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We cut to the finish of Sid vs. Jarrett. Slick Johnson tries to make the count but Hogan prevents that. Hogan beats up everyone and Sid gets the pin to retain the title. Scott Steiner whacks Hogan with a guitar and they call him the insurance policy. That is interesting at least but why did he wait until NOW to interfere. This leads right into our main event. I have to question a strap and bullrope match booked on the same show. This was better than the previous stuff but that wasn’t a high bar to jump over. As far as these two together, this was still on the lower end for me and felt more like a tribute of them going through the motions of the glory days than an actual match. They bleed and do some stuff but nothing felt too authentic to me. Hogan wins to the surprise of no one. **1/4

This was a really exciting tv match that actually flowed right in from the opening angle. Both guys worked a compact style that played to their roles well and advanced the current story. Joe in particular looked like a monster and really motivated with the flying forearm to the outside. Really fun match. ***1/4

Funk is making me sad man. He comes out here talking about a chicken and has both a literal chicken in his hand and the San Diego Chicken to come out and get the early advantage on dustin. This is straight shit. The sad thing is that a compelling feud could have happened with Dustin taking up his family name with honor but the comedic stuff just ruins it and makes the whole thing seem sad. Dustin is called the American Nightmare which is funny since Cody is using that moniker in Bullet Club currently. The heat here is completely nonexistent and while the actual isn’t really atrocious once they start going, I didn’t think it was particularly inspiring either. Chicken comes out again and that allows Madden to make jokes about it being cocky. Funk changes rules to I Quit match because why not. Ref bump because why not. Funk beats him with the cowbell until Dustin quits. Funk is confused and then gets whacked by Dustin with the cowbell. Dustin beats Funk up more and hits a piledriver for the win. This was shit. DUD

I said in the Barbarian match thread that hardcore Finlay doesn’t interest me. That was on display here. Dragging each other through the arena, into the bathroom, outside. This was all of the tropes rolled into one of ECW style brawling. As a result, it was a match I pretty much outright hated. Vampiro wins with the coffin drop on the concrete that didn’t look good at all. *1/2

Do my eyes deceive me or am I gaining faith in AAA. This was helped by the setting of a wet mat from the rain that would splash with each suplex and throw. Add to that double juice and really compelling rudo work from Apache and you have a really pleasant surprise. Apache kept looking for various submissions and I really loved the surfboard tease of how he had to keep turning over to prevent his own shoulders from touching the mat. All of that groundwork gets rewarded with a victory. Afterwards, both seconds come in and brawl and it looks like this feud is far from over which is fine by me. ***1/2

Probably my favorite Kojima match ever and Sasaki is really having a great start to the year. This featured some great limb work from Kojima in the early going where he looked aggressive and like a shark going after his prey. I really appreciated the factions hanging on the outside and threatening to intervene but never fully doing so. The back end of the match was a bomb fest but a highly dramatic one and I was in pure elation when Sasaki secured the victory. A great match that I would love for New Japan World to put in full. ****1/4

This is a weird venue for CZW to run as due to their hardcore style, they generally stayed out of the school looking gyms. Hat guy is still hanging out at this show. I am unfamiliar with Mercury and TK. Blade continues to be spotty as all hell but has better execution in the two matches of 2000 we have seen than I would have imagined. TK doesn’t have the same luck as he botches a dive off of Blade’s back to the floor. Mercury hits a good asai moonsault onto the floor and Blade adds a diving swantom. Ki has an insanely scary botch where he climbs to the top of the ladder and tries a phoenix splash but it gives way and he comes crashing to the apron. Match goes straight into the finish run with kicks and bombs. Ki was able to shrug off the botch and hit a good half and half on TK. Blade does a dive off the top of the basketball goal which was completely nutty. That may honestly be my spot of the year so far. Just nuts. TK inside gives Ki a superplex through a table which looked good but was no comparison to what we just witnessed. PInfall is a mess as Ki gets counted out even though he kicks out. Ki’s music even fires up. Match was a mess for the most part and probably could be slimmed down to the Blade spot off the basketball goal. *3/4

