Garbage

Found this to have several cool ideas, and a triple threat where all three are decently active for most of it is nice, but I came away disappointed with the match. I know Lesnar is Lesnar but he straight up no sells the AA aside from maybe looking sweatier and redder after it. Then he gets laid out near the steps for a moment and instead of Cena taking the opportunity as quickly as he can, he's having to take even longer on the five knuckle shuffle because the crowd are more boo-ier than normal (who's fucking idea was it to have this Reigns victory Rumble in Philly??). Lesnar being the looming threat makes a three way actually super interesting to me when I usually don't care for them, and I think with him out for a bit they missed an opportunity to have Cena try to really bum rush Rollins before Lesnar gets back up (or have try to Rollins bum rush Cena). I liked the elbow drop spot that ACTUALLY (almost) takes Lesnar out though, even if I started drifting away during the Cena vs. Rollins bit. I wouldn't say this wasn't good because it does have a lot of positives (they did a great job of diversifying Lesnar's suplex routine with having two guys, and shout out to Rollins' awesome knee on both opponents), but really did feel it missed a few opportunities that could have pushed it up.

I can safely say I'll never be an actual Dolph Ziggler fan but he's good at more than a couple things, and babyface selling is where I find myself closest to becoming a fan (see also: Payback vs. Del Rio). I tend to think he oversells but when you got such a big guy and such a dangerous environment it makes each noodle-bodied bump feel warranted. It helps this type of match when a guy's not afraid to fall off of a ladder in a horizontal 270 motion and catch his arm on the ropes on the way down. Ladder matches being mostly dominated by one guy aren't totally uncommon, but I can't remember one that I'd call closer to an actual mauling than this. Some of the spots in were nuts and unlike a lot of ladder matches, the offense mixed creativity with interesting ideas really well. Harper placing Ziggler under the ladder and doing a catapult with both of them into one of the ropes looked brutal as hell; if watching live I may have been worried Ziggler destroyed part of his neck. Even worse, I legit googled in 2021 AD whether or not Harper broke his arm on that tope landing. Disgusting especially on the replays. I would have to watch the entire match again to count exactly how many areas of the body these two got lacerated on, it felt like every second camera angle there was a new spot on a finger or elbow where we'd see some blood. I loved how infrequently they actually climbed the ladder, too, putting over Ziggler never saying die, Harper having to maul him harder to try to make him. Also because it means each climb up the ladder feels actually big, and I thought Ziggler's scurrying toward a climbing Harper was as good as anyone's, too. Pretty great match.

I like a lot of the 'brawl-ier' early ROH and would recommend that stuff too: Homicide/Corino, Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 8/16/03 Joe/Jay Briscoe (cage), At Our Best 3/13/04 Styles/Rave (street fight), Homecoming 7/23/05 100th Show (4/22/06) 6-man tag - I actually liked this a little more than Cage of Death on last watch, but yeah that's a must-watch as well.

I loved this Unified match and haven't seen it years, but I'd be optimistic about it holding up to some degree, unlike the hour long stuff (except for Joe at FOTC, pretty sure that's still awesome). Funnily, I was going to mention that I never liked Danielson/KENTA. I'd called it well worked, and ***1/4 is probably what I'd give it (even though I don't rate) but for the life of me I could never really enjoy it or consider it remotely close to a MOTYC.

Maybe it was because of how unhappy he was vis a vis where the company was going, but man Misawa seemed to just not want to even be there. His offense still looks good when unmotivated but just running through the move set paint-by-numbers is kind of dire to watch. Was pretty disinterested during this as a whole. I really like peak Honda so I look forward to every chance I get to see him but he didn't impress me here either. I'd love to be the guy who got hit with flowers thrown by Takayama, if only to have the story to tell.

I think even more highly of this now than I used to. Tajiri is near-otherworldly in being a little scumfuck bastard. Sliding the chair across the table didn't even work the first time so he had little reason to try it again, but he seemed to do it just to amuse himself and maybe get an audience member in the forehead. There were barely any moves used in the half of the vid but I don't know if a single one of them could have been taken out without losing something, right down to Crazy repeatedly punching Tajiri on the table to make sure he stays down. I forgot how great the finish was, total last minute desperation from Crazy after taking the mist. I could probably watch this a half dozen more times right now and not get fed up of it.

I haven't got a whole lot to add because this thread got a fair bit of activity and I agree with most of it, but this match has me buzzing so I can't keep my mouth totally shut. Satanico is my favourite wrestler in the world so far in 2000, despite this only being the second match I've seen him in through all of January. It changes when TNN airs that Meixcan death match and Tajiri rules eight planets, but still Satanico's been so excellent both trios and I can't name anybody thus far who's come close to drawing me in like he has. Comes as off as violent on a whole 'nother level; his delivery of every pretty much every move is sublime and I don't care how much we all know that already. It surprises me every time, like those headbutts at the end just look so goooooooood. Big shout out to the bit where Antifaz just ran into the ring to confront all three guys because he was just so utterly and purely fed up of it all. Going off of raw emotion.

Kawada's selling just made this for me, such a goddamn maestro of putting over moves, drunkenly stumbling, grimacing his face, threatening to pass out on a sleeper, etc. He really just gave a shit about every move, y'know? The fighting spirit stuff I usually can't stand but I tend to make exceptions for those moments where a guy pops up, hits one big move, and falls flat down in exhaustion/pain right away. Buuuuut doing it like ten time in a few minutes wares on me super quick. Kobashi getting dropped on his head was massively unnecessary too, especially at the beginning of the match. I loved that little failed kick + near-collapse Kawada did right at the end, like that was the signal that that was truly it - he had nothing left on this night, time to pack it up. I liked this, I did, but it's hard not to feel some sort of upsetting feeling watching this kind of thing knowing what All Japan was a few years earlier.

This was like a fever dream but instead of seeing a zebra dive into a pool of skittles or some shit you see some wrestler you don't remember the name of fall flat on her ass and then bring in some broom handle thing. A light tube? A kendo stick? I dunno, by the time I moved in to have a closer look she'd thrown it away because I guess she figured it wasn't useful enough despite having laid out Aja Kong. The match was almost too much of a mess to be an accident, it had to mathematically perfected to be as convoluted and hard-to-follow as possible. It was a big pile of shit as far as quality goes but I'd recommend it just to have the experience.

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]