El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Ninja Quest

Week 19: Ninja Quest

Leo Burke has had a notable January. His first title defense of the newly won Universal title was against former champion Carlos Colon. That match ended with controversy, as Chicky Starr got involved by ringing the timekeeper’s bell and cost Carlos Colon what looked to be a title victory. A rematch was held due to this and this time Carlos brought in his trainer Barba Roja to neutralize Chicky. However, Burke still managed to keep the Universal title when fellow stablemate Manny Fernandez ran in to save Leo’s title and in the process severely injured Barba Roja. With Carlos Colon’s attention diverted by the Barba Roja injury, Leo then participated in a Ruleta Rusa match and (through cheating) was able to cost TNT his face paint. Now Leo Burke has an enraged TNT after him, with the karate ninja wearing a mask and vowing to avenge this humiliation. TNT is on a quest to defeat Leo Burke and pay back the humiliation.

However, TNT was not able to initially get his revenge against Burke, with Leo managing to eke out a countout victory despite TNT beating him from pillar to post. Burke and Chicky Starr thought they had gotten the better of TNT but Carlos Colon ceded his upcoming Universal title shot to TNT, allowing TNT another opportunity to avenge his humiliation (and give Carlos a chance to go after Manny Fernandez for what he did to Barba Roja). The Universal title match between Leo Burke and TNT took place on January 27 in Guaynabo and it resulted with no clear winner due to cheating and issues with the referees that resulted in Invader #1 getting involved. Due to this controversy, a rematch was ordered  February 3 with a special referee appointed to prevent any further chicanery taking place. The special referee was boxer Alfredo ‘El Salsero’ Escalera, someone who has previously dabbled with wrestling in the early 80s. Chicky was not happy about Invader’s involvement in the January 27 match or with the special referee appointed for February 2  

That second title match ended in a disqualification win for TNT when Chicky again got involved. Although TNT won the match, he had not yet pinned Burke. Once more, due to the results of the match, it was decided that there would be one more Universal title match between Leo Burke and TNT. The match will be held on February 10. As for Chicky Starr, due to what happened between him and Alfredo Escalera a match has been signed that will see a boxer vs a wrestler also for February 10. Will TNT be able to complete his quest for vengeance? We shall soon see. But before getting to that February 9 match between Burke and TNT, there is one more thread we need to wrap up for January.

That last thread we need to catch up on before passing into February is the saga of ‘Tough Guy’ Eddie Watts and his challenge for the World Junior title. As we have talked about previously, Watts has been brought in by Chicky Starr as the newest Club Deportivo member with the goal of winning the World Junior title. Eddie had wrestled Super Medico for the title, but the match ended in a disqualification victory for Medico when he was tossed over the top rope by Watts. A rematch was signed for January 27 and let’s go to Guaynabo for that match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIw8N7l4pZE

This is from the February 10 Campeones airing, so we get the commentary team of Hugo, Carlos and Chicky. We also get some comments throughout the match about that night’s card (which includes discussion about both the Universal title match between Burke and TNT and the boxer vs wrestler match between Alfredo Escalera and Chicky Starr). Hugo mentions this isn’t the first time Medico and Watts have faced off for the World Junior title and that Chicky wants to add the title to his stable of champions. As the ref checks both participants, Carlos says that he hates to admit this but Chicky has quite the prospect in Eddie Watts, one of the better junior heavyweights to have come to Puerto Rico (something Chicky brags about after Colon’s comment: “The tough guy may not be the biggest but he’s got an ability and intelligence that few can match”). Hugo starts getting at Chicky for once again using the word intelligent to describe his wrestlers, with Chicky saying that in his organization there are only intelligent people. Carlos sarcastically goes: “Hugo, El Club Deportivo is composed of geniuses apparently”. Hugo clarifies they must be geniuses of evil., but one has to admit they are going through their best period with all of the champions they have right now. Carlos says that will change tonight because he’s feeling good about TNT’s chances tonight. Carlos also mentions Chicky’s match vs Alfredo Escalera, saying that he’s given some pointers to Escalera (with Chicky being annoyed by this). I’ve made all these observations about the commentary because Watts has been taking his time in getting into the ring to start the match.

Back to the match, as Watts finally locks up with Medico (almost two minutes in). Medico backs Watts into the corner and breaks, with Watts complaining his hair was pulled (looks like he’s been studying Leo Burke).  Hugo mentions that historically, fans side with the wrestler in a boxer vs wrestler setting, but he has a feeling that tonight the fans will be firmly in Escalera’s corner against Chicky. Eddie Watts is backed again into a corner after a lockup and stays there after the break, stalling once more and complaining about his hair being pulled. Chicky at ringside also complains to the ref, which Hugo makes mention of on commentary (Chicky: ‘Of course, I’m right there and saying what happened; Hugo in a sarcastic tone: ‘The man who always tells the truth, Chicky Starr, an honest man’; Chicky: ‘Definitely, now you’re talking correctly’).  A third lock up leads to Watts shoving Medico and then falling to the outside after a punch by Medico. He really is doing the Leo Burke playbook here. The commentators put over the Canadian guillotine maneuver as Watts recovers and gets back in the ring.

At this point the match settles into moments where each man gets a few moments of advantage, with Medico and Watts each working a side headlock segment. A rope running segment leads to Watts leapfrogging over Medico and celebrating, resulting in Medico punching him. Watts once again exits the ring as Chicky complains about a closed fist. We go to commercial break as Medico flips Watts back into the ring and come back with Watts in control. Hugo on commentary mentions that Watts can thank Chicky Starr for helping him gain control, it looks like Medico had Watts in a jam but Chicky has been able to distract the ref. Watts is on the attack, but a throw into the corner is reversed by Medico. Super Medico is slow to get up but manages to scoop up Watts for a slam attempt. However, Medico can’t hold Watts up and falls, allowing Watts the chance for a pin attempt that gets two. Medico is able to get a sunset flip but the referee is tied up with Chicky and Watts escapes the pin attempt. Chicky on commentary starts justifying why he’s talking to the ref.

Watts attacks Medico on the outside, ramming Medico’s head onto the ring apron. An attempt to ram Medico into the ringpost is countered and Watts ends up hitting the ringpost instead. Watts is busted open and Medico unloads a series of punches on the outside. Medico throws Eddie back in the ring and another punch combination results in a pin attempt that gets two. A headbutt sends Watts to the outside, with Medico giving chase and attacking Watts near the crowd (including ramming Watts into the guardrail). Watts staggers back to the ring and Medico comes off the rope with a headbutt that knocks Watts down. A pin attempt gets two. Medico has things well in hand, but both men knock heads coming off the ropes. This sends Watts to the outside but he remains on his feet staggering around. Chicky points Watts to the direction of the ring and, as Watts gets on the apron, he is met by Medico. Eddie headbutts Medico in the midsection and jumps over the ropes with a sunset flip. Medico counters by grabbing onto the top rope for leverage and sits down on Watts for the pin (remember his feud with Brett Sawyer and how Medico didn’t like that this was done to him?). Chicky immediately jumps on the apron to complain to the ref about Medico holding onto the ropes, telling the ref to check Medico’s hands for blood (since Watts was bleeding the ropes would have been covered by the blood). The ref checks Medico, finds blood and restarts the match. Chicky on commentary is happy justice is done, but Carlos brings up how Leo Burke used a foreign object to defeat TNT in the ruleta match and that the decision wasn’t reversed then but here it is (which Carlos thinks is unfair). Watts briefly has the advantage but Medico uses a series of punches and headbutts to regain control. Medico goes up top and goes for a senton, but Watts rolls away. Medico lands hard and Watts makes the cover for the three count. We have a new World Junior champion. El Club Deportivo now has four of the five singles titles.   

