Portland Wrestling
1977-1979
VOLUME 10

The current Portland wrestling champions are as follows as of 6/30/79:
NWA World Champion: Harley Race (2/6/1977)
PNW Heavyweight Champion: Roddy Piper (2/17/1979)
PNW Tag Team Champions: Adrian Adonis & Ron Starr (4/3/1979)

Your host is Frank Bonnema.

Buddy Rose is CLEARLY back from a trip to Hawaii. It was in Honolulu where he was awarded with a crown of flowers (don’t know what it’s called) for being the greatest American wrestler to ever come to that city. Does Buddy not know that Hawaii is part of the USA? He shows us some fresh tanned legs. No way would he lower himself to lay down in front of that Portland sun. He is aware they share the same sun, right? Boy, Buddy. You’ve REALLY taken a vacation, haven’t you? Ed Wiskowski is injured and indefinitely out of commission. Rip Rogers will be his new partner. He has to be one great dude to be considered to be Buddy Rose’s partner. Rose wants a moment of silence for Ed Wiskowski and the crowd responds with loud boos. THAT’S THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE WANTED. He’s tanned, he’s in shape, he’s healthy – he’s ready to come after Adrian Adonis and Ron Starr tonight!

• (2/3 Falls) PNW Tag Team Championship: Adrian Adonis & Ron Starr (c) vs. Buddy Rose & Rip Rogers – (Portland Wrestling, 6/30/79)
  

FIRST FALL: We’ve got the “Playboy” and the “Hustler” here. Don Owen calls Rip Rogers a “newcomer”, but Buddy Rose makes sure to let everybody know Rogers can do anything he can do. While Rogers is new to the Portland area, he had been working since 1975. We’ve got results from Dick the Bruiser’s territory in Indiana, he worked in the Nick Gulas territory, and of course he wrestled in ICW for the Poffos. Being from the area, it’s only natural to consider him an Ohio Valley guy. While the guys are getting ready, they look over at someone Frank refers to Ron Starr’s “guardian angel” and then explains what I understand to mean she will be his bride in the next few months. YOU CAN BETTER, HUN. Starr makes Rogers look foolish with a bunch of armdrags to start. When he bails out, Rose runs inside the ring and receives more armdrags than Rogers. Starr and Adonis take turns doing the Macho Man running neck snap using the top rope. Starr throws out Rose because Rogers is still the legal man. Now Adonis tags in and beats up Rogers AND Rose. Starr and Adonis do the row boat routine on the challengers. And with that, Adonis submits Rogers with the Spinning Toe Hold to secure the first fall at 3:36. Dang, Rogers is giving up on the first night, folks.

SECOND FALL: Like a true pro, Rose is still selling a sore leg after what I would imagine is close to ten minutes after the end of the first fall. Starr and Adonis stay on the leg of Rogers tagging in and out splashing the leg. Rogers kicks off the Spinning Toe Hold into the ringpost. Being the douche he is, Rose wraps the arm around the post a few times. Tag to Rose, he’s stomping the crap out of the shoulder. In Portland circles, Rose is the master of working a body part and absolutely owning it and Rogers is a great partner for that sort of game plan. Starr does a great job being that babyface who just can’t stand seeing his partner be *this* abused and keeps coming into the ring when he’s not supposed to, which only causes more trouble for Adonis. At one point when Rogers is whipping Adonis from corner to corner, Starr runs down to the corner and softens the impact for his partner. Adonis runs back at Rogers to dropkick him down, nails Rose, and leaps over to Starr for a hot tag. He press slams Rogers before nailing him with a butt-butt. Starr continues with a butterfly suplex and then picks up Rogers for a Russian legsweep. Adonis runs in and sacrifices himself as Rose comes off the top rope. Rose winds up nailing Starr in the chops anyways before the legsweep can happen. While Rose and Rogers try to put away Starr, the match breaks down with all four men in the ring. Adonis and Starr get run together. Adonis completely oversells and falls over the top rope. That leaves Starr all alone for a double clothesline from the heels. Rogers jumps on Starr for the three-count to make it one fall a piece at 15:36 total.

THIRD FALL: Rogers and Starr return to action here. Bonnema keeps talking up Ron Starr as an LSU quarterback, but I can’t find that info anywhere under his real name Robert Nutt. Anyways, Rogers is cranking on that neck. Rose comes in and gets a nearfall with a reverse neckbreaker. Adonis makes the same mistake Starr and every babyface on the ring apron has since the beginning of tag team wrestling. Finally, Starr catches Rose telegraphing a backdrop and slithers back into a tag to Adonis. Awesome. When Adonis has Rose right where he wants him, Adonis tags in Starr for a dropkick. Rogers slides the timekeeper’s chair into the ring intended for Rose, but Starr gets it away from him and whacks Rose over the head for the DQ. (20:59 total) Ref Sandy Barr awards the tag belts to Rose and Rogers. Dutch Savage is hopefully out to clear up the confusion. Since Savage explains that it was Rogers who brought the chair in the ring, THEY were the ones who broke the rules. WHAT. Meanwhile, Rose and Rogers wear the tag belts over to the crow’s nest to pose and gloat. Sandy Barr comes over with Starr and Adonis to physically take the tag belts back. His decision is that it’s a DDQ finish and holds up the tag belts until there’s a rematch. Starr is extremely upset. He’s got his lawyer in the building who can take care of this! When Starr calms down a little, Sandy Barr and Dutch Savage will go find Don Owen to make sure Starr and Adonis get their rematch next week – same bat time, same bat channel. As usual: we got a short first fall, a great second fall, and a decent third fall. ***¼

During the break, we check in with Roddy Piper. He loses the PNW heavyweight title to Stan Stasiak on this show, but that match is the main event and hasn’t happened yet. Piper has gone back to his heelish ways and hates on the Portland fans. He gets all tongue-and-cheek about the 41 whales that had beached themselves in the summer of 1979 on the shores of Florence, Oregon. They had to be set on fire so they wouldn’t explode due to the heat. I bet that smelled awesome. Piper thinks the Oregonians should have sold the whales for food or something. Since they didn’t, they are a bunch of dolts. Somehow he segues into hyping a battle royal for this coming Tuesday night. He’s coming for you, Buddy Rose! Give him fifteen minutes with Rose and Piper will have him confessing to smoking on the Hindenburg, jack. OH THE HUMANITY!

