving train. The finish is incredible and features one of the greatest low bridges I've ever seen. Misawa flies over the top rope with such speed that I jumped in the same way I do in the movies when a car gets unexpectedly T-boned. Spivey's team with Hansen took his timing to a really high level. Misawa is there one second and gone the next and as he's flying one direction, Hansen runs the other and knocks Kawada into the sky with a western lariat. Later, Doc and Gordy try to hit harder clotheslines on Taue in the main event and make fine cases. Later still, Jumbo and Taue outdo them all with their clotheslines to Gordy. It's show-long clothesline oneupmanship I can support. And then Jumbo gives Gordy another. 

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Found Footage Friday: RESURGENT DYNAMITE~! YOUNG ROCCO~! GYPSY JOE~! WOLFIE D~! THE LAND OF GIANTS~!

Mark Rocco vs. Terry Jowett WoS 5/24/73

MD: Amazing historical find by Allan here. This has to be the earliest Rocco we have, and maybe even by a couple of years, right? He was only around 22 here, already a three year pro. And it's fascinating to see what he was doing at this age and how he was presented. Jowett had ten years experience on him and Rocco, despite winning out in the end with a near tilt a whirl slam off the ropes, was the underdog and it was ultimately an upset. 

Along the way, there was a ton of entertaining spots, though maybe not the exhausting (in a good way, in small doses) Rocco trademark I'd expect. All the explosiveness and dynamism in how he hit stuff and took stuff but not consistent, if that makes sense. Jowett was a great counter to his antics, and I'm personally sympathetic to his hairline (Rocco's was shaggy and he already had the trademark mustache).

There was a rough around the edges feel to this, that would, in years to come, conform into Rocco's edge of your seat style. We come in during the third here (and leave two rounds later with the finish) and there are lots of quick and deep pin attempts. After one escape where Rocco just sort of stumbled out to the crowd's amusement, he was quick to go for a joking handshake, great instincts in not losing his focus and in keeping the crowd engaged, in making it seem like they were seeing a show instead of making one of their own out of what they were watching. 

Some of the comedy spots were great, whether it be Jowett booting Rocco on a drop down, or criss crossing his own limbs and rolling about so Rocco couldn't get an advantage, or my favorite, when Rocco started his hyperactive roperunning only for Jowett to run in place instead, making Rocco out to be the fool. Very funny stuff. 

Rocco would get dirtier as the match went on. Interesting, after he started clubbering for the first time and drew a public warning, Walton chastised him for it, not for the cheating itself, but because he didn't earn much from the warning. He only took over really when he dropped a knee (legal apparently) on Jowett's throat, and then only until the end of the round as he leaned in on the arm while he could. Lots of imagination in both his offense and his bounding and bumping (one time fliping all the way over and sailing between the ropes) and towards the end, he had these cobra clutch ripcords I can't remember seeing much otherwise. 

Really just a great historical snapshot of one of the most dynamic wrestlers of all time early into his development. One of my favorite finds this year. 

ER: Remember how much we, as an online contingent of pro wrestling writers and historians of Noticers used to criticize Rollerball Rocco? He was the British embodiment of the same criticisms we held towards Kurt Angle, the all flash-no substance, looks cool-means nothing type of wrestler who fell out of favor with us. I don't think we could have anticipated the Kurt Angle/Dean Malenko style of constant movement detached from meaning would become the predominant pro wrestling style in every company in the world, so much so that things have looped back around. Now, watching even the "worst" era of Mark Rocco indulgence gives me new respect for his style and ability. 

The first British wrestling I was exposed to was a Johnny Saint/Rollerball Rocco match and that match was at least a decade after this one, and it is an entirely different Rocco. It should be, he's incredibly young and only three years into his career. As Matt says, he is the underdog in the match and commentary frequently talks about him like a baby who they impressed made it even this deep into a wrestling match. But he does not wrestle like a stupid little baby, he wrestles like tough guy with a real cool command of physics. His snapmares play like violent offense, his timing is impeccable, and his strikes always looked damaging. He was adept at comedy (Matt mentioned the very funny rope running spot where he ran back and forth as Jowett mocked him like Bugs Bunny) and really the only inexperience I saw was how he didn't always seem to know what to do next, never capitalizing on snapmares and kind of waiting around for Jowett to stand back up (which is another hilarious Kurt Angle parallel). I thought that actually worked for his young mustachioed punk character as it made him look like he was big timing the veteran Jowett. Rocco's bumping for the finish was excellent, a real rewind worthy moment where he back bumps and then handsprings back through the ropes feet first and takes another pratfall on the floor, a comedy bump that looked like either the greatest lucha rudo comedy bump or the payoff to a John Cleese bit.    

The Land of Giants (Skywalker Nitron/Butch Masters) vs. New Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith) AJPW 12/1/90

MD: I'm pretty well suited to know what's new and what's not new from 89-91 AJPW or so, and I'm pretty certain this classics drop is new. We're going to cover it anyway because that's what we do, cover Land of Giants matches. We get about six minutes out of the nine here, with a clip in the middle that annoying means we lost the transition to heel offense, but you can imagine it for the most part. 

And honestly, I liked this a lot. I have issues with late era Dynamite but this was one of the best performances I've seen out of him from 89-90. The most important thing is that he needs opponents he can't just chew up and you can't chew these guys up. They're huge. This started with Smith vs Nitron and I thought they actually matched up well, too well. Some of that was Nitron not working big enough but some of it was Smith not working small enough. He wasn't acting like he was in there with a giant. Even though Masters worked bigger, he'd still do the same thing against him later. 

Dynamite knew how to get the most of them though. When he came in, he had some awesome looking stuff, a fistdrop from an angle that you don't usually see it, a headbutt followed right by a jawbreaker. He was punching up and he was valiant for doing so and he wanted everyone in the crowd to know it. We get the clip then and come back to Masters working over the back, and it's honestly one of the best sells for a bearhug I've seen in a long time. I've criticized Omega's selling of his diverticulitis lately because while it's probably accurate, real to how he feels, it comes off as hokey. Dynamite knew what back pain felt like; he was probably feeling it there depending on how much he had chosen to dull it that night, but he was able to project it to the back row in the best of ways. Nitron's bearhug wasn't quite as good but the effect was still the same. 

The comeback was pretty huge as Dynamite fired up to the top as Masters was inexplicably headed up there to put him away and they did a huge superplex. Smith came in and cleaned house. Finally Smith slammed Masters and Dynamite came off the top with the headbutt much to the crowd's delight and they won as simple as could be. Not sure what was in those lost three minutes (when we came back in Masters was beating on Dynamite on the floor) but the six we got were pretty good. 

ER: This was probably the most entertaining Land of Giants match I've seen, and it was because of a more interesting and risky Butch Masters performance than I expected, and a downright fantastic "late era" Dynamite performance. This whole thing was totally worth it just to see Dynamite as a sincerely scary looking man going hard as fuck after Masters. Dynamite's face is scarred, his body is stiff, but the man feels like a threat at all times. Johnny Smith was at his beefiest in this era, so it actually works when he's throwing down with Nitron and Masters, but this is Dynamite's match. Dynamite hits an incredible fistdrop on Masters, a lunging fist torpedoed into Masters' throat, so perfect that I watched it half a dozen times. I would have said this match was incredible if everything else in it looked like dogshit. After that fistdrop he throws Masters to the floor so hard that it turns into what has to be the biggest bump of his career. Dynamite is great at running face first into boots and was good at drawing sympathy as both Giants take him to The Land of Bearhugs, but the big shock is him hitting a superplex on Masters. I have no idea what Butch was going to do up there, but whatever it was I wasn't expecting him to get suplexed off. When Smith tags in, Masters leans all the way into a stiff missile dropkick to his upper chest and gets wrecked by a Smith clothesline that I think hit harder than all of us expected, especially Masters. 

The icing on the cake was Dynamite hitting a flat out disgusting diving headbutt, smashing his forehead into Masters' teeth. You can see a knot already starting to form on the right side of Dynamite's head and Masters lies on the mat holding his face. Dynamite looked and wrestling like a pilled up psychopath, in the best way. That headbutt was one of the meanest things I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. Smith sets Masters up over halfway across the ring and Dynamite wants him there. He does a shoot headbutt to a man's face and Masters has no idea what hit him. It is Dynamite's head whipped into the entire side and mouth of Butch Masters, like a soccer hooligan leaping off the bleachers. 

Wolfie D/Steven Dunn vs. Gypsy Joe/Danny D Evansville 9/20/00

MD: I don't know. Sometimes you just want to see Wolfie D (here in full Slash mode) go up against Gypsy Joe? And there was some of the early, with a feeling out process and then the first (shorter) of a double heat after Wolfie took Joe down with a hairpull. Pretty simple control stuff with Danny getting drawn in to allow for the blind switches. Joe eventually made a comeback off of a whip reversed and teased a stinkface maybe, because it was 2000 after all. No punches here though. That's important because those were saved to the end.

Danny got leaned on for most of the rest of the match, and it made sense because even though Dunn was a pro and Wolfie a pro's pro I'm not sure you wanted them stooging for this lanky guy with dubious agility all that much. But it was a joy to watch Wolfie just destroy someone and they worked him into a few solid hope spots, including out of a bodyscissored full nelson. When Joe did make it back in (on a hot tag which was earned but not quite maximized re: the timing) the punches came out and they went into a pretty quick roll up win. You never quite know what you're going to get with the Bryan Turner uploads until you get there but this was pretty well worked overall.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: The Return of La Pareja Increible

Week 37: The Return of La Pareja Increible

EB: It has been chaotic the past few weeks in CSP, with debuts and returns, title changes galore, violent attacks perpetrated on members of El Ejercito de la Justicia, and what may be a huge turn back to the tecnico side. The Texas Hangmen and Eric Embry have only been around a month or so, but they have been agents of chaos and violence, with Embry getting his hands on his former valet Sasha and physically hitting her, and the Hangmen severely injuring Invader #1 with a prolonged hanging. We’ll soon follow up on the fallout from that chaotic October 17 day in Miramar, but before doing so, it might be a good idea to take a moment and recap where everything stands as we head towards the end of October..

First, one detail we missed in all of the chaos is that it appears that CSP has moved TV stations. They are no longer on Channel 2 (Telemundo) and instead are now on Channel 4 (WAPA), with programs on Saturday and Sunday. WAPA will become their permanent TV home and remains as such to the current day. 

