Buddy Rose vs. Rick Martel (2/3 falls) (5/10/80)

- Early on, a different match altogether form the first one where the first fall has the guys working spots out of the headlock includoing the earliest case of a hurrucanrana I can remember seeing as Martel takes Rose over. If the first match was all about working the body parts, this was an exchange of cool moves and sequences worked out of the headlock and Buddy countering. When he gets the advantage, he goes to the top rope and drives Martel's head into the canvas with his knee. It looked fucking sweet. Damn, Buddy is such an awesome bumper. Too bad he never found his way down to Mid South. 2nd fall has Buddy working on Martel's bvack in a role reversal from the first match. However, Martel catches Buddy in the sleeper and takes the 2nd fall to even it up. So far, this is a completely different match form the first one but still just as good. 3rd fall only had a couple of minutes of non-stop action before Martel catches Buddy in another sleeper. THis brings out the Sheeps for the DQ and Piper for the save. Even though the 3rd fall was abrupt, there was enough action to easily move this forward.

 

(Lynch Vol. 1)

I liked that they did something different than they had in the previous match. The first fall was really exciting, with the nifty headlock stuff and the big spots. These guys were just so slick, and then Buddy turned up the brutality with his attack on Martel's back. That dude could do it all. The third fall was not nearly as satisfying as the mask removal from the previous match, but this featured too much great stuff not to make the set. Nomination.

First fall ruled and was totally different than the other match as it was high spot heavy and featured lots of stuff that was really unique/dynamic for the time. Martel's rana really stands out, but it was chock full of cool shit, but in a way where the spots were well paced and built to. Buddy countering the Martel momentum with a back suplex off a headlock takedown attempt was well executed and led to the inevitable Billy Robinson backbreaker finish.

 

Naturally this leads to Buddy taking over on Martel's back in the second fall, with an awesome spot as Martel is up on the top rope with Buddy punting his back and Martel teasing a head first bump to the floor. The ab stretch is not something you think of as a hope spot but it really worked great here, and Martel's suplex counter was pretty great too. Buddy is just so great as the heel on the ropes and Martel is equally great as the fiery young babyface. Buddy puts up a big fight but gets dropped with the sleeper for the second fall even as Rick still sells the fuck out of his back. Gotta love Sandy Barr making a reluctant Martel wake Buddy up from the sleeper after the fall.

 

Couple of really big spots right out of the gate in the third fall, including Martel whiffing on a splash. Rose tries to take over but Martel gets the knees up on a splash. Martel goes for the sleeper, but the Sheepherders hit the ring for the DQ.

 

You know this may not be quite as good a finish as the other match, but I still liked it as a finish. Great match.

NEVER MIND. THIS SEEMS TO BE SAME MATCH WE NOMINATED FROM 5/10.

 

A young lady gave Martel flowers at ringside and Buddy ran over to snatch them. Awesome! Martel worked most of the first fall out of a headlock base, which I could see some people not loving. But they did a nice job of having Buddy build up to escape attempts only for Martel to outmaneuver him and keep the hold. I know we've said it before, but Martel's frankensteiner looked fucking fantastic. Buddy finally caught Martel in a suplex as he tried to walk up the turnbuckles with the headlock. Buddy followed that up with a nasty calf branding from the top and then the Robinson backbreaker for the fall. Really good wrestling so far. Buddy clobbered and kicked Martel's spine to the start the second. Martel teased a comeback by reversing an abdominal stretch but Buddy hip tossed him and kept working the back. Martel finally changed the tide for real by blocking and countering a gut-wrench suplex. I loved the way he still sold his back after he bodyslammed Buddy mid-rally. Martel put the fall away with a sleeper, which led to the great spot where he had to wake Buddy up ... reluctantly. They slugged it out in the third fall, with neither guy gaining a real advantage until Martel hooked the sleeper again. That brought in the Sheepherders for the DQ. I'm not sure this was as good as their April match, which is a No. 1 contender. But it was awfully good. These two could do no wrong against one another.

 

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