soup23

This was a good, energetic junior wrestling. Fujita has a lot of energy throughout this and really brings the speed and springboard moves to give the match some pop. It looked like he had the match well in hand until Sasuke gets his knees up on a splash, does some kicks, and delivers the powerbomb for the win. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more control from Sasuke throughout this being the veteran and trying to slow down Fujita. We do get about 7 minutes clipped from this so I will refrain from ranking and hopefully that was filled with more ground control by Sasuke. A promising match to watch from an energy standpoint but also a match that appeared to not have much of an intertwining story. NR

Everyone comes out wanting a piece of the King as he gives his interview. This leads to Reckless and Lawler and they have a pretty fun 3-4 minutes before the run ins start. I did get a sense in this match of the atmosphere hurting MCW as the quiet crowd and dark lighting didn’t make this angle seem near as fun as the stuff that happened on PPW today even though Lawler and Youth are superior workers. *

We have finally hit Sewell NJ for CZW and have Garguilo and Hitman John House on commentary. Really feels like we are entering the indie era where I jumped on board now. Pain has a Ric Blade sucks led promo and has a super soaker to help cool off the fans. It was funny to see the commentary booth and see that House and Eric had to share one microphone. The cage gets used right away. Both guys scale the scaffold and Blade does a leap frog on the scaffold which was neat. He then botches a DVD but is able to hit it the second time. Pain comes back and hits a brainbuster on top of the scaffold. Both tease dives off the scaffold but hang on. Pain gets a sunset flip from climbing on the cage into the ring to a big pop. That looked really smooth. Once again, its confusing in these matches who the face and who the heel is. Zandig comes out and gets some shots in on Justice Pain. Payback is hell and there is hell in a cell for Justice Pain says Eric. Someone get McDevitt on the phone. Blade hits a 450 from the top of the cage through a table in another great spot and wins. This sums up CZW in a nutshell. Some great spots, some slop and some head scratching booking. **

Worked like most three ways of the era with no psychology and all moves but there wasn’t any terrible botches and at one point Jet Jaguar gets elevated so high, he hits the roof and damages some of the panels. It was nice to see Noble in this type of match and being able to work a quick pace and stretch things out a bit. Lopez also may be one of those lost workers of the 2000’s as we have a good bit of stuff coming up from him in Wildside and Japan. Noble gets the win and because it is 2000, we have run ins after the match. **1/2

We get a quick promo from Dutch saying he is going to be the referee. Before the match even begins we have some referee bullshit but they aren’t even the officials for this match. Only Cornette gives a shit about that as he yells and marks out on commentary. A good four minutes of action and holy shit a finish on OVW????? That gets a bump in my book just because of how rare it is. Bolin Services of course both come in and do the beatdown. This shows the contrast in booking and making things count. This brawl isn’t that much different in the ring from the CMLL one I just watched but that one felt so much more organic and rare than this which we saw all the time in OVW with Cornette yelling at the top of his lungs pushing the next big house show. *1/2

Brandon Baxter comes out in a douchy frat boy 2000 flannel and khaki combo. Corey is disgusted at them. Wolfie D delivers a nice promo too saying he is the top dog in PPW. Seven is out and there is problems in Camp baxter. Mr. Corey stirs the pot like Lance did in the Dream Machine leaves the Hart Family angle. Spellbinder appears to take the 15k from Baxter as he accompanies Wolfie D down the aisle. Spellbinder lays down and allows Wolfie to cover him with Baxter making the count. Binder thinks better of it and whacks D and he also had the check in his pocket which makes Corey giddy. This was a fun match with a ton of heel gimmicks including a chain from Baxter that backfires and ref bumps but I liked that Binder didn’t look like a goof at any point. He gives a fallaway slam that puts Wolfie into the table and Randy Hales comes to make the count but Baxter slams him into the table. As Binder goes after him, the numbers catch up to Binder as he gets hit with the belt and steals the win. Fun PPW main event. **3/4

How can this match not kick ass with these pairings. This is the most spirited we have seen Casas so far this year as he is rocking and excellent goatee and goes right after Shocker. Rudos clean house and then do a boss strut. This pisses the tecnicos right off who come firing off, clean house and then do the strut themselves. Tremendous. Porky goes through some comedy segments and he is the king as the tecnicos take the first fall when Porky splashes Shocker. Rudos come back and take second fall quickly with some good triple teams and a nice dropkick from Zumbido. Third fall things get really violent and Emilio gives his most fired up exchange of the year beating the shit out of Zumbido at ringside. Just then all HELL breaks loose as Fuerza, Black Warrior and the rudo brigade come out to beat up the tecnicos. This draws out some tecnicos led by Atlnatis and then the whole roster comes out and starts brawling with each other in the ring. This feels appropriate given the faction warfare booking we have seen in CMLL so far and the action is chaotic and too tough to follow in a good way. A fireball gets used and we even go backstage with Psychosis being arrested and Emilio looking for a piece of him. Fans and wrestlers are scattered everywhere and it is presented in a hectic way and something so nontraditional for CMLL. Zumbido is now almost a defacto tecnico when they return and they scurried away the invaders of Parka and Psychosis. So much like CMLL in 2000, this match didn’t come out like I expected but it was a wild ride and they continue to be my promotion of the year. **** (7.9)