We also had quite a few title changes in the past month and half, so let’s do a rundown of who the current title holders are. Carlos Colon remains the Universal champion, having recently held back challenges from TNT, Kim Duk and Roadblock. Colon’s attention now seems to be focused on the Texas Hangmen, even more so now that they have put Invader #1 on the shelf. Kim Duk is the current Caribbean title holder, while Huracan Castillo Jr. is the World Jr champion, having regained it after it switched hands between Ron Starr and Invader #4. Sasha finally got some payback on Monster Ripper and won the Women’s World title in the process. As for the two sets of tag titles, they both are in the hands of the rudos of the moment, as the Texas Hangmen are the World tag team champions and Eric Embry & Rick Valentine are the Caribbean tag team champions. One final note, the Puerto Rico and TV singles titles are currently inactive or vacant, with the Puerto Rico title being in limbo since Manny Fernandez left with an injury and the TV title has been inactive ever since TNT vacated it after winning the Universal title. We’ll have to see if any of these titles come back at any point.

We also had a bit of wrestler movement, although some were only coming in for short tours.  We’ve already mentioned Eric Emrby and the Texas Hangmen, but we also have the notable returns of Sasha and Monster Ripper. In addition, the tecnicos have added the Giant Warrior to their ranks, someone they view as an equalizer against the larger monsters that El Profe could bring in. We had some short term arrivals with Kamala, Mr. Pogo and Roadblock all making appearances on the rudo side. We also got the return of Ricky Santana for a few weeks in October (who we saw trying to make the save for Invader #1 during the hanging). There was also another new arrival there running interference with the rudos, a wrestler by the name of Skywalker (also known as Nitron), we’ll talk about him in a bit.

Now that we have gone over where all the titles are and who has been in CSP throughout these past few weeks, let’s focus on the fallout from the hanging of Invader #1.  As mentioned before, Invader has been severely injured and is out. He is going to spend about a week and a half in the hospital from the attack and there is no indication yet if he’ll be able to make a full recovery and return to wrestling. We also had Sasha put herself in harm’s way trying to help save Invader #1 and falling victim to a physical attack from Eric Embry as a result. This is not going to sit well with the Super Medicos. Finally, TNT appears to have had a change of heart, coming out to save Sasha and Invader #1. Right now the Texas Hangmen are public enemy number one after what went down (although Eric Emrby isn’t too far behind). Let’s go to Miramar, where we have a tag match in progress, as the Texas Hangmen take on the team of Migeulito Perez and Giant Warrior. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-5MBd1txWk

The match is already in progress, with Giant Warrior fighting off the Hangmen and tagging in Miguelito. Hugo and Eliud are your commentators. Perez works the arm of the Hangman in the ring. The Hangman fights out and makes the tag, but the Hangman that comes in (Killer?) ends up caught in an armdrag takedown. Hugo mentions that he heard from an anonymous source that apparently the Hangmen are brothers (not sure if this is something they’ll keep mentioning moving forward though). Eliud says he's inclined to believe it, they look very similar and it's tough to tell them apart (Eliud: El Profe claims that one has blue eyes but who's going to notice during the match). The tecnicos keep working the arm over with some quick tags, and Perez ends up hitting a handspring elbow on the Hangman (he must have picked up the move on of his recent foreign tours). Perez keeps the offense going with a slam and a legdrop, before tagging Warrior back in. As Warrior and the Hangman exchange chops, Hugo starts hyping that we might have an upset in the making. But as soon as Hugo mentions this the Hangmen start choking out Warrior and double team him in their corner. Hugo again mentions that it's really hard to tell the Hangmen apart but they are absolutely vicious. The Hangmen cheat with the bullrope and El Profe starts ringing the bell claiming that he was the one who moved it. Hugo is getting annoyed with the cheating Hangmen, wondering how they can be proud to be World tag team champions and act this way. Eliud thinks all the Hangmen care about is the money and hurting people. The Hangmen attempt a pin on Warrior but Migeulito makes the save. The Hangmen continue with the advantage on Giant Warrior, until a big boot by Warrior gives him the opening to tag in Perez. The match breaks down to a pier six brawl and El Profe distracts Miguelito. The Hangmen use the opening to grab the bullrope, nail Miguelito with the cowbell and get the pinfall victory.

Post-match, El Profe chucks Miguelito over the top rope as the Hangmen attack Giant Warrior and start hanging him like they did to Invader. Carlos Colon rushes the ring with a piece of wood and clears the rudos from the ring. Giant Warrior is down but not seriously hurt. The referee reverses the decision due to the post match attack and awards the win to the Perez and Warrior (Hugo: Justice is being done! If these Hangmen insist on causing harm, they have to be punished, they have to be fined, they cannot be allowed to continue to hurt wrestlers!).Carlos is thanked by Perez and Warrior as the video ends.

MD: The commentary suspects the Hangmen might be brothers. They can’t tell them apart so what hope do we have? Perez and Warrior make for a bit of a weird combo here but they work well together to start controlling on the arm. Perez actually hits a handspring into the corner which I don’t think we’ve seen him do much if at all in the 89-90 footage. Hangmen take over on Warrior with an eyerake and he plays face in peril, getting choked in the corner. Strange role for him but he does well enough with it, I guess. It certainly puts over the Hangmen as dangerous to be able to control a guy the size of Warrior. Not much in the way of hope spots either. He finally gets a foot up (falling over in the process), which worked as a visual and Perez comes in hot off at the tag. He zigs over to Profe when he jumps up on the apron and the ref, distracted in the other corner as things were breaking down, misses the cowbell shot. I think the post-match hanging attempt on Warrior might have been more powerful if he HADN’T played face-in-peril but Colon breaks it up quickly anyway.

EB: It’s clear that Carlos Colon  is looking to teach the Texas Hangmen a lesson after all of the attacks they have done. But with Invader #1 on the shelf, he needs a tag partner. Who will it be?

Meanwhile, the Texas Hangmen aren’t the only rudos with a target on their back. It's apparent that El Profe had the rudos organized to run interference to prevent El Ejercito de la Justicia from making the save for Invader #1. And Eric Emrby really took advantage of the situation when Sasha appeared. With the Super Medicos not around, Embry saw his chance to get at Sasha, grabbing her, dragging her around by her hair and just hitting her in a very nonchalant manner. The Super Medicos, particularly Medico #1, had indicated that they weren’t going to let tEmbry get at Sasha again but Embry had managed to do it in the chaos of the hanging. Let’s go to a scheduled TV match between the Caribbean tag team champions and the team of Huracan Castillo Jr. and Ricky Santana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wjCcR5XE14

The ring introductions are made for both teams when the Super Medicos suddenly appear and start talking with the team of Castillo and Santana. Hugo and Eliud are on commentary, and they wonder what the tecnicos could be talking about. Eliud mentions that this looks to be an interesting matchup, with what Eliud describes as the dangerous pair of Embry and Valentine. Hugo mentions that it appears that the Super Medicos are asking Castillo and Santana if they will give the Medicos the spot right now against Embry and Valentine. Castillo and Santana seem to agree, shake the Medicos’ hands and leave the ring. It looks like the Medicos do not want to wait to get their hands on Embry and Valentine after their recent actions against them and Sasha. Hugo says this is not the official scheduled match as the Medicos start fighting with Embry and Valentine. The ref is confused as well, ringing the bell at first but then some moments later ringing the bell again as if to signal that this has been thrown out. It doesn't matter as what we have is a fight between the Super Medicos and Embry & Valentine. This is basically a street fight, as Valentine and Medico #1 start fighting on the outside of the ring, while Embry and Medico #3 are fighting inside the ring. Medico #1 rams Valentine into the wall but is stopped by Monster Ripper, who gets in between Medico #1 and Valentine. Medico #1 argues with Ripper for getting in the way but does not attack her (keeping true to himself by not stooping low in attacking a woman). 

Medico #1 walks away from Ripper and the fighting pairs switch locations, with Medico #1 and Valentine going into the ring and Medico #3 and Embry going outside. Valentine soon after tosses Medico #1 back to the outside and the fight continues on the floor as Valentine chokes Medico #1 with one of the production cables. Meanwhile, Embry is ramming Medico #3 into the ringside fence and into the ringpost. The Medicos turn things around, with Medico #3 blocking a ringpost ram attempt and countering Embry with one of his own. Medico #1 rakes Valentine’s eyes and starts choking Valentine with the same cable. Embry and Medico #3 exchange more punches, as Monster Ripper again interferes to save Valentine. Medico #1 again stares down Ripper, but Valentine sneaks up from behind with the cable to once again choke Medico #1. Eliud mentions that Ripper is taking advantage of the fact that Medico #1 is a gentleman and would not hit a woman. Ripper goes over to help Embry with Medico #3 as Valentine continues to choke out Medico #1 against the wall. Valentine finally releases the cable  and goes over to help Embry double team Medico #3. Medico #1 recovers from being choked and goes over to help his son. The video ends with Medico #1 tossing Embry into the ring and firing off a ‘maquinita de golpes’ as they go to the next segment. It’s clear that this rivalry is red hot and far from over.  

MD: Fun angle here as Castillo (wearing his Caribbean Express jacket) and Santana bow out with a handshake, letting the Medicos take over their match. It never really officially starts though as the ref doesn’t seem on board with this and it’s all chaotic brawling anyway. Embry and a Medico fight over the ringpost and who’s going to go head first into it. The other trades with Valentine choking each other with a wire. Monster Ripper makes the difference through distraction but this clip ends with Medico 1 rocking Embry in the ring with punches.

