Chess Knight

I don't like Horowtiz as the tough guy heel, I find him about 0% threatening and it's not like he stooged here to make up for it. There were a few really awkward moments in this where it looked like neither had had even gotten into a ring before and weren't sure how to react to the other's position. The failed crucifix was funny, but Silver King jumping outside to nothing was just sad as hell. I thought this was honestly kind of terrible.

I went through some young Styles a while ago and was really impressed by his bumping that early into his career. This didn't change my mind, he went all in throwing himself back and bouncing off of the floor. His rib selling was really quite good too, he was convincing and the handicap was a clear hindrance for most of everything he tried. His offense was another story, it was pretty awkward when he wasn't flying, and he didn't seem to know how to even capitalise on chances to go at it, even before the ribs came in. Like that time where he back-flipped from the turnbuckle and landed behind *scrolls up* Jesse Taylor but then just kind of limply punches *scrolls up again to see if it isn't actually 'Tyler'* Taylor was deflating. Thought Taylor was solid too, most notably to me he flew RIGHT into that turnbuckle on an Irish whip. Match was a'ight.

This is my first time watching early Necro, weird seeing him more cartoon-y with the Marilyn Manson-ish face, rather than looking like a homeless guy who just fell out of building in NYC and landed next to you on the sidewalk. I really liked the dichotomy of the hardcore face, and the heel who was adamant about sticking to wrestling. That is until he got a taste of Necro on offense (the somersault plancha looked awesome because of how it was, like, not really a somersault) and then became all too quick to use the chair and go grab Necro’s own bat wrapped in light bulbs. Necro’s early selling reminded me of Andre a bit, like when he was clubbed and bounced back onto the ropes. There was way too much usage of the chair for such a short period of time here, like a shot to the head was treated like a clothesline at times, but without that I thought they balanced the weapons decently in the short time they had. Fun plunder brawl.

Was a big mess thanks to some shit going down in the stands (stands…concrete floor….whatever) distracting the audience and Prodigy just not being any good (there’s no way anybody taught him that’s how you do a missile dropkick) but I had fun with it. Tajiri was his usual Tajiri self in personality and bonus points for chucking candy or whatever in the air just as signal he’s having fun. Like I said Prodigy wasn’t good but him being here was worth it just for when he punched Crazy while Crazy was in the tarantula and some fan went “you’re a little BITCH,” following with “FUCK HIM UP!!” directed at anybody who would take Prodigy out. Like he was genuinely disgusted somebody would do that. It actually got a laugh out of me and you know what I’m gonna go find it again.

I value this kind of thing so much. Even when it sucks (this did not suck) I get a great look at two wrestlers involved doing their thing for 5 or so minutes (damn commercial break). This kind of match where I get to see two wrestlers got on the offensive, sell short-term, sell long-term, one plays face, one plays heel, one deals with manager, one deals with audience is monstrously important to how I judge a wrestler. These two here packed so much into such a fast-paced match, and for the most part I think they did a great job of not really overdoing it. E.g. I loved when Guido got his knees up for the split-legged moonsault but was still suffering from the previous moonsault. The match not ending after the DDT on the chair, or at least the Big Sal spot right after it, was some dumb shit but whatever I suppose, match had like two more spots to go. Guido seriously went in on the DDT. You get a perfect camera angle of his head landing and I grimaced a little at it.

Two hateful awesome trios matches on the same show. Guerrero and Bucanero have never been favourites of mine but surprise surprise, pair them with Satanico and I'm all in on dickhead trio greatness. Bucanero holding Tarzan Boy by the hair while he still tries to swing at a cautious but cocky Satanico but was completely great. Los Infernales work pretty tremendously as a team, I really get the impression any opponent who stands near doesn't have a chance of getting anywhere. They're fans of doing move-after-move-after-move and not giving a breath to who they're mauling. Case in point when Tarzan Boy got in the ring and thought he could do a whole "bring it!" thing to Guerrero and Satanico right before Bucanero launches at him with a dropkick from the side. Stoopid Tarzan man, pay attention. Satanico is unfathomable at making the mundane look incredible. He yanked Tarzan's hair from outside (pulling Tarzan out to the floor in the process) and you could see his muscles tensing up and his face contorting. I mean I imagine that would have actually just hurt Tarzan too but it looked worse than it was, I'm sure. I was really surprised by how long los Infernales had the match for. Wasn't super impressed with the beginning of the tecnico comeback (Guerrero and Bucanero just, like, stood there so Satanico could get dived on) but the meat of it was a lot of fun. Tarzan kicking Satanico while prone on the floor was awesome and of course Satanico sells it excellently because Satanico. Sometimes I really begin to wonder if the only reason I don't call him the #1 all time best is because I've never compiled a list of footage of his to watch a big heap. And we'd be missing an unfortunately large amount.

