Portland Wrestling
1977-1979
VOLUME 3

The current Portland wrestling champions are as follows:
NWA World Champion: Harley Race (2/6/1977)
PNW Heavyweight Champion: Dutch Savage (8/1/1977)
PNW Tag Team Champions: Sam Oliver Bass & John Anson (8/7/1977)

Your host is Frank Bonnema.

• Buddy Rose vs. Cocoa Samoa – (Portland Wrestling, 10/8/77)
  

Got ourselves our first rematch here. Bonnema seems confused as to who this referee is. Rose takes way too much time to fold his Superman t-shirt to piss off the crowd. Bonnema thinks that maybe Rose has had to pawn his fancy robe as of late since he gets disqualified a lot. There’s an old lady with a cane outside the ring that Bonnema calls a consulting referee. I don’t know why a job like that is necessary, but whatevs. I hope he’s just kidding around. This crowd really has a beef with Rose and he milks that for all it’s worth before locking up with Cocoa. Bonnema discusses a possible upcoming street fight between Rose’s partner Ed Wiskowski and Moondog Mayne. We’ll hear more about that very soon. Rose can’t seem to control Cocoa and gets caught in a headlock. Cocoa really winds up on that headlock and the crowd counts along with him. As Cocoa lets go, Rose collapses on the mat in a great little spot. Back to the headlock, Rose reaches the ropes and buries a knee into Cocoa. To the floor they go, Rose wraps Cocoa’s arm around the ringpost. This is VINTAGE BUDDY ROSE now working over the arm. He twists on the wristlock so that Cocoa can get a mild comeback with forearms, but Rose goes right back to taking the arm to school. In a spot I don’t think I’ve ever seen, Rose places the arm on the bottom rope and drops down onto the arm like you would normally see somebody do to a leg. Rose is so alpha that he doesn’t realize he just went UFC on Cocoa with a Kimura Lock to get the submission win. (10:04) There goes Buddy again – trying to break somebody else’s arm. Fun little JTTS match. **

From 10/8/77, Frank Bonnema meets with Ed Wiskowski and Buddy Rose to talk about Moondog Mayne. Wiskowski says he doesn’t think Mayne can be all that tough because Rose is still standing here next to him. Seems almost like a slight on Rose then, right? Wiskowski has lived the life of an NFL player and feels that lifestyle is like a street fight every day to prove that you belong in that environment, so he’d be more than happy to oblige Mayne in a street fight. Rose talks about tearing up Dutch Savage and Moondog Mayne’s arms which got he and Wiskowski fined $100 each. Rose recommends they take that money and get Savage and Mayne’s arms fixed. Lots of guys running around Portland with sore arms, but nobody will get to Rose and Wiskowski. Alright, let’s hear from Tom Peterson – the purveyor of the largest TV, stereo, and appliance store in Oregon!

After the break, Frank Bonnema talks with the Pacific Northwest heavyweight champion Dutch Savage. They announce him as the 16-time champ. That may be so with all the times the belt was held up for one reason or another, but most records show him as a seven-time champion and this is the last of his title reigns. Savage exudes the honor and respect of a real champion. He’s not a blowhard who talks trash about anybody, he seems to care about the Portland audience and treats them with respect, he puts over the caliber of the talent in the Portland area, and puts over the promotion as the best in the US.

They replay an old promo from Ed Wiskowski and Buddy Rose from September when they complain about the lack of title shots in the Portland area. Arms are going to get hurt around here until things start to change.

I’m not interested in a CB radio (although it was all the rave in 1977), but check out Frank Bonnema’s outfit here. If you don’t see Mr. Furley when you look at this man, then you don’t know jack about the 1970s.

• 2/3 Falls: Dutch Savage, Moondog Mayne & Skip Young vs. Buddy Rose, Ed Wiskowski & Sam Oliver Bass – (Portland Wrestling, 10/22/77)
  

FIRST FALL: This is the first we’ve seen of Skip Young. If you don’t recognize him as Skip Young, you may know him better as Sweet Brown Sugar when he wrestled in Florida and Texas. The young ring announcer not Don Owen seems VERY nervous heavily breathing into the microphone at one point. Bass is left to start this match against Savage and doesn’t seem like he agrees with that. Because he’s an unbalanced madman, Mayne comes over and messes with Rose. Bass grabs an overhead wristlock on Savage and reaches over to tag Rose. Savage immediately escapes the hold and retreats to his corner. The heels control Savage with what Bonnema calls a reverse hammerlock. Wiskowski and Rose trade off and keep Savage in their corner, but Bass lets Savage escape, so Rose gives Bass a lesson on what to do when you have a hold on a guy and you want to tag out. Savage does a little better against Wiskowski as he picks him up and places Wiskowski on the apron. Back inside, they get into a criss-cross and Savage tags Young to dropkick Wiskowski down. Young gets caught on the wrong side of town, but he avoids a running knee from Rose that knocks Bass off the apron. Rose heads out to check on Bass and they almost come to blows on each other. Back inside, Rose fights out of the babyface corner and tags Bass to double-team Savage. That fails as Bass gets nailed in the face with a forearm smash. When Bass is caught in an armbar, it appears that Wiskowski and Rose are refusing the tag. Wiskowski finally tags in and goes to slug Savage while Bass has him held in place, but Savage moves and Bass gets wiped out again. BASS IS IRATE. He heads to the apron and stands in a neutral corner to stay away from his partners. Rose comes in to help Wiskowski out of a headlock, but Young leaps up and headscissors Rose and takes Wiskowski over with him. It didn’t look as graceful as some other times I’ve seen it done, but nevertheless. Tag to Bass, he comes in and hammers down Young. He tags in Wiskowski who leaps off the top with the FLYING HEADBUTT for the three-count at 8:41. Some definitely fun storytelling from the heels there. Savage’s team didn’t really have to do a whole lot. They just let the bad guys fall apart all on their own.