EB: With all of the chaos going on in CSP, there still is some wrestler movement going on. As the month of November begins, we get some quick visits from Vic Steamboat and Grizzly Boone. We also have the appearance of some Billy Joe Travis as a new challenger for the World Junior title. Perhaps the most notable appearance for our journey is that of a wrestler from the Dominican Republic named El Bronco #1. Bronco had been a top star in the Dominican Republic and was currently the champion in that territory. But it seems that he has decided to compete in Puerto Rico as well and makes his debut in early November. Let’s go to Miramar and get our first look at a wrestler that will be a key player in Puerto Rico throughout the 90s and beyond. Or maybe it’s our first look at two such wrestlers…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47KIT8OXftg

This is a short match featuring two masked men we are seeing for the first time. El Bronco #1 has arrived from the Dominican Republic and is taking on El Condor. Bronco fires off a few punches that send Condor reeling. Hugo and Eliud are on commentary, and are talking about how Bronco left everybody surprised with his upbeat entrance (he came out to some music from the DR and was dancing on his way to the ring). Hugo is excited to have this bit of flavor from the Dominican Republic in CSP and the commentators remark that the public seems to like Bronco as well. Bronco chops Condor into the corner, and then hits him with a backdrop when Condor charges out of the corner. The Dominican champion stands tall in the ring as El Condor decides to roll out for a breather. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Condor gets up on the apron but Bronco catches him and suplexes Condor into the ring. Condor comes back with some punches and an eyerake, sending Bronco into the ropes. However, Condor makes the mistake of putting his head down too soon and El Bronco catches Condor with his signature move called the Bronco (it looks like a front facing bulldog). El Bronco gets the pinfall win and celebrates by doing his dance as the music starts back up. We’ll be seeing a lot more of El Bronco, who will definitely be someone to watch as we continue our journey through 90s Puerto Rico wrestling. We’ll also see more of El Condor in the future, as we have just had our first look at a young wrestler who will become a very important part of the Puerto Rican wrestling scene. You probably know him as Ray Gonzalez.

MD: This went about a minute and a half so not a ton to register here. Bronco had mass to him certainly and a unique way of playing to the crowd, all but hopping around at times. He hit hard. Condor is yes, our first look at Ray González, and he took stuff ok with a comeback that didn’t really get off the ground. He put his head down and Bronco absolutely flattened him with a straight down belly flop sort of DDT. 

EB: As we approach November 3, it looks like Carlos Colon has found a tag partner to face the Texas Hangmen and it is none other than TNT! This is a stunning turn of events after what has happened in the past months between Colon and TNT. We’ll have to see if both men  will be able to coexist as a team after what has gone down between them. Let's go to the November 3 Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre episode and hear some interviews from the Texas hangmen and this tecnico super team. We may also get an update on Invader #1’s condition.

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

One of the Texas Hangmen is partway through his remarks as the video starts, talking about how tonight it will be a war zone for Carlos Colon and TNT. Pain is their policy and hanging is their game.  

El Profe (at 0:20): Carlos Colon, when you look at this noose what you feel is panic, you feel fear. We can see the fear in your eyes Carlos Colon and TNT, because you're trembling right now. And tonight, when you step into the war zone against the Texas Hangmen, Carlos Colon. there will be no mercy for you. Take good notice of that hospital Invader's in, because that is exactly where you two are going. Or maybe it will be someplace worse.

Killer? talks and then El Profe speaks again.

El Profe (at 1:08): Carlos Colon and TNT, I repeat again, we can see the fear in your eyes. And tonight, Carlos Colon and TNT, we're going to make history. What we did to Invader, we merely did it for the pleasure, but tonight we have a motive for doing it. Because the two of you are trash! A traitor and a coward who picks up a traitor! So tonight, we'll make history when we finish with all of the legends of Puerto Rico wrestling! Then we'll be the only sovereigns, kings over the entire sport of wrestling! Today's the day TNT and Carlos Colon!

Hugo (at 1:44): Friends of WAPA television, with us is the Pareja Increible, "El Acrobata de Puerto Rico" Carlitos Colon. and "El Karateca Ninja" TNT. Tonight, in the Loubriel Stadium, they clash with the Texas Hangmen. Before talking about this match, there have been some fans, and I don't want to be a gossip but they have asked, Carlitos and TNT, how is it possible that, with all of the wars you two have had, with all the blood that has been spilled, that you two can form a team in professional wrestling?

Carlos (at 2.15): Well Hugo, all of Puerto Rico knows what happened between TNT and me. It's something that can't be denied. I've forgiven him, I believe the people of Puerto Rico have also, but forgetting about what happened, one never forgets completely what happened. If he's remorseful, he's going to have time to prove it and time will be the one to tell. The reasons for teaming up with him are two. One, he didn't have to do what he did. When he came out to help Invader, like I said last week, if it had not been for TNT, it's possible Invader would not be with us today. And I admire him for that. Second, TNT is a great wrestler, he's someone with guts, he's a tiger in the ring. That's exactly what I need to get the Hangmen out of Puerto Rico. That's my goal, to get these scoundrels out of Puerto Rico. They are criminals and they do not belong in wrestling, let alone in Puerto Rico. And that is why I chose TNT as my partner for this match.

Hugo (at 3:14): Well, at this moment we have TNT face to face with Carlos. Let it be his words that mark this moment.

TNT (at 3:20 in a subdued and emotional tone with pauses throughout): You know Hugo, Carlos and all of the fans, at this moment, for the first time in this world of wrestling, I've shed tears. (Takes a deep breath). I feel very regretful about everything that has happened. Because I was blinded in my quest for the Universal title. And that Wednesday, when they were hurting Invader #1, and they were also attacking a Puerto Rican woman, something that should never happen, my heart, the only thing it told me was to help my brothers. To help the members of El Ejercito de la Justicia, because they are all my brothers. They have never stopped being my brothers. And Carlos, this I say to you right from the heart, because if I could open my chest at this moment, take my heart out and speak to you with it in my hands Carlos, I would do it. Because I am very regretful about what happened a few months ago. And Carlos, I would like to take the opportunity right now to extend my hand out to you and shake it in honor Carlos, because I am very sorry. What I did will not happen again, because we have to finish the Texas Hangmen and all of these abusers that come to Puerto Rico. And this I tell you Carlos right from the heart, from a brother Carlos, because that's what I feel.

Hugo (at 5:20, with the camera zoomed in on Colon and TNT’s clasped hands): Tonight at the Loubriel in Bayamon, the Pareja Increible clashes with the Texas Hangmen. Let's relive that moment when TNT shocked the wrestling world and came to El Ejercito de la Justicia’s aid.

The video then cuts to the end of the program, where Hugo is hyping the tv shows on WAPA (Saturdays from 12pm to 1pm and Sundays from 11:30am to 1pm) and the night's card (there will be extra security inside and outside of the stadium to watch over the parked cars so fans can enjoy worry free the best wrestling in the world). He then introduces a special interview with Invader #1.

Hugo (at 6:13): How are you feeling Jose?

Invader: Well Hugo, I'm getting much better. I feel better because I'm at home, you know it's not the same thing to be in one's home than in a hospital. I was in the hospital for 11 days, and the doctor who released me told me those words I haven't forgotten, that I take care of myself and not stop following the program. And that's what I'm doing in this bed, trying everything possible to see if I can get better as fast as I can.

Hugo: Jose, are you still feeling pain at this time or is your situation more stable now?

Invader: Well the pain is minimal, you know, the pills the doctor gave me help, whenever the pain flares up I take a pill and I'm controlling it that way.

Hugo: Well, we would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their calls, all those wonderful letters that we have received, and the great people at Doctors Hospital, all of the staff, doctors, nurses, they were really great throughout this whole ordeal with us and especially with Invader. Jose, sorry to talk about this, the fans already know about this, but tonight we have Carlos and TNT taking on the Texas Hangmen. Could we have a comment about this?

Invader: Well Savino, what I have to say about this is, I ask the people of Puerto Rico to give their support to Carlos Colon and TNT tonight. Because they are going to need it since they are facing these two bandits, because that's the word for them. And I ask Carlos Colon and TNT to be very careful of the Texas Hangmen, that what happened to me does not happen to them, that they do not suffer all that I have suffered.

MD: “Pain is our Policy and Hanging is our Game.” This gives us a chance to maybe tell the Hangmen apart. One seems to have more hair coming out of the back of his mask? Maybe. Carlos noting that if TNT didn’t save Invader, maybe he wouldn’t be with them anymore is quite the thing. TNT looks down, sniffs. It’s fairly powerful stuff. He notes he was blinded by wanting the title, but he really doesn’t give any other excuse. Just full on apology and noting they’re all brothers. It’s a powerful handshake between the two and they freeze frame on it. Invader’s ridiculously good at getting sympathy even just laying in a bed. Him giving the stamp of approval to TNT and asking the fans to back them probably put this over the top.

EB: The card for November 3 featured the following matchups: Grizzly Bonne defeating Victor Jovical; new arrival Billy Joe Travis winning the World Junior title from Huracan Castillo Jr. via the use of a foreign object; Invader #4 defeating Tom Burton; Giant Warrior vs Skywalker; a mixed trios match as Embry, Valentine & Monster Ripper defeated the Super Medicos & Sasha; Vic Steamboat defeated Kim Duk by DQ; and the main event of Carlos Colon & TNT vs. The Texas Hangmen.

As mentioned in the card lineup, we get a battle of giants as Giant Warrior faces Skywalker in what is billed as a rivalry of former tag partners. It seems that Skywalker has come to Puerto Rico looking for revenge on the tag partner that left him high and dry (according to Skywalker and El Profe anyway). Warrior and Skywalker have had a few matches between them and it looks like they are going at it once more. Because of the number of events run in Bayamon during these last months of 1990, we are not sure if this Giant Warrior vs Skywalker match is from November 3 or 10 (we don’t have the full card results for November 10 but know that they were in Bayamon that day as well). This match is definitely from the first half of November though, so let’s go to Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel for this bout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE2M5PPsL4A

Skywalker (or if you prefer Nitron) and Giant Warrior make their entrances, with Eliud Gonzalez announcing Warrior from the Land of the Giants and Skywalker from Oklahoma. The bell rings and Skywalker is pointing and berating Warrior to start, as Hugo calls this a clash of titans. Skywalker and Warrior continue exchanging words while standing almost nose to nose, and some shoves are given by each wrestler. They keep staring at each other and facing off, as El Profe gives the background on the issue between Warrior and Skywalker (they were tag team partners, had a lucrative contract to wrestle together, but Warrior abandoned his partner, opting to come to Puerto Rico instead to become the idol of the children). This is the reason Skywalker has come looking for revenge. Hugo explains that El Profe forgot to mention that Skywalker wanted to win by breaking the rules, something Giant Warrior did not agree with and that is why he broke up the partnership. In the ring, Skywalker backs Warrior against the ropes with punches, but a rope running sequence leads to several ducked maneuvers by Giant Warrior, ending with a back elbow to Skywalker’s face. Skywalker rolls to the outside of the ring to halt Warrior’s momentum. As Skywalker takes his time getting back in the ring, Hugo explains that in the previous match between the two men, Skywalker had attacked Giant Warrior with E Profe’s help and this is Warrior’s chance to get back at Skywalker for this. Skywalker gets a side headlock, one that he works for a while and is able to keep on by grabbing Warrior’s hair when he tries to break out of the hold. El Profe mentions that he thinks the only giant in CSP is Skywalker because he is taller and better than Giant Warrior (Hugo mentions that Profe thinks this because he also gets a percentage of Skywalker’s money). 

