soup23

There usual show is in the CWF Sporatorium which has a better arena feel to me than any other venue currently that is not Korakuen, Reseda, or Arena Mexico.

If you are saying EVOLVE has better production than I just don't know what to say. EVOLVE has shitty sound were you can barely hear the ring at points because the commentary is blaring. In addition, I can't see much facials of the crowd because it is usually so dark or in such a dingy arena that it is impossible. I thought this crowd was certainly fine. I pointed out the example of Dustin yawning in my review but he is someone that traveled distance to get to that show so that shows his commitment to the promotion.

I think the comparison to Breaks is prickly and kind of bleeds over into your analysis on DIY vs. REvival where you mentioned Gargano was no Steamboat. Perhaps not but I do think it is dangerous to start categorizing things with the absolute top of each institute. If Breaks is a A+ mat worker, Lee is probably A- but he also has the striking ability. Same with Garagano as a FIP. Steamboat is the GOAT and A+ but I for sure thought Gargano was only a smidge below him in the Toronto match.

Skyler starts out by bailing. This is a smart move to dictate the pace. Opening minutes were fine stuff from an execution standpoint and a table setting stuff. First pop of the ankle by Lee looked brutal and was added by Skyler retreating and Cecil Scott on commentary putting that over as a painful dealing based on in ring experience. Stall tactics that Skyler uses really get heat from him from the crowd. Heat is heat, perhaps I wouldn’t have had him go out there this time but I do think the amount of down time is overstated. This is probably more effective if you have watched the Lee defenses but it really feels like we are setting up for a 40+ minute affair. Just when Skyler thinks he has an opening, Lee goes back to the ankle with the Indian Deathlock. Skyler tries to utilize his headlock as a draining technique but it hasn’t been effective. Crowd is good with a Trevor Lee chant showing they are still with this match. Escalation happens now on the apron which feels logical given the 10 minute mark and we have had some spots beforehand such as the ankle slam, finger pop, and indian deathlock to give highlights to the early portion. Skyler is behind on points and needed a big momentum swing. He gets that with the spear on the apron. Now the midsection is being targeted by Skyler. Side suplex on the bleachers further emphasizes this. A fair critique of this section is that the referee should hypothetically be counting here. I appreciated the piledriver attempt by Skyler right before Kernodle. The reversal gives Lee some time and the countout tease is something I could have done without ala when it happens in New Japan. Skyler’s attack now is really focused and done with a good amount of variety on the stomach. That is not the easiest body part to target. Another Trevor Lee chant occurs. Skyler even setting his head making him susceptible to a sunset flip makes sense here as he has been headbutting the stomach. A really great nugget on commentary that automatically adjusts the audience expectations by stating that if you can’t breathe, it is impossible to have the long matches that Trevor is used to. Skyler gets straddled over the ropes and that gains a nearfall. Really nice dropkick from Lee gives him a hope spot. We are 20 minutes in and I haven’t felt it has dragged at all. Trevor locks on the STF for a brief moment as that has been a finisher from him in recent months. Abdominal stretch was a natural progression given the target of Skyler. He adds little touches by hunching over more than normal and grinding the elbow. Trevor gets a good reversal of this into the Octopus focusing on the bum arm that was the focal point in the beginning of the match. Good reversal by Skyler to a Finlay roll and senton which again focuses on the stomach. Skyler’s cockiness gets the best of him and the cross armbreaker counter of the senton was a good reversal in theory but not executed in the best manner. Trevor’s double stomp is used as the back pocket move that he has to use to even the odds and he pulls it out here. The fatigue commentary is really good here comparing to sport stars as well as giving Lee’s schedule. The mano strike exchange is one of the weaker points of the match here for me but Lee hits a great strike and then goes aggressively after the arm of Skyler. Slingshot spear is a Skyler staple but was played off really well in this match with its placement and point of emphasis. Battle up top and the double stomp on the arm which looks vicious. The big running kick and German is a nice nearfall attempt for Lee. I see Parv’s original critique about the sell job of Skyler with the arm in this segment and agree with that to an extent. He should have done more wincing of the arm after the pin attempt. He does wring it out once following his shoulder charges but he probably shouldn’t have went to that move then. I think up to the double stomp, Lee had mainly just peppered the arm attack and that the limb wasn’t neutralized. That changed with the double stomp. Anyway, the forward roll from the top was a great nearfall right on the chest and stomach area and it really portrayed that Skyler had kind of been building to this one critical move and it still wasn’t enough to put Lee away. In an unfortunate camera angle, Dustin Spencer is seen yawning on camera at this moment. Skyler’s facials here are fine as he shows a desperation and annoyance as what has happened. He responds by pitching a fit and just going with stomps and kicks. Lee is finally able to hit the penalty kick that he went for in minute one and I actually really think they didn’t want this to be executed perfectly. Skyler then goes after the knee which shows him going to another strategy but it is too late and Lee is able to hit the STF again with extra emphasis on the injured arm to pick up the win. I ranked this **** before and think I may have been too low.

