June 2000

Promo was ok but I was annoyed by the Vince thing as it feels like we have had this faction splintering stuff once every month and so and they end up on the same page. There was some good stuff there where you could debate whether HHH values the title or Steph more but they downplayed that. Of course, before the match starts Vince brings out a bunch of cronies that Taker/Kane/Rock have to beat up. Everyone comes out and they have a big brawl culminating in HHH giving Rock the pedigree and Shane delivering the elbow drop. I guess this is a match since we had a bell and Vince gets the cover off of the People’s Elbow. One of the worst segments in WWF this year. 1/4*

We have the Villano Bros taking up the mantle of the tecnicos and they get handled throughout most of this match. I didn’t think LIzmark added a lot to the proceedings and think someone like Atlantis teaming with these guys would have been better. The Villano comeback was fun and spirted. Of the rudo faction I would say that Caras looked the best. Overall June has been the weakest month in CMLL which corresponds nicely to my opinion that it is the weakest month overall in the year. They seems to be a bit of positioning before they find they next big feud to heat up and only the AAA invasion felt groundbreaking like stuff we saw earlier in the year. **1/4

A really good match that was trending to a great one until the shoddy finish. This opened up uniquely with basic wrestling holds and sequences including arm drag takeovers and criss crosses leading into a nice looking powerslam by Corino. Once Tajiri goes on offense, he continues to be one of if not the best person in wrestling in 2000 performing offense. Chairs being hit in unique angles and deadly precision on his kicks. Corino bleeds and as usual it looks great with his blonde hair. The finish sees Tajiri misting special referee Jerry Lynn and then he hits a superkick from Corino for the pin. Really cheap finish with Cyrus continuing to be annoying as shit in this netw…

This was billed as the ACW MOTY. The cage match was going along pretty good as the stip was used well and Pearce had good heat and was bruising Dino up once he got cut. I also appreciated the submissions. Then the run in start from people I don’t recognize and the match totally loses me. I am still waiting for that one good Pearce match as he has good basics but the overbooking here killed that chance. **3/4

In a month with not a lot of eye popping stuff, this was a pleasant surprise and was great. Yagi and Asari have matched up so well in unconventional settings as their sprint at the J-Cup proved. Now, they are mixed in with an intergender contest and it does the best job of working that stipulation that we have seen up to this point. Some of the exchanges that Yagi pulls off in particular are jaw dropping such as her arm drag where she grabs Asari at the very last possible moment. I also got a big kick of Sasuke retreating from her by running to the entrance in a very believable faction. Overall, this just hit for me both from a novelty and workrate standpoint. One of the …

There is something refreshing about hearing Lance Russell call an American Dragon match. He makes a strong debut here and has a pretty banging four minute technical match vs Youth here. We see the techniques that Dragon can utilize and Youth was a great opponent to go up against as we just saw him having to prove himself vs Regal. Danielson gets the win too. The only negative here is that he is wearing the mask. **

Mochizuki vs Bobby Blaze is a complete wtf novelty match on paper but this actually turned out to be pretty fun with Blaze in particular doing a good sell job on his leg. Mochi works it over throughout the match and locks in a wide variety of submissions to keep things interesting. Blaze’s comebacks were well placed and gave the crowd just enough hope that he could pull this one out. I liked the rollup that was the finish. Fun match. *** (5.9)

We join the action right as the hot tag is made. Bad Attitude goes through their offense and seemingly wins with a moonsault. Steve Martin is out however to inform us that this is now 2/3 falls. RNR quickly get the second fall as we go to commercial. The leg work on Michaels is again great as RNR continue to be delights as heels. Robert rips off the pants to add insult to injury. Figure four reversals occur. Hot tag is made to Young and the finish occurs when Steve Martin tries to throw in the chain but it gets intercepted by Young and they win. Fun match but a good step below their earlier encounter. RNR turns face as they help Bad Attitude clear house on their way out o…

2000 is a weird year from a WOTY standpoint whereas all big contenders have taken months off to a degree. Thus enters Takehiro Murahama who after this match has to be at least in the conversation. He has changed the dynamic of Osaka Pro and created a spark that is unheralded. The theme of this match is that he has proven himself to Delphin but not to Hoshikawa and Yakushiji. As a result, the match plays out with the Hosh and Yaku team beating the shit out of Murahama when given the chance. All the strikes here look tremendous and with great precision. Murahama finds a small opening and immediately makes the hot tag to Delphin. The finishing run here was super exciting wit…

You know how this goes. Conway and Dinsmore lead their respective teams to an inoffensive and ok match. We do get a finish here. Cornette screams. All hell is breaking loose at some card we won’t see any clips of. I can’t be bothered to care. *1/2

Cabana and Punk do have a good base that they were trained on. This is a neat looking indie with inoffensive commentary in a market like St. Paul that was at one time ripe with high gates. The story here is Punk as the babyface and Cabana clobbering him down as a heel. Both play their role well and you see some stuff in the arsenal like Cabana’s standing moonsault that he edits later from his repertoire as it doesn’t look very smooth. Punk fires up a comeback and has the crowd behind him when Cabana is able to get the flash pin with his foot on the ropes. *** (5.9)

An all action cage match that only goes nine minutes. This was fun while it lasted and I continue to appreciate HBK on commentary putting both of them over. Spanky brought some of his reckless highspots but the striking of Dragon helped ground everything and keep the feud vibe going. The finish was an interesting way to write them both out of TWA as they are knocked out and neither guy can answer the 10 count. We are closing the first chapter on the career of these men but that is only the beginning. *** (6.1)

