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Jericho is over as a face tonight and cutting promos on Steph. T&A gets a nice pop probably due to Trish. Val again looks good mixing it up here with the more workrate heavy members of the roster. I also thought Albert looked good here bumping and hitting his big time offense. Trish trips Jeff Hardy and gets into it with Matt allowing Albert to hit his A Bomb for the heels to secure the win. *1/4

Huge heat for Angle in Canada. Angle cuts a great promo saying Ben Johnson doesn’t count as an Olympic hero. He also rags on the Grizzlies. I love this guy. Lawler adds in that our salvation army could beat the Canadian army. It is an Angle 2000 match so you know what that means, quick but entertaining while it lasts. Again, this serves more as a preview for a longer feud between these two that we will see later in the decade. Angle hits a baseball slide on Chyna that she takes exception too. Chyna low blows Angle with the ref bumped and Eddy hits a scary rana that he almost wiped out on to win. *1/2

A rematch of the classic from April. This starts off more testy than the prior match with both guys going after the eyes and mask early on. The matwork that flows from that is very uncooperative looking and great. Check out a pinfall around 5-6 minutes in where neither guy is rolling in a natural way to assert themselves. First fall opens up at the end and Santo has the clutch hold on when the referee physically drags him off. The fall is then awarded to Panther and Santo flips his shit. Crowd flips out in second fall at hint of Panther’s second getting involved. Santo has a bunch of offense he is mounting but he misses a senton on the outside and hits the wood floor. Panther works over the back until Santo gets the flash pin off a rana from a powerbomb. Santo held onto the ropes showing some of his old rudo tactics. In between falls, Porky works out Santo’s back in a nice moment. Third fall is all about desperation. Santo goes through his complete aerial arsenal and to no avail. The referee is bumped through Panther and he hooks a submission onto Santo where supposedly he submits. He celebrates his victory until Santo rolls him up allowing the referee to recover and count the fall. Porky and Santo embrace. These two had themselves a great mini feud for two months. Which match I preferred is splitting hairs as the matwork was better the month before but this told the progression of the story overall. Looking at our listings going forward, we get less and less singles Monterrey that is sad but it is awesome that we have this and the April match to pad the resume of these two. ****1/2

So Scorpio and Shocker are pulling double duty which is amazing. What a day for lucha around the country. This is a big brawl that has Scorpio juicing. He had a hell of a day as these two matches can’t be further apart. This probably has Casas looking the most pissed off and personal as anything else we have seen in 2000 so far. Shocker says he got fouled because it Is Shocker. Overall Scorpio is able to score the pin for the rudos which is really satisfying given what we have seen from him throughout the day. ***3/4

This has been a good feud in the trios and now they are paired up in a title match. Opening matwork is fantastic. Probably only behind the first Santo vs Panther match as my favorite of the year so far. Really gritty and tightly applied moves with a ton of friction and momentum being introduced. Things pick up at the end of the first fall wil rope running and higher impact moves. Shocker retreats to the outside and needs cooled off from the towel of Shocker. The selling from Scorpio on the neckbreaker is fantastic. Villano puts the fall away with another neckbreaker around 8.5 minutes in. Villano keeps up with the neck work at the start of the second fall with legdrops and his ass used to push the neck. Camel Clutch continues the theme. What a great focused attack that includes Villano peppering in some forearms. Shocker trips up IV and Scorpio is able to dropkick the leg and now we have an area for him to attack. STF continues the theme of leg work for Scorp and he takes the second fall with a good looking figure four. Final fall is great with both guys going after the respective wounded targets. We get some new neckbreaker variations and a leg scissors around the neck. Scorpio does the leg across his knee spot. Finish results in that great lean back pin by Villano that he makes look so brutal and then Scorpio getting a clothesline, dropkick to the knee and half crab to gain the submission. Another awesome lucha match for May. ****1/4

Shocker is the captain but doesn’t have his Gaupo friends so lets see how he works with some other opponents. We have Felino and Villano III on the opposite side so I am optimistic. This was used a backdrop to set up a good bit of stuff to come and mainly Villano and Shocker. Villano gets his arm worked over at first. I thought Ciclon and Infernal showed a good bit of fire here with Infernal blading and bumping around all over the place. Felino and Cerebro get into the fun a bit with Cerebro getting his mask raised. I keep enjoying the back and forth on the nut shots between Shocker and Villano. The refs refuse to believe Shocker as he winces in pain and then the finish of the third fall happens with Shocker creaming him with a kick and earning the DQ. I want a hair vs hair match between these two. ***1/2

