May 2000

Once again, a melancholy match to watch knowing what is directly looming. Putting aside those emotions, this was another fun encounter. This was probably the most seemless and best Ikeda has looked in an AJ ring and him and Kawada especially have a lot of beef in this match. Check out the lariat that Kawada gives him in the latter stages that is absolutely brutal. Misawa and Kawada have a good bit of interaction and it is always fun to watch these two mix it up between the wrestling, strikes and some of their signature bombs. Taue also takes it Misawa quite a bit and is really grumpy in this one. Final even ends up with Inoue and Ogawa which is two junior members but it f…

This was a fun match to watch. Kobashi and Hanson go after each other in the early going and it is typically good stuff from them but a bit restrained. That played into the narrative of the match as things were going along smoothly until Shiga goes after Stan on the apron. Stan loses his shit and then just waylays on him with chairs and an offensive onslaught. The match is set from that point forward. We know the history of Shiga and he was never the cant miss prospect Kobashi was in 1988 but it is heartwarming seeing a red trunked, over zealous young lion go after the pissed off cowboy much in a way the now iconic guy in orange standing on the apron used to. The match fr…

What is it with IPW and atrocious quality videos? The video here looks like it’s been chewed to pieces and therefore it’s another tricky one to watch. Horowitz starts by establishing himself as the heel, trying to trip Capone on the break, sticking his chin out for him to punch and ducking his head between the ropes. He responds to a “Barry sucks” chant by telling the audience “I don’t suck, Frankie sucks!” After throwing Capone to the outside, he puts him in a chicken wing on the floor and then rams him shoulder first into the ring post. From this point on his sole focus is as attacking that arm; everything he does is so methodical, there’s no wasted motion and he w…

Some wolf whistles for Shorti, have this crowd never seen a woman before? Unfortunately it looks like the video quality is every bit as bad as during the Horowitz/Capone match. The O.G. has a valet of his own, her name being Climax. Very tough viewing due to the aforementioned VQ which is unwatchable at times. I can bypass it in say a Barry Horowitz match because I enjoy watching him wrestle, and while I do enjoy Ric Blade, for completely different reasons I may add, when it’s the same contrived, co-operative routine he’s been doing all year the attention span drifts. Admittedly not helped by Scarface showing nothing bar one cool sunset flip powerbomb from the top, a…

Anvil strutting out to Krush’s rap is so embarrassing. Amazing that Lawler is here mixing it up and then tomorrow is announcing for WWF. One of those things I don’t always think about but interesting to reflect on from time to time. Bitty is in this match a lot and doesn’t have a lot of good looking offense. I liked the heel side even if they randomly look like a WAR trios. They work over Little for a while and prevent him from tagging in Dundee and Lawler. The story here is simple of Little trying to prove himself but it is well done. Lance is a good narrator of the proceedings. The tag finally comes and we get all six men brawling it out to the end of the show. Good bou…

Brandon Baxter lays down an open challenge for Seven's TV title. Dave Brown says Seven stole the title from Blade 2 weeks before in the parking lot. Derrick King answers the challenge in street clothes. Brandon laughs it off but then agrees. Seven looks like he concusses himself on a headscissors where he lands right on his head. That had to hurt. He continues the match and it's decent till another run in by the Cartel. Buddy Landell of all people makes the save. I had no idea he was in Power Pro in 2000 and as a babyface of all things. He must not have lasted long. Good action but these non finishes are getting old.

Jade says that Alan Steel was right and this town isn’t big enough for the both of them, but he tells the fans to have no fear, he’s going nowhere and is ending Steel’s career today. ‘All That’ sprints to the ring and unloads on his opponent. Back elbow off the middle turnbuckle gives him his third two count in the opening thirty seconds of the match. Bulldog, only to miss the follow up top rope splash. ‘Jaded Edge’ (a pedigree) and Steel kicks out in time. He backdrops a charging Jade over the top to the arena floor, and then levels him with a springboard plancha. Steel launches him into the announcer’s desk and the two fight into the back area. When they return t…

Dinsmore is out there all alone as Kenny Bolin’s crew goes after him. Suddenly Trash and McCollough come up from behind and attack the heels. Cornette is yelling at the top of his lungs. We only get about three minutes into it until we have a shit show finish. Here comes the bell, here comes the screaming. Seriously fuck OVW. I can’t believe this shit was praised to a degree when it was happening in real time. OVW and AAA battling for worst promotion in the world to me. ¾*

