May 2001

This was a decent match. I forgot how busy Toryumon can be, but at least this felt fresh and sometime new not like the rest of the decaying men's promotions.

Saito starts off hot with a nice dive and follows up. Sumo turns it around using his power. I have never liked the liberal interference of TARU in early CMAX. I guess it got them over as something difference. I wish Saito would fight back a little more, just get a few shots in and get cut off instead of taking it over and over. Brutal looking apron nodowa by Fuji. Korakuen seems to want to like Saito (the underdog), but he's just not doing enough to grab them. His two comebacks both seem kind of tepid. Upset win for Saito as he gets a special move rollup thingy, pretty sudden but I guess most roll-ups are. Crowd dug the finish. Underdogs going over in Korakuen i…

It’s all a bit easy for the ‘Lethal Weapon’ so he demonstrates a few one arm push ups after a flying shoulderblock. He runs through Nana with a double chop and now onto some clap push up. Nana gets his feet up on the Vader bomb and then floors Blackman with a clothesline. I don’t know if there has been any sweetening of the audio but the Prince is garnering a fair bit of heat. He tries some one handed press ups of his own, only to collapse to the mat! Blackman throws him over the top rope to the outside before dragging him up onto the apron and driving him into the ring steps. Back in the ring and Nana is backing off. A big kick is the set up for the Dragon sleeper…

Look at that rudo lineup. They started this match off with a technical fall and the first pairing was Casas vs. Dandy. When you think about it, 2001 isn't that far removed from their classic matches together. Still, there was a great nostalgic feel to their work, for me anyway. We also got a bit of straight Parka vs. Panther grappling, and Satanico stretching Antifaz for a bit, which was cool. For some reason they kept the first fall rolling forever and it unraveled into some lazy rudo work. You could tell by the running time that this was match was going to be too long. If they'd trimmed the fat, it could have been one of the best matches of the year. Instead, it was jus…

Tazz is confident that these two will tear it up here and put on a wrestling clinic. We get the WWF version of a ‘stand off’, and although you see a couple of fans get to their feet to give them a round of applause most are just blasé about it. Malenko rolls through on the Lynn sunset flip out of the corner, but as he tries for the Texas Cloverleaf the champion cradles him up. Deep, deep powerslam by Malenko. Lynn transitions to a sunset flip off the crucifix after first ducking a clothesline, they then run through the fabled Malenko/Guerrero sequence of pinfall attempts and reversals. That does get a slight murmur from the crowd who are still on the whole fairly ind…

The WWF debut of the future Batista (who would also work the following night’s tapings in Louisville, also against Nick Dinsmore). Leviathan grabs Dinsmore around the neck and throws him into the corner where he unloads with shots. A high beel out of there and now Dinsmore is in the opposite one, struggling to get to his feet. He avoids the charge but his shots are having no effect on the ‘Demon of the Deep’. Leviathan easily shakes off an up-kick after telegraphing a backdrop and we get some good facials from Dinsmore, looking out to the fans, his face saying “what do I have to hurt this man?” Press slam into a powerslam. Dinsmore rolls out the way of this horrible …

This is rudos contra rudos, but Apolo Dantes is conflicted about whether they should be attacking Shocker. He agonizes over the decision until he can it no more, and attacks his partners instead. The rudos soap opera continues.

Wagner was a bit of a rock star at this point. He spent so much time working in Japan that he only made limited appearances in Mexico. The fact that we get a Dr. Wagner Jr singles match is a good thing. The fact that it's against Hijo del Lizmark is unfortunate. There's not a lot of good things you can say about Hijo del Lizmark. I guess he had a couple of moves that looked okay, but everything about him, from the way he moved in the ring to his selling and mannerisms, is a turn off. Wagner made a match out of it, and for all Lizmark's shortcomings it was probably more entertaining than the Ultimo Guerrero vs. Satanico match, but it was a truncated 2/3 falls match with a …