Skywalker continues working the side headlock despite the ref’s warnings about the hair pulls, but Giant Warrior breaks the hold with a back suplex. Skywalker rolls outside, with Warrior following him out. Warrior hits Skywalker with some punches and then rams Skywalker shoulder first into the ringpost a couple of times before the action returns to the ring. Warrior works over Skywalker’s arm in the corner and Irish whips him into the opposite corner, but Warrior ends up running into Skywalker’s boot. Skywalker takes over with several turnbuckle smashes and punches. Skywalker sends Warrior into the ropes and hits a back elbow, after which he taunts the crowd. Both men exchange blows but Skywalker stops Warrior with several shoulder thrusts to the midsection in the corner, followed by a suplex. A pin attempt only gets two. Skywalker starts choking Warrior over the bottom rope and as the camera zooms in on Warrior, we can see some blood on Warrior’s forehead (Hugo mentions that it appears a recent cut Warrior got when wrestling Abdullah has reopened). Skywalker continues attacking the prone Warrior with stomps to the back and then does another choke across the top rope. Skywalker guillotines Warrior across the top rope and again starts taunting the crowd. Warrior tries to come back with some punches but Skywalker continues in control with his strategy of working over Warrior’s throat area. Skywalker hits a slam but misses a follow up elbow drop, which opens the door for Giant Warrior to make a comeback. Warrior makes an unsuccessful pin attempt after a clothesline but continues on the attack. Warrior signals to the crowd that he is going for the big boot by stomping his foot against the mat. As Warrior sends Skywalker into the ropes, Profe on commentary starts complaining that he thinks Warrior must be loading that boot up. Skywalker is able to grab onto the ropes to avoid the big boot and charges with a clothesline. A cover is made and the ref counts to three, but Warrior got his foot on the ropes before the three count was completed. 

Skywalker starts celebrating his win, but the referee notices his mistake and starts telling Skywalker that the pin is invalidated. Skywalker argues with the ref, and after a few moments charges at Giant Warrior, but he runs right into a big boot. Giant Warrior makes the cover and gets the win. El Profe is complaining about the ref restarting the match but Hugo says the foot was on the ropes before the three so it was the right thing to do. Giant Warrior gets his hand raised and celebrates outside of the ring, while Skywalker gets on the turnbuckle yelling about what happened with regards to the restart. Looks like Giant Warrior was able to get some revenge after all. He will soon depart for a Japan tour, but we will see Giant Warrior  back before the year is out.

MD: Land of Giants explode! Actually, I don’t think they were teaming until the next week in AJPW, but you get the idea. Sky Walker comes out to Final Countdown, because of course he does. And no one’s going to believe me but this was actually pretty good!I think a lot of that was down to Nitron since he controlled for most of it but I was shocked. They didn’t quite work big enough but it was a solid conventional match between two guys. Nitron heeled it up, pulling the hair to keep the headlock, then grinding down on Warrior the whole way. He had an okay back elbow, worked on thim in the ropes and corner, even a decent punch, believe it or not. Warrior even bleeds. He got some hope (a belly to back out of that headlock, for instance), and finally came back big. His stuff didn’t look quite as well but it was fine; the crowd was ready for it. He set up for the big boot but Nitron hit him with a lariat out of nowhere. Warrior’s foot ended up on the rope and after thinking he won, Nitron ran right into said boot to end it. Little bit of a miracle match all things considered. That this was even good was a big surprise. 

EB: We have seen Carlos Colon and TNT make amends and now La Pareja Increible has returned to take on the hated Texas Hangmen. Again, we're not sure if this specific match is from November 3 or 10, although it likely is from November 10 based on some of the post match happenings. So let’s go once more to Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel for this awaited encounter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DAOISCIXU

EB: Right away you’ll notice that there is no commentary, this is straight from the master tape recording of the house show. So we’ll get all of the crowd and ambient noise. And the crowd is loud throughout. Both teams start fighting on the baseball field, with Colon and one of the Hangmen rolling around on the ground just fighting it out. TNT and Colon get the better of the Hangmen during this fight on the outside, with Carlos ripping one of the Hangman’s masks so he could better attack the Hangman’s forehead with blows. As Carlos rams one of the Hangmen into the ringpost, you can see off in the distance a ferris wheel and other carnival rides lit up, Around this time they would have a Christmas carnival  on the same grounds as Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel, so you’ll see the rides pop into view every now and then. After a couple of minutes of fighting on the outside, TNT gets the Hangman he is paired up with into the ring. Meanwhile, Colon rams the other Hangman’s head into home plate. In the ring, TNT hits a spin kick as the crowd gets loud. Finally Carlos and the other Hangman make their way into their corners and the match is now underway in the ring. 

Carlos and TNT make it clear they are not there to play by the rules, as evidenced by their use of double teaming in the corner, foreign objects hidden from the ref’s view (such as the object TNT takes out to stab the Hangmen with), and switches behind the ref’s back. This is a good summary of what I understand is the philosophy of Puerto Rican wrestling: ‘There is no point in dealing honorably with those that insist on acting without any honor.’  When Carlos is tagged in, he picks up where TNT left off with the foreign object. The tecnicos are out for revenge and payback. Colon keeps working over the head of Killer?, tearing his mask even more and attacking the forehead to draw blood. TNT is tagged back in and Colon hands the object back to TNT so he can continue using it on the Hangmen. The crowd of course is loving all of this. Even after the Hangmen switch out, the tecnicos remain in control, even causing El Profe to complain loudly at ringside at the tactics being employed by the good guys. 

For almost ten minutes, the Hangmen are at the mercy of Colon and TNT, getting paid back in kind for what has been their wrestling style up to this point in CSP. The tide turns for the Hangmen when one of them is able to get a low blow on Colon, allowing for the tag to be made and the Hangmen are able to implement their usual playbook. Carlos is sent into the rudo corner and is worked over by both Hangmen. TNT gets drawn intt eh ring and the Hangmen take advantage of the distraction to do more double teaming behind the referee’s back. The bullropes aren’t there (which El Profe makes a comment about needing the bullropes), so the Hangmen use the top rope to choke out Carlos instead. For the next few minutes, it’s all Hangmen, as they control the flow of the match and work over Carlos. Near the 14 minute mark, it looks like a missed charge might give Colon the opening to make the tag, but the Hangmen quickly grab Colon and continue working him over. Carlos counters with a sunset flip off the ropes, and TNT assists by kicking the Hangman over. That only gets a two count as the pin is broken up. The Hangmen work Carlos over with a chinlock as TNT pumps up the crowd. The Hangmen get a DDt but TNT breaks up that pin attempt. Carlos is able to briefly fight back and get the tag, but the referee misses it and orders TNT back to the tecnico corner. Carlos is bleeding and still tries to fight back, but the Hangmen remain in control. Another tag by Colon is missed by the ref, followed by the Hangmen delivering sone questionably low headbutts to Colon. 

Finally, around the 19 minute mark, Carlos responds in kind with a foul kick of his own and makes the tag to TNT. The crowd chants along (hwah! hwah!) as TNT takes it to both Hangmen. However, the two on one odds eventually overwhelm TNT and the Hangmen get control of the match as we hit the 20 minute time call. The Hangmen attack TNT in their corner and manage to toss him outside, where he gets thrown into the ringpost. TNT is thrown back in the ring and the punishment continues. Carlos has had enough and joins the other three men in the ring, causing the crowd to get loud as Carlos gets fired up. All four men end up on the outside fighting, similar to how the match started. They start heading in the direction of the rudo dugout as the referee continues his ring out count. The Hangmen, Colon and TNT are rolling around on the ground fighting and it looks like the ref has counted both teams out. El Profe is standing at a distance from the fighting teams, his body language showing concern about his team. As the tecnicos appear to have the upper hand in the fight, El Profe runs off into the dugout, emerging moments later with the bullropes. Profe hits Colon from behind with one of the cowbells and hands the other bullrope off. El Profe starts attacking the downed Colon with the bullrope as the Hangmen team up on TNT with the other bullrope. El Profe and the Hangmen just go off attacking Colon and TNT with the bullropes and bells. Suddenly, the crowd erupts as El Ejercito de la Justicia charges towards Profe and the Hangmen. Castillo and the Super Medicos get there first and chase off the rudos, with Invader #4, El Bronco and, holy cow, is that Jeff Jarrett? bringing up the rear. 

The tecnicos check on Colon and TNT, who have definitely taken quite the beating at the hands of the Hangmen and Profe. As Carlos and TNT start getting to their feet, TNT says ‘Carlos, let’s go after those #!#!s’. What follows is a few minutes of mayhem as Carlos and TNT try to charge into the dugout to go after the rudos and the rest of the tecnicos try their best to stop them (probably a good idea since they’d have the whole rudo locker room to contend with if they made it inside). The crowd of course is in favor of them charging in. It looks like the tecnicos have calmed down TNT and Carlos (although when Jarrett attempts to lift Colon’s arm up in victory he yanks it away, still mad about the Hangmen). El Ejercito de la Justicia starts walking back to their side of the ballfield, but TNT starts talking to Carlos and pointing in the opposite direction. It looks like they still want to go after the Hangmen. Colon and TNT stop walking and try to to turn back, but the other tecnicos and the ref keep trying to calm them down. All of a sudden, TNT and Colon make a break for the rudo dugout (as the crowd goes wild), with the other tecnicos giving chase and stopping them once more. This time, TNT and Carlos decide to head towards the timekeeper’s table, where TNT picks up a microphone. As the fans (and the piña colada vendor) watch, TNT speaks: ‘Texas Hangmen… today we couldn’t beat the crap out of you. But Carlos and I, we want wherever (Carlos yells ‘and whenever!’) and whenever a cage match with these two!’ And then Carlos and TNT make another attempt at the rudo dugout before being held back. Safe to say this feud is also not over.

MD: This was exceptional. Just a nearly perfect tag for what they were trying to do with a great crowd and awesome heat. Wrestling isn’t math but the closest thing to it might be a southern tag. This broke down as one minute of brawling, nine of shine, nine of heat on Colon, one minute of straight comeback, a couple of minutes of a second heat on TNT, and then Carlos recovering and things devolving into chaos. If it was going to have a real resolution you could tweak the end but otherwise, for what they were doing to keep things going, this was perfectly balanced. 

