August 2000

It is bizarre to see Tana and Shibata in young boys gear. They each had a good showing here especially Shibata. The opening matwork between the two was basic but engaging. Things really open up when Shibata does the face wash to Otani and also slaps him really hard. Otani doesn’t take that very well and lays a beating on the rookie culminating in a victory. Otani and Tanahashi had some nifty tags and continunity. Kashin mostly stayed out of this one but I didn’t think he was actively bad again. Good opener to start the show. *** (6.2)

Kojima continues to be a slog for me to get invested in with his matches. This had a lot of back and forth but the moments between the big spots didn’t have much time to breathe. We get a lot of quick kickouts. We actually had about 7.5 minutes which is as much of any G1 match as we have gotten so far and the final lariat by Sasaki was brutal and felt like a knockout blow. Overall if this match was in full, I could see a lot of people loving the hoss fight feel of it and me being lower than the consensus. NR

This was a good looking match based on the clips. Nishimura really worked in his submission holds and Nakanishi played the monster well powering through everything. I especially liked Nakanishi doing his claw as a counter to being in the armbar. The final torture rack was also brutal looking. A workman’s style match and one that showcases Nishimura in being able to get the best out of his opponent. NR

Last month had all the stars aligning when these four did a garbage brawl full of spotfests. This was less successful mainly because Blade was pretty dreadful and botching a ton of stuff. There is a 2-3 minute stretch in the middle of this were the BSB just reel off cool combo after cool combo using the ladder culminating in the Acid Bomb wedging Mondo’s head between the ladder. Matthews/York have looked decent when given a chance but the BSB are clearly more exciting to me and they look like they could be in any big time indie or on a national stage at this point. The double Van Terminator spot is blown by Blade which is a shame. The big culminating spot is nuts as Blade…

Cool beginning with Pondo pretending to be a masked cameraman and retrieving the stop sign from under the ring before demasking. I liked that the crowd immediately knew it was him. The brawl itself is around as good as you are getting from Pondo. It is short and has some neat bumps including the culminating superplex through the light tubes and pane of glass. Pondo brings back the scissors which is nasty to watch. Wifebeater interferes and we get our second shit finish in a row as the match just stops with all three brawling to the back. **3/4

Awful booking of this show as we have two big matches that were fun but ended in bad finishes. Instead, we have Pastor Jim and some weird skit that doesn’t land at all and you can’t hear them at all. Then Justice Pain comes out and cuts a promo and you can’t hear a word of that either. Finally Zandig enters and the match is just awful. Zandig is unmotivated and they just go through the corners of weapons with no rhyme or reason. Robbie Mireno on commentary adds nothing. Lobo finally comes out and doesn’t do much of anything before escaping with the win. Zandig calls out Lobo afterwards to set up Cage of Death. Dreadful stuff to end the night. *

Good energetic opener here with Psicosis looking good and Michael Shane wanting to make a name for himself. I know the heel tactics of Shane are pretty shallow and dismissed but he did fine here and helped out the vibe of the match overall. It was refreshing to see Psicosis not go through the motions and work in his reckless highspots that the WCW crowd would remember. **1/2

I liked seeing Dreamer mixing it up with these guys and it was a fun way he was inserted as the heels were trying to bail in typical Southern style. Hamrick is always going to bump and do neat things to get noticed and Money does a lot as well. That actually kind of makes Matthews/York look a little rough in this one as while they were fine, I did think they were outshined in the basic premise of this match which was all energy and shtick mixed in. I am guessing by the cagematch card for this show that this was the first match back from intermission which was a good placement. *** (5.9)

The tag division is the thing in ECW that feels the most fresh and has the most juice to me right now. This had Whipwreck/Tajiri finding their footing as a team but also told a great story of them not being there all the way just yet. I appreciated the mist going awry and the FBI winning the match helps set up stuff in the future given how the tag title pans out. Guido and Mamaluke can bump, wrestle the mat and provide a good base for the big comebacks. Overall, a tag that won't be remembered at year end but would be remembered for someone attending the show as a positive. ***1/4 (6.6)

Alkie sucks on commentary. Spanky and Dragon team up before Dragon dropkicks Spanky out. This was a two minute match and features a German suplex and weapon shot with the sign. I guess MCW is no DQ as the referee just stars at him. LIttle Hollywood comes down and beats up Rocker hitting the frog splash for the pin. Maybe the worst match Danielson was ever in. 1/4*

They were giving seven minutes to work with and had a fine match. Youth is able to get big heat from the crowd and that rallies everyone behind Cade. There was a stupid moment in the middle with the referee almost rolling Youth up for the pin but after that the match kicks into another gear for the final stretch. Reckless hits the turnaround splash and bulldog to regain control. The referee gets bumped and as expected, Youth goes for the foreing object. Ronnie James on commentary grabs it out of his hand and hits Youth with it allowing Cade to roll him up for the win. **

What a delight watching Regal work. He has a gritty and competitive five minute match here and looks to be rounding back into form. Shooter much like the Danielson match is someone that can be led along the way and do fine for himself. Finish comes with a ref bump and Pete Gas coming in to help Regal. Regal wins with the Regal Stretch. **1/4

Some of the stuff with KAW characters like Alkie Hal is brutal but MCW is starting to pull away from Power Pro based on the talent they have in the building. This is the third decent to good tv match we have seen so far today. Krush gets made mid match and tells someone to shut their ass up. Krush is more active here than in the Lawler matches and the pace is better. We get interference again which is frustrating but it is Memphis after all. Viscera interferes here and does the big splash and leg drop to Smothers. *3/4

