April 2000

Arsion’s clips continue to be grating. This action looked good and submission based which provides more of a contrast if nothing else to the stuff Aja does in GAEA for example. Mita seemed like a worthy challenger and locked in a good choke but Aja was able to wiggle free. My favorite moment was when Aja had the La Magistral hooks in and changed that into a submission attempt. The spinning back fist of Kong continues to be one of the most protected moves of 2000. NR

Guido as a face should be interesting to watch. We haven’t had near as many ECW fancams in recent months. While I am grateful for that as January became a slog going through them with the same type of matches, this was also a reminder of how fun those type of matches could be. I also think a different type of crowd that we see here helped things with this crowd engaged and willing to play along with the heel/face structure. Finish was a little silly with the referee just allowing Corino to get into the ring to interfere but that backfires and Guido is able to pick up the win. Fun mid card match. ***

We get a long stall process to start this. Again, it is interesting to see in contrast to ECW but it did get a little long in the tooth to watch. The match was fine but I really am souring on Dreamer as a worker. He seems content to just do the plodding walk around brawl when I know from his interviews and fandom that he could create much more interesting stories within the matches. Corino blades and Dreamer does more bullshit by doing the worm. It pops the house but not me. Corino’s heat segment is brief and it isn’t before long when Dreamer avoids a drop toe hold onto the chair and then hits a chairshot of his own for the win. Disappointing. **1/2

Another wonderful slice of DDT pro wrestling with touches of BattlARTSian greatness. This wasn't quasi-shootstyle like the tag from the night before, altough it's still quite the stiff-fest. No idea what went into Takagi here, because he has an unusually mean edge and decides to work a rough no nonsense style, even approximating a poor mans Otsuka in his sections against Toba. Speaking of Toba, I think he is a guy mostly everyone with a little japan wrestling knowledge knows as the fun boxing guy from DDT, but is it crazy to say he might actually be an underappreciated indy great? All the involving him where once again manly as fuck and he mixed in some cool unique spots …

Big spot for Makabe vs Liger to start things off. I think I will end up liking Shinya more than Togi. Kanemoto and Tanaka have a showcase sequence too that was really engaging. What a flush juniors division NJ has right now. I can see watching this match how frustration would result in regards to Kashin as he was the worst person in here. Taikawa is able to use his power spots against Tanaka. This is a showcase match for sure and a placeholder but everyone gets to do impressive things and the match really chugs along quickly. Finale ends up being Samurai against Makabe/Kanemoto. Samurai is able to get a bit of distance and tags in Kashin. Match breaks down with all eight …

With even less time than usual, they really had to go quickly here and they delivered a satisfying match at a quick speed. For three minutes, this is about as good as you can hope for action wise. Angle should be commended for sliding right in with the workrate vets and not feeling out of place. 3 Germans and Benoit goes for the diving headbutt before Big Show shoves him off for a quick DQ. That was cheap. **

We get moments of HHH recruiting his lumberjacks. Then we get to the match proper and like the other SmackDown matches tonight, it is fun without offering too much in the future. I think you can see glimpses of the chemistry these two will have a week later. Benoit hits Jericho with a diving headbutt that gets a nearfall. X-Pac responds with an X-Factor to the Rock. Biig brawl breaks out with Rock and HHH going at it. Rock comes back inside and gets a Rock Bottom but Road Dogg is distracting the ref. HHH slides in and hits Rock with a belt and Jericho wins. This is HHH’s retributions which is a nice contrast to his bad night on Raw. **1/2

Really nice recap to start things off showing HHH’s bad night. No mention of the pin in the main event either so I assume they have seen the errors of their ways in regards to that decision. The timing of the slap sequence between Stephanie and Linda was shockingly good for two ladies who have trouble with execution in front of the camera at times. HHH and Stephanie come out to the ring proper for a promo. Tazz comes out and cuts his best promo we have seen in WWF so far. This sets up a match later on in front of the Philly crowd. Pretty large slut chant for Steph when the action spills to the outside. This match helped showed the strengths of Tazz and he wasn’t completel…

Really quick match that played more as a backdrop of things to come than in ring action here. Casas gets beat up on and Shocker is not amused and deserts him. A lot of shifting pieces in CMLL and it will be intriguing to see where they all shake out. *1/2

