September 2000

Someone help me with who that is on Ricky Marvin’s team that is dressed like Tobias Funke on the Arrested Development pilot. I was unfamiliar with most of these guys but Marvin is the focal part of his team and gets busted open so that made things easier to understand. Overall though, the match didn’t really come together and felt pretty disjointed. That has kind of been a lot of Monterrey in a nutshell. **1/2

This should’ve been Rey & Juvi vs Kronik, but it was mis-labelled and I decided to watch it anyway. Jeremy Borash is making his debut on commentary, replacing Scott Hudson who had flown home to be with his pregnant wife. The ICP jump ‘the Animals’ just as Konan is wrapping up his catchphrases and they whip Rey and Juvi into each other. They try something similar again, but this time Rey backdrops Juvi over the top rope and he lands on the apron. Springboard dropkick to Shaggy 2 Dope and Rey with an Arabian moonsault on Violent J. Stereo pescados to the floors by ‘the Animals’. Juvi comes off the top turnbuckle with a plancha, but S2D catches him with a dropkick …

Russo promos are such glaze worthy by this time. War Games was something I knew was coming and this triple cage bullshit already annoys me. What is worse is Russo using these insider terms like heel during his promo. OH shit, it’s a shoot. Russo explains the title will be on the line in War Games and that preliminary matches are going to be competed in. Nash comes out and is pissed at Russo. Well, Nash’s big heel turn lasted exactly one week. Sting comes through the ring and cuts a promo at Russo. Nash walks away and allows Sting to get in Russo’s face. Russo retreats and the match competitors pile into the cage to brawl. Russo is able to escape when Goldberg stares him d…

Eddy attacks Kurt from behind and sends him into the ring. I have been kind of tough on Eddy but he has shown more fire in the past couple of weeks once he became involved in the main storyline. Eddy and Chyna work over Kurt teaming up on him. Eddy tries to bring in a chair but gets stopped by the referee. That allows Angle time to knock Chyna out with the IC belt. Eddy sends Kurt to the outside and checks on Mamacita. Eddy then is in a pinning position and inadvertently wins the IC title. Pretty clever way to get the belt on Eddy. ¾*

Promo at the start tries to get to the bottom of who called the cops on HHH. Steph, HHH, Foley, Angle, Chyna and Eddy are all accused and questioned. This was entertaining in getting all the principles out there and they could plead their case. Foley puts it up to a crowd vote. Angle is hilarious right before Foley goes to him by wishing everyone a happy and healthy Labor Day. Angle wins the crowd vote when T&A’s music fires up. Test and Trish comes out and this is an awesome wrinkle to the storyline. Test brings up the past and him supposed to marry Steph. Foley makes a one on one match tonight and he says paybacks and HHH’s wife have one thing in common, they are b…

Rock is out for commentary. Kane’s pyro doesn’t go off inside the ring. Not much to the match but it is nice to see Benoit still mixing it up in the main event scene. Benoit is through the ropes jawing at Rock and Kane gives him a reverse DDT that looked absolutely horrific and dropped Benoit right on his head. Action spills to the outside and Benoit and Rock keep talking to each other. Kane sends Benoit into the steps and grabs a choke hold on Rock. Benoit has a chair that he uses on Kane and the match ends in a DQ. Afterwards, Rock gives Kane a Rock Bottom on the floor. *

Kane is out for commentary showing more personality from him as I can’t recall him doing something like this before. Lawler is disposed from Tazz earlier. Taker challenges Kane from his bike. This match did a lot for E&C. Just a few months earlier, Edge was getting jobbed out to Taker in a singles match in three minutes. Here they are seen as a tag threat and work over Taker as FIP for 5 minutes or so until he makes the tag to Rock. The E&C on top segment was also smothering and kept building properly. Benoit runs out and attacks Taker after he tags in Rock. Rock hits the Rock Bottom on Christian but Edge makes the save. Edge then pastes Rock with a chair that get…

The most baffling thing about "Sad Genius" Yukimasa Watanabe may be that he genuinely looks like a good wrestler in the spare footage we have of him. He kind of reminds me of Ohtani, a balding technician who will work the mat and kick you hard. Every kick he throws lands with a thud and the Lou Thesz inspired moveset is cool. He would've been a great addition to the roster of DDT or Michinoku Pro, hell throw him in there with Yuki Ishikawa to work an undercard ZERO1 feud. But if Sad Genius wasn't hidden in obscurity he wouldn't be so fascinating. This was a pretty good match up until the really dumb finish. Gran Hamada gets to work a serious main event in UNW of all place…

