November 2000

Talk about it here.

First fall is brief with some Porky comedy but then the rudos taking over and dominating from that point forward. Porky does a great spot where he is getting chopped on the outside and bounces off a patrons hands because they fear him falling on them. I love this guy. Ano and Casas have a good sequence with each other. They are doing a lot of pandering to the crowd here but it is entertaining stuff garnering a reaction so I don’t mind that. Porky takes second fall in another innovative way where Casas chops his head making him squish Ano. In the third caida, they keep cutting to this fan that has fallen asleep on his girl. After a few nearfalls, we cut back and the patron…

The watching on tv gimmick from WWF New York is still really awkward. Good singles showcase from these two and Edge looked more natural here than I seem to recall even a few years later when he was put out there to have 7-14 minute showcase type matches. Christian gets in some cheap shots on the outside. Tazz on commentary is making a late push at being in my bottom three for the year. His “laugh” is putrid and him and Cole spend most of this match talking about everything else but the match that is going on in the ring. Interference with both members have Tim White distracted but the match looks won when Hardy hits the Twist of Fate, Christian is able to pull Matt out an…

A wonderful six man that really displayed the quality of Osaka Pro overall to the Tokyo crowd and how they can be a spiritual successor to the M-Pro multi mans of the last half of the 90’s. The heels worked over Hoshikawa and showed versatility in their attack while the faces were mostly used for shine in Yakushiji and Tsubasa case and stiffness from Hoshikawa. The final six or seven minutes are at a breakneck pace and featuring tons of pair offs and great action with again maintaining a clear face/heel divide with mist and other underhanded tactics being used. Togo was awesome on the heel side as to be expected with his exchanges vs Hoshikawa and the fat ass senton. He a…

A pretty good back-and-forth contest and the most dominant Murahama has looked against, not only Delphin, but in general. The opening mat exchange was neat before Murahama takes over on offense and works the arm for a spell. It's a wash as they flip-flop on offense, Murahama fucks up a dive attempt and has to rewind and repeat, and then they bust out the big signatures for some nearfalls. Murahama tries attacking the arm again late in the match but Delphin blows it off, hits a few DDTs and the Delphin Special for the pinfall. Definitely preferred their "shoot" match to this. This was fine but just a exhibition-y match with Murahama getting more control.

Leia Meow is oogled by the commentary team. Like usual, these guys along with Rey, Juvy and Kidman have provided the best in ring action of the year in WCW so this is good for the four minutes it lasts. Jung Dragons and 3 Count join forces to try to defeat Jindrak and O’Haire before they start attacking each other. Jindrak gives Yang a nasty DDT on the outside and they launch him back in the ring. That spot also looks great. Evan Karagias runs in for a quick break up of the pin. Why that wasn’t a DQ is confusing but the Seanton bomb wins the match for the champs seconds later. Jung Dragons and 3 Count beat down on Karagias until Jaime Noble comes in to help. *1/4

A new streak has started up for Goldberg. Good promo by Goldberg before an attack by Luger setting up their Mayhem match. Goldberg is gimpy on his leg and the match is super quick but entertaining while it lasts. Goldberg in particular gives an amazing punch to start the comeback. After a bit of back and forth, Goldberg delivers a great spear and jackhammer for the win as Luger looks on from the stage. Fun competitive squash. *

Madden says that Flair would probably allow Steiner to kill a fan or two and Tony sounds legit pissed saying that was out of line. Sting is ready to go after Jarrett but Steiner is there to cut him off. This was a pretty good match too and WCW besides the Buff “queer” nonsense and Nash sucking has had a pretty damn good episode of Nitro tonight. Finish has some good use of the guitar for once although it not calling a DQ with all the debris even has Tony wondering how the DQ isn’t called. Steiner Recliner and submission gives the heels the win. They hypothesize that Steiner wouldn’t have won without the guitar shot. *1/2

