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Besides the debut show main event, this was Misawa’s most showcase performance in NOAH so far as he has some nice exchanges with old rival Taue and really mixes it up with Morishima. Morishima for his part does really well first facing off against Misawa and then really working over Ogawa. Ogawa was in trouble for most of the match and I liked the momentum shifts on the outside with guard rail tosses. Morishima ends up being defeated which is no surprise but overall this felt like an elevation for him and was a very good tag match. ***1/2 (7.2)

The opening between Mikey and Kash is just getting started when Rhino comes in to interrupt. What we saw didn’t seem amazing but enjoyable enough. After break, it is Rhino vs Kash for the tv title. This was worked a straight sprint and was high octane action for the five minutes it lasted. Lots of spots of Kash ducking and moving for him to eventually fall prey to Rhino and the gore. We have a new champion and Rhino calls out RVD as that is the big money feud they are building to. **1/4 for the entire segment but fun stuff.

I hate myself for watching the first five minutes of this tv show literally be RVD high fiving fans. I would hate myself even more if I stayed up late on a Sat/Sun night to watch this shit in 2000. Talk about tone deaf. Back from the break and five more minutes of posing. At the 10:31 minute mark, the bell rings. I will say that the match was one of the better RVD offerings of the year as he was giving to CW by RVD standards. CW was able to counteract some of the flashy offense and RVD sold for a bit while CW grinded him out. The finish was never in doubt as RVD runs through his highpoints for the win but overall if you can get past the first 10 minute wank fest, the in ring action is not bad. **1/2

Another match like the previous one that was good but disappointing. They had done such a good job showing how targeted Rock was that I would have liked to have seen at least some cohesion from the other three to get Rock out of the way. Instead, we get paired off action which while fine, it seemed disjointed. I did like Benoit and Taker going after it and really think they could have had a 20 minute submission match around this point. Adding to the problems was the finish where we get Benoit announced as the champion again in a retread for Fully Loaded. They announce that Taker got a foot on the rope on commentary but the crowd is a little miffed as it wasn’t announced for them. Rock then sneaks out the win and doesn’t look that strong coming out. I had thought we might have had a hidden gem on our hands with how good the simple build up was IMO but this barely scrapped the “good” level. *** (5.8)

This was a very good match. I think it is easy to see how high up the card Angle has been presented throughout the year to forget that he hasn’t had a match really over 10 minutes long for his entire career. Therefore by proxy, this was the most ambitious match of his career and for his part, he held his own. They worked a more WWF style brawl but it featured some fun spots and rib and arm selling from HHH. The belly to belly from one table to the next in particular was really good and played off the teases of what happened to Angle a month before. The problems with the match mainly result around the finish and this is certainly the first big mis step of the angle overall. Steph low blowing Angle aribitrarily felt really forced and out of nowhere. I think they could have shown Angle using the sledgehammer or in general being more violent to build up sympathy from at least Steph in that she was seeing the “bad” side of Angle. In addition, HHH is being built as sympathetic to a degree but his forceful kiss to Stephanie at the end felt out of place and overall he didn’t really deliver on his promise to Foley from earlier in the night of demolishing Angle. So each person came out looking worse than they did coming in even though there were certain positives to be taken from the match as a whole. Not an outright failure as a match for me but disappointing given how great everything had been up to this point. ***1/2 (7.1)

A good storyline match with Eddy taking advantage of any opportunity he is given. Eddy is full heel at one point flipping off the crowd. Eddy looks to bail early but Chyna throws him back in the ring. She is conflicted though as when Eddy is about to be stinkfaced, he is saved by Chyna. Frog splash misses for Eddy among Eddy sucks chants. Rikishi blows through his final sequence and looks to have the match in hand when Chyna breaks up the pin. Rikishi contemplates things for a while but then superkicks and beats up Chyna really setting the seed for his heel tendencies coming up. **1/4

This being AJW cage rules is much easier approachable for me in current day than the last time I watched this when it happened in real time. Jeff is out of the match early but remains a big factor throughout the match integrating himself when he could. Matt became very sympathetic and did a blade job. Edge was much better here than in TLC and overall this is probably the most impressive E&C performance in ring as a unit IMO. The finish with the whisper in the wind and Lita’s rana really built up the Hardy’s and based on past history, the crowd was waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under them. That never happened and the pop for the Hardy’s winning was great and felt extremely genuine. **** (7.8)