MD: This is a very complete stadium match (shown, I think, the next week to hype up that week’s matches) though we lose the point of transition due to a commercial. I’d be interested to see how Watts took over but it was probably just an eyerake or something. Watts is not someone I’m terribly familiar with. He worked Stampede before this (including losing at least once to Morrow and Cuban Assassin in 89) and had a mask match with Atlantis and Lizmark in late 90 as Animal II. He feels like a perfect guy to have been in the GWF Light Heavyweight Tournament to lose to Jerry Lynn in the second round or something. He sort of grew on me as the match went on, starting with some stalling which really paled to what was going on in the territory with Leo Burke (though Chicky being with him helped) but you couldn’t help but enjoy watching him move backwards step by step around the stadium with each Medico punch. That was actually a solid chunk of the match. And he ate some nice headbutts (with the proper transferal of blood onto a white mask) after blading. They went out of their way to protect Medico here, with a phantom pin and a false finish when he accidentally had his hands on the ropes after a sunset flip. Watts finally won it after Medico missed a leap off the top (and they went out of their way to show Chicky telling Watts to move). I don’t know about you but I enjoy watching Medico jab people in the face.   

EB: Let’s see Eddie Watts in a tv match as the new champion. His opponent is the masked La Sombra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ee_aT-xgk

Watts seems pretty hyped in showing off his new championship as the video starts. Chicky seems to fake out Sombra as Watts is taking his jacket off, likely to prevent Sombra from jumping Watts early. This is a short match and one that further establishes Watts for the tv viewers. It’s another solid if basic showing for Watts, with the big spot being the Canadian guillotine finish (Watts covered some distance across the ring there). A rematch between Medico and Watts would take place on February 3, with Watts retaining the title. We’ll have to see what challenges arise for Eddie Watts as we progress into February.

MD: This was ok. The most memorable moment is Watts stepping back to dodge a dropkick and end Sombra’s one flurry of offense. He won with the legdrop off the top again. Basically, he’s workmanlike and competent, but not magic

EB: As February began, some changes continued in terms of the roster. One area with notable turnover was the tag team division. As mentioned in our last post, a new version of Los Mercenarios made their debut the first weekend of February. This new combination of Angel Acevedo and Rambo Ron Starr defeated the Youngbloods for the World tag team title. In addition to the new Los Mercenarios, another team arriving for some appearances is the team of The Hunters (or Alaskan Hunters). This tag team had a previous run in CSP in 1987 and it appears they're heading back to the territory. But while the rudo side seems to be reloading, the tecnico side is losing two of their stalwart teams. The first team leaving are the Youngbloods, who are finishing up this latest run with CSP after their title loss on February 4. Let’s take one last look at the Youngbloods with a throwback match from 1987, one that also allows us to take a look at the Alaskan Hunters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkRqsqYv-mk

This is from a Campeones episode that aired in January1990. This match was airing since The Hunters were on their way back and this served as a reminder to the fans who they were. The commentary mentions that the scheduled opponents for the Hunters were originally Huracan Castillo and Miguelito Perez but they had not yet arrived, so the Youngbloods are taking their place. The Alaskan Hunters (composed of Dale Veasy and the Bob Brown that is not the Bulldog) had a good run back in 87, winning the World and North American tag titles in the summer to fall run they had. The Youngbloods are able to counter an initial attack by the Hunters into an offensive flurry that sends both Hunters outside to regroup. You can see Chicky Starr is their manager back in 1987, but when we next see the Hunters that may not be the case. Carlos on commentary talk about how Chicky cost him the Universal title the previous week against Leo Burke by ringing the bell prematurely and interrupting the match (it appears this episode aired the same weekend as the rematch with Barba Roja in Colon’s corner, as Carlos says he has a surprise to counter Chicky tonight).  The Youngbloods control the first part of the match  to the crowd’s delight, although both teams could confuse the ref if he’s not paying attention by switching out their team members. The Hunters take control by sending Mark into their corner and working him over. The latter half of the match is one where the Hunters are in control, including a member switch when the ref’s back is turned. We go to a commercial with Mark trying to counter the Hunter in the ring with some chops but come back with Mark in a bearhug trying to fight out of it as Chris is trying to rile up the crowd. The Hunters continue attacking Mark in the corner (with some quick crowd shots shown throughout including a kid that looks to be sucking his thumb). Mark gets a couple of pin counters but the Hunters continue with the advantage. As Mark is being worked over with a reverse chinlock, we see Castillo and Perez arrive in street clothes. They proceed to jump in the ring and attack the Hunters, which the referee allows. It looks like they’re taking over for the Youngbloods. Present day Chicky on commentary can’t believe they’re allowing this (and in this case I’d have to say he has a point) but the fans cheer as Perez and Castillo make quick work of the Hunters for the win. We’ll be seeing the Hunters again soon, although if they look the same remains to be seen. .  

MD: This is from 87. The Youngbloods were replacing Perez and Castillo who had a transportation problem (Maybe a “four flat tires” situation?). The Hunters (Veasy and “Not Bulldog” Bob Brown) come off like the Outrunners, a perfectly genuine parody of 80s pro wrestling. They’re bald, energetic muscle guys, with a bearhug and a tendency to get redirected into one another. Youngbloods clown them early only to get dragged down in the corner. Right when they’re maybe starting a comeback (or at least have some roll-up hope spots), the Express hit the ring in their street clothes and get a counted pin that surely didn’t count.

EB: The other tag team the tecnico side is losing is the team of Huracan Castillo and Miguelito Perez. While they are not leaving the promotion ,the two are going to focus more on the singles title division for the time being and not be a full time team. Let’s also take a look at them in action, first with two matches from late fall of 1989 and then with one from our present day 1990 chronology where they take on the Universal champion Leo Burke and his manager Chicky Starr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CYH6AiJIw

This first match is from late fall of 1989 as we get Perez and Castillo taking on El Exotico and El Gran Mendoza. Castillo and Mendoza start off, both men being familiar with each other from a previous rivalry they had over the World Junior title in 1987. We get a nice hold exchange and counter sequence from Castillo and Mendoza, which ends up with Mendoza missing a charge and ending up going through the ring ropes to the outside.  Exotico goes over to help his teammate but Mendoza is not happy about the attempted backrub. Mendoza rolls back in but gestures to Exotico to get in and makes the tag. Exotico gestures to Castillo to meet him in the center of the ring but the exchange does not go well for Exotico. Castillo tags Perez in and they hit a couple of double team moves on Exotico. Perez continues in control of the match, faking out Exotico on a leapfrog and then taking him down with an armdrag. Castillo tags back in but a missed elbow drop allows Exotico to tag Mendoza back in. Mendoza maintains control on Castillo but decides to tag Exotico back in, who promptly misses an elbow drop. A punch exchange is actually won by Exotico and he knocks Castillo down with a clothesline. Another successful clothesline sees Exotico start to dance a bit, but the overconfidence allows Castillo to counter with his own clothesline when Exotico attempts a third one. A neckbreaker gives Castillo time to tag in Perez, and Perez goes on the attack, with Mendoza and Castillo eventually all coming into the ring. The rudos try to ram Perez and Castillo into each other but they counter and instead attack Mendoza and Exotico. This leads to a powerslam on Exotico for the pin. 

MD: Perez and Castillo have matching Zubaz-type gear. It’s funny that Castillo is the one with the top instead of the hirsute Perez. Mendoza takes a slow-mo Hamrick bump early and then gets annoyed as Exotico tries to rub his back. Exotico has these fun preening short arm clotheslines but it gets reversed on the third and they go into a finishing bit with the Perez powerslam.

EB: Let’s go to our second match from late fall of 1989.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgYCR2aNbkU

Mendoza is again facing Perez and Castillo but he has Abudda Dein as his partner in this go around. Dein and Castillo start off with armbar exchanges and seem evenly matched. Mendoza on the ring apron keeps trying to take some swipes at Castillo every time he circles near the rudo corner. Dein takes control with a knee to the midsection but Castillo counters with a monkey flip out of the corner and a dropkick. Dein tags in Mendoza, who seems ready to go after Castillo. However, Mendoza circles around once and then tags Dein back in without engaging Castillo, Another exchange ends with Castillo getting an atomic drop that sends Dein into his corner and into Mendoza. Dein regroups and has a strategy conference with Mendoza, but does not tag out. Perez is tagged in for the first time this match and Dein does not fare any better against him. The rudos are able to gain the advantage when Mendoza reaches over to grab Miguelito by the neck when he’s coming off the ropes. Mendoza tags in and works over Perez briefly before once again tagging Dein back in. Dein briefly maintains control but a belly to belly suplex off the ropes allows Perez to tag Castillo back in. Dein also tags Mendoza in at the same time and now it’s castillo and Mendoza fighting in the ring. Castillo hits a flying knee and this leads to all four men fighting. In the chaos Castillo ends up getting rammed into Dein, which briefly allows the rudos to attack Perez two on one. However, an attempted double team backfires when Mendoza hits Dein with a kick when Perez gets out of the way, allowing Castillo (the legal man) to jump off the top turnbuckle with a bodypress onto Mendoza for the pin. 