An obnoxious Nash promo with him taking shots at Goldberg’s book, something is dropped that gets picked up on mic and he yells “pick that up” and then he brow beats Stasiak. I really hate too cool for school Nash here just staying pat on the sinking ship trying to act like king shit. DDP is back and he is jacked. He gives a pretty fun promo with a huge reaction. The Battle Dome Warriors are at ringside and jawing with DDP. I had forgotten all about this. DDP brings out Buff Bagwell, Ernest Miller and Rick Steiner as backup. Woof, not exactly some great partners DDP. Buff calls them Battledome queers and they battle as Madden yells to make these guys famous. What shit this…

The kazoo has arrived and they add lyrics to Benoit’s song. Foley interrupts and gives them the rundown for tonight as they have a tables match vs The Dudley Boyz. We get a quick insert to Steven “celebrating” with RTC before the match starts. Quick match with E&C having a bit of success before mocking the Dudley’s and the tide changing. The Hardy Boyz and Lita interfere and that is fine since it is a Tables Match. Lita gives a great rana to Christian and then he gets 3D’d through the table. After the match, Jeff gives the swantom to Edge through a table on the outside. *

HHH and Foley are joking it up. That will change….. soon. Mick sets up a 4 vs 4 match provided HHH can find the right partners. Austin interrupts and we get a cool bit of foreshadowing where HHH nonchalantly says DTA to him as he walks away. HHH/Road Dogg come in to talk to Billy/Chyna and HHH gives a pretty convincing speech to reunite DX against the Radicalz. It feels like this could have been a quick match to build to a bigger one between these same teams at Survivor Series. Some good back and forth action here with all the main feuds being on display. HHH stays on the outside until the final stages which works well for the developments happening later. JR really tries…

Because RTC didn’t interfere in the Val vs Taker match, this match occurs. Hot opening with LIta spearing Ivory and both women getting kicked out of ringside. Match settles down with the heat segment and Lawler flat out proclaims he is not voting for Gore and Leiberman tomorrow. RTC doing a heat segment leaves a lot to be desired. Finish comes when E&C come out to run interference and the ref gets bumped. This allows Steven Richards to pelt Jeff Hardy with the belt and we have new tag champs in what is a good bit of an upset IMO. *1/2

Vince is back and starts the show off with a promo. Vince gives a promo about the vote tomorrow. While knowing Vince’s political leanings do give way to some jargon that points a certain way, overall this was a nice effort to create awareness and non-partisan for WWF standards. Austin comes out right as the promo ends and him and Vince still have dynamic chemistry when in the ring with each other. Austin is now obsessed with the mastermind of who run him over. This makes Rikishi feel like a bumbling idiot. Angle and Steph comes out and Angle tells him to hold it right there BUCKKO! Kurt is now in his element and fits right in with these titans of the industry. Angle says …

Rare matchup and pretty damn fun. Val got in way more offense than I would have expected and mixed up punches with Taker. Val also took Taker down and got some openings off of a chokeslam and charge into the corner. This and the Austin match from October 1999 show glimpses that Val at points can be put in the ring with the biggest names and not look lost at all but hes too inconsistent to sustain any momentum. Predictably, Val gets caught in the Last Ride and takes an awesome bump giving Taker the win in five minutes. **

Some more quick clips with Stone/Cross ending up with the victory and some sort of tag titles. Stone seemed to have an injury that required the doctor to come out but they were still able to win on a sloppy looking dive. NR

We only get a few minutes here but like usual it makes you long for a ton more footage of Virus. They pack a ton of action into the short sequences with guys doing intricate pins and reversals and Volador wiping out widely on some dives to the floor. Fugaz/Virus pick up the win with that roll through reversal that Virus does that looks beautiful. NR

First fall is legit 30 seconds of Casas running through flash offense and getting the pin. Second fall seems to clip right into UG on offense with a suplex and lariat to even it up. Third fall gives us more but this is really just a vehicle for the Satanico/UG feud vs Casas. Finish plays off this as Casas climbs the top rope only to get tripped by Satanico. UG puts him in the muscle buster position but as a submission for a victory. Satanico’s facials are amazing walking away all cocky like “yeah I did that”. More angle advancement than anything else. *

