Found Footage Friday: 1980 HANOVER~!

9/17/80 Hanover

Chris Colt vs. Axel Dieter

MD: Watching Chris Colt in dark blurry 1980 Germany footage is a real joy. There's no other word for it. He wrestles like the whole world is out to get him. Like he can see them coming from every angle. And they're also purple elephants. What a guy. He was complaining about hair pulling before they even locked up. With every exchange he won he tapped his head like he was a genius. Then he walked right into some immediate comeuppance and he complained some more. Just antics with every exchange. Some great bits that were clearly bits but that never felt like bits. They just felt like him being off his gourd. He'd press a dirty advantage between falls just kicking and stomping away but Dieter would just come back and give him the what for. Post match, he tried to charge in an attack only to end up upside down in the turnbuckles. That's Chris Colt for you. We're lucky to have had him even for a moment.

ER: Chris Colt wrestled this like he was Eddie Gilbert in Puerto Rico, a foreign invader stooge who threw cheap shots and resorted to punches when home hero opponent wasn't even considering them, meanwhile getting completely upended on 90% of all exchanges. If you had told me Chris Colt doesn't have any offense and just gets by on drama, stooging, and bumps, I'd believe you. He wrestles this like a manager who doesn't think he's going to win the match but wants to be as disruptive as possible before losing. Even the ref is through with this guy before his entrance music has stopped. Colt takes forever getting his clothing off and the ref just pulls his shirt off over his head. It's like Colt took that moment and tried to have a defiant tantrum until he lost. I loved how most of his cheap shots lead to him getting hit, trying to attack after the bell and getting tossed aside, attacking Dieter after his loss and getting dropped off the turnbuckles onto his head. The man took a back body drop like someone who didn't expect to get flipped in the air, like an America's Funniest Home Video where someone gets double jumped off a trampoline and breaks their collarbone. 

Steve Wright vs. Sal Bellomo

MD: This went the full five rounds and it was a lot of fun. Babyface vs. babyface. Sportsmanlike though it did boil over a bit down the stretch with a fast-paced big bumping (Wright) strike exchange and some wild rope running where Wright would keep getting Bellomo off balance as they worked to the bell. Before that, it was very back and forth. There was one round where Wright had a headscissors on the whole time, but a lot of the early stuff was Wright being a nuisance with his cartwheels and escapes, only for it to build to Bellomo to have a cartwheel of his own. Lots of hanging on to holds as well, even though escape attempts. When Bellomo got one over on him, Wright would be good spirited for the most part, clapping even on his back. They did some very high level work, including some monkey flip spots where they changed direction and pin exchanges going back and forth. I don't know how much substance it had over all, but everyone watching enjoyed themselves a great deal. Just good, strong professional wrestling for its own sake.

ER: This was so good, real pleasant, watched the entire long draw with a big smile. It's tough to do babyface vs. babyface and do it sincerely, and these two might have been the best to try it with. The German fans obviously love Wright, but Bellomo is the Germany revelation that we love so much. These fans get behind their home hero and love this spry Italian, and it creates a real nice environment for their work. Anyone who is only familiar with Sal from seeing some kind of awful 20 minute undercard draw against Samula has no idea what Hanover Bellomo is like. He and Wright don't hate each other, even though it gets more competitive and the handshakes get a bit more teeth clenching, and instead we build to a bit of competitive oneupmanship that never feels like the same kind of grating athletic display as Eddie/Malenko. Bellomo works like a World of Sport legend, I was stunned by his skilled headscissor escapes and the way he works Wright's brand of tough guy athletics. I don't know what 70s matwork exist of Bellomo but his German work is different than any US work of his I've seen, yet he never looks out of place doing it. He is adept at doing complicated exchanges with last minute twists, and there's this great moment where things tip over and Wright shoulderblocks Sal off the apron to the floor. It's a different kind of toughness than they'd been showing and came a bit out of nowhere, a fall bigger than the back body drops and other spills he'd taken. Great way to peak the action, great match to spend some time with. 

Caswell Martin vs. Le Grand Vladimir

MD: Night and day from the last match. The second Vlad hit the ring, even before getting announced or taking gear off, he had tossed Martin out over the top rope to huge boos. When things got settled and he WAS announced, the boos came back even louder. This went the full five rounds as well, but it was a different animal. At the bell Martin got some revenge but Vladimir kept trying to contain him. Early on that didn't go so well. Martin kept slipping out including a great up and over on a top wristlock and the Zangiev escape on a headscissors. Vlad would pull the hair to keep the arm and then express to the ref that it couldn't be possible for him to do that as he, himself, was bald (even if Martin wasn't). There was a whole round where Martin controlled on a cravat going in and out of it and that was well done. After that, Vlad had enough and goozled and stomped and got carded once or twice but controlled until a big comeback from Martin down the stretch. Fans were super into it as you can imagine, and things kind of bounced around with that until the bell and the draw. 

UFO vs. Tom Shaft

MD: Shaft is sort of limited by this point but he does those limited things pretty well. Against someone like UFO, that's enough. His shots look good. He had some nice rapid fire punches to the gut as they were firing back on one another. He had this clothesline to the top of the head and some sort of jumping knee or kick that worked. And he'd bump when it made sense. First round was a lot of UFO using holds and controlling but at the end of the second, Shaft went flying over the top on a shot. He came back in between rounds to get revenge, and then they slugged it out for a lot of the third before UFO won with a sunset flip. Shaft yelled at people after the match. It's interesting to see him since we don't have a lot of footage at least. 

Achim Chall/Michael Schneider vs. Moose Morowski/Ed Wiskoski

MD: Fun while it lasted but it didn't last long enough. You never know coming into these if you're going to have a near classic or if things will just end off going off the rails early. They worked over Morowski's back to start with Schneider bearhugs and these great jumping double knees to the back from Chall. Wiskowski is a wonderful stooge in these matches, eating a bunch of dropkicks and then doing a Buddy Rose-esque fall through the ropes to the floor. Heels took over by swarming and drawing in Chall, and it all sort of led to nothing as Morowski hit a backbreaker and Wiskowki came off the top with a diving headbutt to draw a DQ. If it was just for a fall, that would have worked because then they could have gotten it back quickly from the damage done and the babyfaces would have had to fight back from injury but that was just the match. I'm sure it paid off later but we get these scattershot.

9/20/80

Kim Duk vs. Louis Laurance (JIP)

MD: We come in at the end here. Laurance is far smaller but he hits a bunch of dropkicks until he gets trucked by a Duk dropkick the pin. Not much to say. 

Steve Wright vs. Takashi Ishikawa

MD: Wright really is the Johnny Saint of Axel Dieters. It's a good act, but it gets a little old. The cool thing is that Ishikawa could completely keep up. And the other good thing about Wright, of course, is that after all the cartwheeling and bounding and kip ups and laughter is done, he is actually a tremendous bumper and seller, and he did so here for Ishikawa after a pile driver. that was in the second round and they went into the third more even, slugging away a bit until Wright caught him with a very impressive twisting backslide for the pin. Could have had a bit more of this.

Chris Colt vs. Caswell Martin

MD: This was a lot of fun, the most fun you'll have watching wrestling this year, maybe. Colt has those voices in his head and a chip on his shoulder. He'd try all sorts of things and Martin had not just an answer, but often a hilarious answer to everything. He'd climb around in a headcissors and toupie out. He'd suddenly have a hard head and goad Colt into punching it. He'd have Colt walk up the ropes in a full nelson and give everyone a thumbs down before dropping him. He'd get dropkicked and then drop him right back. Bit after bit after bit after bit. During the round breaks, Colt would flail about to the music and mess with the crowd. He'd get a few shots in or toss Martin out but he could never hold the advantage for long and it was all so entertaining that we're probably happier that way. Martin finally twisted and turned him all around before bridging his way for a pin. Great fun.

 

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: The Road to Aniversario 91

Week 58: The Road to Aniversario 91

EB: We are getting into the final stretches of the road to Aniversario 91. The June 15 show saw Dino Bravo get a win over TNT. Bravo has been facing different tecnicos during the month of June to set him up for Aniversario and we’ll see some more of these encounters shortly. The biggest development from that June 15 card in Carolina was Carlos Colon taking on a hired gun, Great Kokina. El Profe and Gen Akbar had failed with the Polynesian Prince, but were hoping Kokina would be successful in derailing Carlos Colon and stop him from making it to the Universal title match at Aniversario 91. That June 15 match ended in a disqualification (unclear on the winner since some results have Colon winning by dq while others list Kokina winning by dq). There will be a rematch between them before Aniversario.

Speaking of Aniversario, the card is being finalized in the final weeks before the event, so let’s go to the west coast version of Super Estrellas for a pair of episodes that will help make clear what the final Aniversario card will look like. Up first is an episode from what we believe is June 15.

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

This is another edited down version of the west coast version of Super Estrella and we go right into the June 1 match between Dino Brav and Giant Warrior, which we join in progress.This would have been Bravo’s first match in Puerto Rico, so let’s see how he fares on his way to challenge Carlos Colon for the Universal title at Aniversario.

Dino Bravo vs. Giant Warrior

Bravo has Warrior down on the mat with a chinlock. Warrior fights to his feet, breaks the hold and starts backing Bravo into a corner with some punches. A quick eye rake from Bravo cuts that off and Bravo follows up with a back suplex for a two count. Back to the chinlock. Bravo then switches to chokes and then a bearhug. Hugo and Eliud on commentary mention that this is a strategy on the part of Bravo to try to keep Warrior close and neutralized. Warrior fades, the ref does the arm drop check, and Warrior keeps his arm up on the third check. Warrior starts coming back and punches his way out of the bearhug. Warrior whips Bravo into the corner a few times and then sends him into the ropes. Bravo counters and gets Warrior up on his shoulders. In an impressive feat, Bravo airplane spins Warrior and follows up with a clothesline. This sets up the full nelson and Bravo wins via submission. A notable win for Bravo in his first major match in Puerto Rico.

MD: This is the sort of weird stuff we’re looking for. Honestly, this whole episode of TV is. We get the last few minutes of this and it’s good stuff, save for the ill-conceived idea to put a bearhug on Giant Warrior. Bravo hits a really nice belly to back as we come in, and after Warrior fights out of the bearhug, he whips Bravo back and forth effectively until Bravo gets him into an airplane spin(!) and then hits a really nice clothesline out of it. He then finished Warrior off with the full nelson in the sort of definitive win you need to give the challenger for Aniversario. Now I kind of want to see Bravo vs Castillo, Perez, TNT, and Invader too.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Mr. Ito

EB: We cut from the start of a Profe promo and what looked to be a control center segment and go to the next match, Ron Garvin taking on Mr. Ito. This match is from Manati and Hugo mentions this is one of Ito’s first matches competing for the World Wrestling Council. The match is short but Ito is competitive with Garvin for most of it. Garvin gets the better of Ito in an exchange and sets up his knockout punch to get the pin. They are clearly putting over how dangerous and potent Garvin’s punching prowess is on the way to his match against Invader at Aniversario.

After the match we get an updated card ad for the Friday night Aniversario show in San German. This rundown reveals what we missed out during the previous week’s control center segment that was cut off. It’s official, Giant Warrior will be teaming with TNT to take on none other than Demolition (Smash & Crush). That’s 8 of the 10 matches confirmed with a couple of weeks to go. 

MD: Because of course we got Ronnie Garvin vs Akira Nogami in Puerto Rico in 1991. Sure, why not? Unfortunately, we just get a couple of minutes of this. A headscissors by Garvin, a comeback of chops by Ito. He’s not able to open things up though and Garvin cuts him off with a kick and a back body drop before finishing him with the Hand of Stone.

Samoan Swat Team vs. Ricky Santana & Kim Duk

EB: We go to another match already in progress as we head back to May when the Samoan Swat Team took on Ricky Santana & Kim Duk. The SST are challenging the Caribbean Express for the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario, so here's a showcase rematch to remind the fans of how strong of a team they are. 

