October 2000

Reyes is someone that never impressed me in singles competition or really all that much in tag competition so I was dubious going into the match here. The opening mat work was pretty sloppy but they were cutting a good pace and the crowd was into Ricky with loud chants from him. Reyes was on top for a vast majority of this match and his offense reigned from impressive to eye rolling. It is kind of par the course for the indie talent in 2000 although I do think as a whole we see more promise here than the counterparts in IWA-MS and CZW such as Ric Blade, Suicide Kid, American Kickboxer, etc. 2000 has really showed a gulf from what will become the indie stars looking fairly…

This won't make you forget about the Carny 94 final but it is a fun match with about 5 out of 12 minutes clipped. Williams is at least aware of his limitations and takes a much more calculated approach to his matches in 2000 and allowing for his taped up ribs and other vulnerabilities to be worked over. As a tournament match, this also worked as Kawada had to get past a big gatekeeper type that had lost a step on his road to the finals. I think I can find a spot for Dr. Death on my top 100 workers of 2000 and Kawada is building up his case for a top 10 finish towards the end stretch of the year. *** (6)

Singh has got some new pants this week after wrestling last week in shorts. Miyaki with a bit of Capoeira as he looks to use his quickness and stay out of the big man’s way, not exactly tricky mind as my Gran could probably avoid those shots they’re coming that slow. A clubbing blow to the chest drops Miyaki as Singh then runs his face across the top rope. He’s clearly not learned anything from last week’s DQ as he’s now in the face of referee Jimmy Ripp. Singh brushes off Frantz’s dropkick and plants him with a big side slam. After tossing him to the floor Dalip follows him out and presses him overhead whilst walking around ringside before dumping him over the top a…

A shockingly great match. The Ballard Brothers stuff we have seen so far had been pretty sloppy and disjointed. This was a great tag match with a spot on structure of Legrande and Thompson killing these heelish clowns at the start of the match. A ton of great double team power moves that look impressive even in 2017 eyes. In addition, the Ballards would tag out at any opening but couldn’t string together much of a run at all until they get the blind tag and take over. Once on top, the Ballards utilize their heel act integrating Melissa and it is entertaining based on the groundwork that was laid down in the shine sequence to begin the match. The Ballards have good work wi…

We start with the roster in a conference room where Lawler describes what happened last week and rallies the troops. Smothers is fired up and says he hates channel 5 and just wants to beat someone up. Lawler says as soon as they are done today, they hop in their cars and head over to the station. This is a fun angle and a good way of merging the promotions. Match starts with Tracy saying if he hears Tracy sucks, he is going to slap everybody. They are outside in a parking lot somewhere. Overall this was a really impressive match and Kwik's best of the year. Tracy was shit talking throughout but he played a great heel in getting his comeuppance and he complimented Kwi…

Lawler is on the phone and says he will be in the studio. The three way spots and portion here was better than I thought. Of the workers in MPPW, these along with Slash are probably the best overall. Bulldog is not an athletic specimen but has decent charisma and power moves. Finish from Steel off top rope didn't look great but he picks up the win. *1/2 We come back from break and discover that Lawler and a bunch of folks have arrived. Khan, Koko and Charlie are at the door. The door gets wedged open and we have chaos with Lawler and the entire MCW crew coming out. Kevin Kelly comes out and invades commentary. This is pretty awesome as a beatdown. The Dupps, Tracy,…

Baxter and Slash promo to start out with Baxter gloating about throwing Lawler out last week. Slash has a pretty awesome promo saying the only people Lawler could bring was the son of his or the wife of his and he will slap both of them. The crowd chants Wolfie and Slash reiterates that he doesn't go by that name anymore. This is the final of the tournament and the winner gets a motorcycle. Brickhouse gives a fired up promo saying he is going to take a few suckers out and then calls him Wolfie D. Decent enough match with Slash brawling and throwing Brickhouse around before Brickhouse picks up the fluke win and then gloats on the motorcycle. Brown and Corey do good hyp…

