Found Footage Friday: CENA~! REIGNS~! TAMBA~! TINIEBLAS~! MAGNUM HALL~! MALUMBA~!

Tinieblas Sr. vs. Tamba [Mask vs Hair] WWA 9/19/87

MD: LA was a dead territory. Obviously WWF had success there in the 80s, but in the midst of that, these Olympic Auditorium shows were happening and they're very much a missing piece of wrestling history. There's a lot of talk about what was happening in the 90s, but these were just there underneath the surface the whole time. And while I wish we could hear the crowd a little bit better, you can't deny the trash being thrown in at the end here, and this was overall a wild scene.

Tamba is a pudgy babyfaced guy with no shirt and no mask and he was putting his hair up against Tinieblas' hallowed mask. The commentary indicates that maybe he was being nudged into this by his partner, Super Halcon, and there was a build here where they had gotten some cheating tag wins apparently. There was also an indication that the promoter too had been goaded in and that other promoters wouldn't have put up Tinieblas' mask like this. 

Halcon hangs out on the apron at the start of the match. Tinieblas nails him and Tamba gets Tinieblas from behind and we're off to the races. Tamba's stuff is, shall we say, rough around the edges. He had size and he had size and he had size and that was pretty much what he had. His forearms did not look great, but you sort of bought them given that size and Tinieblas made sure to spin and backpedal on each one on the floor. He used a chair as well. Back in the ring he hit maybe the worst top rope splash I've ever seen, just sort of falling down on Tinieblas' legs but that scored in the primera. The segunda had a couple of Tinieblas comebacks where he beat Tamba around the ring, but that size kept coming into play. Here though he missed a second rope splash after laboriously getting up the ropes, and that allowed Tinieblas to slap on La de a Caballo.

The tercera, then, was all over the place. The video cuts in and out a bit but by the end of it, Tinieblas had hit Tamba with a chair and opened him up (though maybe not a gusher). Tamba manages to come back with not just one low blow, but two, and he pulls at the mask and goozles Tinieblas. When the ref tries to get involved, Tamba tosses him off repeatedly, until he climbs on both Tamba and Tinieblas in the ropes and Tinieblas hefts both Tamba and the ref over. That allows Halcon to come in and interfere and Tamba to steal a three fall. The trash came flying, and they were very, very quick to get on the house mic (lowered from the ceiling) and let everyone know that they were reviewing the tape because of the fouls. I thought they were going to maybe restart the match, but no, they just gave it to Tinieblas and probably avoided a riot in the process, and we were left with the image of Tamba and his giant with a wound right in the middle, getting sheered with expert speed. It was more of an experience than a match but you really get a sense of the time and place.

ER: Oh, Tamba, where have you been all my life? Tamba, with his post-peak fat guy body and jack o lantern smile, 38 but moving like a 55 year old luchador, every fall the fall of a formerly great and still unique wrestler. He has among the worst fat guy splashes you've seen, falling in a controlled way on Tinieblas with no jump at all, like Cathy flopping onto her bed after a long Monday at the office. He wins the primera with a top rope splash that was an insult to the name. He landed somewhere near Tinieblas's legs with the form of a man who fell into a swimming pool while trying to fish something out. He looks like he's never climbed the ropes before and yet he's got this unique aura the entire time. He has great heavyweight punches, heavy blows that came from the side, thrown to the face, head, and chest. His punches are great enough that I know 1982 Tamba was an incredible menace. You can see him as a Super Porky who immediately fell off once the athleticism aged out to size. He got great fat guy color and did a tremendous job of almost starting a riot by taking one of the legendary lucha masks in a 100:1 upset. I don't think the lacking or loose execution held this back because the aura was there. It still felt like a big match even if the outcome was so unlikely and the opponent so washed. Underdogs got nothing to lose and it felt like there was more raw emotion in Tamba's toothless face than I expected. This felt like the right match for the occasion and felt like a look inside a scene. 

Scott Hall vs. Atkie Malumba [Cage] WWC 8/4/90 

MD: One great thing about having covered 1990 Puerto Rico so thoroughly is that we can fit this right in. This was after Hall's face turn and after the Aniversario match and they were using gimmicks to keep the feud going. You can see from the finish here that they left more meat on the bone. To me, this was right around the point where everything clicked for Hall. He could have had a serious babyface run in the back half of 1990 somewhere, but I guess he was in Germany as a heel (I saw some of that recently, a Tony St. Clair/Owen Hart handicap match).

This was from an episode a couple of years later so Profe kept joking how there was resemblance to Razor Ramon. I thought it was laid out well though. They went back and forth early, Hall's punches vs Malumba's heft, but it opened up when Malumba was able to toss Hall into the cage a couple of times. From there he leaned on him with a couple of hope spots when he tried to escape the cage through the door and Hall stopped him. There was a long nervehold (maybe too long) but it let Hall power up, the fans behind him, and start firing back. Hall finally got to toss Malumba into the cage (they had protected that), and there was a good nearfall for a cage when he dropkicked Malumba and Malumba almost went out the door from it, a finish we'd seen all too often but that I haven't seen teased like that much. Hall finally got the slam (also protected) to a big pop. He sold it well too stumbling backwards after the fact. And the finish had him go up and over but Malumba make it through the door a second before he landed. Maybe they could have shrunk that nerve hold just a little but overall this was a good piece of business and gave them room to go back for one more. 

ER: I've written a lot about Scott Hall, but almost exclusively 1992-1997 Scott Hall, which is when he became a really great worker. I've written a lot about Kimala II as well. He's probably the worst wrestler who Matt and I frequently write about, and I love him. I love both guys, but it never crossed my mind that they had ever wrestled each other. In another country. I didn't even know Scott Hall worked Puerto Rico or how big the cultural impact of Magnum PI on 1990 Puerto Rico was. I've never seen a Razor Ramon vs. Kamala match but now we have a version of that from an alternate dimension where Scott Hall wrestled like green Lex Luger and worked Gallagher Too in Puerto Rico. 

Scott Hall is an okay Lex Luger, and it's fun to see him sell like 96/97 Lex and use the same kind of punch comebacks. It's weird seeing Hall throwing lesser versions of his punch, before he perfected it, but I like how he sells for Kimala. Kimala's strikes never look great but they look correct for a Kimala. I love his shape and his big smooth back makes me think of him as a Punch-Out!! character. More wrestlers should remind me of a different ethnicity King Hippo. Kimala was a completely different opponent than we ever got to see Hall work, and it's good fun seeing Hall selling his back on lifts and throwing heavyweight dropkicks because he's a hunky babyface and not a greasy foreigner. Kimala's splashes always look good and I think he was able to have a 20 year career because he was a fat guy who worked without kneepads who stayed healthy. His deadweight landings look like they would never hold up over a decade long All Japan run, but these two were just built different. 

John Cena vs. Roman Reigns WWE 12/26/17 

MD: I'm not touching the Cena retirement tour but in watching this, I was stricken by how great a Cena retirement match this would have been, albeit 8 years too early. I don't remember the first thing about 2017 WWE. If I looked things up, I could probably piece it all together. Reigns was the Intercontinental champ apparently. This was at MSG, the big holiday show that kids get tickets for over XMas.

And I really liked it. It was Ace vs. Ace and felt like a passing of the guard moment. It has the room to stretch and breathe that you'd want in a house show. Cena leaned into it right in the beginning, going for a long lock up that let the fans chant at him (Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks). He pushed Reigns into the corner for a clean break and basked in it. There was such a sense of mastery here, of really knowing the value of a moment.  Reigns came back and controlled on a test of strength and then won on a shoulder block.

The match opened up when Cena went for a punch exchange, a traditional strength for him and Reigns clocked him. From there, it became about Reigns having a soft, punch-based advantage on these exchanges, and both men trying to unlock their moves. Instead of hitting things three times, they made getting through each part of the sequence an effort that needed to be built to. The crowd then went nuts when Cena finally hit his dropping belly to back or the five knuckle shuffle or Reigns finally got the Superman punch. There was one finisher kick out. Cena got the AA first and Reigns kicked out. Just that one and Cena wouldn't get it again, though he would cannily come close, hitting the mat as Reigns beat him again on a punch exchange only to lure him in on the pin and roll into a fireman's carry. This time Reigns escaped and hit the spear for the three, though. Just a very clever, very self-aware, very trusting match. Very little excess and because of that, what did happen mattered all the more and felt iconic. 

ER: 2017 was not my favorite John Cena year. It felt fully post-peak Cena at the time and scanning his television and PPV year now doesn't make me want to rewatch any of it. My favorite Cena match of the year had been a TV match against Jason Jordan, which feels like such a 2017 thing to say while also not sounding like it ever happened. I think I'd believe anything you told me about 2017 because none of it feels real, the timeline fake. It feels forever ago, not 8 years ago. Eight years ago, Jason Jordan was a Rising Star that I liked and wrote about, and Roman Reigns was a guy I thought might have been the best wrestler in the world. I went out of my way to watch and write about as many Roman Reigns/Braun Strowman TV, PPV, and house show matches existed - and there were a lot - and loved them all. In 2026, the idea of watching one Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman match would never cross my mind, and if suggested to me it would make me wrinkle up my nose in decline. 2017 feels like an implanted memory I only learn about from my own supposed writings and observations that I find in various notebooks that the RPG slowly reveals to me. 2017 was when you could go to a house show and see Enzo Amore vs. Kalisto but nobody saw it because it wasn't real. 

Roman Reigns was one of the best in the world in 2017 and was the best wrestler in WWE, and now they are a promotion I do not watch in part because I got tired of the new main event talk and walk style popularized by Roman Reigns. Eight years doesn't feel long, but it was a long time ago. This style isn't the main style in the fed that these two were the aces for, so this match - a great version of that style - feels like something much further back in time. It also greatly benefits from its handheld feel, shot on pro cam in the middle of the real crowd noise, like a concert recording from the taper's pit, but a taper who had a four man team and had been traveling to shows for several years. On TV everything is mic'd different, but in the middle of MSG you got to hear how much people hated Cena and wanted to cheer Roman...which made it so much better that we got to hear Cena winning them over the entire match. By the end of this, Roman's offense is being met with silence, like they didn't want to see Cena lose, and every time Cena made a comeback the crowd got louder with their support. 

Cena had one of his typical sloppy execution matches and some stuff looked hokier when played to the back rows of MSG. That big long lean over the apron while waiting for Roman's dropkick, the way his punches look so much worse than Roman's (until they start getting better when MSG is moved to cheer for him!?) are things that Cena is able to overcome stylistically, because the sloppy execution is baked into his style, and because the most important thing is his timing. Knowing when to bump, knowing when to take a beat, knowing which punch to get knocked down by. His timing was on the top of his game this whole match and it's knowing and perfecting that rhythm that had the entire building on his side within 15 minutes. 

