AstroBoy

Despite my exploration into lucha in the PWO2K project I still feel the slightest bit of disconnect with what I'm watching at times. And this was one of those matches. Niebla's performance and role in the match was fine but he looked really lost at one point during the opening fall and it kind of took me out of it. And though Scorpio seems to be holding this together well, I was never really blown away. It grew on me as the match went on but I was never fully able to come around on it. Chalk it up as another rung on the lucha ladder as I continue to appreciate the style. ***

Maybe it's because he's in with Benoit but Jericho brings a little more intensity and seriousness to this and it pays off for me. His arm selling is good and he seems to bring some extra stiffness against his old foe. And it really does tuck itself nicely into the build of the feud. Benoit of course brought a focused attack and tore Jericho apart. I never felt this reached some super high echelon but it never fell off for me and it was a hell of a tight 2/3 falls match with a shady yet fine finish. ***1/2

The whole Edge running into an unoccupied ladder because Bubba moved way ahead of time was pretty funny and glaring. I really like Bubba in these matches and feel like he adds an air of violence instead of just the stunt show to the proceedings. Not much to say about this. They produced a spectacular car crash match and the crowd loved it and it fit the feud they were in. And I love that Edge and Christian were pretty consistently strong during this whole feud, always coming out on top in these big matches. ***1/2

I wasn't really as high on this. For starters it is pretty horrifying to watch the stages of expression on Angle's face post-table spot. It's a shame it worked out that way as I wonder how different the booking of the match would have ultimately been. It's just tough to see how clearly not with it Angle was before he gamely came back. With the injury it just feels like Rock and HHH kill SO MUCH TIME to buy Angle a chance to reinsert himself into the match. It wasn't bad per se but they clearly have to work around the situation and the match lacks some flow because of that. The crowd is still there of course and Angle's insertion into the match really amps everything up. Rock's charisma and the power of the angle help carry things in this really hot final stretch. ***

This was actually a fun sprint for the couple minutes it lasts. Saturn indeed has no heat and I hate Jericho's faceplant bulldog but Saturn busted out a nice flapjack move and catches Jericho with a bridging suplex off a Lionsault attempt. His running gutbuster into the buckles was nasty too. *1/2

The positioning of the Acolytes here is a great example of the top to bottom strength of the WWF at this time. Acolytes are strong enough asskickers to be believable but just low enough on the card to succumb to Angle and Triple H. It's so nice to have someone like this in that spot to plug in and advance the storyline in a strong way without burning through the same combos. And the match is worked smart with the Acolytes dominating at first before the two superior wrestlers start to use teamwork and pick out weak spots to get the win. Post-match walks a good subtle line and shows that HHH doesn't care about saving Angle. **1/4

Typical action between these two teams tucked into the context of the ongoing buildup to TLC. Edge and Christian are pretty funny on commentary talking about how they are going to run in as the match is going on. The tag champs go heavy on interference and Edge absolutely crushes Bubba with a chairshot to the head and Jeff gets the pin. *3/4

Rock and HHH have fine chemistry and enough familiarity to work a concise and effective match in this role. They don't blow through anything and it's nothing to remember but it's fine and leads them to the eventual ending with Angle and HHH standing tall to pose a serious serious threat to Rock leading into Summerslam. Fine match. Good booking. **1/4

They give the crowd some pleasing spots with D-Von and Jeff on the same page. Edge and Christian are bumbling around taking all their signature moves. This quickly turns to miscommunication when Jeff lands on D-Von and it just sets up an angle for dissension between the Hardys and Dudleys. Effective but forgettable. At least they were smart enough to pop the crowd a few times. *1/2

Venis is not clicking with the crowd on the level of the people he's been with but they're trying and his work is solid. It's a fun if underwhelming little TV match but again just sort of spinning tires to get to the Jericho-Benoit match at Summerslam. They HAVE done a good job building that into a meaningful match for that show. **

I was disappointed this wasn't more substantial because of Benoit and Taker hardly ever facing off. This is more by the numbers to get to the angle at the end when Kane comes out and predictably kills Taker. This was fine while it lasted but tough to see what kind of chemistry they would have had in a larger setting. *

I found this a tad plodding when Sandman was on offense though the spots with the guardrail come across brutal in the right way. It didn't wow me or anything but it's a tense kind of fight between two guys who hate at each and Rhino is really good at presenting himself as an intense killer. The messy finish is fine and Rhino gives two holy shit spots when he piledrives Spike through the table at ringside and then perfectly kills Sandman with a piledriver on the guardrail. Rhino is a bright spot in ECW so far. ***

Excalibur oozes personality as a second in this. Super Dragon's offense is very crisp and honed at this stage and pretty much consistently brutal looking. The pendulum spot comes off great and so do his other high impact moves including the finisher. TARO was able to hang here too and came off pretty gutsy. They definitely ran through a lot of high end stuff and really went for the jugular with huge dives onto the floor. It's very easy to see the foundation for PWG here just with a more serious and ambitious bent. I'm very excited to see the development of this group over the months. ***

They worked really hard to make an impact here and engineer tons of fun unique spots. Some of them come off a bit contrived and lacking in actual impact though. Ultimately it means little because the booking is pretty dumb but Three Count gets a cheap win and they are at least a fun heat-getting act to showcase in ways like this. **3/4