MD: The weird matches keep coming. I don’t think we’ve seen this one, though some of it is very familiar to me. That might have just been the SST’s act. I’ll move quick. We come come in on a nerve-hold. Santana gets a hope spot of slamming a Samoan’s head into the mat. Obviously that doesn’t work. The hot tag comes after one falls off the top rope for seemingly no reason but Duk tries the double nogging knocker which doesn’t work. Pile-driver. Top rope splash (great camera angle). And that’s that. It did feel very familiar.

EB: After we get an interview with Rod Price, who is challenging for the Caribbean title at Aniversario. Price asks Super Medico #3 if he's willing to pay the price. 

MD: We don’t get to hear Akbar talk. Price is going for the Caribbean Championship. Both he and Hugo call Medico 3 “Super Medic 3” which is one of those things I just pretend not to have to deal with. Price ends by saying “You better think about it once. You better think about it twice. Are you willing to pay the price?” which is definitely a catch phrase.

EB: Ron Garvin follows with a promo about his match against Invader #1 at Aniversario. Hugo reminds Garvin that Invader will be allowed to have his fist taped and Garvin says that when he steps in the ring with such a weapon, then Garvin has no choice but to beat his opponent nearly to death. 

MD: Another good Garvin interview. He’s goes on about how Invader’s taped fist means he can’t hold back and that he should be an honest man. Unfortunately we don’t get to see Hugo’s translation because he was great shadowboxing last time with that.

Invader I vs. Chicky Starr - April 90 

EB: The next match takes us back to mid April 1990, when the Invaders were feuding with Leo Burke and Chicky Starr (which segued into the Invader #1 vs. Leo Burke singles feud).Here Invader is facing Burke and Chicky in a handicap match challenge. Invader #4 had been taken out by the rudos the week before and Invader was facing both of them in a match where he had to wrestle both opponents. According to Hugo on commentary, we join this match after Burke had been eliminated (which is why Burke is sitting n a chair at ringside). Invader is in control and Chicky is already bleeding. However, Invader misses a charge in the corner and goes shoulder first into the post, giving Chicky an opening to go on the attack. Chicky controls most of the match that is shown ,with some invader hope spots mixed in. The match ends when Invader ducks a clothesline and comes off the ropes with a heart punch to win as the crowd cheers on. Another match that puts over the heart punch as we head to Aniversario. Seeing him here, I wonder what Chicky has been up to since leaving CSP? Hmm. Well, let’s move on.

MD: I guess we get an old Invader I match to heat him up (since he’s recovering from whatever Garvin did we didn’t get to see) and I’m not going to say no to that. It’s just not fair how good Invader is at selling. It’s not. This is such a great example. When we come in, Chicky seems to already be bloody but Invader misses a corner charge. Chicky hammers on the shoulder again and again and again and slowly Invader starts absorbing it, seemingly daring Chicky to continue his onslaught, and he stands and frames and fires back. Chicky keeps on him with stomps and kicks and this neat falling over pile driver and again Invader slowly makes it back to his feet, ducks a clothesline and hits the Heart Punch out of nowhere and it’s as close to perfect pro wrestling as I can imagine. Just not fair.

EB: The next math is a repeat airing of the Colon vs. Strong barbed wire mach from Aniversario 89. Afterwards, we get another Hugo training video, this time with Giant Warrior. Hugo gets put through his paces and then finishes with a promo on Billy Joe Travis,  promising that the effort will be worth it when he makes Travis pay at Aniversario. 

We then get the show close with Hugo again hyping up Aniversario 91.

MD: It’s the Giant Warrior training video! More doing stuff with weights at least. This goes way too long again and isn’t broken up enough like a proper montage. The best part is him pushing against Warrior, trying to move him. At the end Warrior says it’s time to train a monster and get him in the ring.

EB: We also have a west coast episode of Super Estrellas that may be from June 22 or June 29. This seems to be the go home show of sorts for the Aniversario card on Friday July 5 in San German. We’ll see some of the major feuds recapped and also see the final announcements for Aniversario, so let’s go to the episode.

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

Hugo opens the show but gets interrupted by a long station ID message. Hugo mentioned we’ll see what has happened in the top feuds heading into Aniversario plus the matches and music videos we’ll see on today’s program. One other segment we’ll have is a segment where Dino Bravo will be showing off his power, Bravo is claiming that the figure four will not affect him and wants to prove it with a demonstration. Hugo promotes the locations where you can buy tickets for Aniversario and the related promotions they are doing with radio station Cosmos 94.

Our first feud recap is Carlos Colon vs Dino Bravo starting with the attack at Noche de Campeones. We cut from the Bravo attack to the Ron Garvin vs Invader #1 recap, with Garvin and Invader doing the contract signing for their match at Aniversario. Garvin is laughing and saying he already knocked Invader out before, referencing their match from June 1. They show the clip of when Garvin knocked out Invader with a punch during the match and made the cover, only for the time limit to expire before the count of three. Back to the contract signing and Invader responds that when he hit the heart punch (which was not taped up), he had Garvin out. Only the ropes and El Profe helped save him. They show a clip of that part of the match and then we go back to the contract signing. Garvin is standing and angrily shouting that Invader is gutless, causing Invader to start standing up. Almost immediately, Garvin punches Invader in the face and knocks him out.

MD: This was set up well as they show a clip of Garvin hitting the hands of stone punch on invader, using the ref as a distraction first, and Invader hitting the heart punch, with Garvin getting a foot on the rope and Profe getting his heart going again on the outside. Then, out of nowhere, Garvin clocked Invader during the contract signing and Invader dropped like a pile of bricks. 

Polynesian Prince vs. Invader I

EB: We continue with the feud recaps, going over the incidents that have led to Bronco vs. Skandor Akbar, Monster Ripper vs. El Profe, and Hugo Savinovich vs. Billy Joe Travis.  Then we immediately go to our first match, which is Invader #1 vs. Polynesian Prince from June 15. The match is joined in progress with Prince doing a stunner or jawbreaker like move and making a cover for two. Some headbutts and a nerve hold follow, but Invader fights out by stomping Prince’s bare feet and then biting him. An eye rake by Prince cuts off Invader, and Invader is tossed to the outside. Akbar tries to get a shot in on Invader but instead hits Prince when Invader gets out of the way, Invader attacks Akbar, Prince attacks Invader from behind, but an attempted Irish whip into the post is reversed by Invader. The match heads back into the ring and they exchange missed moves until Prince misses a diving headbutt. This allows Invader to hit two heart punches and get the win. 

MD: We come in with Prince using a jawbreaker to take over. He has headbutts and a nerve hold, opening and closing his mouth again and again. Invader comes back beautifully, stomping on the feet, raking the eyes, and biting the face all in one flurry. Prince cuts him off with an eyerake. The rest of the match is a great bit of sputtering comebacks and cutoffs. First Akbar misses a shot on the outside and hits Prince. Then when Invader goes after Akbar, Prince ambushes, only to get reversed into the post. Back in the ring, he takes over, no-sells a reversed whip into the corner (hard head), but takes too long to leap off the top and misses. That lets Invader finally hit two heart punches for the win. A well done piece of business here. It really got over the heart punch since Prince was surviving everything else.

EB: Hugo Savinovich is in a gym somewhere, with Dino Bravo, El Profe, Skandor Akbar and Polynesian Prince there as well. They are all in a ring and Bravo wants to show off how he will deal with the figure four leglock come Aniversario. Prince is there since he is a bigger and stronger man than Carlos Colon, so if Bravo can successfully show off his power against Prince, what hope does Colon have against him at Aniversario? Prince puts a figure four leglock on Bravo, who reverses the maneuver. Bravo keeps the reversal applied and Prince is struggling but not making any noise. After a few moments, Akbar starts getting worried based on how Prince is acting and tries to break the hold. It looks like Bravo’s power ended up breaking Prince’s leg. Ouch! Dino is exasperated, asking Prince why he didn't say anything or complain.

MD: Legitimately funny to me. They have Polynesian Prince be the one to put the figure four on. “Well over 300 pounds.” And then Bravo just turns it over. This would have been way better if they got some enhancement guy to do it and Bravo just powered out of it. I get what they were trying in theory but this didn’t hit the mark. Everyone knows you just turn over the figure four!

EB: Skandor Akbar is in the studio to talk about his match against Bronco (which to be upfront, we don’t have footage for). Akbar talks about the pain of being burned in the face and that he knows Bronco is disfigured for life. The biggest mistake Bronco made is coming back because this time Akbar has a plan and Bronco will  be finished for good.

MD: I’ve been informed this is the match we don’t have from the show and I am not convinced we will ever find out what Akbar’s big plan for Bronco was.

EB: We get a replay of Bronco's interview from the Dominican Republic (conducted by Mario Medina), followed by an in studio promo from TNT. He is teaming with Giant Warrior at Aniversario to face Demolition. TNT says that everyone in Puerto Rico has seen these two animals on TV before, and he calls them animals because of their size. TNT promises that Demolition will not have it easy because they are facing two Puerto Ricans because TNT says that Giant Warrior had told him that he considers himself Puerto Rican.

We then get a final card rundown for Aniversario 91 in San German with the previously confirmed matches plus two additional ones. We have Ricky Santana vs. Action Jackson (the Saturday match has the stipulation where the loser must leave Puerto Rico, not sure what set this up) and Koko B Ware taking on Galan Mendoza. 

MD: And lo, we lose Murdoch to WCW. A shame. Instead we have Giant Warrior and TNT vs Demolition. I can imagine 1988 or even 1989 Demolition in Puerto Rico and that would have been amazing. No Bill Eadie now. Still a pretty fun sounding clash of the Titans though. Ok, get this, there’s a match in New Haven from early 1984 where Masked Superstar teamed with Sgt. Slaughter against the Invaders. Wild. Anyway, that’s our match. 

EB: We get a repeat of the Bronco music video. This is followed by a Monster Ripper promo for her match against El Profe. Ripper promises that all the bad stuff Prof likes to talk about everyone is going to stop and she will be the one to put Profe down. She wants all of the women to come out and watch what she’ll do to Profe, she’ll be his worst nightmare.

MD: Very weird to me that Ripper is now cutting a promo in English with Hugo translating. Maybe they trusted her with cackling heel promos or to translate but not with her own babyface promos? She wants all the women (and men if they can handle it) to come see her beat up Profe.

EB: Galan Mendoza is next to talk about Koko B Ware. Mendoza says that they know each other from before in the UWF, but this time it’ll be Mendoza who will put a stop to Koko. Next are the DJs from Cosmos 94 to promote their involvement with Aniversario, followed by another Aniversario card ad. Then we get a Koko B Ware music video set to ‘Piledriver’.

MD: And here’s our bonus match for Aniversario, Koko vs Mendoza. Interesting that they’ve brought Koko in at the bottom of the card again. He’s a guy who could definitely have a run but they just use him as an attraction like this. The music video is basically just taken from the Profe match.

EB: Billy Joe Travis has a message for Hugo, he wants Hugo’s family (and ‘my kids’)  to be at the event, because he’s going to embarrass Hugo.

MD: Travis cuts a good promo talking about Hugo’s family and how everyone should come see him beat up Hugo. He’s not allowed to touch him until the match, which is a good stip. I see this and see no reason why he couldn’t have a long run on the island too.

EB: Ron Garvin is next, saying he has built quite the reputation and Invader has gotten him mad with what Garvin believes was an attempt to put Garvin out of wrestling. Garvin promises to end Invader's career and knock him out. Invader responds by putting over Garvin's quality but reminds everyone that he will have his fist taped, so let;s see if Garvin is able to get up from that when the heart punch is hit.We close this segment with another card rundown prefaced by another Cosmos DJ.

MD: Garvin invokes the fact he’s a big name in wrestling, a former world champion, something he couldn’t tout for most of his major post-NWA run. This feels like good closure for him honestly, as this run lasted a bit longer than I had expected. Invader’s with Hugo for his response and it looks like he’d been training Hugo maybe from the locale and the garb. 