Never seen a single match that builds up to the legendary Atlantis/Villano apuestas and based on this I may have made several mistakes. Villano and crew tear off Atlantis mask early while punching him in the face and Villano mocks Atlantis by shining his boots with the mask and chucking it away so a ref has to fetch it later. Atlantis still getting beat on and sent to the outside while covering his face the whole time was something else. Once he gets the mask back he clobbers all three rudos (who have Casas and Niebla tied up) and then goes completely ham on Villano. It's pretty rare seeing Atlantis act completely unrelenting like he seriously wants to injure someone but I now wish we got it ore often. He came off frigging furious. Throw in Casas getting a little time act like Casas and you could be forgiven for thinking they were the rudo team out of context. The match didn't slow down very much from the third fall starting and there was just hostility everywhere. No bones about interrupting pins, coming in illegally, double-teaming. Nobody gave a damn and this match ruled. Shout out to Pierroth taking chops "like a man" or something until asking for one only for Casas to dropkick him right there in the chest.

Aw hell yeah I love a hot Attitude Era tag I've never seen. I'm in a weird spot with HHH's 2000 where I'm firmly planted on the "it's very very overrated" side but I also think people too often ignore his good tv output when talking about it. He was good here! I think his bumping is the best thing he does and it's a lot of fun seeing for him bump for someone as large as the Big Show and as over as the Rock. Rock and Show aren't getting along and I liked how they integrated it into the match without letting it swallow it up (at least until the end I guess). This is nothing spectacular but still non-stop fun and I will always think favourably of this kind of thing.

Lemme type this all out so I can understand, bear with me. Sooooooo Benoit and Sid are on the same team despite their match at Souled Out being 4 days away because Jarrett was supposed to be Benoit's opponent (for the US title) in some three stages of hell-style thing but he got injured......2 days earlier than this match. With a concussion. And he's in the ring. 2 days later. Y'know your watching something else when Nash isn't even close to the person you're most worried about injuring themselves. Sid was supposed to face Bret Hart at Souled Out for the WCW championship but Hart was done by then because of the Goldberg kick a couple weeks ago. OKKKKK so it turns out this is what lead to that Billy Kidman/Dean Malenko where Malenko forgot he was in ring-out rules and lost the match in 2m 30s. Kidman had a "Bunkhouse Brawl" with Perry Saturn though which hey, sounds neat. The match. Had some ok stuff like the Jarrett/Benoit exchanges, and I bought that all four guys gave a shit about their feuds. Benoit really has a way to do stuff like Irish whips and make it come off more hateful in intent than most would. I think there's a difference between Benoit doing basic moves and Benoit doing basic moves in a hate feud, is what I'm sort of trying to get at. Sid seemed like he was trying and I don't know if I would have guessed that from 2000 WCW. I cringed like mad when Jarrett went over the ropes at the start, I couldn't help but picture his brain knocking around his skull. Nash hit this one boot that - if Sid wasn't there to connect with - there is no way he wouldn't have fallen over from. This wasn't good but I can't complain about it. Shrug.

Everyone seemed to be working pretty hard to keep the action coming without much of a break (other than the crowd taunting). Lizmark was 49 here and I guess he's one of THOSE "you're this mobile still, huh?" luchadores. I need to deep-dive on that guy. The tecnico comeback on the first fall was actually more violent than the rudo beat down; they were chucking the rudos into the ring posts and Lizmark even pulled Salvaje down onto the concrete. Felt kind of weird that they even did that in the first fall instead of leaving it for the second but hey I'm ok with it. Enjoyable match that I might have given like ****1/4 to if I watched it when i was new to lucha. As of now I thought it was perfectly all right. Maybe especially considering I haven't watched a match like this in a fairly long time.

Outside of his amazing 1996 tagging with Misawa, I've never been able to consistently connect with Akiyama. I do however appreciate him when he's ON, and is he ever on in early 2000 (the Vader match on 1/23 rules, and the Misawa match on 2/27 is one of the best matches of the entire decade). Takayama I basically always appreciate and is a constant contender for my top 10 favourite wrestlers of all time. They quickly ditch the nonsense trading blows (Akiyama standing toe-to-toe in a slugfest with Takayama lmaooooooo no) and make way for Takayama to do what he does best - MAUL A FOLK. Akiyama's selling overall was excellent, reminded me of John Cena at his best. He sold a knee to the gut by spinning in this weird way and it looked amazingly awesome. He sold another one on the outside by shooting his left leg to the side and that also looked really great. This was actually a bit of a WWE/Cena-style match in a way, with Akiyama taking a beating an then finding a desperate opening so he could work the big guy's leg, gradually chopping the tree down. Pretty unlike All Japan to run a match like this. Match only went 10m39s and they maximized almost every second they had, which is maybe my top compliment for a wrestler/match. I loved it.