Cassidy Riley face plants in a huge botch that gets a big laugh from the crowd. Ouch. Air Paris looks like he just came from the local mall. 3 Count are gelling more and more as a team with their triple team moves and bringing constantly fluidity to the matches. This match is really fun Saturday morning fodder to watch over a bowl of cereal. 3 Count are really wasted on the A shows of WCW at the time. **1/4

Unfortunately, this was a SmackDown special of only around 5 minutes of work. The stuff here was fine but Val and Holly were paired up too much IMO. Jericho is over like crazy with the MSG crowd which is nice to see as he does feel really destined to a be a top tier main eventer right now. Benoit gets the pin off a chair shot while Jericho has Holly in the Walls. **

It is nice to have some house show footage mixed in. This is an especially lively crown in MSG the night before the PPV. I haven’t watched KOTR 2000 in quite some time but know the reputation that it is a pretty awful show both from a booking and in ring stand point. I wonder if having such a jazzed house show the night before led to the come down from the workers. Dudley’s and Rock work well as a unit and while this exhibited your basic tropes of DX retreating to the back and then being brought back out and a cop out finish to protect everyone, the action was presented well and the crowd was molten. The pop that the 3D on X-Pac gets for example is huge. D-Von played FIP …

This is a 2000 indie match in an encapsulation. There was still good heat on the Backseat Boyz and you can’t lack Blade for trying even though his success ratio on the moves he hits is less than stellar. Blade’s valet at one point nearly breaks her neck perfoirming a rana to Trent. The overall theme of the match was a mixture of cool spots, botched stuff and good character work by the BSB even if it against bring out the worst in 2000 indie crowds. Dewey Donovan debuts as their manager here and he would go on to have a lengthy run with the tag team. The big spot of the match culminates in Blade giving a swantom bomb from the trailer but he overshoots the target and lands …

Zandig starts things off with a promo against the FUCKING government. I guess legislation is pending to ban hardcore wrestling in New Jersey. Afterwards, Lobo sneak attacks him and the match is underway. This is certainly not a technical masterpiece but it was kept short at six minutes and all of the big spots hit so in a battle of two important workers in the history of CZW but unpolished this was a best case scenario. Finish was sloppy as someone runs in and chokeslams Lobo. I am unsure who that was but Zandig shoves him down and then kicks him out. **1/2

The way this started was really exciting. Tons of speed and precision on the strikes. The match was really moving along well and then we get a ref bump. That was kind of a bummer as Mochi uses his time to use a ladder. Implant DDT on the apron by Mochi and then he goes after the mask. Mochi is really carving out a rudo name for himself since joining up with M2K. Sasuke makes his comeback and looks to have the match in hand until Mochi is able to hit a dragon suplex off of a missed swantom. The finish is interesting as Mochi’s shoulders were down so Sasuke was able to put his up and win. Mochi and Gran Apache respond in disgust post match and kick Sasuke a few more times r…

A good match but one that was very dry even with the mask ripping. Apache is out there again helping run interference and Pentagon is on top for a while. His focus was shaky as he dind’t emphasize any area. As a result, TM makes his comeback and then goes after the mask of Pentagon with a little more fervor and veracity. TM offers a handshake afterwards and we get a pull apart between the factions. I really hoping the rematch has more energy to it. **3/4

Fun, fun, fun match. I don’t think this could reach the great level with the bucket being used by the rudos like the Aja Kong trashcan but this match had a punch of old grumpy rudo guys beating the shit out of the tecnicos and then the tecnicos looking for revenge. It is a simple story but can be told well. Zumbido is such a bump freak and he riles up the Monterrey crowd tremendously. I liked the double team moves that Dandy and Dantes performed and think they would have been a great maestro touring tag team here. Tarzan Boy also looked more refined and better here with control on his dives than in some of his CMLL efforts. Overall, a strong match and it made me want to s…

Talk about it here.

Didn’t take long for the awful booking to start tonight. Benoit comes in like a shark smelling blood going after that injured shoulder of Rikishi. He does a great job of working it over even putting in a variation of the crossface with extra torque on the shoulder. Rikishi makes it to the ropes and then Benoit calmly grabs a chair and earns himself the DQ. That sucks. *

Good match. It is clear hearing the reaction for these two compared to the prior match that they have something special. Angle’s prematch promo in an era gone by would have gotten great heat. Now, we see mostly laughing from the crowd which shows the evolution of the fanbase. The match itself stretches things out for Angle a bit with the action spilling to the outside and him taking a good bump off of a hiptoss. Some of the back work helped keep things moving along and add context to the match. Angle’s clothesline off of Jericho’s rope running was a really clever spot. I also liked the finish here of Steph running down, Jericho kissing her and Angle hitting the Angle Slam…

Generic big vs little match up with Crash’s forearms looking awful in the early going. For someone with as much size as Bull, his strikes don’t have as much weight behind them as they should either. The combination of the previous two matches and the investment in these guys has the crowd really quiet throughout the duration. Bull beats up Crash for 4 minutes and Crash is able to get a flash pinfall victory. This again telegraphs whom will be winning next. Nothing match here. ¾*

Angle does a really fun pinning combination 30 seconds in that we haven’t seen before. Overall, this was a very strong push for Angle. Crash has been lucking his way into these victories but that is shut down here and Kurt is only having to kick out of a few flash pins before putting him away with the Angle Slam. Good tv match but this is PPV. As an added bonus, we get clips of the MSG houseshow from the night before and King of all people interviewing one Donald Trump. I don’t know how much money you could bet that this would be the President of the United States now but you would be a rich man if you would have done it. *1/2