UNW (United Nations Wrestling) was a project run by a madman known as "Sad Genius" Yukimasa Watanabe. Mini-shows that drew less than a 100 people. This might be the absolute null point of japanese indy wrestling. This is filmed with one camera, in front of a crowd so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The match was weird meth lab shootstyle, so just what you expect on this kind of show. Tsunehito Naito is a guy who was rejected from the UWF dojo, I guess because he killed someone there, and afterwards was relegated to lurking Z-level indies. He wasn't untalented. This match was about the skill disparity between Naito and Sawada. Naito would pretty much dominate on the mat a…

Bret Hart comes out for a whiny promo blaming Goldberg. Goldberg comes out and responds and they have a good back and forth that could be building up to a match but we know that isn’t going to happen. Bret goads Goldberg into going after him and Steiner comes in with a pipe and locks on the Recliner passing Bill out. Goldberg calls out Hart after beating up the Carnival but gets Lance Storm and Elix Skipper instead. I had forgotten that Major Gunns joined up with Storm. Storm plays the Canadian National anthem as Goldberg yawns in the ring. Storm and Elix don’t look too excited to enter and Storm shoves Elix into the firing lines. Goldberg demolishes Skipper and S…

Disco tells Stevie he is bombing tonight so he is helping out on commentary. Action is good with Rey and Juvy knowing how to bump around for the two slugs in the Harris Brothers. They are able to make their offense look impactful and powerful with their bumps. Train face full of stuff spot as Tygress and Rey both hit it but Juvy gets booted in the nuts. Kronik comes out and runs interference allowing the Animals to steal the win to a good reaction. *1/2

Lets hope this is the big blow off between a feud that could very possibly be the worst of 2000. I would have never voted Sting for WON HOF and I get the argument for him but even Flair/Hogan and all other WON HOF entrants like Rey have found more redeeming stuff in 2000 WCW than this which has been a fail on every level. Action spills to the outside and Vampiro is already carrying Sting right up the whole arena with some crowd brawling. Sting throws a chair shot at vamp’s head that would make Lance Storm blush. We are back in the ring and Vamp goes low and hits a good looking back suplex. Vampiro is not on offense for long before Sting makes his comeback. Shaggy runs som…

Otsuka is kind of a cult Bat Bat favorite but I am also fond of Nagai so overall I was really intrigued by this match and it didn’t disappoint. Otsuka took it to Nagai for a majority of the match with hammerlocks and his unique brand of throws. Nagai is always good at focusing on a body part and really exposing it. This time he goes after the midsection of Otsuka and just peppers him with kicks after kicks. Otsuka needs to find an equalizer and accomplishes that with a leg lock forcing Nagai to submit and winning the tournament overall. Good stuff. ***1/2 (6.8)

Otsuka is weary of the kicks of Yone and tries to neutralize those. Yone comes back with some kick to gain the advantage but is mostly outclassed elsewhere. It is a pretty simple story but one that works. Add in some of that Otsuka charm like two unorthodox tombstones and a choke for a nearfall and you have a really good effort overall. I do feels like Yone doesn’t get the impact on some of his strikes that in theory it is presented as. Otsuka also does a half and half suplex to regain the advantage. A huge dragon suplex earns Otsuka the knockout victory. Yone is still probably the worst big name in BattlARTS but this was a pretty damn great Otsuka performance. ***1/4 (6.…

What a fucking awesome match. Murakami and Ishikawa have a death stare at the onset and that sets the tone for the match overall. The match completely breaks down mid way through with Ishikawa and Murakami fighting to the outside and flying through the chairs at ringside and people fleeing. Murakami throws his mouthguard at Ishikawa. Beyond that, Malenko and Taira also add a ton of neat stuff. I am really on board with Taira as here he throws in his kicks and also is in great position for his submissions. Malenko of course has some tricked out arm work and the ending submission looked awesome and stretched Taira’s arm to a near 90 degree angle. Overall, a ton of hate and …