Before Roddy Piper is about to DESTROY Portland jobber Ricky Hunter, he plays some bagpipe music. When he’s done, he hands his pipes over to Don Owen. Buddy Rose grabs the bagpipes and takes them backstage. Naturally, Piper is LIVID. He wants Sandy Barr to give him some time to go after Rose, but Barr won’t let him. All the same, this is bad news for Hunter. While he’s choking Hunter, Rose comes out and breaks one of the drones from Piper’s bagpipes over his head. This gets messy real quick. Matt Borne and Ricky Hunter try to separate the two. Dutch Savage is out here as well. He gets on the mic and calls both Rose and Piper a disgrace to the business. If they both want this feud to end, Savage recommends a “coal miner’s glove match” to settle this once and for all. He volunteers his own glove for the match. Rose is now saying no, Piper is saying yes to the idea. The added stipulation is that Dutch Savage will referee the match. Well, Rose breaks away from Ricky Hunter and goes after Savage! Piper breaks free and gets Rose to leave before Borne tackles Piper again. This is amazing. Savage tells Rose that he hits like an “old broad”. Ahh, those were the days. There will be no glove on a pole; Savage says he’ll just throw it up in the air like a referee at a basketball game. Whoever catches the glove as it falls gets to use the glove. THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED. THERE IS NO PRECEDENT, BABY. All hell will break loose this Tuesday night in Portland. Hunter somehow wins via DQ, but as Bonnema says it matters very little.

• (2/3 Falls) Adrian Adonis & Ron Starr vs. Buddy Rose & Rip Rogers – (Portland Wrestling, 7/7/79)
  

FIRST FALL: Alright! Here is the rematch after the DDQ last week when the tag belts were held up. Rose and Rogers are now wearing bandanas because it looks cool. Rogers is dominated the entire first fall. Rose tries to get his licks in, but either gets nailed by his opponents or due to miscommunication with Rogers. Nevertheless, the finish comes after the miscommunication spot and Adonis submits Rogers once again with the Spinning Toe Hold to win the first fall in 5:28.

SECOND FALL: Bonnema plugs the book “Whatever Happened to Gorgeous George?” book that came out in the 1970s. It talks about how the coal miners glove match is one of the cruelest type of matches ever devised. He continues to say how Dutch Savage put this type of match on the map during his feud with Bull Ramos earlier in the decade. As we saw in the first match, Adonis and Starr pick up where they left off in the second fall working over Rip’s leg. Rose breaks up a half crab by Starr, but Adonis picks up right where Starr left off in the hold. Adonis eventually goes for the Spinning Toe Hold again, but Rose rakes the eyes to stop him. Tag to Rose, he hiptosses and knee lifts Adonis. However, Adrian fires back on him. Rose reaches Rogers for a tag. Rogers takes a backdrop to the floor, but he shoots back inside and clamps on a chinlock. The heels keep Adonis on their side of town for a while. When Starr has enough and Sandy Barr has to handle him, Rogers and Rose deliver a double clothesline just like last week. Starr breaks up the pin, but again Barr has to physically pick up and move Starr. Meanwhile, Rose holds up Adonis while Rogers comes off the second rope and drives his knee into Adrian’s head. Cover, 1-2-3. And once again, we go to the third and deciding fall at 13:01 total.

THIRD FALL: Only three minutes left in the show. Starr gets a hot tag. Neither he nor Rose can land the atomic drop. During an O’Connor roll, Rose gets kicked off into Roddy Piper as they collide. Starr pins Rose and wins the match. (14:33 total) Adonis and Starr get their belts back and that’s that. **½

Roddy Piper comes out to rage about his broken bagpipes and how they were passed down to him from generation to generation. He remarks how the Portland fans have been wanting someone to get rid of Buddy Rose for three years now. Well, the coal miner’s glove match just might do it. After he wins the match, he wants to put Buddy Rose in the middle of the ring and shave all the hair off his head so we can laugh at him real good. He tells the people to call Don Owen so they can make it happen, brother.

Rip Rogers talks about how elated he is to be Buddy Rose’s partner. Rose searched the world over and Rip Rogers was the chosen one. He’s got the body, the brains, the pizazz, and 2 million or 3 million or 138 good looking women. He promises us one thing: he and Rose will have the tag team championship.

Buddy Rose goes over to Frank Bonnema and yells to the camera about Roddy Piper being the reason for the loss. He’s not so much upset about the loss, but the very idea that Piper wants him to shave his head. There’s no way it’s going to happen. Piper comes over and scares away Rose. Don Owen and Dutch Savage show up behind Piper. Since Owen wants to see what Rose looks like without hair, he grants Piper the special stipulation. If Piper wins, Rose will get his head shaved on Tuesday night after the coal miner’s glove match. When Owen and Piper leave, Rose yells at Dutch about not losing his hair. When Dutch leaves, Rose tells him that he’ll never be bald like Dutch is. HA! As for Piper, he will have to kill Rose to beat him. SNAP.

Next time we go to Portland: we’ll meet “Disco” Buddy Rose, the Sheepherders arrive, and much MUCH more.