El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Kong Smash

Week 53: Kong Smash

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

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

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

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

Invader #4 vs. El Condor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wild Bill Braddock vs. El Corsario

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

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

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

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

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

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

Super Medico #3 vs. El Dragon

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

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

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

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

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

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

King Kong vs. Armandito Salgado

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

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

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

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

Ricky Santana vs. Mr. Pogo - From April 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

TNT vs. King Kong  - April 21

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Super Medico #3 vs. Action Jackson 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

King Kong vs. Kim Duk - From April 27?

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

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

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

Brad Anderson vs. El Corsario

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: BUNKHOUSE STAMPEDE~! CENTRAL STATES SHENANIGANS~!

Bunkhouse Stampede JCP 12/14/86

MD: Omni next week as we're going to give Eric more time to recover from D3AN. This was another recent drop from JCP's debut at the Rosemont Horizon (so says Charles and we believe him when he says things). Very good cross section of the talent here though obviously no Flair, Tully, Dusty, and Nikita since that was the main event tag. It's hard to talk about any one specific thing in this but I definitely have a few thoughts. 

The first is that this, more so than almost any other battle royal I can think of felt purely chaotic. Workrate, spots, any of that is impossible here because there are just so many people and there are a few weapons (boot, flimsy trash can lid, Animal's wrist spikes, a strap, etc) flying around moving from participant to participant. The second that someone starts to do something interesting, someone else comes behind them and nails them. Sometimes it registers, sometimes it doesn't. Animal got someone with the spikes but they didn't realize it was happening and they didn't sell it right. The match was full of stuff like that but somehow it's additive because it just adds to the feel. 

None of the usual critical tools to talk about wrestling (structure, selling, workrate, execution) work in an environment like this. You wouldn't want it all the time but as a novelty, it's fascinating, because these are still incredible talents and characters all interacting with one another and having to operate on the fly. No plan survives more than a few seconds and everything becomes reaction. 

You can follow the flimsy trashcan lid around the ring as different people get it and since you're never going to keep track of the action (Ronnie Garvin's in this and I couldn't tell you one thing he did and he'd be a great person to watch generally), it's a good center point. It's best use, by the way, was when Rick Rude wrapped it around Animal's skull. It was that flimsy but it's a great visual. Rude and Manny drove a lot of this, with Manny scrapping with Wahoo (a precursor to their AWA feud a little while later I guess). Lots of heat for both, but at the end it was Eaton and Animal and that went about as well for Eaton as you'd expect in Chicagoland. This was a bit of a mess but despite what certain people will tell you sometimes a mess full of tons of talent is exactly what you need.

ER: This was so great, appropriately released in the middle of a battle royal compilation video, directly before the Great Berzerker Battle Royal. This battle royal is great because it throws 25 or so of the best dressed photo album dads in the world into one crowded ring and just hangs out with them. Almost everyone bleeds, but it would have been just as good (better?) if they had just been in there drinking beers like they had just finished a softball game. The cagematch listing is not accurate, because there is no Dick Murdoch, Road Warrior Hawk, Big Bubba, or Baron von Raschke, but that doesn't matter. Well, maybe Dick Murdoch would have mattered. Okay Dick Murdoch with a 50-50 poly cotton blend t-shirt stretched over his stomach would have made a huge difference. This is a blood and fashion battle royal. Everyone is in their finest yard weeding jeans - except for Jimmy Garvin, who is by far the easiest to find man in the ring at all times - and old t-shirts and tank tops. 

Every man is dressed entirely appropriate for a Bunkhouse. Jimmy Valiant looks tall and powerful and exactly like Toby Klein just looked at D3AN. Bobby Eaton gets pummeled in the corner all match and survives all the way to the end until Road Warrior Animal throws him violently to the floor, Eaton swinging a weight belt at his face a few times before he's gone. Arn Anderson is an incredible focal point all match, a target in his red slacks and white t-shirt. He punches, he gets punched, he bleeds, he is eventually eliminated without his shoes. You see, more than one person removes their boots or shoes to use as weapons, and Arn's stocking feet up in the air is a reminder of that. Ole is in camouflage pajamas like he's Udo Dirkschneider in the "Balls to the Wall" video. Wahoo and Manny put on a helluva performance before eliminating themselves, punching each other bloody and bashing each other into ringposts. Ronnie Garvin looks incredible in his black sleeveless shirt (that gets ripped away at some point) and brown leather weight belt. Barry Windham stands tall in dark blue jeans and a dark blue tank, Rick Rude stands tall in part because of his cowboy boots. Tim Horner is in a goldenrod shirt and takes the fight well to everyone larger than him, meaning everyone but Bill Dundee. Bill Dundee is in town because he had to leave Memphis in July, and he runs around hitting everyone and pulls these great I'm a Little Guy faces whenever someone tries to lift him up and over. Dutch Mantell is dressed like Bunkhouse Buck, who modeled his entire fashion on Dutch Mantell in a Bunkhouse Battle Royal.  

