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We get about 12 out of 19 minutes and this was enjoyable at points with the sequences but also a match where you have to disconnect the promotion from where the action is leading. This wouldn't have felt out of place at all in the middle of a BOSJ tournament. I thought Hidaka's speed helped move things along. Maybe I am coming around on Minoru as we enter the close of the year as while I don't think he is close to the WOTY hype it feels like he received in real time, he does have a bevy of good matches he is involved in. ***1/4 (6.4)

Well it took until near the end of October but we have my favorite mini match of the year. Tons of dives and breakneck action including Sagrada in the end of the first fall hitting a senton that looks like it almost turned into an impromptu shooting star press. He then follows that up later in the match with a diving tope where he does a 450 rotation that is stunning. Parkita dives around like crazy at multiple points too. Espectro and Khaos are teaming together a lot and that comes full circle when they turn on Abismo in the third fall. This leads to an awesome angle where they invite Big Abismo on commentary into the ring. When Abismo goes toward them, Khaos and Espectro proper run out to ringside and all four guys beat up Abismo and Mini Abismo until La Parka and Mascara Sagrada provide backup. This was the first big angle for AAA in 2000 that landed for me. **** (7.8)

A lot of hate here and the ending to a very enjoyable show overall. Sasaki felt like a man with something to prove after the embarrassing Kawada loss and he brings the hate against the top faction he has been feuding against in 2000. His trusty lieutenants are more than willing to lend a hand with especially Ilzuka mixing it up and going after Tenzan. Chono looked crisp here and picked his spots and he has been enjoyable for the most part in 2000 and not over reaching where his athleticism can betray him leading to dry matches. Tenzan picks up the big win for his team. ***1/2 (7)

Another good match that much like the junior match before, it didn't seem to be trying to be a "great" match and instead a solid effort to feel out an overall card and narrative. Some of the grappling exchanges between Samurai and Tanaka were particularly chippy. Samurai always seems to add a bit of disdain to his overall presentation when teaming with Liger. Tanaka goes flying in for a kick at the finish and whiffs making it look like the vets have the match in the bag but Samurai gets his arm caught in a cross armbreaker submission and is forced to tap. ***1/4 (6.3)

Even more basic than their June match. Not bad at all and knew its place on the card. The mat work leading to big sequences of the action spilling to the outside was the highlight of the action. In addition, the finish was fun with Wagner locking in a Splash Mountain only for Kanemoto to get a quick rana and the pin. That made the pin for Kanemoto feel pretty flukey. A good solid match and nothing more. *** (6.1)

Steph and Kurt do a promo at the top of the stage. They are switching things up format wise on this Raw and keeping things fresh. Even this main event is fresh with some interaction that doesn’t feel established and E&C being elevated up. JR and King again have some good back and forth when Ross calls Edge uno or dos. Matt is the FIP and they do a good job working him over. Hot tag and big schmozz for the finish with Steph getting involved and showing her worth hitting Jeff on the top rope leading to the Angle Slam and pin. Angle is gaining momentum heading into the PPV on Sunday and him and Rock have a staredown to end the show. *** (6)

Stephanie says she is not going to reconsider and is going to be in Kurt’s corner on Sunday. Steph and Kurt are discussing things when HHH comes in and wants to have a 1 on 1 with Kurt. We return with HHH giving threats to Kurt. Benoit comes out for commentary. Another good Kane performance which is shocking every time I type it out. He is a monster taking it to HHH and HHH is not willing to back down. This match might end up being their best together in the decade to be honest. Benoit gets attacked by HHH diving him on the announce table but Benoit retaliates with a chair and then he gets HHH in the crossface with HHH tapping. This was a big sell for Benoit and HHH put him over really well. **3/4

Conquistadors seem a lot like E&C here. Hmmm…. I will say that while King has been rough at points on commentary this year, he was funny here having a fun back and forth with Ross. The action as fine and mainly revolved around the shtick of the Conquistadors. They end up sneaking out the win and quickly escape. I liked that the Dudley’s went for the mask when given the opportunity. *3/4

No long promo to start Raw tonight and Jericho even mentions that when he comes out. Eddie does cut a two minute short promo but it is really effective as the crowd heat comes out for him along with the Eddie Sucks chants. The match only goes a minute before Eddie takes a monkey flip on his head and the referee calls for the match. This was done in a way where I am unsure if it was legit or not. After the match, X-pac runs down and attacks Jericho until Mr. Ass makes the save. Gunn is really over with this crowd. ¼*

