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Booker and Sting backstage say they have had their differences but they are happy to team up now. Then we get a longform sitdown interview with Goldberg and Tony. Mick Foley and Jim Ross this was not but it does humanizes Goldberg and he is well spoken. Whether long term or not that was a positive, he at least is talking and acting like a human in the post booked Russo era than when he was involved in it. Not an awful lead into the PPV with some decent action and a lot of interaction of everyone. The crowd is really hot for Goldberg and he did a good job of putting over Kronik as a threat. The finish comes when Sting misses a guitar shot and Sting wins. Steiner runs right in with the pipe and the heels are on top as the show goes off the air. **

Jeff Gorman is on commentary. This is a 3 way but Reckless can’t join the match until after five minutes. Opening between Quack and Don was well done with some chain wrestling and escalating into more strikes before Reckless enters. Reckless enters around 10 minutes in instead of five and then the match results in more of a indie 3 way but everything was hit cleanly and there was some innovation. The crowd isn't really into it which hurts and there is some inconsistency in as much as the match is an elimination match but pins keep getting broken up. Valentine and Adam Flash come out and interfere in the end along with a woman that low blows Reckless. Montoya hits the pyramid bomb and it looks like he is in cohoots with the heels instead of his friends on the Black T-Shirt Squad. A good three way that showed all three of these guys had more polish than your run of the mill indie worker in 2000. *** (6.2)

About the same level as Kozina vs Weed but slightly lower in not having something like Kozina's leg work to tie things together a bit better. This was mainly just a collection of spots and I didn't really see either guy as having a high ceiling based on what we saw here. Best spot was probably a comedic spot of Disco Fury literally running out of the building for fear. Rockford interferes again like the prior match and all the junior roster comes out to set up a Pinnacle Cup in the future. *3/4

A decent junior style match. This match reminded me of the 3rd match out of 11 on an IWA-MS 2003 show. Tony works over the leg of Weed and Weed's selling isn't great but Tony does come back to it. Weed's biggest positive is his energy and he does get the crowd to rally around him somewhat. Run in finish was blah but overall this match didn't feel like a total waste of time, it just wasn't exceptional given the limitations of both workers. **1/4

One of the weirder venues of the year as it looks like a restaurant banquet hall and a legit 20 people watching the match. Knowing that, this was perfectly fine for what they did. BSB are good at stooging and doing multiple spots where Trent’s face ends up in Johnny’s crotch. They do some brawling on the outside and into the big banquet tables and the stage. BSB come back and put it away pretty quickly with the Last Call. Little Guido helps with the run in after the match and even with the bounced checks from ECW, it has to be better than this. *1/2

Kurt's title celebration was well done. The confetti and balloons were over the top and Kurt continues to be able to fill up time and exude his charisma of part goofy but also someone to be taken serious given his legitimate background. Foley adds to this and plays off of him well as he sets up the 3 way for later on in the show. HHH and Steph are backstage and we get HHH telling Steph for the 100th time that he doesn't want her out at ringside. The match starts and it is SummerSlam lite with HHH working a slightly more face style. He ends up in the Angle role here of being knocked out with the ring bell and stretchered up the ramp with Stephanie by his side. While this is going on, Angle gets the Olympic Slam on Rock and has the pin. HHH comes off the stretcher and makes a big return to the ring. Then we get a series of big moves where HHH and Rock have to break up each others pin. Rikishi runs down and wallops Angle to protect The Rock for the DQ. Angle is happy to escape and hightails it up the ramp when the glass shatters to a huge pop. I loved Austin in full run clotheslining Angle on the ramp and then having a go at Rikishi before he bails. Austin is celebrating with the crowd in a fun moment as the show goes off the air. **1/ 2

Funny segment to set this all up with an interview segment backstage with Conquistadors and E&C. We then cut to another backstage segment where Foley wants to see Edge. When Edge returns, we discover the Dudleys sent Christian through a table and with his hurt shoulder, Edge will have to go about it on his own. Cut to the match and here come the Conquistadors rolling around. One punches back at Edge hardly and he starts speaking English to the South American duo. Something is awry and then all of a sudden we get a twist of fate and Swantom for the win for the Conquistadors. Foley appears at the ramp and explains that the cameras were rolling when E&C admitted to the patsy Conquistadors they were dressed up as them last night. He allows their title change to stand but also awards tonights match to the Hardy's making them the tag champs. Fun conclusion to this portion of the angle. *

I'm fearful as to where WWF booking is going as while the X-Pac feud was fine as a bridge, it being a bridge to a feud with Kane is a non-starter. Even more dumb is the setup of the feud resulting from spilled coffee. Regal giving a PSA about the amount of guns manufactured and sold in Connecticut makes him feel like a face in current day. Jericho doesn't even want to waste his insults on Regal. We only get two minutes bu the action is fun. Kane runs down and attacks Jericho drawing the DQ and that feud is on. 3/4*

