No Sleep til Portland

So the NHO offices received this stack of discs simply labeled "Portland 1970's", so we did what we always do and popped it in the old Digital Disc Player because these things won't watch themselves. What we found was mostly crappy quality stuff taped off of god knows what source and dubbed from generation to generation until arriving at this subpar product, but over the next few weeks I will do my duty and power through these hoping to find some worthy material to review.

1) Killer Tim Brooks v. Buddy Rose (Dog Collar Match)- 4
I really think this is one, or was one of the most brutal matches you could do. Blood leaked from both guys' heads like faulty spickets for most of this bout. Biggest impact move was a bodyslam, but they worked the chain into each other's foreheads like with the force and tenacity it takes to build an IKEA dresser. Both guys lost wind around 14 minutes but the real issue was how can this kind of match end in a DQ?

2) Buddy Rose v. Adrian Adonis- 6
This was a war, both men sold in different but great ways, Rose was exaggerated but his style was pretty physical, they worked a full nelson & headlock a few times like two men ready to break each other. Adonis showed so much fire, in his punches, his firing up the crowd and transitioning between moves. There was some cool Japanese sequences as well, one out of the full nelson then leading to the finish with a neat cradle by Adonis. Neither guy has a great physique but they threw each other into the pace and hard nosed style this match was fought with and I was digging it.

3) Buddy Rose/ New Zealand Sheephearders v. Red Bastien/ Roddy Piper/ Sam Oliver Bass (2/3 Falls match)- 5
The first round was by far the show here, watching more of these dvd's really makes me appreciate the work ethic of one Buddy Rose. He's got so much natural heel charisma, the guy bumps like no other, selling is top notch, he's just a joy to watch, here mostly on display was his talent for selling and taking one heck of a beating. Sheephearders are the Bushwhackers, with terrible long hair and they bump a lot bigger but it's those strange delayed bumping. Bastien looks like a grandpa in red sweatpants. Bass isn't allowed to do anything more than some brawling spots, as Piper is the workhorse here, and accentuates the match with all the normal Piper mannerisms. 2nd fall goes by like a current CMLL 90 second fall with a neat backbreaker variation. 3rd fall becomes a frackus but is explained as a time limit draw, to my chagrin. All hail the Playboy

4) Buddy Rose/ Ed Wakowski/ Killer Brooks/ Roddy Piper v. Hector Guerrero/ Adrian Adonis/ Ron Starr/ George Wells (Elimination Match)- 6
This match was pretty long but for the stipulation it had, it totally made sense. Wells and Hector were both pretty exciting components of this match, carried a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, if not somewhat green, but the hells all worked well enough around them where it didn't make too much of a difference. Starr was kidn of blase to me, not a lot of emotion in what he was doing whether in control or on the mat taking a beating. The pace of the eliminations was done well until the end which basically became an angle but one I wasn't expecting. Another enjoyable encounter.

5) Buddy Rose v. Roddy Piper (2/3 Falls)- 4
Big strength here was both guys selling, they worked a neat pace throughout where nothing spectacular was done but just little notches of work here and there to wear a guy out, made sense. Lot of angle going on in this match, Piper had a much meaner punch in these days and sold a lot for Rose, didn't get near the big comeback i would have thought. Terrible ending though and video quality made this a pain in the behind to view.

6) Buddy Rose/ Ed Wakowski v. Matt Borne/ Iceman Parsons- 3
Thought I'd review this with 2 World Class guys visiting. Rose let Wakowski do the legwork throughout here, except for some posturing with Iceman who was wearing some tights that Raggedy Andy wouldn't wear to his local Wal Mart. Borne was fun to watch here, some of the mannerisms we'd see years later under Doink makeup. Wakowski isn't near as animated with his selling, kind of reminds me of a guy going to his 9-5 job each day and keeping to himself and just getting the job done. Another screwy Portland finish.

7) Rick Martel v. Harley Race (2/3 falls) - 6
Finally a Rose reprieve, it's a task trying to find a match w/o him on here. This is such a cool match up that I wasn't aware ever happened. Martel is working the Tito armbar/headlock strategy, but when Race breaks free, he's ready with spectacular (for the times) arm drags and dropkicks. Race is always groaning, or wincing, just working the crowd, and uses his hard head to his advantage. Brilliant high knee. Someone was just paged to turn their car lights off in the parking lot, I shit you not. Race uses his piledriver like a master, for desperation at this point. Kept wondering why Martel went to hold to hold but finally got a win with one. Some nice measured suplexes by both men. Martel has to give Race a neck rub to wake up for the next fall, as ordered by the ref. If Race is horny does he have to give him a happy ending? Final fall kind of a joke, they've been fighting for near 30 minutes now but even in their winding down they keep dropping big moves. Wow time limit draw in this kind of match, saw the same crap in an Attitude era Rock v. HHH match, didn't go over well there either.

8) Tiny Anderson v. Eric Embrey- 3
I love Embrey's slack eyed demeanor, guy can punch too. All his basic stuff is so smooth too, even his bump taking. Anderson's armbar looks even worse than Jay Leno's did if that's even believable. I'd rather watch Mark Fuerstein wrestle an Iron Man Match. Embrey kind of guides him through a rather simple formula of a match but manages to throw some spice in along the way, such as a standing dropkick that was simply tits. Finish was a terrible idea though

9) Coco Samoa v. Buddy Rose- 4
Fun to watch Rose methodically run this match, he took his arm being wrenched, selling enthusiastically, then went to town, slowly just picking Samoa apart. He knew every move he was going to make, it felt as if he was a puppeteer and Samoa was that weird Malkovich guy. Portland backbreaker gets the win. Rose seemingly carried this promotion for years, Hall of Fame worthy work for his run here.