El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: La Batalla Final

Week 14: La Batalla Final

It has been nine months since Sadistic Steve Strong's arrival in CSP. We have followed his path of destruction and chaos throughout 1989, which included him winning the Universal title, injuring Carlos Colon’s shoulder, facing off against nearly every top tecnico in the territory, and main eventing Aniversario. The fallout from Aniversario has resulted in the Universal title being held up and now we have arrived at what has been named ‘La Batalla Final’ (The Final Battle). This encounter between Colon and Strong will decide the Universal champion. It will also result in one of the two men leaving the territory. The stakes are high for Thanksgiving Day.

This late 1989 period is one where results are more spotty compared to earlier in the year. As such, we don’t really have the full lineup for the Thanksgiving Day card but we do have some results and matches which we’ll talk about shortly. But before then, let’s check in on some of the wrestlers and how things are going as we head towards the end of November.

First, we’ll catch up feud wise with what’s been happening with Invader #1, TNT, Super Medico. Gary Albright and some others next time, but do know that they’ve been active and all of them were likely on the Thanksgiving Day card (I suspect Invader against either Abudda Dein or Gary Albright, Medico likely defended the World Junior title, and TNT likely faced off against one of Chicky’s guys). For some of these wrestlers whose roles on the Thanksgiving Day card aren’t clear, let’s check on how they’re performing on TV.

As we’ve seen previously, besides being the reigning World Junior champion, Super Medico has been taking on a few of the rudos in matches taped for tv. While he has made a good showing of himself, Medico ended up on the losing end vs Manny Fernandez and Leo Burke. Let’s see him in action once more, this time against Abudda Dein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1mgsQXi6I

As we saw earlier, Abudda has been back in singles competition since losing the World tag titles at Aniversario. He is coming off a series of matches with Invader #1 where he was unsuccessful in bringing back the Puerto Rico title to El Profe’s Real Academia stable. Also,  by this point the chatter around his suspected to be loaded boot has increased during his most recent series with Invader #1. Here Abudda is taking on Super Medico. They start with an exchange of various arm wringers, leading to Abudda going to the ropes to break the hold and going outside to regroup. Profe comes over to give Dein some advice and Dein takes control with a knee to the stomach once he gets back in the ring, Medico manages to regain control by countering out of a side headlock and works Dein’s arm. The commentators (Hector Moyano and Eliud Gonzalez) mention that Medico has the quickness advantage and can nearly match Dein in strength. Medico continues to maintain the upper hand in the hold exchanges and settles into a side headlock, one that Dein tries to get out of by grabbing onto Medico’s mask. The referee stops Dein each time he tries to grab the mask. Dein manages to send Medico into the ropes but Medico keeps countering Dein’s attempts at getting offense in. Back to the side headlock, which Dein once again counters by sending Medico into the ropes. A bodypress attempt by Medico is countered into a backbreaker, allowing Dein to grab control of the match. Dein drops Medico throat first on the top rope and continues to work Medico’s throat area with foot chokes. Eliud mentions that they have to work fast because there's only a 10 minute time limit for this match (it seems this is the standard tv match time limit in CSP). Medico manages to regain control by kicking Dein in the head coming off the ropes. Medico hits a flurry of punches and a sunset flip gets two. A dropkick sends Dein outside and the referee stops Medico from going after Dein. With the ref’s back turned, Dein takes the opportunity to load up his boot by stomping it against the mat three times. He kicks Medico in the gut and goes for a pin attempt, but referee El Vikingo has turned around earlier just as Dein was finishing ‘loading’ his boot by stomping it on the mat. It looks like the secret’s out regarding Abudda’s boot  as El Vikingo shakes his finger at Dein and calls for the bell. Dein is disqualified for using a loaded boot. The referee raises the downed Medico’s arm declaring him the winner while Dein leaves the ring celebrating like he had won the match.

MD: A little less than five minutes here. I was expecting Dein to win with the boot but the ref caught him. Before that, Medico had the advantage wrestling wise, but Dein was able to assert himself through his power and cheating, primarily targeting the throat. Medico looked good fighting from underneath here and Dein look sufficiently cruel and unyielding. For a guy who didn’t have too many big runs elsewhere, Dein was credible in this role.

EB: Somebody we need to keep our eyes on is Manny Fernandez. After Aniversario, Manny helped Chicky attack Carlos Colon as a result of Chicky feeling that Steve Strong had been robbed of the Universal title. Manny’s been on a bit of a winning streak on tv and he looks to continue his winning ways against Huracan Castillo Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65sWRi4tZU

Huracan has been recently immersed in a tag feud with Los Mercenarios since losing the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario. But with Miguelito Perez having won the Puerto Rico title, both Castillo and Perez have also taken a few more singles matches recently. Here is one such case as Castillo tries his luck against Manny Fernandez. As both men face off to start, Hector Moyano mentions that hurricanes in Puerto Rico bring bad memories but this one here (Castillo) is loved by the fans. A few lockups are exchanged and it becomes clear that Castillo is not backing down, shoving Manny when they broke one of the lock ups. A few exchanges early on see Castillo get the better of Manny, but Manny gets some words from Chicky and decides to go for Castillo’s leg when they lock up again. Chicky talks smack to the camera which is drowned out by some chanting fans. Manny continues to work on the leg while on the mat as Castillo tries to fight out of it. This is pretty much the middle portion of the match, with Manny working the leg in different holds on the mat. Castillo tries maneuvering Manny into a couple of pin attempts but Manny manages to kick out and continue with the hold. The end of the match comes when they take it off the mat. Castillo manages to come back on Manny after a kick of the ropes. Castillo hits a series of moves including a slam and an elbow drop, but Manny cuts him off with a punch to the stomach. Manny knocks Castillo down coming off the ropes and, when doing a criss cross, catches Castillo with a DDT for two.  Castillo tries to counter with a standing switch into a cradle, but Manny holds onto the rope and sends Castillo tumbling backwards on the mat. This sets up Manny’s standing elbow smash and Manny gets the win. We’ll have to see if this winning streak catapults Manny into a title opportunity against one of the territory's champions.

MD: There was a cute bit at the start as the commentary carefully links Castillo to the recent hurricane due to his nickname. Between some of the new footage and just delving into what’s out there, we have a bit more of this Manny/Chicky run than we initially thought, which is good as he fit in so well here. He was only 35 or so here, really a prime age to anchor a territory even if he probably had a lot of wear and tear on the wheels. They worked a chunk of this on the mat with Castillo going for a cross armbreaker and Manny trying to keep a leglock. It opened up after that with Manny beating Castillo down and Castillo trying to fire up before they went into the finish, with Manny catching Castillo out of nowhere with a DDT and then hitting a twisting back elbow off the ropes. This made me want to see Chicky and Manny go up against Castillo and Perez.

