August 2000

This is Otto Schwanz and Cham Pain as the Dupps. Another cool look at a dark match in a tv taping. The Haas brothers do some unique flippy stuff and it looks like they are angling for a job before taking the fall. Both this and the prior match gave some neat insight and felt like a Sunday Night Heat or WCW Worldwide equivalent match. *1/4

This provides some good insight into the brawling nature of M2K as we cut to a ring that has the bottom rope removed, a ladder and tons of brawling all around. The ending stretch that we see shows M2K being pretty bruising and TM and Susumu having a heated sequence. I liked the finish with TM blowing red mist into Masaaki and pinning him. NR

KDawg is on commentary gloating about the Animals being the new tag champs even though they got a big assist from Sting. Jindrak and O’Haire give one of the biggest double arm drags to Juvy you will see. Above Average Mike Sanders has emerged and is with Disco on the outside. The power moves work well against the Animals. I guess the Animals are face as Perfect Event come out and beat up the Animals along with Sanders turning. Who the fuck can tell anymore with this company. *3/4

The primera has one of our better heel beatdowns we have seen. Silver King and Wagner are especially nasty with cheapshots and short rabbit punches neutralizing all three Villanos. The Villanos of course come back in segunda and I’ll never tire of III hulking up and Silver King mugging in the process. The rudos are really reeling when the Villanos get on the same page. They win on a cool triple roll up. Third fall continues the pace of back and forth and I like the continuity of Wagner and Villano fake fouling and fouling each other throughout different promotions. This time Wagner does foul III and gets the pin. Please tell me this leads to an apuestas. ***1/4 (6.6)

We get the McMahon extended family reconciliation with them leading right up to and eventually having HHH and Angle shake hands with each other. Foley comes out and shows clips of the kiss from Angle to Steph on Monday. Foley also announces that Rock will face one of them in the ring tonight. Backstage HHH and Angle are bickering and Shane tells Steph they should discuss it. Shane comes back with the solution that he will face Rock to keep the family in harmony. Steph comes back to Shane and offers up herself to face Rock. She hypothesizes that it would be champion vs. champion. Shane comes back with HHH/Angle and puts the kibosh on Steph facing The Rock and says HHH will…

Quick match that you knew were leading to some miscommunication on the face team. That happens soon enough as Jeff hits the swantom on DVon and E&C escape with the win. Afterwards, Bubba gets pissed and the Dudleys and Hardys are clearly not on the same page. ½*

This had more personality than the previous mini stuff due to Novillerito mixing it up with the matador spots and the rudos really giving a vicious performance full of hurtful looking dives and fouls. Kahos gives a brutal foul against Octagoncito. Second fall was more like the norm with Octagoncito diving around and winning with a second fall. Octagoncito pulls out a great rana in the finale and then follows that up with a dropkick to the outside. Novillerito then is mixing it up with Abismo Negro before getting kicked really hard. Finish has Novillerito coming back and winning with a rana. Again, one of these mini matches that is good but you could put all of them for 20…

Oh, this was more like it in showing something from Ayako. She takes a big ol Aja signature ass kicking here. Aja is brutal with punches, kicks, lariats and everything else. The main thing that made this match for me was how Ayako came back by either taking things to the mat as well as being stiff when given the openings. Ayako’s jump moonsault into Aja’s boots looked like it hurt a lot on the stomach of Hamada but she is still able to propel Aja to the outside and hit a beautiful moonsault. Another jumping moonsault inside and suddenly Hamada may have a chance here. She powers Aja up to the top rope and looks for the finisher that Starr blew in the Jd’ match but Aja is a…

The tecnicos should have brought Silva to every fight. They would have never lost. I liked the Guapos' comedy spots in this match.

Los Capos vs. Los Boricuas! This was a slick little trios match that danced around the main beef of Pierroth vs. Mascara Anos 2000 but managed to stoke the fire. Cien Caras did the heavy work for his team while Pierroth was tailgating it to the safety of the commentary box when the heat got too much. The match wasn't as violent as you might expect but did show tremendous potential for a gang war. Remember, Los Capos may be rudos but they're Mexican rudos.

