Segunda Caida: El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Butcher and the Beast (and a Junkyard Dog too!)

Week 6: Butcher and the Beast (and a Junkyard Dog too!)

EB: As August of 1989 approaches, Sadistic Steve Strong still reigns as the Universal champion, having just pushed back the challenge of TNT. Entering his sixth month in CSP, Strong has been the bane and terror of El Ejercito de la Justicia (and Carlos Colon in particular) for most of 1989. And although Strong has reigned supreme so far, he is not the first powerful menace that has wreaked such havoc. While 1989 can be seen as the year of Steve Strong, there is another individual who can lay claim to being the bane and terror of El Ejercito de la Justicia (and Carlos Colon in particular) for over a decade. A monster, a machine, a maniac known as Abdullah the Butcher. And in an unexpected twist, the paths of both of these terrors would end up crossing.

The story of Abdullah the Butcher in CSP begins in the late 70s when then rudo manager Hugo Savinovich brought in Abdullah the Butcher, who he would refer to as ‘mi monstro, mi maquina’ (‘my monster, my machine‘, which would morph into ‘the monster, the machine’ when Hugo became the show host and commentator). Abdullah would run rampant on and off for the next decade, with Carlos Colon emerging as his victim of choice. Just like that, a legendary and lengthy feud was born. At the time of Abdullah’s initial arrival, Carlos held the Puerto Rico title and this was the focus of their early rivalry. Of course, the rivalry would develop and evolve over the next few years. Here are some of the highlights of Carlos Colon vs Abdullah the Butcher in Puerto Rico throughout the years.

1978: Abdullah would debut in CSP as one of Hugo Savinovich’s first clients and attack Carlos to set up a feud. Abdullah would go on to win the Puerto Rico title from Carlos on 11/18/78 and hold it for over eight months. Abdullah would eventually not lose the title to Carlos, but to Pampero Firpo on 7/31/79 (both men were heels).

1979: The year opener on Three Kings Day sees the team of Carlos Colon and Jose Rivera face Abdullah and the Sheik. They would once more start a feud over the Puerto Rico title in November (Carlos had become champion once more by defeating Firpo on 9/22/79), leading to a No DQ match on Dec. 15. Abdullah would defeat Carlos again for the PR title.

1980: The year starts off with a series of matches over the PR title. The title is held up on Jan. 5 when the match (a barbed wire match) is a no contest. Carlos wins the rematch (a streetfight) on Jan. 12. They would have matches against each other on Feb. 23 and Mar. 8 (this one supposedly a cage match). They would face off again later that year on Sept. 27. They wrestled at the year-end show to determine who got a shot at the NWA World title at the first show of 1981. Carlos won that match.

1981: Carlos defeats Killer Karl Krupp for the held up North American title on May 9. Carlos now holds both the North American and Puerto Rico titles. Carlos and Abdullah face each other on June 13, which would lead to a match on Aug. 10 that saw Abdullah win the Puerto Rico and North American titles (I've also seen Aug.11 in Trinidad listed as the date of the NA title match). The feud would continue in a barbed wire match on Sept. 26, in a match where Carlos injured Abdullah's knee. Carlos would regain the Puerto Rico title in that match, but Abdullah remains the North American champion. Abdullah would then face Carlos in a stretcher match on 11/21/81. During the match, he attacked Carlos viciously, trying to injure his eye. This caused Carlos' brother Jose Colon to come in to help his brother. Abdullah would attack Jose and this attack on a civilian would lead to him being stripped of the North American title. Colon and Abdullah would end up facing off in a super libre match (basically no holds barred, anything goes) at the year end show.

1982: The 2/27/82 house show sees La Pareja Dinamica (Colon and Jose Rivera) take on Los Monstruos (Abdullah and the Mongolian Stomper). Stomper had started a feud with Colon in February (one that would last two months) and Abdullah came in for a series of tag matches, this match and the following week vs Colon and Pierre Martel. In June however, the feud between Carlos Colon and Abdullah the Butcher reaches a breaking point and they wrestle each other in a cage match on 06/24/82 in Barbados and in a barbed wire loser leaves town match in Puerto Rico. Abdullah had previously ambushed Carlos during a match between Carlos and the Mongolian Stomper. This attack put Carlos temporarily out of action and led to the loser leaves town match. Hugo Savinovich was to be locked in a cage to prevent him from interfering. As the match approached the participants would be interviewed on the TV show. Hugo would complain about being caged like some type of animal. Later in the show Carlos provided his comments. However, as he was leaving the set, a net was thrown on him, leaving him defenseless against an attack by Abdullah. Despite the attack on TV, Carlos would win the loser leaves town match and banish Abdullah from Puerto Rico. Or so was thought.