MD: In cutting this footage up, Dein’s shoes have been a big help. He’s probably on the way out here as he needs Mendoza’s help (a nasty head grab as Perez was coming off the ropes) to take over and then eats a belly-to-belly to set up the comeback in short order. Mendoza takes the fall after some miscommunication however.

EB: We go to our present time as Perez and Castillo (who are being identified more by their team name of The Caribbean Express) are facing the Universal champion Leo Burke and Chicky Starr in tag action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xgG-Cop2bE

Castillo and Burke start the match off as Eliud Gonzalez on commentary talks about how proud Perez and Castillo’s fathers are about how their sons careers are going. Castillo knocks Burke down with a dropkick, which sends Burke looking for relief in the corner. Burke goes for a side headlock but Castillo manages to take Burke down with a couple of armdrags. Castillo works the arm as Chicky yells at the fans. Hector Moyano on commentary mentions that the tecnicos’ speed has been the difference so far. Leo breaks the armbar by sending Castillo into the ropes and hitting a knee to the midsection. Chicky tags in but falls victim to an armdrag takedown. Chicky breaks out of the hold but a nice exchange leads to Chicky once again being trapped back in the armdrag. Burke tries to come in to help Chicky but the ref stops him. While the ref is distracted with Burke, Perez switches out with Castillo and continues to work on Chicky’s arm. The ref asks Castillo if he tagged out and the crowd cheers in affirmative when Castillo points at them. Chicky manages a headscissor counter but the attempt to charge at Perez backfires and Chicky ends up getting dropkicked out of the ring.

Castillo throws Chicky back in and Perez and Castillo continue to maintain control on Chicky. Burke breaks up a pin attempt with a kneedrop, which gives Chicky enough time to make the tag. Burke attacks a dazed Castillo. Perez fires up the crowd as Burke hits a neckbreaker on Casitllo. A second attempt at a neckbreaker sees Burke slip to the mat when Castillo grabs onto the ropes. Perez is tagged in and cleans house on Burke and Chicky. All four men briefly end up in the ring, with Chciky rolling out and Castillo being told to leave the ring by the ref. Perez hits a powerslam on Burke, but with the ref’s back turned, Chicky stomps on Perez. This gives Burke the opening to send Perez into the ropes, where Chicky grabs onto Miguelito from behind when coming off the ropes, snapping his head back. Burke takes the opening to put on the figure four and Perez tries to fight out of it. It looks like Perez might reach the ropes but Chicky moves over to yank the ropes away (something he had been doing while seconding Burke against Carlos Colon). The ref warns Chicky to back away but it’s enough for Perez to finally give up.  

MD: They’re in and out in under six minutes here. Burke is an absolute workhorse paired with Castillo to start, rope running, feeding, hitting a cheapshot or a cut off, and then feeding again. Chicky takes his share of damage too. Brief, brief heat here as Perez jams a neckbreaker attempt by holding on to the ropes and the heels feed some more. There’s an awesome matter-of-fact pin breakup in the stretch with Chicky just sauntering in with a nonchalant stomp. Finish has him catching Perez from the outside which lets Burke put on the figure-four.

EB: We’ll have to see if any new teams step up to fill the void left by these two tecnico teams. Speaking of open spots, with Gary Albright wrapping up his run in CSP, there was an opening for a new wrestler in El Profe’s Real Academia. El Profe has brought in another power wrestler in the form of Carl Styles. Styles first appears in the available CSP results on February 2, taking on Mark Youngblood. Let’s see him in action against Nick Ayala and learn more about Carl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesb-lQweFQ

The announcers talk up the young Ayala and mention that he’s up against a man with an impressive physique in Carl Styles. As Styles knocks Ayala down with a clothesline, Eliud Gonzalez starts mentioning that Styles was a collegiate champion at the University of Tennessee, was three years intercollegiate champion in bodybuilding and he is from Georgia. As Styles continues with the advantage, El Profe moves toward the announcers table and yells ‘As you can see, what I bring here is quality, the cream, so watch and learn’. Eliud remarks that so far Carl is backing up Profe’s words. Ayala briefly looks to start a comeback but an eyerake stops him. Carl continues showing off his power with a delayed shoulder breaker. Carl’s offense seems to be focused on the neck and shoulder area of Ayala. A gutwrench suplex leads to an attempted pin but it looks like Styles decided to lift Ayala up. The commentators continue talking up Styles and his bodybuilder physique (so they’re giving Styles a similar presentation as Albright, although focused on bodybuilding instead of amateur wrestling). A powerslam sets up a full nelson (that explains the neck and shoulder based offensive attacks) and Ayala gives up. An impressive win for Carl Styles. 

MD: Styles feels like he’s taking Albright’s spot on the card. He feels like a guy who should be dressed up like Super Freddie or Jason the Terrible to me. Ayala tries to punch back but just gets powered over with a shoulder breaker, a gutwrench, a power slam, before finally being put away with the Full Nelson.

EB: As has been the case with other newcomers, sooner or later they will be tested by some of the more established tecnicos. In this case, let’s see how Carl Styles does against Super Medico.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOFzaYbZ0VI

The match starts with Styles hitting some clubbing forearms to Medico’s back. Styles then hits an overhead press slam on Medico before posing for the crowd and going for the pin attempt. Medico kicks out at two. He then counters Styles with a sunset flip attempt for two. Styles goes back on the attack, hitting a snapmare and then a chinlock on Medico. A slam leads to an elbow drop miss by Styles and Medico tries to take advantage with his punch combinations (or as Eliud calls it his ‘maquinita de golpes’ or hit machine). A backdrop and a slam gets a two count for Medico. A shoulder tackle knocks Styles down, but Carl is able to get to his feet and grab Medico coming off the ropes, leading to a hotshot onto the top rope. That is enough to give Carl the opening to put on the full nelson and get the submission win. Styles refuses to break the full nelson and holds on until forced to break. It looks like El Profe has brought in another potential power threat for the tecnicos. The video ends with Carl trash talking the crowd and the camera guy.

MD: We come in JIP here, hard to say how deep. Styles shows off his power more with a press slam, then puts on a chinlock. Medico works up and yes, I do like watching him punch people. Styles takes it with big flailing arms. He cuts off Medico with a hotshot (pretty varied set of offense from this guy) and locks in the full nelson for the win.

EB: Besides the roster turnover, we also have the existing issues between the Club Deportivo members and El Ejercito de la Justicia. We talked about Leo Burke and TNT earlier, but what about Carlos Colon and Manny Fernandez? Well, the week after the attack on Barba Roja, Carlos was absent from the Campeones episode, meaning it was just Hugo and Chicky on commentary. Throughout the show, they talked about what had happened and how Carlos was out for blood against Manny. Chicky said that Carlos was not going to be able to do anything to Manny while Hugo said Carlos was going to go on a rampage. They would face off on January 27 and then again on February 2, but no clear winner was had either time (with the February 2 match ending in a double countout). The feud between Carlos and Manny is far from being settled.

