Matt Franklin

Thanks Jetlag for the recommendation in the Secret Santo thread, I really enjoyed this one. The only other Motegi match Ive seen is against Sasuke in the J-Crown tournament where I thought he was pretty shitty, but in this setting he was a lot better. Nakano had an Ishikawa vibe to him in the way he moved and his matwork, this is my first time seeing him and Im interested in seeing more now. Firstly, I love the indy sleaze mat, can pretty much smell the hepatitis through the screen. The fact that it legit says soul of grass along the apron for some reason makes my heart happy. Motegi hits a sweet ankle pick & lands some nasty ground and pound elbows early, and I can tell this is going to be a gritty match. There is some really snug matwork by both and vicious short strikes to escape. I like the legwork by Nakano, well applied strait ankle locks and tendon holds, really grinding the forearms into Motegis calves. Motegi works the arm as a counter, but it seems like Nakano has the edge on the mat and locks in his holds with better technique and a lot tighter. Later, Motegi really eats the floor when he does a plancha, pretty much lands face first but also connects with Nakano in a really violent, non-pretty way. Im a fan of some of the flyers doing crazy athletic shit these days, but this type of flying just seems more impactful and like it could fit into a real fight. Motegi hits the double Germans with a nice snap, I especially liked Nakano trying to escape after the first rather than just rolling with it like most do. Motegi continues to throw some solid offence until Takano catches Motegis cross body and lands what in theory was a powerslam, but in reality was more like a Northern Lights Bomb, dumping him on the back of his head. Really like the finish with the German that dumps Motegi on the back of his head straight into the armbar. Everything in this was earned and fought for, not in a Battlarts or RINGS shoot-y sense but in an old school pro wres manner. There was nothing flashy or showy, everything had a purpose and there was no fat to the mat. I kinda wish they stayed on the mat for longer as I was really enjoying that part of the match, but was happy with what I got. ***1/2

Ill jump in. Ive got pretty broad wrestling tastes, so happy to expand my horizons. I have the WWE network, hard drives filled with footage plus obviously youtube.

Both these guys had their working boots on to have a good match here. I thought Psicosis looked like a guy who was ready to break out in this opportune time when the Radicalz had just jumped ship, but we all know how this story ends. I am hoping there are a lot of little bright spits like this throughout 2000 in WCW, but Im not setting my expectations too high! I thought the finish was a little anti-climactic, the facebuster counter was a transition move for years and now just gets the three count. Dont get me wrong, I actually really liked it and am a big proponent of having guys win with moves other rhan their finisher. I guess I have been conditioned to expect that matches end with the winner hitting their finish or a roll up in WWE and WCW and just wasnt expecting it. This is something that would be great to see more in 2017 WWE, to be honest! ***

After watching the PPV match, I found myself enjoying this much more. It was more concise and I think served to get both more over in the process. Spike got a lot more offence in and it was better fitting for the revenge story they were going for. It didnt have the table excess of the PPV match, and I thought the bulldog from the apron through the table was better than any spot in the Guilty as Charged match. The post match stuff was ok, would have been interesting to see how ECW in 2000 would have lined up if RVD didnt get injured. ***1/4

Yeah this was a great showing by Murahama. His hand speed was awesome and he moved around the ring with poise beyong his years. The whole sequence inthe second round from the straight right that knocked Hoshikawa down, to the side suplex that was immediately met with a sick released german by Hoshikawa and then a brutal high kick was so freaking cool. The finish was definitive, while not making Hoshikawa look weak Murahama was just an offensive whirlwind that couldnt be stopped. His celebration showed great passion and felt like a big deal. Reading some of the reviews, I cant wait to see Murahama progress through 2000. ***1/2

ECW has not aged well for me. The whole presentation just doesnt connect with me the same as it did when I was a teenager. I thought the match was ok, but it just didnt match up with my current tastes in wrestling. Awesome was KILLING Spike with those clotheslines, they looked more brutal than most of the table spots. I liked how Spike fought for his hope spots, but he just didnt seem like a credible challenger for a PPV main event, though to be fair Im not sure who the best fit for the show would have been at this time, Tanaka had been done to death, it was a little too early for Rhino, RVD was TV champ (perhaps Sabu on his way out?) I remember really liking this as a teenager, but I doubt Id bother to watch it again. **1/4

