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Cole and Tom Pritchard are on the call here. Dr. Tom is great here getting over the psychology of the match and showing the transitions that are being executed. The opening mat work was engaging and then we get the first shoot headbutt. From there the match is on with blood pouring down Regal’s face. The match is a sequence of tough power moves and stiff strikes. This was an important match for Regal as he was able to get some momentum after the last 2-3 years of being in neutral in his career. You could hear the Regal chants building and the crowd realizing they are watching a damn good match helps bring gravity to the proceedings overall. Regal hits a butterfly suplex from the top rope and the crowd gives great applause in appreciation. Reversal of the tombstone gains Benoit a slight advantage but he misses the diving headbutt. After a series of reversals, Benoit hits the dragon suplex and locks on the crossface for the submission. This is a professional wrestling match although I could have certainly done without the headbutts. ***3/4

Opening dialogue between Taker and Vince. I wasn’t too interested in this but the jist is that Linda McMahon signed Taker to a fat new contract. Shane comes out for the match and is cocky against the Undertaker for some reason. Out comes Taker to his “Your Gonna Pay” entrance although can someone clarify if he had the Limp Bizkit theme and this is a dub in on the network? Not really a match as Taker beats up Shane until the numbers game of DX overwhelms him. Here comes The Rock and he helps Taker clear house of the whole regime. Shane is given a tombstone as the crowd is going ballistic. Why Rock is buddies with Taker here, I am a bit unsure. NR

These two are quickly becoming the Awesome/Tanaka of the second half of 2000. Once again, they fly through as much as they can here in five minutes, but it is still five minutes and I would appreciate things being stretched out to 10-12. I stand by my theory that this has inflated Angle’s reputation somewhat in the beginning because while he hangs with these heavy hitters in these sprints, we haven’t seen any long form matches from him yet. Holly comes in and does the chair shot interference that he did on Monday night. Holly vs Benoit is set for Raw. *3/4

Jericho’s shirt is atrocious here. I don’t remember it so they must have cut their losses quickly. Good action here from these three. Jericho and Val bring the stiffness with some brutal chops against Holly. They create a union at the beginning of the match that quickly goes awry. I thought this made Holly and Venis look more motivated better than anything else so far in this mini push for them. Jericho in particular was more on point than usual as he was the ring leader for most of the action. Jericho locks on that brutal Walls over the ropes and Venis comes in with a nice legdrop to stop that. Jericho is able to get the lionsault on Val but Holly comes with the guillotine legdrop and gains the win in a surprise. **1/2

I guess Eddy and Chyna are full fledged babyfaces now answering the challenge of E&C here. I like the blue Guerrero tights along with Edge’s. After dogging Eddy for his Judgment Day performance, he is more energetic here and is FIP for E&C for a minute. Chyna gets the hot tag and gives a couple of good powerbombs to E&C. She actually looks less clunky versus these two than with anyone else I can remember. The crowd is popping for it and I don’t think it utilized crowd sweetening. Edge gets in a spear on Chyna and they get a DQ after a pretty weak shove. Eddy and Chyna clean house to finish off this fun segment. **

WCW loves having awful angles lead into Great American Bash featuring Kevin Nash. Nash runs off Russo who comes back out with security. Steiner goes to punch Russo and waits for 15 seconds until Rick Steiner and Tank Abbott come out showing that they have Steiner’s girls. Jarrett is now able to work over Nash inside the ring. Billy Silverman and Russo argue with Russo smashing the guitar over his head. Jarrett uses a chair inside and Russo makes the two count. Mickey Jay is trying to get to the ring but security blocks that until Steiner clothes lines all of security. Steiner runs Russo away as Nash powerbombs Jarrett with Mickey Jay making the count and we have a new champion again. I swear to god, I can’t even remember the title lineage at this point from Spring Stampede on it is getting passed around so much. Straight overbooked garbage. ½*

These two factions had a pretty compelling match last week but this was a step back IMO. MIA has no heat from the crowd and Major Gunns has no charisma. You could tell they really tried to present her kicking Disco Inferno in the balls as this big spot but it got no reaction. Filthy Animals in some ways act like the faces here as a result and the match doesn’t ever really gain a flow and is just a series of eliminations. The only redeeming quality is that Chavo again looks good and motivated in this role oddly enough. Stasiak interferes at will halfway through this and that brings out Booker T in camo garb. The match sort of gets thrown out with MIA declared the winners somehow. Booker seems above these guys. *1/2

