Tag: Dutch Savage

Roddy Piper Appreciation Society | From the Crow’s Nest

Roddy Piper Appreciation Society | From the Crow’s Nest

This journey through the footage from the Portla|nd wrestling territory began as a series of odes to the underrated greatness of Buddy Rose. Since we started in 1979, though, while Rose is still great, it’s given me a greater respect for the talents of Roddy Piper.

That continues here, in the surviving footage from the first half of May 1979, where Piper is definitively the star of the show.

Here’s the footage we will be covering in this edition:

May 5, 1979

Not a lot of meat on the bone in what footage has survived the test of time from this week’s episode … almost entirely interviews, but there’s a gem to be found. Piper gets two chances to speak from the crow’s nest with Frank Bonnema. Both address the battle royal that coming Tuesday, where both men and women are entered, and he can’t wait to throw Vicki Williams out of the ring and into the fifth row — understandable, given recent events between them.

Piper’s second promo, at the end of the footage, is must see. He runs the gamut here, starting by busting out some rhymes like a freestyle rapper in the midst of their flow, in a sequence that, given it’s 1979, feels groundbreaking and innovative. Then he shifts: “You take a good look at me.” Here we see Piper making magic, grabbing at the attention of the viewer through the screen. As he talks about how he always gets up in a fight, the bandage on his head covering a fresh cut helps to sell the words. Then, Piper veers into complaining about promoter Dn Owen letting kids into events free.

The subject matter here veers all over the place. His schtick isn’t perfected and polished yet, like it will be by the time Piper reaches the big stage of the World Wrestling Federation in about five years as the chief foil to Hulk Hogan and Hulkamania. The intensity, the presence, however? It’s all here, already. And it’s impossible to ignore.

The feud between Rose and Piper advances here as well. Between Piper’s interviews, Rose comes to the crow’s nest and refuses to wrestle Piper this coming Tuesday because Rose’s partner Ed Wiskowski currently is out of the area. Piper interrupts and decks Rose, which evidently is all it takes for the Vegas Playboy to accept. Rose runs down the list of wrestlers he’s injured and/or crippled in the territory, in a nice odd to continuity that I appreciated probably more than someone watching this week to week in Portland nearly five decades ago would have.

One more fun fact: the battle royal they’re hyping has a $4,000 prize for the winner. That’s worth more than 18 grand in 2026 dollars.

May 12, 1979

One match in the existing footage, and it’s a good one: the first televised contest between Piper and Rose. Piper’s the current Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion, but he’s refused to put the title on the line here because Wiskowski is back in the area, and in the building. The previous Tuesday, Rose and Piper had a match that got thrown out after they brawled all around the Portland Sports Arena, That’s helpful context for what comes here, and what comes next between these two.

Unfortunately, Dutch Savage has affixed himself to what looks to be the hottest feud in the territory in quite some time; he’s been added to this affair as a second referee, outside the ring. Sigh … at least we don’t have to we Savage wrestle. Or talk.

The match itself is a treat. Piper drags Rose to the floor during the introductions and starts battering him, still seeking payback for what Rose and Wiskowski did to his beloved “Brooksie” last month. Rose gets the upper hand and targets the fresh bandaged cut on Piper’s head. Punches to the head prime the pump, and then Rose applies a headlock and squeezes Piper’s head like he’s trying to draw juice from a fruit. It works, and I’m here for it. Later, as Rose grinds his knuckles into the open wound, the camera catches a great close-up shot of Piper as his eyes roll back into his head. It’s the featured image of this article.