And the execution was pretty perfect as well. Colon and TNT controlled (after some TNT kicks) by hiding an object in their tights, the singlet, the boot, passing it between them. Just beautiful chicanery and everything the Hangmen deserved. You almost couldn’t imagine a better symbol for brotherhood now that TNT was back on the side of angels and justice. They shift to working on the leg for a few minutes and it almost feels like it’s going to be a rout. 

The Hangmen get a low blow on Carlos and start in on him. All the usual tricks. They draw the ref so a tag is missed. They draw TNT so that they can hit repeated low blows. Carlos gets a big hope spot in the middle with a TNT assisted sunset flip but they cut him off. He bleeds. It all builds to a big low blow of his own and TNT coming in hot before getting swept under by the numbers game. That’s just temporary though and the second Colon can recover, they start brawling to the outside and the ref calls it a no contest. Post match, Profe comes back out with a second bullrope and they lay waste to Colon and TNT until the babyface locker room empties to make the save. Even after that, TNT is super hot and wants to charge the heel locker room and it takes the combined might of everyone (people he was brutalizing just a few weeks before) to stop him. 

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, Carlos Colon and TNT want the Texas Hangmen in a cage and that’s just what they will get. Also, Billy Joe Travis and Huracan Castillo feud over the World Junior title. and the feud between the Super Medicos & Sasha and Embry, Valentine & Ripper marches on.

Read more!

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: August Rush

Week 34: August Rush

EB: We’ve once again reached a point in our journey where the footage and results we have are scattered about, so we're going to be skipping a bit in time depending on what we have available. Case in point, last week we finished the hype for Fan Appreciation Day  with the Super Sabados appearance. Unfortunately, we don’t have footage or definitive results for the actual Fan Appreciation Day card. We do know that almost all of the champions retained their titles. The one exception are the Super Medicos, they lost the World tag team titles to Lance Idol and Rick Valentine. Due to the footage gap, we’re going to be jumping towards the end of the month, to the TV from August 25. But before getting to the TV episodes, we do have some goodbyes to say.

First, we say goodbye to Scott Hall. The signs were there for anyone noticing. since Hall was not included on the Sunday Fan Appreciation card and the Bronca Boricua for that day had 16 wrestlers instead of 17 (Carl Styles seems to have slotted in Hall’s spot for now). The blonde outlaw had an interesting run here in CSP, first as a rudo and then becoming a solid fan favorite. It seems that Hall’s time in Puerto Rico was an important step in his development and, while we do not have one last clip of his run here to say a proper goodbye, overall it was a really good run for Hall and he will be missed.

Also leaving us after a 10 months here is Angel acevedo, known as Mercenario #1. It was honestly time to move on but what a run he had both with Gerry Morrow and then Ron Starr as his partners. As a farewell, we have a full match between the Caribbean Express and Los Mercenarios from a few months back, during the lead up to Aniversario 90.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KC4UMLR1uQ

This match starts off with Perez and Castillo taking it right to both Mercenarios, with Castillo sending Acevedo out of the ring and Perez handling Ron Starr in the ring. The fighting continues as Castillo attacks Acevedo on the outside by throwing him onto the announcers' table and hitting him with a chair. Perez throws Starr to the outside and Ron gets rammed onto the table and hit with a chair as well. The match settles back into the ring, as Castillo continues teeing off with several punches on Ron Starr. Castillo rams Ron’s head several times on the turnbuckle, with Ron then teetering between punches from Perez and Castillo. The Express do some quick tags and maintain control on Ron, but Starr is able to find an opening to cut off Castillo and tag in Acevedo. However, Acevedo runs into an armdrag and another series of quick tags by the Express has them working over Acevedo’s arm. Again the rudos are able to find an opening to make the tag, and again it does not work as Castillo counters Ron Starr’s kneedrop attempt and tags Perez in. Again the Express maintain control by working the arm and doing some quick tags. We go to a commercial break during a chop exchange and come back as the chops continue. Finally Los Mercenarios get some offense going after a double team maneuver. Now it is Los Mercenarios that keep the advantage with some quick tags and double teams of their own. The turning point for the match comes when Perez is able to hit a double clothesline on both Mercenarios and makes the tag to Castillo. Huracan cleans house on both rudos, including hitting a monkey flip on both Mercenarios at the same time. Perez comes in and the Express try to ram both Mercenarios into each other. The rudos reverse and it is Perez and Castillo that collide. Los Mercenarios whipped Castillo into the corner and set up Perez to be whipped into Castillo. However, Perez is able to stop himself before hitting the corner and vaults Huracan over him. Castillo lands on Starr with a bodypress as Perez holds off Acevedo. The Express get the three count and retain the Caribbean tag titles. Bon voyage Mercenario #1.. .

MD: I feel like we’ve seen this match a dozen times now but it’s always good. It started hot with chairshots on the outside and the first half was all Express control as Starr and Assassin stooged. While part of me likes the idea of Los Mercenarios being an endless Ship of Theseus, ever changing members, it feels like it’s time to push Starr again with Chicky, Burke, and Assassin all gone. Nice transition with a drop toehold/elbow drop combo out of nowhere and solid heat until the big exciting finishing stretch. This had the hanging-on double monkey flip and that great vault ending. They could have wrestled two dozen more times and they’d all be good.

EB: We have one more goodby to make, and it is the biggest one we have had so far. We last saw Chicky Starr stirring things up as TNT’s second on Super Sabados. Chicky would be at ringside for TNT in the rematch against Carlos Colon on August 4, but unfortunately he has left CSP after being the top rudo in the company since the start of 1986. It is going to be different with Chicky Starr no longer around and we’ll talk about some of the changes made as a result of his departure in a bit. As a farewell to the incomparable self proclaimed king of wrestling, let’s look at a pair of matches featuring Chicky Starr. Our first match may actually be one the most recent matches he taped for TV (it is definitely in the weeks after Aniversario 90). It is a mixed tag match where Chicky is teaming with Espectrito to take on the tecnico team of Huracan Castillo Jr and Aguilita Solitaria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwa0aKCoLGw

This match is from a Clasicos segment that aired much later, so the commentary is not the original one. The match is already in progress, with Espectrito landing a dropkick from the turnbuckle onto Aguilita. Espectrito picks up Aguilita in a fireman’s carry and takes him over to the rudo corner. However, the ref is right there and Chicky raises his arms up to show that he is not breaking the rules by attacking the wrong pair of his matchup. Espectrito kicks Aguilita out of the ring, prompting Castillo to go over and check on Aguilita as Espectrito shows off in the ring. Castillo helps Aguilita onto the ring apron, but Espectrito grabs Aguilita and runs him right into the post. Castillo again goes over to check on Aguilita on the floor. Chicky distracts the ref as Espectrito gets another kick in on the outside. Castillo protests to the ref as he holds Aguilita, trying to get the ref to get the rudos to back off. Castillo gets Aguilita on the ring apron and gets in the ring for his team. Castillo wants Chicky to be tagged in, but Chicky refuses and Espectrito remains in the ring. Huracan continues wanting Chicky to be tagged in but Espectrito takes the opportunity and kicks the injured Aguilita off the apron. Castillo goes over to make sure Aguilita is okay as Espectritot jumps on the turnbuckle to brag about what he did. Chicky finally decides to get in the ring and Castill comes in. Chicky works a side headlock and he and Castillo do a rope running sequence that ends with a Castillo armdrag takedown. Espectrito tries to come in but the ref heads him off. Chicky attempts an armdrag counter but Huracan keeps a hold on Chicky’s arm and armdrags him over to maintain control. Chicky fights out of the armdrag and now the minis are in for their sides. Espectrito continues attacking Aguilita’s head but misses when Aguilita tags Castillo in. Huracan stays in the corner and serves as a base for Aguilita to bounce off and hit Exepvtrito with a series of moves. The match ends when Castillo sends Aguilita off the top rope in a rocket launcher onto Espectrito, giving the pinfall win to the tecnicos. The clip ends with Espectrito and Chicky having a discussion about what happened. .

MD: At first I was going to shake my fist at Esteban for holding this back, but it’s ok. It’s better on paper. Which isn’t to say it’s bad. I just have great memories of all of those mixed tags from Houston and this isn’t that. The first half is Espectrito bullying Aguilita Solitaria repeatedly by knocking him out of the ring. Chicky is good at coaching here and Castillo is good in getting his partner back in. Back half has Chicky showing that he still had Juniors chops with rope running with Castillo. And then the finish is Castillo and Aguilita working well together on a couple of set up spots including a great rocket launcher flipping senton deal for the pin. No real comedy though and that’s what I came for.

EB: Our second match is one I held back for this moment. It is from the May 19 episode of Superestrellas, during the early stages of the Invader #1 vs  Leo Burke singles feud. This is likely the last time Chicky and Invader wrestled each other in a single match during this era of CSP. I can’t think of a more fitting farewell then to see the eternal rivals face each other one more time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3KZaGPdQNI

Hector Moyano is on commentary and mentions that we are about to witness a classic matchup. The man who was once trained by Invader #1 versus the man who nowadays is one of Chicky’s most hated enemies. Chicky goes to the apron and stalls by asking the ref to keep Invader back.The ref counts as Chicky refuses to get in the ring, and Invader starts getting impatient. Eliud Gonzalez is also on commentary, mentioning that this is a match between two champions, with Invader #1 being the Caribbean champion and Chicky being half of the Caribbean tag champions with Leo Burke. Chicky continues to avoid locking up with Invader, and we see Leo Burke make his way to ringside as Chicky exits the ring. Invader decides to chase after Leo outside of the ring and Chicky rolls back inside. Invader chases Leo back to the locker room and heads to the ring. However, it seems Invader’s attention is a bit diverted as he keeps glancing behind him to make sure Burke is really gone. Chicky is in a corner, again avoiding locking up with Invader. Chicky continues stalling by exiting and then reentering the ring, Finally the two wrestlers lock up and Invader gets an armdrag takedown on Chicky. Invader keeps working the arm and taking Chicky down each time he attempts to get up from the mat. Invader hits a couple of chops on Chicky and sends him into the ropes. Invader lands a kick to Chicky’s knee that sends him through the ropes to the outside. Chicky starts limping and asking for timeout, but the ref starts his count. Invader decides to go out after Chicky. They exchange chops and Chicky rolls back in after Invader gets an eye poke on him. Chicky begs off as Invader starts getting fired up. Invader smashes Chicky’s face against the mat and hits a backdrop for a two count. Chicky misses an elbow drop but recovers to land several chops on Invader. The chops are countered by Invader, leading to Chicky being put in an airplane spin. At that point, Leo Burke rushes into the ring wearing a boxing glove and knocks Invader down. Leo puts Chicky on top of Invader but all this happened right in front of the referee, so it is a disqualification victory for Invader. Chicky raises his arm in victory and argues with the ref when he indicates otherwise. We then get a couple of promos from Burke and Invader about their upcoming Caribbean title match on May 19. That is it for Chicky Starr in CSP, things will certainly be different without him around.

