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Still an awesome spotfest in my mind with less convolution than the Mania match which I still really liked. This had some crazy bumps including the Swantom, Bubba going through the table stack outside, Christian taking the ass bump, Matt's backward bump and the D Von flat back bump from hanging on the cords. There was hardly any downtime and the match kept building and building topping themselves. I thought Edge was pretty easily the worst one here as he took the most safe bumps, had the only real awkward moment where he dives into a ladder hanging on the ropes after Bubba had moves and climbed the ladder too fast at the end to retrieve the belts not putting over the damage. Overall, this absolutely should be mentioned with the classics that helped define a genre of WWE garbage matches. ****1/4 (8.3)

I was pleased to see the brawling happening right away carrying over the hate of the build up. In fact, this match is the antithesis to the notion that all 2/3 falls matches should go long. This told a cohesive story in 13 minutes and felt complete without feeling rushed. Benoit was ferocious in working over the arm and scores the first submission. Jericho is really reeling and has to dig deep to find some opening before gaining it in the second fall with the Walls. The third fall may have gotten a little too bomb heavy and too much back and forth but the work was really well done with Benoit coming forward and Jericho never using his neutralized left arm. The finish was off of a rolling pin combination I don’t think I have seen but it looked sickly smooth with Benoit rolling into the right position and maximizing that by hanging onto the rope for the win. Overall, these two are building a damn great feud together. ***3/4 (7.6)

This match is usually held up as a good match but I thought it was pretty much a waste until the big Shane spot. The opening is Shane running around until Blackmon stalks him down and we get some trash can shots and other generic WWF hardcore action. The strap is used by Blackmon and we get some embarrassing comments on the worthwhileness of child rearing. Shane is a heel because he went to a psychologist to talk out his problems. Then, T&A runs in to help Shane and this becomes a glorified handicap match. Shane was really building up a neat faction with E&C, Angle, Benoit, Big Show but not we have T&A as his helpers. JR on commentary does regain his composure by mentioning how odd it is that Test and Shane are on the same page. The big Shane bump is impressive from a height and risk standpoint even with the foam landing pit. I do think it is kind of odd to have this match and huge bump happen two matches before the TLC match which would also be filled with insane bumps. Overall, I think this match can be condensed into a 10 second gif of Shane falling. The match itself was nothing. *1/2

A really good video package to chronicle this feud and it had a lot of juice behind it. King comes from the commentary booth and attacks Tazz. Tazz responds and we have a pretty good meatn and potatoes type match with a ton of punches and trash talk. Tazz no sells the piledriver which shocked me. Tazz says he going to choke King out and then come for JR. Tazzmission is locked in and JR goes toward the ring. He grabs the candy jar and slams it against Tazz. King pins him to a huge pop. Pretty fun match while it lasted. **

Blade and All That start the match when interrupted by Derrick King. Derrick has a little attitude here saying the office is punishing him but he is taking it like a man. King makes the match a 3 way. Only a three minute match but decent enough 3 way action with no one standing around. The main story is King continuing to be frustrated as he takes a loss here to Blade. *1/4

Power Pro counteracts MCW by having a 14 man elimination match where the winner gets their dream match. Regulators have some swank Braves jerseys on. Dave and Corey do a good job throughout the action in stating what each person would pick as their dream match. Charlie Laird is a pretty good worker with Derrick King here. The regulators get a lot of rub here as Dion sprays something in Spellbinder’s eyes and eliminates him which surprises me. Slash is in now and still is doing his violent act but going against heels. Corey keeps calling him Wolfie. Slash is able to beat Dion and it is down to him and Bulldog Raines. Bulldog doesn’t look awful either with his power moves. Slash is able to use his shin guard to win and it looks like we are headed to a Spellbinder loser leaves town match. Entertaining to see all of the Power Pro guys mix it up. **

