Stiva

With hindsight, you'd give the WWF credit for some fantastic hierarchy booking; in January, Angle is putting up a fight with the top star in the company and in October, after working his way through the midcard, he finally wins the top gold. Of course, that's not what was intentional. This match was a solid TV affair and I LOVE when heels get on the mic mid-match to crank up the heat further. I can see why they tried to run a top program with these two as the work is so smooth, the promos are excellent and it's, clearly a match up that people want to see. A terrible shame that we only got the 1/2 PPV matches out of it.

It may be hindsight but this does really feel like the moment where the WWF changed course from the previous year's shorter TV matches and elaborate angles to a product that kept it a bit more simple and had some longer TV bouts. Maybe because they had 4 new guys they knew they could trust? Either way, I vividly remember this being a huge talking point for us at school, even though the WCW we actually got in the UK at this time was slim. It felt really exciting then and it still stands up as a hot way to debut these guys as a killer unit. We saw it slightly with the EAC/Dudleys tag but the WWF tag scene was going to leave the New Age Outlaws behind at a rapid pace and not a moment too soon.

Going off what's on the network, ECW from mid 2008 to its closure was always good for 1 or 2 good matches a week. A solid mix of great vets, hard working rookies and simple booking. You have 1996 Nitro on there too which contains some of the most exciting wrestling television to be put on tape. WWF from January-August 2000 was an incredibly hot product with a ream of good TV matches and hot angles. I don't know how their vault archive looks at this point so I'll refrain from any of that.

I think you could give Regal a 60 second match and he'd make about 45 seconds of it interesting. Like Loss said, he can always be counted on for doing something memorable or worthwhile happen, even in the most heatless, pointless scenarios. Here he had the fantastic facial reactions to, what I can only imagine, was about 10 fans actually booing him, the great left hook over a slouched Nick Patrick and the aforementioned finisher which, I THINK, he used in the beginning of his WWE run. Either way, William Regal is a very good pro wrestler.

For some reason, I can't help but watch some of these matches with the thought "If there was in charge of a hypothetical number 2 promotion at this point, would I use these guys?" and both teams would be slotted right into my tag division. The Villanos were a no-nonsense heel team here but I dug how everything was simple but logical - isolating Silver King and wearing him down - and I loved one of them pulling King's ponytail during the STF. Great heeling. La Parka, as per, was the highlight; his dive was great, he just oozes charisma and it's obvious why the WCW crowd did take to him. A really effective use of time and a shame that La Parka was gone from WCW shortly after this, I believe. Also, I'd love a gif of Silver King missing the springboard moonsault and La Parka just shaking his head in disappointment on the apron.

Yeah, I agree that it would have been nice to see these two float around 2002 WWE and I'm surprised they didn't. Kaz in some kind of quasi-racist tag team with Funaki and Lash as an undercard heel cruiserweight seems like something WWE may have tried at that point. Anyway, Kaz is a guy that I've always liked in WCW C-show matches since he always finds something memorable to fit into his matches and he has another good performance here, albeit built around selling. When he does hit his comeback, he does so with some excellent stuff; his strikes look crisp, his hurricanrana was fantastic and the spinning DDT from the outside in was an example of a great ending spot. Lash showed some good heel charisma and was never too boring on offense but he still had a way to go to improve. Still, it's immensely heartwarming to know that WCW could still showcase the physical art of professional wrestling, just by virtue of having so many hours to fill. I wonder if they ever lose that.

It's beginning...I wonder how far this can run in WWE. I can see Broken Matt Hardy as Smackdown champ.

Fired up Dundee promos, great strikes from both guys (including a great headbutt from Dundee!) and Lance Russell, as ever, perfectly admonishing those dastardly heels for ruining a perfectly fine wrestling show. Really interested to see more of Morton as he laid in the stiffness just as well as Dundee and I can only imagine he has some excellent spots in the tag match down the line (if we see it)

I enjoyed this well enough but they definitely lost me towards the end when the bombs started flying. Ki, much like Kendrick and Bryan, has all the raw talent on show already, he just hasn't connected the dots yet. Reil was entertaining enough with some good heeling, some decent high-spots and managed to cut a good pace which couldn't have been easy with someone like Ki. I really liked the spot where Reil managed to poke the ref in the eye and I'm surprised they didn't just go to him cheating for the finish there but that's a minor nitpick. Either way, I thought this started with a nice ebb and flow, some good back and forth spots and I just think they kind of ran out of ideas towards the end.

It's a huge shame what happened to Trent Acid since he was always a guy I enjoyed when he showed up in ROH and to my knowledge, he never had a great indie singles run. Or maybe he did and PWO2K will enlighten me. And he's really the highlight here; The Bad Crew are as generic and basic as it gets but they clearly know their way around a solid southern tag. Really, The Backseat Boyz are a fully formed gimmick already. They have the attire, the entrance, the bumping, the manager, the douchey dancing double team moves and, in Acid, they have charisma in spades, a great flyer and an extremely expressive heel worker. If ECW had lasted into 01/02, I can see this act, with Donnie B, getting a good push there.

Ha, we'll totally do it. If it ends up here, we'll do (Chica)Go Wrestling Only! We might just stand around and stare at each other not knowing what to do next, but we'll make an event out of it! Contact Cody with that pitch and he'll book us in a dark match battle royal.

Really fun little tag match. These teams would meet throughout the year in all kinds of different gimmicks and permutations so it was nice to be reminded that they could put together a good tv tag match with good heel work, a good FIP and a good finishing sequence. It's interesting to see that they were establishing the tables so early on, along with the back-and-forth matches that would involve the Hardys later. It may be giving it too much credit in hindsight but it's a subtle indicator of where these matches were eventually going to lead.

