El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: We Were Friends, We Were Brothers

Week 60: We Were Friends, We Were Brothers

EB: A lot has happened since Aniversario 91. Steve Strong was coming back, then he didn't, which resulted in Nikolai Volkoff coming in and having a brief rivalry with Carlos Colon. Abdullah the Butcher returned and got into a bloody match with Giant Warrior. Fidel Sierra has also made a return and has hired El Profe as his manager. A rematch between Carlos Colon and Dino Bravo is looming on August 3. But the biggest development has been the breakup of the Caribbean Express after Miguelito Perez decided to give up the World tag team titles due to how they won the match. Huracan Castillo and Monster Ripper were not happy with this decision, leading to Castillo refusing to tag in during a match with the Ring Lords and then attacking and busting open Miguelito when Perez tried to leave the match. The Caribbean tag titles have been vacated due to the team breakup, but more importantly it sears a years long friendship and bond has been broken. With the feeling of betrayal from both sides being evident, a grudge match between Perez and Castillo has been signed for August 3. That’s two big matches we have scheduled for August 3 , although an incident at the July 31 TV taping at Miramar is going to cause a change to the scheduled Universal title match.

Before going to the August 3 Cameens episode to catch up on what happened, we have an important bit of news to cover. While we don't have the exact date, it seems that during the latter half of July we had another debut, this time for El Ejercit de la Justicia. He is a promising newcomer that is getting a chance to ply his trade in CSP, someone with a lot of potential. His name is Ray Gonzalez.

Ray Gonzalez s. El Dragon (same match from two different broadcasts, one is JIP)

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

This is our first look at Ray Gonzalez as himself. His opponent is El Dragon and we've included the two links since the commentary is different. This is a showcase for a promising newcomer. In the JIP version from Super Estrellas, Hugo talks up his potential, while Eliud makes a comment about Ray’s good looks, calling him a ‘galan’. Hugo cautions Eliud about using that word since it may draw the ire of Galan Mendoza. On the Campeones version of the airing, Profe makes a joke about Ray being Don Eliud’s son and makes comments about his attire, but begrudgingly concedes he’s not too bad in the ring. Hugo thinks the ladies will love this latest competitor in Capitol Sports. Ray gets the win by surprising Dragon with a pinning combination. .

MD: We’ve seen Gonzalez as Condor a few times, but this is his debut without a mask. They presented him as a young, fresh, athletic good guy. Lots of rope running out of headlocks in this one, with Gonzalez getting the better with a dropkick, a reverse monkey flip, by stopping short and stomping. He was up against a masked guy we hadn’t seen much before and he didn’t offer much. Gonzalez had a nice charging, following corner clothesline, timed very well, and a running power slam, but he won it by getting a jackknife pin out of nowhere. Maybe not as definitive as it could have been given the way the match went. Still, he looked good in there for a “debut.”

EB: Let’s now go to the 8/3/91 Campeones episode and find out what happened in Miramar thats has caused a big card change for that night’s house show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJfLE1gcDuU

Hugo and Profe welcome us to the show and Hugo almost immediately pivots to an incident that happened this past Wednesday at the TV taping. Hugo says that he is supposed to remain neutral as producer of the program but he must criticize what Profe and Abdullah the Butcher did to Carlitos (Profe mockingly feigns ignorance and starts asking Moi?). Hugo goes on by saying that what they did was an affront, a professional embarrassment, and that athletic ethics should be respected. What they did was grotesque, something that truly should be condemned, and Hugo feels that something should be done so nothing like that happens again because Profe and Abdullah went too far, they have no respect for wrestling. Profe counters that there is no limit to what Abdullah can do, especially when he is being led by El Profe. Hugo tells the viewers that in moments they will show part of what happened that has caused a change to tonight’s card, Carlos Colon will now take on Abdullah the Butcher instead of defending the Universal title against Dino Bravo. Hugo quickly runs down the matches for today's program and then we get to what happened last Wednesday, with Profe being proud of what happened and Hugo saying he does not want one second to go by without publicly condemning what happened. The incident is not shown in its entirety, later on we’ll have a Giant Warrior vs. Abdullah match from that same Wednesday’s taping that is what started the incident.

We go to Cataño where Invader #1 is set to face The Fly when the camera cuts to Abdullah and Profe heading out of the locker room. Andullah has his head bandaged  and he and Profe go across the back of the arena to the opposite side. Hugo on commentary initially thinks Abdullahw was coming out to attack Invader but now he is asking for the director to send a camera to follow Abdullah and Profe since they have no idea what is going on. Hugo realizes that they have gone in the direction of the tecnico locker room. We switch cameras and catch a glimpse of Profe and Abdullah entering the tecnico locker room area. Abdullah grabs a metal case and continues entering further into the locker room. It soon becomes clear what is happening as Profe and Abdullah surprise a showering Carlos Colon and Abdullah proceeded to attack the naked Carlos in the shower. The attack goes on for a bit and they have a black circle censoring Colon's body. Abdullah uses the metal case to hit Colon, leaving him bleeding and laid out in the shower when reinforcements finally arrive to save Carlos. The camera focuses on the bleeding Carlos as Hugo is heard on the microphone informing the crowd in the arena what has happened. 

We then cut to Carlos making a phone call to WWC commissioner Hayden T Joseph. Carlos wants tonight’s Universal title match to be postponed because he wants payback on Abdullah tonight. The commissioner says this a highly unusual request and that he has to speak with Dino Bravo first since Bravo has to agree to the change as well. Carlos states that he will agree to wrestle Bravo at any other time under any condition that Bravo wants if Bravo agrees to change the match. Back to the studio with Hugo and Profe where Hugo recaps the request Carlos made. The commissioner got in touch with Dino Bravo, but Bravo still needed to talk things over with his manager El Profe. Let’s go to that conversation. We go to the control room where Profe is on the phone with Bravo, although Hugo gets annoyed because Profe had promised that they could film the conversation but now he is saying that they can't listen to Bravo’s side of the call. Profe says they can listen to his side of the conversation but anything said by Bravo is strictly personal and confidential between the two of them. Profe reassures Bravo that the title is not on the line tonight and they had already laid quite a beating on Carlos and were looking to finish the job tonight. Hug gets annoyed with the jokes Profe is making and wants Profe to get Bravo’s answer. It is a yes, so tonight’s match will be Colon vs Abdullah.

Back to Hugo who confirms that the commissioner has made the match official for tonight. Also scheduled for tonight is the grudge match between Miguelito Perez and Huracan Castillo, two men who were once like brothers but now due to Castillo’s greed or decisions (however you want to frame it) has led to this. Profe says that Castillo  will now see who his real friends are, his dad is rejecting him, his friends have rejected him, everyone rejects him, but here is El Profe to help out in any way. Hugo tries to interrupt Profe by saying it’s not that his dad rejected Castillo, he was trying to give him good advice and Castillo wouldn't listen. Hugo takes a moment to ask Profe that since he is offering to help Castillo does this mean Profe is going to make peace with Monster Ripper. Profe continues talking about Castillo and ignoring Hugo’s question about Monster Ripper, indicating that he has no interest in talking about her. There are other notable matches scheduled for tonight as Koko B Ware will be in action, Sky Walker makes his return to face Giant Warrior, and the SST are in singles action with TNT vs. Samoan Savage and Fatu vs Invader #1. Before going to our first match, Hugo reminds viewers that their sponsor Medalla has an activity tomorrow Sunday at 10am at the Salinas Speedway. It's a truck competition, along with other activities like arm wrestling, drinking competitions and the Ms. Trucker competition.

MD: This is a great, striking scene. There’s a match going on in the ring and the cameras suddenly start chasing after an out of control Abdullah heading to the back. He catches Colon naked and coming out of the shower (I think at least) and leaves him bloody and it all feels unpredictable and wild given the usual format of the show. Then we overhear a call (in English, dubbed over) of Colon talking to the WWC Commissioner to change his match with Bravo into one with Abdullah, and good for the crowd that got to see that (and us since we have this). Then we see Profe, looking like Strongbad, in front of the radio mic to clear things with Bravo, working the other half of the things. Definitely a hot angle that came out of nowhere to start the show.

Fidel Sierra vs. Invader #4

EB: Our first match is joined in progress as Fidel Sierra takes on Invader #4. Sierra is in control at the start but Invader #4 quickly counters and works over Sierra’s arm briefly before Sierra cuts him off. The match is mainly Sierra in control with some Invader #4 hope spots mixed in. On commentary Profe is going on about how he feels a sense of brotherhood with Fidel Sierra and how it makes him feel Cuban since he’s started managing Fidel, something that Hugo is not buying and keeps asking Profe if he’s certain it is not money fueling his brotherhood and patriotism remarks. Sierra locks on a sleeperhold and gets the win when Invader #4 is put out. Profe hands Fidel the Cuban flag, which Fidel lays over the prone Invader #4. Hugo voices his displeasure with the flag being used like that and also reminds the viewers at home about the dangers of using holds like this if not applied properly. Sierra was starting to leave but heads back in to wake up Invader #4. 

We then go to the studio for some promos from Fidel Sierra and Super Medico #3. It seems that Medico #3 is defending the Caribbean title against Sierra tonight. The Man From Havana says he is the best in the world and will take the Caribbean title tonight, while Medico #3 promises that he will be ready to retain tonight. Invader #1 also cuts a promo about facing Fatu tonight in Bayamon, saying that while the Samoans are very good in tag team wrestling tonight they will have to prove it as singles.

The segment finishes with a card rundown for tonight in Bayamon: Carlos Colon vs Abdullah the Butcher; Miguelito Perez vs. Huracan Castillo in a grudge match; TNT defends the TV title against Samoan Savage; Invader #1 vs. Fatu; Giant Warrior vs Sky Walker; Super Medico #3 defends the Caribbean title against Fidel Sierra; Ricky Santana & Koko B Ware vs Galan Mendoza & El Profe; and Bronco #1 vs Alex Porteau. Also this coming Wednesday is the TV taping at Miramar featuring Invader #1 vs Huracan Castillo, Miguelito Perez vs Fidel Sierra, and Giant Warrior & Bronco #1 vs. the State Patrol. 

MD: Sierra is more “Cuban Assassin”-coded than before, though he still has a cool hat in his promo. I kind of liked the more stylish version we saw last time. Profe’s got the flag and everything. Invader IV is a great guy to put a new heel over and he does so here, holding his own with fast offense until he gets caught with a hot shot and put into a sleeper. Sierra really wrenched it back and forth and it looked great. Glad to see him come back in to wake Invader up too. Sierra will be going for the Caribbean Championship and Super Medico III is taking the threat seriously.

