Ryan Navigates '90 - #24 (4/13 - 4/14)
"THINK IT OVER, CREEP!"
Good day!
It’s another full Saturday slate at the Navigation, though with a bit of that Friday’s Power Hour to lead things off. We'll have some of the usual suspects, but nothing from either branch of the USWA. Fear not, though, as we’ll have a TON coming up soon in future articles.
However, we do get a glimpse of another legendary territory in its twilight years, that being Pacific Northwest Wrestling out of Portland, Oregon. We’ll also hear from Rick Rude, and the Rock N’ Roll Express take on the Fabulous Freebirds in a 2-out-of-3 falls match.
However, everything pales in comparison to an appearance by ROBOCOP! We're getting to the Good Stuff, folks!
FRIDAY, APRIL 13th
NWA Power Hour
The review kicks off with Ole Anderson and Sting chatting it up via satellite. Ole assumes that Sting is here to announce his retirement, but Stinger assures him that is NOT the case as he wants VENGEANCE. Ole asks if the electronics are working as he was perplexed that Sting WASN’T leaving the sport, then he recaps the recent events before warning him to stay away from the upcoming Capital Combat PPV.
Sting says NOT A CHANCE! He’s coming along just fine, and he’ll be at Capital Combat, IDIOT! Sting indicates that he has a BIG SURPRISE for the Horsemen while Ole blows raspberries.
Ole: “You can do all the yellin’ you want, Sting…”
Sting: “I will! AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUWWWW!!!!”
Ole warns Sting that he’ll be a dead man, but that doesn’t faze the Stinger at all.
Ole comes off as such a curmudgeonly asshole in this, and it works. He doesn’t need to raise his voice, but his tone is laced with disdain and menace. This contrasts well with Sting’s youthful bombast. As for the big surprise? Read on, friends.
SATURDAY, APRIL 14th
WWF Superstars of Wrestling
This week on The Brother Love Show, we have Rhythm & Blues (Honky Tonk Man & Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, with Jimmy Hart). They come out to “Hunka Hunka Hunka Honky Love”, which pales in comparison to Greg’s superior entrance music, “The Look” by Roxette.
Love refers to HTM as “Brother Rhythm” and Valentine as “Brother Blues”.
The hair in the back of Honky Tonk’s neck CURLED at the thrill of performing in front of 64,000 67,000+ at SkyDome. He then calls out The Bushwhackers for ruining their big debut. Valentine promises to destroy Luke and Butch the way they destroyed R&B’s prized guitars.
Jimmy pledges that the Bushwhackers will never destroy the greatest tag team ever or their GOLD ALBUM!
Rhythm & Blues vs. The Bushwhackers? Merry Christmas, WWF fans. Hope you like crap!
We’re back at the gym with Ravishing Rick Rude and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan getting their pump on. Rude is the hot breath on the back of the Ultimate Warrior’s neck, according to Bobby.
Rude tells Warrior his days are numbered! He overhead presses 315lbs (holy crap) while threatening to beat Warrior again, this time for the WWF Championship.
Another really effective, minimal bullshit promo from these two. The program may have been a bit of a lame duck in the grand scheme, but it’s no fault of Heenan and Rude.
Dusty Rhodes vs. Bobby Salsa - Bobby Salsa is an amazing jobber name. He kind of looks like Lou Diamond Phillips if he did the fusion dance with Randy from “Trailer Park Boys”.
Alas, we never get to see Mr. Salsa ply his trade as “Macho King” Randy Savage clobbers Dusty from behind with Sensational Queen Sherri’s purse before the match begins. Savage shoves the referee and Bobby away, then Sherri wallops Sapphire with her shoe!
Sherri continues beating her around the ring while Savage lands a pair of Macho Elbows on Big Dust. Dusty gets ejected from the ring and downed with a flying axehandle, then Sherri forces Sapphire to kiss Savage’s royal foot!
A desperate Dusty returns and fights off the royal couple, then swings at some referees! The Dream cradles an unconscious Sapphire as the segment closes.
As much as I’m not into the fact that this feud is STILL going for some reason, at least this segment was heated and did its job in making Sherri and Savage detestable villains. Dusty sold the moment VERY well here.
NWA World Championship Wrestling
Jim Cornette brings out Ric Flair and Woman for a chat. This is your reminder that the NWA is brought to you by ROOS!
