soup23

Still loving the CIMA/Fuji team. Fuji and Mochizuki continue their rivalry by just wailing on each other here. KOBE was mainly fodder for CIMA to pick on but he did a good job being the feed man for CIMA’s offense. Crazy Max gets the win and then we get mayhem afterwards with C Max still looking like the most boss unit in wrestling along with Infernales right now. Toryumon keeps chugging along nicely. ***1/2

Lou E. Dangerously is getting pretty grating. I still like CW but honestly if he can’t get much from Crazy, I may lose hope in him. Really hot start for Crazy culminating in a Quebrada to the outside. Lou is able to distract Crazy enough for CW to take over after a superkick with a chair. CW calls in for tables and I am not too fond of him doing a Sabu tribute act of going for tables immediately. Crazy fires back and looks like he has things into control until CW gives him a spinebuster through the table. I loved the way that was set up with the heel taking over. Crazy snaps off a tornado DDT pretty quickly and then retreats two more tables. After bonking CW’s head with a chair, he legdrops him through table #1. Lou teases getting into the ring to break that pin up. Lou and the goon squad get decked and Crazy sets up table #2. Crazy hits a moonsault on the table but it doesn’t break. He then does a really dangerous lionsult on the table where he hits the legs that are now sticking up. He is able to get the win from there. I would have liked to have seen more control from CW on top but this was a fun garbage style match and Crazy continues to be one of my favorites of 2000 so far. **3/4

This actually looks like the start of the show with Randy coming out and taking charge before being talked down by Mr. Badstreet himself, Brandon Baxter. Baxter is fine but a little sporadic in this role. We cut to the battle royal at the end of the show and Ali still hasn’t shown up. Tracy is out there again, he had a busy day on Power Pro. Ali makes it in and its Seven and Tracy vs. Ali. The crowd is really behind Ali and he has a big chant fire up in his name. Seven is powerslammed and Smothers in press slamed awkwardly on top of Seven. Smothers is able to skin the cat and go to work. Seven knocks Tracy out and Ali clothesline Seven out to win the match and remain the champion. Nothing battle royal. *

Cornette is in his wrestling singlet and delivers a promo. The lumberjacks are all hand picked by Corny and have a vendetta against Randy Hales. Hales is in his business casual best. Power Pro is one hour later because of an NBA special that Cory first calls the playoffs. In February Cory??? Randy still has an awkward quality to him but this is your usual manager affair. Randy hits a bulldog and picks up the win before being waylayed by Tracy with a chair right across the head. Mayhem ensues. *1/2

Cory says enough with the talk, lets get to some wrestling. That of course leads right into a Tracy Smothers promo. I love Smothers character around this time as he has been a rambling man in 2000. Tracy calls the locker room a bunch of fairy pansies. Scotty Sabre comes out and Tracy says he wants Goldberg or The Rock. Tracy tricks Sabre and then sucker punches him. Brilliant. Sabre gets caught going for a tope and takes a nasty spill onto the apron. Tracy being the professional, beats on him quickly to cover up for the awful botch. Tracy’s dancing and juking gets laughs from the crowd. Referee gets wiped out on a slam and Sabre gets a visual pin. Seven interferes on Smothers’ behalf and Tracy pulls the tights for good measure to pick up the win. Tracy says he didn’t need any help. Still loving Tracy throughout 2000. **

I have no idea who the Convict is. A search on Cagematch and I still have no idea who this guy is. Necro empties out the grocery cart and Convict pounces on him when he enters. Entering into competiton with mr. Hughes as toughest gear to work in is Convict who remains handcuffed throughout the entire match. Two fun garbage brawls for Necro with no names in two months. This included some unique weaponry. Martial Law is an interesting second as hes not a manager for Necro persay but he is there to ensure Convict doesn’t escape the venue. Convict busts out a really good looking dropkick off the turnbuckle to the floor. Martial Law gets decked with a trash can shot but then takes it out on Convict by holding him for Necro to do his wild tope to the floor. Convicts beats on Necro on the floor and he is really wounded heading back into the ring. Necro is able to gain some distance with some headbutts and takes the opportunity to go for his powerbomb. Martial Law uses that moment to attack Necro as we then get a cut screen and learn from Promoter Ken Taylor that the final nine seconds of this match were too violent to be shown on tv. It is a bait and switch to a degree but it was a nice old school change of pace that I enjoyed to a degree. ***

Good look at Flash here. Finish here was a big schmozz that did nothing for me with referee’s fighting, Robbie D coming out and him and TPT going after each other. Flash had a good dive to the outside but again the booking was so interference heavy here that nothing seemed to resonate. Robbie D does hit a dropkick from the electric chair position which was impressive. Rico comes in to make the save for TPT. A misfire for OVW IMO. *1/2

Really enjoyed this week as it showed the difference of something that each person would probably never seek out in wrestling on their own but ended up coming away with an enjoyable experience anyway.

