January 2000

Fuerza Guerrera against Negro Casas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think Villano III paid off fans for their seats, so his brothers could set front row! Take that Ted DiBiase. First fall is quick, highlighted by Atlantis and Villano III doing an awesome exchange ending with a vicious Atlantis tope. Then we get the dream between Casas and Fuerza which does not disappoint, before the tecnicos quickly wrap up the fall. Falls ending does not stop Villano III and Atlantis as they brawl all around ringside. With Atlantis ripping up the mask in revenge from the previous match and even beating up Villano III right in front of his brothers.Atlantis tries to freaking rip the seat o…

We start backstage with Satanico teaching his Infernales the history of CMLL. The tecnicos show up and Satanico insults them,until they attack and leave the tecnicos laying. Weird little skit. During the Infernales entrance Tarzan Boy jumps Satanico and he gets beat up until Rivera and Olimpico show up to even the match up. The rudos are just so bad ass here, holding Tarzan Boy for Satanico to get free shots in. Then when they toss him, they kick the other's asses too. Including picking up Olimpico and dumping him head first onto a char in the attendance. In the ring Los Infernales use rope to tie up Tarzan Boy so Satanico can beat the shit out of him, until they get …

Dusty is still the man. He gets a huge pop coming out with the hometown fans rallying him on. They really milked the opening of this with Corino doing a long but effective promo that really makes you want to see some interaction. The match was a plunder brawl but a ton of fun full of nostalgia when Dusty mixed it up. I did like certain things like him not being able to out power Rhino at points and also Dusty missing an elbow drop when the finish seemed apparent. Eventually, he is able to pin Corino to the delight of the fan. ***

A familar pairing but I really appreciated some of the new stuff that was done to differentiate this one. Tajiri starts out by blowing mist which distracted Guido enough for him to kick in his head. The dive sequence here is well done and Tajiri has a really neat reversal that goes straight into the Tarantula. In my favorite spot, Tajiri declares a truce with Guido and pleads with him to go to the top to finish off Crazy. When Guido goes up, Tajiri trips him up and then stands on his crotch. Both Guido and Crazy have enough of Tajiri's shit and eliminate him. Afterwards, we have an awkward spot with Sal and Crazy where he botches a powerbomb. I was surprised to see Guido …

Sometimes these matches hit me and sometimes they just feel sloppy and clunky. This was in the latter portion as the beginning really felt like everyone was off a step and just didn’t have the intensity that they sometimes do. Things pick up with a big chairshot and the Tanaka tornado DDT spot through the table. Even something like Tanaka’s missile dropkick didn’t get much air. Finish runs through the same thing as the week before with Awesome’s big splash and the Bomb through the table. Every thing felt more crisp the week before. This made me feel like the feud overall was getting into Spike vs. Awesome territory. **1/2

This really wrote home for me how ineffective Mikey was in WCW. Not necessarily his fault mind you, it just seems besides Public Enemy he had the toughest time integrating elsewhere. I liked the beginning with him being real aggressive towards RVD and hitting some nice looking offense. RVD weathers that storm and then he essentially runs through his spot show offense that looks like it should be an attraction at Disney World ala Indiana Jones where he shows you a "backstage" look at dangerous spots in wrestling. I can't get into it at all as it has no flow. Disappointing main to an otherwise good house show effort for ECW. **

This feud seems to have produced a lot of disappointing matches even while being fun as an idea. But this particular match rocked and is easily the best of their series by a pretty big margin. I think that's because it's unique. They close out the feud by letting Spike get lots of shots in, which in turn makes Awesome look even better than by dominating him because of all the kickouts after taking so much punishment. Spike also comes out looking better for going toe-to-toe with Awesome as much as he did. He used a chair as a big neutralizer here, which didn't bother me in the least because it's pretty much the only way this would hold up as a credible fight I think. And I…

Like Guido's match with Crazy two weeks earlier, this only got about 7 minutes, but wow, did they make the most of it. The commercial break after the intros and then again after a minute or so of action is more than a little frustrating, but at least we get to see a fully realized match that's far more violent than their usual fare. It's amazing how these guys were truly able to create something different almost every time out. Tajiri was mostly the showcased guy in this case, but Guido wrestled like a guy pissed off with something to prove. I thought this was pretty awesome and I liked the extra emphasis on hate. ***1/2