As far as drunken softball fights go, you've seen better. But I don't think wrestling fashion ever approached being this good again. Everyone knew exactly what kind of fight they were headed into. The red Ricky Morton and the purple Robert Gibson, the kneepads over the jeans, the Yard Work Outfit Supreme. Just throw on some old shoes that you don't mind getting dirty, some pants you don't mind kneeling in, find a bandana you can tie around your pants, or like the Bullet, around your neck. You know the drill. You've never seen 25 better dressed wrestlers in any one place at any one time and you never will again. This was the golden era, when men knew how to dress for a fight.  

Ken Timbs vs. Rufus R Jones (Boxing Match) Central States 3/28/85

MD: Next two are from one of our other great archivists, being Ben/ArmstrongAlley/KrisPLettuce, who has just organized some Central States. This was passed off to me as especially awful, and it's not quite as embarrassing as it could be. You think of the Piper vs T boxing match with the heavy gloves and T getting gassed as awful. The problems here were entirely of a different sort. 

If anything, there were two many punches. There was zero drama over the first few rounds. Jones just kept punching away again and again and Timbs kept his hands up until he couldn't and went down multiple times. There haven't been THAT many worked boxing matches in wrestling but the trick is to treat them like a wrestling match with boxing trappings and not a boxing match in a wrestling ring. That means that you do shine/heat/comeback as much as possible and in the shine, you should have the heel get some false advantages and then eat comeuppance. There was nothing of that here. Just Timbs walking into fists and selling as Jones chugged along. There wasn't a build to any highs at all. It was just a dull train moving slowly.

When he did take over in later rounds, it was because he was valiantly outpunching Jones in the corner. Only after he took over did he jab him in the eye with his thumb as Gary Royal distracted the ref. Totally backwards. Then later on Royal distracted the ref and Timbs got a knee in to take back over again. Only then he kept doing the knees when the ref was looking once more. One knee, followed by punches. That's the way to go. Maybe a second one that gets caught which could have led to the further distraction and Royal slipping the object in to Timbs' glove (because that was necessary) but don't just do it blatantly in front of the ref. 

Just no artistry, no build, no payoff. The place where that did happen was on the finish as there was a dramatic power around the object (which the fans noticed) and Jones had to duck it repeatedly before getting it himself and KOing Timbs with his own loaded glove. Maybe it was more powerful to put all of the actual "pro wrestling" part of this right at the end, but I don't think so. Just completely tossed the comparative advantage out the window and then didn't even make it believable for all the punches that Timbs was just eating.  

Gypsy Joe vs. Mr. Pogo (Chain Match in a Cage) Central States 3/28/85

MD: Well, this is definitely down our alley. Yes, there's a cage. It's about seven feet tall, I think. It doesn't come into play except for to set the mood and to show that they're enclosed and no one can get in and no one can get out, and in this case, I'm perfectly fine with that. There's enough going on with the chain after all. 

This was touch the corners, but they didn't try for a bit. Joe's advantage early on was fun, as he went after the foot first and then dodged a chain shot causing it to recoil and hit Pogo in the face. Pogo took over with it wrapped around his fist and didn't look back. One chain punch after the next, opening up Joe. The VQ is what it is, but you can tell he bled big. Eventually he went to touch the corners though and that let Joe come back. They did a good job of really building up anticipation for his first punch. He started going around and Pogo held him back until Joe finally charged in and took a shot that knocked him into the fourth corner.

Post match the cage did come into play. They had said that Sheik Abdullah the Great's New York Office had said he was on a fishing trip but he came in wearing a disguise with the heels to help beat on Joe and it took a while for the babyfaces to make the save. A good post down beating even if it was surrounded by the extra stuff. Otherwise, a nice minimalist bloody affair. 