Venue looks cool here with the last rays of daylight creeping in through the windows at the top. We only get about half of the match but what we see is really good. Otani is firmly the leader of this division currently and bullies Tanaka around while still giving credibility to his arm work and trying his best to avoid those arm submissions. The finish to this was really exciting and set me up for perhaps a BOSJ but I didn’t think the back half of the highlights quite matched that level. Still what we saw was very good stuff and this was a nice win for Otani. NR

A nice comparison and resume builder for Benoit's WOTY case. It is funny seeing a Russo inspired gimmick in Val being a chance to actually perform some wrestling throughout this match. he does well enough and hits a good gutwrench powerbomb but it is clear that Benoit is the better worker here. Benoit led him through an entertaining 6.5 minute match that had a pretty poor finish with Hardcore Holly coming out and hitting two awful unprotected chair shots including one to Benoit that made me flinch. Afterwards, Jericho sneak attacks Holly and pastes him with a chair shot right on the head. Jericho looks like a mega star with his leather pants and the crowd going nuts. **1/2

We are here for the death of the career of Ric Flair. Russo is eating this up. We show the footage of Flair passing out on the ramp on Thunder and it looks even more ridiculous this time. Russo does at least put the rolex into the casket. NashTaker emerges from the casket and he clears house of Russo/Jarrett/David Flair. He takes the title and walks away. I guess now Nash and Jarrett are fighting over the championship. So much for Flair’s feel good win. Nash checks out Pamela’s ass to add another bit of class. I had forgotten how hilariously awful Russo’s theme was with the Iron Man start. Match is a mess with all the tropes of Russo not counting and being the evil referee. Nash it looks like is going to escape when the New Blood falls from the ceiling. Bischoff comes out and hypes the Bash. They keep teasing something big. This had Steiner saving Nash as a receipt for earlier but man does it make Jarrett look awful that he wins the belt again in this fashion. Last week’s Nitro was good. This was shit. ¼*

This was actually a pretty fun match while it lasted as Hogan gives a bit to Vamp and is still working his hardcore style. Kidman runs in as a receipt for Hogan's interference earlier and we get another pinfall over Hulk Hogan this time with Vampire making the cover. *3/4

Scott calls out Rick or Tank and Rick answers. The Asylum cage reminded me of the chamber of horrors center section lowering down which ironically enough also happened to Rick Steiner. The match is absolutely nothing and Rick is done as a performer. Tank Abbott comes in to interfere but Nash makes the save for Scott creating an uneasy union. 1/2*

Not much of a match and Torrie is deemed the referee of course. These two had a fun match on Thunder and less success since then. The match only goes for a few minutes before Hulk makes his run in and forces Torrie to make the pinfall. Ready for Kidman to be done with this side angle. *

This is a big test for Shocker. Strong mat work to start. Zumbido is a prickly second as he punched TB while in a submission. He tries is again and Antifaz goes to break it up. The referee admonishes him and Zumbido has a shit eating grin on his face. Shocker in the first fall was absolutely outstanding. Mat work and speed mixing in his wonderful charisma. He was someone that had potential in January from what we saw but now has realized it and is elite. He gains the first pinfall when TB goes for a rana that he turns into a powerbomb. The onslaught continues in the second fall and Shocker is just a cocky bastard hitting his elbow drop and even pulling TB up on pinfall attempts. We get an advertisement for a Panther vs Santo match at Arena Coliseo. Sign me up. TB fights out of a STF to reach the ropes. There was a good sense of peril here given how dominant Shocker has been overall. TB finally blocks a kick and fires up enough to run through his offense. TB character work and execution here is better than in the Satanico apuestas. TB secures the second fall and we are all tied up. Third fall is a great back and forth with both guys selling fatigue and capitalizing on the others mistakes. The referee gets bumped and Zumbido attempts to double team TB but Antifaz hits a missile dropkick first and TB does his lifting pedigree type finish for the win to a huge pop. Holy hell, both of these guys passed the test but Shocker was outstanding. Excellent match. I love lucha. ****1/4

