Portland Wrestling
1977-1979
VOLUME 14

The current Portland wrestling champions are as follows as of 11/3/79:
NWA World Champion: Giant Baba (10/31/1979)
PNW Heavyweight Champion: Stan Stasiak (11/2/1979)
PNW Tag Team Champions: Dutch Savage & Stan Stasiak (10/3/1979)

Your host is Frank Bonnema.

Kiwis love the American Dollar!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/3/79)

Buddy Rose talks about winning the big match so he and the Sheepherders can make the big money. As you can see, he beat Red Bastien in the hair match. Rose says he and the Sheepherders want both PNW championship. Rose once again reminds Roddy Piper that he wants nothing to do with him. No contracts will be signed.

Roddy Piper dogs the Sheepherders!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/3/79)

Recapping a Roddy Piper interview just doesn’t do it justice. He rips on the Sheepherders and their girlfriends, but makes sure to put over how dangerous they are. Piper says he thinks Buddy Rose has the Sheepherders by his side to keep Piper away. He mentions the eye injury Rose gave him. He makes a crack about Rose buying 350 hens and one rooster that turned out to be gay. Awesome. He remarks how Rose is always running from Piper. If he ran in a straight line, he’d be in Cleveland by now. Piper asks the people to demand from the promoter that he signs this match.

Buddy Rose jumps Stan Stasiak!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/3/79)

At the end of a Stan Stasiak versus Butch Miller match, Buddy Rose appears on the apron and attacks Stasiak with a taped fist. Luke Williams and Rose then help Butch out of the ring leaving Stasiak down in the ring. Rose heads over to Bonnema and demands a match with Stasiak next Saturday. Well, Stasiak comes over and accepts the challenge. In fact, he wants Rose right now.

The Sheepherders: NWA-PNW Tag Champs!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/10/79)

We see that the Sheepherders have regained the Portland tag belts. Part one of the Rose Army’s plan to get all the belts is complete. Now as for Stasiak’s PNW title, Rose is disappointed that Stasiak didn’t put the title on the line tonight because Stasiak feels Rose has to prove himself. Sounds like Roddy Piper cost Rose the PNW title this past week though as a special referee. Anyways, Rose says Piper will never be able to sign a contract with him because of his army. Butch brags about getting the tag belts back from Stasiak and Dutch Savage. They keep bringing in has-beens like Sam Oliver Bass, but Butch feels the has-beens are no good. ONE MORE BELT TO GO~!

• 2/3 Falls: Stan Stasiak vs. Buddy Rose – (Portland Wrestling, 11/10/79)
  

FIRST FALL: I’ve never seen Stasiak with this much facial hair before. Perhaps he’s trying to look more like Dutch Savage now. Rose bails out and milks that for a little bit. Stasiak tries for the Heart Punch early and Rose leaps to the floor to avoid it. Back in, Rose trips up Stasiak and goes for the leg. He applies an Indian Deathlock and cheats using the ropes and tights for leverage. An old lady who I’ve seen before on the show gets up to the apron to tell Rose a thing or two. That’s so refreshing to see. She probably thinks Buddy just needs a mother to teach him right from wrong. Rose is just relentless on the leg. When Stasiak breaks free, Rose finds a way to get right back on the wounded body part. Stasiak’s punches don’t have as much power because he doesn’t have a strong leg to put force behind. Just great psychology here. Rose kicks at the knee to avoid the Heart Punch and applies a half crab for the submission at 10:36.

SECOND FALL: Bonnema reminds us of Stan Stasiak’s accomplishments in the WWWF. Rose goes right back to the left leg to pick up where he left off. When Stasiak gets free, he starts going after Rose’s left leg – using that hard fist to pound on Rose’s hamstring muscles. He twists on Rose’s ankle for a while. Rose kicks him away when he gets his good leg free, but Stasiak goes back to punching on the hamstring. This has become two one-legged men in a butt kicking contest. Stasiak eventually gets Rose reeling to the point he can land the HEART PUNCH at 10:20 to split up the falls.

THIRD FALL: Rose starts working the back looking for the kill with the Billy Robinson Backbreaker. Stasiak punches Rose here and there to temporarily stun Rose. When Rose finally goes for the Billy Robinson Backbreaker, Stasiak prevents the move and goes for the HEART PUNCH. Rose ducks out of the way and ref Sandy Barr takes the HEART PUNCH in the deltoid area. Rose rolls up Stasiak and Sandy Barr slowly counts the pinfall from the other side of the ring. (24:26 total) Good psychology in the first two falls, but the interesting way the third fall ended obviously sets up the title match for next week. ***

Roddy Piper clowns Buddy Rose again!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/10/79)

Roddy Piper and Sam Oliver Bass join Frank Bonnema during the second and third falls. Piper once again makes jokes at Buddy Rose’s expense and says he still can’t get a match with the guy. He reiterates that the only reason he keeps those Sheepherders around is because he doesn’t have the guts to face Piper. Bass tells us that there used to be four members of the Rose Army. The missing member of the crew is Rip Rogers and he’s out with a bad shoulder thanks to Bass. He vows revenge on Buddy Rose for something he and his army did in Eugene.

Stan Stasiak is a stupid Yugoslavian!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/10/79)

Buddy Rose now knows how to escape the Heart Punch and he’s coming for your PNW title. LOOK OUT YOU STUPID YUGOSLAVIAN. Stasiak comes by to confirm he will put his title on the line next week. Now all Rose has to do is win it.

