April 2001

All Japan Women's has been up and down in terms of match quality but I thought this was a good bout. It didn't break any new ground in terms of the rivalries. Everybody on Hotta's team still hates everybody on Ito's team and vice versa, but aside from some of the usual Korakuen Hall tropes like crowd brawling this was a solid grudge match.

Slow and methodical, but a decent bout overall. I keep waiting for a superstar performance from Akiyama to justify some of the praise he gets at times. And, honestly speaking, I would have for him to snatch the mantle as the best worker in Japan and run with it because he has youth on his side. But I just don't see it. A guy I used to really love was Masakatsu Funaki. To me, he was poised to take over the mantle as the best shoot style worker in Japan and a major star in the business if he hadn't gotten into MMA, and in my mind, he still was a huge star. He had fire and charisma and the type of edge you need to be a big-time star. When I look at Akiyama, all of that seems…

Vince McMahon is in his dressing room along with Stephanie, Linda and Trish Stratus, Vince wanting to make sure Linda is fully medicated as he doesn’t want her to become over-excited with it being Wrestlemania. He’s interrupted by Michael Cole who is after some thoughts on the “shocking development” of his son Shane buying WCW. McMahon tells him that if he wants shocking, tonight he’ll get it. Even going as far as to guarantee it. We get a recap of the McMahon family troubles; Vince telling Linda that he wants a divorce, him grossly making out with Trish right in front of her, Shane attacking his father before challenging him to a match at Wrestlemania and finally…

Well, here it is. The match that killed my diehard WWF fandom. This match came in my younger years when I had just started getting into matches from the past and wrestling from around the world. I was no longer concerned about things like the Monday Night ratings, or who was better, Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels. With the influx of talent into the WWF, I really thought I could handle all the bullshit so long as they put guys in the position to have great matches on PPV as they'd done with Hart and Michaels. I desperately wanted this to be a great match. It was a match that HAD to be four stars, at a time when matches being four stars was all that mattered to me. And it wasn…

This was a competent squash for Chyna to get her revenge on Ivory and the RTC. Ivory did a good job of looking scared of Chyna, but she never managed to get any offense in. Chyna would have one PPV title defence before leaving the company and never returning. I can't say that I'm a fan of Chyna's work, but it's good to see that she gets one big shining moment before her WWF run wraps up. ★½

Much like the Diesel vs HBK match from Wrestlemania XI, this was a much more talented shorter heel carrying a lesser talented big babyface to good match. Guerrero was brilliant as ever. Test brought some nice power spots to the table, but he could of easily been replaced with any other bigger guy and you wouldn't of noticed. Test looked lost and wasn't able to connect with the crowd. Dean Malenko runs out to the ring dressed like a zany 1950's dad and ends up costing Test his title. Guerrero has had many better matches under his belt, but I can't think of a better Test match than this. ★★★

Was surprised to see that there's no thread for this match. Good lord, what a spectacle. Though this one goes slightly longer, they pace it a lot better because while spots are being set up, things are actually happening so you're not just watching the guys set up the next big bump while everyone else is dead. Then they added in the wrinkle where every team has a helper as opposed to only the Hardyz having a helper with the Dudleyz having Spike and E&C having Rhyno and I like that the helpers factored into the finish with Rhyno pushing the ladder to send Matt/Bubba through four tables and boosting Christian to where he could get the belts. There's a ton of crazy bumps…

‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund and Bobby ‘the Brain’ Heenan make their returns to the WWF as special guest commentators for the Gimmick Battle Royal, Heenan having a blast reeling off a string of one liners at the various participants. As the Iron Sheik slowly makes his way down the lengthy runway: “By the time the Iron Sheik gets in the ring it’ll be Wrestlemania 38” In response to Doink getting a surprisingly loud reaction: (Gene) “You gotta love this guy” “Why?” Harvey Whippleman “He is a fashion plate wouldn’t you say?” (Gene) “Harvey Whippleman is indeed a trend setter when it comes to clothing. I’d like to know who his haberdasher is.” “Kamala” …

