January 2000

This was Pimpi's debut in CMLL. Apparently, it was first time CMLL had allowed an exotico on their shows in over 25 years. Pimpi looked rapt to be making his debut. He brought along regular dance partner, Tony Rivera. They couldn't do the type of risque stuff you might see in Monterrey, so instead they brawled with an intensity that you don't usually see in undercard bouts. The others fed off this and worked stiffer than they normally would. It was exciting to watch as there was an edge to the exchanges that you only see in apuesta feuds. Rivera was as fired up as I've seen him and Pimpi did these wonderful "girly" strikes that still looked like stinging blows. I loved t…

Bucanero ambushed Tarzan as he was being interviewed at the entrance before the match. The contrast between the two is pretty obvious right away. Tarzan Boy is a good looking guy who is all smiles. A young girl in the crowd holds up a sign made out of pink posterboard, cut in the shape of a heart, professing her love for the guy. (I think she wanted him that way, if you know what I mean.) He's facing Rey Bucanero, a demonic figure wearing face paint accompanied by longtime hellraiser El Satanico as a corner man. This had all the makings of a classic. I wouldn't quite put it at that level because of a few shifts in momentum that seem more perfunctory than earned, but I do …

This was a fun way to get PWO2K going! Solar has been a favorite since I went through 1990 EMLL, but lots of the other guys were fairly new to me. The ones that stood out the most were Zumbido and Violencia. Violencia is terrific at setting up other guys for spots and eating moves. If I'm a high flyer, I want Violencia as my opponent every night of the week. Zumbido is just awesome -- he does the Shawn Michaels working style, but pairs good flying offense with the exaggerated bumping. There were a couple of rough moments -- Mr. Mexico's dive at the end was pretty awkward, and the attempted backbreaker from Solar at the beginning didn't quite hit the mark. Fans in the buil…

Awesome to see these two at this stage. Spanky's personality is off the charts. If you had told me one of these two would be a beloved megastar in a little more than a decade, I would have thought, oh, well it has to be Spanky based on this. He's also the better worker at this stage, as Danielson would improve greatly with time. Really fun match, though, with a huge dive to the floor from Spanky being the highlight. Shooter Schultz and Rudy Boy Gonzalez run in to attack the oddball tag team partners right when it looks like Spanky has a win in hand.

Funny to see AJPW embracing the late 90’s attitude with the all black faction shirts. Kanemaru is someone will we get a healthy dose of throughout the decade but he is just starting out here as Burning’s underling. Akiyama and Omori start off by taking it to the mat. This I think is a throwaway segment but actually one that feels fresh against the big talking point that late 90’s All Japan and up to the split was all about head drops. This was as 1970’s feeling out process as you could get. Kanemaru mixes in some comedy right from the beginning when he headbutts Omori in the dick. Omori doesn’t take kindly to that and they start teeing off naturally on the junior member o…

With this and the previous six man, we essentially have all of the big focal points of AJ coming into 2000 besides Vader and Kawada. Kikuchi and Kakihara have a more shooty opening than the matwork in the previous six man. Action seems to start earlier in this one with Kakihara busting a suplex onto the floor and a kick right to the face of a wounded Kikuchi. After some meandering, Misawa comes in vs. Smith. Smith is a weird trajectory as he was doing pretty well in the gaijin role in 98-2000, then the NOAH split happens and his relevance falls off. He gets in some pretty good arm work on Misawa. Misawa does a nice diving headbutt off the second rope to Taue and then roll…

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Welp, didn’t take long before I had my first googling Noumi and Fujii apart. Another day, another crowd brawl in Korakuen. This one wasn’t that bad either as LCO gets jumped at the bell and has a oh hell no moment where they drag around Noumi and Fujii demolishing them with chairs and whipping them into the building. Storyline here was simple but really effective with LCO just brutalizing the more inexperienced wrestlers. They do a variety of brutal moves including jumping piledrivers and stiff kicks. Noumi even starts bleeding she gets so pulverized. I know LCO is known for this style but I found this really effective in how bruising they could be without the typical Vad…

