July 2001

Blue Demon jumps Panther before he gets to the ring and takes the first fall in under a minute. That may sound kind of lame but it leads to a neat revenge fall where Panther won't let go of his armbar. Panther targets the arm for awhile in the third fall, but they drop it in favour of some back and forth pinfall attempts. Then they ruin everything with a DQ finish. If you remember, I said I'd give this match a shot given how good Panther's 2000-2001 run has been. Is it a lost classic? No. An unheralded great match? Nope. It's not a match I would put on Panther's resume from this era, and not a particularly great performance from him, but coupled with…

Bestia Salvaje is so great. He comes into this territory after being kind of static in CMLL and pops the building with this electric Dandy feud. And man did he light a fire under Dandy. I always thought it was the Navarro feud that led to Dandy's revival, but evidently it Bestia who kick started it. The pair have past history, but it's the simple action of beating the shit out of each other that really gets the crowd going. Tracking Bestia in this match isn't hard since the cameraman gravitates towards him, but keep an eye on the things he does. If he were still alive, he could be in a YouTube ad offering his own master classic in how to work a building. This is a good ex…

Look who's back. This starts off with a weird vignette where Mr. Niebla and Santo decide to catch a movie and have a chat over a couple of sodas. The match is a fall-out-of-bed performance from the tecnicos, but it has some nice Panther vs. Santo exchanges in case you'd forgotten what that match up looked like.

I had no idea Show ever worked in Puerto Rico for IWA-PR. He gets a huge ovation from the crowd and vaults into the ring over the top rope. Bruno and Lobo talk tactics on the outside, trying to figure out a game plan for their much larger opponent. They decide to rush him, one from either side, but he just palms them off. Their shots are having no effect and he’s manhandling them with ease. A Lobo dropkick to the knee brings him down to his knees and Bruno follows up with one of his own. Double shoulder tackle off the top. Diving headbutt, both cover Show, but he presses them off him. Show runs through the double clothesline and comes back with one of his own. Cho…

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

What a fascinating little match. In under a year, both would be called up to the main roster, but despite being on the same show, they never had a match on the main roster. This is especially weird considering how many times Cena/Orton/Batista had matches against each other. Although, weirdly, it appears they did have a match on a Raw house show in Feb. 2003. No idea why Brock was on a Raw house show then, but whatever. It's a nice match where Batista mostly dominates Brock, who is treated as something as an overmatched and underdog face during the match. Great timing and cut offs from Batista. Considering this is a 6 minute developmental TV match between two guys wi…

Mikiko Futagami was full blown GAMI at this point. That means, paper fan and all that. And she gets a shot at the big gold! This starts out like a Monterrey match. Hell, it might be their Monterrey match worked as a puro epic. Somewhat comedic feel, tricky arm drags, rope walking joke and a paper fan hit. Then Hamada eats a tombstone on her belt and sell a huge a deal. This had that „overmatched loser goes for the gold“ feel with GAMI being tricky like Yoshinari Ogawa or Kendo Kashin, so the match was endearing, and GAMI absolutely has the slick moves, so if you like that type of match I'd say this match is recommendable, altough there were a few blown spots. Not as good …

We join the footage with Tobita obliterating watermelons and completely oblivious to his onrushing opponent who breaks a watermelon over his head. Watermelon Head has a look of Hallowicked about him with that mask. Lots of throwing of watermelons lots of Tobita being bashed over the head with whatever object Head can find. Tobita gets shoved into a fridge at one point. I do wonder what the families must think when they look out of their windows and see what’s going on in the waste ground behind them. Head chokes Tobita with some foliage and runs him over with a wheelbarrow. After trying to shove watermelon down Tobita’s throat, Head slaps on an abdominal stretch, wh…

Rob Van Dam defends the WWF Hardcore Title. Paul Heyman tells us that people said Rob Van Dam was "too extreme" for the WWF, which maybe you could say that in 1997 but by this point feels a bit ridiculous. The opening is kinda bizarre with RVD just jumping around and Tajiri doing a forward roll around each other. There is one interesting moment where Tajiri does his baseball slide kick into the corner with chairs in the way and he goes for a cover, and the referee does the count while standing on the outside. I don't remember any WWF referee doing that before, reminded me of Tommy Young. The match is pretty short but fun. **1/2