Posted January 23, 200817 yr comment_5427457 Portland #4 Disc 1 Mike Popovich vs. Rip Oliver - Rose & Boyd are ringside to watch their respective guys. Popvich beats Oliver in 2 minutes with a full nelson Buddy Rose, Rip Oliver & Fidel Cortez Interview Buddy Rose vs. Jonathan Boyd (2/3 falls) - Rose stalls early on so that when Boyd gets the better of him on 2 arm drags, the crowd goes nuts. Rose can control a crowd and he is creeping into my Top Ten of favorite guys ever. GReat spot as Rose is out of the ring taking a breather, Boyd follows him and gets him back in the ring. Rose does the Eddie handshake on his knees so Boyd grabs his hand and bites it with the ref not able to see the rule-breaking. In fact, that is a runnning theme, where Boyd cheats and gives Rose his own medicine with the ref not looking. I don't know how it happened but Boyd is busted open and ROse goes to town on the cut. Boyd realizes he is bleeding, freaks out and goes to work on Buddy. Bad camera work as Boyd goes to the top rope, the camera cuts to the crowd and Boyd gets the pin even though we don't know what happened. 2nd fall starts off slow with Boyd applying a claw hold tha tseems to go on forever. However, after he rekeases the claw, Boyd pops Buddy with a sweet punch and Buddy falls head first to the concrete. After that, the match gets really disjointed with a bad ref bump that leads to Buddy posting Boyd's nuts and pinning him. In the third fall, Buddy works an abdomen claw on Boyd to exploit a missed splash attempt from Boyd that took place in the 2nd fall and I am losing interest in this match that started off really hot. After the clw segment, Boyd goes to work on Buddy's injured leg and this part of the match is really good with Boyd busting out all kinds of submissions and twists and kicking and ramming the leg into the ringpost. eventually, BUddy's leg gives out and he loses the match by countout. I am torn on this match. It went nearly 40 minutes and parts of it were really great and other patrs, I lost interest in. I'll give it a mild thumbs up and a nomination.
April 9, 201114 yr comment_5469490 Disc 1 Mike Popovich vs. Rip Oliver - Nothing much to this Buddy Rose, Rip Oliver & Fidel Cortez Interview Buddy Rose vs. Jonathan Boyd (2/3 falls) - This was dreadfully dull for the most part. I get that Boyd, as the one with the beef, needed to seize the initiative. But good lord, he took almost all of the offense in a match that ate up 40 minutes of TV time. Boyd did not have enough interesting stuff in his arsenal to fill that kind of space, even with Buddy Rose selling and bumping for him. The cameras didn't even catch the move that set up the first fall. I don't know why Buddy failed to go after Boyd's cut more to establish some kind of drama. The second fall was a mess and though Boyd restored some focus by going after Buddy's leg in the third fall, I didn't care by that point. Buddy ended up taking a countout to sell the damage Boyd had done to his wheels. Ugh, I actively disliked this. No vote. Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot vs. Rip Oliver & Fidel Cortez - The fans seemed excited to have Youngblood back, and he brought whatever spark there was in this match. Typical structure, with the babyfaces coming out hot to take the first fall and then falling victim to clubbering and isolation tactics. Oliver and Cortez really weren't interesting enough to keep me engaged with their control segments. They ended up winning on Rose interference. Overall, this was nothing special. Buddy Rose vs. Jonathan Boyd (2/3 falls) - Well, it didn't drag on as long as their previous match but suffered from a lot of the same problems. I liked Boyd's early barrage of punches but again, he took a huge portion of the match and really lacked the offense to fill it. Rose bled, but that didn't go anywhere. This time, Buddy just walked off for the finish. This series is not doing it for me. Disc 2 Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot vs. Rip Oliver & Fidel Cortez - This version benefited from more focus, with the heels attacking Lightfoot's back to dominate the first fall. Lightfoot did a nice job selling the damage and getting the crowd behind him. Youngblood got a huge pop when he finally tagged in during the second fall, and he and Lightfoot quickly evened the match. The third fall ended out of nowhere with Youngblood pinning both Cortez and Oliver on a sunset flip. I'm not sure I've seen that before. Anyway, this was fine but short of a nomination. Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot vs. Rip Oliver & Buddy Rose - No surprise that this was a better match-up with Rose in place of Fidel Cortez. The story of the first fall was Buddy's reluctance to engage with Youngblood, which left Oliver as relatively easy prey for the babyface teamwork. I liked Lightfoot's little rolling sentons. Oliver turned the tide with a taped thumb to Lightfoot's throat. Rose was great during the control section on Lightfoot, strutting and cheap shotting Youngblood on the apron. The people went crazy for Youngblood's hot tag, but he went back to Lightfoot a little too quickly and Buddy took advantage, hitting his backbreaker for the pin. I question them going right back to Lightfoot in peril for the third fall. The work was good, just somewhat redundant. Youngblood dominated for a few minutes after taking the hot tag, but then Buddy set him up for the decisive pin by pulling him to the mat by his hair. The fall came a little too easily considering how fresh Youngblood should have been. But overall, they employed classic tag formula to good effect. Mid-level nomination. Jonathan Boyd vs The Destroyer - They got into a nifty punch exchange that ended with a countout. Unfortunately, that was the only good part of the match. Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot vs. Rip Oliver & Buddy Rose - Rematch for the tag titles. This time, the heels started out destroying Youngblood's back. Youngblood did the in-peril thing well, mixing effective selling with just enough hope spots. Buddy set up the first-fall pin by driving Youngblood's back into Oliver's knee and then flowing directly into his own backbreaker. Neat. This being Portland, Rose and Oliver resumed the attack on Youngblood's back to start the second fall. Gotta love Buddy's mock war dance when the crowd chanted "Indian power" to rally Youngblood. I thought Youngblood's face-in-peril work was even better in the second fall. The crowd ate up all of his teased rallies. The fall came quickly after Lightfoot finally made the hot tag. Damn, the disc cut out in the middle of the third fall. If this exists in full from one of our other sources, I think it will probably be a nomination. But it can't go on in this form.
