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Candy always fascinates me a bit as a worker because she was in there with the new crop of AJW talent during the tail end of the heyday and then retired. Then she pops back up in ARSION for a little while and retires for good. Kong has had a rough month with the GAEA stuff so I was happy to see her in a more compelling singles match here. More clipping which I will continue to rail against. I guess with the tv format of the territories I can accept clipping even though it can be a nuisance. At this point in Japan, units like FMW were doing their DirectTV PPV’s and other groups like even Toryumon were giving us full matches monthly on their digest edition. It feels weak that these little snippets is all we have of ARSION in January 2000. Candy has more of an advantage than I would have expected in the clips of this one and it in some ways is reminiscent of the Ikeda vs. Nagai match that also happened on this day. Due to the clipping and transitions, it is impossible to judge which match did it better. The clips we get to see here are well done. I liked the powerbomb that Candy is able to muster up and she does a good job of selling the exhaustion that took. Aja pounces on this weakness with her patented back palm strike. Aja runs through her signature moves of back suplexes and finishes the match off with a brutal back fist. Nice bounce back for Aja and I look forward to a long, unclipped singles match from her.

This had some clipping issues like the previous match but was at least cohesive enough that I feel I can piece together how the entire match went. Ayako will be a prominent member of joshi throughout our quest in the 2000’s and still is relevant today in WAVE. I discovered that Futagami is now going by GAMI and mostly working the prelims in WAVE. Akino also has been around a good bit in the 2000’s and we may see her coming up. The match had a good pace but also some good double teams from each duo and Hamada really showcased her athleticism with her graceful springboard moonsaults. Gami makes the mistake of lifting Ayako up on a pinfall attempt which is never smart. La Magistral cradle gets a really close nearfall for her and she gives a nice slap on a palm strike attempt. Akino helps Ayako out and she is able to get a cutter from the top for the win. Pretty fun tag match here and I look forward to more Ayako. **3/4

LCO collide. Some weird clipping as we go from Mita getting beat down to Omukai and Shimoda mixing it up. The fleeting moments of LCO going against each other are interesting. The clipping kind of kills this match for me though as we see less than half of it and the clips are so random and violent in how they are done mid transition move, that I feel some context is really lost. The action looked good but I am unsure if a cohesive story was told or not as the match ends in a draw. NR

I was interested to see Ikeda work with a lower ranked opponent and the match starts perfectly with Nagai getting a big spin kick in the opening seconds and then dominating the early portion. The work on the leg was strong and focused and he mixed that with strikes and highspots. This really had a vibe of a one touchdown underdog team getting out to a really fast start and creating some turnovers to be 21-0. Even when Ikeda would have certain openings like the dragon screw, Nagai was able to come right back with a submission to neutralize him. The leg cranking submission that Nagai puts on next is unique and looks totally brutal. Ikeda has to fight to make the ropes there. Two more huge kicks to the leg and then another sick spin kick that Ikeda sells huge as a knockout blow. That seemed to be the wake up call Ikeda needs as he is able to get another desperate dragon screw and buy a few seconds of time before Nagai comes back with another big barrage. An unfortunate moment happens next with Ikeda getting a glancing kick that Nagai sells. Ikeda covers it well enough with a quick running knee that does land. Ikeda is clearly hurt and just tries to lay on Nagai in a dominant position when he has an opportunity at offense. Nagai senses this and reverses the position and then looks for the cross armbreaker. Nagai gets it and Ikeda is in worse trouble. Nagai takes a risk which was unnecessary in going to the top and he misses a big dive and lands awkwardly and painfully. That didn’t look great aesthetically but kind of works in a kayfabe sense. Ikeda rolls to the outside he is such trouble. Ikeda’s selling here has been tremendous. Once again he is able to catch one of the Nagai kicks and finally gets a submission attempt. Nagai escapes that quickly and swiftly and locks up the ankle again. Ikeda is wincing and screaming in pain. Two hail mary clotheslines from Ikeda give him his biggest advantage of the match so far. A death valley driver gives him more momentum heading into the finish. Ikeda kind of shockingly goes up to the top and does a flipping senton kick move which was really unique and ends up knocking Nagai out. A few execution issues aside, I thought this was splendid and really left Nagai with the out that he was WAY ahead on points here and it was somewhat a combination of luck and happenstance that he lost the match. Splendid way of telling a story. ****