EB: Let’s talk about what we do know about the Thanksgiving Day show. On tv it was announced that the Youngbloods would be defending the World tag titles against Los Mercenarios. While we’ll talk a bit more about these two teams and any potential result from Thanksgiving Day next time, let's take this opportunity to further showcase both teams in action  (and take advantage that we have some rarely seen matches available).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTP_yQhPz0

Once again Los Mercenarios are facing Maelo Huertas and a tag partner on tv, with Herbert Gonzalez being Maelo’s partner this time. The tecnicos in these matches against Los Mercenarios have made a good showing of themselves, although Los Mercenarios have proven too wily and managed to remain victorious. This match is not that different from what we’ve previously seen. Maelo gets some shine when he’s in the ring to start, getting the better of Mercenario #1 (Acevedo) and then Mercenario #2 (Morrow) to start before tagging Herbert in. To his credit Herbert maintains control with a side headlock for  a few moments, before Mercenario #2 works out of the hold and tags in Mercenario #1. Herbert manages to reverse an armlock but gets trapped in the corner. An attempted double team fails when Herbert ducks out of the way. Herbert keeps up the pressure and tags Maelo in, who continues on the offensive attack. The tecnicos are giving a good fight to Los Mercenarios.  Mercenario #2 is tagged back in and the tide turns after a knee to the back of Maelo when he was coming off the ropes. Los Mercenarios continue to show that they'll rely on wily shortcuts to get and maintain their advantage. Los Mercenarios work over Maelo for a while but Maelo is able to counter with a clothesline and tags in Herbert. All four men end up in the ring and it looks like the tecnicos may be getting control of the match. However, as the referee is escorting Maelo out of the ring, Los Mercenarios sneak in and hit a double DDT on Herbert and steal the win. It’s very clear how Los Mercenarios are operating as Caribbean tag champions.

MD: Pretty complete for a five minute match, maybe too much so as I’m not sure the Mercenarios should be giving up so much, even if Cuban Assassin is a great bumping stooge. Morrow has a couple of bumps in him each match too. The more I see of Maelo the more sense I get that he excelled in his role at the top of the enhancement guys. He was always on, always fighting, had some dynamic, explosive offense, and bumped big. He took a great butterfly suplex from Morrow here. He rolled into a nice hot tag too. Morrow and the Assassin were just too good at working behind the ref’s back though and they hit a double DDT out of nowhere for the pin.

EB: Let’s also check in on the Youngbloods, who are taking on an odd couple team in Abudda Dein and El Exotico (although maybe not that odd if you remember that Dein has just teamed for a couple of months with Rip Rogers).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAxdeFch7ko

We have some interesting looks here as the combatants are arriving to the ring. Exotico has heart frame shades and a spray can that he is using to spray the ring. We heard Hector Moyano mention that Exotico did this in a previous match but here we get to see his pre-match method of dealing with stinky opponents. The Youngbloods arrive and we see that Chris is wearing his ceremonial skull mask. Moyano mentions that the ring is very fragrant after Exotico did his thing with the spray can. Everyone starts getting on Exotico’s case, with the crowd catcalling him ,the Youngbloods making gestures at him and even the commentators making a comment or two about how he goes about things (it’s 1989 after all). Exotico and Chris start off and Exotico has no luck in there against Chris. Dein tries to help by grabbing Chris at one point but the double team gets botched when Chris gets out of the way. Chris tags Mark in, who then dropkicks Exotico. After fleeing to his corner and hugging Dein for protection, Exotico complains about having his hair pulled. Dein starts complaining about that happening as well and, for some reason, grabs Exotico by the hair and starts shaking him around to show the referee what had supposedly happened. As Dein finishes doing this, Mark sneaks up behind Exotico and basically pinches his butt. Exotico is not happy about that but Mark continues with the advantage once they lock up again. El Profe goes over to the commentary table and defends Exotico by saying ‘he’s just a delicate young man, don’t be thinking what it’s not, he’s just delicate’. Over three minutes in Dein finally gets tagged in but doesn’t fare much better than Exotico. This match has been all Youngbloods so far. Dein makes the tag to Exotico and, surprisingly, Exotico goes on a successful offensive flurry (including an eye poke). It doesn’t last long as Mark counters a suplex attempt and tags Chris back in. After a brief moment where all four men end up in the ring, Exotico gets isolated and falls victim to a slingshot splash. The Youngbloods get a dominant win.

MD: I went back to isolate a version of this with the entrances too. Exotico had the glasses, was spraying Arrogance all over the place, and put his arm on Profe’s shoulder only for Profe to shrug him off. Thankfully, Dein helped him take off his robe so he could pose, though. Chris had the cool skull mask too so all was right with the wrestling world. Profe, to his infinite credit, expressed some concern for Exoitco as the Youngbloods were tossing him around. Very little heat here. Lots of begging off and stooging. Dein was sort of dragged down by his partner and felt more on his level than as the name guy teamed with the enhancement guy. The Youngbloods were pretty good at asserting themselves too, which maybe didn’t help. Still, it’s fun to see Exotico do his thing.

EB: With his winning record so far in CSP, Leo Burke is challenging for the Caribbean title on Thanksgiving. This will be a tough opponent for the reigning champion Miguel Perez Jr. Let’s go to that match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5IxwGKYK14

This match video is from a Campeones airing about two weeks after the Thanksgiving Day show, so the commentary does provide a bit of context about certain happenings. In this case, Carlos Colon is talking about a match he had with Leo Burke the previous week that went to a draw.  I mention this because this is a thread we’ll pick back up next time. As for this match, we are at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon. Burke has been presented as the master of the figure-four in his run so far and is looking to bring the Caribbean title to El Club Deportivo. Miguel tries to charge at Leo right at the bell but both Leo and Chicky are in the corner complaining to the ref that Burke has not taken his jacket off. The ref tells Chicky to get out of the ring as Burke goes to the apron and then to the floor. Chicky comes over to help Leo take off the jacket and the two share a hug as the crowd gives them static. Hugo on commentary starts asking Chicky about the nature of the hug,  which Chicky answers by saying that the hug means something that’s not Hugo’s or anyone else’s business. Carlos mentions that all of Leo’s complaining about the jacket is mind games by Burke and that an inexperienced wrestler might be taken in by these mind games if not careful. Carlos also credits Burke with being a great wrestler. Burke slows the pace of the match down by exiting the ring when Miguel tries to lock up. Eventually, Leo gets caught by Miguel and falls victim to an offensive flurry. Burke escapes to the outside and complains to Chicky about a blow to the eyes. Burke gets back in and Miguel takes control again on offense. Hugo mentions that Miguel is in control but Carlos responds that he seems to be anxious and aggressive and that you have to be careful against someone like Leo Burke. You have to be more calculated in your approach. Burkle continues stalling outside of the ring after once more escaping Miguelito’s attack. Leo finally gains control with a hairpull (something Chicky denies on commentary). We go to and come back from a commercial break with Burke working on Miguelito's arm. Hugo mentions that Burke is a very smart wrestler as he broke the hold when the ref caught him but quickly slapped it back on (so the break was no longer forced). Burke continues working on the arm. Miguelito gets some blows in but another hairpull allows Burke to continue in control and work the arm. The crowd tries to rally behind Miguelito, who after a while of being worked over, manages to rally and fire off some punches to knock Burke off him. Miguelito goes on the attack and gets a few pinfall attempts (including one off a bodyslam into a legdrop). But on another slam attempt, Burke grabs Miguelito’s leg and doesn’t let go, allowing Burke to trip Perez to the mat. Burke quickly puts Miguelito in the figure four, and although Perez tries to hold out, the referee calls for the bell .We have a new Caribbean champion! As Isaac Rosario motions for the title belt, Burke continues to keep the figure four locked in (something we’ve seen him do in his previous matches). But unlike those other instances where Burke broke the hold when the ref warned him, Burke refuses to break the hold despite several attempts by the ref to get Burke to break the hold. As a result, the referee reverses the decision and disqualifies Burke. Miguel remains the Caribbean champion but Burke has shown that he knows how to do damage with that figure four leglock of his. Burke finally breaks the hold when TNT and Super Medico run in to help Miguelito.

