Tim Evans

I try watching these early Toryumon matches but I just can't get into them. Mochizuki is the most impressive of the bunch. At least the most polished. However, I love Crazy Max the group. Got a big pop out of them doing the pedigree after the match.

If this involved anyone else, I probably would not have liked it as much. However, Onita just has that charisma than I can watch him and his friends like Yaguchi even to this day. Lots of chair shots to the head especially from Nakamaki. He was the guy I was most impressed with in this match. Got a chuckle out of him doing the Stroke. Not as good as the match from January but still fun. Even Mr. Pogo gets involved.

I enjoyed this as it was a tale of two matches. Dragon Kid and Magnum were doing the flying and comedy while Crazy Max was doing a great hybrid of 1997 Kaientai and heel PG-13 era Nation of Domination. Really liked Sumo Fuji using his sumo as heel taunts. Dragon Kid's santo dive was insane looking. However, my favorite part was the end with Ultimo Dragon in a suit kicking ass Kung Fu style. Is he still retired around this time?

WWF didn't start acknowledging the light heavyweight title till 1997. It was brought to Japan in the mid 80's I believe and they just used the name until WWF made them stop when WWF started using it. Also FULL is a Mexican promotion that is still around to this day run by Tienblas Jr. I think Hamada was apart of it back in the early 90's which is why he used the name.

There is just something about Onita deathmatches that I love even to this day. From the entrance to him just wrecking dudes. Kikutaro doing the sabu tribute spot of wrapping barbed wire to his body to hit Nagasaki was nuts. Stunned to see him in a deathmatch. Almost as much as seeing current day CMLL mid carder Shigeo Okumura doing deathmatches. That was a fake Kendo Nagasaki right?

I wasn't bored by Tiger Mask so that's a plus for this match. Kinda wild seeing a young Mochizuki considering he's still going strong these days in Dragon Gate. Match was fun and a lot more mat based than I was expecting. The finish was just dirty though. I thought for sure Mochizuki was knocked out from that top rope ace crusher but I guess it was just a stinger.

I think the most interesting thing in this match was the ref bump that led to nothing. That's new and kinda refreshing. Also refreshing that this was worked mostly clean and didn't feature much Crazy Max interference. Still however, I thought this was kinda boring. Both guys looked the same and didn't really stand out.

Togo is so great at everything he does. Love how he bumps for Delphin's moves and works over Delphin like he's Bret hart. The match was a little long but I liked the finish. Togo's heel group ruled though. Who was the guy that looked like Japanese Johnny Grunge?

I think I've mentioned this before but Yamakawa is one of my favorite deathmatch guys. He takes crazy bumps but they make sense and I love that he comes out to Journey. As for the match, I liked it but it was kinda long. Some parts dragged but other parts were real good. Like when Homna did a backflip off the Barbed wire board. I liked how they spent some time before using the weapons. Finish came out of nowhere which was nice. Good match.

JT retired around 1996. Came back for an appearance in 1998 and I think he was at ECW one night stand.

A Jimmy Valiant match in 2000. Why not? He wasn't in much so it's ok. The heels weren't very good especially Havok. Ali and especially Derrick King were good enough to hold this together. Fun tv match with Derrick doing dives and Brandon baxter taking a beating. Sir Mo returns and beats down Derrick and Ali. This leads to one of my favorite Power Pro angles, General Koko B ware.

Zubaz Tracy Smothers is something I didn't know I needed in my life. Crazy brawl that goes outside into the ring. Of course, the camera misses the light tube shot but that makes it more brutal to a point. Poor Tracy taking that superplex. That had to suck. Fun match. Now as for Power Pro vs MCW, Power Pro seems to be more exciting at the time. MCW didn't really find it's footing till guys like Spanky, Cade, Dragon and Regal came in to have awesome matches. Around this time, MCW was just in front of dead crowds with KAW leftovers and guys like Lawler, Meanie, Jim Neidhart and K-Krush.