This match feels like the personal hell of JerryvonKramer. Perhaps 3:00 AM wasn’t the best time to watch this but I struggled with good parts of it. For starters, I thought the selling of Tanaka was pretty inconsistent. I actually thought Sano outworked him pretty easily throughout this match as judged by his selling of the leg in the second half of the match compared to Tanaka in the first half. The countout tease spot is something I am so conditioned with in current day New Japan but it worked here and wasn’t a cliché. Finish is pretty dramatic with a lot of throws and big submission attempts. I will give Korakuen kudos as they stayed with the match and got into it big time at the end. Sano is eventually able to win with an armbar which wasn’t teased much throughout the match. A good match overall I suppose but one that barely reaches that barometer for me and I was hoping for much more. ***

Another busy day for Korakuen. Can someone clarify who this was that comes out before hand? I want to say young Fedor but I don’t want to embarrass myself if I was wrong. Yone in this setting continues to amuse me given his huge afro and overall character later. Ishikawa and Otsuka start things off which is ok with me always. Ishikawa gains the advantages and we get the big running knee from the entranceway from Yone. Ishikawa can make the most basic moves like a half crab look painful as fuck. I love Otsuka grabbing the ankle pick from the crab position to gain the advantage. Ishikawa puts Greco in a bow and arrow and Otsuka comes in and casually kicks him right in the balls to break that. Greco is selling the leg damage greatly hopping around. Yone tries to get in on the carnage but gets taken over. He fires back with a really heated exchange vs. Otsuka. Otsuka continues to be someone that never disappoints as he is an animal in this match. Ishikawa really brutalizes Greco and gets hi in a choke. Greco learned from Otsuka and uses the ankle pick again to break out of the rear naked choke. Yone gets cleared through a row of chairs. Otsuka saves Greco again with a German on Ishikawa and now Greco is looking for a choke. Ishikawa is able to reverse this again and Otsuka is neutralized by Yone forcing Greco to tap. It looks like we got about 5 minutes cut here given the time at the finish but I really liked what we saw and it told a clear hierarchy and mixed in some exciting submissions and strikes into the action. ***1/4

A lot to unpack here with this special Baba memorial six man. Taue comes out wearing a Baba esque robe, Omori gets a big marquee spot, we get a rare appearance of Hansen at this point, and Misawa is teaming with Burning! After a little table setting with Omori in there, he tags out to Hansen and Hansen and Kobashi going after each other and it is great. Kobashi isn’t really the young punk that Hansen loved bullying around for so long so it was refreshing to see this strike exchange with Kobashi now being easily higher on the overall hierarchy in the promotion. Omori continues to be the person that is toughest to figure out in the promotion. They clearly have big plans for him and he doesn’t look awful when is without Takayama but in this match he did stick out to me as pretty obviously having the least amount of heat. I did like him taking the aggression to Jun on the outside to really hone in the focus on Akiyama for his squad. Omori gets worked over for a while and nothing much of note happens until Kobashi takes him to the outside and there is a spirited exchange with Hansen coming over for the save. This leads to the ending run with everything being ramped up a bit and Taue and Akiyama having a good closing sequence vs. each other. Misawa in January is an interesting figure as he has been kind of an overload that is prominent but hasn’t really made his move yet for the year. This match exemplifies that as Burning does the vast majority of the work. Omori looks good in closing stretch with his missile dropkick and dragon suplex. Kobashi catches him in a great half suplex and the Exploder, Tiger Mask and Burning lariat combo put Omori away. Fun for a novelty aspect but the action here was pretty pedestrian for All Japan standards. ***

I kind of keep justifying myself from not calling these Toryumon multi man matches as great because I don’t want to be seen as just blindly loving everything they are throwing out there but it hasn’t happened yet. I was weary of the face side of things here with Tiger Mask and Magnum but they turned in some of the best respective performances of themselves I can recall seeing. Magnum had a lot of energy and didn’t botch much of anything of note. He was paired off with CIMA for the bulk of the match and held his own. The other big thread throughout this match centered around Mochizuki and Fujii and this was great stuff. Fujii is already showing that amazing charisma that he will carry throughout his career and he brings a different edge to the Crazy Max faction that allows for comedic relief while he also is menacing. Fujii ends up taking the loss here and is pissed off going on a bit of a fit post match as the faces cut a celebratory promo to close us out. Loving all of the Toryumon so far. ****