A WWF handheld which is going to be a rarity as we chronicle the 2000’s. This has a neat dynamic with them being in Edmonton so Benoit is a face and even comes out in an Oilers jersey. The promos beforehand set this up even more. This match is more condensed than their PPV offerings but well done and has some new spots like Benoit clotheslining Jericho as he goes for the springboard dropkick on the apron. It is nice to see Jericho as a heel as a bizzaro version of the feud overall. Jericho thinks he has the match won with the Walls of Jericho but Benoit reached the ropes. The tombstone reversal spot leads to Benoit taking the match with the diving headbutt. Jericho pitches a fit after the match and has some trash thrown at him from the crowd. ***

These clips are a little weird as I think it was two matches. Either way, Delphin and Togo have great chemistry throughout this and are extremely entertaining. Togo especially in the first portion was a mad man just flying around all over the place. Togo is busted open and gains the pin in a sublime moment. The second clip is a ladder match and has some spots utilitzing the ladder. Yakushiji is flying around all over the place and Hoshikawa gets misted. I would like to see all of this in full as again Osaka Pro is turning into one of my favorite promotions to watch. NR.

Shiga is all of sudden becoming an interesting figure right at the split of AJ as him and Hashi go after each other to start things off and it is really entertaining and not that far off from the fired up Kikuchi segments you would see in early 90’s AJ tags. Kobashi and Taue come in like the older brothers that tell the younglings that it is time for serious business. They have a good exchange with each other and Taue gains the advantage by sending Kobashi into a headbutt with Hashi. Hashi takes over on Shiga for a long time here. Hashi is an interesting performer with much more of a wrestling base. He almost seems like he should be mixing it up with Otsuka in BattlARTS. Build to finale has Shiga slapping Taue around in a nice bit of assertiveness before Taue puts a quick end to that shit. Hashi and Shiga were the focal points and are appropriately in there at the tail end with Hashi hitting a fisherman buster and his diving headbutt for some nearfalls. Actual finish is Shiga locking on an armbar and securing the submission. ***

We only get 8 minutes of 21. Sad Face. The action we do see is exciting and Yu Yu continues to be the best discovery of 2000 IMO and someone I really want to do a deep dive on because I am so high on her. Carlos holds her own as well and they transition based on these clips from mat work to strikes and bombs effectively while selling fatigue effectively. JWP still is pumping out entertaining long form matches featuring Yu Yu in 2000. NR

Bailey says in this house, there is only one deity and that is him. We get our first look at heel AJ. Behind the RNR stuff, this is probably the best Wildside stuff we have seen. AJ worked well as a heel showing ass and him and Golden not initially being on the same page. Dazz was always someone that I wanted to see more of just based on the compilations I got in the early 2000’s. Styles does a great job of cowarding away from him when Estrada makes the hot tag. Finish with Dazz and Styles is the most fast paced sequence of the match and they built to it well. AJ was able to show his athletic flash as a heel well. Double clotheslines end the sequence. Dazz gets the sunset flip over Golden and pinning Styles right as the show goes off the air. ***1/4

This is a match where the importance can’t be understated. I feel like we have given a good look at the indy stuff from the late 90’s on and it is tough to pinpoint when we reach our first true classic of the indies that wouldn’t look out of place at all in the ROH indy era. Mayhem vs Ki is usually slotted as that match but I think it is for sure this one. The match included brutal stiffness that was unmatched at points and reminded me of Necro and Samoa Joe’s best outings. The matwork was intense and brutal including the opening lock up that showed this wasn’t just going to be a run to the mill match. There were some flubs including a diving headbutt from Ki that whiffed but they recovered nicely with Homicide selling the arm that did get a glancing hit. The crowd seems unsure how to take this but does put their support behind Homicide. The finish is shitty with the match breaking down but the clotheslines that Homicide delivers right before the action spills to the outside is some of the nastiness ones I have seen. Outside, Homicide gives Ki a suplex onto a table with no give and he throws Ki through an entire row of chairs. Another suplex onto the hard table and the hate is really coming through the screen. What a war. ****1/4

Straight Memphis stuff to start in this Jersey indy as Hit Squad act like they are leaving the ring for the count out loss and they also get shoved down by the referee. Metal Maniac and KC Thunder are about the most generic looking New Jersey indy guys you can imagine. Each looks to be middle aged and they work for the Newark Airport for their day job fueling the airplanes. The match follows a traditional southern template. Much like the Bad Crew vs Backseat Boys feud, I don’t know if I want to see a show full of this type of stuff but as a one off going through a multitude of footage, this is a nice change of pace. This shows some depth for Da Hit Squad as they hit their beefy moves still looking like bad asses while still clowning around. The heat was done effectively off of a stun gun and then some double team moves. I also though the finish with the huge swantom showed they were vicious in the end. Effective overall. ***

