February 2000

Montoya has a big promo pre match and Homicide takes offense to that and has some words to say. It is said that after all these years, I still recognize Hansen as the referee. Montoya is shooting. The crowd chants for Low Ki even before he comes out and he has no boots on tonight. After clamoring to the fans, the match starts proper. Ki gets in a nasty tight choke right away and takes Montoya down. Montoya reverses that into a great armbar and I love how you are really seeing the escapes and strategies play out here. Ki goes after the leg which is a sound strategy on the big man. Montoya really lays in in with some cross forearms and a nasty crossface. Homicide calls for …

This is a very workman’s type match. Scoot has some solid work on the leg and Daniels sells it well. It is kind of worked a bit weirdly in the fact that Daniels is clearly the heel in the first round but here is the sympathetic face. I really enjoyed Daniels selling the leg after the triple jump moonsault. Daniels is able to hit the rolling DDT and win which is deserved because he presented himself as a star for the stuff we saw. He shakes Scoot’s hand afterwards and celebrates with his trophy. ***1/4

Daniels cuts a promo pre match and shows how he has a lot of poise at this point. The match is pretty basic but effective and a good effort for the first round of a tournament. Daniels controls most of the match and Vic is a good bumper. Vic will end up being one of the lost names of the 2000’s as he got a good push in IWA-MS in a couple of years. Vic hits a good powerbomb. I also thought Vic did a good job avoiding the Angels Wings. Daniels ends up winning with his rolling DDT that’s name is escaping me at the moment. ***

Kevin Kelly is filling in for commentary this week. Road Dogg interrupts King and they have a back and forth including some Who Wants to be a Millionaire jokes. After they get separated, Road Dogg is kind enough to go through his pre match routine. If he does that, who is the fucking heel here? Nothing much happens in the match before Pain and Morton interfere and then Dogg and Lawler team up to clean house of them. *1/2

I enjoyed this way too much. You had King and Ali both looking really good as a team and doing tandem moves and slingshot planchas to the outside. You are also able to get the comedy aspects of the match with Valiant and Baxter going after each other. Finish is nice with King pinning Baxter before Mo from Men on a Mission and someone else I don’t recognize beat up King. A big brawl results as Dave and Corey sign us off. **3/4

Smothers attacks Gibson zebra Zubaz and all. Wolfie D runs out and him and Tracy have a great fight into the back of the TV studio. A good brawl results once the match starts proper. Tracy really is someone to watch in this setting. The finish was scary with the table set up way too far and Tracy getting suplexed through it weirdly feet and leg first and at a different angle. **1/4

I like that Jason Lee’s first cousin is Derrick King. Guess the blonde hair of both should have given away their relation. Rico hits a really nice looking somersault legdrop from 2 Colds move set. I think I like this type of OVW action better than the tip top main event stuff. We still get a ref bump which seems to happen in every single match and Conway counts the pinfall which makes me roll my eyes. Still, up until the finish this was worked in a Memphis tv style and Cornette wasn’t completely overselling everything. **1/4

Loss is ribbing us making me watch more Tiger Steele after the AAA match. Spanky does miracle work here really showing the size disadvantage and playing off of that by using his speed. Tiger looks better here in a garbage style brawl but not great by any means. Spanky tries to hit a spinning DDT on Tiger and he doesn’t oblige with the bump. Big schmozz at the finish with Dragon and Tiger’s lackies coming out. Spanky ends up getting the upset and busted open hardway as a result. *3/4

Eight years ago these two were on opposite sides main eventing WCW PPVs, here they are now not even main eventing a WCW C-Show. A fair bit of stalling going on to begin with, almost as if neither is that arsed. Eaton backs Rhodes into the corner and drills him with a quality right hand before throwing him through the ropes to the outside. When he follows him out, Dustin gets the jump on him though and hip tosses him on the floor. Running lariat as Bobby takes a second bump on the ringside mats. Back inside, Rhodes straddles Eaton on the middle turnbuckle and kicks him between the legs. Bulldog and this one is over already. Eaton still throws a lovely worked pun…

Torrie Wilson has a video camera? I missed that gimmick change. I think this was my favorite of the C show matches so far. A ton of energy and highspots. Elix looks really good and keeps his balance forever on his springboard dive to the outside waiting for Kidman to get into position. Elix is also good at the cutoffs like the front face DDT. I like Hudson saying Torrie can’t afford that lifestyle on the loser share of the purse. Elix has a ton of unique offense and puts it together in a believable fashion. The best part of this is that Elix didn’t try to powerbomb Kidman. Good match. ***

A recap of last week where ‘Janitor’ Jim found the WCW TV title in the garbage and when after a successful defense against Robert Gibson he was challenged by Steven Regal who promised to retire if he didn’t beat him for the gold. Regal with an early cheap shot on the break, but Duggan reverses the Irish whip and a pair of clotheslines floors the challenger. Hacksaw follows him out and throws some bombs, which is what his offense is primarily limited to these days. He tosses Regal back inside but plays to the crowd a bit too much allowing his Lordship to get the jump on him. Regal with an armbar and as always with him look for the subtleties like how he drives his fore…

PG-13 going for the tag straps here. This gets a good amount of time and has the neat dynamic of PG-13 being the faces. JC gets worked over and while the Mamalukes aren’t exceptional, I do think they provide enough heel offense to be effective. Match escalates when Wolfie gets the hot tag. Jc grabs a hub cap and nails Johnny the Bull for a real close nearfall with Disco saving things. Tope from JC and they are going for it. Disco knocks Wolfie off the top rope and the Mamalukes are able to retain after Vito hits his swinging DDT. Really good tv match for the 7 minutes it got. ***