Anderson interrupts before the match begins and calls both in the ring a pussy. Lynn decides to make the match a 3 way dance. Opening brawl of this was fantastic with the crowd going apeshit and the action frantic and natural for a three way dance. The best moments involve a trashcan getting slung into all of the men. Corino blades of course and we go to break with them brawling away. Back from break and the action is inside the ring and the match loses a good bit of luster due to it not following a more conventional 3 way style. They do a longform pin sequence that gets too convoluted and contrived. Corino in particular is out of position at points of it. Credible comes in after a ref bump and he creates interference that ends up resulting in Corino getting pinned after the cane shot. That kind of deflates the match because CW aint winning the title. They do the Lynn vs Anderson segment quick as after some reversals, Lynn retains on a Cradle Piledriver. Good match that showcases ECW as again probably having some of the most consistent long form matches on tv in 2000. ***1/4(6.7)

A nonmatch as Balls and Tajiri only go after it for 2 minutes before the FBI runs in. This leads to Chilly Willy and Da Baldies coming out and the match is mayhem. The big culmination is the Da Baldies sending Balls through a flaming table with a double powerbomb. I’m disappointed as Balls vs Tajiri straight up as an 8 minute match sounds like a ton of fun. ½*

Decent match which overachieved given how spotty both workers are, I was expecting the worse. RVD for the most part stayed focused here and nothing was outrageously blown. The match takes a usual structure of show off spots in the beginning, a slight heat segment on RVD in the middle and then the RVD greatest hits parade to win the match at the end. RVD's still over with the crowd but his stock has plummeted for me watching 2000 week in and week out. **1/ 2

One the more weirder lucha vignettes I have seen in a haunted house. Well it gets you in the halloween spirit at least. We then cut to Shocker beating up Parka in the ring and he is in his khakis still. Overall, I thought this was good resume padding for a great year from Shocker and a classic lucha brawl for the most part. Parka's mask gets ripped so bad that he has to bit it just to keep it over the lower 3rd of his face. Shocker wins the first fall by doing a double punch right to the nuts and Shocker also hits a gusher in 3rd fall. The finale comes with some referee bullshit but the spot is resolved with a cool spot of a bench being brought into the ring and Parka giving a bump to both the ref and Shocker. We get some weird clipping where it appears that TB is going to help out his buddy Shocker but he decides to whack him instead and Parka wins. **** (7.9)

With Nicho possibly being the worst person in this performance wise at this point in 2000, no way this wouldn't be good. it certainly was they did all the high spot stuff you would expect from these guys with interesting pairings. Casas continues to be involved in a lot of multi man stuff this year but is just waiting for that big singles feud to catapult him into the big WOTY discussion. I liked the continuity of TB drifting towards being a heel from CMLL and Porky is always good for some comedy. A really solid and enjoyable match. ***1/4 (6.5)

Lucero being 40 here is my "youngster Carlos Colon" moment. The match vs Hechicero was my 2013 MOTY so I am looking forward to him when he pops up throughout the decade.

I really like getting these long form underneath matches from Monterrey and IWRG. They show that the lucha depth and product on the whole was strong in 2000. Lucero in particular is someone that is fascinating to watch be so technically proficient even at a young age. He reminds me of watch Nishimura from this era in that he has a throwback style but doesn't feel dated or a tribute act. This match faltered with some weapon shots involving a pool cue that felt out of place but overall it was enjoyable and worth seeing to fill out lucha viewing in 2000. *** (5.9)

Another 2000 main event with a lot of bells and whistles that mostly works. The thing this had going for it was the quick pace right out of the gate. They get the crowd brawling out of the way and Rock shows some aggression sending Angle through the stage set. I thought Stephanie was fantastic in this match being delighted that she can freely interfere. Angle is going to be one of my more interesting wrestlers to rank in all of 2000. It again feels like he is protected in the confines of a garbage style match with a lot of run ins. On the other hand, you have someone 11 months into his career doing a main event with The Rock and Angle doesn't feel out of place at all. A few things in this match put me off such as Angle's chinlock halfway through. I think that is an easy critique of inexperience as you had this really relentless pace where they brutalized each other and then Angle resorts to a chinlock? The finish has a bevy of run ins but keeps things interesting and it sure looks like Rock was at least being slightly flirted with going heel with his involvement with Rikishi. Huge pop for Angle as he wins and him crying the show off the air is a memorable moment. Most point to this as Kurt's first big time great match and I don't think it quite reached that level but it was still very good. ***1/2 (7)