To be honest, this was probably the most entertaining match from May. The exchanges were slow and telegraphed, but there was an urgency to the bout and everything flowed well. Matches like these show how valuable Atlantis was as the glue in trios matches. It helped that 75% of his career matches were against these guys (which may, or may not, be an exaggeration), but I found him entertaining in this. Especially for a guy in no-program land. When you don't have a program in CMLL, it's easy to fade into the background. CMLL, at the best of times, is a blur of trios matches. But Atlantis stood out here. If you don't like the Capos, this will be a yawn, but if you like their …

New Japan is something I’ve not watched anything of in the project so far, however with Candido on tour here and part of this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament, I thought it was about time that changed. These two are working a non-stop pace, Candido picking up the first two count of the match with a Northern Lights suplex. Lovely delayed vertical suplex. Candido drops a leg from the middle but King is able to kick out of the cover. He tosses him to the floor and connects on the pescado, King falling backwards into the metal guard rail. Back inside King reverses the Irish whip and a dropkick sends Candido to the outside, King nailing him with one of his trade…

This was a textbook example of Liger giving the rub to a lesser opponent. He made Inoue look like a threat, and made it seem like he belonged in the tournament. With Inoue's black hair and trunks, and exasperated selling style, it was almost like watching Liger take on a young Ohtani.

It was fun watching these guys have the type of match they couldn't really have in Mexico due to the stylistic differences. It's been a while since we've seen Shocker really bust loose as he's mostly been embroiled in his feud with the Guapos. What a talent he was. Probably the biggest discovery I've had revisiting this 2000-01 stuff is how good Shocker was. I usually prefer watching guys in their natural setting, but props to Shocker for being able to adapt to the New Japan juniors scene. Another feather in the cap of one of the new millennium's best wrestlers.

Talk about it here.

A couple of early miscommunications between these two and Naniwa isn’t working as well with King as Chris Candido did. King rips open Naniwa’s mask, perhaps pissed at how things are going. Step up enzuigiri by Naniwa followed by a pretty poor looking tornado DDT. He botches a handstand headscissors with King sat on the turnbuckles and the second attempt isn’t much better. King with an Alleycopter for a near fall. The same finishing sequence as last night, Naniwa, whose mask has completely fallen off by this point, kicking out after a rabbit lariat/spinning powerbomb combination but then going down to the trio of moonsaults. Not good and that is all down to Naniw…

Yay, Osaka Pro! This wasn't the slickest match. In fact, there wasn't a lot that stood out considering how good these guys are. But I was happy to see the Osaka Pro guys back in action. They've been a beacon of light in a pretty dreary Japan scene, and even if they weren't firing on all cylinders it was still better a lot of the other promotions. Hopefully, they can hide their stride again soon.

Is there a better surly old man team than Fujiwara & Fuchi? Probably not and as one might expect, they ruled this match. Unfortunately, it was clipped but you get all the highlights: Nagai and Fujiwara smacking each other silly, Fujiwara and Fuchi faking tag outs, Fuchi wishbone-ing the hell out of Kakihara, with Fujiwara coming in to assist. Brutal looking spot sold well by Kakihara. There are plenty of Fujiwara headbutts, a backdrop by Fuchi, but then the underdogs get some reprieve, with Kakihara taking out Fuchi with the Kakicutter and submitting him with the jujigatame following a double team. I could watch Fuchi and Fujiwara stretch and fuck people up all day lo…

Candido rushes Liger at the bell catching him with a clothesline. A dropkick sends Liger to the floor and Candido is not giving him a moment to breath, landing a plancha from the top turnbuckle out onto him. Liger is struggling and has been caught completely off guard. He rolls back in the ring to beat the count but Candido remains right on him, pushing the rules to the limit. After the shoulder barge ends in a stalemate, Liger challenges Candido to go again, this time though he steps aside and gives him a helping hand over the top rope to the outside. Pescado, Candido ending up upside down against the metal barrier. Liger throws him back inside and unloads with som…

On first impressions it would seem Inoue is opting for a more ground based approach than Silver King’s previous two opponents in the tournament. He looks for an armbar but King uses his free arm to grab his trapped one to prevent it from being straightened out. There’s definitely a slower, more methodical feel to this match. Inoue blocks a clothesline and rolls through into a heel hook submission, King scrambling his way over to the ropes for the break. Overhead suplex. King counters the suplex with an inside cradle for a two. Big powerbomb by Inoue. The pair exchange meaty clotheslines neither wanting to give an inch. Nice, King blocks an Inoue one and locks in a…

