Loss

Yeah, even just the names discussed and the faces shown -- if absolutely no other problems existed in WCW -- put the company in such a time warp. Hulk Hogan. Ric Flair. Lex Luger. Elizabeth. Curt Hennig. Jimmy Hart. With Flair rambling about the Four Horsemen and Double A and "the girls". And Hogan talking about "Hulkamania". And constant references to "15 years". Some of those names still had some things to contribute in the right environment, but none benefit from being surrounded exclusively by wrestlers from their own generation. Flair and Arn are great talkers, but they are really overplaying an angle that doesn't deserve it, and I don't think the fans of 2000 wrestling even care about or deserve Arn's sincere and heartfelt promo style, especially when WCW at this point just seemed to draw fans that saw that hey, the stars are in town. The Luger-Hennig match in the middle of the show goes nowhere after Flair runs in quickly but Hogan makes a save to set up the tag main event. These guys got three segments in a two-hour show. The funny thing about this is that the tag match is really good, with everyone looking especially spry, building heat nicely with everyone working hard. Luger looked the best he had looked in quite a while, Flair was fired up, Hogan as FIP worked well because he's so over and Hennig is a really good hot tag. Everyone in the ring seems motivated to have a good match, and they succeed in doing so. There is just the staleness that permeates everything that's a much bigger issue than how good or bad the matches are, or how good or bad the booking is, and new main eventer Vampiro is a pretty funny solution. So good match, yeah, but not really the kind of good WCW needed. ***1/4

McMahon children, little people and fake laughing from heels, with stips that make the outcome obvious. The opening segment couldn't be more WWE if it tried. Jim Ross helps make the match seem better than it really is, and of course the angle at the end is outstanding and a great babyface payoff, even though I'm not sure what I think of Vince decking his own top heel.

This is a slightly remixed version of the DX theme between the original version and the Run-DMC version that I don't remember at all. Rikishi is still the most over active babyface in the company not named The Rock, which makes this a fun match. Scotty 2 Hotty messes up The Worm, which the crowd doesn't like at all.

Everyone gets to talk before their 4-minute match, which Tazz declares no DQ. These guys worked a ton of stuff, maybe too much, into a four-minute match, but it was a fun ride with everyone working incredibly hard. Angle pins Jericho in the end, who was easily the most over guy in the ring.

Kash makes Awesome look great, but what was ECW thinking establishing this guy so much without signing him to a long-term contract? I wasn't a fan of this at all outside of Kash's springboard plancha getting him over strong in getting squashed, but at least it was kind of a different Mike Awesome match, which is a rarity.

The pre-match promo from Corino is good heeling, but I really hate the angle, both because it's beyond tasteless and also because Lori Fullington's facial expressions are like second-rate Diana Hart Smith. This is a different type of brawl than you usually get in ECW, which is probably why I liked it a lot more than the crowd. More slow-paced and driven by psychology and hate. Good for Dusty pulling out matches like this here and there in his 50s with an opponent that could make him look good. Not a great match or anything, but everything it needed to be. ***

I didn't care for this one much. The work was solid, but this felt a little what some would call Terry Taylor-ish, to coin a phrase, in the sense that it was technically fine wrestling with no real personality or grit. Just there.

Definitely wish we could have had this in full considering the talent involved. Agreed that this is the best I've ever seen Yone look, as typically I'm not a fan of his at all. Carl Greco shows up! Let's hope it's not too long before we see him again, and in a complete match given lots of time at that!

Okay match, but too short to amount to much. Hokuto is in a lull, and I think she was probably at a point in her career where if she was going to be effective, she needed a great storyline to carry her. She supposedly has a last hurrah coming next year, at least briefly. This is exciting and chaotic, and the Crush Girls are still over af in the post-match, but this really feels like WCW in so many ways.

Everything about this was completely unremarkable. Aja showed her worst tendencies here, Lioness showed her worst tendencies here, Nagashima-Sato could only do so much and the match was a complete cliche. I'm not a fan of Aja's no selling side at all. I can handle no-selling turnbuckle shots, but not kicks to the face. Couldn't get into this one, and I would put none of that at all on the non-veteran team, who I think did what they could.

This Rock N Roll Express duo sure has their act down. Fun stuff. I have no idea who those three jabronies are on the other side, but at a certain point it doesn't matter. Morton and Gibson just need warm bodies for their teamwork to make the dream work.

I think I've returned to my optimist streak as once again, I liked a match more than Chad. In this case, it's probably one that could have been easily predicted because of the pacing, the style in which it was worked and some of the nuances in Montoya's work that are going to get a thumbs up for me. A heel who calls for a water break after a long mat exchange? A heel who responds to a long boring chant by feigning outrage than snapping on a chinlock? I'm sold. Montoya is probably the unsung great indy worker of this time period in my mind. He doesn't work the traditional style we think of as an indy wrestling style. It's something a bit more old school and focused on getting heat, and the guy does exchanges really well. I thought the early exchanges, by the way, were off the hook (I think that's the first time I have ever used that term in my life -- shoot me), with Quackenbush doing his zany counters as crowd pleasing spots. The retirement angle surrounding this is dumb since as far as I know, Quackenbush had only been in wrestling for about 10 minutes before this match, but it's hard to complain about something that sets up El Hijo del Santo coming in. I thought Montoya's heat on Quackenbush seemed to go way too long -- not that the match was too long, but just the way they allocated the time they had. Still, this was great and came awfully close to being something really special. ***3/4

