Everything posted by Tim Evans
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[2000-04-03-AAA] Rocky Marvin & Mini Abismo Negro vs Octagoncito & Mascarita Sagrada
This was kinda short but fun while it lasted. I'm always amazed how the height a guy like Sagrada gets from his dives. Especially that huracarana to the outside on Abismo. Octagoncito looked great with the twisting dive. Rocky Marvin gets the win because I'm guessing he's getting a title shot. Fun match.
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[2000-01-23-WWF-Royal Rumble] HHH vs Cactus Jack (Street Fight)
I've seen this match so many times but it gets better each time. I gotta say this is one of HHH's all-time best performances. He takes a beating from Foley. Especially from the barbed wire bat where he bleeds. Foley leads this like a pro and most everything looks great and makes sense. I cringe at Foley taking that shot into the steps knees first. I think this is the match that made HHH a star. Great, great match.
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[2000-01-23-WWF-Royal Rumble] D-Von & Bubba Ray Dudley vs Matt & Jeff Hardy (Tables)
Man, this was a lot more brutal than I remember it being. Jeff diving himself through a table on the outside looked insane. So were the non-stop chairshots. The dudleys took, even more, punishment than the hardy's. I remember Jeff's dive but I thought it was off the taxi cab and not just the balcony. Fun match but it's hard to watch in 2017.
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[2000-01-13-WWF-Smackdown] HHH & X-Pac vs The Rock & Big Show
This reminded me of those early 90s Saturday Night main events where Hogan teamed with guys like Sid or Warrior and had problems. Match was fine but the story was better. Someone finally stood up to Rock's BS and it was Big show. Show was always a better heel at this time than a babyface. Another good HHH performance.
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[2000-01-10-WWF-Raw] HHH & X-Pac & New Age Outlaws vs The Rock & Mankind & The Acolytes
I don't remember this DX dissension angle but it seems to be working for the story. Fun match with a better angle. Foley is moving around gingerly but he's still got a buzz about him. That pedigree through the table looked brutal. Looking forward to the Rumble match as I haven't seen it in a while and remember it being great. Stephanie still looks awkward out there with HHH.
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[2000-01-06-WWF-Smackdown] HHH vs Rikishi
The heat between this and the Rock/Angle match is night and day. That said, this was another good HHH performance. He and Rikishi had good chemistry. The near falls were insane given how close it was to 3. Felt like sometimes that the ref had to hold back cause HHH was too late raising the shoulder. I agree about Steph on commentary. The Mcmahon kids were never good on commentary. I guess they got it from Linda.
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[2000-01-06-WWF-Smackdown] The Rock vs Kurt Angle
This whole segment holds a special place in my heart. I was there live and it was only my second ever live show. My dad took me who is not a wrestling fan and he had a ball. The Rock's pop when he came out is still the loudest pop i've ever heard live. The building was shaking and I lost my shit when he hit Angle with the people's elbow. It's amazing that Angle had only been in the WWF for like 3 months and only wrestling for a little over a year. The match is fine but it's all about the pre match. There will never be another who can hold the crowd in his hand like the Rock.
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[2000-01-03-WWF-Raw] HHH vs Big Show
HHH is not in his Harley Race mode yet like he was in 2002 but he's not original DX HHH here. It's not secret that I'm a big HHH mark especially this era so I thought he did good here. It's a shame he's in with Show tho. Show looks better than he did in 1999 and bumped ok but he's just not championship material. The crowd doesn't care but they do try anyways. I'm shocked the finish was so clean. Show just casually walking to the back after taking the pin tells you all you need to know.
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[2000-03-27-FMW] Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs Kodo Fuyuki
I had no idea that Tracy Smothers was in FMW in 2000. This truly is the Sports entertainment era of FMW. Lots of run ins and interference spots. I still dig Fuyuki.as the leader of the heels. He looks like a fat Ricky Fuiji here. Decent match. Finish was a great visual with all the guys running in and the fans running to ringside.
- [2000-03-25-Osaka Pro] Takehiro Murahama vs Naohiro Hoshikawa
- [2000-03-25-BattlARTS] Yuki Ishikawa & Naoki Sano vs Alexander Otsuka & Kazunari Murakami
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Best parent and child combination
Jerry Lawler and Brian Christopher. It's a shame we don't have much Tommy Gilbert footage cause him and Eddie Gilbert could be up there. Also Carlos Colon and Eddie "Primo" Colon.
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[2000-03-18-Osaka Pro] Super Delphin & Tsubasa & Masato Yakushiji vs Dick Togo & Black Buffalo & Daioh QUALLT
This somehow turns into a 2 on 3 match when Tsubasa gets taken out. That's fine because the heels do a really good job, especially Dick Togo. I could watch him and Yakushiji wrestled all day. Yakushiji takes a chair to the end during a tope that looked sick. Delphin was working at a face pace and Black Buffalo did a good job too. Fun match.