The Rachies explode. I have never seen Adam Flash outside of CZW setting so we can see what he had about a year before I would have watched him way back in 2001. I had forgotten how thick Danny Rose was. Pretty fun match here. Something about EWF I enjoy to a degree. They have the generic commentary with a face/heel color structure but it is done with both of them being energetic and not entirely grating. The shots here looked good and the intensity was there even though the heat in the tag was much better. Bad Crew also tries to interfere and we get a contrived finish where multiple chair shots are dished out and Flash ends up on top of Rose winning the belt. **1/4 O…

Donnie B's leisure suit is great. I loved the beginning of this as the BSB get legit heat and Acid's charisma jumps out. Bad Crew is the stereotypical 90's Northeast tag team. The BSB are treated to a back door boyz chant by the classy crowd. This is really worked like a traditional tag and done in a good way. The BSB take the heat over the Bad Crew and cut the ring off. I think they do a good job of being impressive here without being overly flashy. Hot tag is made and we get a hot finish with Donnie B taking a bump and the finisher for the Bad Crew, the Badlands being used to win the match. A really great way at making the BSB look big time coming into a promotion while…

There is something homely about being back at Onita Pro as weird as that feels typing it out. Big brawl to start to the shock of no one and Onita is piledriving people through tables. It was around this point that I realized I wasn't really familiar with Kikuzawa. Let me look him up on cagematch. HOLY SHIT that is Ebessen???? This the prototype garbage style match but had some sick looking spots, blood and the action was constant. I fully admit that is my ultimate wrestling guilty pleasure but this was a fun change of pace from the weapon dependency that the ECW brawls typically have, Mexican Death Match excluded. Onita gets the win (big shock) by powerbombing Nagasaki. I…

Good for the novelty of seeing Awesome throw Guido around but not much else. Guido gets lawn darted into the crowd like a surfer at a rock concert. Sal has to run interference on his behalf for him to take over. His tactics on top are cheap and effective like biting and clawing for every inch of an advantage he can sustain. A crucifix bomb allows Awesome to flatten him. Awesome calls for his trusty table. Sal and Judge Jeff get into it a bit and what do you know but an Awesome Bomb through a table wins another match for big Mike. **

Gertner grabs the mic and has some puns on Orlando's theme parks. Rhino and company come out and Joel gets a gore for his trouble. RVD gets called out and here he comes. This may be the show that has turned me off of the fancams. I had enjoyed them for the most part up to this point and the 1/28 show was really good but this one was uneven and just felt thrown together. Fonzie legit crowd surfs when they get rid of him. Rhino is on top for parts of this match but he hooks on a half crab for no reason and these two really don't have any chemistry together as workers. Corino tries to use a chair but RVD uses it. 5 star frog splash. Thanks for coming. This was BADDDD. *1/2

Sign Guy does his Paul Heyman tribute act and here comes Sabu to save the day. This again started fairly basic for a Sabu match which gives me hope that one day we will see a version of that. I get that the stereotypical ECW fan on this Southern route wants to see tables and violence but it gets grating watching it every night especially when there is little to no variety in the match if it involves Sabu and RVD no matter who the opponent is. CW does at least get a good bit of offense in here on Sabu including a spinebuster through the table. Sabu comes back and tries to put Lou through a table. CW saves him but gets caught up in the table in the process. Arabian facebust…

Corino cuts another great promo getting some huge heat. Tommy comes out and responds. How can I say this nicely but Francine looks like the years have taken a toll. Tajiri attacks on behalf of Corino and is a pretty entrenched heel tonight after being essentially a face last night. The action here was fun and I liked Dreamer in this type of setting. Tajiri gets tied into the tree of woe and takes a brutal chair shot. A big schmozz finish with Corino coming in to interfere, Francine being on the apron, and Raven making the save for the faces. I could have done without that and it feels like Corino and Co. take a lot of losses. **1/2

Low Ki has his traditional music already. Reil has a unique gimmick of the guido too good for the likes of the crowd. He also comes out to an awful male cover of No Scrubs. This had a tighter approach and more restraint than the Blade match making it better overall. Some good wrestling and Ki showing his speed. An excellent jump up senton to the floor from Ki was the early portion highlight. I thought Reil was fine too here on top. He was certainly winded in the closing moments of the match but he tried to stick with Ki and work for the finish. He ends up picking up the victory and then shows respect by shaking Ki’s hand at the end. The first of many 2000’s Ki matches I w…

