June 2000

A sprawling match that worked to a degree but never really broke through to that next level like I hoped and at sometimes it threatened too. The brawling was good, the mat wrestling was good, even the bits of comedy was good like Wagner grabbing the woman’s purse at ringside. Everything moved along nicely and it told a good story of El Samurai rising up from the onslaught to win. A good match that somehow still makes me feel a bit hollow after watching. ***

Another awesome outing from these guys. This may have been the best bit yet as the one side of Liger, Usuda, Kashin really felt like a whipping boy, an up and comer and the legend in Liger for all three of Koji, Otani and Fujita to disrespect. Fujita fit right in perfectly with the Koji, Shinjiro team and the match never let up for the sixteen minutes it lasted. Usuda was the key cog throughout everything both getting her ass kicked and also fighting back when appropriate. Finish was pretty abrupt but again shows how well they are putting Kashin over as a bad ass with the flash cross armbreaker. The guy isn’t as good as Otani and Koji but he has been fine so far and I don…

Here we are at M2K vs Crazy Max. Pretty much the feud that really put Toryumon on the map and sustained them for the next year at least. Makoto is in there besides SUWA but the other classic pairings are set up. M2K comes to the ring on their skateboards like the punks they are. Mochi goes through the biggest stylistic and cosmetic change and he looks really good in his interactions with CIMA and of course Fujii. CIMA has a little cut based off the pace and stiffness of this match. I think it was important for M2K to establish themselves with a win and they do that here when Makato gets pin. After the bell, the fight continues showing that this dilemma was far from being …

A neat mix of Toryumon and Mich Pro guys. The action here was more of a showcase than and actual structure but Dragon Kid gets his masked ripped and has his hair flowing through all of his highspots which provided a nice visual. The Crazy Max team also used some great rudo tactics including SUWA hurling a chair and gaining the advantage as we hit the stretch run. Tiger Mask took a backseat in this one until the end where him and SUWA are front and center for the finale. Dragon rana nearly spells doom until Sasuke the Great interferes with the referee. DK wipes out SUWA on the outside and inside the ring, TM is able to put away Taru with a Tiger Suplex. Fun Fun Fun. ***

Another early look at Pearce here. He takes a Davy Crockett coonskin cap from a fan and misses a charge into the corner. This was fine heavyweight style indy wrestling with both guys showing they could still do athletic stuff like Pearce with a rana and Norwood missing an elbow from the top. The finish here is cheap as can be with Pearce’s buddies coming in and hitting a belt shot against Norwood. Pearce gets attacked going to the back and it looks like the floor of this arena is dirt. A really cheap finish and the match wasn’t that much either. I don’t know when Pearce got “good” but he is still working it out in 2000 from what we have seen. **

FWA as a promotion probably doesn't get enough credit for being at the forefront of decent indy production in 2000. Clean look, decent enough announcer, a ring mat that doesn't look like you will contract deadly diseases by wrestling in it. This match continued that trend. This could very well be plopped into the 2003 ROH mid card and no one would have bat an eye. There were some minor annoyances like Youth's ridiculous pose bowing to all sides of the crowd as a babyface before delivering the frog splash finisher. I don't know how much Berk we will see overall but he was a good hand around this time and knew his fundamentals. ***

Rocker has some words for Morton calling him out and Morton obliges. I love how annoyed Lance is at Morton cursing on the mic. "All right, Todd Morton, enough." This was a 3 minute ladder match which I don't know if I have seen before. They right away go into the ladder. Bull comes into for interference but the beer can hits Morton and Rocker picks up the win. I'm Too Sexy is Rocker's theme song which I think was a requirement for every Memphis talent from 1992 onward. 1/2*

