Portland Wrestling
1980
VOLUME 2

The current Portland wrestling champions are as follows as of 1/19/1980:
NWA World Champion: Harley Race (11/7/1979)
PNW Heavyweight Champion: Buddy Rose (11/17/1979)
PNW Tag Team Champions: The Sheepherders (11/9/1979)

Your host is Frank Bonnema.

From 1/19/80, Buddy Rose comes out during Frank Dusek’s match with Dutch Savage and wants to give him some pointers to beat Dutch, but Dusek doesn’t want his help and yells at Rose to leave. Being the gentleman he is, Dutch never jumps Dusek from behind or anything and let’s the argument take place. Bonnema thinks Rose is trying to recruit Dusek into his army. There’s a different referee in the ring. It’s not Sandy Barr, but British wrestler Johnny Eagle in a track suit. Dutch is even getting mad at Rose and wants to deck him. Dusek ends up slapping Rose and Rose jumps in the ring for a fight. He ends up chasing Rose to the locker room and takes a chair to Rose. After Dusek is done chasing Rose, he returns to the ring and shakes Savage’s hand. Wild stuff.

From 1/19/80, we hear from the Rose Army concerning Frank Dusek. Rose says Dusek no longer can be in the Army. He claims Dusek is handicapped anyways because he’s missing parts of his fingers. Rose says Dusek doesn’t listen to anybody but his girlfriend. HA. Butch says he wants Dusek to put his hair on the line against Rose. WHO WANTS TO BE BALD, JACK?

• 2/3 Falls: Buddy Rose vs. Stan Stasiak – (Portland Wrestling, 1/19/80)
  

FIRST FALL: Don Owen remarks that Rose hasn’t defended the PNW title since he won it, so he’ll be defending the belt next Saturday against Rick Martel. Stasiak lays in some punches and sends Rose escaping to the floor. Back in, he does a Portland staple: crank on a headlock while the crowd counts along. They trade attempts at their finishers, but nobody lands one. Stasiak makes a wish on Rose for a bit – really stretching those hammys. I can go all day without hearing Bonnema saying “spread eagle” though. Rose gets to his feet, but Stasiak keeps kicking at the hurting leg. HEART PUNCH, but nope. Rose thumbs him in the eye. Rose takes over for a little bit, but Stasiak reverses a corner whip and jabs Rose a few times before finally delivering the HEART PUNCH at 9:30.

SECOND FALL: Stasiak misses the Heart Punch in the corner. That pisses off Stan and Rose bails out. Back in, Rose rolls up Stasiak and pulls up on his tights to show a little bit of crack. Bonnema says we may be going off the air early tonight due to FCC regulations. Hahaha. Stasiak does the same to Rose for a laugh. Now they get a little more serious with a test of strength. Stasiak ends up giving Rose a standing dropkick out of that. He then grabs a nerve hold. Rose knees his way out of that and whips Stasiak into the corner for a slam. A backdrop sets up the BILLY ROBINSON BACKBREAKER, but Rose lifts Stasiak up at the two-count. He wants to deliver a knee drop from the second rope to Stasiak instead to finish him off. (16:10 total) I’m assuming the third fall either didn’t happen or was very short since they had little TV time left. The results say these two went to a time-limit draw either way. Nothing too special here. *½

More from 1/19/80. Frank Dusek talks about after all his successes in the Portland area, he wondered why he hasn’t been in a main event yet. He figured out why: Buddy Rose. Rose was telling him how great he was all the time while stabbing him in the back. It’s a real Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr. situation. He points out the ridiculousness of Buddy Rose calling himself a “playboy” when all he ever wears are tennis shoes, track pants, and cheap t-shirts. Rose has had the same robe for the past four years. Dusek says he will continue to cheat so the crowd can cheer or boo him. He doesn’t care. Dusek calls Rose a “paranoic”, which Microsoft Word is telling me is *not* a word. Bonnema is cool with it though and handles it like a pro. Anyways, look out Buddy Rose. Frank Dusek is coming to the MAIN EVENT.

