soup23

Sounds like two PTBN contributors are volunteering to write out the top 85 for us

So was Mamma Mia. Maybe they are running in the Rumble.

Locking this thread in light of todays news

Decent match but all three of the guys in there with Juvy felt pretty green and the match was mainly a series of run together spots with the usual tag partners keeping on the same page for the most part throughout. I would have liked to have seen Juvy in something meatier as both him here and Tajiri in the Banderas match feel like a waste of a special attraction spot. **

Good match here. Apolo is young and fired up with a ton of crowd support. Castillo is the cagey veteran that struts around and wants to work the match at his pace. The brawling in the first portion really brought the match up to a fever pitch and was intense. Castillo gains control and his Fargo Strut is wonderful. Castillo does get too chinlocky at points making the heat depreciate but Apolo does a good job selling the damage. Apolo’s comeback was good and I liked the cutoff of him missing the spear and ramming his shoulder and then getting clipped by Castillo. Castillo now has more focus working over the leg. Castillo uses the ropes to cheat but someone runs out from the back with a plastic bag and chokes out Castillo. Castillo still has the bag on top of his head when Apolo gets the rollup for the win to a big pop. *** (6.1)

I had the match structure messed up so this is actually the opener and it was a pretty fun match. Shane has good crowd support and they both went out and had an enjoyable opening match tilt without doing too much. Crazy I thought looked good reigning in Shane but also letting him shine when needed. I thought both Crazy and Tajiri did good highlighting the Puerto Rican mainstays and helping push them over. **1/2

A dog is wondering around ringside. Glad the spastic editing of the show the day before is gone and we get a longform look at the title tournament. This was a hardcore tv match that was solid for the first round of the tournament and to get the crowd going for the night overall. Finish was kind of weird and uncooperative as Banderas does essentially a roll up German suplex to get the pin. **

Good enhancement showing for Ki. He shows some flash and is in position for the offense of Crash. I was surprised that the finish was Crash hitting his finish off of a Ki missed moonsault and nothing more prolonged. It is a fun treat to see Ki pop up on WWF syndication if you were a North East indie fan of his at the time. *

Power Hour starts with Corey saying we are going to get jiggy with it today. Baxter starts out the show and this is where he tells Dave that he has a big WWF star Tazz there today before their big blowoff in Jonesboro and shows clips of the Power Pro invasion of the MCW house show. Spellbinder and Brickhouse Brown doing a cosplay of Savannah Jack come out and say they are loyal to Power Pro but not Baxter so he better watch himself. Quick promos from Slash and Mo to set up the six man. Free wrestling at 1:00 in West Memphis at the Jeep/Chevy dealer. Match starts with all six duking it out before a short heat sequence. Mo actually pulls off a spinning leg kick which was impressive given his size. They work over Brown and it is good solid stuff. Slash hits the Whirley Bird powerbomb for a nearfall. Spellbinder is able to get the hot tag and all six are in the ring again. Cannonball senton on Laird from Spellbinder gives the faces the win. This was a pretty good representation of the top of MPPW around this time as far as their talent is concerned. Fun tv match. **

Baxter comes out and Dave doesn't believe him when he says a WWF Superstar here today. Out comes Tazz out of the limo and into the Channel 5 studios. Tazz says he doesn't know who Baxter is but wants a piece of Lawler. Lawler isn't there but calls in and says he can be there in 10 minutes. Tazz informs us that he has another engagement at 12 so he has to bolt. Later in the show, Lawler and Kevin Kelly are there and we get a back and forth between them and with Baxter which sets up the handicap match. Lawler is a house of fire beating up both until Tazz makes his surprise return and chokes out Lawler. This is all pretty cool stuff. Finally, at the end of the show we get a Randy Hales interview. This starts with a pretape from Angle wearing the WWF Championship and chastising Hales for having him in the opening match. Hales calls out Kevin Kelly who is the MCW rep and declares that he is tired of the sneak attacks and wants Power Pro and MCW to face off once and for all. Really fun angle injecting some life into the waning Memphis. 1/4*

