El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Turnover

Week 18: Turnover

EB: As we head into the latter half of January, it looks like there is some turnover happening in the roster and in some of the existing feuds. We saw some debuts in the beginning of the year and we’re close to saying goodbye to some of the post Aniversario roster members. We’re also at what may be crossroads regarding the top feuds in CSP.  Carlos Colon thought he had solved the outside interference problem in his matches with Leo Burke by bringing in Barba Roja to neutralize Chicky Starr. But as we saw, he didn’t count on other members of El Club Deportivo getting involved. Manny Fernandez saved Leo Burke’s Universal title reign by attacking Carlos Colon when it looked like Burke might submit to the figure four leglock. And in the ensuing chaos, Manny attacked Barba Roja with the flying kneedrop and severely injured him. How will Carlos Colon react to what happened?  We shall see. Let’s go to a Puerto Rico title match where Manny Fernandez is defending against former champion Invader #1. 

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

Eliud Gonzalez does the ring introductions, indicating that this is a Puerto Rico title match with a 30 minute time limit. Invader is making another attempt at regaining the Puerto Rico title from Manny. Hector Moyano on commentary mentions that it looked like Manny was staring disdainfully at the title belt when it was being presented by the ref, indicating that he’s disgusted with Puerto Rico. Both men are wary to lock up at first but once they do Manny takes a quick upper hand with some chops and sends Invader into the ropes. Invader counters with a  sunset flip for two, which causes Manny to back away into a corner to regroup. The ref gets Invader to back off as both wrestlers stare at each other. Another feeling out process leads to a lock up once again. Manny gets the advantage and shoots Invader once more into the ropes, but Invader ducks a clothesline and counters with a crossbody for a one count. Invader goes for an inside cradle and that gets two. Invader’s strategy is one of trying to score the pinfall whenever the opportunity is there. Manny goes outside to stop Invader’s momentum and complains to the ref about his pin counts. El Vikingo starts the ring out count on Manny as he slowly gets on the apron while continuing to complain at the official (you can also see Chicky voicing his complaints at ringside and to the camera). Both wrestlers face off again but when they go to lock up, Manny quickly puts on an armbar and forces Invader down to the mat. The advantage is short lived, as Invader fights to his feet and counters with two arm wringers and a drop toe hold to take Manny down to the mat. Manny eventually is able to fight out of the hold and sends Invader into the ropes, hitting a hiptoss. A followup elbow misses, and Invader counters with a hiptoss of his own and is back to working on Manny’s arm. 

Manny eventually works out of the armbar by hitting headbutt, but Invader is able to hiptoss Manny again and work the arm once more. This has not been Manny’s match so far. Eliud on commentary mentions that we are in Dorado for this match. Invader continues working and attacking the arm. We go to commercial break and when we come back Invader still has Manny in the armbar. Manny finally is able to turn things around by sending Invader into the ropes and hitting his rolling elbow smash. This stuns Invader enough to allow Manny to attack him with some headbutts and then a kneedrop. Manny hits four rapid fire elbow drops on Invader and goes for the pin. He only gets a two count. A back suplex gets two as you can hear some fans start chanting for Invader. A short arm clothesline by Manny goes into an immediate pin attempt for two. Manny works a reverse chinlock, leading to the referee to check on Invader via arm drops. Invader keeps his arm up and fights out of the hold. It looks like Invader may be starting a comeback. Manny and Invader have a blow exchange (including chops, headbutts and elbows), Invader knocks Manny down with a clothesline and starts getting fired up, slapping his chest and doing his short hops. 

Invader and Manny again exchange blows, but Manny counters Invader coming off the ropes by side stepping and throwing Invader through the ropes to the outside. As Manny distracts the ref, Chicky almost immediately starts attacking Invader, with both men exchanging blows on the outside. Manny blindsides Invader from behind by jumping off the ring apron with a blow. Manny rolls Invader back into the ring, hits a slam and decides to go to the top turnbuckle. It looks like he is setting up to hit a flying kneedrop, the same move that severely injured Invader #3 and more recently took out Barba Roja. Miguelito Perez rushes into the ring and attacks Manny, causing a disqualification. It looks like El Ejercito de la Justicia does not want any more injuries occurring from Manny’s flying kneedrop. Manny fights Miguelito off however, and sends him over the top rope to the floor. Chicky tells Manny to go to the other turnbuckle to try again, but as Manny starts climbing that turnbuckle we see him get shoved off by Carlos Colon. On the other side of the ring, Miguelito had grabbed Invader by the legs and was dragging him outside of the ring to safety. Carlos (in his suit and tie) starts ferociously attacking Manny, wanting revenge for what Manny did to his trainer Barba Roja. The fight spills to the outside as Carlos and Manny continue fighting. Manny is able to ram Carlos into a lighting rig to momentarily halt the attack, but Carlos recovers and continues right after Manny. Carlos gets his head rammed against a ringside table but still continues grabbing onto Manny and attacking. Now it’s Manny who gets rammed face first into the table. Both men are bleeding and punching each other on the floor. Eliud mentions that we’re basically watching a streetfight here between Carlos and Manny. Carlos throws Manny back in the ring and they continue tussling as the commentators note that it’s a bit hard to be able to attack while dressed in a suit since your movement is more restricted. Manny bails to the outside but Carlos gives chase and the video ends with Carlos still attacking Manny at ringside. Carlos wants Manny’s blood for what happened to Barba Roja and it looks like his attention has shifted away from Leo Burke and the Universal title. 

MD: This was a very fun title match on TV until it all broke down. Manny fed into Invader’s arm control early. Just two guys who knew exactly how to build that early stage of making a champion look vulnerable to the challenger’s superior wrestling. Manny was one of the best every at hitting a picture perfect cutoff off the ropes and he took over after that. And of course, Invader’s maybe the best ever at timing and portraying his comeback. Here when he got the first shot in and recoiled to show how far he still had to climb, the crowd went nuts. Eventually, Manny desperately cut him off by tossing him to the outside and Chicky got involved and it all ended with Colon rushing in, still wearing his tie, and brawling with Manny. The match was definitely a means to an end to set up the post-match but it was an enjoyable journey to get there.

EB: With the issues surrounding Manny (both with Colon and Invader) ,a tag match happened between Burke and Manny versus Carlos and Invader #1. We go to highlights of that tag match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRHzkyi4_lo

We join the match with Invader making the hot tag to Carlos Colon, who starts exchanging blows with Manny Fernandez. Carlos gets the better of that exchange and knocks Manny down with a clothesline. A cartwheel follows as Manny begs off but Carlos presses the atack. While this is happening, Invader is standing outside of the ring, leaning on the ring apron and trying to recover from the damage he has taken so far. Carlos hits a clothesline as Chicky on the outside rushes Invader and rams Invader’s head into the ringpost. We cut to Carlos attacking Burke in the ring and we see Chicky rush towards a downed Invader (who is bleeding from the head) and repeatedly kick him in the face. There is no love lost on Chicky’s part towards Invader. We see some wrestlers come out to check on Invader as the match continues on. We cut to later in the match as Carlos is still on the attack vs Leo Burke, while outside of the ring they are trying to bandage Invader’s head. The wrestlers on the outside (they look familiar and it’s almost like seeing double, we’ll discuss them in more detail next time) try to help Invader to his feet as Carlos gets Burke in a sleeperhold. Manny rushes Carlos from behind to break it up and now the rudos are double teaming Carlos. Invader doesn’t seem to be reacting too well so the wrestlers help Invader to the back as Carlos is still being double teamed by Burke and Manny. Later in the match, Carlos has been busted open as both Burke and Manny continue punching Carlos repeatedly in the head. The ref calls for a disqualification since Burke and Manny are ignoring his orders for one of them to exit the ring. Burke and Manny setup Carlos for the flying kneedrop, but Invader rushes out to the ring and shoves Manny off the top turnbuckle. Burke, Manny and Chicky decide to run to the safety of the locker room as Carlos and Invader go after them. Carlos runs over to the ringside table and grabs the ringbell (which he tosses to Invader) and a chair as they continue to head towards the locker room entrance. As the clip ends, we hear Hugo say that they are on their way to try to break down the rudo locker room door.  

MD: We come in with Invader’s hot tag. He had been opened up and it’s a shame we miss the heat on this. Invader’s tended to immediately after the tag and thereby basically out of the match. It’s neat to see Colon’s comeback after a tag, cartwheel and all, as he comes in a house of fire. He also hits some great neckbreaker drops on Burke. Just when he locks the sleeper on, Manny flies in to break it up and they double team until they get DQed. Invader runs back out, bandaged up, to stop them from injuring Colon though. What we got of this looked really good and I bet the whole thing was great.

EB: We’ve seen two of Chicky’s Club Deportivo members in action but a third member had officially debuted at the start of the year. Harley Race won the Caribbean title and is looking to make an impact in Puerto Rico. Let’s look at him in action against Mark Youngblood.

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

We get Mark in singles action against Harley. Mark gets the better of Race in the initial exchange,as Harley goes to the outside to regroup. The commentators (Eliud and Moyano) are talking about the seven time World champion’s pedigree. Race is back in the ring and Mark continues in control with a slam. Mark continues getting the better of Race as the commentators talk about how Chicky has been bragging about having Race in his stable and that he is the Caribbean champion. Race counters a side headlock into a back suplex, and follows it up with a measured knee drop. A fisherman suplex follows for the three count. Although Harley didn’t dominate the match, his experience came through and he was successful against Mark Youngblood. We’ll have to see if Harley gets more involved in the goings on between El Club Deportivo and El Ejercito de la Justicia.

MD: They covered a lot of ground in two minutes here. That meant Race let his punches get blocked early with a bit of stooging and a retreat out of the ring. He tried a cheapshot but Mark got the better of him off the ropes. Then Race shifted gears from bumping and stooging to ever so casually taking over by turning a headlock into a belly to back, hitting a kneedrop, and winning with the fisherman’s suplex. They could have done this same match in ten minutes but the cliff notes version was interesting, in as it still felt kind of effective at two. 

EB: One wrestler who has been a notable presence throughout the last three months of 1989 has been Gary Albright. Built up as a monster on tv with his Albright lock, amateur abilities and his belly to belly suplex, Albright unfortunately has not been as successful when challenging some of the higher ranked tecnicos. Albright had been unsuccessful in challenging Invader and Miguelito Perez for their titles but still continued to impress on tv. However, as the month of January wound down, Gary Albright’s run in Puerto Rico would come to a close. We have a couple of matches of Albright from the late 89 period just to round out our look at Gary Albright in Puerto Rico. And to finish our look at Albright, we’ll see him take on TNT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h--cUAZoYEE

Our first match harkens back to the period where Albright was being built up as a monster. Here he is facing Maelo Huertas and Armando Fernandez in a handicap match. Both tecnicos try to team up on Albright to start, but Gary is able to fight them off and attacks them one at a time, ending the match by slamming Maelo on top of Armando and pinning both of them.