MD: Carlos is on commentary here and they’re talking about an hour long match he had with Burke the previous week that went to a draw and that sounds amazing. We obviously do not have it. Burke was excellent here, spending the first five minutes stooging and having his arm worked over and stalling again and again. He took over with hairpulls and they ratcheted up the heat with hope spots and perfectly timed cutoffs. When Perez finally came back, the place came unglued. Then out of nowhere after a slam, Burke snuck in a trip and locked in the figure four. Perez tried to fight but had to give up and the crowd was visibly upset. Burke kept the hold on, however, and the decision got reversed. It didn’t necessarily make anyone happy (maybe relieved) but it kept Burke elevated while keeping the belt on Perez and giving Chicky something to complain about.

EB: According to the Wrestling Observer both Koko B Ware and Harley Race worked the Thanksgiving Day show for CSP. And we actually have Koko’s match from this show, as he takes on El Profe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iYI05GxgvI

We get an interesting comment early on from Hugo where he mentions that Koko has been sent as a replacement for an injured Hillbilly Jim. So it looks like Hillbilly Jim may have been initially announced for this show. The crowd is hot for this as we start and it's definitely a treat to see Koko in this environment. El Profe jumps Koko at the bell but Koko counters with a backdrop and a couple of dropkicks that send Profe to the outside. The crowd goes wild as Koko flaps his arms and claps his hands in the ring. El Profe regains his composure on the outside and you can see that Frankie is with Koko, sitting on his perch on the left side of the ring. Profe is not happy with the corwd’s cheers for Koko and raises his arms to ask for the crowd to applaud him (which doesn’t happen). Profe gets back in the ring but immediately runs into a couple of armdrags and a dropkick that sends him flying through the ropes and back outside. El Profe is visibly annoyed and starts jawing with some fans on the outside. Profe gets near Frankie while pacing around the ring, which prompts Koko to head to the ring apron and back Profe off from getting close to Frankie. El Profe gets back in the ring as Koko again fires up the crowd. Profe then decides to get on the middle turnbuckle looking at the crowd and starts hitting some muscle poses (Hugo: El Profe showing off his muscles, unfortunately we don’t see it this way). Koko then starts motioning to the crowd if he should take Profe’s mask off, which gets loud cheers from the crowd. El Profe is not amused with this development. Profe jumps onto the middle turnbuckle to get away from Koko, but Koko catches Profe and slams him off. Koko immediately goes for the laces on Profe’s mask but Profe manages to slide out of the ring. Profe complains to the ref about Koko going after his mask. He gets back in the ring and tries to shake hands with Koko. The crowd yells no at Koko, who looks to consider it. However, when Profe gets closer Koko mocks Profe to the crowd’s delight. El Profe kicks the bottom rope in anger and gets into a boxing stance, which prompts someone from the crowd to yell their approval. El Profe, bewildered by this reaction, turns back to the crowd and starts making calm down gestures, stalling once again. Koko sneaks up behind Profe again and starts undoing the laces of Profe’s mask, but referee El Vikingo pulls Koko off Profe, allowing Profe to bail to the outside. El Profe complains again to the referee about Koko going after his mask and takes his time relacing it. Back in the ring, Koko sends Profe into the turnbuckle but misses a charge into the corner. El Profe finally is in control and proceeds to hit an illegal thrust to the throat. Profe chokes Koko on the bottom rope and starts shouting to the crowd that he is the master here. Koko struggles to get up but Profe is on him with several kicks. Profe places Koko on the middle rope and chokes Koko while taunting Frankie at ringside. Profe breaks and proceeds to choke Koko again while taunting Frankie once more. Profe raises his arms in victory, but Koko starts slapping the mat to get the crowd behind him. Koko lands a headbutt which seems to hurt him a bit (I’m guessing Profe may have his mask loaded) and Profe hits a knee that sends Koko outside. El Profe hits a few blows to keep Koko outside when Koko tries to get in the ring. Hugo on commentary mentions that although Profe is mainly a manager he is someone that is capable in the ring and to not forget that he was World Junior champion at one point as well. Koko finally gets back in the ring by stunning Profe and hitting a sunset flip into the ring. Profe kicks out and immediately drops an elbow on Koko to cut him off. El Profe maintains control but makes the mistake of missing a diving headbutt of the middle rope. Koko ’birds up’ (I mean, what else do you call it?) and proceeds to go on the attack. Koko rams Profe’s head ten times into the turnbuckle and fakes Profe out with a reverse crossbody attempt. This leads to a great dropkick off the top rope and a sunset flip to give Koko the win to the crowd’s delight. A fun match with a hot crowd and two wrestlers just masterfully playing to the crowd.

MD: This was during the period where Koko was fired after the Jim Troy altercation. Profe was in full stooging, stalling, and feeding mode too, but then that’s part of what makes Puerto Rico so great. Great spot early on where Koko teased taking off the mask and Profe hefted himself back to sit on the top turnbuckle in retreat only for Koko to toss him right off. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that done out quite like that. The fans loved the idea of Koko maybe getting Profe’s mask off, but he ended up taking out his own throat on a missed corner splash. That let Profe take over, first targeting the throat and then with a king of the mountain segment. Koko hulked up big with his birdman arm waves and absolutely took Profe’s head off with a missile dropkick. This was very fun for what it was.