I was looking forward to the follow up match here and it didn’t disappoint. Eight minutes of really strong action. Danielson has went from looking like the most shaky individual out of the gate between him, Styles, Low Ki to perhaps the best with this series. He bumps like crazy for Cade, has some heel shtick that works and in general looks like he has a ton of more poise. He is also going by Bryan The Dragon Danielson now. Asai moonsault in the late stages wipes out Cade. HBK is fun on commentary here and puts both guys over even though we get a few whoasss. Cade hits a pump handle powerslam onto the floor. Dragon escapes the chokeslam and hits the flying elbow for a two…

Really good lucha to start out with Zumbido and Antifaz and then Panther and Niebla going long. Things get chippy and Santo and Panther are circling on the outside and they are having a damn good rivalry. Inside, Porky is able to do some comedy doing a big fat splash into the corner on the entire opposing team. Porky also does a big dive off the top rope to win the first fall. Santo kicks the shit out of Panther in between falls. Zumbido flies into the sky off of the legs of Antifaz and down into the floor. A great bump. The match breaks down again and we get a huge brawl between everyone but the focal point is Pnather and Santo. Panther takes him down into the seats and …

This is a big test for Shocker. Strong mat work to start. Zumbido is a prickly second as he punched TB while in a submission. He tries is again and Antifaz goes to break it up. The referee admonishes him and Zumbido has a shit eating grin on his face. Shocker in the first fall was absolutely outstanding. Mat work and speed mixing in his wonderful charisma. He was someone that had potential in January from what we saw but now has realized it and is elite. He gains the first pinfall when TB goes for a rana that he turns into a powerbomb. The onslaught continues in the second fall and Shocker is just a cocky bastard hitting his elbow drop and even pulling TB up on pinfall at…

This big ol brawl was my favorite of the Onita Pro stuff this year. Onita was mostly front and center for his team but Togo also had many highlights and added a good bit to the proceedings. I saw the huge file length and thought this was going to be a long brawl and was shocked when it finished up in just over 13 minutes of action even if it did feel like a fully formed match. Afterwards, Zandig and Wifebeater make a surprise appearance and challenge Onita and friends to a CZW vs USA series including T-Shirts. Afterwards, we get a long goodbye with Onita going around, saying adieu to everyone, and spitting water in faces. Then we get a long backstage segment where I ate l…

A straight garbage match and one that didn’t have that many Shane crazy bumps to keep things entertaining enough. I thought this made Show look weak as it seems like he doesn’t have any friends and was dumb to take on this match since he is wrestling 6-1. They try to make the finish seem like this heroic effort as he gets knocked out with a cinder block but it just felt like another case of a McMahon getting one over on the talent. *1/2

Benoit tests out that bad leg right away. Look at the snugness Benoit applies the chinlock submission with the arm isolated. This is a complete throwaway spot but it looks extra brutal because of how Benoit has it applied adding emphasis to the match overall. Benoit continues working on the shoulder when the action spills outside as Jericho gets sent shoulder first into it. Jericho seizes an opening to go after the injured leg of Benoit by throwing it across the steps. I would have liked to have seen Jericho pounce on that more. Benoit continues his attack mixing in unique ways to go after the arm including a Fujiwara armbar. Benoit again gets his leg hurt and this time J…

The Dudley Boyz have shown their ability to help fill out the midcard of these shows with their battle vs T&A last month and now this month vs DX. They are really over as faces now but it is centered around violence and tables so that continues to allow them to have an edge. The action here was pretty pedestrian and even X-Pac didn’t look too motivated. There also wasn’t nearly the cleverness in the table spots that happened at the Royal Rumble with the Hardys. The referee goes through a table which made me groan but we do get a payoff off of Gerald Briscoe being out there and reviving the referee just in time for X-Pac to hit an X-Factor through the table. In additio…

Edge and Christian continue to refine their heel act including Angle in the group more and more. The jug band photo op they do here is one of my favorites throughout this run. E&C implement the Arn and Tully corner spot. Rikishi is still over like crazy as the crowd chants his name loudly half way through the match. Angle cutting off the worm was smart in getting heat on him and it allows Scotty 2 Hotty to be FIP for a bit. Solid stuff in the FIP and then we get the finale with Kurt getting the stink face and Rikishi running through his offense. Edge is able to hit the spear on Rikishi and then attempts to do the worm. Scotty stops that and does the WORM proper. To co…

