May 2000

A straight sprint as we only get 3.5 minutes of action. Lance is back on commentary which is nice to hear. Lady Ophelia helps Regal from the start of the match. In a dumb finish, Youth slaps the STF on Ophelia and she taps out. Regal puts the Regal Stretch on Youth on the floor. Disappointing climax to this feud. 1/2*

Randy Hales has checked on Ali after the attack by The Cartel earlier in the show. He thinks he may have broken ribs and has told him they'll put off the title match until next week, but Ali wants it today. Perry James and The Regulators are out to confront Hales, and James says that according to this contract hes got, Wolfie D has 30 days before he has to defend the title against Ali and its only been 28! Randy looks at the contract and sees its been signed by C.B. Hales and not himself. He tells them that C.B. is a fraud, the contract isnt valid and Ali gets his title match today! Whenever The Cartel are involved its always seven against one, so Hales bans them from rin…

As Jade makes his entrance he gets nailed from behind with a chair to the back by Steel. He whips him with his belt and throws him into the ring steps as he looks to get some revenge for Jade burning him. Back in the ring and Steel with a bulldog off the turnbuckles for a very quick first fall. Dave Brown reminds us at this point that, as per Texas Death match rules, Jade has ten seconds to get back up although he makes it comfortably. Steel immediately levels him with a clothesline and is right back on him. ‘Stinger splash’ in the corner and he then wedges a chair between the turnbuckles. Irish whip, however he telegraphs the backdrop and Jade with a piledriver. He…

Ali joins Dave Brown and Randy Hales at the start of the show and says that Wolfie D’s thirty days are up and he wants his belt back. Randy says that they had the match scheduled for the end of the show, but “why not!” and let’s get it going now! Wolfie makes his way out but is in no hurry to join Ali in the ring. As he continues to walk around ringside, ‘The Cartel’ rush from the dressing room and jump Ali from behind. Perry James holds a hub cap against his ribs while Wolfie kicks it, and the group continues to attack the ribs until the face locker-room empties for the save. Prior to the match commencing, security are seen ushering ‘The Cartel’ out of the buildi…

Aja has been fighting everywhere in 2000. ARSION, GAEA and now Oz Academy. Nice to see Chikayo in singles action as she has been a bit uneven in her tag work and tough to get a read on. Really simple but effective match with Aja showing great vulnerability with getting her arm and hand worked over again. I liked Chikaya ducking and moving in a desperate attempt to escape the spinning back fist. She is able to block one partially with her hands and another with the trash can. Aja is still a monster though and just lifts her up in a torture rack submission to win. Would have liked to have seen the back fist strategy pay off better but a really fun 12 minute match. ***1/4

Angle has impressed so far this year but matches like this made me revisit his time in the company so far and made me come to the realization that they still have the reigns on him pretty deep. His longest matches was a barely 10+ match vs Jericho at No Way Out and the triple threat at WM2000. That WM2000 triple threat seems disappointing in retrospect timing wise but it makes sense given the development of Angle at the time and not looking back on things with a revisionist eye. Here it is clear he had some instruction to go after Benoit's bad eye and use that as a hold over until the finish. He hasn't been able to really improvise or fill the time within a match yet. The…

Jericho and Eddy do not seem to have that many long form matches in WWF and this seems like a match that can tie a bow on the Chyna storyline with both. Eddy gets a hell of a reaction coming out and the Latino Heat music is rocking. Jericho saying the British vernacular was funny. Eddy loses the coin toss so his European title is on the line. Eddy tries to bail and Chyna pushes him back in. Jericho really dominates the early going until the action spills outside and Chyna hits a clothesline on Jericho. Eddy takes over the match now but gets caught on the top rope. That is short lived as Eddy really brings the attack on the back of Jericho. A lot of lucha submissions incl…

E&C are outside and heeling it up now. They charged a little boy for an autograph which is a topical 2017 twitter topic and then jump in front of a fan for a picture. Awesome stuff. The match itself is solid. It felt like E&C were still getting their legs under them as heels but they took the template of southern style formula and kept it throughout much of the match. I have liked the interplay between King and JR bickering back and forth throughout this match. The officiating was a little too inconsistent for me making it seem like he was really against the Hardy’s instead of having to make a judgement call that just went against the face. Hardy offense builds to…

