What a fantastic match! The false finishes were incredible, among the best I've ever seen. I love the looonnnnggg tease of Hansen touching the fourth corner, which made Colon breaking his momentum quite the great moment in wrestling drama. I also liked how they for the most part stayed in close proximity to each other, which made all the strikes more palpable. ****1/2

Would these matches have helped your Hansen ranking in GWE?

It's so great that you're going through this feud. It should be mandatory for everyone.

Would these matches have helped your Hansen ranking in GWE?

 

Hansen did extremely well for me even without it. I don't know if it would have bumped him up, but it might have. Guys at that level really do live in close quarters.

Some background context:

 

As a result of the ending from the year-ed show tag match, where Hansen had hanged Colon with his bullrope, Carlos Colon demanded a bullrope match with Hansen. The match was signed for the Three Kings Day show. Hansen would gloat on TV leading up to the match claiming that there was no way Colon could beat him in a bullrope match. In fact, Hansen went as far as too say that in the improbable result that Colon did beat him, he would leave Puerto Rico.

 

this match ius from the Coliseo Roberto Clemente on Three Kings Day. Interesting Fact: This card also a Lights Out No DQ match between Chicky Starr and Huracan Castillo Sr. Hugo puts over how dangerous the match is and mentions that the winner is the first man to touch all four turnbuckles. Anything goes, the only thing that can stop the match is touching all four corners. Once again, Hugo mentions that Hansen was the AWA champ but did not lose that title. He turned that title in and now wants the Universal title. Hugo also mentions that the bullrope has a bell that could be used to cause damage. The match is absolutely fantastic and should be seen by any wrestling fan. As a result of Carlos winning, Hansen is leaving Puerto Rico due to bragging how he would do so if he lost.

My favorite of the series. Had never seen either and Hansen is just this white tornado of hoss here to destroy the island's favorite son. Super fun.

Yeah, this match is impossibly awesome and I'm with the "best of the feud" crowd. The heat in the bullrope tugs of war was palpable stuff and goes back to Carlos's immense charisma and Hansen's ability to let just the right amount of vulnerability through to give the babyface that hope. It was also probably the best-reffed and booked four-corners match that I've ever seen since there wasn't any horseshitting around how you get the fall, which meant that there was almost no pause to the action.

Colon isn't the best brawler in the world, but he more than makes up for it by being charismatic and knowing how to milk the drama with the bull rope. Colon cartwheeling to start his comeback popped me big time! A cartwheel in a bloodbath like this could have felt out of place, but Colon made it work. These two just pounded the shit out of each other, using the bull rope to batter and choke each other. They both get juice and the crowd went apeshit for them. Hansen was exceptional here. His body language was top-notch and he falls over like a big redwood whenever Colon was able to best him during the struggle with the rope. Never had a tug of war felt tenser than it did when these two were pulling away! ★★★★★

The Day Of The Three Kings is here! After the 21st December match ended with Hansen hanging Calon with the Bull Rope, it was only natural what was next and soon enough, Colon challenged Hansen to a Texas Bull Rope match. Overconfident, Hansen put his Puerto Rican career on the line. This was an excellent, excellent match built around violence. Violent punches, violent use of the bull rope. Just pure violence and blood. There is a ton of drama in the closing stretch because the two sell their desperation to hit all four corners so brilliantly. There is so much struggle when it comes to hitting that final corner with the other wrestler using all their weight to pull you back. So much energy is slowly wasted away until you have to give up and try again. That final minute with Colon holding onto Hansen with all his might before back dropping him and getting the corner himself after Hansen tried to lariat him was amazing. High level drama. ****1/4
 

Ok so after a couple of match I thought a little were overrated in ’86, here, I have to agree. I mean, I’ve never thought anything special regarding Carlos Colon, not that he’s bad but his fire or his selling doesn’t add that much from what I’ve seen from him before. Here it works, Carlos is believable in his offense, even against such a bull. Hansen gives him a lot here, and it’s all for the better to me.I love Hansen semi selling, always trying to react but fighting from the bottom.

The atmosphere is something special here as well, especially when there’s no commentary. The cutoffs are good, the false finishes from a fingertip kind of thing are all well done, either in execution or timing. The best bullrope finish hence the fact that we’ve all seen it way more often than any other match with this kind of gimmick (bullrope, leatherstrap, Caribbean strap…), I wonder though how famous this finish was back then. If anybody knows?

 

Anyway,  really among the best bullrope kind of thing I’ve seen, thanks to Hansen’s selling and character work, the atmosphere and the overall execution. ****