November 2000

We cut right to the action and Sasaki is getting worked over. The tag is made to Nishimura and the fight is on. This is structured like a combo between Jumbo vs Misawa 6 mans and the sprinty, more hate filled multi man matches of NJPW of yore. The match doesn’t reach the peaks of either of those templates but was pretty fun with T 2000 doing everything to gain the advantage and working well as a cohesive unit. Hot tag is made to Nakanishi and he predictably gets the sub on Saito with his torture rack into a variation. Fun match. *** (6.1)

Norton has slimmed down from his peak mid 90’s WCW build. The work on Chono was really boring with leg locks that didn’t lead to anywhere. Chono is never my favorite but he should be almost strictly a manager and mouth piece by now. Norton shows more energy and him vs Nagata is the most heated pairing. Both Nagata and Ilzuka put their submissions on Norton and tease a submission with them. Norton is busted open on his forehead. Norton is able to battle back and destroys Ilzuka with a nasty powerbomb for the win. I have a feeling this team got way too many points in the league without looking at the results. This was decent but the T 2000 side didn’t bring a whole lot to t…

There were a lot of things I liked about this. Mostly the extremely indy touches: Guys who don't own any actual ring gear, the one heel who actually showed some fire on the stick, goofy announcers tripping over their own tongues, only having three guys per side in a War Games match... I'm not trying to be funny. I like that stuff. I really liked that they threw each other into the cage and got busted open, and booked it so that the good guys were at a a constant disadvantage. What put me off, though, was the "Money Mark who is also a Huge Mark For Himself" booking: Quackenbush faces down impossible odds alone against the heels inside the cage, hits the huge high …

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Billy Reil is out and due to an injury announces that he’s vacating the JAPW Light Heavyweight title. He doesn’t think it would be right to continue to hold the belt when he can’t wrestle, especially as here are three guys in the back who have busted their asses on the Independents for the last five years and more than deserve to be champion. Nick Berk has got himself some generic female called Poison, I’m guessing to counteract Shorty. This maybe a ladder match but I’ve a hunch it’s going to be TLC as Berk carries a chair out with him, Blade and Shorty a table and Trent a monster ladder. It’s not a traditional three-way though, Berk returning to the locker room …

Of any team in 2000 that I didn’t have a formulated opinion on going into the year, York & Matthews have fallen the most. I had sort of assumed they were a Hardy level tag team at this point that just didn’t have as many opportunities and was in ECW purgatory. Instead, they are just pretty sloppy together and don’t have chemistry with each other or a connection overall with the crowd. The opponents here don’t help matters as Earl the Pearl can go away as quick as possible but still we have seen a nice chunk of MCW matches now and they never reach Backseat Boys vs Bad Crew levels IMO which is a shock to me. The FIP sequence was decent and the hot tag and double team mo…

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This is presented as Bradley’s return to the area. K-Krush is back for probably his last appearance in Memphis now that he has debuted with WWF proper. Bradley really dominates the match and we get some good input from Kevin Kelly about how working in Puerto Rico really toughens you up. Of course we follow that up hearing K-Krush may be off his game from late night recording with Road Dogg. Bradley misses a moonsault and now Krush can mount some offense. Finish sees Bradley using a trash can lid to smash a diving K-Krush and then he gets the pin becoming the new champion. Ok match. *1/2

As Jerry Lawler joins Dave Brown, Dave says how you don’t mess with ‘the King’, Brandon Baxter did last week and he paid for it. Lawler believes that he got what he deserves and then cleverly segues plugging Jim Carey’s new movie ‘The Grinch’ into replaying the footage of him throwing the fire. He hoped that would settle everything, but then Baxter started complaining that he’s disfigured and badly burned. As he was whining and crying so much he offered to pay for his medical bills and it just so happens they took some cameras along when Baxter paid a visit to see his own doctor, Dr Salmons. Brandon’s face is covered by bandages and the doc suggests that they could gi…

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Another heated chapter in this feud. The Tanaka/Kanemoto duo in particular beat the shit out of Romeo until he could tag out and bring in grumpy Liger to give them a taste of their own medicine. Romeo looked good here and hit some nice flourishing high spots in the waning moments of the match. The NJPW juniors of 2000 haven’t always reached the high points of previous years and had some weird booking, but the Liger vs Kanemoto/Otani matches have been consistently very good and this was no exceptions. ***3/4 (7.3)

I made the executive decision two minutes in to just turn this on mute and listen to a podcast instead as the work here looked good and easily the best Dinsmore has looked this good and at 10:00 PM, the last thing I need is Cornette yelling at me for 15 minutes. Damaja hits a good top rope clothesline and gets the pin but Dinsmore is able to get his foot on the rope. Both guys are out and selling the damage and we are one clean finish away from having a very good match on our hands. Right as I type that, McCollugh comes out and powerbombs both men. You can’t have nice things being an OVW fan in 2000. We get some clips from the week before of McCollough facing fresh as a d…

I had to a double take as I thought Jade might be a very young Gail Kim, however Wikipedia confirmed that her real name is in fact Jennifer Lee Chan, so not Gail Kim at all. Part of the fun of seeing anyone new on WOW is what their vignettes look like and in theirs Jade and Lotus are shown practising their martial arts, although Jade looks far more proficient than the ‘Exotic Flower’. According to Lee Marshall it is very easy to be captivated by their beauty and swayed by their charms, but these are two competent world class athletes who are competing here in the most prestigious tag team tournament in the history of Women’s wrestling. He said all of that with a straig…

