March 2000

Crazy Max are still the biggest bullies in the Japanese schoolyard. This starts with a brutal beatdown on Tokyo including him bleeding which really added a wrinkle into everything and got over the violence. Magnum is able to tag out and TM comes in. A really good exchange with him and Taru culminating in a back kick right to Taru’s face. Then Fujita and CIMA come in and have an even better sequence than that before. One thing I appreciated about breaking up the tropes was Fujita came in again and they teased doing the pairings and stuff until Crazy Max has had enough of that and uses their number advantage to take back over. Magnum is really selling the damage and has wra…

This face side looks like a lethal lottery draw. Kidman looked good to me working his quick spots vs. the Harris twins and it not looking shockingly good. He also bumps like crazy for them when he was FIP. Short segment with everyone coming in and clearing house. Sid chokeslams Jarret and powerbombs him. Harris pulls the ref out and Kidman accidently missile dropkicks Booker allowing Jarrett to get the sneaky win. Only 4 minutes or so. The Fargo crowd has had enough and starts pelting shit in the ring. *1/4

Flair is running the B level gauntlet on Thunder between Vampiro and now Buff. A pet peeve of mine is how cartoony and corny they made Uncensored right down to the logo that looks like it should be on cartoon network. WCW excelled in the themed PPV’s but Uncensored screams of the WWE model of hey, its October so we must have a Hell in a Cell match. Not much of a match and Bagwell still feels odd as a face for me. He does hit a brutal Blockbuster that is whiffed on. Total Package comes out and whacks Buff with the bat as Liz distracts Little Naitch allowing Flair to get the win. Hennig makes the save to no reaction. Yeah, WCW is pretty bad right now guys. *1/2

Holy shit its Broken Dustin Rhodes as he calls the crowd a bunch of drones. Dustin is talking about kicking Funk’s ass. When did this partnership come to an end? Dustin calls the crowd marks and cuts a typical Russorific shoot promo. Some habits die hard. We go back to catering where Funk gets attacked by Dustin including pouring the punch bowl on him. Dustin says come on and get some. Terry waddles in and takes forever where Dustin should clearly be able to see him. Anyway, Terry bops Dustin with a chair and man I thought it was depressing seeing Flair vs. Funk until I witnessed this. Dustin calls Funk a piece of shit and then hits Funk across the head with a chair multi…

Kanemura, Gedo and Jado do a synchronized dance to start. Move over Too Cool. This was kind of a weird match in that it started into a brawl and then settled down into a more traditional tag match. Neither portion was that captivating to me but it also wasn’t awful. Things break down at the end and Jado steals a pinfall which is still a problem in 2017. This also didn’t really do a good job of setting up anything in the future as Yamakawa has beating Kanemura. I have been probably a bigger fan of Yamakawa than others going through the stuff so far but he really was just a guy here. **1/2

BJW has a N W O knockoff group too? This was a sad crowd for them as I don’t think there was more than hundred people here. This was sort of a weird match overall for me. It was good to see Teioh and he looked well enough. Motegi was a step below but not awful. The match overall though was just a 8 minute undercard affair that will be impossible to remember in a project of this scope. **1/4

Atlantis jumps Villano III in the ring and takes his mask right off. What a brutal hate filled feud. Atlantis is even aggressive with the referee and beats up Villano as he goes to the back. The rudos come out and Satanico decides to take the boots to TB once again. A nice bald head that Satanico is sporting. Brutal rudo beatdown that was reminiscent of a lot of the stuff we saw in January but still entertaining. Rayo and Cien is great given their history together. Bestia gets in a low blow as Satanico has TB by the hair. All of a sudden, the tecnicos make their comeback. Cien gets thrown into the announce booth and Rayo has some words to say. We get some brief Atlantis v…

Good solid action here. Radicalz are still mixing it up with the upper mid card and besides losing at No Way Out I don’t really have any complaints about the booking decisions. Too Cool is still over as well. Eddy and Chyna start their interaction with each other and the Radicalz are able to pick up a big win. **1/2