What’s astonishing about this match is, after weeks of Piper doing or saying something dastardly — usually to or about Vicki Williams — he wins over the crowd in short fashion here. What’s that old proverb? “The enemy of my enemy is my new fan favorite.” Or something like that. Bonnema does an admirable job on commentary helping sell the change in the fans’ perception of Piper. He’s disbelieving as a “We Want Piper!” chant begins, while noting Piper has not changed his style at all. Indeed, Piper throws punches. He fights recklessly. At one point he delivers an open-handed strike to Rose’s throat. “He didn’t ask anybody to cheer for him,” Bonnema observes during Piper’s comeback in the first fall. It’s a subtle but effective layer of the story being told here. After Piper wins the first fall, he seems legitimately bewildered at the fans who were previously howling for his destruction now cheering him.

This feels like a grudge match because neither man appears particularly interested in winning. When Piper hits a swinging neck breaker on Rose, he lets Buddy up rather than maintain contact for the pin. Then, in the second fall, Rose returns the favor, letting up Piper after hitting his back suplex into a backbreaker (or, the “Billy Robinson inside backbreaker” as it’s called here). In the third fall, Rose ultimately gets disqualified after Wiskowski runs in when both wrestlers and both referees are entangled outside the ring and rams Piper into the ringpost. Neither Savage nor Sandy Barr sees anything. Rose is DQ’d nonetheless, because they don’t believe his story on how Piper gets waylaid. It’s the only disqualification I can remember in wrestling based on nothing more than vibes.

Rose could care less. He’s gloating as he reaches the crow’s nest that he was the first to get there for his interview. He taunts Piper to put the title on the line next week, then retreats quickly to the back as Piper approaches. There’s great energy from Piper on his rebuttal: “When you were in high school having your mama pack your lunch, I was fighting,” he tells the absent Rose. Throughout, Piper maintains a captivating eye contact with the camera. There’s a star quality presence from him that anyone else in the territory lacks.

These two aren’t done. Next week, Piper puts the title on the line in a no DQ match with six “guards” around the ring — a lumberjack match, in other words. Piper cackles in delight when Barr informs him of the stipulations. He’s not the only one.

Barr says promoter Don Owen is ready to end the feud with this upcoming match. Thankfully, for all of us, he’s wrong. Piper and Rose have many more battles left to wage.

Check out our full collection of content on Portland Wrestling.

From the Crow’s Nest: Bass, Mayne Unite

From the Crow’s Nest: Bass, Mayne Unite

Welcome to the third installment of From the Crow’s Nest, a series of articles looking back at Pacific Northwest Wrestling and the history of wrestling in Portland, Oregon.

In this week’s installment, we cover available footage from November of 1977. Most of the footage comes from a pair of episodes, two weeks apart. You can find everything in this installment on YouTube and I’ve embedded a playlist at the bottom of this article.

November 5, 1977

We’re two weeks removed from the rather fantastic angle and turn involving Sam Oliver Bass (aka Ron Bass), Buddy Rose, and Ed Wiskowski. Bass and Rose faced each other on last week’s episode, which is not available, but we get this entertaining rematch., which also recycles the trope of Rose wrestling a match with a fan favorite positioned as the special referee, although Dutch Savage isn’t nearly as entertaining in that role as Jonathan Boyd was for Rose’s match with Jay Youngblood back in September.

Savage promptly kicks out Wiskowski from ringside, on the threat of disqualifying Rose if Ed doesn’t skedaddle. Bass focuses in on the left arm of Rose, who submits to what Frank Bonnema calls an arm scissors. Rose gets minimal offense in this fall, it’s minimal. He spends much of the fall begging off and running away, which only serves to make Bass come off that much stronger.

After the usual mix of live-to-tape and pre-recorded commercials for sponsors (Tom Peterson has 20 Monte Carlos on the lot for $5,400 each!), Bonnema interviews Wiskowski, who has a match on the upcoming loop against Savage for the heavyweight singles title. What ensues is a very good example of how to do a promo as a confident and arrogant heel wrestler without making your foe look weak.

Rose comes out for the second hall and honors the wrestling gods by still selling the arm. He’s back to stalling and running away, before finally getting the upper hand in Bass after a spot you’ve seen thousands of times: the heel lures their foe into a chase around the ringside area, then cuts off his opponent when they go back into the ring. Rose targets the back of Bass and levels the match on his version of the backbreaker, which has been established in Portland as a strong finisher.

