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The trial series for Murahama continues. When Buffalo/Togo are teaming up, you are at optimal capacity for the Osaka Pro rudos. Tsubasa helped add a lot of flash and aerial moves here as he was flying around and hitting everything cleanly. Murahama continues to dazzle both in being worked over and then fighting from underneath with ferocious kicks making him look like the ultimate pint sized ass kicker. ***1/2 (6.9)

I guess this was at Samurai's hometown but that made the match molten and raised that above some of the entries we have seen from these guys. Liger, Kashin and Samurai were not above being pricks and taking short cuts here against the pricks and that attitude was something I also appreciated. The final stages with Samurai working for the nearfall had some of the best heat we have seen in Japan and I bit on quite a few of the nearfalls while thinking they wouldn't pull the trigger on Samurai actually winning. Another great entry for these guys in 2000. **** (7.8)

The set up for all of this Steph/HHH drama is really well done. It feels different from pretty much any angle WWF has attempted and hits the chords that a soap opera does. It doesn’t feel overly contrived or hokey. The set up here was well done with the mix tag and HHH accidently calling Steph “trish” when showing her the hammerlock counter. This sets up Trish as HHH’s partner once again and it does seem like Trish wants a piece of the game. The match takes a backdrop o the impending drama but is high octane and has some fun interactions between Rock and HHH. Rock is again really aggressive hitting Trish with a spinebuster and knocking HHH out with the chair at the end of the match leaving HHH in a compromising position on top of Trish. Excellent ending. **

I remember attending this show with my friend Cam and there was a lot of rumors in the crowd that WM17 was going to be in the Dome since it would be a year after the Super Bowl and WWF had established itself in the market again. That of course was all for naught but boy was I excited. Good tag match here as Benoit/Angle continue to gel really well as a team and the Dudley’s are game to mix it up with more athletically gifted opponents. Angle and Bubba do hilariously botch a back body drop at one point. Shane flies off the top rope with an elbow and Angle is able to get a nearfall off of that. Angle uses the referee as a shield to prevent damage but Benoit eats a 3D. D Von retreats a table when Big Show makes a run in and chokeslams Bubba. Benoit is then placed on Bubba for the pin. This didn’t make Benoit as a title contender just 8 days before look all that strong. Shane’s group still strong. **1/4

Great heat for the E&C bit as this came off the 1999 World Series sweep. JR gives a nod to Gordon Solie who passed away during this match. I have liked the way they have built to the TLC with interspersing the three teams against each other. This was up there with the regular best of five match before the ladder match leading to No Mercy 99. The nearfall off of the Swantombomb was especially well done with Edge pulling him out at the right exact moment. Chairs get involved causing a DQ and increasing the violence of the feud. **

Viagra on a Poll. Here we go. I mean what can you say about this. Madden thinks it is open mic night and he makes as many dick jokes as he can. Tony is actually saying in a match that someone is going for the bottle of Viagra. Douglas legit gets cut by the bottle of Viagra. What shit. ¼*

MIA sucks as a faction. Lance has renamed the Hardcore title. The Canadian stuff has garnered him some heat but it does feel like a gimmick that is a couple of years too late after the US vs Canada stuff of 1997. Action is fine for a three minute match. Hugh Morrus and Leroux are brutal on commentary. Loco seems to have hurt his leg and Lance targets that looking for the Maple Leaf. He locks it in and Lance has the Hat Trick of WCW titles. They are building him up for sure. Right as I type that, here comes Nash to squash and dismiss Storm. Fuck Nash. ¾*

I lost some context on this which hurt things overall but this was a minis match with stakes which is something that has been lacking from their technically fine series so far. Stretchers are brought out for multiple competitors on each end and the match is worked with a break neck speed. Marvin continues to be my favorite of the minis we have seen and their is some juice involved. The finale involving Tirantes and the dueling referees was one that didn't work for me but there is a big pop when TIrantes is fouled. I guess the losing second gets their head shaved as a result of this one. A lot going on including a big brawl at the end but I was unable to keep track of it and therefore it lost that emotional punch. ***1/4 (6.4)

