Here’s some of the footage we’ll be covering in this installment, all from the April 21, 1979 episode of Portland Wrestling. If you want to make sure you have access to all the Portland wrestling covered in these pieces, I recommend signing up for this Patreon. Tons of Portland and other great old-school wrestling content.
Roddy Piper finds himself in a curious spot in Portland. He remains the Pacific Northwest Wrestling Heavyweight Champion — the top singles title in the territory. He still, in many ways, wrestles and acts like a heel. He’s also seeking revenge on Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski for injuring “his Brooksie”, Killer Tim Brooks, a couple of weeks ago.
On this episode of Portland TV, Piper is a villain, through and through. For at least a week, the rivalry with Rose and Wiskowski is forgotten.
All thanks to Vicki Williams.
Women’s wrestlers were much fewer in number in the late 1970s, for various reasons. Portland’s been promoting them throughout the past month of TV as a special touring attraction. In this case, Williams and Judy Martin have been making the rounds. The first footage from the episode sees Piper and Vicki in the middle of bickering from the crow’s nest broadcast position. Piper (and Rose, for that matter) went on record for weeks prior how women didn’t deserve to be in the ring. The segment opens in mid-argument, with insults flying and fingers pointing. The crowd is rowdy and rambunctious, the usual for Portland Sports Arena, until Williams calls Piper a boy.
And that’s when Piper snaps. He lunges and grabs Williams by the hair and the crowd goes stone silent. Every ensuing word from Piper, every syllable is clearly audible as he throttles Vicki in his grips and ultimately throws her down. The most surprising thing about this entire segment is that Frank Bonnema, the broadcaster, doesn’t intercede or even say one negative word about Piper’s actions.
This is a short segment but it’s worth studying in detail, especially if you’re in wrestling, or act, or any kind of performance art. Watch how, once Piper grabs Williams, he makes the most out of every gesture. Every motion. Every word. He projects a sense of bullying malice that makes you want to see him face revenge — a violent one, exacted with swiftness.
Later in the episode, we get another fragment of a segment, this one with Piper, Williams, and Ron Starr. He’s got a problem with the way Piper treated Vicky and lays down the challenge for a mixed tag match. Piper lunges at Vicky again, only this time Starr grabs Piper from behind, leaving him vulnerable to a big slap from Vicki. The crowd loved this, and the mixed tag match evidently is made for the following Tuesday in Portland, which is where the territory sets several of its key matches — all, sadly, not televised.
The rest of this episode’s footage includes Rose and Wiskowski. First up, an interview about their simmering rivalry with Stan Stasiak. Wiskowski, who’s made a habit of making some uncomfortable comments in his promos (especially by 21st century standards), proclaims he learned Stasiak isn’t Polish; he’s Yugoslavian.
Burn, I guess?
In the only match on this episode, Rose and Wiskowski face Stasiak and George Wells two out of three falls. The match itself is not great, but it’s a fun snapshot of Portland Sports Arena crowds, and how easy they are. I’ve yet to encounter another wrestling audience that does some of the things Portland fans in this era do: such as count along like punches in the corner or face first turnbuckle smashes when a fan favorite wrestler is wrenching a hold on the heel.
Rose has so much personality here. There’s a legitimately funny beat early in the match when Stasiak has Wiskowski in a hold, Rose wanders down the apron to jaw at some of the grannies in the front row, and misses an attempted tag by his partner. Generally speaking, the Portland crowd in these 1970s episodes is highly engaged. They also really understand wrestling. They recognize holds and, in this match, they’re howling for blood when Rose and Wiskowski switch in and out without making an actual tag. It’s a level of investment that is refreshing.
Stasiak as a fan favorite here is certainly a change from his work in the Northeast this decade for WWWF. He seems to be legitimately enjoying himself, and shows fire and motivation. Late in the second fall, he slugs away on Wiskowski like it’s last call at the Double Deuce. The match goes to a third fall, as per usual, and time is short, also per usual, but the footage ends without the conclusion of the match.
While this contest takes up the bulk of the surviving content from this episode, the segments with Piper and Williams — especially the first one — steal the show. In this case, less definitely is more.
On to the next episode, and the month of May 1979, where there’s a good amount of available Portland wrestling to watch.
In Moore House Wrestling 