soup23

Onryo has such a unique enigma to him that the matches slightly suffer. I can't knock it though due to his dedication to the character. Sasuke and Onryo work the mat a good bit in the early going and the back half had some good back and forth and nearfalls that are believable but not ridiculous. Sasuke ends up putting him away with the big powerbomb. This was certainly worked with a house show style match but was good for a twelve minute affair. *** (5.8)

Good tv match. Reckless shows some cocky moves and Dragon is able to use his wrestling to gain an advantage and frustrate Youth. Dragon is able to baffle Kevin Kelly with a submission attempt but misses a charge into the corner jamming up his knee. After a nice tornado DDT, Youth hits the stun gun and gets the pin with his feet on the ropes. Both of these guys looked like strong prospects here. **

I can’t hear a word of Zandig’s promo which is par the course. Executive Vice President Robbie Mireno joins House and Eric on commentary which is a humorous title for him. Zandig does a running powerbomb from the ring to the floor and catapults Pain over the wrestlers that were going to catch him. I liked the opening moments of this a lot and Pain looked impressive hitting a divorce court and doing some arm work on Zandig. Once Zandig comes back, the match comes to a halt. He hits the H8 Club with a barbed wire lobster but then climbs the top rope as the fire alarm goes off. Pain starts climbing the fence area of the arena when Zandig grabs him and powerbombs him through two chairs set up. Pain is working for two here as he picks up the pace and hate of the brawl again when he goes back after Zandig. Zandig powerbombs Pain through another corner of the table set up outside. Zandig’s moveset is limited to pretty much that. Pain is right back on offense and Im saddened at a match that started with promise has devolved inot this. Zandig can’t even keep his balance on the ropes to perform a proper superplex. Zandig is completely blown up and Pain has to throw himself at Zandig to get back body dropped from the ring outside through a table. House seems to think there is a legit piece of shit on the barbed wire table brought into the ring. Pain is able to superplex Zandig through the barbed wire table and the locker room empties out. Nick Gage powerbombs Pain and Blade brawls with Pain as well. With all of this going on, Lobo runs in and pins Zandig winning the championship. Some suspect decision making there. This was a pretty big mess but it encapsulates CZW in 2000 as their booking was so awful and the action just wasn’t there yet to really justify things. Pain tried but Zandig was trash here. *3/4

I had a blast watching this. Throw logic out the window as we don’t get a single tag throughout the entire match and the action falls in line of what cool spots we are doing next. However, for a 2000 spotfest, this was done really well. Acid is smooth as silk and impresses me time and time again with how he can transition from big move to big move seamlessly. Kashmere for his part starts things out with Blade and they do a fairly complicated indie respect sequence flawlessly. Blade trips a bit on the ropes because it is Ric Blade but then he nearly kills himself torpedo’ing down with a shooting star press to the floor. Dewey Donovan gets Liger Bomb’d by the referee and Mondo and Blade do a double Van Terminator to Kashmere in a cool looking spot. Blade then goes to the outside and performs a Swantom through Acid on the table jumping from the crow’s nest where the hard cam is located. On the other side, Mondo gets sent from the top of the concessions through a light tube table by Kashmere. Blade’s valet gets put through a table in a sloppily put together spot where Blade loses Acid the first time and looks like a dolt that he didn’t see her laying on the table. The BSB pick up the win with an Acid Bomb/Ace Crusher combo on the chair. This was a lot of fun and should have gave the BSB some rep around the message board corners at the time. ***3/4 (7.6)

These four women really give the vibe of not caring for each other at all. The work isn't always the smoothest but the intensity and viciousness is there. This has LCO really dominating the young pairing and taking the fight to them with a big crowd brawl to start. They isolate on Watanabe throughout the match and she is in danger for most of the match. Maekawa is able to come in and sweep back the advantage with her vicious kicks. I thought Maekawa and Shimoda in particular had some excellent strike exchanges against each other that were hate filled. Eventually, Watanbe is able to grow confidence throughout the match and at the end is actually the stronger of the two members of her team which told a nice story throughout the match. The finish is brutal with Shimoda throwing a straight punch to Maekawa and then pinning her down for the count as she is squirming with all her might to kick out. I really enjoyed this. **** (7.9)