I don't know how to rank this match but I loved it. It worked as the death of Onita if it would have been his curtain call. The opening video package is incredible and then Onita makes his entrance smoking and looks like the baddest motherfucker alive. This match had very few moves and in fact Tatanka/OMG that I watched right before might have had more but this match just oozed atmosphere. The crowd is deflated at Onita getting beat but that was the vibe they were going for and it does hold a lot of gravity when he passes out from the Scorpion. Afterwards we get the triumphant press conference of Choshu. This match is example A of two masters of the less is more approach with a dose of absurd with the explosive stipulation. **** (8.2)

This match happened in an odd moment where they were too recent to perform a strict nostalgic act and too far removed from their prime to pull off the serious match they did. As a result, this is a 20 minute match where it looks like both guys are walking through molasses. Some slow rest holds and nothing engaging with Tatanka trying to work from underneath but gaining no sympathy. The ref gets bumped and the crowd shits all over the finish of Gang using the brass knuckles to gain the win. Thank goodness for Russo or this would have been one of the worst matches of the year. 1/2*

The pull apart between Hennig and Rodman didn’t look half bad. Hennig comes out with two women and some random belt. Dennis uses the belt as soon as he gets into the ring and Hennig is busted open. The women that escorted Hennig down the aisle are at the foot of the entranceway in the most awkward position I have ever seen. With the action spilling to the outside, Hennig gets some offense in with a broom shot and sends Rodman over the announce table. The match from there is almost all punching and kicking on the outside. It isn’t good but by the same token we have seen worse brawling in 2000. After around 8 minutes of this, the match just gets thrown out and the crowd is pissed throwing trash as Rodman and Heenig fight to the back before being broken up. So ends the career of Rodman before he did the Hulk Hogan Celebrity Wrestling contest. **

As someone that has been completely out on WWE since Mania, the last episode was a good discussion with Devon and Fray talking passionately about the product by also being fair with the critiques.

A shitty angle for Memphis with Alkie Hol the new Commish. and the referee here with a beer can and all. The Rocker is on commentary and he inserts himself into the match after three minutes. Alkie takes the beating to Rocker and then puts Spanky and Dragon on top for the win. Huh. 1/2*

Really good four minute match with a lot of hate. I think TPT and Flash have a ton more chemistry than Flash and Dinsmore. The finish is fucking stupid involving Bob Fair the referee being crooked but hey it is OVW. I don't know why Cornette thinks this referee angle is so great but it is not. Referee Briscoe also comes out and beats up Fair. **

Good five minute match with Dinsmore looking as good here as he has in 2000 so far. Lee isn't quite as agile on his feet as he thinks but he saves himself well enough. The match is a good victory for Dinsmore over a lower opponent. Afterwards, Cornette must have been so impressed with that angle from last week involving Flash that we see the whole thing again. Once was enough for me. *1/2

I'm surprised Taylor never became anything bigger as he has a good look and size and delivers his power moves here well. Styles as a heel was effective being cocky and overzealous but hitting all of his big moves flawlessly. They work a good seven minute tv match that wouldn't have looked out of place at all on Raw around this time. I was surprised to see Styles lose clean here but it did play into the fact that he was overconfident. **3/4

Really fun Baxter and heel Ali promo that sets up a Spellbinder singles match. I liked Ali using his clout as WCW talent. The match itself is fine and I do like Spellbinder as a competitor probably more than I should given his overall ability. Him and Wolfie in particular have some heated sequences around the announce table. Corey after getting involved and getting shoved is calling the action today with Dave gone and he does his best frantic Memphis sign off when the match gets thrown out. *1/4

This kind of felt like a holdover match from the old Toryumon to the new era with the M2K vs CM feud but it was a really good entry into the CIMA as WOTY resume and Suwa being his best tag partner in the Crazy Max faction. They work impressively here as the clear rudos utilizing every advantage they can get a hold of. Between the Suwa singles match and this one, the stiffness that Arai displays is something I did not expect given my familiarity with him in current day. He adds a lot to these matches in a classical junior sense. Dragon Kid was also mostly on point here and this led in nicely to the Suwa singles match coming up at the end of August. The finish was fun with Suwa getting his win back on Arai and reversing a backslide attempt seamlessly into the pedigree. ***3/4 (7.4)