EB: The big match for this Thanksgiving card is La Batalla Final for the held up Universal title. No time limit, no disqualification, there must be a winner, Chicky is banned from ringside and the loser must honor their required stipulation (Colon must retire, Strong must leave Puerto Rico).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsXaBb4DgA0

It’s definitely been quite the run for Steve Strong in Puerto Rico and he looks to keep it going by finally getting rid of Carlos Colon. Hugo is doing the ring announcing and runs down the stipulations for the crowd and presents the combatants (with a loud roar for Carlos Colon). This match video is from a 2000’s Carlos Colon dvd release, so we’re getting a years later commentary team that includes El Profe. Strong has cut his hair since the last time we saw him and it does change the vibe a bit on his look. The crowd is hot as the bell rings and Colon and Strong proceed to switch back and forth on being the aggressor, Strong with clubbing blows to Colon’s back and Carlos with focused kicks to Strong’s legs. It’s clear what each man’s strategy for victory is early on, but it is Carlos that in the first few minutes is able to execute his plan of attack more effectively by working on Strong’s leg.  Strong bails to the outside to regroup but is immediately caught in a small package attempt when he gets back in the ring. Carlos is focused and has been able to be ahead of Strong so far in this match. Strong hasn’t really been able to get an advantage so far, so he tries the approach of goading Carlos into a test of strength. Carlos doesn’t go for it, kicking Strong in the stomach and continuing on the offensive. A frustrated Strong once again goes outside and grabs one of the ringside crowd barriers in an attempt to threaten Carlos with it. Security runs over to get the barricade away from Strong. This is a different dynamic from previous encounters between Carlos and Strong, it almost seems like Strong has been thrown off by Carlos having an answer for Strong so far and Carlos is not afraid of Strong at all.

It looks like Strong may have finally found an opening by catching Carlos with some blows in the corner, but an irish whip results in Strong missing a high knee into the turnbuckle and Colon starts working the leg once more. Strong throws Colon off on the first figure four attempt of the match but Carlos goes right back to attacking Strong. We see a quick shot of some of Carlos’ family in the crowd, as it’s his wife Nancy and two of his children (Stacy and Carly). They’re there supporting Carlos. In the ring, Strong is not able to stay standing due to the attack on his leg and tries to roll outside. Carlos gives chase though, and continues to focus his attack on Strong’s leg. Carlos gets back in the ring as Strong just looks perplexed and lost outside as to how the match is going. Maybe not having Chicky out there is affecting his ability to find an answer to the dominant Colon so far. It looks like Strong has lost one of his most powerful weapons, the ability to inspire fear.

Carlos eventually gets the figure four on Strong but he is able to hold out and fight the hold. A reversal sees Colon suffer the effects of the hold but Carlos manages to reach the ropes to break. Both men struggle to stand but Strong collapses from the damage to his leg. Carlos is hobbling as well, which allows Strong to land a clothesline and a tackle. But Strong’s attacks are coming off as desperate and Carlos starts dodging several of Strong's tackle attempts. Strong is not used to being in this position against an opponent and it’s affecting his strategy. Colon goes back on the attack but Strong hits a DDT to cut Carlos off. This finally gives Strong a clear opening and he hits Colon with a few legdrops. Strong looks to the crowd and it seems he’s starting to regain some of his confidence now that he is in control. Strong adjusts ‘Damian’ on his arm but Carlos counters with a small package attempt for two. Strong goes back on the attack. He sends Carlos to the outside and goes out to attack Colon. It looks like Strong is thinking about trying to injure Carlos by ramming him into the ring apron and then the post. However, Carlos counters and Strong’s the one that gets rammed into the post. Carlos tosses Strong back in the ring, leaps over the top rope and does a cartwheel. Carlos is feeling it and proceeds to do a kick Strong low (the match is no dq after all) and even bites Strong in the face. Crowd starts amping up as it looks like Carlos has the match in hand.  However, Strong counters with a clothesline and covers Colon after a brief offensive flurry for two. Strong hits a piledriver but it gets two. A powerslam attempt gets two. Strong decides to set up his loaded forearm and is able to hit Carlos with it. For the first time all match, Strong starts doing his hand symbols calling upon the powers of his dark gods. Strong pins Carlos but they are too close to the ropes and Colon gets a leg on the rope to stop the pinfall count. Strong is not happy about this and picks Carlos back up. After a few blows Strong puts Carlos up in a back body vice.  Carlos shifts his weight and is able to counter into a bridge for the three count! Strong now has to leave Puerto Rico and Carlos has regained the Universal title once more.
The crowd rushes to celebrate with an exhausted Carlos outside of the ring as an upset Strong goes to grab a piece of the barricade. The crowd is mobbing Carlos and security has to intervene to get them away to allow Carlos to be presented with the title belt. The wave of fans is moving around the ring and headed in Strong’s direction, who wisely backs up and gets inside of the ring. Carlos, who is being helped by a security guard on the outside, decides to get in the ring and attacks Strong before he can get a hit in with the barricade. Strong is chased out of the ring as the crowd once again surrounds Colon to celebrate on the outside. The sadistic one has been vanquished.

MD: For much of this match, it seemed like Strong had lost his magic. He looked bloated, his hair floppy, almost resembling late Wahoo, his gimmicked armguard replaced for tape. He moved a half-step slow. He spent the first seventeen minutes backpeddling, trying to avoid Colon’s shots at his legs, diving and missing attacks, absolutely laden with desperation. This was not the same Steve Strong of a few months earlier. Colon had his number. He survived the figure four, even took over, but something remained missing. The crowd was electric at the start of this, but they only went up so much for Colon’s cartwheel and low blow driven comeback. Then something shifted. Strong took back over. He hit the pile driver. He adjusted something under his arm tape and laid Colon out. He made his devil symbol to the crowd. He was finding himself once again and that fear and dread from his imposing presence permeated through the arena. It was too little and too late, however. He went for the over the shoulder backbreaker and Colon turned it into a pin. It became, once again, a celebratory scene with people rushing Carlos and with Carlos fighting Strong (who had grabbed part of the guardrail) off to vanquish him one last time. I wouldn’t say it was an auspicious ending to Strong’s year of terror, but just enough of that magic came back at the very end to make Colon’s win feel special.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, the clock is almost at midnight for 1989 as we head into December.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario Fallout

Week 12: Aniversario Fallout

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First the music video.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario 89 (For Real This Time)

Week 11: Aniversario 1989 (For Real This Time)

EB: After a three week postponement due to Hurricane Hugo, it is finally time for Aniversario 1989. It is taking place on October 7th in Bayamon and broadcasted for the first time locally on PPV. We also have a second night of Aniversario on October 8th in Mayaguez, where we have the same match lineup albeit with slightly less stakes or stipulations. However, before talking about this weekend’s happenings, we should note that there have been some changes to the card (which are likely due to scheduling conflicts stemming from the three week postponement). We’ll discuss them as we go along but there are two things I’ll mention right now that have to do with the Universal title match. First, Gorilla Monsoon will not be appearing as the special referee for the Universal title match. Second, the match is now a barbed wire match.

Now we do have a bit of a footage issue with Aniversario 89. Despite the fact that the show was broadcast on PPV, it was never released on home video. The matches we have from Bayamon were uploaded years ago back when videos were limited to a 10 minute cutoff. So only a few matches from the PPV broadcast have surfaced, even though I hope that a copy of the full broadcast is floating around out there somewhere. We also have some matches that were broadcast in later airings on tv but these are mainly from the second day in Mayaguez. Since the match lineups for both days are practically the same (outside of some stipulations), we are taking the approach of reviewing the show by intertwining matches from both nights to go over as much of Aniversario as possible in our runthrough.

Let’s talk first about the matches for which we don’t have footage for (or for which we have a small clip as part of a broader video package) from either night. There are four such matches. Unfortunately we do not have the two tag title matches or the world junior title match available. Also, for two of those matches, the challengers changed from the announced card (again likely due to scheduling conflicts or unavailability due to the hurricane postponements).

