April 2000

It is becoming a month end tradition having an Oscar hair match. First fall is Angel beatdown culminating in a submission. Classic apuestas build. Angel continues the onslaught putting Oscar into the structure of the building and he is busted open pretty good now. A powerbomb looks to be it and Oscar’s second even throws in the towel but the ref is occupied. The second gets in the ring and fouls Angel and we are all tied up. Way to go AAA in doing interference in a good manner. Third fall starts with Angel on the advantage but we get Oscar’s big comeback. I have liked Tarzan Boy good enough but Oscar is pretty much more successful in almost every facet of wrestling for a …

AAA continues to be better but not great. This was building along slowly but nicely in the first two caidas. but El Texano took over the second fall and the issue became more about him and Garza than the match proper. Add to that some more ref bumps and referees coming and there being that cloud looming over what Tirantes will do and this match lost its way. Garza wins the title in a nice moment. ***

This is in the same building as the night before. Really fun match where Honma and Yamakawa work well with the restraints of the CZW crew by bumping around like crazy. They also are able to send them through the chairs. This made no bones about being anything but a straight garbage style death match but I appreciated that and the spots were unique and brutal enough to keep me engaged. That is about the peak for Zandig. ***1/4

Another match I would like to see in full as what we saw here was a lot of fun with the young boy Yoshie getting beat down and Nakanishi and Nagata riling up the crowd. Team 2000 really gels well as a team as Kojima and Tenzan can push the pace with moves and Chono has the charisma down. They also are taking a lot of falls in these multimans but are able to retain the heat and make things seem important. NR.

A sick tease of a match. Come on New Japan World, put these in full. We get around two minutes of great action and it culminates in Otani pinning Liger. Tracking the 90's that is about as rare as seeing Hailey's Comet. NR.

Showster never fails to make me laugh. The match is nothing and I can see an argument that jobbing Kurt out in this way isn’t the best move but as a bridge from his IC/European feud stuff to the summer where he will be in the top feud in the company, this was entertaining stuff and a great impersonation by Show. A perfect comedy style match for what it was trying to accomplish. *

Really classic style match. It starts with some nice chain wrestling but breaks down into some brutal chops really quickly. I liked the action on the outside and Benoit takes a brutal bump going for a tope and hitting it face first. He is able to regain the advantage though by kicking the steps into Jericho’s midsection. This becomes the focal point for Benoit and he utilizes a great variety of moves to go after the midsection culminating in an abdominal stretch. The crowd comes alive for the submission attempts. The finish is probably the weakest part of this match but continues the feud. Benoit introduces the IC belt and hits Jericho but the referee is out of position. …

T&A vs Dudley has been a good fully formed angle and this match serves as a satisfying conclusion for all parties. T&A have some juice behind them finally with Trish coming into her role goading Bubba. The match itself features some really good heavyweight tag action that plays a nice contrast to the multitude of athletic tag teams in WWF currently. I don’t know how safe Test was but he absolutely demolished both Dudleys at different points in the match. The finish seems to be a continuation with T&A picking up the cheap win with Bubba being mesmerized by Trish. Post match, Bubba comes to his senses and pounces on Trish anyway sending her through the table to …

One of those matches that is tough for me to judge. I do think it is really good and a hell of a surprise, but it is also one of those matches that really gets talked up most of the time and is even on WWE.COM’s list of 100 matches to watch before you die. In that respect, it is kind of become overrated to me over the years. Watching in the confines of this month as a whole though, they did a really great job crafting a wonderful match here. Malenko is relentless going after the knee and Scotty is a really strong FIP mixing in his crowd pleasing spots at the right time like the worm. The finish is also sudden and brutal as you get an implant DDT form the ropes that elicit…

If you look up the definition of a fun match, it is this one. Chyna and Eddy come rolling in from prom and Eddy wrestles in his tux pants and bow tie. Essa was really trying to make the most of the situation by flying around and bumping all over the place. That makes the match a little sloppy and reckless at points but Eddy is able to reign it in just enough to keep it together. The monkey flip of Eddy and the asai moonsault from Essa were awesome. Eddy finishes him off with a whirley bird neckbreaker as a new finisher. After the match, Lita strips Chyna and she shows a more feminine side for the first time to the delight of the crowd and latino heat. ***

The perfect amount of guys and mix of chaos and comedy to make the hardcore style work. They utilized the set which is always a plus and had a good mix of brutal moves and fluid action that never made the match boring. The dynamic of the Hardy’s feuding made more sense here within these confines than their singles match on SmackDown. Crash continues to be entertaining in his underdog role as someone just able to escape. Even Tazz and Saturn showed some glimpses being down here in mid card territory. **3/4

On a PPV where nothing is ordinary, a garden variety hoss battle like this sticks out even a little more. In a vacuum, it wasn’t that bad. Bull showed some athleticism landing on his feet off of a monkey flip and Bradshaw had some impressive looking offense. Overall though, this was treated like a mid card tag and they delivered that which is perfectly fine but the lowest point on this classic PPV. **

This is Rock’s version of Over the Edge 1998. The deck is stacked against him. The video package really sets the stage with Rock getting bloodied up in the cage. The blood was really flowing in 2000 and it makes me miss it in a circumstantial place in 2017. I thought the wrestlers did a good job putting the heat back on themselves for the match when it was obvious Austin wouldn’t be out right away. The match hums along and does have a strong WWF main event heavyweight style with a focal point on brawling, facial reactions and big moves. The finishing stretch kicks off with an amazing Rock Bottom applied to both HHH and Shane through a table. Rock then gets attacked by Vin…

Fun opener with X-Pac starting to get the annoying heat but it isn’t there yet. Debra is the ring announcer and does one of the worst jobs I have ever heard introducing the teams. It is Rico in IWA levels bad. Edge and Christian are starting to display their new attitude but do play most of this match as the faces. That takes a sudden turn in the final moments where Christian hits X-Pac with the ring bell allowing them to retain the titles. The finish was well done for a distraction type finish with a lot of things going on. X-Pac bleeds an absolute gusher too off of the bell shot. ***

Surprisingly, the first move of the match is a go-behind into full nelson which Cox easily escapes from. He slaps on one of his own and Sawyer slowly worms his way over to the ropes. Still in the full nelson, he walks his legs up the ropes so he’s in a seated position (you know what’s coming next!), the ref tells Cox to break, he lets go, and ‘not so Smart Bart’ falls to the canvas. Hip toss followed by a poor looking lariat and Sawyer rolls under the bottom rope to the outside. The action is tricky to follow from here as we regularly cut to shots of the crowd (some in black and white, some in colour) in-between the action. Almost certainly parts of the match have be…

We get the ring introductions for both teams and then the action jump cuts to a later portion of the match with Large already down and on the mat. Side headlock that Large is able to power out of with a Blue Thunder Driver, however he’s unable to make the tag to Bergstrom as Tyler grabs his ankle and pulls him back to his own corner. Roselli drops an elbow and then goes over to taunt Bergstrom on the apron. It’s a plan to get him into the ring so he can get in some illegal offense behind the referee’s back, something that C.W. falls for hook, line and sinker. Front headlock by Roselli and Large slowly starts to drive him backwards getting ever closer to Bergstrom. Th…