WWF World Heavyweight Champion The Rock vs Triple H - WWF Judgment Day 2000 Iron Man Match I have never seen this before. From what I understand this always had a rep of being better than you would think it would be on paper. The Rock vs Triple H going 60 minutes is a hard sell for me, but they pulled it off. Surprisingly to me, they pulled it off with minimal Attitude Era hijinx. Instead, they built a match on solid fundamentals with strong peaks and valleys and let Rock's popularity carry the crowd heat rather than rely on highspots and gimmicks. Now, I never thought the match reached classic status, but they held my attention throughout the match even if I did not …

I was not able to get into this three way. For comparison, I thought the Jaguar, Scoot, Blade 3 way was as least as innovative if not moreso. The Latino Heat character is strong and Eddy has had some fun 2000 stuff, but nothing great yet. I was thinking while watching this where I would rank him on a top 100 workers list but it would be fairly low and maybe even behind such names as Bubba Ray Dudley. Some of the spots here look clunky and more down time was here affecting the flow. Finish comes when Malenko avoids the flowers of Chyna but gets drop toe hold on them and then rolled up nicely by Eddy. After the match, it is discovered that the flowers contained a lead pipe.…

Not much of a match and Torrie is deemed the referee of course. These two had a fun match on Thunder and less success since then. The match only goes for a few minutes before Hulk makes his run in and forces Torrie to make the pinfall. Ready for Kidman to be done with this side angle. *

This was actually a pretty fun match while it lasted as Hogan gives a bit to Vamp and is still working his hardcore style. Kidman runs in as a receipt for Hogan's interference earlier and we get another pinfall over Hulk Hogan this time with Vampire making the cover. *3/4

We are here for the death of the career of Ric Flair. Russo is eating this up. We show the footage of Flair passing out on the ramp on Thunder and it looks even more ridiculous this time. Russo does at least put the rolex into the casket. NashTaker emerges from the casket and he clears house of Russo/Jarrett/David Flair. He takes the title and walks away. I guess now Nash and Jarrett are fighting over the championship. So much for Flair’s feel good win. Nash checks out Pamela’s ass to add another bit of class. I had forgotten how hilariously awful Russo’s theme was with the Iron Man start. Match is a mess with all the tropes of Russo not counting and being the evil refer…

Scott calls out Rick or Tank and Rick answers. The Asylum cage reminded me of the chamber of horrors center section lowering down which ironically enough also happened to Rick Steiner. The match is absolutely nothing and Rick is done as a performer. Tank Abbott comes in to interfere but Nash makes the save for Scott creating an uneasy union. 1/2*

A nice comparison and resume builder for Benoit's WOTY case. It is funny seeing a Russo inspired gimmick in Val being a chance to actually perform some wrestling throughout this match. he does well enough and hits a good gutwrench powerbomb but it is clear that Benoit is the better worker here. Benoit led him through an entertaining 6.5 minute match that had a pretty poor finish with Hardcore Holly coming out and hitting two awful unprotected chair shots including one to Benoit that made me flinch. Afterwards, Jericho sneak attacks Holly and pastes him with a chair shot right on the head. Jericho looks like a mega star with his leather pants and the crowd going nuts. **1/…

Venue looks cool here with the last rays of daylight creeping in through the windows at the top. We only get about half of the match but what we see is really good. Otani is firmly the leader of this division currently and bullies Tanaka around while still giving credibility to his arm work and trying his best to avoid those arm submissions. The finish to this was really exciting and set me up for perhaps a BOSJ but I didn’t think the back half of the highlights quite matched that level. Still what we saw was very good stuff and this was a nice win for Otani. NR

WCW loves having awful angles lead into Great American Bash featuring Kevin Nash. Nash runs off Russo who comes back out with security. Steiner goes to punch Russo and waits for 15 seconds until Rick Steiner and Tank Abbott come out showing that they have Steiner’s girls. Jarrett is now able to work over Nash inside the ring. Billy Silverman and Russo argue with Russo smashing the guitar over his head. Jarrett uses a chair inside and Russo makes the two count. Mickey Jay is trying to get to the ring but security blocks that until Steiner clothes lines all of security. Steiner runs Russo away as Nash powerbombs Jarrett with Mickey Jay making the count and we have a new cha…