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

Week 58: The Road to Aniversario 91

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

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

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

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

Dino Bravo vs. Giant Warrior

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

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

Ronnie Garvin vs. Mr. Ito

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

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

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

Samoan Swat Team vs. Ricky Santana & Kim Duk

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

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

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

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

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

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

Invader I vs. Chicky Starr - April 90 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Polynesian Prince vs. Invader I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Samoan Swat Team vs. Ricky Santana & Invader IV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miguelito Perez vs. Dino Bravo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Carlos Colón vs. Great Kokina - Cage Match  

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

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

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

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

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Strong Punch

Week 57: Strong Punch

We saw Carlos Colon get the win against the savage Polynesian Prince in a barbed wire match and TNT regain the TV title against the man who put him on the shelf, one King Kong. We do have one other match we need to mention from the June 1 house show in Bayamon. Invader #1 faced Ron Garvin in a special challenge match and the match ended up going to a draw. Throughout the match there were a couple of instances where both Invader and Garvin looked to have the match won but circumstances caused the match to restart and then the time limit ended without a winner. As a result of this challenge match having no winner, the two wrestlers agreed to a rematch at Aniversario 91. To make it official, a contract signing aired on TV and things got heated when each man brought up the moment they had the match in hand.. The back and forth got a bit heated and then talk turned to who had the better and stronger punch. Again, the back and forth got a bit heated, leading to both men standing up. At that moment, Garvin surprised Invader with a punch right to the face. Invader went down and his nose was injured from the blow. As a result, Invader will have a bandage around his nose as he recovers from the damage Garvin's punch did. This has only added more fuel to the newly signed match for Anviersari 91. And there’s one more stipulation that will be added as a result of all the arguing over who has the better punch. In order to prove who has the best punch, Invader will be allowed to show up with his fist taped for the Aniversario match. The taped fist heart punch is the most dangerous move in Puerto Rico wrestling, so the stakes are high for that encounter.

Do we have any other updates for Aniversario? Let’s go to what's either the June 8 or June 15 west coast version of Super Estrellas to find out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRMBHXeS91w

We join this episode in progress, as Eliud Gonzalez is in the Road to Aniversario control center. He’s just finished talking about Invader #1 (looks like he has a match for Aniversario) and then talks about the revenge match between Bronco and Skandor Akbar. They replay the fireball incident and aftermath. There’s also the match between Monster Ripper and El Profe, and we go to a recap of how this all started at Noche de Campeones. And if that’s not enough, we also have the feud between Billy Joe Travis and Hugo Savinovich, where we get the recap of the brief altercation and then Hugo getting Carlos Colon and Giant Warrior to agree to help him train for the match. Back in the control center, Eliud tells us that more matches will be announced soon and remember that you can get your tickets at Thom McAn (a shoe store chain) in the western region starting this Thursday. If you pay attention to the clips shown in the segment outro, you’ll see Ron Garvin decking Invader during the contract signing for their Aniversario match, which is what leads to Invader wearing a bandage around his nose for the next couple of weeks.

The control center is followed by an El Profe promo, where he again runs down Monster Ripper by saying that here in Latin America women are objects for men. We cut to a card rundown for the Aniversario show in San German and we can confirm that Invader #1 with his taped fist will face Ron Garvin. Also added to the card are the Caribbean Express defending the Caribbean tag titles against the Samoan Swat Team and Super Medico #3 defending the Caribbean title against Rod Price. Tomorrow (either June 9 or 16) they will be in Guanica with the following lineup: Invader #1 & TNT vs Polynesian Prince & Dick Murdoch; Giant Warrior vs. King Kong; Ricky Santana vs Rod Price; Miguelito Perez vs Action Jackson; minis in action; Huracan Castillo vs Billy Joe Travis; and Mr. Ito vs. Galan Mendoza.

Since this is the last we’ll hear of King Kong, I want to mention a memory I have that has to be from around this time period. It was a TV match taped in Miramar where Invader #1 faced King Kong. In a rarity, Invader #1 was wearing his mask in a singles match, so it's likely he was protecting his injured nose from further damage. The reason I remember this match is for the finishing stretch. Invader hit Kong with the heart punch, leaving him staggered but still on his feet. Invader then went to the middle turnbuckle and jumped off with another heart punch, knocking Kong down. Invader gets the pin and leaves the ring, but Kong remains down on the mat and you have the ref  and Akbar checking on Kong. The ref starts panicking and they have to revive Kong with chest compressions since he had sustained two heart punches. Kong is successfully revived and then leaves the ring normally under his own power, likely on his way out of the territory.  

