October 2000

You know we were watching this. Puppet is out first and says every guy wants to be a midget and every broad wants to fuck a midget. He then suggests some illegal in 47 states sex positions for the ladies. Puppet still hanging onto Kick Ass Wrestling with his KA FN W shirt. Puppet starts out in control but Teo takes over and hits some pretty big chops in the corner. Teo doesn’t have the most grace as he nearly trips running across the ring. Mini chairshot by Teo and then a light tube to the back of Puppet. Teo misses a splash even though he doesn’t get enough air and his legs hit Puppet. Suplex on the tacks from Puppet and the crowd is appreciative of these guys given the …

Gilbert does an amazing promo before the match running down the crowd and the state in general. Up there with the best Jeff G Bailey stuff we have seen this year as far as crowd heat is concerned. The announcer mentioning the really fun opening stanza between Charlie and Rich being slow paced was so annoying. They were really setting the table and settling into a traditional tag which is what we got. It was incredibly impressive to watch. Like lucha maestros, Rich and Gilbert have a distinctive style but as the opponents, you can either go with that or get swallowed up. To the Haas credit, they work it in. Doug on the mic tries to get a go Tommy go chant started to cricke…

When you think of the bevy of very good indie matches we have in store for us throughout the decade, this match more than any other represents the template for those. A smartly worked match that intersperses grappling and strikes. Low Ki was able to showcase all of his arsenal and had Reckless as a base to do it. Reckless also did his heeling act which has been impressive in a variety of settings in 2000. The heel ref stuff with Hanson was a dose of Attitude Era mixed in that was unwanted but before that, the work was solid and satisfying. ***1/4 (6.7)

Punk and Kronan’s tag name is Sex and Pepsi. We don’t have sound for this which stinks because Punk cuts an intense promo pre match. He has really formulated his look throughout 2000 and by the end doesn’t look that much different from 2002-2004 era Punk which is a big departure from his motif in January. I don’t know what to think about this match overall. Southern structure for sure but full of mistakes. The effort is there from the four workers and Prazak but the experience and restraint at times is not. Prazak goes too big for his performance such as begging off from the early Pearce elbow drop. Pearce is too zealous in trying to get into the ring when Smooth is FIP. …

These Wagner showcase NJPW matches are fun. They don’t really go epic but have a cohesive story and good action. Wagner really focuses on the back of Samurai throughout this match. He has a nice attack and uses a varied approach. Samurai was a bully a few days before teaming with Liger but is sympathetic here. A lot of good versatility shown by him. He ends up getting the fluke win floating over on a sunset flip to a big surprise from the crowd. ***1/4 (6.6)

A rock solid match that serves as a good palate cleanser when watching a lot of stuff on days like today. Basic rudimentary mat work but stuff matters and the callback to the early arm work that Kido lays out plays into the finish in the end. I don’t know if we had one rope running exchange the entire 9 minutes of the match. I can see some being bored to tears by this and it wasn’t dynamic Volk Han type grappling but it was nice to see a commitment to a desire style. **1/2

The next to last match of Stan’s career and the last singles match. So long cowboy. Tenryu knows Stan is limited so he takes initiative in killing himself with two early topes to kickstart the match. It is a nice contrast watching this behind the MAW match as the raw potential was there in that match but the timing is much more on point here. Just look at the way Hansen blocks a chop and delivers one of his own halfway through this match. That only comes with a lot of seasoning. The middle slugfest here really feels like Stan making one last stand. His nose is busted open and every body part hurts but he isn’t going down without a fight. Tenryu keeps looking for a lariat …

Time for another dose of NJ vs AJ and I am all for it. Koshinaka shows more fire here than at most parts in the 90’s and he actually integrates the ass based offense in a fun way culminating in the climax of the match where he neutralizes Tenzan with a butt butt off the apron. Fuchi is a prick like usual and the Chono vs Kawada segments are electric. Everything surrounding the buzz of the match helps pick up Saito and Tenzan execution in ring. I thought it was a clever way to show Kawada in danger after the STF and triple team only for the AJ trio to make a comeback and Saito being the most likely person to be prone to a pin being in there with Kawada and losing to the po…