A house show from the looks of things but a nice hard camera shot on the action. Knowing AJ's personal feelings against Lazz lifestyle that he is portraying, this is an interesting study in who is the heel and face. Lazz has a ton of fun offense with the crowd rallying behind him. Onyx gets involved to allow AJ to gain the advantage. Lazz is able to make his comeback and has AJ reeling including a nice spear when Onyx come sin for the cheap DQ and predictable beatdown by Bailey and associates. Faces help Lazz out and he is able to give a private dance to Bailey to end the segment. **3/4

Harris starts out with a promo. Nothing much of note. Rapada is a cross between Johnny Ace and Tom Zenk. Harris on top is solid if pretty unspectacular. Rapada matched that from underneath. Overall, this was a fair match but nothing extraordinary or even really good. Rapada's sunset flip was strong and he provided a good flurry until we got a ref bump and then Harri's manager running interference. Rapada won't be denied and continues the comeback for a nearfall with the ref recovering. Some more run ins and the numbers catch up to Rapada as Harris spikes him for the pin. **1/2

This was nice to see Caprice so early and him and Jacobs did some spotty work but this was mainly used as a high octane showcase for two good athletes and then angle advancement. Nothing wrong with that but nothing memorable either. *1/2

Feels like we are treading old ground with these ladies mixing it up in a Korakuen match but this did have some exciting moments with Watanbe getting worked over by LCO when the match settles in from the usual brawl around ringside area. Maekawa is looking for a tag and comes in and boots Watanabe when she goes for a kick. Maekawa then just sits down in the corner and something is clearly amiss here. This comes full circle when LCO takes back over and Maekawa doesn’t do anything to stop them. Finally Maekawa just slams a chair over Watanabes head and assists LCO in putting her away. An interesting development with Maekawa seemingly joining LCO now. **1/4

Wakizawa’s outfit is ***** right away. Noumi and Toyota was a team I didn’t know what to expect but they work pretty awesome together. Toyota is a prick and she shows her young protégé the way. Wakizawa takes a big beating and Toyota throws in the fish hook and other painful stomps. This is the best part of Manami and she gets some revenge against Ito as well. Finish shows the team work paying off with Noumi holding Ito at bay for Manami to gain the win. A very good tag match and a pretty cool Korakuen card for AJW overall. ***1/2 (7.2)

Good house show death match. I don’t know why Zandig is easier to digest in Japan than in CZW but with the ego not being stroked, he is a lot more enjoyable. Honma continues to stake a claim as one of the better workers of the year including a neat spot where he was in a superplex position and knocked lose some light tubes from the ceiling to use later. Overall, pretty smart work and some decent weapon usage made this and enjoyable watch. ***1/4 (6.3)

Another fun as shit tag match between these guys. They have a formula that works so well of good stand off matchups to begin and then a nice heat segment leading to a huge Roadkill hot tag. Roadkill is becoming one of my favorite hot tag guys in history as he is spot on every time he comes in. FBI bump like crazy for him when he does enter in. Sal really interjects in this match once the referee is out as he gives the big Bonsai Drop to Roadkill allowing FBI to again escape with the win. They have built Doring/Roadkill up well that they need to win the titles soon. ***1/4 (6.7)

With Swinger on the shelf, Diamond announces his new partner, Chris Chetti. They run a bit of an angle of Chetti and Diamond not getting along which is odd. York and Matthews continue to be serviceable as the white meat babyface tag without being spectacular or look like they really have much breakout potential IMO. Chetti and Diamond argue allowing the hot tag to be made. Chetti ends up bolting and York/Matthews get the pin. Nova wants a piece of Chetti after the match and is in some horrible shiny red gear. Lou E Dangerously is acting like security and he knocks Nova out. **

Match starts with Shocker burning La Parka’s mask on the ringpost. Holy shit that is awesome and 1000% rudo. First fall was a big ol brawl and Shocker has some incredible punches against Parka towards the end. Shocker dancing and gloating after every punch just puts it over the top. Finish has rudos beating some ass and Parka’s has about half of his mask ripped. Dandy puts it on and dances around. Second fall and tecnico comes back with Casas going fucking crazy and then he gets Parka all riled up who posts Shocker with some retribution and sends him into the chairs. Antifaz and Zumbido also are killing it in the stands and there is just action flying all over the ring. P…