Super Medico #3 vs. The Fly

EB: Our next match is Caribbean champion Super Medico #3 taking on The Fly. The match is a bit more competitive than one would expect, with Fly getting in some moments of control on Medico #3. The Fly goes to the outside to stop Medico #3’s momentum but it still isn't enough to avoid taking the loss when Medico’#3 hits him with a headbutt of the middle turnbuckle. Let’s see how Medico #3 does tonight against Fidel Sierra.

MD: Fly got a lot here, actually, but Medico was able to jam him in the corner a couple of times. I do miss Medico I. III is coming along and he has good timing, good presence, more size, but he doesn’t quite have the same great strikes. He did win this with a nice headbutt off the second rope to a standing Fly.

EB: Our next round of promos has Samoan Savage talking about his TV title match with TNT, Sky Walker making his return to prove who the real giant is against Giant Warrior, and Giant Warrior (with bandage on forehead) saying he has to put Abdullah at the back of his mind for the moment in order to settle this grudge with Sky Walker once and for all.

MD: They were splitting up the SST to have them face TNT and others in singles matches. This is Samoan Savage saying that Fatu is on the beach and he’s taking care of business. Given how formidable they were in general, it’s not a bad way to keep cards fresh I guess.

Sky Walker was back to show everyone he’s the real giant. Something about his face paint made him seem smaller and not bigger. He had done damage last time, but Giant Warrior is coming out of the Abby match bandaged and wanting to take his frustrations out on anyone in his way.

Koko Ware vs. Al Burke

EB: With Koko B Ware returning tonight, we have a showcase match from Wrestling Challenge with Koko getting a win against Al Burke.

MD: Burke ambushed Koko to start and really did put the pressure on him. Koko just jammed him in the middle of the ring and dropped him with the brainbuster though. He’ll be in to team with Ricky Santana against Profe and Mendoza, which sounds like a lot of fun. I’d like to see him against Santana too, but we get what we get.

EB: Monster Ripper and Huracan Castillo are in the studio to talk about tonight’s match against Miguelito Perez. Ripper calls Miguelito stupid and Huracan says that what Miguelito did to them has no price. He turned in the World tag titles which only idiots do, that was fame, glory, money. That was the goal they had for themselves and they had done it Miguel, and then you do the stupid thing and give the belts up. Miguel will pay for that tonight and then we will see that Castillo is the better one of the two. “I made the team, I made you, everything you know I’ve taught you.” Miguelit better come ready because Castillo has a feeling that Miguel will be leaving on a stretcher.

Miguelito Perez is next , saying that friends don't betray like this and Castillo has to pay for that tonight. Castillo talks a lot about how he taught me, how he did this and that, he can talk all that he wants, the only person that taught me was my father. And what my father taught me I will teach you tonight, I'll show just what an angry friend is. You are no longer my friend, let’s make that clear, and what you did to me in front of all the Puerto Rican fans will be paid back tonight. You will pay for it in blood, I am going to bust you up and break your face. You are scum and will pay.

Our last promo for this segment is El Profe talking on behalf of Fatu about tonight’s match against Invader #1. He reminds everyone of how dangerous the SST are and they can be just as dangerous in singles action.

MD: Castillo was dressed more ostentatious. The pairing with Ripper does feel a little odd, but whatever gets him heat I guess. He takes credit for everything good they had done while Perez shows remorse for the situation and for Castillo giving in to his greed. I would have liked to see a Castillo squash maybe, or a cheap win, but that might have been on some of the TV we don’t have.

Abdullah the Butcher vs. Giant Warrior

EB: Next is Giant Warrior vs Abdullah the Butcher from this past Wednesday in Miramar. Abdullah attacks Giant Warrior from behind with a chair before he is able to get into the ring. Hugo mentions that we will see shortly what happened that caused Abdullah to attack Carlos in the locker room later that night. Andullah gets several chair shots in as Profe holds the referee back. Warrior gets rammed into the announce table and Abdullah introduces more of the ringside furniture to Warrior. Abdullah heads into the ring and continues to attack Warrior when the latter tries to get into the ring. Abdullah tosses Warrior out and it looks like Warrior has hurt his arm. Warrior valiantly fights back but Abdullah pulls out a sharp object and starts stabbing Warrior in the forehead. This draws a dq but Abdullah continues jabbing the object into Warrior’s forehead. Warrior is bleeding. As Abdullah continues his attack, Carlos Colon runs out with an object of his own to attack Abdullah and drive him away. Warrior is the winner by dq and it seems that Abdullah did not take too kindly to Colon interfering. 

We cut to a sleeping Abdullah as El Profe does a voiceover promo. The beast is sleeping now but in a few hours he will be awake for tonight. Even Profe is wary about waking him up now for the interview because of how uncontrollable Abdullah is when he gets this angry. This is an uncontrolled beast and Profe does not care about keeping Abdullah in check tonight.

An angry Carlos Colon is next and he promises that tonight will be different from the other times he has faced Abdullah, what they did to him is something that Carlos has never experienced in his 25 years in professional wrestling. That was cowardly and humiliating and they will pay dearly for that tonight. Adullah will get the beating of his life tonight.. 

MD: The Abby/Warrior match is probably worth seeing again. Colon intervened and now they’ve lead to this moment where Abby is out of control and everything is going to come to a head. I’d have happily paid 8 bucks to see this.

EB: TNT is here to talk about his TV title defense tonight against Samoan Savage. He will be defending a title that belongs to the Puerto Rican people, so he intends to defend it with his life. After a card rundown we get a Samoan Swat Team music video. 

MD: TNT is ready to defend his TV title against the SST. SST get a music video full of headbutts to Disposable Heroes by Metallica which is pretty effective. It’s not a major program for TNT given everything else that’s going on but I doubt fans would feel shortchanged by this.

EB: To close out this episode, Hugo Savinovich conducted interviews with Huracan Castillo Sr. and Miguel Perez Sr. about the rift and upcoming match between their sons. Hugo is visiting the Castillo home and interviewing Castillo Sr. in his bedroom. Castillo Sr., who has been paralyzed since an August 1988 shooting, says that the situation is a bit embarrassing and that he has tried to give good advice to his son. But the younger Castillo doesn't want to listen. Hugo asks Castillo Sr. if his son has said anything about this and Castillo Sr. indicates that all his son says that he is an adult and can make his own decisions. He hopes that his son will come to reason but who knows how long this may take. Hugo also asks Castillo Sr. if he can provide a health update on how he is doing, to which he says he is doing better everyday. 

We then cut to the Perez residence where Hugo is interviewing Miguel Perez Sr. about the situation. Perez Sr. says that he backs his son all the way and he just cannot stomach the way Castillo Jr acted. It's one thing to disagree and even fight, but the way Castillo Jr attacked in such a treacherous manner. Miguelito felt the rift when Castillo didn't want to tag in during that match and even decided to just leave the ring rather than risk injury or get heated with Castillo right then and there. And then it was Castillo that attacked from behind to break that bond they had. The match is signed now and it is up to Miguelito to show what he knows in the ring. But Perez Sr. is hoping that Castillo Jr. will come to his senses, he even sent him video of a birthday party they had where Castillo Jr was there, to see if those memories will help bring him back to reason. They end the episode with a clip of Castillo and Miguelito in the Perez family trophy room, where they are both holding a picture of Miguel Perez Sr. Castillo says that this a glory  of Puerto Rico (referring to Perez Sr.) and he should be respected. Now it is their time to continue those legacies. Happier times from when they were friends, when they were brothers.

MD: Effective segments. Castillo is bedridden and finds the situation and his son’s behavior tragic. Not a hint of heeling or supporting him. Perez feels quite the same. It really put gravitas on all of this, just a sense that something special had been destroyed to to Castillo, Jr.’s greed and ego.

EB: Five matches from the August 3 house show were shown later that month as a prime time special called Choque de Titanes (Clash of Titans). The special was hosted by Hugo Savinovich, El Profe and Eliud Gonzalez. The special was promoting an upcoming September 7 house show, so we’ll discuss that aspect of the special later on when we get there chronologically. What we will focus on here are the five matches from August 3. So let’s go forwards to go back and see what went down.

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

Hugo welcomes the viewers and presents his cohosts for the evening, El Profe and Eliud Gonzalez. After a greeting from everyone, Hug starts mentioning the matches they’ll have tonight. It is going to be interesting since Profe will be on commentary but he will be competing in one of the matches as well as managing some of the wrestlers (so we'll likely get some interesting comments from him on commentary). The two big matches airing tonight are the grudge matches between Miguelito Perez and Huracan Castillo and Carlos Colon vs Abdullah the Butcher. With regards to Perez and Castillo, they will  have a face off tonight on the program (this is leading up to their September 7  matches so we’ll cover this segment when we get closer to that date). 

Koko B. Ware & Ricky Santana vs. Gran Mendoza & El Profe

Our first match is a tag match pitting Ricky Santana & Koko B Ware vs. El Profe & Galan Mendza. Koko had faced Mendoza at Aniversario and Santana was having a series of matches with El Profe, so there is some backstory here. The crowd seems to be really happy to see Koko here during the ring introductions. Eliud mentioned that he had been talking with Koko before the match and he learned that birds like Frankie can live up to 100 years. Hugo comments that he has a pet bird named Goldie and talks about how great they can be as pets but their care is a key part to keeping them around so long. Profe is getting razzed by the crowd and wants no part of Santana, so he tags in Mendoza. The tecnicos control the first half of the match, with Profe in particular not having a good time of it. At one point, Mendoza tries to tag Profe back in, only for Profe to decide to go check on some rigging equipment rather than make the tag. Hugo makes note that Profe is shining by his absence on commentary, it seems when things aren't going well for him and his wrestlers he either feigns ignorance or decides it’s time to go for a  walk. In a neat spot, Mendoza gets rammed into Frankie and sells the blow. Profe gets caught between Santana and Koko and just pinballs between them as he gets hit. He tries to tag out to Mendoza, but Mendoza decides to take a stroll to get back for earlier. The rudos briefly talk it over and Mendoza is tagged in. An attempted double team backfires and again Profe is caught between Santana and Koko. Something finally goes right for the rudo team when a knee to the back on Santana turns the tide. The rudos work over santana, with Profe taunting Koko throughout. Eventually Santana gets the hot tag to Koko, all four men end up in the ring and Koko gets the Ghostbuster on Profe for the win.