Flair addresses Lex Luger’s promise to the wrestling world that he’ll take the NWA title, stating that in order to be the man, you have to BEAT THE MAN. Catchphrase! Cornette insults Luger’s grappling prowess, so the Total Package comes out for a rebuttal.
He tells Corny that he’ll need a lot of insurance if he doesn’t shut his trap. Promising to make Cornette navigate the US health insurance system is a hell of a threat. Lex tells Flair that the only reason he’s not going to snap him in half right now is that he’ll do it when the NWA World title is on the line.
Flair says he’ll kick Luger’s ASS if he tries something. Flair goes to leave, so Luger stops him, earning a slap from the Nature Boy! The Gold’s Gym tank top flies off and Luger gets in the heels’ faces. That earns a slap from Woman! Luger further closes in, but Ole Anderson shows up…only to get immediately rebuffed.
Flair tries a chop to no avail, so Luger press slams him and takes out Ole…but Arn Anderson runs in and bludgeons him with Woman’s shoe! A lot of shoe attacks today.
The Horsemen beat Luger down and toss some jobbers, but Eddie Gilbert and others finally make the save. Luger is not a natural promo, but this was a fine little segment.
We get some pre-tapes from the Rock N’ Roll Express and the Fabulous Freebirds ahead of the next match. The R&Rs tell the Freebirds to take their best shots, while Jimmy Garvin applies eyeliner, and Michael Hayes brushes his hair. Sure, the Birds were pretty washed in the ring at this point, but they look RIDICULOUSLY sleazy, which is kind of awesome. Hayes in particular looks like a bearded Beth Dutton from “Yellowstone”.
2-out-of-3 Falls: The Rock N’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael “P.S.” Hayes & Jimmy “Jam” Garvin) - Say what you want about the Freebirds, but “Badstreet, USA” is still a fun piece of music. You know what? Time for a MUSIC BREAK!
FIRST FALL: The Freebirds attack the Express before the bell, then they work over Gibson for a bit until everyone chases each other at ringside. The Freebirds end up colliding mid-ring, then Gibson and Morton atomic drop them back into each other. The Rock ‘N Rolls hit a pair of double dropkicks to take the first fall in breezy fashion!
SECOND FALL: Jimmy Jam and Ricky start off, with the Rock N’ Rolls outsmarting and outmaneuvering Garvin with agility and dropkicks. P.S. tags in, as does Gibson, who peppers both guys with punches. Hayes gets a headlock before downing Gibson with a shoulderblock, then plays to the crowd, which was about half his offense at this juncture. Morton enters and gets headlocked and shoulderblocked, and Hayes celebrates with a moonwalk and oodles of stalling.
We get more shoulderblocking and hotdogging, ending with Morton bouncing Hayes after a trio of shoulders. After some stalling on the floor, Gibson fights off some double-teaming and sends Hayes packing with some punches. Garvin tags in, and we do some more posturing for the crowd. Don’t forget to call the Wrestling Hotline, guys!
Garvin quickly ejects Gibson with a kneelift, allowing some cheapshots from Hayes. Back in, the Birds continue to work Robert over with punches, illegal switches, and weardown holds. Garvin hurls Gibson over the top rope behind the ref’s back, then Hayes slams him on the floor. Gibson gets a desperation sunset flip for two, but Hayes regains the advantage with a rather nice punch. The Gibson beating continues until Robert gets a high knee, and it’s HOT TAG RICKY!
Morton takes out the Birds, but a double dropkick misses as Garvin hangs onto Hayes! Hayes scores with a DDT to even the score!
THIRD FALL: Morton is still out of ‘er, so he starts off the third fall as the face in peril while the Freebirds work over his neck. Garvin hits a duo of swinging neckbreakers, but Morton keeps kicking out. Hayes follows up with some elbow drops, then quickly regains control after a flash pin attempt. After some more clobbering, Morton fights back with some fists, but Hayes takes his head off with a clothesline to cut off a tag. However, after another brief moment of control, Hayes gets rammed into the turnbuckle, and it’s HOT TAG GIBSON!
Robert takes out the Birds with fists, but he misses a blind charge into the corner to set up the REAL heat session. The Freebirds work over Gibson’s face for a bit as Gibson looks for a tag in the wrong corner (great touch), then Hayes dodges a flying forearm. Garvin tags in for some chinlockery and clubbing blows to the torso, then it’s a sleeper from Hayes.