Rocker is the referee. Smothers continues to get great heat in Memphis and to help Cade develop along. I seem to be higher on Cade than the other commentators but I do see his raw potential and of course his size helps as he is taller than the large Smothers here. Only maybe 3 minutes of action but Smothers keeps things moving along and he sneaks in a low blow that Rocker "misses". Finish comes when Rocker gets fed up and superkicks Cade and then Tracy covers for the quick three count. *1/4

I have enjoyed the dynamic of these two teams against each other and this served as a good blowoff between the feud of them two and what was going to transpire in the future. I thought the spots that the BSB did with the ladder were real impressive and TLC level and showed that both but especially Acid had great seasoning and charisma for how far along in wrestling they were and how young in age they were at the time. Bad Crew suffered a bit here and that made me appreciate the Dudley's in the WWF matches because while the Hardy's and E&C did the more athletic bumps and spots, the Dudleys also did some sick bumps and still conveyed a measure of danger where they could dish out damage. Bad Crew felt like fish out of water here and the most brutal and cohesive ladder spots were executed by the BSB. WIth the BSB going over, a screwy finish was going to happen. The referee gets knocked out right as Bad Crew retrieves the titles. Marital Law tag team comes out and disposes of Bad Crew and then Donnie B sends BSB up the ladder to act like they are retrieving the belts as the referee comes to. A pretty clever ending to that trope. ***1/4 (6.4)

Not a bad Ric Blade performance at all. Spotty as hell of course and at its best it was a homage to the best parts of Lynn vs RVD and Guerrero vs Malenko but Blade hit most of his stuff cleanly tonight and got a good reaction from the crowd. Berk also hung with him more than I figured given his build and he did a variety of high impact spots. This was a pure spotfest style match but there was a clear heel and face so that is appreciated. Blade is never going to be even a very good worker but his matches are never boring either from the spots he does hit or the trainwreck they become. There is something to be said about that. **3/4

Going to go ahead and ask for Boriuca to provide me a solid and some insight here as this was just clips horribly edited together by RF video. It appears we are watching almost the entire show the next day and the matches are longer so hopefully that gives us better context. With what we saw here, I couldn't really tell the teams apart and it was a garbage brawl of weapon shots and a lot of blood. NR

Hopefully someone with more lucha AAA knowledge can explain everything that happened here with all the run ins and fighting. The match itself was good with Toro taking advantage early on and being vicious before Garza narrowly escapes. I feel like if I know the context, the angle afterwards could be awesome and the crowd was losing it and the brawling around was good and featured the entire roster. AAA does that well that one blowoff usually jump starts the next big thing all in one segment. Toro gets his hair shaved. ***1/4 (6.3)

I was excited for this on paper but it is a nothing tag match that only goes a few minutes. I didn't even think we saw a glimpse of what someone like Pirata could do. Perhaps it was to set up something later on in the night but as a standalone match, this was extremely disappointing. 1/2*

A big bag of fun. A lot of spotlight spots and unique pairings with the rudos going after each other more than they would normally. I thought Panther was the highlight first when he faced off with Satanico and then the ending stretch with Niebla. Panther is getting more and more of a face reaction and him winning gets a big reaction. Blue Demon comes out to present the purse to Panther. ***1/4 (6.6)

This was exactly what it needed to be. Atlantis starts off pissed and is ready to take TB to the woodshed but TB will have none of that and gets vicious winning the first fall. He continues the attack in the second fall even after Atlantis gets looked at by a doctor. Nothing is really cheating per say but it is really chippy. Atlantis comes back with La Atlantida and wins the second fall. Third fall starts with Atlantis going ape on TB on the outside ramming him into the post and giving him a stiff clothesline. The crowd is nuclear and Emilio Charles is telling him to put TB back inside the ring. Atlantis mounts and just punches away before they go to the entrance ramp. Punt kick from Atlantis and TB is checking his teeth. Atlantis lifts him up and throws him back into the ring. Surfboard and Atlantis is killing him. Just then, TB hits a foul with the kick and gets win by celebrating like he just won an apuestas match. Even Emilio and Villano III as seconds are arguing. Trash gets pelted into the ring. Interview with TB and he is cocky as ever. This was exactly what this match needed to be and is a tremendous feud. When TB goes full rudo, it is going to be so glorious. **** (8)