Everyone thinks they deserve a shot at Wolfie D. The highlights were King who cut a great promo and Ko Ko who is a treat to see this late in his career and he tries his damndest to not namedrop KIng and Dundee. Koko is wearing his high energy tights. A really long match for PPW showing they are having to stretch things out with MCW around. The eliminations were well done and culminated in Ko Ko getting out of the match taking a big tumble to the outside. Spellbinder and Boudreaux are the finalists and get a few minutes together with Spellbinder being fascinated with Wolfie D on commentary. The match cuts off for us right at the end with a promo with Baxter in the locker …

Inevitably, there will be moments when you watch a match in this project and see that it was definitely a 2000-style match and not meaning that as a compliment. That was one of these times. Both of these guys seem to have something there but they keep mixing up the match with highspots brought down by Paris grabbing a lazy headlock. Rinse and repeat over 20 minutes and I was checking out big time throughout this one. The ending is also awful with another run in and outside interference. 6/3/00 is an interesting day for indies with a lot of groups running but we are still seeing that the US indy scene still had some growing left to do. *3/4

Sort of a weird tag match as it couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a traditional southern tag or a hardcore match. Jeff Daniels was fun to watch as he is a sleazy looking guy that would be entertaining to see in other spots. Chris Champion looks like he tweaked too hard at the rave and had a fairly rough night execution wise with a lot of errant kicks. James Storm is really young here but looked more polished from a traditional sense than anyone else. That just leaves us with Eden who did a beautiful back body drop with great air control but also was spotty in other areas. This ends in a catfight and run ins with 3 out of the 4 competitors busted open. Gary Valiant makes …

Another good looking tag in the middle of the BOSJ tournament. Tanaka starts out with Kashin and Takiawa and they have a good looking exchange. Liger gets tagged in and Kashin catches him right away with the armbreaker for the tap out. WOW. ¾*

Another good BOSJ match although this one didn’t seem to really get off the ground unlike others we have seen throughout the tournament. With any tournament setting like this, taking some nights off is a necessity and it felt like that is what we got here. Usuda still seems to be a fun worker mixed in with these guys. **1/2

I really don't care about this feud overall and all the twists and turns they try to insert into. All of these guys are decent enough athletes and this featured some great athletic spots from Negro including on a sunset flip where he has insane body control. The ancillary effects just continue to ruin it. **1/2

The minis continue to keep things together for the promotion overall and this was another really good match without a ton of takeaways that distinguish it from the series overall. AAA minis is becoming like Toryumon in a way so far in that their floor is very high but they have yet to craft that one true MOTYC or transcendent type match. The bumping here remains a key component of the success of the matches. ***1/2 (6.6)

THis stipulation is one of my favorite in wrestling and these guys performed it admirably here really going after each other with intensity and hatred to prevent having to go into the apuestas match. I think CIMA in particular was a prick ripping the mask of both of his opponents. We have seen Crazy Max run roughshod for a lot of the 1st half of 2000 so seeing them fail here and having to be pushed into a wager match against each other felt justified. ***1/2

A shorter match than I expected but they packed a good amount of stuff into 8 minutes. Fuji was looking strong because he was losing his hair and CIMA maintains his WOTYC status. The finish felt well received in that it kept the narrative that these two are still partners and not even teasing dissension but someone had to lose here. Fuji hits some good emotional moments in the final stretch of the match. ***

This was the first marquee 1 vs 1 Toryumon matchup we have seen and it didn’t disappoint. SUWA is used as the base for most of the match and grinds down Dragon Kid with dominant and power offense. DK is able to even up the score by hitting some highspots. I enjoyed the amount of time DK recovered after hitting those big highspots putting over the damage that Suwa has done. DK nails the Dragon Rana from the top rope with great perfection for a nearfall until interference from Crazy Max manager. Suwa also hits a low blow and then a version of a Canadian destroyer almost for the victory. A big brawl breaks out after the match with Suwa ripping off DK’s mask. Hakushi makes th…

Gi Bro calls out Kidman. He comes in and they battle. The middle has some testiness between Major Guns and Torrie Wilson and Wilson low blows Kidman so I guess that is done with. Referee just lets all of this go because why the hell not. Bro hits the Book End for the pin after around a 90 second match. I have slowed down on my 2000 watching and coming back to this shit has not exactly motivated me to plow through the rest of 2000 WCW. ¼*