Gibson escapes, but Hayes quickly subdues him with a bulldog for two. The Freebirds continue to beat Robert down until he catches Hayes coming off the top with a fist to the breadbasket, then it’s HOT TAG MORTON! He nails both Freebirds with punches, but Hayes tosses him out of the ring. However, he sneaks back in and ensnares Hayes in a victory roll for the deciding pin!
Post-match, the Freebirds attack the Express with a fan’s belt, then hit stereo DDTs as Jim Ross frantically calls for commercial.
***1/2 - I know the prospect of a near half-hour match with THIS iteration of the Freebirds sounds like super hell, but it was actually really good! The Birds didn’t exactly have the most interesting offense throughout, but they still did a decent job working on top in what was a TRIPLE tag formula match. They’re really good heat-getters, if nothing else.
Morton was the usual awesome babyface, but Gibson REALLY showed his value, being the face in peril for two of the three heat segments and doing a terrific job. The Rock N’ Rolls are absolute masters of their craft.
Don’t leave me hanging, WCW!
When we come back, Sting does NOT retire. In fact, he’s bringing a friend to Capital Combat. That friend is…
…GODDAMN…
…MOTHERFUCKING…
…ROBOCOP!
Sting: “Flair, if you think you’re invincible...”
RoboCop: “THINK IT OVER, CREEP!”
Catch CAPITAL COMBAT ‘90: RETURN OF ROBOCOP, live on pay-per-view on Saturday, May 19th!
Sting and RoboCop are a natural pairing: two guys who came back to work WAY earlier than expected after devastating injuries.
We throw it back to the announcers. Jim Ross talking about RoboCop with zero irony is incredible, while Jim Cornette blows a gasket.
OK, I’m sure the few of you who didn’t spontaneously combust due to sheer awesomeness are asking why the NWA is corporately synergizing with The Future of Law Enforcement. Well, RoboCop 2 was set to hit theaters in June, and Turner’s home entertainment branch had an agreement with Orion (the film’s production company) to distribute the home video release, so the opportunity for cross-promotion was ripe. Jim Herd in particular saw this as a chance to generate some mainstream buzz.
Yes, I know this stuff is widely panned as it truly is primo WrestleCrap, but it’s so aggressively stupid that I can’t help but love it.
Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from here, folks…
…well, at least until we get more RoboCop. Capital Combat ‘90 is going to be an experience, I tell you HWAT.
International Championship Wrestling
We hear from Tony Atlas, who boasts about his custom suits, tall frame, and 23-inch arms.
He lists off some potential challengers who can just FORGET about the gold, then closes off with an Elmer Fudd laugh. Short and sweet from The Champ this week. Sweet fit, too.
Pacific Northwest Wrestling
We welcome yet another promotion to the Navigation, as we check out some content from the legendary Portland territory. PNW had been around for a LONG time, first staring out in 1925, but gaining their highest level of prestige between the 1960s and the 1980s under Don Owen’s ownership. Many all-time great wrestlers saw action in Portland, most notably Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Gory Guerrero, Matt Borne, “Playboy” Buddy Rose, Stan Stasiak, among many others. Being an NWA territory until 1991, Portland played host to many a title defense from the touring NWA champion.
Unfortunately, this is another example of a once-prominent territory in its dying days. Some have attributed PNW’s slow demise to some prohibitive rule changes from the Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission. As well, the national television expansion of the WWF and WCW resulted in severely reduced TV distribution and live attendance for smaller companies, forcing promotion closures. The ensuing dearth of smaller promotions for newer wrestlers to gain experience and improve their craft also resulted in a greater reliance on green, unproven talent to carry the load. After losing their TV slot when their chief sponsor went bankrupt in 1991, Don Owen ran live shows until he retired in April 1992 and sold the company (with the exception of the Portland Sports Arena) to Sandy Barr (father of Art and Jesse, and longtime referee and promoter in the area).
Barr rebranded the promotion as Championship Wrestling USA and scrapped the old titles, opting for new championships in their place. He eventually moved the company to Vancouver, Washington in order to escape the oppressive Oregon state regulations. However, this version of the company suddenly folded in 1997. Matt Borne, who was the booker of CWUSA before its closure, linked up with local radio station owner Ivan Kafoury to create a new version of Portland Wrestling, but that only lasted until 1998.
In 2000, a new version of Portland Wrestling was founded which was not at all related to the original, other than some title lineages. Well, they did face similar challenges, like having their TV dropped in 2002 after the station changed ownership. They also ran into constant issues with the Oregon state government.