MD: They start this episode recapping Akbar vs Bronco, Profe vs Ripper, and Hugo vs Travis. It’s wild that this is how they’re doing Aniversario this year. As we get there, I’m hoping Esteban can dig up some details about just how successful it was, because it is a bold strategy. It looks like, a month out, they’ve added Invader 1 vs Ron Garvin, Caribbean Express vs SST, Medico IV vs Rod Price, and Giant Warrior vs Murdoch. With Colon vs Bravo on top. It’s an interesting card to say the least. 

Meanwhile, the house show for the week had Invader/TNT vs Polynesian Prince/Murdoch, Warrior vs King Kong, Santana vs Price, Perez vs Jackson, Midgets, Castillo vs Travis, and Ito vs Mendoza, so that’s not really a bad card either all things considered. 

Invader IV vs. Ronnie Garvin

EB: We go to a JIP Ron Garvin vs. Invader #4 arena match and it wouldn't surprise me that this was signed after Garvin punched out Invader #1. If you'll recall, Invader #4 is the younger brother of Invader #1, so it stands to reason he is looking to get some revenge on Garvin. Hugo and Eliud on commentary say that you have to be very careful of Garvin’s punches. Invader #4 is the one in control when we join the match, having backed Garvin into a corner and getting some punches on him. It doesn’t last long and Garvin takes over with some punches of his own. A Garvin hip toss gets a two count, but Invader #4 quickly gets up and hits Garvin with some punches. Garvin is whipped into the ropes and is able to hold on to them, causing Invader #4 to miss a dropkick. Garvin immediately goes for the Garvin Stomp and then knocks Invader #4 out with a right hook to the face. Garvin gets the win and shows off his punching prowess in the process.

After the match, we go to taped promos from Garvin and Invader #1. Garvin wants it to be known that all he needs are his bare hands, he could probably kill a bear with his bare hands. Garvin promises that he will dismantle Invader in front of all the fans at Aniversario. Invader (with the bandage on his face) follows by saying that Garvin should be embarrassed for what he did at the contract signing. Invader understands why Garvin did it, Garvin was angry about the time limit draw and not being able to defeat Invader. Garvin asked for 5 more minutes, Invader gave it to him, and still Garvin could not beat Invader. When we signed the contract for Aniversario, you punched me and hurt my nose,but come Aniversario you'll have to show that you have the strongest punch. Remember, I'll have my fist taped and when I hit the heart punch on you Garvin, you will not get up.

MD: Despite being greyscale, I think this is new footage. Garvin doesn’t have a manager and Invader IV only showed up during the run of our footage, I think. At least with the gimmick. He pummels Garvin in the corner, really taking it to him. Garvin comes back with a headbutt but he can’t keep Invader IV from firing back on him. But Invader misses a dropkick, and it’s Garvin Stomp followed by Hand of Steel for the definitive and anti-climactic win.

Garvin cut a great promo about how while Invader will be coming for revenge (I have no idea what for but his nose is sure bandaged) and will have taped fists, Garvin will have bare knuckles and he could punch out a bear with his bare knuckles. Then Hugo translates while he shadow boxes and I am excited for this match already. 

EB: Hugo Savinovich is in training for his Aniversario match against Billy Joe Travis and here we have video of him being trained by Carlos Colon. At the end we get some words from an out of  breath Hugo where he thanks Carlos and promises to continue getting ready for Travis in order to teach him a lesson

MD: There are more than five minutes of this! Why is this so long! There’s a whole minute of just Hugo stretching. On the other hand, I can’t wait for part two of this if he’s being trained by Giant Warrior next.

Dino Bravo vs. Armandito Salgado

EB: Dino Bravo is taking on Armandito Salgado in Manati. Hugo apologizes for the black and white picture, this is how the match was filmed apparently. This goes as well as you would expect for Salgado, with Bravo making quick work of him and winning with the full nelson.

MD: Pretty effective squash here. He charged right in, punching him in the corner, pile driving him, hitting elbow drops. He was using the full nelson instead of the side slam so he couldn’t just finish him off. He instead tossed him out and had a nice entry point to the full nelson where he starts to whip Salgado out of the corner and put him right in it after a few steps. As effective as I can imagine from Bravo.