MD: Totally elementary in one minute. Albright just pushed people away from him until he could isolate one, a power slam, a slam of the other onto the first, and the win. That’s how you book a monster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx9YB5TQJYc

EB: Our second match is a TV match against Miguelito Perez. This appears to be from before Albright challenged Perez for the Caribbean title at the end of 1989. The commentators mention that this is a tough challenge for Perez, as Gary has the power and size advantage. Albright just dominates Perez with knee strikes and an elbow in the corner. Perez tries to fire back with punches, but they have no effect on Albright. Perez finds an opening when Albright puts his head down too early when Miguelito is coming off the ropes, getting an inside cradle for a two count. Albright goes back on offense and Perez is only able to come back when Gary makes another mistake by missing a charge into the corner. Perez is able to knock Gary down with a clothesline but misses his own  charge into the corner. Albright sends Perez into the corner twice and hits a shoulder tackle (a bit weak on contact) and then an elbow drop for the win (with Perez kicking out at three). It looks like we’re somewhere in between the Albright Lock being dropped and the belly to belly coming into play as his finisher.

MD: We have a number of PR matches with Albright where he works far too weak and scared. He’s a monster. He should act like one. Here in a two and a half minute match, he does, just relentlessly swarming Perez. I’m not saying his stuff looks great necessarily but it almost doesn’t have to because he’s such a relatively imposing figure and because he’s so persistent with it. Perez takes over on a missed charge but then misses one of his own and Albright clunkily puts him down for a big elbow drop. Sort of surprising how much of a squash this was but Perez had the banana peel of hitting hard in the corner to excuse it. If Albright worked like this all the time in PR he would have been way more marketable. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsDIBG68eCI

EB: We finish our look at Gary Albright with a match against TNT. And yes, it looks like Albright is facing Kwang instead but it is TNT (we’ll explain shortly why TNT is wearing a mask). TNT starts off very aggressive, throwing a kick at El Profe to scare him away from ringside and getting the early offense on Albright. A spin kick sends Albright to the outside to regroup. Albright and Profe start complaining that it was an illegal throat hit and that Albright should be the winner by disqualification. The ref tells Albright to get back in the ring. Albright wins a lock up by backing up TNT into a corner and hits a chop, but that only gets TNT animated and he scares Albright off. TNT is really fired up for some reason (we’ll find out why soon). Albright keeps trying to find an opening but TNT starts attacking Albright in the corner with several strikes. However, Gary hits one chop that sends TNT backwards and now Albright has the opening needed to go on the attack. Albright controls the middle portion of the match, using his size and power (and some choking and interference from Profe) to maintain control. TNT at one point counters with a crossbody but Profe has the ref distracted and the pin only gets two. Albright shifts his focus of attack to TNT’s back, putting him in a couple of bearhugs to use his size advantage. Albright also uses an abdominal stretch (with El Profe assisting) to further weaken TNT’s back. The turning point comes when Albright decides to go to the top and is too slow, allowing TNT to catch him at the top. TNT slams Albright and follows that with a thrust kick. TNT continues attacking Albright but Gary is able to counter a throw into the corner and starts punching TNT. The ref tries to get Gary to back off and gets caught with the follow through of Albright’s punches. As Gary turns to see the ref on the ground, TNT seizes the opening and uses the ropes to hit a double leg kick that sends Gary backwards. Albright trips over the ref and TNT quickly jumps on top to use the leverage and get the pinfall. This is it for Gary Albright in Puerto Rico, his last appearance in the available results is February 2 where he was scheduled to face Victor Jovica.

MD: And if Albright will get controlled by Perez at the 1989 year end show, of course he’s going to beg off and hide behind the ref against TNT, only ever taking over because of Profe’s interference. I really do think there’s something to the dissonance of an Olympic level threat being a big coward, but it’s also sort of limiting. Albright likely learned a lot about what a pro wrestling heel could be during this stint but I think he used it to better focus him over the years to come. TNT did a decent amount of fighting from underneath here, including having to deal with a bear hug, but when it was time, he came back with a huge kick (after another missed splash) and they went into a really fun finish where the ref got knocked down and then TNT tripped Albright over him.

EB: One other stalwart of the last few months of 1989 has been the team of Angel Acevedo and Gerry Morrow. On their debut they won the Caribbean tag titles from the team of Perez and Castillo and have recently been challenging the Youngbloods for the World tag team titles. We’ve recently uncovered a recap of that feud between Los Mercenarios and Perez and Castillo, so let's take the opportunity to see how this feud played out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T_U4Npdumg

This video starts off already in progress as we revisit the singles matches held at Aniversario 89 in Mayaguez. We start with the second singles match where Perez won. However, here we see that after the match Los Mercenarios attacked Castillo and Perez, in particular having a prolonged double team attack on Perez as Casitllo had been knocked to the outside. Huracan is able to get back in the ring with a chair to chase off the rudos, but we see that Miguelito has been busted open and left laying. We go to another match held on October 18 in Toa Alta, where Castillo is facing Acevedo. The attempted interference from Morrow backfires as he instead splashes his tag partner, allowing Castillo to get the pinfall win. Our next highlight is from October 21 in Bayamon, this is the rematch for the Caribbean tag titles. Perez and Castillo were in control but Morow manages to hotshot Perez on the top rope. Los Mercenarios send Perez over the top rope, drawing a disqualification. Los Mercenarios continued attacking Perez and Castillo after the match.

We go to October 28 where the two teams are once again facing off for the Caribbean tag titles. Perez and Castillo are once again in control but Perez accidentally runs into Castillo ,which turns the tide in favor of Los Mercenarios and allows them to get the win. Both teams squared off once more on November 8 in Toa Alta, with Perez cleaning house on both Mercenarios. All four men end up in the ring and the bell rings as it’s a time limit draw. Both teams continue fighting after the bell. The next highlight is from November 11 in Yabucoa, as once again Perez and Castillo are in control when Morrow backdrops Perez over the top rope and draws a disqualification for his team. Our last highlight comes from November 22 in Manati. This time it’s Castillo cleaning house as Miguelito is down on the apron recovering. Once again all four men end up in the ring, but as the ref escorts Perez out of the ring Los Mercenarios blindside Castillo from behind and roll him up for the win. This feud looks to have spanned over two months and we still don’t have a full tag match between the two teams. But at least we can see how the feud progressed. . .

We do have one more match featuring Castillo and a partner taking on Los Mercenarios (we’ve seen a few iterations of this in previous posts). But this time, Castillo might have his strongest non Perez partner yet in Super Medico.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRURCN19eI

As you would expect from the tecnico tag team combination ,they perform very well against Acevedo and Morrow. Both Castillo and Medico have had extensive tag experience (even if not with each other). The tecnico team is clearly in control of this match, with Castillo and Medico easily keeping the match flow against both Mercenarios while tagging in and out. Los Mercenarios are only able to turn the tide when Acevedo sneaks into the ring to catch Castillo unaware with a clothesline. Castillo is able to tag out and Medico handles both Mercenarios with ease. Medico goes for a couple of pin attempts o n Acevedo that are broken up by Morrow. This draws Castillo into the ring. Castillo and Medico ram Los Mercenarios into each other. Castillo tries to send Morrow into the corner, but Morrow counters. However, Morrow’s charge is dodged by Castillo and Morrow goes through the ropes. As the ref escorts Castillo out of the ring, Medico hits a crossbody block on Acevedo. But as has happened many times before, Morrow takes advantage of the ref having his back turned and comes off the top rope onto Medico, allowing Acevedo to get the pinfall. 

MD: My big takeaway from both the 5 match recap and the Medico/Castillo match is just how valuable Cuban Assassin and Jerry Morrow were during this span. They were credible, reviled, nasty, worked just as hard as they had to in order to get their comeuppance early on or towards the end of a match, had a lot of different, believable ways to win. Morrow could come off the rope at any moment or they could hit a double team like a spike pile driver out of nowhere. They had the size and presence, even if not necessarily the athleticism to hit a believable cut off clothesline or just a shoulder block no matter how fiery the babyfaces’ offense are and they were physically memorable enough to play into comedy beats if need be. These were two guys that would never get a major run with WWF or WCW (note: Major) at this point but that had tons of value when put in the right spot and in the right way. Likewise, you could believe that Castillo and Medico could win at any point. The hierarchy was loose and the crowd was with them. When Medico rolled up Assassin, I thought it was possible (right until Morrow came sailing off the top to cut it off).

EB: As we’ve seen previously, Los Mercenarios had been involved in rivalry with the Youngbloods for the World tag team titles. When we last saw the two teams tangle, it was in a strap match where Los Mercenarios had the match won if not for the referee not seeing Acevedo hitting the turnbuckle first. Due to the circumstances of the finish, Los Mercenarios were granted another shot at the World tag team titles. This time, on the first weekend of February, Los Mercenarios defeated the Youngbloods and captured the World tag titles. However, this was not the Mercenarios team we’ve seen since Aniversario 89. 

https://youtu.be/BhYSZS_pnVY

We bid goodbye to Gerry Morrow as we have a new tag partner for Acevedo in Rambo Ron Starr. We previously saw Ron Starr take on Leo Burke in October of 1989, but before that he had quite the memorable three year stint as Chicky’s cousin and accomplice. He’s back now, and while the last time we saw him was as a tecnico, it appears he has fallen back to the side of the rudos. He’s aligned himself with El Profe (still selling the fallout he had with Chicky) and this is the New Mercenarios tv debut. However, a very important piece of information is mentioned at the start of the match. While this is the team’s tv debut, they had actually already competed the previous weekend against the Youngbloods for the World tag team titles. And on their first weekend teaming together, Acevedo and Starr defeated the Youngbloods for the World tag team titles. Does that make them double tag champions? We’ll find out next time if that’s the case.

The opponents for Acevedo and Starr are Super Medico and Herbert Gonzalez, and while Medico can definitely get the job done I’m not sure if Herbert is up to the task.  Medico starts off for his team and does well against both Starr and Acevedo, but the tide turns once Herbert gets in the ring. The commentators make note that Rambo Ron Starr is back, looks to have gotten bigger and that he is quite the reinforcement for El Profe and Mercenario #1. El Profe brags about his team winning the World tag titles right off the bat and that no one will be able to defeat them. Herbert tries but Starr just outclasses him in the ring. Herbert is able to back Ron into the corner and tag Medico back in, with Medico hitting a flurry of punches on Ron. Medico hits an elbow and dropkick on Ron but decides to tag Herbert back in. Ron rakes Herbert’s eyes and hits the DDT (which had been established during Starr’s previous run as his finisher) for the win. A strong showing for the new World tag champions in their tv debut. Super Medico might need to rethink his choice of tag partner next time.

MD: Rambo Ron Starr is in for Morrow and he adds a little more motion and speed to the proceedings. More oomph on rope running. Quicker to bump and feed. All while still being rugged and mean. This was just a few minutes long and not much of a showcase really. It went back and forth though Los Mercenarios were always just an eyerake away from taking back over and then controlled the ring well. Starr won with a DDT out of nowhere.

EB: Another newcomer we briefly saw in our last post is Eddie Watts, who hails from Canada and appears to have his sights set on the World Junior title held by Super Medico. Let’s take a look at Watts in action against Herbert Gonzalez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEYpj--hEnM 

The first detail is that Eddie Watts is managed by Chicky Starr, so we have another new member of El Club Deportivo. This match is mainly a showcase for the new arrival, as Watts pretty much is in control of Herbert throughout the match. Eliud on commentary gives Eddie’s vital stats, including that he hails from Winnipeg, was World Junior champion in Canada and studied at the University of Calgary. Watts’s offense looks fine if basic for the junior division but it’s clear Chicky has brought him in to continue the quest for all of the titles (he already has the Universal, Puerto Rico and Caribbean champions in his stable). Eliud tells the fans that Eddie’s favorite maneuver is the Canadian guillotine. An ax handle from the bottom turnbuckle doesn't connect well and Herbert briefly looks to start a comeback. Watts is able to stop Herbert with a boot to the face and eventually wins the match with an Alabama Jam off the top rope (I’m guessing this is the aforementioned Canadian guillotine). Eddie celebrities and motions that he wants the title.   

