Ambulance Match: Carlos Colon & The Invader vs. The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams) (August 1986)

 

This is from one of the stadiums and I think the same card as Dusty/Flair. This is nothing but a wild brawl with the blood flowing and it's good to see a true WWC match. The Sheeps were using weapons to bring out the blood before Miguel Perez Jr. would join the fray giving the tecnicos a chance to come back and they brawled all over the field and into the fans which was dangerous. They bring a doctor to the ring to check on Luke who was destroyed and kept getting destroyed by the tecnicos as they tried to get Luke out of the ring on a stretcher. Colon broke out a coal miners glove and used it before they finally got Luke out of there and in the ambulance. This was total insanity and a fairly easy nomination to me.

This is just totally crazy. I've seen a shitload of matches from all styles of promotions from all corners of the earth. Not sure I've ever seen anything like this. It was almost as if they took some of the more ridiculous elements of WWE Attitude Era, mixed them with Memphis and then held the match in a giant stadium in front of 80's era Texas fans. Historically I have been indifferent to the Herders, but this is there sort of match as this is just a burst of energy and blood and guys getting hit with foreign objects that look really dangerous and silly at the same time and yet I have no clue what the fuck they are. One of them looked like a bar of soap. Another looked like a solid roll of duct tape and that's what busted Invader open. Well that are the post shot he took which looked amazing. Colon decides to hit a picture perfect dropkick of all things in the middle of this and later smashes the head of one of the Herders on a table. About a half dozen fans reach over and slap at the heel, almost like they are doing a localized version of the wave, with the end game to tsunami crush the head of a Kiwi. Of course they are nearly beaten by one of the PR's resident shock troops. Somehow the lesson to be learned here was that they needed to brawl into the crowd, which is about one wrong move away from turning into a massive stampede/multiple deaths. Meanwhile during all of this Miguel Perez Jr (I think) keeps running into the ring with a glove and throwing kidney shots at Luke Williams. I have no clue what the glove is supposed to represent as it doesn't look particularly dangerous, but does look like something a trash collecting beekeeper would wear. Apparently it is made of steel because Luke Williams is near dead and a doctor gets called in to check on him as the faces continue to kick the shit out of him for several more minutes. They finally drag him out on a stretcher, through a crowd that is totally out of control and looks to be attempting to tip the stretcher at some points. The ambulance is pulled up in the in field and the faces look like they are still trying to get into it for more shots, when it pulls away while fans climb/ride it. Anyhow, this was completely awesome.

I love any wrestling match that feels like a riot, and this had some real moments of insanity. I can't believe that when they brawled into the crowd no one stabbed Luke Williams with a broken bottle. Man this PR set is going to be awesome

The duct tape and the complete abuse that the Herders took that made me feel sorrry for them really stand out. Don't know where it would end up in my rankings in the final set but an EASY NOMINATION

This is from the year end show of 1985. It's mid December of 85. This show also featured the Dusty vs. Flair, Tully vs. Magnum and Ayala vs. Nikita matches floating around Youtube.

Well, this was totally nuts. The first half is awesome brawling with Invader taking an awesome post shot and getting beaten with a roll of duct tape. Then, Colon gets beaten with a chair and is bloodied. The second half is totally insane with Colon hitting a Jim Brunzell level dropkick and then getting tossed to the floor without breaking his fall. Then Miguel Perez Jr. comes in and beats the fuck out of Luke Williams and Colon and Invader beat the fuck out of Miller with a chair and at one point actually hit him really fucking hard with one of the legs. The spot of the match was Colon smashing Miller's head on the table and one fucking fan kept hitting Miller in the back as hard as he could with tremendous fury. So, a police officer shows up and threatens to beat said fan with a baton. Right after this, Colon, Invader, and Miller go brawling into the crowd. The whole Luke Williams getting put on stretcher stuff and the faces not wanting it to end was nuts and by the end up it I was feeling sympathetic toward Williams. The long haul to the ambulance on a stretcher was frightening and the fans climbing the ambulance as it drove off was fucking insane. EASY nomination.

To help add some background to this match, watch the following video:

 

 

This is a Sheepherders hype video made for Aniversario 86 (and included along with others on one of the Best of Aniversario DVD releases WWC did).

 

At 0:08, we see the Sheepherders put Invader 1's arm in a chair and proceed to whack it with the flagpole. Invader 3 is handcuffed outside of the ring to the bottom rope and can't make the save. They would break Invader 1's arm and put him out of action for a few months.

 

A recently turned face Super Medico would make the save and end up teaming with Invader 3 in matches against the Sheepherders. Meanwhile, Invader 1 would appear on TV to do interviews with his arm bandaged and a machine hooked up to it that would beep and whir. Invader 1 would say that it was sending electrical pulses to the bone to help it heal correctly.

 

Invader 1 would come back during the summer and the revenge matches led to packed houses. This would result in the barbed wire match at Aniversario 85.

 

The other important piece of context occurs at 0:46. The Sheepherders are taking on Carlos Colon and Miguel Perez Jr. in a tag match.

 

With Carlos knocked loopy on the outside, the Sheepherders proceed to overwhelm Miguelito and set him up for Luke to jump off the top rope with a coal miner's glove punch to the back. This blow would put Miguelito on the shelf for a few months.

 

This is why Miguelito gets involved in the ambulance match and wears the glove. He had not yet been cleared to return but was out for payback. This leads to the tag match between the Sheepherders and Carlos and Miguelito that's also floating around.

 

The video also has scenes of the Sheepherders breaking Invader 3's arm (this match is also out there) and sets up the New Zealand Militia match between the Invaders and Sheepherders at Aniversario 86.

 

The last part of the video shows how the Sheepherders won the tag titles on Aug 3 (same card as the Colon vs. Chicky cage match on Youtube) and sets up the rematch against the RPMs at Aniversario 86.