Miguelito Perez and Huracan Castillo, hijo were set to defend the Caribbean tag titles originally against the Wild Samoans combination of Tama and Afa. However, after the postponement, it was announced that the challengers would be Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat. Unfortunately for everyone looking forward to this match (including us), we not only do not have the match footage available but the Can-Am Express did not make the event. Stepping is as the challengers are the team of the Cuban Assassin (Angel Acevedo) and Jerry Morrow, known as Los Mercenarios. And this new set of challengers actually won the Caribbean tag titles from Perez and Castillo.

Jeff Jarrett was unable to make the show for the battle of the World Junior champions. In his place was El Gran Mendoza serving as the challenger to Super Medico’s WWC World Junior title. Medico retained his championship.

One match that did not experience changes but for which we unfortunately don’t have the footage for is the World tag title match between champions Rip Rogers and Abudda Dein and challengers Mark and Chris Youngblood. This tag title match also saw new champions crowned as the Younbloods scored the win.  

For those disappointed at the Can-Am Express and Jeff Jarrett not appearing, don’t despair because Paul Jones did make it for his match vs the Junkyard Dog. There is about a minute and half of the ending stretch of the Mayaguez version of this encounter and it's mainly Paul Jones choking JYD with a chain and hitting a flurry of punches before JYD makes a comeback with several headbutts and a Russian legsweep to get the win.

With those matches we don’t have out of the way, let’s talk about the ones for which we have at least one version from either Bayamon or Mayaguez. We originally had Kerry Von Erich scheduled to face Abdullah the Butcher but as we saw previously, Kevin Von Erich had stepped in to replace Kerry for the original Aniversario date.  Kevin is here for this new date and let’s see him in action vs Abdul… never mind, Abdullah wasn’t able to make it to Aniversario on the new date.  Well, let’s go to the match and see who Kevin Von Erich’s opponent is…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDA3xYmfIaQ

It’s Ron Bass, making what I believe is his CSP debut. Kevin also is making his first in-ring appearance for the territory since the late 70s if I’m not mistaken. The commentary team of Hugo, Carlos and Profe spend a lot of the match talking about the Von Erich legacy and talk about what a privilege it is to have wrestlers of this renown (referring to Kevin and Bass) competing in a WWC ring (“it adds prestige and signals to the rest of the world the caliber of competition we have”). Profe also complains about how someone with a German last name can claim to be Texan (“it’s like saying a Perez is English“) and hopes Bass comes out triumphant to show what a real Texan is. This match is a good showcase for the local crowd in seeing Kevin’s wrestling style. Kevin is in control for most of the match, although Bass gets a bit of a control segment in the middle due to some cheating and roughhouse tactics. Kevin tries to get the claw on Bass, and despite Bass initially holding him off, he manages to get a stomach claw on Bass. Ron Bass manages to fight out of the clawhold but an attempt to hit Kevin with his boot misses, which Kevin takes advantage of to roll up Bass for the pinfall win.

MD: This definitely wasn’t Kerry vs Abby. Bass is a guy who definitely drops off the radar early in 1989. He finished up with WWF in March and after this, works for Dusty in Florida and some Guam tours and who knows what else. He’s basically done by 91 when he was early into his 40s. He had a big frame and had put a bunch of wear and tear on it though. He wasn’t very mobile here even if he still had solid timing, decent presence, and a good punch off the ropes. Kevin was Kevin, bare-footed, aggressive, a tried and true babyface and the crowd got up for him winning with a roll-up, even if they weren’t into much else. This didn’t outwear its welcome but it would have been better five or six years earlier.

EB: We also have a match between semi regulars in the territory as Jimmy Valiant takes on Kareem Muhammad. This match is the one from the second night in Mayaguez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXQdVk7FSnM

We have Hugo Savinovich, Carlos Colon and Chicky Starr on commentary for this match (suggesting this is from a Campeones airing). Hugo asks for their thoughts on who has the advantage here in a styles clash of opponents and Carlos makes the remark that if Jimmy Valiant manages to hold out for five to six minutes then he should have the advantage since Kareem gets tired due to his conditioning after about ten minutes. Valiant takes the initial advantage by choking Kareem (which Hugo makes note of) and maintains the attack for the initial moments of the match. Kareem rakes the eyes to take control of the match. As Kareem continues his attack, the camera cuts to El Profe who is posing and mugging for the cameraman (showing off that kilowatt smile). Chicky makes the comment that with the attack Kareem is doing on Valiant at the moment he’s probably forgotten how to dance by now. Valiant tries to gather himself on the outside and get the crowd into it but Kareem keeps knocking Valiant off the apron when he tries to get back in the ring. Jimmy does manage to get back inside and launch an offensive flurry but Kareem manages to counter with a clothesline and an elbow drop for the pin (although Valiant got his leg on the rope at two, Kareem pulled it away before the ref saw it). Kareem leaves with El Profe as the ref helps Valiant to the back.

MD: They were in and out under five minutes here. We came in with Valiant choking Muhammad with his bandana and poking at the eyes, but it’s not long before he’s overpowered and tossed out. The rest of the match is a king of the mountain sequence with Muhammad knocking Valiant off the apron and Valiant walking around ringside clapping and interacting with fans. He finally hits a shoulder to the gut to get back in and mounts a bit of a comeback before running into Muhammad’s outstretched arm and is squashed. He does make sure to get his foot on the ropes for a second to protect himself in defeat. There wasn’t a whole lot here. I imagine Valiant could have a pretty entertaining match against El Profe (alternatively, Paul Jones was right there and from the minute of footage we have, could still punch, stagger, and eat headbutts pretty well) and Muhammad could be a useful foil for Colon or Invader but this wasn’t either of those things. It was still nice to see Jimmy walking and clapping and hanging out with the crowd, I guess.

EB: We finally get a match from the main night of Aniversario in Bayamon and it’s the long awaited revenge match featuring Invader #3 facing off against Manny Fernandez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDt9YVFnxWk