Jaime Howard? So begins one of the feuds that will really get a lot of play in the dying days of WCW. This was a fun start with good energy and action throughout. Both Yang and Noble are put over as upstarts and show good speed and power and I continue to appreciate how 3 Count can work together with misdirection to win the match. The Shane Helms frog splash looks good to finish things off. Excited to see this whole series play out. **1/2

Tracey’s jawing away at Mosh although it’s Thrasher who starts for the Headbangers. Smothers with a tip up over the charging Thrasher before dropping him with a flying forearm. After a pair of kicks he goads Mosh on the apron by doing his hip thrust/dance. Tag out to Michaels who looks to continue the strong start that Smothers has given them. He misses seeing the blind tag though and Mosh catches him with a flying clothesline off the middle. Brilliant, Mosh is now doing Tracey’s dance back at him! That brings Smothers is in, but as the referee tries to get him out of there Mosh clubs him from behind and he falls to the floor. ‘Stage Dive’ on Michaels and the Headb…

Oh XPW. Even the announcer is trying to sound hardcore. A garbage brawl with garbage production and garbage announcing. I guess we have to see some of this stuff for completion sake but yikes this made AAA look great in comparison. Tammy looks sad as hell here as the wheels were really falling off the plane. The lights go out as Candido celebrates his win and come back on with Shane Douglas arriving. Shane says Fuck You WCW and Kevin Sullivan. I guess this was the result of going with the young guys and them leaving you behind to go to WWF. If you ever want to see a promo where someone burns a bridge pretty much for the rest of their career, this is the one to show. *1/4

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

This was kind of the match that was fine and nothing offensive but certainly nothing lasting. That is kind of the life of JWP back then and today. I want to see Azumi in a long form singles match. **

A Deport Eddy sign. Topical. Eddy is injured but he remained relevant by mixing it up in there and taking a pipe shot to his injured elbow and bumping from Rikishi. Fun action here all around. I was especially impressed by Malenko being extra sneaky getting in cheap shots and taking shortcuts. Saturn also hasn’t looked out of his element compared to the others. Rikishi is doing the stink face now which is unfortunate because that is a move I despise. Finish was fine with Rikishi getting the win because besides Benoit he is the biggest star. Still, you can already see some rumblings about the Radicalz being buried. Rikishi sells his leg and teases not being able to dance b…

A really fun match that looks like the wave of the future. You can really tell that Jericho isn't enthusiastic about having Chyna with him as she is essentially a nonfactor. The match was worked in a high octane pace and really maximized the time allotted. Finish is clever too while presenting Kurt as legit while still taking a short cut to escape with the belt. The celebration that was added on throughout the night was awesome comedy bits. ***1/4

The crowd didn’t really care for this but I enjoyed it even though it was sloppy in spots. King is embarrassing yelling Puppies at Terri coming out. The stiffness was there including a nice chop exchange between Matt and Christian. A couple of moves were botched or a little off but some ended up looking more dangerous like the Edge powerbomb. Both teams also took turns doing some heelish things although E&C more than the Hardys. Finish comes when Terri turns on the Hardys and Christian hits the Unprettier for the win. They seem confused as to why Terri did that as well. The Hardys grab Terri by the hair but she had the forethought to hire the APA for protection so the…

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Triple H vs Cactus Jack - WWF No Way Out 2000 Hell In A Cell I am actually pretty surprised this match is not fondly remembered. It is at the height of WWF's peak in terms of quality and popularity. It is a high stakes match (yes, Foley returns the following month). I totally think Royal Rumble street fight smokes this match, but this match has INSANE fucking bumps and that is enough for Taker/Foley to get over. Though I guess that has THE Bump to end all Bumps. I think Foley returning does kinda kill the solemnity of the moment. The Royal Rumble match being a lot better does hurt this one. I guess I argued why it is pretty much forgotte…

So here lies the end of NAO essentially. They get one more babyface spiel in though. I was surprised Jr said he didn’t like the Dudley’s chances halfway through this match. NAO has to be a face by default here and do an ok job but this was all about the Dudleys push as they steamroll this established team fairly easily with an assist from a pipe that gets Billy out of the way and makes Bully look like a psycho. **

Show still complaining and showing footage. The match itself was pretty generic. Not awful but not very good either and had some eye rolling and overblown 2000 tropes like the crowd brawling and what not. Rock looks like he has things in control when Shane McMahon returns and whacks him with a chair giving Big Show the win. I am sure that was a big upset at the time but it does feel like a moment where WWF overly complicated things to get the desired result of having the McMahon in every corner gimmick at WrestleMania. **1/2

Flair gets a shockingly lukewarm reaction coming out, but wakes the people up when he starts talking. Luger is a better talker when he has to share interview time with Flair, but Flair is a total incoherent cartoon character here. Luger is obsessed with mentioning his body fat percentage. Hennig cuts them off when they start running down Minnesota. This is such a weird back and forth. I think Flair is on drugs. Hennig promises to streak in Minneapolis if he can't beat Ric tonight, and he's so much better as a hometown babyface than he is in any other role at this point. I hate this trend in both companies of double the time being given for hyping the match as for the matc…