Still, Manny is also the Puerto Rico champion and he is facing challengers for his title. Let’s go to a JIP title defense against Miguelito Perez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFUgm8FJEdY

We join the match in progress with Miguelito on the floor outside of the ring, right by the lighting rig. The referee is administering the ring out count as Manny Fernandez is on his knees recovering. Outside is Chicky Starr,  who is watching Perez attempt to stand up. Inside the ring Manny is able to stand up and gets tied up with the ref, allowing Chicky the opportunity to attack a vulnerable Perez on the outside. Hector Moyano on commentary mentions that Manny had rammed Miguelito’s neck against the lighting rig pipes and that Chicky appears to have hit Perez with something just now as well. Perez is able to stagger back to the ring but he is easy pickings for Manny. Fenrandez hits a corner clothesline on Perez but a second attempt results in Miguelito charging back with a clothesline of his own. Miguelito starts getting fired up and knocks Manny down with a second clothesline. Several punches lead to a dropkick for a two count. Perez hits an irish whip and a charge into the corner. Perez tries for a slam but Fernandez counters with an inside cradle for two. A punch exchange leads to a criss-cross rope running exchange between the two men. Perez manages to drop down as Manny passes through but Manny catches Miguelito with the flying forearm off the rebound and gets the pinfall win. A successful Puerto Rico title defense for Manny Fernandez.

MD: We just get the last three minutes of this, starting with Perez on the floor. That lets Manny distract the ref so Chicky can get a cheapshot in. What pals. Manny’s swagger was in full display when he was in control. Perez is able to reverse a second corner clothesline and fire back. Finish is rope running with Manny hitting the flying forearm out of nowhere. Looked like it was probably a good one.

EB: Harley Race is also one the champions in El Club Deportivo, holding the Caribbean title. So far he has stayed out of any direct feud with El Ejercito de la Justicia but that is soon to change. First, let’s look at Race in action against Chris Youngblood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2weqnRrhsc

Last post we saw Mark Youngblood take on Harley Race, let’s see how brother Chris does. The ring introductions are made and Race gets a side headlock of the lock up. Chris counters by sending Race into the ropes and hitting a chop. Another lockup leads to a break in the corner, where Race attempts to cheap shot Chris but his punch is blocked and Chris counters with a double overhead chop. An irish whip and clothesline gets a two count for Chris. As both men circle one another again, Chris starts clapping to get the crowd into it. Youngblood gets a side headlock on Race and works if for a few moments. Race sends Chris to the ropes, but misses a punch, allowing Chris to hit a slam for a two count. Chris starts pumping up the crowd and doing a war yell on the turnbuckle as Race tries to collect himself. Hugo on commentary mentions there may be a potential upset here, which has been happening all over including boxing (I’m guessing this means Tyson vs Douglas happened already, so this is from a mid February tv airing even though the match was likely taped at the end of January). Race uses a knee to take over for a moment, leading to a pinfall attempt for two. Chris is able to get a sleeperhold on Harley and it may be an upset. However, Race manages to counter by ramming Chris face first into the corner. A piledriver sets up the fisherman suplex and Race gets the win. You can’t give Harley these openings, he’ll end it quickly with that fisherman suplex.

MD: It’s interesting to think that the Sports Club at this point was Race, Burke, Manny (and yeah, Watts). That’s quite the group. This had Race skidding to the ground for Youngblood’s chops early, thudding him down in the middle, and then cutting off the comeback with a piledriver and the laying fisherman’s suplex. Didn’t quite have the time to be anything more. Race could still take a few bumps early though.

EB: Earlier we mentioned that Invader #1 had gotten involved in the January 27 Universal title match. After Invader's interference, Chicky Starr promised on tv that Invader would pay for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. This resulted in Chicky asking Harley Race to take care of Invader.

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

The video opens with Invader heading towards the announcers’ table where Harley Race and Chicky Starr are standing and appear to have been ranting and raving moments before. It looks like Harley and Chicky had come out and issued a challenge to Invader. Chicky wants Harley to teach Invader a lesson for interfering in the Universal title match. Invader addresses Harley and asks if he understood correctly that Race was challenging him. After Harley and Chicky make it clear that they want Invader right now, Invader says to give him 5 minutes to get ready and he’ll face Harley. But before Invader finishes talking, Race decks Invader with a punch as Chicky yells ‘Right now!’. Harley rams Invader face first into the ringpost and grabs the table to attack Invader, as Chicky eggs Harley on and runs down Invader on commentary. ‘I’ve taken over the official commentary for this encounter, as you can see the Invader is finished, you can see the blood is flowing! Harley Race, the champion, the only man that will finish with Invader. This is for sticking his nose into what didn’t concern him’. Chicky gives back the mic and joins Harley in yanking Invader’s dress shirt sleeves in order to make a straight jacket of sorts. Harley and Chicky taunt the defenseless Invader and Harley continues hitting Invader at his leisure. 

Eventually the trio of Castillo, Perez and (I think) a masked TNT arrive to help Invader, with Harley and Chicky getting into the ring. Race challenges Castillo to get in the ring with him as Invader is helped to the back by the other tecnicos. Inside the ring the bell rings, and Castillo immediately is on Race with a series of punches and a clothesline. A slam sets up an elbow drop, but Race dodges it. Race gets up before the stunned Castillo and immediately hooks in the fisherman suplex for a quick pinfall. Race has another quick victory, but more important, he’s set his sights on Invader #1.

MD: This is a great angle, with Invader wanting just five minutes with Race and getting cheapshotted, tied up, and bloodied up for his trouble. It leads to a match with Castillo where Race made short work with him. I know that there were short matches on TV even with names sometimes, but Race’s feel even shorter, which makes him come off as particularly dominant. It may be because he couldn’t work longer matches or at least not frequently but it was probably effective in giving him a bit of extra aura.

EB: Invader #1 and Harley Race would face off on February 2 in Humacao in a tag match (with partners Carlos Colon and Leo Burke, respectively) and in a singles match on February 3. This match ended in a disqualification win for Race, but the rivalry is only heating up. They are scheduled to face each other again on February 10. We’ll talk about some of the other happenings of the February 10 card next time but we’re closing out this week’s post with the Universal title match between Leo Burke and TNT. Although the rematch has been ordered by the wrestling commission, this is basically understood to be TNT’s last shot at Burke and the Universal title. Because of the repeated cheating by Burke and Starr, Carlos Colon has offered to serve as TNT’s second for the match. And in another boost for TNT, a decision has been handed out by the wrestling commissioner. After a few weeks of review, it has been decided that due to the way Leo Burke won the ruleta rusa match, the stipulation of TNT losing his face paint has been rescinded and TNT can legally wear his face paint again. Let’s go to Caguas for the match.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgq0PHDMTBE

TNT is back in the face paint and Carlos Colon is seconding TNT in order to counter Chicky Starr. This is from a Campeones airing a week after the match took place, so we get the interesting dynamic of the two seconds being on commentary along with Hugo. Carlos mentions on commentary that he had been saying that this year they weren't going to keep taking any more underhandedness from Chicky Starr and El Club Deportivo and it was going to be an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. TNT and Burke are near one side of the ring, with Burke arguing and pointing that TNT needs to head to the opposite side of the ring to start the match. Carlos is watching from the ring apron but Chicky is still in the ring and also motioning that TNT should move to the other side of the ring. The ref El Vikingo has his hands full, telling TNT to move to the other side but also going after Chicky and telling him to get out of the ring. As TNT moves a bit to the other side, Burke immediately moves towards Carlos and starts pointing and telling him to get off the apron. TNT moves back near Burke and,as Burke turns around from yelling at Colon, TNT unleashes a kick that scares Burke away. The match has begun.

Burke starts begging off in the corner but TNT stands his ground. (Wait, did someone throw a smoke bomb near ringside?) Burke tries a kick but TNT blocks it and counters with a chop. Burke staggers back up but TNT follows up immediately, not giving Burke the opportunity to try his usual rolling out of the ring and stalling playbook. A lock up leads to a TNT chop and Burke again staggers away but is grabbed by TNT. A blow exchange occurs but TNT comes out with the better end of it. Burke finally is able to leave the ring and stall a bit to slow down TNT’s momentum. Chicky on commentary says that he’ll say one good thing about TNT, he’s one of the young lions in the sport and has made an impressive showing so far in his career, but he’s in there with the master in Leo Burke and has no chance of winning. Back in the ring, TNT and Burke circle each other, with Burke jabbing his hand into TNT’s face. As TNT recovers and goes back after Burke, Leo puts the ref in between them to stop TNT from getting at him. Burke again gets away to the outside and the ref stops TNT from going after him.  