MD: Watts seems like he should be beneath Chicky’s notice as a charge, but I guess Chicky wanted to go after the Junior title and needed a warm body. He is not a familial Watts, only one in name. This was not the world’s most impressive showing either. He had a great finish with his take on the Alabama Jam, but his double axe handle off of the BOTTOM turnbuckle was so ineffectual that Gonzalez fired up on him after absorbing it. Overall, Watts seemed competent enough but he’s going to need his opponents to do a bunch of the heavy lifting, I think.

EB: As to why Chicky would have interest in the World Junior title, besides the goal of his stable holding all of the titles, the World Junior title is one singles title that Chicky himself had held previously, as recently as 1989. In fact, the reigning World Junior champion, Super Medico, had a brief feud with Chicky in the summer of 89 where they traded the title back and forth. As recently as the Thanksgiving Day show Chicky had challenged for the World Junior title, and while we didn’t have the footage available when we covered the event, we do have video of that match available now. Let’s take the opportunity to see Super Medico and Chicky Starr in action battling for the World Junior title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awsBNzSBjx8 

We join the match in progress and we see that Chicky is still growing his hair back from Aniversario. This is a good showcase for both Chicky and Super Medico as we really haven't been able to see them in this setting as much. The video opens with Chicky in control, hitting a wristlock throw on Medico and then putting on a headlock. Medico reverses into a hammerlock but Chicky makes the ropes. Chicky buys time by staying in the corner and telling the ref to keep Medico away. As the ref is talking with Medico, Chicky appears to reach for something that was in his kneepad. The ref checks the kneepad at Medico’s request but doesn’t find anything. Chicky looks pleased with himself as he sort of prances around the ring. Hugo calls the movement weird and thinks it may be a tactic to throw Medico off his game. Chicky goes into the ropes to prevent Medico from attacking him and the ref tells Medico to step back. Hugo talks about how Medico is a complete wrestler on both offense and defense. Chicky continues stalling as the crowd gets on his case. Finally, they lock up and Medico takes Chicky down to the mat. Chicky eventually breaks the hold by reaching the ropes. Chicky wins a blow exchange and struts a bit before continuing his attack on Medico. 

The match continues with Medico gaining the advantage, but Chicky is able to stay in it with some counters, including using Medico's tights as leverage and ramming him head first into the turnbuckle. A kneedrop leads to a pin attempt, but Chicky’s cover is a bit too cocky and Medico kicks out. Hugo channels Gorilla Monsoon a bit by saying that he’s not going to win if he doesn’t hook the leg. Chicky continues with a focused attack on Medico's head and neck area. Medico fights out of the clutch hold Chicky had on. Medico is slow to get up as Chicky is a bit frustrated that the hold was broken, but he immediately starts attacking Medico with kicks. Chicky uses the ropes to leverage a double kick and push Medico to the floor. Chicky again starts prancing a bit in the ring (Hugo says that Chicky is doing those weird moves again) as Medico slowly gets back in the ring. Chicky sends Medico into the ropes but makes the mistake of putting his head down a bit too soon and Medico counters with an elbow to the back of Chicky’s head. Medico takes over with a series of punch combinations, including his signature punches off the top rope. Medico hits a hiptoss and a shoulder tackle but the video skips ahead as Medico is going for a second shoulder tackle. Just before the video skips ahead, we see Chicky start grabbing the referee. The video comes back to Chicky pinning a downed Medico as the ref calls for the bell. Based on the context, it looks like Chicky grabbed the referee and pulled him into Medico’s tackle. Chicky then may have knocked Medico out with the foreign object he had been hiding earlier. However, the ref has disqualified Chicky for pulling him into the shoulder tackle. Chicky thinks he won but the ref lowers Chicky’s arm and raises Medico’s instead. Medico immediately chases Chicky out of the ring as the crowd cheers. Chicky makes a hurried exit as he is flanked by security and the fans throw garbage at him. Medico retains the World Junior title.  

MD: Tremendous sub-10 minute match, one of my favorites I’ve seen for this project so far. It’s mostly strikes but they’re all really good. There’s some BS with Chicky avoiding the lockup or trying to hide an object, but a lot of what hits are these great forearms or mean kicks and stomps. Medico’s stuff looks great when he fires back or gets a knee in. And of course, Chicky throws his head into every shot. There is a bit of a clip at the end, but you can get the idea. Chicky got desperate, cheated in a blatant way, lost the match. It’s great to see him do his thing with such a game opponent though.

EB: We’ll continue to follow Eddie Watts and his challenge for the World Junior title next time. 

Leo Burke has been able to retain the Universal title so far in January, although it may appear that the rise was a bit sudden based on the tv performances we’ve been able to review.  But as a bit more footage has been uncovered, we’ve discovered Burke had faced almost the entire tecnico side before facing off against Colon. While Burke has been able (so far) to stave off Colon’s attempts at regaining the Universal title, there are some other potential challengers in the tecnico camp. And Lro is not a stranger to any of them. Let’s go back a moment to the fall of 89 to add some more context to Leo’s rise to the top of the challenger rankings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3xl_nuA5A 

This is from late fall of 1989, as Leo Burke continues to rise up the contender rankings and is facing the TV champion TNT in a non title match. If you recall Burke had faced TNT in early November as part of Chicky’s continued quest to avenge the humiliation suffered at Aniversario when Chicky lost his hair. Hector Moyano mentions that both wrestlers are looking to rise up the Universal title rankings. We get the pre-match hug between Burke and Chicky and Eliud Goznalez comments on how TNT makes his presence felt with his fabulous face paint. There’s a bit of a staredown before both men lock up. TNT backs Burke into a corner but is forced to break by the ref. Burke tries to punch TNT off a second lock up but the punch is blocked and Leo immediately bails from the ring. Burke takes his time getting back in and attempts to sucker punch TNT off a lockup. TNT was ready and swats Leo’s hand away. Burke backs away but when the ref tells TNT to keep his distance, Leo takes the opening and lunges with a kick, surprising TNT and allowing Burke to gain control of the match. Burke attacks TNT in the corner with chops and a choke. He follows that up with a snapmare and some kneedrops. TNT counters by sending Burke into the ropes and eventually hits a crossbody for two. Burke begs off as we go to commercial break. 

Back from the break, we see TNT lying on the mat with Burke in control once more. However, Burke sends TNT into the ropes, where TNT ducks two clothesline attempts and hits a spin kick. TNT goes for a pin but Burke breaks the count by putting his leg on the rope. TNT goes back on the attack and hits a side kick to the face. TNT makes the cover but Chicky has jumped on the ring apron and is distracting the referee. Burke takes the opportunity to toss TNT over the top rope and it looks like TNT landed on his knee (he starts holding his knee in pain). TNT stumbles a few times trying to get back in the ring, his knee looks to be hurting and causing him issues in standing. Burke suplexes TNT into the ring and goes for a pin attempt that gets two. TNT ducks a punch and hits an atomic drop on Burke, but the move causes more damage to TNT’s injured knee and TNT cannot follow up. Burke goes after TNT’s injured knee and is able to put the figure four leglock on. TNT tries to hold on and fight out of the hold but the pain is too much and he submits. Burke has won the match and moves up the Universal title rankings. Post-match, Burle leaves the figure-four on for a while longer before breaking the hold. Chicky and Burke celebrate as they leave the ring while the ref checks on TNT who is still clearly in pain.    

MD: Burke’s looked great in this run so it’s nice to be able to flesh things out with a few missing puzzle pieces. He stalled to start and then fed for TNT, which was typical for him but hasn’t gotten old yet. We miss the transition and have no idea how long the heat was due to the commercial but we come back with TNT’s comeback, hitting the spin wheel kick off the ropes. Chicky intervenes after the superkick though, letting Burke toss TNT through the ropes, hurting his knee. From there, TNT would get spots in (an atomic drop and a knee lift) but would be too hurt to capitalize and Burke eventually gets him to cleanly submit to the figure-four, putting Burke over huge and only protecting TNT a little. 

EB: Burke managed to get past TNT on his way to the top of the rankings, but how will he do against Invader #1? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5RLgNgTYs0  

We are again in late fall of1989 as Burke faces one fo the top tecnicos in Invader#1. As the ring introductions are made, Invader tries to get at Chicky, which causes Burke to get in front of Chicky as he bails to the outside. Burke also joins Chicky outside after the bell rings, he hasn’t taken his jacket off yet. Chicky helps Leo take the jacket off and we get their pre-match hug. Burke gets back in the ring and the action starts. Invader gets a quick roll up attempt but Leo kicks out and immediately goes outside to halt Invader’s momentum. Burke gets back in, complaining his tights were pulled. Invader quickly takes Burke down to the mat and Leo tries to call a timeout. Invader uses a pair of arm wringers and a drop toe hold to gain control, but Burke soon counters and hits a knee to take over. We go to commercial break as Leo is on offense and come back with Burke still in control, working over Invader’s arm. Invader is able to briefly counter with a slam, but a knee to the midsection cuts him off and Burke continues in control. Burke focuses his attacks on Invader’s arm. Invader makes a comeback via several chops, and a backdrop gets two. A clothesline knocks Burke down, who immediately rolls out of the ring. Invader follows right behind, and a chase around the ring begins. Burke manages to get to the ring apron and kicks Invader away, but looks to hurt his leg jumping back into the ring. Invader immediately goes for a figure four attempt, but Burke was playing possum and counters into an inside cradle for the pinfall. Burke joyously celebrates by doing some squats to show his knee is fine and points at his head as he exits the ring. Burke has faced pretty much all of El Ejercito de la Justicia and has come out on top. He’s definitely earned the number one contender spot and, as we know , Burke would win the Universal title soon after.  

MD: Burke and Invader are very well matched. Invader’s able to make the most of Burke’s stooging and stalling early. Burke eventually takes over on the arm which is a nice bit of variety as he usually targets the leg. Invader punches out of the corner for his comeback and they go into a great finish where Burke bounds into the ring from the outside, feigns a hurt leg, and then rolls Invader up after he attempts a figure-four to capitalize. Post match, Burke bounces around gloating. Good stuff. 

