March 2000

Corey is by himself as Dave hasn’t made it to the studio. It is the 100th edition of the Power Hour. Brandon Baxter’s crew is like 8 deep at this point. That tiger striped red shirt is unfortunate. I love Corey getting into it. After their long promo, we hear from Dave Brown by phone that has suspicions that Baxter sabotaged him and that is why he can’t make it to the show. Corey gets into it again. Wolfie D cuts a promo and is attacked by Derrick King to some great heat. A really excellent 4 minute match ensues. Derrick King really should have been a star. He looks more refined and polished than anyone in OVW. Wolfie gets the win and Corey is disgusted. I loved all of th…

Another fun match for Wildside as I continue to enjoy Golden. The bigger development happens after the match as the referee gets bumped and announcer Steve Martin takes matters into his own hands counting the pinfall. Big time beatdown by the heels after the match including giving Martin a haircut. The segment ends with Bailey being chased off by a crazed woman. **1/2

A lot more RNR Express in 2000 than I would have expected. This has them being their traditional faces against a pretty generic crew and was nice to see just a basic indy match. I wouldn’t say the heat for Mack vs. Ki was bad but I will say the heat here in this basic match is better which is pretty astounding giving the match structure. Double dropkick gains the win for the RNR Express. **1/4

You should know the story by now. 5-6 minutes of good action with a bullshit finish finishing a ref bump and interference. It’s the same shit literally every week. They are promoting a hanging match involving Trailer Park Trash and the black Robbie D which is beyond tasteless. Once again, cornette was going unjustifiably nuts on commentary at the end without hardly any heat from the crowd. I am really ready for this era of OVW to be over more than WCW and ECW right now. **1/4

This is the most ingenious thing that could be classified as a wrestling match you could possibly watch. Inoki is fighting some J-pop idol with Yoshiaki Fujiwara playing a biased official, Inoki blasts this poor kid with slaps and punches, and every time he does Fujiwara steps in, even using himself as a human shield to protect the kid, he pulls him out of Inoki's hold and of course screws Inoki by counting a pin too fast. You also get shots of Takizawa's fangirls screaming in horror every time Inoki smacks him. *** but so much more in entertainment value.

No idea what the heck happened but Hashimoto is busted open walking out to the ring. I don’t really know or like him and Ogawa as buddies teaming here either. BB Jones or the Yetay jumps him at the bell. Inside the ring, Tenryu and Ogawa have a fun sequence and I would like to see them mix it up more. The stuff in the ring here is really heated as Tenryu goes after Hashimoto’s cut once he enters in. Reese is hanging out on the apron which is a good thing. Jones does come in and the match grinds to a halt for me with him not doing a whole lot of evil moves to a wounded Hashimoto. Hashimoto is a complete mess with the blade job and the injured arm. Reese elbows the arm twic…

It's sleazy IWA japan brawling vs. sleazy UWFi shootstyle. Anjoh is thrilled to wrestle a guy this grotesque and goes nuts with the Looney Toons spots! Watch as Anjoh points to his head to signify his cleverness then falling on his ass the next second, getting MMA mount position only to play belly drums on Goto, STALLING~, etc. However there are also some slick takedowns and submissions in this match, and given that it's Anjoh and Goto, lots of nasty violence and uncooperativness. Goto actually isn't afraid to go on the mat and give out stiff lariats and punches, and Anjoh was right there kicking him in the jaw a bunch. Eventually Anjoh lands a series of stiff knees and e…

TM in the gui distracted me throughout this. I suppose this was here for a novelty look but the actual action didn’t do much for me at all. It mainly consisted of Sayama throwing wild kicks and Fujiwara taking him down with leg submissions. Rinse and repeat and this sub 10 minute match felt like it would never end at points. Eventually, Fujiwara does gain the submission victory. *3/4

Really fun meeting of two absolute wrestling masters. Both guys were working double hard here, as if trying to prove at the big show that they can outwork anyone else in the country. Starts like MUGA match with some tricked out matwork, before they mix in BattlARTS stiff savate kicks and headbutts, then Sano busts out his junior dives before they do Lawler/Mantell exhausted elbow exchanges into an awesomely timed Ishikawa enzuigiri before going back to the MUGA again. Real tour de force from these guys, but there were lots of cool details aswell, such as Sano using his legs to extend the arm and get the sleeper, Ishikawa bridging out of a choke attemept, Sano doing some c…

The WWF tag division is so good at this point that I think the Mamalukes are underrated throughout history. A good tag team with a good gimmick filling out the cards for WCW. This was a blast with King and Dandy showing a lot of fire and flying around. Even Tenay and Heenan wanted to spend the time talking about Luger and Flair but they get caught up in the action and stay focused on it for the final 3-4 minutes. The Harris brothers interfere at the end which doesn’t make sense because you have a heel vs. heel feud and the Harris brothers suck. I will say their beatdown here was good. Fun 5 minute match on Worldwide. **1/2

This match started out really middling with a lot of grappling that was dull but really opened up in the back half and became enjoyable overall. Usuda was the standout here as he was electric and brought intensity which helped with his non descriptive appearance. March feels like the month for good matches so far but not a whole lot is knocking my socks off to a great level that was so prominent in January and February. ***1/4

If you must start a match JIP, there is worse ways than Otsuka dropkicking ishikawa right on the head. I thought Yone looked better here than usual and it makes sense as he pulls off the really surprising choke win on Ishikawa. That finish really took me by surprise. This was the best Yone had looked at his kicks and precision. We only get about five minutes of an 18 minute match. NR.