Between falls, Bonnema interviews the plucky babyface duo of Skip Young and Gino Hernandez. I found it interesting that, to me, Gino comes off like a long-lost member of the Von Erich family in what footage of him exists from Portland.

The third fall is brief and high energy, like many of these best of three falls main events tend to be as the show is usually running short on time by this point. Bass kicks out of another backbreaker by Rose and makes his comeback, capped by a punch with some extra mustard that Rose sells with his trademark slipped-on-a-banana-peel bump. While Savage scolds Bass for the punches, Rose comes up bleeding. The match ends shortly thereafter, with Wiskowski coming out to attack Savage and add some heat to their upcoming title match.

This is all pretty good, but we’ve already seen much better so far in this project.

After the match, Savage heads to the crow’s nest and tells Bonnema he’s putting Rose in a cage match against Bass the coming Tuesday. He cites “Don Owen’s power of attorney.” Bonnema’s subsequent verbal gymnastics to justify a wrestler having the authority to book this match come off pretty funny, which is likely not the intended effect. Rose’s reaction is pretty great — full of bloodstained outrage as Wiskowski proclaims, “he is a human being!” The promo work by the heels is good enough to make me wish that footage of the cage match existed.

November 19, 1977

The video quality of this episode is pretty poor, so be prepared.

It’s been a busy two weeks in Portland. Wiskowski has dethroned Savage as the heavyweight champ. Bass and Anson remain the tag champs, but in footage from this episode that apparently has been lost to the sands of time, Anson suffers an injury that’s going to put him on the shelf. This plot point anchors what footage survived from this week.

The main event is a rematch of last month’s great bout between Rose and Mayne. This is still good but doesn’t come close to the energy and crowd heat of the October match. After Mayne wins a pretty straightforward first fall with his flying knee drop, which does not evoke vomit this time — Rose just sells like he’s dead — Bonnema reviews the upcoming seven-day (!) loop.

Next we hear from Bass about the tag title situation. He’s down a partner now and championship matches have been booked on the upcoming loop. Bass’ straightforward, relatable delivery works here.

This is an outlier main event for Portland, as it ends in two straight falls. There’s some noteworthy improvisation that takes place around an equipment malfunction, when Mayne fires Rose across the ring and the impact breaks the top rope. Each wrestler attempts to use the dislodged turnbuckle against the other. Rose wins the fall with his back breaker but stays on the attack, to the point Sandy Barr disqualifies Rose and reverses the decision. Bass comes to make the save for Mayne, so you can probably guess where things are leading.

There’s still time in the episode so we get some filler content. First up an interview with Savage, who becomes more unlikable the more footage I watch of him. He engages in some very dry mockery of Anson for his injury, shits on the San Francisco territory, and then starts talking about his son’s high school football team.

These episodes fall into a certain predictable rhythm. As part of that rhythm, Bonnema has one or two plugs a week about how to get tickets. He seems borderline frustrated at having to explain time and time again, but I find it charming how the best way to get them is to go to the referee’s stand at the flea market.

Next, Gino Hernandez wrestles Skip Young in a standby match which, if you’ve watched old wrestling previously, usually means that the competitors go out there and durdle until the time limit expires. This match follows that pattern. Even Bonnema can’t disguise his boredom, referring to the usually vocal Portland Sports Arena crowd as “quiet but enjoying.” This is a snooze for sure, but at least the matchup is unique.

We conclude with Mayne joining Bonnema in the crow’s nest, only for Bass to interrupt and ask the Moondog to be his partner. As simple as much of the storytelling in Portland can be, there’s no attempt to insult the audience’s intelligence. Bass openly acknowledges the past hostile history with Mayne, saying “I thought this day would never come.” Mayne dons Bass’ cowboy hat as the answer, and we’ve got a new tag team.