• PNW Heavyweight Championship: Rick Martel (c) vs. Buddy Rose – (Portland Wrestling, 2/9/80)
  

This is a 2/3 falls match, but all we have is the first fall to watch. Martel won the PNW title from Rose two nights earlier in Salem, Oregon. Apparently, there was some controversy to warrant a rematch this soon. Rose tells Martel that this is his last night as the champion. Great opening sequence here as Martel flips over Rose to escape a hammerlock. They start running the ropes and Martel does these great leapfrogs. He runs Rose over with a shoulder tackle and blocks a hiptoss into a backslide for two. Flying headscissors gets two as well and Rose rolls out of the ring like the mat was on fire. Back in, Martel continues to be one step ahead of Rose with headlocks and hammerlocks and wristlocks and armbars all over the place. Rose does a masterful job trying to escape each and every hold. You know the time is coming though when he’ll break loose. It’s just a matter of time. At one point, he ends up using Martel’s own momentum and heaves him over the top rope, but Martel SKINS THE CAT back in the ring. Awesome. Rose tries to throw Martel out again, but Martel SKINS THE CAT and headscissors Rose to the floor. Back inside, Rose reverses a corner whip and Martel tries the crossbody out of the corner, but misses. Now Rose starts hammering the back. He bends Martel across his knees, but Martel’s core is so strong that he’s able to sit up. Rose rocks him back into a cradle for two. He bends Martel across his knees again and this time Martel is able to sit up and escape the hold. Rose hits one running shoulder butt in the corner. He tries another and Martel leaps over him for a sunset flip for only a one-count. Neither man can hit the atomic drop, but Rose can hit the BILLY ROBINSON BACKBREAKER to win the first fall. (16:28) While we don’t have the second or third falls, we do know that Rose does end up winning and regains the PNW title. For my money, that was the best first fall we’ve seen in Portland wrestling. ****

More from 2/9/80. Bonnema asks Rose about Frank Dusek. Rose thinks Dusek doesn’t deserve to wrestle him. When Dusek came to Portland, he begged Rose to ride around with him. He just wants to make money like Rose. The robes that Dusek is wearing are his old robes. If Dusek thinks he’s a playboy, he’s not. There’s only one playboy! My mind goes to Ric Flair when he starts talking about the cost of his wardrobe. MY SHOES COST MORE THAN YOUR HOUSE. WOO. Even Dusek’s girlfriend likes Buddy Rose. Hahaha.

We move onto 2/16/80. Buddy Rose says he walks around with $5000 in his pocket. Real smart, pal. He challenges Roddy Piper to a hair match. JUST DO IT ALREADY! Talk turns to Andre the Giant coming to town. Don Owen wants to put Andre in the ring with Buddy Rose, but Butch Miller says he and Luke won’t let it happen. And Rick Martel, the Rose Army is coming to injure you. They don’t care about $500 fines. It could be $5000 as far as the Rose Army is concerned because injuring Martel is worth it. In the Ferrari or Jaguar, switchin’ four lanes with the top down screamin’ out, MONEY AIN’T A THANG.

• 2/3 Falls for the PNW Heavyweight Championship: Buddy Rose (c) vs. Frank Dusek – (Portland Wrestling, 2/16/80)
  