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: The Week After

Week 30: The Week After

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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My Kinfolks Tell Me Masashi Aoyagi's A Street Fighting Man

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi NJPW 6/9/92 - EPIC

MD: This was about what I wanted to be, an absolute war with a few narrative checkpoints to keep it honest and an inconclusive finish based on the idea that they weren't done fighting until the moment that they finally were. Kobayashi ambushed with a forearm and a DDT right at the start and the next few minutes were about Aoyagi working from underneath and getting cut off and brutalized. That included a capture suplex and some nasty, nasty headbutts in the corner. When he came back, it was with all of the wrath and violence that you'd expect, but a bit of interference he had to swipe at from the outside meant that Kobayashi could get back in it. From there, they just went at each other until the ref seemed to want to call a stoppage. It didn't work. It didn't even come close to working until by the end they were just throwing shots and DDTing each other and it was like the tide going back out to sea as they laid there and finally decided it was enough. Dawn had come. It was time to pick up the pieces, patch up the wounds, and prepare to do it all again the next night.

PAS: Man this is my kind of wrestling, just an uncooperative fist fight with real malice behind every blow. I love how uncooperative all of the Karate fighters vs. HI matches feel, it really seems like there were just a bunch of guys in a dojo who developed a blood feud with a bunch of pro-wrestlers. Aoyagi with the thick beard, Gi and crimson mask is one of the most badass looking guys in the history of wrestling, and Kobayashi just gives no quarter, The ref basically throws the match out twice, not because of any interference or a double count out, but just because these two fuckers were going to kill each other, and it seems absolutely justified. It was all fun and games, but it got ugly and it felt like any moment now Aoyagi would jam his thumb in Kobayashi's eye socket and try to pop out a ball, and the ref wanted no part of what seemed inevitable. Pretty much the definition of an EPIC.

JR: At its core, professional wrestling is about structure. It’s about finding a pattern and a process and exploiting it. Like a line in chess it’s about knowing the variations, understanding the innate rhythms and positions and finding ways to subvert them until there is a singular moment of advantage.

Aoyagi finds structure in struggle. He finds ways to ply up the different style fight. He walks into simple moves and holds and finds himself overmatched. His inexperience manifests as a sort of uncooperativeness as Kobayashi struggles to suplex him or throw him.

As he searches for space, Aoyagi looks at times like an overmatched boxer, unsure of exactly how much space he should create or take away. He desperately goes for the clinch and finds himself thrown. He seeks the safety of the ropes and traps himself in the corner, stalked by Kobayashi and headbutted repeatedly.

Despite this, Aoyagi understands the moment and he understands the structure necessary to build to that moment. By closing the gap so repeatedly, Aoyagi baits Kobayashi into creating space, enough space to finally throw kicks. They stun Kobayashi, again like a boxer who finds himself able to fight through on adrenaline for a few seconds before collapsing. There is true dynamism here. Aoyagi in control feels different, a shift not only in tactics but in energy.

Eventually both men find themselves spent. The referee tries to stop everything and fails, facing two men with a fetish to physical contact. They find themselves only able to do the things they’d found success with earlier; DDTs and headbutts, powerful thrust kicks and wild strikes. They struggle. They collapse together. The structure collapses with them.

Masashi Aoyagi/Abdullah The Butcher vs. Mr. Pogo/Masanobu Kurisu Tokyo Pro 5/30/96 - GREAT

PAS: This delivered what you would expect, lots of grody stabbing, some solid Kurisu and Aoyagi chaos and a bunch of blood. The match had some clips, and the camera was focused primarily on Abby and Pogo when all four were crowd brawling, it made me want to see the Aoyagi vs. Kurisu focused cut of the match. The bits we got of both Aoyagi and Kurisu were pretty fun stuff, stiff each other and Pogo and Abby with kicks and chair shots, the Abby meat cleaver elbow drop is one of the greatest finishers in pro-wrestling history, I wouldn't have been shocked to see Kurisu's head rolling off his shoulders and out of the ring.

JR: This match is built upon faith. There is a 400 pound man with a serrated blade held to his forehead and his partner does not help him. He simply trusts him. He does karate, knowing that the 400 pound man has had too many blades held against his skin to count.

