Childs

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.

For me, it's not about seeing it, it's about hearing it. That's not at all what it sounds like when an actual punch, kick, knee or elbow lands, so it's like being reminded--loudly-- that every strike is fake. It's maybe the only thing that annoys me about Hero, who doesn't need such a cheap gimmick to highlight his awesome-looking strikes. He made a point of idolizing Misawa. Did Misawa ever slap his thigh on a fucking elbow? No sir. It's so prevalent on the indies now that I've had to train myself not to hate it, lest I be miserable all the time.

I don't have much to add but it was my No. 4 match of 2000 and No. 26 match overall in the Ditch 2000s project.

I've never liked Tenzan, so I enjoyed watching Benoit beat the piss out of him. The crowd seemed entirely on board with the idea of Benoit as a heavy, and it would have been interesting to see him have a more extended run against the top guys in the company. I understand why Tenzan won, but it didn't feel earned.

This was okay. Ohtani was the best thing in it by far and still looked like one of the best wrestlers in the world. Both his offense and ability to engage the crowd were on a different level. Neither Kashin nor Tanaka brought a lot to the table, though their stereo flying armbreaker spot looked pretty cool. Hard for this to stand out on a stacked card, and it didn't.

Show looked pretty lean here and I'm not sure why he felt the need to wrestle in a t-shirt. This was probably Hunter's athletic peak and watching him move around the ring highlights what a mistake it was for him to add so much bulk later on. Match was solid but it certainly didn't feel worthy of a title change. If anything, the celebration with Steph and DX felt bigger than the wrestling.

Two walk-through-the-crowd segments in an 18-minute match? That's pretty close to an automatic disqualifier for me. The second one was particularly puzzling because it took all the starch out of what had become a fairly compelling match. And they never got it back. Mita and Shimoda delivered a fine bully performance, but it's hard for me to give much praise to a match so devoid of dramatic tension.

This was really good for what was essentially a student match. Yes, Kendrick had the more developed persona, but you could see the roots of what Danielson would become in the crispness with which he did basic moves--from chops to forearms to clotheslines to suplexes. He did not look like an 18-year-old kid who'd been training for less than a year. One of the smartest of many nifty things about this project is the focus on tracking WOTD contenders from their origins.

I was thinking I'd submit a ballot. But then I went and looked at the nominees and couldn't find anywhere close to 50 I wanted to vote for. Anyone else have that problem? I'm hampered by not having followed ROH closely in recent years.

Yeah, there's a lot of truth in that. I just don't know how you end up with Cena, who's still obviously the biggest star in the company, working a mixed tag with three people who aren't anywhere near his level. Or Styles, who could lock down the Savage/HBK "great match" role for the next three or four years, potentially working Shane. I don't know who that shit is for. Obviously, they get away with it because Mania is so huge that we all watch anyway. But it's a bummer.

What do you think about it relative to last year? Last year was a dreadful show, so I was hoping for better. I guess this card might be a little better, but you would think for all the talent they control, they could come up with one legitimately exciting match.