Back in, Burke again circles around and slaps TNT in the face. He is really trying to goad TNT into making an angry mistake. TNT charges again  but Burke once more hides behind the ref, using him as a shield. AS TNT is backed away, Leo kicks TNT from around the ref’s side. Burke works the advantage with punches and a turnbuckle ram, leading into a side headlock. TNT counters by sending Burke to the ropes and hitting a slam for a pin attempt, but Burke gets his leg on the rope. TNT immediately kicks Leo’s leg and takes him down with a headlock. After working the headlock on the mat, TNT continues with the advantage as we go to commercial break. Back from the break and we see TNT lying partly on the top turnbuckle as Leo is yanking TNT’s left leg. As Leo keeps applying pressure, TNT is able to kick the back of Burke’s head in order to break the hold. Both men tumble to the mat. TNT is limping as he gets up and Burke immediately attacks the injured leg. You can tell Leo is probably thinking about the figure four already. TNT sends Burke into the ropes but collapses after a leapfrog counter, his leg unable to support his weight. Leo goes for the figure four but TNT manages to kick Burke away, sending him into the corner with Burke hitting the back of his head on the top turnbuckle pad. Burke is first up and hits a neckbreaker that gets a two count. A back suplex by Burke gets two. Both men are showing signs of fatigue but Leo maintains control with some punches and a kneedrop. Burke gets a sleeperhold on TNT in the middle of the ring and this may be enough to put TNT away.

TNT struggles in the hold and starts to fade, but is able to ram Burke back into the turnbuckle to break the hold just when it looked like TNT was going to collapse to the mat. TNT hits a couple of back elbows but an irish whip charge is countered by Leo into a sunset flip pin attempt. TNT kicks out at two and immediately counters with his own cradle attempt for two. TNT hits  a spin kick off the ropes and both men are down. Carlos starts clapping and cheering TNT on. Both men get to their feet and try to gain control but they end up colliding heads off a Burke shoulder tackle and are down again. Carlos gets up on the ring apron in a kneeling position to cheer on TNT, causing the ref to move over to make sure Colon does not get involved. On the other side of the ring, Chicky takes advantage of the ref’s attention being diverted and slips a foreign object to Burke. Chicky on commentary once again is having monitor problems and doesn’t see what Hugo is talking about. Burke tries to hit TNT but is sent flying by a backdrop to the mat. Leo loses the foreign object on impact, with it landing right by Carlos Colon. Carlos sees the object and points the ref’s attention to Chicky, who is on the apron. As he does this. Carlos grabs the foreign object. The ref now moves towards Chicky Starr and tells him to get off the apron. In the confusion, Burke chop blocks TNT’s leg and starts his attempt at putting on the figure four. Seeing this, Carlos decides to get in the ring with the object and decks Burke with it. Carlos immediately jumps out of the ring and hides the object in his sock as Chicky is arguing with the ref. TNT crawls over to make the cover and the ref turns around in time to make the three count. TNT has done it! Chicky Starr is not happy about the outcome as Carlos jumps into the ring to celebrate. Carlos helps TNT up and hugs him as Chicky on commentary says that the WWC cannot accept this win. As Carlos continues raising TNT’s arm in victory, Chicky starts wagging his finger indicating  that this should not be. The ref goes to give TNT the title belt but Carlos grabs it to present it to the new champion. As TNT grabs the belt, we see Invader #1 and Huracan Castillo arrive to celebrate with TNT. Invader and Carlos help put the title belt on the new Universal champion as TNT and Castillo share a moment. The tecnicos leave the ring as Chicky continues waving his hand around, with Carlos on commentary saying that he did what he had to do in order to ensure that Chicky and Burke did not get away with it again.  

MD: Great moment here. As always, I love seeing Burke do his thing early, trying not to engage, ducking out of the ring, hiding behind the ref. He tried to sneak a kick in that way but it didn’t do him much good. TNT controlled the first half. We lose the transition and presumably a chunk of Burke’s control due to the commercial as we come in on TNT hope spots as he’s limping around. For someone who did come off as quite dangerous, TNT was very good at portraying vulnerability. Here, he did a leapfrog but immediately crumbled due to the knee and wasn’t able to capitalize after the spin wheel kick. Lots of hooha at the finish, with Chicky giving Burke a weapon, TNT dodging and hitting a back body drop as Colon was complaining to the ref, Burke clipping the leg, and then Colon hitting Burke as he was going for the figure-four as the ref was distracted by Chicky. Huge, warranted celebration as TNT rolled over for the win.

EB: TNT has become the Universal champion! He is the first El Ejercito de la Justicia member  that is not Carlos Colon to become the champion. But you can bet Chicky Starr and Leo Burke will be complaining about the match ending. Will there be a rematch?

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, some ‘new’ tag teams make their debut as we also get a new manager joining the rudo ranks. Plus, TNT begins his reign as the Universal champion, but an old foe may end this reign before it’s really begun.

Read more!

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Welcome to 1990

Week 17: Welcome to 1990

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The match video is split into two parts. 

Part 1

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

Part 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more!

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario Fallout

Week 12: Aniversario Fallout

EB: Aniversario from Bayamon is over but we still have one final piece from Mayaguez to look at. It’s the Universal title match between Carlos Colon and Sadistic Steve Strong. Due to the result of the title match the previous night in Bayamon, the roles are reversed and it is Colon that is the defending champion going into the match. And as was the case in Bayamon where a stipulation (barbed wire) was added to the match in the final lead up, this match also has an added stipulation. In this case, Colon vs Strong in Mayaguez is now a cage match.

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

We join the match in progress as Carlos appears to be applying the same strategy of trying to take out one of Strong’s legs in order to set up the figure four leglock. There’s no barbed wire to punish your opponent with, but the cage still makes sure that there is no escape and (more importantly) no easy interference. The crowd cheers on Carlos as he keeps working on Strong’s leg and, after keeping the attack focused on the leg, eventually Carlos manages to get the figure four leglock on after hitting a body slam on Strong. The crowd amps up as Colon keeps the pressure on. Strong continues to fight and resist the hold as a close-up on Carlos reveals he is bleeding from his forehead. Strong manages to reverse the hold, with the pressure now being applied to Carlos. In  pain, Carlos manages to reach the ropes in order to get the hold broken. Carlos tries to get up but Steve Strong quickly hits a succession of three elbow drops to the back of Colon’s head and neck to keep him down. Strong sends Colon into the ropes and hits him with a clothesline (which happens to be the arm he has ‘Damian’ on). Strong hits another elbow drop and goes for the over, but decides to pull up Colon at two. Strong wants to deliver more punishment and finish off Carlitos. After keeping Carlos down with a headbutt, Strong backs off and repositions ‘Damian’ on his arm. His intent is clear, Strong wants to hit Carlos with the loaded clothesline. Strong sends Carlos into the ropes, but Carlos blocks the clothesline and hits a crucifix on Strong for the three count. The crowd goes wild in celebration at Carlos getting the win.

MD: Between the blood running down Colon’s face, the chip on Strong’s shoulder, and the fact the two of them were trapped in the cage, there was almost certainly a great match here. We just get a few minutes of the finish. Where we come in, Colon had turned the corner towards the comeback after what was almost certainly a grisly beating and both wrestlers were throwing kicks. Colon got the advantage, targeted the leg, and put on what felt like it would be an absolutely definitive and inescapable figure four. There was nowhere to go and no one to help Strong. However, he may no longer be champion, but he was still an absolute beast and he was able to turn it around and then retake the advantage, including a massive lariat. When he went for it again, however, Colon climbed up into a crucifix pin to steal a win. A good couple of minutes but the real transcendent serenity to be found in a match like this is always in the beatdown and that glorious moment of comeback and those things we don’t have.

EB: With Aniversario weekend complete, let’s review how things stand and how they would develop in CSP throughout the month of October.
With their Caribbean tag title win, the team of Los Mercenarios will become a regular presence in the territory. The team of Angel Acevedo and Jerry Morrow would eventually face the former champions of Miguelito Perez and Huracan Castillo Jr but would be successful in holding on to their newly won Caribbean tag titles.