EB: Next is Billy Joe Travis with El Profe, and they just spend the time making fun of Hugo. It cuts to Profe’s closing remarks about how Dino Bravo will be the new Universal champion at Aniversario. Then Carlos Colon (from the track where he is training Hugo and with one of the Colon kids) has some comments, saying that his goal is having a convincing win against Bravo at Aniversario.

MD: Travis was sure having fun and Profe seemed to be having fun with him. He mocked Hugo, his training, his wife, all within the span of less than a minute. 

Rod Price & Action Jackson vs. Tito Carrion & El Corsario

EB: We go to another JIP match as Rod Price and Action Jackson are in the middle of facing Tito Carrion and El Corsario. Price and Jacksna are getting the better of Carrion and refusing to cover him for the pin, even after hitting a Doomsday Device. Price finally gets the merciful pin after a shoulder tackle. 

MD: I made the mistake of looking up Price and Jackson’s association because they were both GWF guys and they had this wild looking SPWF tour in 1996 against Yatsu, Teranishi and Poison Sawada. ANYWAY, this was brutal. A Price belly to belly (lifts up the opponent). A doomsday device (lifts up the opponent). A Price flying lariat (doesn’t lift up the opponent). 

EB: SkandorAkbar has some comments where he is incredulous that Bronco is daring to come back here after having been burned. Akbar warns Bronco to stay in Santo Domingo, because he has a plan to finish him off. We then get an interview from Bronco sent in from Santo Domingo, where he says he is recovering nicely although some burn marks still linger. Bronco urges the fans in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to see some of the burns still on his face, so he covers up with a towel to remove his mask. We then get a still shot of the burn marks Bronco wanted to show. Bronco says he is returning at Aniversario, even if he is not fully healed by them. And he warns the president of CSP to make sure he has medics and emergency services on hand, because they are going to need them for Akbar once he is done with him.

MD: Akbar tells Bronco not to come back to Puerto Rico and that he has a back up plan, as always. Bronco looks cool as always (whether he’s lounging here or running in from the back in a suit). They do a deal where he takes off his mask but shields his face with a towel so they can zoom in on the burn. 

EB: The Caribbean Express have some words about defending the Caribbean tag tiles at Aniversario against the Samoan Swat Team. Pretty standard comments where they say they are training hard and promise to keep the belts. They also have some comments about their singles matches for tomorrow in Guanica.Hugo says he cannot be unbiased and he hopes Castillo teaches Travis a lesson tomorrow. 

MD: They were theoretically able to get over both the Profe and the SST matches here but they seemed to focus on the SST match more as Ripper didn’t talk.

EB: The episode closes with video of the barbed wire match between Carlos Colon and the Polynesian Prince. Hugo closes the show by hyping up the Friday Aniversario card in San Germana and tomorrow’s house show in Guanica. 

Now let’s go to the June 15  episode of Campeones, it's a cut down version of the episode with some repeat matches but let's see if there is any new news about Aniversario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfCgFiiu8p8

Hugo and Profe welcome us to another edition of Campeones. Hugo immediately starts getting on Profe’s case about Anciersari saying Profe is going to lose against Monster Ripper. Profe plays it off saying that he will be the one doing the beating. Hugo says that women are to be respected, Profe responds with ‘What lady?’ Hugo mentions what we'll see on today's program, while also reminding viewers about the upcoming Aniversario 91 on July 6 in Bayamon. Tonight they will be in Carolina with a main event of Carlos Colon vs the Great Kokina (looks like they’ve brought in another monster to try to derail Carlos before Aniversario). Profe reinforces that point, saying he doesn't care if Kokina wins tonight, Kokina is here to destroy Carlos Colon. Profe warns Carlos to not show up tonight and laughs when Hugo says they better be careful, because El Ejercito de la Justicia is ready and may decide to send them to the hospital instead. Also tonight we have Dino Bravo vs. TNT and Invader #1 vs. Polynesian Prince. With that let’s get to our first match (courtesy of El Profe’s magic finger).