This started off much better and intense than the previous indy match as the bullrope is a good restriction. Corino is bleeding absolute buckets. Victory interferes fairly early on and goes after Tommy. Sandman comes out in no hurry and we have an impromptu cage match. This really is one of the worst blade jobs I have seen as Corino’s head is completely red. Taijiri comes back out to give the advantage to the heels. Joey keeps yelling about the Network in a really grating way. Suplex through the ladder to Sandman in a brutal looking spot. Here comes New Jack trying to outdo Sandman in length of entrance. We haven’t seen much or any really of New Jack’s routine in 2000 so …

Kazarian is the fan favourite here, while ‘the Golden One’ Josh Galaxy is someone new to me. They work the opening around a hammerlock, Galaxy with a side headlock, and even though Kazarian shoves him off, Galaxy gets the better of the shoulder tackle. Kazarian barely manages a nip up so Golden has to delay and wait slightly before the next spot. A rough looking arm drag from ‘the Future’, followed by a big running splash in the corner. Golden reverses an Irish whip and Kazarian takes a bump over the top turnbuckle to the outside (although he clearly jumps and launches himself over). The action continues on the arena floor, but as this is being filmed by one static h…

Pre-Havana Pitbulls, as Reyes and Romero are going by the ‘Los Gringos’ name, however because there is only one distant hard cam filming this I can’t differentiate between who is who. It would’ve been the same for their opposition if it wasn’t for the fact you could hear the crowd shouting for them when they were in the ring. Although this was a tag match it didn’t follow any traditional formula and almost felt like a bunch of singles matches (the fact that the face team only made four tags all match in a longish bout added to that). ‘Los Gringos’ already look like a decent unit, compact, strong fundamentals and with their double team moves down pat. Sun Warrior and R…

A really young Mauro is on commentary here. This is the bad side of Sabu that comes out every once in a while. A big contrast vs. The JAPW match where he retained his mystique. Here, he blows a ton of moves and seems unmotivated. Worse, the match goes way too long and most of that is prop setting. Devine doesn’t look great and needs someone to reign him in which Sabu is not the person to do that at all. Really disappointing given the run time. **

Florida’s favourite son, ‘Bad’ Barry Horowitz gets his usual favourable response from the crowd on arrival and I wonder if he’ll do what he does best and get them to turn on him by the time this one is over? A drop toe hold by Myers sends Horowitz crashing head first into the mat and he then takes to the floor to compose himself. When a lone voice amongst the “Barry, Barry” chants tells him to “get in there” he informs the fan to “shut your stinking mouth” and that he “doesn’t need no Crystal River redneck telling him what to do”. That’s my boy! Myers starts working over Horowitz’s arm and when he can’t wrestle his way out of the arm bar, grabs the ‘Extreme Shah’ by …

I am becoming pretty fond of Scoot. He has a good look and mixes in both the athletic nature of the indy boom stuff with some sound psychology in his matches. He is someone that will probably never have a MOTYC but he can be count on to be a good hand within a promotion. Jet is displaying a heel persona to the core here and has some moments but is also more inconsistent. This is some more great camera work in early 2000 sending my eyes into disarray. They are using the smaller ring height wise here that reminds me of an early Chikara show. Jaguar’s heat segment didn’t have much of a focus. Andrews makes his comeback with a huge piledriver that should have sent Jaguar to t…

Bobcat is back on commentary but pretty grating along with David Jet. K-Krush's rap isn't very good either. I haven't really liked this feud and this was no exception. Krush is really limited just punching and lumbering around. Lawler isn't what he used to be either. They do an angle at the end with Mr. Coffee getting involved leading to Bull Pain coming out and a schmozz with Krush obtaining the victory. This was really poor. *1/2

Wolfie backs King into the corner and starts to unload, however King quickly reverses things and he’s the one doing the unloading. Big backdrop and a dropkick for an early two. Tilt-a-whirl headscissors. King posts Wolfie, covers him again, but this time he’s able to get a foot across the bottom rope. Sleeper hold, Wolfie shoots him off and replies with one of his own, although King then counters with a belly to belly suplex. Rear chinlock and Wolfie with a jawbreaker to escape. Running powerslam by D for two. He misses a ‘Stinger splash’ in the corner, King ducks under a clothesline and hits a ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker. Superkick attempt, but Wolfie pulls the …

