Onto Puerto Rico Disc 3

Invader I v Ron Starr (Street Fight) (8/17/86)

If ECW had ever ran a baseball stadium show, this is about how I imagine it would've went. This was ECW before ECW was cool, baby! And it was awesome. They basically brawled all over the stadium, from the infield to the dugouts, through the crowd and into the stands, on top of what looked like a stage set up in the middle of the field, then eventually into the ring. There were bits where they'd end up disappearing amid pockets of fans, then Starr would reappear by running away as Invader tried to chase him down and throw stuff at him. It was like one of those cartoon scuffles where all you'd see is dust and flailing limbs, passing through one end of a building before reemerging from the other as you hear furniture crashing in its wake. I really haven't seen much of Starr, but he was great again in this and he's been one of the best guys on the set. He brawls, he bleeds, he bumps and stooges, and he isn't afraid to jump off the top rope and land balls-first across someone's knee. Invader continues to absolutely rule it in everything he's in. This was one of the rare occasions where his opponent actually out-bled him, but his selling was still outstanding and the way he fires back with strikes like it might be his one last chance of survival is always awesome. I understand why it's the case, but he really feels like one of the most underrated or least talked about great wrestlers ever. Last few minutes had guys getting whipped with a weightlifting belt, punch exchanges while both guys were on their knees (which led to Invader hitting his double chop from a kneeling position, and of course it was tremendous), nasty post shots and double knockdowns where they both just recklessly clattered into each other. And I don't have any problem at all with the finish being what it was. This was badass.


Super Medico v White Knight (9/19/86)

On the one hand this had some really good stuff. On the other hand both guys were wearing identical ring attire and I couldn't tell who was who. I *think* Medico was the tecnico. The crowd were super hot for whoever the tecnico was, anyway. They popped huge for his punch flurry - and good grief what a fucking punch flurry this was - and they rallied behind him when the rudo took over. The rudo - I assume White Knight - was a bit chinlocky, but he hit a nice vertical suplex and his top rope elbow was first class. I may re-watch this if Boricua's history thread on PWO sheds some light on who's who (and maybe some backstory), but as it stands I still liked it well enough. Those white masks were absolutely dapper, btw.