MD: This was really good. You take some time to watch this and it’ll make your day. Incredibly fun shine. Santana got the better of Mendoza and Profe again and again, including with some beautiful, beautiful punches. Then Koko came in and the place came unglued. Profe took a headbutt by bumping himself into the ropes. Great stooge bump. Then on the floor, Koko rubbed Mendoza’s face into Frankie, which may or may not have been animal abuse, but it was definitely Gran Mendoza abuse. They went back into the ring and Mendoza ran into Santana’s fists while Koko hit an eyepoke. Awesome shine. At one point, Profe had gone to the dirt and was trying to mess with a flagpole and… I don’t even know what he was doing and neither did Mendoza but he was that flustered and it was that entertaining.

Eventually, Profe grabbed Santana’s hair from the outside during rope running and the heels took over. Some nice double teams and drawing Koko in. Profe was a jerk along those lines. He also hit this great running knee in the corner. Really good stuff. But eventually, after the ref missed a tag and as things boiled over with the crowd, the hot tag came (and it was a good one), and Koko came in hot to a huge pop. Santana recovered and they got quick revenge with the ghostbuster on Profe. Everything you’d want for an undercard tag like this.

Giant Warrior vs. Sky Walker  

EB: The next match is Giant Warrior vs. Sky Walker and I goofed on the date for this match. We covered this in a previous post thinking this was from November of 90. Turns out it’s from this card  in August 1991. Sky Walker makes a one off return, thinks he won the match although Warrior got his leg on the rope, and then Warrior hits a big boot to get the win.

MD: We’d already covered this one. It’s still pretty good. Warrior has a nice back elbow and belly to back. Walker takes over and works over the wound (from the Abby match) which is a bit of context we probably missed before. The transition to comeback being a missed elbow drop is a little weak and they protect Walker on the way out by having him almost win (but Warrior’s foot is on the rope which the ref misses at first) but eat the boot anyway. What’s most important here is that this isn’t Murdoch or Abby, and this still holds up pretty well mostly on the strength of who and what Warrior was by this point and his connection with the crowd.

TNT vs. The Samoan Savage 

EB: TNT defends the TV title against Saman Savage. Feeling out process to start with Savage complaining about his hair being pulled. Savage then spends the next couple of minutes playing hide the foreign object until he is able to get some punches in on TNT. Savage takes over with nerve holds and strikes and most of the match continues this way until TNT’s comeback. The match ends when TNT does a corner spin kick that sends him over the top to the floor. It seems that TNT has hurt his leg on the impact. The ref counts TNT out and awards the match to Samoan Savage when TNT is unable to get back in the ring. 

MD: It’s so funny that Savage works this as a total Memphis heel, with just a bit more nerve holds. I always saw the SST of a few years earlier as fearsome, horrific even, down to the theme music, and now he’s just another glorious stooging heel in Puerto Rico. The system does work, and it works here too. He stalls at first, then plays hide the imaginary object, including making the ref check TNT and complaining about hairpulls. Eventually he takes over with it and does a lot of nerve holds, but it all works. TNT has a great hope spot where he hammers on the open feet of Savage. Finish is kind of wild as he came back with the spin wheel kick but when he tried it in the corner, he made contact but overshot and crashed onto the ground outside, knee injured. He loses by countout and then Savage hammers his knee with the belt post-match. Very SNME or Clash of Champions type match but it worked for what it was.

Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Huracan Castillo Jr.

EB: The Caribbean Express explodes as it is time for Perez vs Castillo. Perez gets in and immediately starts punching away at Castillo. Miguelito continues on the attack, eventually knocking Castillo out of the ring with a dropkick. Castillo tries to get away but Perez gives chase and they start exchanging blows on the ballfield, at one point just exchanging what look to be open handed slaps. Perez throws Castillo back in and it’s the opening Huracan needs, he catches Perez coming in with an eye rake to cut him off. Castillo works over Perez, sending him to the outside and ramming him into the post. Castillo keeps rolling in briefly to stop the ref’s count, but continues attacking Perez on the outside by throwing him into the ringside officials table. Miguelito is bleeding as Castillo uses the table and a chair to attack him. Back in the ring, Castillo focuses his punches and kicks on Miguelito's bleeding forehead. Castillo even bites the cut. 

The match continues with Castillo in control and putting Perez in a chinlock. The crowd cheers Miguelito on as the camera shows Ripper trying to yell at the crowd to shut up. Perez is able to counter Castillo's offense with a back suplex. Both men exchange blows but it is Castillo that gets the better of the exchange by ramming Miguelito's bleeding head into the turnbuckle. Castillo again bites the cut and Perez rolls out of the ring. Castillo follows but Miguelito is able to ram Castillo into the ringpost to halt the momentum. Castillo is rammed head first into the post and it looks like he is now bleeding as well. Miguelito starts firing off several punches on Castillo, Huracan starts firing back and they are just exchanging blows on the ballfield. The ref tries to stop them but gets hit for his efforts. Both men continue wailing away at each other when someone runs out and gets in between the two of them. It’s Miguel Perez Sr and he’s trying to get them to stop fighting. Perez Sr tries to reason with both of them only for Castillo to deck him with a clothesline. Miguelito is stunned for a moment, then checks on his dad. Castillo uses the opening to kick Miguelito in the head and they start brawling again, this time with Miguelito really showing off some renewed anger. Ripper intervenes by hitting Miguelito in the back with a pipe and she and Castillo get away. Perez Sr is still down on the ground as a medic goes over to check on him. Miguelito also goes over to see how his dad is. On commentary Profe is celebrating the attack on Perez Sr. but Eliud is appalled by what Castillo did. Some of the tecnico wrestlers help the elder Perez back to the dugout as a righteously indignant Miguelito is signalling that he wants Castillo back out there. Forget making amends, it looks like this feud is only just starting.

After the match they announced an upcoming Texas Death match between Perez and Castillo for September 7. They also have a split screen face off between the two where it is clear there is no chance for reconciliation here. We’ll discuss this segment later on when we get closer to this date.

MD: This was tremendous stuff. They hit the tone perfectly. Perez charged right in and they went at it just firing away. He was able to get an advantage with a dropkick and took things to the grounds, including a posting. Castillo kept fighting back and that helped a lot here, even if he got swept under again and again due to Perez’s righteous fury. When they made it back into the ring, Castillo went for the eyes, and he didn’t look back. He really brutalized Perez (who also did his best to fight back at times, but was cut off). After crushing him under a table and hitting him with some other associated furniture, Perez was a bloody mess, and Castillo made the most of it by wrenching his head in the ring so the camera could see it clearly. 

When Perez came back though, he came back huge and was able to reverse a posting on the outside. They brawled through the grounds with just great back and forth punches until the ref got clocked. Then Perez, Sr. tried to get between them and Castillo nailed him too. Huge heat for all of this but especially that as you’d imagine. Perez went right at him but Ripper attacked from behind with a pole. Things ended in chaos as wrestlers worked to help Perez, Sr. out. Great hate-filled brawl. One of the best matches in PR in 91 certainly and it left a ton more on the bone. They already announced a Texas Death Match coming out of this.

I thought the split screen with the two of them talking over one another was effective to build it as well. 

Carlos Colon vs. Abdullah the Butcher

EB: Our last match is the grudge match between Carlos Colon and Abdullah the Butcher that came about due to Abdullah attacking Carlos in the tecnico locker room’s shower. After recapping the angle that set this up, we go back to Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel. Abdullah and El Profe make their way out of the rudo dugout, and Abdulla decides to head in the direction of the opposite dugout. Looks like they have a plan to wait and ambush Carlos when he comes out of the tecnico dugout. Profe and Abdullah stand waiting for a bit, but then Carlos Colon rushes out from beside them and starts attacking Abdullah. It seems he was ready for this and outsmarted the rudos here. And as Carlos had promised, he came for payback tonight. Carlos has an object in his hands and is using it to jab Abdullah in the forehead. Adullah goes down after several hits and Carlos decides to grab a really big piece of wood to use as a weapon. The ref futilely tries to get Carlos to back off, but Carlos just shoves him away and chokes Abdullah with the piece of wood. Carlos continues savagely attacking Abdullah (who is bleeding), using the spike object again and then hitting Abdullah with a cinder block. Abdullah ends up on a metal base and Colon just starts stomping Abudllah’s head against the metal. They have made no attempt to get into the ring as the crowd cheers Colon on.

Carlos continues going after the cuts on Abdullah's head, biting them and even grabbing the cinder block again. Anbdullah finally gets a breather when he is able to pull out his foreign object and jabs Carlos with it. Abdullah gets some more jabs with the object in, including one to the groin. This advantage lasts only for a couple of minutes before Colon starts firing back with some punches and caps it off with a foul kick. Abdullah is down and Carlos goes for a table to use as a weapon. Profe jumps on Colon’s back to help Abdullahm but gets tossed off. Carlos turns his anger towards Profe, ripping off Profe’s pants and then hitting a foul kick on him as well. A humiliated Profe flees to the safety of the dugout as Carlos grabs another piece of wood to use as a weapon. Carlos and Abdullah fight by the ring truck and then some wrestlers start coming out to try to separate them.Alex Porteau, Ricky Santana and Super Medico #3 all come out but get caught in the crossfire trying to break the fight up. Hugo on commentary mentions that it seems Profe has left the commentary area and is out in the hallway crying after reliving having his pants stripped. Carlos tries for the figure four but eventually they are separated and Abdullah heads to the dugout. Hugo sends it to a replay of the highlights  and the only one they have cued up is Profe having his pants torn off and then fleeing. 

MD: This was pretty great too. This whole show has been pretty great. This might be the best single show we’ve seen since starting this. It’s just an insane war, most of this being Colon as an absolute maniac attacking Abby. He comes out with an object (a fork? Who knows) and goes right at him. He gets a giant piece of wood, way bigger than a two by four and keeps it going, jamming it into his throat. By this point Abby is a bloody mess already. It’s just shot after shot, remorseless, slamming Abby into a table, going after the wound. Abby finally gets the fork and comes back, going so far as to slamming the fork right into Colon’s groin. It’s that sort of match. When Carlos comes back, he even completely no sells the throat cutoff so he can foul Abby first standing and then on the ground. Then he takes a table and charges at him to attack him with it. At this point Profe comes in, so he drops him and tears off his pants before starting back in on Abby. People (including Alex Porteau) try to stop him as Profe getting depanted was a bridge too far and the bell is ringing but Carlos won’t be stopped. He gets the figure four on for a bit before everyone breaks it up and Colon hits running jumping headbutts to Abby back into the dug out. Total war. Heck of a show.

