October 2000

Burning and No Fear are all exploding in one match. Akiyama and Kobashi start off and Jun backdrops Kobashi 10 seconds in. The young punk has learned from his mistakes the night before. They stare each other down and get violent as the crowd erupts again. No Fear then gets a go and while it is a step down from the previous encounter, it is still pretty damn great with Omori winding up with his uppercuts and Takayama not holding back at all on his kicks. After an extended feeling out process from there with a nasty test of strength and Takayama and Kobashi having a go, Sterness takes over and goes to work on Kenta. Running knees for both members in the corner and sending K…

Rebecca and Skribble are brutal. Stephanie makes her way to the stage where Tazz and Cole are at. We cut to the arena where we see HHH comes out. Steph says her wedding ring is off getting fixed. Jobber entrance for Saturn. Tazz's fake laugh is driving me nuts. Steph is still struggling with the guest commentary. I did like her yelling at Tazz for calling her honey. The match itself is pretty fun for five minutes. Saturn gets in a bit of offense and HHH is working essentially in quasi face mode. Saturn does get in a tope and a couple of cut off spots before landing right into the pedigree for the win. *1/2

I will be interested in hearing other opinions on this. Something between the clipping, lack of knowledge with the wrestlers or feud that comprise this match and the random beeping and alert message that pops up on the screen at different intervals made this match not connect for me. A lot of the individual sequences were good and these are four women we will get pretty acquainted to especially someone like Haruyama who I am looking forward to. I thought Sumie was the highlight of the match and showed more viciousness than you might expect. She pounded Tsubasa and Kayoko when given the opportunity. Finish with Yabushita picking up the win felt natural as her Shooter backg…

I have tried to be fair to Nakanishi but there was 0 crowd heat here when he was on offense. Given that from the clips we see, he never legally tags out to Nagata, that didn’t make the match seem too exciting. Tenzan also didn’t have much of a reaction. Kojima did the best of the bunch mocking Nakanishi and getting a win off of a lariat. This is one match where it looked like it really suffered from being in a dome. NR

This is criminally clipped considering Delphin vs Liger has always been a neat dynamic and they both have evolved a good bit since their last high profile match. The Dome reaction isn’t great but the grapple heavy nature it looks like this match resulted in feels right up my alley. Delphin kicking out of the palm strike at 1 did elicit a good OHHHHH from the crowd. Delphin gives a big effort but goes down to the brainbuster as Liger’s big year continues. NR

I don’t know if Otani was hurt or what but it is really bizarre he was left off of this card. These two frenemies continue the theme of most of their series of tag matches from 2000 although this one does seem to focus more on leg damage than big strikes and bombs. Kanemoto’s rana into the ankle lock was really slick. Takaiwa fighting through the leg damage to still deliver the DVD was a good visual that would have had a better crowd molten. Juniors failing in the dome remains a big conundrum to me. Big when for Takaiwa. NR

Where the hell did this match come from? I thought Hashimoto was pretty much done in NJPW after 4/7/2000. First half is slow but very compelling as Fujinami uses his technique to keep Hashimoto in check while the latter wants to turn this into a violent slugfest. Obviously that's just a containment strategy rather than one of control and the match devolves into them exchanging nasty shots in extremely intense and heated sequences. Fujinami holds his own but you can guess how it ends. There seemed to be a really involved story going on as Fujinami goes at Hashimoto head on and treats him with what is almost disdain while Hashimoto is absolutely incensed the whole way throu…

Talk about it here.

Jindrak and O’Haire are the tag champs. Wright is good here and really could have had a run as a fun worker on the indie scene if given the chance once WCW closes shop. Jindrak/O’Haire are able to show their double team moves and make them look impressive against Wright who isn’t a small person. Disco and Wright are a pretty cool team when the crowd helps them out. The Aussie crowd is pumped here. Ref gets bumped and Disco hits the Chartbuster with Billy Silverman as the second ref making the count. New Champs! But wait, here comes Mike Sanders who changes the decision to a DQ. After a beat up from the NBT, Sanders then decides to restart the match and the pin is academic…