Samoan Swat Team vs. Ricky Santana & Invader IV

EB: The SST are challenging for the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario, so we get another showcase match for them against the team of Ricky Santana and Invader #4. The match is a bit more competitive with Santana in there, but the SST steamroll Invader #4 and get the pin. 

MD: Not a ton here. Santana and Invader (especially Santana) control Savage's arm. Fatu gets in and destroys Invader with backbreakers. They knock Santana off the apron and hit a Samoan Drop followed by a top rope splash for the win.

EB: We then get some followup of the Dino Bravo power showcase from earlier where Polynesian Prince got his leg broken. Prince has his leg in a cast and Profe is mentioning how Colon won’t be able to withstand Bravo's power if Prince couldn't . We also get words from an exasperated Dino Bravo, saying that he’s been apologizing to the Prince and General because he did not know how much pain the Prince was in. Bravo warns Carlos that if he’s not careful, Bravo might end up breaking both of Colon’s legs at Aniversario.

We cut to Hugo and Carlos Colon, they are on a break from training and look to be relaxing on someone’s balcony. Hugo says that Bravo is a scary challenger because he combines power with wrestling knowledge and is highly ranked in the WWF (uh, sure Hugo). Carlos says it’s the biggest challenge of his life since Bravo is like a war tank. No one has been able to break Bravo’s full nelson yet but he is ready for the challenge. As to Bravo saying he is not afraid of the figure four, Carlos says he has other holds and moves besides the figure four if it comes to that. Hugo promotes a party they’ll have Thursday on the beach in Aguada for July 4 with Carlos, TNT and Hugo there. Carlos invites the fans to the July 4 beach party and to Aniversario on July 5. 

MD: Ok the previous skit redeemed itself. Prince and Akbar are sitting on a couch. Prince has a cast on his leg. He’s beside himself. Akbar is reassuring him. Bravo’s there with a gym logo tank top apologizing to Prince and Akbar for breaking Prince’s leg. He had turned the hold over for like four seconds and this is all very funny. He said he didn’t even use half his strength either. This would be great but maybe not for the main event build?

EB: Another Hugo training video and they are in the countryside. Hugo is chopping down trees, pickaxing the ground, running with logs on his shoulders, and chasing a horse as part of his training. Hugo thanks the fans for their support and Carlos and Giant Warrior for their help. He’s not going to wrestle Travis, he’s going there to fight. We then get a message from the manager of Cosmos 94 inviting the fans to Aniversario.

MD: They end up on the farm? Hugo’s family farm? I have no idea. But we’ve got Hugo chopping trees, pickaxing the ground, chasing a little horse around! Thankfully this one only lasts a few minutes. 

Miguelito Perez vs. Dino Bravo

EB: Another match to put over Dino Bravo before Aniversario, this time against Miguelito Perez. We join the match in progress, with Miguelito in the middle of an offensive flurry that sends Bravo to regroup on the outside. Bravo takes a while to come back in and Miguelito is able to counter some Bravo punches. A whip into the corner backfires as Bravo grabs Perez and atomic drops him. Bravo does a chinlock and then a bearhug.  Bravo gets a near fall off the bearhug, but Perez fights out of it. Bravo cuts Perez off and hits a piledriver to set up the full nelson but Miguelito counters with a roll up. An offensive flurry is stopped by Bravo with an airplane spin and this time he is able to put Perez in the full nelsons.  Miguelito can’t break the hold and submits.

Hugo closes the show by reminding fans about the beach party on July 4 and Aniversario on Friday July 5.

MD: Ah here’s the Dino Bravo we know and (don’t) love. After feeding a bit for dropkicks, he came back in with a chinlock and a long, long bearhug. Very long. Not much there even if Perez worked well from underneath. Finishing stretch was good though. Perez went behind on the full nelson attempt and they went back and forth a bit after that until Bravo got the airplane spin on him, softening him up for the nelson. Bravo is still Bravo deep down, that’s for sure.

EB: We have a couple of matches from June that we would like to cover before heading into Aniversario 91. The first match is a tag match where Invader #1 (during the period where Invader had the bandage on his nose) and Mr. Ito are facing Action Jackson and Rod Price. This match may be from June 8.

Invader #1 & Mr. Itoi vs. Action Jackson & Rod Price 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiphTT8snjw

This video is from a VHS release early in 1992, so the commentary is not really focused on what was happening at the time. Invader and Mr. Ito are an interesting tag team though, so let’s see how they fare against Rod Price and Action Jackson. Invader and Action start for their teams and we get a bit of stalling tactics from Actin to start the match. They square up for a punch exchange and that goes badly for Action, who ends up on the outside again. Ito is tagged in and works over Jackson’s arm. He hits a jumping elbow and tags Invader back in. Action quickly tags out to Price but Invader and Ito continue with their strategy of working over their opponent’s arm. Price turns the tide with a hair pull on Ito and the rudos work over Ito for a few minutes. They build to a hot tag to Invader, who cleans house on both rudos. Eventually all four men end up in the ring and it is Invader and Ito who are in control. However, Profe hands a foreign object to Action while the ref is busy with Invader and Price, and Action hits Ito with it to get the pin. But wait… Ricky Santana comes out of the locker room and grabs the foreign object out of Action Jackson’s tights. He shows the ref, who restarts the match. This may be the beginning of what sets up the Santana vs. Jackson match at Aniversario. With the match restarted, Action misses a flying kneedrop on Ito, who then tags in Invader. A quick offensive burst leads to a heart punch and win for the tecnicos.

MD: This was aired years later on a video tape. The commentary is very funny but that’s beside the point. Jackson and Price have matching tights. Ito has his beard and wig to come out but then takes it off. Invader has the bandaging we’ve seen him wear in promos lately. And hey, this was a good one. Standard very good PR tag. Invader and Jackson were just great to start. Lots of shadow boxing, dodging Jackson’s big shots and hitting jab after jab as he stooged away. Nogami hit a spin wheel kick but the heels took over fairly quickly by working over the arm and double teaming. Good FIP with a lot of varied offense (Price with a press slam and Russian leg sweep, Jackson with a power slam) and double teams after they drew Invader in. Invader went nuts on the hot tag as you’d expect. They did a false finish where Profe slipped knucks on Jackson and he pinned Nogami but Santana ran out to tell the ref. I’m proud of myself because I had the sense that was going to happen. I’ve seen enough of these to know when it will and when it won’t. The match restarted and they did a second hot tag with Invader coming back in and getting that heart punch out of nowhere which always pops everyone. Good stuff.

EB: We also have one match from Great Kokina’s brief excursion to Puerto Rico during the month of June. As stated before, Carlos Colon and Great Kokina faced off on June 15 in a match that ended in a disqualification. They had a subsequent rematch (likely June 22 or 29) inside a steel cage. Let’s see if Kokina is able to take out Carlos Colon before Aniversario.

Carlos Colón vs. Great Kokina - Cage Match  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWIAo8oxquM

Another monster for Carlos to overcome and it’s inside a cage. Profe is with Kokina and it is Kokiha who controls early on with a lot of headbutt based offense and some biting. Kokina continues focusing on Colon’s head with a claw and then ramming Colon into the cage. Another ram attempt is countered by Carlos and it is Kokina who gets rammed instead. After several rams, Carlos bites Kokina in the forehead. Carlos keeps punching and biting Kokina’s head as Kokian tries to escape through the door. The escape attempts are unsuccessful. Kokina begs off and Carlos continues punching, but a Kokina headbutt to the stomach stops the attack. Carlos stops another Kokian escape attempt and the match continues with some back and forth momentum swings. Carlos stops another forehead claw by stomping on Kokina’s bare feet and then hitting a foul kick. A bearhug by Carlos leads to Kokina regaining control. Another escape attempt by Kokina and Carlos stops him by ramming Kokina’s head into the steel frame of the door. Some more momentum shifts lead to Carlos slamming Kokina. Carlos tries to go for the door but is stopped, and the two wrestlers fight right by the cage wall. Carlos is able to ram Kokina’s head a few times into the cage, allowing Colon enough time to go out the door and win the match. Looks like another failure for Profe in taking out Colon before Aniversario. 

MD: We think that Kokina had a tour here in between a UWA tour that ended at the start of June and his July NJPW tour. Obviously, they’d already gotten to a cage match at this point. Speaking of cagematch, it has Kokina beating Carlos by DQ on July 15. And this is a good one! We get nine minutes of it but they do the job here in a bit way. Kokina takes over almost immediately and they don’t hesitate to use the cage. He’s happy to toss Carlos right into it. But he looks to the crowd once too often and Carlos comes back, using it as a great equalizer. There’s a great shot here of Kokina lodged in between the post and the cage, his head draped over the top turnbuckle, with Carlos working the wound. Carlos goes for the door and Kokina cuts him off. Things get pretty dire for Carlos, who bleeds heavily, but Kokina misses an elbow drop and Carlos finally gets a huge slam on him. Kokina still cuts him off one more time from making it to the door, but Carlos slams his head into the cage repeatedly until he can just barely make it out. It’s a good use of ten minutes if you’ve got them.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, it is time for Aniversario 91! We review 7 of the 10 matches (plus a clip of an eighth match) as Carlos Colon defends the Universal title against Dino Bravo, Invader #1 has his fist taped against Ron Garvin, for the first time in Puerto Rico a man faces a woman as El Profe faces the wrath of Monster Ripper, Demolition takes on TNT and Giant Warrior, and Hugo Savinovich brings his walking hardware store out of mothballs to get revenge on Billy Joe Travis. 

Read more!

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Champions Celebrate Mothers

Week 54: Champions Celebrate Mothers

EB: It’s Mother’s Day weekend and that means we are celebrating the mothers of Puerto Rico in style, with a big wrestling card dedicated to them. Champions will be defending their titles on Saturday and Sunday, with the Saturday Noche de Campeones having a portion of it airing live on Channel 4. Carlos Colon and Ron Garvin are scheduled to have the rubber match in their series, they are 1-1 in Universal title matches so far. There are some other updates to the big card that we’ll cover shortly, so let’s go to the May 11 west coast version episode of Super Estrellas de la Lucha Libre.  

WWC Super Estrellas 5/11/91

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2YHP5Indpw

Hugo welcomes us to the program and (since this is the west coast version of the program) tomorrow is the day for the big Mother’s Day card, Tarde de Capeones (general admission is $5). Hugo runs down what we’ll see on today's program and then talks about tomorrow’s card: Carlos Colon vs Ron Garvin for the Universal title; Invader #1 & Bronco #1 vs the SST for the WWC World tag titles; King Kong vs Giant Warrior for the TV title; Monster Ripper vs Candi Divine for the Women’s World title; and added to the card due to the Mexican minis having visa troubles in getting into the country to work the show is new Midget World champion Little Louie (who recently defeated Little Tokyo for the title) will be defending his title against Butch Cassady. Tomorrow they will also have merchandise and videos for sale.  

El Bronco #1 & Invader #1 vs. The Samoan Swat Team

Our first match is joined in progress from Lares (suggesting this is from the most recent Thursday or Friday house show) and here we have our first look at recent arrivals and Gen. Akbar’s latest tag team, the Samoan Swat Team. This version of the team is Samoan Savage and Fatu and they are billed as the UWA World tag team champions. Hugo mentions how this team inherited the name from their family, the original Wild Samoans of Afa and Sika, and that this current combination may be the best one yet. Savage is in the ring with Bronco when we join the match, with Invader being tagged in. Savage gains control, tags in Fatu and the SST control the next minutes of the encounter. Fatu tosses Invader outside and distracts the ref,allowing Savage to ram Invader into the fence and hit him with one of the signs. Bronco has enough and gets to check on Invader but then starts exchanging blows with Fatu outside the ring, sending Fatu into the ringpost. Hugo says that the SST are definitely showing they have the quality, energy and viciousness to compete. The SST continue working over Invader with nerve holds, headbutts and switching out behind the ref’s back. Invader makes a brief comeback but misses a corner charge. However, Savage goes to the top and for some reason slips and falls off, allowing Invader the opening to tag in Bronco. Both SST members are handled by Bronco and then Invader joins the fray. The Samoans are whipped into each other and Invader knocks one of them out of the ring. Bronco gets his Bronco DDT on the other, but in the confusion Akbar gets in the ring and clobbers Bronco with an object. The SST are able to score the pin and get a win over the reigning WWC World tag champions. 

