After I finalized my North American List for 2000, I thought it would be interesting to look in the Wrestling Observer and see if any matches Dave rated * * * * or higher were missing from my list. Here's what I found.

HHH v. Mick Foley (WWE, 2/27, Hartford) ****1/2

I am a Mick Foley fan, but as much as he fights against the label of "glorified stuntman" it seems that this decade is not something he'd like to reference as part of any kind of defense.

Arguably, the best matches of Mick's 2000's career are:

Rumble v. HHH

Backlash '04 v. Orton

SummerSlam '06 v. Flair

WM 22 v. Edge

One Night Stand '06 w/Edge v. Funk/Dreamer

What do all of those have in common? Barbed wire, tacks, chair shots, blood...

His wrestling matches:

WM 16 Fatal Four-Way

WM 20 w/ Rock v. Evolution

Taboo Tuesday '05 v. Carlito

... more I'm sure I am forgetting.

Then there is this match. This didn't even make it past the first cut/initial viewing. You and the crowd both know he's coming off the cage so anything else in the body of the match is boring and not leading to anything. Now maybe my viewpoint is skewed as watching this I knew this wasn't his last match so it's possible that thinking this was it may have made it more enjoyable. However, one big bump a match does not make.

Rock v. Chris Benoit (WWE, 7/23, Dallas) ****1/4

This match did make my initial cut, but upon second viewing, dropped off completely. This had way too much Shane McMahon, a pointless restart, and wasn't helped by being on one of WWE's best PPV's of the decade that included a much better Jericho v. HHH Last man Standing match.

Rock v. Kurt Angle (WWE, 10/22, Albany) ****1/4

This didn't make my initial cut either. I think this rating was because of Dave's fan boy perspective of Kurt since he won the title. Rock and Angle never worked well together IMO.

Dudley Boys v. Hardy Boys v. Edge/Christian (WWE, 4/1, Anaheim) ****

Didn't make my initial cut. SummerSlam's TLC was much better.

Chris Benoit/HHH v. Rock/Chris Jericho (WWE, 4/24, Raliegh) ****

A TV match with a hot crowd, but the work pales in comparison to other TV matches in the year.

Dean Malenko v. Scotty Too Hotty (WWE, 4/30, Washington D.C.) ****

Can anyone remember anything about this match other than the finish? I doubt it. Without the unique finish it's just Dean killing Scotty's leg for the whole body of the match only for Scotty to then hit the bulldog AND HOP ON THE SAME LEG THAT WAS WORKED OVER TO DO THE WORM! I usually don't gripe and take that smart mark approach, but this was something you couldn't ignore. I'd say * * * * if he went for the worm, dropped in pain and Dean applied the Texas Cloverleaf for the submission.

Chris Benoit v. Chris Jericho (WWE, 5/21, Louisville) ****

These guys wrestled a lot during the year and this was one of the lesser showings.

Super Crazy v. Tajiri (ECW, 1/15 [1/21 air date], Philadelphia) ****

I Love Tajiri; Especially in ECW 2000. The first part of this match with Tajiri killing crazy with kicks and dickhead bully tactics was great. My problems with this match is twofold. First, this was called a Mexican Death Match, but how is this different from every other ECW match, ever? No DQ, No CO, single pinfall wins it. So, the stipulation was pointless. My second, and biggest, problem is that once Super Crazy got on offense it was the same old shit. a bunch of moonsaults, go through the crowd, moonsault of bleachers, back to the ring and weak ending.