October 2000

Stephanie says she is not going to reconsider and is going to be in Kurt’s corner on Sunday. Steph and Kurt are discussing things when HHH comes in and wants to have a 1 on 1 with Kurt. We return with HHH giving threats to Kurt. Benoit comes out for commentary. Another good Kane performance which is shocking every time I type it out. He is a monster taking it to HHH and HHH is not willing to back down. This match might end up being their best together in the decade to be honest. Benoit gets attacked by HHH diving him on the announce table but Benoit retaliates with a chair and then he gets HHH in the crossface with HHH tapping. This was a big sell for Benoit and HHH put h…

Steph and Kurt do a promo at the top of the stage. They are switching things up format wise on this Raw and keeping things fresh. Even this main event is fresh with some interaction that doesn’t feel established and E&C being elevated up. JR and King again have some good back and forth when Ross calls Edge uno or dos. Matt is the FIP and they do a good job working him over. Hot tag and big schmozz for the finish with Steph getting involved and showing her worth hitting Jeff on the top rope leading to the Angle Slam and pin. Angle is gaining momentum heading into the PPV on Sunday and him and Rock have a staredown to end the show. *** (6)

Mari rips off a powerbomb in the first 10 seconds. With a sprinty nature of this match, that is a great way to start things off. I don't know if this show or the GAEA one came first, but this has a much better pace than the Asuka match. Mari is flying around to gain the advantage but Aja has to compose herself and then takes back over with some clunky offense. Mari comes back with a sunset flip bomb and goes for a power slam but the weight of Aja is too much. Aja blocks a lariat and just smashes Mari with two of her own to advance at just under four minutes. Really fun sprint. *** (6)

Another tournament finale between Hamada and Yoshida. This is just a super match. Like god damn these two smoke any other junior in the world. The matwork is super, with Yoshida again fighting like an animal and catching everything Hamada tries. Aside from the crazy submissions you get Yoshida throwing punches and Hamada firing back with some really sharp and well timed offense of her own. Yoshida briefly works over Hamada's stomach a bit and while it wasn't the focus of the match, Hamada sold very well, same for Yoshida with her bandaged arm. Surprised this went only 11 minutes as it felt like a much bigger match.

Really quick match to help move things along of Hamada's progression throughout the tournament. She goes for an asai moonsault outside and misses allowing Futagami to take over using chairs. Back inside, she continues the onslaught until Hamada mounts just enough of a comeback to get the flukey win and get the hell out of there. *1/2

Hamada is doing a good job selling the effects of the tournament so far clutching her back and mid section. Tamada for her part really tries to pile on a quick barrage of offense to gain a victory. Her arsenal was impactful and varied and as a result, she looked more compelling in this match than the previous one. The focus seems to move towards Hamada's neck and a dragon suplex gains a close nearfall. Hamada knowing she is in trouble has to a flurry of her own and she goes through a natural progression of high impact offense culminating in a Iconoslam from the top and an arm trap submission to advance to the finals. *** (6.2)

This was quite the badass little war. At this point they had matched up a few times, so to keep things interesting Mariko Yoshida had now started using GLOVES. Which means she absolutely goes nuts with stiff punches on Aja here to even things out a little. Aja also has a barrage of crazy stiff offense, altough that's nothing new. Still, she just ragdolled Yoshida around in ways that just had to absolutely suck and I winced at her brutal kick to Yoshida's hamstring. This had the usual cool matwork were Yoshida has to work hard in order to lock her holds on the beast that is Aja. Also really loved Aja's modified ankle hold here she just hugs and squeezes Yoshida's heel into…

A good singles match from two workers we have only seen in tag settings so far this year and that I am pretty unfamiliar with overall. I came away more impressed with Omukai just based on her demeanor and accuracy of her kicks. Tamada has the energy but I didn't think she had the execution to quite get there. She advances so we will see if that improves in the tournament. From a first impression, it kind of felt like a poor person's Kyoko Inoue impersonation. **1/2