It doesn't not matter in the grand scheme of things that his punches look loopy and cartoon-y, because he is so much better at taking Roman's punches and knowing how to bump and sell for each individual punch. I loved an early spot where he missed a turnbuckle charge and turned around into a nice Roman uppercut that sent Cena pirouetting into the mat, and there was this ongoing story where the punch exchanges never felt like they ended where Cena/Roman planned on ending them, but they ended where the punch quality and crowd reaction dictated they would end. This never felt like a match that they laid out and then worked exactly how they laid it out, it felt like something worked with room to grow into whatever the crowd wanted it to be. When Cena's tornado DDT maybe 7 minutes in got a big nearfall reaction, it's like that moment gave people a reason to believe in Cena, thus ROOT for Cena, and the dynamic change was huge. That's when this became something that felt a bit bigger and different than your usual send 'em home happy house show main. 

This was technically for the Intercontinental Title, but that seems laughably quaint. IF someone cared about that title before the match started, the title became an unimportant part of the match midway, if not sooner. This never felt like an IC Title match and by the end it only felt like a main event epic, a crowd worked to perfection, and moments timed for maximum impact. Neither man was able to hit their spots clean. Within a couple years, the WWE main event style was just finisher kickout spam, and this match got by with only one big surprise kickout (Roman kickout out of the AA, and to a lesser extent Cena kicking out of the Superman punch) because they wisely kept being unable to hit their various finishes. Finisher kickout is a lazy kind of surprise, but crafting a big main event build around stopped attempts and alternate means of attaining victory before looping back to one big finisher changed everything. Neither could put the other away because neither could connect with the big one. 

The reaction for Cena ducking a Superman punch, sloppily drop toe holding Roman into the STFU, was huge, a crowd chanting CENA SUCKS minutes before suddenly fighting with him, so much so that the pop when Roman lands his first Superman punch actually sounded more like shock than excitement. It got so Roman's offense was being met with silence. He wasn't being booed, but suddenly people were icing him out like they didn't want to actually see Cena lose. When Cena actually hits the AA (or moments where the 5 knuckle is stopped and then hit again later as more of a sudden surprise) the camera can no longer handle the decibels of the crowd and starts to distort. The finish was fantastic, with Cena leaping off the middle buckle for a legdrop but being hit with a sitout powerbomb for a good nearfall, leaping into a great punch exchange. This was the best punch exchange of the match, the one that felt like a gift to the crowd rather than one planned to go a specific length. It was a Boo/Yay exchange with people now booing Roman and cheering every punch a staggering Cena would throw, like they were the ones actually willing the men on instead of having a lengthy punch exchange foisted upon them. Cena deftly went down like a shot for Roman's best punch of the match, and it felt like it wasn't where Cena was "supposed" to go down, it just felt like he went down for the punch that felt (and looked) right. When Cena rolled through the pin and fought to deadlift Roman to his feet, clean and jerking him to his shoulders, it looked like the most triumphant Cena win and that's what everyone wanted to see. It was also the perfect way to set up Roman's win, Cena burning through all his reserves just to give everyone a look at Vintage Cena, doing it for the fans and forgetting he was in there with the new ace. 

I don't think the match happens like this if it was on TV or PPV, and I don't think it feels this good without the camera capturing the real crowd sound. This was a match that became more powerful because of its status as a house show main event (a house show in their main venue, but a house show nonetheless) and they seem to have completely forgotten that aspect of the show. Picturing this match done with their classically bad scripted commentary and all of the zoomed in reaction shaky cam and ugly LED displays just makes me nauseous. This was the right match for the right time presented in the best way. 

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Found Footage Friday: ABBY~! KIMALA II~! RUSHER~! INOUE~! ORTON~! TAKER~! OMNI~!

Abdullah the Butcher/Giant Kimala II vs. Rusher Kimura/Mighty Inoue AJPW 12/1/90

MD: Big IWE stars vs. monsters energy here, even if Rusher and Inoue were up in the years. This overachieved from my expectations, which were set in part for seeing Abby in so many short, abruptly ending tags from this era and from seeing Rusher in so many comedy matches. I love those matches by the way, but that wasn't going to work here.

What we got instead was pretty gruesome actually. Rusher bled early and they worked over the wound with headbutts, chops, and Abby just sticking his finger in the wound awesome. When Inoue got in, he turned the tables, sitting up on Abby's shoulders and poking him repeatedly with the fork until he dropped back. Then he kept it going with a bunch of awesome headlock punches until Kimala broke it up. The kept things rolling with a couple of chairshots from the outside in. Pretty valiant stuff.

Even the finish had one or two more rotations than I was expecting as Abby hit his cool Angle Slam type suplex but Inoue survived it only to get crushed with the throat shot/elbow drop combo. Post-match, Abby and Kimala bowed to all four sides. Not a lost classic but I'd say still well worth your time.

ER: This was disgusting, extremely violent, not far off from Great. Matt said gruesome and that's a good word for it. This wasn't a Fork Stabbing Abby match, this was built around punching and bleeding and digging into cuts. The match is helped by the HD of these new episodes of AJ Classics, as the second Abby is stabbing his fingers into Rusher's head I knew they weren't going to hold back. Abdullah's stiff fingered thrusts and jabs looked so painful, and it is 50-50 whether or not he had some kind of blade in his finger tape, because Rusher's head bled quick and Abby's fingertips were soon soaked red. Kimura's blood ran in rivulets down his chest and Abby dug his fingers into Rusher's cuts and the rest of his face. It was disgusting and the cameras zoomed in close on it to show the savagery. 

But these IWE guys are tough, so when Rusher finally tags in Might Inoue, Inoue shoot punches Abby in the head a couple dozen times and it's incredible. Inoue enters the ring climbing onto Abby's shoulders and just punches and stabs away at his head. Did we know Inoue was hiding a sharp object that he was going to use to scrape and stab at Abby's head while throwing shoot hammerfists? Abdullah the Butcher doesn't stab a single soul in this match with a fork, but Mighty Inoue introduces a weapon with no warning? Maybe this match is actually greater than great. When they both go down, Inoue grabs him in a headlock and throws sick blood wet splat punches repeatedly as the camera is again right on top of these slasher movie visuals. Every time Inoue ran and flew at Abby with a headbutt, you could hear his head actually smacking into Butcher's chin! He hits one in the ropes to knock Abby to the floor, and more in the ring. Great spot. Inoue's flipping senton is always so cool. It hits with impact but has the flourish and showmanship of French Catch. Abby rolling just out of the way of a senton and leading to him massacring Inoue's throat was a great late match sudden turn. Abby's Angle Slam is a really great spot and I love when he breaks it out. Using his bulk to perform weight physics is an Abby we don't get to see as often as Stabbing Abby. 

Kimala II was the odd man out in this, and he usually is, which is why I always look forward to Kimala II matches. He is the weirdest All Japan regular during their extended run of high expectancy ring work. He is clumsy, he doesn't work anywhere near as stiff as the style demands, he falls weird on offense, and despite being in his mid 20s he moves about as well as Abdullah the Butcher. But he torpedoes into the action at fun times, including a big bump thrown through the ropes to the floor. He's probably the thing holding this match from being legitimately great, but you can't deny the crowd excitement when he started slapping his belly. 

Dustin Rhodes/Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Steve Austin/Brian Pillman/Barry Windham WCW 2/7/93

MD: We get the last eight minutes of this and then a big post-match brawl. On the one hand, it's a shame we lose out on the elimination match because it sounds amazing on paper, but we're better off for what we do get here than nothing at all. Part of that is because Steamboat looks like the best babyface in the world here. Some of it is the way this is shot with no commentary. It just feels closer up, right in the midst of the action, and Steamboat working from underneath here is just transcendent. The way he moves his body, expanding and contracting, hanging on to the ropes, finding strength within, expressing pain and writhing emotion, is just over the top great. 

And Austin, in his own way, is almost as good. He's put upon, frustrated, aggravated that Steamboat refuses to quite, that he paints himself as so sympathetic a figure, that he dares to appeal to his humanity. At one point, Steamboat ... it's not begging off, I wouldn't say he's begging off, but he does seem to call for some level of mercy, maybe just to get things back on a more even playing field, but Austin, framing it perfectly, timing it as dramatically as possible, cinematically in a way that would only work in footage like this, that would be overwrought or overproduced on TV, literally spits on the effort. That makes it all the more poignant when Steamboat, in the midst of his big comeback, blows a mist of spit himself later on. Just really primal stuff.

That stays through into the chaotic post-match, bodies flying and violence ebbing and flowing and ebbing again. Weirdly enough, Shane Douglas might have stood out the most here, as he came off as a real powerhouse. Still, this post match, as good as it was and with a real sense of consequence for matches to come, comes off a little like a consolation prize for the elimination match we didn't get. Still, what a look at Steamboat and Austin.

Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker vs. Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry WWE 3/3/06

MD: House show match from the vault from Australia. I was expecting to see Henry assert himself. That was the draw, but really this was all about Randy Orton, especially but not only him reacting to Undertaker. It's a bit clipped and we come in after entrances with him preening in the corner only to turn around and find Taker there, going for a handshake before he gets rocked with punches. It's easy to joke about the Kyle Fletcher parallels but he was around 26 here and they're clearer here than at almost any other point of his career as best as I can remember.

This is not a version of Orton I remember well, but he was pretty effective even if I did see the strings at times. Plus it was a house show so they really played into it. There was a bit where he teased getting knocked into the crowd three or four times before finally landing on a fan's lap and thanking her after the fact. It was all pretty funny stuff. Plus he was flying around as a menace throughout, including dashing from one opportunistic pin to the next.

Angle was a bit of a non-factor overall, in part due to his current persona, I think, but just because Undertaker and Orton were taking up so much air. And then Henry just seemed there to cut people off at times. He did it effectively but his role could have been much more interesting. Still, this was fun for what it was, but it would have probably worked just as well as two singles matches. 

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Found Footage Friday: VALENTINE~! GARVIN~! CENA~! JOE~! BOTSWANA~! DOUG~!

Greg Valentine vs. Ronnie Garvin WWF 1/14/89

MD: Another new Richard Land find (go seek him out on twitter if you want to see this). Apparently this show did exist but with terrible VQ to the point where it hasn't been looked at. From entrances to leaving this goes ~15 and it's probably even better than you'd expect coming in, which is saying a lot. They're able to balance the best strike exchanges in the history of the company with just enough variety, stooging, stalling, and other little tricks to tie it all together.

