They'd been playing up how Piper/Martel would get flowers before the matches from fans for months. This match, Rose and Wiskowski get them too. There better damn well be a foreign object in one or something. Anyway, this is because the Sheepherders left the territory after losing that double hair match with the Army. The belts were vacant and Owen put them up between the two logical teams. They're also building to a no DQ title match between Martel and Rose the upcoming Tuesday.
Piper and Rose to start. Stooging right from the get go as Wiskowski holds Piper from the outside but Roddy ducks and Buddy nails his partner. This is followed immediately by a ridiculously awesome Rose somersault bump off of a turnbuckle treatment in the corner and both heels bumping huge for Piper's punches to the fans' delight. Bit of back and forth before Martel tags in to a huge pop and he starts unloading on a begging off Buddy. Martel grinds a headlock to a ten count and tags in Piper who's about to grab Rose when he does a slow fall backwards.The timing on this stuff is great. Piper slaps on the headlock, repeats the ten grinds as the fans count along and then hits a dropkick knocking Rose out of the ring. Buddy's falling all over the place on the outside selling, stumbling, and asking for time out. He rolls in to a flying mare, that cool double stomp face split, and a head drop from Piper but manages to get a knee up in the corner and a quick enough tag to Wiskowski that they stop the tag to Martel and we get the beginnings of a heat segment. Great shine.
Wiskoski is going back to the double stomach claw he used vs Boyd which is a good visual move for him given his size. Ah, Piper's left side of the back was injured in an attack by the Army apparently, so they're honing in on that especially. Piper's great in the hold, struggling and trying to get over to make the tag. Rose runs around to nail Martel with a cheapshot delaying it and allowing Ed to snap on a nice looking bodyscissors roll to get Piper away from the corner. He keeps the hold on, continuing on the ribs/side while Piper tries to work towards the corner again. Great sense of struggle here as the fans go nuts in support and Martel reaches for all he's worth from outside. At one point, Piper gets his foot over and Martel grabs it, trying to drag him over, but Barr breaks it up. Then Piper starts flailing wildly with his arms to make a potential tag (still in the body scissors) until Wiskowski uses his side to scoot back to the center of the ring and it's all top notch stuff. Rose tags in and slaps the hold on again, doing some big leverage moves to sort of atomic drop Piper on the ma and tries to turn it into a pin. Piper scrambles for the corner, but Rose quickly tags Ed and they cut him off. Piper goes through the legs but Wiskowski manages to position himself between Roddy and Rick. Piper fights his way out of the heel corner, DIVES for the tag with a whipped out arm, but Wiskowki grabs his foot at the last second and pulls him back and then quickly grabs the clawhold again, with a added jab, to stop Piper long enough for Rose to come back in, but Piper's just too determined and he manages to roll away at the last second for the hot tag. That was one of the best hot tag sequences I've ever seen and Martel has almost Promethean fire empowering him as he cleans house, with punches, an awesome looking hip through, a few quick, tight dropkicks, and a 'rana into a pin for the fall. This was one of the best single falls I've seen in Portland and that's saying a lot.
Second fall starts with Wiskowski trying to start, but Barr disallows it. Heels conference in the corner and Martel slams their heads together. They do some quick rope running and after a backslide, I thought they were going to keep it up and do Savage/Steamboat near falls for a second. Instead, Rose rolls out and stalls to work the crowd. He walks around the ring, rolls in and tags Wiskowski from a prone position. His mannerisms are really great. Martel and Wiskowski start working a headlock base (Martel in charge). Rose blind tags in after a minute or two but ends up in a headlock too. Martel's very good at working this. His diving reversal of Rose's hairpull is particularly good. Buddy keeps trying to cheat his way out, by grabbing the hair or tights. Piper goads Wiskowski around the apron and then does a blind switch with Martel while Barr is distracted. Barr catches the end of it and looks bemused. It's kind of weird to see Piper do running headlock takeovers off the turnbuckles. Piper positions Buddy into the corner for the tag they do a cute little spot where Piper lets go of the headlock, Buddy rears back, and Martel catches the hand from behind and puts him right back into the headlock. Martel does a great backflip off the turnbuckle and then that corner hiptoss of his I really like. Buddy ducks away from a dropkick though and it's one of the best missed dropkicks I've ever seen. There's this super fast element of flailing feet that's just great.