I asked about the Dory comparison because you rated the Slamboree match ***1/2 where there was a foot of daylight when executing a headscissors in that match. I have never felt watching Lee's matches he is unpolished or green. He seems to have a strong grasp of fundamentals and joint manipulation leading to escalation and violent finishes with strikes being integrated more. Skyler is someone I may be lower on than some as I wasn't too big on his PWX championship reign for example but I certainly think he has a grasp on good fundamentals. I'll say if you thought these two were green, I shudder to think about your opinions on some of the CWF roster that I do think has some character grooves but is a bit green in execution like Ethan Alexander Sharpe. I can't really speak on the specifics of the particular match and recommended it as more of a MattD special when he asked for a 30 minute match but I am willing to go back and look at it as at the time it felt like the perfect resume padder for Lee's 2016 in that this wasn't a match that was inflated to a degree just because of the length of it. Lee is a top 10 worker in 2016 by a good consensus of people.

Tough act to follow but they did an admirable job. I really liked the Villano's taking a front row seat and looking on at the proceedings. Atlantis was able to get in many payback spots here including the mask ripping and hitting a big dive on V. III. Casas and Fuerza is a great pairing and I would love to see more of it in the future. Emilio also mixed it up well here and seemed to fit in the tecnico role in this trios more than in the previous matches. With the offense that Atlantis got early on, it was only a matter of time before Villano III came back and he does with his brothers and a vengeance in the third fall. Another great third fall here with them decimating Atlantis and achieving the victory after some discussion. CMLL continues to be super hot around this time period. ***1/2

The skit was bizarre but kind of effective in what the heel unit of the Infernales is going for in that they are traditional rudos and think the pretty boy shit of Tarzan Boy is just a mirage to superficially win over the fans. Make no mistake, Villano III vs. Atlantis has been GREAT in the build to their apuestas match but for my money this is the best feud in CMLL at the moment. Things start chaotic and intense again with U Guerrero flying all over the place. The Infernales absolutely brutalize poor Olimpico by dumping his head right on top of the chairs in a brutal looking spot. They tie up TB in the ring with a rope and just waylay on him until they are DQ'd again. I even liked Satanico bullying the ref after he called the fall. Just an ultimate prick. Starting the second fall, Satanico retreats and he comes back with a devious look on his face. Right at that moment, he smashes a bottle over TB's head and he is knocked the fuck out. They bring out the stretcher and do the whole amazing sell job. The referee just calls for the bell and ends this as the crowd is raging over the rudos as they gloat in their post match promo. Satanico is taking a huge rep bump in GWE voting as he legit is one of the best wrestlers in the world so far in 2000 and Bucanero and U Guerrero aren't far behind. A magnificent trio. My rating of this is in the Tupelo Concession Brawl range as it wasn't much of a match per say but as storyline development and overall chaos, it was great stuff. ****

This really wrote home for me how ineffective Mikey was in WCW. Not necessarily his fault mind you, it just seems besides Public Enemy he had the toughest time integrating elsewhere. I liked the beginning with him being real aggressive towards RVD and hitting some nice looking offense. RVD weathers that storm and then he essentially runs through his spot show offense that looks like it should be an attraction at Disney World ala Indiana Jones where he shows you a "backstage" look at dangerous spots in wrestling. I can't get into it at all as it has no flow. Disappointing main to an otherwise good house show effort for ECW. **