Gertner grabs the mic and has some puns on Orlando's theme parks. Rhino and company come out and Joel gets a gore for his trouble. RVD gets called out and here he comes. This may be the show that has turned me off of the fancams. I had enjoyed them for the most part up to this point and the 1/28 show was really good but this one was uneven and just felt thrown together. Fonzie legit crowd surfs when they get rid of him. Rhino is on top for parts of this match but he hooks on a half crab for no reason and these two really don't have any chemistry together as workers. Corino tries to use a chair but RVD uses it. 5 star frog splash. Thanks for coming. This was BADDDD. *1/2

It's a small building so take that as u will. I would say with the Hardy factor, this one will be close to selling out in advance. Are the Hardys on the 21st card? I know they are there on the 29th. You are right, I would think you are probably ok waiting until day of then but it is tough to say since they just had their biggest house and you can't really get a gauge of the retention rate from that.

Sign Guy does his Paul Heyman tribute act and here comes Sabu to save the day. This again started fairly basic for a Sabu match which gives me hope that one day we will see a version of that. I get that the stereotypical ECW fan on this Southern route wants to see tables and violence but it gets grating watching it every night especially when there is little to no variety in the match if it involves Sabu and RVD no matter who the opponent is. CW does at least get a good bit of offense in here on Sabu including a spinebuster through the table. Sabu comes back and tries to put Lou through a table. CW saves him but gets caught up in the table in the process. Arabian facebuster legdrop and that is the win for Sabu. I have heard that Sabu matches can never be boring, but this one bored me quite a lot. *3/4

Good for the novelty of seeing Awesome throw Guido around but not much else. Guido gets lawn darted into the crowd like a surfer at a rock concert. Sal has to run interference on his behalf for him to take over. His tactics on top are cheap and effective like biting and clawing for every inch of an advantage he can sustain. A crucifix bomb allows Awesome to flatten him. Awesome calls for his trusty table. Sal and Judge Jeff get into it a bit and what do you know but an Awesome Bomb through a table wins another match for big Mike. **

It's a small building so take that as u will. I would say with the Hardy factor, this one will be close to selling out in advance.

Corino cuts another great promo getting some huge heat. Tommy comes out and responds. How can I say this nicely but Francine looks like the years have taken a toll. Tajiri attacks on behalf of Corino and is a pretty entrenched heel tonight after being essentially a face last night. The action here was fun and I liked Dreamer in this type of setting. Tajiri gets tied into the tree of woe and takes a brutal chair shot. A big schmozz finish with Corino coming in to interfere, Francine being on the apron, and Raven making the save for the faces. I could have done without that and it feels like Corino and Co. take a lot of losses. **1/2

I am really looking forward to the Bad Attitude team. Here they are made to look dominant vs. the invading ECW team and work really well together with double teams and effective heel tag work. The finish was done in a great way to make the big stars win but keep the homegrown talent strong in defeat. David Young in particular had a good mix of power and agility throughout this match and meshed well with Kid Kash. ***

"I can tell Christmas has come and gone to Cornelia, Ga because all the women still have Ruldolph's hoof prints on their back" Jeff G Bailey. What a treasure. He then calls Chance Williams a dishrag whore and says she has the whitest teeth he has ever came across. After the break, Chance Williams comes out and informs Bailey that he didn’t say it was him that he was facing. The lights go out and come back up with Stone Mountain in the ring. Bailey scurries around and then gets caught in a powerbomb to give Stone Mountain the win. Chickenshit heel fun. ¼* We then get a clip of AJ Styles winning the title from K-Krush and this leads right to Bailey and Crowbar beating up AJ. Bailey calls out Jesse Taylor and encourages him to hit a chair on a prone AJ. Jorge Estrada makes the save and hits a weak dropkick on Taylor to get him out of the way. Crowbar beats up Estrada and Bailey says he will be back picking grapes when Crowbar is done with him. K Krush turns on Jesse Taylor and decks Bailey to turn face as he nears his end of the run in the promotion.