Super Medico retained his World Junior title against Gran Mendoza (who was a replacement for Jeff Jarrett). A couple of weeks after the event, Super Medico faced a new challenger in Brett Sawyer. This was a tecnico vs tecnico match which we join in progress.

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

Medico and Sawyer are circling each other in a face-off as Hugo on commentary mentions how this match has been quite the showcase of technical wrestling and it’s been a tremendous back and forth between the two tecnicos. Sawyer gets a small package off a lock up for a two count. They lock up again and this time Medico gets a two count of an inside cradle. Medico tries to grab Sawyer's leg, but it is countered into a back slide. However, Medico’s legs land in the ropes and the ref signals at Sawyer to break the pin attempt (which Sawyer does after a delay). Medico seems a bit annoyed at the delay in releasing the back slide, as Sawyer circles the ring a bit and seems to make a comment to someone in the crowd. Sawyer hits a side headlock which Medico breaks by sending Sawyer into the ropes. A series of criss-crosses leads to Medico getting a sunset flip on Sawyer but Sawyer manages to keep his balance and does not fall down. Instead, Sawyer maneuvers both he and Medico (who is still trying to turn him over into the sunset flip pin attempt) near the ropes. Sawyer sits down on Medico’s chest for a pinfall attempt. As the referee starts counting, Sawyer grabs onto the top rope with both hands in order to gain more leverage and prevent Medico from kicking out. The ref counts three and we have a new World Junior champion.

Post-match we get an unexpected development. As the ref raises Sawyer's hand indicating he is the winner, Medico comes over visibly upset and complains to the ref that Sawyer was grabbing the ropes. You can also see some of the crowd also visibly pointing at the ref and trying to signal what had happened (and we even see a few things get thrown into the ring). Medico starts arguing with Sawyer about him holding the top rope while Sawyer signals that the three count was made. Sawyer lifts the belt and Medico continues arguing with Sawyer about what he did (as the crowd also seems to be complaining as well). Both wrestlers leave the ring and, since it just so happens both are tecnicos, they are heading to the same locker room. Medico continues arguing and shoving Sawyer about what happened as the crowd starts throwing things at Sawyer. The argument and shoving by Medico continues all the way into the dugout, up the stairs and into the locker room. Sawyer sits in a chair and ignores Medico who continues asking him why did he hold onto the ropes. Medico gets more angry as Sawyer just ignores Medico and tries to untie his boots. Eventually, Sawyer stands up and asks if Medico has a f###ing problem and Medico shoves Sawyer down. Sawyer gets up and the two start fighting in the locker room. After a while, the tecnicos rush in to break it up and you can see both Sawyer and Medico are bleeding from their foreheads. This situation has gotten out of hand.

MD: Interesting stuff. Sawyer, Buzz’s brother who we know from Georgia and Portland primarily, is another guy who was past his last big run but still had something left to add. Despite this being for the Junior title, there was a real Buddy Rose vibe to Brett here. He had extra girth and looked like the heat was getting to him, but could still go on fast exchanges. The post match angle in the locker room was intense. I’m sure they weren’t playing off of it specifically, but I can imagine how the backstage area would feel just a bit more out of control during this period, right? It certainly felt novel and like things were getting very much out of hand.

EB: As result of the ending of this match and resulting altercation in the locker room, a rematch was scheduled between the new champion Brett Sawyer and the former champion Super Medico.

Mark and Chris Youngblood made a triumphant return to Puerto Rico at Aniversario by capturing the World tag team titles from the team of Rip Rogers and Abudda Dein. The former champs would split up after Aniversario, with Abudda Dein returning to singles competition. Rip Rogers would attempt to regain the World tag titles from the Youngbloods but with a new partner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yE9pqYKsfA

Rip’s partner is none other than Chicky Starr, sporting a new haircut thanks to his loss to TNT at Aniversario. The match is joined in progress as we see Rip and Chicky use an object that they picked up from the ground and attack Mark Youngblood. Hugo on commentary is saying that the blame for this goes to whoever was the irresponsible fan (and he stresses irresponsible a couple of times) that threw the object near the ring. Chickly and Rip maintain the advantage thanks to their cheating, with Rip putting Mark into a sleeperhold (as Hugo on commentary exhorts young viewers to not play around and use these holds which can really mess you up). Mark manages to break the hold and tags in Chris, who tees off on Rip and Chicky. All four men end up in the ring. An attempt to smash the rudos together leads to Chicky and Chris crashing into each other instead.  Chris ends up loopy outside the ring as Mark is double teamed by Rip and Chicky. Mark is held by Chicky and Rip goes for a clothesline, but Mark dodges and Chicky is hit instead. In the confusion after the hit, Chris comes off the top rope with a crossbody onto Rip. Chicky breaks it up at two. However, as the ref takes Chicky out of the ring, the Youngbloods are able to hit a slingshot splash onto Rip for the pinfall win. The Youngbloods retain the World tag team titles.

MD: We just get the last few minutes including a hot tag from Mark to Chris and the finish. The bit of beatdown we see looked good; Chicky was in rare form, his hair cut, looking from afar like the slimiest Bob Backlund imaginable. He had some great strikes and stooged like a champ too. Rip was Rip, so he partnered with him well, but Chicky made him look almost mundane. Anyway, the Youngbloods kept pressing post-hot tag with Chicky saving Rip until he tripped on the ropes and couldn’t anymore.

EB: However, Rip’s time in CSP would soon wrap up, with Rogers losing the Caribbean singles title he held to Miguelito Perez in early November. As for Rip’s former tag partner, Abudda Dein would find himself back in singles competition but with a heavier scrutiny around his suspicious boot. The controversy surrounding Abudda’s boot would come to a head when during a match an attempt was made to uncover if the boot was loaded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4nj_FF7S64

Dein’s opponent is prelim wrestler Tito Carrion, who doesn't have much luck in this match. Dein dominates throughout, at one point tossing Carrion to the floor and taking advantage of the ref making the count on Tito to load up his boot. Dein hits a boot to the head on Tito when he tries to get in the ring and proceeds to hit him with another after Tito gets thrown back in. Dein wins the match as Tito is busted open. Dein continues to attack the worse for wear Carrion post match, leading to Invader coming out to try to make the save. His first attempt is foiled by Profe grabbing onto Invader’s leg and allowing Dein to hit Invader with a  boot to the head. Invader is stunned outside as Dein continues to attack Tito, but eventually manages to get to his feet. Invader punches Profe and bodyslams him on the floor, and then gets in the ring to go right after Dein. Invader knocks Dein down and immediately grabs him by the leg to try to get Dein’s boot off. Will we finally discover if that boot is loaded? Dein fights Invader off but Invader manages to knock Dein back down and once again tries to unlace Dein’s boot. The boot is off! And Invader immediately hits Dein with it on the head, which busts Dein open. Invader tries to hit Dein again but a kick to the groin by Dein stops Invader. Dein grabs his boot and hightails it out of the ring before the boot can be checked. Dein helps Profe to his feet and they both amble back to the locker room as Invader is left laying in the ring from the kick to the groin and bleeding from his head.

MD: Look, Tito wasn’t a world beater, but he at least put up a fight in there, and that boot had to be loaded from a kayfabe perspective, because the stomp that Dein won with didn’t look like much of anything at all. There wasn’t any tricky loading or big wind up or anything. Just a sort of casual stomp and the pin. The post match was spirited though, with Dein bleeding in a moment where you wouldn’t think that he would (as the visual focus would have been on the boot instead). Things definitely feel chaotic this week as they heat things up again post Aniversario.

EB: This incident would lead to a short feud between Abudda Dein and Invader, one where Abudda was unsuccessful in capturing the Puerto Rico title.

TNT had been successful in retaining his name and paint, while also remaining the TV champion. However, will Chicky Starr drop the enmity with TNT after what happened at Aniversario? We’ll find out shortly.

Speaking of Chicky Starr, his Club Deportivo had been operating basically with only Chicky and Steve Strong as active members for most of the summer and fall. But after experiencing a less than stellar Aniversario with the loss of the Universal title and failing to strip TNT of his name and paint, it was time to bring in reinforcements. The first such reinforcement is someone we saw return at Aniversario, one Manny Fernandez. Manny would not waste time in terms of making an impression on TV.

