Rocky Johnson, Brett Sawyer, Steve Regal vs. Rose, Rip Oliver & Matt Borne (2/3 falls) (25:35)

- Early on, this match is fun as hell. The faces are all showing fire while the heels bump, stooge, throw in a little comedy and keep things moving. One spot shows Rose tagging in Borne while still stuck in an arm wrench. Borne goes up top to hit Regal but misses and nails Rose. Another spot has Rose running off an Irish whip and stopping about an inch before Sawyer pucnhes him. He turns around, gets hit by Regal which spins him around to get popped by Johnson and then popped by Sawyer anyway. It appears the heels have controll as Buddy has Regal in a bearhug. Regal backs up and tags Sawyer while BUddy is concentrating on the bearhug and Sawyer gets the first fall after a top rope sunset flip on Buddy who didn't see the tag. Great First Fall. 2nd fall starts off badly when the ring ropes collapse on a criss cross between Sawyer and Buddy. Thankfully, the heels improvise and tangle JOhnson in the loose ropes and choke him with the top rope. When Johnson makes the tag, Sawyer comes in on the attack but Borne improvises again and nails Sawyer with the rope bar ala Wargames 92. With the ref's back turned, Oliver picks up Saywer, Buddy nails him with the same rope bar (what the hell do you call it?) and that leads to an Oliver shoulderbreaker for the pin. What could have been a disaster turns into a pretty fun fall as the heels used the broken ropes to their advantage. I'll have to rewind it and see if it was intentional but I think it was all improvised. This is the wierdest thing I have ever seen but the third fall begins with no ropes in a tag match. In order for the tag to take place, the wrestler has to have his hand hooked to the ring where the rope once was hooked. Third fall starts with Sawyer hooking Oliver in a headlock and them playing it safe. When Rose comes in, he uses the lack of ropes ot his advantage and atomic drops Sawyer out of the ring. When Sawyer comes back in the ring, Rose teases throwing him out with a bodyslam but the ref prevents him which causes BUddy to back up to the face corner where the faces prevent him from tossing Sawyer outside. When they push Buddy, Saywer lands in a pin position but Borne breaks up the pin. I'll have to rewatch it but I think the match ends with a DQ on the heels after all hell breaks loose and Rocky Johnson gets crotched on the ringpost. Either that or the match is ended because Johnson cannot continue. Either way, another nomination for me for one of the wierdest matches I have seen.

 

 

(Lynch Portland 7.1)

Pretty impressive match, these guys totally improv an awesome two falls of wrestling. No way the rope breaking was planned, but it turned a fun match into a completely insane match. Brett Sawyer takes a crazy bump being thrown from the ropeless ring, and the Rocky Johnson crotching was nasty shit. Totally unique and great stuff

Buddy apparently loved that blind sunset flip ending, but no arguments here. It was a nifty way to create an upset fall. Obviously, the improvisational use of the broken ropes ended up being the story here. And they did a great job with it. This is the type of thing that has to be on the set, because it was so different and hence, memorable. I don't know if Buddy deserves the lion's share of credit for the improv or not, but clever stuff sure seemed to happen a lot when he was involved in a wrestling match.

I have watched this several times over the last year or so so I will abstain from a more complete review. Just tons of good shit in this match big and little. Little stuff like Rocky Johnson throwing a nasty shot to the arm pit of Oliver, big spots like Sawyer's first fall sunset flip, crazy run around the ring brawling spots, et.

 

This actually sets the table well for the criss cross sot that breaks the ring at the jump of the second fall as you figured this had to go somewhere even crazier and sure enough it did. I seriously think Borne's ambush spot with the turnbuckle might be my favorite "fuck you" ever in a wrestling match and was a great way to set up the second fall.

 

Rope less fall rules and adds an added dimension of danger to everything as you basically have six guys fighting on an elevated platform with no real safety net below. Sawyer's big bump did a good job establishing the danger as did Buddy's slam tease and you'e got to love Borne flaying wildly on the apron teasing the "big fall." It is crazy that they work such a solid traditionally structured fall here. Finish worked well for this and this is really an amazing match.