November 2000

A neat houseshow fancam for NWA Wildside and Styles and Onyx are faces as the Georgia Bulldogs get run down by Marky Mark in front of the Athens crowd. The match runs a traditional tag structure with AJ getting worked over for the majority of the match. Paris and Mark aren’t mind blowing on top but they do enough stuff to keep the interest of the crowd and there is investment and a reaction when the hot tag is made. Onyx and AJ do their double team moves which fit much better as a face tandem and end up picking up the win to a sizeable pop. *** (6.1)

I am always a sucker for these southern stipulations of getting the fans involved by being the lumberjacks. Heat is piled on by Attitude wearing Tennessee Vol apparel. This again works a basic structure but is a lot of fun with Bad Attitude being stripped down and whipped on the outside and then taking over for a good heat segment. JC Dazz always impresses me by mixing in moments of good agility and flash for someone his size and the hot tag sequence is really well done. Finish is what it is where it of course looks like the Bugaloo Crew has won but they end up being DQ’d. Bad Attitude immediately bolts for the exit in another funny moment. Shtick but good shtick. *** (5.…

Some dissention is starting to form in 3 Count between Evan and Sugar Shane. Leia is leading the Dragons now and has given them more of an edge. The match is a spotfest with tons of double team and triple team dives but the crowd seemed quieter than usual. The match also has a lot of storyline elements with Evan gloating for 3 Count and Meia berating Jaime San throughout the match. Shane and Shannon get a run of offense on Jamie san and then Evan comes in and steals the pin. Afterwards, Jaime is unmasked by Leia as Noble and 3 Count beats up Evan changing up the dynamic of these two sides. **1/2

Kidman calls out NBT before the match and he is still not a good promo at all. The tag division continues to be the highlight of WCW and this was one of the better examples. A really good match with Alex Wright in particular looking fantastic when the Boogie Knights take over. I was a little bummed that the crowd again seems more subdued than you would expect but it is 2000 WCW so I can give them a pass. The Animals hot tag and run through of offense leading to the finish was great and mixed in a lot of decidedly 2000 spots like the Bronco Buster and legdrop to the stomach and balls for the pinfall. Good match. ***1/4 (6.4)

The cage is a very cool-looking, double-tall lime green chain link job. A couple of minutes in we get a helpful graphic explaining that the Good Guys are: Hijo de Lizmark, Black Dragon, My Boy Felino, Ultimo Vampiro, and Super Parka. The Bad Guys are: Enterrador (who is very large and wearing a Misfits t-shirt), Super Mega and his tag partner Mega, Blue Panther and Oficial (who has a police-style outfit and mask that are kinda reminiscent of early Osaka Pro, so I like him even though he doesn't seem to be all that good at the pro wrestling part of his job). They all kind of mill around for nine minutes and 59 seconds, tossing dudes into the corner and doing some half…

Two of the most unheralded lucha workers of 2000 go out and have another really good match against each other. Some solid wrestling and progression that leads up to the climax in the final fall. Neither one of these men seem to reinvent the wheel but it remains engaging. The third fall had a foul attempt from Scorpio but I was shocked and delighted that he ends up pinning Villano clean on a sunset flip take over. Scorpio will easily land in my top 50 wrestlers of the year and there will certainly be a spot for Villano IV between the trios matches and his singles showcases. IWRG continues to be neck and neck with CMLL as far as my favorite lucha promotions. ***1/2 (7.1)

These two right now have a good bit of chemistry and are going after each other for the first three minutes with stiff shots on the outside. The main proponent of this match was the reformation of the Radicalz as Eddie comes out with the IC belt and hits HHH with it allowing Benoit to get the pinfall. HHH comes back with a chair shot as the Radicalz retreat. I’m happy to see the Radicalz back for now. *1/4

Big time interview to start things off leading in Rock disputing Rikishi’s claim again. Rikishi comes out and disputes that and then we get Angle and Austin involved. The biggest development happens at the end of the segment when Austin stuns Rock in the middle of the ring. The match is energetic but pretty brief and while it was presented as a long form affair, it is mainly a catalyst for the ending angle. Rikishi interferes again and it feels like he is destined for a feud with Rock. Austin comes down and cleans house of Angle and Rikishi without exactly coming to Rock’s aide and Rock gives him a Rock Bottom as a receipt from the earlier stunner as the show goes off the…