This was a good match to display Jericho’s vicious side and also his atheleticism. X-Pac is able to take over and gain the advantage with some nice highspots but he switches that up with more heelish moves like choking and kicking to ensure he is still boo’d. I thought this match showed Jericho’s progression in being able to hit that ratio of being aggressive without an overt dick. Jericho winning with the Lion Tamer and not breaking was also a nice finish. Good match to fill out a PPV card. ***1/4 (6.3)

Tazz takes over right away and suplexes Jerry. Tazz then drags Lawler outside to taunt JR. JR is getting fired up and this allows Jerry to make his comeback using the strap. Tazz goes low to regain the advantage. That doesn’t last too long and the match ebbs and flows before Tazz no sells three piledrivers from Lawler before passing out. The crowd doesn’t really react huge to that spot. Now Lawler hits the first three turnbuckles before Tazz stops the momentum. Ref gets bumped as Jerry hangs Tazz. Raven then makes his debut and gives Lawler the Evenflow to a huge reaction. Tazzmission chokes King out and I guess the rules have changed that you don’t have to go to four corners and Tazz is the winner. Raven debut was cool but rest of the match was a mess to me. *

The usual affair here. 10 minutes of brawling and mayhem featuring Onita, Tanaka and a bunch of people I am less familiar with. The fireball got avoided in a tease and this had the rare ending of Onita being on the losing end and beat up until he makes his jacket rounds at the very end. Enjoyable but again nothing I could really connect too. **1/2

This was an improvement over the previous two matches but overall this house show was pretty rough for ECW. This is a meat and potatoes match with Corino really selling his arm and much of the work revolving around good punches. I like that simplistic approach as a change of pace. The finish comes with a distraction allowing Justin Credible to cane Corino and allowing CW to get the win. **3/4

Wow, I didn't know you were that high on the iron man with Orton. You don't hear much talk about that one.

I made coffee and toasted a bagel and ATE the whole thing in the time it took RVD to make his entrance. 10 fucking minutes for a 1,000 person crowd. Da Baldies are only able to take over on offense when Kash and RVD are obsessively mugging for the crowd. The heat sequence on Kash is easily the best part of the match but still doesn’t rise above the decent level. Hot tag to RVD and we get contrived double team spots and a bunch of flipping for not much execution. The finish is cool with the rana from Kash and Five Star Frog Splash from RVD timed perfectly. Overall, RVD has been one of my least favorite wrestlers of 2000 and this was a chore to sit through that only served to entertain the people that don’t watch the weekly tv. *1/2

This match didn’t do a lot for me. As good as the interference was in the previous match, Cyrus was annoying here. Add in heel referee Danny Daniels and it makes the monster Rhino look pretty weak. Before that we had some weak crowd brawling and it seemed like both Lynn and Rhino were taking it pretty easy tonight. Lynn gives Daniels the Cradle Piledriver at the end when Daniels was acting like a goof. This is a feud that carries over into IWA-MS in four years. **1/4

Guido/Mamaluke are really impressing me. They have a set formula down for a 10-12 minute match with any unit that is a ton of fun, hits a higher average than stuff like the mini’s action in Mexico and still feels fresh. Maybe it is the rotation of opponents as Psicosis being involved here felt different. A lot of shine for the faces and a lot of fun involving both Sal and Sinister Minister without it getting too out of control. Finish has Sal crashing through a table and hitting the back of his head on the guard rail but Psicosis celebrated too much and ends up getting German suplexed for the win. ***1/2 (7.1)

Four unknown NWA Texas guys go out on Wildside TV and did a good bit to impress the crowd. Corbin and Douglas have a good heat segment on Samir by doing constant tags with each other and double team moves. Once Samir, makes the hot tag the match only lasts a minute longer and had the faces flying around ending in Samir getting the win. I don’t know what happened to these four after this but I enjoyed this look in and thought they all looked as good as everyone in the FWA match besides maybe Felisch. **

We certainly don’t want to neglect the Brit scene and there are some glimpses within this match where you see the athleticism of Storm and Fleisch shine through, but overall this was kind of a mess with not much flow. No one else besides Storm and Jody are standing out from the pack either. Alex Shane has big size and does do some impressive moves like the one arm slam to Jody but he also has some kicks that couldn’t break an egg and was out of position at points. The match broke down a few times throughout and then ends rather suddenly for the face victory. *1/2