SECOND FALL: Young looks awesome with that vertical leap over Wiskowski. He catches Wiskowski with a dropkick and a nice kip-up. Tag to Savage, he backdrops Wiskowski and tags in Mayne for the first time in this match. He whips Wiskowski from corner to corner and lets Young take over. Young gets backed up into the heel side of town. Bass and Rose take turns beating up this kid, but then Young ducks a dropkick from Rose and Bass gets nailed. Rose thinks he hit Young for some reason and Young jumps on top of Bass for the three-count at 2:30. Well, Bass finally has enough of Rose and Wiskowski screwing things up, so he takes a swing at Rose. That turns out to be his biggest mistake because Rose and Wiskowski really do a number on Bass. They severely bust him open. Rose and Wiskowski drop a series of knees on the cut. Wiskowski even comes off the top rope to deliver one of his signature FLYING HEADBUTTS. Just so much blood all over Bass’ face and the canvas. Not sure what the ref is doing, but he seems to be hurting Bass more than helping. It’s as if he has no medical training whatsoever. CRAZY!

THIRD FALL: Somebody is going to need a tetanus shot after this match with all the blood in the ring. Rose gets beaten up by Savage and Young. Same thing happens to Wiskowski. Young gets his head sent into the turnbuckle, but he’s black and this is the 1970s – that just plain doesn’t work. Young NO-SELLS and gives the heels a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. The match breaks down and the heels are ran into each other. With only a minute to go, Wiskowski misses a jumping knee drop on Savage. Tag to Young, he catches Rose with a high dropkick. Young whips Rose from corner to corner and executes a backdrop for two. Looks like we have reached the time limit draw here. (16:11 shown) Some great storytelling from the heels in this match. Bass took all the crap he could from these two guys until he couldn’t take it anymore. I’m feeling a face turn in his future. ***¼

Before the second fall, Frank Bonnema speaks with Handsome John Anson. He can’t believe guys like Johnny Eagles, Jimmy Snuka, and Jesse Ventura think they can come back to Portland and match up with the likes of himself, Sam Oliver Bass, Buddy Rose, and Ed Wiskowski. Anson feels he and Bass are a combination that’s hard to beat. And now, check out Tom Peterson! Check out the other guy who wants to sell you a trailer!

Before the third fall, Moondog Mayne gives his thoughts on what he hopes Sam Oliver Bass does to Ed Wiskowski and Buddy Rose for the horrible things they have done to him. Mayne says he lost the coin toss and will sit out for the third fall so that the match is fair. It’s not in the Portland rules that one man has to drop out, but they are just doing it out of good sportsmanship. Mayne spends more time putting over the talent in Portland and smells excitement in the air.

After the match, Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski head over to Frank Bonnema to gloat about how they couldn’t be beat. They call themselves the cripplers and say whoever doesn’t do what they say, they will face the consequences. Just as Wiskowski gets those words out of his mouth, a bandaged up Sam Oliver Bass appears and beats them silly. This is amazing. Skip Young and Dutch Savage head over to peel Bass off Rose and Wiskowski. Bass grabs Bonnema’s microphone and vows bloody revenge on these two. He yells for Don Owen to come over and make the match with him and Buddy Rose – NEXT WEEK. Wiskowski will get what’s coming to him later. The crowd wants to see it. Owen grants him the match, but tells Bass not to fight up on the stage here. Bass says he will fight Buddy Rose anywhere he can get him. He almost drops an SOB on the air too.

If you’re watching this show, you’re definitely coming back next week to see what Sam Oliver Bass does to Buddy Rose. GUARANTEED. Take notes, WWE.

Final Thoughts: Definitely check out the six man tag as the breakdown of the heel team is particularly interesting. On the next edition, we will take a look at S.O.B. getting his hands on Buddy Rose and everything that takes place with that. Going along with the tradition of Portland wrestling, every main event is a 2/3 falls match and this shouldn’t be any different. Will it be a short fight where Ed Wiskowski interferes on Buddy’s behalf to do another number on Bass? Will it be an epic bloodbath? Tune in to find out!