June 2000

This is a feud that has been built up for a long time and we get the blow off here but besides the Dudley’s being over, there wasn’t a lot of meat to the match. D-Von gives the diving headbutt to Tori’s crotch in a spot I still don’t understand. The dumpster stip feels really tacked on as the crowd just keeps chanting for tables. X-Pac and Road Dogg even get a visual victory have the Dudley’s in the dumpster while the referee is tending to Tori. They sneak out the door and crawl under the ring. When they emerge, they give two crackling chair shots. We head to the finishing run with Bubba on the steps inside the ring and he powerbombs Road Dogg to the outside through two t…

Decent enough match but Val is dry on top. Chyna and Trish have some interaction and that gets a better reaction crowd wise than most of the match in ring. The bad booking continues with Val winning but that was pretty predictable with Rikishi going over via DQ in the first match. The main takeaway I had watching this is a theory I am really starting to propel in my mind. I am weary even mentioning it because Eddy is such a revered character. I do think he is a great worker at times but can’t help but look at his placement in GWE and wonder if there is something I am missing. Now, we still have his money WWE run to go so I don’t want to write him off but he is someone tha…

Angle and Rikishi provide us with basic but effective promos to start things off. Rikishi is really wounded here which again makes me question the booking as it doesn’t seem like this huge feat for Kurt to defeat this heavily hurt worker. Rikishi starts the match on the floor and quickly which makes sense given his injury. The match has a structure of Rikishi fighting through the pain but it is clearly slowing him down. Rikishi was very consistent in selling the damage. I also liked how the stinkface kind of pissed Angle off as he charges right out of the corner and hits the Angle Slam for a close nearfall. Rikishi regains the advantage and scales to the top but Angle cat…

Does anyone have Tomk’s review of this debacle? I don’t know if this classifies as so bad its good but I did laugh pretty hard at JR throwing in the towel and just announcing “this is hideous” a minute in. Crash ends up winning the title. ¼*

This starts with Shane Mayweather punching at Kane. Luckily Kane sniffs that out and Shane cowards which is preferred to the sometimes narrative that Shane is indeed a bad ass. The match carries a familiar structure of the faces dominating but each wanting to be champion so they do break up pins with each other. The match also spills to outside and we get our obligatory Attitude Era ringside brawl. HHH hits a pedigree on the inside and Rock is FIP. Now we get Shane jumping around and missing by a mile on most of his punches on offense. Kane and Taker are fighting it out on the outside while on the inside Rock makes his comeback and goes for the People’s Elbow. Kane comes …

This provided an excellent visualization of the depth of the tag roster in WWF at the time but as a standalone match, it never came together. E&C insult the sports of Boston just like Kurt a few minutes before but I will give them props for having a Mookie Wilson jersey. Everything was too compartmentalized. It started with a segment of the Hardy’s vs T&A. Lita and Trish have a scruff which again is a rehash of the Venis vs Eddy match and Chyna and Trish going after each other. E&C and Hardy’s then have their Raw match which is good but brief. Finally it is down to Too Cool and E&C and again the action is fine but not that inspiring and really relies on th…

They were determined to have this match. As a four minute angle advancer, it was fine. Venis shows some viciousness here and is more convincing in that role than trying to be super technical wrestler. I like Val’s punches and he smartly goes after the injured arm of Rikishi. The biggest issue is that the match is a victim of time as Val scales up to go for the money shot and gets caught in a belly to belly for the pin ending the match in real anticlimactic fashion. Rakish goes after Trish but Val attacks getting his heat back and Rikish has damage done to his shoulder again. *

This was a strong match in really showcasing the feud of M2K vs Crazy Max that will carry the company for the foreseeable future. It also was interesting seeing how the rudo/tecnico roles shifted immediately with M2K being the skateboard punks and Crazy Max becoming defacto faces. It was done a lot more organically than I would have imagined. I think having someone like Stalker on your side is an easy way to generate sympathy. Ditto for Fujii wearing the comedic wig to get a pop from the crowd when his nearly bald head was exposed. CIMA seemed enthusiastic to be a face as when he gets the hot tag off of a great sequence, he comes firing in and is jumping up and down all e…

We get the finishing run which is pretty heated and excellent. We have some sloppiness with SUWA slipping on the ropes and Dragon Kid just barely pulling off some of his rana spots. We only get around four minutes of action and it ends with Shinzaki winning with a straightjacket choke. Afterwards, SUWA and the rest of Crazy Max come in to continue the beatdown. Arai joins the fray and goes after SUWA challenging to a match afterwards. NR

Overall, a pretty strong Nitro for this era. This had some run in nonsense but it wasn’t as bad as we have seen and again no Bischoff or Russo is real refreshing. Steiner is someone I have never been a big fan of but he fits in this role and has the crowd behind him as a new face to cheer for. Him and Goldberg are setting up their impending feud well. Nash continues to be in the way for the most part and I don’t have high hopes of him giving any sort of rub to Awesome in the future. **1/4

For a three minute special attraction match, I thought this was great with Duggan showing great fire this advanced in age and Goldberg utilizing the heel bully role better than I would have imagined. He gives a great kidney punch at one point. Duggan could still be relied upon to have the crowd behind him. This was such solid booking of Goldberg beating someone he should have but the segment was engaging and the crowd was invested with any outside interference bullshit. Take notice Russo and Bischoff. ***1/2 (6.8)

Jindrak and O’Haire get their debut on the big stage and Juvy and Rey are good opponents to make them look good even though Rey especially is wasted in this secondary Filthy Animals role. Konnan and Disco can’t decide between the two of them who wants to be more in the limelight. I liked the DDT that was given to Rey when he was on Juvy’s shoulders. The rookies pick up the win and the crowd pops huge for that. After the Animals beat down on them, Lance Strom comes in from the crowd to make the save. We get the “he doesn’t work here” commentary to put that over. **