Daniels as a straight up babyface is weird to see in retrospect. They have a good back and forth match showing each person as even since it is the last two Super 8 winners. Bradley does a good job of heeling it up on top and I was excited for us to hit the home stretch when the ref bump happens and we get the bullshit finish of Scoot Andrews coming in to beat up Daniels and Reckless making the save. Can we have one clean finish in 2000? **1/2

The Briscoes have their cheering section again. Goodnite and Maxx were two people I was not familiar with and they didn’t leave a great lasting impression since they were the workhorses here for a first part of the match before going down to a Patch powerslam. Jay having the heat was smart as that got the crowd invested. Fontaine and Valentine didn’t do much on top but energy from crowd was still there. Mark is still really coming into his body physically at the ripe age of 15 here so his strikes on the comeback are weakened. Valentine gives him a Ganso Bomb to regain the advantage. I don’t think Osbourne has tagged in once. A minute after taking the Ganso, Briscoe is bac…

A really solid match playing off what we saw earlier in the night. Reckless gets the hot start but Scoot takes back over on offense. I do think this type of match was a snippet of what the indies could become throughout the decade. These two didn’t go out to have a MOTYC but they are doing more moves than in your typical 1980’s style match. Beyond that though, they understand their roles and the roll up that Youth gets to win the match feels refreshing and well deserved. I am certain Youth will find a spot on my year end top 100. Scoot probably doesn’t have enough to make it but I do think there was a ton of opportunity for him to become a bigger name than he did. *** (6.…

The Briscoe Brothers cheering squad have remained for the rest of the show, making some noise for Ty Street and the Cheetah Master who milk it for the entire duration of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’. Also worth noting that Street is wearing an eye patch to cover an injured/damaged eye. No idea who J.J. the Ring Crew Guy is, well apart from a member of the ring crew I assume, but he’s modelled his look on Zandig with the stonewash jeans, long dark hair and doo rag. With six men in the cage at the same time there is a lot going on all at once so I’ll just give some choice highlights. Street with a shiranui on Russ Haas, running up the cage wall as opposed to the turnbuckles.…

This was taped for FWA's tv show. Fun garbage brawl. It went the right amount of time and had some blood to intensify things. We get a preshow angle with Da Hit Squad jumping Bad Crew outside the arena. Bad Crew aren't good or technically savvy but damn if they don't get the crowds behind them and they seem to know their role as Tommy Dreamer esque clunky brawlers. They get good color here and the Dog Collar stip was utilized well. I like Bad Crew's 3D inspired finisher of a combo powerbomb and neckbreaker. ***1/4 (6.3)

A really strong death match. Tony seems to have these every once in a while in a tournament setting where he really goes balls to the wall with the weapon shots and is able to interject the indie spots well using the weapons. Here his light tube flip legdrop gets over huge and a standing ovation. The cactus is a unique weapon and they use it well and the action never lets up as it feels like two people fighting and just happening to hit big weapon shots and cool spots instead of trying to design the “craziest stunt show” bump and it disrupting the flow of the match overall. Finish kind of stinks as crowd is chanting for Tony when Alister gets an ace crusher on a light tub…

This was a nothing match. Some back and forth with the light tubes and the lumberjacks and it looks like Cash gets legit hurt and just ends the match four minutes in as he high tails it to the back with Ian rushing in to see what the fuck happened. Disappointing as I would have thought these two could have had a good death match. ½*

A weak ending. Both guys looked drained and it is mainly a punch and hit affair with no rhyme or reason to the violence they are inflicting on each other. The finish is weird in that it is a legit casket match where you have to set the casket on fire. This makes the finish really anticlimactic as they don't really tease putting each other into the casket until Corp is put in it and lit on fire. That is a crazy dangerous spot and the smoke fills up the dingy arena but Rollin' Hard has to be the worst KOTDM in history. *

This match didn't know what it wanted to be. It had indie standoff spots, Kid flying from the iron structure of the roof missing a legdrop in a nasty spot and other general stuff that tried to make it feel like Benoit vs Guerrero from 1995 ECW. Beyond that though, it had this heated story with Palmer and Morton cheating their way to victory until Ian comes out to dispute and Todd starts throwing chairs and signs in a reckless manner. Overall, a pretty big mess and Kid just was never going to be that top flight worker even before he retired due to injuries. **