MD: Pretty fun one here. Either we come in JIP past most of the shine or there was no shine as they take over on Invader fairly quickly. It definitely had an effect in making the SST seem more formidable than a lot of other teams so I imagine the cutting (whether in the match or the tape) was on purpose. Good heat on Invader including Bronco and the ref getting distracted so they could dump part of the local signage on him and Bronco getting fed up and posting one even if it didn’t do them much good overall. SST can be a little silly at times here and one basically crotched himself on the top after a perfectly good cutoff on Invader’s hope spot, allowing for the hot tag. Bronco came in fiery and pretty quickly got his face first DDT finish on, but the ref was distracted with the brawling on the outside and Akbar was able to intervene, clock Bronco, and turn things around to heat things up for the bigger match.

EB: Next is a recap of the feud Super Medico #3 and Action Jackson are having over the Caribbean title. We see clips of the finish of their match from April 27 and their subsequent match from Cataño where Kim Duk got involved and explained to the ref the cheating that went down. As mentioned before, these two men will face off once more for the Caribbean title with Kim Duk as the special referee. After the feud recap, Profe and Action Jackson cut a promo where they are not worried about Medico #3 or about Kim Duk being partial to Medico, Action will win the Caribbean title and they will party with the ladies all night long. 

MD: We saw the recaps last time. That first ref bump was really good. Most important thing to know about the promo is that Jackson isn’t worried about Duk as the special ref and promises that after he wins 1-2-3 in the center of the ring, he and Profe will party with all the ladies.

EB: Brad Anderson gets a music video, with highlights from some of his matches against Kim Duk and Ricky Santana. He is challenging for the World Junior title this weekend.

MD: Maybe the only Brad Anderson video ever? But they made him look pretty good with footage against Duk and Santana and others set to I Want It All by Queen. A few shots of his spinebuster slam, which was a pretty interesting creative choice given how cool the normal spinebuster is. Not much of his weird gourdbuster though.

EB: A King Kong interview gets cut, but we do get Akbar with the SST (who have their UWA Tag title belts with them). Akbar says this is the team and we get comments from Savage as well. Fatu just mugs for the camera as Hugo translates. Bronco and Invader cut their usual promo about how it won't be easy to get the titles from them, with Invader putting over the quality of the SST and that they’ll be ready for them.

MD: They just flawlessly move to the next feud with these tags. Akbar set it up well with “You thought the California Studs were tough…?” and mentioned how the SST had done a bunch of favors for Devastation, Inc. and now signed big contracts. They already had one set of belts (thanks to Estevban for identifying them) and were going for another. Bronco and Invader were as spirited as ever though and this felt like a big deal to me.

Billy Joe Travis & Gran Mendoza vs. Herbert Gonzalez & Invader #4

EB: Galan Mendoza gets another tag partner and it is the returning Billy Joe Travis (who had a feud with Huracan Castillo over the World Junior title back in the late fall of 1990). Travis and Mendoza work over Invader #4 for a couple of minutes util Herbert Gonzalez gets the tag. Surprisingly, Herbert gets a  few seconds of shine before all four men end up in the ring. As the ref clears the ring of the illegal men,Monster Ripper goes over to Mendoza and slips him an object that he loads into his glove. One loaded punch later and Herbert is pinned. It looks like Mendoza and Travis will continue the rivalry with the Caribbean Express over the Caribbean tag titles. 

MD: And lo, Billy Joe replaces Doug Gilbert as Mendoza’s partner continuing the stooging chain. He and Mendoza are a good match with the blonde mullets. They have Ripper with them still. Invader IV starts out in peril here and he has a nice little flip to his feet for a hope spot but gets cut off. When Gonzalez does make it there’s a ton of stooging before Ripper slips Mendoza the glove. They didn’t exactly look super strong here but maybe that was the point.

EB: It’s clear from Anderson’s interview that he’s faced and defeated Ricky Santana twice already and he says the third time will be the same, only this time the World Junior title will be around his waist. Ricky follows with a rebuttal, saying Profe is talking too much. Ricky is dedicating this match to all the mothers and he will not disappoint them. Anderson needs to remember two things, that Ricky is the champion and that Rivky will be walking out the champion.

MD: They’ve been through a couple of matches but Anderson was ready to get the light heavyweight title. This feels like a perfectly fine undercard feud even with no real heat behind it.

EB: TNT joins us in full garb, he is not competing this weekend due to being sidelined due to King Kong’s top rope splashes. TNT wishes all of the mothers a happy Mother’s Day and also lets us know he has started rating and is feeling better already. He soon should be ready for action. TNT talks about tomorrow’s TV title match where Giant Warrior is challenging King Kong. TNT spoke with Warrior and warned him to watch out for those splashes. He will be rooting 100% for Giant Warrior.

MD: TNT is back from being laid out and in his full ceremonial gear looking ready to get revenge.

EB: We get a Ron Garvin music video where it looks like he is running and working out around the Condado area of San Juan. The video includes clips from some of his late 88 matches, including his win over Carlos Colon in the Universal title tournament finals. Hugo follows by saying that the third time is the charm as we get highlights of the previous two matches between Garvin and Colon. They are tied 1-1. We cut off the Ron Garvin telephone interview (I’m guessing it’s the same one from last week) and then go to Carlos Colon in the studio. Carlos reiterates that he wants everyone supporting him tomorrow against a very dangerous opponent, with the fans’ support he is sure that the Universal title will stay here in Puerto Rico.

MD: Again, not much in the way of new Garvin footage. This is older stuff. The music video is funny as it has him running and punching and on the beach, etc. The very best part is when they intersperse clips of his fist with a giant rock at high speed. The clips are interesting in context. At the end of 87 he was anchoring things in JCP and at the end of 88 he looked to be anchoring things for Puerto Rico. Then at the end of 89 into 90, he had the Valentine story in the WWF and now he’s back to headline a big show. It makes me wonder if people don’t give him quite enough credit. 

Kim Duk & Giant Warrior vs. Action Jackson & King Kong

EB: Our TV main event is Kim Duk & Giant Warrior taking on Action Jackson & King Kong. We have both El Profe and Skandor Akbar seconding the rudo team for this encounter. Duk and Jackson start and Duk gets the better of that exchange, hitting a backdrop and causing Action to roll outside. Back in, Action gets backed into the tecnico corner and Giant Warrior is tagged in. Action manages to back Warrior up to the rudo corner, but a double team attempt is avoided by Warrior, and Action almost crashes into Kong (causing an angry exchange from Action to Kong). Kong is tagged in. Another double team attempt fails,with Kong hitting Action and sending him to the floor.   This rudo team is not gelling well. Duk is in and the rudo team briefly gets some offense in, but Warrior comes in again for his team. Warrior misses a charge and seems to hit his head on the post (due to his size), allowing Action and Kong to work over Warrior. The match breaks down a bit with Warrior rammed into the post outside and Duk coming in. The rudos double team Duk and he falls victim to the Kong splash for the p in. Warrior comes back in the ring. Tosses Action out of the ring, and then hits the big boot on Kong. Warrior and Kong fight on the outside and continue fighting towards the locker room as we go back to Hugo in the studio for the show closing. 

MD: They teased Jackson and Kong having dissension early by each crashing into the other as Duk got out of the way and the fans were very excited at that idea. Jackson was just a naturally volatile figure in the best of ways. Warrior played face in peril well and it was believable enough with these two. Jackson leaped to nowhere and landed on Warrior’s upstretched boot but it was notable because he flopped forward in a really nice twist on the flying nothing. When Duk got in, he immediately got swept under and splashed though. Post-match they paid off Warrior vs Kong with a nice brawl on the outside and the fans wanted to see more of that too.

EB: While we’ve been reviewing mostly west coast versions of the TV that are hyping up the May 12 Mother’s Day show, we do have a counterpart Noche de Campeones card occurring on Saturday May 11. It is happening in Guaynabo and there is a very important development for this show. WAPA, the station that airs Super Estrellas de la Lucha Libre, will be airing part of the card live on TV. And we actually have a good portion of this airing available. First, let’s go to the May 11 episode of Campeones for the final hype for Noche de Campeones. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgGPKj7yoiE

Hugo and Profe are here to start the program, with Hugo welcoming the viewers to Campeones on TeleOnce. Profe sounds happy and Hugo makes note that not only is it because of the wrestlers he has competing tonight for titles, but it turns out Profe has been helping to train Monster Ripper for her title defense as well. It’s a partnership that has developed recently and Profe has been taking this responsibility seriously. In fact, we’ll see highlights of this training later in the program. Hugo reminds viewers that tickets are already on sale with special prices in honor of the mothers they are celebrating (ringside $8, general admission $5, and children under 11 years old are $2). Hugo makes sure to emphasize the first match starts at 8pm, since Campeones airs on Teleonce (Channel 11) they can’t promote the live airing of the card on WAPA (channel 4), so this is an indirect way to make sure people are there on time for the start of the live airing. Profe runs down what’s in store and makes sure to run down the tecnicos (calls the Caribbean Express the Chicken Express, calls Invader and Bronco stupid, and declares Garvin the Universal champion since it’s a lock that he will win). Hugo continues running down the rest of what’s in store before again giving another reminder of tonight’s Noche de Campeones card dedicated to all of the mothers in Puerto Rico and then drops some big news. All who attend tonight in person will find out who will compete in the main event of Aniversario 91, as they will announce the challenger for the Universal title (who will face whoever is champion after tonight’s match). With that, let’s go the first match,

Gran Mendoza & El Condor vs. Caribbean Express (Miguelito Perez & Huracan Castillo Jr.)

Mendoza has been feuding with the Caribbean Express since losing the Caribbean tag titles to them, but has had a bit of a revolving door of partners (from Rick Valentine to Doug Gilbert and now Billy Joe Travis). Here Mendoza is teaming with El Condor, which suggests this may have been taped in between the switch from Gilbert to Travis. Hugo mentions that Castillo and Perez are the champions of Puerto Rico, wearing flag t-shirts to show off how proud they are of their country and heritage (which they wore during their tour of Central America). Profe complains that those are cheap t-shirts but Hugo says that where the shirt comes from doesn't matter, it’s the pride in representing their homeland that matters. Perez and Condor start and condor actually gets a bit of shine by knocking down Perez with a clothesline before tagging out. Profe talks up Condor by saying that he’s talented, has a future  and we’ll see him in a few years in main event matches, he just needs experience. This continues the recent trend of the commentators talking up Condor (it looks like they may have plans for him soon). The Caribbean Express maintain control of most of the match, regardless of whether it is Mendoza or Condor in there. Profe insults Miguelito by saying that it looks like Miguelito owes money to his barber judging by that haircut, he looks like a Dick Tracy villain. Hugo complains that it looks like Mendoza is purposefully avoiding being in there too long against the Express and is letting Condor handle the bulk of the match. Profe justifies it by saying that Mendoza is letting Condor gain experience. Condor makes a good showing but ends up getting hit by a Perez handspring elbow and powerslam,and Castillo finishes it off with a Northern Lights suplex (with Mendoza just jumping off the apron and not bothering to make any effort at a save). 

MD: A showcase for the Express. I’m not sure if this was between partners for Mendoza or what. I’d have been all for Condor being the third guy with Mendoza and Travis with Ripper managing all three though. He had just enough clever little mannerisms and stalling that made me think he was getting it. They’d get little bits of offense but the Express were quick to comeback. I love Castillo’s jumping knee and Perez had a handspring elbow in the corner, with Castillo winning it with a Northern Lights Suplex. I wonder if he learned that from being around Hase in New Japan.