MD: Very sad to see Chicky go. But this is a good way to see him off. Lots of stalling and it’s all great. Lots of feeding for Invader, his head whipping all over the place for nasty shots and you can freeze frame in on his expressions and they’re all perfect pro wrestling. Then he fired back almost as well as he took, but not quite as well. What an absolutely great pro wrestler, and this felt iconic in its own way even in six minutes or so. Invader had chased Burke away early during Chicky’s stallfest antics, but he came back after an airplane spin to clock Invader, drawing the DQ even as Chicky added insult to injury by pretending to pin Invader. Good stuff that built to the Burke/Invader boxing match. Chicky, we barely knew ye.

EB: With Chicky out of the picture, there is the issue of what happens to El Club Deportivo. Well, it seems that El Club Deportivo has now fallen under the management of El Profe, so Profe now is seconding TNT and Kim Duk. In the case of Rick Valentine and Lance Idol (where I think Chicky was no longer actively managing Valentine by this point in time), they actually have a new manager. Making a return appearance to CSP as the new rudo manager is none other than the reigning Women’s World champion Monster Ripper. It is going to be interesting to see how Monster Ripper works as a manager, but I’m sure it will be fun to watch.

With El Profe now managing TNT, we go to a segment that has the latest developments in the Colon vs TNT feud. The video has some playback issues but it does play correctly from around 2:30 onwards, so you can skip ahead to that point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASaRb1PdBmk

Hugo is narrating the footage as we go to August 4 and the big Universal title rematch. Carlos is putting TNT in the figure four leglock as Chicky Starr watches from ringside. As TNT struggles to hold on, Kim Duk appears in the ring and drops an elbow on Carlos. This results in a disqualification and saves TNT from having to submit. Duk puts Carlos in the cobra sleeper and keeps the pressure applied until the Super Medicos and Miguelito Perez run in for the save. We now go to what is likely August 18 in Caguas (which Hugo refers to as last week in the video). TNT and Carlos are both bloodied and we pick up the action with TNT reversing an irish whip and hitting a clothesline on Colon. TNT tries to do an irish whip on Carlos that Colon tries to reverse, but TNT does a reversal of that attempt that sends Colon right into the referee. As the ref is briefly down and Colon is dazed from the collision, TNT puts on the Cobra Dinamita. The ref struggles to get up as TNT takes Carlos down to the mat keeping the pressure on. El Profe, now seconding TNT at ringside, raises his arms in victory as Carlos struggles to get loose to no avail. Carlos is able to reach the ropes but Profe grabs the ropes and yanks them out of Colon’s hands, right in front of the referee. An argument breaks out between El Profe and the ref, as Hugo mentions that the hold should have been broken. Carlos tries to make the ropes again but can’t reach them, and he starts fading away in the hold. Carlos is down to his knees and it looks like TNT is going to win the Universal title. Suddenly, Invader #1 runs to the ring with a chair in hand and proceeds to hit TNT in the back with the chair. The ref disqualifies Colon but the Universal title remains with Colon and El Ejercito de la Justicia due to the disqualification.

We then go to El Profe and TNT for some comments about the rivalry so far, with Profe saying that TNT is the rightful Universal champion. TNT agrees with El Profe and goes on to say that the WWC and the people of Puerto Rico even more so should recognize him as the Universal champion, because last week he once more proved to be the real Universal champion by putting Colon to sleep. TNT calls out Invader for sticking his nose in what was not his business, and as such TNT has demanded a cage match to ensure no one can intervene in the next title match. We’ll see how ‘viejito’ Colon can handle being in a cage with a young man who is an expert in martial arts. TNT will leave Carlos Colon bathed in blood tonight. TNT has beaten Carlos up every time they have faced each other and tonight once more he will give a beating and walk away the champion.  

Carlos Colon is with Hugo and responds to TNT. Carlos believes TNT made a mistake in asking this to be a cage match, because this time it’s on TNT that it is a cage match. Carlos thinks TNT has been crying too much about Invader interfering last week and saving the title. Carlos admits that it may be so, but TNT conveniently forgets to mention how Carlos had TNT in the figure four on Fan Appreciation Day ready to break his leg, and that Kim Duk came in to save TNT. That's all in the past now, tonight no one from either side will be able to interfere, it just the two of them one on one. And if TNT thinks that he has more experience in cage matches or that his martial arts skills will be the difference maker, then TNT is mistaken. Carlos is going to show that spoiled kid exactly who Carlos Colon is when in a cage ‘I was wrestling in cages when you were still in diapers.’ Hugo thanks Carlos for his time and says to the fans that he has to remain neutral, but may the best man win tonight.  

MD: Profe’s in to manage TNT now. They’ve done the draw and some unclear finishes. Now, they add in a few more to keep things churning. First, Kim Duk breaks up the figure-four as he’s in the mix now. Then, in another match, Profe pulls the rope away from Colon while TNT has him in the Cobra. That brings out Invader with a chair. How do they solve this? A cage match. Makes sense to me. They can’t keep spinning this indefinitely but there’s still some air left in the tank.

EB: The Carlos Colon vs TNT feud has escalated to a cage match that is scheduled for August 25. Let’s go now to the two TV episodes we have from the August 25 weekend, first up is Campeones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CiQk-2FeRM

Another sign that Chicky is gone is that we now have El Profe serving as the rudo co-host with Hugo. The video we have for this episode cuts in after the show has already started, with the two hosts finishing up their intro and comments on the current happenings in CSP. El Profe is in the middle of finishing up his comments about tonight’s cage match between TNT and Carlos Colon, indicating that it will just be the two of them in there and no one will be able to interfere (‘Carlos Colon will have no one to save him tonight’). Hugo closes by saying they will continue talking about what’s going to happen tonight throughout the show and we go to our first match of the program.

We have Ron Starr taking on Hurcana Castillo Jr. This match is from Caguas and I’m guessing it’s likely from August 18. Castillo is the reigning World Junior champion and this match is non-title. Starr is back in the singles ranks with the departure of Mercenario #1, still part of El Profe’s Real Academia. Ron jumps Huracan at the start, hitting him from behind when Castillo was setting down his jacket. Ron lands several blows and tosses Castillo through the ropes to the floor. Hugo asks Profe what he thinks about Starr’s attitude here and Profe responds ‘As the Puerto Ricans say, he who hits first hits two times, and Rambo Ron Starr is not timid about attacking valiantly that way.’ Starr goes after Castillo on the outside, ramming Huracan into the announcer’s table and hitting him with a chair. On commentary, Profe mentions that the Real Academia and El Club Deportivo are now one organization, so El Profe is in charge of both groups now (‘one organization that has united to end El Ejercito de la Inmundicia’). Ron stomps Castillo on the floor, but stops momentarily to roll into the ring to break the ref’s count. Ron goes back outside to continue attacking Castillo, including ramming him into the floorboard pile and ramming him back first onto the ring apron. Back in the ring, Ron maintains control with a back elbow on Castillo, as Hugo mentions Starr’s credentials, including his past reigns as NWA World Junior champion. Starr continues on offense with several hits on Castillo in the corner, but Castillo soon blocks the punches and counters back with a punch and some kicks of his own. Castillo gets fired up and continues punching Ron in the corner, but Starr cuts Castillo off with a punch when the referee attempts to get Castillo to back off. Ron gets a nice knee strike on Castillo as El Profe gushes about the acrobatics being displayed by Ron Starr.  Castillo gets a sunset flip for a two count but Ron goes back on the attack with a side headlock and cuts off Castillo’s attempt to power out of it.

Hugo reminds the fans that this Thursday they will be in Corozal with a card that includes Carlos Colon & Carl Styles taking on TNT & Atkie Mulumba, Invader #1 vs Kim Duk, the Super Medicos vs Lance Idol & Rick Valentine, Huracan Castillo Jr vs Ron Starr, and Gama Singh against Texas Hangman #1 (who?, we’ll discuss them next time). Castillo counters an irish whip and follows up with a clothesline into the corner that sends Ron down to the canvas. Starr staggers to his feet and Huracan pounces, hitting some punches and ramming Starr’s head into the top turnbuckle various times. Starr begs off, but Castillo gets a backdrop and tosses Ron to the outside. As Castillo goes out after Ron, Hugo mentions that Starr has been focusing on competing for the World Junior title and has been dropping weight in recent months for this.Outside of the ring, Castillo pays back Ron for earlier by ramming him into the announcer’s table and hitting him with a chair (with a great sell by Ron after getting hit with the chair). Both wrestlers get in the ring and Ron begs off, as Profe complains about Castillo doing these things after Ron has been wrestling cleanly. Castillo gets an inside cradle for two. A standing switch leads to a rollup by Castillo for two. Huracan throws Ron into a corner but runs into Starr’s knee on the follow through. Starr misses an elbow drop, and an irish whip reversal sees Castillo come off the top with a crossbody press. However, Starr uses the momentum to roll over and hook in a pin. The commentators argue over whether Ron is holding the trunks as well (Hugo thinks he is, Profe says no way) and Ron gets the three count pinfall win. Ron Starr celebrates his win outside of the ring and it looks like he will get his chance at the World Junior title now. It’s Ron Starr vs Huracan Castillo Jr. tonight in Caguas with the title on the line.     

MD: I’ve been saying they should make Starr a singles guy for a while, and now it makes sense. He’s not Leo Burke but he’s also not that far off of him and this was a match to show what he could do both on offense and taking stuff. He ambushed Castillo at the get go and they did a good job of giving Castillo the tiniest bits of hope only to get cut off. When it was time for Starr to stooge, he did so in a big way, going head over heels at times. Finish was fairly hot with stuff that was countered or missed before he rolled through on a cross body and held the tights for the win. Profe put him over on commentary the whole time.