Dusty is still the man. He gets a huge pop coming out with the hometown fans rallying him on. They really milked the opening of this with Corino doing a long but effective promo that really makes you want to see some interaction. The match was a plunder brawl but a ton of fun full of nostalgia when Dusty mixed it up. I did like certain things like him not being able to out power Rhino at points and also Dusty missing an elbow drop when the finish seemed apparent. Eventually, he is able to pin Corino to the delight of the fan. ***

Sometimes these matches hit me and sometimes they just feel sloppy and clunky. This was in the latter portion as the beginning really felt like everyone was off a step and just didn’t have the intensity that they sometimes do. Things pick up with a big chairshot and the Tanaka tornado DDT spot through the table. Even something like Tanaka’s missile dropkick didn’t get much air. Finish runs through the same thing as the week before with Awesome’s big splash and the Bomb through the table. Every thing felt more crisp the week before. This made me feel like the feud overall was getting into Spike vs. Awesome territory. **1/2

A familar pairing but I really appreciated some of the new stuff that was done to differentiate this one. Tajiri starts out by blowing mist which distracted Guido enough for him to kick in his head. The dive sequence here is well done and Tajiri has a really neat reversal that goes straight into the Tarantula. In my favorite spot, Tajiri declares a truce with Guido and pleads with him to go to the top to finish off Crazy. When Guido goes up, Tajiri trips him up and then stands on his crotch. Both Guido and Crazy have enough of Tajiri's shit and eliminate him. Afterwards, we have an awkward spot with Sal and Crazy where he botches a powerbomb. I was surprised to see Guido get the clean win here against Crazy. Really fun match. ***1/4

The Rachies explode. I have never seen Adam Flash outside of CZW setting so we can see what he had about a year before I would have watched him way back in 2001. I had forgotten how thick Danny Rose was. Pretty fun match here. Something about EWF I enjoy to a degree. They have the generic commentary with a face/heel color structure but it is done with both of them being energetic and not entirely grating. The shots here looked good and the intensity was there even though the heat in the tag was much better. Bad Crew also tries to interfere and we get a contrived finish where multiple chair shots are dished out and Flash ends up on top of Rose winning the belt. **1/4 One thing I realized when the credits roll is that Mike Burns (owner of SMV) is the one that does the heel commentary.

Donnie B's leisure suit is great. I loved the beginning of this as the BSB get legit heat and Acid's charisma jumps out. Bad Crew is the stereotypical 90's Northeast tag team. The BSB are treated to a back door boyz chant by the classy crowd. This is really worked like a traditional tag and done in a good way. The BSB take the heat over the Bad Crew and cut the ring off. I think they do a good job of being impressive here without being overly flashy. Hot tag is made and we get a hot finish with Donnie B taking a bump and the finisher for the Bad Crew, the Badlands being used to win the match. A really great way at making the BSB look big time coming into a promotion while letting the local talent go over. BSB get their heat back after the match by attacking with chairs and with an Acid legdrop through a table perhaps setting up a hardcore match later on. I may be overstating this a bit but this was the best traditional southern style tag we have seen in 2000 so far. ***1/4

There is something homely about being back at Onita Pro as weird as that feels typing it out. Big brawl to start to the shock of no one and Onita is piledriving people through tables. It was around this point that I realized I wasn't really familiar with Kikuzawa. Let me look him up on cagematch. HOLY SHIT that is Ebessen???? This the prototype garbage style match but had some sick looking spots, blood and the action was constant. I fully admit that is my ultimate wrestling guilty pleasure but this was a fun change of pace from the weapon dependency that the ECW brawls typically have, Mexican Death Match excluded. Onita gets the win (big shock) by powerbombing Nagasaki. I don't need a show of this stuff but it fits in a format like this where we can drop in and see what was going on. ***

