November 2000

Boogie Knights are grooving until Goldberg’s music hits and they shit a brick. Crowd gives a great late WCW response with huge chants. A straight squash but a ton of fun of Goldberg throwing Disco and Alex around everywhere with the London crowd cheering him on. Jackhammers are given to both men as he pins both at one time. Awesome. *

This match gets set up by Foley backstage. Funny segment with E&C and Angle strategizing. A really good six man here with Hardcore looking motivated and E&C complimenting them well. I actually am longing for a tag feud. Taker comes in for the finale and lays out Angle with Last Ride for the dominant win and he is riding a lot of momentum heading into Survivor Series. **1/4

The match was so good last night, they run it again. This time Crash said he could win with one arm tied behind his back so that is what Angle offers him. JR informs us Rikishi and HHH are not there tonight. Crash unties his arm and goes to work on Angle before getting creamed with a belly to back suplex. Angle runs into Molly and Crash gets a DDT the crowd bites on. A unique facebuster and Angle goes right to the ankle lock for the submission. They are pushing that now. Angle attacks with a chair again but Hardcore Holly makes the save. This leads out E&C and here comes Taker to a huge pop. I like the way they are presenting Angle against Taker here as he doesn’t rea…

To set up this match we get a series of interviews with everyone involved. With HHH and Rikishi both out, the Radicalz did a good job acting as the hired guns for them. Benoit will never been the best promo person in the world, but his promo here did have me thinking that he might actually crack my top 10 on the Observer Year End awards which is a surprise and not something I would have expected. Rock, Billy and Chyna have some basic words and Austin comes to the ring and is pissed at HHH. Billy and Chyna charge the ring and get beat up for their trouble until Austin and Rock enter in. Saturn looks pretty rough here having to have Austin audibly call some spots to get him…

A weird mashup of teams here with some hardcore elements between Test and Blackmon and Kane and Jericho continuing their feud. I am waning on Jericho and Kane and think it does feel like both but especially Jericho have cooled off a good bit from where they were a month before feuding with each other. The hardcore elements in this match emphasize that as they scream more mid card. Test and Kane work pretty well together but Test throws an errant kendo stick shot and hits Kane instead. A lionsault gives Jericho the win and Kane chokeslams Test for the mistake he made earlier. Backstage, a big brawl happens between Jericho and Kane and Jericho is sent through the catering a…

A straight plunder brawl and not one of the better versions of Crowbar’s recent matches as it was just set up spot, go through it, rinse and repeat. I also didn’t like the finish at all as babyface Mike Awesome sends Bigelow through a table allowing Crowbar to win. I get that Awesome lost to Bigelow on Monday but I don’t think that justified the lack of sportsmanship here. *1/2

A weird Bagwell promo that I think was supposed to come off as a face promo but he just seems like a whiner asking the bookers for the chances the likes of Sting, Jarrett and Luger received. Luger is also backstage ripping up Goldberg’s book. Match is another Goldberg squash and he looks impressive press slamming Buff seconds into the match. Buff gets a bit of offense but goes down to the Jackhammer relatively quickly. Goldberg does raise Buff’s hand afterwards as a show of respect. *

This really should have been the main event feud in the Fall. Now, Storm has lost some steam and I can’t even keep track of Major Gunns affiliation anymore. Storm gives a good effort here given the opportunity. He keeps peppering in shots to the leg which sets up the Maple Leaf as a false finish. Also, watch the background after the nearfall dropkick with the chair as people start rushing the guardrail as they bite on the finish. That type of genuine emotion is pretty few and far between at this point in WCW. I thought Booker again looked ok to fine here but certainly not “ace” promotion level worthy and he picks up the win with the Bookend. **1/2

A lot of action on the outside with the ladies and The Wall gets them all banned from ringside. Action is too quick and frantic and we get a cute ending with Meng helping Kwee Wee. I liked Tank Abbott with 3 Count but this strange bedfellows pairing didn’t have the initial charm that did. Beyond that, I hate seeing all of this talent get pinned and eliminated in a match like this in sub two minutes. ¾*

Big Poppa Pump lets Sting know he is beating his punk ass. Sting takes the fight right to him and I LOL’d at him saying “Hey Stevie” before he slams Steiner into the announce table. Steiner takes over and looks pretty awesome with his throws and bullying. Steiner is really coming into his own in this character and is exuding more aura at each appearance. Finish was weird and perplexing. I get that Sting is a big deal and the announcers present it as an upset. I also like sometimes the sudden big move that can put out anybody but it felt abrupt. Sting gets the title shot the night after Mayhem now. What if Steiner wins at Mayhem? Madaja lures Sting post match and Steiner a…

Tarzan Boy has promoted himself up to captain of the rudos already. Fast opening and then things settle down. Like most other IWRG matches, this is given a good amount of time in the first fall as though it is a squash for the rudos essentially, it lasts around 4 minutes compared to CMLL when it can be less than a minute. Unless im blanking, I am not very familiar with Gigolo and he was fun here in the second fall going against TB as to who is the sexist of them two. Tecnicos gain this one with some stereo moves against the rudos. So far, not an awful match but nothing too exciting. Third fall helps things a bit between Niebla and TB and Parka’s sweet dive onto TB on the…

Talk about it here.