Up Next: We wrap up 1977 with a look at the available footage from December.

Miss Something?: Check out the full index of articles in the From the Crow’s Nest series.

From the Crow’s Nest: Bloody Brawls from Rose, Mayne, Bass

From the Crow’s Nest: Bloody Brawls from Rose, Mayne, Bass

Welcome to the second installment of From the Crow’s Nest, a series of articles looking back at Pacific Northwest Wrestling and the history of wrestling in Portland, Oregon.

In this week’s installment, we cover available footage from October of 1977. It’s a pretty good haul for this month, with at least some footage from three out of four episodes in the month from the Saturday night Portland TV show. Most of the footage is on YouTube and is embedded at the end of this article. The video quality on some of this is pretty poor, but the action holds up.

October 1, 1977

Gino Hernandez vs. John Anson

We pick up in the early stages of a match between Anson, who is one half of the tag champs with Sam Oliver Bass (you know him better as Outlaw Ron Bass), and a very young Gino. This is, to my knowledge, the earliest existing footage of Hernandez and seeing him as a plucky young babyface is quite the change of pace considering he’s best known from his years as an arrogant heel for various promotions in Texas.

Like the two out of three falls match between Buddy Rose and Jay Youngblood, a good bit of this match is based around the headlock — only there’s far less sizzle as this encounter lacks both the crowd engagement or the type of selling Rose does in the hold. I wouldn’t call this a good match, but it’s decent and gets significant time. It feels like desperation when Anson starts throwing headbutts, and at one point the two start trading fatigued punches from their knees. Gino comes close to scoring the win a few times, reminiscent of a modern-day New Japan match with a young lion going against a wrestler on the main roster. Hernandez and Anson go the distance, and in the aftermath, commentator Frank Bonnema waxes on how much wrestling in the territory has improved in the past decade.

2/3 Falls: Lonnie Mayne vs. Buddy Rose

This is, in my opinion, the first great match in this project. What makes it great? It encapsulates the entire style of the promotion, and, to a greater extent, wrestling in the 1970s. It’s gritty, brutal, and bloody. It also matches up the territory’s biggest fan favorite in Mayne against Rose, unquestionably the most hated man in Portland.

There’s a story here, and you don’t need to have a literature degree to understand it. Rose has kept hurting other wrestlers in the territory. Mayne, who was friends with many of those injured, wants revenge.

Mayne and Rose get right down to business, with Rose trying for a cheap shot while still wearing his entrance robe. Mayne cuts him off and Rose pays the price. Mere seconds later, Mayne launches off the top with a nasty-looking flying knee drop that catches Rose square in the stomach for the pin to end the first fall. Rose doubles over and vomits in the ring after the fact — which is either proof that knee was very snug or a supreme moment of selling by Rose to be able to vomit on cue. I don’t know which is true, and I actually enjoy the uncertainty.

The little touches elevate what happens between the ropes. In the introduction to this series, I wrote about the unique setting of the Portland Sports Arena, with many fans who come out every week for the TV shows. This creates a level of investment from the crowd that is hard to replicate and even harder to truly explain unless you see it for yourself. After the first fall, Mayne picks up some little girl on his way back to the locker room and no one bats an eye at it. Heading into the second fall, one of the several old ladies who sit in the front row starts chasing Rose around the ring with her cane. Then Mayne takes her cane and tries to use it on Rose. After Rose takes the second fall, bloodying Mayne in the process, fans flock to Mayne as he sits slumped in the corner waiting the third fall; encouraging pats on the back ensue and someone even offers Mayne their drink.

By now, blood (and vomit) have been spilled, creating a heat and hatred for the third fall that feels visceral. A mistake by Rose leads Mayne to attack his arm, looking to make good on last week’s vow to break the arm of the Playboy. Mayne is so relentless that he shoves and then punches referee Sandy Barr when he attempts to intercede, getting himself disqualified. The attack continues around the ringside area until Rose retreats to Bonnema’s crow’s nest broadcast position. I enjoyed this quite a bit, while the main purpose is to serve a street fight rematch between the two a few days later that, sadly, was not televised.