This was maybe 50% great match and 50% evidence that even 15 minute matches can be too long. Awesome is known for putting people through tables so Spike sets up a bunch of tables before Awesome's entrance, to show he doesn't have fear. He gets thrown through more than a couple before the bell rings. If the bell rung at all? I honestly don't know if it did. There was a great theme here of Spike being half-killed but hopeful and stubborn. The issue is the structure; they just kept going back to the well of Spike getting a big move (commonly involving a table), people think he's in the game, but no Awesome gets a big move (commonly involving a table) and the game is his again. Like it's different to hope spots because the spots actually happened and were big enough to change the tide, but they didn't. Some excellent moments though. Spike's first rage-filled offense period was great, and it ends with him botching a tope after holding his knee in agony. A real "oh no!" of a transition. He later blocks a powerbomb on the apron by grabbing Awesome's leg and swinging at his nuts, then hitting the acid drop through a table. Awesome's clothesline look amazing when sold by a guy so small. If they packed all of the greatness of this into a 9 minute match and left out the overkill, I'd be marking out and asking why the hell nobody's told me to watch it before.

I watched this and thought it was pretty much perfect, and I have no gripes calling it a near-great match. [edit nvm I didn't look hard enough]

Mostly an amateurish spotty showcase but both guys show a bunch of promise in some areas. Ki was already landing cleaner on his feet than Ultimo Dragon and Blade's high risk offense at least looked like it was kind of punishing. Not a good match but if these two have a good match in them later in the year I won't be surprised.

I've loved some Ian Rotten, loved enough that I've had it in the back of my head to watch a bunch of him one day when it's easily accessible to me, but I almost knew from the scissor spot early on this wasn't going to join the love list. Unnecessary, uncomfortable crap. I dropped the 'almost' when Ian just transitioned into offense by, well, just grabbing Pondo's head and kinda moving him. I can take some violence but not when the match exists just to go from one violent spot to another. It's what separates something like this from something like Necro/Klein from KOTDM 2004 (which I consider amazing and one of the best matches of the decade). I can appreciate that you're willing to go through this shit for the sake of.......something.....but I can't appreciate it as good wrestling. This just wasn't good wrestling.

Oh my holy Christ I've somehow never seen this. Unbelievable atmosphere, wild Tokyo Dome crowd, and the crazy bloody mayhem at the beginning did not hurt that. Everyone's so nutso violent in this that when they're standing on the apron calmly, and not pacing like crazed guard dogs, it almost seems completely out of place. Hashimoto/Ogawa being a flop yet still being something that felt like a big deal is such a testament to Hashimoto's aura. Hashimoto giving Murakami some time to lay off of Iizuka before getting fed up, blasting his a couple times, then calling Ogawa in the ring was a total six stars moment. His timing of surprise! spots (like the headbutt here) is completely ludicrous. I swear to fuck I feel like I could play-by-play every single offense move Hash has ever done and feel like I could spent two sentences explaining why it reasonably adds to the match it's taking place in. I could watch this twelve times over right now.

Cool video package. HHH to X-Pac; "I want you to beat his [big Show's] ass like it's never been beaten before." *simultaneously shows X-Pac being tossed around in the match* Yeah this didn't have a ton of heat, nor did it feel like a title match basically at all (the big celebration almost seemed out of place because of that), but it's a good match. Both guys were pretty willing to fling themselves here and there, I especially think Show took a hell of a spill on the announce table. HHH getting tossed onto the floor from near the barricade looked rough too. I like that DX technically interfered, while not physically interfering, or given getting very close to the ring.

Maybe it's because I'm not exposed to late 90s joshi at all but I really loved this. Mita and Shimoda were not only ridiculously unforgiving, but also surprisingly giving when it came time for them to sell some hope spots. I actually liked the second crowd brawling bit because it almost felt like Mita and Shimoda doubted they could put Noumi and Fujii away in the ring and needed to go back to what gave them control of the match in the first place. Noumi and Fujii got some SUPER cool stuff in. Not much, but because of that each move and outburst they had became more memorable. Maybe I'll get tired of stuff like this upon watching a lot of joshi around this time, but I thought this was really bloody good.

Partly because some wrestlers tend to use it on everything no matter whether they're using their arms or legs, no matter which body part they're targeting, and not all of that would result in the same noise. Partly because the idea that a move needs to be heard to be thought of as impactful really bugs me. It feels like they're trying to force the move as someone you "OHHHHHHHH" to. Partly because some wrestlers do it on weak as crap offense where they're hitting air. I obviously don't expect them to actually kick the guy, but hundreds of wrestlers have done a kick convincingly before without causing damage. So I guess over-use and poor ability to hide it would be my main ones. I should point out I don't really HATE hate it, myself. It's more of an eye roller than anything, and even then I reckon I ignore it way more often than I get bothered by it. I probably start to hate it more when I just don't like the match in general, subconsciously.