We get the tag match that was supposed to happen earlier in the month here as Emilio is back. Emilio is in these snazzy blue trunks for the match. After Buccanero/Guerrero seem to be easing into a first fall victory, Niebla ties Guerrero up and Emilio gets a quick pin on bucanero to steal the first fall. Infernales are embarrassed and pissed and the second fall is more of a brawl. They are able to escape with the second fall. I liked the third fall because it ebbs and flows and it isn’t apparent who is winning the match until the INfernales win after some mistakes from Niebla and Emilio. I would have liked to have seen a longer match here as the Niebla/Charles team was fu…

All of FBI is in this which is cool because I like Sal on the outside and want to see him in a match proper. Joey on commentary says Psicosis and Tajiri probably wont be able to coexist since they are facing off in singles the next night. Tajiri kicks the shit out of Mamaluke and then a completely brutal combo chopping down Big Sal like a tree. Psicosis gets caught on the first pescado but Mikey piles on and everyone goes down on the outside. Tajiri gets the hot tag after Whipwreck is worked over a bit and has a fun sequence going through everyone like a buzzsaw before he mists Psicosis on accident. Psicosis then kicks Tajiri and it is ambiguous whether he meant to or not…

Rhino jumps RVD at the bell and this match is almost exclusively on the outside. This was a better brawl than you typically get from RVD because Rhino was on top forcing the action to remain constant instead of mugging for the crowd and setting up the next stunt spot. Rhino is being put over strong as he dominates RVD even when the action goes inside. RVD is able to get a breath of air with a kick and that rallies the fans behind him. Finish was disappointing as after all that table setting, RVD just runs through his big moves and looks to have the match in hand before Credible runs in for the lame DQ. Why weapons are ok but not run ins, Ill never know but that is ECW for…

First time looking at Corino as a face in ECW. Corino has some choice words for Lou E before the match starts. I appreciated how Corino didn't change much of his offense and still was brawling and throwing nut shots. This was a good back and forth match that had Corino's leg getting worked over and he could provide sympathetic selling getting the crowd behind him. The finish was a schmozz with Lou E coming in running interference and Scotty getting the surprise victory. Good match and debut for face Corino. *** (6.1)

Nice to have two fancam matches from these two after the tag angle we just saw. Opening of this is pretty great with Tajiri being a prick and making fun of Psicosis in a hilarious manner after he hits him low. Psicosis looks good taking a beating and then dishing it out when needed. They do a bit of a stage brawl which was disconnected from the rest of the match and lost the crowd but Tajiri gets the crowd back with a baseball slide back inside the ring. Build to the finish again has Tajiri teeing off with different combinations but he misses a moonsault and Psicosis gets an upset win with the big leg drop from the top. ***1/2 (6.8)

Things are much slower and measured here compared to B-Boy’s match with Reyes’ Los Gringos partner. B goes for a clothesline, Reyes slides between his legs, ankle trip and he drops a leg to the back of his head. Double running knee to the chest followed by a double leg cradle for a two. The Irish whip is reversed, B keeping hold of the arm and launching Reyes with an exploder. Cross arm bar transitioned into from a seated abdominal stretch and Reyes wriggles over to the ropes for the break. B-Boy is really early telegraphing the backdrop and gets spiked by a jumping DDT. A baseball slide dropkick sends him to the outside, although there is no dive or anything, the r…

Kim looks like he wouldn’t be out of place in the Jung Dragons. Drop toe hold by Romero who picks up an early two count with a Magistral cradle. Springboard senton from one side of the ring straight into a springboard twisting senton from the other. The Irish whip is reversed, however as Kim rushes in Romero traps his head on the tip up and drives it into the middle turnbuckle. Kim blocks the belly to belly and hits a tornado DDT. Moonsault bodyblock for a two. Brainbuster, but this time Romero gets a foot over the rope to break the count. Rocky kicks out of the O’Connor roll and immediately tries his luck with another Magistral cradle. Reverse DDT followed by a s…