EB: Hugo presents the finish of the match the Samoan Swat Team had this past Thursday in Lares in their debut in CSP. It’s the match against Invader #1 and Bronco #1 we saw on Super Estrellas. Tonight there is a rematch with the WWC World tag titles on the line and there is  special stipulation for that match, Skandor Akbar will be locked in a cage. Also, if Invader and Bronco win, they’ll get 5 minutes with Akbar. Obviously,Akbar is not happy about being put in a cage but is focus do more important things and that is the World tag team titles. And they can forget about getting those 5 minutes. Bronco and Invader are ready and Bronco is looking forward to getting those 5 minutes with Akbar. Invader mention they don’t run from anyone and they’ll gladly defend the belts tonight. Invader also wants those 5 minutes so they can beat respect into Akbar.

MD: Akbar claims he’s not an animal. The gimmick here was that he’d be locked in a cage at ringside and if Bronco and Invader won they’d get five minutes with him. Really something that should be done more today. It’s perfect for Stokely for instance.

EB: Some more promos for tonight, as the Caribbean Express (wearing the shirts the announcers were talking about earlier) are defending their titles against Galan Mendoza and Billy Joe Travis. Castillo recognizes that Mendoza and Travis make a nice team but the Express is the better team. Profe introduces the Ron Garvin music video we’ve seen before and then we get some words from Monster Ripper, Galen Mendoza and Billy Joe Travis. Ripper says that she has a surprise while gesturing to Travis, so I’m guessing this may actually be the official launch of this team. Travis praises his manager and partner and reminds the viewers that he is a former World Junior champion as well. Mendoza says that they have the Express right where they wanted, Perez and Castillo made the mistake of signing an open contract and here they have Billy Joe Travis.

MD: They’re up against Perez and Castillo moving forward. All I really have to say here is that Travis looks like he was raiding Chicky Starr’s wardrobe. He calls Ripper the most beautiful woman and himself and Mendoza the most handsome men. Mendoza just seems happy to be there.

EB: They show the finish of the Giant Warrior & Kim Duk vs. King Kong & Action Jackson where Warrior and Kong fought to the locker room as part of the hype for the TV title match tonight. Akbar calls out warrior for thinking he’s some type of savior around here, but Kong will take care of him tonight.

MD: Akbar really had a lot of value still at this point. If I was WCW, I would have brought him in to be with Sullivan and Black Blood and One Man Gang or something. Anyway, here he said that Giant Warrior saw himself as a savior but that he’d end up calling Akbar master. Pretty solid stuff with shots of Kong. It’s amazing not just how long Warrior’s run was but that he was a babyface throughout. 

EB: We get the card rundown for tonight in Guaynabo: Carlos Colon vs Ron Garvin for the Universal title; Invader #1 & Bronco #1 vs the Samoan swat team for the World tag titles, with Skandor Akbar locked in a cage and if Invader and Bronco win they get 5 minutes with Akbar; King Kong vs Giant Warrior for the TV title; Monster Ripper vs Candi Divine for the Women’s World title; Little Louis vs Butch Cassady for the Midget World title; Super Medico #3 vs Action Jackson for the Caribbean title with Kim Duk as guest referee; Ricky Santana vs Brad Anderson for the World Junior title; the Caribbean Express vs Galan Mendoza & Billy Joe Travis for the Caribbean tag titles; and other great stars. 

This is followed by the Super Medico #3 vs Action Jackson feud recap video and promos from Action Jackson and Super Medico #3. Action is tired of Medico #3 and says he is the baddest thing on the island. Medico #3 is happy that Duk is the referee, meaning that there won;t be any cheating from Jackson or Profe.

MD: Action Jackson had a white letters on black Action Jackson backdrop which I don’t remember as a sort of thing used in the promotion. Apparently we don’t have this match, which is sad because I wanted to see ref Kim Duk. 

EB: Profe does a voice over for the Monster Ripper training footage, where he brags about the pace he is putting Ripper through and that Candi has no chance. Loot at her strength, her beauty, her sensuality, her agility, her fortitude. Profe has Ripper training with men (in this case Condor) so it’s tougher, and if Ripper can dominate a man what chance does a woman have against her. Ripper gets her reps on the bench press and does a nice bridging pin on Condor as the video ends. 

MD: As training videos go, this is a pretty good one. It’s played for humor to some degree with her sparring with some masked guys (Condor?) in the ring and working in the gym but I’m glad they did it since they weren’t building much to her match otherwise. Maybe Esteban can identify the song.

EB: Sorry Matt, I can’t identify the song from the bit that plays in the video. If anyone knows what it is do let us know. Let’s go to today’s main event, our first look at the UWA World tag team champions the Samaon Swat Team in Cataño. They take on Kim Duk and Ricky Santana. 

Samoan Swat Team vs. Kim Duk & Ricky Santana

The SST are competing against a pair of credible opponents, and while Duk and Santana do get their moments of shine by controlling the first minutes of the match, this is a showcase for the new arrivals to put over how much of a threat they are. Sanatana is the face in peril and again we see the spot where the Samoan slips off the top rope when going for a top rope splash (are they doing the barefoot is affecting their balance thing?). Duk is tagged in and momentarily cleans house but then makes the mistake of ramming the two Samoans' heads together. This has no effect and instead the SST double headbutt Duk. A few monet later, a piledriver into a flying splash gets the SST the win. 

Hugo and Profe close the show with one more sell of tonight’s card (remember it starts at 8pm sharp) and Profe says his people will win all the titles they are competing for tonight. Remember, we’ll find out the main event of Aniversario 91 tonight as well.

MD: The big takeaway they want to get across here is that you don’t headbutt a samoan. Multiple times here things were done to no effect. When they got driven out early, they ended up doing some sort of haka with Akbar and Duk slammed their heads together to no effect. Then during a hope spot (after he’d been hit by a superkick out of nowhere while distracted as a transition), Santana slammed Fatu’s head on the mat to no effect. And in the comeback after the hot tag Duk tried to slam their heads together again and ate a double headbutt (followed by a pile driver and a top rope splash). These aren’t the same SST of a year or two earlier. They’re still fearsome but more apt to stooge and a little more rounded out. 

EB:  We’re fortunate to have 4 of the 5 matches that aired live on Noche de campeones on WAPA. We also have the first hour of the live broadcast (including commercials), so yo can watch up to the 54 minute mark on the live broadcast video (which takes you to the ring itnros for Colon vs  Garvin). After that, we have the individual match links for the Universal tile and World tag team title matches. The Women’s title match is included in full in the live portions segment we have, although there will be an individual match link for that one as well (although our review will be from the live broadcast portion we have). So let’s celebrate  the mothers of Puerto Rico by watching wrestling. 

Noche  de Campeones from May 11, 1991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_MQxz1shFw

Our sponsors for this live airing on WAPA are Medalla, Coca-Cola and Bacardi. Hugo Savinovich welcomes us to Noche de Campeones as we get some pyrotechnics from the ringposts. Hugo is joined by El Profe and Eliud Gonzalez, they will be our commentators for most of the proceedings. Everyone's dressed up in tuxedos since we are celebrating Mother’s Day. Hugo gets comments from Eliud and Profe about the matches we'll see on the live broadcast: Ricky Santan vs Brad Anderson for the World Junior title (Eliud: Brad Anderson is going to have to get tough against Ricky Santana, who is in the best physical condition of his life); Monster Ripper vs Candi Divine for the Women’s World title (Profe: The moment is here, finally we’ll see the condition I’ve gotten Monster Ripper in, there is now way anyone can defeat her!); Invader #1 & Bronco #1 vs the Samoan Swat Team for the World tag titles with Gen. Akbar locked in a cage at ringside and if the SST loses the champs get 5 minutes with Akbar (Profe: That will not happen, the SST are too strong and powerful for that to happen); Carlos Colon vs. Ron Garvin for the Universal title (Eliud: Carlos is in his best shape because he already had a very unpleasant experience with Ron Garvin, Garvin is someone who knows everything there is to know about being in the ring); and for the kids a special treat as Little Louis defends his newly won Midget World title against Buthc Cassidy (Profe: Butch Cassidy is simply too strong for any other midget, the champ has no chance). Of the five matches, we do not have footage of the Little Louis vs. Butch Cassidy match. We’ll soon be back with our first match. Ricky Santana vs Brad Anderson.

MD: This felt big. Fireworks to start. Everyone in tuxes. Even the big shows haven’t felt quite like TV productions in the way that this does. It’s a nice change. I don’t get a sense of how big the crowd is but this does feel like a big deal.

EB: Our first batch of commercials features the cast of satirical comedy show ‘Que es loq eu psa aqui,ah?’ promoting a phrase that pays contest in partnership with Burger King, a Medalla commercial featuring former Menudo member Ricky (the first one, not Ricky Martin).a BWAC furniture outlet commercial featuring Cheo Felicianos serenading a mother, and a Mixing Magician commercial. 

Ricky Santana vs Brad Anderson

Back to the arena and Eliud Gonzales does the ring introductions for the World Junior title match. Brad Anderson has defeated Ricky Santana twice in non-title matches and is seeking to beat Santana once more with the title on the line. Victor Quiñonez is the referee for this match. Profe is on commentary so he is not seconding Anderson at ringside, but he is confident that he has prepared Brad well for this matchup. A face off to start leads to slaps being exchanged and then punches. Anderson cuts off the exchange with a knee to the gut,but Santana counters a whip into the corner and proceeds to hit Anderson with a couple of atomic drops. Santana continues in control for the next minute and Anderson bails to the outside after kicking out of a Santana body press. Back in the ring Anderson and Santana engage in a test of strength, which Anderson controls for a couple of minutes. Sanatana eventually breaks it via a flip and then knocks Anderson down with a clothesline. Anderson switches tactics and works over Santana’s arm, but Santana also ends up getting out of the hold and hitting a few armdrag takedowns. This junior heavyweight match is more mat based. The match continues with Anderson getting out maneuvered by Santana. Anderson gets a somewhat sloppy bulldog on Ricky to gain control and is able to make a couple of unsuccessful pin attempts. Anderson continues trying to wear down Santana, but Ricky is able to get a counter here and there. Anderson goes to the top rope and jumps off, but Santana gets his knees up to block. Santana comes back with several punches and gets a two count of a flying forearm. Santana gets a flying splash from the top rope and somehow Anderson kicks out at two. Andersons hits his spinebuster slam and now it’s Santana that kicks out at two. We get a sunset flip by Santana that Anderson kicks out of, followed by Anderson doing a cradle on Santana. It appears that Santana kicked out just before the three count, but referee Victor Quiñonez signals for the bell to be rung as the two wrestlers continue trying to pin each other. The ref waves off an Anderson pina temp and then raises Brad’s arm as the winner. That finished looked very wonky. Santana protests and the crowd isn't happy with the result either but Brad Anderson is the new World Junior champion. 

MD: I came into this thinking that Anderson was a big step up from Eddie Watts or whoever else was going for the Jr. title, but coming out of it, I’m just not sure. Anderson was rough around the edges on fast exchanges, with a couple of rough looking leap frogs, etc. Some of it still worked because it put forth a sense of competition, but overall, this was dodgy at times. Santana hit his marks well though, and the match was structured well too. Anderson would try things early and Santana would get the better of him. Once Anderson took over, he hit his stuff, like the gourdbuster and would grind Santana down. Santana had hope spots that were cut off fairly quickly and they built it to a hot comeback. Santana hit a flying forearm and top rope splash but couldn’t win with them. Anderson caught him off the ropes with his spinebuster but just for two. Finish was weird as Anderson reversed a sunset flip into a pin of his own but they kept on wrestling after the three count for a few seconds before it set in that he’d won with it. Santana complained after the bell. This had good energy but was definitely rough around the edges.

EB: Before the commercial break we get a promo from Monster Ripper and El Profe, Ripper says that Profe and her together are untouchable, while Pofe says Divine has no chance against the Women’s World champion. We also get a brief shot of Little Louis backstage.