Manny is in the ring with Chicky Starr as the music for Invader #3’s entrance begins playing. Invader #3 rushes out and runs to the ring holding a large stick. He jumps Manny from behind (Manny was posing on the turnbuckle looking towards the crowd) and proceeds to hit several blows with the stick on Manny (including one blow that hits Manny right in the mouth). The crowd goes crazy as Invader #3 continues his attack on Manny on the outside . Manny is chased back inside and, as Invader #3 gets back in, Chicky reaches out and manages to yank the stick away from the fired up Invader #3. This does not stop Invader #3, who continues his attack on Manny undeterred. Eventually, Manny manages to lift Invader #3 up in a desperation move and hotshots him on the top rope to stop the attack. On the PPV broadcast, Hector Moyano and El Profe are on commentary and talking about how Invader #3 is looking for revenge for the infamous attack and injury that Manny Fernandez had done to him. Manny checks his bleeding mouth and proceeds to focus his attack on Invader #3’s throat and neck area. Manny slows the pace down as he continues his focused attack, including a headscissor submission hold which Chicky reaches in to help with the leverage (and El Profe on commentary acting like he’s not seeing the cheating going on). As Chicky walks around at ringside, you’ll notice that the ring is on a raised platform here in Bayamon, so one misstep and someone could take a tumble. Manny continues working the submission hold as Moyano makes a comment about how Manny is bleeding from the mouth quite noticeably. Manny starts getting frustrated at not being able to put Invader #3 away and starts punching him around the throat area. Invader #3 manages to get some distance between him and Manny and, as the crowd starts ramping up, begins to land some hits on Manny from a kneeling position. They exchange a few blows but Manny manages to knock Invader # 3 down again and regain control. Manny works a chinlock but Invader #3 responds to the crowd cheering him on and fights out of it, ramming Manny’s head into the turnbuckle. Manny counters out of the corner with a charge and proceeds to adjust his kneepad. Manny then makes his way to the top turnbuckle as the crowd gets worried, remembering that this was how Invader #3 had been gruesomely injured. Invader #3 gets up though and catches Manny on the top turnbuckle, slamming him to the mat. Invader #3 goes on a punching spree but, when he attempts to monkey flip Manny out of the corner, Manny grabs on to the ropes and Invader #3 crashes onto the mat. An attempted dropkick off the ropes by Invader #3 is also countered by Manny holding onto the ropes. Manny proceeds to grab Invader #3 from behind and hold him so Chicky can get up on the ring apron with the stick. As Manny tries to shove Invader #3 into Chicky and the stick, Invader #3 ducks out of the way and it is Manny that takes the hit. Invader #3 dropkicks Chicky off the apron, sending the stick flying into the ring. Invader #3 makes the cover but Manny surprisingly kicks out at two. Invader #3, seeing that the ref is holding the stick, immediately runs toward him to try to grab the stick. As the ref and Invader #3 play tug of war with the stick, Manny attacks Invader #3 from behind and it looks like Invader #3 may have hit the stick on impact. Manny grabs Invader #3 and hits his flying burrito maneuver, which scores the pinfall win. Invader #3 got some satisfaction in attacking Manny for what had happened a year and a half ago but in the end Manny gets the win. Manny and Chicky celebrate as they leave the ring.

MD: One fun part about this entire project for me is that I have no idea what’s coming next. I’ll say this, though. I see the Chicky/Manny act and I just see money. There’s no reason why these two together couldn’t have drawn into 1990 or 1991. Invader #3 came in hot as you’d expect, with a baseball bat in hand. He wanted blood and he got it quickly, even after Chicky got the bat away, opening up Manny from the mouth. He was overexuberant though, which was the story of the match, and flew right into a hotshot on the top rope. That let Manny work the neck, most especially with headscissors (with Chicky assisting at first and then, after a hope spot, by grabbing the ropes himself). Invader would come back and even get a huge nearfall after ducking a bat shot from Chicky, only to lose sight of the goal by trying to get the bat from the ref instead of staying on Manny. That let Manny hit the flying forearm and steal the win. Lots of heat just like you’d want. I’m half surprised this didn’t cause a riot. Hopefully he sticks around.

EB: We unfortunately do not have the chain match for the Puerto Rico title between Ivan Koloff and Invader #1, but we do have their match from Mayaguez the next day. It’s a rematch for the Puerto Rico title that Invader #1 won in the chain match.

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

This match is taken from a tv airing a year later, so the commentary is not focused on what was happening back in 1989. We start the match as Invader and Koloff face off and then lock up, exchanging holds. Tempers flare and soon they start exchanging punches and blows, but Invader uses an arm wringer and drop toehold to regain control of Koloff on the mat. So far this match is different from how I’m thinking the chain match went in terms of being a fight, this is more of a straight wrestling match between Koloff and Invader. As they continue exchanging holds, you can see in a zoom in on Koloff that he has a bandage on his head (again I’m guessing from the chain match). We go to commercial break as Koloff has Invader in a full nelson and come back to them fighting outside of the ring and Koloff using some bolted together chairs to attack Invader. The crowd also looks to have tried to get closer to the wrestlers on the outside, so I’m wondering what have we missed for the match to switch up from where we were before the break. Koloff gets back in the ring and taunts the crowd as Invader recovers on the outside. Invader gets back in the ring and both wrestlers proceed to exchange a flurry of chops, punches and kicks, Invader hits an eye rake on Koloff and rolls him up for two. Koloff attacks Invader and hits him with a back elbow, and for some reason also hits the ref with a back elbow which looks to be deemed inadvertent since there is no dq called. Hugo protests that should have been a disqualification. Koloff rolls up Invader and tries several pin attempts while holding Invader’s tights. Invader keeps barely getting a shoulder up on the different attempts as Koloff keeps trying to get the pin. Invader manages to kick Koloff off of him and takes control with a headbutt to Koloff’s midsection and a dropkick. Invader tries a pin attempt but Koloff gets his leg on the rope. The match continues as time starts winding down. An inside cradle gets a two count for Invader and the wrestlers continue fighting in the ring. A series of punches on the turnbuckle by Invader opens up Koloff’s cut on his forehead. A crossbody from Invader gets a near fall. A backslide attempt gets two. Invader manages to get a sleeper on Koloff but it’s just as the bell rings as the time limit expires. Invader gets the moral win by putting Koloff to sleep but the match ends in a draw.  

MD: I found a post from over ten years ago where our old pal Dylan was lamenting about the chain match not being available. I too shall lament about this. What we do have is this, with a hotter, angrier crowd than the one in Bayamon for Invader #3 vs Manny, and it’s this weird cross section of a riot scene and a title match with all the trappings of a title match. They start with chain wrestling, to a degree, with Invader controlling with a hammerlock. We come back from a break with Invader on the outside hurting and Ivan leans on him hard with the crowd throwing things into the ring to express their displeasure. Invader comes back, in part by using some sort of sharp, dangerous object that someone did throw in to rake at Ivan’s eyes and then they go into full Steamboat vs Savage mode with roll ups and near-falls. There’s an awesome back elbow cut off by Koloff here which might be the best back elbow in the history of wrestling (and one to the ref too for good measure). He does another one to the ref just for the hell of it too. The finish is a big Invader sleeper with the great visual of Koloff reaching desperately for the ref but Esteban let me know that the time ran out making it just a spiritual victory for Invader. So yeah, these two matched up really well. It was a title match though, even if it was a heated one, and it just whets the appetite for what that chain match could have been. Someone has to have it, right? If you’re reading this, help us out and do some digging.

