Loss

This is no nonsense, aggressive Toryumon that I really enjoyed. Crazy Max is mean and just continues to build heat on themselves, which is hopefully building to some sort of big time moment of retribution or comeuppance. Really good match that feels escalated from the previous stuff, and I look forward to Mochizuki saying enough is enough. ***1/2

I loved the spinebuster spot because it was a case of Crazy bringing the table in and his plans getting detoured, only for him to get the worst of it. There was lots to like about this, but the action was too back-and-forth without either guy really getting a chance to control things for a long period of time. Kind of a cliched ECW match with all the table spots too. I liked a lot of the spots for creativity and brutality, but didn't like the layout much. Crazy is really lucky he didn't get seriously hurt on that lionsault where he hit the leg of the upside down table.

Mike Tenay hates 3 Count way too much. They are great! They just want to slow down and get their groove down for all the ladies, what's not to love? I do enjoy Tenay and Hudson comparing 3 Count to Lou Reed though, just for a nice dose of total absurdity. This would have been an incredible feud, and these guys should have been doing battles of the bands and long dueling promo segments on Nitro every week if WCW truly wanted ratings. I'm so glad we got to see these teams square off one more time. I don't think we get it again, sadly, but at least we got it twice. They really went balls out in this match even though they didn't have much time. So, so good. I loved all the missing splashes from the top rope, and really wish these teams could have gotten 15 minutes on PPV at some point. ***

WCW found the Cuban Assassin, which is both hilarious and awesome. I thought this had its moments. Regal is always a good barometer to see what guys are capable of doing as actual wrestlers, so his matches are always worth checking out for that reason. Plus, it's the freakin' Cuban Assassin in 2000.

One of the most consistent C-show guys against one of the most inconsistent C-show guys. You can't completely ignore Lash Leroux because occasionally, he'll bust out something decent. I'm all for Silver King bringing FOREHEAD BITING to WCW Saturday Night and all against Mike Tenay and Scott Hudson not even calling it. He had a rough night here, blowing a basic criss-cross sequence, going for a pin after an armdrag (Whaa??) and even messing his finisher (unless that's how it's supposed to look, which ... wow). Silver King tried, but found himself in the Tracy Smothers role. Lash was at least better than Scotty Sabre, though.

I usually like Cornette on commentary, but I've found him a bit overbearing in OVW. He doesn't leave anything at all to the viewer, does too much shouting, and talks too fast. Everything is constantly turned up to eleven at all times, so there's no extra gravity for the moments that are supposed to resonate. I like both of these guys and this was going along well until all the ref run-ins started. One of those times the presentation of a match couldn't get out of its own way. Rico coming in and pinning the champ after he had a full match and acting like a hero. Some babyface. Did anyone else find the announcing really grating and actively unpleasant here? I kept turning the sound down and couldn't seem to get it low enough. While I haven't loved OVW, I haven't hated it either, but this whole thing has me pretty negative on it. Let's hope it's an outlier.

Working a match that goes almost 15 minutes while handcuffed is pretty damned impressive, especially when it's a competent match. Still, I prefer brawling that's more focused on hate and intensity than unique weapons, so this really wasn't my thing. I do think Necro's self-sacrifice can make this kind of dumb stuff compelling in an odd way, and people who like crazy weapons brawls will probably like this as something well-worked within that style, but it's just not really for me. He gets better later, but right now Necro is a bit Nise Mick Foley, only with face paint. I'm guessing the final nine seconds were something they couldn't show for fear of losing their TV, but I have no clue what it could have been. It could have even been a work to cover for damaged tape. FYI, the NWA Southwest dries up here, and we won't see Necro again in 2000.

This is the start of the show, but since it tied to the battle royal, I thought the two segments should be watched in tandem. Brandon Baxter ends up hijacking the show, pointing to a contract that was never terminated that still gives him matchmaking authority, so he sets up matches on the show for the day, including the battle royal for the title, with Ali in the Roman Reigns position from last year's Royal Rumble defending against everyone. Nothing to the match but Ali remains the champion against all odds instead of Randy Hales' son-in-law coming in last and winning at least.

