Loss

The most fun, feelgood match of the year has to count for more than ***1/4, I think. I guess life is too short to worry about ***1/4. My best friend who is an accurate star rater said no way is this below ******, and that was his opinion. Anyway, this was just outstanding. I absolutely LOVED this. It captured my heart. Apolo Dantes was born to set up comedy spots for technicos. I watch this and think it may have been his calling in life, because he's so completely phenomenal at it. I was left seriously wanting a Super Porky vs Apolo Dantes 45-minute singles match. I could have watched those two do stuff all day, and they seemed like they had a bottomless toolkit of fun sequences to work from. And the Cien Caras tag is just bonkers. Caras is like the REAL DEAL, a longtime headliner and big draw, and now he and the world's greatest comedy wrestler have to square off and the people go insane. Just beautiful beautiful beautiful. Caras does not act like he's above this one bit, even if he is, which makes this even better. All the Dinamitas sitting in the corner for Porky to do a triple broncobuster ensures I can die happy. Loved this to pieces. ****

I really loved this. I think one reason I liked this so much was because I saw so much of these guys for 2.5 months before this match, so I was pretty invested in both the individuals and pairings, and I particularly enjoyed some of the pairings that were new to me. Mr. Mexico went on an absolute tear for a while and impressed the hell out of me, furthering his feud with Tony Rivera. I also really enjoyed Olimpico continuing his hard luck run, sort of being positioned as a Tomoaki Honma or Mikey Whipwreck type who gets far more over in losing. Lots of great workers in this. The appeal here is similar to that of the Royal Rumble with all the guys coming in and out and seeing different people cross paths who don't do so regularly, but the format allows for better action because the ring doesn't get too crowded. Not quite in the top tier of Ciberneticos I've seen, but just below that. Great match! ****1/4

Something genuinely good from AAA! I'm shocked. It doesn't hurt that at least three of the wrestlers involved in the match are bonafide legends, and pretty much everyone is either very good or can be good in the right setting, and this is the right setting. Every style requires some concessions, and the AAA concession is that the referees are overly involved in matches. If you are able to get past that (which I realize everyone can't, and that is understandable), this is an excellent match, building nicely from comedy and highspots to brawling to pure violence at the end when Texano isolates Perro and just stabs him in the forehead repeatedly with whatever sharp object he has to draw blood just out of sight of the referee. I'm guessing these are the best guys in the company, and this is the least booked match I've seen in a long time for AAA, making it easily the best match this company has had in 2000. ***3/4

This was pretty good. I didn't love it but it was a nice mix of comedy and bumping with some interesting booking. Too much booking, but at least it wasn't horrible or anything. I'm hoping the minis really get a chance to have some classics as the decade progresses. ***

Well what we saw of this was pretty great. Considering the match's reputation, I wish we had more of it. If I knew how long the actual match went, I might feel comfortable actually rating it. The best match of Lance Storm or Justin Credible's life, right?

So much to say about this one. It's half trainwreck, half masterpiece. I guess a lot of your take on this will depend on whether you judge matches as a presentation or as the composite effect of the work in the ring. As a presentation, this was a trainwreck. A very sweet woman is handcuffed to Dave Prazak to start to keep him from interfering, someone who I'm sure makes nice baked goods and runs a hell of a church potluck, but her presence makes this seem a bit silly. Then, when these fans are given actual wrestling, they have no clue what to do with it and don't respect it, chanting for tables and blood during compelling matwork. (To their credit, Ian and the Corporal only double down on what they are doing in response, which I'll touch on in a moment.) Then a fight breaks out in the stands ... or something. The ring announcer has to ask fans over the PA to return to their seats and focus on the action in the ring four times over the course of ten minutes. The run-ins at the end are incompatible with the match that precedes it. So if you're looking at a match as a presentation, this was constantly threatening to fall apart, and came very close many times. However, if you are looking at this as a performance and a match from two pros, it's hard not call this a masterpiece. I appreciated that they started with the solid matwork, ripped their shirts off to do the chopfests and laid in some great punches to really build to the big weapon shots. I loved that they had to leave the ringside area and go to the back to get their desired weapons. I loved all the selling and the super slow pace designed to get over the brutality. But more than the action and selling, I loved their response to the trainwreck happening around them. This was a match threatening to fall apart constantly, as I mentioned before. However, no matter what, these were two guys who just refused to let that happen. You always hear vets like Cornette and other Southern territory types say that in their day, when crowds chanting "Boring!" when a wrestler applied a side headlock, the response was to stay in the headlock even longer until they got it out of their systems. You saw that here with fans rejecting the matwork outright, but with Ian and Robinson determined to lead the crowd instead of the other way around. For ten minutes, these guys are beating the hell out of each other and continue building to the payoffs no matter how impatient or distracted fans are by all the bullshit happening around them. No matter how little they respect what they are doing. And when the big moment happens -- Robinson's DDT on the light tube outside -- it does two things: it gets the blood-and-guts crowd their pudding, and it also accomplishes that on their own terms. I thought about the other top brawls of the year as I was watching this. As a wrestling match, I do think this is right there with both HHH-Cactus matches and ahead of anything from FMW or BJW (and definitely ECW). Those matches had more controlled presentation and better production values that this one didn't, but the quality and thoughtfulness of the work here was likely better, and this match had way more obstacles to overcome. I'm conflicted on the conclusion, because the stuff out of their control does bring this down some. If I was just rating this on Ian Rotten vs Corporal Robinson, blocking out all the other noise, and if this had a finish without any run-ins, I'd probably give this one ****3/4 and we'd all have a Merry Christmas. The work itself was that awesome. But that's not the match we had unfortunately, and it's a reminder that sometimes a statement on a match's quality isn't a statement against the wrestlers themselves. It often is, but it isn't necessarily that. If anything, I guess this proves that while I know and appreciate great performances when I see them, at the end of the day, I am a presentation guy. And I'm not even sure I like that, but it is what it is. ****1/4

