Loss

What becomes of Paul Levesque?

I don't think this was competitive enough to be a great match, but I enjoyed the work quite a bit. Stalker Ichikawa is fun to watch, but stood out like a sore thumb. To their credit, Crazy Max adapted the match to fit him, and it worked. I love the hairpulling accusations and it was good to see something more laid back. This reminded me of the kind of match WWE would do after Raw, and in that sense, I understand why this didn't air on TV. ***

What crap. Russo stealing his own ideas and trying to make Vampiro some WCW version of Gangrel. Sting looks like he's sleepwalking in his matches at this point and the angle is awful. And why would any wrestling company do elevation stunts like this after Owen Hart? The WWF had the good sense to stop that crap at least.

In terms of giving the best match, these may have been the best picks at the time for each side. At least we'd think that, but these two have no chemistry and everything has fallen flat. Page goes into the crowd as a shortcut for creating genuine violence quite a bit, and it's pretty transparent. Also, brawling on the outside to start like this really devalues the whole idea of a cage match. Why do it if it's going to start like this? I do like Kanyon as a babyface, although I'll always contend his career would have been forever as Mortis.

Well you can't say this didn't go all the way in trying to get new guys over. Hogan bladed, went through a table for Awesome, went through another table for Kidman, then took the pin from a legdrop. Then Nash made the save and he got laid out too. The match itself was pretty good a lot of the time, with Hogan vs Awesome being the bulk of it and Kidman picking his spots and only coming in when Hogan was vulnerable. I still am not crazy about Hogan-Kidman as a visual, but it's far superior to what Hogan was doing before this. ***

Great opening segment with Jericho clearly being positioned as a strong number two and being booked better than any babyface has been booked in modern WWE in ages. I got a kick out of HHH sneaking in the "hotheaded half-pint" line at Jericho. Rock's promo before the match is outstanding. The tag itself was excellent, with Benoit and Jericho both especially fired up to be working with the top guys, and HHH and Rock having to follow suit in keeping up with them, thus elevating everyone's game. Watching this, you see that HHH-Rock, HHH-Jericho, Benoit-Jericho and Benoit-Rock all have lots of gas in the tank. This was exactly the right finish to go into Backlash, since they needed to emphasize why it was important for Austin to be there. Tremendous booking and fired up wrestling make for a very good match. ***1/2

The match is pretty nothing and is mostly a backdrop for the angle. E&C still don't have much personality, but I'm pretty sure that is only a few weeks away. Trish at ringside on a table looking all seductive as an attempt to appeal to Bubba Ray's instincts is some pretty clever writing, I will say that.

The match looked fine, but not remarkable. Yamakawa still hasn't really won me over. I don't feel like I'm missing much in this one.

I loved this match. Honma can make just about anything work. Samples didn't look great here or anything, but he was a perfectly solid big man in the mold of Kane or Earthquake or whoever else is always where they need to be without coming across as spectacular. But Honma took this from what would have been a solid match to something really special by creating moments that seemed inspired by cinema, like the staredown with the kendo sticks and attempt to bury Samples in barbed wire. You could tell he took a really thoughtful approach to this. He truly has been one of the best wrestlers anywhere in 2000, and add this to the list of matches he had that year that were better than the Yamakawa death match on 1/2. ****

This was a good match with an all-time classic tacked on to the last few minutes with Aja repeatedly throwing the uraken at Satomura as she struggles to her feet. Kaoru and her table can go to hell, but I liked everything else about this. I want to go higher just because that ending was so out of this world, but blame Kaoru's goofiness. ***1/2

This is really two matches - I guess? - with the first being a 4 x 4 elimination and then the second being an impromptu standard tag right after that. The match started off strong and I liked the Hotta-Ran Yu Yu work quite a bit. It's totally made by Hotta as the subtle heel and Ran's outstanding selling of the cross armbreaker as a death move. I hated Kansai interfering when the work had done so much to establish Ran as an isolated and overmatched underdog. This didn't have much heat, and I think the reason is that no one expected the match to end at that point since Toyota had not even entered the ring yet. The finish was a bit of a surprise, to the point that I thought it made the JWP team look like chumps, but whatever. Toyota is just phenomenal in the second match -- mixing in her smirking heel persona with her energetic wrestling style and immediately boosting the heat. This was never once really presented as competitive, but it was good to see Ran Yu Yu in another strong match, and also good to see Commando Bolshoi, an underrated wrestler, getting some time to shine. Kind of an uneven viewing experience overall, but the moments that everyone was on were sharp. ***3/4