Derrick King is awesome. Shame he's pretty much retired these days cause he would be good on the indies and possibly TNA. He held this together pretty nicely. Nice to see KAW vet Chris Michaels in this promotion. Allan steel took some nice pumps. Finish was awkward cause it seems the tape skipped some stuff. Of course, this match needed a ref bump. Good match.

The starting angle is interesting cause it features Wolfie D winning the tag titles. If I remember correctly, JC Ice was supposed to be with him but got fired before the show ever started. Vintage Jamie Dundee. As for the match, it was the usual battle royal with the good guy beating 2 heels to win. Scotty Sabre even botches getting eliminated. Also Brandon Baxter is a hell of a promo. I love that he's still coming out to Badstreet USA about 6 months after Michael Hayes left.

This was the definition of a promoter booking himself in a top match. Randy Hales couldn't work a lick but for some reason liked to book himself in tv matches. This was pretty bad as Randy looked clumsy and awkward. Glad this was short though. Also no ref bump which is a plus. Tracy just brains poor Randy with the chairshot like someone owed him money.

God bless Tracy smothers for trying to get something out of the shit sandwich that was named Scotty Sabre. Holy crap Scotty looked bad. I can kinda understand the botched dive because that ring didn't look safe and it's easy to lose footing but that pinning spot. Poor Tracy had to look dumb by doing it again. Of course, this needed a ref bump. Just bad all around.

Saw him team with Shinsuke vs Roode and Patrick Clark tonight. Thought he looked good and at least is not wearing that tight shirt he wore in the Roode title match that airs this week. I don't want to spoil it but that match was disappointing.

Jim Cornette is almost single handily killing Power pro for me like he did OVW around this era. A ether rag finish in 2000? Really? Best part of this was Smothers not giving a shit and wrestling in his street clothes. The Baxter heel turn makes no sense but i'm not surprised. He was a better heel anyways. Thrilled that this is leading to a Randy Hales vs Jim Cornette match. This was pretty bad. You know you do too many ref bumps when the fans are silent during it. They just don't care anymore.

Ali was the guy in Power Pro during its final year and a half and this was the start of the push. Bradley loses as he's headed to MCW in a couple months. The match was good for a tv match as Ali had a ton of potential and Bradley could more than hold his own. I was dreading the ref bump but they actually did a clever finish by not making the Baxter heel turn the finish.

Tracy by god Smothers. He cuts the same promo he always does but it's still a great promo. I liked Dinsmore here. Much better than what I've seen of him in OVW around this time. Tracy takes out Dinsmore and the ref after the match. Good little impromptu match and especially impressive with Smothers working in cowboy boots. Smothers career in 2000 was interesting, Here, ECW, WCW, Memphis championship wrestling. Hell of a run.

Cornette got the book shortly after the Doug Gilbert shoot in 1999. I think he stopped around the time WWF pulled out and formed MCW shortly after this. This is a cornette special. Ref bumps, screwy finishes, multiple run ins, all about Cornette. Really disappointing match as the one they had when Rico won the title was real good.

Power Pro had become even more OVW Memphis around this time than it had at the end of 1999. Bradley was pretty good here holding it together and taking some good bumps. Trailer Trash would have fit in perfectly in the WWF hardcore division. Finish was pretty blah but decent match.

There are so many questions I have watching this. Why is Willy wearing a karate Gi and boxing gloves? Is Kuroda trying to do a rock impersonation? What were the rules of this match? This just confused me and that says a lot about Sports entertainment era FMW. Also, aren't comedy matches supposed to be funny?

Skinny Abdullah is a sight to see. This was interesting as Homna does his usual crazy bumps but the match is built on attacking Abdullah's arm. I didn't notice it till the finish. I liked how there was blood but not a ton from silly lighttube shots like most of these deathmatches seem to be. The weapons were used at the right time but not overdone. Good match.

This just felt so slow. It's like they are trying but everyone besides Kawada looked like they were going at half speed. Hansen looked old but Taue wrestled even older. The Kawada/Smith parts were fine as smith was carriable. Just a sad match from All Japan.