EB: With Chicky gone we have an opening for a new manager in the rudo ranks, and it is none other than Monster Ripper. She has returned to CSP on a more full-time basis, taking over as manager for the new World tag team champions of Rick Valentine and Lance Idol. Ripper is here with the tag champs and they’re cutting a promo about the Super Medicos and their new second, someone Ripper knows well from her last run back in 1987. It seems that the Super Medicos have brought in Sasha to counteract Monster Ripper, and Ripper is threatening that she'll end up killing Sasha if they cross paths. Idol doesn’t care who the Medicos bring in, there is nothing they can do about Idoo and Valentine keeping the World tag titles. Valentine chimes in, saying he doesn't know what barrio they dug up Sasha from, he has no respect for her since she is associating with a bunch of losers. Ripper cuts another promo in Spanish (it’s more her cutting a promo that reiterates some of what Idol and Valentine said rather than translating what they were saying) and then laughs menacingly to close out their segment.

We then go Sasha and the Super Medicos. Sasha was at home with her husband and kids but was seeing the injustices that Idol, Valentine and Monster Ripper were doing to the Medicos. It seems the Medicos called her up to ask if she would be willing to second them tonight in order to counter Monster Ripper and she said yes. Medico #1 asks for the director to roll the tape of what happened last week in Caguas, and it is highlights from the World tag title match between the Super Medicos and Idol & Valentine. Medico #1 has Valentine in the corner, hitting him with several chops. The ref gets tied up with Idol and Monster Ripper steps into the ring and gets in front of Valentine. Medico #1 tells Ripper to get out of the way, but Ripper refuses. Medico #1 has enough and grabs Ripper, tossing her through the ropes and to the outside. Medico #1 gets an inside cradle for a pin attempt, but Idol comes in to break up the pin. This brings in Medico #3 and all four men are now in the ring. Medico #3 manages to knock Idol onto the ring apron, but the ref goes after Medico #3 and tells him to leave the ring. As the ref escorts Medico #3 out of the ring, Medico #1 attempts to bring in Valentine from the ring apron with a slam. Ripper interferes, grabbing Medico #1’s leg and causing Valentine to fall on top and score the pinfall. Idol and Valentine retain thanks to the interference from Monster Ripper. We go back the Super Medicos and Sasha, where Medico #1 says that everyone has now seen how MonsterRipper interfered and cost them the match. Tonight in Caguas it will be different because Sasha will be there and the World tag titles will be back where they belong around the Super Medicos’ waists.

MD: This is definitely a way to freshen things up a bit. Monster Ripper could cut promos for Idol and Valentine and we hadn’t seen mixed tags like this for a while. Sasha fit in with the Medicos in all white and presumably she could play face-in-peril given the size difference with Ripper. Ripper certainly caused enough chaos in the match clip they showed, both in and out of the ring. It’s all a pretty quick and effective pivot in a post-Chicky world.

EB: We’ll discuss a bit more of Sasha’s past history next time. Up next is a segment with a nuclear medicine physician (introduced by Hugo as the Super Medico Nuclear) named Dr. Angel Luis Rodriguez Rosado. The reigning Universal champion Carlos Colon is also with them. Dr. Rodriguez is here as an honorary member of El Ejercito de la Justicia and wants to talk to all the cadets of El Ejercito to tell their family members and neighbors that are medical graduates to not go anywhere on Labor Day weekend other than the annual Medical Graduates Convention (starting on August 31). He wants this to be a  new romance with the medical school and asks the cadets to help spread the word. Then the doctor then tells Carlos that he is aware of the money their time on TV costs, so he is willing to make it up with a match. He has seen some wrestlers in the gym he might be able to take on (this draws a chuckle from Carlos). In fact, he might be able to take on that guy over there in the red pants who now changed into a light blue shirt. The camera cuts to show Invader #1 talking with Miguelito Perez and the doctor calls Jose over to shake hands and say hello. Invader puts over the work the doctor has been doing and invites him to come over to Invader’s house to treat him to some ‘asopao’ and also asks the doctor to bring his neighbor Carmen Jovet along. Invader also invites Carlos but I’m not sure if Hugo’s invited as well. Carlos tells the doctor that a match won’t be necessary, just keep doing the great work that you do. The doctor says his goodbye and Carlos mentions that he hopes that the kids learn to love school, because that is the solution.

MD: Both I and Carlos got a kick out of him being introduced by the doctor as his mother’s son. But really, I’ll let Esteban explain nuclear medicine to everyone.

EB: We get a card rundown for tonight’s show in Caguas: Cage match for the Universal title as Carlos Colon defends against TNT; no time limit rematch for the Caribbean title as Invader #1 defends against Kim Duk; the debut of the Giant Warrior against Atkie Mulumba; World tag team title match as the Super Medicos with Sasha in their corner challenge Rick Valentine and Lance Idol with Monster Ripper in their corner; Huracan Castillo defends the World Junior title against Ron Starr; Carl Styles takes on El Profe in a lumberjack match, and other super bouts.

Also this Friday in Yabucoa, we have the following matches scheduled: Carlos Colon & Invader #1 vs TNT & Kim Duk; a no time limit rematch for the Caribbean tag titles where The Caribbean Express defend against Idol & Valentine; Carl Styles vs Atkie Mulumba; the Super Medicos vs the Texas Hangmen; Gama Singh vs Ron Starr; and other super bouts. And tomorrow Sunday August 26 they will be in Manati, where Invader #1 takes on TNT; Giant Warrior vs Kim Duk; Carl Styles vs Atkie Mulumba; Miguelito Perez & Gama Singh vs Lance Idol & Rick Valentine; Super Medico #1`vs Ron Starr; and Super Medico #3 vs El Profe.

After the house show rundowns, we get a video of the new arrival Giant Warrior walking around Old San Juan. He is making his debut tonight against Atkie Mulumba. After the video, El Profe is with Atkie Mulumab and cuts a promo about this 7 foot tall newcomer who wants to make a big impact on his debut by taking on Atkie Mulumba. After tonight, he is going to be 3 feet tall when Mulumba is done with him. It will be hello and goodbye tonight for the Gian Warrior. We then go to Giant Warrior, he is here to explain who he is and what his mission is. Warrior is here to destroy El Club Deportivo (which is now managed by El Profe).

MD: Wow. So, I mean, yeah. He stands around and walks slowly. In face paint. And then he has this throbbing glowing animated heart over his chest. And he holds his arms out. There’s a world where Hall stayed and feuded with TNT. Warrior kept mentioning the Sports Club in his monotone which felt weird but I guess Profe owns it now. Let’s move on.

EB: With Chicky’s departure it means we need some new interview segments to replace the Sports Shop and La Esquina Caliente, and it looks like Campeones now has Profe Confidencial. El Profe is at a desk and welcomes the viewers to his segment. It seems he has a report for El Club Deportivo on this new threat by the name of Giant Warrior. The report says that this man is over 7 feet tall and over 300 pounds and a great danger to El Club Deportivo. El Profe says that they are going to have a meeting and see how they deal with this new menace. The other order of business is that they are hoping that Invader #1 will be fined or punished in some way for the cowardly way he attacked TNT last week. Nothing has been done so far and they are waiting on the WWC to mete out some punishment. Invader won’t be able to serve as Carlos Colon’s protector tonight because the match is in a steel cage. TNT will become the new champion tonight and that is all for this segment of Profe Confidencial.

MD: I like Profe as much as the next guy but this is a lot of weight to put on him. The set up is funny with him going through files as they introduce the scene and then him sitting at a desk as if he was the principal and talking about various things happening (Giant Warrior, Invader 1 interfering, etc). I don’t think they cover it much on this episode but the Styles vs Profe bit is going to lead to a lumberjack match and that’s fun too. Still, a lot of Profe.

EB: This Campeones episode also includes two matches from the Aniversario 89 weekend we already covered, but we also get promos from TNT and Carlos Colon about tonight’s cage match. El Profe introduces TNT, saying that any Puerto Rican with a speck of dignity must recognize that this man is the rightful Universal champion. TNT says that all of Puerto Rico should celebrate, because he should have the Universal title in his hands at this moment. Last week he put old man Colon to sleep and he wants them to show the tape of what he is talking about. We go to last week in Caguas, as TNT has Colon in the Cobra Dinamita. The ref seems to be arguing with El Profe about something as TNT has the hold on. Colon starts fading and goes down to his knees. As TNT keeps the pressure on, we see Invader #1 run to the ring with a chair in hand. Invader gets in the ring and hits TNT in the back, causing a disqualification. TNT complains that he would be the champion right now if it were not for that meddling Invader. Tonight TNT asked for it to be a cage match so that Invader can’t get involved, it is just TNT and Colon tonight. He’ll be able to beat up Colon as much as he wants tonight and ‘not even the mother who birthed you will save you Colon!’.Tonight TNT will leave Carlos bathed in blood and the Universal title is coming with TNT and El Club Deportivo.

Carlos Colon responds by asking the director to show what happened earlier in the match against TNT, to show why Invader interfered in the match. They tried to steal the Universal title last week, and the members of El Ejercito de la Justicia have vowed not to let that happen because the title belongs to the people of Puerto Rico. The clip rolls and we see Carlos grab onto the rope to break the hold, but El Profe yanks the rope away right in front of the referee, something that Carlos points out and says that the ref should have broken the hold there due to that. Invader interfered to stop them from stealing the Universal title. The tecnicos are going to intervene as many times as necessary, they are tired of all this cheating and it is now an eye for an eye. And watch out, because now they have a 7 foot giant on their side, so tonight in Caguas we will see who comes out on top.

MD: TNT is a scary dude here, very passionate, very loud. Colon mentions that they have their own giant now (feels like El Gigante showing up in WCW around this time in its own way). I liked how they showed the footage TNT wanted to show first with Invader interfering and then the footage Colon wanted to show with Profe pulling back the rope.

EB: Campeones closes with some comments from Hugo and El Profe reminding fans about tonight’s card, talking about the cage match, Sasha’s return to wrestling and the debut of Giant Warrior. We also have the Superestrellas episode for August 25, so let’s go to that video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4YDnpQZsv0

Hugo opens the show talking about Monster Ripper costing the Medicos their World tag title match the previous week and as a result Sasha is making her return to back them up tonight. Also, the debut of the Giant Warrior as part of El ejercito de la Justicia. Hugo talks about the rest of the card, including the cage match that TNT requested and Carlos Colon accepted. Hugo runs down what we’ll see on today’s program, including the Monster Ripper’s Castle of Pain segment (looks like we have our Sports Shop replacement) and the tv debut of the Giant Warrior in a 3 on 1 handicap match. Once again tonight they have Gillette promoting their new Actra Plus product and they will have the commemorative photo of El Reto Para La historia available for the fans (and Carlos will also be available to sign the photo for the fans).