Clips of Nash’s beer being made. Nash rolls out for the lumberjack match surrounded by the young pups of the NBT. It just looks hilarious seeing cool Kevin with these guys. He is like the popular high shool guys dad that thinks he is a part of the group. Action here is pretty slow and plodding. I am impressed with how active Sting has been since coming back but not a lot of good output. Nash has Sting in the most generic neck crank when all hell breaks loose between the lumberjacks. They get cleared from ringside in a cool scene. Sting makes his comeback and we get a lame Lil Naitch bump which looked ridiculously contrived. Here comes Jarrett with the guitar and he whacks Sting coming in on a Stinger Splash. Nash is able to pick up the victory then. Pretty light week for stuff happening in Austrailia week 2 but no Russo is still a net positive. *3/4

Solid match but I am still waiting for that Booker performance that blows me away. This was a good opportunity to have one as Douglas seemed capable tonight and the best aspects of the match were when Shane was on top. Scott Steiner is on commentary and is alright although he does have some weird lines throughout this. Kidman runs out to distract Douglas/Torrie but accidently runs into Madaja. That gets Steiner involved and we have a weird floor brawl with Konnan coming out as well as Jarrett. With all of this happening, Booker hits the Book End to pick up the win. **

Another fun as shit tag match between these guys. They have a formula that works so well of good stand off matchups to begin and then a nice heat segment leading to a huge Roadkill hot tag. Roadkill is becoming one of my favorite hot tag guys in history as he is spot on every time he comes in. FBI bump like crazy for him when he does enter in. Sal really interjects in this match once the referee is out as he gives the big Bonsai Drop to Roadkill allowing FBI to again escape with the win. They have built Doring/Roadkill up well that they need to win the titles soon. ***1/4 (6.7)

Match starts with Shocker burning La Parka’s mask on the ringpost. Holy shit that is awesome and 1000% rudo. First fall was a big ol brawl and Shocker has some incredible punches against Parka towards the end. Shocker dancing and gloating after every punch just puts it over the top. Finish has rudos beating some ass and Parka’s has about half of his mask ripped. Dandy puts it on and dances around. Second fall and tecnico comes back with Casas going fucking crazy and then he gets Parka all riled up who posts Shocker with some retribution and sends him into the chairs. Antifaz and Zumbido also are killing it in the stands and there is just action flying all over the ring. Parka has some ladies purse and is pounding Shocker with it. Antifaz and Zumbido take stage and duke it out. Casas and Bestia say hold my beer and they start kicking each other in the mouth. Tecnicos win the second fall when things break down and they get some big dives. Third fall makes a big mistake in integrating the comedy spots with the referees. It felt shoe horned in and really unnecessary. Luckily it doesn’t go too long and we do have an exciting breakneck finish with dives and sequences. Finish has Parka with a nasty looking sharpshooter really cranking back on Shocker to get the submission. Casas and Zumbido are still going after it after the bell. Great match from Monterrey. Give me Parka vs Shocker Hair vs Mask please. **** (8.1)

Nice to see journeyman Lucero get a shot in 2000. Him and Charles start off and he leads Emilio through his most smooth mat sequence of the year. This carried a natural progression of having PImpinela shenanigans being the focal point. That is enjoyable to watch and it is done well here. Mr. Niebla really goes all out on the finish faking the foul. Like most of the Monterrey stuff, its an easy watch if not something that feels absolutely essential to the year as a whole. *** (5.9)

Really fun five minute match here. Regal uses some cutoff spots and looks great and Jericho doesn’t look outclassed on the mat which surprised me. Regal keeps going after the arm but Jericho is able to use some of his flashy offense to overcome the odds and win. Tazz was unbearable on commentary. He kept calling Regal Rizzo and it went no where and made no sense. **1/2

3 minute match but continues the HHH vs Benoit feud with Benoit going after HHH’s buddies. Even within the three minutes, Benoit does some unique things like his crisp forward roll and his arm attack that felt personal. Road Dogg gets caught in the crossface and when Benoit refuses to break, out rushes HHH for a brawl to end the segment. *1/4

E&C start out making fun of MTV. Tazz has some intel that they are the Conquistadors. It is still really awkward watching them watch the match on a big screen. This was a quick hits tag match. E&C have the heat but it only goes for one minute and Too Cool is able to run through all of their offense. Even the crowd is reacting well to Too Cool still. Scotty hits the worm but gets speared by Edge. The Conquistadors run out to distract E&C allowing Too Cool to get the upset with a roll up. *