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

Chicky is with Manny and wearing a cap to hide his haircut. This is a nice back and forth match where Manny manages to get the win after Super Medico misses a crossbody attempt and gets hit with Manny’s elbow to the face. Manny Fernandez is back in Puerto Rico and who knows what he and Chicky will get up to.

MD: They covered a lot of ground in around 6 minutes here making for a very complete TV match. Of note, Manny and Chicky continue to have natural chemistry; Chicky was out there with a hat. Super Medico outwrestled Manny early. Manny took over with a kick to the gut and leaned hard on him with a headbutt and knee drop. Super Medico fought out of a chinlock and kept pressing, but Manny finally shut him down. Just a nice example of a compact star vs star TV match that would have worked on WWF or WCW TV in 89.

EB: Chicky would also bring in Leo Burke as the newest member of his Club Deportivo. Leo was billed as the true master of the figure four leglock and he would put his mastery of the hold on display in his matches. One such display was against a returning Ron Starr (Chicky’s ‘cousin’ who had a falling out with Chicky the previous year).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESAigD-MjtU&t=23s

We’ll talk more about Ron Starr and his history in CSP in a future installment. Here he is making his return to Puerto Rico as a tecnico and is taking on his ‘cousin's’ newest client in Leo Burke. We join the match in progress as Burke launches Ron into the ropes, leading to both men colliding and falling down. Ron makes it to his feet first and hits a couple of headbutts to knock Leo Burke down. A pinfall attempt gets two. Hugo on commentary calls Burke the master of the figure four. Burke gets an abdominal stretch on Ron, but Ron counters it into a side legsweep for a two count. After exchanging a few blows, Burke launches Ron into the ropes but Ron counters with a knee to the face which sends Burke to the outside of the ring. Ron gives chase and hits a series of chops on Burke, However, Ron misses a charge on Leo (who is standing in front of the ringpost), which leads to Ron hitting his knee on the post. Back in the ring, Burke capitalizes on the injured leg and puts Ron in the figure four. Ron gives up but Burke refuses to break the hold as Ron continues to yell in pain. Eventually the ref is able to get Burke to break the hold. Chicky gets in the ring and calls off Burke as the ref warns Chicky about Burke not breaking the hold. An impressive win for the master of the figure four.

MD: We have the last almost three minutes of this and, look, when I think of Ron Starr, I think of Leo Burke and when I think of Leo Burke, I think of Ron Starr. Just the definition of journeymen who didn’t get major runs in the 80s in the most traditionally watched territories but always delivered in some of the smaller ones. Starr missed a knee on the outside and crashed into the post and Burke got over that figure four by making him give up to it. Chicky with the hat was giving me Paul E vibes a bit.

EB: Chicky wasn’t the only manager bringing in new reinforcements. El Profe had lost the services of Ivan Koloff after Aniversario but had decided to refocus Abudda Dein in the singles ranks. In addition, Profe also brought in a new wrestler to the territory by the name of Gary Albright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwkITdkl9Y0

The video opens with Profe offering the fans or anyone who dares $5,000 if they are able to break Gary Albright’s hold. It appears no one takes up the challenge, so the match against Armando Fernandez  begins. Hector Moyano puts over the physical size advantage Albright has on his opponent. Eliud Gonzalez also mentions that Albright’s hold must be a very good one if Profe is willing to offer $5,000 to anyone who can break the hold. This match is a showcase for the new arrival, with Albright showing off his size and strength. The commentators do not know what the mystery hold is but catch on when Albright slaps it on (it seems to be some sort of half nelson hold). A quick and impressive submission win for El Profe’s newest stable member.

MD: Man did Albright ever make Armando look like a child in there. He was just huge and imposing. I can’t imagine anyone challenging him for that $5000. Not all of his offense hit with the oomph you’d want (the back elbow and the shoulder thrusts in the corner especially) but he was so big it almost didn’t matter. Armando got one (1) punch in for the entire match and that felt about right to me.

EB: As we saw after the Universal title match in Bayamon, Steve Strong was interviewed wanting another match against Carlos Colon. A rematch was signed between Carlos Colon and Steve Strong for October 28. Let’s go to that match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MhXGNmh8Q

This footage of the match is from a Clasicos airing many years later, so the commentary doesn’t really add much in terms of at the time context. We join the match with Strong and Colon fighting outside of the ring. Strong has the better of Colon and lifts him up on his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Strong proceeds to go towards one of the ring posts and proceeds to ram Colon’s left shoulder into it. It’s the shoulder that had been previously injured and it seems Strong’s gameplan is to try to take it out again. Strong shoves Colon into the ring. A bleeding Carlos is trying to gather himself on the mat as Strong gets up on the middle turnbuckle and taunts the crowds with his hand pose. Colon gets to his feet but Strong charges him with a tackle and hits a ddt to put Colon down. Strong hits an elbow drop and covers but only gets two. Strong hits a shoulder tackle and a legdrop, but again only gets two. Strong staggers Colon with some clubbing blows to the head and proceeds to bite the cut on Colon’s forehead. Strong misses an elbow drop and Colon starts getting fired up as the shoulder strap comes down. A series of punches and headbutts leads to Carlos hitting a cartwheel to fire up the crowd. Carlos continues on the offensive attack but Strong manages to counter with a clothesline to knock Colon down for a two count. Strong hits a nice piledriver on Carlos and slowly makes the pin.  It only gets two which frustrates Strong, who decides to go to the corner and adjust ‘Damian’ on his forearm. Another clothesline and elbow drop only get two and Strong is really starting to get frustrated with the ref. Strong hits a back bodydrop on Carlos and sends him into the ropes for another one. This second one ends up with Carlos being backdropped onto the referee Isaac Rosario and knocking him out.of the ring. A clothesline attempt from Strong is ducked by Carlos, who hits a back suplex on Strong (the same maneuver he used to win at Aniversario in Bayamon). Both men are down in the ring. Chicky, who has been outside seconding Strong, gets close to the ring and the camera catches him loading something into Strong's arm protector. Chicky then casually walks away, passing behind Isaac Rosario on the outside. El Vikingo runs into the ring to take over referee duties as both Colon and Strong have gotten to their feet. Strong hits a loaded clothesline on Carlos and gets the pin! It looks like Strong has regained the Universal title. Vikingo goes to hand the title belt to Strong but Isaac Rosario makes his way back into the ring and stops Vikingo. Isaac tries to get at Strong’s arm protector to find the foreign object in it but Strong yanks his arm away. Vikingo starts pointing at Strong’s arm and also asks to check it but Strong refuses. Rain starts falling as Vikingo calls for the bell to ring and it seems both Rosario and Vikingo are conferring. Strong refuses to have his arm checked and leaves the ring, as El Vikingo checks on Carlos and goes to consult with the commission members at ringside. While this is going on, the camera catches Chicky putting something away in his pocket. Strong makes a motion for them to check his arm protector as Chicky tries to shoo the camera away. The ringside doctor tries to check on the bleeding Carlos. However, Carlos rolls out of the ring and makes an immediate charge at Strong. Strong kicks Colon in the gut and walks away with Chicky and security to the locker room as the rain keeps falling. Carlos is then helped by the ringside doctor as he makes his way in the opposite direction of Strong.

MD: This was all pretty iconic. It is the best Strong has looked to me so far, as he’d really grown into his role. Looks wise, when he smirks, he comes off exactly like a slimy jock 80s movie villain should. We come in with them brawling on the outside, but Strong soon takes over and hits all of his big stuff. Carlos comes back including the cartwheel but Strong actually cuts him off and scores the pile driver only for Colon to kick out. Definitely rousing stuff here. They kind of goof the ref bump, which was a good idea (Colon crashing into the ref during a back body drop) and have to run the spot twice, but the end effect is Chicky loading up the arm guard for a loaded clothesline, the win, and then the contested finish. These two could work together extremely well by this point.