February 19, 201312 yr comment_5536030 Portland #4 Disc 1 Mike Popovich vs. Rip Oliver - Rose & Boyd are ringside to watch their respective guys. Popvich beats Oliver in 2 minutes with a full nelson Buddy Rose, Rip Oliver & Fidel Cortez Interview Buddy Rose vs. Jonathan Boyd (2/3 falls) - Rose stalls early on so that when Boyd gets the better of him on 2 arm drags, the crowd goes nuts. Rose can control a crowd and he is creeping into my Top Ten of favorite guys ever. GReat spot as Rose is out of the ring taking a breather, Boyd follows him and gets him back in the ring. Rose does the Eddie handshake on his knees so Boyd grabs his hand and bites it with the ref not able to see the rule-breaking. In fact, that is a runnning theme, where Boyd cheats and gives Rose his own medicine with the ref not looking. I don't know how it happened but Boyd is busted open and ROse goes to town on the cut. Boyd realizes he is bleeding, freaks out and goes to work on Buddy. Bad camera work as Boyd goes to the top rope, the camera cuts to the crowd and Boyd gets the pin even though we don't know what happened. 2nd fall starts off slow with Boyd applying a claw hold tha tseems to go on forever. However, after he rekeases the claw, Boyd pops Buddy with a sweet punch and Buddy falls head first to the concrete. After that, the match gets really disjointed with a bad ref bump that leads to Buddy posting Boyd's nuts and pinning him. In the third fall, Buddy works an abdomen claw on Boyd to exploit a missed splash attempt from Boyd that took place in the 2nd fall and I am losing interest in this match that started off really hot. After the clw segment, Boyd goes to work on Buddy's injured leg and this part of the match is really good with Boyd busting out all kinds of submissions and twists and kicking and ramming the leg into the ringpost. eventually, BUddy's leg gives out and he loses the match by countout. I am torn on this match. It went nearly 40 minutes and parts of it were really great and other patrs, I lost interest in. I'll give it a mild thumbs up and a nomination. I can't find this nomination anywhere on the docket but I've seen this match and thought it really dragged. Am I somehow missing the thread?
February 19, 201312 yr Author comment_5536040 Well, if you and Childs both voted no, I am not going to fight it. I can't find the nomination either. I know you nominated one so I'll have to double check dates or something.
February 19, 201312 yr comment_5536050 Disc 2 Buddy Rose/Rip Oliver/Fidel Cortez promo. Man this was kind of comically bad. Jay Youngblood/Joe Lightfoot vs. Rip Oliver/Fidel Cortez - 2/3 Falls I did not hate the face shine which was well focused, but the best parts were the crowd chanting to get Buddy out and then wildly chanting USA on behalf of the native American team. Cortez selling was just too much. Completely over the top. I liked Oliver more than anyone in this for the first ten minutes, but he wasn't the focus. The face shine just goes on forever until Oliver comes in with the taped thumb. Blah I didn't like the first fall. Second fall started with me bored and heated up when Youngblood tagged in but then it was over. And then the third fall just sort of flashes by. This wasn't very good. Promos in between the falls and post-match angle/fall were better than anything during the match. Boyd promo. Amusing enough Buddy Rose/Rip Oliver promo. Rose compares Boyd to horseshit. Buddy Rose/Rip Oliver v. Jay Youngblood/Joe Lightfoot - 2/3 Falls I was kind of iffy on the opening shine, until they did the bit with Lightfoot cartwheeling away from Oliver and taking him down, while Rose cowered away from interfering as Youngblood just creeped into the ring. Simple spot but it hooked me. The way Rose reacts every time he comes into contact with Youngblood is great and Lightfoot's flashy stuff adds an extra element to this. Pretty fun first fall. Second fall opened up on the ground with Lightfoot in control on Oliver. This was okay, but I didn't really get into the match til Buddy tagged in and the heels took over. Heels do a really good job of building heat on the match, even when Lightfoot flubs a big spot. The hope spots they worked were really simple, but I also thought very effective. I loved the spot with Lightfoot crawling for the tag and Buddy just sitting in on a camel clutch facing directly toward Youngblood taunting him. Crowd goes nuts for Jay's hot tag, but Jay quickly tags out and Lightfoot airballs on a dropkick. Fall ends on an almost flash Robinson backbreaker from Buddy. Good stuff. Third fall started off with Lightfoot in peril again which I agree with Childs was a bit much, but I still liked the work. There was one really good cut off spot in here that was as good as anything you'll see in a segment like that. I also liked the Thesz Press hope spot. My big problem here is that I thought the heat segment went on too long given how much they had already worked him over. The big dramatic tag was a cool moment and Buddy was bumping around like crazy for Jay when he got in which is exactly what the match had been building to. I actually didn't mind the finish either. This was longer than it needed to be, but still worth a nomination. Boyd/Rose face off promo. Jonathon Boyd v. The Destroyer - 2/3 Falls I actually didn't hate this, but I was not invested enough in it to leave any detailed analysis other than "this was okay." Boyd isn't good, but I was not highly annoyed by this. Jay Youngblood/Joe Lightfoot vs. Rip Oliver/Buddy Rose 2/3 Falls Aw FUCK. I was loving this until the no finish. BOOOOOO. Please god let this exist in full somewhere.
