soup23

Really nice match. I liked Baszler focusing on the arm and Io avoiding that as best she could with violence, high impact moves and trying to gain the advantage. This match also really felt like it went the perfect length. I did like Io passed out in the sleeper but agree that the match felt a little abrupt with the ref waking her up and then her going through her combo of moves picking up the win. ****

I had a blast watching this. Omega was in his goofy pants but the comedy worked here including the lifting up of Ospreay for the multiple superkicks. Other stuff like the tease of Okada vs. Omega was built up well for the final stanza. Even Cody brought something to the proceedings here. A great way to cap out the two nights that had a shaky lineup but ended up being an enjoyable duo of shows. ****

Good title defense for Cole. Someone like HASHI I think helped him with the crowd heat. He is a big enough threat to be able to have the crowd invest in his nearfalls but also a low level enough opponent to allow for Cole to shine without diminishing his character enough. Overall, not a particularly memorable match but an enjoyable 15 minute affair to pad out a title defense record. ***1/4

I can't believe my eyes but I thought this was a really good match. Simple structure and not much in the way of psychology or limb selling but a good hoss match that exemplified the strengths of Martinez better than any match prior. Martinez will probably always be limited as it isn't like he is really new to wrestling but he built up to his hope spots here and that dive that got Korakuen rocking was great. I like seeing Goto as the ultimate gatekeeper being more established than the guy that can never win the big one. ***1/2

New generic overdubbed music for War Machine. Good, beefy tag here. I have thought the narrative that GoD is "good" has been overblown to a degree but they were competent here. War Machine looks poised to be a great gaijin team within the NJ ranks and easily fill the void left by KES with Lance Archer's injury. ***1/4

This was my MOTN for night 1. I thought Omega did really good in keeping up his momentum and mystique from the WK show by being serious Kenny here and hopefully doing away with the wacky pants for good. This structure did a good job of portraying the BC faction as the biggest stars individually in the match but that the Briscoes are a better cohesive unit team that is able to thwart their individual attack. A couple of minor moves prevent me from calling this great like the Panama City Driver and the big kick from Mark. Finish worked for me in showing the BC coming together and hopefully making Cole a little more over in NJPW. ***3/4

I had a lot of fun with this one. A neat reversal of formula with the beasts being the faces and the slimy heels getting their comeuppance and not being able to utilize their flash. For anyone annoyed at how ass kickerish the Bucks can look at times, this is a good contrast as every time they went into superkick mode, War Machine nipped it right away. Add to that an awesome, definitive finish that gets War Machine over huge. ***1/2

The taping felt rough on the Mania 9 show where it felt like it was recorded over different points where stuff likeConrad asking about Horace Hogan 20 minutes after he did previously

I guess MCW was able to get Dawn Marie as well as she comes out here to cat calls. Judge Jeff Jones also decides to cut a promo explaining that Nova’s opponent isn’t here tonight. Corino comes out as a replacement. Oh Marie is the referee. This starts out with both of them sexually assaulting her. 2000 everybody. Corino seems to be in straight clown mode. Everything is a comedy spot with a bunch of nonsense and not enough action surrounding it to keep me interested. I suppose this was the main event which holy shit what an awful finish with Dawn fast counting. Who the heel and face of all this was is anyones guess. I hated this. *

Pearl and Myers are really going all in with the early 2000’s motif. Good solid indy action. I do feel like Matthews and York really should have been signed earlier as they feel ready to mix it up with the young WWF tag teams. The heel duo here doesn’t do much for me but are cronies throughout the match so at least they have their role work down. Match ends in bullshit which was disappointing but perhaps they will have a blowoff soon. **

Rock attacks before the bell on the outside. Pac bumps well for Rock and now he has been thrusted up to be the main DX lieutenant in a more prominent role than even 1999. Big Show and HHH along with their respective McMahons make their way down the aisle. That turns this match into a glorified lumberjack match with HHH and Show having pretty major beef now. I guess the coalition exploded earlier on this SmackDown. Rock gets in a spinebuster as a hope spot. Rock hits a good powerslam move that feels unique for him but Tori stops the count. X-Pac then pastes Rock with a spinning heel kick but eats a Rock Bottom while going for Bronco Buster. Show interferes distracting the ref and allowing HHH to nail a belt shot for a nearfall. Just then the fire erupts and here comes Kane looking for X-Pac. I thought this did a good job of continuing to advance things towards Mania and I really don’t have that huge an issue with the triple threat for the title as it currently stands. **1/4

Angle ragging on the local sports team doesn’t ever get old. I do love the pairing with Backlund too even though I could see some people thinking it is too comedic a spot. Chyna laughing at Jericho’s jokes on the other hand….. not a good fit at all as we have said. Match sadly only goes 2.5 minutes but again it is nice to see Tazz still in there with these guys even though I’m not a huge Tazz fan or anything. I wonder with it being mid March when he got inserted into the Hardcore stuff for Mania and why they shouldn’t have just made the triple threat at Mania a four way. End comes when Jericho has the Walls of Jericho locked in when Benoit interferes. This draws Chyna in and Eddy out. That was one way to set up multiple Mania programs at least. ¾*