Rikishi yells at Coach and reiterates that Rock was the one responsible for running over Austin. There was some meatiness to this four minute tv match as RIkishi is busted open and it shows Rikishi being more vicious. In fact, I think I would have preferred a long term feud here between these two instead of Kane vs Jericho. Speaking of the demon, here he comes to interrupt another match but Jericho is prepared this time with a chair. Jericho gives him a direct headshot which is no sold and then Kane chokeslams Jericho. It is subtle and WWF is still not near unwatchable but for the most part of the year, all of the feuds felt like the best case scenario for the wrestlers a…

A good standard AAA tag that probably would look better if it didn’t come in the wake of a promotion that has been dreadful throughout 2000. If this is just the best match in a given week, that is one thing. However, this is probably one of the top 5-10 matches we have seen from the promotion this year and when it barely qualifies as good, that makes me question just how poor things have been overall than probably rightfully praise the singular action here. Even then, nothing here is extraordinary by any means, it is just competent. Last fall is filled with bullshit and outside interference featuring Jerry Estrada and Octagon. I don’t really know where all of this is lead…

Talk about it here.

This was a lot of fun for the amount of time it lasted. Bloody and Toshie blast Chigusa right away and work her over until Meiko comes in all pissed off to even the odds. Meiko has some great transitions involving the arm as she throws Toshie over the top rope with an armbar and also does a double team move hooking on a cross armbreaker from a throw that Chigusa gives. A scary moment with Meiko on the top rope and she delivers a big kick and then falls off face first on the mat. Meiko is one of the better joshi workers just based on her relentless pace and energy. She gets the pin which feels well deserved and then her and Chigusa do a cool hand gesture with each other. F…

Talk about it here.

The first November ‘Dream Match’ where it will be no time limit, no disqualification and anyone who interferes in the match will be banned from OVW for life. Aggressive opening by the ‘Iron Man’ who hurls Dinsmore over the top tope to establish that there is no DQ in operation here. Conway whips ‘Mr Wrestling’ into the turnbuckles, but he comes charging back at him with a lariat. He follows his opponent’s actions of earlier, unloading with a flurry of punches and kicks in the corner. Not sure why the ref is counting and trying to get Dinsmore to stop seeing as he can’t disqualify him anyway? ‘Mr Wrestling’ returns the favour by throwing the ‘Iron Man’ over the top to…

I wont rehash my thoughts on these two throughout the year but we have seen them a lot and this felt like a blow off with a straight match that was very good and worked in a more classic style. Octagoncito leaned rudo throughout and Rocky had to overcome the odds to gain the victory in the end. The work was solid but something was missing to make it one of the more memorable mini title matches that we have seen throughout the years. It may just be 2000 burnout, but I am hoping for something else going forward after watching this which seems odd given my rating. ***1/2 (7.1)

Hamrick is doing a lot more tv spots in the past few months. Hamrick comes out limping and is seriously hurt. I have seen this before but Hamrick milks it well. Joey isn’t buying it for a second. Spike comes out and when he rolls in, Hamrick is suddenly all better. Hamrick chokes him away but within a minute, Spike is able to hit the Acid Drop and get the surprise pin. Hot Commodity attacks afterwards until Kash, Doring and Roadkill make the save. ¼*

A batshit New Jack promo in the back where he talks about whipping ass and even calls Dawn Marie retarded. He says he wants Marie to stay in the back and Corino backs him up on that. Corino is on his own for the first couple of minutes and that allows Credible and Rhino to open up his cut. New Jack makes his entrance and we veer off. The Credible vs Jack portion is the usual barrage of New Jack weapons and slice and dice action. The Rhino vs Corino portion was a ton of fun with Rhino taking big momentum bumps into the concession tables and arena doors. Corino is a bloody mess. The punches thrown by both Rhino and Corino are impressive and hate filled. Corino really has es…

