March 2001

We get recaps from throughout the show, Benoit taking out both Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko at different intervals so he will get Eddy one on one with no chance of any outside interference. JR confirms that ‘the Crippler’ is officially no longer part of the Radicalz. The two square up to one another and as Eddy tries to cheap shot him, Benoit grabs the leg on his kick and rips the knee with a Dragon screw. First move of the match a Dragon screw! Lovely stuff. Great tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. ‘The Crippler’ runs into a back elbow, however as Eddy looks for a tornado DDT he just shoots him off. High German suplex. Benoit holds on looking to repeat but Eddy grabs…

Over/Under odds on Paul Heyman mentioning ECW? Surely it’s a given with Justin Credible wrestling. He notes that he’s a big fan of Matt &Jeff’s “extreme” attitude. C’mon Paul you can do better than that? Jim Ross seems to be favouring the challengers for this. There we go, Heyman says that he probably knows Justin Credible, a former ECW champion and a multi-time ECW tag team champion, better than anyone else here. I won’t be watching everything on Raw but I wonder how long he can keep this up for? That’s three matches on the bounce for me already that he’s reference his old company. Matt with a gut wrench suplex on Credible for an early near fall. Pac kicks M…

Bit of a random tecnico lineup here, and not much of a match. Universo's ribs were heavily taped but he guided his team to victory in straight falls.

This is another tremendous Atlantis vs. Wagner match. Now, I'm not going to say that these Atlantis/Wagner matches are Lucha Libre classics but I will say this -- they're extremely satisfying Wagner vs. Atlantis matches, they're brilliant mano a mano matches, and they're forgotten Atlantis singles matches. When people try to dissect Atlantis' career and start asking questions like "well, what has he really done?" to me these matches are better than a lot of his other singles matches. They're much better than the Mano Negra feud, for example, and Mano Negra is a guy who I love and whose post unmaking work I thought was a blast. Atlantis and Wagner simply had this chemistry…

I didn't really care one way or the other about Hijikata and his fighting spirit business, but Ono was outstanding again. He looks like one of the best wrestlers in the world in 2000/20001 and yet he mostly seems to be dicking around in barely-spotlighted undercard fights. Surely the one major blemish on Yuki Ishikawa as a booker/human being. Hijikata jumped Ono before the bell here, running him into the barricade before throwing him into the first row, and as Ono made his way into the ring for the first time he had this "okay so we're doing that, are we?" look on his face and you get a little giddy at what you fully expect him to do. Naturally he went and kicked the shit…

Hardkore Kidd I believe is Aaron Aguilera who would go on to have a cup of coffee in the WWE as Jesus. Both teams have managers in this UPW tag team title tournament semi-final match-up, Hardcore Inc. managed by El Jefe, Evolution by Looney Lane. Things quickly heat up, Kaz ducking a Kidd clothesline and connecting on a springboard back elbow. Double hiptoss followed by a pair of springboards, Kaz with the legdrop and Nova the somersault senton. Pearce rushes into the ring, double Mexican arm drag for him, Evolution holding on and transitioning to a double Russian legsweep. Kidd nails Nova from behind but he can’t really follow up, Nova sliding between his legs and n…

The Time is Now! Cena was around a year in and working a mechanic vs Anderson should give us a cool look at where he is at development wise. Commentating for UPW is an interesting mix of good tidbits and an offbeat delivery. It feels indie in a way but isn’t awful. Anderson hones in on the shoulder and arm of Prototype and that is the focal point of the match using armbars, punches to the arm and driving the shoulder into a chair in the corner. At least the commentators are wondering why the referee is just blatantly letting a chair hang out in the ring. Cena is able to give CW an atomic drop to the chair. Side slam with Cena flexing in the middle of it is an impressive s…

Sadly we only get a couple of minutes of clipped highlights, which is even more disappointing seeing as other ‘lesser’ matches from the same show are out there in full (i.e. Roadkill vs Keiji Sakoda!). Daniels thinks he has the match won after hearing the three count following the Angel’s Wings, only it wasn’t the official who counted, it was Mikey Henderson. The ref had got bumped moments earlier and was still out at this point, Henderson sneaking out and duping ‘the Fallen Angel’. With Daniels celebrating, when the official comes around he tries to explain that it wasn’t him who counted the fall. As he does so Joe nails Daniels with a step up enzuigiri. Island Driv…

Another name change for the former E.Z. Money who we last saw in the Cruiserweight tag team tournament wrestling as Jason B (his shoot surname is Broyles). The Boogie Knights are no more and Alex Wright is looking to branch out into the singles ranks. This match is apparently “impromptu” having been requested by him, although not sure why he would be requesting a match against someone who has only had one previous appearance in the company and who’s existence he likely knows nothing of. Tony Schiavone talks about the word “Skyfire” written on the back of Jett’s trunks, claiming that it’s because he likes to fly. Well, I suppose he can’t really say that he used to wres…