What a splendid match. Finally, another team is able to go toe to toe with Crazy Max and it has the same energy as the pairings with Masaaki Mochizuki and Magnum Tokyo. I thought Sususmu gave easily his best performance so far and him and Kobe had some neat double team pairings that matched the Crazy Max offerings. Fuji and CIMA are my two favorite C Max members so it was no surprise that I was invested in their output here and thought they gelled really well working together. The use of the chairs here was done in a heelish way that it didn’t overly annoy me. Just when it looks like Kobe/Sususmu have the match in hand, CIMA comes back and runs through his combo of palm s…

The Jung Dragons are awesome. They do a dazzling display of high octane spots here that has the crowd go from not giving a shit about the match to being invested. PG-13 is right there with them and provides a good bumping base. Even the triple team sunset flip for the finish gets a big pop. Ready to see Jung Dragons stretch out into something more consequential as they are ready for it. **3/4

Interesting that Ran Yu Yu gets announced after Kansai. Kansai and Takahashi start out. Really hot start with Nanae throwing the kitchen sink at Dynamite before her weathering the storm and pinning her with a lariat around 2 minutes in. Maekawa pounces right where Nanae left off. Kansai and Maekawa have a good sequence built around strikes and submissions. At one point, Nanae comes rushing back in and the match breaks down with everyone going after each other. This resulted in a double countout. Commando and Hotta are brawling with chairs so they are the next to enter. Hotta keeps going for tiger drivers and big bombs and puts away Commando in around a minute with a stra…

A conflicting match for me in that I didn’t like the excessive use of the table but man was the final moments with Kong and Satomura one of the more dramatic things we have seen so far. The match is chaotic and fun with Yamada taking the blunt of the beat down in the beginning. The final moments see Aja and Meiko in the ring and their chemistry is astounding. The spinning back fist has been so protected so they do a neat variation of it here with Aja hitting Kaoru inadvertently before nailing Meiko. Meiko is able to withstand that which is astounding. This is when the match proper ends and it is just Aja and Meiko embattled in this ultimate battle for courage. Aja proceed…

Yamakawa went disco tonight with music and wardrobe which is funny but really lacking context. This match is really clipped up but something feels off about it all the way even though I like both of these guys including Yamakawa more than anyone else tracking 2000 so far. The crowd heat doesn’t seem to be there which is strange since both guys are over. Kanemaru does some pretty gnarly table spots including a front faced powerbomb set up in the corner and a big sit out powerbomb from the apron to the floor. Missing the selling and gravity of the way this is spliced together makes it feel more like a highlight package than a full match. Yamakawa does a swantom bomb onto K…

Yeah, Honma is one of the best workers in the world this year. Here he takes a slug like Samples and makes this into a fun garbage style contest by essentially being a bump freak. They do tour Korakuen but it was the frantic and bump heavy style brawling that I much prefer to the walk and stalk one. Back inside, the barbed wire boards are emphasized and Honma takes the blunt of the punishment. They even do a semi compelling kendo stick light saber battle in the middle of this one. Honma sets up a board on the outside and ends up taking a bump through it from the middle rope. The rest of the match is Honma trying to survive but Samples puts him away with a big lariat. I ha…

A poor cage match as it starts with a brawl around ringside. That may honestly be one of my biggest pet peeves. They also make sure to emphasize on commentary again and again that the cage has a roof on top so no one can get in, ensuring someone will get in. We finally get into the cage and they battle for a minute before Awesome comes out and breaks in the door right after Page hits a flash Diamond Cutter. Kanyon runs right behind Awesome and occupies him long enough for the referee to make the count and we have a new champion in one of the most anticlimactic ways I can imagine. A Foley level pop this did not get. Arquette comes out to celebrate. *

Mike Awesome has arrived in WCW as the insurance policy for the New Blood. Hogan comes out to a big pop and has his FUNB gear on now. I liked the promo beforehand where they talk about how many bridges Hogan has burned that no one will partner with him. Huge Hogan chants as he tees off on Awesome. I got to think this is a thrill for Awesome to a degree as a month ago he was facing Spike Dudley regularly. No offense to Spike but he isn’t the Hulkster even in his 2000 form. Handicap matches are tricky especially when you have Hogan as the 1 as he is not going to be beat up completely but all things considered this did a pretty good job of explaining how Hulk is hanging in t…