The exchanges are amazing, but varied as well. Valentine might go high and low with punches or throw chops. Garvin will fire back out of the corner, in the center, will pick him up to knock him down again. And they do such a great job not just registering each blow by throwing their head back (whether in the corner or not) or Valentine spacing out, but by setting up the anticipation of it all with Valentine dancing back or stalling in the ropes or both of them throwing hands. It's the ultimate combination of anticipation, execution, and reaction that makes this amazing, strike exchange after strike exchange, with Garvin throwing in enough other things (a jackknife pin, slamming Valentine's head into the corner) and Valentine doing his big stooging sells to make it more than just a slugfest but a complete living, breathing tapestry of violence.

ER: We all keep writing in various ways "Greg Valentine's case as an All Time Great only rises with every new match we find" because it just keeps happening. Since we started Found Footage Fridays 5-15 years ago Valentine has been one of our frequent topics, appearing in the feature 10+ times, and each one of those times only raised his stock as a worker. He's incredible. 15 years ago, I had no idea what a huge Greg Valentine fan I would become. It really started with the DVDVR 80s WWF Project, the first set in the project that would make for the best years of my wrestling fandom. Valentine/Garvin was the kind of WWF match I had never seen before and didn't realize was ever happening there. Years later Valentine would be the reason I'd start my favorite wrestling project ever - Complete Berzerker - after seeing his brilliant match against Berzerker. Every piece of footage I've seen since - new, old, seen, unseen - just confirmed how great Valentine was. 

Now here's another new piece of the Valentine lore and it takes me back to 2006 (that can't be right) and the first time I saw the Valentine/Garvin '89 MSG match. It finished very high on my DVDVR 80s ballot, and I got to talk to Valentine at a convention about their matches. He said that nobody liked working Garvin because he worked stiff, and so they paired Valentine with him a lot because Valentine didn't mind working stiff with Garvin. That's the simplest explanation, those were Valentine's words, and then I proceeded to talk to him about BattlArts without ever buying an 8x10. I didn't know the rules, sorry. 

Now we get another take on them beating the hell out of each other and crowds slowly catching on to just how hard these men are hitting each other. Dick Graham catches on pretty quick just how hard the men are hitting each other. My favorite realization from Graham is when Valentine kicked Garvin in the face like Tenryu right in front of the ringside camera, and Graham just shouted out "SHOOT!" You have no idea, Dick. You watch this, and realize this whole thing cannot happen with Valentine. I love Garvin, but Valentine could have worked this match with anybody. Valentine is the one falling all over the place for him and leaning in to his toughest shots. Valentine is the one permitting every piece of nasty action to proceed. When Garvin starts teeing off on Hammer in the ropes, throwing hard overhand chops, mixing up punches to the forehead and body, finishing him with a shot to the forehead in the corner that sent Valentine skidding down each turnbuckle to the mat, I can see why not many others were willing to work Garvin. But Valentine makes it all into more than just stiff shots. Valentine showcases the willingness to throw hands and the over-willingness to stooge (the man must have timberrrrrrr fell to the mat a dozen times for payoff blows), but most importantly Valentine knew how to put over every single thing Garvin did. 

My favorite part of the match might have been Garvin's crucifix pin, because I don't know if I've ever seen a more ligament stretching crucifix. Garvin tied up Hammer's arms and slowly started pulling him back, and if you'd never seen a crucifix pin before you'd think Hammer was getting his arms slowly broken behind him. Valentine made his taking the move look more like a shoot pin than I'd ever seen, like his necktie was caught in a shredder and the more time he spent struggling the closer he was brought to his death. This match could have been All Hands and still been one of the best WWF matches of the decade, but Valentine knew how to take things higher. 

Doug Gilbert vs. Botswana Beast (Kimala II) Barbed Wire MECW 1999

MD: This was supposed to be One Man Gang vs. Doug and you can't just make a substitution late on a match like this and just expect it to work, but they made a pretty good effort overall. Gilbert went into the wire real early which was sort of the only logical way to do this (he took it right to Beast but couldn't actually whip him) unless you were going to take out a knee and keep it on the mat or something. So there wasn't exactly build and payoff. Instead, they actually went to the floor which I'm not sure I've ever actually seen in a barbed wire match. More than that, you had to rationalize Beast even being able to get out under the bottom rope without killing himself. That did allow Gilbert to get some reasonable offense with the chair and then, back in the ring toss Beast in at least once. He came back and had a fun marathon whipping of Gilbert into the wire again and again before dropping the splash. When he went for a second one PG-13 came out to break things up and smash Beast with the hubcap. Reno Riggins hilariously made the save with a chair, which he immediately put down before hitting anyone with it, thus allowing for himself to get swept under so Beast could make the save. Doug Gilbert's Bobcat Goldthwait faces made this work despite the substitution.

ER: Ever since I was the high voter on the Botswana Beast vs. Terry Gordy match from the World Class set, I feel a strong connection to Beast that might not actually be present in his ring work. I've always been fascinated by Beast/Kimala II/Uganda in a similar but different way than I'm fascinated by Gallagher II. Kimala II might have been the worst All Japan worker of the 90s, yet there he was wrestling 800 matches in the greatest workrate fed of the decade, dressed up as the shorter, fatter version of a guy whom everyone in attendance knew. I love that Kimala II existed, I sincerely love that Gordy match, and if he's the worst All Japan worker of the 90s then I love that he got to exist there during that whole magic era. This was from '99, when he was working ECW shows in the states between All Japan tours and is a fun spectacle without being much of a match. My favorite bits were all centered on Beast's low center of gravity, showing how impossible it would be for Doug to shove him into the ropes against his will. I loved that Irish whip spot where Doug pulled with all his might only for Beast's feet to slide a bit forward on the mat, before Beast whipped Doug into the barbed wire with the strength of Andre. 

John Cena vs. Samoa Joe WWE 8/26/17

MD: This was absolutely delightful. It checks so many boxes just from the start. A match we never thought we'd get. Unproduced house show footage, clear as day, from 2010s WWE. A hot crowd. Two larger than life wrestlers who knew exactly what they were doing working a house show style. It feels like a million years ago and I'd say it overdelivered my expectations. You listen to the crowd build and build and build as they take them up and down (but each high getting a little bit higher) and that's just what I want out of pro wrestling more often than not. 

I can't even tell you the last time I saw a Cena match. It was probably for FFF. We watched one in 2022. That was probably it. I think that was a house show too. I can't get over how simplistic, minimalist, straightforward this was. Joe won an early exchange and celebrated, the shine was basically just a build to Cena winning a shoulderblock and it feeling like a huge deal. Joe took over with one (and only one) punch in the corner. Cena went down like a ton of bricks.

He never really looked back. Cena would get hope spots because he was Cena and basically anything he did was a hope spot. He'd dash into the ring before Joe expected. He'd block a punch. He'd heft him up into a fireman's carry out of nowhere, but Joe dropped him each time. The fans got louder each time though. Until it was just Cena standing up in the corner that did it. Amazing stuff. Joe ran right through him then, but then, when it was repeated, Cena moved and that's when he got in his signature comeback stuff. Talk about rewarding the crowd for caring. They went into a ref bump and a phantom win before the actual one, adding in a bit of doubt to the proceedings. I'm not entirely sure that was necessary given the match they were wrestling, but it was no real harm overall. Just an amazing reminder how special these guys are.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: The Week After

Week 30: The Week After

EB: Aniversario 1990 is in the books and it was quite the eclectic event, with minis, an AWA title being defended, Robocop backing up the tecnicos and some memorable appearances (for different reasons) from the Rougeaus and Zeus. We had the Caribbean title change hands in a boxing match, Scott Hall had his tecnico coming out party and there was an hour long draw in the Universal title match. After the dust (or mud in this case) had settled, there was no clear winner between Carlos Colon and TNT. Due to the draw, Carlos retains the Universal title. The match was an intense back and forth, one where TNT seemed to be aggressive first and Colon responded in kind. Now the question is what is next for everyone in CSP. 

We have arrived at July 14, one week after Aniversario. Most of the wrestlers that came in for Aniversario have left, although with the exception of the mini wrestlers (we’ll see them pop up throughout the coming weeks). The tecnicos have two new arrivals in the form of the White Angel and Gama Singh, both who have had previous runs in the territory. How long they will be here remains to be seen. As we dive into this post-Aniversario landscape, we're going to slightly change our format in this installment. Since we’re in a time period where we actually have mostly complete tv episodes available, we are going to focus this week on the programs that aired the weekend of July 14. This will allow us to get a good feel for how CSP is setting up post Aniversario, what feuds will continue and also provide a good understanding of what the dynamic is with how the tv programs worked during this time period. 

First though, we are going to start with a clip from an episode that we don't have in a more complete form. We go to the intro of the San Juan Metro version of Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre episode that aired on channel 11 (Teleonce).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBbESFmr24

Hugo is already part way through the show’s intro, talking about this past Saturday’s.Aniversario 90  Specifically, he’s talking about the amazing time limit draw between Carlos Colon and TNT. Before the 60 minutes were up, there was some controversy over TNT supposedly winning the bout earlier (which they’ll talk about more later in the program). The important thing to know is that it was a 60 minute draw and, even more important, is the news that the rematch for ‘El Reto para la Historia’ has been signed for Saturday August 4 at Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel in Bayamon (the same location as their Aniversario match).  Earlier, Hugo had been mentioning that tonight they were going to be in Caguas, but something happened on one of the other TV programs where Hugo and Carlos Colon serve as co-hosts (he’s referencing Campeones which airs on a rival channel). Something happened on that program, and Hugo wants the director to show what went down.

The clip cuts immediately to an argument that’s occurring between TNT and Carlos Colon ,with Hugo caught in the middle.  Hugo is asking TNT to wait a moment but TNT is already in Colon’s face and saying “Why do I have to wait until August 4 for a rematch for the Universal title? Why don’t you defend it tonight in Caguas?” Colon responds “Because that’s what the commission decided.” Things get more heated as TNT starts pointing at Carlos and Carlos slaps TNT’s hand away (“Don’t put your hands on me, with more respect here.”) TNT exclaims “You know that at Aniversario 90 Un Reto para la Historia I gave you a beating and I won the title from you! The real Universal champion is TNT!” Carlos looks at Hugo: “Wait a moment, Hugo I think this man has gone crazy, he’s become disrespectful and now he’s coming here in this manner...”. As Carlos is speaking, Hugo tells TNT to be more respectful, causing TNT to yell at Hugo to shut up. TNT again yells why doesn’t Carlos put up the title tonight. Hugo tries to calm things down but Carlos continues saying that TNT is disrespecting not just him but Hugo and the tv viewers as well, meanwhile TNT starts yelling about how Carlos is old and that he defeated Carlos  at Aniversario, so why don’t they fight tonight in Caguas.  