I liked the couple of minutes we got of the match before everyone showed up, even though all of the excess was well done too. Rock looks like superman with all the kickouts and everything he is overcoming, and at this point, they are doing a great job building toward his surefire title win at Wrestlemania.

I love that Backlund calls Angle "Mr. Angles". Jericho's babyface promos around this time were so ridiculously sophomoric but they did get a reaction. I kind of liked that everyone got pre-match talk time and wish they'd bring that back. The match is over pretty quickly, but it's a good mix of talent, and I'm always impressed at how good of shape Backlund keeps himself in when he shows up for these things. Benoit attacks Jericho from behind for the DQ to get the ball rolling for that feud and a match we'll see a billion times in 2000. Eddy hits Chyna from behind, which will be quickly forgotten after a storyline twist that benefits everyone.

Lioness Asuka -- probably the best worker I'm the sickest of seeing, mainly because she clearly doesn't see most wrestlers as being at her level and is pushed way too hard everywhere she goes. I realize she is an enormous legend, so it's justified to an extent, but it also seems a bit counterproductive at times. I get it with someone like Devil Masami, who could also show vulnerability at the right times and didn't make her opponents look ridiculous. I'll agree that her elimination here was well done, but I also think this was a really flat match to be so ambitious and involve so many people. Very disappointing. Still waiting for Jd' to do something that really wows me.

It seems like the sponsors never find out anything about WWE unless it involves Daniel Bryan choking someone with a tie or something. (I mean that flippantly -- I know that's not why he was fired.)

It's dumb in the sense that it's not good business because we make a big deal of things that shouldn't be a big deal, I guess. Consenting adults had sex and filmed it because they wanted to. Get over it. It's amazing the legitimate injustices that happen to vulnerable people every single day that get so little attention or outrage while victimless shit like this (I say "victimless" only to describe the actual act, not the invasion of the privacy -- in that sense, all three are victims) grabs headlines. Maybe one day, people will find a way to get over their puritanical sexual hangups.

Who throws the worst chairshots in wrestling history -- Hulk Hogan or Lance Storm? Handicap matches are pretty much always bad, and Hogan being pushed in the right role at any stage doesn't bother me given his legendary status, but being pushed as indestructible against two men at this stage of the game is ridiculous and nauseating. So I kinda hated this. Luger has been working hard in what I guess was the last meaningful main event run of his career, and Flair and Hogan seemed motivated too, the heat is strong, and Hogan even sells a decent amount, so this isn't the worst thing in the world. It's just one of those "this is all wrong for WCW" matches I can't get past.

This match was really good. Jarrett is so much less grating when he's wrestling and not talking. If he'd just drop the guitar from his matches and never speak again, he'd be a lot of fun around this time. Very good action, and I liked the false finish at the end with Booker getting the kickout after the belt shot.

A short match that blew me away. Wow did WCW not know what they had here. La Parka was over as hell and got a huge "Use the chair! chant. No one was over and got chants in 2000 WCW, are you kidding me? The action is incredible -- like Midnight Express vs Fantastics on fast forward with a lucha libre flair -- Silver King and El Dandy were fucking with the ring announcer and Dandy even had the Bobby Eaton right hand punches. To say these guys didn't adopt to the American style in WCW is hogwash. The American style didn't adopt to them. This was tremendous and sad at the same time, because it truly was a chance to rethink the way we do wrestling in America instead of just presenting the Mexican wrestlers as a sideshow. The kind of *** match where the star rating doesn't really do it full justice.