Yeah this was really good. Kobashi did a great job in putting Omori over, both in his selling and also being genrous with what he allowed him to kick out of (Orange Crush bomb, half nelson suplex etc). This was perfectly solid wrestling up until around the point where Omori landed the top rope kneedrop, and then it kicked into excellent territory. Love the axe bomber nearfall, I assumed I knew the result going in but Ive gotta admit I almost bought that as the finish. Really good match that overdelivered, Im keen to watch their CC Final match to see the next chapter in their rivalry. ***3/4

The dead crowd really made this not feel special at all, let alone like a world title change. You can see that they haven't hit their 00 high point as of yet, it will be interesting to see the WWF become hotter as the year goes on. Show really feels like a transitional champ, despite him working hard and as others have said throwing out a lot of bombs. HHH looked ok in this, I like how he used the flying knee as a running attack rather than catching the opponent off of the ropes. His flat back bump on the outside (conveniently captured in gif form above me!) looked great as well. I didn't really feel like this fully clicked, I think my opinion would be a bit different with a hotter crowd. **

I thought this was a great trios and liked it even more than the Atlantis / V3 trios on the same card. Los Infernales looked amazing, total badass asskickers for the first half of the match, just eating the technicos alive. When the comeback happens it feels earned and the energy throughoit the match maintains a really high level. Lived the dive train at the end and Tarzan Boy getting the pin while grabbing the rooes was a sweet little bit of poetic justice. Great match. ****

Yeah this was awesome. The rudos laying waste to Atlantis at the very start and taking his mask was a great way to build heat on the feud and I loved Atlantis getting some revenge later in the match. The rest of the work was fine and there were some other fun exchanges, but this was all about Atlantis and Villano III and setting the table for their match in March. ***3/4

Fun popcorn match, not much real substance to it but always fun to see Tajiri do his thing. He hits his beautiful German suplex that I always mark out for, and is great taunting Lynn, particularly with his low blow mocking. I used to like Lynn back when I was a teenager, but can't really get into him now. Tajiri has so much charisma it is ridiculous, and should have got a main event run during this time, couldnmt be worse than Justin Credible! Fun match, but nothing I'd go back to watch again or remember. **1/2

This was good, though would have liked to see it in full. I agree that Vader didn't look his best here, but I thought Jun looked fantastic and Smith looked decent. Loved Akiyama's northern lights suplex counter for the British Fall (is that the name of Smith's finisher?) and was cool that there was a kickout of the first exploder before the second one sealed the deal. Once again, would probably like this better in full, but decent for what we did see. ***1/4

I agree with the rest that this is a fun tv match that is made even better by the end beatdown and post-match angle. I had never seen this before, and while I knew Foley makes the transformation to Cactus Jack around this time period I didn't know the angle surrounding it. It was really cool to see them step up the violence once the rest of their teams left to the back, the pedigree through the table looked especially brital.and while I'm not a 'PG sux' guy, I do miss these types of angles used sparingly. ***1/4 sounds right for the match, but ****1/4 if taken as a whole.

This was a great match. I really liked Sasuke and Hanada heeling it up and getting vicious with their matwork and little shortcuts. Mochizuki is foing to be an interesting one to track in this project, he looked great here and I think rewatching all of this footage will really boost his rep. TM and Mochi gave Sasuke an awesome series of moves which actually had me thinking it was the end until Hamada made the save. I liked the top rope Ace Crusher straight into the sleeper for the win, nice way to finish instead of a straight pinfall. Really cool, underrated match. ****

Yeah this was a really fun match. I liked how both were working the mat during this match, Garvin's Indian deathlock in particular looked great. Kevin went face first into Jimmy's boot at the end of the second fall and it was glorious. Dusty finish at the end, with the title being held up after Sunshine's interference, Garvin cuts a good promo hyping up the rematch next week. I also loved Hayes' constant complaining about the fact that it should have been his shot! Recommended match for any Garvin haters out there. ***1/2

