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The best Nitro match is lord knows how long. Lance honestly looks like one of the best US wrestlers here. He hits a great dropkick, is stiff and is in position for everything. The counter of the rana into the Maple Leaf was also a great finish. Daffney continues to be atrocious screaming on the outside. Crowbar looked good and cleaner than he does at other points when given non hardcore showcases. A very enjoyable match that came after a great Rhodes Family vs Flair/Animal segment. ***1/4 (6.4)

Holy shit was this awesome. 13 minutes of pure action with everyone flying around and only SAITO looking like hes not up to speed. Tiger Mask and Tokyo continue to outperform their reputation and both were super strong here. Tokyo had no moments of clumsiness and Tiger Mask continues to be swift with the strikes. Crazy Max works so well as a team and compliments each other. The best aspects of Toryumon are personified in this match. Great action and characters. **** (8.2)

A decent match between two that are never my favorite. This was the final of the Welterweight Title tournament and Arai had already beating Saito and Susumu Mochizuki prior to this match. Arai has the hard head gimmick and Kanda keeps injuring himself trying to attack it with clotheslines and punches. The finish plays into this as Arai hits a top rope jaw breaker that Kanda sells as death. My favorite moment was the aftermath with the faction warfare with M2k, Arai’s crew and Crazy Max joining the fray. **3/4

A good match but with this being the semi main and how well executed Liger vs Fuchi did in the other singles NJPW vs APW match, you would hope for more. This should have sent alarm bells off for Kea and his capabilities at being a top start going forward. Muto starts with some ground work and then when things go outside, Muto becomes more heelish kicking at Wada and using a ladder. Back inside, the legs are the focal point. Kea sells it well enough there just isn’t anything that Kea does that feels spectacular. He is very bland overall. Muto ends up winning with the figure four and NJPW goes 2-0 and practically buries AJPW at their own dome show. ***1/4 (6.4)

I dug this for the first few minutes but it got stretched out too long and Barton is limited as hell as a worker. Williams looked fine and not too far off from 2000 where he was still a good worker that needed to be in their with a great one to provide entertainment. Barton isn’t that person. It also felt kind of sad that this came off the heels of the Hansen retirement and kind of was presented as a passing of the torch to the new top gain in the promotion. William’s best days are far behind him but he looks like still the best of the class overall. **3/4

This show really needed a shot in the arm and these grumpy bastards delivered. A brutal but calculating match where Fuchi was shown to look really strong. He does little things throughout this match that just make you delight in the misery he is inflicting on Liger. Stretching his leg out into a full split position and standing on Liger in the corner and posing were both the high water marks. This show cements APW status currently. There are certain wrestlers that I enjoy but the whole show is a nostalgia or variety show vibe. Almost everything up to that point doesn’t land, but this is two veterans but also wrapped around a great story and the finish of Liger catching him with the La Magistral felt appropriate and probably best case scenario for what AJPW was going to show matching up vs. NJJPW in the feud by this point. **** (8.2)

I found this to be pretty disappointing. Otsuka has been in some good stuff this year but he was someone that really popped off the screen in the late 90’s and 2000 and that hasn’t happened so far. Still, him vs. Kakihara carried this for me. Yone is still one of the worst shoot guys that are involved and Nagai didn’t seem too interested overall. For the lucha tag previously, I felt like we got the touring style match but the highlights of that style. This felt more like dumbing down aspects of shoot style for the big audience. **3/4

Sekimoto’s most high profile match to date with Teioh pulling double duty. I liked the way that this match started out hot and then settled down with Abdullah and Kamikaze settling the match down with the arm work against Seikmoto. I also enjoyed that once Teioh got the tag he got overzealous on the outside and elbowed the post. Overall, a very solid match that had a lot of doubt of who was going to win but resulted in a feel good moment of the upstart Sekimoto getting a title. ***1/4 (6.5)

This ended up being ranked as a good match by me, but just barely and through the work of Teioh. Winger was just a warm body. Again the restraint was nice as we have a few boards of barbed wire but they are maximized and not used gratuitously. The best spot involving that for me was the finish with the bow and arrow utilizing the barbed wire board. The down points of this match involve a long crowd brawl and Winger on offense was really boring. Interested to see how it plays into the tag match Teioh is in. *** (5.8)

A really good death match. The match revolves around three huge spots and all three are built up to well and deliver in their brutality when carried out. Shadow WX continues to be a guy that will sneakily show up and have really good matches within a year. I don’t think he is as revered as people like Necro but so far he is better than almost any other death match wrestlers in 2001 we have seen. Yamakawa keeps losing his pants and that provides a few comedic moments that didn’t detract from the match. Overall, this is a loaded day in Japan and this would have been a great capper to the early show before going to the AJPW dome. ***3/4 (7.4)

A weaker main event in a Raw that was really anchored by the Austin vs HHH contract signing. HHH lays an attack and then they add the stipulation that they aren’t to touch until No Way Out so we will see how that goes for the next 4 weeks. The action here was ok but rushed and Jericho taking the pin felt out of place but I guess they want to keep heat on Big Show. I don’t remember what happens with the match between Angle and Rock at SmackDown Extreme but I guess we will see.. **1/2

Decent opener for a grouping of guys that besides Knoble have some shaky moments. Most of the spots were hit cleanly and this didn’t overstay its welcome. WCW continues to do a good job in displaying most of these cruiser guys and they are becoming recognizable and distinctive amongst themselves. Another surprise finish with Moore winning. **1/4

