soup23

Good action here until the bullshit finish. Enough of this shit. I liked what OVW had last week but it looks like we are back to the same over bloated stuff again. Rico was a good heel in the match and Dinsmore comeback was fun with the flying forearm. Once again when Rico, joins Bolin services, Cornette says “ I never thought” for the second time in one show. This was a shame as this could have been really fun with a good finish. **1/4

I think this is the first appearance for Orton on the PWO2K. He is an intriguing person to track throughout the decade. Donna Daring is ref and Bolin is in the announce booth. Henry does look slimmed down and has a moment of agility when Randy is positioned on the ropes. Otherwise, not much here and Randy was still really basic in his attack, selling and other mannerisms. Bullshit finish of course and Henry wins. *

Brock starts off and just beats the shit out of Casey and Michaels. Shelton gets the tag and blows pretty badly and spinning kick. Heat is given on Benjamin for a bit after some cheating. That only lasts a minute and Brock is tagged in. Belly to belly from Brock. Brock gets powder thrown into his eyes and then an awful low blow. Jason Lee and Derrick King come in to help out. Cornette says you thought you would never see it. I don’t know, we see a run in in OVW EVERY FUCKING MATCH. This was cool to see Minnesota Stretching Crew and in this quick five minute match, Brock looked to have it more put together than Shelton. ¾*

Odd match. Magee shows one or two glimpses but then nearly whiffs in everything else he attempts. Choshu eats him up otherwise. **

Anyway to provide this to @Loss OJ? I was unable to find it online.

Bless GSR for recapping the funeral. At 25 minutes, it was painfully too long and should have been at most half of the run time. Flair is a heel and delivers an ok promo but it feels hollow at this point. Nash actually looks fired up and seems motivated with the Fusient buyout looming. Match was way better than I would have thought. They worked hard and mixed in some stuff like Steiner softening up for the Recliner. Nash’s comeback is well timed but the show ran out of time and ends abrupt with the faces making the save. Some stuff is goofy like scott Hudson yelling that Flairs reign is coming to an end one night after it really started. Overall, after the dreadful funeral this was a good Nitro. **3/4

Another good Chavo performance. Nothing too flashy but a cohesive six minute tv match that was effective. I know once Chavo moves over to WWF he is strictly Jakked and Heat duty which is a shame as right now he’s projecting into my top 100 wrestlers of the year. Again not the highest of praise but for someone like Chavo who is mostly maligned, it exemplifies how much I’m digging what he is doing in the cruiser division. **1/2

Man this goes around four minutes but was a blast. Both teams meshed well together and this feels like a series that could have really elevated Helms and Moore. I continue to be impressed with devil horns Rey as his gimmick is annoying but the work is certainly there. Only complaint is that I wish this was longer. **3/4

Shit way to end the PPV. You give the tag match main event billing and this is a fun two hours of wrestling but we really limp home. SIDS injury is as graphic as it gets and Animal as the mystery man is such a wet fart. *

Nice knowing you Goldberg and a sad way to go out. The match actually has decent enough energy considering totally buff is totally cooked as a team. Bruce also of course doesnt add much to the proceedings overall. I am interested in seeing how they would have weaves Goldberg back but I will have to wait two years before I see him again. *1/2

The finish sucks but I liked the match a ton overall and though DDP was a good FIP. The crowd has been way up for this show which helps and Nash didn’t look like it was his sole mission to bury the young talent. I continue to see big potential in O’Haire and feel I would have given him a Paul Heyman Esque push. Flair not coming out at end was really dumb. *** 1/4 (6.4)

Good Hard-core match although like usual this is not my favorite type of match. The backstage stuff actually look violent as well as fun for once which helped things here. Funk is always good at giving his all to sell the beating and Meng provided a nice contrast. *** (6.2)

I understand the argument that the stipulation prevented this match from achieving great standards that it might have as a six man, however as a feud device showing the ancillary pieces of these two factions as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each this match was very successful for me. Jim Duggan was not annoying as ref and was fair throughout and it featured some of the best wrestlers still within WCW. Big win for Lance at the end too. ***1/4 (6.7)

Some slop from Yang and Karagias but otherwise this is one of the better spotfest WCW has produced in a while. Noble and Moore in particular were on point and delivered some intricate and amazing spots throughout this. The pace kept up and even when they did screw up like the finish Yang covered up for it quickly. Overall a great start to the ppv. ***1/2 (6.9)

One of the more Shockingly good match as I can remember seeing in a while. Vito and Reno really went after each other and had a strong pace throughout the match. The match didn’t overstay his welcome and Reno looks like a potential star on the rise. We are off to a very good start for this ppv. ***1/4 (6.5)

A real strong opener. I think at this point, Chavo is probably a bit underrated as a worker. His uncle is certainly superior but he was a solid hand that had some comedic moments and could have a good serious match when needed. Helms looks good in defeat and someone on the brink of breaking through. A real fun way to start a PPV. ***1/2

Was interested to see some well known guys mix it up with lesser known but overall besides that curiosity, this didn’t raise above fun. I agree with OJ that Panther seems elite around this time and Olimpico is always someone I’m drawn to inexplicably. *** (5.8)

Sounds like I’m right around where I was before although maybe slightly lower. Inferno was awful. He really drug this down for me overall. I still don’t think Corino gave that bad a performance but in waning days of ECW where he was a bright spot, he didn’t seem to be bringing that same intensity here. Big drop from the PPV to this gym I guess in a week. **1/2

Watched this randomly going toward a rewatch of DDP vs Savage and thought it was great. Really enjoyed Ultimo taking advantage of the throat work but still keeping things on the up and up for the most part. Still it was enthralling seeing Rey come back and win and his timing was impeccable. ****

Really liked opening bit of this using building well and some big fat guy bumps. Back half of the match much more of a chore. The contrived finish between the manager being involved and the powder really derailed things. I will split the difference overall and say it’s just below the threshold of good. **3/4

Didn’t remember watching this but thoughts remained the same. Should have been more.

Fun tag match. JC Dazz doesn’t seem very sympathetic but he played his role well and won me over by the end. Tag formula mixed with some more indie maneuvers. Wildside tv is easily the best quality that we get for any wrestling promotion besides WWF right now. ***

Tough to rank given the spliced together clips but overall some fun looking spots. Disco gets huge air in the top rope legdrop. I did think the finish coming as a submission felt odd given the pace we had seen the match worked. NR

My review got ate up here but I thought this was a really fun slugfest type match. It wasn't always smooth but when Kobashi and Vader went after each other, they really went after each other. The finish in particular with him tripping and then demolishing Kobashi's face with the moonsault was particularly gnarly. ***3/4 (7.6)