October 8, 1977

Buddy Rose vs. Cocoa Samoa

This is a rematch from their TV bout back in August. Rose does his best Gorgeous George impression in the pre-match, meticulously folding his T-shirt as part of an extended stall. Cocoa ensnares Rose in a headlock and wrenches on it, like Youngblood did last month. Once again, the way Rose sells this is everything. When Cocoa takes down Rose, the Playboy tries to reverse into a pin with a handful of tights but the granny at ringside is on the case, hollering at the referee. Rose attacks the arm of yet another opponent and hooks what looks like a modified kimura to get the submission. Neat.

Mayne is set to wrestle Ed Wiskowski, Rose’s partner, in the main event but that match is absent from the surviving footage. What we do get is a 10-man battle royal for $1,000. Considering that promoter Don Owen tended to maintain a tight crew, this is probably the entire active roster in Portland at that time. The highly invested crowd makes this a fun watch and Gino Hernandez gets a chance to shine as one of the final wrestlers left standing — and takes a pretty spectacular plummet to the concrete floor on his elimination.

October 22, 1977

Dutch Savage, Lonnie Mayne & Skip Young vs. Buddy Rose, Ed Wiskowski & Sam Oliver Bass

Frank Bonnema sets the scene, mentioning some issues between Bass and Rose when they teamed together at a recent event. The theme of dissension is established and plays out in what looks more like a comedic farce on stage than a wrestling match at times. Rose and Wiskowski leave Bass hanging to start the match and, on two occasions in the first fall, Bass gets drilled by mistake by one of his partners. Later, when Savage is working over Bass’ left arm, Rose and Wiskowski deliberately pull back as Bass reaches for the tag. The crowd hoots, hollers, and applauds with delight at each of these moments, and Bass’ facial expressions and body language project his increasing sense of frustration and fury. Despite all the issues within their team, the rulebreakers score the first fall when Wiskowski catches Skip Young with his diving headbutt, a strongly established finishing move in the territory.

After the usual round of live-to-tape commercials between falls (buy a Pinto for $1,000!), we’re back and the dissension between Bass and Rose and Wiskowski continues. Another miscue — this time Rose accidentally dropkicking Bass — leaves him prey to get pinned by Skip and even the match at one fall apiece. The heel team falls apart, with Rose and Wiskowski assaulting Bass. What had, to that point, been played often for laughs turns deadly serious as Bass gets turned into a bloody mess.

Make that a very bloody mess.

It’s an effective beatdown, showing there’s no honor among thieves for the heels in Portland — or, at least, when it comes to Rose and Wiskowski. The break between falls really gives this attack time to breathe. Bonnema interviews Mayne, whose disgust at what happened to Bass adds extra zest to a delicious bit of business. I also greatly enjoyed the little touch by Rose before the third fall, smearing Bass’ blood into the mat with his boots. The third fall is reduced to a straight two on two tag, with Savage and Skip the opposition, and time expires fairly quickly in the fall. That’s all precursor to the post match, when Rose and Wiskowski go to the crow’s nest for an interview and a blood-soaked, bandaged Bass attacks! The crowd is molten hot for this as Bass slams Rose on the wooden commentary desk. Bass is out for blood and vengeance and demands a match with Rose on next week’s episode. The footage of that is unavailable, but it makes you want to tune in next week regardless, and isn’t that the point of any wrestling show — or TV show, period?

Somewhat lost in the shuffle of this blood-soaked tale of dissension: this is the debut in the Portland footage of Skip Young. When you think about wrestlers from prior decades who would have succeeded in the current era, Young definitely classifies. I could see him being a great fit for any modern promotion. He gets a few months to shine here: most notably, in the short second fall, when he busts out an impressive high leapfrog, then a sweet standing dropkick, and kips up ready to keep bringing the fight. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of Skip Young in this territory, but some enjoyable matches lie ahead nonetheless…

Check out the full list of From the Crow’s Nest entries.