Hugo again tries to calm things down, telling TNT that the card is already booked for tonight, prompting TNT to again yell at Hugo to shut his mouth. Carlos says that he’ll fight TNT anytime, but the rematch was signed for August 4. TNT yells “I don’t care about August 4, we’ll wrestle tonight! The real champion here is TNT!” Carlos starts getting more upset: “Let me tell you something TNT, (voice gets angrier) who do you think you are?” TNT: “I am the karate ninja TNT and I’m the real Universal champion!”” Carlos: “I’m not afraid of you or of anybody! I’ll fight you anytime!” TNT: “I want to fight with you tonight in Caguas!” Carlos looks at Hugo and tries to tell him something but TNT keeps yelling about why they are not wrestling tonight. Hugo again tries to tell TNT that the card is already booked and again TNT goes off telling Hugo to shut up,that he doesn’t care about that. ”Why don’t we fight tonight! Are you scared?” Carlos shoves TNT at that remark, saying he’s not afraid of him or of anyone. Hugo tries to stay between the two as things are more heated and TNT and Carlos are trying to get at each other. Carlos says that he’ll fight TNT here right now if he wants. Finally, Carlos goes ”Let’s do something Hugo. I’ll wrestle TNT tonight in Caguas but with one condition... (TNT yells something at Carlos) wherever, we’ll fight right now if you want (Hugo pleads for that not to happen)... Hugo, I am tired of this guy’s shameless actions (TNT yells at Carlos “I don’t care what type of match it is!”), one condition, if this match goes and I defeat you (points at TNT), like i'm planning to do, then you can forget about the Universal title.” TNT: “We’ll do whatever, all I want is to break your face!” Both Carlos and TNT keep getting heated and start taking their jackets off. Hugo panics and asks Carlos if he accepts the challenge for tonight in Caguas, to which Carlos says yes. Hugo then quickly turns to TNT: “He accepted the match, TNT, please leave!”, but TNT and Carlos are still arguing and try to get at each other again as Hugo is caught in the middle, desperately trying to throw it to the next segment. 

The video transitions back to Hugo in the studio, where Hugo remarks that the situation got tense for him there, he took his lumps there. The match is now added to tonight’s card, Carlos Colon vs TNT in a non-title match in addition to the other scheduled matches.   

The confrontation that occurred between Carlos Colon and TNT happened on the Campeones episode airing on local channel 2 (Telemundo), which is why Hugo was vague about what program it happened on (Superestrellas aired on channel 11 at the time). We do have that Campeones episode and are including the link, but for our review we’ll touch upon some of the highlights of the episode (since the matches are mainly from before our relevant time period or ones we already covered).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F_u5qR_LBM

The episode starts with Hugo and Carrlos as the hosts, with Hugo introducing Carlos as the still reigning Universal champion. Hugo thanks the fans for all the calls received, with congratulations for Carlos from all over the island. Carlos thanks Invader #1 and Huracan Castillo Jr. for subbing for him the past couple of weeks as he was training for his match, then he and Hugo run down what’s to come on this week’s episode. The conversation then turns towards tonight's show in Caguas, where the main event is the new Caribbean champion Invader #1 defending against the former champion Leo Burke. Carlos and Hugo mention that Burke is very angry about his loss at Aniversario since he was the favorite to win in the boxing match due to his skills, but Invader #1 embarrassed Burke and left him laid out. We also have Scott Hall and Atkie Mulumba in a rematch from Aniversario 90, with Carlos saying that he thinks Hall will be looking to finish the job tonight. Carlos also mentions that he wants the fans to know that they’re talking with Scott Hall about officially joining El Ejercito de la Justicia, to which Hugo remarks that he had heard the rumor and was glad Carlos put it out there. Hugo mentions  that the Super Medicos will also be facing Los Mercenarios tonight, but then pivots to talking about Aniversario 90. 

Before giving the fans some big news, Hugo wants Carlos to share his thoughts about his title match against TNT at Aniversario. Carlos mentions it was a hard, tough battle (Hugo interjects violent as well), but he is satisfied with the decision since it was a draw and that means he remains the champion. A draw against a wrestler of the magnitude of TNT is a great triumph, so he is satisfied, happy and thanks the fans for going to the event and giving their support. Hugo mentions that both Carlos and TNT displayed a high level of wrestling dignity and conditioning, a 60 minute draw is a feat. Hugo then announces the big news, due to the controversies in the match and that it ended up being a draw, that means TNT remains as the number one contender. A rematch has been signed and it will take place on August 4 at Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel. Hugo asks Carlos how he will prepare for the rematch and Carlos says just like he did for the first one, by training hard, this rematch will be with no time limit so he has to be ready to go as long as it takes. Carlos thinks he has an advantage because they went 60 minutes at Aniversario and, at the end of the match, he had TNT in the figure four. With just a bit more time he would have made TNT submit. All modesty aside, Carlos feels he was in better condition than TNT and that TNT was saved by the bell. Hugo: “So you felt you had him?” Carlos says that he did think he had TNT ready to give up. Carlos thinks the no time limit stipulation works in his favor. Hugo comments that there has to be a winner since there is no time limit, and he wants to know what Carlos will do for this type of match. Carlos mentions that since tonight he’s not scheduled in Caguas and that he is taking it easy with his schedule, he’s going to take the opportunity to train hard for the rematch to show up in better condition than at Aniversario. He thinks this will be the most important match of his career. Carlos already showed TNT that his desire to be Universal champion was not going to be as easy as TNT thought, and now Carlos has the goal of defeating TNT decisively so that TNT asks for forgiveness, not from him but from the Puerto Rican people. “I'm going to train hard so TNT can be embarrassed as he deserves to be embarrassed.” Hugo again asks Carlos about his training when TNT barges on set and we get the altercation that aired on Superestrellas as well. Hugo frantically throws it to our first match as the altercation ends.

The first match in the episode is an Invader #3 vs Mr Pogo match from either 1988 or 1989. I won’t recap it in detail but will mention that Hugo is solo on commentary. It seems Carlos was so upset by the confrontation with TNT that he has left the studio and now Hugo is alone for the show. Hugo apologizes to Carlos and the fans for TNT’s actions on behalf of himself and the team at Capitol Sports TV. Hugo confirms the match is official for tonight and that it is non-title. The Pogo and Invader #3 match is from Caguas and is airing because Mr. Pogo will soon be making a return to the territory. Hugo mentions that Friday they will be in Yauco and tomorrow Sunday they will be in Aguadilla.As the match progresses Hugo talks about how Carlos and Chicky alternated each week as Hugo’s co-host, and that it was the first time they had Carlos in almost a month since he had been training for his Aniversario match. The match between Pogo and Invader #3 is a solid, back and forth match with Pogo getting the win with the cobra sleeperhold.

Other notable occurrences in this Campeones episode include promos from Leo Burke and Invader #1 about their match tonight, a White Angel music video and promo about his return to Puerto Rico,  a quick Scott Hall promo surrounded by kids about his match tonight with Mulumba, and a Profe rebuttal promo where he promises that Atkie will teach Hall a lesson for betraying them. The program ends with Hugo closing the show, once again apologizing to the fans for what happened at the start of the program with Carlos and TNT. He knows the fans were looking forward to finally having Carlos back on the program after being gone these past weeks, but it was an unfortunate incident that prevented him from staying on the program today. Hugo thinks that it was not the time nor the place for TNT to do what he did, especially since the rematch had already been signed for August 4. Hugo confirms again that the challenge for tonight was accepted and it will be Carlos Colon vs TNT in a non-title match. At that moment, Carlos reappears on camera to apologize to Hugo and the tv viewers about storming out earlier (Hugo: ‘We are the ones that should apologize’), but he was so angry about TNT that he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be able to narrate and host the show after that. But he sends a message to TNT that he better stop with the disrespectful actions because he (Carlos) respects the viewers and tonight it will be a different story, since he won’t be the gentleman he was on the program. TNT will be facing a wild man tonight and the job Colon couldn’t finish last week will be finished tonight. It will be a fight tonight and he will end TNT for being shameless and a charlatan.

MD: One constant thread since we started the project is that the booking has been solid, especially on top, but not just, given the constraints they have. By constraints, that’s the occasional injury or act of weather, and the fact that a lot of top talent were locked into contracts by WWF or WCW/NWA and therefore couldn’t be tapped into even as a guest. It makes total sense for them to stick with the TNT program now. The title match was inconclusive, the start of a story instead of the end of one. Nothing was proven. There’s no reason why this couldn’t take them deeper into the year, thus the confrontation. I think part of me expected that they would bring in Chicky now to get more heat but there could be reasons not to that we'll learn soon. Still it's notable, coming out of Aniversario, there isn’t a clear lead heel.

I guess that’s one reason to have Pogo coming back into the territory. Otherwise, it does seem like they’re rolling right into a “Wrestlemania Revenge” type show with Invader and Burke and Hall and Malumba still going at it. Of course you can put Los Mercenarios against any of the tecnico teams. Heating up the White Angel again (and bringing in Gama Singh) is interesting since they seem stacked on the tecnico side. Case in point, a quick Scott Hall promo with him surrounded by kids. The accent on Thompson when he says “Puerto Rico” is something else though. 

EB: The other episode we have for this date is the west coast version of Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre. As mentioned in previous installments, since TV in Puerto Rico still operated in having specific regional broadcast signals, the west coast channel that broadcasts Superestrelelas usually had a version that referenced the events happening on the Sunday west coast house shows and the interview and house show lineups reflected this. So keep that in mind as we dive into this episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mIB9vRYbcU

Hugo opens the show by running down what we’ll be seeing on today’s program (including mentioning the returns of White Angel and Gama Singh to Puerto Rico). You’ll notice that this intro is different from the San Juan Metro area version we saw earlier, that is because since Carlos and TNT are not planned to match up at the west coast house show the next day, there is no need to mention the altercation and challenge that happened on Campeones. Instead, Hugo hypes up the card taking place the next day in Aguadilla. Hugo also wants to briefly talk about Aniversario 90, although again some references of what happened will be regarding the show in Mayaguez rather than what happened in Bayamon. The event was a success in both towns and they want to thank the fans for their support for CSP in their Aniversario event.Hugo talks about the main event of Carlos Colon vs TNT, a tremendous match that was stopped due to blood (again, referencing the result from the Mayaguez card). As a result, Carlos Colon remains the Universal champion. Hugo mentions some of the results from Bayamon such as Invader #1 winning the Caribbean title and mentions the encounter between Scott Hall and Atkie Mulumba (so we are starting to get a good idea about the top rivalries being highlighted post Aniversario).