I'd say that will make Raw really heel heavy, but Smackdown is too, so I guess they don't have any full-time babyfaces other than Ambrose that can headline anyway. Jericho will likely be gone soon, I'm expecting Reigns to turn, the ship has sailed with Cesaro and they hate Sami Zayn. What are their options? Orton? Returning Hardys? Nakamura? If no one is coming in, someone has gotta turn, I guess. Are they thinking they can finally pull the trigger on Big Cass? EDIT: Laughing that I completely forgot Seth Rollins existed.

I thought Rock-Cena I at Wrestlemania 28 was a pretty good match that hasn't really gotten its due. Not a great one, but it accomplished what it needed to accomplish, even if I hated the result. Jericho-Punk completely did not live up to the hype and was full of try-hard stuff ("What about your SISTER?"), but it wasn't actively bad. No, actively bad -- that was HHH-Undertaker.

Rie Tamada heeled herself with me right away by not letting Yoshida work a Yoshida match. Even Aja Kong lets Yoshida work a Yoshida match, so step off. I hate the casual nature of run-ins in Joshi so much. This match is hitting my pressure points. The action is good at times, but it isn't a match that really plays to the strengths of those involved. Yoshida doesn't get to school anyone on the mat and neither does Yagi for that part, and Kong doesn't even look particularly menacing. Based on the clips, the match is just kinda there.

The clips make it where I don't think I can rate this, but yeah, this looked to be a fabulous match. Very cool to see Mary Apache here. She looks pretty brilliant in ARSION, and I'm hoping we have more of her there coming. So did Chapparita Asari, who could do a lot of flippy floppy stuff while also making it look really hurty hurty. Two great individual performances, but more than that, two wrestlers with strong chemistry doing a match that wouldn't have worked had they not clicked so well. I don't think this is a match that can be done even with two great workers if they aren't fully in sync with each other.

A very yellow match. It's gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny match. Good to see Hiromi Yagi, and while I don't know anything about Rima, I do like everyone else involved in this match. It never quite came together for me, though. Part of it was admittedly the video quality, but I think the bigger issue was that they were doing a showcase match in a different company, but they weren't really working a touring, showcase style match designed to get over their uniqueness, so the match fell flat. Those matches have their limitations and usually aren't classics, but they are usually good for popping a crowd and providing something different. This didn't really do that. It's really good in parts, but a disappointment overall.

Another good CMLL match. Good effort from everyone, and I continue to be a big fan of Pierroth especially. Satanico is never not good. I like how this escalates from something fairly lighthearted with the comedy at the beginning to a serious brawl by the end. CMLL is the train that doesn't stop moving. ***

This was awesome! Tony Rivera and Mr. Mexico suddenly have a hot feud, adding to the long list of big CMLL feuds, and preparing us for a post-3/17 landscape already. Black Warrior was amazing in this, and was probably the standout worker outside of the budding Rivera-Mexico rivalry. I liked the chicanery behind the low blow finish as well. Blood and hot action -- great stuff! ****

It's here you realize 2000 CMLL as a wrestling promotion can do everything better than everyone. They not only are the best in-ring company in the world, but they are also the most stylistically diverse. Just when you think they've done it all, they give us yet another different type of match. Very good spotfest that I'd love to see in longer form as well. ***1/4

I liked this more than Chad, but I agree that Onita Pro has lost something since 1999, when the heat was off the charts and everything seemed a bit more wild and fresh. What a difference Tenryu made! I still think the action is pretty good, and I enjoy garbage wrestling, but when blood and gore becomes as routine as brushing your teeth or taking out the trash, there's a problem. I'm still on the Onita Pro train, but I do see the warning signs coming. There are some big moments coming that I hope correct course. This match, like all the rest, is a vehicle for Onita, with everyone else pretty much indistinguishable (there are three versions of Onita on his team!). It's cool to see Kendo Nagasaki still popping up in good stuff too after having one of the first great brawls of the FMW garbage style in 1990. This doesn't have the energy that this much chaos and action should, and I think that's because it's too predictable. They're doing this not because they hate each other, but because it's the house style, and that really feels like the wrong reason to do it. ***

This wasn't ambitious, really, but that's kinda nice. I liked this match for these guys just doing something good and basic in a company that does a lot of over the top stuff in the main events. Yes, that one spot was pretty terribly blown, but I liked how FM TARO kept his cool and they didn't lose the crowd because they quickly got the match back on track. I am not really up on either of these guys so I didn't know much what to expect, but if they are death match workers, I guess that's both cool and kind of a shame, because I could see them really evolving into great traditional big title match workers with more experience. ***

Cody set expectations really high for me when he cut a great promo inducting his dad into the WWE HOF. Unfortunately, that was the best promo of his career right then and there. Drew Galloway is of course better (and bigger) than Cody, just as he is a bigger case of WWE missing the boat in just about every conceivable way. Of course, if he went back to WWE tomorrow, he'd have the confidence beaten out of him again and would probably have a disappointing run despite having pretty much everything he needs to be a major star. That's how it works.