Low Ki has his traditional music already. Reil has a unique gimmick of the guido too good for the likes of the crowd. He also comes out to an awful male cover of No Scrubs. This had a tighter approach and more restraint than the Blade match making it better overall. Some good wrestling and Ki showing his speed. An excellent jump up senton to the floor from Ki was the early portion highlight. I thought Reil was fine too here on top. He was certainly winded in the closing moments of the match but he tried to stick with Ki and work for the finish. He ends up picking up the victory and then shows respect by shaking Ki’s hand at the end. The first of many 2000’s Ki matches I would classify as good. ***1/4

Another solid match. Leroux seemed to take instruction well and that led to him being placed up the top of the card. In some ways, he also feel like the last in a line of guys that had a good run for a small period of time in the big two and then disappeared. He still is someone recognizable as a name today and probably will be working for AIW in the upcoming year. One of my great mark out moments as a fan was driving to Oxford, Alabama and seeing Leroux on I-20. We waved at him and he did his signature gesture of touching his sideburns. Anyway, this was another fun match on a day that had quite a many of them for WCW. Tony and Scott again work well as a commentary pairing putting over the struggle of Hayashi. Hayashi's strikes look good and he is able to pick up the victory which was presented as a mild upset. **1/4

This was fun lucha action. Parka and Silver King were bouncing all over the place and the Villanos were good bases. I also enjoyed the commentary with Tony and Scott putting them over as a team and a possible run as the tag champs. **1/4

Never seen Williams before and judging by his cagematch, I won't again. Regal still in WCW at this point feels weird. Williams gives Regal and good workman wrestling match here. Regal is able to show his signature moves and power and essentially squash a big guy like Williams. Dave Taylor tells someone outside the business as Regal jaws with Nick Patrick inside. The Regal cutter is used to put Williams away but it doesn't have a name here. **

I’m a little perplexed Rogers wasn’t used by more of the super indies coming up and he still has a good look here and good basics. I thought the action here displayed by Romeo and Rogers was better than what Chavo through out there. Rogers even hits an overhead release pumphandle and some heel mannerisms which was encouraging. Romeo again blows one of his big moves in a hurricanrana and a sloppy pescado to the outside. Some miscommunication on a rollup pin where Rogers doesn’t really kick out but the referee says he did. Another rollup is the finish which makes me feel the referee blew it the first time. Rogers looked good here, Romeo did not. *1/4

Tracy pulling a Rick Rude and being on WCWSN and MPPW on the same day is great stuff. Even better is him coming out here as Mr. fiery babyface. Barbarian has a relaxed look with his hair all over the place and a leather jacket. Tracy is able to rally the crowd a bit here and immediately gets thrown around like a rag doll. Big headbutt and barrage of strikes in the corner for Barb. Smothers gets a two count with a dropkick and forearm. Tracy does a single leg cradle again. The urgency of Tracy is really being displayed here. Nasty overhead suplex by Barb that is followed up with a side slam. Smothers gets another hope spot with a back heel kick. Tracy hits an elbow on the chest from the top for two. Smothers is fired up but runs into the kick of fear for the Barbarian win. Fun match here for three minutes. **

I have had enough of Chavo but we do get a look at Kid Romeo here. Romeo has a big time 2000 gimmick with the rave thing he is doing. Chain wrestling to start here was actually pretty impressive. Chavo’s strikes look better today too. An awkward moment does occur when he tries to place Romeo on the ropes. After being worked over for a bit, Romeo makes his comeback with a good looking splash. A leg drop gets another two. Sloppy counter from Romeo from a neckbreaker attempt. Chavo hits the tornado DDT and puts him away. Romeo looked out of position here a good bit and while the dive did get good air, if that is your one moment of flash in a match, something better and more impressive may be expected. *1/2

Our first look at Todd Martin who may honestly be one of my favorite worker of the 2000’s based on his IWA-MS run. Lance Russell on commentary here is such a contrast with Dave on the other channel. Really spirited match with Dundee getting in a low blow really quickly without no one looking. Morton is just a classic heel with rakes, punches, kicks, etc. Nothing is flashy per say but everything is heelish in a logical way that also looks painful. Russell yelling at the referee is still great. Dundee makes his comeback and covers Morton for a nearfall. Dundee refuses to cover due to beating Morton up more. Shoot to Thrill fires up and here comes Bull Pain. They bring in the Kick Ass Wrestling banner and present that to Dundee. The Gangster BIG comes in to clean house as the segment ends. Fun as fuck. **1/4

Smothers still has his street clothes on. I have never noticed Ali much and his gimmick is kind of weird here but he has good crowd support. It seems like Ali started really late if cagematch is correct in that he is 48 years old now. Pretty basic action throughout but the match gets thrown out with Cornette involved. Randy Hales comes out to take care of him. Brandon Baxter is a heel again I guess as he uses the deadly cloth to smother Ali. Smothers continues the beatdown and this all feels pretty hollow overall. I did like Dave Brown cutting Smothers off at the end. *1/2