This was a really fun match. I liked Fujita's arm work at the beginning, and thought the way he worked into the Americana and flying armbar attempt were pretty sweet. CIMA is fantastic in this, his work on the leg was wqually as good, but more in a pro-wrasslin' way than shoot style. I am surprised to hear a fee people mentioning about them doing a bit too much at the finishing stretch. Perhaps because I watched Naito/Omega from the G1 finals earlier in the day I am a little desensitised! I thought they did just the right amount in this match, looking forward to CIMA's journey throughout the 00's and am keen to see more Fujita, who looked way better in this match than I remember him being. ****

I agree with the sentiment that this match would not have looked out of place in the 80's with Carly's babyface shine here. He looked quite green and a little awkward in his movements, but he held his own in this match and Gonzalez looked pretty good apart fron the lackluster middle portion of the match. The finish was hot and I loved Carly throwing the mist and hitting Ray with the shovel that he had brought into the ring. The post match with the crowd hugging Colon really brought back that 80's feel again and was something that you wouldn't see in most promotions in 2000. Fun match ***

This was my first time watching this, and I don't think I've got anything new or revelatory to add but I thought all 4 guys were amazing in this. I often think back to a quote that I think Samoa Joe said Hash told him about intensity and fire being in your eyes, and those pre-match staredowns totally made you believe shit was gonna go down. Murakami picking up the mic and shit talking was amazing, as was Hash's 'gloves off' moment. I loved the finish too, pitch perfect and the way the choke was sunk in made you believe that was the f'n finish! This whole thing just had a wild, chaotic and organic feel to it that is very much missing from most wrestling today. ****1/2

Seeing the words 'efficient' and 'compact' used to describe this match sums up my thoughts on it. Takayama looks really good in it, his knees were sold awesomely by Jun. I like that Takayama was beat with a roll up rather than put down with an exploder, as it keeps him strong and he seems to be building momentum in the new decade after just floationg though the 90's. ***1/4

This was a fun TV match that had some really well-timed near falls. I also found Stephanie to be distractingly horrible on commentary, her robotic delivery and lack of emotion actively took away from the presentation as a whole. I have a feeling that seeing hard chair shots to the head is something that we'll have to accept when watching footage from this era, but it is still disconcerting. HHH drills him with a shot straight to the head towards the end, which did produce a nice near fall, but in hindsight seems like something that really shouldn't e done just for a near-fall pop on a TV match, title or not. Rikishi looked good in this, and seems like he fits right into the main event scene, though doing his dance after being screwed out of a title match and attacked afterwards seemed a bit off. Fun match. ***

I thought this was great and a match that has fallen through the cracks over time, which I get the feeling that we will find a lot as we rewatch NJ from this time period. I really dug the opening matwork, it was old school and deliberate but felt like a struggle and didn't feel token to me. Muto really took that judo throw right on top of his head, and to see him spike himself on the frankensteiner pretty much right after was scary. I like how they both kept going back to their respective body part strategy, as while the moves were repetitive at times they set the stage for later in the match where they would pay off. Loved Chono's apron shoulder block, the way Muto folded up on the floor made it look even more brutal. I also really liked the dragon screw off the table, it looked reckless and dangerous in a good way. The finish was great as well, I appreciate how Chono held off on the STF until the end, as it played right into the story of the match and felt like an escalation. The first escape by Muto was a great near fall, and led into the grapevine STF perfectly. I don't think we'll see this type of match often in the 2000's, and I dug the hell out of it. ****1/4

I thought this was a fun little tag, but there were a few pretty rough spots as mentioned. I thought Dragon looked really good for his level of experience and Spanky was pretty good too, thoughseemed to be the sloppier of the pair. Rudy Boy and Bonecrusher were just there, not offensive in any way just a solid heel team as mentioned. Looking forward to seeing how both Dragon and Spanky progress throughout the year. **1/2

I've gotta say that I was a bit let down by this match. I thought it started off solid but was not a fan at all of the closing stretch. It really felt 'your turn, my turn', to the extent that Hotta would plant Toyota with a cross-arm powerbomb and then get up, stand there and let Toyota kick her and go right to one of her suplexes. I'm not saying it was a terrible match, just that I feel like they could have a better match in them. I wasn't feeling this one. **1/2

I thought this was an awesome match. It was compact and went just the right amount of time for the crowd. All of the strikes looked great, and I loved Tenryu's dazed selling towards the end. I also thought the top rope huracanrana reversal by Sasaki followed up by his own was great. Perfect Dome show title match considering how the teo match up. ****