EB: So after that ending, who is the Universal champion? Well, due to the way the match ended the decision was made by the commission to hold up the Universal title. Neither Carlos Colon nor Steve Strong is the champion. With the title held up and the status of what will be done unclear, tempers would flare during a taping of Campeones de la Lucha Libre, a show where Carlos Colon and Chicky Starr served as co-hosts with Hugo Savinovich. The two would start arguing over who tried to steal the win in the Universal title match (Colon angry at Chicky’s interference by loading Strong’s arm protector and Chicky claiming that they stole the title from Strong who had won fair and square). The argument got heated and..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhUiWoChU2s

Hugo explains that they will show us an incident that happened between Carlitos and Chicky Starr in Salinas. We cut to Chciky Starr (wearing his crown) saying that he didn’t try to steal anything, you’re the only thief here (referring to Carlos), all the public knows this. Carlos reaches over arguing with Chicky, leading to Chicky yelling ‘Don't touch me! You don’t have to touch me! Simply this, you stole that title from Steve Strong and you know this well! You know what I think of you? (slaps Carlos in the face) This is what I think of you!’ Carlos grabs Chicky and hits him with a headbutt as Chicky’s crown flies off his head. Carlos goes after Chicky by tearing at his tuxedo jacket, but Chicky surprises Carlos with either powder or a spray blast in the face. Carlos is blinded and down. Chicky starts motioning to someone off camera and we see Manny Fernandez run in. Both Manny and Chicky attack Carlos, with Manny hitting piledriver and both men tearing away at Colon’s clothes. Manny continues attacking the bleeding Colon as it becomes clear that Chicky has a spray can as he starts spraying Carlos with it. They continue attacking and tearing away at Colon’s clothing but help finally arrives in the form of Carlos Colon Sr (or Don Carlos if you prefer) and a few of the tecnicos. Chicky and Manny make a run to the dugout with Don Carlos giving chase. Don Carlos tries to take a swing at Manny’s back but is unable to stop his running momentum and just completely eats a fall into the dugout (Hugo on commentary: ‘Wow, Carlitos’ dad fell down’). Carlitos is left in a pretty bad way as JYD and Invader are shown helping Don Carlos back from the dugout and over to where Carlitos is. TNT checks on Carlos and is joined by Invader (you can see Chicky’s crown is still lying on the ground near Carlitos). JYD is making sure Don Carlos is okay, but Don Carlos waves him off and motions to JYD that he should check on Carlitos. Invader and TNT place Carlitos on a stretcher to carry him back to the locker room so he can receive medical attention.

MD: Just a great, bloody angle with an explosive pile driver, a torn suit, and real concern as they brought in Colon’s dad. One thing to note here is that even before Manny attacked, Chicky had already thrown the powder in Carlos’ face. His minions and cronies would come and go but Chicky was the constant and they had to keep him strong, even if it was just in an underhanded sort of way.

EB: As November began, the situation regarding the held up title would soon begin to clear up. So let’s go to Hugo welcoming us to what is either the Nov 4 or Nov 11 tv show and learn what the latest updates and goings on are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w0gB_23wk8

Hugo gives a few updates. First he talks about the World Junior title situation, where he mentions that Brett Sawyer did not appear for the rematch with Super Medico scheduled for the previous week. Therefore, it was ruled that Super Medico regained the title via forfeit. Hugo also runs down the card they have tonight that will inaugurate the new arena in Yabucoa (we’ll look at the card lineup shortly). The big news is an update regarding the Universal title situation.Chicky Starr has thrown out a challenge on behalf of Steve Strong for a match to decide who the Universal champion will be. The catch? If Carlos loses he must retire but if Steve Strong loses then Strong will leave Puerto Rico. There must be no time limit, no disqualification and there must be a winner. Both Colon’s and Chicky’s lawyers are going over the contract for this proposed match and we just have to see if Carlos will accept this challenge.

Strong and Chicky would express their discontent at the title being held up in a promo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ48_u8W2XQ

After the first promo we see a brief clip of Hugo announcing that the title has been held up and also see the version of the show opening around this time. It includes a few second clips of the chain match between Invader and Ivan Koloff and the Caribbean tag title match between Perez and Castillo and Los Mercenarios from Aniversario. There is also a second bonus promo from a few months before when Strong was still Universal champion and he and Chicky were going to face Invader and JYD in a tag team match.

For those curious, this is the card scheduled that night for Yabucoa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C76LfVJOUMg

The main event is a cage match between Carlos Colon and Chicky Starr (not surprised after the attack we saw). We are getting a rematch between Sawyer and new champion Super Medico for the World Junior title and it also looks like Chicky has not forgotten about what happened with TNT at Aniversario, as his stable member Leo Burke is facing TNT tonight. Here we have Leo Burke talking about his upcoming match with TNT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHDf2ZwBhII

And if you’re wondering, the Angel of Death did appear that weekend as Chicky’s newest acquisition, but it’s a case of grand opening and grand closing with this tenure. Still, we at least get a Sports Shop segment out of it.

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

Before this specific tv episode ended, we got our answer regarding Carlos Colon accepting Chicky Starr’s challenge. The answer is yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQs7cQAQpM

Hugo is with Carlos and Chicky as they have the contract for the proposed Universal title match with them on a table. Both men have agreed with the contract stipulations and now it is just a matter of making it official by signing the copies of the contract. Hugo tells Chicky to behave while he explains to the viewers what is going on and goes over the conditions. No time limit, no disqualification and there must be a winner. The winner gets the Universal title and the loser must hold to their specific stipulation. If Carlos loses he must retire. If Strong loses he must leave Puerto Rico. Carlos and Chicky make some final comments before making the match official. What will be known as La Batalla Final (The Final Battle) is now official for Thanksgiving Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHDf2ZwBhII

As part of the hype for the cage match that night, we get a Chicky Starr music video and promos from Chicky and Carlos talking about the cage match.

First the music video.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajQ9Zj8Mt58

Chicky starts by saying that if Carlos thinks he is going to finish Chicky Starr, he’s not going to get it since he and El Club Deportivo will finish with Colon first. After the music video, we get Chicky reading a proclamation where he says “The king proclaims for the year 1989, the king of wrestling Chicky Starr proclaims that the year 1989 will be the final year of Carlos colon as a professional wrestler. The king has spoken.”
We also get promos from Carlos and Chicky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og2TY1q7up4

Chciky wants Carlos to understand that he has a lot of experience in cage matches. So does Carlos, but he will immediately be on Carlos as soon as the door closes. He promises that any trick could come from his sleeve and he will walk out of the winner. Carlos will have to be taken out on a stretcher and to the hospital ‘you damned filthy black’. (Like I’ve mentioned before, Chicky would sometimes go over the line insulting his opponents).  

Carlos says that he doesn’t care if Chicky brings objects to the ring, inside the cage Chicky can’t run, Carlos wants to give Chicky what he deserves and he’ll give Chicky a beating like never before to avenge what Chicky’s done to him. Hugo also asks Carlos about the upcoming match on Thanksgiving Day and whether he feels he has made a mistake agreeing to the stipulations. Carlos does not think he made a mistake but he's aware it’s a serious match and of the gravity of the stipulations if he loses. He’s not ready to retire and even if he were, he’s not going to let people like Steve Strong and Chicky Starr dictate when that will be. He studied the contract and talked it over with his wife and family, and he feels this is the only way he will be able to banish this beast from Puerto Rico. He’s confident, and with the crowd’s and the supreme being’s help, he will walk out the winner.

MD: Some scattered thoughts on these last clips. It’s a shame Sawyer wasn’t there for the match because that was such a hot angle in my mind. It’s just the risk one takes with this stuff. Card is Subject to Change nowhere more than Puerto Rico it seems. They were amazing at increasing the stakes in that Memphis sort of way, though. The gimmick going from Colon just surviving Strong and getting the title to him potentially having to leave Puerto Rico and retire if he loses would definitely inspire attention. And Chicky coming to a formal contract signing in the crown and robe is pure Chicky. I haven’t actually seen an Angel of Death match in ages, but the gimmick of the bionic hand should have worked well in PR and he was definitely looking like a giant Gary Hart at this point.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, the clock is winding down on 1989 as we head towards The Final Battle. Who will finally triumph between Carlos Colon and Steve Strong?

Read more!