Slight change of plan for this episode of Thunder. The torrent I was using to download Thunder has a real bad tracking issue and constant flickering throughout on this show so rather than everything I’ll just be watching the stuff that is easily available on YouTube, sadly that means I miss Shawn Stasiak as well as the Hugh Morrus & Konnan tag team in action. Every cloud and that. The second semi-final match up, the winners going onto face Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo at Greed to crown the first WCW Cruiserweight tag team champions in four days. Shannon starting out strong against Kidman. Mike Tenay talks about how the remaining members of 3 Count don’t want …

DDP has recovered from Monday night and has the World champion, ‘Big Poppa Pump’, in his sites. Steiner hops out to the floor to try and slow the initial Page onslaught but is caught by a pescado. Senior Official Nick Patrick getting a special shout out, making his in ring return here after working behind the scenes for a bit. Page off the top with a flying clothesline. Rhodes drops a fist to the face of Jarrett which he follows with the Flip, Flop and Fly. Another top rope clothesline by Page. Steiner clubs him in the back as he hits the ropes, that has minimal effect but is enough of a distraction to allow ‘Double J’ to get the upper hand on him. There are lots o…

So let’s see if Dalip Singh/Great Khali has managed to develop at all since I watched him last year. He’s in there with one of the better, if drabbest, APW workers at least. The opening moments sees Singh pretty much no-sell whatever Morgan tries. The Giant does like to show off his physique that’s for sure. Huge, and I mean huge, press slam. Singh drops the leg but Morgan manages to kick out of the cover. Morgan escapes the chokeslam by stomping on his foot, the clotheslines having no effect before a running bodypress takes him off his feet for the first time. As well as showing off his muscles, Singh also like to “raise the roof”, either that or he’s signalling f…

This was for some trophy called "XIX High Power." Not a bad match but there no amazing sequences and the quality varied depending on who was in the ring. All of the best workers were on the same side which didn't help.

This was better minis action than your standard IWRG fare. They brought in two tecnicos that could go so there was a lot more action. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cicloncito Ramirez as a worker. To me, he has the same effect on a match as Atlantis. When Atlantis was in his prime, you knew if there were three good rudos, you could partner Atlantis with just about anybody and he would shore up the tecnico side and make sure there were enough exciting sequences to make the trios match worthwhile. In this case, Ramirez had some nice partners but his presence was still the difference maker into terms of making this worthwhile, especially since El Torito and Sombri…

It's time to see how well Cerebro can adjust to life as a tecnico and whether he can make an impact on IWRG from the other side of the locker room. This wasn't his debut as a tecnico. That was the week before in a match that seems better on paper -- Cerebro, Santo and Felino vs. Cirujano, Silver King and Fuerza Guerrera. This had some weak links in Kato Kung Lee and Kraken, but honestly speaking, it was a weak tecnico performance from Cerebro. I'm so used to seeing Cerebro dominate these types of matches with his presence that it was weird to see him shy away from the spotlight. At first, it seemed like he was still self-conscious about losing the mask, which is understan…

I never tire of watching the Backseat Boyz entrance. ‘Big 80s’ Donnie B managing them here, and looking so much like his brother Nova. We’re informed that both of these teams are top contenders to the PWF tag team titles currently held by The Damned. A fair bit of playing to the crowd before we get underway, Kashmere even getting referee Mike Kehner to climb the turnbuckles so the fans can cheer for him. A miscue on the first spot of the match doesn’t bode well. I don’t think we’re even two minutes in and they’re giving us the Guerrero/Malenko stuff. Jeez, Trent overshoots a plancha to the outside and it looks like he hits his head on the wooden floor. Johnny pret…

Kevin Kelly has been called to the Commissioner’s office as he has a message that he would like him to relay. While he appreciates that Chris Jericho wants to be out there performing for the fans, he’s going about it in the wrong way, as interfering in other people’s matches is just not sportsmanlike. Therefore could he inform Y2J that he has a tag team tables match against the Dudleys later in the show. When Kelly questions as to who Jericho’s partner will be, Regal replies “no-one.” Tazz doesn’t think that the Dudleys really want to be doing this but they’re just following orders (from the Commissioner). D-Von starts for the Dudleys, who must tag in and out, so…