Dusty Rhodes vs Steve Corino - ECW Living Dangerously 2000 ECW's presentation at this point was abysmal. "Quit being a heel" "Oh try to put the heat on me" Everything was a shoot and this horrible fucking Network angle. Before this match, Corino goes a tirade against Sandman's wife calling her a whore and saying that he was the only guy she hadn't put over. Then he manhandles her into the ring. His boys Rhino & Jack Victory are in the ring. Sandman saves, but Rhino GORES Sandman's wife through a table. He does not take it easy on her. Thank God wrestling has advanced beyond these horrible, tasteless man on woman violence angles. Corino calls himself the New Am…

Awesome interrupts a Diamond vs. Kash match and gives them the choice to flee or stay and die. Diamond and crew flee and Kash attacks Awesome. This is essentially a squash with Kash getting a big moment by hitting a springboard dive onto Awesome in the crowd which looked impressive. Tables come out and Awesome hits a super Awesome bomb from the top rope to win pretty handily. I don’t really understand why this took up PPV time or why as tag champion and World Champion ECW felt the need to establish Awesome even more. *1/2

I found this to be middling overall. I know it is unfair because she certainly isn’t in her prime but I watch this stuff and question why I voted Akira Hokuto for GWE. This had interference and a lot of back and forth action. It wasn’t as reckless as the stuff again from earlier in the year but with these four I expected and hoped for something much more with an enriching storyline and instead just got a collection of spots. Meiko gets tapped out at 7 minutes when she was clearly my favorite of the four competitors. **

I found this to be middle of the road GAEA. It certainly wasn’t as atrocious as the January stuff but it also didn’t reach near the highs of February. A lot of that hinges on Sato and Chikayo as I think their spunkiness really helps distract a lot of the elements of the January matches that were prelevelent here. This did get chaotic but not TOO chaotic that it was indistinguishable. It really flirted with that edge though. Kong is made to look vulunerable again with a point of emphasis again being her arm region. The interference at the end was something I really could have done without. The sandwich clothesline and brainbuster followed by the spinning back fist moments …

In one of the more tragic things in a litany of tragic things for WCW, seeing the reaction that the Flair vs. Hogan Nitro match got and making them the focus of the tv going forward may be one of the worst. The promo we get here is full of history and not that bad per say. I think both Flair and Hogan have gotten better reactions than Terry Funk in 2000. However, it is such a stark contrast to what was on the other channel at the same time and looks like such a direct violation of this was the past, why not watch the now. The crowd that is there is full of nostalgia and Hogan doesn’t shy away from it saying Providence is Hogan country, etc. It really is conflicting to see…

I continue to like the HHH vs. Rikishi feud and all the ancillary elements that allow HHH to have ring time on tv but not against any of the Mania opponents. The Worm is really getting over as one of the biggest moves in WWF and Rikishi had a better reaction here than the previous week which was just an off crowd. Another shoddy finish that was too similar to the European title match as this time X Pac uses the ring bell to hit Rikishi allowing HHH to get the pin. *1/2

Tazz is still hanging around with the bigger stars longer than I remembered. Action here was only three minutes but had a good bit of high impact suplexes and powerbombs. Tazz gets the tazzmission on Angle to not much of a reaction. The one he gives to Backlund gets a much bigger one which is interesting. Backlund looks for the chicken wing but gets a low blow from Chyna. With all this chaos going on, Kurt is able to use a belt shot to win the match. *

Opening promo to start with HHH doing his water spit for the first time I can recall. Shane runs down what happened to Rock on SmackDown and they really have milked him not being at Mania for all that it is worth. Steph gets the payoff of telling Rock he is facing the “Twin Towers” at Mania and out comes two little people. That is a trope DX loves huh. They make it an evening gown match which makes me think they really should have had Mae Young and Moohlah in this role instead of hiring these two. The crowd isn’t really responding until Rock comes out to a huge reaction. Main event gets set up for tonight with Rock’s career on the line. This feels like a reach but Rock is…

Damn, did this build up a great feud out of nowhere between Rivera and Mr. Mexico of all people. It starts with a fun vignette and Mr. Mexico being in a disguise and the match is a war. Mexico blades, everyone else plays a good complimentary role. The finish was awesome with old ass Emilio Charles and Ringo doing topes to compliment an awesome one by Black Warrior and Mexico fouls Rivera with the ref occupied. The ref turns around right when Rivera low blows Mexico giving the rudos the win. Mexico has a revenge promo to close things out. ***3/4

Really strong minis action that with more time could have been a classic. I thought this was one of the best versions of a straight spotfest we have seen so far this year. Everything from the floatover arm drags to the incredible array of dives really kept the match moving at a blistering pace. ***1/4

Rare opening match from Arena Coliseo. The opener almost never aired on TV back in 2000 but this one made it to Fox Sports. It's a fun glimpse at some workers you've probably never heard of and a tiny peek into how openers were structured. If you like to see undercard guys stretch their legs, or you want to see lower card guys get their chance on television, then this is the match for you.

For a go home show, this was a great effort from CMLL. It was nice to see this type of trios from Satanico as while he brings his hate and evil persona, this hasnt developed into a blood feud per say like the altercations with Tarzan Boy. As a result, we get a nice trios match with a good amount of time and some solid action. I am really forward to the Cibernetico on the 3/17 show. ***

I am starting to turn against Onita Pro. I am a Onita mark and death matches are my soft spot so this is tough but here we are for the third month in a row with a big multi man match where a lot of the end result doesn’t have any rhyme or reason. There still is enough Onita fire and big spots to keep me somewhat entertained but I want more substance. It is compounded by the fact that even though I feel like I am fairly astute at Japanese wrestlers in history from this timeframe, I had huge troubles distinguishing many people in this match. It felt like a lot of the match was Onita and everyone else and that includes great workers like Togo who just weren’t the focal point…