An overbooked match that brought out the worst qualities of Buff and Luger. I still have zero sympathy for Nash and his run as top face is DOA in my eyes. At least our PPV is maybe set. *

This only goes three minutes but was the best Animal looked In probably 4 years. Animal is catching and throwing around the Animals to the delight of the crowd , even though hes supposed to be a heel. Chavo plays his role well being delighted at his new big buddy. Animals took the beating well and the bumps looked brutal. **

Tag match looks better on paper than the big 8 man at MSG as heel side looks a bit more balanced. You already know who is taking the pinfall though. All four work hard throughout this match and the Benoit vs Austin interactions in particular jumped off the screen to me. Tensions were going to boil over between HHH and Austin and that is the finale of them firing away leaving Rock and Benoit alone in the ring. I like that Benoit fought out the People’s Elbow attempt but as expected he falls to the Rock Bottom seconds later. A good house show overall. ***1/2 (7.1)

Good Raw style match. Fancam is much better here than the MSG show. Angle continues to impress me in 2001 knowing when to throw in his spots and working on his pacing. Trish is out with Kurt and gets involved with the heat here. The finish shows one ref being bumped and then Angle punching the next one that comes out. Lionsault gets a nice nearfall as Hebner recovers to make the count. Angle is able to hit a low blow and Angle Slam to pick up the win. ***1/4 (6.5)

A really good tag match here and Otsuka looked much better in this setting than in the Dome match later on in the day. He seems like a bully vs. Hidaka and goes toe to toe with Malenko. Malenko is one of my unheralded workers as he brings an intensity and no fucks given attitude to every match I have ever seen him in along with strong execution. Tiger Mask is so maligned in modern day that I was expecting that Tiger Mask here but he was really slick with his strikes and his work on the mat was efficient too. This continues to prove the point that that spot shows on 1/28 overperformed the big AJPW dome show. ***3/4 (7.7)

A spectacle that isn’t good but still worth watching. Funk is easily the best person here bleeding buckets and generally trying. Kimala is actively bad and all Abdullah is going to be doing at this stage of his career is a stalk and pry type attack with sharp objects. Onita just back and hanging out in AJPW didn’t feel as big as I thought it would in the dome atmosphere. Overall, a curious match to watch for historical purposes but it did have some fight at the nursing home vibes. **

Certainly more of an exhibition but I enjoyed this a good deal as a showcase of the style and also mixing in a moment for Mascaras where he feels like a superstar. Panther and Santo start out and have a fun mat wrestling exchange leaving off from the Korakuen match earlier in the day. The surfboard escape in particular was really smooth from Santo. Mascaras getting the pin and doing a jig with Destroyer in the entrance was a feel good moment. This is a weird ass show overall so I appreciated this helping flesh out the undercard. ***1/4 (6.5)

A match on paper that looks like it could be a MOTYC if given the right circumstances but given what happened on this show before it, to no surprise for me it falls squarely in the disappointing but very good bucket. The finish is the most predictable and least interesting choice of Kawada pinning Hase after a powerbomb. The crowd heat was disappointing and this had to be alarming to AJPW given the crowd reaction they got on 5/2/99 just 20 months earlier. Hase and Sasaki have the most electric exchanges here which feels all wrong. Speaking of feeling all wrong, Sasaki and Kawada teaming feels really off and they don’t even tease any animosity against each other. Overall, a bad showing for AJPW and they feel probably less relevant than they have in many years following this disappointing show. ***3/4 (7.5)

To ease my mind at night and relax, I have been falling asleep watching The Joy of Painting. This match felt appropriate to soothe me in the same way. Not to say that I didn’t think it was too exhibitionary. They start out with some beautiful mat work but by the end, they are crowd brawling, Santo is swinging chairs and I thought they escalated the match really well. This is just a classic pairing that I can watch wrestle forever. Kudos to the patrons that watched the BJW show and this one on the same day. Overall, a great showcase of what these two can do and cementing themselves as two of the best wrestlers of all time. ****1/4 (8.4)

Orton being jobbed in three minutes continues to be hilarious. He really is starting out low tier here from what we have seen. Conway wears glasses almost the entire match. I am not impressed with Conway overall from what we have seen in OVW and this was a throwaway three minute match. ¾*

Good tag for OVW as I continue to enjoy the Minnesota Stretching Crew. Finish was shit, surprise surprise. Sin gets in and sprays perfume or hair product but that causes the cheap DQ. Lesnar gives her a powerbomb where she nearly comes out of her leather pants. Leviathan comes in to save his friends and he cleans house of everyone. He then speaks for the first time to Cornette’s amazement. The brief interaction between Batista and Lesnar is fun since we will see A LOT of them throughout this decade but hardly any with each other. I am unsure if their OVW singles match in this year made tape or not. **

Dupp with promo and it was fine. Another decent studio match this week. Haas brothers look better to me and certainly easy to see how they were pegged as the higher prospect. Blade Bordeaux comes out with a teddy bear and says it is the Dupps in a lame angle. That causes Bo to go nuts and cause the DQ when he slings a chair against everyone. The show ends with Corey and Dave bailing from the set. That was pretty hilarious. *3/4

A fun southern style brawl. This really displayed the nooks and crannies of the Barn in Cornelia as we get a view of the bathroom and also the outside area where the match ends with Michaels and Young hopping into the car and skipping town. I have talked a bit about NWA Wildside presenting these longish matches and how they remind me of Portland but this felt definitvely Memphis and was a ton of fun to watch. ***1/4 (6.3)