soup23

It makes me sad to see all of these empty seats for the Super J Cup. Really fun sprint. Marvin was on here and it really worked with his flash to go against CIMA character and base. CIMA also has some great moves to hold up his own. For six minutes, you can’t ask for much more as an opener as this got me excited about the rest of the show as a whole. ***

Only have an hour to go but thanks for citing WTBBP as a influence on this pod. I have enjoyed seeing the chemistry develop over the pod as Hobbes is getting more comfortable in the host role. The discussion has also been strong in showcasing the trajectory and time frame of the workers within this show. In regards to the lack of vulgarity at the CSC thing, I think it is a combination of unfourtnatly the time frame of 2002 but also just how prelevant this was throughout indies in the 2000. The BackSeat Boys routinely got slurs chanted with them and IWA-MS had a weekly chants of anti gay sentiment.

A conflicting match for me where this had some stuff I liked a ton but there also wasn't as much fun as the previous match with the mat work and atmosphere of the rain. This match also had Tirantes bullshit which is always a detractor for me. Apache had a lot of hair to lose so the stakes were appropriate and the final caida is really good and dramatic but something felt sort of missing for me overall for a match I had really high hopes for coming in. Still good but I was aspiring for great. ***1/2

Good match. This was the opener of a house show and had a lot of energy and good action but also mixed in the comedy and storyline aspects in an effective way. I would like to see a series between these two as I think they could add enough new aspects to the matches to keep them fresh. It was also refreshing to see a weapon free match get such a good reaction from the crowd. ***1/ 4

I thought this was fine but never really got into good territory. I am unsure was Ki is going for here but it didn't land for me. Dixie also is starting to find a gimmick that really works for him as a slimey little guy in 2001 but it isn't evolved here. Chino is someone I have never heard of before and he didn't leave a lasting impression here. Ki had a great Jan and Feb but March showed the road bumps that any young career encounters. **1/2

One of the biggest accomplishments of WWE current day is not falling into What Now? territory following WrestleMania. They have presented the Raw after Mania in such a way that some people look forward to it more than the big show. CMLL was following the tremendous 3/17 PPV and kind of has to find its bearing again. This match sort of bears it out. It starts and people are brawling and it is fine but doesn't have the same zip as the stuff we have seen in the first three months of the promotion. Then Villano and Shocker start arguing and the focus takes more shape. This match overall is less about the action and more about that storyline as the match as a whole gets waved off. This did get me interested to see Villano and Shocker continue to have a feud. **1/4

Dylan was raving about it and even though we sometimes differ on tastes on other stuff, we usually align really close with CWF. Bruce Mitchell said it was a ***** match. All of the workers on the show are talking about how incredible it was. Only thing I can think from CWF that rivals it was after EVerett vs. Lee last year and that turned out to be an incredible match and comfortably in my top 10 for the whole year.

I continue to be impressed with how well Crazy is presenting himself in ECW this year. Taijiri gets a good amount of wrestler of the year worldwide buzz for 2000 and he has been fantastic but I would only place Super Crazy a half step behind. This match is good evidence why. He is presented as the flag bearer for ECW holding the tv title and goes up against the Network wonderfully. He gets bumped around and uses tables before finding a flash power move to win. ECW was outright burying stuff like RollerJam and the like on air by this point which seems incredibly dumb to me. ***1/4

No new ground being broke here but them going out and doing their fun tv match for six minutes. Tables and mist were involved and Guido's base of wrestling surrounding the aura of Taijiri is appealing. **3/4

A fantastic close to their rivalry for now. Huge bombs and worked like a sprint that never overstayed its welcome. I think this is the type of match they should have went for on 6/6/97. Misawa has quietly been awesome in 2000 which is strange to say because he is Misawa but he hasn't been all that frequent on our screen and the Hase, Akiyama and Kawada matches are all really different. This had a great stiffness level to it and the main focal point of Misawa's elbow being the great weapon again. Emerald Flowsion is presented as Misawa's best finisher currently and does the trick here. ****1/4

Promo stuff by Parka is funny. Heenan predicting his double cross was cute too. Buff has regressed as a worker even from 1991 and 1992 when he debuted in the promotion. The match was pretty dreadful and Buff winning is one of those decisions that makes you contemplate whether WCW listens to the remaining crowd that is there at all. *

The Russo and Bischoff hype has gotten out of control. These two have good chemistry but weren't able to display that due to the Harris twins liberally interfering. The match overall felt disjointed and it feels like WCW is counting down the days to the Nitro reboot where they will try something new again. *1/2

I have been forgiving of Hogan but this was trash and his worst tendencies here. I can seem him politicing backstage that he gave Wall something by Wall essentially no selling the leg drop but everything was done in such a haphazard way, nothing had impact. In ring this was also brutal with Wall not being able to work up to his size and Hogan not all that interested in bumping on this evening. A sad end to the Spring Break 2000 Nitro. 3/4*