Kelly mentions that Lawler is going back to MPPW and they have to address that. Only a five minute match but a lot of action and Spanky in particular was flying around. Tracy is on commentary running everyone down as the TWA trainees have come together including Shooter Shultz. Tracy gets fed up with the match and interferes continuing the angle. A lot of stuff is being set up in MCW between Tracy and the set up of the merger with MPPW. **

Ronnie James doesn’t offer much here but at least he wins so we can say goodbye to the awful fro looking hair style Youth is working with right now. Youth was fine but again James didn’t offer much. The best part of the match was the finish where after a ref bump, Ronnie cheats by grabbing a chair and piledriving Youth on it for the pin. Seven runs out afterward and beats Ronnie down as the announcers are in shock. This was given a good amount of time but was disappointing. *1/4

Salserios Boys are Los Boriucas rejects and they square off against Tracy and Cade. Kevin Kelly is on commentary which is a stark contrast to the previous video in ECWA of him heeling it up. Cade gets worked over but makes the tag to Tracy who is a house of fire. Unfortunately, Cade hits Tracy with a big boot and the Salserio Boys get a big win. Tracy and Cade tag team is named TNT which I don’t really understand. Tracy turns on Cade afterwards which was going to happen. *1/2

Kevin Kelly is teaming with the Haas Bros here. They are a good heel tag team with all sorts of misdirection spots and dominating the faces especially Ty Street. The comeuppance for Kevin Kelly running his mouth happens in the finale as Street gets some revenge and ends up lifting Kelly’s shirt up to chop him. Just as it looks like they will have the match and titles won, Kelly throws a fireball in Street’s face and rolls him up for the win. A perfectly good match and it is interesting to see Kelly in this role as he was an announcer everywhere else throughout his career. *** (6.1)

The Briscoes brought their entire high school with them to cheer them on. It is amazing they were 15 and 16 at the time of this match. Their offense was spotty but on point and the raucous crowd cheering them on really added to the atmosphere. The heel team featuring future VD member Eddie Valentine was competent when they went on top and the Briscoes played that role accordingly. Big win for them after the hot tag and the crowd was rocking. Impressive debut for them in the 2000’s. Afterwards, they get attacked by the Haas brothers who accept their challenge for a match next month. ***1/4 (6.3)

Not to be denied, Ki comes back out limping and all and the match is restarted. I assume this leg injury is legit as Ki is really hobbling but Reckless Youth comes out and says some words prematch that I can’t distinguish which makes me more suspicious. Scoot works over the leg and is the heel on top almost exclusively. Ki only gets brief moments of success including an armbar. The finish they go for is odd and didn’t work in execution as Scoot hits a German suplex with both shoulders down and Ki got a shoulder up. The crowd was deflated from that and the announcer didn’t get the memo as he still announces Scoot as the winner. Youth has some words for Scoot after the match. Scoot takes it out on Ki and goes nuts after him locking in a figure four on the bad wheel. Youth challenges Scoot next month and raises Ki hand at the end. Sort of a weird match overall given the “injury” to Ki derailing things. **

Low Ki is rocking and Scoot is there to hang with him. Ki hits his big kicks and is running through his offense when he takes a big dive to the outside and lands foot first. I guess that fucked up his leg as he has to be tended to and then the match is called off. Bummer as Ki was able to win over the ECWA crowd. NR

Tajiri and Corino get the headlines for 2000 ECW but these individuals are the other unsung heroes and possible contenders to land on my top 1000 wrestler of the year list as well. The match they have here reflects this and is a ton of fun. Guido/Doring have some indie rific opening wrestling but it is fine and not too absurd. Roadkill really brings things up a notch throwing around the FBI until they are forced to come together and give him a double Russian leg sweep to take over on control. Roadkill being FIP is unique but fun to watch. Big Sal uses his size to take out Doring and we get another short FIP segment involving him. Hot tag to Roadkill which is always awesome and they run through all sorts of offense with the crowd rocking and smelling a title change. They hit their finisher but Sal pulls out the referee. Big dive from Doring onto Sal. Joey and Joel have a good commentary exchange saying this is the closest Doring/Roadkill have gotten to winning the tag titles. Roadkill takes a big chance hitting the Barnburner and going to the top rope but gets pushed down through the table which always pops the crowd as well. Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am has Guido pinned but ref is tending to Roadkill. Sal gives Doring a chokeslam and then the Vader corner splash and FBI escapes with the belts. A very good tag. ***1/2 (7)