Hugo then talks about the house show tomorrow in Aguadilla at 3:30pm, with the main event being Invader #1 vs TNT. Also on the card, a rematch between Scott Hall and Atkie Mulumba, a World tag team title match as the Super Medicos defend against the duo of Leo Burke & Rick Valentine, the minis that were such a hit at Aniversario will be wrestling in a singles match as Aguilita Solitaria takes on Espectrito, Miguelito Perez and Gama Singh team up to take on Los Mercenarios, and Invader #4 faces Chicky Starr. Hugo then takes us to the first match on the show, as the returning White Angel takes on the monster known as Atkie Mulumba.

Eliud Gonzalez is out commentator for this match. Eliud makes note of the size difference between the two wrestlers as White Angel mocks Mulumba’s belly slapping by doing his own version. Angel keeps his distance but is caught in a lock up in a corner. Mulumba tries an overhand chop at the break but Angel ducks out of the way and Atkie hits the top turnbuckle instead. The same sequence is repeated although this time Angel blocks the blow and counters with several unanswered punches. Angel gets a headlock on Atkie, but Mulumba backs Angel into a corner and breaks the hold with a corner splash. Atkie takes over with several blows in the corner, and then proceeds to bite White Angel in the face. Angel fires off several kicks after the biting stops but Mulumba isn’t fazed and grabs Angel in a double arm choke. Angel backs Mulumba into a corner and breaks the choke with several punches. Atkie cuts Angel off with an eye rake and knocks him down with a nice thrust kick. Mulumba continues on the attack with an eye gouge and choking Angel on the ropes. A clothesline sends Angel to the outside, with Atkie following him out. Both men fight on the outside before Angel gets back in the ring. Angel catches Mulumba coming in with a kick and several punches, and hits a clothesline when Mulumba is shot into the ropes. Atkie absorbs the blow and doesn’t fall down. Angel follows up with some standing punches in the corner but an irish whip attempt is countered into a corner splash by Mulumba ,who then hits a headbutt to set up a splash. Atkie picks up Angel before the three count, hits another splash and then picks Angel back up before the three count. The referee warns Atkie about this behavior. Atkie goes to the top but the camera cuts away as he starts jumping off (it looks like Angel was starting to roll away). Eliud continues narrating as it appears that something may have been messed up in the ring since they continue with the crowd shot. When we cut back, Mulumba is attacking Angel and it looks like the referee has had enough of Atkie refusing to make the cover and awards the match via dq to White Angel. The winner is White Angel, although he looks worse for the wear compared to Mulumba.

MD: I like Thompson well enough when he’s got someone like Chicky (or even a Burke) backpedaling from him. I’m not sure he’s up to the task to stand toe-to-toe with Malumba. Malumba does take most of this including beating him on the outside but Thompson fires back and it’s, you know, ok. Eventually, Malumba crushes him with a splash and then picks him up. He presumably misses the top rope splash but they decided to cut to a wide shot of the crowd where they just pan over a bunch of kids which was a bizarre choice. When they cut back, he’s choking Thompson incessantly and the ref gives him the win. Kind of strange if you ask me. 

EB: We then go to a couple of promos talking up the World tag title match between the Super Meidocs and the team of Leo Burke and Rick Valentine. The makeshift team of Burke and Valentine look to capture the World tag titles, with Burke congratulating the Medicos on getting past the Rougeaus. However, Leo has scouted them and saw all the mistakes they could capitalize on. The Super Medicos thank the fans for their support this past week at Aniversario and they know they have to be careful of Burke’s figure-four and Valentine’s bionic elbow. Super Medico #1 says ”Also, we don’t make mistakes, the mistake was made by you when you signed to face us for the World tag team titles.” 

MD: These two interviews are setting up a tag match between Burke and Valentine and the Medicos. I thought Burke was pretty effective in congratulating the Medicos for their Aniversario win and being brave enough to put up the belts, but noting that he saw a lot of mistakes in their match and that he and the “bionic elbow” were going to take the titles. Medico 1 then said the real mistake was taking a match with them in a solid retort and Estrada, Jr. got to thank the fans.

EB: We then go to this week’s edition of Chicky Starr’s Sports Shop. Chicky welcomes the viewers to the most anticipated segment of the show. Every week there is a special guest and this week is no exception, when he says their name everyone will recognize it. Naturally you’ve all noticed by now, this week’s special guest is none other than Chicky Starr himself. He wants to talk about his match tomorrow against Invader #4, someone that has given Chicky a lot of problems and work. But tomorrow he will show everyone that he can handle Invader #4, that he can end him and that he’ll do something tomorrow he has long wanted to do., He’s going to take Invader #4’s grimy mask off and throws it to the fans so they can throw it into the sea that’s near the arena. Chicky promises to defeat Invader #4 tomorrow. Looks like this is a localized version of the Sports Shop for the west coast audience.

MD: I thought we were going to see the Sports Shop in its natural habitat but he really just cuts a promo on Invader #4, including saying he was going to throw his mask into the sea. 

EB: After the card rundown for the Aguadilla show and an Aguadila Motors commercial, we have Rick Valentine taking on Justo Maldonado.Valentine is accompanied by Chicky, It is a short match, with Justo getting a brief offensive advantage to start but Valentine takes over and finishes Maldonado off relatively quickly with his bionic elbow drop. Chicky barely had enough time to go over to the commentary desk and talk about the beating TNT gave Carlos Colon at Aniversario, although to date there has been no official alliance between TNT and Chicky.

MD: Valentine needs all the help he can get so a squash match isn’t a bad thing. It’s interesting they don’t hammer (pun intended) that he’s Greg or Johnny’s relative but I’m not actually sure how much that would matter here. Chicky’s on commentary. The opponent gets a little bit of comeback but Valentine shuts him down with a clothesline out of the corner and the elbow drop. 

EB: The rivalry between Los Mercenarios and the Caribbean express came to a head at Aniversario but it looks like Acevedo and Ron Starr have a chance at getting some revenge on Miguelito Perez. They are scheduled to face Miguelito and the returning Gama Singh in Aguadilla. Los Mercenarios say it makes no difference if Gama Singh is in there, since they are familiar with him from facing Singh in different parts of the world. Meanwhile, Gama is happy to be back in Puerto Rico and is looking forward to teaming up for the first time with Miguelito. Perez hypes up the match and says he and Singh will be ready tomorrow, and hopes the fans will be there.

We then get a showcase match for Gama Singh, taking on the masked Blue Angel. This match also is relatively short and serves as a reintroduction of Gamna Singh to the local fans (it has been a few years since Singh had a notable run in the territory). Singh shows off his abilities, although at one point he starts undoing the laces of Blue Angel’s mask. After the attempted unlacing, Blue Angel gets a bit of offense in and even makes a pin attempt for a one count. It doesn't last long as Gama takes over again and eventually wins the match with a crossbody off the top rope. Nice win for Gama Singh in his return to CSP. 

MD: These bits were setting up a tag between Perez/Singh and Los Mercenarios. Starr talked up Singh. Then Singh got to talk himself and Perez up and Perez got to talk up Singh too. I’m not sure why Castillo wasn’t there with Perez but I guess having a tag champ team with someone else is a good way to build heat back up if you’re going to let the rudos win. Singh is not someone I’ve seen a ton of but there is that direct pipeline from Canada to Puerto Rico. Against Blue Angel, he was dominant on the mat, had this interesting sweeping arm strike out of a headlock he did a couple of times, and had some fire as Angel got into a pushing contest with him. He won it with a flying body press. I still sort of wonder why they didn’t bring him in as a rudo though that would have disappointed the one support of his they kept cutting to. 

EB: The main event of the Aguadilla house show is Invader #1 taking on TNT, so we get promos from both men. TNT mentions that people that really know about wrestling know that TNT is the real Universal champion, He showed it at Aniversario in Mayaguez and if there is any remaining doubt, he’ll show it again tomorrow against Invader #1. So tomorrow Invader #1, the real Universal champion will put you in the Cobra Dinamita. We go to Hugo and the new Caribbean champion Invader #1. Hugo mentions what TNT said in his promo and Invader responds by saying that it’s very easy for someone to get in front of the cameras and say many things, but when the bell rings it gets hard to do. For the past three months TNT has been telling the Puerto Rican fans that he was going to be the Universal champion, and TNT is not the Universal champion right now. Invader said that he was going to be the new Caribbean champion, and he is the Caribbean champion right now. “So you can say a lot of things but let’s see what you can do when the bel rings tomorrow. Remember what you did to us, because we were very angry about it, you shouldn’t have done what you did. You say that you will put me in the Cobra Dinamita, let’s see if you can really do it. I know you are a tremendous wrestler, but when that bell rings tomorrow that is when you’ll get the chance to show me who you really are! Let’s see if you are man enough or wrestler enough to get that Cobra Dinamita on me.”

MD: These two would be wrestling at the upcoming house show. TNT cut a promo declaring him the true champion. Invader 1 fired back in his own promo with an impassioned diatribe about how he’d face TNT down. I was sold on this after hearing from these two.

EB: We get a rundown of the WWC top 10 rankings, with TNT still as the number one contender and then go to a Leo Burke vs Herbetr Gonzalez match. Leo as always is accompanied by Chicky Starr. A lock up leads to Burke getting a punch after the break but Herbert comes back with some punches of his own and actually takes control of the match with some slams and a headlock. Burke breaks the hold but Herbert maintains control with a shoulder block and an elbow (with the camera cutting to Chicky shaking  his head disapprovingly on the outside). Herbert goes back to the headlock but Burke is able to eventually counter with a back suplex. Burke hits several blows on Herbert and hits a neckbreaker for a pin attempt. Herbert counters a Burke rope throw with a kick and then sends Leo into the ropes for a backdrop. However, Leo counters with a blow to the midsection and immediately works the leg to set up the figure four. Herbert submits and Burke gets the win., Chicky talks to the camera, talking about the stupidity of anyone thinking they can handle the master of the figure four as Burke flashes four fingers at the camera. 

MD: On the one hand, Burke probably gives him a little too much here, but he is that sort of great stooging heel that can get away with that. Plus, with Burke, he can shift gears suddenly, turn right onto Gonzalez’ leg and change the mood entirely, which is what he does here. Chicky’s great in the margins of this, by the way, but no surprise there. 

EB: El Profe, accompanied by Atkie Mulumba. cuts a promo about the rematch between Scott Hall and Mulumba. Profe mentions that the people of Mayaguez received Scott Hall last week with open arms, but tomorrow Profe and Atkie will receive him with closed fists, in order to end Hall, to finish with him and show the people what a coward Hall is. “You are a traitor and that is why we gave you a beating last week, but tomorrow it will be even worse. You're very big but also very stupid, and tomorrow we will finish you so you never get in the way of El Profe and Atkie Mulumba again.” The camera zooms in on Atkie’s face as El Profe finishes his promo.