Both of these guys look like they could be a few years away from developing into something special, Scoot more than Jaguar. Still, it's true for both guys. Someone like Ric Blade definitely stood out more, and Billy Reil was probably better than both guys, but I'd still put them both in the top tier of guys in the 2000s indy scene who I wish had achieved greater success. That piledriver was nuts! This match wasn't anything special, but in an alternate universe, it would really work as a primitive version of two wrestlers facing off before they became stars.

WCW's B-show stuff has been consistently fun all year. That's one thing that never changed no matter the turmoil in the company. The triple sunset flip finish was a bit cute, but I still really liked it. JC's wannabe martial arts thing is always tremendous and always works in getting a reaction.

From the silence of this crowd, Lawler's act is played and Memphis isn't really buying what he's selling so much anymore. Psychologically sound and I personally enjoyed how the match built, but I'd like to see Lawler aim a little higher in his TV matches sometimes. One thing I've learned about myself is that I do like minimalism, but I like it as a deviation from the norm instead of just as what wrestlers always do. So Lawler is really boring me thus far.

Very good tag. Kind of a fall out of bed great match for these guys in terms of how it was worked, but a high end version of that. Probably a better U.S. tag than any U.S. tag this side of Rock & Rolls vs Bad Attitude so far in 2000. It's hard sometimes to find new things to say about these matches, because the things that are good about them are often the things that are good about all of them but this is another worthy addition to the series. ***1/2

Short and sweet. Not much to this, but I wouldn't mind a Casas vs Shocker feud one bit, if that's the end game.

This was fantastic. Corino has just been on a roll in the last few matches and was extraordinary here, bumping and bleeding like a madman for everyone in sight. I liked the impromptu nature of this as it was logical and kept a steady build each time someone new entered the ring. Super heated, and all six guys worked really hard. Even Sandman looked pretty good here. The finishing sequence was pretty complex from Tajiri choking on his own mist on, but was executed flawlessly and with rhythm. One of the better ECW matches thus far. ***3/4

Good to know Mauro was just as much facts without insight 17 years ago as he is now. Speaking of 17 years, I'm pretty sure this match is still happening. This got way too much time. Devine didn't look great, but I do think the right opponent would have been able to have a solid match with him.

I cracked up at Corino getting heat by promising to ban alcohol when he has full control of ECW. I enjoyed this quite a bit more than Chad. Entertaining as hell. Corino is an awesome staller. Dreamer stinks, but Corino is good enough at doing this that it doesn't matter. Dreamer's obsession with his home company is psychotic. After the long stalling, this escalated into a really nice main event, made almost entirely by Corino. The psychology here is actually spot on, as it gives Corino a valid reason to bump and juice and the babyface a valid reason to walk tall. I just wish it was just about any other babyface. ***1/4

This was a beautiful old school wrestling match. Not out to change the world, but a terrific throwback. Corino was effective both in conditioning the fans to go along with Guido as the babyface (other than the obnoxious "Where's my pizza?" contingent), and as a second in helping set things up without putting himself over one bit. Lots of basic stuff here like the punches in the corner and the double noggin knocker. Really cool novelty. I love it when guys bust out a style that you don't normally see from them. Another *** match that is the type you go to bat for and enthusiastically hype and defend.

I'm just curious if anyone else doesn't feel the need to take a side on this. Both sides have valid points, and both sides are wrong about things. The truth is probably something else entirely.

It was Kid Rock's "American Badass" from May until probably September-ish, then Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'" until the heel turn I think.

At this point, he still had the Kid Rock theme, actually, but yeah, still a dub-in.

The title reign from 12/02 - 09/03 is as bad as any long-term title run in company history.

I just didn't enjoy this at all. Seemed booked to show HHH was the smartest guy in the room. I think we've now crossed the line into full self preservation mode. It may not be as grating for a while because he still clearly deserves his spot. But we are there. The one positive I can say about this is that it did keep Jericho in the mix as someone who bugs HHH as much as The Rock does. But everything continues to center around HHH and his reactions when it should center around Rock and his reactions. The match was just a lot of interference spots. It's going to be a long decade.