Good opener on paper. Tygress on commentary here and the Brisbane Australia. In better news for me, this is after Russo was shown the door for the last time. Sunset flip powerbomb from the apron with Madden screaming actually helping a match for once. Stevie and Tygress seem to be having a side conversation outside of the match. Rey hits his big leg drop and Stevie screams “THAT’S A FINISH” for a two count. Rey is really showing some gorgeous dives throughout this match and keeping the crowd up which is optimal for an opener. Prime Time walks the ropes and tries a rana to the floor but Rey’s legs are caught on the ropes which looked odd. Besides that botch, Elix looks bet…

Well we are without Russo but some dwindling byproducts are still happening. Jarrett is the referee and of course is biased. The action between Steiner and Sting isn’t half bad but I am so far away from being invested in any of this nonsense involving heel authority figures on WCW. Just give me Steiner wrecking folks setting up a showdown with Goldberg. Cat and Booker comes out and Booker assumes the referee position. He attacks Steiner and Sting hits the Death Drop for the pin. Crowd does pop for the face getting one over. *1/2

Chyna is on the cover of Playboy but I guess she couldn’t find Eddie all day. Hmmm. It seems like WWF has settled on spelling Eddie that way so I will use that from now on. GTV fires up right as the match starts and we hear Eddie and some women in the shower going crazy. We discover it is Goodfathers former hos. The crowd chants Eddie at the result of this in one of the more odd crowd reactions I can remember. Chyna is embarrassed and sits on the ring steps as RTC dismantles Eddie. RTC taunts Chyna and ends up getting the pin. Steven keeps berating Chyna post match and she snaps by forearming him and kicking him in the balls. RTC retaliates and Mr. Ass comes to the aid. T…

HHH is not happy being partners with Jericho. HHH sees the silver lining of the tag match as him getting a piece of Benoit. Steph uses this to present herself as an asset at ringside. HHH says he is happy that Steph decided to not be Angle’s manager. That seems like it is news to Steph. X-Pac pats HHH on the shoulder before he enters the ring. Jericho and HHH are bickering with each other. The match starts out tornado style with all four fighting it out. This was a neat match as HHH and Jericho really don’t co exist at all in partners. Finish also worked as HHH was going to win but HHH inadvertently gets crotched on the rope and Benoit picks up the big pin. HHH is pissed …

This is the biggest spot for the short lived Low Down tag team. Their gear is positively horrid. After the initial attack, Matt and Jeff take over in control. D Lo takes over on Matt by sending him into the guardrail on the outside. Lawler is actually doing good at making Low Down feel credible on commentary. D Lo and Chaz tag in and out and keep things fresh working over Matt even though there isn’t a specific focal point. Tide turns with Lita tripping Chaz and crotching him across the post. Hot tag is made to Jeff then. Hardy’s run through their big offense and Jeff ascends to the top when the Conquistadors show up and knock him off. This allows Low Down to hit the supe…

Foley gets a mixed reaction in the wake of his suspension of Austin. HBK is brought out and Mick points the finger at him. HBK clears his name by telling Mick what he did the entire day. Mick takes all of that into consideration but then provides some motive on why HBK would run over Austin. This is a great back and forth. Michaels ends the promo saying if he was responsible he would admit it because he thrives being in the spotlight. Shawn says he has suspicion on who it was. Someone that loves the spotlight more than HBK. Shawn then puts the blame on Rock and walks out. A strong segment to start. Foley doing his investigation is teetering into JJ Dillion bringing a cont…

Kudos to Omori for not just standing around and attacking Kobashi walking out on the ramp. DDT out there and he gains the advantage. This is an interesting contrast as a feud for 2000 as this is the 3rd singles match we have seen and all serve a purpose and are different. Kobashi fires off a half nelson suplex to break the momentum and disrobe. Kobashi then goes apeshit on the outside DDT’ing Omori on the concrete and kicking his ass. Takayama begs Kobashi for mercy as Kobashi rolls Omori back inside bloodied up. Some great character work for Kenta as he realizes he is becoming this vicious monster but ends up liking it. Orange Crush and a sleeper choke for Kenta with him…