Balls is always someone that doesn’t get enough credit as a worker IMO and this was a perfect match for that. He works to put over EZ here by bleeding and being in position to make EZ’s offense look good. They had one botch but covered it well enough by selling and didn’t go right back to it which gets points for me. EZ also earns points by working the cut off the ring bell shot and really breaking out some neck focused offense including a good looking piledriver. Balls has a nice comeback including a good looking spinebuster for two. Balls also really utilized an aerial offense more in this match missing a legdrop from the top and being superplexed by Money in the ending…

Your generic Sandman brawl. Good heat, below average brawling and it usually segues into something else. The entrance of Sandman continue to get more absurd and absurd as this match doesn't start until 15 minutes into the video. Chilly Willy is an interesting wrestler in history lore as someone that had something and was over but was out of the business almost as soon as it started. I had forgotten completely about him until watching him here. Da Baldies were never my favorite generic goon brawlers in ECW and this didn't change that. **

I continue to enjoy the ECW undercard division and this is a nice example why. A match that didn't go out there to do anything special but had a clear heel/face structure and both teams played up to their strengths. The Mamluke wanting a piece of Roadkill segment was funny and him being thrown onto Sal on the outside is always good for a pop. Mamaluke responds by hitting a nasty tornado DDT coming back inside and Doring is FIP for a bit. Roadkill does a really strong hot tag and hits a double clothesline with both FBI members bumping right on their neck. Finishing run sees Roadkill having the win but a belt shot gets FBI the sneaky victory and I was surprised Roadkill was…

Kash has the ECW tv title even though it doesn't air until tomorrow. Hamrick is making the most of this manager/wrestler role by working his ass off in these mid card matches bumping like a loon like usual but also adding some neat offensive touches when called upon. He has a unique ability of having flashy offense but it also looks smooth. He does this by making himself look menacing and competent even though his gimmick really isn't. Kash is fairly good in that regard as well although a bit more spotty. This was a good match that was a nice win to catapult Kash in his tv title reign. *** (6)

Better than your garden variety RVD match simply because it segued from Rhino interfering in the Sandman match and carried a quick pace. The brawling here was more focused and didn't have the time to devolve into RVD planning and setting up mindless spots for 10-15 minutes at a time. Overall, this was a strong way to end the night for the ECW crowd. The venue they are at here is interesting overall as it is elevated and looks like a theater for stage plays mainly. RVD throws out most of his arsenal but hits it cleanly and in half the time as normal. Kudos. **1/2

A shockingly great brawl that mixed up violence and comedy and most importantly regarding ECW, it felt heated and didn't overstay its welcome. Some of the nut shots and dick selling in this were honestly really strong. The cane of Sinister Minister is used, Sinister Minister does the claw which made me laugh and Dreamer ends up selling his private region for most of the final portion of the match. Dreamer in particular was strong with brawling throughout the match using a trashcan and keeping things heated. Overall, I am really enjoying late era ECW more than I thought mainly based to the addition of new characters. ***1/4 (6.7)

Not a lot of meat to this match at all except for some pretty funny comedy spots. Felino doing his feline pissing spot always makes me laugh for some reason. There was also some decent comedy spots involving Kato Kung Lee. Black Dragon was the focal point of the rudos and after they win the match, they take off his match. Overall, just a match that went through the motions and didn't really set up anything too exciting for the future. **

Another really solid minis trios that is instantly entertaining while viewing but pretty instantly forgettable and indistinguishable from the countless other minis matches that have been viewed in 2000. Mascarita is so graceful and should place on my top 100 workers list fairly easily. The highlights here were him and Fuercita IMO although Piratita is a pretty loathable bruising rudo on the mini side. Bracita and Payasito were the most unique components of this match but they didn't really elevate the match overall. ***1/4 (6.4)

Tazz on commentary here, this is just the beginning. Austin is starting to be mentioned more and more with his return looming. Rikishi is still getting good reactions even if his positioning is down the card from the beginning of the year. Benoit has a great ability of packing a lot of action into these four minute matches as we had some shifts here and it felt like a legitimate match until the RTC run in. With the RTC distraction, Benoit hits a German for the win. **

Jericho gets inserted into this feud which is a little beneath him but not awful as a bridge feud. The match is good and high impact for the time it was given. Jericho continues to be less sloppy than I remembered as even his wild strikes like the spinning back kicks land. X-Pac pulls out the cheap victory with a low blow and roll up much to the delight of Tazz on commentary. **