October 2000

Unfamiliar with Rastaman but just based on this one match, he struck me as a Hillbilly Jim type of character for the promotion that reaches an archtype but doesn’t exactly shine in ring. The result was a clunky match and pretty poor brawl with Perez also not impressing me. The heat is still good here but the matches and show overall are starting to drag. **

TNT is so over but again we have another pretty generic brawl and punch/kick style match with Ninjitsu so it doesn’t really connect to me. Ninjitsu’s manager tries to interfere but that gets stopped by TNT and he is able to recover and pick up the win. Afterwards, the whole Ninjitsu posse attacks TNT and they leave him laying. In an angle only from Puerto Rico, Tajiri sends the doctor away, performs some spiritual ceremony with a towel over TNT’s head and he wakes up then. **1/4

A dog is wondering around ringside. Glad the spastic editing of the show the day before is gone and we get a longform look at the title tournament. This was a hardcore tv match that was solid for the first round of the tournament and to get the crowd going for the night overall. Finish was kind of weird and uncooperative as Banderas does essentially a roll up German suplex to get the pin. **

Rocker is the referee. Smothers continues to get great heat in Memphis and to help Cade develop along. I seem to be higher on Cade than the other commentators but I do see his raw potential and of course his size helps as he is taller than the large Smothers here. Only maybe 3 minutes of action but Smothers keeps things moving along and he sneaks in a low blow that Rocker "misses". Finish comes when Rocker gets fed up and superkicks Cade and then Tracy covers for the quick three count. *1/4

Baxter comes out and Dave doesn't believe him when he says a WWF Superstar here today. Out comes Tazz out of the limo and into the Channel 5 studios. Tazz says he doesn't know who Baxter is but wants a piece of Lawler. Lawler isn't there but calls in and says he can be there in 10 minutes. Tazz informs us that he has another engagement at 12 so he has to bolt. Later in the show, Lawler and Kevin Kelly are there and we get a back and forth between them and with Baxter which sets up the handicap match. Lawler is a house of fire beating up both until Tazz makes his surprise return and chokes out Lawler. This is all pretty cool stuff. Finally, at the end of the show we get a …

Power Hour starts with Corey saying we are going to get jiggy with it today. Baxter starts out the show and this is where he tells Dave that he has a big WWF star Tazz there today before their big blowoff in Jonesboro and shows clips of the Power Pro invasion of the MCW house show. Spellbinder and Brickhouse Brown doing a cosplay of Savannah Jack come out and say they are loyal to Power Pro but not Baxter so he better watch himself. Quick promos from Slash and Mo to set up the six man. Free wrestling at 1:00 in West Memphis at the Jeep/Chevy dealer. Match starts with all six duking it out before a short heat sequence. Mo actually pulls off a spinning leg kick which was im…

Good enhancement showing for Ki. He shows some flash and is in position for the offense of Crash. I was surprised that the finish was Crash hitting his finish off of a Ki missed moonsault and nothing more prolonged. It is a fun treat to see Ki pop up on WWF syndication if you were a North East indie fan of his at the time. *

I like this pairing of non LCO tag for Shimoda as she is clearly the leader and it gives her depth in being able to boss around Omukai. Hamada tandem was also a neat dynamic with Xochilt being defensive of Ayako being attacked and having some chunky offense with the lariats, sentons and powerbombs. Ayako and Mima are wearing almost identical gear on opposite sides throughout this match which made it a tad confusing to watch from a distance. Xochilt even covers herself over Ayako at one point to sacrifice herself up. This clips into a neat sequence of Mima and Michiko executing double submissions. Michiko overall is a unique worker. Pretty nondescript overall but not terri…

Clipping of ARSION strikes again as what we see here is pretty fun and exciting with the aerial moveset of Asari providing a nice contrast to the grind it out heel stylings of Tamada and Futagami. Yoshida does a beautiful run up the ropes dive to the outside with brilliant grace. Futagami absolutely demolishes Yoshida with a spinning back fist and the grappling between these two look pretty sweet. Asari has been fun throughout the year and she is good here but Yoshida is just such a cut above and still an elite worker in 2000. Finish was fun with Asari doing a great twisting splash and then locking on the leg submission on Tamada to gain the win. Really want to see this o…