Unholy Alliance clearly most over people in ECW at this point and they really should be the champions. We will see what the PPV match is like. They reign in York and Matthews here and we get an enjoyable tv match. Tajiri like usual does a couple of little things even through stiff strikes or facial expressions that are memorable. Mikey is in better shape and flying around more than he would at most points past this. Kip up and some mist for Matthews lead to a stiff kick and Whipwreck and Tajiri doing their double team flapjack finisher into a brainbuster for the pin. **

A miffed Simon Diamond interrupts the show introduction, annoyed that Joey Styles isn’t talking about him or putting him over on commentary. He says that Styles hasn’t talked about Johnny Swinger’s broke orbital bone, hasn’t mentioned that he put Tommy Dreamer out of commission and wonders what he has to do to get his attention. That eventually results in him slugging Joel Gertner with Styles getting on Simon’s back trying to help out. In turn we get run outs from Swinger, Tommy Dreamer, C.W. Anderson and finally Christian York and Joey Matthews leading to an ‘impromptu’ tag match. Come the end of the year I think I’ll tally up the number of these ‘impromptu’ matches …

I have loved watching this series and this felt like a good blowoff with Hamrick inserting himself until Spike comes out and tears off the leg brace indicating he has healed up. Watching a ton of these matches play out, it was nice to see some little wrinkles like Roadkill getting cut off and the Acid Drop variation that ends up being the finish. Roadkill and Doring really deserved better than dying day ECW and Hot Commodity is a better heel tag team than the New Age Outlaws. *** (6.2)

Two of the better ECW workers of the year and a good match on PPV that was impromptu. This did have some sloppy moments that may have had it slightly underperform from my expectations but on most of the big high spots, Kash was money like usual. Anderson is a good base for Kash and the arm work he sprinkled in throughout was engaging enough. Kash getting the win gets the fans fired up and ready for the rest of the show. *** (6.1)

Double Jeopardy - Steve Corino vs Jerry Lynn vs Sandman vs Justin Credible This match was absolutely awful. The rules are pretty cool - 2 matches are going on at the same time and the two winners fight each other to determine the winner of the match. Cool scenario, lots of various things you can do with it and it's something really unique. Unfortunately, this was about as bad as you can do it. Remember the 2 matches thing? Well, Sandman doesn't come in until about 5 mins and then drinks for another few in the crowd and they don't do a 2v1 with the heels vs Lynn, so they miss out again. During this, there's bladejobs and people are busted open, while absolutely…

After the opening 5-7 minutes, I was wondering why this didn’t get talked up more. Then Mikey gets injured, Super Crazy subs in which is cute but also pretty unfair especially considering that Mikey/Tajiri and FBI have a sort of mutual respect for each other and on top of all of that shit, FBI win again. Tajiri already feels wasted being deep in a tag team feud where he isn’t the champion up to this point, but it is completely ludicrous now. Crazy looked good and had some exciting bumps including the balcony sault but a part of the allure of the match was lost on me with Mikey out of the way. Mamaluke and Guido continue to be pros and two of the most rock solid performers…

Another good tag match and match overall for the JWP promotion. I wish we could see all of their spot show stuff or anything besides the big matches instead of the multitude of GAEA we have for the year overall. Hyuga continues to look like a star within the joshi scene and beyond for the 2000’s and has some slick sequences displaying her speed against Bennett and a more peer to peer contact with Haruyama. Inoue has really declined physically and now is going power move for power move with Reggie. Reggie is still not at all the most graceful worker but her effort is never in doubt. A really enjoyable tag match that made me desire to see more Hyuga going forward. ***1/4 (6…

Commando continues to be one of my favorite underheralded workers in history. She may not have many MOTYC but her limb work is always logical and solid leading to matches that are enjoyable. Here she alternates between the leg and arm of Miyazaki and varies up the attack a ton before combining both focal points cleverly into some tight submissions at the finish. Miyazaki was strong fighting from mostly underneath and showing fire when needed throughout the matchup. A strong undercard match with a heavy focus on mat work leading to submissions. ***1/2 (6.8)