Cornette almost manages to make this match seem like the fight of the century in the pre-match promo. All the lumberjacks are heels since Cornette got to pick them all because of a contract loophole. The crowd chants for Randy, but he sure is an awkward guy. He gets a clean win after Not A Great Bulldog But Probably Not The Worst One I've Ever Seen. Weird thing to say about non-workers, but I almost wish this had lasted longer just so it could have had more schtick and more time to pace.

Smothers cuts a typically great heel promo before the match to get the studio crowd worked up in a frenzy. Sadly, they lose most of that when the match starts because Scotty Sabre is awful and messes up almost everything he tries, even super basic stuff, and the crowd quickly gets tired of him. That leaves Tracy Smothers to wrestle himself, and Sabre is so bad that he literally seems untrained, so the fact they made it through this without anyone breaking their neck I'd consider a huge success. What a mess.

One reason this worked so well was because the fans understood the holds and they had been built up to have meaning. I think you try to transplant this match into another place and time and it probably struggles to get over because it's not the type of match that really sells itself in terms of action or excitement. At this point, New Japan was on the right side of the line. I tend to think most great wrestling is universal, but this is one of the rare exceptions to that. I also appreciate how they haven't gone full blown RINGS or anything, but have allowed the shoot style stuff to at least have some influence on the working style. Frye was presented as a legitimate badass (and he was and is, so that wasn't hard), and he's a great opponent to establish Sasaki as a champion and legit tough guy taking him down. I don't know how much offense other guys were getting against Frye around this time, but Sasaki more than held his own. He survived Frye's initial attack, including a cross armbreaker, and forged his own counterattack with the clip on the apron and the sharpshooter before finishing him off with a series of lariats, all of which felt like a tribute to his mentor Riki Choshu. I really enjoyed this match as much for being a booking triumph as I did a wrestling triumph, hitting all the right notes and doing a match that was uniquely New Japan at the same time. ****

Shiro Koshinaka is the real Terry Taylor of Japan. He's in some good matches, but there's such a difference when he's in the ring from when Tenryu is in the ring in the heat and violence level. I like how Kojima gets the fans to react to his hot tag because in Japan, that usually doesn't happen. I loved Tenryu cutting off his comeback, only for it to be short-lived because Koshinaka insisted on using his ass. Tenryu with a grouchier partner would have resulted in a better match, but this was still decent. I am going to complain about Koshinaka hitting people with his butt every time he has a match unless he suddenly stops.

A terrific 8 minutes of wrestling. The shooty elements are here without being overdone, and this is a really fun, physical match. Chono has been really good in 2000 so far, really holding his own with Hashimoto, and I wouldn't mind seeing them lock up one more time in a big match. Iizuka has also been strong so far, and seems to be a quiet but consistent contributor to a lot of really good matches, almost like he's the Naoki Sano of the 2000s (unless Naoki Sano turns out to be the Naoki Sano of the 2000s). Hashimoto gets another tapout win to keep building momentum and I enjoyed every second of this. ***1/4

Someone has to tell me the difference between a Japanese Death Match and a Mexican Death Match. I didn't like this as much as I hoped I would. The previous death match was more violent and Crazy seemed more able to draw sympathy based on his selling and blade job, where this seemed all about the crazy plunder spots. It had its good moments, but I thought a lot of the spots required too much setup time and there wasn't much depth outside of those spots. I can handle a match built around those, especially in this promotion, as long as there's something beyond that, but there wasn't much here. I'd still call this a good match because it clicked with its audience and there was some impressive stuff, but I just see it as a good match -- not much more. ***1/4

