March 2001

I miss BattlARTS. The style is such that even two undercard workers can just come out like this and have a very good little match. Some very good shootstyle mat exchanges here. Super Rider is the more complete fighter and dominates early, including catching Junji with a brutal kick during a leglock exchange. Junji would get a lucky armbar but get stretched again soon after. Junji however is able to hang on and beat down Rider with some good looking NWA TV squash offense... nice headbutt to the shoulder, knee drops etc. Really liked Riders subsequent low kicks. Nifty finish.

All right, it's time for the mask vs mask match. Dr. Cerebro is one of my favourite gimmicks in Mexico around this time. Personally, I think it was too soon for him to lose his mask. I suppose if you're going to lose your mask, you might as well lose it to a legend of the business, however I do wonder if it would have been better for him to lose it to someone whom he was in a long, bitter rivalry instead of a star who came in and did a couple of dates. I guess that's all water under the bridge but I can't help but lament the fact that Cerebro lost. The first fall was interesting. Normally, you'd expect Cerebro to attack Santo on his way to the ring and ram his head…

Saturn and Malenko are still doing everything they can to keep the peace in the Radicalz camp, telling Eddy that he needs to talk to Chris Benoit and get back on the same page. Benoit joins them in the dressing room and Eddy isn’t even looking at him when ‘the Crippler’ speaks to him which pisses him off. Despite Eddy’s promises of being there tonight, Benoit lets him know that he doesn’t trust him, warning him to stay out of his business and if he sees him anywhere near the ring in his upcoming match he’ll end him. Match time and Eddy is defying Benoit’s orders, making his way down to ringside after the two wrestlers to sit at the commentary table. JR thinks th…

According to Mr McMahon, William Regal is a very deserving contender to the WWF World title. While JR doesn’t doubt his ability, he thinks this is more a reward for his recent collusion with the McMahon’s on Monday night against Trish Stratus. Considering it was only a week ago we saw Regal lose to Test when challenging for the European title, I think JR is probably correct. Regal addresses the concerns, saying how he earned the title shot through his superior wrestling ability. He knows there isn’t a lot going on in Tucson but tonight the people are going to see their Goodwill Ambassador win the World title and then go on to defend it at Wrestlemania. Ross is smelli…

Talk about it here.

You have to wonder whether the ZERO1 debut was the best debut card of all time. Just loaded with exciting fights. This is a Murakami match with Ohtani stepping up to the challenge, just a hurricane of wild strikes and a feel of danger. Ohtani sweeping and punting a crazy MMA fighter is way cooler than Ohtani working fighting spirit epics. Not much depth, but you know what youre getting.

This was really good. Clearly, it was all hands on deck after the split. That meant reverting Fuchi into a main event player instead of a comedy worker and turning Kea into a Triple Crown challenger. Kea had a few things going for him, namely his athleticism and his striking, and he could also sell. Tenryu put on a master class in terms of taking a mid-level guy and treating him as a credible challenger. Again, this was noticeably stiff which seems to be a trend with post-split All Japan. Some people might argue that Kea should have rocked Tenryu a bit and threatened to almost take the titles, but I don't know if he had really earned that yet. This match was about showing…

This match ruled. Imagine Kawada working a spell in BattlARTS, against a former RINGS underdog in Nagai. No pin attempts, only knockdowns and submissions. And for almost 12:00 minutes, these two beat the shit out of each other. Pesky Nagai gets to kicking early on until Kawada snaps on him with elbows, and they trade blows until Kawada boots him down and spits blood. The stage is set. Nagai's shitty underdog performance is incredible, from his selling and expressions to rubbing wrist tape in Kawada's face and kicking the shit out of his leg. Really good struggle from both during the Stretch Plum attempt. And then it shifts into another gear as they start blasting each oth…

Punk and Cabana against their trainers. The trainees are the babyfaces here and are good at poking fun at the bratty heels. It definitely feels like the students may have already surpassed the teachers (particularly Dominion). The heat segment on Punk is long and pedestrian (although I think Punk is only fine at playing the face in peril).; The finish has a too cute stretch with the managers both using chairs in stereo. Perfectly acceptable wrestling but not strongly recommended.