This was my favorite of the first round action we saw. Ayako can mix in a great variety of stiff striking and high energy highspots that puts her over as credible. Shimoda also has had a really solid 2000 where she works within the LCO tag team and in singles stuff as being a prickly veteran that also has her share of flashy offense on top including the spinning windmill kicks from the top. The finish worked for me here with Ayako not getting one knockout blow but more of a flurry that dazes Mima beyond being able to continue. ***1/4 (6.4)

This was an interesting match as they weren't afraid to have a minimalist title match in front of an Arena Coliseo crowd. You could tell it was different when Solar won the opening fall with an arm submission that would never win a fall in an ordinary title match. From that point on, the match was fought in close quarters. It wasn't entirely devoid of tension -- there was some nice back and forth in the tercera -- but it was deliberately small. I thought it was a thing of beauty but wrestling small is right up my alley so YMMV.

Well it took until near the end of October but we have my favorite mini match of the year. Tons of dives and breakneck action including Sagrada in the end of the first fall hitting a senton that looks like it almost turned into an impromptu shooting star press. He then follows that up later in the match with a diving tope where he does a 450 rotation that is stunning. Parkita dives around like crazy at multiple points too. Espectro and Khaos are teaming together a lot and that comes full circle when they turn on Abismo in the third fall. This leads to an awesome angle where they invite Big Abismo on commentary into the ring. When Abismo goes toward them, Khaos and Espectr…

A lot of hate here and the ending to a very enjoyable show overall. Sasaki felt like a man with something to prove after the embarrassing Kawada loss and he brings the hate against the top faction he has been feuding against in 2000. His trusty lieutenants are more than willing to lend a hand with especially Ilzuka mixing it up and going after Tenzan. Chono looked crisp here and picked his spots and he has been enjoyable for the most part in 2000 and not over reaching where his athleticism can betray him leading to dry matches. Tenzan picks up the big win for his team. ***1/2 (7)

Another good match that much like the junior match before, it didn't seem to be trying to be a "great" match and instead a solid effort to feel out an overall card and narrative. Some of the grappling exchanges between Samurai and Tanaka were particularly chippy. Samurai always seems to add a bit of disdain to his overall presentation when teaming with Liger. Tanaka goes flying in for a kick at the finish and whiffs making it look like the vets have the match in the bag but Samurai gets his arm caught in a cross armbreaker submission and is forced to tap. ***1/4 (6.3)

Even more basic than their June match. Not bad at all and knew its place on the card. The mat work leading to big sequences of the action spilling to the outside was the highlight of the action. In addition, the finish was fun with Wagner locking in a Splash Mountain only for Kanemoto to get a quick rana and the pin. That made the pin for Kanemoto feel pretty flukey. A good solid match and nothing more. *** (6.1)

If you ever wanted to see a Royal Rumble in 15 minutes, here you go. The action and the threads throughout this match are fine but people run out so quickly and the eliminations are so arbitrary that it is tough to have any focus. This is also booked 1989 Rumble style in that the heavy hitters of the match are mostly in the middle portion. Kronik and Mike Awesome are left in the end and Goldberg is out to make the save. Awesome ends up winning and it is a nice moment for him but overall this felt like a match to watch for the novelty effect and didn't really result in good execution because of the brevity of the entrants. **

The makeshift team of Booker and Sting has a go against the big NBT duo. I was impressed and also fearful for Sting's life when they do the hiptoss from the floor back into the ring spot with him. I thought the finish made the NBT team look helluva weak as you have Mike Sanders having to run down and interfere allowing them to save face against a makeshift tag team. Overall this was only three minutes but it didn't do anyone any favors. 3/4*

Maldonado has a mystery partner that turns out to be Corino when the lights go out. This is a pretty fun venue in that there isn’t probably more than 100 people in the building but it has a lot of character when they do the brawl around ringside at the beginning. Dylan Night is someone that I am only familiar with from the 4 way with Hashimoto and Corino at the end of 2001. Alison Danger is Maldonado’s manager so that makes sense that Corino is in with her. Maldonado strikes me as a Tommy Dreamer esque worker through this and he is pretty fun at spots. JD Powers is the least experienced and worst portion of the match but he isn’t embarrassing by 2000 indie standards. The …