However, within a month Abdullah reappears due to a loophole. He had (allegedly) defeated Antonio Inoki to become the WWC World champion in Japan. Because of his status as World champion of the WWC, Hugo Savinovich uses this as a loophole to bring back Abdullah the Butcher to Puerto Rico. Carlos Colon is named the number one contender to the WWC World title and faces off against Abdullah. They have two matches where Carlos is unable to win the title due to Abdullah’s tactics. This leads to a third and final attempt on July 31, which sees Carlos become the WWC World champion for the first time. Rematches would occur on August 28 and at the year-end show.

1983: Colon and Abdullah would face off once more at the end of January, but it would remain a relatively quiet year in their rivalry until November. They would face off against each other at the first Starrcade, with Abdullah winning due to Hugo’s interference. This would lead to a set of matches on the island, one vs Hugo and one vs. Abdullah. Carlos won both and, in the process, put Hugo on the shelf with a broken leg (kicking off a series of events that would lead to Hugo’s face turn).

1984: Abdullah returns to face Carlos around February. He would then team later in the spring with newcomer to CSP Bruiser Brody, not get along with him and face him in a rudo vs rudo match. Then, the unthinkable happens. Due to Brody and Stan Hansen (who arrived in the summer) teaming up and running roughshod over the tecnicos (injuring several wrestlers, including Hansen sending Carlos Colon to the hospital), Carlos asks Hugo Savinovich (now a face) for a favor. Please contact Abdullah and his representative, he wants to meet with Abdullah. After visiting Abdullah and asking for his help vs. Hansen and Brody, Abdullah agrees to team with Carlos (sealed with a stack of cash). For the first time in CSP, Abdullah is a tecnico (although not changing his tactics one bit). The two teams face off as the main event of Aniversario 84 (billed as the Match of the Century), leading to a series of rematches including a lumberjack match, a cage match and a barbed wire match at the year-end show.

1985: Abdullah still is a tecnico to start the year, but on July 20 ends up leaving Carlos high and dry during a tag match vs Ric Flair and Dory Funk Jr. after Carlos accidentally hits Abdullah with a knee during the match. This would lead to Carlos and Abdullah facing off once more at Aniversario 85 in a match for the Universal title. The title ends up being held up and rematch for the held up title occurs on October 19 (the same day the WWF ran their card in San Juan where it rained, interestingly enough no rain in Bayamon that night for CSP).

1986: Abdullah faces off against Carlos in late March of 86 in a series of matches for the Universal title, which evolves into a series of tag matches involving Invader #1 and new top rudo Chicky Starr. This series of events would culminate on April 26 in a six man tag between Carlos and the Invaders 1 & 3 vs. Abdullah, Chicky & Ron Starr. At the end of the match, Abdullah would throw ammonia in Colon’s face, blinding him and potentially ending his career. Carlos would end up making a recovery though, and a revenge match was held on June 15. However, due to the history of violence between the two men, the commission ruled that this would be the last time Carlos and Abdullah would be allowed to face each other. Carlos would win in an absolute mauling. However, they would end up facing each other once more at Aniversario 86 when both men took part in the Universal title tournament. The commission ruled that, if due to circumstances of the bracketing they ended up matched against each other, they would allow the match to happen (which did occur in the semifinals).

1987: After a year of not being allowed to face each other (other than Aniversario 86), Carlos and Abdullah square off in a lights out match on June 20. A rematch followed on August 2. Carlos and Abdullah would also be on opposing sides for La Gran Guerra matches that occurred at year's end.
1988: Abdullah once again faced off against Carlos in a series of matches on July 9 and16, and August 6. This is supposed to lead to a fire match at Aniversario 88 (with the match announced on TV), but an altercation that occurred at the WWC Awards show results in the match being changed to Colon vs. Hercules Ayala. They would face off once more on October 28.
And that is a not very concise summary of Carlos Colon vs Abdullah the Butcher, which does not cover everything else Abdullah did on the island. Just to give a visual idea of what chaos Abdullah caused, here is a highlight video of Abdullah featuring clips of his work in CSP from 87 and 88.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPUUjCLfrX0