We also get a rundown of the card for Thursday in Cabo Rojo. The lineup is as follows: Carlos Colon vs. Atkie Mulumba; Invader #1 vs TNT; Super Medicos vs Los Mercenarios; Gama Singh vs Rick Valentine; Miguelito Perez vs Leo Burke; and Aguilita Solitaria vs Espectrito. After this, we get an Invader #4 vs Eddie Watts match that we’ve previously covered.

The last part of the show features our main event for the program, as TNT takes on Super Medico #3 in TNT’s continued series against his former Ejercito de la Justicia stablemates. Eliud Gonzalez does the ring introductions and also does commentary. Eliud mentions that this is a matchup of two of the more popular wrestlers at this moment in Puerto Rico. The match starts with some nice counter sequences that lead to Medico #3 getting some armdrag takedowns and a dropkick that sends TNT to the outside. TNT gets back in the ring and Medico #3 works a headlock takedown. TNT breaks out of it eventually but ends up back in it after Medco #3 counters off the ropes with a dropkick. Eliud mentions that both wrestlers are similar in size so no advantage there for either of them. TNT rolls over Medico #3 for a pin attempt but Medico #3 slides back over into the headlock position on the mat. TNT surprisingly is working this match clean and not as aggressive as we have seen in his more recent matches against the tecnicos, so maybe this may signal him mellowing out on his demeanor towards the tecnicos (then again, we did see how he went off on Colon with regards to the Universal title rematch). Another rollover counter gets two and both wrestlers work to a standing position. TNT sends Medico #3 into the ropes and hits a leapfrog, but Medico #3 stops after passing under and catches TNT with a slam. Medico #3 goes back to the headlock but TNT sends him into ropes and hits a clothesline. TNT hits a thrust to the neck area and some chops, leading to a backdrop and some karate strikes to the downed Medico #3. TNT sends Medico #3 into the ropes, and Medico #3 catches TNT with a front facelock on the rebound. TNT is pushed into the corner as Medico #3 gets some offense in, including a high back body drop for an unsuccessful pin attempt. TNT is able to catch Medico #3 with a spin kick off a rope rebound. This leads to the Cobra Dinamita and TNT wins the match when Medico #3 is put to sleep. Unlike the previous weeks, TNT actually wakes up Medico #3 without incident and quietly leaves the ring, so again not sure if TNT is coming to his senses about how he has been behaving lately. We then get Hugo closing the show reminding fans about tomorrow’s show in Aguadilla.

MD: A clear sub-10 minute win for TNT but Medico III took around half of it, mainly outquicking TNT and utilizing headlock takeovers and smart wrestling. TNT really only controlled for a minute in the middle before Medico came back. He got cut off quickly with the spin wheel kick and immediately put in the Cobra. I wonder if there was less of a need to protect TNT quite so much now that they were past Aniversario. Good match for Medico III to have in general.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de la Mil Emociones,we find out what happened in Caguas in the top rivalries and how they continue to develop. Will TNT get the better of Carlos Colon? Will Leo Burke make Invader #1‘s title reign a short one? Will El Profe make good on his promise that Atkie Mulumba will end Scott Hall's career? We’ll find out as we continue our journey through 1990.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario 1990 Part 1

Week 28: Aniversario 1990 Part 1

The date is July 7, 1990 and we have arrived at Aniversario 1990 ‘Un Reto Para la historia’! Taking place in Bayamon at two locations (Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez and Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel), with five matches at each site (and presented on screens for the fans in attendance). The event received a VHS release, although edited down for a two hour run time. Nine of the ten matches were included on the home video release, with the Mark Youngblood vs Rick Valentine match being the only one left off. There are edits to fit the event on the video release, although we get several of the matches in full for the most part. We’re going to review the first five matches in this installment and the remaining four from the home video release in the next installment. We are including a link to the home video release if anyone wants to watch the event that way, but we will include video links to the individual matches we are reviewing if you prefer to watch them that way. Here is the link to the home video release.

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

I will briefly mention that the event started with a welcome by Hugo Savinocih (including a shout out to his mother who apparently was in attendance), where he presented  the commentators for the event (the teams of Lysette Santiago & Eliud Gonzalez and Hugo Savinovich & Hector Moyano will be doing commentary for the matches depending on which of the two sites the matches were occurring at). We also have the commissioners of the WWC Caribbean region and  the Puerto Rico Boxing and Wrestling Commision on hand, with each giving some brief remarks to open the event. 

MD: There’s something enjoyable about watching a video from 1990 where they rewind it and start it over. With the officials saying a little (but very little) there was a patina of authenticity over the event. Which makes it funny as the first guy out is Chicky.

EB: As Matt alluded to, our first match features Chicky Starr taking on Chris Youngblood. Originally it was supposed to be the Mongolian Mauler as Chris Youngblood’s opponent, but Chicky has stepped in. The Youngbloods have made a return to Puerto Rico for this event, although they are in singles action this go around. Let’s go to our first match of the night. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpYC0DmfqK

Chicky Starr makes his way to the ring, wearing his crown and doing his hand pose to the crowd. The crowd wastes no time throwing garbage at Chicky and this is just the first match of the night. Hector Moyano asks Hugo if he has any words for the crowd and Hugo asks the fans at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez to please behave themselves. Chris Youngblood comes out wearing his medicine man mask and he gets the crowd hyped up (the Youngbloods have always been strong fan favorites in Puerto Rico). The ring introductions are made, the ref checks both combatants and the bell rings. Both men circle each other and Chicky complains to the ref that Chris has something taped to his hands. The ref checks but finds nothing. They lock up and Chicky shoves Chris after they break. The ref admonishes Chicky for that (with Chicky protesting his innocence) and then both men briefly lock up again. Chris gets a quick side headlock and sends Chicky into the ropes, leading to a sequence that ends with Chicky being punched in the head. Chicky rolls out of the ring as Chris celebrates with some war dancing. Chicky gets back in the ring and complains it was a closed fist, but the ref disagrees. Chicky works a side headlock on Chris, leading to a shoulder block off the ropes. Another rope running sequence results in Chris armdragging Chicky to the mat. Chris works the armbar as Chicky complains his hair was pulled.

Chicky gets back on his feet and breaks the arm bar by yanking Chris down by his hair behind the ref’s back. Chicky feigns innocence at the hair pull as Hugo talks about the fans throwing things at the ring, indicating that it is not acceptable behavior and that there are fans that show their support with cheers and applause. They lock up once more and Chicky again uses a hair pull to take down Chris. The commentators talk about how Chris has the fans’ support, as Chicky again feigns innocence about the hair pull and even busts out a strut for the crowd. Another lock up ends with Chris bringing Chicky down with a hair pull, causing Chicky to complain about it and the fans to agree with Chris that he didn’t do it. Chris gets the crowd going with some claps and Chicky decides to step halfway out of the ring to yell at some fans. Chris uses the opening and kicks the middle rope right into Chicky’s groin. Chris follows up with a kick to the groin and plays to the crowd with a war cry. A dropkick knocks Chicky down. Chicky is slow to get up and asks the ref for a timeout due to the groin damage he’s incurred. Chicky tries to walk it off and continues to stall. A lock up leads to a knee to the midsection by Chicky, which is followed up with some short clothesline blows on the ropes to Chris. The blows send Chris to the outside, but Chicky stays in the ring, slightly hobbling around. Chicky catches Chris with a knee to the midsection when the latter gets back in the ring. A series of kneedrops gets a two count for Chicky. Come punches by Chicky draw a warning from the ref to watch out for the closed fist. Chris catches Chicky with several punches to the midsection, following them up with some chops in the corner and a backdrop. Chicky begs off, but Chris continues on the attack. Chicky manages to throw Chris outside but Chris comes back with a sunset flip attempt from the apron. Chicky tries to hold on to the ropes to counter, but the ref kicks Chicky’s grip loose and the sunset flip is completed. Chris gets a three count and the win in our opening match. The crowd cheers and starts throwing trash at Chicky again. 

MD: This was a substitution as Chicky was in for the Mongolian Mauler, and while Mauler has his goofy charm, this crowd deserved Chicky and Chicky deserved this crowd. Even before the match, all he did was stand there and do a Jimmy Snuka type pose with his hands and they belted him with trash. It was glorious. It was the first match on the card and they had a spotfest minis match coming after, so they kept it really simple, but the crowd almost made it impossible for them to do anything else; every lock up was electric. Every bit of comeuppance that Chicky experienced came with a huge roar.
He made sure to give them plenty to roar about too, running into armdrags or punches and eating a crotch shot as he was coming between the ropes. He took over with a knee and had some hard clubbers on Chris but they were pretty soon back to milking every bit of this. Chicky managed a redirect to send Chris out but he came back in with a sunset flip to win it. Just a few minutes but you could tell they knew what they had with the crowd and absolutely made the most of it for a short opener.

EB: Our second match features two teams of minis from Mexico, as Mascarita Sagrada and Aguilita Solitaria take on the rudo team of Espectrito and Piratita Morgan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHmb2FfZU3A

Eliud Gonzalez does the ring introduction for this match, and as he starts we can see Espectrito jawing at the crowd while standing on the middle rope. Eliud mentions that this is a meeting between ‘grandes en la lucha libre’ (large or greats in wrestling) even if of short stature. Espectrito and Aguilita start off for their teams. Espectrito shoves Aguilita off a lock up and strikes a bicep pose. Mascarita Sagrada is quickly in for his team and sends Espectrito out of the ring with a high roundhouse kick. Piratita comes in (they’re doing Mexican rules where you can come in without a tag once your partner is out of the ring) and knocks Sagrada down with a blow. Aguilita quickly does a tumbling routine into the ring to cut off Piratita and defend his partner. We get a nice counter move sequence between Morgan and Aguilita, ending with Morgan being dropkicked through the ropes by Aguilita. Espectrito and Mascarita are in for their teams and Espectrito does a series of takedowns on Mascarita. Espectrito brags to the crowd but another sequence of holds ends with Mascarita sending Espectrito to the mat. Eliud on commentary mentions that Espectrito reminds him of one of his commentating partners (clarifying that it is not Lysette he’s talking about). On that note, Eliud sends a hello to Hector Moyano and Hugo Savinovich who are doing the commentary for the other location. Espectrito hits a press slam and again celebrates after. Mascarita comes back with a flying headscissor takedown. A series of armdrag counters lead to Espectrito being tossed out of the ring.