Well things have gotten serious quickly between these two as last time we saw Whitmer in IWA-MS it was when he had that slow, ground based affair against Ian, here we are tonight and it’s a leather strap match. Turns out that someone has been flyering the cars in the car park for a rival show and Ian has found out about it. He’s not happy and basically questions the entire crowd to see whether anyone has the nerve to own up to it. No-one does and he goes on about this being “his house”, something he pays $2,000 a month to rent etc. The irony behind that being that he’s openly flyered at OVW shows in the past. Rotten tells B.J. that he’s in over his head and he’s in t…

Mean Mitchell has got some female manager/valet with him. Page jumps Spike before the bell and immediately starts pounding away on him. Both men miss charges into the corner, Spike doing himself more damage than Mitch, as he went flying between the turnbuckles into the ring post and then crashed to the concrete. They go at it on the floor, Spike picking up a chair which he cracks over Page’s head. He’s not finished with that chair, climbing to the top rung and jumping off with another shot. One of the two busted Mitch open. After breaking a light tube over his back, he grabs a second, this time though Page gets in beforehand with a shot to the gut. He tells the cr…

Main event time and time for the man who drew the house. Another choice musical cut for 2001, Pondo’s ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ by the Smashing Pumpkins. I get the impression that a certain section of the fans are more interested in seeing the Sandman’s entrance as opposed to seeing him wrestle. You see some of them trail him around the building clearly hoping that he’ll empty a beer down their throat. Pondo breaks a light tube over Sandman’s head while he’ still in the crowd and they’re damn lucky glass didn’t end up in a fan’s eye. Mitch Page is seconding Pondo, Sandman taking a shot at him the first chance he gets. He grabs his Singapore cane, cracking Pondo …

Morton is the first to get some use out of the Lumberjacks, throwing Palmer out to the heel section where they all put the boots in to him. With an abundance of people who can’t throw a punch, it’s cool to see someone like Morton who knows how to. He cuts off the comeback with a poke to the eyes and throws him back out to his guys. Palmer blocks the suplex, countering with one of his own. Morton takes his first trip to the outside, Palmer though making the mistake of tossing him to the heel section where all they do is cushion his fall and help him back in. Not one to make the same mistake twice, next time out it’s out to the face section. Palmer hits a piledriver, …

Haha, these kids who can’t be any more than 12 giving ‘the Rugby Thug’ the middle finger. He says that last week Corporal Robinson made the biggest mistake of his life by sticking his nose in his business. Baker goes on to explain the self-explanatory rules of a ‘Capture the Flag’ match before introducing his partner, a man who hates all the people here as much as he does. Those tough 12 years olds are at it again with Tracey, even dropping a few f-bombs his way. Some attractive women in the House of Hardcore, the camera finding and concentrating on them as they dance to Rollin’s entrance. Pure quality from Tracey on the mic; heeling on Charlestown, IN, insulting some…

The camera angles were in very tight for this one - very different perspective than the normal WWF shoot. They brawl by the announcers' table, and one gets off a great line: "I'm glad I'm not Spanish." This is very house show punch-and-kick. Finish ramps up nicely, into a ref bump, low blow and belt shot. Triple H kicks out and is about to hit the Pedigree when Spanky leads a bunch of the young guys in to take out Triple H. Watchable and interesting, but not required viewing.

Today’s show contains matches that were recorded at the recent ‘Showdown at the Nuthouse’ event. Dundee and Eaton have been feuding with each other over in Power Pro Wrestling, that feud has made it’s way over to MCW, and the Commissioner flexed his muscles and inserted himself here into what was originally a handicap match. With Dundee trapped in a front chancery, the Kat is in, on her partner’s back and slapping ‘Beautiful’ Bobby across the face. The very next spot sees the heels try the very same thing, only ‘the Superstar’ sees it coming a mile away when Victoria swings at him, Eaton and her crumpling to the mat. Victoria is livid and wants the Kat. Surprisingly …

Rob Harlem heads to ringside after the wrestlers with a note pad. Dave Brown wonders if he’s doing some scouting but doesn’t speak to them, just takes a seat. At least he won’t be distracting from the matches for a change. Dragon and Steel open with a bit of chain wrestling, the heel Dragon going to ‘All That’s’ eyes. Steel snatches the arm and pancakes him to the mat. Hammerlock, Dragon firing off an elbow to the jaw to escape. Shooter’s caught by a flying clothesline and then taken down with an armdrag. Tag to the power man of the four. The big Bulldog misses the blind tag and a nice backbreaker/low dropkick double team. Dragon’s knife edge chops haven’t gone u…