Instead of helping Abdullah the Butcher, Aoyagi continues to kick the shit out of Kurisu, that bald fuck. He is despicable and opportunistic and he finds himself repeatedly punished. His subconscious cowardice lends itself to a structure here. Despite dressing like Abdullah and antagonizing Abdullah, Kurisu largely stays away, creating a tag match that is largely composed of two separate but equally compelling singles brawls. Kurisu fights Aoyagi, which largely stays in the background of the larger and more vibrant brawl between Pogo and Abdullah.

What we have here is clipped and probably only a small portion of the actual match, but it remains an interesting artifact if nothing else. There are compelling pots and transitions throughout; the aforementioned faithful lack of a cut off from Aoyagi, some hand karate on the outside from Abdullah, Pogo stalking the ring with his evil looking weapon, dead set on hurting people. It sets up a quick but fulfilling finish when Aoyagi finally takes on Pogo, long enough for Kurisu to find himself caught. Never one to play the chickenshit, he is outmatched nonetheless. He falls immediately to the elbow drop. Aoyagi’s faith is rewarded.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Justice Has Many Allies

Week 8: Justice Has Many Allies

EB: We’ve talked about different wrestlers on our journey so far, but there are still some members of El Ejercito de la Justicia that we briefly met in the Bronca Boricua who will be a part of our journey throughout the next couple of years. Two of them share something in common in that they are second generation wrestlers and carry their fathers’ names to boot. A third carries a masked identity and (in the not too distant future) will also see the family legacy carried on in the ring. Let’s take a look at Miguel Perez (Jr.), Huracan Castillo (Jr.) and Super Medico (#1).

Super Medico (or Super Medico #1 when there is more than one active in the territory at the same time) is the masked identity of Jose Estrada, who has been a constant presence for most of the 80s in CSP. Along with tag partner Johnny Rodz (also under the mask as Medico/Super Medico #2), they formed the villainous tag team of Los Medicos (becoming Super sometime in 1983). Throughout the first half of the decade, Los Medicos/Super Medicos were one of the top tag teams in CSP. Sometime in late 84, Estrada remained as the lone Medico in the territory, still a rudo and teaming up with Black Gordman. However, due to the constant insults and mocking Gordman did about Puerto Ricans, Super Medico had enough and revealed himself to be Puerto Rican and that he wasn’t going to let Gordman continue with the insults. Thus, Super Medico in early 85 became a tecnico. For the next two and half years (to about mid-87), Super Medico would compete as a singles wrestler and also team up with fellow tecnicos when needed, with rivalries against opponents such as Black Gordman, Los Pastores (the Sheepherders), Fidel Sierra, Jesse Barr, Dan Greer wrestling as La Momia, Eric Embry, evil doppelgangers the Original Medic and later the White Knight, and a feud over the World Junior title against Frankie Lancaster. Here is a match to help provide a look at Super Medico in the ring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOt6BgRVrrY

This match is from the summer of 86, around the time the Original Medic had appeared claiming that Super Medico was a copy (sounds familiar to one of the feuds we have seen on our journey so far doesn't it). We know it’s from that time period because Chicky on commentary spends the first minute and a half just going on about how Super Medico is just a cheap copy compared to the Original Medic.  This match is vs Mike Kelly and is a quick showcase to give an idea of the style Super Medico was working as a tecnico around this time, one focused more on technique mixed with agility. The jumping headbutt Medico does at the end was his typical finishing maneuver on TV.

MD: I’m under the opinion you can learn something from any match, even a pretty quick competitive squash like this. Whether what you learn is the absolute truth is probably up for debate and you need multiple data points. Full disclosure at the top this week; I’ve seen my share of all three of these guys but I couldn’t write a paragraph comparing and contrasting them in-ring. Here, Medico came off as technical, maybe on the idea that if he did have medical training of some sort, he knew the human body. He put on deliberate holds. Kelly would come back, sometimes with a cheapshot, but Medico would fire out, with his finishing sequence being a series of nice jabs and a headbutt off the top to a standing Kelly.