Really good lucha to start out with Zumbido and Antifaz and then Panther and Niebla going long. Things get chippy and Santo and Panther are circling on the outside and they are having a damn good rivalry. Inside, Porky is able to do some comedy doing a big fat splash into the corner on the entire opposing team. Porky also does a big dive off the top rope to win the first fall. Santo kicks the shit out of Panther in between falls. Zumbido flies into the sky off of the legs of Antifaz and down into the floor. A great bump. The match breaks down again and we get a huge brawl between everyone but the focal point is Pnather and Santo. Panther takes him down into the seats and really goes to down on him. We come back from break and he is working on the mask. Santo makes his comeback and after watching The Rock do his in the previous iron man match, you see why Santo and Rock are iconic draws as Santo does a great fired up job of doing one. It culminates in a tope taking out Panther. Big time dive train is next that peaks with Porky performing a dive. This leaves Panther and Santo as the sole people left in the ring. We get some back and forth and Santo clinches in the clutch for the victory. Great match and redemption story within the match for Santo. ****

Important note to start out with HHH saying he wants to do this alone. The crowd is electric as they square off and the beginning is textbook heavyweight action. The tests of strengths were engaging and everything had a sense of table setting without it being a chore to watch. The flash Rock Bottom for the first pinfall was clever and gave Rock an early advantage. Fall two starts with HHH showing more desperation but he knees the guard rail. Rock has really strong focus on the leg and even busts out a figure four which is milked as a possible fall. The first twenty minutes go by really fast here IMO even though they didn’t use that many bells and whistles. We do have some crowd brawling and other segments that are set up to fill the time but they are limited. HHH is still trying to work out his leg and getting progressively flustered that he can’t gain a pinfall. Rock going back to knee to temporaily fend off the HHH attack shows he is a smarter worker than sometimes he gets credit for. Back outside we go and HHH’s knee goes straight into the steps. It really feels like the Rock has the match in control and is dictating the pace. HHH needs a desperate move and he gets that with the Pedigree to even things up 1-1. To build off the psychology, Rock is still groggy and allows himself to be rolled up and now all of a sudden HHH is in the lead. That gets a hearty Rocky chant fired up from the count. JR has a good call that if this was boxing, the referee might stop the match. JR and King overall have been pretty fantastic in their call here and are really keen on the micro and macro strategy of a match like this. The next segment of brawling on the stage set made sense as Rock was trying to gain some distance by retreating a bit. HHH catches up to him and they brawl around the set here. Rock hits a suplex on the floor as we are at the halfway point of the match. Rock also hits a sloppy back suplex on the ramp. The execution certainly isn’t flawless but with the talk of fatigue, it does make sense that not everything will be completely crisp. Rock is gaining his mojo back and back body drops HHH on the concrete. Back inside the ring, Rock keeps going back to the leg that he worked on beforehand. HHH again shows how resourceful he is by seeing the tiniest bit of opening by hitting his knee and a piledriver to have a commanding lead of 3-1. These flash finishes have been really spaced out and delivered well. Now, the strategy shifts with HHH being able to play defense in the second half of the match with a commanding lead. HHH gets greedy and goes up to the top. That costs him with an arm drag from the top. Rock has maybe his strongest sequence of the match with some good looking punches and a la magistral cradle which flat out shocked me with how good it looked. HHH is once again able to stunt the momentum of Rock with a knee and now he goes to the wear down strategy utilizing a sleeper. The sleeper isn’t applied as snug as Benoit earlier but it is fine and does play off the HBK and HHH dynamic with HHH using the ropes for leverage. Rock now is able to hit a flash move with a belly to belly suplex. Rock is able to string together another flurry and hit a DDT for pin and we are at 3-2 with around 19 minutes left. Outside we go again with more brawling and HHH goes for a chairshot but the chair is grabbed by HBK. Back inside, HHH grabs the chair again and pastes Rock with it for the DQ. Lawler talks about how stupid that was until he immediately pins Rock to go back up one. The crowd appreciates the efforts as they realize how smart that was. Rock is busted open pretty good now and we have 15 minutes to go. In a sweet callback spot, HHH goes for the sleeper again and really drains the energy out of Rock to gain the submission at 12 minutes remaining. HHH is up 2 falls and now is shoving HBK which isn’t a smart move which Lawler calls out. HHH takes the HBK and Harley Race bump out of the floor and takes out a camera man in a neat looking spot. The Rocky chants mount again. HHH going to top again was dumb and didn’t really fit the character or storyline of the match as Marty points out in his review above. I can understand once but this was too much even if it does set up the superplex. A really dramatic nearfall results off of the superplex. I think Rock may have bladed again as his blood flow has increased. Back inside we go once more and Rock gears up everything he has into sending HHH into the post. HHH is able to regain the momentum by sending Rock into the steps and with six minutes left, it feels like HHH is going to win now just running out the clock. For the third and most costly time, HHH’s pride gets the best of him as he prepares to send Rock through the announce table. HHH then gets pedigreed through the table and is busted open big time due to his greed. This gives Rock the countout victory but he is still 1 fall down. Here come the McMahons back down the ramp. HBk does the count again and HHH gets back in at 9 as the crowd gasps. Now we get The Rock doing the hulk up that he did at the end of Backlash and in the Raw matches we have seen of taking out the McMahon Helmsley regime and then delivering the People’s Elbow to tie things up at 58 minutes. Shane drags HBk out of the ring and HBK punches both Shane and Vince. Road Dogg and X-Pac come in the ring and Rock hits a Rock Bottom with HBk out of the way. Just then the video package starts up and we get Taker coming down the ring on his bike to a huge pop. HHH hits the pedigree on Rock in the ring. All of DX and the McMahons are taken out by Taker and Shane gets chokeslamed. Even Steph gets the chokehold on him but HHH saves her. Take hits the chokeslam right as the match ends and then a tombstone is hit giving the DQ to HHH allowing him to regain his title. That is a really well done finish that actually builds a lot of intrigue for the future. I had thought that Taker didn’t make it in time but he does hit the chokeslam on HHH before the bell with HBK looking at him from the apron so that is a conceivable out right there. This was paced tremendously well. These two guys are the biggest stars in the US with Austin on the shelf, but going out there and having a 60 minute iron man match is a big risk. This could have stunk up the joint as neither had went nearly this long before. Due to strategic planning of laying out the match and good enough execution with both men really having focal points throughout the match, they delivered a classic. ****1/2

