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After the commercial break, Coss shows off the official Extravaganza Merchandise: 8x10 color pictures, programs, hats, and a t-shirt reading "I was there" which I am proud to say I have hanging in my closet. Coss went over the card for the night, which would be mainly national talent. The planned card was:

Roddy Piper vs. Buddy Rose
Ric Flair vs. Billy Jack Haynes for the NWA title
Rick Martel vs. Mike Miller for the AWA title
The Road Warriors vs. the Hennigs for the AWA tag team title
Sgt. Slaughter vs. Kendo Nagasaki.

Now it was time for the most boring part of the show. The "scientific" match, which was two babyfaces in a boring match that always went to the time limit draw. Coss used this time to talk about Tuesday night's spectacular, mentioning that battling midgets had been added to the card. 

Billy Jack Haynes is shown in his home watching a tape of his last match against Ric Flair for the NWA World title, six months ago. Haynes clamps on the full nelson and has the title won when Rip Oliver runs out and jumps Billy Jack causing a DQ. Haynes says that this time he will win the World title for the great state of Oregon with the full nelson. A video is shown of Billy Jack Haynes preparing for the match. Then, back at the arena, Billy Jack squashes Diamond Timothy Flowers with the full nelson in two minutes.

Coss shows pictures of Sgt. Slaughter, Kendo Nagasaki, and the Road Warriors. Next, a video taped interview of Ric Flair is shown. He says right there in the middle of the coliseum that just as the Trailblazers can't win a game in Portland "Oreygone" (as most of you incorrectly pronounce it), he will defeat Billy Jack.

Northwest Heavyweight champ Mean Mike Miller does a promo at the arena. He says after he wins the AWA World title on May 21, he'd finish up that weeks shows, but then they'd never see him again because he'd be going all over the world to fulfill Rick Martel's obligations. 

Don Owen gives a plug for the big show then introduces the next match, in which Mike Miller drew Rocky Ventura at one fall apiece. Between falls Don Coss conducted interviews with Buddy Rose and Bobby Jaggers with Portland Trailblazer Michael Thompson. The Jaggers promo was memorable because he kept referring to Thompson as "Michael Jackson." 

Sunday May 19, 1985. "Viewer's Digest" special on KPTV documenting the history of Portland Wrestling. They interview Don Owen at his ranch in Eugene, OR. He tells the story of how his father got into promoting. The first wrestling match they promoted was in Eugene, and had 13 people in attendance. 

The interview went on for over a half-hour, but one of the most interesting questions was when Owen was asked about the success of the WWF. Owen said it was going to be the downfall of the sport of pro wrestling because with all the hours of free wrestling on TV, nobody will want to pay to see the live matches anymore. Several wrestlers both past and present were also interviewed, primarily Billy Jack and Bobby Jaggers. 

Later that night on the 10 o'clock news a segment ran talking about how pro wrestling had become the latest fad. Legendary wrestler Dutch Savage is interviewed, along with some of the then current wrestlers, and there is heavy promotion for the big Extravaganza.

Tuesday May 21, 1985. Rowdy Roddy Piper appears on the local "Two at Four" talk show. Piper was in Portland because his wife was about to have a baby, so he was taking time off to be at home with her. This was an interesting interview because at the time Piper was the top bad guy in the WWF, while at the same time was in the roll of the babyface for the Tuesday night show against Buddy Rose. One of the kids in the crowd asked him why in the WWF he was bad, but in Portland he was good. Piper said that in Portland the people were used to him, while in New York they were not use to someone voicing their opinions like he does.

That night was the big night. A very worried Don Owen waited in the Coliseum for the show that was sure to bomb… after all, it had a very low advance ticket sales.  However by the time the first bell sounded that night there was a sell-out crowd of 13,000 plus fans jam packed into the Coliseum. The undercard featured a midgets match, Rocky Ventura defeating Karl Steiner, plus several other local talents such as Bobby Jaggers, Jerry Gray, Ricky Vaughn, and others. But what set this card apart from the rest were the spectacular five main events. The results were:

Rowdy Roddy Piper defeated Buddy Rose when he blocked a superplex and crossbodied Rose for the pin.

Sgt. Slaughter beat Kendo Nagasaki after Mega Maharishi accidentally hit Nagasaki with his kendo stick.

Larry and Curt Hennig defeated the AWA World tag team champs the Road Warriors by DQ. After laying Larry out, Paul Ellering and the LOD triple teamed Curt.  Billy Jack ran in and he and Curt drove the LOD from the ring.

AWA World champ Rick Martel defeated PNW heavyweight champ Mean Mike Miller with a small package. 

NWA World champ Ric Flair wrestled Billy Jack Haynes to a 45 minute time limit draw. The final match of the evening was a spectacular way to end not only a spectacular evening, but also a spectacular week.

While the magazines remember the Superdome spectaculars, the huge Shea Stadium events, and the Battle of the Belts supercards, all of us in Portland who were lucky enough to take part in this event know they all paled in comparison. 

NEXT MONTH:

A look at Jesse "the Body" Ventura

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