FIRST FALL: Dusek points out what nobody saw once the camera looked away was Buddy Rose picking up those $20 dollar bills he dropped on the floor to show everybody that money ain’t a thang. Nice. Dusek throws some money out to the crowd. Bonnema says coming to wrestling is not only entertaining, but now it’s profitable! Hahaha. Dusek grabs the PNW title and aggravates Rose. He even throws the belt back at Rose – almost disrespecting the championship. Lots of brawling tactics from Dusek to start. It’s understandable since the hate has been boiling over for a few weeks. Rose bails out and Dusek keeps him on the floor as long as he can. Back in, Rose misses a corner charge and takes a gutwrench suplex. He drops a knee on the back of Buddy’s head and punts him out to the floor. Rose doesn’t want to come back in the ring. Dusek comes outside and threatens him with a chair, but then flings Rose back out to the floor when Rose does go in the ring. Dusek comes off the apron and drills him with a flying elbow to the back of Buddy’s head. Back in again, Rose just does not know what to do with Dusek. There’s a back suplex, but Dusek lifts Rose up at two. He tries a flying splash, but Rose sits up! And there’s the brilliance of Rose. He dumps Dusek on the floor and goes after him. Dusek smashes Buddy’s face on the apron and goes for a piledriver, but Rose backdrops him. Back in, Rose hammers the back and delivers the BILLY ROBINSON BACKBREAKER followed by BOMBS AWAY to win the first fall at 9:14.

SECOND FALL: Looks like Rose ran Dusek into the ringpost before the bell. Rose wants to keep Dusek on the floor like Dusek was doing to him in the first fall. When he does let Dusek in the ring, he delivers a knee drop to the forehead for two. Rose wears down Dusek with a front headlock for a while. Dusek escapes with a knee to the gut, but Rose grabs a chinlock. Dusek thumbs Rose in the eye, but Rose is right back on top of him. Big backdrop gets two. Back to the chinlock. Dusek gets out of the hold and blocks a splash from Rose by bringing up the knees. He misses a corner charge, but avoids the Billy Robinson Backbreaker and locks in the COBRA CLUTCH for the submission at 18:24 total.

THIRD FALL: Rose backpedals, but gets cornered. It looked like Dusek tried a Russian legsweep and hurts himself. Rose collapses when he tries a slam and Dusek gets two. Dusek scores a few more nearfalls and applies an abdominal stretch. Rose hiptosses out, but the Billy Robinson Backbreaker fails when Dusek kicks ref Sandy Barr on the way down. Whoops. When Rose goes up top for the knee drop, Roddy Piper appears and shoves Rose down to the mat. Sam Oliver Bass nails Piper from behind and pulls Rose out of the ring as Dusek applies the COBRA CLUTCH. Bass wants Roddy Piper to be fined since he had no business being out here. I mean, that seems fair to me. Nevertheless, Rose is down on the floor and gets counted out to award Dusek the third and deciding fall, but it allows Rose to retain the PNW title. (22:01 total) Over to the Crow’s Nest, Sam Oliver Bass and Buddy Rose complain to Frank Bonnema that Roddy Piper needs to be fined $500 and suspended for interfering in the match. Piper says he’ll take the $500 fine, but wants to team up with Dusek against Rose and Bass in a tag match next week to get their $500 worth of beating their faces in. WOO. After Piper and Dusek lay down the challenge and leave, Bass and Rose hang around to talk about what they will do these goody-goodies. Awesome stuff. **½

More from 2/16/80. We hear from Roddy Piper who responds to the “Playboy” match challenge from Buddy Rose. He thought there was nothing left for Piper to fight about with Buddy Rose, but now the Rose Army has Rick Martel laid up and that’s Roddy Piper’s partner. He ain’t gay (or doesn’t swing on no vines as Piper put it), but he’s got LOVE for Martel. He’s already beaten Buddy Rose in the center of the ring and Roddy Piper ain’t no fool. No hair match, Buddy Rose. Now stop asking him! Classic Roddy Piper promo. PLEASE WATCH THIS.

Final Thoughts: Check out the Rick Martel match for sure. It’s a thing of beauty. Anything with Roddy Piper is a must-see because his promo skills are just top-tier.

Next time we visit Portland, we look at March 1980. Roddy Piper does accept a hair match – BUT AGAINST WHOM? Plus, Rick Martel returns to team up with Piper against the Sheepherders over the PNW tag titles. Steve Pardee returns as well to take on his old nemesis Buddy Rose!