Childs

Taker-Shane was really terrible given the time wasted on it and its position as the "real" main event. Last year's show was an abomination in general.

Did Ali hurt his legacy by hanging on too long? Did Jordan? Did Willie Mays? Almost all great athletes and performers hang on too long. To portray that as some big negative is silly.

Sabre is having a hell of a year so I decided to give this a spin. But I found it pretty tedious. I understood the story, with Scurll trying to show he could outwrestle Sabre hold for hold and going gradually dirtier when he couldn't put the match away. I just didn't find his work on top interesting at all. I also prefer Sabre in shorter, more aggressive matches, especially ones in which he's working as an underdog. They produced a few good sequences toward the end, but I came away thinking Scurll in a long match is a non-starter for me.

There's a ton of WAR stuff in the year-by-year match threads here. Especially from late '92 into '94.

Can't complain about anything much with the chamber match. That gimmick almost always delivers and this was one of the better ones. Thought Miz would cost Cena the fall but at the same time, it made sense for them to book Bray strong. The Corbin stuff was perfect. AJ lived up to sky-high expectations. Good shit all around.

Mysterio was the greatest Elimination Chamber performer ever, but I could see AJ being right there with him.

The first half of Orton-Harper was pretty flat. The finishing stretch, from those superbly timed superkicks on, was excellent.

This is really boring for a supposed grudge match.

Thought the gauntlet was a fun burst of action in general. Not anything I'll remember but an easy watch.

Wow, they treated Dolph like a jobber there. Not sure the purpose of that.

Lynch-James was good. Not your usual splashy opener but hard-hitting and well put together.

Both guys were willing to go too far, in story terms and literally. And it worked to create one of the great spectacles in the history of the company. First off, the intro video was one of the very best ever created by a promotion known for its great videos. Even if you didn't know the whole Foley mythology, they boiled it down perfectly and let you know what Hunter was in for. I guess they lost the crowd a little when they were brawling out of sight, but even that part wasn't exactly lacking in intensity. I'm a mark for the rapid-fire punches Foley threw when he was trying to set the tone for a real fight, and that wound to Hunter's leg looked gnarly. The last 15 minutes were note perfect, from Foley hurting his leg with that nutty bump to Rock's pop-in to Foley staging a rally while handcuffed to the pedigree kickout. I didn't expect to get swept up in it, but I did.

I actually didn't realize this was Tazz's debut. I don't think I was watching the WWF intently at this point, and I had not been an ECW fan in real time. Anyhow, it certainly was an effective way to bring him in, and Angle played a big part in that, between the promo, the way he bumped around and the fact he sold the choke as death. That said, Tazz was never destined for a big in-ring career in WWF. He was a limited worker, and Vince was never going to present him as a long-term monster the way Heyman did.

I tried to watch this without thinking too much about everything it helped spawn. And I have to give them credit for creating something that felt genuinely violent and chaotic. The key was how tight they kept it. I never felt like I was just sitting there waiting for some dude to set up a movie stunt in the middle of what was supposed to be a blood feud. These guys cared more about creating a vibe than about some "moment" that would live on through generations of video packages. All four of them were nuts of course, but Jeff really earned his reputation for being the most nuts. I hate the fact these car-crash matches have become endemic to WWE main-event programs. But if you want to see it done well, here you go.

They told an effective tale of the new-jack thugs taking down the former baddest boys on the block. I do think that story was a little diminished by the fact Kawada was still clearly the best wrestler in the match. Takayama and Omori took him down by fighting dirty rather than outwrestling him. Actually, Taue was the poignant figure in the match, because he desperately tried to fight fire with fire but just couldn't level the odds for his partner. The crowd seemed stunned by how decisive the finish was, which spoke well for these guys achieving their intended purpose. And they did it in unusually concise fashion. One of the best matches of the month.

Doc teasing a pre-bell takedown attempt made for an odd opening, but I enjoyed him and Misawa working the opening minutes like they were renewing acquaintances. Doc certainly did not look done, though he was notably less explosive than he'd been in the mid-'90s. I popped both times he stopped Ogawa dead in his tracks with straight rights. And I also dug the way he and Misawa kept fighting after the bell. That felt like something ripped from '80s All Japan. The crowd also seemed pretty into Scorpio, which was nice to see. Overall, this was a collection of interesting parts more than a coherent example of great wrestling. But I was more intrigued by it than say, the 1/17/00 Kobashi-Kawada, which was a better match. Matches like this speak to the value of casting such a wide net with the project.

It is surprising that Bradley never became much of anything. He had the look and was a strong fundamental wrestler. He made Ali look good in dropping the strap to him.

This was more of an angle than a match, but you can't teach what Tracy Smothers understood about portraying a pro wrestling character. He instantly made me want to see him against anyone who might come his way in Memphis, including Dinsmore in a potential rematch.

Did these guys ever fail to have a good match against one another? This one lacked the extra kick in the pants that might have pushed it to great. But Tajiri was just in total command of what he was doing, from the way he moved around the ring to the way he interacted with Big Sal on the apron.

This felt like a heel vs. heel match a lot of the way. These were maybe your two most highly regarded indy guys at the time, and I guess I can see why. They both hit their shit pretty well. But I was bored. It felt like they were doing stuff in the same space but not really competing, if that makes sense. And the finish was flat as a board.

This was okay. The control segment on Honda dragged, especially when Omori was in the ring. He just wasn't that good. We got to see a little bit of Takayama standing toe to toe with the big dog, but it was pretty clear Misawa had little interest in imposing his will on this match.

Another chapter in the gruesome death of Tarzan Boy. This time our dashing young hero was covered in blood long before he reached the ring. Satanico is a beautiful man. Loved his jacket, loved his driving head butts to the gut, loved the way he strutted around like he owned the place, loved him going straight to the low blow rather than allow Tarzan Boy an extended shine. Great shit. And the stuff going on around the main two was perfectly entertaining as well.

Furniture-fu will never be my favorite style of wrestling. But Tajiri as a swaggering, vicious bastard was very cool, and Super Crazy had the crowd going apeshit with the intensity of his comeback. This felt genuinely wild at times. Tajiri could easily have maimed someone in the crowd when he skipped those chairs across the surface of the table and through the ropes. I certainly don't recall Attitude Era WWF approaching this level of mayhem on television. I could see this standing up as one of the most memorable matches of 2000.

That Panther takedown was an all-time badass move. Good lord. Both he and Casas looked great in this while it lasted. This felt a little inconsequential compared to some of the other trios we've watched, but there was no downtime. Again, the CMLL has been relentlessly entertaining.

Maybe 2 1/2 hours.