Kevin Ridge

Tenryu delivering the cross body off the top of the cage was great moment and his fired up comeback after being untied from the cage was good too. But that's it for this match for me. I don't get why guys were just randomly leaving the cage. Butcher's team had the heavy advantage and then he just wanders out the cage door to be followed after by Goto. Unless this was some type of escape rules match but didn't feel like that as guys would go back in cage after leaving.

Raven wants to be snuffed out by Richards. As they show up in WCW later on I don't think this gets fulfilled on ECW television. Raven is getting really annoying at this point and a move to WCW is fine in my book.

Ogawa looks clumsy on the ground trying to put submissions on. It felt at times like the crowd was more behind Hashimoto surviving the submissions and less believable in that he would actually win. Hash out of nowhere hits a couple shots and gets the knockout which is good but Ogawa got the towel thrown in on him to not look as bad. This stretcher job was behind Hart/Austin and Mysterio/NWO by far.

I hate hip hop/rap these days so I can look back and think this video was okay. RVD took a terrible bump in a Total Elimination which surprised me as I figured he would have done a crazy bump.

This was great. Agreed with the others on Otani and Kanemoto fitting in great with the Kaientai spots though they weren't as over the top in the group poses. Everyone does step up in the first fall when the whole team counts the pinfall. Good stuff. I do like that they mixed up the NJPW and MPro guys on both teams. Honaga could have made for a good member of Kaientai though. I'm fine with things being switched up and someone actually winning two falls straight but this did leave me wanting more with all the guys involved.

Ah, a quick glance at the subject title had me thinking of Kudo wrestling a shark in a pool death match. But it's not a real shark and we only get the last few minutes. The fire ball was crazy and Kudo survives it. Only in FMW. If this was her last match on yearbook? Too bad, as had a fun run during 1997.

Funk as ECW Champion. Cactus Jack but wearing his Mankind tights. I wonder if Cactus was booked way in advance to be on this card. Funk team gets no audible reaction from crowd during introductions. Flaming branding iron! It's a strange match where the fans aren't as responsive to Funk's team but they really get behind Onita's group as the match goes on. I thought they guys did their thing and did it well as I ended up enjoying this.

Hayabusa was just running through his move set during this. Go-go style? Felt like a video game. FMW has changed since the early yearbooks. A few weapon shots aside, they are still mostly trying to wrestle in the ring. Hayabusa taking a page out of the Onita playbook with a post match tearful promo. Mr. Gannosuke beats him up for that and then takes his mask!! Take that. There is no crying in wrestling. Hayabusa’s theme is cool and fits in during the post match angle.

I originally posed this question in the "Comments that don't warrant a thread" post though it appears to have got it's own thread. But okay, this is a partial explanation of that style I can understand. But is there more to it? What I found to be confusing was the "get your whole crap in" portion of it. I'm not a regular viewer of current product so I can only speak for the WWE PPVs and few TV matches I actually watch. But I feel like I see a lot of guys trying to put all their signature spots in TV matches. Is this not be to confused with "get your whole crap in" or does the speed of the moves factor in? Help me out.

SUWA vs Dragon Kid, Toryumon August 24, 2000 Nice dive by Kid who was sitting on turnbuckle but was still able to do dive to outside from that position. Suwa gets the pinfall with the use of the ropes at the 7 minute mark. Match ends up getting resumed though which makes sense since this is on the ballot. You should never attempt a top rope Splash Mountain powerbomb against an opponent who can do hurricaranas. A lot of guys get involved in the ring and outside and they disappear to back. Suwa does a video game type spinning powerbomb. I think that move was in that Def Jam Vendetta video game. I've found myself to prefer the tag matches from Toryumon/Dragon Gate. Suwa gets a hair cut after. I can see this ending up in last third of ballot.

Misawa vs Akiyama, All Japan February 27. 2000 Jun doesn’t waste too long in trying the apron Exploder and ends up connecting! I figured we were just getting a tease there but Misawa lands neck first on apron. They just continue on as normal though. Need to sell that better. Not sure about this Akiyama armbar triangle thing he keeps trying to put on. Middle stretch is a bit slow but it picks up. Misawa takes two Exploders and I think he’s going to get up again and then falls down on his ass. He wanted to continue the fight but just had little left. Jun stays on him and hits some big moves to get the win. Akiyama looked great here and is ready to just take over this decade. We shall see. This should rate high for me.

Just not Greetings from Miami Beach! Fantasy Island is probably my favorite but Harley Claus is a good choice.

Can someone give me the full explanation of the "go go style" that I see mentioned numerous times on this board? It seems to allude to Kurt Angle and "getting all his stuff in" but I want to know what this style is all about specifically and who are some other offenders of this.

Didn't Bret win a couple awards in Germany for Athlete of the Year? I want to hear the German fan base talk about Bret as the greatest.

The timing of the Undertaker/Austin was curious to me. They might have been trying to use Austin recent hot streak but you are putting your next big baby face against the current baby face champion. Plus you still have Austin focused on the Harts and now Pillman too. Austin hits a Stunner on Undertaker to show he doesn't care about anyone but Undertaker responds with a chokeslam. Instead of continuing that fight, Austin prefers to confront Bret Hart who is now all alone. Neidhart! Our stable is full and Austin gets knocked off the apron by a crutch hit by Bret.

Piper came off like such a heel just randomly standing in the ring while Flair was being triple teamed. Flair wasn't so smart charging off down the ramp after the NWO anyways. Finally, before we go off the air Piper decides to help Flair.

They do the slick editing of those NWO segments but agreed he's just not a natural fit. Even him saying NWO for life doesn't come off right.

Hall is back. Heenan has the fastest 0 to 50 when bolting from the announce desk when the NWO always shows up.

Piper thinks the younger generation should have just covered over those potholes. Flair is now getting cut off on the mic when he talks.

The teaser before commercial break of Austin coming moving backstage in a wheelchair with the axehandle across his lap is funny. Austin does a promo in the ring sitting down and wants a wheelchair match with Bret!

Rock hits his leaping DDT. Lawler is now supporting the Harts on commentary. It’s not a great match but I loved the moment watching it as Owen finally wins his first WWF singles title. And in a great touch gives it to Bret so they can do a victory lap in Bret’s wheelchair.

Bret in wheelchair cuts a promo from the top of the ramp. He has Owen and Bulldog stand guard for him. Bret considers himself to a true hero and is disappointed by the American fans for cheering Austin for injuring his leg. He calls Americans a sick degrading society which gets a big pop from the crowd. More good stuff from Bret on mic.

Pillman plays up the religion angle and wants to pray for a speedy recovery of Bret Hart and the annihilation of Steve Austin. Pillman moons Austin which draws out Stone Cold. Steve didn’t charge the ring completely and was able to sniff out the ambush by Bulldog and Owen. Pillman, Bulldog and Owen do a knee down prayer for Bret. We see Austin on the Titan Tron looking around backstage for a weapon. The crowd pops when he picks up an Ax handle which actually cause Bulldog and Owen to look up thinking Austin was on the to the ring. Not use to this TV stuff yet. Austin finally shows up and runs off Hart Foundation.

Bobby was around 38 at time of match. He about looked the same throughout the 90’s. Eaton doing some holds of his own and giving Dean a hard time. Malenko actually needs to get a tricky roll up to get the pinfall. Nice little match between the two and Eaton looked good for the few minutes.