EB: Estrada would leave for the then WWF where he would adopt another masked identity and, outside of a couple of one shot appearances, would not return full time to CSP until the end of April of 89. Upon his return, Super Medico immediately challenged for and won the World Junior title held by Jonathan Holliday. Later in the summer, Super Medico had a series with Chicky Starr for the World Junior title, which saw Medico lose and later regain the title from Chicky. As September of 1989 approaches, Super Medico still is the reigning World Junior champion. Unfortunately we do not have available footage vs Holliday or Chicky from 89, but we do have a tag match from July where Medico and Rufus R Jones take on the Batten Twins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-zcbA3dlyI

Hugo on commentary makes note that Rufus is also known by the fans as the king, which causes Chicky to protest that maybe to the fans but the current king is him (Chicky conveniently forgets that he actually just stole the crown from Rufus, literally ran off with it, and started calling himself the king). The opening moments show just how masterful Rufus is at working the crowd as he does a fun sequence where he manages to slip out of a headlock. The tecnicos take over the match doing quick tags and exchanges to maintain the advantage. Carlos describes Super Medico as being in tremendous physical condition and that he moves like a cat in the ring. Chciky counters that the Battens have something in their favor and that is that they look alike, which can play to their advantage. Carlos mentions that Medico was a rudo for several years and is aware of the tricks they could pull (remember that his tag partner was another masked Medico so he’s likely not a stranger to the switching tactics). As the tecnicos work over the Battens with armbars, Hugo brings up that Super Medico won the World Junior title from Chicky Starr (a sore subject for Chicky), which leads to talk about Medico’s upcoming title defense at Aniversario (more on that soon). The Battens take over as we go to commercial break and we come back to them doing illegal tactics to maintain their advantage on Rufus. Eventually, Rufus manages to turn the tide by dodging a charge by one of the Battens into the corner. The tag is made to Medico and he goes off on the Battens. All four men briefly tussle in the ring before Medico reverses a flying bodypress for the win.

MD: Rufus keeps popping up week in and week out for us. They got their mileage out of him in 89 and he’s always over. Just look at him shimmy out of a headlock early on. This went nine minutes or so, with half of that being the heels in peril for fake tags and armbar switches, but it was entertaining stuff. The Battens were good at being in the moment and reacting to what was going on, whether they were getting rolled over or were in control. Rufus ate the heat (and just like AEW, they went to commercial the second the Battens took over with a cheapshot knee to the back from the outside). There was a nice bit of wrestling physics during a chinlock where one kneeled down outside the ring and reached in to hold the foot of the other during a seated chinlock, like that would somehow make it more effective. Medico shined after the hot tag, throwing fists with confidence and fighting off both Battens.

EB: Miguelito Perez is the son of Puerto Rican wrestling legend Miguel Perez, the first major wrestling star the island produced in terms of success outside of Puerto Rico. When CSP was first established. Miguel Perez Sr was the top name in the promotion and helped give credibility as CSP tried to establish itself in Puerto Rico. Perez Sr. would eventually yield the limelight to Carlos Colon (once the latter was established as a star), but would remain an active and respected member of the promotion until retiring in 1984. That same year, Miguel Jr (or Miguelito as he is often called) started his wrestling career. Miguelito would make his debut for CSP at Aniversario 85 due to an angle where Eric Embry attacked first Miguel Sr. and then Miguel Jr. when he came out to defend his dad. This ended with Embry (with the help of Dan Greer) giving the elder Perez a piledriver of the turnbuckle, which resulted in Miguelito challenging Embry to avenge the attack on both his father and himself. From there, Miguelito would have a prominent position on the card, having a short-lived World tag title reign with Carlos Colon (which would be cut short post match by Los Pastores taking Miguelito out). As 1986 started, Miguelito’s path would cross with another second generation wrestler. Here is a TV match from the summer of 86 showcasing Miguelito vs Dan Greer (billed as La Momia).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgjR8LSzcjs

Hugo mentions that this will be a test for Miguelito since La Momia is very experienced and in a very bad mood because he’s recently lost his mask and his hair. That explains that weird haircut La Momia has, although I wonder then why they continue to bill him as La Momia when Dan Greer was literally in the promotion several months before this as himself (he’s the opponent Chicky Starr was facing in that brief clip we saw of Chicky wearing boxing gloves in our last installment). This match is short and is designed to be a showcase for Miguelito, who by this point has been wrestling in the promotion for less than a year (and that includes a period of about two and half months where he was out due to an attack by Los Pastores). Hugo on commentary says that you have to admire Miguelito for agreeing to take this match on TV since a loss here would be a setback for him in his career. The match itself is a bit back and forth in terms of momentum changes, ending when Miguelito rolls out of the way from a diving body press and secures a small package on Greer for the three count. Some of the fans celebrate with Miguelito at ringside as Joaquin Padin says that it’s a victory for  ‘el nuevo idolo de Borinquen’’, which means the new idol of Puerto Rico.