A showcase for NWA Elite. Onyx has good power and looks great and Terry Knight is a good enough bruising heel to fit in with the promotion. The heels take 85% of this match and the finish leads a predictable note of hot tag > ref being distracted > Jeff G Bailey causing some interference > heels win. A simple formula but it plays out well enough and I will never slight a promotion like Wildside for giving these guys 12 minutes to work with. **1/4

Another good episode of MCW. This was a solid tag with Smothers working as a face and bouncing around the MSP heels. The posse is getting some good experience and polish in MCW and looks like they could have been valuable if given another chance in WWE. Perhaps the Invasion stunted them coming back. Cade as well looks green but has the size and some charisma to be beneficial. I was happy to see Smothers get the pin as he is the unique babyface that can always make you smile as the viewer. **

These two go after each other hard for the five minutes. Regal has so many neat little moves he can utilize like how he smoothly gets a drop toe hold here. Regal locks on the Regal Stretch but Abs fights and reaches the ropes. The Posse comes out to attack Abs but he puts them down and then does his powerbomb variation finisher to Regal to become the new Southern Heavyweight Champion. *3/4

Dragon gives a horrendous promo. He calls Youth a chia pet. I appreciate them allowing Dragon to spread his wings a bit with more action. This gets 7 minutes which hit the sweet spot in showing more of his arsenal. He takes the fight to Youth throughout most of the match and Dragon retreats to the role of slimey heel backing down. Some of the suplexes and dives to the outside looked particularly well. Finish was good with Youth faking being hit with a chair and Dragon getting DQ’d. **3/4

This had a lo to live up to after the prior match and suceeded. It starts as a revelos sucidas match and the two losers face off one on one. Parka turns on Sagrada midway through and he gets pinned not long afterwards. However, Parka is still isolated against the two rudos. Parka is able to avoid a kick from Guerrero that fouls Fishman and he pins him. I was relatively sure who was losing the mask here but not 100% and as a result, I got real caught up in the finale between Fishman and Sagrada. it was old man, maestro style lucha but was well done and they laid it out on the line with some big dives. The nearfalls and submissions in the finish were well timed and Sagrada working towards and obtaining the figure four for the victory was a nice moment. Fishman unmasks by his son which was an emotional moment and this is for all intents and purposes his retirement so he did go off on a high note of a match even if the show overall bombed. **** (8.1)

This was some bad lucha. I don't really have any notes as I just spaced out while watching midway through. I am unfamiliar with anyone here and no one left even a semi-favorable impression. The overweight guy in the American gimmick was backyard wrestling bad and even him getting bloodied up couldn't save this. One of the worst matches of the year just from the fact that it was 25 minutes of subpar action. The loses didn't even cut off all of their hair. Bullshit. 1/2*

No clue who most of these guys are so maybe someone like OJ with more knowledge can fill in the gaps. Super Muneco has his name written on the back of his overalls which is helpful. Navarro still has hair too which complicates things. As a atomicos where I can’t have stakes because I don’t know anyone, this was entertaining. It mixed up chain wrestling, some comedy, dives in the finale and even some blood with Enrique Vera getting busted open. A great moment happens in the third fall with an old lady patron going after a rudo with her purse. The finish comes with Vera being awarded the match from a foul which is the finish of choice for 2000 lucha. Always entertaining to see guys I have never recognized before. *** (6.2)

This was used as a vehicle to display Steve as a face in front of the ECW arena audience. Match was fine for the amount of time it had and even had some fun moments involving run ins and Cyrus getting beat down by a face Jack Victory. Corino wins pretty easily with the superkick and is probably looking for that one main rival now that he is a face to go up against. **

RIP to the best wrestling announcer there ever was.

