I'd never seen Eagles before. He looks a bit like Jack Charlton if Charlton smoked tar. There's something about the name Johnny that made me think he'd be much younger. Maybe it's a Scottish thing. Eagles is older than the earth itself and nobody in their hundreds up here is still going by Johnny. You're either Jim or Jo. Johnny is a young man's name, like Mikey or Robbie. At a certain age you're no longer Mikey or Robbie, you're Mick or Rab, or Jim. But maybe I should seek out a bunch of Johnny Eagles (who in actual fact is like 45 here, not 100 or even 70) because this was one of the most straight up fun matches I've watched in ages. It's pretty much all shtick, and even though Rose is an awesome shtick wrestler I don't recall seeing him work a match where that's about 90% of the content. You could tell he was having an absolute hoot though, as were the crowd who just ate it up completely. Eagles is obviously a fun WoS-type guy and has the nickname The Houdini of Wrestling, so you can imagine what you're getting with him straight away. The first fall lasted about a minute and a half and I loved it because it was almost entirely about Rose refusing to take his shirt off in case Eagles sucker punched him. He'd half take the shirt off, then change his mind, then start taking it off again, then change his mind again. Everybody got riled up and the pop for Eagles taking matters into his own hands by rolling him up for a quick pin was fantastic. And Rose never did get that shirt off. Some of the stuff they did in the second fall was tremendous. I fancy myself as a decent wordsmith - somewhat foolishly, perhaps - but I couldn't do this justice by trying to describe all of it. Honestly, go watch it for yourself and see how much fun everybody had with this (YOU, like myself, will probably have even more fun if you haven't watched any WoS in a while). The crowd loved it, Eagles loved it and you just knew Buddy loved getting to do it. Some genuinely funny comedy work and a couple hold escapes I've never seen before. It really speaks to the versatility of Rose when you consider this and the Piper matches from the previous two weeks - all completely different yet all awesome in their own ways. The post-match isn't too shabby either, with Brooks demanding a dog collar match and dragging a bloody Rose all around the arena with a chain. Rose violently pukes and I suppose being able to throw up on ceremony is a useful string to your bow for a pro-wrestler.
Buddy Rose v Killer Tim Brooks (Dog Collar Match) (Portland, 6/2/79)
Still a blast, though not quite as life-affirming as I remembered. I mean I've watched Piper/Valentine in the last couple years so, fairly or unfairly, everything else will probably suffer in comparison. Then again there were a few spots in this that Piper clearly saw and thought to use when given the opportunity. The pre-match ruled and so did Rose. He agreed last week to take part in the match under duress (Brooks was trying to throttle him with the dog collar so he maybe has a point), but certainly not for it to be on TV. He refuses to let Sandy Barr fasten the collar to him, then makes to leave before Piper cuts him off as he heads to the locker room. Rose backs up slowly, still facing Piper, and you know what's coming. Rose's reaction to backing up right into Brooks slapping that dog collar on him is amazing. "Buddy Rose has been collared, folks." Bonnema is the best. Don Owen was so great during this opening stuff as well. He's an awkward wee fella and really doesn't want any of the shit the wrestlers keep throwing at him, but he's the promoter so of course Rose won't get out of his ear about being involved in this. He's trying to do the intros while Brooks drags Rose into the ring with the chain and I about lost it when he just went fuck it and walked away. "I should've known better than to put this on TV anyway." An actual line as he exits the ring, intros left unspoken. Awesome. This had some really great stuff in it and with maybe five more minutes they really could've built it into something sensational. Rose was unbelievable early on. I've never seen anybody look more horrified at what they're currently embroiled in. Just sheer wild-eyed terror as Brooks chokes him with the chain and smashes his head into turnbuckles. The low blow to take over is a great desperation spot on its own but the fact Brooks paid him back in kind later made it even better. Rose wrapping the chain around Brooks' mouth is a preview of the Piper/Valentine murderfest, as is him pulling the chain taut and driving it into the forehead. Bonnema tells us that Brooks is the master of this kind of match as this is how they settle things in Texas. Somebody, anybody, please confirm if this truth or fallacy. Rose ends up bleeding errrrrrywhere and Brooks wraps the chain around his head like a tiara. The spot where they transition back to Rose on top is wonderful. Obviously Brooks has been out for weeks because Rose and Wiskowski tried to break his neck, so I loved that he punched Rose so hard (probably with a chain-wrapped fist) that it sent him so far across the ring it caused the chain to yank Brooks' neck and buckle him over in pain. At that point you really want Rose going on a run where he tears Brooks' face open and laps up the blood like a psychopath, but alas we are not in Arena Mexico and fairly soon Brooks is back on the offensive and we get the double interference finish. Post-match stuff is incredible as well. Don Owen has HAD IT with these two, Wiskowski and Piper so he just chucks all four of them in a cage next Tuesday night and if those arena shows were actually taped and exist somewhere I very much hope to see them some day before this miserable earth breaks apart at the core and we all float away into the endlessness of space.
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