365 Wrestling, Day 5: 8 Man Tag (Pacific Northwest Wrestling, 1/5/80)

365 Wrestling, Day 5: 8 Man Tag (Pacific Northwest Wrestling, 1/5/80)

365 match reviews, one for each date on the yearly calendar? Challenge accepted. Welcome to 365 Wrestling.

Do you enjoy watching good wrestling? Are you a wrestler looking to improve? If you can answer yes to either question, then I have one piece of advice: watch more Buddy Rose.

Today, we’re taking a look at a two out of three falls tag match from Portland in January 5, 1980 featuring Rose — Pacific Northwest Wrestling’s top heel at the time — teaming with the Kiwi Sheepherders, Butch Miller and Luke Williams (you may know them better as the Bushwhackers), and Sam Oliver Bass (better known as Outlaw Ron Bass). Their opponents are the quartet of Roddy Piper, Rick Martel, Dutch Savage, and Stan Stasiak. You can find this match on YouTube, or embedded below:

Part 1
Part 2

The Match

Portland weekly TV at the time was structured around long matches, many of them two out of three falls with sponsor plugs and interviews between falls. This match follows that formula. It’s also the latest chapter in a feud between Rose and Piper that began the prior spring. Rose has recruited Bass and the Sheepherders to his “Army.” The shenanigans between Rose and Piper in 1979 included Rose, in an act of sublime dastardly heeldom, setting fire to Piper’s kilt from the Crow’s Nest broadcasters’ position while the Rowdy Scot was part of a tag match. Fun fact, PNW pre-taped its TV show at the time, but fans watching thought it was happening live and called the fire department.

Piper’s team consists of Martel, who is new on the scene in Portland; Savage, a mainstay in PNW and one of the promoters of the territory; and Stasiak, best known for his “heart punch” and being the man who dropped the WWF Title to Bruno Sammartino to begin Bruno’s second reign as champion. By this point, Stasiak is in the twilight of his career.

The booking here accomplishes three goals, which is an impressive juggling act. First, building Martel for an imminent shot at Harley Race and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title. Second, to advance the feud between Piper and Rose. Third, to establish Rose’s Army as a force.

Most of the action is basic pro wrestling you’ve seen a thousand times, but it’s all done well and the crowd is red-hot for the first fall, which lasts more than 20 minutes. Rose is involved on the three big highlights of the match: a rapidly-paced exchange with Piper in the opening minutes, taking a Martel Irish whip into the opposite corner where he throws himself headlong above the turnbuckles to smash into a long pole extending from the ringpost, and then, in the second fall, feeding into a late hot tag by Martel, who busts out a huracanrana (in 1980!!!) as part of his comeback.

Rose sells for everybody in this one, whether it be an exaggerated bump on the apron after Savage punches him, or reacting to Stasiak’s “reverse pumphandle armbar”, as Frank Bonnema calls it, like he’s being interrogated in a medieval torture device. This match loses quite a bit of steam heading into the second fall and the intensity continues to diminish — the opposite of what you want — with the minute-by-minute calls of ring announcer Don Owen (the promoter of the territory), making a time-limit draw finish as obvious as a flashing neon sign.

Final Rating: 6.0

This one is definitely worth seeking out to watch. You get a good look at a highly-energized Piper, the Sheepherders with a distinctly different look, and Bass in his prime. The star, though, is Rose. Rose shines in the style of the Portland territory, thanks to his combination of tremendous promos, meticulous mannerisms in the ring, and bumping heedlessly to make his opponents look like a million bucks. I assure you, this won’t be the only time you see Rose on this list.

What’s Next

Two of the top female wrestlers of the 2000s battle in a No DQ brouhaha.

Here’s the complete, ongoing list of matches in this project.

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