As awful as WCW is becoming, it is always a treat to see Silver King and his lucha pals come out because even though the match shouldn’t be nothing exceptional, it will be at least a stand alone bit of fun. Parka’s robe here with the skull and horns is awesome. Dandy starts off by bumping huge and Chavo looks better here than at any point we have seen in 2000 so far. Parka is such an enigma nearly blowing tons of stuff but just hanging on. I got to admit that when I saw this match listing I was already preparing my notes about how Chavo clearly looked the worst of the four but he has held his own so far. Why these four weren’t given 12 minutes on PPV or to help get over 3 Count and Jung Dragons I will never know. Dandy bumped huge throughout this match and ends up taking the fall from Parka. That was about as good of action as you can get in five minutes. ***1/4

Finlay in this hardcore gimmick feels like some mis casting to me. Finlay certainly can be brutal and violent but I think it works best within the confines of a closely mat worked type match ala Uncensored 1996 where the stiffness feels like an aberration. Here he comes out with Barbarian and they have a clubbing four minute match which is ok but not the intense brawl I had hoped for. I did think Barb was game and his clothesline off the top rope had the crowd going a bit that he could pull off the upset. Finlay doing the forward roll to Barb was impressive but not a great looking finisher. **

Derrick King helps everything. This guy is truly a lost treasure and I will say it until a time machine is invented to give him more of an opportunity overall. I liked seeing how chicken shit the heels here were. We get interference from Flash who piledrives Damaja on the floor. Interference in OVW? I’m shocked. Cornette is on commentary screaming his head off. In a slightly better use of interference this does lead to the heat instead of the normal non finish it has resulted in. Hot tag to McCollough and there is the ref bump to complete the OVW hat trick as he does a fast count giving the heels the win. Rinse and repeat and extremely disappointing here as the action was really good. Heat at the end of the show is on the referees which is ridiculous. **3/4

I love heel Ricky Morton. We don’t get much of a match here but what we do see is really entertaining with Morton stooging off and Hamrick being an effective white meat babyface for the Georgian crowd. In a good bit of continuity, Bad Attitude hits the ring and Morton goes right onto the injured leg of Michaels with a chair. RNR are a great addition to NWA Wildside currently. **

Wolfie starts us off on Power Pro with an attack to Ali and he has a motocycle helmet man as muscle. Inside the studio, Wolfie announces Ali has joined his stable and out comes Mo dressed like Ali in a humorous moment. The Memphis wars of 2000 are fun. Ali and Mo end up fighting on the back of a pick up truck and it takes off. Dave is back now in his sweater as Wolfie comes back out again. Wolfie informs us Brandon got beat up backstage. I love Wolfie as a heel. We go back to Brandon who is laid out and bloodied up. Havoc is the partner and here comes Derrick King and Moondog. I loved the studio brawl here with unique weapon shots including the umbrella and tool box. We find out Brandon Baxter was faking of course and he goes to interfere until Dave Brown! Comes in and shakes the ropes. We have new champs. Fun stuff. ***

In a cool moment that really set off the wrestling landscape as we know it currently, we see Bruce Pritchard coming out of a room saying he will announce the commissioner next week. Out strolls Steve Regal. K-Krush is mad he didn’t get a chance to dance. Lawler even does a dance for us and that starts the match off. Blue Meanie, Curtis Hughes and Reckless are the people to advance so far in the championship tournament. Another really fun match. Even though we are in 2000, I can appreciate which days are a Saturday even without looking up the date. That will probably change over time to where anything non WWE or TNA (shudder) will be a Fri-Sun without being able to distinguish much. Broken record but this was really good and Krush looked impressive dishing it out to Jerry and being resilient overall. Finish was the typical Memphis stuff which is kind of clever IMO of King getting bailed out on a pin by grabbing the rope and he rolls up Krush and the ref misses him grabbing the rope. **1/2