A long and uninteresting promo from Bischoff and Russo start us off. Everyone sucks and no has the balls as them blah blah blah. Out comes Goldberg mercifully after 10 minutes and even though this is a hometown Atlanta crowd, the dude is still mega over. He cleans house and the segment just ends. We get the big built to Tank vs Goldberg match now. Goldberg hits the side kick right away and they are even mentioning that legit put Hart out of action. After 30 seconds, here comes Rick Steiner in for the attack. “This was Goldberg’s big moment” Yeah, this is a fuck you Tony commentary. Why did Goldberg always get beat up so bad in his hometown? Here comes Nash through the fan…

Here we go with probably the most maddening WCW moment of all time. Russo and Bischoff popped off in the beginning and what was the result? Bischoff wins the hardcore title from Funk and Russo wins this match with Flair while not passing out in the figure four. What a fucking disgrace and this was without a doubt the very last point of no return for this rotting piece of shit company. Russo and Bischoff coming in was the last bit of false hope that things could change and they have pissed all of that away. Fitting it happens in Atlanta. This is one of the low points in wrestling history footage in ring that we have on tape to be honest. DUD of all DUDs.

Angle has a good line about the Kodak moment happening in a town with such ugly people. The pose tonight is pretty tame of all three just posing. The camera angle on the early springboard dropkick by Y2J looked awesome. Action only goes a few minutes but we see the heels gelling together well as a team and some traditional heel tactics. Match breaks down and Angle is able to sneak in and hit the Olympic Slam on Bubba for the pin. *3/4

HHH tells the regime he doesn’t want anyone out there and then reiterates that with Michael Cole. Cole informs HHH that Hebner is the special guest referee but HHH says that won’t matter. This was a lot better sprint than I expected. These two went after each other right away until the entourage and Kane/Taker made their presence known. A lot of miscommunication occurs with Rock getting chokeslammed and HHH escaping with the victory. I didn’t think this was a great way to build KOTR but I also didn’t think it made HHH look too strong, more that he just slimed away with the title. JR line of the night starting with three #1 contenders and now they were none felt ill advise…

HHH starts off the show with his promo. Not one of the better things we have seen from HHH this year. A good bit of momentum seems to be lost from the promotion since Judgement Day with Taker and Kane in the world title mix. HHH talks about ego for a long time and here comes Vince. Vince reminds HHH that the crowd is calling him an asshole. Vince gives a promo straight out of the 1993 Memphis playbook with his weird analogies. Some dissension among the ranks which came out of nowhere with HHH even bringing up Armageddon to Vince. HHH pie faces Vince. Shane comes out to be the peacemaker of the group. He says both of their egos are out of control. Shane changes it to put t…

This starts with male vs male and female vs female pairings until Yoshida and Tanaka mix it up. Intergender can be a tough hill to overcome just based on the strength and stature issue but they did a good job in these quick exchanges keeping the believability as Yoshida is able to hang on the mat with quick exchanges. Fukawa and Yoshida have some really fun back and forth that harkens you back to early style ARSION from early 1999. Otsuka and Yumi mixing it up did less to convince me in the intergender department but Otsuka did kind of treat her as a nonchalant threat and then puts her in a quick giant swing. Otherwise, the action when it was at the same gender was very…

I am ready for Kashin to start sucking at any time now. His offense on the arm of Otani here was varied and well done mixing it up with submissions and even slamming a chair on it when the action goes to the outside. He even does the face wash to Otani in a dickish move. The match really escalates nicely with Otani breathing a bit of a comeback and Kashin going right back to the armbar to regain the advantage. Finish was probably the worst part overall in how abrupt it was as Otani fires off a German and then gets a cross armbreaker of his own to which Kashin taps out immediately. I think this was a few more minutes away from being a great match. I understand the notion t…