I have no idea how Osaka Pro doesn’t get talked up more. Like DDT in current day, they have a wide variety of styles and great characters that make sense logically within their own universe. This started off hot with Hoshikawa shaking hands and then kicking Delphin. Delphin comes back with bombs of his own and then starts working over the leg. The leg work is spot on with Delphin even using a calf slicer. Probably the only thing that prevents this match from being a complete MOTYC is the lack of call backs to the leg in the last third of the match. That being said, the sequences from when Hoshikawa locks the crab to the end of the match is amazing. They go through a ton of nearfalls and sequences that were logical ends to the match and nothing feels overblown. Hoshikawa securing the win felt like a big moment and cemented himself as a big name within Osaka Pro. Osaka Pro making a strong case for being a top 3 promotion worldwide in 2000. ****1/4 (8.6)

Good house show death match. I don’t know why Zandig is easier to digest in Japan than in CZW but with the ego not being stroked, he is a lot more enjoyable. Honma continues to stake a claim as one of the better workers of the year including a neat spot where he was in a superplex position and knocked lose some light tubes from the ceiling to use later. Overall, pretty smart work and some decent weapon usage made this and enjoyable watch. ***1/4 (6.3)

Wakizawa’s outfit is ***** right away. Noumi and Toyota was a team I didn’t know what to expect but they work pretty awesome together. Toyota is a prick and she shows her young protégé the way. Wakizawa takes a big beating and Toyota throws in the fish hook and other painful stomps. This is the best part of Manami and she gets some revenge against Ito as well. Finish shows the team work paying off with Noumi holding Ito at bay for Manami to gain the win. A very good tag match and a pretty cool Korakuen card for AJW overall. ***1/2 (7.2)

Feels like we are treading old ground with these ladies mixing it up in a Korakuen match but this did have some exciting moments with Watanbe getting worked over by LCO when the match settles in from the usual brawl around ringside area. Maekawa is looking for a tag and comes in and boots Watanabe when she goes for a kick. Maekawa then just sits down in the corner and something is clearly amiss here. This comes full circle when LCO takes back over and Maekawa doesn’t do anything to stop them. Finally Maekawa just slams a chair over Watanabes head and assists LCO in putting her away. An interesting development with Maekawa seemingly joining LCO now. **1/4

Made it through all of this beast. Between that and putting together the child's Christmas toys while listening, it was an adventure of being gotten to. Until next year.

A shockingly great match. The Ballard Brothers stuff we have seen so far had been pretty sloppy and disjointed. This was a great tag match with a spot on structure of Legrande and Thompson killing these heelish clowns at the start of the match. A ton of great double team power moves that look impressive even in 2017 eyes. In addition, the Ballards would tag out at any opening but couldn’t string together much of a run at all until they get the blind tag and take over. Once on top, the Ballards utilize their heel act integrating Melissa and it is entertaining based on the groundwork that was laid down in the shine sequence to begin the match. The Ballards have good work within each other, cut off the ring and make Thompson work to make the hot tag. Finishing run is a lot of fun with the super duper plex and the Ballards still hanging in there but again reeling. Eventually, the Playaz get the Drive By to pick up the win. Probably the most shocking great match of 2000 so far as nothing I have seen previously led me to believe that these teams were capable of this well executed, state of the art but ingrained in tag psychology contest. **** (7.9)

Harris starts out with a promo. Nothing much of note. Rapada is a cross between Johnny Ace and Tom Zenk. Harris on top is solid if pretty unspectacular. Rapada matched that from underneath. Overall, this was a fair match but nothing extraordinary or even really good. Rapada's sunset flip was strong and he provided a good flurry until we got a ref bump and then Harri's manager running interference. Rapada won't be denied and continues the comeback for a nearfall with the ref recovering. Some more run ins and the numbers catch up to Rapada as Harris spikes him for the pin. **1/2

A house show from the looks of things but a nice hard camera shot on the action. Knowing AJ's personal feelings against Lazz lifestyle that he is portraying, this is an interesting study in who is the heel and face. Lazz has a ton of fun offense with the crowd rallying behind him. Onyx gets involved to allow AJ to gain the advantage. Lazz is able to make his comeback and has AJ reeling including a nice spear when Onyx come sin for the cheap DQ and predictable beatdown by Bailey and associates. Faces help Lazz out and he is able to give a private dance to Bailey to end the segment. **3/4