EB: As January of 1990 progressed, Leo Burke had managed to retain the Universal title against Carlos Colon (although not necessarily by clean methods). With Manny Fernandez getting involved and seriously injuring Barba Roja, Carlos Colon's attention is now divided between wanting revenge against Manny and wanting to regain the Universal title. In addition, Manny’s involvement has brought Invader #1 closer to Burke’s sphere and he could potentially be a challenger for Leo’s Universal title. However, an incident occurred in January that would set the stage for who Burke’s next challenger would be.
A new match called La Ruleta Rusa (The Russian Roulette) was announced on tv. In essence, it was a match where in order to compete, the wrestlers involved each had to put something up in a wager (basically making it an ‘apuestas’ match). The match ended up being TNT vs Leo Burke, with each man putting something up. Burke wagered his beard against TNT’s face paint, meaning Chicky Starr had one more chance to see TNT stripped of part of his identity (remember the whole ‘Original TNT’ plot in 89 that saw Chicky lose his hair in an apuestas match at Aniversario). In the closing moments of the Ruleta match, Chicky grabbed his opportunity. While the ref was distracted, Chicky slipped a foreign object to Leo Burke, who proceeded to knock TNT out with said object. Before the ref turned his attention back to the wrestlers, to everyone’s bewilderment, Burke lay down on the mat with TNT on top of him. The ref started his count put Burke countered TNT’s ‘pin’ at two and won the match. It was a ruse so that the referee would not notice TNT knocked out. Due to the match stipulations, TNT lost the right to wear his face paint. TNT was furious after the event, rightfully feeling cheated out of part of his identity. He vowed he would have his revenge on Burke and Chicky. And he vowed that he would not show his face until he was able to defeat Burke. That is the reason TNT was wearing a mask in the match against Gary Albright, he was still on his quest to avenge his humiliation (also explains why he was a bit aggressive). And TNT got his chance against Burke in a non title match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lro0uCvI-8

We have a brief two minute clip of the match ending. We are in Isabela as Burke exits the ring and the masked TNT goes after him. Hugo mentions that the crowd has been mainly on their feet witnessing the uncontrolled fury of TNT on Leo Burke. TNT attacks Leo with chops on the outside of the ring as the ref starts the ring out count. A nifty spin kick knocks Burke down and TNT starts punching Burke on the ground. TNT throws Burke back in the ring, with Burke stumbling backwards into a sitting position. Burke is bleeding and TNT continues his attack as Burke rolls out of the ring to safety once more. TNT goes out after Burke but is surprised by a kick and Leo tries to ram him into the guardrail. The crowd obscures a few moments of the action but we then see Burke stumble backwards as TNT kicks him towards the ring. Burke rolls back in and then back out via  a different side trying to get away. TNT still gives chase. A tired Burke tries to leave the ring area but TNT grabs him from behind and rams him into the barricade. TNT drags Leo back to the rinside area and continues attacking him around the ring as the ref continues the count.  Leo gets on the ring apron and is able to fight TNT off long enough to fall back in the ring and get the win by countout. TNT was not able to defeat Burke and has yet to avenge his humiliation. 

MD: Full credit to TNT for all of the ways he refocused and reimagined himself during this run. You’d think that a facepainted ninja would be a bit one-note but they kept coming up with things. Here it was the mask. Anyway, he beats Burke around the ring with punches and kicks but then they do a banana peel finish where Burke just barely beats the count and gets a foot on TNT to stop him for a countout win. More meat on the bone.

EB: TNT was still furious and wanted to fight Burke but with the loss he wasn’t scheduled as Burke’s next challenger. It was Carlos Colon,who had the next title shot. But Carlos, understanding what TNT was going through in wanting to avenge the humiliation, decided to give his title shot to TNT (Carlos said it was a case of allowing TNT his chance at revenge). As the month of January came to a close, TNT now had another chance to face Leo Burke, this time with the Universal title on the line.   

Next time on El Deporte de la Mil Emociones, we head into February of 1990. We'll continue following the developments in the different feuds between El Ejercito de la Justicia and El Club Deportivo. Also, more new faces make their debut as the tag team division heats up.
 

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Welcome to 1990

Week 17: Welcome to 1990

EB: The year 1989 was an eventful one in Puerto Rican wrestling. A year that started with Carlos Colon vanquishing his rival Hercules Ayala and sending him packing from Puerto Rico, it included such moments as the return of Invader #1 to the ring, the arrival of Sadistic Steve Strong and his reign as Universal champion, the continued rise of TNT as a singles star, a hurricane hitting the island and postponing Aniversario, Carlos Colon being put on the shelf with a shoulder injury and making a comeback to regain the Universal title, the retirement of Invader #3, several notable names such as JYD, Jimmy Valiant, Kerry Von Erich and Ivan Koloff (among others) making appearances in the territory, and a final battle between Colon and Strong to determine who stayed on the island. It’s been a fun and learning experience for us, and I hope you’ve enjoyed and learned about Puerto Rican wrestling throughout our look at most of 1989. But time marches on and so does our journey, as the calendar now reads 1990.

The new year arrives with a new Universal champion in the form of one Leo Burke. The proclaimed master of the figure-four leglock had been able to defeat Carlos Colon thanks to weeks of repeated damage to Colon’s knee throughout their series of matches. The big blow came at La Gran Guerra where El Club Deportivo focused their post-match attack exclusively on Colon’s knee. This came to a head the next day in Mayaguez where, with the pain in his knee becoming unbearable, Carlos Colon was pinned while in the figure four leglock. While Chicky Starr celebrated that once again his stable had the Universal champion, all of the other singles titles remained in the hands of El Ejercito de la Justicia (despite the best effort of the rudos). Now, all attention is on the customary Three Kings Day show that signals the beginning of the new wrestling season. The main event is a rematch for the Universal title featuring Carlos Colon challenging new champion Leo Burke. Carlos had vowed on tv that he was working on making sure his knee got healthy in the three weeks between the season ender of 1989 and the January 6 Three Kings Day card. We also have several other title matches on the card, some stemming from issues that arose at the 1989 season ender. So let’s begin our journey through 1990 with the happenings from Three Kings day weekend.

Before getting to the Three Kings day weekend proper, let’s take a moment to recap who the champions are currently: Leo Burke (Universal), Invader #1 (Puerto Rico), TNT (Television), Miguel Perez Jr. (Caribbean) and Super Medico (World Junior). Our World tag champions are Mark & Chris Youngblood while the Caribbean tag champions are Los Mercenarios. Let’s look at where each of the other singles champions (besides Burke) are going into Three Kings Day (we’ll discuss the tag titles a bit later). 

Super Medico had been in a rivalry with Brett Sawyer over the World Junior title to end 1989 but had also faced a challenge from Chicky Starr on Thanksgiving Day as well as having a series of matches with Abudda Dein. Medico was in action on Three Kings Day, although we do not have the information on who his opponent was. But as the month of January advances, a new arrival to the territory will emerge as the next challenger to the World Junior title. We’ll discuss this in more detail soon.

TNT has been fending off several of Chicky Starr’s hired guns since Chicky was embarrassed by TNT at Aniversario. As 1989 closed, TNT was helping Carlos Colon against Leo Burke and had successfully defended the TV title against Sika. While we do not know who TNT faced on Three Kings Day, he is still being targeted by El Club Deportivo. 

Invader #1 had spent the latter half of 1989 feuding with several of El Profe’s men over the Puerto Rico title. But at the end of 1989, Invader was challenged by Manny Fernandez of El Club Deportivo. While Invader retained the title, the fallout from that match and from La Gran Guerra meant that they would have a rematch on January 6. One other detail that happened with Invader #1 during the holiday break was that, in a segment of El Deporte es la Solucion (a look at different sports hosted by Carlos Colon in an effort to promote and create interest for kids to try out and practice sports) Invader #1 was the guest and revealed that he was looking to form a new Invaders tag team in 1990. He also announced that his new partner would be his brother Maelo Huertas. We’ll follow this story as 1990 progresses. 

Miguel Perez Jr. had taken a bit of a break from full time tag action with Huracan Castillo and had successfully defended the Caribbean title against Gary Albright. He is set to defend the title once more on January 6 against the newest member of El Club Deportivo. 

Let’s now go to Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon for a rundown of what happened to kick off 1990. First, let’s take the opportunity to see what Gary Albright was up to in the new year. Although he was unsuccessful in capturing the Caribbean title, Albright continued to be dominant on tv. He is scheduled to face Ricky Santana on Three Kings Day. Ricky had to deal with Kokina to end 1989, let’s see how he fares against another larger opponent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E4dne9AGrs

As the match starts, Ricky signals that he wants the ref to toss Profe out. Ricky pumps up the crowd as referee El Vikingo talks with Profe and Albright. Gary starts motioning to the crowd to calm down and steps out of the ring with El Profe. Carlos on commentary once again talks about hoping to have managers banned from ringside (to which Chicky remarks ‘Dreaming doesn’t cost a thing, so Carlos can keep dreaming about that’). El Profe is staying at ringside as Albright gets back in the ring to begin the match. Santana continues to want Profe out of there but the ref tells him he can’t kick him out for no reason. They finally lock up and Albright gives a clean break when Santana is backed into the ropes. Another lockup sees Santana backed again into the ropes and this time Albright tries to hit a surprise blow on Santana on the break. Santana dodges and hits Albright with a chop.  Albright is admonished by the ref while Santana plays to the crowd. Carlos mentions that he likes Ricky’s strategy of going slow against the powerful Albright. A third lockup sees Santana backed into the ropes and Albright breaking with a shove. Santana responds with a shove of his own which angers Albright and he charges at Ricky. The charge is dodged however, and Albright falls through the middle ropes to the outside. Santana once again celebrates in the ring as Albright is frustrated on the outside and complains that his tights were pulled. Albright gets back in the ring as Santana goes after Profe, who apparently had started insulting Ricky. Profe runs away and Santana gets back in the ring (with Hugo commenting that Ricky getting distracted may not be ideal for him if he wants to beat Albright). Carlos says that Ricky has to ignore Profe if he wants to win, while Chicky says that it’s obvious Ricky doesn't want to wrestle against Albright and is looking for any excuse to not engage. 

Albright starts working over Santana’s arm as we go to a commercial break. We come back to Albright hitting punches on a dazed Santana, as Carlos on commentary is complaining about Profe distracting the referee to allow Albright to throw Santana over the top rope. Albright chokes Ricky with his boot, as Hugo says that it appears Ricky has not fully recovered from the blow he took when thrown over the top rope. Albright chokes Santana on the middle rope and then sends Santana into the ropes. Ricky counters with a sunset flip for a two count. An elbow knocks Ricky down and Albright staggers Ricky with a punch. Albright works the arm again with a hammerlock and tries to ram Santana into the corner. Ricky manages to duck down and Albright ends up hitting his shoulder on the top turnbuckle instead.  Ricky tries to start a comeback but an eyerake cuts him off. Albright hits a slam and goes to the top rope, but a splash attempt is countered by Santana’s knees. This may be the opening Ricky needs. The crowd cheers Sanatana on as both men try to get to their feet. Santana manages to stagger Albright with a flurry of punches and backs Gary into a corner. Santana hits s series of standing punches on the turnbuckle and sends Albright across the ring, following up with a clothesline. A kneelift knocks Albright down and Ricky drags Albright to the post. He slams Albright’s arm into the post  three times as the crowd comes alive. Back in the ring, Santana staggers Albright with a clothesline and slams him to the mat. Santana signals that he is going to the top turnbuckle and hits Albright with a top rope splash. It only gets two though. Ricky immediately goes back on offense and gets into a punch exchange with Albright. Santana staggers Albright again and whips him into the ropes. Albright counters and catches Santana off the ropes with the belly-to-belly suplex for the three count. 