Frye with long hair is throwing me off. Really shoot style heavy opening with Frye working a choke. I don’t think this segment will be for everybody but it kept me engaged. Sasaki tries to open things up with more strikes but Frye is not interested in that as he takes the opening provided and works toward an arm submission. Build to the finish is really dramatic as Sasaki starts going after Frye’s leg. Sasaki does the Bret Hart to Mr. Perfect kicks on Frye and Frye takes almost an identical bump which I don’t think is a coincidence. The Scorpion does play well into the leg work that has been done. A flurry of clotheslines is able to put Frye away with the last looking really brutal. Sasaki is getting a strong push right now and he is performing well. I thought Frye as the dangerous gaijin challenger was a very good foil for him in this match. ***3/4

Kojima and Saito amazingly just teamed up again with a Team 2000 reunion on the New Year’s Dash show. Koshinaka and Kojima feel cut from the same cloth to me at this point as I don’t exactly hate them but some people think they are really great and I have never gotten that sense. Koshinaka hasn’t won me over in the 80’s and 90’s stuff so we will see with Kojima here. That being said, this was a really good contest. Kojima is flying around more than I am used to and has a 1990 Misawa quality to him in the mix of high flying offense to strikes and bombs. Tenryu was grumpy and that results in him taking any stiff shot he can. Saito gets worked over for the bulk of the match and he is the weak link overall but Kosh and Tenryu did enough to keep things interesting. Saito getting the hot tag on a low blow was sort of annoying. Kojima is really strong once he gets the tag running through everyone. Saito comes in again and match drops in heat and intensity. Kosh gives him the butt butt and powerbomb to put him away. Would have liked to have seen Tenzan in there. ***1/4

We cut to AKIRA getting choked out and having to recover out on the floor. I really enjoyed the Hash vs. Chono mat sequence that happened next and it was really intense. Ilzuka gets in there and holds his own too. I don’t know when he will fall off in the decade but he has been a welcome addition to everything so far. AKIRA has recovered for five minutes and he comes in and dropkicks both opponents and then just goes at it with Hash on the outside. Once the tag is made to Hashimoto he decides this is enough and taps out AKIRA. Really spirited work continues in New Japan. **3/4

3 Count is awesome and I love the video production of their concert with Tenay losing his mind throughout. Really good action here with a rana to the outside and PG-13 taking over with a suplex to Moore on the floor. PG-13 are given a lot of offense here and they really feed into 3 Count making their comeback even though they arent’ faces in doing so as Evan Karagias uses his dance board to allow Helms to pin Dundee. Quick match but a ton of fun here. **1/2

Time for the Regal WCWSN showcase as he draws Fidel Sierra who they dug up from who knows where. Regal does his trademark offense but Sierra isn’t game to bring a whole lot to the table here though I guess his punches look good enough. Regal responds with elbow and knee strikes. I was surprised they gave Sierra the flying lariat as a hope spot here at the end but Regal is able to win with the chicken wing neckbreaker. *1/2

Silver King has become the unsung hero of the WCW C-shows. King is really good here redoing it up throwing Lash outside and biting him. I didn’t like Leroux making a comeback by going for a low blow. Silver King does a unique 360 elbow to the outside and uses the steps again. Double jump moonsault misses for King and here is Lash’s comeback proper. Some fairly weak big offense including an armdrag that he goes for the pin on. The frog splash for Lash misses but King misses a big dive moments later. This allows Leroux to hit his Whiplash 2000 which looks fucking awful to win. Bad effort from Lash here. *3/4

Gertner does his usual spiel. I again really loved Corino’s promo here. Different from a few nights before as he doesn’t rail against the crowd but gives an intense warning to his opponents as he calls them out. Dusty chants fire up as he makes his entrance and the brawl starts. Brawl to the outside with the crowd heat well but nothing much of note. Traditional tag match portion is fairly short and simple with Dreamer getting worked over, Dusty getting his hot tag and them running through the finish with stereo elbow drops for the pin. Rhino immediately attacks after the bell until Sandman makes the save to a HUGE pop. Finish was great ECW with Sandman getting the heroes welcome but the match proper was a step behind the previous effort we saw from these four. **3/4

Another absolute war. Since we don’t see the beginning of the TV match, this was nice to see Crazy rush the ring and everything just goes right from there. Tajiri sends him sailing through the crowd with no regard. Tajiri always has something interesting to do that feels different and here it was slamming the chair at the fan in the crowd and spitting at them. When the fan responds, Tajiri calmly eats the spit. Both guys bleed and do some nutty spots including the signature moonsault into the crowd from Crazy and the beautiful kicks from Tajiri. Like the tv match, they were able to build to a stunt show spectacle ending that didn’t seem too contrived as the visual of Crazy being buried under the chairs and Tajiri double stomping that was excellent. I thought this was on par with the tv match and with the beginning here, this may possibly be my favorite ECW match of all time. ****1/2

I am so over Mike Awesome matches right now. They just never seem to really dictate. After some back and forth and maybe even a bit of surprising offense from the challenger de jour, Awesome takes over and rolls through his routine including an Awesome Bomb through a table in the ring. That may please each local yokel that came to these shows, but it leaves me hollow almost every time. **1/2