I really, really, liked this. Really cool hesitation factor at the beginning, and even if the payoff wasn't exactly Kudo/Toyoda, I felt like enough shit had hit the fan when the barbed wire first came into it, and the selling was good. The match eventually had a bunch of big spots like powerbombs and ranas into the barbed wire board, and absolutely none of it felt like it was going over board to me. I actually thought the time spent to set stuff up was more positive than negative, because of the exhaustion, and if something was going to be countered then it was because they had time to rest. You could argue they shouldn't have given each other time to rest, but I like the idea that they thought risking it with a big spot - that might end the match - was worth it. I felt like more time was wasted past the.....where there would normally be barricades. Crowd brawling I'm fine with but one guy holding another guy by his head and walking around for ten minutes to find something to throw the head into - when he walked past twenty other things he could have used - I am not fine with. Some really really good stuff on the outside did happen, though; I loved Yamakawa being on top and Honma putting himself in danger to fight back and take the match, like on his dives. The non-deathmatch work in this was super good, I thought. Practically every elbow, kick, suplex submission had a ton of impact. Obviously as a result of the fact they had been through hell, but it would have been super easy just to treat the standard stuff as time filler and they really didn't. All Japan and Big Japan have an event on the same day on 1/2/00, and I would not have guessed that I would prefer the selling and match structure of BJ's Nail and Barbed Wire Board Death Match, over two of AJ's six man tags. Wrestling, you funny.

Yeah I agree with everyone else, this is sadly pretty lifeless, outside of some workover parts and weird comedy spots. The wrestling was solidly done, though, I think this had some of the work of peak All Japan (SOME of the work), but absolutely none of the energy. I guess I came away from it a little let down, like others have said, because of who was in the match. If this had six people I'd never seen before I'd probably jot their names down to remember to see what else they can do. For a while I've said that expectations and prior knowledge don't affect my enjoyment, or anything, in wrestling. For a while I have been full of shit, and not really known it.

Loved the Akiyama/Omori test of strength at the beginning, No Fear going wild on Kanemaru, and Burning focusing on Asako's leg (esp. Akiyama torquing it before locking in the STF). But I disappointed with this one, because honestly I thought the selling was so spotty. I wound up staring through the screen for a lot of it, because I could expect out of nowhere the guy selling to just be like "time for me to stop" without any build. I hate Kobashi's trade-off stuff.....I really do. I nearly fast-forwarded through a lot of it, and I'm getting to the point in my wrestling viewing where, when I see him do it, I start to wish somebody else was in the match instead. At one point in the match Takayama boots him to the mat and Kobashi just literally stands up and starts chopping him. The rest of them kind of did it, too. Akiyama and Takayama have a forearm trade off where Takayama goes down, but then just winds up on top of the match anyway four seconds later. Omori did this amazing slap to Kanemaru that felt like a momentum changer, but Irish whipped Kanemaru to the corner where Kanemaru greeted him with a boot. Those "fighting spirit" trade-off bits feel so damn useless most of the time. I've never liked Kanemaru but I don't think I've ever seen him this young, and.....thought he was even worse. When Omori went for the test-of-strength and he just kind of gingerly kicked him, I actually said out loud 'Fucking hell, you're terrible." His weird bursts when he would just forearm all three No Fear completely out of the blue after being at the bottom came off as really forced. Groin headbutt was great, though. This isn't "EVERYTHING I dislike about 21st Century puro", but it's not the best welcoming card for what's to come, honestly.

I seriously watched the Kendrick promo nearly 20 times. Deliciously 90s, if you asked anybody on Earth when it happened, with no context but just those 12 seconds, they would bet their life it didn't happen after 2001. Boyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Ok the matc---WAIT SPANKY COMES OUT TO BRITNEY SPEARS. AND HE'S DANCING! I would pay for a comp just filled with the first 90 seconds of this on loop, like 25 discs worth. The match can only disappoint, now. Hell I liked this way more than I'd've thought. Kendrick brought more personality and felt more natural, but I think I preferred Danielson's offense to anything. Needed perfecting, but I can think of a few shots he delivered that definitely don't look rookie level. Great snap suplex, and he took a hell of a tumble to the outside, too.

Holy crap, that was fast. Day 1 into the decade and there's an awesome match I probably might've never otherwise watched. Felt like pure good against pure evil with no shades of grey in between. First fall was tremendously fun set-up and I adored Tarzan Boy laying on the ground while trying to lay kicks in, just taking any chance he could reasonably get. Loved how the next two falls played out. If I didn't know any better I'd guess Tarzan Boy would be the #1 guy in the company just based off of this. Satanico manages to be one of the best parts of a match without even being a competitor in it. I probably would have called this ****3/4 had I watched it in 2010.