MD: This was a great look at exactly where Albright was developmentally. It may not have been the skill that would serve him best in years to come, but he was learning how to stooge and stall here on top of being a monster. He seemed to enjoy bounding through the ropes on a missed assault or wiping out off the top rope. I wasn’t as convinced on his transitions or cut offs (clumsy eyerake or just grabbing an arm). And he could hit the belly-to-belly explosively but generally had to set it up with a whip off the ropes. So some of the transitions here were a little iffy but overall, it was solid. Santana really fit right in with his ability to almost constantly work towards the crowd. He had a massive fiery comeback after one of those wipeout leaps from the top from Albright, including three big whacks of an arm into the post (that weren’t exactly sold). He hit his own top rope splash but just didn’t have enough in the take to put a beast like Albright away. That Albright fully survived Santana’s comeback and just took over with the belly-to-belly didn’t make for the most compelling finish but it did put over Albright as being just that tough and dangerous which made sense if he was going into a program with Colon (or even a quick match set up by what we're watching next). If I’m not mistaken, Carlos and Chicky were on commentary here, which made for some entertaining back and forth about how managers should be banned.

EB: Albright’s belly-to-belly suplex is definitely being established as a move that can come at any moment and end the match. Besides his match with Ricky Santana to start the year, Albright also had an encounter on one of the tv programs with a prominent member of El Ejercito de la Justicia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlodJpa4IOU

Gary Albright is facing Armando Fernandez and the announcers right away mention that Fernandez is at a disadvantage both in size and power. This match is all Albright as he makes quick work of Armando. Within a minute Albright hits the belly-to-belly suplex and goes for the cover, but Albright decides to lift up Armando before the three count in order to continue dishing out more punishment.  A second belly-to-belly is hit and again Albright lifts Armando up at two. The ref starts making noise at both Abright and El Profe about Albright cutting off the count again but Albright ignores him and hits a third belly-to-belly suplex. Again, Albright lifts Armando up before the three. This causes Carlos Colon (in a suit) to get in the ring and to stop Albright’s abuse of his opponent. The ref calls for the bell and awards the match to Albright by dq due to Colon entering the ring and confronting Albright. As Carlos takes off his jacket, Albright jumps Carlos and gets some blows in, including a body slam. However, Carlos counters a throw into the ropes and hits a back bodydrop on Gary before chasing him out of the ring. Carlos and Albriight jaw at each other as Carlos takes off his shirt and it looks like this may be setting up a match between them. We know that there is no extended feud between them, so it’s likely a case of this setting up a match for later in the TV taping or a one-off at a house show.

MD: Pretty effective three minutes here. Albright looks like a monster against Fernandez, clubbing down on him immediately. He hits repeated belly-to-belly suplexes off the ropes but then picks Fernandez up at two. Albright is a guy who Watts or Verne would have picked up in a heartbeat five years earlier, but the world was different in 1989-90. This was more or less how he should have been presented. It drew out Colon who interjected. Albright ambushed him but Colon was able to run him off. We’ll see in the footage to come but I don’t think they foresaw a six month program between the two like what you had with Strong, so it made sense to leave the fans wanting more but not have Colon absolutely destroyed here. There’d been enough of that in 89. Albright still came off as a threat.

EB: The start of 1990 also saw a legend arrive in the territory as the newest member of Chicky Starr’s Club Deportivo. Harley Race, who had previously made appearances as the NWA World champion back in the early 80s and who had made a return appearance to CSP for Thanksgiving 89, is wrestling on the Three Kings Day show. His opponent is Miguel Perez Jr and the Caribbean title is on the line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0apiz2srPM

As the match introductions are made, Hugo, Carlos and Chicky on commentary mention that Miguelito has a very tough opponent in the legendary and former multi-time World champion Harley Race. Chicky (the one at ringside) mugs for the camera, looking very happy to have Harley Race in his stable. As the ref checks Harley for foreign objects and the combatants jaw at each other before the match starts, Hugo and Chicky talk about Harley’s success in both the NWA and WWF and how he’s looking to continue that success in Puerto Rico (and that Chicky is over the moon having Race in El Club Deportivo). Carlos puts over the talent in CSP and says it won’t be easy for Harley. The match starts and Miguelito manages to take control early on, keeping Race off balance with a crossbody off the ropes and blocking Race’s punches after a second lockup. Miguelito slams Harley and puts Race in a standing headlock.  Harley counters by sending Miguelito into the ropes and attempts to toss Perez over the top rope. Miguelito blocks the attempt but Race does it again and sends Perez flying over the top to the floor. Race goes after Miguelito and hits him with a punch to the head and then a sit down piledriver on the floor (although he didn’t get much force on it). Harley gets back in the ring as Perez tries to shake off the effects of the piledriver. The ref starts his count but Perez manages to get on the apron. Race cuts him off and guillotines Perez on the top rope. Harley kicks Miguelito off the apron and goes after him to the floor. Hugo on commentary starts asking Chicky just how he is able to get all this talent to come in under his management since it took Hugo a lot of work when he was manager to get people to come in. Chicky says that it’s because he’s intelligent. Race grabs Perez by the head to try to ram him into the post, but Miguelito counters and sends Harley head first into the ringpost. Now it’s Harley who is trying to shake off the effects of an attack. Miguelito goes on the offensive and punches and chops Race against the ring. Carlos on commentary segues into complaining about how, with all the talented wrestlers Chicky brings in, why does Chicky insist on interfering in the matches (it’s an argument that’s been going on for a few months on tv by this point and something Chicky continues to deny he does). At ringside, Perez continues to attack Race but a low blow by Harley stops Perez.  Race rams Miguelito into the ringside chairs and gets back in the ring. The camera shows Miguelito on the floor holding his arm as you can see some fans trying to help him back up. Perez gets back in the ring and gets hit with a clothesline as we go to a commercial break.

Back from commercial and the tide has turned, as Miguelito whips Harley into the corner and Race takes a bump over the top turnbuckle to the floor. Perez goes after Race on the outside and starts hitting several forearms to Race’s back as Chicky at ringside gets in the ring and protests to the referee that Race was thrown over the top rope (while ignoring Race had done that to Perez earlier). The ref tells Chicky to get out of the ring as Perez slams Race’s head into the ringsteps. Race stumbles away towards the ring announcer’s table and, when Miguelito gets close, grabs the Caribbean title belt and hits several blows to Miguelito’s midsection. Race puts the title back on the table and gets  back into the ring as Miguelito is down on one knee at ringside trying to recover. Race tries to suplex Perez back into the ring but Perez counters and ends up sending Race into the ropes for a roll up pin attempt. Race kicks out at two but Perez continues the attack with several punches to Harley’s head. Perez hits his powerslam finisher but Race kicks out at two! Miguelito looks frustrated as Chicky gloats on commentary. Perez tries a dropkick but Harley manages to swat him away. Miguelito holds his head as he slowly gets up, allowing Race to hook him in a fisherman suplex for the three count. Harley Race is the new Caribbean champion! 

MD: Like night and day going from Albright to Race. I have my issues with, let’s say, 1980 Race, but in 1990, in PR, against guys like Perez, it’s pretty cool just to see him and see the value he adds. He took one giant bump over the top that he really shouldn’t have taken, but in general, it was more about the little things, a cut off here, a facial expression there. He took over with a Chicky distraction and a pile driver on the floor. Perez was losing this one so he was out there to look strong. That meant coming back too soon from that pile driver and the belt shot later in the match. It was another match where the heel kicked out of a big move and hit his finisher with the interference coming earlier, which maybe isn’t the best way to do it. It made more sense with Albright than it did here, but I guess you also want to put over a guy you’re going to use as a title holder as being as legitimate as possible. Outside those two qualms I liked this a lot. And Chicky was funny on commentary as Hugo was griping that when he was a manager, he couldn’t get guys as easily as Chicky could.

EB: As mentioned earlier, Manny Fernandez was facing Invader #1 in a rematch for the Puerto Rico title. While we don’t have footage of the match, Manny was able to become the Puerto Rico champion. Let’s take a look at a tv match featuring Manny against a newcomer to CSP in Nick Ayala. More importantly, this video also has a clip of a match between Invader and Manny that is from after January 6.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l5bNcG9zQ0

Ayala surprises Manny to start, hitting several moves successfully. Manny is visibly taken aback by Ayala’s initial success but gains control using his veteran experience, first by reversing Ayala’s momentum off the ropes and then by faking a test of strength and kicking Ayala in the gut. Ayala tries to counter with punches to the midsection but Manny cuts Ayala off and from there just takes over. There’s a point where Ayala is on the mat while Chicky claps enthusiastically for Manny’s handiwork (and Chicky even gets a cheapshot in once done clapping). Manny slingshots Ayala into the bottom rope throat first and just continues on the attack, finishing Ayala off with his jumping rolling elbow smash.

Immediately after this, we get a short clip of Manny taking on Invader #1. It’s the finishing stretch of what may be the January 6 rematch (it looks like they’re in Mayaguez so this match may be from January 7). Invader is in the midst of a comeback on Manny, staggering Fernandez with chops and a clothesline into the corner. Invader tries to send Manny across the ring but Manny counters and sends Invader to the corner instead. Invader manages to stop himself from hitting the corner, but Manny comes charging in from behind. However, Invader uses the ropes to steady himself and leap over Manny’s charge. Invader ends up behind Manny and rolls him up for a pin attempt. However, Manny is able to shift the momentum before the three count and ends up on top with a roll up instead. Manny grabs the tights for leverage and pins Invader for the three count. Manny quickly leaves the ring as Invader for a moment looks like he thought he had gotten the pin before Manny countered, but the referee raises Manny’s hand as the winner as Invader looks on. The ref starts motioning for the title belt as the video ends.   

MD: Commentary seems to indicate this is Ayala’s debut but that doesn’t seem right. Manny gives him a bit to start (one back body drop) before clowning him for the rest of the match. Chicky is a constant presence, laughing, pointing, shrugging, whacking Ayala in the head. He doesn’t take away from Manny because Manny’s very good at taking up all of the air in the room in the first place. This was a straightforward showcase for the nefarious pairing.

EB: The Youngbloods and Los Mercenarios had a match for the World tag titles at the 1989 season ender that saw the Youngbloods retain the titles by disqualification when Los Mercenarios attacked them with the leather belts the Mercenarios were wearing. The resulting attack (where Chris was tied by the neck to the turnbuckle and Mark was repeatedly whipped by both Mercenarios) has led to a rematch occurring on Three Kings Day weekend. The World tag titles are on the line once more but in a tornado rules strap match. We don’t have the January 6 match but we do have the match from the following day in Mayaguez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJWzmSOb6bI

We are in Mayaguez and the Youngbloods start off hot, going right after Los Mercenarios and whipping them with the leather straps. Los Mercenarios run to the safety of the outside as the Youngbloods stand tall in the ring to the crowd’s cheers. The ref tries to calm things down so that he can attach both teams to the straps. We end up with Mark tied to Morrow and Chris tied to Acevedo. This is tornado rules, so all four men are in the ring at the same time, but to win you have to touch all four corners first without interruption. Los Mercenarios have the strategy early on of attacking the Youngblood brother not attached to them from behind, allowing them to get the upper hand when the brothers try to come to each other’s aid. Los Mercenarios choke the Youngbloods in different corners of the ring for several moments, but Chris is able to break the choke and sends Acevedo into the ropes. Chris uses the strap to clothesline Acevedo down and attacks Morrow in order to break the choke on his brother. Chris whips Acevedo and starts choking him with the strap as Mark uses his strap to attack Morrow. After a moment, Morrow is able to get away from Mark long enough to attack Chris from behind. This allows Acevedo to gain the advantage on Chris while Mark continues attacking Morrow, first by using the strap to crotch Morrow and then by whipping Morrow with the strap. One more yank on the strap between Morrow’s legs causes him to flip over onto the mat. With Morrow down, Mark tees off on Acevedo in order to get him off his brother. The Youngbloods go on the attack but Morrow cuts off Mark with a low blow. Morrow starts touching the turnbuckles and gets to three before Mark stops him. Chris then starts touching the turnbuckles and hits three of the. However, the fourth one has Acevedo waiting for him and Acevedo knocks Chris down to stop the count. Acevedo starts touching the turnbuckles as we go to commercial break. 

