Posted February 21, 201114 yr comment_5465814 Al Perez vs. Dino Minelli (September 1986) Minelli puts up a fight but fails in the end. Frankie "The Thumper" Lancaster vs. Luis Arroyo (September 1986) Squash. Next is a promo with Rip Morgan who is out of action with a left leg injury. Huracan Castillo Jr. & Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Chicky Starr & "Rambo" Ron Starr (September 1986) Lots of armwork by the tecnicos here to start and I mean a lot of armwork. Castillo would have Ron pinned numerous times but his old lady would always drape his foot over the bottom rope to save him. The rudos would isolate Castillo in the corner and worked him over good before getting the hot tag to Miguelito who ran wild on both rudos. Miguelito would dropkick Ron into the referee before the RPM's would come out to take away Ron's old lady and handcuffing her to the ringpost. Chicky & Ron then jumped to the floor for a brawl leading to the Starr's going back to the ring where they got stereo O'Connor Rolls leading to an upset win. The crowd was into this especially the end but the match itself was a little clunky. The Invaders (I y III) vs. Jesse Barr & Yukon Joe (October 1985) Barr looked strong here his partner not so much. Invaders got over mostly on Joe and put him away for the win. TNT vs. Luis Arroyo (October 1986) Squash. Next we get Chicky Starr's Sport Shop with just Chicky talking about Colon. Huracan Castillo Jr. & Miguel Perez Jr. vs. The Viet Cong Express (Hiroshi Hase & Fumihiro Niikura) (September 1986) Hase & Niikura look like Kuniaki Kobayashi's sons here. Castillo looked really good here on his strikes with Perez throwing a great dropkick which after he hit, he would get his legs worked over by the rudos. I loved the make a wish spots they did where they really stretched him. Miguel fought back and got the tag to Castillo but he would fall to a nerve hold for another FIP section. Castillo really gets worked over here but got the hot tag to Perez before it broke down into a 4-way brawl. Castillo would get a sunset flip off the top rope on Hase for the win. This was fine for what it was but not quite a nomination. Pepper Gomez vs. Cowboy Lang (September 1986) I love the little minis title Gomez has. TNT vs. Zorro (October 1986) This isn't the AAA Zorro for sure.
June 30, 201312 yr comment_5549475 The Castillo/Perez vs. Starrs match should be the start of their program. The Starrs did not want to wrestle Perez and Castillo because they felt they didn't deserve it. They eventually were goaded into the match and the result was the upset victory. Also, the first time Perez/Castillo were pushed as a team. Castillo/Perez vs. Hase/Niikura might be from the June 29, 1986 World tag title tournament. There's a commercial tape available with the entire tournament. There's also a Hase/Niikura vs. Rock N Roll RPMs match floating around.
October 26, 201311 yr comment_5568969 Al Perez vs. Dino Minelli Basically just a squash though Minelli gets a lot of offense and hits a nice dropkick. The local promos that follow, include one from Tim Brooks who looks super scummy in it. I mean Tim Brooks always looks scummy, but here he looks like John Tenta's rough around the edges, Skoal addicted, older brother. Frankie "The Thumper" Lancaster vs. Luis Arroyo I know this is a squash but I watched it because I wanted to see WCW Pro legend Frankie Lancaster as the winner of a squash. Now I can say I did that. The Morgan sit down interview was ok Tim Brooks video Huracan Castillo Jr. & Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Chicky Starr & "Rambo" Ron Starr I think I've watched this before, but I'm going to go ahead and watch it in full here regardless. This was like the opposite of most WWC t.v. matches, in that it would have been a better match if it was shorter. I did like a lot of the fiery, athletic, babyface offense Castillo busted out in this and he made a solid FIP once the heels took over. The work was all pretty simple, but some of the stuff - like Chicky laying it in thick with a clothesline - was at least a little surprising. Perez came in crazy hot off the tag, but I thought it was hurt a little by how poorly it was milked up to that point. The ending sequence with the RPM's coming out and brawling with the Starr's had great heat and led to a fun babyface finish, with the crowd going insane, but I don't know. A part of me feels like this should be nominated as we have nominated worse matches than this for other sets and it was a t.v. match that was both solid enough and added to a storyline, but unlike the other ones I've tossed on the dock, I can't see going to the wall on this one with a personal pick. Really mixed feelings here. The Invaders (I y III) vs. Jesse Barr & Yukon Joe Man Yukon Joe is a slovenly looking motherfucker. I gotta say Jesse Barr looked good here. He was awesome taking these full body bumps for the faces that were super expressive. He also had great facial expressions in this whether on offense or defense. When it came time for offense his punches looked really good and he busted out a pretty amazing looking fist drop. The way this was worked you had the "flashy" team of the Invaders, working as speed demons, with big spots v. the traditionally grimy heel team and I have to say this worked better than it might look on paper. I even really liked the finish with Barr out on the floor making faces, while Yukon Joe ends up eating a couple of cool double teams spots for the finish. This is another one I'm pretty torn on, because it was only about seven minutes and there was nothing out of this world, but I am a mark for t.v. matches like this. TNT vs. Luis Arroyo Young Savio was fucking awesome here. He just beats the shit out of this guy, including rubbing a coke can up against his head, before choking him out. Fun squash. The sit down interview with Chicky Starr's army is actually better to me than the Chicky flower shop, since I don't speak Spanish. Huracan Castillo Jr. & Miguel Perez Jr. vs. The Viet Cong Express (Hiroshi Hase & Fumihiro Niikura) This is one where the novelty of it makes me operate from the premise that it should be a nomination and work backwards. Well I have to say the first several minutes of this did not do the match any favors, as I thought it was inoffensive, but pedestrian stuff. I thought this might develop some when they started to work on Perez leg, but that lasted all of a couple of minutes and then Castillo was right back in. Castillo ends up in peril being worked over by a nervehold and and a reverse chinlock type of thing, neither of which were set up by anything of note or interest. The Express hit one or two moves of note and then Castillo tags in in a fairly half hearted manner. Shortly after this they hit the sunset off the top for the finish. Wow. This could have been fun as a sprint. It could have been fun as a longer workrate style match ala the Express v. Owen/Bassarab. It could have been fun as a more traditional tag match, with some decent hope spots and more interesting spots from the heels. It had none of this. I actually thought this sucked cock, and was easily the worst tag on this disc. Pepper Gomez vs. Cowboy Lang I swear to god I think every midget match I've ever seen has an atomic drop spot and I love them or it. This had a bunch of the midget bullshit you expect, but in a fashion where the comedic spots came across more as stooging or logical than in other midget affairs. I kind of loved the heel hook teeter totter spot and there were a string of bumps in this that ruled, including a nutty midget bump to the floor, a delayed face planting out of the corner and the old bit with the full nelson in the ropes leading to the face letting go and the heel going splat. This had some fun rope running spots too an the typical midget roll up finish. This was a bit too short to nominate (see what I did there?) but this was a fun little midget match. TNT vs. Zorro TNT beats the shit out of another scrub and I love his squash matches.