Really solid lucha and some guys we havent seen much at all on the rudo side. I was really impressed with Criptor as him and Villano IV in particular had some rock solid mat exchanges against each other. Enterrador did less for me and felt more like a warm body. Infernal continues to be one of my fav sleaze indie luchadors and his interactions with III here were a highlight. IWRG continues its strong year. ***1/4 (6.5)

This was a very damn good match. It was worked mostly apuestas style with a ton of submissions and working to gain leverage. Silver King looked impressive in the early going being one step ahead of Scorpio. That is how he gains the first fall. I liked how the third fall really milked each spot and each pin attempt felt like a legit finish. We even get a questionable foul call. I also appreciated the lack of bullshit that Scorpio is finally able to lock in a reverse Boston crab and win the match. I had high hopes for this one and they delivered. ***3/4 (7.6)

We get clips of the Conquistadors winning the battle royal to become the #1 contenders. They perform a promo backstage and sound pretty Canadian eh? Funny stuff. The match is fine but I thought the ending was one of the biggest mis steps in WWF this year. Austin arrives raising hell and he comes down to the ring with a chair that he delivers chair shots to everyone. This was worst than Taker burying everyone when he came back as it made all of the talent look like mid range acts here. The most egregious offense was him slamming the chair against Jericho. If this would have led somewhere, great but Jericho has been positioned as the #2 face of the brand with Austin gone an…

Everyone is pissed about the four way Foley has set up. I think this is the most heelish HHH has acted since SummerSlam. Foley says he is here to make the fans happy so the match stands. Rock delivers one of his better promos of the year getting in all his highspots and laughs but also giving Angle some credibility and showing that he is taking Angle seriously. The match itself was splendid and could have main evented a PPV with a couple more minutes. The tag structure at first dissolves and has all four really going after each other. Again, HHH vs Rock is a pairing where I appreciate them not being all buddy buddy with each other. The finale really had a lot of teases an…

The interaction here is excellent and CMLL is at another good point for the year between this and the TB stuff. The rudos on both sides push Casas and Santo to start off. Opening cool matwork turns to chippiness when Santo sends a shot to Casas. Negro takes great offense and stomps away big time onto Santo who returns the favor and does his tope into the row of chairs. The rudos send both back in and they are loving what they are seeing. Santo gets a surfboard to take the first fall. Second fall has Bestia/Scorpio mixing it up with Panther/Fuerza. We get some weird clipping but Scorpio/Bestia working as a well oiled team against Panther was enjoyable. The match ends in tw…

Just when you think Shocker’s gear can’t get more epic, he says “hold my beer.” TB and him shake hands and Atlantis has had enough and violently shoves him down. Dantes and Satanico join in the attack and they have Atlantis reeling in a brutal submission. They refuse to break and the tecnicos win the first caida by DQ. Meanwhile, TB is dancing on the ramp. Sequnda Caida is more of the same with the rudos whipping ass and Tarzan Boy checking out his hair. Shocker does another great guapo pose walking on his knees flexing his muscles. Atlantis grabs a breather and tries to talk some sense into TB. Emilio does so as well and is ready to fight. Inside, Atlantis hits a great c…

Surprisingly this was the MOTN considering Hard is shoddy usually and Flo can be sporadic. They built to the four corners and hit most of those spots well enough including Flo going through the mousetraps bare backed. It looks like they had some insulation on one side of the ring as a weapon which was unique and something I had never seen. Even the finish built up pretty well with Hard having to work hard to gain the victory. Perfectly serviceable hardcore wrestling. **3/4

Wolf was probably a month in at this point. This is a plunder walk and hit match but one where I enjoyed some aspects of it. Ian gives some vicious chops and a chair shot that like usual is spine tingling. Wolf showed some fire and takes a heck of a beating for his experience level. The highlight of that is a dragon suplex onto the barbed wire board. Ian looks in control when Todd Morton runs in and has some sort of spray can that he knocks out Ian with from the stench and then puts Wolf on top for the pin. Morton cuts a promo afterwards calling Ian a fat fuck and raising Wolf’s hand. Ian then does a promo begging for a match tomorrow night. Ian going out in the first rou…