MD: I don’t know here. Esteban promised us a wrestling mummy and we get Dan Greer, completely bald except for a bit of hair in a sort of mullet. This was worked with Perez as an arm-dragging, underdog rookie. He could get a quick move in at any point but would put his head down or get overpowered in the corner and Greer would take back over. He won off of a roll up after Greer missed a top rope splash. You got the sense that it was sort of an “A for Effort” approach to establishing Perez.

EB: Huracan Castillo Jr (or Huracan Castillo, hijo which is typically also used for sons that share the same name as their fathers) is the son of Pedro ‘Huracan’ Castillo, rudo extraordinaire for much of the 60s and 70s in Puerto Rico. While not as big of a name in the U.S. as Miguel Perez, Huracan Sr. had a long career that included wrestling across several different territories as part of the Castillo Brothers tag team (under the name of Fidel Castillo). Huracan Jr first appears in results from 1981, wrestling alongside his father for competitor promotions to CSP. But in 1984, both Castillos went to CSP, Castillo Sr. to have his retirement run from active competition (afterwards he would become the on screen commissioner and do a couple of one off in-ring returns) and Castillo Jr to wrestle as a lower card wrestler while he continued to gain experience. Castillo Jr. would mostly remain in the undercard throughout 84 and 85 but would start being positioned in a more prominent role in 1986 when he was teamed up with another second generation wrestler in the promotion, Miguelito Perez. To give an idea of Huracan Castillo Jr in action, here is a match also against Dan Greer from the summer of 1986.

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

This match follows similar beats as the Miguelito vs Greer match, so you can make a comparison of Huracan's skills. In the exchanges Huracan comes off a bit more polished (of course he’s been wrestling for a few more years than Miguelito by this point). Joaquin Padin on commentary calls Huracan a tremendous wrestler, very agile and young, and as everyone knows he has been teaming up with Miguelito Perez. Today he is in singles competition. Hugo puts over Huracan’s ground and aerial skills, saying that he’s young and willing to learn and he thinks it’s great that Miguelito and Huracan are teaming up. He also applauds that they’re still wrestling as singles which will allow them to continue to grow their confidence and experience. As the match moves on and Greer controls the middle portion of the match, Hugo talks about the importance of working hard and training, and that you can see how it's paying off for Castillo with how he’s improved. Greer continues to have the advantage for a good portion of the match, in contrast to the shorter match worked with Miguelito (which was more back and forth). Castillo regains the advantage by rolling out of the way of a diving splash and hitting a high knee. Greer manages to stop Castillo’s momentum with some dirty tactics. Greer goes for the pin off a belly to belly suplex, but Castillo gets his foot on the rope to break the count. Greer tries a clothesline off the ropes, but Castillo ducks and on the rebound grabs Greer in a small package for the win.

MD: Castillo was a bit farther along than Perez and that meant that Greer (still not a mummy in any meaningful sense of the word) was able to do a bit more with him here, a longer, more complex match, more stooging when taking things, more biting on top, more suplexes overall from both of them. Greer hit a belly to belly and Castillo hit a nice butterfly. I’m not sure what I think about Castillo’s jumping knee yet. It comes at his opponents a bit more dead on than I'm used to. Still armdrags early and still a roll up out of nowhere for the win by Castillo.  

EB: The story of Perez Jr and Castillo Jr as a team would begin in March of 1986, when a one night tournament was held for the vacant World tag titles (they had been vacant since Los Pastores had put Miguelito on the shelf). Miguelito would enter the tournament with Huracan Castillo Jr as his tag partner, forming a tag team of the two second generation young lions in the promotion. And thus their journey as a tag team partnership began, one that would be on and off over the next few years. From 86 to 88, there would be stretches where Perez and Castillo would be a regular tag team and other stretches where each would focus more on singles competition (Miguelito wrestling for the NA and PR titles and Huracan in the junior heavyweight division). Both of them would find success as singles but also when teaming together.

As 1989 began, Miguelito and Huracan where in one of the stretches were they working mainly as a regular tag team. They were the reigning Caribbean tag champs and would kick off the year by facing the New Ninja Express on the Three Kings Day year opener, leading to a series of matches between the two teams throughout the first two months of 1989.     