Piratita and Aguilita are back in for their teams, with Piratita getting the better of Aguilita. Piratita hits a press slam and Espectrito comes in to do a celebratory pose again. It’s pretty clear that Piratita is bringing the power and Espectrito the attitude on the rudo side. Piratita kicks Aguilita out of the ring and Mascarita comes in for his team. As Mascarita faces Piratita, Espectrito runs in and kicks Mascarita from behind. They briefly double team Mascarita but Aguilita makes it back in and cuts off Piratita. Morgan and Aguilita engage in several armdrag counters, which leads into some pin attempts by both wrestlers and then to both men doing the front somersaults into a standing position stand off. The crowd sounds like they are enjoying the action so far. Espectrito tags in and kicks Mascarita into the corner. Espectrito lands some punches but misses a corner charge to the crowd’s approval. Mascarita does a snapmare takedown and tries to charge at Espectrito, but is shoved and sent flying back into the corner by Espectrito. A leapfrog by Mascarita leads to a flying armdrag takedown from the top turnbuckle  by Mascarita. A somersault off the middle rope leads to another armdrag takedown by Mascarita. A dropkick sends Espectrito to the outside as the crowd cheers. Mascarita plays to the cheering crowd but is blindsided by Piratita coming into the ring and hitting a dropkick. Piratita’s punches send Mascarita to the apron and Aguilita front flips into the ring. Before they can lock up, Espectrito changes in from behind and takes over. Espcetrito works over Aguilita, eventually hitting a backdrop and senton for a two count. Mascarita tries to break up the pin attempt and is met with a dropkick by Piratita. All four men are now in the ring and, as Espectrito and Aguilita are tied up fighting, Piratita hits a suplex and pins Mascarita. The ref makes the three count, the rudos have won the match, and the crowd is not happy with this result. Espectrito drags Aguilita over to the ring apron and proceeds to hit some more blows on Aguilita after the match. El Vikingo goes over and saves Aguilita by dragging him back into the ring. The rudo team leaves as the tecnicos are left laying on the mat. 

MD: These guys were announced as giants: big in wrestling but small in stature. This was all action. Every spot, every exchange, got a buzzing roar from the crowd. Things really sang when Espectrito and Mascara Sagrada were in there but Piratita and Aguilita held their own. There was just an extra bit of zing for every time Mascarita did something that felt impossible due to the standard rules of physics. There would be little moments of bullying but they were quickly overcome as the tecnicos flew around once again. I get that there needed to be some parity in finishes and there might have been some politics I don’t know about but it felt like a big downer to have the rudos win this one and leave the tecnicos laying with a post-match beatdown. At least have them turn it around and run them off?

EB: Our next match features a recently turned Scott Hall taking on Atkie Mulumba. Hall had his differences with Mulumba after a tag match and even hit the crucifix on El Profe, making him an enemy of Chicky Starr and El Profe. The rudo managers want Hall to pay for his betrayal and they feel Atkie Mulumba is the one to do it.

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

The video begins with Hall standing on the middle turnbuckle, waiting for the entrance of his opponent. Atkie Mulumba is heading towards the ring, accompanied by El Profe. Hall plays to the crowd, getting them to rally behind him as Mulumba approaches. Atkie gets in the ring and Hall wastes no time in charging to attack. The bell rings as both men exchange blows, Mulumba grabs Hall and both men fight for several moments over control of a lock up. Eliud Gonzalez and Lysette Santiago are on commentary, with Eliud mentioning that Hall had said in interviews that he had thought about it for two weeks and Hall felt that the best thing to do was to face Mulumba. Atkie takes over with a couple of headbutts but Hall fires back with a series of punches, finishing it up with a tornado punch that knocks Atkie down. The crowd has been firmly behind Hall so far. Hall plays to the crowd as Atkie gets back up and slaps his belly. Hall goes to the outside to try to get at El Profe but Mulumba goes out to cut Hall off. Eliud mentions that surprisingly it seems Mulumba has some fans in the crowd as well. They lock up on the outside and briefly scuffle, and Atkie ends up ramming Hall’s head on the ring apron. 

Back in the ring, Mulumba sends Hall into the ropes and hits his flying clothesline. Mulumba chokes Hall on the middle rope, with El Profe pointing and encouraging Atkie from the outside. Atkie then rams Hall’s head into the top turnbuckle, followed by a headbutt and backrake. Hall comes back with a punch but is cut off with a kick and chops. Atkie gets a nerve hold on Hall and brings Hall down to his knees. The ref checks Hall’s arms and he keeps them up at the two count. Hall fights back and breaks the hold, firing off some punches and a tornado punch that staggers Atkie but doesn’t knock him down. Hall grabs Mulumba and slams him. Hall gets fired up again and signals to the crowd. Hall comes off the ropes with a blow onto Mulumba, and follows up with a clothesline. Scott starts doing the cross pose, signaling that he’s going for the crucifix. Hall sets up Atkie, but before he can lift him up, El Profe charges into the ring. Hall catches Profe with a punch and sets Profe up for the crucifix instead. Hall has Profe up but Atkie hits Hall to save Profe. Atkie has his totem in his hands and starts attacking Hall with it as the ref has called for the bell. The Caribbean Express quickly come out to fight off Atkie and make the save for Hall .The crowd cheers as Hall is back on his feet and goes outside to fight with Mulumba. Both men exchange several blows before Mulumba gets away and starts walking to the locker room. Hall gives chase and both men exchange blows once more. Atkie finally gets away and Hall returns to the ring and is declared the winner by disqualification. The video ends as Hall poses on the different turnbuckles towards the crowd. It looks like we may have a new fan favorite here in Scott Hall.

MD: Maybe I’m crazy (Esteban will tell us), but this felt like a starmaking performance for Hall. This is a guy who worked underneath a ton of great babyfaces for five years and wrestled his share of them, including Colon so recently. He was ready to push it over the top. He had the physical charisma necessary here, appealing to the crowd, selling, bounding back off the ropes with a forearm for a hope spot (that’s all it took), eating Malumba’s neckbreaker drop and his imposing choke over the rope with his tongue out, and then coming back with a huge bodyslam en route to Profe interfering and Malumba using his relic to save Profe and get dq’d. Post match, the Caribbean Express made the save, fully anointing Hall as a tecnico and Hall went right after Malumba, fully showing the crowd that he was a guy to get behind. I’d consider just giving him the win outright here, but I think they wanted to run this back and having the other tecnicos join him post-match had symbolic value. Maybe you didn’t need him in 1990 WWF with Warrior and Kerry, but I wonder now if they shouldn’t have brought him in to 91 WCW as this instead of the Diamond Studd. 

EB: Next we have the match for the Caribbean title as Leo Burke defends against Invader #1 in a boxing match.This specific rivalry stems all the way to the end of March (although the enmity between Chicky and Invader goes back even further) when Leo and Chicky won the Caribbean tag titles from the new Invaders. The two teams spent over a month feuding over the titles and it eventually transitioned into Burke challenging Invader #1 for the Caribbean singles title. Burke won the match using a boxing glove and since then has made it known he is a Canadian boxing champion, bringing (and using) the boxing gloves in his appearances. Invader #1 has finally secured his awaited chance to get back at Burke, but under the match conditions set forth by Chicky and Leo. Thus we have a ten round boxing match. Chicky and Burke believe they have Invader #1 right where they want him, but Invader #1 has Robocop and Invader #4 backing him up. 

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

Chicky Starr and Leo Burke are making their way to the ring, and quite a bit of trash and debris is being thrown at them by the fans. Hugo is making the ring intros as we cut to Invader #1’s entrance. We see Invader #1 come out with his boxing gloves on, followed by Robocop. The music playing is basically gunfire and explosion sounds with some of the Robocop music, along with some Robocop sound bites. Invader #4 is already at ringside (I’m guessing he led the tecnico procession). We hear Hugo make the announcement that also in Invader #1’s corner is none other than boxing champion Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho (I don’t know if it was announced on tv or if it was a last minute deal where Camacho was at the event and they asked him). Both combatants and their cornermen are in the ring as Camacho makes his entrance. The crowd roars at seeing Camacho, and he and Invader #1 touch hands. Camacho does some quick shadow boxing, has a brief chat with the ref, and then tries to also shake hands with Leo Burke. Leo turns his back on Camacho as Chicky dismissively waves at him to go away. Camacho does one last pose for the crowd and exits the ring as Hugo continues with the ring intros. Burke has Chicky in his corner, Invader #1 has Robocop, Camacho and Invader #4 (although only Invader #4 and Robocop are out there for the duration of the match). As the wrestlers prepare for the start of the match, Hugo asks the fans at ringside if they wouldn’t mind taking their seats. Chicky has some last minute words for Leo, while Invader #4 and Robocop seem to be going over some things in their corner. Both Burke and Invader #1 touch gloves as the bell rings, the first round has begun.

Both men feel each other out a bit to start, although it’s Burke who starts to get some punches in early on. Invader #1 starts sticking and moving a bit on Leo ,as Hugo mentions that you have to watch out for Burke as he tends to play dirty. Hugo also mentions that each round is two minutes followed by a one minute rest period. Invader throws a punch, with Burke responding with one of his own. Invader cinches up with Leo to stop the punch, and Burke takes  the opening to headbutt Invader. The ref warns Leo about doing that and Invader manages to shake the effects off before both combatants start circling each other again. Some punches are thrown before Leo grabs Invader to force him back into the corner, and again Burke takes the opening to headbutt Invader. This staggers Invader, who has to lay against the ropes to try to recover. It also looks like he’s been cut by the headbutt. Burke comes in with some punches, although Invader seems to have gotten his bearings and does some good footwork to avoid Burke’s punches. Just as the bell rings, Invader hits a drop toehold on Burke, dropping him to the mat. As both men go their corners, Burke seems to be complaining about the drop toehold, while Invader #4 is checking his brother’s face. The camera zooms in on Robocop patrolling the corner area as both cornermen tend to their fighters. 

Round two sees Invader come out quicker than Burke, with Invader circling Burke and landing some punches. Burke again decides to lock up with Invader and again throws a headbutt to break. This hit sends Invader tumbling into a sitting position on the middle turnbuckle. Burke tries to follow up but the ref stops him. The ref checks to see if Invader is good to continue and Invader is back on his feet (although looking a bit dazed). Leo comes back with some punches but Invader covers up. Invader does another quick drop toehold to take Burke off his feet. When Burke gets back up, Invader starts firing off a quick flurry of punches that sends Leo into a corner. As Invader follows in with another punch, Burke locks up to stop the attack and, for the first time in the match, breaks without a headbutt. It looks like Leo’s a bit hurt by the recent flurry, as he decides to go outside to gather himself. Chicky gives some words of advice to Leo on the outside and Hugo complains that Burke shouldn't be able to do this since it’s under boxing rules. However, as soon as Burke steps back into the ring, Invader catches Leo with another series of punches that result in Burke being knocked down. The ref sends Invader to the corner and starts his count on Burke. The crowd counts along but Burke is up before ten. Invader gives Leo no room to breathe as he starts attacking as soon as Leo is back up. Leo is backed into a  corner and locks up to stop the punches as the bell rings. Leo gets a cheap shot in after the break, with Invader responding in kind, and the ref has to break it up as the rest period starts. The cornermen again work over their fighters and the bell rings for round three. 