Is there a contract where these guys can’t wrestle for more than two minutes? Another decent entry from what we see but we don’t hardly see anything based on time. More work on the shoulder of Rikishi. Rikishi is looking for his big splash when Tazz of all people runs out and slams him with the chair. Benoit after the match hits another chairshot and a diving headbutt to the shoulder. I guess we are trying to do something with Tazz now. ½*

Jericho explains in his pre match promo that he kissed roadkill and never would do that again. Another three minute match but it was good enough in advancing the Steph vs Jericho feud. Jericho has the match won with the lionsault until Road Dogg comes in and whacks him allowing X-Pac to win. After the match was more heated with Stephanie slapping Jericho and then kicking him in the balls. ¾*

Man did I hate this. E&C are starting their relationship with Foley which is remembered fondly. They just have won the tag titles back and they get completely bitched out by the BOD. I understand they are more of a comedy troop squad but still why decimate your champions in this manner. Taker/Kane don’t have a lot to do right now after KOTR and having them job out everyone but the main event players isn’t the way to go. ¼*

A match I haven't seen anyone talk about that I randomly stumbled upon when looking for Lawler matches. Lawler has The Kat representing him and Malenko has Terri Runnells with the rules being that each time a wrestler is thrown over the top rope their representative must take off a piece of clothing. The match itself is ok-Lawler throws some nice punches, they build to the throwing over the top rope as good as you could in a three minute match, but the bizarre angle is what really makes it memorable, combined with a Right To Censor interference that prevents the "pay off". Very much a product of its time so opinions on it will depend on how you feel about the era and the …

Raw starts off with a Vince promo. The explanation of why he is going away is strange as shit and the origin of the genetic jackhammer moniker. This felt like a promo that shows in the decade before, Vince would have just moved to the next territory but he is unable to do that here. Rock comes out and offers a handshake and then gives him a Rock Bottom to send him on his way. Glad that Vince is at least aware enough to know this run was not one of his best and a sabbatical is a smart move. Next we get HBK coming out and him and HHH have some interaction. HHH says he deserves to be the #1 contender and I can’t really disagree there. This all leads to Foley being named the …

Good final to the intergender tournament. The ladies really mixed it up on the mat at first and I thought Hamada in particular implemented himself well into the match vs Fukawa. The finish was a bit anticlimactic but I do appreciate a match that ends on what really feels like the first big high impact move of the match with Hamada’s cutter from the top rope. This was enjoyable and made me appreciate intergender wrestling more on the whole. ***1/4 (6.5)

Fun tag match to open up SmackDown. It was nice to see Eddy and Benoit mix it up and show their tremendous chemistry against each other. Eddy is a good FIP for a while and we go into the finishing stretch with T&A coming out. Chyna gets involved with them and Too Cool also comes out to help Rikishi. Chyna and Eddy dance in the end to a big reaction. It’s interesting that the match ends with Rikishi/Too Cool/Chyna/Eddy in the ring which was 4 of the 6 competitors in the Mania six man. **

This is the WM 24 main event 8 years early so this is fun to see. Again, Taker just mows down Edge and treats him like a jobber. This program is doing no one any favors at all and I am ready for E&C to be in their next tag feud where they look the least bit credible. 1/4*

This was a nice main event to mainly continue the Jericho vs HHH feud. Dudley and DX are just window dressing but they didn’t get in the way and D-Von was a serviceable guy to take the pin and show that HHH is still strong. I liked Cole’s call of saying no matter what, he is still the Game. The match had a good amount of time and a back and forth style. The Jericho vs HHH remains being fantastic and this culminates in the tease of Steph going through the table only for HHH to end up going through. *** (5.8)

Wow, this was a really good match. Holly takes the fight to Angle and this showed Angle in a different environment really having to overcome a bruiser. This also felt like it went longer than the typical Angle tv match. Eventually, resourcefulness is Angle’s out as he hits a low blow and then the Angle Slam for the win. Angle is growing as a worker here as he is advancing up the card and Holly has went from someone that didn’t look like he really belonged in the IC picture in January to a very serviceable gatekeeper character. ***1/4 (6.7)

Female lucha is again something that feels like it should be much more prominent than it is. I am unsure if the right worker has never caught on/gotten the appropriate push or what but I look forward to seeing the 2000’s output with the Apache ladies being featured. This was ok. Tifany has good enough character work but this was mainly rope running and arm drags. Lola looked like she was moving in slow motion for some of the later spots. The victory roll from the top rope in the finale was a good nearfall. The seconds get involved and the finish is annoying with Tirantes giving a fast count allowing Tifany to win. I would like to see Tifany in there with someone like Asar…

Vignette with Vilano III at the doctor's office. He has a shoulder injury and is in no state to wrestle. This was crash TV but the crowd had just sat through a tag tournament so it was a welcome change of pace. The tecnicos went at the rudos hard. Rayo, in particular, was fired up and the rudos bumped and stooged for the cleanouts. An old guy in the crowd took great delight in jawing with Dantes. Right on cue, Mascara Ano 2000 ran in and began beating the crap out of Perro. Then Villano ran to ringside against doctor's orders and attacked Pierroth and Mascara with a steel pipe, which may or may not have been cardboard. Villano was escorted to the back and everyone s…

I was happy to see Tajiri work with an underneath worker and him vs EZ Money sounded fun in concept. The match itself had the crowd firmly behind Tajiri and Money mainly backing off which was fun to see as a one off. Tajiri continues to find creative ways of bringing in his signature stuff like the mist and Tarantula. His kicks of course looked wonderful including the one right before the finish of the brainbuster. **1/2