Hilarious opening with Stalker and Mochi starting out, CM revving Stalker up and then he gets kicked and pinned in five seconds. One of the funniest spots of 2000 right up there with the best Porky stuff. Theme of match after that had a big focal point on TARU and he probably looked the best he has the entire year fighting from underneath with M2K just swarming on his shoulder. The action was frantic and very enjoyable. Once TARU is able to tag we go to the final stretch which is really exciting. I thought Kanda was a complete dick and Masaaki was excellent like usual. CIMA is able to come in and pick up the win to a big pop for Crazy Max. Helluva fun match. ***1/2 (7)

SUWA and Fuji are the most prickly CM pair and they brutalize the eternally sympathetic Genki and Dragon Kid throughout most of this match. Dragon Kid and Genki on their comeback was mostly good but DK did have some botchy miscues on his cutters. I know it probably has a Toryumon name but Genki kept locking on the Chikara Special for near submissions on SUWA. Fuji catching DK in the chokeslam and sending him up in the air followed by their combo finisher was a good near fall requiring a Genki save. Backslide from heaven is attempted but reversed into a SUWA pedigree for the pin. We got 8 out of 15 minutes so I feel like we saw enough to properly rank this as a fun match. …

The match is joined in progress and not the best of starts as we miss seeing Red’s move off the top, the camera choosing to concentrate on Grimes instead. It’s not long before the weapons are introduced, Grimes collecting a bunch of stuff from under the ring that he throws inside. “We want tables” chant from the fans. I reckon they may be in luck tonight. Joe ducks a double clothesline and comes back with one of his own. He dents a trash can over Grimes’ head who calls him on wanting another. Some sort of axe kick/enzuigiri, although whatever it was it wasn’t hit clean. Joe places the trash can onto the prone Grimes and suplexes Red onto it. Huge running splash in…

Real good tv match and maybe one of the better ones on WCW programming this entire year. Awesome is better than in ECW in ring as he was very one note in ECW as just throwing guys around recklessly. Here, he varies his attack and looks vulnerable when need be which helps Booker. I thought he was easily the better worker here with small touches like getting in Booker’s face when he enters the ring to put over the gravity of the title in a face vs face match. Booker for his part was mostly fine although a few of the more athletic spots like the roll through pin attempt looked sloppy. Stevie is the ultimate cheerleader on commentary. I could have done without the table getti…

Maybe I am softening my stance on these hardcore matches as I thought this match was perfectly acceptable and sort of felt like comfort food viewing. I do think the WCW Hardcore presentation is better than WWF around this time. This utilized the plunder well and Crowbar acting like it was a big deal to win the Hardcore title really added to the stakes. Could have done without the Vito interference but it does advance the feud between Vito and Reno. **1/2

A retread of the Nitro match but this time with Luger actually involved. I love Lex but he is shot here and delivering his clubbing axe handles feels extremely painful for him. Goldberg does have that aura still and is getting as good a reaction as anyone as they rehab his streak leading to what should have been an inevitable showdown with Steiner. The commentary is also so much better on Thunder than Nitro at this point and Stevie has become quite a bit of a guilty pleasure. Bam Bam gets sacrificed and pinned as Lex retrieves getting heat for the upcoming Mayhem match. *1/4

This was a good match to ease me back into the lucha side of things for 2000 after a bit of a break. The pairings in the beginning was well done with the worker highlights of 2000 showing off their skills and things intensifying in a natural way leading to an eleven minute fall with a cool finish by the tecnicos. Second fall was nice in that the rudos didn’t panic and took their time to regain their control even with a bit of in fighting. Third fall culminated all of these things and even threw in a little bit of Tarzan Boy being an asshole by scoring a fall off of a foul. Silver King is able to obtain the win for the rudos. Very good match. ***1/2 (7)

I am glad I watched the other lucha match first as this one was about as mediocre a match as I can recall in 2000. Nothing horrible but also nothing memorable at all besides some good Navarro matwork to begin and a nice dive by Segura in the finale. Rudos end up taking the win here which was a surprise that they won both matches shown tonight. **1/2