And here is Abdullah in a TV squash match vs Armandito Salgado, just so you can see the level of violence Abdullah could achieve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9b8VfeJfHk

As 1989 began, Abdullah had a couple of matches in January against TNT for the North American title. Here is their match from January 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7StBPN0at4

EB: This match takes place on the traditional Three Kings Day card that would kick off every year. There’s a slow feeling out process at the start of the match, as Abdullah seems to be more wary about TNT (the rising star on the tecnico side). The lock ups continue for the first few minutes but Abdullah tries to take the advantage with a weapon. TNT manages to surprise Abdullah with some kicks, which sends the object flying and TNT picks it up and attacks Abdullah with it. Abdullah manages to cut TNT off with a quick thrust and goes on the offensive, biting TNT on the head. Both men are bleeding. TNT goes outside to regroup and for the next minute or so it's mainly TNT getting some offense in, and Abdullah cutting him off and going back to work on TNT’s forehead. At one point, TNT manages to get Abdullah off him via a low blow. They start exchanging martial arts thrusts against each other, with TNT using a series of kicks to knock Abdullah down. The match continues with the back and forth, with TNT eventually getting a monkey flip on Abdullah. TNT hits a series of consecutive leg drops and signals for the Cobra Dinamita. He gets it on sitting Abdullha, but the Butcher is too close to the ropes and breaks the hold. TNT does several kicks to stun Abdullah against the ropes, but Abdullaha dodges the last one and sends TNT outside. Abdullah prevents TNT from getting back into the ring, so TNT trips him up from the outside and smashes Abdullah’s leg on the ringpost. TNT yanks Abdullah out of the ring and both men are eventually counted out.

MD: It was interesting to contrast how Abby went right after Salgado with the cautious feeling out process here. I’ve seen an 88 match between them as well and it’s clear to the crowd that TNT is a real threat to Abby but also that he basically needs the Cobra to put him away. This had TNT go to grab the weapon first though both of them got bloody by the end, and all of Abby’s great cutoffs (the throat shot, the snap kick out of nowhere, and even the cool backfist using the ref as a block). He’s up there with Yokozuna and a few others at being the best ever at cutting a babyface off. When TNT came back, he used the giant canvas of Abby for some huge kicks (something I’ve recently seen Shunji Takano do a lot lately with Abdullah around this period, actually). The finishing stretch had Abby too close to the ropes for the Cobra and then sidestep at a key moment, changing the fate of the match. If TNT had been able to press just a little more, he might have won cleanly. As it was, he sailed to the floor and the match getting thrown out was inevitable.

EB: Unlike previous years, due to other commitments, 1989 was a year with few appearances from the Butcher. As mentioned before, Abdullah did get involved in the April streetfight between Carlos Colon and Steve Strong, causing the match to get thrown out due to his interference by attacking Colon with his signature fork. This led to a tag match between Colon and Invader #1 vs Abdullah and Strong the following week. But other than that, the first half of the year didn’t have Abdullah making any more appearances in CSP. But as the end of July approached, Abdullah would make his return to the island. In this case, he would once again team up with the man he had helped in April, fellow Club Deportivo stable mate Steve Strong. Their opponents would be Invader #1 and the Junkyard Dog, a man who had first appeared for CSP in June with singles matches vs Rip Rogers and Chicky Starr, and then returned in July to have a feud with Kareem Muhammad which resulted in a dog collar match on July 22. Now JYD is teaming up with Invader #1 against the top two monsters in Puerto Rico. Let’s go to July 29, and join the tag match in progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8saKgaVjmg