EB: The special airing closes with Hugo, Eliud and Profe. Hugo mentions that it was a bad night for El Profe, he lost the tag match and then his guys didn't do too well. Profe responds by saying that he who laughs last laughs best, and that vengeance is sweet and will come. Eliud was happy with some of the results tonight. Hugo reminds viewers of the upcoming September 7 card and asks for closing comments from Eliuud and Profe. Eliud thanks the viewers for watching and wishes them a good night. Profe says that there simply are going to be a lot of ladies that won't be able to sleep peacefully tonight after seeing him how they did, which Hugo cuts off so as to not further spoil what has been a nice evening. We end with highlights from Perez vs Castillo. 

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, a tournament is held for the vacant Caribbean tag titles, the feud between Castillo and Perez continues, and a Chicky Starr update.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: To Be or Not To Be Champions

Week 59: To Be or Not To Be Champions

EB: Aniversario 1991 is in the books and it was an interesting event. Carlos Colon retained the Universal title with help from invader #1, a win that some would deem controversial. You can bet El Profe and Dino Bravo will want a rematch. Overall, Aniversario 1991 was a feel good event with the tecnicos winning most of the matches. Before heading into the post Aniversario world, we do have to mention that CSP did do an Aniversario related card on Sunday. The card was held in Ponce and featured the following matches:

Miguelito Perez defeated Skandor Akbar

Ricky Santana vs. Rod Price went to  a time limit draw

Huracan Castillo defeated Galan Mendoza

Koko B Ware defeated Action Jackson

Monster Ripper & Hugo Savinovich defeated El Profe & Billy Joe Travis

TNT defeated Ron Garvin

The Samoan Swat Team defeated Super Medico #3 & Giant Warrior

Invader 1 & Bronco #1 defeated Demolition by dq

Carlos Colon defeated Dino Bravo by dq

After this Aniversario weekend, we have seen the last of Gen. Akbar, Action Jackson, Billy Joe Travis and Rod Price. But where people leave, that means we’ll get some new or rerunting faces so stay tuned. The TV we have picks back up on July 27, which is three weeks after Aniversario. While we do not have results for July 13, we do have the card lineup for July 20 in Carolina. It looks like we have some major developments going on based on the lineup.

Universal title match: Carlos Colon vs Sadistic Steve Strong

For the World tag team titles: Invader #1 & Bronco #1 vs The Caribbean Express

Monster Ripper vs El Profe

No DQ Rematch: Giant Warrior vs Atkie Mulumba

Rematch for the World Jr. title: Ricky Santana vs Lt. James Earl Wright

Super Medico #3 & Invader #4 vsThe Ring Lords

And other great stars,

There are a few things that stand out. We have a new tag team in the Ring Lords plus the returns of James Earl Wright (of the State Patrol) and Atkie Mulumba. Ripper and Profe still are feuding and wrestling each other. The big news though is the top two matches for that card. Sadistic Steve Strong is coming back and this is something I remember from watching in real time. They were promoting his return by showing highlights of old matches against Carlos Colon and indicating that he had been given permission to return for that weekend to challenge Carlos Colon (if you remember, Strong had lost a loser leaves Puerto Rico match). But before we get too excited, Strong ends up not showing up for that night’s card. CSP did book a replacement and instead Carlos faced Nikolai Volkof on that card. 

The other big development(and again something I clearly remember from watching in real time), is that we have a very rare tecnico vs tecnico title match. The Caribbean Express seem to have issued a challenge for the World tag team titles and Invader #1 & Bronco 1 have agreed to the match. This is a break in tradition, as the custom is for members of El Ejercito de la Justicia to not challenge for each other’s titles. However, it seems that all four men have decided to wrestle in the spirit of sportsmanship and we’ll get a sort of dream match out of it. Let’s go to Carolina and see what happened.

Miguelito Perez & Huracan Castillo Jr vs Invader #1 & Bronco #1 - July 20, 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cFlx3_go-8

It’s tecnico vs. tecnico as the Caribbean Express (the reigning Caribbean tag champions) are challenging Invader #1 and Bronco #1 for the World tag team champions. As we previously talked about when TNT decided to challenge Carlos Colon in 1990, it is not customary for members of El Ejercito de la Justicia to challenge each other for their titles. Before the match starts we get the entire tecnico locker room coming out and entering the ring in a show of class and sportsmanship. All of the tecnicos have publicly declared their well wishes to both teams in the match (looks like they’ve taken a different view of how to approach this since the TNT deal from the year before). Carlos Colon, Ricky Santana, Super Medico #3, Giant Warrior and Invader #4 are all here to shake their comrades hands in a show of sportsmanship and well wishes. Also among them is Miguel Perez Sr., who shakes the hand of both teams in a sign of sportsmanship even though his son and someone you could consider like a son in Castillo are the challengers. Both teams shake hands with each other and then Invader goes over and shakes Monster Ripper's hand as well. Hugo says that this is basically a dream match we are about to witness, because only in your imagination could you have seen this happen until now.

How did we get here? As Hugo explains in the first minutes of the match, opinions are divided about this match. There are people who think that Castillo and Perez should not have thrown down the challenge, that Monster Ripper should not have pursued to have that match signed for her guys. Others think that the whole reason you're in wrestling is to compete, to show who is the best. Hugo says that he agrees that opinions should be respected, but that he as a fan of wrestling also agrees that in wrestling you should be competing to prove who is the best. They showed a good portion of the match on TV, going through two commercial breaks. The match is mainly wrestled straightforward, although tempers do flare up a bit as the match goes on. Things get hectic near the end as all four men end up in the ring. Hugo mentions that Invader and Castillo are bleeding, so those two seem to have gone hard in the match. Perez and Castillo are whipped into each other and it looks like the champs are on the verge of successfully defending their titles. Invader backs Castillo into a corner, while Bronco and Perez are trying to throw each other into the ropes. Perez sends Bronco into the ropes and then hits a dropkick that knocks Bronco out of the ring. Perez follows up with a moonsault press off the apron, which takes both him and Bronco out of the action. As Perez was doing his dive, Invader hooked a small package on Castillo. The ref was focused on Perez and Bronco, so Monster Ripper sneaked into the ring and turned over the small package, putting Castillo in control of the pin. The ref turned around, noticed the pin and made the three count. We have new World tag team champions! Castillo and Ripper celebrate and then head to the floor to hand over one of the title belts to Miguelito (who had been out loopy on the floor and was not aware they had won the match). Perez joins the celebration with his teammate and manager but Invader doesn't seem too pleased about how the match ended. 

MD: I do think this would probably hit better outdoors, as we can see the basketball hoop on the camera the whole time, but it is also a starting point of sorts. It diminishes the pomp and circumstances a little. They wrestle clean to start, basically Invader vs Castillo and Bronco vs Perez and it’s good, competitive. You buy what they’re going for in setting a tone. As we come back from break, Castillo tags to Perez and Invader goes after Castillo for some reason, hitting a belly to back. That lets Perez hit a missile dropkick on him to take over. We’re lacking context given the break but it did feel weird especially for a transition. Maybe tempers flared. Who knows? 

After this, they start in on Invader though. A lot of that was just grinding down on him. He had a nice hope spot or two but they cut him off (with Castillo’s jumping knee for instance). I’m not sure the crowd entirely knows what to make of this. It’s real chinlock heavy. We come back to Bronco clearing house after a hot tag we never got to see. The fans ARE into this, including when Invader comes in to get some “revenge.” Chaotic finishing scene with bodies everywhere. Perez hits a standing moonsault off the apron which we’ve never seen in the footage up til this point so it had to blow minds (just ask Esteban!). But that distracts the ref so while Invader has Castillo rolled up, Ripper turns it over and the Express win the belts. Certainly a controversial ending. This one was hurt by the cuts so we can’t really get a good sense of it, but at this point, we’re just lucky to have it at all.. 

EB: The finish did blow my mind at the time (and it’s what I distinctly remember from that match… well that and what followed). The controversial finish of the World tag title match set off a series of meetings with the commissioner that led to a surprising development. Hugo will mention it during the next episode’s show intro, with the meeting and fallout being shown later in the same program. So let’s go to the July 27 episode of Campeones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCVyapi4u2Y

EB: We open with Hugo and Profe,  who happens to be posing for the viewers as Hugo welcomes everyone to the show. Hugo even makes a remark about maybe changing Profe’s name to El Modelo with all of the posing Profe is doing when he sees a camera. Profe says that he should have maybe been an actor or a TV heartthrob. Hugo cuts that off by running down what we’ll have on today's program, including showing  what happened last week in Carolina when Monster Ripper was facing El Profe (who Hugo says we’ll get to see what kind of a person Profe is despite what he may claim in front of the cameras when he gets in there with a lady). We also have some old matches highlighting returning wrestlers such as Abdullah the Butcher, Fidel Sierra and Nikolai Volkoff and music special for newcomer Alex Porteau. The big news for those who have not heard (as Profe applauds this news) is that Huracan Castillo and Monster Ripper have attacked Miguelito Perez. Profe happily says that Castillo has a bright future in wrestling. Hugo says that later in the program they will show the meeting the Caribbean Express had with the commissioner and what led to the aforementioned incident occurring. Also, we’ll have highlights from Nikolai Volokoff’s attack on Carlos colon last weekend, Volkoff was the substitute for Steve Strong (who was not able to appear due to circumstances beyond their control). Tonight there is a rematch between them with the added stipulation of it being a Russian Chain match. Profe says that the simple fact is that last week we left Carlitos Colon drenched in blood and this time he will be at the end of a chain. Volkoff is a master at this type of match, to which Hugo retorts that Carlos has been in matches like this before. Profe: ‘But he fights like a Puerto Rican, Volkoff is from where this type of match originated, from Russia’. Hugo again states that Carlos knows how to handle himself in these sorts of matches (this chain match has the touch all four corners rule), although he conceded Volkoff does have a size and experience advantage. 