Stone Cold starts the show and gives his side of the story on Sunday night. Austin's story doesn't really match up tot he smell test but ok. We learn that Austin can't touch Rikishi until he is provoked. Backstage, Rikishi meets with Too Cool where they try to talk some sense into Rikishi. Rikishi stumbles over his words and is really faltering here. At least they are jumping to the Austin cage match quickly on Raw. Match is a squash for Rikishi as he battles them on the outside. Too Cool gets some quick moments and the worm is teased but Rikishi stuffs that out and gives the Samoan Drop to both members to finish off the Too Cool run as a trio once and for all. Rikishi calls out Austin and we see him busted open backstage. Austin makes it to ringside but gets attacked by Rikishi and he gives him the Bonsai Drop to end the show. RIkishi was awkward backstage with the promo but he looked like a bad ass between the Too Cool squash and beating up Austin so kudos there. 1/2*

Angle has decided that Brooklyn Brawler deserves a shot at the WWF title. Foley has other plans and the match is on. Typical good match between these two with Jericho looking particularly strong and Stephanie nervous at ringside. Jericho is able to lock on the Walls of Jericho when Kane runs down to cause the DQ. Angle bails as quick as he can. I am interested to see if Angle is booked to look a bit stronger as champion going forward as he may look too weak so far. **1/4

The Radicalz are slowly forming back together. Benoit and HHH start out and pick right up from No Mercy with great intensity and action against each other. HHH and Malenko is neat to watch for the brief moments it lasts and it would have been cool to have seen Dean get a chance against HHH on Heat or SmackDown earlier in the year. When the match breaks down, Saturn comes out and gets a shot on Road Dogg allowing Malenko to lock on the Cloverleaf giving Benoit and Malenko the win. *

Dudley's are back in the main mix on the tag division and this was a good tag to get them back into the swing of things. It was given a decent amount of time, had good heat and worked in a fun face vs face way where tempers flare up over the course of the match. Lawler and Cole seem to be settling well as a pairing as they have some good back and forth here. Lawler is leaning more heel with Cole than he does with Ross by this point. Hardy's even do a low blow at one point to show how much they want the win. Double wassup drop from the Dudleys and they are gong after the tables. E&C run down and paste the Dudley Boyz and Hardy's with chair shots ended the match suddenly with a no contest. **

Oh yeah, more good trios action VIllano IV and Scorpio were the big components of this match and they brought the hate. Scorpio rips the mask and Villano blades. Villano is sent head first right into the iron post. Then we get the big comeback for the second caida and now Scorpio is busted open. Third fall starts with some rapid fire punches and knee right to the face from Villano. Villano is really using his DDT today as a big move in his arsenal. Panther and Felino finish up after Villano and Scorp dive to the outside and this is a good sequence with less hate but some pretty chain wrestling and roll up attempts. Villano ends up picking up the win with a Diamond Cutter and everyone celebrates. Lizmark and Enterrador were kind of just warm bodies here but that was fun because the rest of the guys picked up the slack. ***1/2 (6.8)

Absolutely no chance of me being able to tell who is Guardia and whom is Offical. It looks like they have their name on the front of their uniform so that helps me out around five minutes in. This was probably helped by having some guys we don’t see a ton of but I also appreciated the admittedly slow pace this had for most of the match. Everything had time to develop and work it out. Bombero was really strong in the opening fall and continues to work over until he gains the submission victory. The second fall with the miscommunication and the triple victory roll was also enjoyable. Third falls have things opening up with quicker pairings and some dives to the outside. We get a sneaky foul on Gladiador and the tecnicos end up pulling out the victory. Enjoyable for what this was. *** (6.2)

Some more underneath guys given a chance to shine. Top to bottom, IWRG is a great promotion and you have guys like Bombero and Cerebro hanging around and doing great stuff along with the bigger names you would see in CMLL. I thought Suicida had a strong showing here doing some wonderful high risk stuff and showing great balance. Overall, this would have been a perfect way to get the show going. *** (5.8)