Rose v Martel (partially)

Buddy Rose v Rick Martel (Portland, 2/9/80)

This is such a great pairing. The two matches from April and May are as good as anything in wrestling that year, and while we only have one fall of this - which is infuriating - it had all of the qualities of those other matches. They open with a rope-running exchange for the ages, culminating with a Martel hurricanrana to make the masked luchadores of Mexico City weep. The bulk of the fall is built around Martel working the arm, Rose trying to shake him and Martel dragging him back to the mat. There were a few moments where they maybe stagnated a little, at least by their lofty standards, but the parts where they came up for air were really great. Martel going from a hammerlock to a top wrist-lock to an armbar to a sort of cross armbreaker made for cool variety as well. Going through the AWA 80s set over a decade ago now, one thing that stood out about Martel was that he was king at crashing and burning off a missed cross body. Clearly he mastered that before he ever got to the AWA because the tide swings here with him flying face first into the mat off a missed cross body. Buddy trying to break someone's spine will always rule and I loved the struggle over the Billy Robinson backbreaker at the end, like something Okada and Naito saw and added seven more reversals and did it halfway through the match. I bet the next two falls were very good and it very sucks that we don't have them.