Our first look at Todd Martin who may honestly be one of my favorite worker of the 2000’s based on his IWA-MS run. Lance Russell on commentary here is such a contrast with Dave on the other channel. Really spirited match with Dundee getting in a low blow really quickly without no one looking. Morton is just a classic heel with rakes, punches, kicks, etc. Nothing is flashy per say but everything is heelish in a logical way that also looks painful. Russell yelling at the referee is still great. Dundee makes his comeback and covers Morton for a nearfall. Dundee refuses to cover due to beating Morton up more. Shoot to Thrill fires up and here comes Bull Pain. They bring in t…

Smothers still has his street clothes on. I have never noticed Ali much and his gimmick is kind of weird here but he has good crowd support. It seems like Ali started really late if cagematch is correct in that he is 48 years old now. Pretty basic action throughout but the match gets thrown out with Cornette involved. Randy Hales comes out to take care of him. Brandon Baxter is a heel again I guess as he uses the deadly cloth to smother Ali. Smothers continues the beatdown and this all feels pretty hollow overall. I did like Dave Brown cutting Smothers off at the end. *1/2

I am really looking forward to the Bad Attitude team. Here they are made to look dominant vs. the invading ECW team and work really well together with double teams and effective heel tag work. The finish was done in a great way to make the big stars win but keep the homegrown talent strong in defeat. David Young in particular had a good mix of power and agility throughout this match and meshed well with Kid Kash. ***

"I can tell Christmas has come and gone to Cornelia, Ga because all the women still have Ruldolph's hoof prints on their back" Jeff G Bailey. What a treasure. He then calls Chance Williams a dishrag whore and says she has the whitest teeth he has ever came across. After the break, Chance Williams comes out and informs Bailey that he didn’t say it was him that he was facing. The lights go out and come back up with Stone Mountain in the ring. Bailey scurries around and then gets caught in a powerbomb to give Stone Mountain the win. Chickenshit heel fun. ¼* We then get a clip of AJ Styles winning the title from K-Krush and this leads right to Bailey and Crowbar beating u…

HBK has a special surprise for the Board of Education who are essentially doing a Mean Street Posse gimmick. Shawn brings out Dragon and Spanky teaming together and they rush out to a house of fire. Dragon botches a dropkick in the early goings here. It is interesting to me that I wouldn’t call Dragon bad by any means and as I have mentioned before, the stiff strikes are there but he doesn’t look as polished as AJ and Low Ki for sure or really even Kendrick to a degree. Elbow drop and fog splash dives gain Spanky and Dragon the titles. The referee informs Shawn that the belts can’t change hands. Sounds like a lot of authority this referee thrusted upon himself. Shawn make…

WCW Saturday Night where they would throw out any match just for the heck of it and here we get Parka and Silver King vs Villanos, just days after Villanos were ringside watching his brother murder Atlantis. A fun start with Villanos destroying Silver King as he was face in peril. Hot tag to La Parka who hit some fun moves, before Silver King and Parka both did some dives. Back in the ring and Silver King is face in peril again A woozy King goes for a double jump moonsault like an idiot and of course misses. A front roll DDT by Villano almost kills King. Parka tags himself in and hits a twisting moonsault for the win. ** 1/2

Another solid match. Leroux seemed to take instruction well and that led to him being placed up the top of the card. In some ways, he also feel like the last in a line of guys that had a good run for a small period of time in the big two and then disappeared. He still is someone recognizable as a name today and probably will be working for AIW in the upcoming year. One of my great mark out moments as a fan was driving to Oxford, Alabama and seeing Leroux on I-20. We waved at him and he did his signature gesture of touching his sideburns. Anyway, this was another fun match on a day that had quite a many of them for WCW. Tony and Scott again work well as a commentary pairin…

Never seen Williams before and judging by his cagematch, I won't again. Regal still in WCW at this point feels weird. Williams gives Regal and good workman wrestling match here. Regal is able to show his signature moves and power and essentially squash a big guy like Williams. Dave Taylor tells someone outside the business as Regal jaws with Nick Patrick inside. The Regal cutter is used to put Williams away but it doesn't have a name here. **

I’m a little perplexed Rogers wasn’t used by more of the super indies coming up and he still has a good look here and good basics. I thought the action here displayed by Romeo and Rogers was better than what Chavo through out there. Rogers even hits an overhead release pumphandle and some heel mannerisms which was encouraging. Romeo again blows one of his big moves in a hurricanrana and a sloppy pescado to the outside. Some miscommunication on a rollup pin where Rogers doesn’t really kick out but the referee says he did. Another rollup is the finish which makes me feel the referee blew it the first time. Rogers looked good here, Romeo did not. *1/4