This was a good day for under five minute matches. The crowd doesn’t seem how to react but Reckless looks good here and able to work a type of tv style match that makes it shocking to me he didn’t get a WWE long term run. The KAW contingent interference is starting to get grating here in MCW. It did backfire here with Reckless being able to use the chair and a brainbuster on top of the chair. **1/4

Really nice six man showing that between this group and Torymon, Japanese junior indies were in great shape in 2000. Delphin and Togo are such natural pairings and this match has the perfect compliments to both sides. Black Buffalo in particular is someone that is always a welcome addition to any match he is in. Delphin plays the FIP which is a natural fit and everything about this has a campy fun vibe including the arena. ***1/2

Here we go. I have been putting off watching the March 17 stuff for two weeks now just because of the hype here and watching the feud unfold. There is a tremendous tension and buzz for the entrances here. The heat here is nuclear and the official looks like he has excused the Villanos from ringside. The rudo ref also gets excused and here we go. This being one fall creates an interesting caveat and raises the stakes even more. Opening three or four minutes are classical lucha. Armbars and exchanges with a general feeling out process. Villano rips the mask at the first hint of things getting heated and he hits an early tope to the outside onto Atlantis. Atlantis gets busted open from the tope and him trying to recoup and catch his breath on the outside is great. Another great staple that I love in an apuestas match is the doctor coming out and sure enough he gives a look into Atlantis here. They are really playing up a concussion type affect off of the tope. Replay does a good job of showing that Villano and Atlantis really did bump heads on the tope. Villano pink mask is now blood soaked. The emphasis and effects of one spot are really enriched here as that tope has changed the total dynamic of the match where every near fall feels dramatic now. Atlantis blade job is something to behold as his mask is now a shade of black from the dark blood. With each submission attempt by Villano, the pressure and tension is raised as viewed by the nervous looking crowd reaction shot. You just can’t replicate these stakes in almost any other match in wrestling history. Someone will not be the same after this. In some ways this match really breaks the template because lets face it, it is all near falls but while some of the other matches that I have found great but not all timers like Okada vs.Omega have too much table setting IMO, this certainly didn’t waste much time going into the meat of the match. The next really big spot is a huge crossbody from Atlantis on the outside to Villano. Villano locks in his signature submission and Atlantis is in big trouble until he has a clever counter. Some great strength based submission is next which was really amazing to see 20 minutes into this one and with the blood loss both men have suffered. I knew the Gory special was coming and Atlantis locks it on here. Villano does a great job trying to reach the ropes before having to power out into a really close pin attempt. The slow lucha based counts are doing a great job of building the tension to me. Atlantida is hooked on to a big pop but Villano is able to sneak away. Holy shit this is reaching another gear now. Clubbing clothesline and Villano is so proud of himself as Atlantis is dizzy and in trouble. In rudo style, the bravado of Villano gets the best of him and the second Atlantida is enough to win as the crowd completely erupts. One of those matches that really feels like the end of an era. In regards to the back and forth, this had a lot more than traditional lucha matches. In an ultimate show of class, Villano puts Atlantis on his shoulders and does the removal of his mask. With nearfall exclusive matches, I always say it is dictated on the stakes. Nothing had higher stakes than this match so the back and forth and nearfalls felt extremely justified. I don’t think this is my favorite lucha match of all time but it is up there and it was the ultimate exercise in tension and then release. It is amazing that at March 17, we may have seen the top two matches of the decade in this and the 2/27/00 Misawa vs. Akiyama match. *****

Shocker’s outfit is pretty magnificent. Huge pop for the tecnicos and Perro coming out. I thought this was the best we have seen Shocker look as he looked poised to be a big star and finishes off the first fall with a great elbow drop onto Perro. So much for your homecoming. Tarzan Boy still is getting a good bit of heat from the Arena Mexico faithful and a rudo turn is possibly needed in his future with him getting the Roman Reigns reaction. Perro still is kind at doing the mano y mano strikes exchange as he has a strong one with Scorpio in the ring and then an even better one with Ano outside the ring. While all of this happened, Tarzan Boy picked up the second fall win which feels like an afterthought. Third fall has some good comedy stuff and then culminates in Ano and Perro again going after each other in the ring. This is a heated callback to their AAA feud and Perro taking his mask. I thought TB looks good here and him and Shocker is an interesting pairing and crowd reaction. Rayo even has a big dive to the outside which was a big move for him. That leaves our main pairing of Perro and Ano and we get a quick foul and pin to spoil the big return of Perro. Excellent. This again wasn’t great in the ring but really helped progress stuff at the future and had just enough memorable moments to make it a solid addition to the undercard of this show. ***