The Dudley Boyz have shown their ability to help fill out the midcard of these shows with their battle vs T&A last month and now this month vs DX. They are really over as faces now but it is centered around violence and tables so that continues to allow them to have an edge. The action here was pretty pedestrian and even X-Pac didn’t look too motivated. There also wasn’t nearly the cleverness in the table spots that happened at the Royal Rumble with the Hardys. The referee goes through a table which made me groan but we do get a payoff off of Gerald Briscoe being out there and reviving the referee just in time for X-Pac to hit an X-Factor through the table. In addition, Tori is scathed from going through the table. After the match, they do send Briscoe through one, but it rather punctuates how much of a comedy title the hardcore belt is because they don’t bother pinning him. There is a lot of heels going over in this show which isn’t bad as a stand alone but doesn’t feel satisfactory when they are built back to back like they have been tonight. **1/4

Benoit tests out that bad leg right away. Look at the snugness Benoit applies the chinlock submission with the arm isolated. This is a complete throwaway spot but it looks extra brutal because of how Benoit has it applied adding emphasis to the match overall. Benoit continues working on the shoulder when the action spills outside as Jericho gets sent shoulder first into it. Jericho seizes an opening to go after the injured leg of Benoit by throwing it across the steps. I would have liked to have seen Jericho pounce on that more. Benoit continues his attack mixing in unique ways to go after the arm including a Fujiwara armbar. Benoit again gets his leg hurt and this time Jericho goes after it more. I liked him utilizing his kicks more in this attack due to his injured left arm. Jericho gets the walls of Jericho on the ropes that has Benoit screaming in pain. Jericho had great torque on that hold. Back inside, Jericho goes after the Walls again but Benoit runs through his Germans and then uses the knee brace to blast Jericho in the face and go after the crossface. Benoit really wrenches in the crossface and Jericho passes out from the pain giving Benoit the win. Jericho was fine and good here but Benoit was excellent and really cements himself as one of the finest workers in the world in year 2000. ****

