December 2000

This was pretty average. The exchanges between Super Crazy and Tajiri were good but the rest of the match was weak. ECW did such a poor job with its presentation. The commentary is ratshit. I would rather watch a legit indy from 2000 than a wannabe national promotion. At least the indy will have some charm.

Parka vs. Wagner? Didn't see this coming. When they weren't stalling, dancing or playing to the crowd the match was decent. They didn't bother with a classic title match build and cut to the power moves straight away but Wagner did use a lot of castigos in the second fall to try to win the bout and they tried to milk as much drama as they could out of the tercera. It wasn't always smooth as Parka's not the greatest technician in the ring but the focus was interesting. The segunda caida was unusually long as Wagner tried to pile the pressure on Parka. Everything was going along fine -- albeit not great -- when the bullshit kicked in. I don't think I've seen a worse fi…

This was really good. So good that not even Damian's shitty comedy could drag it down. It started off with an excellent exchange between Dandy and Rivera that really surprised me. Dandy has been on an upward swing over the past few months and is back to his world-class best. He's gotten into shape and looks the fittest he's been since I would say 1991. In retrospect, the renaissance he underwent with the Negro Navarro feud in 2001 was no surprise as he was simply outstanding against Rivera. Hot on the heels of Dandy and Rivera came Zumbido and Tarzan Boy. Now, these two blew me away. Who would have thought they'd be so good together? Zumbido has never looked this goo…

Lex Luger has requested some interview time and believes that with Starrcade just 13 days from now, the sands of time on Goldberg’s career are slipping away. He says that Bill is a “great guy” but he wants to talk about the man who played an integral part in making him the superstar that he is today, DeWayne Bruce, affectionately known as ‘Sarge’. ‘Sarge’ is in the front row and Luger gets everyone to give him a round of applause. Lex has got Goldberg’s autobiography with him and reads a few passages from it that put over ‘Sarge’. This is dying on its arse. He then accuses Goldberg of living the high life and ditching ‘Sarge’ who has to work all day in the dingy Powe…

I don’t have high hopes for this. A ladder match has been signed for Starrcade and Shannon informs everyone to tune in and watch them steal the show again. As expected this is all Nash and Page from the onset. Mike Sanders is shown watching on a monitor backstage with Chuck Palumbo and Shawn Stasiak telling them that he’s ready “to set it off”. DDP hits this awesome gut wrench into a spinning over the shoulder backbreaker dropped into a piledriver on Helms. Shannon breaks up the cover with a leg drop off the top to the back of Page’s neck leading to 3 Count getting in a slight bit of offense. That ends when DDP holds onto the Irish whip and drops Shannon with a back…

No reaction at all for Rikishi, whether that’s down to the crowd not caring or simply thinking he’s no threat after how the Rock and Steve Austin have handled him recently I don’t know. I’d be favoring towards the latter though. The two trade blows in the middle of the ring until Taker, for some reason, goes for a headbutt. That one hurts him more than his opponent (they have been playing up the Samoan’s ‘hard head’ a fair bit recently) and Rikishi looks to take advantage. He whips Taker into the turnbuckles with authority but there’s no-one home when he goes to ‘back dat ass’ up. As the ‘American Badass’ calls for the ‘Old School’ rope walk, Kurt Angle runs out and …

This started off well with a solid opening fall that saw Villano IV and Scorpio reprise some of the matwork from their IWRG title matches and Villano III and Panther work another brief but masterful exchange. Fuerza did an amazing sell of a Porky slap that was by far the best thing he's done all year and proceeded to pinball for him in the most entertaining fashion possible. Then the match cut to commercials and when it returned the rudos were in complete control. Without seeing the momentum shift, the bout fizzled badly and stayed that way for the remainder of the bout. BIt of a lame duck considering how good the beginning was.

This was the type of no-frills action we've come to expect from the new All Japan. Kawada and Fuchi spent most of the bout working over Araya with punches and kicks to the face while Tenryu grew increasingly frustrated on the apron. Tenryu had a couple of good flurries and some exciting exchanges with Kawada but he couldn't turn the tide and the All Japan pair continued to pick Araya apart. Even a couple of slaps from Tenryu couldn't give Araya the strength he needed to overcome the orchestrated beatdown. This was a tournament match so it had its limitations but the action was face crushingly solid and I guaran-damn-tee that it was better than any NOAH tag from the year.