Vader has run roughshod in NOAH. This was used a vehicle to show him as a threat and the interactions with him vs Takayama which predictably was beefy. Everything else was sort of window dressing. I am again thinking about year end stuff and where someone like Vader should fall because he has that huge gap where he has nothing but he was pretty damn good in Jan/Feb and he looked pretty awesome here. Everyone here looked pretty good including Slinger getting beat down and Scorpio showing some flash. I appreciated when the match breaks down in the waning moments, No Fear teams up in a 3 on 1 attack against Vader to beat him down a bit. Scorpio ends up getting the win with …

A good trial match. Misawa was generous to Rikio without giving away too much. We didn’t get things like a Tiger Driver kick out or even an Emerald Flowsion tease here. On the other hand, Misawa has such great offense and the elbow that even a kickout of one flurry of elbows is a nice coup for Rikio. Rikio looked like he could hang with the big guns and this felt like the most prominent Misawa match with a purpose in NOAH since the 1st night Departure tag. ***1/4 (6.4)

Another good tag match as they seemed to be trying in this show to make sure that Misawa and Taue aren’t forgotten by putting them in better spots. In a lot of ways, this show being in Korakuen is how NJPW structures their Korakuen shows now. Nothing consequential, but some fun stuff. It was nice seeing Kobashi and Taue duke it out here and Kikuchi is always good for taking a beating. Inoue is weak link and really the only NOAH young gun that hasn’t shown much besides getting some opportunities. His selling when they are attacking is subpar and his offense isn’t dynamic either. Kikuchi is able to pick up a win on him which always makes me smile. Just a solid wrestling mat…

Angle gives a pep talk to Kane before the match. We learn this is a no DQ match. Good primer for the two singles matches at Survivor Series and even though I know Survivor Series rep is that it isn’t a good show, I thought as a go home show, this was effective. Jericho and Kane are violent against each other and Angle takes his shots when he is able to. Kane chokeslams Jericho through a table and he bounces off it really violently. Inside, Taker has Angle up for the Last Ride but Kane saves Angle. Taker chokeslams Kane but here is Angle with a chair playing up the no DQ stip. Taker fends him off but the numbers game catches up to him as Kane pops him with a headshot and t…

Radicalz are backstage and Eddie insults the waiter saying he delivered the wrong meat. They call the waiter Stone Cold because he is bald. HHH has a special message for us from the WWF studios. Some good narration from HHH showing he was the catalyst for Austin getting in position to be run over by Rikishi. He calls Rikishi one hell of a driver which again kind of puts Rikishi as being a patsy. We then cut to Backlash with Austin ramming a chairshot against HHH leading to Rock winning the title. Some more good narration of all the stuff that has happened the past few weeks. This is a cerebral promo from HHH but is good as a lead in into SmackDown and the feud that has be…

Rikishi starts out the show with a promo. His anger has now fully transformed to Rock as he is grasping at straws to retain credibility following the reveal of him running over Austin. Rikishi shouts out the Radicalz and they say one down, one to go. Foley rolls out and has some words against Rikishi calling him a gutless coward. Foley says he is leaving the punishment of Rikishi up to Rock. He also states that Rock probably wont be there tonight and if Rock isn’t there tonight, neither is Rikishi. Cops come out and take out Rikishi out of the ring and building. Rock is here but looking rough. We are shown the finish of the Eddie vs Austin match and Eddie stomping backsta…

Pearce is definitely the heel here, as he's really going after the crowd in his entrance. Odd vibe, as the lighting gives everything an orange glow. Punk is in smiling babyface mode, which I don't think would last much longer. Funny bit at the start where the ref finds a series of weapons on Pearce. Punk steals Pearce's shirt and puts it on - they're full in on the gaga. Lot of stalling, but it provides some nice energy when they actually do touch. Unfortunately, the camera work here is pretty bad, and we lose sight of the action with some frequency. They do some simple but effective brawling outside - a Pearce clothesline puts Punk through several rows of chairs. From th…

This match took forever to get going and when it did, it wasn’t very exciting being way too comedy oriented for my liking. I feel like Hero and Pearce can do some comedy stuff at times and it feels natural but this felt really contrived. Pearce overall hasn’t shown much in 2000 that gives me hope for his overall decade output. Referee is in on choking out Kid two minutes into the match and taking pictures with a fan’s camera. Pearce and Hero act like they are going to work together but of course that falls apart. Pearce has one of the most laughably bad spinning heel kicks you will ever see. Kid is able to hit the Slice Bread #2 and pick up the win. Pearce gives the refer…

More proof that the three way was a blemish of just the guys probably being tired from competing earlier in the night. This was a real good match with Hero in particular embracing the heel role and getting a great reaction from the crowd. Prazak and the valet whose name I don’t know worked better here interfering and Hy-Zaya is a good sympathetic babyface hitting his flash spots when needed and selling the varied attack from Hero. The match really felt up in the balance in the waning moments before Hero was able to pick up the victory. I don’t know where Hero will rank compared to all the other indie darlings in the year 2000 but this was a strong performance which was a …

Im still looking for that magical unicorn which is a good Pondo match but this may be as close as I get. A perfectly unoffensive garbage brawl with some intensity mixed in and hard shots passed around. They did a good job using the space of the gym and the brawling felt more natural than usual with Pondo involved. I was surprised to see Page pick up the win. I don’t know who promoted this show but it certainly felt IWA-MS in look and card structure. **1/2

I love how Los Capos look like Henry Fonda's men in Once Upon A Time in the West. Different names, same bullshit from Tarzan Boy. He blew his knee out or faked blowing his knee out which forced Emilio to carry him off. That left Perro at the mercy of the Capos who beat the crap out of him in the first steps toward the Perro vs. Universo apuesta match. And that's it for CMLL in November as far as the TV goes. A weak month for the company.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.