A fantastic match from the two best workers of 2000 in the US. HHH has a huge face reaction and chant before the bell rings and goes right to work on Benoit's leg. The opening four-five minutes revolve around this and it is compelling face HHH work with Benoit selling it like crazy. Once the action spills to the outside, Benoit is able to find an opening and go after the arm of HHH. This is really incredible with him just going right after the arm in a multitude of ways and making HHH seem vulnerable. HHH for his part I thought was strong in selling the limb. Headbutt to the arm was a highlight for me. Then we get the finishing stretch with Steph running out, HHH using that as a way to do a short cut of low blowing Benoit leading to the pedigree and win. They did a great job before that in a sequence of HHH going for the pedigree and not being able to succeed because of the weakened arm. However, Benoit also can't lock in the crossface good because HHH goes after the leg that was hurt when he attempts the submission. King was great on commentary pointing out short cut pin attempts and desperation moves HHH was using because he was in the deep waters. A fantastic match that is pretty underrated. ****1/4 (8.6)

This is a funny bit and one instance where I had no problem with the match quality suffering to keep the angle chugging along. E&C do a ton of mat rolls, talk to the Spanish announce team and in general look like generic luchadors. As bad as King was on commentary at some moments of this show, he was strong here still playing the heel role but accidentally saying E&C's name at different points. Them winning was a surprise and well done with them immediately bolting to the back as fast as they can. **

The big Steve Austin return match is not really a match. WWF seemed to pain themselves in a corner here as you have freshly turned Rikishi who did it for the Rock and you don't want to really job him out completely but you also have the biggest ace in company history returning after a year so he of course needs to look strong. As a result, its kind of a half measured approach. The brawling was ok for the most part here but it didn't really feel like a match. That is acceptable on a META level of Austin just wanting revenge but some of the things felt like shortcuts while watching instead of hate filled. Then you add the Michael Bay segment outside which I thought was way too overwrought and Austin slamming into the police car was too melodramatic. Interesting to watch but not much meat as a match and the ending result was more befuddlement than excitement that Austin is back in the fold. *1/2

One of the better uses of escape the cage rules in WWF history. The match still felt like a fight and they used the cage to have some neat spots to utilize the escape the rules format. Jericho takes a straight back bump from the top of the cage for example and the finish of X-Pac getting crotched on the cage door for gloating too much felt natural and well earned in addition to looking brutal. Even though this feud may be beneath Jericho, I do think it was fine for its placement as a placeholder and showing he has progressed beyond this mid card level. ***1/4 (6.7)

This had a couple of small little things that prevent it from being great but overall it was a really exciting tag match and when it got into the ring it became very dramatic. Chiyako gets worked over for most of the match and Ozaki and Devil still have their psychology down in being menacing bullies. The hope spots are planned well and the upset roll through on Ozaki was both shocking and refreshing in a pleasant manner. If you cut down some the crowd brawling nonsense early on and added a few minutes, this could have been a classic tag. As a standalone, it is still really damn good. ***3/4 (7.3)

Another chapter in a hate filled year between the juniors. At first, I was a little surprised to see Wagner teaming with LIger and Kashin but he fit in well and I liked them doing some less than honorable tactics like the eye rake and double teaming. Overall the match carried a good pace and featured all six shining at different moments. MInoru Tanaka is really growing on me and was pretty exceptional in his snot nosed punk role here. I am starting to see the strong Kashin booking be overbearing as here it felt like the least consequential person in the entire match somehow got the submissions. ***1/2 (7)

Pretty good looking sprint from the clips we saw. Koshinaka looked game and his bombs had more impact than they normally do. He also showed some fire after the front kick from Kawada with the lariat. Kawada weathers the storm and is able to put him away leading to a great looking final match on paper of him vs Tenryu. NR

Another good match to end the night. Shank reads us some poetry from a toilet paper roll and he really gets into the prison guard character. Bailey is evicted from ringside and he pitches a huge shit fit. The action here was stiff and intense and even though the dragging to each corner became goofy and didn't fit the intensity of the rest of the match, they were able to hold it together based on solid punches they were slamming each other with. Weird finish as the police runs down to apprehend Shank. Overall this Fright Night was a fine show but hopefully just the tip of the iceberg of what NWA Wildside has to offer throughout the decade. *** (5.9)

This match had been built well. It was southern as a turnip green but entertaining to watch as the crowd is firmly behind Lazz. After a good brawl on the outside to start, the match settles in with Eddie Golden becoming heavily involved with the action. The referee gets fed up with it all and then deems if Golden gets pinned, that counts. This allows Lazz to win the light heavyweight title by pinning Golden. Its a little wonky psychologically but it is a feel good moment for the crowd and worked for me given the way the feud has been presented. *** (5.8)