Our second commercial break has the Que es…?/BK commercial, a Bacardi rum commercial, an ad for a special Mother’s Day program called Posada Corazon with several well known local actresses, the Medalla commercial, a Coca-cola ad featuring Luis Miguel singing a Coke inspired version of his song Será Que No Me Amas (his Spanish cover of Blame It on the Boogie), and an ad promoting new program Quedaste Retratado!

We go back to the promo area as Hugo is with Candi Divine, and Candi is ready to leave the arena as the champion.

Candi Divine vs. Monster Ripper (if you just want to only watch the match you can click the following link)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5TN-wlwL4I

Monster Ripper comes out first and has El Profe with her. Candi is out next and Ripper and Profe yell at the crowd to be quiet. Ripper dominates the early going as her size is too much for Divine. Hugo mentions that Monster Ripper is the Abdullah the Butcher of the women’s division. Divine gets an opening when Ripper misses a legdrop, but Ripper quickly rolls out to stop Divine’s momentum. Candi tries to get the crowd riled up as Ripper and Profe have a chat at ringside. Back in, Ripper again takes over control of the match but Divine is able to survive. A missed splash from the turnbuckle again gives Candi an opening, and once more Ripper rolls to the outside to stop the momentum. Candi jumps Ripper when she enters the ring and tries several dropkicks. Ripper swats away the first two attempts, but Divine lands the third. Profe jump up on the apron at this point and Candi takes a swing at him. Profe ducks and grabs Divine, holding her for a Ripper charge. However, Candi gets out of the way and Ripper crashes into Profe. Candi uses that opening to get a cradle and surprises Ripper with a three count! There is a new Women's World champion. 

Divine is awarded the title belt and leaves the ring to the cheers of the crowd, Meanwhile, Profe has gotten into the ring and starts arguing animatedly with Monster Ripper. Profe starts shoving Ripper and Hugo calls out Profe for putting his hands on a lady. Ripper shoves Profe back and proceeds to fight back, sending him out of the ring. The crowd starts cheering this turn of events. Ripper is hyped up in the ring and Profe is out on the floor. Profe eventually heads to the back to the jeers and laughs of the crowd and then we get a quick promo from Butch Cassidy before going to a commercial break.

MD: It’s kind of sad that Ripper comes out with Profe instead of Mendoza (but this will make sense by the end). I have no idea the last time I’ve seen a Candi Divine match. So Ripper looks great here obviously. She feeds early and hits the floor and Profe does a nice job getting her hyped back up. She takes over almost instantly and her offense looks great, from the slams and corner avalanches to a really great sit down power bomb. She misses a splash and Divine has her comeback and her offense is about as weak as can be. Profe hits the apron to hold her. He and Ripper collide. Divine gets a roll up (with Ripper very quick to kick out on 2.8) and win the belt. The trash starts to fly and I’m not sure if it’s because of the title change/finish or because of heat Ripper/Profe had, but very quickly Ripper beat the crap out of Profe and raised her hand. No idea if this was a face turn or just heels beefing or if it’ll go anywhere. This would have almost certainly been better with Bronco’s valet if she hadn’t gotten hurt.

EB: Our third commercial break has the ‘Que es…?/BK commercial, ’the Medalla commercial, a Sonia Silvestre album ad, a commercial for a Julio Angel Mother’s Day special, a Bonanza ad,a Coca-Cola commercial featuring dolphins, and an ad for a Mother's Day special of Al Aire Libre featuring comedian Raymond Arrieta doing his Wally character (a spoof of Walter Mercado, how this warranted a Mother’s Day special I have no idea).

Back at the arena, Hugo and Eliud present the recap video of the two previous matches between Carlos Colon and Ron Garvin, this will be billed as the third time is the charm. Ron Garvin has a promo after where he promises to beat the dog heck out of Carlos Colon one more time and win the Universal title. Carlos responds by saying he feels great, the public is here to back him up and although Garvin is a tremendous competitor, he is confident in being the victor.

Our last commercial break rundown includes a special episode of Portada with pianist Raul DiBlasio, the Bacardi, ‘Que es…?’/BK, and Medalla commercials, an ad for several Ednita Naxario concert dates at Bellas Artes, and the Posada Corazon commercial.

Carlos Colón vs. Ronnie Garvin 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2nR8iRrVeo

Eliud Gonzalez presents our guest ring announcer for the Universal title match, local TV personality/producer Luisito Vigoreaux. The competitors enter the ring and referee Victor Quiñonez does the pre match check. As the bell rings to start,Hugo makes note that Profe has returned to the commentary desk, saying ‘Eliud, look who showed his face back here for the main event.’ Profe quickly says that he does not want any jokes or comments about what happened earlier, he is here because he has a commitment to commentate with Hugo an Eliud and that’s all he is doing. Hugo ignores him and starts asking if it hurts and saying that a woman beat him up. Hugo will keep bringing this up every now and then throughout the match with Profe being mad and exasperated. Back to the match, Colon and Garvin jaw a bit to start and then lock up. Both men give a clean break but then tempers flare a bit with some shove. Colon puts on a headlock and they work it for the next few minutes. Garvin would briefly break out of the hold but then Colon would go back to the headlock, leading to several Garvin reversals into pin attempt counters on the mat. Luisito Vigoreaux briefly joins the commentators to offer some words about the action so far. Back on their feet, Colon and Garvin exchange punches and Colon fires off a hard chop that staggers Garvin momentarily. Garvin responds by biting Colon in the corner, does a hard chop of his own and then puts Colon in a neck wrench. Garvin starts cheating by using the ropes for leverage and continues working over Colon’s neck. Garvin puts on a sleeperhold and almost gets a near fall after releasing it. 

Gavin fires off some punches but Colon counters off the ropes with a sleeperhold of his own. Garvin grabs the ropes to break it and then does the old trick knee to foul Carlos. Gavin is slow to follow up, but does get an inside cradle for a near fall. An abdominal stretch is countered by a Colon hiptoss, but then Carlos misses an elbow drop.A rope running sequence leads to both men knocking their heads together and going down. Carlos attacks first and gets a cover, but Garvin manages to get his leg on the rope. Colon attacks Garvin’s leg and sets up for the figure four, but Garvin counters with a small package for a near fall. Carlos goes back to working the leg and this time does get the figure four on. Garvin fights through the hold and eventually manages to reverse it, forcing Carlos to grab the ropes to break the hold. Garvin;s leg is injured though and Carlos goes back on the attack. Garvin is able to kick out of a pin attempt after getting headbutted, but then misses a swinging punch after Colon ducks. Carlos grabs Garvin and hits a back suplex into a bridge, scoring the three count. Carlos Colon has retained the Universal title in a very close encounter. Maybe Garvin’s performance warrants a rematch?

MD: It was one thing for Garvin to have a music video to George Thorogood’s Born to be Bad, but to have him come out in the stadium to it is something else entirely. He was a star that knew how to bask in front of an audience like this. It’s important that everyone knows that Profe was taking a lot of grief for what just happened to him too. I love how straightforward this match was. It almost felt like a Saturday Night’s Main Event sort of blowoff match instead of the way they often did things to build long feuds over shows. 

After the early shoving, Colon controlled with just a great headlock. They were really working it. Garvin took over with cheapshots and was happy to eyepoke and bite before locking in a sleeper. Colon got one of his own but Garvin went low. From there they went into a stretch with Colon firing back (with the cartwheel), honestly outpunching Garvin. He locked on the Figure-Four, and got a headbutt, before winning it with a bridging belly to back. It was very simple, very straightforward, paced well, worked hard, just a good match with almost no real twists to it. The closest was when Garvin tried a small package out of that low blow. But I enjoyed it as an outlier for that. It was just a good, solid title match.

Invader #1 & Bronco #1 vs. Samoan Swat Team with Gen. Akbar locked in a cage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtBl4cS9YLQ

EB: The final match we have for Noche de Campeones is the World tag title match. Remember that if Invader and Bronco win,they get 5 minutes with Skandor Akbar. The SST scored a win over the World tag champs two days ago in Lares and are looking to do it again with the titles on the line. Akbar has already been locked inside the cage as the match starts with Invader and Fatu. Profe puts over the amazing power and speed combination the SST has. Invader gets the better of Fatu early on and it looks like the SST are somewhat rattled. Savage is tagged in but does not fare any better, particularly when Bronco is tagged in. At this rate, it’s looking like Invader and Bronco are getting those 5 minutes with Akbar. Bronco and Invader send the SST from the ring with punches and the SST head over to the locked cage to get some advice from Akbar. Profe and Hugo start arguing on commentary, with Eliud saying that he might have to serve as referee between the two. Hugo says that he’ll just go get Monster Ripper if Profe continues acting up. Savage gets back in the ring and Bronco still maintains the advantage. The SST decide t play hide the foreign object and manage to get control over Invader #1 after a double clothesline. Invader is tossed outside and, while the ref is distracted, Invader gets hit with a chair. Bronco goes over to check on Invader and then gets into a fight with Fatu. While this is going on, Savage wraps an electric cord around Invader's throat and chokes him. 

Back in the ring, Savage puts a never hold on Invader as the crowd tries to cheer Invader on. The SSt tries to double team but Invader counters with a reverse body press on both Samoans. Still, Savage is able to get the nerve hold back on Invader. The SST gets a near fall off a backdrop and then go back to the nerve hold. Invader gets out of it and gets a headlock and headscissor takedown on both Samoans. Bronco comes in and hits a double clothesline but Invader is still not able to make the tag. The tide almost turns when Invaader catches Savage trying to come off the top and slams him to the mat. The SST stops Invader from making the tag, but a Vader bomb is countered with raised knees and this time invader gets the tag. Bronco cleans house but makes the mistake of smashing the SST’s heads together to no effect. The SST counters with a double headbutt on Bronco, but before they can capitalize, Invader joins the action to help his partner out. Invader knocks Savage out of the ring and Fatu and Bronco end up colliding and getting knocked down. As the ref is getting Invader out of the ring, Savage comes in and rolls out Fatu, taking his place in the ring. Savage reaches into his tights and tries to punch Bronco with an object. Bronco backdrops Savage though,and Savage drops the object upon hitting the mat. Bronco gets a dropkick and Invader, having spotted the object, grabs it and decks Savage with it as the ref is distracted by Fatu trying to come in. Bronco covers and gets the three count! The champions retain and now get 5 minutes with Skandor Akbar.

The SST are trying to complain about the foreign object but to no avail and Profe is throwing a fit on commentary about the way the match ended. Profe says that it’s inconceivable that they’ve gotten the 5 minutes. In the ring, Invader and Bronco shake hands and Invader motions for Bronco to go ahead and get Akbar. Bronco makes his way to the ringside cage and just when he gets close, Akbar lights up a huge fireball right into Bronco’s face. Bronco starts flailing about in  pain and Invader quickly grabs him and pulls him down so he can get medical assistance. Profe laughs maniacally and says that is exactly what he deserves as a concerned Invader is checking on Bronco. We don’t know how severely Bronco may have been injured.

MD: Another great tag. Maybe this wasn’t quite as great as some of the ones we’ve seen lately, but it was still very good. The shine was a lot of fun, especially once Bronco got in and the fans seemed to love every second of them running the SST off and dancing in the ring. There was some attempt for SST to hide an object and that would come back to play later. The heat was on Invader and while I wish they did a few more moves maybe, a lot of that motion and action was saved for the hope spots and cutoffs. That felt like a creative decision and if you’re going to have someone in chinlocks and nerveholds, Invader is about the best choice possible. Those hopespots really escalated too, with him doing a back body block out of the corner and then a headlock/headscissors combo (where Bronco came in illegally afterwards to hit a double clothesline which meant no tag could happen) and tossing a SST member off the top, before finally getting his knees up on a Vader Bomb in the corner.

The finish was wild as the SST successfully made a twin confusion switch but lost the object allowing Invader and Bronco to win with it. That meant they got five minutes with Akbar. But Akbar's too smart for this and had the fireball ready the whole time. The angle came off great and left Invader laying (once again).