Another solid tv match althought this one was marred by the train of run ins at the end. Anderson has some good punches and arm work and in general looks like more of a threat here in a #1 contenders match than I would have expected. Corino is sympathetic underneath and at one point accidently superkicks Dawn Marie. Jack Victory also gets driven head first through a table. We get some referee fighting with Danny Daniels and the whole reffin show that get no fan reaction and then Corino is able to eek out the victory. After the match, Credible attacks until New Jack comes out to attack him. Finally Rhino runs and he is the person looking strong as the tv show goes off the …

These two are money against each other (sorry for the pun). Kash starts off hot thwarting the Hot Commodity attempts to distract him and hitting a huge springboard splash to the outside. Money on offense is really flashy but it kind of fits his douchy persona and it is fit for exciting tv matches. Finish comes with Kash making another big comeback and squeezing out the win to a huge pop. I continue to really enjoy latter day ECW. *** (6.2)

It is really odd what happened for FMW from 1999 to 2000. I don’t think the characters/work/storylines are technically bad in 2000 and this match exemplifies that. It is a very Western approach to a tag with Fuyuki and GOEMON being extremely heelish and going after Busa’s arm with a spike. Busa’s arm is bladed and he takes a good beating. Then we get the natural comeback and the overcoming the odds story culminating in Busa winning after a 450. Again, nothing bad at all and a good match but one that felt like in 1999 it could have been great and the moment just has slightly passed for the promotion as a whole. ***1/4 (6.5)

Fuji looks like the sleaziest man alive tonight. Oya having a singer serenade him out is a nice touch. Marufuji is touring around and he brought his buddy Honda with him. Match carries a familiar structure of Fuji and Oya beating up on the rookie and bullying him around until Honda can come in and even up the odds. Basic storytelling but told well here and with a very satisfying finish of Honda having a strong house of fire barrage of offense coming in and instructing Marufuji to hit the Shiranui on Fuji to score the surprise pin. *** (6)

Rough match here with no flow and a lot of standing around waiting on Jody to do something cool and aerial. It follows the trope of the non-Fleisch competitors teaming up to try to eliminate Jody but there some duress throughout the match. Even the two valets start catfighting on the outside. Jody is able to take advantage of this and win. A few cool spots here and there but ultimately a nothing match and Jody really doesn’t have much ring psychology to speak of at this point in his career. *1/4

A much better effort than the prior match. I will say this for FWA as a whole, the video screen and lighting effects they use in 2000 are better than most indies today and certainly on par with production ROH would have as late as 06 or 07. To fit the theme, this match would have fit on an ROH undercard in the first couple of years and not looked completely out of place. I was ready to herald it as an underrated gem five minutes in with sound ring work and working over the arm but the last 7-8 minutes of the match go too far into your turn, my turn territory. It was also tough to get a sense of who the heel was in this match as both were not shy in using underhanded tacti…

Fun undercard stuff. I didn’t think much of the Orientales and Neon but everyone else brought something to the table here and Marvin and Azteca in particular went after each other. Marvin displays a rudo tinge here to his character which is unique and I do think his high flying has looked as spectacular as anyone in 2000. Muscle buster was a nice finisher for the tecnicos and I was a bit surprised that Marvin took the final pin. No bullshit in Monterrey is a plus as well. *** (6.2)

More of a character study on maniacal Scott Steiner than an effective match. They really should have pulled the trigger and had Scott win here and lead to a showdown with Goldberg in a few months. I am tired of giving Booker chances and come to the realization that in 2000, he just wasn’t that good and due to the onslaught of bad booking, fans were clamoring to anything they had for a change. Booker was the right guy in the right place. Scott is a loon in this match barking at fans constantly as well as Stevie Ray. The match doesn’t have much of a pace and ends in a lame DQ when Scott goes nuts when things don’t go his way. Overall, intriguing to watch as Scott does feel …