Match is worked almost exclusively on the mat and a ton of fun. Joe was just there to listen and be led but he does a good job working in and out of the holds. Anything about Regal being awful or looking out of sorts in the first part of the year is gone as he looks great now. Regal ends up picking up the win. After the match, Naked Mideon kisses Regal to the delight of the fans but not myself. Regal then gets called the f word by the crowd. Regal is on the mic after the match and talks about how lame Mideon is as a surprise. That cues up HHH’s music and he comes out and he runs off HHH. HHH in the aftermath gets on the mic and calls himself the student of the game. Kind …

Thunder down under is clever. This is a neat match with Rey getting killed for five minutes and then mounting a fun comeback for a few moments before getting squashed for good. It accomplished the goal of making Steiner look brutal and Rey retained great sympathy from the crowd. Samoan Drop from the top rope looked brutal leading into Steiner Recliner. **

This is a bit neat with the pairings of having the Villano’s as full on tecnicos teaming with Parka against some of our mainstays with lucha. Parka and King have big heat with each other and start the match out with an argument on the outside and having to be separated. They goad Parka to the outside and the match is on. Sadly, one plus for me with III and IV teaming is no worry about mixing up IV and V. Rudo beatdown for fall 1 which isn’t a surprise. Some different moments like Dandy trying to take the referee’s shoe and King utilizing a figure four against the ring post mix things up. Second fall is also unique where the tecnicos make their comeback but not all the way…

This HHH face run kind of reminds me of the Rock's face run during the autumn of 1998. I do think Rock got organically over more but the crowd is pretty hot for HHH even beyond the canned heat you hear here. This match and feud overall with Benoit has been personal and intense. I liked bringing Road Dogg and Saturn into the mix and this is the best that Saturn has looked this year with a nice looking missed moonsault. Terri gets involved which allows Steph an opening to say after the match that she could have prevented that if she would have been there. **

A good sit down interview with Rock and JR where he helps clarify some things Rikishi says on Monday and reiterates that he had nothing to do with running over Stone Cold. This is the yearly put Val in a tv main event spot. He does well on these select occasions simply by being a unique option that is competent enough to have an ok match. Kurt/Steph are at ringside and try to run interference allowing Val to win but Rock is able to overcome the odds and gain the victory. Show ends with Steph/Kurt on top after a beatdown. **1/4

Steph announcers herself as being permanently in Kurt's corner. Nice bit when Kurt comes to the ring and goes for a hug but Steph offers a handshake. Kane still feels motivated but his character is really slipping as he is right back to mr. face here going after Angle and especially Steph to a big reaction from the crowd. Overall this was a fine match and Angle matches up well as a Kane opponent. Angle picks up the win after kane was occupied with Steph allowing himself to be rolled up. This puts over the tandem as a big threat for Rock at No Mercy. *3/4

This match makes me appreciate Tajiri's 2000 more. Super Crazy just isn't that good of a worker. Him and Oriental seem around the same level in that they are carryable and have some good ideas but can't be relied upon to put together a satisfactory match themselves. That is sort of a shame as for once in AAA in 2000, the bullshit and over wrenching referee stuff was held to a minimum. Oriental picks up the win and his first major career title. **1/4

Tarzan Boy was born to be a rudo. He delivers easily his strongest performance of the year being a selfish prick that only cares about himself throughout the match. Shocker is great being right there with him as the devil on his shoulder inviting him to the darkside of rudoism. Overall, this was note perfect with Atlantis and Niebla being attacked by all three rudos and Tarzan just standing on the apron half looking for a tag. Once he gets in, he holds the ropes open and Atlantis spills to the outside. The sequences between Shocker and Boy in the ring are impressive as you can feel the appreciation that Boy is gaining for Shocker. Tarzan gets the pin and is happy about h…

CMLL is back baby. For the first time since the big August show, there is a lot of juice being ingested into the product and things are progressing. This is a Relevos match where the competitors don't really mess around with the pretense of not liking their partner. Even their regular pairings like Santo/Casas have quite a past so it isn't a stretch for them to be opposite each other here. That really helped the intensity of the match overall. Santo was a loon doing no less than three huge dives including a top con hilo onto Scorpio where he slides into the front row of chairs. Him and Scorpio were the focal point of the match and we had mask ripping and posting leading t…