EB: As mentioned by Hugo on Campeones, the matches weren’t the only things scheduled for Noche de Campeones that night, there also was a special announcement by the commissioner of the Puerto Rico Boxing and Wrestling Commission. This announcement was regarding the challenger for the Universal title at Aniversario 91. Five contenders were being considered: Dino Bravo, Tatsumi Fujinami, Ron Garvin, Stan Hansen,and Abdullah the Butcher. Who will the challenger be? And what is the condition of Bronco after the fireball to the face?  Did any other titles change hands? And just who is Gen. Akbar’s latest recruit? We’ll discuss all this next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones as the build to Aniversario 91 has begun.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Kong Smash

Week 53: Kong Smash

EB: We had quite the tag match on April 13 between Invader #1 & Ricky Santana against the California Studs. We also have a big card coming up on April 21. But we are not yet done with the TV episodes from the April 20 weekend. While the Campeones episode focused on airing the World tag title match from April 13, the west coast version of Super Estrellas de la Lucha Libre took a different approach to what it was promoting. There’s a big card coming up on Mother’s Day weekend, with a Noche de Campeones scheduled for May 11 in the San Juan Metro area and a Tarde de Campeones scheduled for May 12 in the west coast region of the island. This episode of Super Estrellas is devoted entirely to promoting the May 12 card currently scheduled for San German. Let’s go to the episode, where Hugo is in the middle of announcing that, in a  bit of a surprise, there is a new Caribbean champion (Scott Hall has lost the title and has left Puerto Rico). The new champion…Super Medico #3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43PuLOBV5Ok

The version of the episode that we have begins with Hugo already in the middle of announcing the Caribbean title change that happened. Hug mentions that the new champ does not want to talk about the title right now, instead he is concentrating on training and making sure the title win does not go to his head. We are proud of this positive attitude and congratulations once again the new Caribbean champion Super Medico #3. Hugo then runs down what we will have on today’s program, the main event will be a match from last week where Ricky Santana faced Mr. Pogo for the WorldJunior title (if you were wondering what Ricky did before agreeing to team up with Invader against the California Studs, this would be that match). 

Hugo then shares the big announcement, for Mother’s Day they will be having a big card to celebrate. It will be an afternoon of champions in San German (they are holding a night of champions that Saturday as well). Special prices due to it being Mother’s Day weekend ($5 adults and $2 children). Hugo runs down the card so far: Carlos Colon vs Ron Garvin for the Universal title; Invader & Bronco vs the California Studs for the World tag titles; TNT vs King Kong for the TV title; Monster Ripper vs Amarlyris for the Women’s title; Giant Warrior vs Action Jackson; Super Medico #3 vs.Wild Bill Braddock; and Mascarita Sagrada & Octagncito vs Espectrito & El Pequeño Cobarde. Fair warning, the card will experience some changes in the coming weeks as we get closer to the date. Hugo plugs the VHS tapes and merchandise available for purchase and now to the action. 

Invader #4 vs. El Condor

We have Invader #4 vs El Condor (a rookie Ray Gonzalez). Eliud Gonzalez and Hugo talk up El Condor, that he works hard and it seems that some of the lady fans are asking about him. He has his work cut out for him against the more experienced Invader #4. Condor is given a bit of shine during the middle portion of the match, but this is mainly Invader #4 in control throughout. Invader #4 comes off the top with a body press for the pin.

MD: This is definitely a match that happened in Puerto Rico in 1991. It was fine. Condor is Ray Gonzalez and he’s treated as a bit more competent than a lot of the other enhancement type guys. Plus Invader IV isn’t quite as high on the food chain. He does get to clown him quite a bit with armdrags and what not though. Invader won it with his leap back body press. 

EB: Monster Ripper will be defending her title against Amarylis, who you may remember as Bronco’s second when he first arrived in Puerto Rico. Ripper says it is ridiculous to think Amarylis has any chance of beating her. Amarylis is like Sasha, pure trash. 

Next is the California Studs and Gen. Akbar talking about the scheduled World tag title match for Mother's Day weekend. This promo is a bit muted considering the bloodbath from the previous week but it looks like they have plans for this feud to go on quite a bit longer. But spoiler alert, this will be the last we will see of the California Studs.

MD: Hey, it looks like we finally get Amaryllis, Princess of the Ring, who we’ve seen in those Bronco music videos. She’s going to be challenging Ripper who finally gets to move on from Sasha.

Now it’s Big Brian and Tough Tony. Lots of talk about Mother’s day here. Of course Hugo loved to mention his own mom when Tony Anthony said he was going to buy her flowers too. Lee said that it’d be a good last dinner for Invader and Bronco before they put them out of their misery.

EB: El Profe rounds out this segment of interviews, he is here representing Ron Garvin. Profe says that he has the ideal man to challenge for the Universal title, someone who is a former champ and who previously humiliated and defeated Carlos Colon. 

MD: Profe says he’s always wanted a world champion in his stable and that Garvin, coming right from the WWF, is the guy to get it for him. I’m looking forward to seeing what Garvin can do here certainly.

Wild Bill Braddock vs. El Corsario

EB: Up next is our first look at Wild Bill Braddock, a man who looks like if B Brian Blair decided to emulate Hulk Hogan while wearing arm tassels. Braddock's opponent is El Corsario and this is a quick match to highlight Braddock. There are a couple of instances where Braddock decides to lift up Corsario before the three count, with the eventual pin coming after a powerslam.

MD: I couldn’t tell you one Braddock match I’ve seen before this. He was a late era WCCW/USWA Texas guy. He’s competent here. Lots of pulling Corsario up. Corsario takes a nice clothesline where he goes slowly feet over head in the selling. Braddock wins this with a power slam. Seems like he could be a capable enough midcard heel. It looks like he’ll be facing Medico III moving forward.

EB: Carlos Colon is standing in front of the Puerto Rican flag to talk about his upcoming Universal title defense against Ron Garvin. There is history between them, they had a couple of matches back in 1988, each of them won one. Carlos is happy that San German has been selected as the site for the Mother's Day show and feels that the best gift he can give all of the Puerto Rican mothers is a convincing victory over Ron Garvin. Carlos admits that Garvin has been the opponent that has given him the most trouble, but he has been studying tapes and feels confident he'll be able to win on Mother’s Day. 

MD: Colon puts over Garvin as a dangerous opponent and says he’s been watching tape, but that the biggest gift he can give to all the mothers will be defeating him soundly. I wish Mothers’ Day had been a bigger deal in other territories. All of these promos are fun.

EB: Invader and Bronco want to give the mothers the satisfaction of them giving a beating to the California Studs.

MD: Once again, Bronco promises to beat up people for all the mothers.

Super Medico #3 vs. El Dragon

EB: Some generic comments from Super Medico #3 about his scheduled match with Wild Bill Braddock. We then go to a match where Super Medico #3 takes on El Dragon. On commentary they hype up Medico’s victory over Scot Hall for the Caribbean title. Showcase match for Medico #3, he picks up the win with a bridge into a pin. We then get some comments from Bill Braddock about his upcoming match against Super Medico #3.

MD: Medico is coming along. I’m curious why they didn’t keep pushing Perez as a singles since it looked like that was the direction. Estrada, Jr. really does still seem like a work in progress in his promo and in the enhancement match. Dragon got more here than either Condor or Corsario earlier. Medico won it with a belly to back after a nice go behind. He lost the bridge but got it back in a commanding way. Braddock then cut a promo where he was basically new to the island, had no idea who Medico even was, touting his own body instead.

EB: Akbar and King Kong interview, where Akbar promises that TNT will be finished once for all as he wants the TV title in Devastation Inc. King Kong just growls throughout. 

MD: Hugo really loves saying King Kong. Kong likes to do all the funny hand motions and thumping of his chest when Akbar is speaking, let alone Hugo. Anyway, TNT is a glutton for punishment and Kong is coming for the TV title.

EB: Profe and Action Jackson are next and you can still hear King Kong growling off in the distance as they start their interview. Action is facing Giant Warrior, a feud that started recently when Action got involved in Warrior’s match against Scott Hall. We then get a card rundown for the Mother’s Day card they’ve been hyping all episode.

MD: Not much to say as this is setting up a Giant Warrior match; they do such a good job of building EVERY match. Jackson’s a fun interview and it’s a shame they had him be fake TNT for so long.

King Kong vs. Armandito Salgado

EB: King Kong is facing Armandito Salgado and it is a quick match as Kong hits the splash. Salgado is stretched out afterwards and they keep putting over how dangerous Kong’s splash is.

MD: It feels like we missed out on a King Kong music video here. We just see his head moving this way and that with the tooth necklace super imposed over him. He makes real short work of Salgado but it’s effective. Post splash, Salgado got stretchered out.

EB: TNT is here and calls Akbar a ‘camello’ (camel) and promises that King Kong will have to fight tooth and nail to get the TV title. 

MD: I may have missed it but I don’t think TNT said he was going to beat up King Kong for all the mothers.

Ricky Santana vs. Mr. Pogo - From April 13

EB: This week's main event is Ricky Santana vs. Mr. Pogo for the World Junior title. The title was held up on April 6 and this is the rematch from April 13. This would be the match Ricky Santana wrestled earlier on the card before teaming up with Invader to take on the California Studs. Ricky and Pogo are not strangers to each other, Pogo was Rický's first feud when he arrived in Puerto Rico in late summer of 1988. Ricky controls the first minutes of the match, in spite of Pogo trying to slow down Ricky’s momentum at different points. A corner charge by Ricky is countered with a reverse kick and now it is Pogo’s turn to dish out punishment with kicks and a nerve hold. Pogo gets a pretty lengthy control segment but Santana refuses to be put away. Ricky fights out of a sleeper and starts his comeback, but Pogo is able to cut him off. Pogo is still unable to put Ricky away despite several pin attempts. Pogo sends Ricky into the ropes and Santana counters with a Thesz press that leads to a pin. Ricky Santana has won the World Junior title. 

MD: If this does come before the tag from last week, then it makes the tag even better, because this was a long, pretty complete match where Santana takes a lot of punishment and gets a sort of banana peel win, even though he had been mounting a comeback. Pogo isn’t what he had been a few years ago and him as Jr. Champ is pretty dubious but the kicks are still pretty good and he could lean on someone. 

Some fun stuff early where Pogo tries to get Santana to shake or bow and Santana does bow but catches the foot as Pogo tries to cheapshot him. Pogo takes over with a kick out of the corner and hits another good one off the ropes. Past that it’s a lot of nerve holds and grounded punches and what not. Santana gets some hope but keeps getting cut off, til he finally does come back and win with a Thesz Press out of nowhere. If this is before that tag, it, along with the pre-match creates more of an overall whole for those fans that day.

EB: We close the show with the Dick Murdoch music video, and I’m convinced that this was likely a stopgap with Scott Hall's departure (it felt like the barbed wire match was the feud ending). Hugo then closes the show by talking about the Mother’s Day card that will happen in a  few weeks.

MD: I’m a little surprised Murdoch is still here now that the Colon feud is over but it’s not like he couldn’t be plugged in against any of the babyfaces. You could do a Murdoch/TNT feud that would be pretty hot I’m sure, for instance. Anyway, all of this looks great and I wish we had these matches in full.

EB: We have video for one of the matches from the April 21 house show, it is the TV title match between TNT and King Kong. This feud has only been going on for a few weeks but it has escalated ever since King Kong made his surprise debut by attacking TNT. In turn, TNT duped Kong with an impostor TNT to avoid getting jumped at the start of their rematch (although TNT’s friend really got a bum deal there). Let’s see how the third match between them goes.

TNT vs. King Kong  - April 21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chjIK4stC50

This is from a later home video release so the commentary is not from the time this match happened. TNT decides to attack first this time and starts striking Kong as soon as he enters the ring. TNT controls the first minute or so but runs into a Kong boot in the corner. Kong then controls most of the match with his size advantage, throwing his weight around to squash TNT and using some chinlocks and bearhugs. The tide turns in TNT’s favor when he rolls out of the way of a Kong charge into the corner. A brief comeback is cut short when TNT attempts a sunset flip but can’t get Kong over. Instead, Kong just does a vertical splash on TNT which gets a two count. With TNT still down from that vertical splash, Kong goes to the top turnbuckle and jumps off with a big splash. Kong decides to go up again and hits a second top rope splash and gets the three count. We have a new TV champ but one has to wonder how TNT is doing after those top rope splashes. 