CMLL comes back with a fun and fast paced match. Everyone was flying around here and wasting no time with Felino and Blue Panther in particular having great exchanges with each other. I loved the finish of Fuerza taking off his own mask and then handing it to Felino quickly giving himself the victory. That was clever as fuck and him and Felino sold it wonderfully. *** (5.8)

A long HHH promo to start things off and a big DX celebration. Certainly not the best we have seen but a decent enough baseline promo with him sucking up to all members of DX. This results in Rock and Taker coming out and they still have some issues to work out. I thought HHH showing the “mistakes” Taker has made was smart in trying to pry in and tweak Rock. Rock and Kane backstage have a pull apart brawl. The match itself is fine and generic but with good heat. I do think this convoluted angle has stabilized itself somewhat with the in fighting between Rock, Kane and Taker becoming more compelling. X-Pac is the lost post like usual and goes down to Taker here. After the match, Rock lays out both Taker and Kane which was sort of an odd move that the crowd didn’t really know how to react to. **1/4

This match is all about the Trish vs RIkishi dynamic as we get clips of Trish getting the stinkface to start things off. Trish throws powder in Rikishi’s eyes around two minutes in and the referee doesn’t call for the DQ then for some reason. Val is still displaying this more vicious persona as he has the steps on the outside that rams right into Rikishi. He also shoves the referee into the front row. Rikishi is bleeding as the referees rush in to break things up. This was good feud escalation and worked as an angle/match. ¾*

Good night for the Hardy’s as they hang with two of the best. This was a decent enough match but I think in comparison with the Benoit match earlier, its pretty easy to say who the better wrestler is at this moment between Benoit and Guerrero. This seemed more about interesting and flashy spots to fill the time than any sort of narrative. Eddy missed the frog splash but wins on a rana. **

In ring we have seen that Angle was short and sweet but man is his promos on point and him with E&C just works from an entertainment standpoint. Them running down the Bills and name dropping OJ is their best gag since Judgment Day. The match literally goes two minutes and ends with Christian eating a 3D for the pin. Nice win for the Dudley Boyz. ½*

This starts out right away with Hardy getting a flurry in and hitting the Whisper in the Wind. He wipes out on a 450 and Benoit takes over. Benoit is brutal going after the midsection of Hardy with kicks and slinging him over the top rope. Jeff’s highspots are mixed in well throughout the match and he is able to hit a senton to even things up as we enter the home stretch. Jeff hits his swantom and Benoit is barely able to get his foot on the rope. They do good in putting over that Benoit couldn’t kick out protecting the finish. Benoit viciously reverses a German attempt into the crossface and that is it. Benoit offers a handshake and then pastes Hardy with the IC belt when he accepts. This is my favorite 5 minute match of 2000 so far. *** (6)

IWRG is really starting to become my comfort food lucha. This had some nice mixture of guys we are familiar with mixing it up with some other individuals. Felino and Scorpio in particular had a nice heated exchange with each other when given the chance and they even brawl towards the backstage area. Felino loses his mask on a splash mountain in the third fall but is able to pin Cerebro. Sagrada has a good bit of size on him that I always forget because I am used to Mascarita. Bombero ends up getting the win with what will become the Chikara Special and after a smooth looking DVD. Another lucha match kind of like the AAA minis that won’t make any MOTY lists but is enjoyable to watch and pass the time with. *** (5.9)

Awful sounding news. A real shame.

Yes

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/20302-toshie-uematsu-vs-yoshiko-tamura/ Not in a WCW ring but for the women's belt.