EB: We start with Strong in control against Invader #1. Hugo on commentary is mentioning that Strong and Abdullah have said that once they had finished with Invader and JYD, they were going to go into the tecnico locker room and finish off the rest of El Ejercito de la Justicia. Strong lifts Invader up in a chokehold for several seconds, eventually tossing Invader onto the mat. Strong starts pointing at and taunting JYD. Abdullah takes advantage of this to choke Invader some more from the ring apron. As Strong goes after Invader again, Invader does a series of leaping head butts to the midsection of Strong, managing to stun him long enough to go between Strong's legs and tag in JYD. Junkyard Dog starts cleaning house on both Strong and Abdullah, holding his own against both rudos. The rudos eventually are able to stun JYD but Invader returns to the ring as all four men fight, Invader attacking Strong and JYD attacking Abdullah. The tecnicos switch who they’re attacking, leading to JYD and Strong going to the outside to fight as Invader has Abdullah in one of the corners. Abdullah starts signaling to Chicky to come and help him as Invader continues his offensive flurry. Chicky jumps into the ring, causing aDQ for his team. Invader at first cuts Chicky off, but is grabbed from behind by Abdullah. Chicky grabs what looks to be a baton or a cane and charges at Invader. But Invader dodges just before he gets hit and Chicky instead ends up hitting Abdullah in the throat. Chicky throws his arms up in frustration and goes over to explain to Abdullah what had happened. However, as soon as Abdullah gets up he just straight up hits Chicky on the head with his fork. As Invader leaves the ring, Abdullah goes to town attacking Chicky with the fork, leaving him a bloody mess. As Abdullah continues his onslaught, Steve Strong is standing shocked at ringside with a chair in his hands, still wary of JYD and Invader who are near him. He eventually reacts, ramming the chair into Abdullah’s forehead from ringside. The first chair shot doesn't stop Abdullah, so Strong rams the chair once more into Abdullah’s head. This time Abdullah falls over. Chicky lands on the ropes, a bloody mess and out of it. Strong manages to drag Chicky outside and to safety, as Abdullah is starting to get back up in the ring. It appears that Abdullah is no longer with Chicky Starr.

MD: Just a lot of strong angles in 89 WWC. We only get around five minutes of this including the post-match, but it’s solid stuff. Invader sells. JYD works the apron and comes in making a big wave. I can’t speak for NWA JYD the next year but him throwing headbutts at Abby, bouncing off the ropes electrically, and squaring up next to Invader as they fight back the heels, all worked for me. Twenty seconds does not make a great, vibrant wrestler, but they were a great, vibrant twenty seconds at least. The crowd was very, very excited to see Abdullah turn on Chicky and for Strong to right after him with a chair. They knew the sort of treat this bit of miscommunication unlocked for them.

EB: As expected, Chicky Starr was not happy about what Abdullah had done to him and Abdullah was not happy about being hit by both Chicky and then Steve Strong. So for the August 5 show (we have circled back to our starting point) a match was signed for the Universal title, a battle of monsters as Steve Strong took on Abdullah the Butcher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W4mxI0cirI

As the video starts, Steve Strong is heading to the ring with the Universal title around his shoulder. As Strong stares at the crowd, Abdullah rushes out with a large piece of wood in his hands. He charges Strong from behind and knocks him down, going on the offensive with several shots from the piece of wood. Abdullah continues with the offense on the outside, throwing Strong into the lighting rig and choking him with some cable (as the crowd cheers him on). Abdullah continues on offense but eventually gets in the ring. Strong tries to collect himself but falls down, causing Abdullah to head back out and throw Strong into the light rig again. Abdullah heads back to the ring and ,as Strong tries to get in, Abdullah grabs him and stabs the fork into Strong’s head. Strong collects himself at ringside, calls upon the power of Luc, and charges into the ring where he is met by some karate thrusts from Abdullah. Abdullah continues on offense for a while, but the tide is turned when Strong grabs a squeeze hold on Abdullah’s groin. Strong goes on the offensive for a couple of minutes, busting Abdullah open in the process. Abdullah cuts off Strong with a low blow, but Strong goes back on the attack. After a while, Abdullah manages to pull out the fork and stab Strong, sending him to the outside. Abdullah goes after him and both men get counted out on the outside. They continue fighting after being counted out, including Abdullah stabbing Strong in the rear with the fork.

MD: A very large stadium got the treat and it was fairly straightforward. Abby came out high energy with a big wooden plank and unloaded on Strong. Strong came back and took control, a combination of choking a bloody Abby in the ropes and bouncing off of him with things like flying shoulder blocks. When you take away some of Strong’s power moves by putting him against someone this big, he’s not quite as dynamic or impressive, but he was believably in control. Eventually, Abdullah pulls out the fork and they end up outside, where we get the big crowd pleasing moment of the match and Strong getting stabbed in the rear. I wonder if that was the plan or if it was a rib.