Easy to compare Spanky and Dragon and who is looking the best so far but tonight the choice was easy. D-Lo is probably a better worker that Chulo but not by an extraordinary amount. This match had a much clearer face/heel structure and Danielson worked well to show himself looking competent vs D-Lo while also building up sympathy during his heat segment even though Brown was much larger. I think Dragon has grown by leaps and bounds even since January and this was another notch on his belt as he looked credible in there with a former IC champion from WWF. ***1/4

The tag match from the night before is split off into two singles matches. This had some moments of glimpses but was pretty sloppy overall. Chulo is someone that definitely has to have someone reign in his spottiness and Spanky is not the person to do it. Lita seems to have much more heat than Chulo and even executes a better moonsault at the finish. **1/4

Whereas the previous match was praised for building to the big spot and not overstaying its welcome, this was a big offender of that motif. It also began a theme we will see throughout the decade of deathmatch finales where everything seems like it has been done before and now the finale becomes a game of “can you top this” with a ton of winded setup and usually some flat results. This condensed to a highlight package of 5-6 spots would show some brutal stuff and it started off well with Corp using the beer bottle and breaking the first table with a great spot. If the match would have ended right there, bravo. Unfortunately, the match goes about 20 minutes past that point. The finish shows interference stacking the deck against Pondo but him rolling Corp up and we getting a fast count pin for Pondo to win the tournament. Will we get a good Pondo match in the 2000’s? **

These guys will have a long rivalry in IWA-MS in 2001 and this is a pretty good launching point as the work here was simple and nothing look too contrived. The chain was utilized and the strikes were brutal looking. I appreciated the lack of each person just grinding a sharp object into the other. The finish is the one “big” spot of the match and is Corp hitting the boot camp from the apron through a barbed wire table on the floor. This was more in the style of a thinking man’s deathmatch and not just a hack and slash gore fest. ***

The commercial version for these matches is part frustrating with the clipping but also endearing with the interviews and clips interspersed to give us a bit of context. We get to see most of this and I really enjoyed the way it was worked. Taikawa gets his leg worked over for a big portion and he continues to sell the damage even performing some of his high impact moves. This also had some stiff action on the outside with the clotheslines into the guard rail. Finishing stretch has Taikawa looking like things are firmly in control until Kanemoto is able to kick the leg and trip him again. Kanemoto is able to roll through from a middle rope move and lock in the ankle lock making the leg work pay off with a victory in the match. Really good match. ***1/2

CMLL is still moving along nicely. This starts with a big time rudo beatdown and Perro has color early on. Perro and Ano 2000 go after each other right away and are the main feud throughout the whole match. First fall goes easy to the rudos and then the tecnicos are able to make a good comeback in the second fall. The Dantes/Satanico vs Olimpico/Atlantis pairings are interesting in that they are interchangeable throughout the match and all are intriguing to one degree or another. The finish actually plays into this as Atlantis got the Atlantida on Satanico for the second fall victory and he locks it in the final fall until Dantes shoves him into the referee. With one referee bumped out and the other on the floor checking on Atlantis, they commit a blantant foul and then pin the tecnicos for the win when the bumped referee comes back to life. A really nice win for the rudos and the feud between Perro and Ano is really strong and heated right now. ***1/2

This match should have put away any doubts of Spanky/Dragon being able to hang with established WWF names. D-Lo is presented as a touring star for the match and they perfect that role against him bumping huge for all his signature stuff. With Chulo, both Spanky and Dragon show lucha tendencies. These guys were close to ready to debuting IMO as a tag team on the big stage. It is amazing that they weren’t kept under WWF contract. Lita helps with some interference which is weird given the heel/face structure of the match and D-Lo is able to pick up the win. Spanky and Dragon brawl with each other to the back. ***

Good, energetic short trios. The Guapos continue to gel and again Tarzan Boy is starting to gain some of his mojo back in the wake of the Satanico feud. He has a big dive here and looks really energetic. Casas has been interesting to watch in 2000. Certainly not bad but also someone that hasn't really had a spotlighted feud to sink his teeth into where we get some long form singles matches. ***