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

The New Ninja Express are Mr. Pogo and Sasaki San (a young Kensuke Sasaki) with El Profe as their manager. This match shows how Miguelito and Huracan have come along as a team and in their development as wrestlers. The first half of this match is basically Perez and Castillo in control and showcasing their teamwork. Pogo manages to finally get the advantage by hitting a reverse kick on a charging Miguelito but the Ninja Express lose the advantage when the more inexperienced Sasaki tags back in. Pogo regains control with a sleeperhold on Perez, but is able to make the tag once Sasaki is back in. Castillo works over both team members and looks to have the match in hand when he tries a suplex on Pogo, who is on the ring apron. But El Profe trips Castillo up and holds Castillo’s leg from outside the ring, allowing Pogo to get the pin. As referee El Vikingo is preparing to hand the title belts to the Ninja Express,referee Ricky Vargas comes out to explain that El Profe interfered by holding down Castillo’s leg. El Vikingo reverses the decision and disqualifies the Ninja Express. Therefore, Perez and Castillo are still the Caribbean tag team champions.

MD: Ok, here’s the tip for everyone, which really isn’t rocket science to anyone familiar. By this point, Perez and Castillo had matching gear and similar haircuts and there are indications that Perez had maybe caught up with Castillo. But even in a match with wonky video resolution like this, all you have to do is remember that Perez is the hirsute one. Sasaki brought youthful abandon, some power, some hard strikes to the table, but this was missing Kendo Nagasaki’s bullheaded aggression and tendency to eat up his opponents. That meant Perez and Castillo took a lot of this with quick tags and holds that didn’t entirely seem earned relatively. It was still effective and probably a good match for Sasaki’s excursion but it didn’t have the same energy as the Rufus/Medico tag from earlier.

EB: Perez and Castillo would spend most of March on tour, but upon their return would once more battle the New Ninja Express. Soon afterwards, they would become embroiled in a feud with the Battens, who had turned rudo after having lost the World tag titles and gone with El Profe as their manager. The feud, which would involve the Caribbean tag titles, would include a scaffold match and eventually a hair vs hair match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28G8cf7Scmw

Before seeing the scaffold match clip, the card rundown for the Father’s Day show is seen. When the Battens vs Perez & Castillo match is announced, you can see a brief clip of Perez and Castillo holding down one of the Battens and cutting some of his hair off, and then a clip of the Battens attacking a downed Miguelito and trying to cut some of his hair. So you can tell this rivalry has gotten serious. The hair vs hair match is with no time limit and there must be a winner. But before all that, the teams had a scaffold match sometime in late May in Caguas. By that point, the teams had traded the Caribbean tag titles back and forth, including a period where the titles were held up after a match between them (with the Battens winning the held up titles on Mother’s Day). This clip is the last two minutes of the scaffold match. The Battens take control and throw salt into Castillo’s face, impairing his vision. As Castillo tries to not roll over the edge, the Battens double team Miguelito. As Castillo lies close to the edge of the scaffold, the Battens attack him and try to throw him off (Rip Rogers on commentary mentions that Perez and Castillo had already cut some of the Battens' hair before this match). Castillo tries to hang on but eventually falls to the two on one onslaught.

Castillo and Perez would regain the Caribbean tag titles on June 9th, but would lose  the hair vs hair match due to the Battens cheating. The teams would still continue their rivalry, as we go to June 24.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exjX4sFdYO8

This is a Caribbean tag title defense and Perez and Castillo (sporting their new haircuts) immediately rush the ring and go right after the Battens. They fight to the outside of the ring, where Perez and Castillo just continue punching the Battens and ramming them into whatever railing or fixture they can find. The fans are cheering the tecnicos on. The Battens manage to get a breather after being thrown around, as the referee tries to get Castillo and Perez into the ring. Hugo on commentary mentions that Perez and Castillo are angry about the cheating the Battens did that cost them their hair.  The match goes back outside and Perez and Castillo are just vicious in their attack on the Battens. Miguelito and one of the Battens make it back to the ring, where Perez gets a couple of pinfall attempts. The Battens try to go to the floor but Castillo chases them and does not give them a chance to regroup. We go to commercial break with Perez and Castillo still in control but come back with the Battens having taken the advantage. The Battens isolate Miguelito and he gets thrown into the ringpost. Castillo goes out to help Miguelito back in the ring but the Battens continue with the advantage. Heel miscommunication allows Perez to make the hot tag and Castillo comes in to clean house. All four men fight in the ring and, while the ref is trying to get Perez out of the ring, Castillo hits a flying bodypress on one of the Battens for a pin attempt. The ref starts to count the pinfall but El Profe jumps into the ring and hits Castillo .The ref admonishes El Profe instead of calling for a dq. Suddenly, Maelo Huertas runs out and chases El Profe around and into the ring. One of the Battens knees Maelo in the back as he’s going out of the ring. El Profe and one of the Battens attack Maelo on the outside, but in the confusion Castillo rolls up the other Batten and gets the pinfall The Battens and El Profe hightail it out of the rinside area as Castillo and Perez celebrate.