WCW did a really good job of ripping off Perfect Strangers for Douglas' music. He runs down Nebraska and says he's going to end Goldberg's new streak. He also talks about General Rection, which makes it really hard to take him seriously. Douglas gets an almost five minute promo, Goldberg gets a three minute entrance, and the match lasts a minute. Shane uses a chain right at the start to get some heat, but Goldberg hits a back suplex. Lex Luger walks out with Goldberg's trainer Sarge in the rack. Momentary distraction before a spear and a jackhammer. Not much to this.

We get an advert for the Triple Threat Ladder match at Starrcade which will determine the number one contender to the Cruiserweight title. How does that even work? It’s not like two men can become the number one contender. I assume it is whomever scores the pin gets the shot, but that is so WCW. The Thrillers jump their opponents and toss them over the ropes to the floor. As they showboat to the hard cam Noble and Karagias are supposed to nail them with springboard dropkicks, but only Jamie manages it, Evan slipping on the top rope! Karagias with a reverse neckbreaker and while he would rather dance, Noble is more interested in wrestling and get his partner to suple…

Chavo earned this title shot after defeating Kwee Wee on Monday night and to keep things all fair and square, CEO Ric Flair has banned the Natural Born Thrillers from ringside. A great European uppercut by Chavo that lifts Sanders up off his feet. Belly to back suplex and Chavo is displaying a much more aggressive attitude here, something that the commentators have picked up on. Sanders keeps hold of the arm and slides through Chavo’s legs before launching him with a big overhead pump handle. Stomps, rake of the eyes, choking Chavo over the ropes, it’s all pretty rudimentary from the champion. Chavo fights his way out of a seated cobra clutch and levels Sanders with …

This was worked at a brisk pace with the tecnicos trying to raise the intensity throughout but it still wasn't that interesting. If you've watched IWRG all year then you'll know that the rudos aren't really up to snuff. Bombero is okay but it's a stretch asking him to be the lead guy. The only real upside to this was that it was short.

Satanico still hates Tarzan Boy. Tarzan Boy still hates Satanico. Santo and Casas hate Tarzan Boy. Tarzan Boy likes Ultimo Guerrero. Ultimo Guerrero likes Tarzan Boy. So does Ray Bucanero. Got all that? This wasn't as good as their previous match but it did have an awesome of visual of Satanico and Tarzan Boy sprawled all over the mat brawling with each other. The Infernales want to be friends with Tarzan Boy but Satanico isn't about to forget the humiliation of losing his hair to TB twice in the same year. The Infernales don't get quite as upset with Satanico as they did in the first match and Santo isn't anywhere near as pissed despite being caught in a Tree of Woe and …

One of the more progressive crowds we’ve seen on the independent scene who seem quite pro the Christopher Street Connection, although I could’ve done without that one chap pulling his shirt up so that Buff E. could lick his nipple. Buff E. thanks all his male fans for coming tonight and then informs the Backseat Boyz that this isn’t J-A-P but Gay-A-P. There’s a terrible looking moment early as the Backseats do a double leapfrog, drop down, dropkick spot, only Buff E. stutters before he jumps over Trent, screwing up Johnny’s timing and the dropkick, which he sells as if his face has been kicked off, misses connecting by a good two feet. The CSC have had enough already, …

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This is the type of match I would usually skip but since it was the final of the Real World Tag League I felt obliged to watch it. And yes, there was an actual final in 2000. Kawada spent a large chunk of the opening 10 minutes working with Dr. Death and Mike Rotunda. He spent such a long time in the ring that when the Americans took over he was worn down from being on offense for so long. I'm not sure what the logic was in not tagging Fuchi. Perhaps he was trying to soften up the big foreign dudes so that Fuchi stood a chance, but you've got to trust your partner. The team had made it this far so I didn't see the point of hiding Fuchi on the apron. In the end, the…