We get a backstage promo with some dissension between Shane and HHH already. Steph says why does it matter who is going to be champ if it is all within the family. A good three way with Shane mostly staying out of the way and allowing Rock and HHH to have their typically well done match. A bit of miscommunication happened of course with Shane and HHH going after each other and breaking up pins. The first official gets taken out allowing Gerald Briscoe to come in. HHH hits the Pedigree and Rock kicks out to a huge pop from the crowd. HHH decks Briscoe for counting too slow. HHH hits another Pedigree and Vince decides to take off Gerald's shirt and put it on. Here comes Ear…

Yoshida matches up well with Aja because even though there is a huge size difference, her ability to look on and string together submissions make her still seem like a threat. Here she runs her submissions well for the first couple of minutes until Aja start striking away. From there, Yoshida is on the defensive even though she is still able to get some hope spots. Spinning backfist is still deadly. ***1/2 (6.8)

What an awesome match up there with anything we have seen from Toryumon this year. All of the Osaka Pro guys get a chance to shine and have a frantic but well put together six man that showcases each individual person. I thought Togo again looked like the breakout star and he is making a huge presence every time he shows up on tape now. He gets the pin which is well deserved. ****

I was so pumped for this match. It starts out right away with both guys grappling on the ground. Delphin is able to hang right there with Murahama. Murahama keeps looking for an opening for strikes but is unable to find any. Delphin pops on a cross armbreaker requiring a quick rope break for Murahama. He got pretty outclassed in that round by the big guy in the yard in Delphin. Murahama gets more openings in the second round and Delphin takes him down immediately to regain control. Murahama opens up and Delphin is hanging onto the ropes to keep his feet. Murahama is getting cocky now and comes parading in allowing Delphin to just put his weight on him. Delphin slips out o…

Order Slamboree and you get a free Buff Daddy Pennant. Nice. Typical bullshit but hardcore Hogan is adding a new wrinkle to his incredibly stale character and I think the crowd reaction for him is more genuine than it has been since he probably lost the belt to Sting at Starrcade 97. Bischoff is a crooked referee to the surprise of no one. Some of the strikes and belt shots here look brutal and Kidman going toe to toe with Hogan is an nice reputation bump for him. Hogan blocks the big legdrop and Hogan pops him to a legit big pop. Hogan uses a chair on both and goes outside looking for a table. The crowd is really roaring as Hogan brings the table in. Hogan busts a chair …

A pretty fun garbage style match actually without the bullshit. Arquette stays out of the way and acts as almost a manager in a handicap match only helping Page and directing traffic in the early going. Jeff blades well and that adds a bit of intrigue. The contraction of the cage is very convoluted and there isn’t a natural progression to them climbing but they do anyway. Finish is atrocious with Arquette providing a swerve by blasting a guitar over Page allowing Jarrett to win the title. I don’t know how this makes Jeff look very strong that he has won two belts now because of Page’s ex wife and best buddy. Awesome tosses Kanyon from the cage to the stage as Tony and Sco…

Kimberly and Bischoff are on commentary as DDP looks for revenge for his best friend against Awesome. Not much to the match as it is more of a backdrop to the DDP and Kim saga. Kim asks DDP to sign the divorce papers on the apron and Page rips up the document. Then Awesome wallops Page with a chair and powerbombs him through a table. This allows Bischoff to grab Page’s hand and sign what is left of the divorce papers. DDP gets wheeled out of the arena giving Awesome the win. A little bit too much New Blood dominance lately and the undertones of Bischoff and Kimberly being an item are doing no favors to anyone. Madden is also back to shrieking at pretty much everything. Po…

Sting actually shows some fire here and these two have a fairly decent six minute match with the crowd really behind Sting. Sting takes a big bump for him onto the stage as that is getting a lot of play in the last couple of days of WCW. Things are looking good for Sting as he puts on the Scorpion Deathlock. Just then, Vampiro arises and they disappear from the ring with a ton of smoke. Pretty big bullshit chant for all of this. Sting comes back up with the red and Jarrett covers him to win. New Blood fills the ring until Hogan and Nash start brawling with them as we go off the air. Jarrett is really not looking strong as all as the leader of the New Blood and again they …

