Childs

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.

As with the other great match from this show, I don't have a lot to add. But I had this No. 44 for the decade in the Ditch project, so I'm a big fan. This was just the first of many indications that Tenryu in the 2000s was every bit as good as Tenryu in the '90s, and Sasaki had finally started to come into his own as a top guy.

Even though Sid was theoretically the monster, he basically worked this from underneath. Benoit did the stalking and all the cutoff spots. Sid actually played his part well, never letting his ego get in the way of selling. And he didn't do enough for his awkwardness to come into play. Benoit delivered a solid attack as you'd expect. The finish was crap, even if it was somewhat of a necessary evil given Benoit's circumstances. I didn't like this as much as Loss or Chad. They did the best match they could but never tapped into anything legitimately stirring. Maybe *** or ***1/2 but nowhere near a MOTYC.

AJ gave a promising performance. He hit some impressive stuff without going over the top, and he put a lot of effort into selling the damage to his ribs. His execution on punches and stomps was iffy, and the match kind of petered out. But the seeds were evident.

This wasn't real deep, but I'll never complain about eight minutes of rugged, fast-paced action in my TV wrestling. Tajiri was pretty great almost every time out in this period, and Lynn held his own. I"ll take this over most of the bloat we saw from ECW in the '90s.

I don't generally think of Atlantis as a fiery wrestler, but he brought the fury after Villano III beat him down and stole his mask in the primera caida. Their interactions were the highlights here, though Casas and Pierroth also delivered a few fierce exchanges. As with the other trios we saw from this card, they did a great job of creating a wild atmosphere and wetting the appetite for bigger things to come. The tercera didn't feel fully fleshed out but again, it wasn't really supposed to. Exciting times in CMLL.

The Scenic City Invitational finals have also been really good four-man matches, albeit with only two guys in the ring at once. Speaking to the unfortunate cliches of a lot of triple threats, I loathe contrived three-man spots. Please no more three-man submissions or superplexes. They almost always look terrible.

This was more of an appetizer than a fully developed match, but it was a damn tasty appetizer between Los Infernales unleashing hell and the tecnicos delivering a spirited response. I liked Tarzan Boy's willingness to fight dirty with Satanico, and I'm certainly eager to watch them go at it again, which was the point.

Akiyama vs. Misawa 2/27, the 12/14 AJPW vs. NJPW tag and Kawada vs. Sasaki 10/9.

Good to see Sasuke looking spry after a decade of death-defying bumps. And of course Hamada was eternal. I didn't expect them to get so rugged on the mat with Tiger Mask, but that work was cool. Mochizuki's strikes looked crisp, but he seemed less essential than the other three. I didn't vibe with the overall match as much as Loss. My reaction was more similar to Chad's.

I liked this a bunch, though it probably stood out more because it was atypical for the promotion. I'm a fan of UWFI Takayama, but this was probably the earliest I've seen him look like the major star he would become. That combination of heavy hitting, competent matwork and selling just enough vulnerability would become his trademark. They really packed a lot into 10 minutes, and I dug the way Akiyama pulled it out using guile more than force.

No matter what you think of the ultimate direction this style took, it's hard to argue CIMA was anything less than a big-time talent. Everything he did here, from the basics to the big moves in the finishing stretch, looked great. Fujita looked good too, though his selling of CIMA's legwork was spotty. After initially worrying that this might drag, I was pleasantly surprised by how well they paced it. Very good stuff overall.

Cabana looked really smooth. Based on the first eight days of the decade, you could have absolutely sold me on him becoming the best of his indy generation. Punk was sloppier, but the crowd already responded to him. I wonder how many times these guys matched up in the early years of the decade? Had to be one of the most regular match-ups in the world.

You can't get much more 2000 than a dude coming out to Bawitdaba. Blade also wore some of the most indyrific gear you'll ever see. He had some ability though. Ki, meanwhile, didn't have his badass aura quite yet. He was still more of a daredevil. I watched this back to back with the Puerto Rico match, and what a contrast. That was classic face vs. heel. This was just two guys trying to do a bunch of cool shit. The shortcomings of the "cool shit" approach became apparent when Blade whiffed on a table spot to the floor and instead of selling at all, when right up for another attempt as Ki lay patiently waiting. I could only laugh at that one. On the other hand, they did hit legitimately impressive stuff, including Ki's falcon arrow through the table. Ultimately, I found the Puerto Rican match more satisfying.

They didn't quite capture the intensity of the best Puerto Rican stars of the previous generation, but they managed to wring some drama from a classic match structure. I agree that Carly's shine was generally more compelling than Gonzalez on top. The crowd was tremendous and made the finish feel more special than it would sound on paper. It was cool just to get a glimpse of Puerto Rico after we largely ignored it during our long run through the '90s.

Yeah, this was a really good TV match. Felt way bigger than the title change from earlier in the week. Rikishi was crazy over, and Hunter, to his credit, sold for him like he was a major threat. It's interesting how our memories have flattened Rikishi into a pure comedy act. Because he definitely came off as a guy who could've had a run with the belt at this point.