As both men advance towards each other, Leo spits a mouthful of water at Invader’s face. This gives Leo an opening to launch a series of blows that sends Invader into the corner. Invader is sitting down in the corner after those blows, so the ref gets Burke to go to a corner so he can administer a count on Invader, who is able to stand up before the ten count. Invader slaps his chest to signal he is good to go. Both men approach each other and start throwing punches, although Burke seems to be landing more of them at first. However, Invader shifts into another gear and starts throwing several punches, sending Burke stumbling into a corner. Invader continues with several unanswered punches as it looks like Burke may be knocked down. But once more a lock up occurs to stop the onslaught and Burke again breaks with a headbutt. As the ref chastises Chicky for his man’s tactics, Leo lands a punch on the dazed Invader that knocks him down. The ref counts as Invader starts to get back up, and you can see Robocop at ringside urging Invader to get up. Invader is back on his feet and both fighters start exchanging punches again. After a few moments, Invader is able to come back with a series of punches that knocks Burke down again. The crowd roars in approval, as trash continues to be thrown at the downed Burke. The crowd chants along to the count but Burke is saved by the bell as the count only reaches seven. Chicky has to come into the ring to help Burke back to the corner. You can also see one of the security guys trying to clear out the garbage on the mat with his weapon. Burke is so out of it that he completely misses the stool when sitting down and has to be helped back up by Chicky. Both cornermen tend to their fighters during the rest period, and if you pay attention you’ll spot Invader #4 undoing the snap on one of Invader’s boxing gloves.

Round four starts with some punches thrown (and a cup hitting Burke on the side of his head). Burke puts a stop to the punches with a knee to the midsection. Burke basically says to heck with the boxing and hits a knee rake to Invader’s face. He follows up with some stomps and kneedrops on the downed Invader. A headlock leads to Invader sending Burke into the ropes and hitting a dropkick on Leo. A clothesline follows as the crowd cheers. Invader goes after Chicky, who has jumped on the apron. As the ref goes over to get Chicky down, Chicky throws an object into the ring that Leo grabs. It looks like Leo has loaded his punch up. Burke grabs Invader and sends him into the ropes, ready to hit a loaded punch. Invader ducks the punch when he rebounds off the ropes and on the bounce back quickly takes off his boxing glove (remember, Invader #4 had unsnapped it during the last rest period). As Invader runs back toward Burke, he hits Leo right in the chest with a taped fist heart punch (if you've been following along with our walkthrough you know how dangerous Invader’s taped fist is). The ref starts his count and Burke is completely motionless on the mat. The crowd stars counting along and the count reaches ten. Invader has won the match and the Caribbean title. The crowd cheers and garbage again starts being thrown at the rudos. Both Invaders hug in celebration as Robocop does a fist pump on the outside.

MD: This was tremendous. Probably the Puerto Rico MOTY so far based on what we have footage of. Probably the best pro wrestling boxing match ever too. First, it was just an amazing spectacle pre-match. You had the trash flying for Burke and Chicky. You had Invader (unmasked) come down with the other Invader (masked), Hector Macho Camacho, and Robocop. Everyone got an introduction. It was wild.

As for the fight itself, they played it fast and loose in the best pro wrestling way. That meant that Burke got multiple advantages through cheating, first through headbutts whenever they were caught together in the ropes, but also with a water spit after a round ended, and by getting a knee up towards the end. Invader could milk a ten count and make fighting out of the corner visceral and gripping like no one in wrestling history, with Burke a top notch stooge to carry his side of things. They had a nearfall, of sorts, at the end of the second to last fall when Invader fired back and dropped Burke, only for the bell to ring mid-count. The fans hated that in the best way. And then, after Burke hit the knee and they really leaned into the pro wrestling with knee drops and a full on dropkick/clothesline comeback by Invader, they had Chicky interfere, Burke load the glove, and Invader to duck his shot off the ropes, lose his own glove, and hit the Heart Punch for the explosive win. Really great stuff. 

EB: The last of the five matches we are covering in this installment is the battle of the monsters between Abdullah the Butcher and Zeus. Abdullah’s reputation and history in Puerto Rico is well known, but it looks like the tecnicos have recruited an unstoppable monster in his own right to challenge Abdullah. How will this match go? Let’s find out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpnyOlQUF8k

The video begins with Abdullah reaching the ring area and Chicky tumbling to the floor, it seems Zeus was out first and had attacked Chicky when the the rudo manager had made his way to the ring (also, it looks like Chicky and Abdullah have made up from last year’s turn). Zeus and Abdullah start fighting at ringside as the crowd roars. Zeus starts choking Abdullah as Hugo makes the ring introductions for this ‘choque de trenes’. Zeus ‘lands’ some headbutts and gets back into the ring. Abdullah is a bit stunned but is able to recover and get into the ring. Zeus is up one the ropes working the crowd but sees Abdullah get in the ring and gets ready to face off. The ref tries to call the match to order as Hugo mentions that Abdullah typically uses his size advantage but he won't be able to here against Zeus. The crowd gets hyped and starts chanting Zeus a both men lock up. Zeus starts ‘landing’ some blows to Abdulalh’s head, followed by a choke (although it looks more like he’s trying to shake Abdullah awake). Zeus briefly picks Abdullah up in a bearhug before pushing him back into the corner and punishing Abdullah further with his signature blows and chokes. The ref tries to get Zeus to back off but is shoved away. Abdullah is sitting on the bottom turnbuckle as Zeus finally backs off. Abdullah gets back to his feet and catches Zeus with two karate thrusts to the throat that knock Zeus down. 

Abdullah moves in but Zeus catches Abdullah with some of his signature windmill overhead strikes. Zeus chokes Abdullah back onto the ropes and proceeds to throw some overhead blows that cause boos to be heard from the crowd. Abdullah counters with a throat thrust and follows up with a headbutt. Abdullah uses the opening to grab a spike from his boot and tries to hit Zeus with it, but the blow is blocked. Both men fight for control of the spike, with Zeus gaining control of it. Zeus throws some blows with the spike to Abdullah’s head. Abdullah is bleeding as Zeus drops the spike and proceeds to put Abdullah in a bearhug. Abdullah rakes the eyes to break the hold and he starts biting Zeus in the forehead. The crowd is more muted, the hype from the beginning having cooled down a bit as the match has progressed. Abdullah knocks Zeus down with several thrusts and then hits an elbowdrop for a one count. Both men slowly get back to their feet as Hugo mentions that the crowd is backing Zeus (although who knows if that is still the case after the signature offensive flurries we have seen so far). They lock up against the ropes and Abdullah sends Zeus into the ropes for a shoulder block. Both men stay standing after the impact and Zeus remains standing after Abdullah attempts another shoulder block. Zeus hits a clothesline that knocks Abdullah back into the ropes. Zeus charges in and goes for his choke, a headbutt and then sends Abdullah into the ropes for a clothesline attempt. Abdullah grabs Zeus’ arm to block the hit (not sure if Abdullah is getting tired of selling these signature moves), but Zeus does another of his signature chokes to push Abdullah back onto the ropes. A bearhug is briefly attempted, followed by another choke that Abdullah breaks up with an eye rake. A series of thrusts knocks Zeus down and Abdullah does a standing choke with one of his boots on Zeus’ throat. Abdullah follows up with a nerve hold, but Zeus eventually fights out of it. 

Abdullah attempts a charge but is flipped over by Zeus. Abdullah is down and Zeus goes for a mega combo of choking while throwing his signature overhead strikes at the same time. The ref gets Zeus to break the choke and holds him off as Abdullah gets back to his feet. Zeus charges back in but Abdullah catches Zeus with a punch to the groin. Abdullah hits a punch to the midsection and follows up with a kick right to the groin. Zeus is down and Abdullah rakes Zeus’ eyes on the bottom rope. Zeus eventually gets to his feet and both men start exchanging blows. Abdullah catches Zeus with a couple of headbutts and sends Zeus through the ropes to the outside. Zeus tries to grab Abdullah’s legs but is grabbed by Abdullah and forced back up on the apron. However, Zeus fights Abdullah off and slaps on a bearhug from the ring apron. The ref tries to get Zeus to break the hold (since he is on the apron and Abdullah is inside the ring) but Zeus shoves the ref away three times. Abdullah manages to fight Zeus off to break the hold, but Zeus succeeds in dragging Abdullah to the outside this time.  Both men fight on the outside as the ref counts. They continue fighting (including Zeus hitting Abdullah with what looked to be one of the barricades at ringside) as the ref reaches the full count. Both men have been counted out. The video ends with both men still fighting in the aisleway.

MD: There are some positive things you can say about this one. First, it made a lot of sense to bring Zeus in. He had been the focus of three big WWF PPVs in 1989 (Summerslam, Survivor Series, and then the No Holds Barred cage match). There’s something to that. Abdullah sold his stuff exactly as well as you’d expect him too, recoiling, melting away in the corner. All of Abby’s offense looked great. The throat shots, the elbow drop, headbutts, whatever he did. And, to Zeus’ credit, he sold it all pretty well. He bumped for Abby and then sold for him, especially the throat shots. And last of all, it was a very impressive visual when he lifted him up for a bear hug. Abby was so good at doing what he did that he got the crowd back once or twice even.

But man, did Zeus have the absolute worst offense ever. Big sweeping shots are fine, but they have to at least look like they connect a little. It’s Abdullah. Just hit him. These are some of the worst strikes I’ve ever seen and the match is full of them. They tease the fork but Zeus blocks it and when he tries to strike back with it, there’s no attempt to actually stab or use the pointy part; he just does his same sweeping arm-waving with the fork in his hand. It still wasn’t as bad as I was expecting though and I think if you just keep your eyes on Abby whenever Zeus is on offense and both of them whenever Abby is fighting back, there’s some real stuff to appreciate (if not exactly enjoy) here. I was glad when they stumbled outside and ended it, however.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we continue our review of Aniversario 1990. Four title matches await us, including Robocop making his second appearance of the night backing up the Caribbean Express ,the Rougeaus making their debut in CSP as they challenge the Super Medicos, the AWA Women’s title is on the line in Puerto Rico, and the highly anticipated ‘Reto Para la Historia’ Universal title match between Carlos Colon and TNT.

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