A strange pairing given the history between Spanky and King, one that we later find was put together by Commissioner Bill Dundee. Jason Sensation has been working on a Corey Maclin impression although this isn’t one of his better ones. The Haas’ with a double team slingshot shoulderblock. Double dropkick and Spanky is in to save his partner. Nice gut wrench by Charlie however he’s then nailed by a Spanky missile dropkick. The ref was talking to Russ so he didn’t realise that there was no tag made and that Spanky came in of his own accord. It looks like DK is trying to recover on the apron but Spanky tags him back in when he’s not really looking for it. High crossbo…

Joey Abs is out to speak with Dave Brown, believing that it should be him in the upcoming title match, thinking that he was robbed in last week’s three way which determined today’s challenger. Dave sees it differently, saying how it looked to him like Abs was celebrating a bit too early and Pete Gas took advantage to get the pin. They’re joined by Gas who accuses of Abs of making up excuses. He says how before the match they’d agreed whatever happened in it they would still be friends after. If he (Abs) had this title opportunity he (Gas) would be upset, but he’d be happy for him. Joey concedes that maybe he’s right and wishes him luck, deciding to stick around to wa…

The commentators, one of whom is named Tom Foolery, call these two of the “hottest stars” today and say how both are rumoured to be signing soon with the WWF. The action here is joined in progress. Dinsmore with a reverse crossbody for a two count. Flash low blows his way out of the sleeper as he then looks to take advantage. A nice neckbreaker, although he wastes time making the cover, spending a few seconds arguing with the fans first. Springboard corkscrew legdrop. It’s mentioned on comms that these two are meeting again tonight live at the Fairgrounds, so we’re probably not getting a decisive finish here. Just as Dinsmore escapes the chinlock we cut away from t…

I don’t think Dynamite it the tallest guy as it is, but Orton looks like a giant next to him, something that I haven’t really noticed in the OVW footage we’ve seen so far. The commentators claim he’s 6’7” although that’s an exaggeration. Huge press slam. Dynamite tries to fire back, Orton though just absorbs his blows before reversing the whip to the corner. He runs into a back elbow, however Dynamite takes too long as he climbs the turnbuckles, Randy swiping his legs out from under him. A superplex, just like his dad, and this is over already. I initially thought this TV was dated 3/17 based purely on an advertisement for a Tuesday 3/20 house show, however afte…

For the Disciplinarian, who is from the Board of Education, think a female Dean Douglas. There’s the usual WOW vignette where she is shown tormenting some young school kid. She can’t believe Beckie’s challenged her to a match and makes jibes about Beckie’s pet pig being smarter than she is and her family being inbred. Beckie sprints down to the ring and nails the Disciplinarian in the back with a dropkick, the Disciplinarian falling through the ropes to the floor where she takes out her hair pin and removes her jacket. She slingshots her back into the ring and transitions from a full nelson bomb into the Farmer’s roll. There is good athleticism on show here, although…

Our first look at Joe outside of UPW. He shows immediate agility, belying his physique, with a leap frog but gets caught with a deep powerslam. Rios goes to town on him in the corner, only for Joe to grab his tights and pull him into the turnbuckles. Quality rapid fire release belly to belly followed by a snap suplex. Essa reverses the Irish whip and lands a headscissors. A dropkick sends Joe retreating to the floor and Rios with an awesome somersault dive over the ring post out onto him. Back inside he drops a leg across him for a two. He counters Joe’s attempted powerbomb with a DDT and one gorgeous moonsault later is enough to put Joe away for the three. Al…

DRAKE MF MORIMATSU!!! I'm starting to think JD is indeed the next lost great joshi fed. This was a super fun title match between two workers with great movesets, who mesh really well. Morimatsu is this butch powerhouse who is not afraid to have a go at Yabushita on the mat. The powerhouse vs. grappler style contrast worked really well. Great opening exchange in this match, and they fought like mad on the mat, stubbornly going for arm attacks. Keep in mind I didn't say the submission work here was pretty. I really liked how Morimatsu, when she couldn't get the advantage, resorted to punching Yabushita in the face and then roughing her up good by again attacking her face an…

Mid-American Heavyweight title match, the Triangle of Pain stipulations meaning that there’s a Bed of Nails in one corner, a barbed wire baseball bat in another and a bucket of broken glass in the third. Ian’s forehead is all taped up after last night’s strap match in IWA-MS. He’s pretty funny at handling all the hecklers in the crowd, putting them down, but after ten minutes of that I’m just wanting them to quit it and let him finish his promo. The action starts on the floor and Ian goes straight for the barbed wire baseball bat which he uses against both. Corp pulls something out of his pocket, looking to re-open that cut. You have to wonder why Ian even bothered p…