EB: As mentioned earlier, the Universal title match is now a barbed wire match. Carlos Colon gets his first chance to avenge his shoulder injury against Sadistic Steve Strong and looks to regain the Universal title in the process. We go to Bayamon for the ring introductions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjWvgb7M4z4

You can tell it’s a big match as each competitor heads to the ring with an entourage. Sadistic Steve Strong is accompanied by his manager Chicky Starr and by Manny Fernandez carrying the U.S.A. flag. Garbage starts pelting them as they head to the ring. The Spanish version of My Way plays as the tecnicos come out. We have Invader #1 carrying the Puerto Rico flag, accompanied by TNT and the Youngbloods as the crowd grows loud with cheers and air horns go off. Carlos Colon follows the tecnicos out, accompanied by his trainer Barba Roja (looks like he did take Hugo up on the invitation to visit sometime) and also by our backstage interviewer Lysette Santiago. Strong has entered the ring and is waiting for Colon. Eliud Goznalez starts the ring introductions but stops because we haven’t yet played the national anthems. We first hear La Borinqueña (Puerto Rico’s national anthem), followed by The Star Spangled Banner. Strong remains in the ring throughout all of this. Carlos gets in the ring as the ring introductions are made. Carlos gets some final instructions from Barba Roja just before the match begins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKm7Ha3fdyQ

Carlos immediately charges at Strong as the bell rings, attacking him and trying to drive Strong’s face into the barbed wire. Strong manages to hold Colon off, but Carlos goes back on offense including biting Strong in the face. Carlos keeps the pressure on and continues trying to rake Strong’s face in the barbed wire. Strong continues to fight Carlos off, managing an unsuccessful attempt to send Carlos face first into the barbed wire. The first hit of barbed wire occurs when Carlos shoves Strong backwards into the ropes and Strong briefly makes contact as the crowd cheers. Carlos is not letting up and continues on the offensive trying to again smash Strong’s face into the wire. However, Strong manages to gain control and starts fcusing his attacks on Colon’s left shoulder (the one that had been injured). Strong continues putting pressure on and attacking the shoulder as we can see Strong has some cuts on his back and Carlos is bleeding from his forehead. Strong grabs Colon’s left arm and wraps it around the rope (and the barbed wire) to inflict more damage. Strong continues to control the match despite some attempts by Carlos to counter and run Strong into the barbed wire. A choke lift is countered with an eye rake by Carlos and he goes on the offensive as the crowd cheers on. Strong manages to avoid a back bodydrop attempt and hits a DDT on Colon. Carlos ducks a clothesline attempt (remember that training session we saw where part of the strategy was ducking the clothesline?) and both men hit each other with a clothesline. Colon immediately falls down, followed by Strong after a delayed reaction. Colon hits a slam and tries a legdrop off the middle turnbuckle but Strong moves out of the way. Strong hits a slam and tries to come off the middle turnbuckle with an elbow, but this time it’s Carlos who gets out of the way. Carlos starts attacking Strong’s leg to set up the figure four leglock as the crowd cheers on. Strong manages to throw Colon off on his first attempt at the figure four, but Carlos immediately attacks Strong's legs again when he stands up. Strong falls and immediately starts crawling away so Carlos can’t get the figure four on him. Carlos keeps attacking the leg and Strong’s leg buckles on an irish whip attempt due to the damage done. Carlos is almost successful in getting the figure four on but Strong yanks Colon by the hair in order to push him away. Colon dodges a Strong tackle and finally gets the figure four on. It looks like Strong may give up but don’t forget Chicky is at ringside. As the ref is asking Strong if he will submit, Chicky reaches into his jacket and pulls out a spray can. He moves close to where Carlos is and sprays Colon right in the face. This causes Carlos to squirm in pain and the hold is broken. Barba Roja chases Chicky around the ring and catches up to him, trying to get the spray can Chicky had hid once more in his jacket. However, Chicky starts attacking Barba Roja! As Chicky is attacking Barba Roja, Strong adjusts ‘Damian’ on his arm and hits Carlos straight on with a clothesline. Strong gets the three count! Chicky is kicking Barba Roja at ringside when we see a chair fly out at the crowd and hit Chicky. TNT then shows up to go after Chicky and help Barba Roja. TNT grabs Chicky and holds him as Barba Roja finds the spray can in Chicky’s jacket.  As Barba Roja shows the referee the spray can, Chicky runs to the other side of the ring, grabbing a chair and using it to defend himself from other chairs that are being thrown at him. The ref restarts the match after seeing the spray can and, as the match restarts, if you look at the top right corner you’ll see security jumping on the ring platform and shielding Chicky from the crowd. They immediately take off running to get Chicky out of there before the situation gets worse. Back in the ring, Strong immediately had started punching Carlos as the match restarted. Strong throws Carlos on the ropes but Carlos ducks the clothesline and hits a back suplex (once again, remember the planning session we saw, one of the moves they worked on was ducking the clothesline and hitting a back suplex).  Carlos gets the three count and wins! The crowd goes wild (and we even see a chair get thrown in the ring) as Carlos has regained the Universal title. The tecnicos come out to celebrate but as Carlos tries to leave he gets blindsided and attacked by an angry Steve Strong. In a bit of an unintentionally funny visual, one of the Youngbloods is spraying champagne in celebration as Carlos is getting attacked by Strong. Carlos manages to leave the ring and is surrounded by El Ejercito de la Justicia to celebrate his win, as champagne is sprayed everywhere. Strong remains in the ring throughout the celebration as El Ejercito de la Justicia heads to the locker room.

Post match we get interviews with Steve Strong (wanting a rematch in whatever match Colon wants after feeling he was cheated out of the win) and Carlos Colon with Barba Roja (celebrating the win in a tough match thanks to the crowd and Barba Roja’s support). And as the interview with Carlos ends, Lysette says we’re headed back to the ring for our next match. Wait, we have another match to go?

MD: This was a massive spectacle, starting with the huge entrances with retinues. Manny was with Strong and Colon had the Youngbloods (I think) and Invader waving the flag. I’ve mentioned it before but the joy of barbed wire matches isn’t necessarily the blood but instead the constrained lack of space and the anticipation of the wire becoming part of the match. Sometimes that can play out as long minutes of people just pressing each other’s head towards it. Here it was more dynamic. Colon rushed in early and had an advantage until Strong started on the damaged shoulder. Using that as a wedge he bloodied Colon first. Carlos came back with some grisly headbutts. It’s striking to see him fight so violently considering how soft spoken he’s come off in the bio and other appearances, but that’s why he’s the national hero I suppose. Strong cuts him off only for Colon to come back hot, working on the leg and trying and trying for the figure four until he finally gets it. Chicky asserts himself then, spraying Colon in the face. That leads to a moment of true darkness where Barba Roja rushes around the ring only to get battered by Chicky, and Colon, blinded and despondent gets flattened by the loaded armguard of Strong and pinned for three.

We’ve seen before how matches in Puerto Rico often had finishes overturned against the heels in the moment. It’s a very Memphis thing to do. The times I can think of it happening in WWF and AEW were times that Lawler or Jarrett were involved, for instance. It ratchets up the heat, sweeps the rug out from under the crowd, and then gives them hope at the last second. It’s the sort of thing that can’t be done too much because it makes it harder to accept any time a heel does cheat to win later. Here, though, it put everyone in exactly the right state of crazed mania to create pure elation with the true finish. For instance, just when everything was at its worse, you could see a chair come flying in from off the side of the screen to clock Chicky. It wasn’t that flying chair that would save the day but another fan favorite: TNT came out to rescue Barba Roja and assault Chicky. The ref was informed of what happened and allowed the match to continue.And, with the light obscuring him as if he was some sort of celestial figure, Colon ducked a shot and hit a belly to back suplex for three. Strong, furious, stomped at Carlos but the champagne was already flowing. He may have had a point, as all good heels do, and may have been protected, but Carlitos had scored a legendary win nonetheless. A big match with a big match feel. I am left wondering how Gorilla Monsoon would have factored in however.