Rod Price vs. Mr. Ito

Rod Price is taking on the newcomer known as Mr. Ito, who you may better know as Akira Nogami. Mr. It looks good in the early going, hitting some nice dropkicks that send Price to the outside of the ring. Price tries an armbar and Ito works out of it. Price turns the tide by hotshotting Ito on the top rope, allowing Rod to control the next portion of the match. Ito is not easy to put away, and a missed change in the corner gives Ito an opening to come back with some nice kicks. Some mounted punches and a spin kick follow and it looks like Ito has momentum on his side. Akbar gets involved however by grabbing Ito’s leg when he’s coming off the ropes. The distraction is enough for Price to attack Ito from behind. One shoulder tackle later and Rod Price gets the win.

We then go to the Aniversario 91 control center, but it unfortunately is edited off the version we have video for.

MD: Ito is Akira Nogami of all people and this was a solid TV match. He’s babyface here and controlled early with dropkicks. Price stalled until he was able to take over with a cheapshot and as always has a lot of “stuff.” Belly to belly suplex, press slam, vertical suplex, with punches and occasionally cutting off hope chopping from underneath. Ito kept kicking out and was able to get out of the way of a corner charge to take over with kicks in the corner. Akbar caught his leg off the ropes though, letting Price hit a flying shoulder tackle for the win. A good way to spend five minutes or so.

EB: The rest of the episode’s matches are ones we do not need to cover since they are the Garvin vs. Flair cage match from JCP…

MD: I guess it’s nice we now have a version of this match commentated on by Hugo?

EB: And the Colon vs. Murdoch barbed wire match from early April. We also have a promo from Skandor Akbar with the Polynesian Prince, whose opponent tonight is Invader #1.

MD: Prince is definitely committed to the gimmick. You can’t say he’s not. He’s biting at the air and making faces as Akbar talks and it’s quite the scene. 

EB: We also get a brief clip of Eliud Gonzalez in the control center that is in between segments of the Colon vs. Murdoch match. Eliud runs down the matches signed for Aniversario 91 and mentions there is a change to one of the matches. The match in question is Giant Warrior vs. Dick Murdoch, it seems that TNT has asked Warrior if he would team up with him to face… and the clip cuts off there. Guess we’ll have to wait until next week to find out what the match is instead. The real reason the Warrior vs. Murdoch match was changed is due to Dick Murdoch having signed with WCW. Hugo and Profe close the show by hyping tonight's card in Carolina with a main event of Carlos Colon vs. Great Kokina.

We'll finish off this week’s post with footage of the Dino Bravo vs. TNT match from June 15.

TNT vs. Dino Bravo - June 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8RsFYAYgE

It's only a short clip of the match since this is taken from a  TV episode that aired some months later. They show TNT hitting his shoulder on the post when missing a corner charge and Bravo takes advantage by working over TNT’s shoulder. TNT gets a hope spot with a sunset flip, but Bravo knocks TNT down with a clothesline and continues attacking the arm. TNT gets another comeback, but a missed spin kick allows Bravo to lock in the full nelson. TNT submitted due to the hurt shoulder and a big win for Bravo on his way to Aniversario 91. . 

MD: We get the last four minutes of this. TNT misses a corner charge and Bravo works over the arm. It’s not exactly impressive armwork but it’s fine. Varied even if none of the holds look great. TNT comes back and Bravo feeds well for it. He misses an elbow drop as well. But TNT misses the spin wheel kick and he gets a clean win with the full nelson. I get putting him over so strong going into Anversario but usually this would have a distraction or interference. That made me realize I don’t know who TNT is actually facing at Anversario.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emciones, we are in the final stretch of the road to Aniversario 91. Giant Warrior helps train Hugo, we’ll cover some matches that happened during the latter half of June such as Invader #1 teaming up with Mr. Ito and Carlos Colon vs Great Kokina in a steel cage, and the final hype for Aniversario 91 as we get some feud recaps to make sure we know how we got there.

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New Footage Friday: CWA THE FINAL WAR '95

CWA Final War 12/14/95

Joe-Joe Lee vs. Rod Price

PAS: This was a US rules match, which I assume means no rounds. Price is a Global guy who is probably best known for accidentally getting his hair weave ripped out by Chris Adams. I was kind of surprised he never went anywhere, he had a good 90s roid belly look and had pretty solid execution. Joe Joe Lee is Satoshi Kojima during his excursion. This was pretty good without ever moving into great. I really liked Lee's jumping elbows, and the finish was some fun BS with a chair.