Our first match on this episode features Ron Starr taking on Gama Singh. Ron is now competing in the singles division and is focused specifically on going after the World Junior title. Ron is back in his wrestling trunks as opposed to the military pants he wore as part of Los Mercenarios. Hector Moyano is on commentary for this bout. Singh starts off with a side headlock and then a takedown when Starr tries to power out of it. Ron counters into a headscissors which Singh quickly gets out of. Both men stare at each other from a standing position, before locking up again. Starr briefly gets an arm lock on Gama but it is countered by an armdrag. Ron gets a side headlock but again Singh counters, this time with an arm lock takedown. Starr is able to break the hold by backing Gama into a corner, and whips him across the ring. However, Gama counters and hits an armdrag when Starr rebounds out of the corner. Another armdrag and Gama works the arm on the mat. Ron backs Gama into a corner and an Irish whip counter sees Starr hit Gama with a clothesline. Ron hits a short clothesline for a pin attempt. A slam and a kneedrop result in another unsuccessful pin attempt by Starr. A knee to the head keeps Ron in control and Starr controls most of the remainder of the match. Gama is able to get some pin attempts near the end with an inside cradle and a backslide, but soon after Ron hits a Russian leg sweep to score the pinfall win (with an assist from pulling the tights). Ron Starr is kicking off his singles journey on a good note.

We then go to a promo from Ron Starr, where he makes clear his intention to become the World Junior champion and is challenging Huracan Castillo for the title tonight in Caguas. Huracan responds, admitting that he lost last week to Starr due to a mistake Castillo made., But tonight, he won’t make the same mistake again and he’ll walk away still champion.

MD: They did a great job of using guys like Castillo, Perez, and Singh to put over new or refocused heels when they had to. Here, Starr gets a clean win with a Russian Leg Sweep out of nowhere. That match with Castillo had been non-title, but now Starr has dropped weight (not sure I see it but ok!) and was training hard and was going to challenge for the Jr. Title. You can really see the blade wrinkles on his forehead here. Or maybe they’re just wrinkles but they’re striking. Castillo admits his mistake in their last match but says the war isn’t over and if they are moving Starr into getting the Jr. title, that will be a good staple for the roster moving forward.

EB: Up next is Monster Ripper’s Castillo del Dolor (Castle of Pain) segment. The segment intro has Ripper in a fog and laughing maniacally. Her guests today are the World tag team champions, Lance Idol and Rick Valentine. Ripper shows off her Spanish speaking skills by threatening Sasha, calling her an embarrassment and that it is ridiculous to think Ripper would be afraid of anyone. Idol complains about the Medicos not being able to get the job done by themselves and having to bring in Sasha. The tag champs want payback for the Medicos putting their hands on their manager. Ripper closes the segment by again threatening Sasha and laughing maniacally.  

MD: Big fan of this in theory certainly. Ripper laughing with white smoke behind her gets the point across. Maybe an actual Castle backdrop or something would have helped. For the actual interview she has just a fenced area. I’d be curious what this looks like with someone other than Idol/Valentine.

EB: We have the debut of Giant Warrior, who is billed as being from the land of the giants. He is facing three opponents, a trio comprised of El Exotico, Mr, Tempest #2, and El Satanico (not that one). El Exotico wants to go first as his partners cheer him on from the apron. Exotico starts poking Warrior in the chest and follows up with a chop that has no effect. Exotico turns his back to Warrior and promptly gets kicked in the rear. A slam and back elbow send Exotico rolling out of the ring, and Tempest and Satanico jump in to attack Warrior. The attack only lasts a few seconds before Giant Warrior powers out and sends both men flying. Overhand chops knock both men down and Warrior is able to hold off all three rudos easily despite their best efforts at attacking him. Warrior eventually hits a big boot on Tempest and then Satanico, stacks them on top of each other, sends Exotico off the top rope to the floor and then pins both Satanico and Tempest with one foot on them. An impressive debut for the newest member of El Ejercito de la Justicia.

We then get El Profe and Arkie Mulumab talking about tonight's match, where Profe promises it will be hello and goodbye for Warrior. We then go to  Hugo interviewing Giant Warrior, who is ready for tonight’s match against Mulumba. Warrior promises to slam Mulumba’s 400 pound body tonight.
MD: Warrior moved pretty well in there actually. Satanico was a little bigger than I would have liked but the other guys were smaller. Warrior promised to slam Mulumba, which is interesting since he did basically nothing power-driven against the three guys he beat. Just shots to the guy and clubbing and big boots. I liked the idea that Warrior said he heard about Mulumba all around the world since he’s not really known of that anywhere else. I have some misgivings about that match up.

EB: We go to the clip of what happened last week during the World tag title match (which we also saw on Campeones) and then go to Hugo with the Super Medicos and Sasha. Hugo asks what is in store for tonight and Sasha says she would have accepted being there for free because she is going to stop the injustices committed by that ugly fat Monster Ripper. Medico #3 says that with Sasha in their corner they will be champions again. And Medico #1 says that every headache has its aspirin and this Ripper headache will be dealt with by Sasha. Medico #1 also closes out by sending a hello to some friends of his in Piñones.

MD: Lots of medical themed stuff in the promo. Going terminal and aspirin and what not. They said that Sasha could have just stayed at home and been a mom but she answered the call. This still does feel like something different at least.

EB: We get a card rundown for tonight’s show as well as a promo for the Wednesday tv taping that will feature Giant Warrior vs TNT, Invader #1 & Carl Styles vs Kim Duk & Atkie Mulumba, a rematch between the Caribbean Express and Idol & Valentine, and the Super Medicos taking on Ron Starr & El Profe. We then go to Carl Styles vs Kim Duk, with El Profe at ringside as Duk’s new manager. Duk starts the match by doing a salt throwing ceremony at each corner. Duk gets a side headlock to start, which Styles tries to power out of unsuccessfully. Styles does eventually send Duk into the ropes and, after being knocked down with a shoulder block, counters with an armdrag and a slam on Duk. A cover only gets one, Styles sends Duk into the corner but is hit with a knee to the midsection on the follow through. The match continues basically as a back and forth, with Duk and then Styles getting bits of offense and control of the match. Late in the bout, Styles gets control with a clothesline and attempts a backslide pin on Duk that only gets two. Styles runs the ropes but has his legs grabbed by El Profe, stopping Carl’s momentum. Styles kicks Profe away but the distraction was enough for Duk to surprise Carl with a kick to the head and get his cobra sleeper on Styles. Carl passes out and Duk wins the match. Styles still has a chance at getting some payback on El Profe tonight in Caguas when they face off in a lumberjack match. As for Kim Duk, he is angling to win the Caribbean title when faces Invader # 1 once more. Duk wakes up Styles while El Profe acts like he is going to hit Carl with the kendo stick. The ref moves in to make sure Profe does not follow through on his threat, and the rudos leave without any further incident.

We go to a series of promos. First up is El Profe and Kim Duk, who are talking about tonight's Caribbean title match. Duk asks for the tape of what happened last week to be shown. We go to the clip as Duk knocks down Invader and makes a cover for a two count. Duk puts Invader in the cobra sleeper and Invader manages to struggle in the hold until falling onto the mat. The bell rings as the time limit has been reached, but before the ref could check on Invader to see if he was out. Duk thinks he won the Caribbean title but it's actually a time limit draw. Tonight there is no time limit, so there will be no bell to save Invader this time.

Invader is with Hugo and Hugo says that we have to admit that you were saved by the bell. Invader looks at Hugo and asks what does he mean by that, and Hugo says he doesn't want to put words into Invader's mouth but it was dangerous for him last week with the bell. Invader says all right, let’s say I was saved by the bell. Invade puts over Duk’s experience, conditioning and skills, but he did not become the Caribbean champ last week. The bell may have saved Invader last week but this time there is no time limit and it is going to come down to conditioning. Invader has great conditioning, but does Kim Duk?

We end this segment of promos with a fired up Carl Styles promising that he’ll get his revenge on Profe tonight, the Puerto Rican people are behind him and want to see Carl put down El Profe. There is no running away for El Profe tonight.

MD: I thought the Profe angle went pretty well for Styles, so I’m not sure about feeding him to Duk. Profe does grab the leg at the end so that furthers their program, I guess. At the same time, Duk is wrestling Invader, second from the top and Styles is further down the card and they have theoretically replaced Hall with Giant Warrior, not Styles, so it’s fine overall. I’m not really sure that Styles can work as well as a babyface anyway. He seemed a lot smaller against Duk than when he was wrestling the good guys earlier in the year. Duk had some great backfists but not much to say about this past that.

The promos showed us a nice looking Invader vs Duk match that ended in a draw with the bell while Duk had a bloody Invader in the cobra. Nice way to build up interest for a rematch. I may not have fed Styles to Duk like this but they did cover a lot of ground in a short period of time.

EB: Our main event for the program is a continuation of our World tag title feud, as Lance Idol (with Monster Ripper at ringside) takes on Super Medico #1. Unfortunately, the video cuts out before the match ends, so we do not get the finish. The match starts with Ripper refusing to leave the ring and angering Medico #1. Both Idol and Ripper start to leave the ring area, and the ref starts talking with Ripper. As the conversation between the ref and Ripper is going on, Idol tries to sneak attack Medico #1 in the ring, but Medico was ready and caught Idol with a punch to the midsection. Medico hits several punches and a backdrop, causing Idol to beg off. Medico continues on the attack, including a ‘maquinita de golpes’, before sending Idol across the ring into the opposite corner. Medico hits a clothesline and a slam, and then goes for a cover as we hear the commercial break music start playing, This is where the video cuts out. I’m guessing Ripper got involved in the match but we don't really know how it ended. Still, these two will face off in tag action tonight with Sasha making her return to counter Monster Ripper.

MD: I like the idea of them doing singles matches here as they’re new matches to us. Monster Ripper is full on Sherri here, causing a stalling distraction early that didn’t work out for her guy. Medico has great punches but we knew that. Hard to say how this was overall as it cuts off pretty quickly.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we head into September as a new tag team debuts, we delve into Sasha’s previous run in CSP, and the Colon vs TNT feud reaches a bloody conclusion.

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