MD: They were certainly going all in on Kong here. This was for TNT’s title and they filled ten minutes pretty well, all things considered. TNT was able to outstrike him early, but Kong just crushed him in the corner over and over again. Some of the holds weren’t the most compelling ever, but at one point TNT tried to hulk up only to get cut off which you didn’t see every day. The comeback was really good with TNT flying in with a big boot followed up by the spin wheel kick, but he couldn’t put Kong away. Kong was able to turn the tide and crush him with these massive top rope splashes to actually take the belt. Very Memphis actually, with the monster of the week getting a run like this.

EB: We don’t have any TV from the April 27 weekend, but before heading into May, there are a couple of notable developments to make note of. TNT suffered an injury from the Kong top rope splashes and will be out of action for a bit. Some of TNT’s friends want to avenge his injury and Kim Duk is the first to step up. He will face King Kong at the April 27 house show in Caguas. Also, we’re not sure exactly how the rivalry ended up, but unfortunately the California Studs are gone. Skandor Akbar has brought in a team to face Invader and Bronco in the meantime, but there is another one waiting in the wings that will be coming in for Mother’s Day weekend. And with a series of injuries and departures, the already announced Mother’s Day house shows are undergoing some changes. Let’s go to the May 4 west coast episode of Super Estrellas and hear the latest developments. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MYLxV-Lb2E

Hugo welcomes the viewers and runs down what we'll see on today's program, including Invader and Bronco taking on Gen.Akbar's newest team the State Patrol (James Earl Wright and Dudley Do Right). Hugo then talks about the changes to the May 12 Mother’s Day card. The first change is the venue, due to air conditioning being installed at the venue in San German, the card will now take place in Mayaguez. Hugo runs down the updated card and among the changes we now have Invader & Bronco facing the Samoan Swat Team, Giant Warrior challenging new TV champion King Kong, and Monster Ripper will now defend her Women’s title against Candi Divine (Amaralyris suffered an ankle injury). This Friday they will be in Yauco with a main event of Carlos Colon vs. King Kong, Invader & Bronco vs Action Jackson & El Profe in a lumberjack match, Giant Warrior vs. Rod Price, Caribbean Express vs Samoan Swat Team, Ricky Santana vs Wild Bill Braddock, and Kim Duk vs Billy Joe Travis.

MD: Hugo has a lot to say here. Esteban will cover all this but here’s what stood out. First, the State Patrol are in (making me think the Studs are out?) and… it’s James Earl Wright and Dudley Do Right? I am not making this up. It’d be awesome if they had Wright teaming with the Mountie here, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening. Second, they were building to a big show (Afternoon of Champions) but had to move the venue because the air conditioning was broken! Right now the card is Colon vs Garvin, Bronco/Invader vs Samoan Swat Team, King Kong vs Giant Warrior (replacing TNT), Monster Ripper vs Candi Devine (as Amaryllis already had an ankle injury), plus a minis match, Super Medico vs Action Jackson (with Kim Duk as ref! What a run for that guy), and Santana vs Brad Anderson and Duk vs Braddock to round it out. We’ll see if that holds up.

Super Medico #3 vs. Action Jackson 

EB: We go to Action Jackson and El Profe in the ring during this past week’s TV taping in Cataño. Action and Profe are demanding for Action to wrestle Super Medico #3, arguing that Action beat him last week in Caguas and thus he should get a Caribbean title shot right now. We go to the clip of the match from April 27 in Caguas between Super Medico #3 and Action Jackson, The ref accidentally gets bumped by Jackson after being kicked by Medico #3, leading to Medico #3 taking down Action with a flying headbutt. However,  the ref takes too long to come too and Action kicks out. Action then surprises Medico #3 with an inside cradle for the win. Back to Cataño and Medico #3 has accepted the challenge. We’re getting a Caribbean title match right now.

It’s a bit of a seesaw battle with Medico #3 controlling to start, Action taking over after raking the eyes, and then Medico #3 coming back after countering a corner charge We get another ref bump, this time when Action ducks a flying body press from Medico #3 and instead Medico takes out the ref. Medico #3 gets a roll up but the ref is not up. Profe gets in the ring and headbutts Medico #3 with a loaded mask (the camera clearly showed Profe loading up the mask before getting into the ring). Action makes the cover and the ref counts to three. The ref awards the title to Action Jackson, who leaves the ring with Profe. Hugo and Eliud Gonzalez are saying that they robbed Medico #3 of his title, when we see Kim Duk make his way to the ring. Duk explains to the ref what happened, and we see the ref disappear into the rudo locker room. All of a sudden, the ref runs out with the Caribbean title and holds up Medico #3’s arm as the winner. Looks like the ref found the foreign object. Super Medico #3 grabs the microphone and throws out a challenge to Action Jackson, he’s willing to have another match with Jackson but only if Kim Duk is the special guest referee.

MD: They show us the finish (and Jackson berating Medico before the match) of one match where Medico lost due to a ref bump. Then we get the brunt of a second match where Medico looks better than I’d seen him in the previous show, fiery. I think he just needed a proper opponent and setting. Here he plows through Jackson’s attempts to takeover with eye rakes but plows into the ref with a blind leap off the turnbuckles. That lets Jackson cheat (Profe loads his mask and nails Medico) and steal the belt. Duk comes out and contests and the ref overturns the decision, going so far as to run to the rudo locker room to get it back, and of course all of this sets up Duk as special ref. Interestingly, they apologize later for not having Medico in the studio to talk about all this but Hugo hypes up how upset he is and also his hard matches recently with Brad Anderson as he has one more upcoming.

EB: Ron Garvin joins us by telephone to talk about his Universal title match with Carlos Colon on Mother’s Day weekend. Garvin has been Universal champion before and says he is a bit better and younger than Carlos Colon. Garvin makes sure to wish a happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers. We then go to Hugo and Carlos Colon, with Carlos mentioning that he wants all of the fans there to support him since Garvin is a dangerous opponent. Carlos has lost to Garvin before and is looking to make sure that result does not repeat itself on Mother’s Day. Hugo then asks Carlos about his match on Friday vs King Kong, with Carlos saying that he has to be careful with Kong, we saw how he put TNT on the shelf for who knows how long and he has to be careful the same doesn’t happen to him. Carlos told TNT he’s hoping to get some payback for him this Friday. 

Hugo then talks over a still photo of Super Medico #3 where he confirms that the Caribbean title match with Kim Duk as special guest ref is set for Mother’s Day weekend. After a card rundown for the May 12 house show, we join in progress a 1988 match between Invader #3 and Ron Garvin. This is to showcase Garvin ahead of his upcoming Universal title challenge and Garvin gets the win with his hand of stone punch.

MD: We have few results for Garvin in 91 but he had one WCW match in March against Rick Steiner in Knoxville apparently and did some for South Atlantic in the margins as well. So I’m not quite sure why he couldn’t be there. Maybe he just didn’t want to be. Lots of “Let me tell yous” in this phone interview. He says he’s leaner, meaner, and younger than Colon, and a better lover, fisherman, etc, which was kind of funny. Weirdly, Hugo doesn’t translate it. Colon gives a hard sell for the Mother’s Day show saying he needs all the fans there to support him. Then he talks about an upcoming spot show against Kong where he’d get revenge for TNT. 

The old footage is joined in progress, with Garvin choking Invader IIi repeatedly, feeding a bit on a comeback, and ducking under to set up the hands of steel to finish him off. It got the point across.

EB: Action Jackson and El Profe offer their comments about the upcoming match with Kim Duk as special guest referee. They sound pretty confident that neither Medico #3 or Kim Duk will be a problem.

MD: Not much to say here. Jackson isn’t worried about beating Medico and he says some pretty bad things about Duk.

King Kong vs. Kim Duk - From April 27?

EB: Skandor Akbar and King Kong are here to talk about the TV title defense against Giant Warrior on Mother's Day and about Kong’s match this Friday against Carlos Colon. Akbar is pretty confident as well that his man will come away with the duke.

We then  go to April 27 in Caguas, where Kim Duk is facing King Kong in an attempt to avenge TNT’s injury. Because of the injury to TNT, the top rope splash has been banned. Duk makes a valiant go of it, but Kong is able to knock him down and hit a slash for the three count. 

MD: Big news here is that the top rope Super Kong Splash is banned. Akbar says he’s going to destroy everyone anyway. The match was short with Duk’s strikes keeping Kong on the ropes as he tried to get revenge for TNT. All it took was one clothesline out of nowhere to drop Duk for a splash off the ropes. They had built Kong up on the idea that he could crash into you at any point and that would basically be it.

Brad Anderson vs. El Corsario

EB: Brad Anderson is here to send some words to Ricky Santana, his opponent for Mother’s Day weekend. Brad is the latest challenger for the World Junior title. We also get a look at Brad Anderson in the ring, as he faces El Corsario. Brad looks a bit like a pirate with that headgear. Anderson gets to showcase his stuff, albeit with a couple of rough spots where it looks like he and Corsario were not on the same page as to how the bump should be taken. A hard spinebuster slam gets the win for Brad Anderson. 

MD: Brad Anderson, Ole’s kid (and Zan Panzer), looks more like a lost Hennig family member here. They build him up as a family member of Gene, Ole, Flair. He actually has some neat variations. He hits a gourdbuster where Corsario seems to almost take it on the back of his head and then does a spinebuster slam instead of a spinebuster to win. He really did sort of come off as an Anderson for the 90s.

EB: We get a  repeat airing of the Giant Warrior music video where he walks around Old San Juan and with some weird action scenes interspersed throughout. . 

MD: Things you need to know: This started with a weird motorcycle for some reason. We got more of Giant Warrior’s glowing heart. It ended with Giant Warrior wielding a stylized gun and pointing it at a screen followed by footage of a car blowing up.

EB: Hugo is visiting a recovering TNT at his home. TNT (with ski mask) wants to thank the fans for all of the well wishes and says that he is happy that all of the tests have come out negative. He promises that he will be back in the not too distant future and warns King Kong that TNT will avenge this. 

MD: They always do such a good job with these though it’s funny for TNT to be hanging out at home in a ninja mask. Anyway, no permanent damage and he’d be back soon.

El Bronco #1 & Invader #1 vs. State Patrol

EB: Our main event is Invader #1 & Bronco #1 taking on Akbar’s latest team of the State Patrol. James Earl Wright starts off for the Patrol, while Bronco starts off for the champs. The tecnicos control the first half of the match, until Invader gets backed into the rudo corner. Dudley Do Right and Wright work over Invader for the next few minutes, but ultimately Invader makes a comeback and gets the tag to Bronco, who gets the win for his team with his Bronco DDT. 

Hugo closes the show by plugging the May 12 Mother’s Day show and this Friday’s show in Yauco.

MD: So friend of the blog and all wrestling fans everywhere, Kris Zellner, thinks that Dudley is Mike Servich who had runs in South Atlantic and Georgia All Star, and he knows better than me about this stuff so I believe him. This was a pretty slight one overall. They controlled on Wright’s arm. The Patrol was able to isolate Invader in the corner for a bit. Dudley looked ok in there overall stooging and clubbing well. Finish had Bronco getting the hot tag and then hitting his face first DDT out of nowhere.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we continue celebrating the mothers of Puerto Rico. First we get the final TV episodes setting up the Noche de Campeones event. The Saman Swat Team debuts, Profe is working with Monster Ripper, and the final hype for Mother’s Day. Then, we get four matches from the May 11 Noche de Campeones card that was aired live on WAPA as a gift to the mothers of Puerto Rico. Will we have any title changes? And how does Ron Garvin’s return to Puerto Rico go? 

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