I kind of like Kash/RVD as a team. They are spotty as fuck but are able to keep the energy between the two of them and having Kash as a buffer allows RVD to not be as egregious with his selling. This was also a good Credible performance. Rhino continues to look like the biggest stars on the brink of being something big along with Corino within the promotion. Francine looked rough here and I don’t know what was going on with her whether she was sick or not. Kash tries to hit a super rana on Credible and he lands directly on his neck. The match has a schmozz finish but a fun one with Sandman and Corino getting involved leading to Kash/RVD winning helping their rapport heading into the tag tourney. Overall, trashy ECW but fun ECW. *** (5.9)

Scope has a lot to do with it. Watching the 1990-1999 stuff in yearbook form gives you a jist of the year where I think you can talk confidently about the goings on in the wrestling world. However, with us going through 2000 now, the scope has widened significantly. That has at moments caused me to take solace in the fact that maybe I have too many ****+ matches, etc. but in the end I just think because we are watching so much MORE from this year compared to 1990-1999, it is natural for stuff to rise to the top. Especially stuff that hasn't gotten much praise like the lead in to Villano vs Atlantis which absolutely enrich an already classic match into maybe the best match of all time. Sometimes it makes me take solace like when I watch Benoit/Jericho from SummerSlam, rank it ***3/4 and realize it has no chance at my top 100 of the year. For example, if it was on most of the yearbooks, it would at least slot into the 80-100 range. While there is a ton of crap that has been watched in 2000, I also think there is a ton of great stuff that has me championing it as a damn good wrestling overall with 125+ matches I would consider great by the end.

Thought of you JML when this post started. I think this is a worthwhile thing but feel it is really narrow in view. For instance, on the VOW message board in dispute of Okada not being the greatest singles wrestler of all time, Meltzer was seen as the gold standard. That could happen where the shift occurs from a singular viewpoint (Ebert) to secular (Rotten Tomatoes) but it would take a consorted effort and probably a committee of core reviewers across different spectrum that would watch all the matches and offer up a rating for them.

I've found that my opinion on certain things has softened. I think it has to do with the influx of indie footage and me going back to 2000 which is really the onus of headdrops and no selling really running rampant but I don't get as caught up in the lack of limb selling to a degree and usually go along with a narrative of the match if it is well done. Being a fan of CWF-MA has really forced that mentality as well as two of the biggest matches they have had in the past year (Trevor Lee vs Brad Attitude and Trevor Lee vs Arik Royal) had a ton of overbooking and gimmicks at the finish.

A funny training vignette with Satanico running some drills. Man, when the Infernales comes into the ring, they just look like the biggest bad asses in the world. I have missed these kind of trios in the past couple of months in CMLL. There isn’t the perennial whipping boy like Tarzan Boy to play off of Satanico but this was just a hateful match from beginning to end. INfernales do nothing redeeming getting fouls when they can and ripping at masks until they finally succeed in the finale of getting Mr. Niebla’s mask off. Throughout the course of the match, they received receipts which felt entirely justified especially Satanico getting posted. Ultimo Guerrero also has to fight with his masked getting worked over. Overall, the Infernales are an amazing trio. The tecnicos here take a backseat but both Niebla and Olimpico were solid when called upon. Olimpico rocking chair submission in the second fall was sweet. Highly enjoyable match that didn’t overstay it’s welcome and hopefully leads to a feud between the two factions. ***1/2 (7.1)

I know this is probably the last truly great stuff from the feud and everything goes downhill once Angle gets concussed in the match but I have been surprised how well the angle has held up to this point.

Not much to see here at all. Some fun stuff from Felino but otherwise this was just 10 minutes of spots and really felt like a going through the motions match for the Arena Mexico crowd. Lucha has become sort of interesting in August. CMLL had one of the best shows I have ever seen at the beginning but we are kind of limping to the finish of the month with a ton of trios that don’t have a lot going on. *1/2