This suffered from being another crowd brawl at the start. By this point, I was checked out on that spot. When the match settled down, it became real interesting. The action was fierce but stuff was done with purpose for the most part and little touches like Toyota being rolled out of position on the figure four so Wakizawa couldn’t save her with a dive were nice touches. The Miho and Toyota tandem worked well together and I was unfamiliar with Miho and Kumiko’s work for the most part. The first fall progressed with pinfall attempts to bombs and finally Kumiko putting away Miho with some kicks. Second fall starts as more of the same as the Maekawa/Watanabe team is dominan…

Welcome to the HHH show. HHH announces to DX that he wants to go at things alone here. Steph’s wardrobe has evolved a lot in 16 years. I really liked the beginning of this match with Show showing his size dominance. He uses his big man offense and HHH bumps around for him doing the Harley Race bump to the floor. HHH overall has to use resources and bursts of strength to get on offense like shoving Show into the steps and over the announce table. Show’s kickout on the high knee was nice showing that he still had strength in him that HHH hadn’t worn down yet. Really close nearfall off a sidewalk slam and Show follows that up with a big powerslam for another. Show gets the c…

And this is the first match I've come across during my Jeff Hardy reevaluation that sucks. I had no idea I had an opinion on Al Snow but apparently I do and it's that he's the shits and that he couldn't work himself out of a shoot. His control segments were soooooo dull and uninteresting, you have Jeff Hardy bumping for you and you can't take advantage of it, what the hell man? Booking of this was bizarre and creepy, the worst of the late WCW/TNA gimmick matches complete with the implied rape or violence against women. Bad, bad, go away Al Snow.

These were the two lesser ladies in the tag match yesterday so I didn’t have real high hopes for a singles encounter. Miho really takes the fight to Kumiko in the onset. She tries to attack the leg which isn’t a bad strategy at all considering how reliant Kumiko is on her kicks. Kumiko goes along with this but eventually gets pissed off and takes over. Miho shows resilience and really attacks the leg in good fashion. Kumiko is good at targeting the leg of Miho too proving she has more in her arsenal besides the kick. I am glad to see the palpable hate being conveyed better in the singles match between these two than the tag the night before. If this performance would have…

This match was a garbled mess where they had some solid ideas and spots, but weren't able to execute it well enough to pull any of it off and the end result is a disjointed feeling while watching. The opening exchange was hot and overall this did seem to be a story about Toyota going toe to toe with Hotta and coming out on top, but there was also moments of Hotta dominance with leg work that was immediately forgotten by Toyota. Toyota also is really tough to believe as someone that can match up in a strike exchange with someone like Hotta and I would have liked more of storyline where she utilized her high risks and moves to then gain the advantage with her big moves and …

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Liger’s suit is boss and here he comes out with two women to put everything over the top. That said, the IWGP junior title is one of the wimpiest looking things I have ever seen. I know the narrative of dome junior matches sucking but with these two, I was still really looking forward to this one. They bump the opening mat work exchange for heated strikes and I was really on board. Liger works over Kanemoto hits a series of bombs and then wins with the brainbuster. WTF????? Why was Kanemoto made to be the sacrificial lamb here? This really actively pissed me off. 1/2 *

Mutoh’s gear is boss here. The Dome setup looks big time with the puro and big entrances. JJ Dillion is looking on I guess to scout talent. I never know what to expect with these two in the ring. They have had some classics and some snoozers. This starts with a really long mat section. It is possible that it is in the hindsight of what we have seen in 2000 so far, but I enjoyed the opening as a change of pace. I also thought Mutoh put in a strong performance hitting things like his elbow and corner charge elbow to move the action forward. I will also give the crowd credit for sticking through the early portion. Mutoh gets dropped awkwardly on his head and then gives Chono…