Tonight we’ll also have the return of Abdullah the Butcher as he faces Giant Warrior. Hugo mentions that Abdullah did not fare too well the last time these two faced each other. Profe says that was before, Abdullah has been on a great winning streak in the Orient and will be ready for tonight. Hugo mentions that Ricky Santana will take on El Profe, so that may mean Profe’s face might not look so good tomorrow (Profe laughs it off). Rounding out the card for tonight is Sasha vs Monster Ripper, Invader #1 & Super Medico #3 vs the Ring Lords, and Invader #4 vs. Alex Porteau. Before finishing the announcements, Hugo says that we have some big news about next Saturday. The rematch is signed as Carlos Colon will defend the Universal title against Dino Bravo. Profe is happy about this news and promises that this time there will be no one to save Carlos. With that, Hugo sends it to the Alex Porteau music video as El Profe says we now have a magic finger to cue up the music specials (as he points at the camera). The music video highlights for Porteau are from some TV studio matches, with the most notable opponents being Super Medico #3 and Ricky Santana.

MD: Pretty sure this is set to Sepultura and the music is heavy and foreboding. Maybe the clips of Porteau doggedly working over Ricky Santana’s arm don’t quite match the destructive tone of it but it doesn’t hurt his presentation I guess?

EB: Back to Hugo in the studio, as he introduces the clip of what happened last week when Profe was in trouble against Monster Ripper and someone came out to help him. We cut to Monster Ripper attacking Profe on the arena floor, when suddenly Lt. James Earl Wright of the State Patrol runs out to grab Ripper from behind. Profe doesn’t have much time to get a blow in before Ricky Santana rushes in to fight the rudos off and chase them away. Ricky helps Ripper to her feet as the clip ends. 

Profe is in the studio and cuts a promo on Ricky Santana. Profe has always said that Santana loves sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong and tonight he will teach him a lesson, because women and imbeciles like Santana should be treated the same way. He is going to disfigure Santana's face, he is ugly and big eared. So get ready because El Profe does not discriminate by gender, nationality or age. Ricky responds by saying that it won’t be a woman tonight, it’ll be man to man, or he should say one man because Profe is no man. After Hugo translates we get a card rundown for tonight;s show in Carolina. We also get an ad for next Wednesday’s TV taping in Miramar, with TNT vs. Abdullah the Butcher, Invader #1 vs. Fidel Sierra, and Ricky Santana & Giant Warrior vs the Ring Lords. 

MD: Profe really didn’t seem all that cowed or like he’d learned his lesson during the opening of the show. Lots of preening and posing. Most striking thing here is that Santana showed up almost immediately after Wright appeared, so they didn’t do any sort of extended beatdown on Ripper. Not sure if they’re going for mixed tags or just moving the feud over to Profe/Wright vs Santana moving forward.

Abdullah the Butcher vs. Dutch Mantell - February 1988

EB: With Abdullah the Butcher returning tonight, they show a match from February 1988 where Dutch Mantel takes on Abdullah the Butcher. This is from the first round of that year’s Gillette Cup and the match does not go Dutch’s way as Abdullah jumps him as soon as he enters the ring. Most of the match is Abdullah getting the better of Dutch with foreign objects, although Dutch is able to get some offensive flurries in. We also have Chicky at ringside with Abdullah here, we have not seen him in almost a year. I wonder what he’s been up to?  Anyway, Dutch wins the match by dq when Abdullah refuses to stop punching and choking Dutch (who is draped over the top rope).

We then go to some highlights from the last time Abdullah the Butcher and the Giant warrior wrestled. The date is September  8,1990 and Giant Warrior goes after Abdullah out on the ballfield. Warrior grabs a piece of wood that he uses to hit and gouge Abdullah with, causing Abdullah to bleed. We cut back to the studio and we are met with a closeup of Abdullah’s face as El Profe cuts a promo on Giant Warrior. Abdullah is balancing a metal case on his head as Profe promises that Abdullah is going to make Warrior a victim tonight. Abdullah has made other wrestlers bleed and left them scarred, and tonight will be no exception. Also, El Profe has some quick words for Carlos Colon, it seems he and Abdullah are scheduled to wrestle tomorrow in Humacao.

Giant Warrior is next and laughs at Profe’s comments and says that people saw Profe’s failed attempt of getting rid of Giant Warrior. Abdullah is back again and Warrior is still standing, so let’s see what happens tonight when the two trains collide again. 

MD: It’s notable just how little we’ve seen Abdullah between 89-91. I think he’s just popped up once, maybe twice, and never for long. But now they have him against both Giant Warrior and TNT. Of course, we haven’t seen Dutch at all. The old match between them was fun. Abby tossed Dutch onto a table and then got the object out and opened him up in the ring. Dutch came back with Shoo Baby (using it as a blunt object and not a whip). Abby cut him off as he was want to do and then got DQed for attacking him in the ropes. 

The clip we see of one of the times we did see Abby is against Giant Warrior who by this point had the object already and was getting revenge on Abby with it. Abby, when we cut to him for the Profe promo, has a black case over his head. We cut to footage of him beating on guys and come back to him doing different things with the case or his fingers, just staring at the screen. Warrior cuts a confident promo after that.

Fidel Sierra vs. Victor Cantcel

EB: We have a match from 1985 featuring Fidel Sierra taking on Victor Cancel. Fidel is making a return to Puerto Rico this week and this match is to serve as a reminder to fans of his ability. Profe’s first comment is that he has recently learned that not all Cubans are bad (since Ricky Santana is Cuban), people like Sierra and Castillo are good eggs in his book. Hugo quickly shuts that down, saying Profe’s job is to commentate on the wrestlers’ performance, not anything else. Hugo says that Fidel is returning and if a few years ago he was someone to watch out for, this time he is coming back with more experience and fame. Profe again talks about Castillo Jr with Hugo then asking him about Monster Ripper.  Profe says she can go fry some asparagus (no love lost there). Fidel wins the match with a flying kneedrop off the top. We’ll see how this stint goes for Fidel in the weeks to come.

MD: Another guy we haven’t seen. In general, I haven’t seen much of Sierra with this specific character looking cool with the hat. There’s commentary over commentary so this is older footage likely? Lots of complaining about hairpulling and what not but he’s overall dominant and wins with a side backbreaker and bombs away kneedrop. 

Commissioner Meeting and Miguelito Perez & Huracan Castillo Jr. vs The Ringlords

EB: It’s time for the new World tag team champions the Caribbean Express to have their meeting with the commissioner. Hugo is already there and says that everyone has been talking about what happened last week in the World tag title match. Commissioner Felix Suarez is here, along with Miguelito Perez, Huracan Castillo and Monster Ripper. Hugo says that it has been a hot topic, a controversial one, and that the commissioner had already met with Invader #1 and Bronco #1. The commissioner confirms that he already met with Invader and Bronco, and rather than speak with the Caribbean Express, he wants them to first watch the footage of the match ending before talking. Castillo isn’t too keen on having to watch the footage but Miguelito says they should. We get the replay of the match finish where Miguelito does his dive onto Bronco and in the ring the small package gets reversed with help from Ripper. The commissioner says that now that you have watched the footage, he thinks that it was an unjust win. Castillo tries to justify that Ripper was only there checking on him and nothing more. The commissioner continues that he has already proposed two options to Invader and Bronco, which they  accepted. These are either that the Caribbean Express reject the win and relinquish their titles back to Invader and Bronco, or that they leave the title belts with the commissioner and a rematch will be had for the held up titles. Castillo is all for doing a rematch, although he keeps saying that we are the champs so we’ll give them a rematch (glossing over that they would still have to vacate the titles in that scenario). Miguelito is not on board with that idea, because he feels that was clearly the wrong way to have won the match. Ripper tries to say something but Miguelito cuts her off by saying he had no idea this was how they won. Hugo follows up on this and Miguelito is insistent that he had no idea since he was out of it on the floor after the dive on Bronco (which is true). Miguelito feels this was an unjust loss for Invader and Bronco, feeling that they shouldn’t have done that. A discussion breaks out between Castillo and Ripper on one side and Perez on the other. Perez wants to relinquish the titles because they didn't do it the right way, Castillo and Ripper insist that they are the champions now and should just have the rematch (again glossing over the fact that in both scenarios they cease to be the champions). Miguelito says that accepting a win like that would make them nothing more than paper champions, Castillo says what do you mean paper champions, we beat them 1-2-3. Castillo brings up that they've had times where they’ve lost titles under similar circumstances, but Miguelito says that those were other wrestlers that did that to them,  but not people like Invader and Bronco who are on the same side as them. Miguelito says let’s relinquish the titles, but Castillo is against that (again, I don’t know if they goofed on the setup details or if Castillo is being deliberately obtuse, but either way they are not leaving that office with the title belts). Perez ends up deciding that he is going to relinquish his title belt, Castillo is mad since that means he has to relinquish it as well  and ends up getting bleeped after Perez leaves the room. Castillo tells Ripper how dare he do this to us.

Back to Hugo in the studio where he summarizes the end result. Miguelito Perez relinquished the title belts and they were returned to Invader and Bronco. The situation in the office got heated, so much so that you heard they had to censor some of Castillo's language. But this is not the end of the situation as this past Wednesday the Caribbean Express was taking on the Ring Lord and this is what went down. 

To Miiramar we go as Miguelito Perez is in trouble and trying to make the tag to Huracan Castillo. Instead of making the tag, Castillo seems to be distracted talking to Monster Ripper. Perez continues getting beat up and every time he tries to tag Castillo in he gets waved off, ignored or Castillo motions in a you got this fashion. Eventually, Perez gets fed up with Castillo not wanting to tag in and leaves the ring. Ripper starts arguing with Miguelito for leaving the ring and blocks his exit from the ringside area. Perez tries to push Ripper out of his way so he can leave, and Castillo runs up from behind and attacks Miguelito. Ripper holds Miguelito for a couple of those punches, and then Castillo rams Perez three times into the ringpost. Castillo then rams Perez on a table and hits him with a chair, before throwing Perez into the ring. The attack continues as the Ring Lords have won by countout. Perez is a bloody mess which brings out Carlos Colon and Invader to try to reason with Castillo, but each of them gets shoved by Castillo before leaving the ring. Castillo and Ripper exit the building instead of going to the locker room as a bloody Perez is being checked on in the ring. Hugo on commentary is condemning what Castillo did since Perez and Castillo basically have been friends since they were kids. We end with Perez being helped to the locker room by Invader and Carlos Colon.

MD: The Express review the footage with the commissioner. They see what Ripper did. Perez ultimately agrees to relinquish the belts back to Invader/Bronco though Castillo strongly disagrees. Cut to the match against the Ringlords, who are Magnum Force, here Rick Slagle and Speedy Gonzales (why that? I have no idea. It’s up there with the weird name for one of the State Patrol before). They’re a step down from the Studs but it really doesn’t matter because this was a high heat angle.