Oh, and in 2007, Frank Culbertson, Jr., who ran the promotion’s operations for years, was caught embezzling around $10,000 from Broadway Cab Company while working as a controller in the accounting department. He served 30 days in the clink, and that pretty much ended the promotion there.
However, because this is wrestling, where nobody learns SHIT, Culbertson later committed around $500,000 worth of embezzlement when working for Cornell Pump Co., resulting in an 8-year prison sentence.
Alright, that’s more than enough backstory. Let’s get into the actual content!
The first segment sees us in the ring for Al Madril’s Fiesta Garden, where Scotty the Body (the future Johnny Polo/Raven) is holding an arm wrestling challenge with $100 (“not $50! $100!”) on the line. He has The Equalizer for backup.
He accepts a challenger from the crowd. “What bicepials!”, exclaims Madril as Scotty takes his jacket off and flexes. Man, Raven was in hella good shape back then. The challenger takes off his jacket, resulting in Scotty literally rolling around on the mat laughing.
If the guy beats Scotty, he plans on taking his kids to Disneyland. On $100? Scotty proclaims this to be contested under the “Marquis of Queensbury Arm Wrestling” rules.
After some typical heel stalling (complaining about cheating, wet grip, etc.), Scotty easily wins…but ROWDY RODDY PIPER COMES OUT! Oh, shit!
Scotty says he remembers Piper from “Ernest Goes to Jail”, then Madril asks why the big movie star is here. Piper: “I just love Disneyland!”. Piper tosses the chair away and squares up for some arm wrasslin’.
After a brief struggle, Piper comes back and handily wins! He snatches the $100 and spreads the…wealth, I guess? Singles for everyone!
Piper showing up was an awesome surprise, and you can see why the bigger companies were looking to scoop up Scotty. Very strong mic skills and he wasn’t afraid to look like a complete ass when the situation required it.
We check out the last few minutes of Billy Jack Haynes, Rip Oliver & Larry Oliver vs. The Grappler, Brian Adams & The Equalizer. That’s the future Crush, not the Canadian rocker who unleashed “Summer of ‘69” on karaoke bars and buttrock radio stations around the world. Rip was a longtime stalwart of PNW who also had a stint with WCCW, where he gained fame for a storyline where he broke Mike Von Erich’s arm. He also spent time working as an enhancement talent for the WWF, with his biggest moment being getting squashed by the Ultimate Warrior on Saturday Night’s Main Event XVIII in 1988. He passed away in March 2020 due to heart failure at the age of 67. Larry is Rip’s son. He had a fairly brief, unremarkable career, wrestling only from 1990 to 1994.
The Grappler grappled in the southern US territories, primarily teaming with Tony Anthony as the Grapplers and the Dirty White Boys, but he had fruitful runs in Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling and in PNW. Interestingly, he had a brief stint in late ‘90’s WCW under his real name (Len Denton). Of note, he wrestled Goldberg for the US title on Monday Nitro while Billiam was arguably at his hottest.
Also, here’s a little bit of trivia: Jake Roberts claims to have invented the DDT by accidentally slipping when having Denton in a front facelock.
Haynes had a WWF run from 1986 to 1988, with his most notable feud being with Hercules Hernandez over the full nelson. He also had a quick tenure in WCW as Black Blood, a hooded executioner from “a little town in France” who carried around a giant axe.
Haynes definitely had some demons, though. He would admit to some truly fucked up stuff in shoot interviews, such as being a drug mule or coming to a WWF show with the intent of shooting Vince McMahon and Brian Adams before turning the gun on himself. I’m not even going to get into his theory on the Chris Benoit tragedy. Unfortunately, his story got much more tragic after he was arrested in early 2024 for allegedly murdering his wife. As of December 2024, the case is still ongoing.
The Equalizer is not Denzel Washington or Queen Latifah, but the future Dave/Evad Sullivan in WCW. He was…really not good at the whole ‘wrestling’ thing. According to Mick Foley’s “Have a Nice Day” autobiography, whenever someone would ask about how Evad was as a wrestler, the answer would always be prefaced with, “Well, he’s a really nice guy…”.
Alright, now that we know a bit more about some of the participants, let’s FINALLY get to the action! The heels are pounding away at young Larry, with the Equalizer taking him to Chinlock City.