This was a pretty dreadful PPV which is unfortunate as WCW had shown some signs of life. This main event was a complete afterthought as they come down to the ring with 20 minutes to go. Goldberg comes out and it feels like a Nitro match where Kronik double teams for a bit until Goldberg returns the favor with the big comeback. In a weird moment, a table is retrieved from underneath and smoke comes pouring out I guess from the fake Sting bullshit earlier. Goldberg ends up winning in just over three minutes and we immediately go off the air. *

If you ever needed to know how many fake Sting’s you can have on retainer, this is the match for you. We get no less than five fake Stings here running the gambit from 1989 surfer Sting to Wolfpac Sting. I don’t understand the psychology of this from Jarrett’s standpoint and the match screeches to a halt each time a new Sting runs out for the real Sting to beat him up. One Sting hilariously loses his awful wig as he gets beat up. This leads to Jarrett smashing a guitar over Stings head and winning. Just awful stuff and Sting really should have enough clout and self awareness at this point to veto some of this shit. ¼*

Really fun opener. The spots were energetic and athletic and the pace never let up. I also thought they did a good job integrating the three way narrative of the match with one person not seemingly just standing around for too long waiting to get into position. Rey has really had a much better year than I would have guessed unmasked and with the devil horns. Jindrak and O’Haire continue to be the highlights of the NBT and seem poised to be main event stars. They end up stealing the win after a Seanton Bomb. This got the PPV off to a good start. ***1/4(6.4)

We get some clips of the previous match between these two that looked brutal. This was also a brutal match. The build to the barbed wire and the light tube shots was well done and both men dished out some punishment onto each other. Genki in particular was excellent as the bullying member of the match. Ichii had to really work for every comeback and big move. Unfortunately the finish is sort of botched as Ichii is looking for a 450 double stomp through the barbed wire table and she hits its kind of glazingly with the table not breaking. The pin is weird too as it looks like Ichii is lifting Genki’s shoulders up but the referee counts three anyway. They embrace after the m…

Big Japan is one of my favorite promotions going in Japan around this time. They have a stud in Honma but also a lot of other intriguing workers and can mix and match such a wide variety of styles. This is the first look we have at Sekimoto and he plays his role to perfection as young lion that will get picked on but can also dish it out. I really enjoyed the way that the match transitioned from the chain wrestling of Teioh to the heavy strikes of Sekimoto seamlessly. Honma makes a claim as a top 20 worldwide worker by having really compelling sequences with both opponents. I thought Yamakawa also knew his role better here and didn’t try to over reach. A really strong tag…

The finals of the tournament and like usual contested as a death match. A sprinty death match with the spots happening quickly and violently. I still think Honma matches up better with Zandig than anyone else. Kasai actually was fairly tame in this which was a surprise. The match was starting to get going when it ends with Honma/Yamakawa winning with the splash/superplex combo. Afterwards, we get a lot of grandstanding and a challenge is issued and accepted for a ten man tag when they return to Korakuen. Sort of an odd finish given the semi final match but fun while it lasted. **1/2

I continue to be completely floored that O’Haire and Jindrak didn’t become bigger stars. They are such good bases against Kidman and Rey and can bust out a variety of impressive looking offense. I don’t think Test is an awful worker but they certainly at a minimum feel like a better version of him. This was another good opener and the best part of WCW currently. It really looked like Rey and Billy might gain the win as they were setting up the Shooting Star Press. Alex Wright and Disco miss their cue so there is an awkward moment with a slow count and O’Haire having to kick out. I thought the finish also made Konnan look dumb as Disco is able to get in the ring and hit th…

I don’t know why both Nitro and Raw loaded the shows up this week but it is one of the better 2 shows in 1 night stretches we may get as we enter the waning days of Nitro. Booker after my burial of the Havoc match looks more stiff and intense here and him and Steiner potato each other before Awesome runs down. Awesome’s gimmick is dreadful and doesn’t fit at all. The three way action was good and continued to put over Steiner as the biggest thing going in the main event scene. Steiner has Awesome in a Steiner Recliner when Booker hits the spinning kick and then gets a quick Bookend on Mike for the pin. Steiner goes nuts on security after the match and the vendetta with hi…