Perez fights back enough to go for a tag and Castillo just puts his hand out limpy, avoiding it. He does this a few times and then Perez tries to walk out. Ripper stops him and it seems like she’s trying to convince him to go back but Castillo hits the floor and she grabs Perez so Castillo can nail him. He bloodies his partner, even as Invader and others try to stop him. This was the good stuff. Usually, I’d think this followed something in the US like the Rockers split but the’re well ahead of it here. 

EB: After the big angle with the Caribbean Express, it is back to the promos for tonight’s card. This time we have the Ring Lords and Invader #1 & Super Medico #3 talking about their match tonight. The Ring Lords claim they’re the best tag team to be in Puerto Rico while the tecnicos say that they will be stopped tonight. We also got part of a commercial with some of the tecnicos for Capriccio's restaurant.

MD: I’m not 100% sure where Bronco is here but if you need to get the Ring Lords over, having them go over a champ and another name isn’t the worst way i guess?

EB: We have an old match from Mid-South where Nikolai Volkoff defeats Johnny Rich as the showcase match for Nikolai. After that Profe introduces the clip of the beating Volkoff gave Carlos Colon last week. Colon comes off the top rope with a whoopie cushion but Profe puts Volkoff’s leg on the rope to stop the count. A clothesline leads to another cover and again Profe puts Volkoff’s foot on the ropes. Carlos sets up for the figure four and Profe jumps up on the apron. Carlos runs over and decks Profe, then goes out to punch Profe some more on the arena floor. However, this gives Volkoff an opening to attack Carlos and ram him against the ringpost. This busts Carlos open and Volkoff continues kicking Carlos in the head. The attack stops when Giant Warrior runs out and Vokoff simply stops and heads off before Warrior can get any hands on him. 

We get comments from Nikolai Volkoff where he is looking forward to the chain match since it means that the coward of Carlos Colon cannot run away. Carlos follows by saying that Volkoff may be an expert in this type of match, but that Carlos himself has never lost a match of this type before. Volkoff and Profe better be ready to be paid back for last week, because he is not planning on touching all four corners until he has gotten some licks in with the chain. 

MD: He may have been one of the most over babyfaces on the roster in Summer 1990 WWF but 1983 Volkoff is a very different beast from 1991 Volkoff. He does two of my favorite things here: the one handed lifting choke and then how he turns his press backbreaker into a perfectly angled pin. Puerto Rico does bring out the best in people, and we’ll see if it can for 1991 Volkoff, I guess.

In the clip vs Colon we get, Carlos had his number and was working the leg until Profe interfered. Post match, Giant Warrior made the save. The promo is surreal both for the Russian music playing in the background and just to see Volkoff cut a promo in grumpy English.

Ricky Santana vs. The Fly

EBL Our last match is Ricky Santana vs. The Fly, with Fly getting some quick offense by jumping Santana at the start. This advantage does not last long and Santana makes quick work of The Fly. On commentary, Hugo starts needling Profe about his match tonight against Santana, with Hugo asking Profe if he is now friends again with Monster Ripper. Profe is disgusted by that question and says that he’d rather show up in Sasha’s corner tonight than be friends with Ripper. But he still thinks Castillo has great potential and has always been a good kid. Santana wins with a top rope splash.

Hugo and Profe then close out the show by hyping up tonight’s card and reminding viewers about the big rematch for next week as Carlos Colon defends the Universal title against Dino Bravo. 

MD: I want to say I’m an immediate fan of “The Fly” but he’s just a guy in a mask with no real Fly elements to him. Santana makes short work of him obviously. 

Abdullah The Butcher vs. Giant Warrior - July 27, 1991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd9usQCi1rY

EB: We end this week’s post with the Giant Warrior vs Abdullah the Butcher match from July 27. This is from a later VHS release so the commentary isn’t related to the current happenings. Abdullah is taking his time on the outside so Warrior decides to rush him like in their previous encounter. Only this time Abdullah was waiting on that and surprises Warrior with several jabs using a foreign object (looks like a spike). Abdullah continues relentlessly jabbing Warrior in the forehead and the blood is starting to flow. Abdullah throws Warrior onto a table and then uses whatever furniture he can find to attack Warrior. A momentary breather reveals that Warrior is quickly becoming a  bloody mess (and he is wearing white tights so it’s going to get messy). Abdulalh finally gets in the ring and a dazed Warrior gathers himself. There’s blood splatter on the table, on the floor and on Warrior’s tights as he finally gets near the ring. We get some king of the mountain as Abdullah jabs the spike once more onto Warrior’s forehead and prevents him from entering the ring. Finally Warrior is in but can’t mount any offense as Abdullah continues attacking. 

Surprisingly, Warrior is able to kick out of Abudullah’s elbow drop. Warrior starts a comeback and even hits a dropkick on Abdullah. This causes Abdullah to drop the spike, so Warrior grabs it and uses it on the Butcher. Abdullah kicks out of a pin attempt and Warrior starts booting Abdullah's head. Warrior gets knocked to the outside and he decides to take one of his boots off. Warrior then uses it as a weapon on Abudllah ,just hitting him over and over again on the head. The ref tries to intervene but gets shoved and then hit with the boot. Warrior continues his attack as the ref calls for the bell. Several wrestlers come out to try to separate Warrior and Abdullah, but they end up getting attacked by both men as they try to get at each other. Warrior ends up knocking down Abdullah and (in an amazing visual) the rudos resort to just dragging the downed Abdullah by his arms across the arena floor towards the locker room.

MD: It is very possible that we have written about more Giant Warrior matches than anyone alive, and while there are some that are pretty good (at least one tag, a Murdoch match, the Tyler Mane match that overdelivered), this has to be the best. He came out in white which he never does and yeah, that meant he was going to bleed buckets. Abby got him on the outside early and tossed everything that wasn’t bolted down at him. He bled right from the get go and then bled some more. Eventually, he managed to come back and get the object and get revenge. It was an Abby match but it absolutely worked. When Abby tried to fire back, he took off his boot and started in on everyone, including the ref and every person in the locker room who tried to break things up. Very much an Abby match but you can’t say that Warrior didn’t do his part, even if his part was just to bleed.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, a TV rematch between Giant Warrior and Abdullah the Butcher leads to a series of events that causes a major change to that night’s house show.  Also, the Caribbean Express collides and the debut of Ray Gonzalez.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario 1991

Week 59: Aniversario 1991

EB: It’s July 6, 1991 and we are at Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel for Aniversario 1991. Ten matches are scheduled for tonight and we have seven of them available. We also have a clip of one of the remaining matches. Let’s start with that clip, as we go to a special from a few years later when WWC was recapping memories and highlights from each of the previous Aniversarios. In this case,this segment included a highlight from 1989, 1990 and 1991 (so a bit of a bonus from those years). The first two clips in this link are JYD vs. Paul Jones from Aniversario 89 in Mayaguez, followed by the Super Medicos vs Rouegaus from Aniversario 90 but this is also the west coast version. The third clip is the finishing stretch of Koko B Ware vs Galan Mendoza from Aniversario 91.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diy_XPLIv-I

The Koko vs Mendoza clips starts at around 3:26, where we see Mendoza drop an elbow on a prone Koko. Mendoza sends Koko into the ropes but Koko is able to counter with a kick to the head. However, Koko is a bit beat up and can’t immediately follow up on Mendoza. Koko starts getting a second wind and hits several clotheslines on Mendoza. A small package gets two for Koko. A Thesz press also gets two. Koko gets some standing punches in the corner, but the ref pulls Koko back and gives him a warning. This allows Mendoza to load up his glove behind the ref’s back. Mendoza sets up for his punch but the ref notices the glove and stops the punch from being thrown. Koko takes advantage to hook on a backslide and gets the pinfall on Mendoza to the crowd’s delight.

MD: We just get a couple of minutes of Koko vs Mendoza before the end. Not a ton of heat. Koko really was a fly-in from what we’ve seen. I’m curious how well Esteban, being a fan at the time, would have been aware of him, for instance. I imagine there was some fun stooging and antics early on but we don’t get them here, just the two slugging it out at the end and some nearfalls before the finish, which was Mendoza going for the glove, the ref stopping him, and Koko locking in a backslide for the win.

EB: As for the rest of the matches, we are missing the Caribbean title match between Super Medico #3 vs Rod Price and the revenge match of Bronco 1 vs. Skandor Akbar. This is the last weekend we will have Akbar and Price in Puerto Rico, so you can safely guess who won those matches.

MD: I need to go hunting through the Observer to see if I can find anything on Bronco vs Akbar and what Akbar’s big surprise was. That will haunt me.

EB: Let’s go to the seven matches we do have for the event which come from the VHS release of Aniversario 91. For this video release, the matches are in a different order than what they occurred in the event (the most obvious example is the Savinovich vs. Travis match being placed at the end of the video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCkUn31Ixmw

A voice over announces “The time has come for Aniversario 91” as the Aniversario 91 theme music plays and Hugo steps into frame. Hugo thanks the viewer for purchasing or renting this videotape and promises that viewers will enjoy seven matches from this historic event. After mentioning the matches on the tape. Hugo gives a thank you to everyone who has made all of this possible and a reminder that this is not the only video release available so please make sure to ask your video rental store about them. Now let’s go to the matches.

Ricky Santana vs. Action Jackson (loser leaves town match)

We get the opening pyro and then Ricky Santana enters to ‘Gonna Make You Sweat (EverybodyDance Now)’. Look at the size of the crowd. Ricky is the World Junior champion but the title is not on the line as this is a loser leaves town match. It’s a match for which we have not seen the build in the footage we have available. I would not be surprised though if this stems from Ricky Sanana coming out to snatch the foreign object from Action Jackson when Jackson and Price had stolen the win from Invader and Ito (which caused the match to restart and then led to the rudos losing the match). Both men have had a good run in 1991 so far, but only one man will stay after this weekend. Action Jackson enters to “U Can’t Touch This”. Eliud Gonzales does the ring intros and makes sure to tell the fans that Ricky Sanatan has requested for fans to stop throwing stuff into the ring so he can concentrate on taking Action out (that’s one way to see if you can curb the object throwing). The announcers state that there has to be a winner in this match. 