Clips of the house show match and the Power Pro retaliation. The entire crew runs down and beats up the MCW trio. MCW’s crew comes out and runs off the Power Pro guys with some heavy shots being thrown at Brandon Baxter. Through all of this, Tracy gets rolled up allowing Krush to retain the title. We then cut to a Tazz promo as he hypes the final battle between him and Lawler. Good promo by Tazz here. NR

Another Tracy tv match where he is the master of his craft and leads Abs into a really fun match with Abs working mostly from underneath. This didn’t have as much shit talk from Tracy but he does mix up the action and his arsenal throughout. The finish was one I dug too with the young guys in the promotion that Tracy has hated on all running out, this bewildering Tracy and the referee allowing Lance Cade to paste him with a chair allowing Abs to get the win. **1/2

A really cool 8 minute match that even in defeat it feels like Liger took the fight to Frye and gave him a fight. The way Liger takes Frye down was surprising and the referee was very aggressive with Frye as he was unwilling to break when Liger reached the ropes on the arm submission. Liger fires back with palm strikes from the mounted position but that gets reversed and Frye unloads an onslaught of punches before locking in a tight choke forcing Liger to tap. Good fun and Inokism in the right way as this wouldn’t have looked out of place in RINGS. ***1/4 (6.5)

I was looking forward to this as it was a long form match for AJ against an opponent where elite AJ could have carried to very good level in Romeo Bliss. Instead, AJ mostly shows in this match he is a great college football QB prospect with a huge arm but makes some dumb decisions. Call him the Sam Dannard of 2000. AJ is a heel and is way too spotty in his arsenal here. He refuses to go after the openings of the leg of Romeo. The announcers provide probably the first of what I assume many great NWA Wildside calls of the decade by saying that AJ was just being too overconfident but AJ didn’t really exude that in how he was acting. Romeo for his part was pretty inconsistent…

This match had been built well. It was southern as a turnip green but entertaining to watch as the crowd is firmly behind Lazz. After a good brawl on the outside to start, the match settles in with Eddie Golden becoming heavily involved with the action. The referee gets fed up with it all and then deems if Golden gets pinned, that counts. This allows Lazz to win the light heavyweight title by pinning Golden. Its a little wonky psychologically but it is a feel good moment for the crowd and worked for me given the way the feud has been presented. *** (5.8)

Another good match to end the night. Shank reads us some poetry from a toilet paper roll and he really gets into the prison guard character. Bailey is evicted from ringside and he pitches a huge shit fit. The action here was stiff and intense and even though the dragging to each corner became goofy and didn't fit the intensity of the rest of the match, they were able to hold it together based on solid punches they were slamming each other with. Weird finish as the police runs down to apprehend Shank. Overall this Fright Night was a fine show but hopefully just the tip of the iceberg of what NWA Wildside has to offer throughout the decade. *** (5.9)

Ok match between two young guys that do have some potential. Cross has an array of highspots that is every bit as spectacular as AJ Styles including a beautiful corkscrew moonsault he gets huge air on. Beyond that, he doesn’t have a lot of connecting moves and his character here seemed to be spotty as he took shortcuts and was clearly the heel but again did too much flashy offense for that to hit. We hear Noble has only worked for a two years and he was fine with some good looking power moves but also some bad rope running and confusion in a couple of spots. Overall a decent look at some potential big players upcoming in NWA Wildside. **1/4

Harely’s Angels manager is Thug and the team is Easy Rider and Charlie Davidson. Talk about being on the nose. The vignettes are hilarious with the Angels beating up some guys in a bar. Farmer’s daughter is somehow even worse and looks like some Hee Haw outtakes. Bronco Billy is also out. Lee Marshall announcing all of this is also hilarious. The action is some of the more embarrassing action we have seen in 2000 with rope running being a huge challenge. Bronco Billy is the FIP. I don’t know who I would peg as the best worker here, maybe Charlie Davidson. Twice Becky gets the tag but the ref is preoccupied. He also is way too gratuitous picking up Becky to put her back to…