Look I like Kashin alright and probably more than most but this match will essentially live and die by how inoffensive he is. Takaiwa and Tanaka start out with some dueling leg mat work and Otani shows he is an ass by giving it a sarcastic applause when he comes in the ring. Otani and Kashin proceed to have a really nice exchange with some added touches like Tanaka moving out the rope when Otani reaches for them and Kashin and Tanaka double teaming Otani. Tanaka finds himself in the wrong corner and Takaiwa absolutely waylays him with a lariat. The action here hasn’t taken a turn where one person is worked over for an extended amount but it has remained interesting and th…

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We are still going by the Pegasus moniker but Benoit is in with the big boys now and they waste no time attacking each other with strikes. Benoit’s chops in the early going are some of the most lethal chops I have ever seen as they ring out across the cavernous Tokyo Dome. Benoit really taking control here helped the match speed along and it didn’t overstay its welcome. Tenzan is someone that can have some sympathy built up for him in the right setting and this was exemplified here. Benoit is really ferocious on top and stops Tenzan at every turn including catching him on the top rope and sending him crashing down with a super plex. Benoit is also able to hoist the big ma…

This is Murahama's debut and that is pretty astounding. This didn't have the pace or intensity of his stuff a few months later, but as an intro to what he can bring to the table and the shoot style of the Osaka Pro matches overall, this was a good intro. Murahama is able to show how slowly but surely he was able to find openings and overwhelm Hoshikawa on his way to picking up the victory. *** (6.1 )

I am really looking forward to this one. I feel like I am one of the bigger Delphin fans around still and Togo’s rep needs no explanation. Really strong and crisp opening here with everything executed well and setting the table for the rest of the match. Once things open up we get a nice headscissors on the floor from Delphin which causes Togo to regroup with his cronies and look for the comfort of a chair. With some distraction and help from his buds, Togo takes over using a chair mainly focusing on the leg of Delphin. The way the factions are interacting here is reminiscent of Dragon Gate later in the decade. I never like the oblivious referee trope but stuff here with …

I am really conflicted on this one. We do get a cut at the beginning so I am unsure how much we miss but all we do get is essentially a bomb spot fest. I have no other way of describing it. The moves were brutalizing and impressive but I didn't have any conjecture to what I was watching. This would be a very interesting match for the people that praise Strong BJ in 2016 to watch and see where they align because as a brutalizing spectacle, I enjoyed it more than the Seikmoto and Okabayashi affairs in the current year. Kuroda was presented as the underdog here that was not willing to give up. His eventual victory was treated as a breakthrough moment with the crowd going cra…

Nothing really represents the changing of the new decade yet like this match. Whereas with watching 1990, it felt like it took a while for the changes to come, both with the matches I am watching in the first 10 days, the booking choices of new big guys like Sasaki and HHH getting the belt or unfortunate real life circumstances like this being Bret Hart's last true match, the changes have came early that we are going in a different direction. This match really serves as a endpoint for that. Bret isn't able to do much and the plunder affair him and Funk go through here feels really by the numbers for me. It isn't terrible as this is two top 100 workers of all time, but bot…

Very good vet vs young guy match. I am not sure how established Carlito was at this point, but this is classic, old-style build of an established guy getting over a young guy. The first half of the match is more old school than anything we've seen so far in 2000 -- it looks like it just as easily could have happened in 1980, and I don't say that as an insult. It actually makes the style much more distinct. Carlito doing the flying headscissors was the first time that any move was done that probably would be a little advanced for 1980 but they still kept building really slow. Ray put Carly in a chinlock and kept him in it for a while, which is something that I do think dra…

First things first, I know Stephanie hasn't been in the heel position for long, but she was absolutely atrocious on commentary. Her sound effects for moves were groan inducing and her commentary quips weren't menacing or intriguing in the slightest. That said, early into 2000, HHH is having himself a nice run. This was the perfect match for the big heel vs. the hot commodity face in the promotion. Rikishi's rise to this much popularity was a shock to many and you certainly don't want to squash that. However, HHH is being built as the main heel focal point so in the end he also needs to be presented as strong in the close. This was achieved in all fronts. Rikishi and HHH h…