The Return to Puerto Rico!

I never finished the set back in 2016. I may finish it by 2026.


Steel Cage Battle Royal (March 1988)

I wouldn't expect this to work as a concept anywhere other than Puerto Rico. Even then I figured it might be rough, because logistically it seems like a bit of a nightmare. You eliminate someone by throwing them out the door, but the problem is there's only one door. In any other battle royal you can be eliminated from anywhere so there's always that lingering danger or sense that someone could get tossed at any moment. In this I guess you could just stay away from the door. If you're over in the other corner there's no danger of you being thrown out. That would maybe kill the inherent drama of a battle royal, though. People are more likely to pay attention to whatever's happening over by the door and forget about the other stuff, so in theory you'd end up with a bunch of guys not doing much because they're not really "involved." Except in Puerto Rico everybody bleeds and brawls and so you can't really help but pay attention to what's happening over in that other corner. Muta and Kendo Nagasaki might be trying to boot Invader III out the door but over to the right there Bobby Jaggers is trying to scalp Chris Youngblood. Even the eliminations worked better than I'd have thought. Nobody got thrown out without a fight and a few times it took more than one guy to eliminate someone. You had folk trying to grab hold of the ropes while two assailants tried to kick him out. I don't even know who all participated, but it was hectic and it was Puerto Rico.


Super Black Ninja v Invader I (Street Fight) (4/2/88)

Prior to getting the Puerto Rico set this is the only match from the territory I can clearly remember seeing. I think it was on an old Schneider Comp, but at that point I hadn't been exposed to the greatness of Invader and never cared for Muta anyway, so I probably wasn't as invested. Since then the bloody Invader brawl has become one of my favourite things in wrestling. This is masked Invader which means we lose a bit of what makes him so great in these kinds of fights, some of the EMOTING and facial expressions, but you know he bled like crazy and I thought it turned out pretty awesome, albeit a step down from the truly high end slobberknockers. Muta was more than fine here; he'll always bring the energy and he was pretty fun working Invader over with his belt, choking him with his t-shirt, bonking him over the head with his boot, etc. There were also some first class payback spots, including the low blows as this is Puerto Rico and no good ball shot goes unpunished. Muta's was especially great as he was falling back when he did it, really made it feel like a desperation move. By the end Invader has the awesome half-crimson mask thing going on and the pop for him smashing Muta with the briefcase was wild. Badass match.


Chris & Mark Youngblood & Rock n Roll Express v Bobby Jaggers, Dan Kroffat, Mr. Pogo & Kendo Nagasaki (5/21/88)

Nifty 8-man tag with a red hot crowd. The early babyface shine is super fun and Kroffat was real fun getting bumped around for everything. Chris Youngblood never hit any of his cool pump kicks, but he and Mark rolled out a really cool double team where Mark hit a legdrop across the back of Kroffat's head while Chris had him in a sort of bow and arrow. Sometimes there was too much going on, so during the heat segment you'd have a babyface come in hot expecting to get sent back out, only he'd have to walk reeeeally slowly over to the heel corner waiting for the ref' to spot him and hold him back. I did like how the heels made a point of keeping Youngblood in their own corner the whole time. Hot tag leads to everyone going at it and we get the double RnRs dropkick for the huge pop. I'll never ever complain about getting eight minutes of this.


Miguel Perez Jr. v Super Black Ninja (Hair v Hair) (5/21/88)

This didn't do a whole lot for me, surprisingly. Muta's been pretty enjoyable on the set and they worked this at a nice pace, but I couldn't really get into it. Perez had a bunch of neat offence, though. His low blow to start the comeback obviously ruled, but his big back suplex looked great and he was all over Muta early. Muta's legdrop was swank as hell too, just crazy height and it's not totally surprising his knees got absolutely blown to bits later in his career. Commentary was also in Spanish here and I think Savinovich said Muta was the Great Kabuki's son, which of course rules.