We see a quick clip of HHH booting Billy Gunn from DX on Raw. I continually hate Road Dogg going through his pre match stuff every time. WWF in 2000 has been so solid that this may honestly be the most consistently annoying thing happening in the promotion. Terri comes out to join us. I don’t know why/how she became this great sought after manager. I did like the action here and think Road Dogg and Pac are more fresh as a tag than NAO were. This shows how deep the division was at this time as we have had two solidly entertaining tag matches on this episode so far and haven’t seen arguably the two most over teams in the Dudleys and Hardys. E&C continue to be better fac…

I have enjoyed the Show vs. Rock feud more than I thought. This starts off with a good Shane promo and again things set up tonight while also having a long eye towards Mania. Rock has back up in Rikishi and they come down for the tag match. Shane has one more trick up his sleeve as he recruits HHH to tag with Show. Good, hot action follows and the finish was clever in that Show inadvertently whacks HHH with a chair allowing Rock to get a Rock Bottom and win the match. Steph and Shane bicker at each other afterwards. HHH clocks Shane and these two are going after it. **3/4

This was all right but a large portion of it was based around Ultimo and Rey vs. Antifaz and Safari and they were a bit off at times. All four guys worked a modern, up-tempo style where execution is key and when their execution lets them down it tends to be deflating. I was hoping for plenty of Panther vs. Lizmark but they only really hooked up during the finish to each fall. It didn't look like Lizmark was capable of much anyway. Panther did have a decent opening exchange with Safari but nothing to write home about on the year. Wouldn't go out of your way to see this.

Pretty extreme stip for ECW actually that doesn’t usually do fire, bombs or light tubes. Im really surprised how light this crowd is now with this unique match happening. So this started out with some actual decent wrestling from Balls. He has a good back heel kick as well. Then we move to the slice and dice portion which consists of Vic using a pizza slicer and Balls a fork. I can already see Loss checking out of this match because of that. I liked the spinebuster that Balls delivers right after that for a nearfall. They actually showed some good restraint before teasing the boards but after 7 or 8 minutes, it is long enough for Balls to retrieve the first one. Gabe or w…

The way this is filmed provides a weird haze over the top of the camera angle. These are two of the bright spots in ECW at the time so I was looking forward to this one. Tajiri is so great at interacting with the fans in each arena and getting heat right away. Opening sequence was quick and things were moving along nicely when Kash botches a dive and I’m not sure quite what he was going for. You Fucked Up rains down on him for a few moments before he throws out another dive. Tajiri gains control inside and has some vicious looking offense and crowd interaction including spitting on a fan at ringside. Those chops he delivers in the corner also look brutal. There is a lot o…

The team of both Aguyao’s, Kanemoto, Otani, and Casas may literally be my favorite five person unit in wrestling history. We get about half of this and it is a ton of fun and something well worth seeking out. Each fall built to a big spot that was the finish which I appreciated. This really felt like the type of matches you see at FantasticaMania nowadays. Would love to see this in full. ***1/4

All of the LCO beatdowns have culminated in this. The beginning is more of the same with LCO giving a straight beatdown including bloodying up Tomoko. Mita escapes the cage but quickly realizes she is going to have to go back in because Mima is unable to beat up both Maekawa and Tomoko. Maekawa blades as well. I know the 1997 LCO cage match has differing opinion and I am interested to see if that plays out in this one as well. Much like that match, I really really liked this one. The cage is used effectively both in grinding the face on the actual structure and really conveying the concept that this is a torture chamber that has been constructed for these four to do battl…

We have arrived at the first IWA-MS match of the decade and we are Charleston with a big crowd here. This is a one camera shoot on the crows nest. Prazak is leading the heels and Fannin is the face manager which is odd pairings. After the obligatory pre match promos, things break down and it is the type of plunder affair you expect with Rico the ring announcer doing the announcments around 3-4 minutes into the actual match. Ian’s chair shots are absolutely the most vicious I can think of and he delivers a thunderous one here to Terry Bull. Obviously a one camera shoot for a match like this isn’t ideal but there are some moments where it is pretty neat just to see the mayh…

Pre match promos from Road Dogg. It is weird he was able to do this much stuff. Lance laughin at Road Dogg was humorous and Dave West calls him Dr. Suess which made me laugh. Match itself was a five minute brawl but something I enjoyed with weapon shots and hate. A frantic call off the air happens with Road Dogg being handcuffed and the KAW guys going for the kill against Lawler. **1/4