This is why I really love this type of process. Stuff will of course be missed but this is a match that never would make MOTYC lists. In addition, if you watch EVERYTHING, it can be a big chore. Finding that balance of watching just enough is key. We won’t be perfect and will miss stuff but we do get to see this type of workman’s type match that had a lot of interesting stuff going on. I like Mikey as a heel portraying himself as the original underdog character to compare to this johnny come lately Spike. The opening moments were really good and mat oriented and the ratcheting of the action felt more organic here. A couple of spots where things almost went awry like the turnbuckle slam spot Mikey did but everything held together well enough. Finish was really cool as Mikey has a good stunner finish for a tease and then Spike comes back and is able to get a bit of revenge in on Mitchell before hitting the Acid Drop for the win. ***1/4

I don’t know if this was taped before or after the RVD match with the injury but anyway this will be it of RVD until May. Styles informs us this is the first ever meeting of these two. T’m honestly really weary of RVD in the 2000’s on rewatch. Even though the stuff vs. Sabu and Jerry Lynn didn’t really hold up to me as classics, it did at least seem different from what we were seeing throughout the country in the 90’s and did in a weird way feel more big time than the indy stuff that we watched the time and time failed to resonate. In the 2000’s it feels like a RVD routine would be 5th from the top of most CZW or IWA-MS shows. These two actually have some good chemistry with each other IMO as Tanaka takes the fight to RVD and the match overall doesn’t deviate into RVD’s signature spot and showoff routine. Tanaka tries to suplex I think RVD through a table but it looks more like a DDT and it was a sick bump either way. Selling isn’t on the menu for either of these guys tonight as RVD smashes the chair in Tanaka’s face, he kicks out, and then is on offense and DDTs RVD onto the chair. Match works though to a degree because of Tanaka throwing the kitchen sink at RVD and him coming back. In that way I compare it to the Sabu Guilty as Charged match even though neither are going to ever be my favorite match style. RVD is able to hit a swinging kick on the chair and the five star spash to retain. ***1/4

Kenzo Suzuki…. Lol. Someone I haven’t thought about in ten plus years but here he is in a trial series matchup with Sasaki vs. Tenryu and Koshinaka. Sasaki starts out with some good fire and taking the fight to Tenryu. Suzuki even shows some good glimpses here and he is the main whipping boy for Tenryu as he gets his throat chopped repeatedly. Suzuki is able to gather his bearings and tag in Sasaki. Sasaki again comes in fired up and I know a lot has to be the pairing against Tenryu but Ive enjoyed him more so far in 2000 than any year in the 90’s. Suzuki spears Tenryu and the crowd goes nuts. Koshinaka just says fuck this tag structure and comes in with a flying butt butt off the top. Tenryu gives his stiff lariat, pins Suzuki, then does his prickish hand gesture to dismiss the up can comers. Watching this, I can see how you would be high on Suzuki. Really fun match here. ***1/2

I was really critical of Liger blowing through Kanemoto at the Dome but I kind of secretly loved this because Tanaka is not that established and he really brings it to Liger. As a result, this felt like a five minute war that essentially could have been a glorified shoot in some instances. Liger is a prick and takes the battle destroying Tanaka but he doesn’t go down easy. Excellent sprint. ***1/4

A really good card from New Japan and we haven’t gotten until the real big Inoki era of worked shoot style stuff. However, there are leanings mainly in that the stiffness has been ramped up. This was mainly used by me to check out Fukuda who unfortunately will pass away two months from now. He looked really solid here and complimented Koji well within the team. Samurai seemed to be taking the blunt of the beating during this match and ends up taking the loss. ***

We cut to one of the best superplexes I have ever seen with Takiawa taking a great bump bouncing off the mat. Ka Shin much like Suzuki before him may be a whipping boy for the decade to come but he looks actively good here and crisp. Takiawa makes his own comeback and has no problems dropping Wagner on his dome with a DVD, powerbomb and brainbuster. Ohtani comes in a house of fire and here responds Wagner. Everyone is just killing each other with bombs in this match. Ohtaini is able to get the win on Wagner with a big bomb. Nothing really significant from a storyline perspective but a big bomb fest that was fun to watch. ***

Really strong tv match. Benoit looks like he honestly could be the best wrestler in the world. I think it is fair to say that Sid and HHH can be limited workers and Benoit has been able to gel with both in the past month and compliment their strengths. HHH for his part is on easily the run of his career and while his 2000 may not be as great as the WWE only fanatics may have you believe, I would be lying if I didn’t say it hasn’t been pretty damn good so far. With the blown tag finish, this didn’t have as large of the stakes but it was important to see Benoit get a visual pin over HHH with the referee down and Michael Cole was really strong on commentary talking about how this was now an issue of pride for Benoit. I don’t have much recollection of their other singles matches throughout the years but this started that rivalry off on a good note. ***1/2

There is a good sense of urgency to this match with the Radicalz down one contest. Road Dogg and Saturn in particular had way more chemistry than I would have imagined with Saturn doing some nice looking armbars. Gunn and Eddy are mostly paired off and Saturn has to make the save after Billy this the fame asser. Eddy hits his frog splash and has the elbow broke. Eddy pretty much freaks out and works to keep his arm in tact understandable so. Match breaks down and the NAO win which was not the way it was booked in the back. **