The Backseat Boyz have had different entrance themes depending on what Indy promotion they’ve been in, tonight we get the live version of “I Want It That Way” which I whole heartedly approve of. They have got candy with them to hand out to the kids in attendance, although there is one grown man who is far too eager to get his hands on the sweets. All four men are in each other’s faces, the commentators thinking that they’re trying to psyche each other out, but we actually get some handshakes and embraces from them. A great opening sequence here, ending with stereo exploders from Trent and Johnny who then clothesline Blade and Benz over the top rope to the outside. Tha…

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Awesome rotation on the Schultz powerslams. Combination drop toe hold/legdrop to the back of the next and Smothers ducks out of there to the floor. Rocker is in, but Cade presses him overhead and launches him out at Tracey. A cheap shot by the Rocker stops the rot as they start to take over on the Kliq. Arabian moonsault, erroneously called a senton. Good stuff by Kevin Kelly, giving us Tracey’s T-H-U-G catchphrase from behind the mic. Cade kicks out after the Rocker Swanton, Smothers doing the bulk of the work for his team with Rocker only coming in for the high spots. As it looks like Lance might be getting back into this, more interference from Rocker slows his …

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The new TV champion, Bulldog Raines, is out at the top of the show and he’s a big favourite with the studio fans. He says that this might sound a bit corny, but it’s time to stop the macho stuff, all the attitude and just be Scott Raines for a few minutes. For the past three years he’s been making the long drive from Georgia, he’s had some ups, some downs, but it’s all starting to finally pay off. Six months ago he almost quit wrestling because of an accident in the ring where he hurt Rick Havoc and it made him feel real bad. All the people got behind him though, let him know that accidents happen and it’s okay. Last week he won some gold and has watched how Spellbinder h…

Derrick King is defying doctor’s orders to wrestle, limping to the ring with his leg all taped up, as Dave Brown says how he’s got no business getting in there after what happened earlier, especially as the guys who did that to him are still in the building. Dropdown and a leap frog by King, but on landing he immediately grabs at his hurt leg which Schultz then sweeps out from under him. Shooter with an array of kicks and stomps as he focusses all his attention on that leg. He uses the ropes to his advantage, contorting the leg around them and even shoulder tackles the knee, flipping DK over in the process. Kneebreaker followed by a spinning toe hold. As he goes for it a …

Dave and Corey are rather excited to see what Brandon Baxter’s face looks like after Dr Salmons has finished working on him. The heels make their entrance with Slash hiding Baxter under his jacket, only for there to be no big reveal as he’s wearing a mask. Brandon says that there is no way that this mask is coming off today (angle alert!), he’s going to stand in the corner and the mask is staying where it’s at, on his head! Bill Dundee still throws a mean looking punch. He clotheslines Slash over the top rope to the outside, a hip toss on Bradley and he tags in Victoria which means ‘the Superstar’ must tag out to the Kat. Victoria has got the Chyna footwear on to make her…

NWA Wildside Junior Heavyweight title match, Caprice Coleman having earned himself a shot at the gold due to racking up the wins in recent weeks. Coleman has got one almighty chip on his shoulder, talking about how he was told to stay in the corner, how his time will come, that Cham Pain stole his spotlight, that he was given tag team partners who suck and the one who never they took off him, that he’s never been given a chance and that the crowd has held him down. He doesn’t need them as it is his time to shine. When talking about Lazz he says he’s going to “smear the queer that does the spear”. They do bleep out the word queer, but not a chance that line is being ap…

Essa sticks a back flip off the top and as he lands Eddy immediately dropkicks him in the leg. From here he focuses all his efforts on his opponent’s knee as he looks to neutralize his aerial advantage and keep him grounded. Some nice and effective elbows to the knee in there that I liked. Eddy sits him on the top turnbuckle but Essa grabs hold of the top rope to block the frankensteiner. He then badly botches the leaping rana though as it looks more like Eddy powerbombed him to counter it (which I don’t think he did). In all seriousness, considering he had his leg worked over he shouldn’t have been able to execute the move cleanly, but that’s me thinking deeper than…