Rose makes it to the corner and Wiskowski starts on Martel's ribs (where he landed after the dropkick). Martel's selling is so good, as in "one of the best ever" good in this. Wiskowski is both methodological and dogged, keeping his offense varied and giving it time to breath as he stalks the selling Martel around the ring. using the ropes as a prop and switching stomps with a slam with a bearhug. He controls ring positioning with the bear hug, which lets Rose cut off a the beginning of a hope spot and tag in, using an Argentinian backbreaker, which I've not seen him use before. He marches Martel back into the corner and drops his head onto the turnbuckle before just exchanging it with Wiskowski in a cool looking moment. Piper rushes in to break it up but Wiskowski just slaps on the bear hug again. This is a great heat segment and very different than the Piper one from the first fall. Rose, cheerleading on the outside, jumped on the bottom turnbuckle and broke the rope. I assume that was a mistake. Anyway, Piper gets fed up again and comes in. Barr gets distracted. Buddy comes in without a tag. He clotheslines Piper on the top rope with a catapult and lands him on his knees, working int into a backbreaker hold. Martel bridges up to the ropes and drops a knee. Rose cuts him off and tries to slam his head onto the mat, but Martel reverses it, so Rose desperately punches Piper off the apron to prevent a tag. Great moment. Buddy rolls Martel up but Piper rushes in and starts pounding on him. Barr restrains him. Wiskowski runs in and Rose grabs the broken turnbuckle and smashes it across Martel's back. Wiskowski puts the bear hug back on and drives him down to a pinning situation but Martel tries to fight his way on top out of it. I'm amazed that wasn't the end of the fall. They really protect Martel in this. Barr breaks the hold and Wiskowski clubbers and hits an atomic drop but Piper breaks up the pin. Rose comes in. Martel leap frogs him off the ropes but Buddy turns it around catching him in basically a boss man slam Robinson backbreaker variation that looks awesome and I'm not sure anyone had ever seen before. This time Wiskowski comes in to cut off Piper and that's the second fall. Great stuff, with a finish way ahead of its time in both details and complexity.
Third fall has the rope fixed. Martel is still reeling. They start on Martel but he reverses a Wiskowski suplex. Rose gets a phantom tag and tries to cut him off, but Martel reverses a gutwrench suplex and then a headlock into a back suplex. He's not able to follow up at all though due to the hurting back and how he keeps using his back to reverse. Rose tags out to Wiskowski who cuts him off but Martel fights back with punches in the corner, selling huge as he does. He's basically using the ropes to stand up and to even help with a forward kick that knocks Wiskowski down. The heels are so dogged in keeping him from tagging though. Wiskowski uses his superior size to drag him back to his corner and Rose comes in. Martel fights his way out of the corner again and this time finally gets the molten hot tag. I'm not sure I've ever seen a hot tag that was harder to work for. It was almost too hard, but not quite.
Piper wailing away on Rose in the corner is pretty amazing. The crowd has come unglued. Piper hits some big knee lifts on both heels. Wiskowski begs off but gets a double eye poke for his trouble. Roddy tosses him out but Barr stops him from going after. Rose tries a sneak attack to Piper's back but Piper shrugs it off and just nails him off the apron. It's distraction enough (and just really smart, detailed oriented wrestling, of which Portland might have the distinction for having more of than anywhere else ever) for Wiskowski to come back in and get a cheap punch in. They do a cool combo slingshot, back body drop with Rose coming in and chucking Piper over the top. Buddy tries to go after Piper on the outside but Martel chases him around the ring, pummeling him. This lets Wiskowski work on Piper with all four guys outside of the ring. Piper fights back and they slam the heels together.
They're brawling like madmen here with the faces just wailing away and the bell ringing repeatedly and the crowd screaming. Faces finally lock on double sleepers in the center of the ring but they all crash into each other and just end up a mass of humanity. Rose grabs the belts and start using them as weapons. Then Martel grabs one from Barr and uses it a weapon too and it ends up with each team having one belt as the heels take a powder.
It ends as a double countout and obviously sets up a money match to come (they push the singles match between Rose/Martel to Saturday and do a lumberjack match on Tuesday). It breaks down AGAIN after they announce it. Definitely a top 10 Portland match from what I've seen and maybe one of the best tag matches I've seen in the whole decade.
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