This match was just a multitude of people I was unfamiliar with. Even looking at trusty cagematch and google images left me shaky on a few. A really conflicting match with some stuff I loved like the way they did Asuka’s elimination. All four of the opposing team go after her and essentially bite the bullet in gaining a countout win against her. The rest was a mixed bag with some good action but also annoying interference, random weapon shots, etc. Finish was a nice moment of them overcoming the odds once they got through the big buzzsaw of Asuka. ***

Seems kind of ill advised to be doing this match so close to the PPV. Again, Hogan and Flair are working pretty hard here along with Luger but stuff just feels way played out and more of an homage of a travelling road show that has just stepped out into a town again for their only appearance of the year instead of a weekly episodic promotion. Flair tries to flow some extra juice into this with his strap and the brawling on the table but overall this wouldn’t have exactly made me want to run out and purchase Uncensored. Hogan ends up getting his revenge here beating up all three Total Package members as we sign off the air. *1/2

Jarrett cuts a promo. Yeah, I’m not interested either. Any dynamic he had with Debra is devoid when he presents in this manner as a big ladies man. Action here with Booker and Jarrett was good. I wish we could have had a long standing feud based on in ring action and not everything else. Harris Bros interfere for the predictable bullshit finish. This gave a good look at the potential of Booker and bell to bell, Jarrett still has stuff to offer. **1/2

La Parka has a lip synch gimmick which is pretty hilarious. La Parka’s yellow gear here is exquisite. I have never been a Chavo guy but it was clear in the La Parka sequence here how much smoother and overall enjoyable this match was compared to Chavo lumbering around. Parka does some dancing and the mis direction spots between Dandy and Silver King was charming. Parka even gets chants to use the chair. Parka slaps the shit out of Dandy then takes a shoulder into the post full steam ahead. Another swell match that only went five minutes that unfortunately had Chavo winning even though he was by far the least worker. **1/2

I wasn’t crazy about the cosplaying of the GAEA stuff with constant interference but the actual moves here were really good and Aja was vicious throughout. Mariko and Aja have some miscommunication but they are able to ride the ship and pick up the win with Aja’s spinning back fist which is becoming a brutal move. We got less than half of this so I am not going to rank this one but it was a mix of good moves with a frustrating structure. NR

Holy shit was this an awesome seven minutes. It looks like we get five minutes clipped but this was just relentless with full of huge spots, big bombs and nice strikes. Mary Apache may be one of the most unheralded great workers of the 2000’s if the Billy Boy vs. Apache feud is as good as I remember. This was a great debut in the decade for her. Always tough to rank these type of matches but in a month with a lot of good stuff but nothing blowaway, this blew me away for the time it was on my screen. ****

Mima has really been active in 2000 so far in a variety of different areas. I guess Asari and Yagi pulled double duty today as we get their Arsion stuff after this. The camera work here makes it look like they are wrestling on the surface of the sun. So much yellow taking up my screen in this gym. The match itself didn’t do a whole lot for me as it started with brawling around the ring and the comeback for Asari and Yagi came too easy. Interference even plays to the finish which I have had just about enough of throughout 2000 so far. Looks like we got 9 out of 16 minutes. I was expecting a nice showcase for the ladies but this continues the joshi 2000 trend of being fairly inconsistent overall. *3/4

Some more solid lucha action. I though Emilio got to show more fire here than what we have seen in most of the trios as he really goes after Scorpio and Violenca at different points. Fuerza still is someone that always captivates me when he is in a match even though I don’t know if he has ever had a MOTYC in any given year. Much like Juvy in that way. More groundwork for the 3/17 show with all of these guys seemingly going to be involved. ***

It is cool to see LCO go against each other and I liked the little stare down they have when they first enter in together. According to cagematch, it looks like Fukawa only wrestled a few months after this match so this is probably our last look at her. Ohmukai is someone I was unfamiliar with as well. The clipping is again annoying but I did like many portions of this and the novelty of seeing LCO battle it out against each other make this worth watching overall. NR

Not dead, just on life support right now in combination of my CPA studying, new audit responsibilities at shoot job and Parvs "retirement". WTBBP will return in due time.

Thanks Daniel, I don't know when episode two will be out and I am the problem. It is relatively easy for me to watch a few matches during work lunch hour but I am studying for the CPA exam so most of the nights are consumed by that currently.

This was a good match to show how dominant Wicked and Frightmare can be as a team even without the Hexed elements surrounding them. Both Frightmare and Batiri can have off nights from time to time but everyone here was effective in putting over the disdain and hate they were trying to convey. Solid tag team wrestling. ***1/4

This is inherently I probably will freely overate but I came in with minimal expectations besides a decent to good match and was fairly blown away by the chain wrestling and spots that were busted out by both competitors. Rock Lobster is a pretty dreadful gimmick but I do think he has better talent than anyone else that has debuted in the last two crops of Chikara graduates. Ophidian is usually someone that I am hit or miss on but I thought he led Lobster here well and played a frustrated mentor role that was having to rely on more tricks in his arsenal than he expected going in. ****