Nice to see journeyman Lucero get a shot in 2000. Him and Charles start off and he leads Emilio through his most smooth mat sequence of the year. This carried a natural progression of having PImpinela shenanigans being the focal point. That is enjoyable to watch and it is done well here. Mr. Niebla really goes all out on the finish faking the foul. Like most of the Monterrey stuff, its an easy watch if not something that feels absolutely essential to the year as a whole. *** (5.9)

I have no idea how Osaka Pro doesn’t get talked up more. Like DDT in current day, they have a wide variety of styles and great characters that make sense logically within their own universe. This started off hot with Hoshikawa shaking hands and then kicking Delphin. Delphin comes back with bombs of his own and then starts working over the leg. The leg work is spot on with Delphin even using a calf slicer. Probably the only thing that prevents this match from being a complete MOTYC is the lack of call backs to the leg in the last third of the match. That being said, the sequences from when Hoshikawa locks the crab to the end of the match is amazing. They go through a ton o…

3 minute match but continues the HHH vs Benoit feud with Benoit going after HHH’s buddies. Even within the three minutes, Benoit does some unique things like his crisp forward roll and his arm attack that felt personal. Road Dogg gets caught in the crossface and when Benoit refuses to break, out rushes HHH for a brawl to end the segment. *1/4

Really fun five minute match here. Regal uses some cutoff spots and looks great and Jericho doesn’t look outclassed on the mat which surprised me. Regal keeps going after the arm but Jericho is able to use some of his flashy offense to overcome the odds and win. Tazz was unbearable on commentary. He kept calling Regal Rizzo and it went no where and made no sense. **1/2

E&C start out making fun of MTV. Tazz has some intel that they are the Conquistadors. It is still really awkward watching them watch the match on a big screen. This was a quick hits tag match. E&C have the heat but it only goes for one minute and Too Cool is able to run through all of their offense. Even the crowd is reacting well to Too Cool still. Scotty hits the worm but gets speared by Edge. The Conquistadors run out to distract E&C allowing Too Cool to get the upset with a roll up. *

Solid match but I am still waiting for that Booker performance that blows me away. This was a good opportunity to have one as Douglas seemed capable tonight and the best aspects of the match were when Shane was on top. Scott Steiner is on commentary and is alright although he does have some weird lines throughout this. Kidman runs out to distract Douglas/Torrie but accidently runs into Madaja. That gets Steiner involved and we have a weird floor brawl with Konnan coming out as well as Jarrett. With all of this happening, Booker hits the Book End to pick up the win. **

Clips of Nash’s beer being made. Nash rolls out for the lumberjack match surrounded by the young pups of the NBT. It just looks hilarious seeing cool Kevin with these guys. He is like the popular high shool guys dad that thinks he is a part of the group. Action here is pretty slow and plodding. I am impressed with how active Sting has been since coming back but not a lot of good output. Nash has Sting in the most generic neck crank when all hell breaks loose between the lumberjacks. They get cleared from ringside in a cool scene. Sting makes his comeback and we get a lame Lil Naitch bump which looked ridiculously contrived. Here comes Jarrett with the guitar and he whacks…

Conquistadors seem a lot like E&C here. Hmmm…. I will say that while King has been rough at points on commentary this year, he was funny here having a fun back and forth with Ross. The action as fine and mainly revolved around the shtick of the Conquistadors. They end up sneaking out the win and quickly escape. I liked that the Dudley’s went for the mask when given the opportunity. *3/4

No long promo to start Raw tonight and Jericho even mentions that when he comes out. Eddie does cut a two minute short promo but it is really effective as the crowd heat comes out for him along with the Eddie Sucks chants. The match only goes a minute before Eddie takes a monkey flip on his head and the referee calls for the match. This was done in a way where I am unsure if it was legit or not. After the match, X-pac runs down and attacks Jericho until Mr. Ass makes the save. Gunn is really over with this crowd. ¼*