This was a weird match where we get 1 minute of action before Rico hurts his leg. The spot didn’t look very believable at all that Rico would have been legit hurt. Flash attacks the referee and calls out Nick Dinsmore. Out comes Dinsmore and we get an impromptu match as Cornette swears to us that no one knew this was going to happen. You hear that guys, we have a SHOOT on our hands. Cornette is without a doubt a worst announcer in 2000 that Lawler and I feel completely justified in that opinion. Dinsmore gets thrown from the top rope for the DQ and then Flash dives on him. Flash attacks the referee again. Not much heat for this at all which should show how ineffective it has been as an engaging feud overall. All the referees come out and they get attacked. A chair gets involved. Now a referee fires off against Flash and gets a piledriver. Fuck this overbooked shit. TPT finally makes the big save. The earlier TPT squash showed a short but semi effective segment that could have made OVW seem like at least a decent promotion. This crammed as many Memphis tropes into a seven minute segment as you could and the dead crowd with Cornette being the loudest voice felt hollow and depressing. 1/4*

Cornette welcomes us to another exciting hour of OVW. Sure. The color commentator was brutal here heeling it up talking shit on TPT. The match itself is around 2.5 minutes and Lee didn’t do a lot to impress. Cornette is alarmed that Benetti is going to be in the corner of the match. TPT starts making his comeback and puts the match away with a running powerbomb. A decent enough way to showcase TPT. ½*

This was a Sabu vs Funk brawl but with less logic and intensity as usual. Pile onto that the typical terrible XPW production and the announcers refusing to not get in the way of the match being presented and overall this was meh. The fireball effects in the end were cool and well done by Sabu even though he botched some of his highspots during the match. The promo Funk gives after the match is excellent and sets up an I Quit match. That was by far the best part of the whole segment and shockingly got me invested to see these two duke it out again. *3/4

Murahama is really starting to make a serious claim for me of the best rookie year in wrestling history that I have seen. Every match of his is intriguing, carries a breakneck pace and demands that the viewer becomes invested in if he can overcome the odds of the heel faction. Buffalo has been a great heel for Osaka Pro this year and he is excellent here. Once he gains the advantage, he muddles the match up with some brawling, chairs and cheapshots. It is a US heel style on top that doesn’t drift too far into interference ridiculousness to check me out of the match. Even when I think Murahama might botch a spot like off an armdrag it is just him reversing the Buffalo attempt into a leg lock which is really impressive. Murahama gets overzealous when he mounts a mini comeback and he ends up kicking the post with his leg. Buffalo capitalizes on that and ends up piledriving Murahama on the ramp. After a figure four sequence there is a lot of dramatic nearfalls with the crowd shrieking at every kickout that Murahama musters up. Buffalo also gets a close two count off of a snap German and back suplex. Tiger Driver also gets a nearfall. Once again this toes the line of being too many kickouts but the investment from the crowd and the fact that Buffalo conveys his mounting frustration keeps things within reason for me. The finish is the worst part of the match and the only slight botch as Murahama fires off a quick flurry culminating in a clothesline and the ref counts three even with Buffalo kicking out. I am unsure if he forgot the finish or what. Afterwards, Murahama gets misted and we get another wild brawl to end the segment between the two big factions in Osaka Pro. Great match. **** (8.1)

Another cool Foley opening promo with our final build up to Fully Loaded. Mick announces that if Rock is DQ’d, he will lose the title. That gets some boos but makes sense given that the violence has put things out of control leading up to the PPV and Mick says he can’t be seen as a pushover. Shane, Benoit, Jericho all get some promo time and Benoit locks on the crossface on Jericho. HHH music fires up and out he comes to continue the attack. Rock comes out to run the heels off. This did a good job of setting up stuff for the present tonight and also the future. The tag match is splendid and up there with the better tv offerings from WWF in the year. All of the issues feel personal and each one of the pairings work well together and interweaved. Jericho’s ribs get worked over and HHH/Benoit are ferocious in their attack. This is HHH as his Ric Flair lite best as he comes in and picks his spots while Benoit is the Enforcer of the tag team. Jericho isn’t even able to get the hot tag as Rock has enough and forcers his way in. He goes nuts on everyone including the referee causing a dQ. They do a good job on commenatary putting over that if he does that on Sunday, he loses the title. After the match, Shane comes in and gets beat up taking a ridiculous bump onto the announce table. Jericho locks on the Walls on HHH and Rock grabs a crossface on Benoit! This is excellently executed by Rock and he should have went with that over the Sharpshooter. What a great go home angle. ***1/2 (7)

A bad effort for these guys. Everything was really sloppy and beyond that, the match didn’t have much of a narrative at all and felt like a series of spots. Rising Son and Taro were the biggest offenders but this was easily the worst Dragon has looked so far. Excalibur was probably the best overall and he hits the spot of the match with an insane tope where it looks like he nearly breaks his neck. Overall, bad matches are going to happen and its nice to see from the standpoint that none of these guys is going to be perfect. *1/2