A really classic trios here which was needed with all the good but not extraordinary lucha I had been watching. Opening pairings all had highlights. Silver King looked better here than the Monterrey match and Wagner and Villano III tear it up. First fall felt like it ended at the right time and set the table for the rest of the match. V gets worked over to start the second fall and this is where the match really cranks up. Satanico slaps on a headlock and reminds me of why he was the runaway WOTY for the first two months of the year. III gets tagged in but that is short lived and V is attacked again and submitted evening up the falls. Third fall starts out the same way with another brutal Satanico chinlock just grinding out the Villanos. Wagner then really goes to work on III. The Villano comeback here was different but worked where it wasn’t the typical tecnico all fired up and firing comeback we have seen but the Villanos getting a level of revenge by driving Satanico’s leg straight into the mat. The rudos come back with some nifty submissions including a rowboat by Satanico/Wagner to injure the leg more. Next King and Satanico do a beautiful capture submission but it allows III to almost get the pin on them crawling underneath. Actual finish is probably the worst as III just gets a flash cradle on Satanico to win. Overall, a very good match about as close to a great one as you can get. It didn’t have the bells and whistles of other things, but was just six pros going out and entertaining the fans. ***3/4 (7.7)

More undercard IWRG stuff and another good, solid trios. Dragon and Mega still the first fall culminating in a tope that wipes out the first few rows of fans. Dr. Cerebro overall was pretty low key in this preventing it from reaching a next level. Ciclon has also shown some spirited performances but was merely good here. Overall, a good trios match but one that wasn’t memorable and mainly there to just fill out a card. *** (6.1)

Stephs promo to start out was great. She says she had to do everything in life on her own and earned everything that has happened. She demands a rematch. Kurt Angle comes out and talks about children. Well, he had Jason Jordan by this time right? Kurt gets in a potshot on New Orleans by saying it is ridiculous a vile and filthy city like that calls its football team the Saints. That as a Falcons fan has me saying It’s True. Angle says that one other person deserves blame and that is HHH. HHH comes out all pissed off and gets a face reaction as he goes after Angle. Foley comes out now. Foley has found some medals and states that Steph would now be attracted to him. I enjoyed the way Foley built up who would be Steph’s partner. Steph has to decide who teams with her. Steph suggests they need Angle to talk strategy and HHH gets hot headed at that idea. Kurt pleads his case to be Steph’s partner. HHH is now back with Steph and she tells him that Kurt talked about how hot headed HHH is and she agrees. Steph admits that she is considering Kurt being her partner. HHH storms at Kurt and they argue. HHH says that Steph doesn’t make the decisions right as Steph comes in. Steph is mad that HHH said that but she decides to flip a coin to make her decision. Now we get an interview with Rock. I don’t want to undersell Rock’s role in this whole angle as he has been integral but also taking the appropriate backseat when needed. Rock gives a pretty generic promo for him but it has all the highs from the crowd. We get the coin flip. It turns up tails which means Kurt is her partner. Kurt is all pumped and says now that they are partners, they have to get serious. Match starts with a brawl and Steph takes a pretty dangerous bump two minutes in off of a Lita rana. The big setup happens where Steph gets bumped from the apron and hits the steps. HHH leaves the backstage area and comes down to check on her. HHH takes her to the back and HHH says he is going back out to help Kurt. He tells the EMS to take care of her. The action in the ring spills to the entranceway and HHH comes back out and is ready to kick Rock’s ass. HHH/Angle double team Rock and HHH knocks out Hebner for the DQ. With Rock sent to the outside, Angle and HHH go after Lita until the Hardy Boyz come out. Rock is back and issues a challenge at Angle but Angle bails. It looks like Angle has left HHH high and dry and Rock gives him a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow. Backstage, we now get the big payoff as Angle checks on Steph. He sends the EMS people away. Kurt tells her she cares about her. Kurt gives her a hug and then goes in for the kiss. Steph is reluctant at first but takes it in by the dn. Kurt has the biggest shit eating grin on his face while Steph is looking like she realizes what she has done. Holy shit this has to be the best WWF angle of all time. *1/2 for the match. ***** for the angle.