Some good undercard Toryumon to show us M2K gelling as a team, Genki finding his legs still in his surfer gimmick and Stalker becomming more prominent as not just a comedy gimmick. I like the way M2K is vicious in their offense and utilizes their rocket scooters. The other impressive thing about them is the fact that they work together as a team to swarm the opponents. They don't give much room at all for Genki and Stalker to breath. The Stalker comedy spots spliced into this got a great reaction and he really is a sympathetic character that in life ends up with the wrong crowd in Crazy Max. *** (6.1)

A very strong match but I was hopeful for a MOTYC and it never reached that level so in that regard it is a victim of my hype. The opening was fantastic especially the ground work and Hyuga targeting the back of Yu Yu. I was thinking it would be a strict dueling limbwork contest with the back and arm of Yu Yu getting worked over and by contrast her going after the leg of Hyuga. The match takes a turn when they go outside for some brawling. This wasn't awful and actually featured a pretty brutal table spot performed by Yu Yu but it felt like a betrayal of the match they had laid out up to this point and while the narrative of them rushing into the ring at 19 to break up the countout is a good visual, it didn't fit. The remaining portion of the match was more back and forth with big moves and submission attempts. I did get the feeling that Hyuga wasn't quite there as a worker here to have a 25+ minute compelling match as her selling on stuff was spotty and she overall felt a little lost in the waning minutes. I did like the finality of the finish with Yu Yu delivering a big brainbuster for the win. Joshi is dying from the crowd support but I have enjoyed a lot of the 2000 immensely especially Yu Yu. If this was a MOTYC, I was ready to throw her hat into the ring for WOTY. Since this didn't reach that level, I cant in good conscience do that but I did think this was a very good match with some pretty big flaws that prevented it form reaching that next level. ***3/4 (7.5)

Certainly an indie cage match but one that had some big bumps and kept the action moving along. Bad Crew still lacks a lot of polish in their execution but for the role they fill in EWF they are effective. I love seeing Hit Squad both throw people around and launch their bodies into the cage. The highlight came in the finale as Bad Crew tapes up one member of Hit Squad to the ropes and then places the other on a table on top of a table. Then Bad Crew #1 cranks up a legit bulldozier and raises it up with him on top to give a big splash for the victory. The spot came off as memorable if pretty contrived. The bit of taping the other member of Hit Squad to the ropes was critical to the success of the move overall. *** (6.2)

The Tajiri/Whipwreck team is one that I’m an interested in watching develop even though a tag title run in 2000 ECW feels well beneath Tajiri at this point. This match was pretty fun with both teams working well together. The highlight for me was Guido jumping over Mamaluke when he was in a giant swing. Tajiri locking on the Tarantula continues to get a huge reaction and it was easy from the crowd reaction in this match that this pairing at a minimum will be very over. **1/2

This match has about 3 minutes clipped but we get about 75% of it. Psicosis is a bastard in Japan again just cheating at will along with his lucha friends. He takes the fight to Tiger Mask and that culminates with him diving off the balcony with a legdrop through the table. Tiger Mask is going to be someone that will rank in the upper half of my workers for 2000 and that will raise some eyebrows including myself when I relook at the list but he has been good to very good in almost every match he has appeared in. Here, he sold the attack well and fired up his comeback effectively looking for the Tiger Suplex at multiple points and then finally hitting it to get the pin. ***1/4 (6.4)

El Dandy has been interesting playing the rudo in Monterrey and the tecnico here. This was a pretty fun bruising, lumpy rudo team with Shu being the standout IMO although Diablo took some nasty bumps. It also was refreshing to see a no frills rudo victory. Silver King and Dandy are a pretty formidable duo but Dragon slowed them down here besides the big dive he had in the first fall. Another replacement level lucha match for 2000 but that results in a good match overall. *** (6)

In matches like these, you see the frustration that you can get from watching CMLL week to week. These six don't really have an overarching angle or big theme they are building to right now so it feels like they are kind of in neutral. Neutral of course is a good match as all of these guys minus maybe Charles is elite in 2000. Shocker has the flash and charisma and Bestia/Scorpio can bring the bruising hate. Casas continues to be one feud away from having a breakout performance and I want it to happen soon as his kicks at the end of the match on the outside were brutal and quintessential Casas. Your ho hum enjoyable CMLL trios that was given some time. ***1/4 (6.3)