Kanyon deserved better than this. I will never understand who saw anything in Buff Bagwell as he absolutely sucks. He was okay as a young tag worker but I just personally despise his Buff incarnation. There are a few fun moments of misdirection and intrigue thrown in here and the Arquette stuff is kind of a fun fan service in the middle of something so obviously horseshit. It's the right finish too. *1/2

Something about Jericho. It's like he either needs to be more sympathetic or more of a valiant asskicker during matches like this and somehow falls just short of both. So he just ends up feeling like a popular charismatic guy that can't quite break into the upper echelon in the context of a match with other main eventers. The playing off of HHH-Angle is nice as Jericho pits them against each other in a few fun spots and HHH and Angle both have moments of competition and rivalry that help set Jericho more apart from them. The backdrop finish felt a little weak but it's a fine logical finish to the next part of the story. **1/4

Shane's jumping back elbow is such a cool spot I love when he busts it out for some reason. I didn't like this as much as Chad but it hit a nice balance. For one I really liked the comebacks and cutoffs from Rock and Benoit. Rock fires back at just the perfect moment and Benoit goes into the Germans to cut him off and it's all impeccable. Shane's involvement was timed nicely and it was a good match that just didn't get to spread itself into much more than a fun cluster of a TV title match. The near finish around the Crossface was nice but if we're comparing TV title matches I'd say that the Storm-Booker match got more out of the Maple Leaf near finish. **3/4

One of the few things WCW hit on at this point was building Storm into a legit hot act so quickly. So of course they job him 6 DAYS before his hometown PPV. What idiocy. This could have been saved and built into something more substantial. Alas. Execution-wise it's a sloppy match. They don't seem to gel well at least at first and Booker's offense is so light and contrived in spots here that it takes a minute to get going. But it's a lesson in two wrestlers with emotional investment from the crowd using nearfalls to create real suspense and value to the match. Storm gets to kick out of a ton and the Maple Leaf is treated like a big deal. Booker breaking it is a nice moment. For a sprint kind of match this was actually really good despite some of the sloppiness. ***

Unmitigated disaster. So you build up Storm and make him run over everyone en route to this title compilation. And now he jobs over and over and over to Awesome only for the rules to save him. Not to mention the first horrible finish is terribly fucked up. So sure whatever you put Storm under the bus and turn his whole run into a comedy but only before his home fans. But he DOES get the ultimate victory which somewhat matters I guess. Awesome at least showed up for this and did fine excepting his slip off the ropes, so yeah. *1/2

I feel like Midajah tries like 7 separate instances of interference here. This was absolute bullshit. Goldberg walks off okay, and Russo is supposed to somehow be intimidating Goldberg into anything here. The work is just background to this ridiculous story. If you watched a movie and some actor walks off saying that these lines are bullshit and they aren't going to be spoken, would you stick around to see this unplanned bullshit. Finish happens and Nash wins but it's just symptomatic of WCW as a whole. Meta at its worst. *

They *really* condensed a lot of good shit into this short match. Clearly they are comfortable with each other and they run through a lot of really cool and pleasing sequences together to make a real good impression here. Spanky gets a cheap win as this rivalry continues. This is what a well-booked schmozzy finish looks like. Great introduction of this feud. ***

This was a pretty gutsy finish I will say that. Dragon hits a nice blade job and I love the intensity that both guys bring to this stip match. Both guys pulling out all the stops and it's just clear they are both headed for bigger things. The crowd does not like the finish but I think it's brilliant bullshit. This was really solid. ***

I found myself torn watching this at first. Triple H goes on a long control segment and I find myself thinking this should be worked more like a back and forth brawl instead of a heel on top slow burn. But it builds and builds and really gets the crowd to come around for Jericho's big low blow and subsequent comeback. Just to clarify I had a style of match I found myself *preferring* they would have worked compared to what they did and in reality the match they worked was fantastic. HHH and his blade job was totally disgusting and stands as a big enough moment to symbolically turn the tide in this. There's enough bullshit with Stephanie and the ref mixed in with the violence. I can understand criticisms of Jericho not being enough of an urgent asskicker here but what he did worked for the people in the crowd and worked for me too. Honestly I feel like HHH gave a ton and put in a really strong performance to get over Jericho at this level. The finish is simultaneously unsatisfying while also making perfect sense. I expected this to lose a lot from when I saw it years and years ago but if anything I feel it holds up better now. ****1/4

Both guys look like future players here, moreso Kid but that's because of look mostly. It's strange. Even at this early point Hero brings a certain calmness and patience to his work that would clearly develop to even better outcomes. But he already seems super comfortable in these settings and feels right at home in the ring. They get a little tricked up with an overly fancy standoff to start the match and they sort of did botch the dive to the outside but covered for it so well it really became a plus. And they looked great pulling off some rana reversal spots. This was nice. ***

I'd be interested to see the internet reaction to something like this today. Although I totally get the confusion over the booking I didn't have any problem with how this was presented. Angle came across here not like a joke or a loser but like somebody punching over their head a little too early in their career. And then hanging by any means necessary. I'm not saying Taker needed this because this surely COULD have been a more serious encounter and worked more on an equal playing field. Especially in light of how HHH stayed strong against a red hot Jericho in his feud before the summer plans unfolded. Angle was pretty good here making the most of his opportunity and his legwork was nice. Undertaker was kind of a sloth though. **1/4