Back from the break, and Chris sends Morrow to the outside of the ring. Mark (who is attached to Morrow) goes outside to continue the attack. Meanwhile, Chris focuses his attention on Acevedo, using the strap to whip him. Acevedo gets sent into the ropes and both Chris and Acevedo knock each other down with clotheslines. Morrow is on the outside whipping Mark with the strap as Acevedo gets up and starts touching the turnbuckles. Chris is following him though, and touches the turnbuckles after Acevedo (who is moving slowly). Acevedo hits the second turnbuckle with Chris quickly touching it as well from behind. Acevedo touches the third turnbuckle with Chris quickly touching it as well. Now it’s a matter of who gets the fourth turnbuckle. Chris hooks himself on the ropes to prevent Acevedo from reaching the last turnbuckle, which causes El Profe to jump on the ring apron and punch Chris in order to break his hold on the ropes. The referee sees this and goes after Profe and in doing so misses Acevedo crash into the fourth turnbuckle (which would have given Los Mercenarios the win). As Acevedo stands near the corner, Mark reaches out from the floor and trips up Acevedo, sending him to the mat. The ref turns around and sees Chris making a dash towards the fourth turnbuckle. The Youngbloods have won the match and retained the World tag titles. The crowd celebrates as El Profe complains to the ref. As the Youngbloods are hugging each other, Los Mercenarios and El Profe attack them from behind. Before too much damage is done, Super Medico and Ricky Santana run in to chase the rudos out of the ring. 

MD: This is a strap match and was one of the more interesting looking things on paper from the new footage. Unfortunately, there’s a commercial break in the middle so we only get about six minutes of it. I think Chris was with the Cuban Assassin and Mark was with Morrow. It’s basically all action with the necessity of close quarters created by the strap keeping things moving. It was touch the corner which feels weird in a tag match but they more or less made it work with the attempts bookended by brawling and whipping, including the comedy crotching on Morrow. Finish was clever as Chris followed behind Assassin only for Profe to intervene at the last second. That distracted the ref who missed Assassin touching the last corner, allowing Chris to dive for it. The fans loved it certainly.

EB: The Universal title rematch between Leo Burke and Carlos Colon ended with interference from Chicky Starr that allowed Burke to retain the Universal title. Due to this interference, Carlos was granted another match with Leo Burke. On TV, Carlos talked about having a surprise in store for Leo and Chicky in order to neutralize any potential interference from Chicky (something Chicky said would not make a difference). Let’s go to that rematch taking place in Manati to see what Colon’s surprise is. 

The match video is split into two parts. 

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t-NXbGBOpE

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=382FcPLedqQ

The ring introductions are made as we see Leo Burke and Chicky Starr standing on one side of the ring, while Carlos Colon is standing with his trainer Barba Roja. Carlos has brought Barba Roja back to counter Chicky. We see Barba Roja and Chicky pointing and jawing at each other (you’ll remember that Chicky attacked Barba Roja at Aniversario before TNT intervened, which resulted in the spray can being discovered and the Universal title match being restarted). Burke and Chicky look like they want Barba Roja ejected from the ringside area but it’s not happening. The match is announced to have a 60 minute time limit. El Vikingo shows off the title belt as Chicky continues making aggressive gestures at Barba Roja, but Barba is not backing down. Chicky hides behind Burke when Barba Roja makes a move towards Chicky. The bell rings and both managers exit the ring, Barba Roja with a handshake for Carlos and Chicky with the customary pre match hug with Burke. Carlos immediately rushes towards Burke but Leo runs out of the ring and towards the direction of the locker room. For a moment, Carlos looks to give chase but decides to stay back in the ring. Barba Roja had quickly moved in case Chicky tried anything. Burke stops near the exit to the locker room but sees that Colon is not being baited by his tactic. Chicky has a strategy session with Leo as they head back to the ring area. Burke tries to set the pace in the ring but, after Carlos hits a roll up for a two count, once again bails to the outside. The commentators (Hector Moyano and Eliud Gonzalez) are talking about how Carlos has brought back his good luck charm in Barba Roja. Burke stalls in getting back in the ring (complaining about his tights being pulled) but eventually locks up again with Carlos. A clean break occurs once Carlos is backed into the corner, but Colon moves aggressively towards Burke and backs him down. Burke hits a kick and a punch, then sends Carlos into the ropes, but Colon counters with a sunset flip for a pin attempt. They are too close to the ropes and Burke breaks the pin attempt by grabbing the bottom ropes. Burke again bails to the outside to stop Colon’s momentum. Back in and Burke again bails outside after an inside cradle pin attempt by Colon.

This time when Burke gets back in the ring, he switches tactics and decides to beg off from Colon, which does not work. Colon takes over and starts working on Burke's arm. Chicky starts complaining but Barba Roja immediately moves toward  Chicky in order to make sure he doesn't cause a distraction. Carlos continues getting the better of Burke for the next couple of minutes, still working the arm despite Leo’s best attempt to break out of the arm wringer. Burke tries to throw Colon through the ropes to the outside to break the armbar, but in a surprising turn Colon holds on and takes Burke with him to the outside. Colon, still not letting go of Burke’s arm on the outside, gets back in the ring dragging Leo with him. Chicky continues to try to make a move throughout but Barba Roja is right there to block him from getting near the wrestlers. Burke finally breaks out of the armbar and sends Carlos into the ropes. Carlos dodges a blow and tries to counter with a roll up from behind, but Chicky is right there and grabs Burke’s arms to hold onto him and prevent Carlos from taking Burke down. This causes Carlos to fall backwards onto the mat and get the wind knocked out of him. Barba Roja rushes over and complains to the ref about what happened. This turns the tide in Burke’s favor, who starts attacking Carlos with several knee drops. A pin attempt only gets one for Burke. Leo hits several punches on Carlos (including a jab to the throat) and hits a neckbreaker for a two count. Leo uses a leverage throw to send Carlos to the outside near where Chicky is as we go to a commercial break. During the break, we get an interview with Chicky and a newcomer by the name of Eddie Watts. It appears that Eddie has been challenging Super Medico for the World Junior title and is looking to dethrone Medico in their next encounter. We’ll  follow up on this Medico vs Watts rivalry in a later installment.

Back to the match (continued in the second one of the links), Barba Roja runs over to ward off Chicky as Carlos tries to recover from being thrown to the floor. Burke goes to the outside of the ring and hits an inverted atomic drop on Colon. Chicky moves in to spit on Carlos but backs off when Barba Roja moves in as well. Burke rolls in momentarily to break the count and grabs Carlos to attempt what looks to be a piledriver. Carlos counters with a back bodydrop onto the floor. Carlos and Burke both reenter the ring but Leo is just a bit faster and gains the advantage. Burke hits several punches on a stunned Colon and starts getting confident. A second attempt at standing punches from the middle turnbuckle is countered by Colon hooking Leo in a bearhug hold and then hitting an inverted atomic drop. Carlos makes a comeback (including a cartwheel) and has Burke staggering. Both men knock each other down when colliding with a shoulder tackle off the ropes. Burke is up first and decides to go to the top turnbuckle, but he is too slow and Carlos catches him at the top. Burke is slammed off the top turnbuckle and Colon starts stomping on him, as the announcers make note that it looks like Burke is bleeding. Carlos is fired up and continues on the attack, including biting Burke in the face. Carlos gets a sleeper on Burke, who tries to roll out of it. Carlos maintains the hold on Burke, just as he did earlier with the arm wringer. Chicky, seeing Burke in trouble, gets up on the apron and starts climbing the ropes. Barba Roja sees this and jumps on the apron. Barba Roja shakes the top rope, causing Chicky to lose his balance and crotch himself on the top rope. It looks like Barba Roja has effectively neutralized Chicky and Carlos may yet regain the Universal title. Carlos slams Burke and attempts to put on the figure-four, but Burke counters with an inside cradle for two. Burke slams Carlos but Carlos grabs Leo's leg and trips him up (a move we have seen Burke do in previous matches). Carlos keeps a hold on Burke’s leg and a second attempt at the figure four by Carlos is successful. It looks like Carlos may have the match won.

However, as Burke struggles in the hold you can see that Chicky at ringside is motioning with his arms for someone to come out. It’s Manny Fernandez! Manny attacks Colon twice in an attempt to break the figure four but Carlos is not letting go of Burke. The ref tries to get Manny out of the ring, but Barba Roja comes in to try to stop Manny from continuing to interfere by applying a sleeper on Manny (after ducking a punch from Manny). This is countered by Manny ramming Barba Roja back first into the corner. Manny hits Carlos with another kneedrop and throws him over the top rope to the floor. The ref calls for the bell and the match is a disqualification win for Colon (meaning Burke retains the title). Manny goes over to Barba Roja and slams him to the mat. Carlos is out on the floor as Manny goes to the top and hits a kneedrop onto Barba Roja, the same kneedrop that severely injured Invader #3 and caused him to vomit up blood. Barba Roja is in bad shape and, before Mannty can attempt any more damage, we see Invader and TNT run in to chase Manny off. A concerned Carlos and the ringside physician also join the other tecnicos in the ring to check on Barba Roja. A camera cut shows Leo Burke hugging the Universal title belt as he’s leaving the ringside area. There’s no telling how bad Barba Roja is hurt.. 

MD: Pretty great stuff here, unfortunately split into two videos. Colon had Barba Roja to counter Chicky. Burke was exceptional here. Even just in the early going, he was so good at being in the right place at the right time, slinking in and out of the ring, going from stalling to feeding for kinetic spots, back to stalling after getting his comeuppance. Great, great transition as Chicky and Burke grabbed arms as Colon was trying to roll him back off the ropes, causing Carlitos to crack his head on the mat. He came back with a big inverted atomic drop to counter a ten punch in the corner, cartwheel and all, and they went towards an exciting finish where Carlos used the sleeper hold to soften Burke up (neither had gone to the legs yet). Chicky tried to interfere but Barba Roja shook the ropes to take him out. Burke had a great nearfall small package as Colon finally went for the figure four, but Colon got it on, only for Manny to intervene. Barba Roja tried to fend him off as he did Chicky but Manny was too much for him and drew the dq, saving Burke’s title. Post-match they really ratcheted up the heat by flattening Barba Roja. Definitely one of my favorite things we’ve seen so far in this project.
EB: We’re off to a hot start to 1990 as El Club Deportivo now has three of the five singles titles in the promotion. They also look to have seriously injured Barba Roja. If Colon was not happy about feeling cheated out of the Universal title, you can bet that the attack on Barba Roja is going to turn into him seeking revenge.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, the feud between the top tecnicos and El Club Deportivo escalates as we get shifts in our feud pairings. Also, we say goodbye to some of our fall and winter of 89 regulars as we get some roster turnover. And… is that Kwang???