Long promo to start here and this segment overall is around half of the total air time of the typical episode of Raw. In a sign of 2000 mentality when Steph comes out we zoom right in on a SLUT sign in the audience. Vince is going to take her to the woodshed to a big pop and oh hell yeah from Ross until HHH intervenes. Shane comes out also and goes on a winded journey that leads to him attacking Vince and setting up the main event. The match proper was fine and involved all of the Mania principles but also had some wacky stuff going on like Foley and HHH standing side by side as refereess. Vince and Shane really went after each other and they do have shockingly decent chemistry that would carry out over the years and forgives a lot of their limitations in the ring. This was an effective final hype job for Mania overall. **3/4

A match that really broke a lot of the rules of stuff I enjoy. I am kind of questioning if it is my inherent favortism to excuse the interference here more just because I know who Balls and Smothers are compared to the early GAEA stuff that was filled with nameless entities. I did like the opening of this a good deal with Fuyuki working the mat and the match almost going off the rails but never quite. Once the interference starts happening, Kuroda becomes really sympathetic with the blood and constant beatdown. I will support the ending angle as everyone rushing the ring really felt like an organic and chaotic moment the way it was filmed. This culminated in Tanaka making his return and laying the boots to Fuyuki before challenging Hayabusa. ***1/2

Totally agree with Charles here. Just a lifeless affair that Im struggling to come up with thoughts of now even though I viewed it less than two hours ago. Jado and Gedo are a team that does have hype surrounding them but this was a poor effort on their part. **

Great match. It really evolved over time and felt more like a fight with each passing moment. Much like Kasai, Abdullah is showing much more restraint and reliance on wrestling compared to the straight hardcore stuff that would come later. This featured one of the best camera footage shots I have ever seen when a forearm gets thrown and blood splatters the camera. Just a great match and couple of days for Honma. ****

I liked this a lot more than Charles. I thought it told a really good story of putting over Genki big again. He has all of a sudden been thrusted into the main picutre alongside the Crazy Max guys. I assume Charles is talking about the rana nearfall which was amazing but I was equally as impressed with the way the failed backslide from heaven attempt led right into SUWA's finisher. Toryumon continues to be cooking. ***1/2

Really strong match that starts out about as different as a Jun Kasai vs Honma match can. They worked the match for at least the first half of this one and showed they were competent and engaging in that realm. Better yet, this raised the stakes when the chairs and blood started to mix themselves into the proceedings. Kasai has this Crazy Monkey persona which has been his MO for the past 10 years but this match proved that he had a skillset that extended beyond the hack and slash style. ***1/2

As much as I love the series, I do look forward to Tajiri matches against opponents other than Crazy and Guido. However, this was a crowd brawl affair with shitty RF camera work that made it real tough to follow at points. The stuff we do see looked pretty mundane and we even get the cliche Sandman save to finish us out. **1/4

Kid Kash is really starting to become a top five ECW guy for me around this time. He goes in there, hits his big spots and bumps big for the monsters he is usually locked up against. This had a really good tv match formula that made both guys looked strong and helped pushed the overall narrative as well. Sometimes wrestling can be effective and simple if you don't let convolution get in the way. ***

This had some slop but does feel like the type of match that people would point to now on twitter as a hoot and a real coming out party for Spanky and Dragon. It is weird that the first think I naturally associate with Dragon is technical wrestling but he is usually really good in garbage style matches and turned in easily his best performance here getting bloodied up and his mask ripped. Spanky gets bloodied as well. Board of Education are serviceable and bumped off the big moves of the faces when needed. Michaels was tremendous on commentary toning down his OHHHHS and channeling Bill Watts in 1985 talking about the differences of this cage match vs. the competition and putting over Spanky and Dragon huge. Dragons crossbody from the cage and elbow drop were both great spots. ***1/2

This is probably the most spotty and worst AJ has looked so far. He did a lot of flippy do's in this match but they didn't have much substance. I think Onyx could be a good worker but he also feels like a worker that takes what he is given and doesn't really aspire for that much more. This was a pretty quick match only going about five minutes. Wildside does seem to be needing another angle to really kickstart things beside the Rock N Roll Express stuff. **1/4

I enjoyed this. Bull is always a favorite and he was able to bully around Reckless which also played to his strengths. Morton on the outside is also a good second because he has that pipsqueak demeanor which can grate on you. This tournament overall for MCW was a good way to calibrate things even though not everything is a home run. **1/2

I didn't think much of this. Hughes is still in his Jericho Metallic gear and was given a good bit of time on top but wasn't able to do many things interesting. One clever spot was the powder being used but his sunglasses blocked it. Lawler wins and him and Regal and Bull Pain all circle each other which is neat and fun way to end the show. . . EXCEPT we cut backstage to the masked wrestler that is also in the 4 way championship match and he is acting scared. I hate ending a show on comedy like that. *1/2