A pretty nondescript brawl that was a disappointment following a hot opening where Bam Bam attacks Funk in the back before trying a noose around his neck and dragging him to the ring (!). After that though, this was pretty tame. Bam Bam as a hired gun is a fine enough idea but if the extent of his mercenary skills are hitting guys in the arm with chairs and getting outwitted by Brian Knobbs then I'd suggest Kevin Nash spend his money elsewhere. Old Man Funk continues to be a mixed bag of lunacy with the moonsault looking downright crazy every single time but it really feels like all of his matches are just that spot, framed around slow brawling but it may be that these two just don't match very well. He can definitely still talk though since the ending promo was full of fire and strong hype for Thunder.

Watched this solely because of Loss pimping Hack's Northern Lights Suplex (a move I love) and came out really impressed with him in general. He moved around great, was bumping and selling big for Scoot when he had to and peppered in some nice little touches amongst the big hits. The Severn run in was a pretty lame ending but it did work in establishing him as your monster heel, even if he did look like he'd just walked out of 1998 WWF and into WXO.

I haven't been keeping track and I can't find anything using Google but was it confirmed that the stories about Thunder/Heat being held up due to royalty complaints were true? Also, I can't imagine anyone would want to put themselves through those first NXT shows, even out of curiousities sake but it is nice to see them uploading the more bizarre segments of their tape library, in a strange way.

I will say; the constant changing to the card has actually made it a bit more intriguing as to where it's all going to go. In an ideal world, you'd prefer that they'd build a show that felt like that without a hundred changes but still, things seem pretty hot right now. And WWE always nail those big show-ending, huge brawls but I especially liked the Raw women stomping into the Smackdown locker room and throwing down. That's something that they would never have dreamed of doing with the women a while back.

If I had to guess, I'd say the Owens/Zayn story is some kind of work. They aren't on the Survivor Series card as it stands; I'll place some money on them interfering to give Raw the victory, possibly with Jason Jordan getting the tainted pin to further his eventual heel turn. Also, I called it.

Styles/Lesnar should hopefully be great if Brock decides to do any kind of cardio or has any motivation whatsoever on the night. I'm more interested in what we're going to get out of the Survivor Series tags; these things have often descended into even steven booking but when they don't (2014 with Sting), they tend to be really great matches. I have a feeling they're going to keep things even with the guys but might stretch out with the women. I'd have Asuka steam roll through most of the field then keep it competitive with Charlotte/Becky before they succumb. Lots of camera shots showing the other Raw ladies terrified would be another plus.

Decent little TV match that I watched to check Scott Armstrong out in-ring. And I enjoyed his work here; he's in the perfect position as a job guy as he heels around enough to gain some heat and eats Chavo's stuff well when he has to. WCW C-shows remain some of my favourite wrestling and I'm glad to see that it was the one thing that even Russo couldn't kill.

The only time I've ever seen Kozina is when he showed up on some random late-era TNA show and worked some dumb shit with Davey Richards so it was my first time seeing him actually, you know, wrestle and I was impressed. He's got good high-flying offense, he's a really good, athletic bumper with some great rag-doll style selling (a bit like the Kendrick we've seen) and I think, the only thing going against him is his size and I think that would probably be the case, even now. Still, he seems like a guy who may have got an ECW run if that company had survived the year. Nevertheless, a good little match that sees Kozina win but takes a powerbomb through a table after the fact to build things further.

Yeah, this was a fantastic little surprise to come across. Something that I really enjoyed in the early stages is how violent and rough they made simple exchanges look; locking up, for instance, had real bite and tackle to it. Obviously, the crowd helped this but I think their enthusiasm really was as a result of what was going on in the ring and outside. There was some great, simple, effective heeling and it was at that kind of pace where every piece of offense matters and builds heat. I recognise at this point I'm just describing what makes an 80s wrestling match great but it's refreshing to see that, when chairs were smashed and tables were breaking, this kind of wrestling could still be viable and entertaining. Also, I'd love to see what The Bronx Bombers could do in a tag setting. I hope they have some hidden, great southern tags out there somewhere.

I thought everyone in the WWE just wanted to have some fun, Michael!

I really enjoyed this little TV match and it was cool to see that the speed and explosiveness that made Bryan's hot tags so much fun, were present as early as here. Not to repeat too much but I thought Buster looked kinda promising, if green, here too. He had a decent look, heel charisma and some fun little spots dotted throughout the match but this was a total Bryan performance. Everything that would make him great is here already and it can't be long before he begins to knit it all together.

I was always confident that this is my favourite ECW match ever but, having not seen it for years, I can safely say that opinion hasn't changed one bit. I think this a top 5 OAT performance from Tajiri in conveying total, unhinged lunacy in a wrestling ring. Just about everything he does is laced with malice and psychopathy; that second chair he skims across the table goes flying straight into the front row and all he does is sarcastically bow and spit on the fans complaining! He drives both his feet into Crazy's stomach twice and gets down on his knees to mock him! He picks up the remnants of a table and just chucks it over the top rope like he's finished discarding a murder weapon and, the wrench! The shot of him slowly walking into the ring, wrench in hand and evil in his eyes is absolutely incredible and then he proceeds to try and rip Crazy's teeth out before, once more, nonchalantly throwing the wrench into the air, not giving one shit about the assembled audience. It really does come across like a man who is just totally focused on destroying his enemy, with absolutely no consideration for whoever happens to get in his way. ECW had incredible angles throughout its years but it never had a match that came close to this.

I don't really understand how you can get so worked up over it; wins and losses should absolutely matter and not even sure what it being 2017 has to do with anything. And if we want to get into discussions about persisting with WWEs road schedule and not complaining about it, I'll side with Nia Jax all day over the side of the dude who wants to run workers into the ground. Just because it's been the norm for years doesn't make it right.