Read more!

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Goodbye 1989

Week 16: Goodbye 1989

EB: We’ve reached the season ending weekend for CSP and thus we’re at the end of our 1989 journey. But before getting to the last big card of the year, we want to take a moment to showcase some odds and ends we’ve uncovered from this last part of 1989.  While maybe not of huge importance, they do provide a bit more of the feel and context to how certain wrestlers continued to be presented and emphasized on tv. So let’s take a short detour into some of these odds and ends. 

One of the wrestlers scheduled for the season ending weekend is Ricky Santana. This is our first chronological look at Santana but not his first time in Puerto Rico. Ricky first showed up in CSP at the end of July 1988 and had a nine month run that saw him win the Puerto Rico title twice in 1988 and have a two and a half months reign as World Junior champion at the beginning of 1989. Santana is back for the last weekend of the year and is scheduled to be in action. His originally scheduled opponent was supposed to be Harley Race but Ricky would end up facing a different opponent instead. Let’s take a look at Ricky against Sandy Love.

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

We’re in Vega Alta for this match and I’m digging the white suspenders Sandy has got on. This match is basically a quick showcase to reestablish Santana. It’s a pretty standard tv match with Santana showing off some of his wrestling acumen against a larger opponent. Love hits a monkey flip on Santana, but a second attempt gets countered with a knee and from there it’s academic. Ricky hits a top rope splash for the win and is looking to make a good showing to close out the year.

MD: This is an enhancement match but Love got to do some things. He hit a bodyslam and posed so Santana could hit one of his own, that sort of thing. He looked like he could have been a fine Exotico partner to get beat up mercilessly by the Youngbloods. Not the bleached blonde gimmick you’d expect. Almost more as if he wanted to catch the Steve Strong lightning. I spent too many words talking about him already. Santana had an interesting overhead Belly to Belly where he started it from a Northern Lights and just let the head slip out. He finished it with a top rope splash caught by a nice camera angle.

EB: Los Mercenarios and Castillo and Perez have had a feud stemming from Aniversario 89. While we’ve been able to see some highlights involving singles matches between members of both teams and even tag matches where Castillo has faced Los Mercenarios with a different tag partner, we haven’t been able to see matches featuring both teams against each other. For now it looks like it will remain that way. Still, we do have another encounter in this rivalry, with Miguelito Perez taking on Mercenario #1 in singles action.

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

Mercenario #1 has El Profe with him while it looks like Miguelito does not have anyone with him at ringside. The ref checks both men before the match and it starts with Perez and Acevedo circling each other before locking up. Perez sets up for a punch with Acevedo coming off the ropes, but Acevedo grabs the ropes to stop his momentum and bails to the outside. El Profe complains to the ref as Mercenario #1 slowly gets back in the ring. Another lockup sees Acevedo back Perez up against the ropes and Acevedo gets some blows in before sending Perez into the ropes. Miguelito ducks a clothesline and counters with a series of dropkicks and slams. Acevedo once again rolls outside. El Profe yells at the referee as Acevedo slowly gets back in the ring again and complains that his tights were pulled on the slams. We go to a commercial break and come back with Acevedo in a side headlock. He tries to get Perez off him by sending Perez off the ropes but Miguelito lets go and holds onto Acevedo’s beard to reapply the hold while the ref is distracted by a complaining Profe. The sequence is repeated and Miguelito this time grabs onto Acevedo’s hair to reapply the headlock. This time it is the tecnicos who are fighting fire with fire with regards to some of the more wily tactics. Acevedo manages to break the hold by yanking Perez down by his hair, but Acevedo misses an elbow drop and Perez regains control. Acevedo begs off and leaves the ring once again to regroup. Acevedo briefly manages to get some hits in but Miguelito once again counters and hits some slams. This has not been Acevedo’s match. Perez puts Acevedo in an abdominal stretch which prompts Mercenario #2 to run out from the locker room in an attempt to interfere. However, as the camera cuts to Mercenario #2 we see that Huracan Castillo has also run out and has cut off Morrow with a back body drop on the arena floor. Castillo chases Morrow around the ring as Acevedo is able to counter the abdominal stretch. However, Morrow ends up being chased into the ring by Castillo, which causes the referee to be distracted by getting Morrow out of the ring as Acevedo tries to slam Perez. In this confusion, Castillo nails Acevedo with a punch which causes Perez to land on top of Acevedo and score the pin. Perez quickly leaves the ring to celebrate as Profe complains to the referee.

MD: Five minute crowd-pleaser here. Assassin is all stalling and stooging. Perez gets a shot in or a quick slam and Assassin is right back out. Assassin gets a hold on and it’s almost immediately countered. After the commercial break, there’s a Perez headlock where the ref gets distracted by Profe allowing him to comedically pull the beard. It’s that sort of match. They keep it up for a few minutes with everyone watching happy at each instance of comeuppance until Morrow and Castillo brawl to the ring. In the chaos, Castillo gets a shot in making Perez fall onto of Assassin for the win. No heat at all here but the match was short enough (and the Mercenarios the champs I think) so it was fine for what it was.

EB: Since we haven’t really been able to review much of Castillo and Perez as a team in this last part of 1989 due to what’s available footage wise, let’s take the opportunity to go back briefly to the summer of 1989 and see Castillo and Perez in action as a team. Their opponents are the then World tag team champions of Rip Rogers and Abudda Dein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIyrJ55EeSY

This match is joined in progress and is from shortly after Castillo and Perez lost their hair against the Battens. This match is a case of the Caribbean tag champions challenging for the World tag titles, something we will see happen once more at the year end show. Perez is coming off the ropes but is knocked down by clothesline from Dein. A pinfall attempt is broken up by Castillo. Perez is taken to the rudos corner and is worked over by Rogers and Dein. Most of the match segment we have is Rogers and Dein working over Perez in an attempt to get the win. Carlos Colon on commentary mentions that the tecnicos need to watch out for Dein’s loaded boot and Rip’s DDT.  Rogers throws Perez out of the ring and goads Castillo inside, which allows Dein to attack Perez on the outside. Castillo goes to help Perez get back in the ring but Rogers maintains the advantage. Dein and Rogers continue to work over Perez for a few minutes but Perez and Rip knock heads on an off the rope collision. This allows Miguelito to tag in Castillo, who comes in and attacks both Rogers and Dein. Rip rakes the eyes to stop Castillo’s attack. However, rudo miscommunication results in Dein clotheslining Rogers when Castillo gets out of the way. All four men are now in the ring and squaring off. The match ends when two pinfall attempts occur at the same time, Castillo pinning Rogers and Dein pinning Perez. The ref makes a three count and awards the match to Castillo and Perez since Castillo and Rip were the legal men.

MD: We have the last seven minutes of this, which is a lot of heat on Perez and then the hot tag and the finish. It’s nice to see Rip again. Dein is billed from Palestine which was an interesting choice all things considered. In 91, he’d shift that to being from Iraq for what it’s worth. We can date this from the lack of hair on Perez’ head. This was good in building the anticipation for the tag. When it came, Castillo came in hot but had his eyes worked over by an object and he had to duck a double team to stay in it. Strong finish as Dein pinned Perez as Castillo rolled up Rip, but Rip was the legal man.

EB: One other person we really haven’t seen much of is Brett Sawyer. Despite being around for the monthly big shows in the last part of 1989, we haven’t really seen him in the footage we have available. Sawyer’s has had a series of matches with Super Medico for the WWC World Junior title which appears to be heading towards a final encounter to end the year (they are scheduled in the card lineup we have for December 16, although we can’t confirm if Sawyer did appear). Brett Sawyer won’t really be around for much longer as we head into 1990 (I guess that’s a spoiler as to who remains World Junior champion heading into the new year), so let’s take a look at him once more in action before we close the book on 1989. This time Sawyer is in tag action facing Los Mercenarios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWyAc7bGUY0

Sawyer’s partner for this tag encounter is Armandito Salgado.  Brett starts off for the tecnico team against Mercenario #2. This match has the dynamic of the veteran Sawyer being able to outsmart the rudos while the more inexperienced wrestler in Armandito falls victim to Los Mercenarios and their chicanery. The commentary team makes note that Sawyer moves very well for someone who looks somewhat bulky. Once Sawyer tags Salgado in, it's pretty much all Mercenarios, with the win coming off their usual double DDT behind the ref’s back. Los Mercenarios will challenge the Youngbloods once more for the World tag titles at the season ending weekend.

MD: The commentators outright called Cuban Assassin “Fidel Castro” so that’s fun. Sawyer got all the shine. Salgado took all the heat. There wasn’t a comeback as Brett tried to come in to complain about double teaming and let them hit the double DDT on Salgado. Overall, I’d say the Mercenarios act works better than it should on paper.

EB: Another wrestler scheduled for the year end shows and challenging for the top singles title is Leo Burke. He’s had a series of matches against Carlos Colon and, despite being unsuccessful in winning the Universal title, Burke has been able to hold his own and even damage Colon’s knee in the process. Examples of this include Burke holding onto the figure four for as long as possible in the non-title match we reviewed in our last post and repeated focused attacks during their title matches that went to a draw. This is something Chicky would start bringing up on tv in the lead up to the final weekend of shows (‘we saw you being helped by the ringside doctor to the back after the 60 minute draw, you’re hiding how bad your knee is’). Carlos would downplay all this, saying that his knee was fine. Before ending the year let’s have one more look at Leo Burke in tv action, this time against the masked La Sombra from parts unknown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjL75frzZ2E

Burke (as usual during this run so far) is accompanied by Chicky and we get the now customary pre match hug (to the crowd’s jeers). There’s still the push on commentary to make sure to highlight Burke’s mastery of the figure four leglock and it’s apparent now why that has been the case from the start. He has been on an eventual collision course with Carlos Colon. They’re set to face each other during the last weekend of shows for 1989 (they are scheduled for Dec. 16 in Bayamon and Dec. 17 in Mayaguez) with the Universal title on the line. Sombra starts off hot against Burke but misses a dropkick after an offensive flurry that allows Burke to gain control. Leo gets to show off his skills, both technique wise and in psychological gamesmanship, as Burke works over Sombra’s leg and eventually Sombra falls victim to the figure four. As we have seen many times already, Burke keeps the hold on after the bell before eventually breaking. Burke is ready to once again face Carlos Colon.

MD: No belt for Burke yet, which helps date this I guess. He had such an easy way of moving around the ring, confident and natural. Sombra was just a guy with a white mask but he had pretty good fire. Burke shut him down early and unleashed a full body assault, with strikes, a gutwrench suplex, knee drops, before using the shin breaker to open him up for the figure four. In and out in four minutes and very efficient.
EB: One more person we want to check on before heading towards our last shows of 1989 is Gary Albright. Since La Batalla Final on Thanksgiving Day, Albright  has dropped the Albright Lock challenge and was unsuccessful in a series of matches against Invader #1. Still, Gary has continued to be featured on tv and has switched to finishing opponents off with the belly to belly suplex. Here he is in action against Estrella Roja.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y3pdf0khhY

This is a short match  with Albright just steamrolling Estrella Roja. This match does provide a clear look at how Albright’s now being presented by the promotion, with a  focus on his power and his new finisher. The refocus is so far showing successful results for Albright in his tv matches, and he is scheduled to challenge Miguelito Perez for the Caribbean title during the final weekend.