What is the liability like for throwing fireworks into the stands? The roster for CMLL right now is just loaded. First fall is all rudo beatdown. This rudo trio isn’t particular flashy compared to Infernales and Guapos but they get the job done and do have a stature as big deals within the company. Feels good seeing Porky and he immediately does something of note by doing an amusing wind up with one hand while he quickly fouls with the other hand to Dantes. Heat for Caras and Porky squaring off was nuclear. Porky’s red hair is unfortunate. Segunda is essentially a Porky showcase and very entertaining for what it was. Third fall opens things up with a more hectic pace and brawling around ringside. Porky ends up giving a foul to Caras with his ass. He also does a big bronco buster into the corner on all three rudos and scales the top rope for a fat man splash. That gets the win. Really good, campy fun. ***1/4

A rating I really waft back and forth on. This had good action throughout and told a nice story of giving Ultimo Guerrero the rub while highlighting the right people in Olimpico. I liked Rivera and Mr. Mexico continuing their hot feud together. I do wish the Infernales might have been in something more meaty on this card given how great they have been in 2000 but again having a Torneo Cibernetico built around you on such a big card is no shame at all. ****

This was probably my favorite AAA thing so far actually. It certainly had too much referee bullshit for my optimal liking including the ref scoring the pinfall in the second caida, but it at least stayed based in the ring and had some semblance of a story that I could grasp. I really enjoyed the heel team here as it is filled with gruffy, grumpy men that don't give a fuck. Hopefully we can see more of this in the future. ***1/4

Figures that it takes the minis to produce the first good match we have seen from AAA. This wasn't spectacular but it was refreshing to see a basic minis match featuring good action and some sick bumps from Abismo Negro. Again AAA has the roster to be ok they just keep letting the booking get in the way. ***

The crowd was certainly into this but it has a kind of desperate feeling of something they know is in decline. As a six minute, all action tag match, this wasn't bad but also didn't leave much lasting memory with me. I just don't buy the Impact Players as the top stars ECW so desperately tries to portray them as. **1/2

I really dug the opening of this. Snug mat work and big punches. The match kind of losses it way a bit as something is going on in the crowd which distracts everyone but without a camera angle or commentary, we have no idea what is happening. Things step up with Ian taking a reverse DDT onto a light tube outside busting him open in sick fashion with blood coming into his face from the back of his head. A gruesome visual is a young fan in the crowd having to turn away from the gore. Ian regains control with his barbed wire bat, some tube carving and a signature chair shot that gets the crowd cheering furiously. They do one of the best ballroom brawling double punch knockout spots I can remember with both not pulling any punches at all. I thought the delayed selling here made everything dramatic that helped emphasize the last man standing stipulation. Ian hits a powerbomb and tombstone and appears to have the match in hand when some interference allows Corporal to regain the advantage. The finish is disappointing with all the interference and bullshit as up to that point this really felt like a classic hardcore match that had a unique narrative of a slow burn. Still, this match went 30 minutes and felt intense throughout with a great escalation of violence. ***3/4

Also dug the joshi show and am glad the thoughts for Karou vs Aja echoed most of my own.

Watching this match with the Sabre/Shibata one is a nice comparison. I like the work much better in the latter but have the matches ranked the same way due to my disgust with the Suzuki Gun turn by ZSJ. I really thought Taguchi here was pretty poor even though Hiromu for his part also did work over the neck and back in an inconsistent fashion. Taguchi didn't really sell anything down the stretch and that hurt the drama for it. ***1/2