Moonsault Marvin

This turned into a really good match. The action continued throughout, and I liked that they all stayed in the ring together instead having one guy lie outside the ring. Low Ki and Sabu threw really nice punches, and Sabu hit all his spots cleanly. ***1/2

Well, Louie bled a lot. The close cameras expose too much in these matches like Rotten looking and waiting to receive the chair shot. The powder finish was unintentionally funny. **

Hashimoto gives a great performance in this one. I really liked the pulling off of the glove, as it created a symbolism of the wrestler rejecting the formal mma constraints to just out and out fight. I'm not sure that there is another wrestling arc with this sort of sad ending with the hero being definitively beat while still in his prime. The only thing pulling the match down is Ogawa, as he just never seems to be formidable enough to be the guy beating Hashimoto. ****

When Barnett was with Ranallo, he was the color commentator, but when Ross took over, he basically does both, because Ross doesn't know the names of the moves. Ross has been completely lost his entire run of NJPW on AXS. The G1 special wasn't anything different from the regular show, except people that normally don't watch saw the show and realized Ross is struggling.

This one had a really hot start, and the matwork had lots of struggle. Murakami did a good job of heeling with his facial expressions and taunting, but his punches didn't always look like they had any oomph to them. The match ran out of steam as it went on, but it was still a good showing for both guys. Good match.

Chono's weird breathing noises drive me nuts! It's all I hear when I watch his matches. This was slow paced, but Muta threw in enough action to keep it from being boring. It was fun to see young Molly Holly. Solid match.

After months of black suit Liger dominance, this was just sad. Liger got some offense in the beginning, but Sasaki took over and squashed him. We've seem some really good matches out of Sasaki in 2000, so it was disappointing they didn't have a great competitive match. Average match.

Otani put in a good performance, but Kojima was lackluster at best. Otani kept working the arm including the dropkick from the ropes to the arm, but Kojima didn't sell it in any way. After being beat up for most of the match, Kojima wins easy without constructing a comeback. Average match.

Frye was great in his viciousness. I liked how he pulled at Kanemoto's face in the matwork and how he used the boot pressed to the chin for extra pain during the legwork. Kanemoto had a good performance on his part with his stiff kicks. The match flew by and left me wanting to see a rematch. Very good match.

This started off with low intensity, slow motion rope running from Rayo and Gran Markus. Thankfully, Porky and Fuerza picked things up with their comedy exchange and then Atlantis and Villano III had a nice battle. The rest was an angle with Villano not wanting to triple team Atlantis and Fuerza getting mad and shoving him. Fun match.

This turned out to be clips of a series of matches instead of a tag match. Kyoko Inoue making an appearance was the only interesting part.

The twisting dive attempt by Octagoncito was cool. This seemed really clipped, as the match didn't seem to have much body to it, and the third fall was so short. Average match.

Nothing spectacular here, but the action was solid throughout. A.J. never got that ladder centered in the ring where he could grab the belt easily. I continued to like Golden's heel mannerisms. Bailey has been compelling enough as a manager in these matches, so I wasn't really bothered by his interference.

I think this needed more wide camera shots to work, so you could see all the action. It was probably much more fun to watch in person, as the crowd really seemed into it. King continues to stand out in this Power Pro footage.

I miss eye rakes on the ropes. You don't see that much anymore. I liked the brawling, and they used the weapons well. Dundee was surprisingly wimpy with his pin counts. The ending stunk with the restart and Lawler winning the title by disqualification. They should have left Bull Pain as champion after the pinfall. Average match.

After Liger slaughtering everyone earlier in the year, I was expecting the same, but this match was very competitive. They showed Tiger Mask's skill with him trapping Liger into submissions and he came across as a fighter surviving Liger's big moves. I liked the frenzy of Liger waving his arms when he was in the sleeper on the mat. This was a well put together match that made both wrestlers look good. Very good match.

Sasuke looked really good in this one as he came out aggressive and he hit his moves cleanly throughout the match. I liked Hayashi's heeling and his repeated attempts at the crossface. Good match.

Lots of interference in this one and getting hit with a baseball bat needed more selling. I liked Suwa catapulting over the rope into a elbow drop. The finishing stretch sort of fell apart, but overall it was an average match.

Nice short match to start the month. Lots of big moves, but they threw in some nice counters too, such as Ricky Marvin getting out of CIMA's first attempt to slam him off the turnbuckle. Good match.

The kid in the crowd using a frisbee to tap the clown on the head was funny. The first two falls were super quick, but the third fall turned into a good match with a lot of crowd heat surrounding the corrupt referee. The move where Sevilla looked like he was going to frankensteiner Apache to the outside off the top rope that he changed into a sunset flip was interesting. Good match.

The referee looked like the movie stereotype of a stoner, and he played with his hair throughout the match. This was a decent comedy match, but nothing more, and I was surprised to see Low Ki job so easily. Average match.

Great selling as usual from both Misawa and Kawada. I liked Kawada's variation in tempo from working at a deliberate pace to rushing in to get the power bomb. Perhaps a little too much fighting spirit, strike back and forth for my tastes, but it was still an excellent match. ****

I really liked Fuyuki's squeals when getting his arm worked over in the early going. After fighting into the crowd, Kuroda gets jumped by the ECW crew and busted open with a weapon and chairs, and I got invested into his battle back against Fuyuki, as they have a battle of the clotheslines. After Mahoney comes back with the weapon, H and the locker room come out for a brawl between FMW and ECW. This one kept my interest throughout. Very good match.

I actually dozed off during this match and had to go back to it. There was nothing technically wrong with it, but it was terribly boring. Hayabusa usually has some interesting spots, but maybe he doesn't do that when he's unmasked. Below Average.

The chair to the head was brutal. The match built well as it alternated between regular wrestling and hardcore. Honma was very dominant in the latter stages, so I was surprised Kasai pulled out the win. Good match.