I don’t know when Francine joined up with Credible but here she is. Scotty Anton is putting the moves on her. The way they build to the face team coming out with Corino on the mic is really well done first with Dreamer, then Raven and finally of course Sandman doing his whole spiel to a huge reaction. However, after that the heels retreat and we get a LONG bit of stalling. We are legit 19 minutes into the video and no one has locked up yet. Once the match starts, it is good Southern affair with everyone doing some clown spots and a decent FIP on Sandman. Some of the work is loose and the camera work is unbelievably bad at points considering this didn’t devolve into a brawl. Weapons come in for the finale and the faces win to make everyone go home happy. **3/4

We don’t really get the match here but this sets up the big upcoming four way between these guys and they did a good job there with a ton of blood and hate being thrown around here and the segment culminating in Pierroth crashing through the CMLL sign on the entrance way. Ano was incapacitated for the whole segment and tended to by the doctors while Villano and Perro attacked Pierroth. NR

Solid first fall with Panther being the ring leader of the rudos. He pretty systematically takes care of Dandy with the highlight being Dandy firing off at Panther with punches and Panther casually but forcefully grapevining his leg to create too close a distance for him to get his punches off and that changing the tide. The falls ends off of a Crazy moonsault. Things are a little more hectic in the second fall with Panther going after Parka and Crazy stomping away at the leg of Dandy. Parka keeps making the rudos miss and makes them show ass in some funny spots. Dandy comes in doing a running limp and pissed off. King and Crazy also come in and have a fun as shit little sequence with each other. Everyone is flying in now with spots and Panther does a great sell job off of the comedy of Parka. The tecnicos end up taking the second fall and that was all we get. This is a really good match to watch in the confines of 2000 WOTY consideration. Panther is becoming a WOTYC and while this certainly isn’t a highlight for him, he did show some effort here and a 3rd caida on the same level as the first two would have resulted in a good match. If that is the floor of your resume for an entire, that is pretty impressive. Edit: We did get the third fall and it raised this overall a good bit from a good but functionary six man into something more. Panther was a complete asshole in the third fall really going after Parka and Dandy probably turned in his best performance of the year in this fall. This fall really set the stage for some big time feuds in the future mainly Super Parka and Panther in a marquee singles match. ***1/2 (6.9)

Good day for Yuki. This is a greatest hits type version of their match but they still bring quality work and intensity to it. The difference in strategies is really engaging with Ishikawa looking to work the mat and go after the leg of Usuda and Usuda wanting to kick the face off of Ishikawa. The submissions in the final moments were really dramatics with how much they were clinching in the holds. Usuda is also able to get off some near knockout blows with the kicks. Yuki is reeling off of the kicks and spinning back fists and ends up getting choked out in just over 10 minutes. *** (6.2)

Taira is becoming my boy. The opening 10 minutes of this were all on the mat and Malenko has such a method of just smothering people that it is engaging to watch just to see if the match ever will result in a standing position. I want my shoot style to feel grimy and an uncomfortable experience for the workers and Malenko exudes that. The final two minutes become a kick fest with Malenko showing some kicks you ordinarily don’t see very often and then Taira firing off his usual array. Taira didn’t have quite the precision on his spinning kicks that he has before but the speed was there. He also lands a crossbody which was a pretty alarming spot in a shoot style contest worked in this manner. The finish has Taira hit a double underhook suplex and win by essentially locking in the Rings of Saturn. Malenko’s shoulders are really stressed as evidenced by the camera angle we see when he taps out. ***3/4 (7.6)

Strong BattlARTS tag match here. Hijikata is someone that I can’t remember much of a highlight from before this point in time but Yuki leads him around here and he looks competent on the mat and even gets in some good near finish submissions with his choke on Yuki as he is able to just position his leg over the rope break. That was integral in making him feel like a threat even though it was pretty predictable for him to go down at the end to the Octopus. Yone picked his spots here which was refreshing and I liked Nagai coming in and adding little touches to the match like kicking away at the aforementioned rope break from Ishikawa. This was very enjoyable and mixed in wrestling, strikes and submissions with a side of some storytelling. ***1/2 (7.1)

Rick says he is looking to retire those wannabes once and for all. Madaja is in the corner of Steiner and Jarrett so that pivot has happened. Jarrett is really trying to get slapnuts over. Stevie Ray calls Madaja a hoochie. Cat is on commentary and I continue to be baffled at how much praise he received in real time. I guess he is at least charismatic in a way. Madaja climbs the top rope and Cat tells her to get her ass down. He busts out some handcuffs and handcuffs himself to her. Steiner and Jarrett don’t have any chemistry at all. Bobby and Tony seem pretty cordial with each other this late into the run at least. Booker gets the hot tag and runs through his offense. Jarrett hits a superplex but Booker hangs on and gets the pin. Jarrett gets his heat back immediately with a guitar shot as the show goes off the air. *

