Migs

I was really dreading this match based on E&C's prior interactions with Rock and Undertaker (the latter especially), but this was a really good tag match that made E&C look credible. The control segment on the Undertaker isn't amazing, but it does exist and serves to improve their credibility. The finishing sequence is a little disjointed with the run-ins, but it does work to get a couple of big near falls, and set up the con-chair-to (which the camera angle doesn't help here), to get the win.

Jackie is just crazy sloppy here, which derails a good chunk of the match. The Hardyz-E&C section is their normal, fairly entertaining, work. Nothing much to see here.

This one had some strengths over the Mania match (less convolution), but it also felt like the bumps built a little less cleanly (Bubba and Matt get taken out by basically the same bump, although the visual of Matt falling backwards is insane). Still an insane, effective match that built really strong legacies for all six involved.

I believe they've solved that by taking the cues off most of his matches (although I think some have cues but don't use his name). I do wonder if part of the issue with playlists is the way video is organized - it's all in the full cards, and not individual videos. Even when you click a searched video you're pulling up the show.

Cheap sports team is always better when the team is actually there. Match itself is not much, but there is good energy here, and the post-match is a solid little preview of TLC.

E&C are unsurprisingly great on commentary. In addition to what's discussed above, I believe they officially name the Con-chair-to here. The Hardyz and Dudleyz can put together a solid five minutes in their sleep, and this is an enjoyable setup to E&C interfering and getting the upper hand on both teams heading into the PPV.

Catchphrase-tastic promo from E&C ti start things off. The match here is mostly angle to show the Dudleyz and Hardyz briefly being on the same page, using each other's tandem moves, but unable to keep things together. Just a small, but effective, bit of forward movement in the build.

Minoru Suzuki has been my favorite guy on their roster this year Yeah, the Tanahashi match was pretty fun.

There's PWO Welcome Pack level stuff like Savage vs Garvin in the cage or the Archie Gouldie promo about his son or even Andre vs Hansen. Absolutely. But there's also the ability to do this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=midnight+express+vs Yeah, but look at what you get there. The first hit is a really mediocre match with the Freebirds. None of the stuff on the first page is what I'd call intro level MX stuff. There's so much stuff, even on the Network, that it's hard to work through the backlog if you don't have something to guide you.

Related - when they appeared unexpectedly to wrestle the Young Bucks at the Manhattan Center ROH show a month before this, the crowd lost its collective mind. Absolute pandemonium. They came to the merch tables at intermission (the match led right into it) and the crowd was just mobbing them. I think it might be the biggest pop and reaction I've ever seen live. Low Ki, Homicide and Da Hit Squad had a pretty great connection with the NY and NJ crowd in early 2001. They just defined that era of wrestling in that region in a way that's hard to explain. The intensity. There was something very visceral about the way all those guys performed that connected in a way that the spotfest guys (who everyone enjoyed too, to be sure) did not.

I have WWE and ROH (rolled over from the prior club membership, but feeling like I'll keep it at the end of the year). Keep getting tempted by Highspots but want to catch up on a few other things before I dive in over there (and most of their interesting stuff is back catalog).

Another strong pose, with the Oscars bit (promoting Edge's Highlander movie, which would pay off for him quite a bit long term). Match itself is solid but unspectacular. Nice to see the weapons for TLC integrated... I don't know if I'd call it organically, but somewhat logically at least.

E&C forfeiting the pose to Benoit, and Benoit's grin, is hilarious. Match itself is a fun little sprint that makes good use of the Acolytes' power offense (the Bradshaw power bomb is great). Bradshaw even does a decent job of selling in the heat segment, with the bits of him struggling to get the tag working nicely. Simple bit effective heel work on the finish too.

Interesting to see the presentational differences between 2000 and 2018 (or really any time in the 2010s), as a main event six man tag nowadays would definitely have a commercial break after the entrances and probably one mid-match as well. So this ends up being a real fast sprint, with barely a shine and a quick heat segment to set up a comeback that's basically just Rock and Chyna hitting a couple of big moves. I actually have less of an issue with losing to Chyna (who's been presented pretty strongly) than the fact that they barely get in any offense.

I enjoyed the fake apology pose. The match is another squash that's not worth discussing.

I believe that clip had the first "Conchairto" - sort of amazing how over two months Edge and Christian went from relatively vanilla tag wrestlers to guys with such defined and entertaining characters. If you'd told me in 2000 that 8 years later I'd be watching Edge v. The Undertaker at Wrestlemania... well, I guess that would have seemed semi-plausible. But that I'd be really enjoying, it and their many month subsequent feud? That I would not have believed.

Stuff like this (along with continually losing handicap matches to top guys) might have been one of the reasons they struggled to elevate the tag teams over the next couple of years when they went to singles. All the top teams got treated as JTTS whenever it was convenient for years before, instead of being even minimally protected.

Another of the classic 5 second poses here. Top 3 so far (along with Jug Band and Wide Right, I'd say). Match is not much, but a fine little bit of comedy.

The spear spot is pretty cool. Pretty strong performance from Edge here - as a guy who was working almost exclusively tags at this point, this is a good indication that he was capable of hanging with the better guys in the company for a singles match, at least a short one. (I know he was an IC champ the year before, but I don't recall the work being particularly good at that point.) With a less out of nowhere finish (the transition to the Walls felt really abrupt), I'd have stumped pretty hard for this match.

By this point, they had set the bar so high with the poses that anything not city specific felt like a bit of a letdown for sure. It's super weird that on commentary here, Jerry Lawler has the better side of a gender issue ion 2017 (specifically, it's not cool for Bubba to be attacking women, no matter how "evil" Michael Cole thinks she is). The match itself is a pleasant enough use of 3 minutes.

The Angle promo here is tremendous. My wife is from Buffalo, so i can understand why that pose was high level cheap heat. Maybe as cheap but as effective as you can get. Match is really nothing, but it doesn't hurt anyone here and just puts over 3D (still a killer move all these years later).

As someone who had an ex from Rochester and spent some time there, I wholeheartedly endorse E&C's take on the city. Interesting choice to have Jericho get the shine and take the heat, but given the limited time for the match, it's probably the best choice. Bubba takes a nice hot tag to lead into the finish. Fun little match.

My best friend at the time was a giant Too Cool mark. And I enjoyed them as well - they were so purely goofy that it worked. If they'd committed anything less than fully, it's a terrible gimmick - but played to the hilt it worked really well in the moment. The build with the backstage vignettes with E&C and Joe C (with the E&C initially thinking he's Verne Troyer) are great, and nicely pay off here. Nothing as a match, but a really nice moment with a big reaction from the crowd.

I love the jug band pose, but I also love Christian going for the cheap face pop first and then mispronouncing the city name. These guys all had such defined acts and they did a great job of playing off expectations. Really fun little six man.

E&C are starting to work their way up the cheap heat ladder with the sports team related pose. Match is just a couple of minutes of action before E&C steal the victory. Fun while it lasted.