HHH starts off the night with a promo describing the chain of events that have happened since Backlash and his dealings with Earl Hebner. He ends up issuing the challenge for the Iron Man match and does it in a convincing way that helps protect both guys. Really great promo by him. Just as Vince is about to speak, Jericho interrupts. Jericho calls him Vance McMahon that makes me laugh more than it should. Jericho gets a huge pop saying that Vince has a small penis. I did laugh at King asking JR if that is true and JR saying “HOW SHOULD I KNOW”. Vince says he has a set of grapefruits and grapefruits grow on a tree that has a trunk. Vince sets up a match vs. Angle and he of…

Always nice to check in on the CMLL B team. This was a good intro match that served as a nice buffer from the stuff we have watched chronologically. Some good sequences and dives. Safari especially hits a wild tope that clears out a few rows of the Arena Coliseo crowd. Neutron started earlier than I would have imagined given his current output. His look is awesome here but workrate was just so so. **1/2

These two showcased some decent chemistry again for the two minutes this was a regular match. Bischoff keeps changing the stipulation going from No DQ, to falls count anywhere, to handicap match, to I Quit until finally Horace loses. Bischoff offers Horace a spot on the New Blood. Hulk runs out now which makes me wonder what the fuck he has been doing backstage for the past ten minutes. Nash makes his usual late run in and Russo has some words for him. Russo lets him know that he is no longer cool and responds by the red of the New Blood coming down on Nash. New Blood would love to be on Nickelodeon. This whole sequence did nothing for me and made Kidman look weak. 3/4*

A good five minute match. Crowbar and Candido really bump all over the place with dives on the floor and a suplex onto the ramp. Daphney is able to hit her frankenscreamer and then her and Tammy have a catfight that excites Tenay. Candido hits a nice diving headbutt to win the match. **1/4

I have no idea if Palumbo will be a good worker or not. Funk is being presented as the big underdog with Bischoff really wanting to pry the title off of him. This is essentially a third rate version of the Jericho angle from Raw. The hardcore match is your basic affair with Palumbo about to toss Funk over until the Total Package comes out and attacks Palumbo. Security maces Luger and then they just leave as Palumbo pounds Luger against the wall. Yawn. *

They are still showing clips of Kanyon getting thrown off the cage with Tony saying its one of the most horrific scenes ever seen on PPV. Honestly too soon guys. Sting has a crow that comes out before him now. Awesome is playing up the career killer gimmick name now. Match is nothing although the back body drop bump on the apron with Awesome going through the table was good. They fight on top of the ambulance and Sting delivers a Scorpion Death Drop. He goes to load Awesome in, but is misted by Vampiro who throws Sting inside and then drives away with Awesome still on the roof. 1/2*

I am still waiting on that Tanaka match that blows me away although this came the closest . I have found this series to be good matches as a ceiling but also matches that are dry as a bone. To me it is night and day the transitions and intensity exhibited here compared to the Taira vs Otsuka match. It is really starting to formulate the opinion to me that Minoru Tanaka was just pegged as the next big shoot style guy and that combined with him in NJ raised his notrierty even if it wasn’t earned. The opening of this feels like a sparring practice session and was extremely dull. The head kick Tanaka gives around eight minutes in spices things up but my annoyment level had al…

Holy shit, this was amazing. How this didn't make it to the Best of BattlARTS set but three dozen fucking Minoru Tanaka matches did is beyond me. Taira was this really talented dude who could put on awesome weird leglocks and also had devastating kicks in his arsenal. It's a shame he disappeared after BattlARTS closed. This was like a hybrid of those matches against Ikeda and Yujiro Yamamot we've seen from Otsuka. He tries to teach this newbie some manners and busts out a few pro style moves executed with complete lack of regard for his opponents safety, including dropping him square on his head from an armlock attempt, a neckbreaker that looked like it really would break…

One of the reasons I love shoot style happens 20 seconds into this match. Nagai immediately goes to the ground inviting Ishikawa down there. Ishikawa proceeds to take this as an insult as he punches Nagai twice right in the face. Check out the woman in the far right of the front row facial expression as she is laughing not really realizing what Nagai is doing to complete horror as she sees Ishikawa just waylay on him. It is a great reaction and shows the visceral violence that can be conveyed in the shoot style setting. This is an interesting match to rank and talk about. I could very well be reading too much into things but this felt like either a collection of short sto…