I had a nice writedown of this match that got ate so let me just hit the highlights now. Reil/Dixie started things off and had a pretty great opening stanza with Dixie bumping like a loon and hitting the highspots when needed. Reil was heeling it up with a gaudy gold bowling shirt. Quackenbush was next and he was also impressive against Dixie running through a variety of unique moves including a full nelson camel clutch. It was really neat seeing Quack work heel here. Montoya attacks Quack while Dixie is on the outside getting counted out. Montoya makes short work of Quack and then the match grinds to a halt. We get Flash Wheeler beating Montoya and then Zieg before…

One of the most intense collar and elbow tie ups starts this off. It looked completely hateful and vicious. Some more intense grappling follows where you have small touches like Ki grabbing Homicides shirt to hang onto positon. Homicide takes a powder to the outside. Homicide then starts to target the leg for the next 15 minutes and it is some of the most gripping stuff of 2000 so far. Cide varies his offense and his attack and Ki is excellent selling from underneath. No matter what Homicide does, Low Ki wont go down. Homicide gives some clubbing clotheslines right to the face that made me cringe. Ki is able to hit a flash Ki Krusher to get back into the match but then he…

Johnny D has some words for the Haas Brothers valet and Papa Roach fires up. Going to start a drinking game for how many times I hear Last Resort in the next couple of years. I dug the shit out of this match. All four guys just went after it with Da Hit Squad having no regard for throwing their bodies around as well as laying a beating on the Haas Bros. Pretty progressive and funny chant from the JAPW when the Haas are on top of “wheres Kurt Angle”. The assisted front senton onto the outside by the Haas’ is impressive. A cat fight ensues with Johnny D and Montoya trying to break it up. This match moving from the frantic start into a traditional southern tag with a FIP is …

It had been a couple of weeks so we were due for Spanky and Dragon to be matched up against each other. We get the notice that due to SEC football, MCW is moving to 10:00 AM so 1 hour earlier. This match was given more time than usual and had more busted out from both competitors. Spanky starts out really hot and hits a springboard dive and belly to back suplex within the first two minutes. Dragon takes over and is stiff hitting some chops and a kick before trying to fire up a USA chant. Dragon then starts working over the arm of Spanky and you can see the glimpses of what made Danielson one of the best workers of all time right here. He has a viciousness but technical pr…

Reckless is running his mouth which brings Regal out to shut it up. MCW continues to pull away for me in the Memphis war just based on talent as this also a good bit of fun for the four minutes it lasted. Reckless hits a nice gutwrench powerbomb and a tornado DDT on the bigger Regal. Reckless gets cocky missing a moonsault which segues right into the Regal Stretch for the win. **

Things seem to be falling apart for Baxter’s crew as Wolfie D is pissed. Wolfie shows a picture of PG-13. WOlfie does a great promo saying girls and kids used to be around him but not anymore. Wolfie D is dead and he renames himself as Slash. Derrick King has been used as the enhancement talent buffer the past two weeks. It does give us a chance to hear Dave yell Mr. Personality every week. Good back and forth match with King taking most of it portraying the storyline that Slash is a bit unhinged. King argues with the ref and Slash is able to hit the neckbreaker for the win. *3/4

A good southern tag. Golden/Knight is pretty limited but the bones of a psychologically strong match is here and Taylor does enough as FIP to keep things interesting. He intersperses his hope spots throughout the match and I was delighted to see Taylor/Bliss working together as a team. The finish comes with Taylor ending up winning with a belly to belly suplex and he has to be lined up for a future shot at one of the heels titles. *** (5.9)

KDawg on commentary and the Animals pre match promo. That’s Enough. Can these guys just have a straight series of matches that build a story that is not absurd? The heat here is rocking and Juvy/Rey are doing great combo moves. Notice the crowd getting much more quiet when Disco tags in. He does garner at least a disco sucks chant. Dive train was a lot of fun and culminated with Noble hitting the somersault flip from the top. KDawg calls the old guys in the promotion the travelling wax museum. Ok that was a good line. K Dawg is also giving credit to the Animals. What the hell is happening. Springboard legdrop from Juvy gets broken up by Kaz. Kaz does a 3 Stooges eye poke …