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[2000-03-15-Michinoku Pro] Rima & Mima Shimoda vs Hiromi Yagi & Chapparita Asari
I thought the video quality helped the match. It made it looks scummy and very indie. Big fan of Yagi and Asari as the spunky fighters trying to fight Mima and Rima. I have no idea who Rima is but she played a good second to queen bitch Mima. Mima was just sandbagging Asari and throwing her all over the place. Maybe not the best representation of Joshi but I really enjoyed this. Cima gets involved and I'm getting Apaches flashbacks.
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[2000-03-14-Onita Pro] FM TARO vs Takashi Sasaki
I know Sasaki is a former big Japan guy and I think he owns FREEDOMS now. Not sure who TARO is but he impressed me. Sure, he missed that dive badly but he came back with a nice looking SSP. Sasaki also does his best Stan Hansen style Lariat and TARO sells it like death. Basic match but nice for what it was.
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[2000-03-14-Onita Pro] Atsushi Onita & Atsushi Onita Jr & Dick Togo & Fake Onita & Shigeo Okumura vs Kendo Nagasaki & Shoji Nakamaki & Ichiro Yaguchi & Yase Yaguchi & Yuichi Taniguchi (No Rope Barbed Wire)
Dick Togo in an Onita death match is something I wasn't expecting. This is the lesser of the Onita pro matches I've seen so far but it's still entertaining. I love the atmosphere of these shows. People are crowding the ring and it's total chaos the whole time. Ichiro bleeds like usual and one of the Onita's takes a crazy bump. I'm still team Onita pro all the way.
- [2000-03-12-BattlARTS] Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Greco vs Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone
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[2000-03-11-Rikidozan Memorial] Genichiro Tenryu & B.B. Jones vs Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa
Hashimoto does his best Onita impersonation by bleeding walking to the ring and crying after the match. Tenyru's look of disgust teaming with BB Jones was hilarious. He and Hash beat the hell out of each other. I continue not to be impressed with Ogawa. He's just so awkward it's like watching a pre Women's revolution Divas match. BB and Tiger steele are neck and neck for the worst wrestler I've ever seen. Weird match especially on a Rikidozan memorial show.
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[2000-03-11-Rikidozan Memorial] Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Satoru Sayama
This felt like an Amateur match and didn't feel like a fight. Sayama looked like he was doing a bad Disco inferno cosplay circa 1997. Fujiwara was Fujiwara but he didn't have much to work with.
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[2000-03-07-Osaka Pro] Takehiro Murahama vs Daioh QUALLT
A shoot fight guy vs a guy with a afro and in blackface. Bless you, Osaka pro. Confusing match that was worked straight. Then it just ends after the mist and a bunch of guys run out.
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[2000-03-04-Osaka Pro] Dick Togo & Black Buffalo & Daioh Quallt vs Super Delphin & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Ebessan
I really enjoyed this as a 8-minute sprint. I wasn't expecting much but Dick Togo was awesome in this. So was Ebessan. The dude in blackface was a little problematic but it's Japan so whatever. Even though it's a smaller crowd, they seemed more into the action than the Michinoku Pro stuff.
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[2000-03-04-Michinoku Pro] CIMA & Judo Suwa & Sumo Fuji vs Great Sasuke & Magnum Tokyo & Jinsei Shinzaki
Sasuke no selling Fuji doing the sumo thrusts to his crotch was weird. Not as weird as that sentence tho. Crazy Max show that they can adapt to who they are wrestling and have a good comedy match with the legends and Magnum. Lots of kicks in this. Springboards and enzugiri's. Was this in Shinzaki's hometown? I'm guessing that's why he got the pin.
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Unicorn Gimmick Matches
The loser gets painted yellow match between El Profe and Hugo Savinovich from 1987 WWC. I know they have don't loser gets a yellow streak matches before in places like Memphis and Mid south but I don't remember painted totally yellow.
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[2000-03-02-BJW] Gedo & Jado & Kintaro Kanemura vs Great Kojika & Ryuji Yamakawa & The Winger
I will always mark out for the Team No respect dance. Were they still in FMW around this time? Kojika looks old in 2000 and he still wrestles to this day. I agree with the rest of you about this not being very exciting. Winger gets unmasked and bleeds. The FMW crew play good heels. The big Japan crew weren't very exciting and the crowd was pretty dead.
- [2000-03-01-Michinoku Pro] CIMA & Sumo Fuji & Judo Suwa & Yoshikazu Taru vs Tiger Mask & Masaaki Mochizuki & Magnum Tokyo & Minoru Fujita