I tried watching this last night, but my mind kept drifting because I was too tired, so I wasn't giving this my full attention. It had nothing to do with the match and was my loss, as this was pretty good. Mikey was a better heel than I would have expected, considering how much of his career he spent as an underdog. Spike pivots from co-opting Roddy Piper with the babyface eyepoke to co-opting Bret Hart by giving his taped glasses to a kid at ringside. Go getum, Spike! Spike's pinning combo bonafides are strong! This was not at all what I expected -- total traditional house show match playing to kids in the crowd with a strong face-heel divide and some really good wrestling sequences based more on character work than the daring level of the moves. Very old school in that sense. I actually really loved this match and would like to see them match up in a longer feud like this. It seems like between Corino, CW Anderson, Kid Kash, EZ Money and these guys, they had the talent on the roster who would have benefitted from more stuff like this. Maybe selective bias is hiding some of it, but I'd love to see more that resembles this. ***1/2

I think there are things to appreciate about each decade, and my answer would probably change based on the day. Each decade offers something that others don't. It's tough for me to pick anything before the 80s as my favorite with so much footage not being available. I like the general ambiance of 1980s wrestling more than any era (cheesy music videos, rabid crowds, and the right balance of in-ring goodness and out-of-the-ring silliness), but the 1990s probably trumps it for match quality, even if the atmosphere lags behind for me. 2000s wrestling I'm exploring now and I don't know where I stand on that yet, but halfway through February 2000 it's at least off to a good start. 2010s on an objective match quality level probably holds its own with or exceeds any decade in terms of great matches on tape, but it doesn't tug at my heartstrings. Admittedly, maybe that's because I won't let love in and that could change at some point, but right now it's tough for me to go there. I'll probably grow to love the 2010s in the 2030s.

What will really be awesome is when Mike Awesome leaves ECW so we can safely ignore him for the most part. Two more months! The ultimate "get your shit in" wrestler, even if some of his shit is gymnastically impressive and can result in occasional good matches with the right opponent. In this case, Little Guido can be that guy to an extent and at least knows how to put him over strong. Nothing we haven't seen before. Probably something we'll try to avoid seeing again.

These buildings make ECW television look like old episodes of UWF TV, which is kind of charming. RVD actually has really interesting and totally unique matwork when he does it, and I'd be interested in seeing a wrestler try to get a long match out of him without going vertical just to see what happens. It may be a horror show, but I think it may surprise people. I don't know if I'd call Furnas, Kroffat and Masato Tanaka similar workers, but someone should figure out what their in-ring style had in common, because those are the guys who got the most out of RVD, and RVD should really only wrestle guys like that. Silly me, I was really into this until the table was rolled out because it was a good wrestling match. I don't mind that stuff if it enhances a match, but I hate it when a match is doing fine without it and they add it anyway. Van Dam takes a nasty bump through the table, a bad superplex which ends up being a brainbuster, which Styles calls a DDT. He keeps teasing comebacks (Who does he think he is, Ricky Morton??), only for Tanaka to cut them off. There was some of the typical ECW silliness in this, mostly with the inclusion of the table, but by and large, the work was really good. It was interesting to see Van Dam work from underneath for most of a match. The crowd rallied for his comeback by chanting his name -- the match had genuine, old school babyface psychology! His selling, his big comeback, his clean win: this may be the one time I've seen a Rob Van Dam match and thought this guy has what it takes to be the top star of a major company. ***1/2

This was ridiculous fun while it lasted. Tenryu is as casual while demolishing people as Vincent and Jules standing outside someone's door discussing pop culture before performing a hit. He's chopping guys and throwing chairs like it's just another day at the office. Sasaki looks really great here and I marked out for him refusing to sell or take a bump for Shiro Koshinaka's ass. Finally, someone does what needs to be done. Kenzo Suzuki looks nervous as hell and looks like he almost kills Tenryu on that overhead throw. Tenryu sort of sighs, as if to say, "Do we have to do this?" and just gets up and starts chopping the young fellow. I liked how both Tenryu and Koshinaka found ways to put over Sasaki at every turn, even while Suzuki dropped the fall. Really good stuff. ***1/2