The crowd is clearly behind Santana here as Ricky gets the better of Jackson with some punches. This leads to Jackson going outside a few times to try to regain control, only for Santana to quickly counter and get the better of him each time (including not falling for a handshake from Action). A test of strength finally gives Jackson some control, especially when he kicks down Ricky when it is being countered. Ricky finally kicks his way out of the test of strength and Action ends up on the outside again. The tide finally turns in Action's favor when he starts working over Santana's leg. This continues for a few minutes, with some hope spots by Santana thrown in. Action attempts a cover with his feet on the ropes, but the ref notices and throws Jackson off. Our first comment of the matches being out of order is that Hugo mentions that some of the residue in the ring is from the salt that was used in the Hugo vs. Travis match earlier in the show. Action continues working over the leg but is unable to put Ricky away. Santana eventually makes a comeback but his pin attempts are unsuccessful. Ricky goes up top but is caught by Action, who tries to slam Ricky off. However, Santana holds onto Jackson on the way down and locks in a small package to get the win. Action Jackson must leave Puerto Rico.

MD: This was good. You could feel the weight of the stakes, even if we didn’t really have the build relative to some of the other matches. Somewhere along the line, Jackson has become a very solid stooge. The first few minutes of the match was him getting out punched (nice punches too) or out slicked by Santana and then rushing out to the floor to stall and build up heat before coming back in. The fans responded accordingly. Jackson finally took over on the leg after Santana missed a big corner charge, starting with a spinning toe hold. They moved in and out of it with some hope spots, and it was fairly varied, though he just kind of held it a little too much maybe. Santana sold as he finally fired back and they had some good, believable nearfalls down the stretch including the ref catching Jackson with his feet way on the ropes. They ended it with Santana tossing Jackson off the top but rolling him up as Jackson tried to return the favor. I’m not sure there was much more to do with Jackson as a character, unless they were going to turn him babyface, but he had developed into a pretty good heel for the style of the territory by this point.

Miguelito Perez & Hurricane Castillo, Jr. vs. Samoan Swat Team

EB: The Caribbean Express is defending the Caribbean tag titles against the SST. Part of the Perez and Castillo music video set to "Indestructible” by The Four Tops is shown. This is to hammer home that these two are like brothers. Fatu and Castillo start out for their teams. Castillo gets a headlock and then is able to send Fatu out of the ring with some dropkicks. Fatu again does not fare well against Castillo, and a missed punch leads to him hitting Savage by mistake. This prompts tensions to flare for a moment among the SST but they hug it out. Fatu has a foreign object and uses it to knock down Castillo, and then plays hide the object by handing it off to his partner. Savage and Perez are tagged in and Perez gets an armbar on Savage. After having his arm briefly over, Savage escapes but gets dropkicked to the outside. Back in and the Express does some quick tags while working over Fatu’s arm. The foreign object comes into play again as it is used to hit Castillo and send him to the outside.

As Perez checks on Castillo, Hugo mentions what a way this is to close out Aniversario 1991 (so it appears this was the last match of the night). The SST continued to press their advantage against Castillo, with Savage attacking him on the outside. A power slam gets only two when Perez breaks up the pin attempt. Fatu is tagged in and they bait Perez into coming, allowing for some more double teaming behind the ref’s back. The SST continue working over Castillo for the next few minutes using some underhanded tactics like assisted abdominal stretches and another use of the foreign object. Castillo eventually makes the tag, Perez comes in to clean house and all four men end up in the ring. Castillo clotheslines Savage out of the ring, leaving Perez and Fatu. Perez tries a reverse somersault press off the turnbuckle, but Fatu ducks. Fatu then goes up top but Monster Ripper takes advantage of the ref being distracted and shakes the ropes, causing Fatu to crotch himself on the top turnbuckle. Perez (unclear if he saw Ripper’s interference) hits a superplex and gets the pin. The Caribbean Express have retained their titles.

MD: Another in the long line of good Puerto Rican tags. I’m not sure if it’s because Demolition was on the card or because they were playing up the dissonance angle, but SST weren’t quite as monstrous or bestial as they would have been a year or two earlier. They stooged early, including one hitting the other and then hugging and then the Express controlled on the arm for a while. When the SST took over, it was by hiding an object. They got heat on Perez and things were thrown in but not nearly as much as we’d seen before. They did a Decapitation which is funny for one thing to do while Demolition is on the card, but it was a lot of controlling on the arm too. Castillo barely got drawn in and the time he did it was right before Perez ducked a double clothesline to make the hot tag. Unfortunately, after Castillo came in hot, a resurgent Perez tried a double noggin knocker on Samoans, never a good idea, and it looked like Fatu was going to win with the top rope splash. He had a tendency of crocheting himself comedically here but this time it was Ripper who shook the ropes. That let Perez hit a superplex for the win. Definitely good but I could have used just a little more heat.

Invader #1 vs. Ronnie Garvin 

EB: Garvin makes his entrance with El Profe for what Hugo calls the second main event of the night. Invader is allowed to have his fist taped for this encounter and he has promised to lay out Garvin. Invader comes out to “Eye of the Tiger” as a voice over from him indicates that this will be the toughest match of his life. The story of this match is that both men are wary about each other’s punching ability, but Garvin in particular is avoiding the taped fist. Garvin is the first one to get some punches in with some body shots in the corner. Garvin attacks with some headbutts and chops, but the moment Invader counters out and squares up to punch, Garvin leans out of the ropes to force the ref to tell Invader to back off. Garvin controls the pace of the match and works over Invader with some chops and also focuses on Invader's neck. A sleeper causes Invader to fade but he manages to keep his arm up on the arm check. Invader gets out of the hold but again misses Garvin when he tries to square up for the taped fist punch. 

Garvin switches tactics and starts focusing on working over Invader's taped fist to try to neutralize the danger. He rams Invader's hand on the turnbuckle and then does the Garvin stomp but focuses on the taped hand. Some attempted pins are countered but Garvin continues focusing on working over Invader’s hand and arm. Garcin has Invader in a double hammerlock but Invader makes the ropes when one arm is released. Garvin wraps Invader's arm around the ropes and starts wrenching it as the ref tries to get Garvin to break. Garvin continues on the attack but Invader starts getting fired up and makes his comeback. A rope running sequence sees Invader leap frog over Garvin and then surprise him with the taped fist heart punch on the rebound. The pin is academic and Invader has laid out Ron Garvin. 

MD: This was the match I was looking forward to the most and yep, it was the sort of minimal, hyper-focused affair I was expecting. Garvin sold the IDEA of Invader’s taped fist huge, hiding in the ropes for the first couple of minutes and freaking out whenever Invader even clenched a fist at him. He, of course, turned it around and hit some cheapshots to the gut to take over, leading to working the head and neck and a chinlock until Invader started to get some hope.

Garvin cut him off and went right in on the hand. Some great handwork here as he used the Garvin Stomp on it repeatedly, not going around but going to the hand instead. Then he’d grind the arm in the rope and even bite at the bicep. It was all to no avail however, as Invader started to get strength from the crowd, using a walking hulk up until he was ready to fire back. He had to use the side of the arm and headbutts and slam Garvin’s head into the turnbuckles at first but after a leapfrog, he whipped around and managed the heart punch. Garvin sold it like death, maybe death three times even, and post match Invader waved his fingers, still selling. Past some blood, this is just what you’d want from these two at this point of their career. 

Monster Ripper vs. El Profe

EB: This is the first ever man vs woman match in Puerto Rico. El Profe comes out with a bouquet of flowers, it seems he wants to make peace with Ripper before anything turns ugly. Ripper comes out and we cut to both wrestlers ready to go in the ring. It seems Profe had been offering the flowers as a peace offering and Ripper did not accept them. The bell rings as Profe decides to blindside Ripper with the bouquet, using the flowers as a weapon to repeatedly smack Ripper in the face. Profe uses the stems as a weapon by jabbing them into Ripper’s throat and then follows up with a double foot stomp. Flowers are scattered about the ring as Profe continues on offense, pausing every now and then to gloat to the crowd. Another double foot stomp and Profe starts bopping and weaving in the ring as Ripper rolls out. It seems Hugo Savinovich is out there seconding ripper, while Billy Joe Travis is out there backing up Profe. Hugo helps Ripper up but Monster is unable to get back in the ring as Profe kicks her.

Ripper finally gets back in but Profe immediately jumps her and continues in control, making sure to pause to do a yawning pantomime to signal how easy this is for him. Ripper makes a brief comeback but Profe cuts it off and continues by slapping and punching Ripper in the face to further embarrass her. Profe gets a backdrop and senton, but instead of going for the pin he continues gloating to the crowd. He finally goes for the cover but only gets two. Before Ripper can come back, Profe rakes her eyes and hits a suplex.  Profe signals it's over and takes his time going up top. He misses a senton from the top and now Ripper has her opening. Ripper gets several blows in and briefly tries to go for Profe’s mask, but then resumes her attack.Ripper rams Profe's head into the corners and then runs off the ropes, but falls victim to Travis tripping her. Profe yells at Travis to get in there but the ref intercepts Travis. Profe attempts a slam on Ripper while this was going on and Hugo quickly reaches in to trip Profe up, causing Ripper to fall on top of Profe. The ref turns around, sees Ripper making the cover and makes the three count. Monster Ripper has defeated El Profe. But the victory celebration is short and Profe and Billy Joe attack both Ripper and Hugo. Blood is drawn as Travis throws Hugo head first into a ringpost as Profe attacks Ripper inside the ring. The attack stops when the Caribbean Express come out to make the save. This sets up a mixed tag match for the next day’s Aniversario card in Ponce. 

MD: This overachieved more than any match I’ve seen as part of this project. It was really great. Go watch it before reading anything I say. Okay, back? Good. Profe comes down smooth as can be, with his over the top music and a bouquet of flowers. I was wondering what was up with it at first but it’s obvious once Ripper comes down that he was going to give it to her, or that was the gimmick. Instead, he smashes her in the head with them and jabs the stems into her throat, which is a great visual and quite believable actually. After that he just absolutely unloads on her. He does these brutal double stomps and just lays into her. Huge heat. There’s trash flying in, lots of drinks so that whenever a bump happens, liquid splashes up off the mat. 

At one point she tries to fire up but Profe kicks her in the gut off the ropes. He eventually tosses her and Hugo, out there now (as was Travis) tries to get her ready to fight again. Profe catches her on the way in though. He suplexes her with ease. He hits a senton off the ropes and he’s great in his little mannerisms. He yawns. He does a tranquilo lean in the corner. Just really milking it, totally fearless of all the stuff flying in. He goes up to the top to put her away but misses the somersault senton. The place comes alive as she starts laying into him. Legdrops and back body drops and slamming him all around the ring. Travis, having been slinking around, catches her off the ropes though. That lets Profe take back over as the ref is admonishing Travis. Profe lifts her up again but Hugo comes in under the bottom rope and leans halfway across the ring to yank Profe’s legs for another huge pop as Ripper pins him for three. 