Larry fights out but ends up taking a knee to the guts. Grappler checks in for more chinlocking, but they soon end up clotheslining each other down. Larry crawls to his corner and it’s HOT TAG RIP OLIVER! He runs wild on everyone, then him and Haynes double-team Adams. Equalizer tries to toss a garbage can in, but Rip ironically wallops him with it while Haynes looks for the full nelson on Adams.
Grappler smacks Haynes with the trash can, then Larry snatches it from him…but Haynes thinks LARRY hit him with it! Larry tries to reason with him, but Haynes punches him out! He grabs a kendo stick and goes to town on BOTH Olivers! Rip drapes himself over his son’s body in order to shield him from the blows. Haynes lands a kendo stick shot off the top rope as Scotty the Body practically has an orgasm on commentary.
Some of the babyfaces, including Ricky Santana, Curtis Thompson (the future Firebreaker Chip from WCW), The Juicer and Big Juice, run out for the save. In the interview area, announcer Don Coss tries to clarify that it wasn’t Larry who attacked him, but Billy Jack is having none of it, telling everybody to shut up! He continues ranting as Rip gets stretchered out of the arena, turning heel against the entire state of Oregon. Haynes tells everyone to stick Oregon up their ass! I dunno how that’s going to fit; Oregon *is* pretty big.
He then takes off his “OREGON” trunks (thankfully, there’s another layer under there, so we’re spared the sight of Willy Jack Haynes) and complains about nobody supporting the gym he owned in Oregon City for eight years, calling everyone fat pigs. Billy Jack has three words for the state of Oregon: “KISS MY ASS!”.
Well, that was a hell of a heel turn from Billy Jack. Great ranting promo with justification, and a strong overall angle with Rip doing the stretcher job after protecting his son from abuse. Haynes and Rip were rivals for years in Portland, but Billy Jack being the one to turn heel was still a surprise as he’d been a career babyface to that point.
The preceding action after Rip tagged in was chaotic fun, and the timing on the tag itself was impeccable, with Larry waiting until the last possible nanosecond to make it.
We cut to later on, as Billy Jack Haynes interrupts a drawing for a match for next week. He grabs the hat and rifles through the names while Taylor Made (the future Tori in the WWF/Terri Power in Japan) distracts Don Coss. Tori is unrecognizable here; I had to look it up just to see if it was actually her.
He draws Larry Oliver for next Saturday night. Haynes promises to beat the crap out of the junior Oliver, then tells everyone in Oregon that he hates their guts.
More solid heeling from Haynes. I swear to God, though, I have NEVER said the word “Oregon” so much in my entire life.
Anyone else get one of the Hallmark “Oregon Trail” ornaments for their tree this year? It’s pretty awesome.
THE TUGBOAT TRIBUNE
As always, the news comes courtesy of Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Despite being a year out, WrestleMania VII has already generated around $300,000 in ticket sales.
Terry Funk and Chris Cruise have been given their NWA walking papers by Jim Herd.
Funk went home because he was told that his Funk’s Grill segments weren’t going to be aired any longer, and he refused any attempts by management to return.
The NWA put out a statement citing a misunderstanding as the reason for the segment’s removal.
Cruise refused to co-commentate Worldwide Wrestling with Tony Schiavone due to some acrimony between the two, so Herd fired him.
Ric Flair has signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him with NWA/WCW through 1994.
That will put to rest any rumors of Flair coming to the WWF. I mean, it’s not like him and Jim Herd are going to come to a massive disagreement in 1991 that leads to Flair getting fired or anything. Don’t be SILLY, you SILLY GOOSE.
Larry Zbyszko regained the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Masa Saito at SuperClash IV after a double-pinfall finish, with Larry getting his shoulder up and being awarded the title.
NEXT TIME: A triple-shot of Newborn UWF, the Midnights and Pillman & Zenk battle again, and Genichiro Tenryu’s first AJPW run comes to a close.
Catch up on the rest of Ryan Navigates ‘90
Also, check out my other series!
The Wrestling Society Xperience
If you're into classic metal, check out Ryan Ranks on the CGCM Rock Radio!
Add me on BlueSky!
Also! If you’re not getting this in your email inbox, it might be in your junk/spam folder. Just mark me as “not spam”, and you’ll get the emails again!
Ha, this is so good. So glad i found it and excited to dive into all of it.
Great write-up on Portland wrestling, one of the more famed territory promotions from the regional wrestling era of the '70s and early '80s. That was one of the last true operating territories to go under, surviving into the '90s. I've been wanting to check out one of their shows for a while, and the write-up here only piqued my interest further.