MD: Just a quick mauling with a delayed vertical suplex and the belly to belly for the win. Having seen some 87 Hacksaw Higgins in New Japan recently, I kind of wish we had a run with him in PR instead. He would have been an awesome Invader opponent. This, however, is exactly the match that Albright should be having on TV at this point. There’s just not much to say about it.
With our side trip through some final odds and ends of 1989 completed, let’s now look at the December 16 season ending house show. One of the scheduled matches was a singles match featuring Harley Race vs Ricky Santana, however there was a change in opponent for Santana. Ricky is now facing a wrestler making his debut in Puerto Rico, one Kokina Maximus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsOZ1bV3u7A

There is a size difference between the two opponents, something that Hector Moyano and Carlos Colon remark upon in their commentary. This is Kokina’s first appearance in CSP and he’s also scheduled to take part in La Gran Guerra later that night (you can see the cage and two ring setup in the background at certain points throughout the match). Colon mentions that the strategy when you are outweighed by your opponent is to try to use your opponent’s size difference to leverage them down somehow and then go on the attack (it’s tougher for them to get up once down). Santana is not backing down from Kokina but despite some offensive flurries is not able to knock Kokina down. Kokina surprisingly shows off some wrestling combined with head-based offense, such as putting Santana in an armbar and then proceeding to headbutt Santana’s hand while keeping the hold on. Sanatan manages to fire off a few blows, but Kokina sidesteps a dropkick and starts working on Santana’s neck and throat area. On commentary Carlos Colon and Moyano are talking about the pedigree and history of Samoan wrestlers, and how Kokina is young and has great potential. Kokina throws Santana out of the ring and makes a gesture to the crowd. Santana tries to get back in the ring a few times, but Kokina knocks him back to the floor. Kokina works again over the carotid area with a nervehold for a while, but eventually makes the mistake of missing a diving headbutt. Santana tries to take advantage by hitting several punches that have Kokina off balance. Ricky finally knocks Kokina down with a dropkick. Ricky tries to send Kokina into the ropes but Kokina counters. Santana dodges a clothesline but Kokina catches him on the rebound with a Samoan drop. A splash makes it a formality and Kokina gets the win.

MD: I’m not entirely sure where Santana’s been for a chunk of 89. He had a NWA run in the middle of the year but it doesn’t seem lengthy. My memories of Yokozuna have him debuting in the WWF in or around December 92, so him showing up three years earlier to cause trouble here feels thematically similar. He had the timing down already and Santana did well fighting from underneath. This might have been his debut in the region and I imagine they followed it up with some more one-sided squashes on TV.

EB: There were also quite a few title matches scheduled for the year end show. A WWC World Junior title match between Super Medico and Brett Sawyer resulted in Medico retaining his title. Invader #1 and Manny Fernandez squared off for Invader’s Puerto Rico title, a match where Invader was able to retain the title but the issue with Manny was not settled. TNT faced Sika in a successful TV title defense. Carlos Colon and Leo Burke are scheduled for a Universal title match with a 90 minute time limit (since two weeks prior they had a 60 minute draw). We’ll talk about this match and the follow up shortly.

There were also two more title matches that took place on December 16, both for which we have footage available. Let’s first look at Gary Albright challenging Miguelito Perez for the Caribbean title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dImg0dCWd3Y

The match video has some issues near the end but we get most of the match between Perez and Castillo without notable video issues. This is from a Campeones airing so we have Hugo, Carlos and Chicky on commentary. Both men lock up and jockey for the advantage. The crowd starts getting on Profe’s case, which Miguelito eggs on. This causes Albright to go outside and cover Profe’s ears so he can’t hear the jeers. Albright asks the crowd to keep it down and gets back in the ring. Both men lock up, but there's a stalemate that’s broken by a Perez dropkick that sends Albright back outside. Miguelito is in control throughout the first minutes, but Albright eventually counters into an armlock and works on Miguelito’s arm. This is the story of the middle portion of the match, with Albright continuing to work on Miguelito’s arm by applying pressure on the mat (something that’s highlighted on commentary as being part of Albright’s amateur experience). Albright throws Miguelito outside, where he continues to attack the arm by throwing Perez into the lighting rig. Back in the ring, Albright makes the mistake of missing a splash from the middle turnbuckle, which gives Perez the opening to start a comeback. Miguelito plays to the crowd as the video gets wonky here. Perez hits a series of punches and a clothesline to knock Albright down. Miguelito sends Albright into the ropes and hits a powerslam, but Albright breaks the pinfall count by putting his leg on the rope. Perez starts punching Albright again but Gary hits a leverage throw that sends Miguelito tumbling through the ropes to the outside. Albright knocks Perez off the apron twice, but on the third attempt Miguelito counters with a sunset flip for two. An inside cradle appears to get the three count just as the video cuts off (there’s a glitch in the video but Hugo mentions three about the count and you can hear the outro music start playing right at the end which is usually played when the match segment is done). Perez has retained the Caribbean title.

MD: We get at least most of this (I’m not sure of the finish) and the video gets choppy towards the end. Again, it starts with some stalling and stooging from the heel and as much as I love that stuff in general and can even appreciate the Studd-ian dissonance of it being done by a guy who is huge, I’m not sure that it was right for Albright. When he does take over, it feels like a call back to Strong vs Colon, as he just tears apart Perez’s arm with a hammerlock, into the corner, down on the mat, and best of all, on the outside into the metal constructs that they use for (I think) lighting? Perez comes back after Albright misses a splash but he’s definitely fighting from underneath with roll-ups and the sort. I think he wins with a small package but that’s the end of the footage so it’s hard to tell.

EB: And as mentioned before, the Caribbean tag champions Los Mercenarios get a rematch from Thanksgiving against the World tag champions Mark and Chris Youngblood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J8xVSjLsaw

This is a rematch from the Thanksgiving Day show. The Youngbloods control the first part of the match with some quick tags (or switches in some cases), keeping Morrow on the mat. Acevedo comes in at one point with a slam but Morrow misses an elbow drop and the Youngbloods continue to work on Morrow’s arm. Morrow is able to make the tag to Acevedo while in an armbar and Acevedo takes control against Mark. A quick tag brings Morrow back in for a blow from the top. Morrow throws Mark over the top rope when the ref’s back is turned. Chris helps Mark back in but Los Mercenarios control the middle portion of the match with a sleeperhold on Mark. Chris comes off the top rope to hit Acevedo and break the sleeper but as the ref admonishes Chris, Los Mercenarios switch out and Morrow goes back to the sleeperhold. Morrow goes up top and hits splash for a two count. Acevedo is tagged in and goes for a senton off the top that misses. Mark tries to get to his corner but is cut off by Acevedo, however they end up knocking their heads off a rope rebound. Morrow jumps off the top rope to stop Mark from making the tag (and that was some distance Morrow went). Morrow hits a suplex for two. Morrow keeps Mark on the mat as Mark tries to fire himself up. Mark avoids a double clothesline and counters with a double clothesline of his own on both Mercenarios. Mark finally tags Chris in and Chris cleans house on both Mercenarios. All four men are now in with the Youngbloods getting the upper hand and even going for stereo pin attempts on Acevedo and Morrow. The Youngbloods continue on the attack and at one point dropkick Morrow out of the ring. As the Youngbloods focus on Acevedo, Morrow runs back into the ring holding the belt he had been wearing in his hands. He proceeds to wrap it around Chris Youngblodd’s throat from behind. Morrow hits a belt assisted neckbreaker on Chris. Morrow backs Chris into the rudo corner and ties him with the belt to the turnbuckle. Chris is unable to move as he’s tied by the neck. Mark tries to help his brother but Acevedo comes in with his belt that he had taken off and Los Mercenarios proceed to attack Mark as Chris can’t do anything but watch from the corner. The Youngbloods win by disqualification but Mark is whipped with the belt by both Mercenarios. Eventually, Super Medico and Miguelito Perez hit the ring to chase off Los Mercenarios (this is not shown but is mentioned by Hugo at the end of the video).

MD: This was a pretty straightforward and therefore totally solid match with a super hot finish/post-match. They controlled on Morrow, primarily on his arm for a while to start, a basic shine but one where Morrow was happy to stooge and feed. Heat had its share of chinlocks and nerveholds but also an illegal toss over the top rope behind the ref’s back and Morrow hitting his top rope splash with Assassin missing a flip off the top. Chris came in hot and it looked like the Youngbloods were sure to win but Morrow went out and came back with a strap to draw the DQ. The post-match was brutal, just a tight choking in the corner and a whipping on top of that. The fans really could never know what to expect. There was as much of a chance that the Youngbloods would win the titles at the end of that match or that Profe would help Los Mercenarios retain and they’d move on, or, you just might get the heat on a blood feud turned up. That’s one of the fun things about the territory.

EB: We don’t know the end result of the Universal title match in terms of whether it had a clear winner or if it went to a draw, but we do know that Carlos Colon remained Universal champion after the match. But there are two more things we need to explain before finishing up with 1989. The first is that the main event for the December 16 show was a La Gran Guerra match. If you missed the explanation of what La Gran Guerra is, here it is again. It is a match where two rings are enclosed inside a steel cage structure (including a roof) where two teams face off with the objective of handcuffing all of the opposing team’s members to the cage walls (there are several handcuffs placed around the walls of the structure). All team members start inside the cage at the same time and the winning team is given the opportunity to uncuff any team members that had been taken out of action in order to receive their prize for winning: 5 uninterrupted minutes where they can attack the still handcuffed losing team at their leisure. This will be the fifth La Gran Guerra to take place with El Ejercito de la Justicia and El Club Deportivo tied with two wins apiece. The tecnico team consists of all champions with Carlos Colon, Invader #1, TNT and Mark & Chris Youngblood representing El Ejercito de la Justicia. For El Club Deportivo it will be Leo Burke, Manny Fernandez, Sika, Kokina Maximus and Chicky Starr. We don't have the match footage but we do have the following video snippet (it’s the first 50 seconds of the video that is relevant).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHlt0iddO1c

This video is of a match we’ve already covered but what’s important is the intro to the video that features highlights from the December 16 show. We get some scenes of the Youngbloods vs Mercenarios and Invader #1 vs Manny Fernandez matches. More importantly, we get two brief clips that show how 1989 ended for Carlos Colon. The first clip is from La Gran Guerra,  where we see Leo Burke putting Carlos Colon in the figure four leglock as the rest of the rudos move to run interference. This is immediately followed by a clip from the December 17 Universal title match between Colon and Burke. Here we see that Carlos, after weeks of having his knee constantly attacked, is too hurt to fight out of the hold, succumbs to the pain in his injured knee and gets counted down while in the figure four leglock. Thus we have a new Universal champion to close out the year in Leo Burke. Chicky Starr has once again gained control of the Universal title as we close out 1989.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we have reached 1990. There is a new Universal champion in Leo Burke but you can bet El Ejercito de la Justicia is looking to win it back as soon as possible. What twists and turns await us in 1990? What new and/or returning faces may we see? Our journey through 1990 begins.

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