So on Tuesday Martel and Piper won the tag team championship. Don Owen goes on again about how the title match being on TV is due to the sponsors. What a stand up guy. Buddy still has the mask. Martel still has the belt. Dutch Savage is the troubleshooting ref. And Buddy (still wearing the mask+wig) immediately takes a powder. He makes it back in, cheapshots Martel and starts raking the back AND front. He also does one of the best looking whips to the corner I've seen. He's really on top of him here, as aggressive as I've seen him start off a match. Martel usually starts a lot stronger than this. It gets over the importance of the match.
Buddy slaps on a headscissors and the fans chant for Martel, who rolls Buddy over and does a somersault out and right into a toehold which he then locks a facelock on. The mask is pretty ragged by this point but we get a great visual of Buddy biting Martel's finger. That breaks the hold and Buddy runs out (selling all the way). Martel chases him around the ring but Buddy rolls in and catches him as he comes on in. He can't stop Martel, though, and soon Rick's racking Buddy's back to the fans' elation. Bonnema's having a hard time here calling Martel Martino and an elbow drop a knee drop. Martel is keeping on Buddy just like Buddy was keeping on him before. Just attack, attack, attack until he locks on a knee-assisted chinlock and slows things down. It's a bit of a weird base for Martel but he grinds it for a minute before eating a Buddy leg clap. Rose tries to hide behind Savage but Dutch ducks and Martel nails him with a punch before running out of the ring leaving a fired up Martel within. Great visual spot and the fans popped accordingly. What always amazes me about Buddy is how smoothly and effortlessly he pulls this stuff off. Case in point: he hides in the corner trying to get a time out, gets a kick in the rear, and then shot after shot from Martel as he flops around the ring. Finally, he gets a perfectly time knee up as Martel runs into the corner. The smoothness here is just amazing. Everything looks so good and natural and it all makes sense. He works on Martel's throat with a few hidden judo chops and then hits this really good two step dropkick, which I've never seen him do before. Martel kicks out at two. Buddy slaps on a grounded headlock and the fans get behind Martel.
Martel starts to fight up but Buddy drives him into the corner and chops away. He then goes for a hip through out but Martel blocks it, hits one, this really smooth back body drop to follow, and then two dropkicks and the rana/pin for the fall. That was a really great finish for him and he should have kept it into the AWA. This was some of the smoothest wrestling I've seen out of them and for the time but it didn't seem at all choreographed. Totally the opposite.
Second fall starts with positioning in the center of the ring until Buddy grabs the hair and gets Martel into the corner. He goes for a choke but Martel fights back and Buddy goes on the defensive. Martel starts clubbering and stomping the back and Buddy sells it like death. I love Buddy's jump sell when he gets clubbed. Martel hits a nice gutwrench suplex and Buddy sells. Buddy cheapshots Martel but sells on the slam attempt and ends up battered more and more. I love how he tries to press his back against the turnbuckle so Martel can't get it. It's all moot though because he ends up in the abdominal stretch. Buddy grabs Savages arm and drags himself down to the mat, but Martel is just merciless with the driving knees to the spine. I'm almost starting to pity Buddy here, especially once Martel puts the crab on. Buddy is using the no dq to its fullest not in big broad ways (like chairs) but just by going to the trunks desperately and being able to get away with it. That's how he gets out of the crab but he eats a belly to back a moment later. This is just a mauling. Martel is bringing a lot of great offense here. Buddy gets a lucky, desperate, cheap shot by picking Martel up and dropping him crotch first on the turnbuckle for the second fall, though there's a cut so we don't see the pin. This match has had really subtle uses of the no dq.
Third fall starts with Buddy trying to stooge and box but getting outmoved until he lands a kick to block a back body drop. Buddy locks on the double claw to the ribs/side. Martel's selling is pretty amazing. He has the most pained look on his face ever until he goes for the mask and as he's pulling it off it's almost like time freezing completely as the fans go nuts. There's DARK HAIR under the mask but at the last moment, Buddy gets an eyerake in. He's irate now and hits the nastiest double drop and then an elbow to the weakened midsection. Martel kicks out at two and starts to fight up from his knees with punches. Martel lands a revenge double stomp of his own, then another. This might be Martel's best offensive showcase ever. Buddy gets up and goes for a bulldog but Martel pushes him into the corner. Martel tries to do one of his own and ends up in the corner too. Buddy goes for the belly to back into a corner crotch again but Martel flips over backwards and does it to Buddy! He gets the pin as the crowd erupts. Awesome finish. Great match. It's so hard to put these matches against one another This one was smoother, had better offensive, and smarter use of the stip than I can put into words, plus a pretty epic finish but they're all so damn good.
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