MD: I concur that it's strange Price never ended up somewhere else. I have fond memories as a kid of watching him team with Tatum in Global and he's perfectly fine here a few years later. They had a more than solid opening exchange, just good action. As the match went on, I could have went for some transitions/cutoffs that weren't so grab-and-arm-and-kick, even if it did make the hotshot towards the end more memorable. It was the first iffy finish on a night of them.

ER: I thought this was great, and was my favorite thing on the show. I was not expecting that to be the case, even though I really like Rod Price and Kojima. Rod Price is like if Candido went through the Power Plant instead of Tennessee indies. Price bumps hard and strikes hard, takes a couple different big bumps to the floor (one through the ropes and one over), and comes off like a proto Luger. Lee isn't as charismatic as he'd become a little later, but his repertoire was solid; I really liked his mule kick (and the way Price sold it), and was impressed at the way he flew into a brick wall like Price. Their scrap on the floor was good, with Price really planting a hard chair into Lee's back, a nice cherry to all the genuinely great stand and trade we got in the match. these two went it and had a top to bottom cool match.


2 Cold Scorpio vs. Jim Neidhart

PAS: I thought this was great. It is a streetfight and all you need to have a great streetfight is two guys willing and able to throw heat, which we had here. Neidhart has great looking clubbing forearms, and was really laying them in, while Scorp would use more fast and sharp combinations, including going body to head. Most of Scorp's flying backfired, as he crashed and burned on a couple of bodypress attempts, he also takes a great bump where Scorp basically does a Flair Flop off the apron to the floor. Weird to have a DQ finish in a streetfight, but Neidhart trying to choke Scorp to death does warrant one.

ER: The layout to this was a strong way to handle a style clash like this, as Neidhart is a limited guy in singles matches whose limitations were turned into strengths here. All he had to do was lay in hard forearms and kneel on Scorpio's throat, and Scorpio was in charge of moving the action around the ring and ringside. Neidhart has big forearms, and he did almost nothing but smash Scorpio in the chest and face with them, coming off in a 0.7 Vader in the process. Scorpio eats those shots and throws quick strikes back, but routinely gets smothered and bullied by Neidhart. In fact the longer I think on it the more I wish we got at least two bigger Scorpio comebacks before the brutal choke DQ. Scorpio really got smothered for 80% of this, and he's someone who can believably go toe to toe with Anvil. The finish looked great, with the tree of woe choke bending back Scorpio's neck, but Scorpio needed a couple more of his violent impact moves.

MD: This almost felt like a Neidhart showcase by default. He was a tank in there and it was on Scorpio and his explosiveness to figure out how to deal with him. It meant that all of the cutoffs were Scorpio basically making a desperate mistake. Again, a weird finish though it was intense enough. Just out of place in what the match was supposed to be. Also, Neidhart should have always come out to Alice Cooper.


Tony St. Clair vs. Danny Collins 

PAS: This is a Piratekampf match which is a chain match/flag on a pole match, a European specific match time which pretty much always delivers. Collins was a real nasty fuck in this match, really laying in all of the shots, and grinding the chain into St. Clairs mouth. I always love the way leverage is used in these Piratekampf matches, lots of cool looking tug of war spots with a guy trying to drag someone else up a pole. I thought the finish was great with St Clair crotching Collins on the top turnbuckle and climbing up him to the flag. This was a midcard Piratekampf so it didn't have the same of sort of gritty war of attrition qualities that the other Piratekampf matches we have seen, but it is a great gimmick and two great wrestlers performing it.

ER: This was really good, and now that I've seen a few Piratekampf matches it really feels like those working the stip treat it very seriously. This was a rough hitting match, Collins especially working this like a darker haired Finlay with awesome punishing strikes, and both guys took nasty yanks and hard bumps while going after the flag. Collins meanness really carried this through, and St. Clair was a real strong babyface, and the crowd was super into him. Collins is a guy I need to seek out more, and I'm sure we will get to more of him with this new wave of German handhelds. The filming of this match was really great, and totally added to the action. The work was tight enough that I wasn't thinking most of the time how I was watching a handheld.

MD: St. Clair coming out to Simply the Best is some glorious wrestling BS. I liked their familiarity with the gimmick, little things early on like Collins trying to cut distance by stepping on the chain only to get yanked off his feet by a ready St. Clair or towards the end when St. Clair uses the chain to make Collins lose his balance on a corner whip to shift the momentum. These tend to be the best possible "on-a-pole" sort of matches because the chain keeps distance short and allows for some nasty shots and knockdowns. This didn't quite get to that level of bloody meanness but it was fun for what it was.