Test defending the European title against Eddy Guerrero in a match made by new Commissioner William Regal earlier in the day. Eddy had gone to see him wanting a rematch against Chris Benoit, the Commissioner, still holding a grudge over losing the belt to Test, had other ideas. He tells him to let bygones be bygones and that in his eyes he’s a champion. A champion deserves a championship match, so he gives him one against Test, a man who, Regal states, has been besmirching both himself and the European title! Perry Saturn and Terri are both seconding Guerrero for this match. Eddy jumps Test from behind, the elbow only stunning him so he dropkicks him in the legs to t…

CMLL is WAR! It's been a while since we've seen one of these WWF style main events in CMLL. The Guapos did a great job of stooging for the old guys. Bestia was superb at putting over Perro as an ass kicker. It was the best Perro had looked in ages. He injured Bestia's ribs on a foot stomp from the top rope and threatened to do it again before they coaxed him down. The Dinamitas hit the ring but even they couldn't stop Stone Cold Perro Aguayo, who ripped off Univero's wrestling singlet and attacked his injured ribs with another foot stop. I can't remember when Universo picked up the injury but Perro showed no mercy whatsoever. Perro kicked some ass in this. Bring on the pa…

Not as heated or as violent as you'd expect. At least not until after the bell where Satanico & Co. kicked the shit out of the Infernales. But it featured some decent stuff. Black Warrior got stuck into Ultimo Guerrero, Shocker mugged for the audience as much as he possibly could, and there was a bizarre cameo by Cien Caras, who ended up turning on his partners. There was one part where Caras had Satanico in the ropes and he was questioning to the audience whether he should hit Satanico or not, and I swear you forget how big Caras was compared to a guy like Satanico. It looked like a giant choking a midget. His hands were huge. I keep waiting for Satanico to erupt but…

I believe this is the first time we’ll have seen one of the Briscoe brothers in singles action in the project. Eric Gargiulo says that Jay isn’t in attendance tonight so a big test for Mark here. Berk starts out fast, wanting revenge for what happened in Smyrna. He holds onto the ropes and as Mark charges, backdrops him over the top rope out onto the Dew. Running flip dive off a chair onto both. Jay is here! He was hid under the ring and pulls a switcheroo with his brother. Despite the overwhelming and blatant evidence that that just happened, John House saw nothing and doesn’t know what his broadcast partner is talking about. Berk lands on his feet from the monke…

Ruckus is nailed from behind by a chair swinging Mark Briscoe as he makes his entrance. That appears to have been a plan orchestrated by The Dew so that Blade will be all alone against the future H8 Club. I don’t think he bargained on someone coming to Ruckus’ aid, we get literally a fleeting shot as action is going on in the ring at the same time, but I’m pretty sure it was Nick Berk who does so. Blade takes out Hatred with a spin kick and another for Gage, those missing by a country mile. As they regroup on the floor, a recovered Ruckus hits an Orihara moonsault onto them. If you’ve never seen him, Ruckus is a short, chubby little guy who can do some amazing acroba…

Fuck, Ric Blade is catching, Mondo hitting his head on the corner of the ring steps on the top rope quebrada to the floor. It’s all action from the onset as you’ve got Justice and Mondo brawling around the building while Trent and Reckless wrestle in the ring, the camera flitting back and forth and not able to keep up with everything that’s going on. Justice drags Mondo back to the ring as this settles into a more traditional looking tag team affair. Reckless lands a middle rope legdrop, however misses the blind tag and is nailed by a missile dropkick. Springboard corkscrew legdrop by Mondo. Reckless blocks the superplex, front suplexing Mondo to the mat, but can’t t…

A good test of Dragon’s ability to see what he can get out of Rodrageous in comparison to what Spanky did on Power Pro last week. Rodney takes a kick at Jason Sensation, who’s at ringside, allowing Dragon to get the jump on him. Whip to the turnbuckles is reversed and Rodney with a high hip toss out of there. Nice arm drag followed by a high inverted atomic drop. Release snap suplex and Dragon takes to the floor, letting everyone know that he’s had enough and they’re out of here. They don’t get very far mind, Rodney hot on their tails. He whips Dragon into the ring post but is slow getting back into the ring himself, Dragon using that to seize the initiative. Some …

Just like last week’s match between these two on Power Pro, Bo Dupp jumps Lance Cade from behind on his entrance, unlike last week though the bout doesn’t end a matter of seconds later via a belly to belly! Bo clips out the knee and throws Lance inside for his partner where the two of them double team him, attacking that leg. The referee eventually throws Bo out of there, although only after the damage had been done. Single leg crab by Jack. Figure Four leglock. Despite his recent run of quick victories David Jett is writing off Cade’s chances tonight. Lance gets to the ropes to break the hold and picks up a near fall by cradling Jack as he looks for a spinning toe …