I don’t think I have seen this match before and was really building myself up for it as it was essentially a Best of 2000’s discovery. Man the crowd erupts when Takayama takes the cheap shot with the kick at the beginning of the match. That really sets the tone for the match and the violence that will ensue. No Fear has been built up over the past year or so and Takayama is ready now. The flash pinfall kind of works given how quickly Omori pinned Akiyama in the Carnival. I loved the Carnival final match but Omori still wasn’t able to quite match the brilliance of Kobashi. Takayama is up to the challenge here and he delivers a blistering performance. Kobashi gathers himself after the sneak attack and fires off a blistering shine sequence. DDT’s on the floor, legdrops on the guardrail and a multitude of chops to contain the hungry monster and show him who the kind of the ring really is. I thought Takayama looked extremely strong taking all of this offense from Kobashi and then giving him a flurry of punches before going for the cross armbreaker. He refuses to break right away either. Tak drags him to outside, puts him on a table and unleashes with another ferocious kick. Kobashi takes that and fires off with some varied chops to the forehead that are unique and brutal looking. Omori gets frisky on the apron and gets chopped down. What a man Kobashi is. Tak uses that opening to hit a knee to the midsection and works over again with a knee to the eye in the corner that looked disgusting. He knees the arm and that appendage is in bad shape now. This attack by Tak is focused, varied and successful and with Kobashi’s sublime selling, there is a sense of great peril for the Triple Crown champion. Tak works relentlessly for the cross armbreaker and Kobashi knows he can’t let that happen so he fights tooth and nail to keep his hands together. A wonderful sense of struggle with Tak giving it up to go full mount with more strikes. Tak then goes back for the cross armbreaker and inches closer to locking it on before Kobashi is in the ropes. Kobashi tries to recover on the outside with his damaged arm. As soon as he comes back in, it is more of the same. Every time Tak hits one of those thudding knees, the crowd reacts with an electric response. Tak gets greedy going to the top and Kobashi is able to hit the superplex to regain some control. He hasn’t used his right arm once but you can see the internal battle he is having with himself on whether it is worth the risk or not. German is unable to be executed because of the damage that is done. Finally, Kobashi just fires off the Burning Lariat on the arm in a hulk up spot where the crowd explodes. It certainly does damage but doesn’t put Tak away as he hits another knee and a huge German of his own for an extremely close nearfall. They end up doing a closed fist exchange which is completely awesome and again looks so unconventional in an AJPW ring. Kenta just keeps paintbrushing him with a flurry of strikes no matter what damage it may cause. Tak fires up one last time to hit a desperation German and both guys are down. Both guys get up and now because of Kobashi’s damage, Takayama cant fire off the German. One more Burning Lariat with Kobashi pinning him in a definitive mount and we have a winner. This was holy shit great and up there with Kawada vs Hansen and any other big ass kicker AJ matches of the 90’s. ****3/4

I liked that this didn’t insult the viewer by having any pretenses of it being anything but a hardcore match. Some of the weapons shots were effective but once again Oz Academy is probably my least favorite joshi promotion to watch as it is tough to get a sense of hierarchy and the stakes that are involved with each individual match. KAORU is asked to play a multitude of roles and while she does most of them well, I still haven’t seen that break out amazing performance that she conveyed in the Aja match. Here we barely got any glimpses of that at all. **3/4

Well these six had a MOTYC last time so can they top it here? This starts off much more restrained than the previous six man and you get traditional pair offs in the first caida. This culminates in Shocker and Villano III. Look at how much they milk the test of strength here including a wonderful celebration from the rudos when Shocker takest he advantage. Things pick up after that exchange and the Villanos end up taking the first fall right after the 10 minute mark. Classic lucha here. Second fall opens up with a really cool moment where Villano IV and Shocker square off and both throw a dropkick at same time. As soon as Shocker gets up, he gets punched in the face. Second fall is much quicker but the Guapos trios brings a lot more viciousness in this one and put away the brothers quickly. Bestia has a good looking swantom and elbow drop. LOL at Bestia ripping up a sign before the third fall praising the Villano’s as guapo. Villano is working the left leg injury like a pro and honestly he may be the wrestler of the year now. He can brawl, he can wrestle, he can portray a rudo and tecnico. Just a great versatile year so far. Villano has Scorpio backing into the corner and limping like a wounded soldier. Scorpio goes right for kill and then locks in a submission that has Villano writhing in pain. Shocker trying to get the foul called gets me every time and he is in contention with Satanico as the best with that spot. Villano IV and utilizes his cutter as a death move throughout the match and is able to get pins on Shocker and Scorpio to win it for his hermanos. Not as visceral as the previous match, but another great entry and some fabulous wrestling/storytelling. ****

Some good mid card lucha again. Segura was the standout for me as he dives around in the third fall in beautiful ways springboarding off the ropes. Infernal is also strong on the rudo side with shrot punches and strikes that are compact and violent. Ciclon looked like his age was starting to get to him and I didn’t see much from Kung Fu jr. on the rudo side. The finish was exciting as it was a clean rudo victory which we haven’t seen much from this year. ***