John Hawk vs. Viktor Kruger 

PAS: This was a Texas Bullrope match, and had some of the flaws of that match, lots of dragging to corners and less action. The action we got was pretty good though. Kruger throws a mean running elbow, and I really liked the finish with Kruger breaking up the turnbuckle tapping by tackling Hawk to the floor, but still losing when Hawk hit the turnbuckle from the floor. There was some weird matwork at the beginning and a double kneebar spot, which I guess was Kruger bringing BattlArts to the ranch. Weird to see Bradshaw with that ponytail, the JBL persona is so ingrained with me.

ER: I am a big fan of someone being a "Master of the _____", so Bradshaw coming out to Rednex while being billed as the Master of the Bullrope Match is going to be right up my alley, even if at the end of this I much rather would have seen a straight Hawk/Kruger match. But it's almost always going to be a more interesting match if the focus is on asskicking rather than "reaching for things". These are two I want to see in a slugfest, though I still liked little things they did, like trading stomach kicks while entwined in a knuckle lock, and I am admittedly a sucker for those turnbuckle reaching spots where one guy is doing everything to hold that rope taut while the guy reaching is using all his might to stretch for the buckle. It's a fun bit of actual strength that could go wrong if one of the guys slipped just a little. The finish was the most inspired section of the match, and ending on a high note really does have the power to shine up nearly anything: Bradshaw is going for the fourth and final turnbuckle, so Kruger spears him through the ropes to the floor, then accidentally lariats the ringpost, allowing Hawk to leap back up to the apron and hit the turnbuckle. Rednex play us out.

MD: I struggled a bit with the turnbuckle count here. Bradshaw was already able to channel his inner jerk well. Kruger seemed to be almost as big as him and they played it like a clash of the titans for the most part. Both this and the piratekampf match had the wrestlers almost constantly going for the win which was appreciated but it didn't necessarily make for the most compelling match here. As Eric said, the finish was inspired. It's tough to get a good bullrope match finish and I'm surprised Bradshaw didn't steal this for later on.

Big Titan/Cannonball Grizzly/Fit Finlay vs. August Smisl/Ice Train/Rambo

PAS: This was a cage match with the cage being around the ringside area rather then the ring. The cage basically served the same purpose as a ringrails, just something to get irish whipped into. Finlay was mostly just cheap shotting guys on the outside, he is about the best guy in history to watch throw cheapshots, but I would have liked to see him in ring more. Most of the match was WCW Pro style heavyweight wrestling, lots of Big Titan vs. Rambo. I did really like the Ice Train vs. Cannonball Grizzly stuff, Ice Train had really explosive offensive, that was a WCWSN feud that we just missed by a year or two.

ER: I liked this, but with the talent involved I was expecting more. We still got plenty of good moments, but there were also things we didn't get (like Finlay vs. Train, but instead we were getting tons of Titan vs. Rambo). Finlay's huge torpedo shoulderblocks in the corner were a major highlight for me, and the Train/Grizzly culmination was another big moment. And match that has a jacked up Ice Train hitting a wooly mammoth powerslam on Grizzly is going to have a high floor. Ice Train also had a big leaping clothesline off the middle buckle that was a heavyweight wrestling dream. The rest of this has good brawling and some upper class bumps into the ringside cage, so this was still a win even though I wanted more.

MD: They announce Ice Train as choo choo Ice Train, so that was appreciated. Smisl is a guy I've never seen before and his hat will stick with me more than his seemingly fine work. Rambo was both over and pretty well protected in the match. He got to toss everyone on the other side into the cage to open the match. He was never really the guy in peril and it was only the numbers game that let Finlay's side keep the advantage. That sort of thing. I'm sort of curious to see more Cannonball Grizzly here. For a guy the fans wanted to love, News was problematic at best in 91-92. He had a lot more presence here. Finlay was mainly on the outside throwing violence around when some poor fool got too close to him. He did get to hit a couple of awesome ballistic shoulder blocks in the corner though. The finish was very weird with Ice Train getting his stuff in and Rambo having to basically shout at him to get him to run across the ring to eat a cheapshot from the apron.

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