EB: Strong and Abdullah would have a rematch the following week, but soon after it would be the Junkyard Dog who would step up to challenge Strong for the Universal title. We go to a tag match between Invader #1 and JYD vs. Steve Strong and Kendo Nagasaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBPUus3w7HM

We join the match in progress as Invader and Strong are locked up in the ring. Kendo comes in for a brief double tram and stays in with no tag. JYD complains about this on the ring apron. As Kendo continues to control Invader in the ring, an angry Chicky Starr goes to the commentary table to complain about the announcers talking about Invader and that dirty drooling dog when what they should be talking about is Kendo Nagasaki and the Universal champ Steve Strong. We see that El Profe is at ringside as well, since he manages Kendo. Profe goes to fetch Chicky, saying to Chicky to not waste his time with these low people. JYD gets drawn into the ring to try to help Invader, allowing the rudos to once again double team Invader. Strong comes back in and continues to apply a headlock on Invader, who is almost out from the punishment he’s taken. Invader manages to get back to his feet and tries to push Strong back far enough to tag in JYD but is unsuccessful. Invader manages to get the tag but the ref doesn’t see it trying to get Kendo out of the ring. More double teaming occurs, including Kendo hitting Invader with the kendo stick (which the ref does not see). Kendo sends Invader into the ropes, but Invader kicks Kendo and finally tags in JYD. He cleans house on both rudos, but is eventually overpowered two on one. Heel miscommunication allows JYD to tag Invader and all four men start fighting in the ring. This eventually leads to Invader coming off the top with a reverse crossbody and getting the pin on Kendo as JYD and Strong are fighting.

And now it is Junkyard Dog’s turn to challenge Steve strong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbHF7n3vtI0

EB: We are in Caguas in what is either late August or early September. Chicky is in the ring doing the ritual pose with Steve Strong, who is at ringside. JYD and Strong both get into the ring for the introductions and the match starts as Strong charges JYD and tries to hit him with the title belt. JYD blocks the blows with his chain and then wallops Strong with a fistful of chains. Strong regroups on the outside as JYD fires up the crowd. Chicky on commentary complains about JYD attacking Strong with the chain (ignoring that Strong tried to attack with the title belt first). Strong eventually gets back in the ring and JYD goes on the offensive and knocks Strong out of the ring again. As Strong again gathers himself on the outside, the commentary team of Hugo, Carlos Colon and Chicky start talking about whether Strong’s forearm pad is loaded (something Chicky absolutely denies and says that Strong is just that powerful, Carlos says it's both, Strong is powerful but believes the ‘Damian’ is also loaded). JYD rams the heads of Chicky and Strong together and continues on the offensive in the ring. Strong once again heads out as we see a couple of promos from TNT and a mystery man in black who is with Chicky Starr (if you’re wondering what this is all about, we’ll get there soon). Carlos on commentary actually gives Strong credit for being willing to defend the title almost every week and being able to remain champion. Strong is just having problems in the ring trying to solve JYD. Both men eventually stun each other after exchanging blows but neither goes down. As JYD starts taking the advantage once more, Chicky jumps up and distracts JYD, allowing Strong to turn ‘Damian’ around on his arm and hit JYD with a clothesline. This allows Strong to get the pin and retain the Universal title.

Steve Strong has survived every challenge so far, but as we get nearer to Aniversario 89 he has another challenge facing him. And this time, it’s the man he put on the shelf back in May and who he defeated for the Universal title, none other than Carlos Colon.

MD: It stood out to me how well they seemed to use a Rufus R. Jones at a point in his career where he wasn’t that useful anywhere else, but they used JYD even better. Teaming with Invader is perfect for him. This was another example of that even if we only have four minutes of it. And then he and Strong had a match that would have fit in well on a Summerslam undercard third from the top. With the way Strong fed for JYD’s clotheslines and headbutts, it almost felt like a WWF tryout match for him. He scrambled out of the ring for the ones on all fours and then, when he was doing a ritual on the outside with Chicky, Dog came right out and snuck a headbutt into his upper ribcage. It felt big when the two of them were just throwing fists at each other too, bigger than you’d expect from ‘89 JYD. The finish had all the chicanery you’d expect, but JYD wasn’t going to be the guy to beat Strong. He did give him just a little more credibility with this match though.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we’ve seen a lot about this person on our trip through 1989 but what does it mean to be ‘bregando a la Chicky Starr’. We’ll learn a bit more about how Chicky came to be and just how underhanded he can be. And just who was that man in black with him in that promo?