However, due to Maelo getting involved, a six man tag was held the following week with Maelo joining Perez and Castillo and El Profe joining the Battens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nv8EQS-UKU

We start with the match participants being introduced, which leads to El Profe doing a muscle pose on the turnbuckle when he is introduced. Castillo and El Profe start, with El Profe making a show of getting warmed up. Once he turns around and sees Castillo standing in front of him, Profe immediately turns back around and tags out. The ref starts questioning Profe if he was starting the match or not and Profe shakes his head no. After some back and forth talk, Maelo is now starting and is daring El Profe to get in the ring. Profe gets in, but the moment Maelos starts charging at him, he immediately tags out. You can guess how El Profe’s participation in this match is going to go. Maelo tags Miguelito in. Miguelito starts jawing at the Batten twin in the ring and pointing at El Profe, indicating that he should be in the ring. Profe decides to get in there but as he's getting in Miguelito quickly tags Maelo back in. Profe jumps out of the ring and argues with the fans as he paces around. We continue with the dynamic of El Profe getting in the ring when he thinks Maelo is tagged out only to find Maelo tagged back in and El Profe bailing again. This has been all heel schtick so far. Finally the match starts properly with one of the Battens in the ring. The story of the match becomes El Profe trying his best to avoid being tagged by his teammates as the match goes on, effectively making it a two on three match because he refuses to get in there. The match goes to commercial break with a promo for Aniversario 89 (we’ll talk about this soon) and returns with the tecnicos still in control. The tecnicos continue in control despite the Battens best efforts, and El Profe continues to conveniently move away from being tagged in anytime one his teammates gets close to the corner. El Profe finally tags in when he sees Maelo is down and hits a double foot stomp. He tags out after hitting the move and cockily struts out of the ring, doing a bicep pose on the apron to the crowd when he gets on the ring apron. The Battens continue the attack with a double clothesline as El Profe enthusiastically applauds from the corner. El Profe signals for the Batten twin to throw Maelo into his knees in the corner and then Profe tags back in. Profe taunts the tecnicos and, as the ref tries to get Castillo and Perez out of the ring ,the rudos triple team Maelo. Castillo and Perez have enough of what's happening and charge into the ring, attacking the Battens. El Profe bails but Maelo starts chasing him around the ring. Back in the ring, Perez and Castillo are dominating the Battens. The match ends when Miguelito catches one of the Battens coming off the top rope and hits a powerslam (which at the time was his finishing maneuver).

MD: From what we can see here, this looked to be a great feud, and it goes back to the show to show booking in 89 and how solid it’s come off to me. Things escalated to the point of a scaffold match. We only get a minute or two here but what stood out was how big the scaffold was, that the Battens used powder in the eye to win, and Castillo’s fall. That led to a big hair vs hair match where Perez and Castillo were shaved. Then they had a big revenge match with a ton of heat and had the Battens immediately overwhelmed and tossed all over the ringside area. I’d never given them too much time before but they look great in all of these matches. They were somewhat undersized relatively (just look at them standing next to Profe) but they fed and bumped and drew a ton of heat with that constantly “on” energy that I love to see. Perez and Castillo won that match but Profe made a violent spectacle out of himself at the end, which led to the six man with Maelo. That was another heel-in-peril structured tag, but with good reason; Profe refused to tag in making it a de facto handicap match. He finally cheated to help his team get the advantage and came in to pick the bones (which made him stand out as different than the more assertive Chicky) but the tecnicos rushed into the ring shortly into the beatdown. Profe still managed to escape Maelo chasing him around the ring, but at the price of his team losing.

EB: As the feud with the Battens wound down, Perez and Castillo would have a brief World tag title reign as well (making them double champions) but would lose the titles back to Rip Rogers and Abudda Dein. As September of 89 approaches, they are still the Caribbean tag champions.

Next time on El Deporte de la Mil Emociones, the road to Aniversario 89 comes into focus.

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