Post match, Profe lays into Ripper as Travis bloodies up Hugo. They’d have their reckoning later. Very smart, very well executed, super overachieving, high heat match. Honestly, sort of blew me away.

Dino Bravo vs. Carlos Colon

EB: It’s main even time as Dino Bravo challenges Carlos Colon for the Universal title. This match was set up by the attack Bravo perpetrated on Colon during the Noche de Campeones card on Mother’s Day weekend. Bravo throws Carlos off him on the initial lockup, establishing again that Bravo has the strength advantage. A second lockup leads to a break and Bravo fails in surprising Colon with a punch, instead Colon blocks and fires off several of his own. Bravo hides in the ropes to get Carlos to back off. The match surprisingly continues with some holds and counters, as Bravo works a headlock on the mat and then Carlos does some arm drags that send Bravo to the outside to regroup. Colon works over Dino’s arm once the latter is back in, which is a smart strategy to try to neutralize the full nelson. Bravo briefly gets some kicks in but Carlos counters with an arm drag, dropkick and a body press for two. Bravo against regroups on the outside.

The ref starts a count to force Bravo back in and Carlos immediately starts chopping Bravo in the corner. An Irish whip leads to a monkey flip attempt, but Bravo catches Colon and does an atomic drop. This allows Bravo to control the next several minutes with some Colon hope spots mixed in. Bravo uses kicks, a reverse chinlock and a toss to the outside to try to wear down Carlos. Bravo goes for a bearhug to continue wearing down Colon, who is brought down to his knees. The ref checks Colon's arm but Carlos responds on the third check. Carlos breaks out of the bearhug by poking Bravo in the eye. Carlos blocks a Bravo suplex and counters with a suplex of his own. Carlos starts his comeback, punctuated with a cartwheel. Colon sets up and is able to lock in the figure four, but Bravo refuses to give up. Bravo reverses the hold and now the worry is if Bravo will break Colon’s leg just like what happened with Polynesian Prince. Carlso holds on and is able to grab the ropes to force a break, but his leg may have suffered some damage. As Carlos tries to fire off some punches, Bravo responds by kicking Colon’s leg. This leads to a Bravo airplane spin which leaves Carlos dizzy. Bravo charges in with a clothesline but Colon is aware enough to dodge and instead Bravo decks the referee. Bravo locks in the full nelson but the ref is down. It looks like Carlos may be losing his title, but all of a sudden Ihvader runs into the ring, punches Bravo in the back with the taped fist and runs off. Bravo staggers into a corner as Colon tries to gather himself. Beravos makes a beeline towards Carlos, but Colon is able to grab Bravo in a small package and get the three count. Carlos has retained the Universal title but it’s definitely questionable how it came about. Carlos grabs the title belt and is still a bit staggered as he leaves the ring. Meanwhile, an irate Bravo gets some final kicks in on the departing Colon.

MD: Okay, first and foremost, this was fine. Totally okay match. Needed blood, sorry, but it did. Now I’m expecting a massive bloodbath between Hugo and Travis and will be disappointed if I don’t get it. That’s the only explanation. BUT in general, this was good. Bravo inherited a lot of heat on his way in from having Profe with him. It was very paint by numbers for the most part. He’d get a little move on Colon and then eat three or four. They’d repeat it. Colon controlled which defused some of the heat to be honest. Bravo finally got him in an inverted atomic drop and started to wear him down. The brunt of this was a long bearhug that was worked well until Bravo got tired. 

I do think the finishing stretch is worth mentioning. Colon came back and did the cartwheel and put on the figure-four. This is where watching the TV really added a ton. We had seen the segment where Bravo broke Polynesian Prince’s leg by turning it over. When he did it here, it felt like a huge deal. We’d also seen matches he won by setting up the full nelson with the airplane spin so him doing it here felt like a big deal too. He missed Colon and got the ref with a clothesline though, and then Invader ran in and whacked Bravo in the back of the head with the taped fist as he had the Full Nelson on. Colon rolled him up and won it. I feel like I might have missed something there. Obviously the Army sticks together and Profe has done lots of nefarious things, but it felt a little cheap for Invader to interfere at Aniversario in the title match when the heel hadn’t really done anything to warrant it for once. 

TNT & Giant Warrior vs. Demolition Smash & Crush

EB: This match should please Matt as Demolition make an appearance. Granted it is the Smash and Crush version, but we’ll take what we can get. Their opponents are TNT & Giant Warrior, with TNT asking Warrior to be his partner against Demolition. A bit surprising that this the spot for TNT on the card, but it is against a high profile import at least. Demolition starts off quick by jumping Warrior and TNT and focusing their attacks on TNT. It almost seems like we have gone straight to TNT in peril, but after a couple of minutes TNT finds an opening and uses his karate moves to regain control on both Smash and Crush. Giant Warrior comes in to help TNT and both Demos are cleared from the ring. TNT remains in control working over Smash, and then Warrior is tagged in as the tecnicos focus on working over Smash’s arm. The tecnico team remains in control until Demolition is able to lure Warrior into their corner and are able to take over.

Giant Warrior becomes the face in peril as Demolition work him over. Smash uses a neck twist to wear Warrior down as the crowd tries to rally him. Demolition keeps baiting TNT into the ring, allowing them opportunities to double team Warrior behind the referee’s back. In an impressive feat of strength, Crush gets Warrior up in a torture rack position before dropping down in a back breaker type move. TNT breaks up that pin attempt. Crush continues working over Warriors using his legs to hold Warriors in a body vice. Warrior tries but cannot quite reach for the tag. Warrior keeps resisting the hold and it looks like he might finally reach TNT’s tag but Smash jumps off the apron and runs over to yank TNT off the apron. Finally, Crush releases the vice hold and tags in Smash. Warrior counters a charge with boot and is able to make the tag to TNT. An offensive flurry from TNT takes care of both Demos, but his two pin attempts on Smash are broken up by Crush. Warrior returns to the ring as all four men start fighting. The tecnicos get the better of Demolition as the ref starts making motions for them to stop, and then we get a double disqualification finish due to continued fighting in the ring. Not the best finish. TNT hauls off and decks the ref for calling for the dq. The tecnicos continue attacking Demolition at ringside. 

MD: Obviously, I’m a huge Demolition fan, but that really means I’m a big Bill Eadie as Ax fan. He’s great at structuring matches and conducting traffic and knowing how to make babyfaces earn every inch and adapting his act for different heels. But with a crowd this hot (even if they seem a little burnt out at first) and this deep into the Smash/Crush run, even this version of Demolition had a lot to offer and they offered it here, giving Giant Warrior maybe his best match ever (and a lot of that came down to his connection to the crowd and selling).

They start in on TNT early, but he came back as they ran into all of his kicks. Then we ended up with a long heat on Giant Warrior, most of which had him pinned down in a body scissors but they made it compelling. Warrior was constantly fighting, reaching straining, and they had to do whatever they could to keep him there given his size and reach (including Smash trying to pull TNT off the apron). They really did a great job of building the pressure up until he was able to block getting rammed into the turnbuckle with his foot (though Smash undercut his foot in a cool little spot). Immediately thereafter Smash ran into his boot in the opposite corner and TNT came in hot. He hit the spin wheel kick but everything devolved and Quiñones called it off right before getting clobbered himself. So disappointing finish even if they had the satisfaction of the hot tag, but a pretty solid match overall before that.

Hugo Savonovich vs. Billy Joe Travis

EB: Our last match on the video release is Hugo Savinovich vs. Billy Joe Travis. Hugo is here defending his family’s honor from the insults Travis had been saying on television and has promised to bring his ‘walking hardware store’ out of retirement for the match. For those wondering, this is in reference to Hugo’s rudo days when he would have all manner of foreign objects hidden on him, thus the walking hardware store name for this arsenal. Hugo comes out to a nice ovation, pauses to take off his shirt on the outside and then charges into the ring. Travis tries to jump Hugo, but instead Hugo catches Travis and fights him off (punctuated by biting Travis in the face). Travis tries to offer his hand but Hugo continues attacking, pulling out a belt from his tights and just whipping Travis with it around ringside. Hugo starts choking Travis with the belt but Travis gets out of it with a low blow. Travis now has possession of the belt and whips Hugo with it. A punch knocks Hugo down to the ballfield dirt and Travis follows him with more punches. Eliud Gonzalez on commentary reminds us that anything goes here. 

Travis stomps a prone Hugo on the field, but Hugo fights back and hits a dropkick on Travis. Hugo reaches into his boot and pulls out a coat hanger as he chases Travis back into the ring. Travis is choked with the coat hanger. Hugo then pulls out a chain and wraps it around his fist but Travis is able to backdrop Hugo before a punch is landed. Travis grabs the chain but opts to use it more to hold Hugo in place for some punches and then a clothesline. Travis slams Hugo and decides to go to the top to deliver a chain assisted fist drop. As Travis gloats to the crowd, Hugo comes too and reaches into his tights. Travis jumps off the top but is met with a face full of salt from Hugo. Travis hits the mat, Hugo makes the cover and gets the three count. Hugo wants to get a couple of licks in after the bell but Travis is able to roll out. The crowd applauds as Hugo has his hand raised as the winner. With that, we are done with Aniversario 1991.

MD: This goes about six minutes and it definitely doesn’t wear out its welcome. It probably could have gone twice that with Travis controlling a lot more. But the crowd is way up the whole time. Hugo charges right in, biting Travis in the forehead (no blood!) and whipping him with his belt. Travis takes back over and just hits these great measured punches on the outside. He had been shadowboxing before Hugo came in and he’s just a great sleazy Memphis Heel.

He really only gets a few shots in (even if they’re spaced out well) before Hugo finds a wire and comes back, choking Travis with it. He hits a dropkick and then pulls out a chain and it builds to a big moment, but Travis back body drops him and takes it. He pockets it himself so he can slam Hugo. As he sets him up for the big fistdrop with the chain, Hugo finds some powder and tosses it right into his eyes to set Travis up for the pin. Everyone is overjoyed and we fade to black with Hugo whacking Travis with chain-assisted punches. 

We’re missing a couple of matches that were good or at least interesting on paper and there was a dubious finish or two in this one, but overall everything came together pretty well. Good crowd-pleasing Aniversario.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, a big World tag title match takes place between two tecnico teams, an announced return of Steve Strong does not materialize and we get a Russian replacement instead, and the status quo changes for two wrestlers.

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