This is a hardcore match, but most of the brawling takes place in the ring. There is one table spot, no weapons and no blood, yet the crowd is more than satisfied with the quality of the match. A lot to be learned there about how they created violence through their ringwork without gimmicking themselves to death. Mack was awfully giving, maybe even too giving in some ways, but if the goal was to get Low Ki over as a tough as nails guy who could go toe-to-toe with someone bigger than him and hold his own, this match accomplished that in spades. The stiffness of the shots neutralized whatever size difference may have made this a tough sell for some fans, and this is a big credit to both guys. ***3/4

Modest really worked like a season pro at this point. I thought this was a borderline great match that suffered because they got a little too cute with some of the counters and reversals a couple of times, and because Morgan needs more ground offense. Modest's offense looked awesome and I thought he was a tremendous heel. One of my favorite things about the APW has consistently been the atmosphere, as it continues to remind me of a NWA Worldwide taping from 1986. I'm not sold on Donovan Morgan at all, but I thought Modest looked great and this was an effective carryjob. ***1/2

This was a total blast. Loved the power guy/flyer vs power guy/flyer dynamic Chad mentioned, and I also loved the pace these guys cut. Everyone seemed out to impress, and the crowd was eating this up with a spoon every step of the way. Interesting flipside to APW from Daniels-Modest in January, which had a much more old school crowd filled with kids, while this was more of an ECW-style crowd filled with teen dudes chanting "A-P-Dub" after highspots. ***1/2

Typically fun, short C-show match involving these guys. WCW sure went out of their way to portray the luchadores as worthless nobodies. Sad.

133rd verse, same as the first. OVW books the same show every week, has the same matches every week and has the same bullshit every week, all while Jim Cornette screams at the top of his lungs. Over it.

Solid workman's match with a veteran leading a young guy and making him look good. Nothing special but professional. I don't quite get the post-match angle, but it is what it is.

Brandon Baxter and Wolfie D are just outstanding here on the mic. Someone bottle them up and ship them to 2017, please. A series of hot angles and promos lead into a balls-out, fast-paced four minute match with both guys looking great. As much as I love PG-13, Wolfie D in some ways looks even better on his own, and Derrick King does indeed look like a star on the rise. This was tremendous. ***

The crowd didn't get into it very much, but I thought this was a great match, and a nice dose of early 90s nostalgia, with Kawada assuming the ghost of Jumbo Tsuruta amidst a cast of familiar players. Everyone is a little older and wiser, so the match has a different dynamic, but there's cool stuff here from everyone, be it Kikuchi's selling as FIP, Misawa and Kobashi doing strong hot tags, Taue torturing Kikuchi or Fuchi really torturing Kikuchi with some insane moves, like the backwards headscissors in an almost crucifix position across the ropes. Ridiculous hold, and one of a dozen super cool things about this match. One of the last matches of his kind. ****

This is an awesome Akiyama performance, finding his inner grump and taking out all of life's troubles on Kentaro Shiga, who puts up a nice fight, which seems to be a horrible mistake. You'd think Akiyama might be in a good mood considering his recent win over Misawa, but no such thing is true. The side headlock getting a submission is amazing. The side headlock! It looked awesome! I could watch short matches like this forever. ***1/2

Ikeda working pro style feels like he's having an affair or something. I don't like it. Plus, while he's not bad, he's far better at the BattlARTS style. I know it's kind of a stretch to call Ikeda and Yone "outsiders" in All Japan, but if you squint your eyes and use your imagination, you can convince yourself they are, and what's the point of bringing in outsiders and forcing them to work the house style? I enjoy All Asia tags as their own animal, and there is some fun stuff here, but I wish they'd stepped out of the box a lot more. The match is technically good I guess, but stale as hell, which is a weird thing to say about a foursome I've never seen in the ring together.

I really liked how this progressed, coming roaring out of the gate before settling into something more calm and then roaring again. This was a pretty desperate-feeling match as a result with both guys throwing it all at each other. The atypical layout made this match feel bigger than it was, and the frantic nature of the selling got everything over as something particularly damaging while also making this a match with high stakes. ****

Looks like Hashimoto and Ogawa are Tag Team Partners Who Hate Each Other based on Hashimoto's pre-match, blood-soaked promo that he cut. I guess we missed an angle earlier on the show. Tenryu and Ogawa start out, which is an interesting matchup in itself, but it shockingly has no heat until Ogawa starts getting cocky. Hashimoto finally says fuck this match and goes off on his own partner, which turns this into less of a match and more of an angle, although the Tenryu-Hashimoto strike battle that follows is nothing short of spectacular. Hashimoto gives an amazing selling performance in a match that isn't designed to be much, but does a great job putting some heat on the 4/7 Hash-Ogawa match. BB Jones is in for the last couple of minutes and gets the win, which I could do without, but it didn't bother me too much. I've just never been crazy about the WWE booking where guys cost each other matches to build a feud, and that's sort of what Hash's loss here was. Absolutely worth seeing for Hashimoto looking incredible, but not much of a match at all.

I agree that Sayama's gear distracted from this as a viewing experience, but it also seemed to distract him. Notice how many times he had to stop and re-tie or adjust something. Fujiwara looked great and like the same Fujiwara he has always been, and I saw moments of that from Sayama, but his ring attire held him back. Too bad. This is worth 7 minutes of your time, but I do think these two had a better match in them at this point.