Best Chyna match ever? This is surprisingly quite good. I find Lita really hard to judge as a wrestler as she seems to be objectively bad at everything except being very over with every crowd her entire WWF run so... she must be doing something right that I can't quite put my finger on. The execution is often sloppy, but still in the macro Lita works pretty well here sympathetically working from underneath trying to find an opening to beat Chyna, who is overpowering her at just about every turn. The crowd gets really into it. You see Chyna putting up this friendly facade whilst sneaking in the odd underhanded tactic to beat Lita, like she isn't really as full of confidenc…

The first fall was a flash pin. The second fall was a competitive and enjoyable submission match. The third fall was a ladder match. Now I'm not a fan of ladder matches, but I was prepared to accept the stip for what it was. Those were the rules they agreed to before the bout and that was how the match was billed heading into the pay-per-view. I had no problem with any of that. But the finish... that was the softest finish they could possibly book. To me, it eradicated any enjoyment I had from the bout (which was basically the second fall), and made the 30 minutes I invested in it seem like a a waste of time. I don't care that it was screwy. I am accustomed to screwy WWF …

WWF World Tag Champs Stone Cold & HHH vs Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho - WWF RAW 5/21/01 Austin in 2001 was so awesome. I don't know why everybody including Austin is down on that run. I loved the heel paranoid lunatic character. In the ring, I thought he was great all year portraying that wild out of control character. I felt like Austin was the one who set the tone for the entire match. His urgency got everybody working at a high level. He would try so hard to kick some ass that when Jericho and Benoit started to ROARING back it meant so much. That Austin/Benoit chop exchange was badass. I thought HHH was great at his sneaky, weasel heel that was using a thum…

WWF World Tag Champs Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs Dudleyz vs Hardyz vs Edge & Christian - WWF Smackdown! 5/24/01 Never seen this before. Holy. Shit. What a fucking spotfest! Here is a list of the most insane spots of the match: 1. Christian being dumped from the ladder in the ring over the top rope crashing down on the floor. The catch he totally whiffed on grabbing the top rope to slow down his fall. OW! 2. Jeff Hardy scales an 8 foot ladder to straddle vault over a 20' ladder to SEAT DROP Bubba Ray Dudley. Honorable Mention: The Chair shot that plastered Bubba to set up this spot. 3. Christians brains Chris Jericho with a chair. I would be …

Candido’s heeling it up on his entrance, using his towel to swat away the hands of the fans who’re trying to touch him. Bodyscissors into a roll up by Candido. He tries it a second time but Samurai Germans him on the back of his head. Candido picks up a two count following a powerbomb after catching Samurai on an attempted leapfrog. Nice selling of his own head by Candido following a headbutt. Samurai blocks the superplex and counters with a front suplex. Super sunset flip, Candido kicking out before they trade a bunch of near falls. Reverse DDT by Samurai. Tornado DDT, Candido barely getting a shoulder up this time. Candido floats over on the bodyslam and hits t…

Another pretty good showing from baby Shibata. This time, he tries to catch Minoru off guard with the plancha to the outside. I really liked that when Minoru tried the same tricks he used in their previous match, Shibata was well-prepared, avoiding the kneebar takedown and bridging out of the armlock attempt. He also hits some BIG moves including a top rope bulldog and a German suplex hold for a pretty great nearfall. He one counts a high kick to the head and gets a couple of roll up two counts but Minoru ends up submitting him with the crab hold like a true young lion.

Certainly a half baked death match with random ideas such as Necro lighting his leg on fire for a legdrop and Page lighting his head on fire for a headbutt for the finish. What this lacks in overall logic though, it did make up in violence and energy. Necro continues to gain that cult following among the IWA hardcores and has injected a great sense of enjoyment in the main event death matches they have presented. That along with Punk, Cabana, and Hero being able to stretch out their legs on the undercard has made IWA MS into my favorite indie to watch currently sans NWA WIldside. They have more consistent booking than CZW and the show features good variety. This was a goo…