Seven says he doesn't need that midget Brandon Baxter to win his matches. Seven looks good with some of his power moves and pretty bad with others leaving Corey to have to cover for him by saying he looks slow and methodical but powerful. The Alabama Slam in particular looked brutal and gets a close nearfall. King feeds himself into Seven and performs his role really well. Seven ends up winning with the redemption. Again Corey buries Seven by saying he doesn't have too many moves and it doesn't look pretty, but he gets it done. *

We will see a bit of Wilde and he had some hype around the lessor known indies of the first half. He looked pretty good here working the leg and doing mat work and then the comedy aspects that were inserted into this match were less successful. Hollow was pardon the pun pretty hollow in the variety of his attack but he was competent enough and did show some viciousness going after the arm. I was surprised to see Hollow pick up the win. I didn't leave this match wondering why Wilde wasn't ROH champion but this did provide a nice palate cleanser for all of the non WWF stuff that occurred on this day in the US. **1/2

Tenzan was lively here having come in as one of the top leaders of his block. Nishimura provides the perfect underdog for this type of storytelling with his constant motion and danger with the submissions. The Octopus hold was well executed in that Tenzan didn’t escape as more as he collapsed forcing a break. The counter of the back suplex when Nishimura goes for the hold again was also expertly done. Nishimura kicking out the moonsault is a big moment for him and really brings Sumo Hall alive. Nishimura keeps the action going and gets Tenzan locked in a capture cradle for the pin. We see Nakanishi on the outside looking on and that sets the table for tomorrows shows. Thi…

Tanahashi is teaming with Kanemoto today. What a turncoat. Makabe has beef with Koji and they start the match out. That doesn’t last long before Tana tags in and again we have a spirited exchange between him and Shinya. I will continue to be amazed at how much sharper Makabe’s striking is now than in current day. Otani and Tanahashi also fire off against each other. From there the match is the typical Otani/Kanemoto hate fest with stiff strikes and taunting along the way. I appreciate this development for the juniors and think that in current day, they spend too much time paired up with each other or clear past their prime veterans. I also appreciate how strong Otani and …

This was cut up to around about 7 minutes given how huge this G1 was, so televised matches were rare, full matches were even rarer. This was a pretty fun big man v big man outing, with Yasuda playing the underdog who was pulling out the vintage Fighting Spirit to try to nab the win against a bigger, younger beast who had just ripped apart Nishimura yesterday and was raring to go here. Yasuda is so great at being able to play the bullied bigger tank who eats a ton of offense, and has to dig super deep to try to take back control with whatever stuff he can muster; he understands how to balance being dynamic (for his size) with the optimal amount of fatigue for the occa…

It's amazing how many guys are in just black trunks at this time in NJPW. Both of these guys along with Nishimura and Nakanishi. I figured that Sasaki would make pretty short work of Kido here and that is what we got. Kido had a few moments working the armbar but Sasaki dismisses that and locks on an arm submission to obtain the victory. This was all about Sasaki looking strong going into the final day. NR

The winner goes into the decision match the next night to face Nagata. Pretty unclear based on the clips here whether this match was any good or not as we get a lot of leg submission work. The selling is well done but I don’t know how well the table setting played into the match overall. The finish felt abrupt for me with Ilzuka locking on the choke and getting the submission to enter into the final day decision matches. NR

My goodness Jeff G Bailey gives a scathing promo that has to be bleeped. Ill say this for Lazz in Wildside. The commentators handle Lazz much better than other acts like the Christopher Street Connection in ROH. Lazz looks to be a pretty damn good wrestler as he hits a huge springboard swantom as they go to break. Mark E Mark. gets into the action too as he hits a swantom and is good enough on top for the match. Lazz fires back and wins with his finisher the Britney Spear which is excellent. I enjoyed this as Lazz is now looking to take on Onyx. **

Another Murahama singles match. Give it to me. I continue to appreciate how the technical notion is on display with these matches as well as the strategies each man is developing to try to garner the victory. Yakushuji is able to work well on the mat here until he gets caught with a high kick from Takehiro. He knows he will need to avoid that in the future so the match develops with a lot of distance and it all being based on whether Murahama can cork off that knockout blow or submission. He hits it later on in the match but Yakushuji is able to reach down deep and break the armlock submission. Yaku then absolutely annihilates Murahama on a German. Murahama hits one more …

Before the lame DQ, this was possibly my favorite OVW match I have seen. The DQ didn't make any sense as they are able to thwart it off with the Brain Damage. Henry looks for the first time in the decade like a monster and he is a welcome addition to the OVW proceedings. Damaja and Dinsmore have good double team moves and I would like to see them featured as a team. Cornette is yelling too much of course but the frantic pace of the action at least matched the tone this one time. **1/4

God the Animals are so lame doing their wassup thing to a dead crowd. Go ahead and feel the shirt Tygress.....Thats Enough. Unibrow Stryker is someone I had no idea did WCW spots. At least Konnan on commentary is talking about New Blood Rising which is more continuity than I had imagined. This is a pretty fun throwaway match with Inferno matching up well and Rey looking good again in 2000 but completely wasted in this role. The Bronco Buster being called the stocking stuffer by K Dawg on commentary. The Animals pretty much dominate throughout and Rey picks up the win with a legdrop to the balls of Stryker. *1/4

This was bad. The worst type of RVD match that is super long and gratuitous without much to any structure. I did think we might be going somewhere when Balls hit a good piledriver and he did blade nicely here but RVD shrugged that off and it was business as usual for the home stretch. The crowd was chanting Van Terminator so I can't blame him for doing that. *1/4