We start with a clip of Shinzaki botching his rope walk. Fuji attempts to do the rope walk in a funny moment and he gets crotched. Crazy Max is definitely performing different being in there with the legends of Jinsei and Sasuke. The work when Crazy Max is in control is very comedic based including Fuji giving palm strikes to sasukes crotch. Finishing stretch is really entertaining with pairings and action throughout. Crazy Max really is a special unit with each member bringing something unique to the table. Fuji and Jinsei are in the ring for the finale with Jinsei beating him up and running through the gauntlet of SUWA and CIMA. Stereo dives by Sasuke and Tokyo and a st…

Interested in others thoughts on this. It felt to me like a Minoru Tanaka match in that the work was technically sound but the action and other ancillary factors weren’t really engaging. That is probably a blame levied at Tiger Mask as he is someone that has consistently failed to capture me with interest in any of his singles output. As a result, this was 15 minutes of work where I wasn’t regretful I saw it, but it is unlikely to be something that crosses my mind again. I can see others getting more out of it. ***

We see the RNR Express jump Rick Michaels before David Young can chase them off. Here come the RNR’s with Bill Behrens as their manager. I love seeing them as heels. This was a treat to watch. Bad Attitude has a quick flash before the RNR take over on Michaels’ leg and they destroy it. Really engaging and the commentary really carries things with Getz running down everything and Martin not being the over grating straight man. Hot tag to David Young was excellent and it looks like Bad Attitude might have the match won when Bill throws a chain in the air that Robert Gibson catches wonderfully and then he smashes the knee with the chain. A double dropkick and we have new tag…

Really excited to see this as it is AJ in a long match against a capable opponent in Onyx. AJ looks really good starting out a house of fire and then taking a nasty bump to the outside to take over the heat. Really big back body drop of Onyx into the fans. I like how Wildside has a heel fan section that helps Onyx back in. Getz is good on commentary bringing a heel perspective to everything. Bailey takes off his loafer and quickly hits AJ with his $279 Bruno Mali shoe. The dropkick by AJ to start his comeback looked absolutely incredible with huge air and impact. Styles also hits a lot of air on the lionsault and Getz on commentary actually points out that he overshot his…

I did not expect Ebessen in gimmick this soon after seeing him in Onita Pro. This match was a shit load of fun that with more time could have been up there with the great Mich. Pro matches of the 90’s. Everyone was given a chance to impress and the comedy moments were implemented seamlessly with the hot action. Togo and Ebessen in particular had great chemistry with each other and the match culminates in them battling it out resulting in Togo hitting his awesome senton for the win. ***1/4

When does Bull come up to the main promotion? He is at Mania less than a month later but still has the long hair coming out of the back here. This was moving along better than most OVW matches with some good athleticism from Bull and Cornette being restrained. Sure enough as we go to the final section, Cornette starts yelling at the top of his lungs and of all the lame ass finishes in OVW, this one was the lamest as Dinsmore pays of the ref and he just DQ’s Bull. Big schmozz for the finish of the show with referees fighting and who can give the fuck about any of this. OVW is really filmed at this time like an advertisement for the house show but without any build that is …

The Rey De Reyes graphic looks like a King of the Ring reject. Albrije Mini gets launched to the outside by Abismo Negro in a brutal move. Charly Manson’s character is oddly bizarre and he has a good bit of charisma to him that makes him one to watch. Negro gives a huge splash mountain to Manson to eliminate him early on. That is a bummer. Albrije’s second is interfering at will and almost allows Cibernetico to be pinned but Cibernetico thwarts that off and ends up gaining the submission. This leaves Negro vs. Cibernetico to work the lions share of the match overall. Halfway through, our shit buddy Tiger Steele comes out tossing something to the crowd and gets in the ring…

This is billed like a mixed tag in a way but the seconds only came in to deliver weapon shots that ended up being backfired. Oriental and Pentagon did most of the other work and it was mostly solid with a few awkward spots here and there. Nothing terrible overall but nothing that felt really consequential either. I also guess this was a hair match which makes it feel worse in retrospect that the intensity wasn’t there. Rossy Moreno shaves their hair as they get interviewed. **1/2