03/07/20: Portland Randoms

Rip Rogers def. Roddy Piper in 6:45. It has to be noted that while I’ve always loved Piper’s work during this time, Roger’s was phenomenal here. This was 1980 and Rip was doing axhandles from the top to the floor like he was Randy Savage. He also used an Oklahoma Stampede-style powerslam, a rarity during this time. Between the innovation, bumping and selling, I’m all in on Rip Rogers. Piper was a good babyface-in-peril and making the comeback, especially with Rip bumping Rogers bumping for him. The finish was kind of shitty with Rogers hitting Piper with something in his tights, but it made sense since Rogers needed a win as a new member of the Rose army and he wasn’t beating Piper clean. ***

Buddy Rose and Rip Rogers cut a promo. Buddy was a little jumpy, but put over the Rose army and cut a promo for an upcoming Rose Army v. Sheepherders & mystery partner match, saying the Sheepherders can’t find a partner. This was underwhelming by Buddy Rose standards but effective.

On the other hand, Piper was the fucking man. First, he blamed himself for being tricked by someone that had only wrestled a couple of years, which was awesome. You see, a man that makes excuses after losing a fight, kind of sounds like a pussy, whether the gripe is justified or not. He said he wouldn’t team with the Sheepherders against the army because he didn’t trust him, but still cut an awesome promo on Buddy. He basically talked about him having a small dick, saying he dressed like a woman, and cut a promo on behalf of GREEN PEACE. This was tremendous Roddy Piper here.

Grappler NC Billy Jack Haynes in 5:45. This was dying days Portland, but the fans were still relatively into it. They did a deal where all the wrestlers were forced to leave the arena, except Scotty the Body, who was handcuffed to the guardrail on commentary. Grappler isn’t wearing the mask, but face paint here. Even in “street clothes”, Haynes has to pander to the Oregonians by wearing green and yellow. This was short and more a setup for a rematch, but the action was fine. Honestly, it was pretty tame for a street fight. They did an ABYSMAL finish where Grappler put some sort of deadly chemical in his mouth to spray on to Haynes (read that sentence two or threw times). He stalks Haynes and then blows it in mist form on his back and Haynes sells it going down. Apparently this chemical will fuck up a back, but is just fine for an open mouth. *1/2

Buddy Rose NC Matt Borne in 2/3 falls in 12:39. Now, this was a wild fucking match. After winning the first fall quickly with a piledriver, Borne went and cut a promo about how Rose’s 275 lbs. made it easy to drop him on his tiny brain. The crowd loved that, and that was important since they were trying to turn Borne babyface here. Borne juiced heavy from a post shot in the second fall just to rally the troops behind him even more. Rose won with the second fall after a chairshot to the head. Referee Sandy Barr was trying to get Borne ready for a third fall because he was pummeled, in a nice little touch. Borne eventually came back and bloodied Rose, beginning to use a chair on him, tossing the referee to the side in the process, prompting the stoppage. You can argue the . ****

Hennig def. Convict in 16:14. The Convict was Ed Wistowski (Col. Debeers) in a mask and children’s Halloween costume of a prisoner. This was so long and so fucking boring, as the Convict dominated most of it with a lot of holds on the mat. You can see Hennig did some nice things here, but wasn’t anywhere near peak Curt Hennig. He won the first fall out of nowhere and the second with his dropkick off the top. *1/4