A straight garbage match and one that didn’t have that many Shane crazy bumps to keep things entertaining enough. I thought this made Show look weak as it seems like he doesn’t have any friends and was dumb to take on this match since he is wrestling 6-1. They try to make the finish seem like this heroic effort as he gets knocked out with a cinder block but it just felt like another case of a McMahon getting one over on the talent. *1/2

I was not able to get into this three way. For comparison, I thought the Jaguar, Scoot, Blade 3 way was as least as innovative if not moreso. The Latino Heat character is strong and Eddy has had some fun 2000 stuff, but nothing great yet. I was thinking while watching this where I would rank him on a top 100 workers list but it would be fairly low and maybe even behind such names as Bubba Ray Dudley. Some of the spots here look clunky and more down time was here affecting the flow. Finish comes when Malenko avoids the flowers of Chyna but gets drop toe hold on them and then rolled up nicely by Eddy. After the match, it is discovered that the flowers contained a lead pipe. **1/2

Edge and Christian continue to refine their heel act including Angle in the group more and more. The jug band photo op they do here is one of my favorites throughout this run. E&C implement the Arn and Tully corner spot. Rikishi is still over like crazy as the crowd chants his name loudly half way through the match. Angle cutting off the worm was smart in getting heat on him and it allows Scotty 2 Hotty to be FIP for a bit. Solid stuff in the FIP and then we get the finale with Kurt getting the stink face and Rikishi running through his offense. Edge is able to hit the spear on Rikishi and then attempts to do the worm. Scotty stops that and does the WORM proper. To continue the trend, Christian hits a ring bell on Christian and the pinfall but the referee is distracted. This allows Sexay to come down with a legdrop for the top and Rikishi is put on top of Edge to gain the victory. Good opener to get the crowd going and a good way to have E&C lose without dropping the belts. ***

This big ol brawl was my favorite of the Onita Pro stuff this year. Onita was mostly front and center for his team but Togo also had many highlights and added a good bit to the proceedings. I saw the huge file length and thought this was going to be a long brawl and was shocked when it finished up in just over 13 minutes of action even if it did feel like a fully formed match. Afterwards, Zandig and Wifebeater make a surprise appearance and challenge Onita and friends to a CZW vs USA series including T-Shirts. Afterwards, we get a long goodbye with Onita going around, saying adieu to everyone, and spitting water in faces. Then we get a long backstage segment where I ate lunch, did some actual work, and checked twitter while Onita led everyone around intensely. This ends with a callout from Choshu. ***1/2

Anvil strutting out to Krush’s rap is so embarrassing. Amazing that Lawler is here mixing it up and then tomorrow is announcing for WWF. One of those things I don’t always think about but interesting to reflect on from time to time. Bitty is in this match a lot and doesn’t have a lot of good looking offense. I liked the heel side even if they randomly look like a WAR trios. They work over Little for a while and prevent him from tagging in Dundee and Lawler. The story here is simple of Little trying to prove himself but it is well done. Lance is a good narrator of the proceedings. The tag finally comes and we get all six men brawling it out to the end of the show. Good bounceback from MCW and a nice visual as you see the beer cans on the announce table. Hmmmm. **3/4

I was looking forward to the follow up match here and it didn’t disappoint. Eight minutes of really strong action. Danielson has went from looking like the most shaky individual out of the gate between him, Styles, Low Ki to perhaps the best with this series. He bumps like crazy for Cade, has some heel shtick that works and in general looks like he has a ton of more poise. He is also going by Bryan The Dragon Danielson now. Asai moonsault in the late stages wipes out Cade. HBK is fun on commentary here and puts both guys over even though we get a few whoasss. Cade hits a pump handle powerslam onto the floor. Dragon escapes the chokeslam and hits the flying elbow for a two count. He goes for something else but runs right into a huge chokeslam and Cade is the new TV champ. ***

Dinsmore is out there all alone as Kenny Bolin’s crew goes after him. Suddenly Trash and McCollough come up from behind and attack the heels. Cornette is yelling at the top of his lungs. We only get about three minutes into it until we have a shit show finish. Here comes the bell, here comes the screaming. Seriously fuck OVW. I can’t believe this shit was praised to a degree when it was happening in real time. OVW and AAA battling for worst promotion in the world to me. ¾*