You're not going to find a single wrestling hold in this, but I loved this and it's a great example of the WWF Hardcore division done right. They brawl all over the Astrodome, going through walls, doors and even windows. Raven infamously nearly cuts the power to the entire PPV feed during the golf cart chase. They finally end up on the stage, which sees Raven and Show get kicked off the stage in a big spot to wrap this up. Wrestling purists might hate this, but this was a hell of ride. ★★★¼

Probably the only weak match on this legendary card, and it wasn't even awful by any means. Right To Censor had well ran it's course by this point and it makes this feel like a complete afterthought designed to get the APA and RTC on the show. Bradshaw cuts an impassioned promo about Texas history in a backstage skit before this starts and looks fired up during this short six man tag. Everyone else looks like they were just going through motions and Godfather's (sorry, Goodfather) Ho Train looks extra dumb when he's doing it as a heel. ★★

"I need to beat you Rock, I need it more than anything that you could ever imagine" Nothing sums up the story of the match better than this Anyways this is the perfect attitude era style match with excellent storytelling and great heat. Austin's facial expressions and his depiction of how his character degenerated over the course of the match were ridiculously great, without coming off as cartoonish. ****

Easily the best Streak match by this point, as all the other ones have been god-awful at worse and average at best. The referee gets knocked out for ten minutes, so that they can brawl through the crowd and do the big scaffold bump. It's illogical and questionable, but it's the bullshit you need to pad up Bikertaker's matches. Triple H whacking Undertaker on the skull as he attempted a Last Ride was a cool spot that made for a convincing nearfall. This held up much better than I thought it would. ★★★¼

The story going into this is that Regal has hurt Jericho's shoulder. It's a major factor of this match and Jericho's selling of his arm is consistent. Regal is super physical here and brings out the big spots for Wrestlemania, including a nasty release german suplex and a double underhook superplex. Regal tries to cheat by using an exposed turnbuckle to take out Jericho, but it ends up biting Regal on the arse as he ends up going head first into it instead. Regal might not known for having many all-time classics during his WWE tenure, but he would always put in a excellent performance like he did here. ★★★

During the Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley vs Trish Stratus whipping match earlier in the show, Y2J came out to save Trish after William Regal had interfered to help Stephanie. Backstage Steph had some strong words for the Commissioner, how he has to do something about Chris Jericho, and his answer was to put him in this handicap match against himself and Kurt Angle. Regal has already got some welt on his chest. JR says it is from the match at Wrestlemania; it’s either that or he’s been having some fun backstage getting someone to chop him as a warm up. Paul Heyman doesn’t think Jericho can survive here against both of these men. Angle tries to cheap shot Y2J and alth…

Eddy Guerrero is the new European champion after defeating Test Wrestlemania, getting plenty of help from his Radical buddies in the process. This crowd are hot! They were pumped for the opening segment but even Test is getting a rapturous response. JR says that this is a six-man tag match, although he doesn’t know who Test’s partners are. Eddy makes light of Test no longer being the champion and also that he hasn’t got any friends to back him up. Someone spoke to soon, out stride the APA who’ve got his back. Guerrero immediately high tails it out of the ring, leaving Saturn and Malenko to face the brunt of the opening attack. Bradshaw telegraphs the backdrop and g…

Crash has been looking for more competition outside of the Light Heavyweight division so made an open challenge, one that has been accepted by Rhyno. We’re informed that everyone involved in the previous evening’s TLC II match has the night off to recover. Nice headscissors take down by Crash. Rhyno is such a great base for these aerial moves, he showed it in ECW and has done so far in the WWF. He reverses the whip to the corner but Crash avoids his charge as he goes crashing in to the turnbuckles. Missile dropkick off the top. That’s no sold and Rhyno with a gore for the win. As he celebrates, he turns around into a Molly-Go-Round, which is very un-Molly like to d…

This was a rematch for the WWF title. Earlier in the show, Rock had assaulted Vince McMahon and demanded a title shot. Vince relented but on one condition -- he'd get his title shot inside a steel cage. Austin, meanwhile, said he didn't owe the fans an explanation for joining forces with Vince McMahon so his motivation remains unclear. I did like the segment they taped for Smackdown where Austin attacked Jim Ross. That was callous and I actually felt bad for Ross. This was a decent brawl. Austin bled. McMahon got involved again and physically abused the referee Tim White. Then Hunter showed up and the unthinkable happened -- an alliance between Stone Cold Steve Austin and…

This was clipped but there was enough action to warm the cockles of anybody's heart. Fantastic undercard action and a wonderful build-up to the Tiger Blanco vs Lagarde match. Of course, CMLL didn't air that match but the build sure was great. It's easy to overlook a match like this but it really is some of the better wrestling that CMLL produced in April.