Buddy Rose wants his belt back!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/17/79)

There’s a taped fist match scheduled for Tuesday night in Portland for Buddy Rose against Stan Stasiak. Rose doesn’t know why this is happening because he hasn’t done anything wrong, but nevertheless it’s happening. Because Buddy has a plan, he says all the Portland titles will belong to the Rose Army after tonight!

Roddy Piper returns from eye surgery!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/17/79)

They show some pictures of Roddy Piper having eye surgery thanks to Buddy Rose. Piper babyfaces talking about visiting some kids in the hospital more sick than he was. He makes a turkey joke on Buddy Rose’s expense. Piper once again calls the Sheepherders the toughest guys he’s ever faced. He seems concerned that Don Owen doesn’t consider him a top contender to face Buddy Rose above guys like Stan Stasiak or Dutch Savage. Piper calls Savage a “little old”. He’s not knocking the man though, he just wants Savage to step down so he can get his hands on Rose. GIVE HIM THE FIGHT, DON OWEN! I love how they are building this up.

• 2/3 Falls for the PNW Heavyweight Championship: Stan Stasiak (c) vs. Buddy Rose – (Portland Wrestling, 11/17/79)
  

FIRST FALL: Rose poses with the Portland belt before the match to anger the crowd. More intentional stalling from Rose as he takes his sweet time removing his t-shirt. Right from the start, Stasiak is wanting to make this a brawl because he knows he has that advantage over Rose. Rose tries to make this a wrestling match by applying a full nelson. They go back and forth with it. Rose rolls up Stasiak and gets some heat for pulling tights. Stasiak gets a hiptoss, but Rose can’t bring him over much to the delight of the fans. Now Rose tries a wristlock. Stasiak hits the mat and kips up to then dropkick Rose away. Rose goes low on Stasiak and chokes him over the apron. He stomps on the head and takes Stasiak into the turnbuckle. That causes some blading action, but very little blood flows from Stasiak’s head. It does however get him FIRED UP. He punches away on Rose and throws him over the top rope to the floor. I guess that’s not a DQ in Portland. When Stasiak gets hot, Rose tries bailing out wanting to change up the game plan, but there’s not much he can do to stop him. Rose wants the title and can’t exactly just walk out on the match. Anyways, Stasiak sets up the HEART PUNCH and delivers to win the first fall in 8:27.

SECOND FALL: In between falls, Rose gets his punching hand taped up. He really does have a plan. Stasiak tries to protest, which just makes him look like a hypocrite. Ref Sandy Barr gently checks on the hand and Rose acts like his hand is about to fall off. This is awesome. Rose isn’t fooling the crowd, but he eventually convinces Sandy Barr enough to start the match. As soon as he’s out of plain sight of the ref, he punches Stasiak in the gut who sells it like death. He tells the ref that he kicked him and didn’t use that “injured left hand”. Stasiak starts bouncing the taped up hand off the turnbuckle and laughing at the crowd when the ref’s back is turned. While Stasiak is pounding on Rose’s face, Rose punches him in the ribs again with the taped fist. This happens a time or two. When Rose is clearly hitting Stasiak with the taped fist right by Sandy Barr, Sandy grabs Rose by the arm to prevent the punch from happening. One more punching comeback from Stasiak and Rose hits a swinging left shot to the chin. DOWN GOES STASIAK~! Cover, 1-2-3. Rose wins the second fall in 8:29.

THIRD FALL: Well now both guys have their punching hands taped. This could be trouble for Rose since Stasiak is the superior brawler. Rose stalls like crazy to start. He goes to the ribs and turnbuckle smashes Stasiak. He goes to a chinlock to bring this back on the wrestling level. Stasiak punches out and Rose backpedals to the floor. Stasiak goes out after him and sends Rose into the ringpost. They really want some color in this match. Rose is now busted open. Stasiak punches Rose on the apron and then gives him the HEART PUNCH back into the ring to barely beat the twenty count. (21:52 total) With that decision, the third and deciding fall goes to Buddy Rose. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a *new* Pacific Northwest heavyweight champion! Thus ends the final Portland championship reign for Stan Stasiak. He had been the champ on eight different occasions over the last fourteen years and had been a huge part of Portland wrestling since 1965. Sandy Barr lays the belt on top of Buddy’s lifeless body as the Sheepherders head out to celebrate with their leader. ***¼

Over at Frank Bonnema, Stan Stasiak says he doesn’t want to sound like a sore loser by sounding like a sore loser saying that Buddy Rose won due to his scheming ways. The taped fist match is going to suck for Buddy this Tuesday night though. Stasiak is so mad that if he doesn’t win that taped fist match, he’ll quit wrestling for good.

The Rose Army has all the NWA-PNW Titles!! (Portland Wrestling, 11/17/79)

Now that the Rose Army has all the titles in Portland, Buddy Rose channels Rocky Balboa. YO ADRIAN, I DID IT. The Sheepherders try to convince Buddy not to take the taped fist match with Stan Stasiak, but ending Stan’s career is too sweet of an opportunity for Buddy to pass up.

Next time we visit Portland, we’ll see the Portland debut of Rick Martel. We’ll also see Roddy Piper, Sam Oliver Bass, and Dutch Savage do battle with the Rose Army! And if that’s not enough for ya, Roddy Piper and Stan Stasiak will challenge the Sheepherders for the PNW tag belts!

Final Thoughts: Check out everything on this volume. This was some awesome Rose/Stasiak stuff here. Plus, Rose finally wins the big one for himself. That’s YUGE!