EB: To close out Aniversario here in Bayamon, we have a match for the rights to the TNT name and gimmick. It’s TNT taking on the Original TNT, the man Chicky Starr had brought in claiming to be the actual TNT and that our TNT was an impostor. But… we have our last no-show of Aniversario as the Original TNT did not appear. Luckily for CSP, we have Chicky Starr, the man who masterminded and was the driving force and instigator behind the Original TNT plot (including outing TNT’s real identity and constantly calling him an impostor). In a change that may have occurred that same day (and who knows if it was announced during the event itself), we now have TNT taking on Chicky Starr in a five minute challenge match. The stipulations are TNT’s name and paint (basically the rights to the TNT identity) vs Chicky Starr’s hair. And the key stipulation in the five minute challenge is that TNT has to defeat Chicky within the five minute time limit in order to win. However, if Chicky lasts the full five minutes without losing then Chicky wins and TNT loses his identity. It’s a ploy Chicky has tried twice before vs Invader #1, first as a 15 minute challenge and then in a rematch as a 10 minute challenge. You can probably guess why the third time is now with 5 minutes as the time limit. Back to Bayamon we go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H7fGogrY18

After their altercation during the Universal title match, Chicky and TNT are going to face off once more this evening.  Chicky, after having to run for his life near the end of the Universal title match, is back out here in his crown and robe (and with Leper Messiah as his entrance music). The crowd wastes no time in throwing garbage at Chicky as he waits for his opponent. TNT’s music plays as he comes out in full TNT garb and with the TV title around his waist. TNT takes his gi off as Eliud Gonzalez does the introductions (mentioning it’s the TNT name and paint vs Chicky’s hair and TNT has to defeat Chicky in five minutes or less). The ref checks both combatants for foreign objects and we are underway. TNT has five minutes to win or else he loses his identity.  Moyano on commentary mentions that the clear disadvantage is for TNT since he has to win while Chicky just has to run out the clock. And this is apparent right off as Chicky just takes off, weaving in and out of the ring as TNT gives chase. Man, the ring mat is just full of garbage from earlier. Chicky continues running from TNT, including crawling under the ring with TNT giving chase (and the cameraman follows them too!). The only offensive maneuvers we see from Chicky so far are quick blows to get TNT to back off and Chicky immediately gets to running away again. Eliud Gonzale calls out that one minute has elapsed.

TNT and Chicky exchange strikes on the outside, but when it looks like TNT is going to take control Chicky bites TNT in the face and runs off again. Chicky maintains his distance from TNT outside of the ring while pointing at his wrist signaling the time ticking away. TNT finally manages to cut through the ring and grab Chicky, dragging him into the ring by his hair. They immediately exchange strikes, with Chicky surprisingly gaining the advantage and maintaining the offensive attack. We are past the two minute mark. TNT hits a bodyslam and immediately goes for the pin but Chicky kicks out immediately. An eye rake by Chicky gives him the advantage again. Chicky hits a DDT as Eliud Gonzalez calls out the time and reminds fans of the stipulations. Chicky again starts mockingly pointing at his wrist. Chicky continues on the attack as the fans start to make noise to encourage TNT. The commentators are talking about why someone would sign up for these stipulations (with Profe calling TNT an idiot) but, as we’ve seen from the build-up, Chicky had really been insulting TNT and put his safety at risk by revealing his real identity. Chicky goes for a pin but gets up at one and dismissively signals he doesn’t want to pin TNT. The attack by Chicky continues as the time keeps ticking away. We have reached the 4 minute mark as Chicky comes off the turnbuckle with an axe handle onto TNT. A pin attempt gets two as the count is at 55 seconds remaining. Chicky hits a body slam with 40 seconds left, covers but again quickly changes his mind and forgoes the pin attempt. Chicky punches TNT with 30 seconds left and hits a back body drop with 20 seconds left. TNT is in real trouble. Chicky points at his wrist as 15 seconds are left and he decides to go to the top again as TNT gets up. However, this axe handle attempt is met with a dynamite kick right to Chicky’s face. TNT quickly covers him as the countdown is at 6 and a quick three count later we have a winner. The crowd starts cheering as TNT has defeated Chicky with about three seconds remaining on the clock. Chicky now will lose his hair. Two refs and Super Medico hold Chicky down as TNT starts cutting some of Chicky’s hair with a pair of scissors. Profe starts having a meltdown on commentary over what is happening to Chicky. We end with Chicky fleeing the ring as security surrounds him while they run to the back, as fans pelt them with garbage. Outside of Manny Fernandez getting the win, not a good night for Chicky (or Profe for that matter having lost the World tag titles and the Puerto Rico title).

MD: Just so interesting that they finished with this. For one thing, I’m still boggled by what Action Jackson had to do that was more important than this match. I guess in part, they had to finish with this because otherwise you don’t have Chicky at ringside for the Strong match. Sending fans home happy with two major celebratory wins is a pretty good way to deal with a natural disaster. Chicky had to survive five minutes with TNT. If he did, TNT had to lose his name and take off the facepaint, to give the gimmick to the “Original TNT” basically. If Chicky lost in those five minutes, he’d lose his hair. Esteban likely will get into more detail past that, but it was a pretty transcendent heel performance by Chicky. He came out to Leper Messiah by Metallica and played defensive early, running around the ring, running under the ring (with the camera following TNT and Chicky, which is something I’m not sure I ever saw before). Eventually he got a cheapshot and took over for the brunt of the remainder of the match, refusing to even try to seriously pin TNT, just playing out the clock in control. The best defense was a good offense despite his hubris. The fans were throwing things in there but they weren’t near-riotous as time ticked down like you might expect. I think they had faith in TNT and faith in pro wrestling in general. Heels win, but not before the babyface at least tries to get a comeback in. It’s ritual and they knew it well. Chicky was poised to beat the clock, with an advantage, with fifteen seconds left. He could have hit the floor and ran it off. But instead he went up top and flew right into TNT’s kick. It was definitely a choice to give him all of it, but when you have only five minutes after a grueling war like Colon and Strong just went through and you have a heel charismatic and hated like Chicky to make it work, this wasn’t at all a bad choice at all.

EB: And that’s a wrap for Aniversario 89 from Bayamon. We’ve seen four titles change hands and TNT retain his identity. However, it remains to be seen if Steve Strong is truly done with Carlos Colon and if we'll see Chicky and Profe retaliate for the losses they’ve taken.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we’ll see the fallout from Aniversario as we start heading toward the end of 1989.

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