This was a real Monkey-Paw issue right here. We get Barry Windham back in AJPW, fantastic, but he's tagging with his brother who barely had any decent matches, let alone good ones. Thankfully Tenryu and Araya as Team WAR are here to make this at LEAST somewhat worth watching. Tenryu and Kendall get some good action out of a chop exchange as Tenryu can't match the guy in terms of hard-hitting shots, so has to cheat with punches and a stiff lariat, usual business out of him. If you like a slower 80's style match then this is probably more up your alley as a lot of this was just real protracted holds, basic slams and strikes. Nothing really that interesting and there's a cou…

Only six minutes here but a greatest hits of what they can do. The way Tajiri was booked in the later half of 2000 was really unfortunate as the crowd was ready for a more prominent main event run and it just didn’t happen. He shows the intensity here by double stomping Crazy through a table on the outside and delivering his trademark stiff strikes. Crazy comes back as they brawl around ringside. Crazy uses some drinks from the fans and then puts Tajiri through a table off of a moonsault. Tajiri mists the ref and Mikey makes his choice by helping Tajiri in giving Crazy the whippersnapper that leads right into the buzzsaw for the pin. **1/2

This was more like it. I can see someone like OJ not being too into this because it does meander and when you are talking about 8 guys that could honestly be argued as top 100 workers of all time easily, it may be slightly disappointing in that it isn’t a MOTYC. Still, we get some pretty awesome comedy by Parka and Porky teaming up. Villano and Blue Panther have a wonderful sequence and Santo highlights some of the feuds over the years with Dandy, Wagner and Panther. The third fall ups the violence more with Wagner and Parka brawling throughout the arena and they were the focal point of the match overall. Very enjoyable match with 8 legends. ***1/2 (7.1)

The rudo side has been beefed up from the week before. First fall is ok but the highlight is Pimpinela and Silver King bickering with each other and squaring off on the floor until the tecnico side takes This may have been slightly better than the week before but not by much and overall it felt pretty basic and maligned besides the Pimpinela and Silver King flare ups. **1/2

I’m done with RTC. Their work isn’t good and their heat seems to be dropping rapidly once the annoying theme music ends. Jeff Hardy in particular seemed to be on autopilot here until he took off his long sleeve shirt and did some double team moves with Matt. As a result, this was a really pedestrian Survivor Series style match with the ending being a feel good moment for the faces with Jeff lucking into a win and then a post match involving RTC members going through a table. **1/2

Aggressive start which plays into the feud so far. Kane starts off wonky tonight but Jericho is acting aggressive and keeping things moving along. Dropkick to the steps on the outside looked weak. Kane catches Jericho coming off the top rope and takes over. Kane utilizes a hanging neck breaker which is unique and looks nasty. Kane shows some good strength sending Jericho out of the ring and then powerslamming him back in. Jericho makes his comeback off of a dropkick to block a Kane aerial attack. Jericho gets a missile dropkick for a nearfall. Kane gets sent into the exposed turnbuckle and then hooks on the Walls. Kane breaks that and then we get a rough sequence with Jer…

Most people surmise that the Fully Loaded match between is the most egregious example of 2000 of Taker burying Angle but I think it is very close. As I have talked about before, Angle was a blue chipper but they eased him into long/high end main event matches. It was a progression that culminated with the title win at No Mercy. Now, he is the champion and as a result, deserves more credibility than needing Edge & Christian to help bail him out from tapping out to a heel hook. When Angle goes on offense for this match, it is impressive and his leg work is well done and targeted. Unfortunately, Taker has no time to sell much of any of that when he makes his comeback and…

I can't remember if I watched this pay-per-view or not. My relationship with the WWF was strained at the time and the shit with Austin and Rikishi made things worse. Triple H being the accomplice was about as satisfying as Vince being the Higher Power and led to a rehash of a feud that nobody wanted to see. Truthfully speaking, the match wasn't that bad. It was a generic WWF main event brawl but Triple H and Austin were solid main event brawlers and went through the motions pretty well. It was the least interesting match from Triple H's 2000 run but it wasn't due to a lack of effort. Hunter took some big bumps, sold his ass off and gigged his forehead. Austin had promised…

Rock rushes down the ramp and the fight is on. He takes the fight to Rikishi but the referee interferes catching a chair that he is trying to throw Rikishi’s way and that allows Rikishi to take over on offense. Action spills to the outside and Tim White gets bumped allowing Rikishi to retrieve the sledgehammer. Rock blocks this and hits a Rock Bottom to a nuclear pop. Long pin and a dramatic nearfall. Rikishi is looking really imposing and the strongest as a heel here. Rikishi comes back and even gets heel heat going for the stinkface which is impressive. Rockss midsection is suffereing but he is able to muscle up a spinebuster and then the People’s Elbow with Rikishi doi…

There’s a great backdrop for this, the ring having been set up in a car park with trees and a forest in the background. A whole bunch of barrels are around each side of the ring with their wooden contents set alight. I reckon it’s going to be more a visual thing where they will tease someone being thrown into the bins but nothing will actually happen. The teams pair off, Pogo with Nakamaki and there is an early tease of Nakamaki getting his head put into the flames. They bash either a metal drain or an exhaust over each other. Pogo gets his head run into a car window. There is only one handheld filming this by the way and they’re following these two as opposed to Sh…

Roll up all of your AAA bullshit into one match and you have this. Tirantes, Electroshock and other seconds get involved heavily and the action is lost in translation on me as we get another “crazy” angle without me realizing why everyone is all pissed off and what the end goal is. Mascara Sagrada is also involved as the referee is counting on the outside with both competitors down. Headhunters come out next as well as Perro Agauyo. Pena is interviewed in the middle of the match. Both competitors have been done for minutes and are knocked out and it looks like the match is called off. Headhunters get into the cage and provide a beatdown on Abismo. Abismo is interviewed an…