This is a good house show in displaying what were the main matches ECW was running at the time. Hot start that kind of derails when Awesome does his tope over the top and comes crashing down right on top of his head. A really good pace to this even though psychology can be essentially thrown out the window. Today, people discuss that as the big lads division but where a match like this does have an edge is that the strikes and spots do look brutal from these big guys throwing them. Tanaka hits a tornado DDT from the apron through a table and then a running chair shot from the entrance. Inside Tanaka hits another tornado DDT on a chair for a nearfall. Awesome is able to regain the momentum after an Alabama slam which is continuously an underappreciated move. A thunderous Awesome Bomb from the top gives Awesome the win. Damn that was impressive. ***1/2

This has a much more wrestling base start to it that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have always found Sabu's fundamentals to be sound when he shows glimpses of that. Sabu is the one that makes this a street fight which makes sense from a kayfabe perspective. He throws some hard shots at Spike and sends him to the outside. Spike gives Sabu a really flush forearm on the inside. As Sabu retreats, Spike comes off the top rope with a big elbow drop. With the table now on the inside, Spike goes for the Acid Drop but Sabu is able to throw him on top of the table. The table is propped in the corner and an Arabian Facebuster is utilized against Spike. The table doesn't break again. The third time is the charm for Sabu. That gets a nearfall. Randomly, Sabu slows things down now with a submission. Finish to this is the weakest portion with Spike barely catching Sabu going for the triple threat moonsault and him face planting the chair haphazardly. The Acid Drop is blocked again but Spike turns the momentum into a neckbreaker. Sabu powers back and ends the match with a legdrop through another table. I really thought they were setting this up to be something different with the early going but it turned into the same Sabu plunder affair by the end with repetitive spots. Disappointing. **3/4

The main focal points of ECW so far and the stars of the show. I will give ECW this in that they booked some cool looking venues. This was a "fall out of bed" enjoyable match for these three but was entirely effective in what they were trying to set up. Have an all action 8 minute fest to get the crowd into things. Sal got tossed around and none of the spots felt too contrived. I can't ask for much more. ***

Tajiri and Crazy had better crowd brawling that led to a more substantial spot with the moonsault from the bleachers, didn't have unnecessary bait and switching involving weapons that makes me question the credibility of the match, didn't have unnecessary Rock intereference where it seems like Mick can't win the big one on his own and also didn't have Tajiri immediately get up and get his heat back after being defeated in devastating fashion.

A nice singles lucha match for us. I don’t really have a lot to say about this one as it never really grabbed me. I thought the first fall was way too inconsequential. The second fall had Tigre really working over the leg but it doesn’t have a pay off as he still gets caught in a Northern Lights Suplex and pinned. Third fall is where things predictably open up and Tigre takes the attack again and then hits a huge tope. Arkangel could certainly be selling the effects more and he ends up winning with a big powerbomb. I have been really loving all the CMLL output so far so it was due for something disappointing and unfortunately this match was it. **1/4

Why Jack isn’t there but HHH is wrestling makes no sense after Jack beat him down at the end of the Rumble match. Also odd to see HHH and Show teaming less than a month after HHH won the title from him but here we go. Rikishi comes out to tag with the Rock which is a good bit of helping his momentum build from the Rumble. Show and HHH work together well as a team and the face side is hugely over of course making this an action packed Raw finale. The NAO come out and attack Rikishi setting up the DQ. HHH goes for a chair shot on the Rock and here comes Cactus with his 2X4 which does make up for the fact he wasn’t there earlier. They clean house as we fade to black. WWE main events on tv has been really good in 2000 so far. **1/2

Nash gets a Hall fears Oduls sign on the way out. Also, a lass in the crowd is a big fan of Big Sexy. Nash bans the powerbomb pre match. Sid gets a good reaction coming out. Nash takes over and doesn’t do a lot on top to make the match interesting. It tells me something I am such a mark for title lineages and have no idea who ends up winning this match. Robinson gets bumped and Sid gets the visual pin. That is a popular trope in 2000 US Wrestling. Sid calls for the crowd support and they cheer a good bit and here comes Jarrett. Sid grabs his guitar and then fakes being hit by the guitar when Robinson recovers. Shockingly smart move. After 30 seconds, Sid covers Nash and wins. Pretty good heat for Sid and I haven’t been bothered by him so far. *3/4