I am ready for Kashin to start sucking at any time now. His offense on the arm of Otani here was varied and well done mixing it up with submissions and even slamming a chair on it when the action goes to the outside. He even does the face wash to Otani in a dickish move. The match really escalates nicely with Otani breathing a bit of a comeback and Kashin going right back to the armbar to regain the advantage. Finish was probably the worst part overall in how abrupt it was as Otani fires off a German and then gets a cross armbreaker of his own to which Kashin taps out immediately. I think this was a few more minutes away from being a great match. I understand the notion that Kashin isn’t as good as a lot of his peers but I still thought he was very good here. Maybe he gets awful the later in his career he gets but between the 1999 and 2000 stuff, he doesn’t deserve the reputation he has as a performer. ***1/4

Good heat off of this one resulting as a rematch from their BOSJ final two years before. I thought for them going short here, they packed a lot of punch. I have been pretty keen on Wagner so far as he brings the stiffness here going shot for shot with Koji and also the storyline development and heel mannerisms like the second time they spill into the crowd and Wagner comes back into the ring with a random purse he chokes Koji out with. A lot of sympathy gets put on Koji as a result and makes the kickouts of things like the space mountain seem important. Kanemoto starts relling off a comeback and is feeling it with the fighting spirit and huge reaction from the crowd. It really felt as a viewer Koji had the match in hand after the moonsault by Koji but that only gets two. Tiger suplex is blocked and from out of nowhere, Wagner hits his Wagner Driver for the win. This packed a lot of punch in a ten minute match. ***1/2

This starts with male vs male and female vs female pairings until Yoshida and Tanaka mix it up. Intergender can be a tough hill to overcome just based on the strength and stature issue but they did a good job in these quick exchanges keeping the believability as Yoshida is able to hang on the mat with quick exchanges. Fukawa and Yoshida have some really fun back and forth that harkens you back to early style ARSION from early 1999. Otsuka and Yumi mixing it up did less to convince me in the intergender department but Otsuka did kind of treat her as a nonchalant threat and then puts her in a quick giant swing. Otherwise, the action when it was at the same gender was very enjoyable and the climax with Yoshida locking on an armbar and Tanaka having to make the saves was well done. Yumi is able to regain the advantage and even squeak out the win which surprised me. Fun match. ***1/4

Here we go with probably the most maddening WCW moment of all time. Russo and Bischoff popped off in the beginning and what was the result? Bischoff wins the hardcore title from Funk and Russo wins this match with Flair while not passing out in the figure four. What a fucking disgrace and this was without a doubt the very last point of no return for this rotting piece of shit company. Russo and Bischoff coming in was the last bit of false hope that things could change and they have pissed all of that away. Fitting it happens in Atlanta. This is one of the low points in wrestling history footage in ring that we have on tape to be honest. DUD of all DUDs.

Gi Bro calls out Kidman. He comes in and they battle. The middle has some testiness between Major Guns and Torrie Wilson and Wilson low blows Kidman so I guess that is done with. Referee just lets all of this go because why the hell not. Bro hits the Book End for the pin after around a 90 second match. I have slowed down on my 2000 watching and coming back to this shit has not exactly motivated me to plow through the rest of 2000 WCW. ¼*

A long and uninteresting promo from Bischoff and Russo start us off. Everyone sucks and no has the balls as them blah blah blah. Out comes Goldberg mercifully after 10 minutes and even though this is a hometown Atlanta crowd, the dude is still mega over. He cleans house and the segment just ends. We get the big built to Tank vs Goldberg match now. Goldberg hits the side kick right away and they are even mentioning that legit put Hart out of action. After 30 seconds, here comes Rick Steiner in for the attack. “This was Goldberg’s big moment” Yeah, this is a fuck you Tony commentary. Why did Goldberg always get beat up so bad in his hometown? Here comes Nash through the fans as a man of the people and he makes the save for Goldberg. Goldberg is able to hit a spear on Tank and the Jackhammer puts him away to a huge pop. I guess that sort of salvages the segment somewhat but what a waste overall. ½*

Less people would certainly help for me. They have enough major stars and interaction that they could do a tournament with 12 or so people and a case could be made for most of those winning the whole thing. Goto was a "surprise" last year in that he wasn't a tip top star, but he still is someone heavily pushed by the promotion. It also could rid of the Yano and Tongas in the tournament. That is a sacrifice I would make even though I am happy for someone like Juice being in. People praise Yano being in as a change of pace and while that is true, I don't need to see that type of match 9 times out the 28 days the tournament is taking place.

Maybe it takes Kobashi on commentary for Go to go out there and deliver a great performance but he was awesome here looking every bit up to the challenge to go mano y mano with Okabayashi with his mentor looking on. The interview after the match with his chest a full shade of red and purple shows how stiff the match overall was. This had a great dynamic of the old guard and new guard with them going after each other as well as mixing in the young guns into the proceedings. Takuya Nomura is now in his 2nd year and still progressing to where he should be one of the mainstays in the main event seen probably relatively sooner than later. The match progressed from the forearm and chop exchanges to the big slams and power moves. Overall, a tremendous, beefy display. ****1/4