A Three Way Dance, however, due to a pre-match coin toss Trent Acid gets a five minute bye and it’ll be Reckless and Berk starting things off. Surely though, in theory at least because it would never happen, that means Trent could lose the match before he’s ever entered it? We start off with some smooth chain wrestling and it’s pretty good to be fair. Reckless applies a combination Cobra clutch/backbreaker (he kneels down and bends Berk over his knee), although they’re too close to the ropes, which Berk grabs. Some fans have taken to calling Berk “Nick Jerk”. He dumps Reckless onto the apron and then drills him with a right hand, Reckless falling to the concrete. A…

I hope this is better than the last time these two met in the Combat Zone. Zandig wants to see some real blood and wonders if the people want to see the most hardcore match in the history of wrestling? That’s some brag John! He says that this isn’t no gimmicked barbed wire like his (Dreamer’s) boy the Sandman used in Atlanta, this is for real, he’s for real and tonight Tommy Dreamer is going to find out how real CZW is! John House hasn’t seen Dreamer anywhere and doubts he’s even here. Of course he is and he’s not waiting for the ring crew to finish wrapping the barbed wire around the ropes. Hangman’s neckbreaker. Zandig gets backdropped over the top rope and over …

We get a recap of Regal & Angle’s previous handicap match against Chris Jericho, where things were going the way they wanted until Chris Benoit decided to involve himself. Tazz repeats how they’re uncertain as to whether he did what he did to help Jericho or whether he just wanted to get his hands on Kurt Angle again. Unlike on Raw, where Regal & Angle would have to tag in and out, tonight they’re in the ring at the same time. ‘The Crippler’ low blows his way out of the German and goes for the crossface on Regal only it’s a bit too early. He lands six straight German suplexes, three for each, alternating between the Regal and Angle. The crowd loved that. …

Y2J is limbering up in the back when he’s approached by Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley who wishes him “good luck” for his upcoming I-C title defense. She says that may surprise him after he interfered and ruined her match with Trish Stratus on Monday, but claims she’s not petty and is going to let her husband deal with him, take the Intercontinental title and beat him within an inch of his life. Jericho warns her that if she even thinks of interfering he’ll make her scream louder than her husband ever has. Stephanie’s sneer is quality. Jericho turns his back on Triple H on the apron as he makes his entrance, ‘the Game’ clubbing him from behind and then launching him a…

It feels so weird to see Big Show actually work dominant. The match was all him throwing Jeff around, he even killed Matt and pushed the ref around which played into the finish where he went for a Diving Legdrop for god knows what reason to set up the finish with the whole Team Xtreme or whatever they were called all hitting their top rope finishers on him and a quick count. Not much to say about Hardy's performance except that I liked his selling. **3/4

This was Universo's first appearance since putting Perro in hospital. There were vignettes with Perro lying in a hospital bed while a doctor showed an x-ray of his spine and CMLL referees using undercard guys to demonstrate the difference between standard moves and Universo's piledriver. The match itself was short. It was worked as a standard lucha fall without any stooging. Silva tried to get revenge for Perro, Atlantis was the glue holding things together, and Porky hurt himself on his apron dive. In the end, the Capos were too strong. There was also a trios tournament on this show but it was a waste of time. The little things it did like fuel the situation between…

As Gillberg makes his way around ringside slapping hands with the fans, Backlund is inside doing his knee walk. Gillberg enters and starts mocking the walking, flapping his arms as if he’s a chicken. Backlund takes exception to that, exiting the ring to go on a walk around the building. After over three minutes of nothing (the bell also having rang before Backlund left!), Gillberg goes out after him and chases him back into the ring. Drop down, hip toss and Backlund rolls under the bottom rope, returning to the outside. He’s holding his back, and boy is he milking this, as Gillberg makes more fun of him. After a bodyslam Backlund is on his knees offering the hand of…