Some pretty generic hardcore action here. Bigelow looks like a bruiser to a degree and its crazy seeing old Terry bump but that was about the highlights. Knobbs and Fit as a tag team in matching outfits made me sad. Someone has a sign to bring back Owen. Classy. *1/2

A fairly replacement level Rumble. It has some neat highlights like Too Cool and Rikishi being over as all hell, a deep 20 minute Boss Man run, Bob Backlund with the surprise entry to a huge pop, and Rock winning. Beyond that though, there is a lot of dead weight here and it really showed the absence of Austin and Taker as it felt like an easy formality that Rock was winning or at worst Big Show if they wanted a big surprise. Anyone else wouldn't have made any sense at all. ***

The video package here is one of the best in history. Shows HHH as cocky and menacing and portrays the transformation that Cactus had to make to prepare himself for this match. I really like the temperament of the match from the get go with the brawling and street fight feel. There is a visceral hate here that doesn’t usually get conveyed around WWF at this time. Even the Dude Love vs. Austin storyline spectacle was more booking and stunt show than punches and blood. The big chair shot by HHH to Jack means something and there is a buzz in the crowd once he hits it. The crowd brawling segment that happens next loses some stuff for me just because we have seen it so much this year that it feels complacent. Jack utilizes the set better in the entranceway. After Jack completes the beatdown, he retrieves the barbed wire 2X4. Good announcing by JR and King talking about this being too far. Hebner retrieving the barbed wire is kind of a dumb moment in a street fight. This is especially true when he misses the cover by about 10 seconds. HHH then retrieves the “same” barbed wire and goes to work on HHH. Tough to question toughness but I think HHH should have just sucked it up and used the first barbed wire or it should have been gimmicked from the start. This is clearly a different board which raises credibility issues and the referee is made to get a portion of the heat. That may be nitpicky but that is the type of spots that separate the great matches from the all timers in my mind. Kudos to HHH for bleeding a gusher though as he is a mess. The back body drop on the table with HHH emerging all bloody is another great visual. The steps spot is a good way for HHH to regain his momentum. With the blood work, HHH is building up his credibility which essentially is what the purpose of this match was about. The work on the leg shows a classical, technician strategy within the street fight confines. The barbed wire shots to the leg reiterate this point. The next big sequence is based around the handcuffs and HHH using a drop toe hold onto the stairs. The crowd had honestly been a little lackluster so far as they are popping for the big spots but being quiet within. That changes with them clapping for Jack before HHH legit breaks a chair over Jack’s back. The talking between the entranceway is one of the WWF staples that would occur multiple times over the years but still seems fresh here. Rock comes out and whacks HHH with a chair which is kind of annoying and a Jack bailout. The cop unlocks his cuffs which makes you wonder why it took the Rock for him to make it out but I digress. PIledriver on the table from Jack looks good and HHH’s head bounces right off with the table not breaking. Jack brings in the tacks and now we have some sustained heat. Jack gets back body dropped and has a ton of tacks put in him. Pedigree seems to be it but Jack kicks out to a huge pop. I am also glad Stephanie came back out as I do think she is already allowing heat for HHH. A big Foley chant fires up but HHH gets the second pedigree to win. A few annoying spots, a couple of tropes and honestly not the best heat prevent this from me calling it the WWF classic that some do. It was a really strong performance by both and a great match, just not an all timer. ****1/4

They should bring back this Jericholics T-shirt. The dual champion angle going on right now was pretty dumb. The action here starts good with Jericho especially looking good. Him and Holly have a good sequence together. Chyna times her clothesline interference well and I think we may be in for a hidden gem. The action goes on the outside and gets progressively worse and then the timing on some Chyna and Jericho stereo dives looks very off. Action regains itself a bit with Holly and Jericho getting crotched and Jericho hitting a good doomsday crossbody. For someone who wasn’t the most graceful worker himself around this time, Jericho is holding things together well here and has the most heat easily. He pounces on Chyna and hits the Lionsault to win to a HUGE pop. Pretty fun match actually for the most part. **1/2