Buff’s acting is terrible. Also, how dead and lame does the Nitro Grill look? We get a clip from Nitro when Kanyon gives Judy Bagwell one of the worst Diamond Cutters in history so this epic angle has arrived. Storm has put the Canadian flag sticker on the US belt already which was a nice touch. Buff and Awesome interrupt OH Canada. Buff and Mike Awesome is quite a weird face team. We don’t get much time for a match here but still long enough for Buff to botch a Blockbuster. We get a ref bump because, Russo and Kanyon ends up beating Awesome which is a bit of a surprise even with the screwy finish at this point. *

We get a five minute video to Sarah McLaughlin’s “I Will Remember You” showing clips of Shane Shamrock’s life. This is terrible that they present him as such an upstanding citizen given the way he died. What is even more tragic is that we see video of Christmas Day 1997 featuring the baby that was also in the house when Shamrock was gunned down by police. Some epic 2000 themes here from Intergalatic to Last Resort from Papa Roach. This is a cool collection of ECW castoffs and indie talent around the area that we haven’t seen a ton of so far in 2000. Opening has the guys pairing off and we get some butt ugly botches featuring Creed and Chetti. The York vs Flash Sequence was the best of the first three. York and Matthews as two tag partners tease going after each other for a bit and then the match breaks down. All six guys are paired off in groups of two again They do some crowd brawling around the arena which honestly reminds me of a funeral home the way it is set up. Balls Mahoney gets involved for some reason to help Chetti attack Adam Flash. This brawling segment goes on way too long and is too aimless making the match as a whole screech to a halt. Mikey grabs a ladder to pop the crowd. We are hitting all the 2000 indie tropes in one match here. Mikey gives a stunner to the ladder which jawbreaks both York and Matthews. Kind of a stupid spot but also kind of clever. Chetti has been fucking awful and he whiffs on a spinning kick to Mikey. To compound matters, he gets the first pinfall on Adam Flash who was looking the best of anyone so far. York and Matthews decide to team up and they take out Mikey on a double bomb to a big chorus of boos. We are down to Creed vs York and Matthews and Creed overtakes York to put him away meaning we will have a new winner this year. The action for their two minute segment was enjoyable. The locker room empties out because we are down to two. This sequence is legitimately good in the ***/***1/4 level and I wish it would have just been a 15 minute singles match between the two. Matthews keeps going for the Cloverleaf and Creed is good fighting through and escaping. That plays right into the finish when he rolls Matthews up and gains the pin. Axl gives a rah rah speech at the end. This was a LONGGGG segment with some awful stuff but the finale with Matthews and Creed was fun so it wasn’t a total loss. **1/2 for the whole thing.

I have no fucking clue what I just watched here. Also Sprach Zarathustra blares out of the speakers as a body bag is led to the ring. From there, the alien emerges and the match is on. I will say the actual action after that is a lot of fun. Tons of springboards and big dives but almost everything is hit cleanly. In all honestly, I think this could be compared a bit to the Thundercats match from 1991 that has a ton of fans. I enjoyed it for the absurdness and it did surprise me with the athleticism of the competitors. The Japanese indies everyone. ***1/4 (6.3)

Agree on this. I didn't like Major Gunns watching this stuff as a 14 year old boy that was more sexually charged and I like her less now going through the stuff again.

They gave us just enough of a taste here to make this match seem much more anticipated in the future. Some great power spots and the Goldberg press slam into powerslam spot was amazing. The finish did a pretty great job of setting up a 3 way with Goldberg spearing both Booker and Goldberg and Booker looking strong as champion. Then of course, drunk ass Kevin Nash beer and all comes out and jack knifes both Goldberg and Steiner in a ridiculous manner that doesn’t lead to much of anything. **

This was really the night where they tried to push Lance Storm as a big thing. Awesome still has been much improved in this role than in ECW even in the short snippets of the matches we have seen. Storm possibly could have been a decent factor of the upper mid card and we will track his plight from now until the closure of the company. *1/2

Not much of a match but Angle running from Taker continues to be pretty humorous and kind of par the course for how he has been presented up to this point. With him main eventing SummerSlam, I look forward to him having a bit more of an edge leading up to that event. The real juice of the match comes with the run in from Jericho and a great reaction with him pounding on HHH and hitting a huge dive to the outside. The fact that these two weren’t best buds backstage really adds to the hate that is being portrayed on the screen. Bring on Fully Loaded. *1/4