2000 Recommendations

[Loss]

Use this thread to post recommendations for the yearbook.

 

I don't want to put requirements on making recommendations necessarily, but I will kindly ask a favor -- if you recommend something, if you could, maybe just include a brief reason that you're recommending it. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but just something for us to see why it should go on.

 

If you make recommendations that pique my curiosity, I will do my part to ask more follow-up questions to make sure I have a good understanding of why it was recommended.

 

In addition, I will use this thread to list matches I come across when looking through various lists that look interesting on paper to ask if anyone has seen them.

 

Thanks!

[smkelly]

Triple H vs. Cactus Jack (WWF Royal Rumble, Street Fight, 01/23/00)

Best WWF hardcore-ish brawl I've ever seen.

 

2-7-00 Ten-man tag WWF

Everything about this match would make people faint nowadays if this were on Raw.

 

2-20-00 Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk WCW (Death Match)

I remember liking this a lot when I watched it about a month after it aired.

 

5-14-00 Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Steve Corino ECW

Corino is really talented at getting fake beaten up but making it look like Bruce Lee was kicking him. To be fair though, Tajiri is a legit asskicker.

 

Never seen but heard....:

10-29-00 Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto NJPW

[KB8]

I watched a ton of RAW from 2000 last year, and while I'd say the ten man tag from February is the only match that's a real slam dunk, there's a decent amount of fun stuff (unfortunately I don't remember much in the way of specifics).

 

 

Chris Jericho & The Rock v Triple H & Chris Benoit (4/24/00)

Super fun lead-in to Backlash. Crowd is insanely hot.

 

The Rock v Shane McMahon (5/1/00)

This is a cage match that overbooked to high Hell and I love it. Shane takes a couple crazy bumps, the crowd are molten, and JR makes gay jokes because Patterson is hanging around ringside.

 

The Rock v Kurt Angle v Triple H (6/26/00)

This isn't the best triple threat match in company history, but it might be my favourite. Angle and Hunter spend most of it double teaming Rock before Hunter punts Angle in the balls and from that point it's every man for himself. The early HHH/Angle v Rock story and the fact it's short means there's no annoying "one guy takes a breather" stuff, which is generally what prevents me from liking this stip.

 

The Rock v Kane (8/28/00)

I thought this was one of the better Kane matches I had seen. Rock does a great job making him look like a legit threat heading towards the Unforgiven PPV the next month.

 

Steve Austin, The Rock, Billy Gunn & Chyna v Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn & Eddie Guerrero (11/13/00)

Crazy match that winds up breaking down into a big brawl. Eddie is awesome as a smarmy little douchebag, and Austin hurls Saturn across the announce table like it's a slip-n-slide.

 

Steve Austin v Chris Benoit (11/20/00)

Probably the second or third best WWE TV match of the year.

 

The Rock & The Undertaker v Edge & Christian (12/18/00)

Don't remember much about this other than the outcome. Did think it was a really good TV tag, though. And the crowd was rocking as usual.

 

 

There's also the HHH/Jericho match and angle where Jericho "wins" the title, but that's something that gets talked about pretty regularly, anyway. Although they had another match on June 12th that I thought was better as an actual match.

[Ditch]

Purotopia Best of 2000 results:

http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/index.php?showtopic=49302

 

By far the most consensus-driven of any purotopia vote.

 

Some more puro nominations...

 

Akiyama vs Shiga, March 11th: Strong performance from Shiga. A good preview of both of their NOAH roles.

 

Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Tanaka, New Japan June 25th: Sadly the full version got out long after the 2000 vote. What got clipped out is EVERYONE HATING EACH OTHER TO DEATH. That is a good way to make me enjoy a juniors match. A lot of Kanemoto vs Ohtani matches have very limited bits of hate, but this one has real chunks of hate so you know it's good. It's the hate that eats like a meal.

 

Liger, Samurai & Kashin vs Ohtani, Kanemoto & Takaiwa, New Japan July 11th: For one thing this is one of the last times around for the classic 'masks vs black trunks' 6-man. It's also one of the best, with Samurai getting tons of face heat from his hometown fans and a real big-match effort with a satisfying finish. Not an overwhelming match but solid enough, especially in a down year for NJ juniors.

[Ditch]

More Japan

 

Liger vs Kanemoto, NJ 1/4: A spectacular squash.

 

Tenryu & Koshinaka vs Sasaki & Kenzo Suzuki, NJ 2/4: A very different squash.

 

Liger & Tanaka vs Ohtani & Kanemoto, NJ 4/30: Quasi-payoff to the Liger/Kanemoto squash.

 

Ohtani vs Tanaka, NJ BOSJ

Kanemoto vs Takaiwa, NJ BOSJ: Both are slightly clipped, both are on the short side, both are good.

 

Hashimoto vs Fujinami, NJ 10/9: Weird. Boring first half, quasi-shoot second half. Again: on the short side.

 

Kobashi vs Omori, NOAH 10/11: For some reason they clipped this after it got tons of build. But that clipping means it easily deserves a spot. Brutal beatdown by Kobashi.

 

Kong vs Yoshida, Arsion 10/17: Good glimpse at Arsion and post-AJW Kong. And again: short!

 

Shiga, Morishima & Kanemaru vs Inoue, Rikio & Sugiura, NOAH 12/23: Sugiura's debut, and he certainly looks good right away. Good match, especially considering that it lacks star power.

[soup23]

I think the Taka/HHH match should be included because it is the type of match that now 10 years later you know would never headline Raw and be as competitive as it was.

[Tim Evans]

It's not a great match or even good but I think Dennis Rodman vs Curt Hennig from the i-Generation Wrestling July 30th ppv should be on. If for anything because of the mini riot that breaks out.

[BBscout]

For WTF value, Bret Hart vs. Terry Funk from Thunder 1-6-00 in a No DQ match.

 

Bret gets dumped on his head by Funk when he sticks him in a shopping cart and flips it over. Jarrett attacks Funk with a baseball bat during one of the many played-out NWO run ins and then tosses it away when he's done with it, only for the butt end of it to unexpectedly ding Bret in the face while he's lying on the mat. The show ends with Nash bombing Funk off the stage.

 

Watching this after the fact, I just remember thinking these two guys don't deserve this.

[smkelly]

WWF EDMONTON CANADA 5/28/00 WWF IC Title: Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho

[TravJ1979]

In my project of delving into the 00's abyss, I just finish 2000 and will do a "pimping" post when and if this 2000 Yearbook gets made, but for now I'll comment on what's already been mentioned and add a few things of my own.

 

I watched a ton of RAW from 2000 last year, and while I'd say the ten man tag from February is the only match that's a real slam dunk, there's a decent amount of fun stuff (unfortunately I don't remember much in the way of specifics).

Chris Jericho & The Rock v Triple H & Chris Benoit (4/24/00)

 

Super fun lead-in to Backlash. Crowd is insanely hot.

I agree a good lead in to Backlash, but not a top 25 for the year. May be good for the yearbook if time permits.

 

The Rock v Shane McMahon (5/1/00)

 

This is a cage match that overbooked to high Hell and I love it. Shane takes a couple crazy bumps, the crowd are molten, and JR makes gay jokes because Patterson is hanging around ringside.

I didn't like this. Crowd is hot and Patterson is the ref, not at ringside. He gets involved in the finishing stretch and HHH poking The Rock with a stick through the cage is outright silly.

 

The Rock v Kurt Angle v Triple H (6/26/00)

 

This isn't the best triple threat match in company history, but it might be my favourite. Angle and Hunter spend most of it double teaming Rock before Hunter punts Angle in the balls and from that point it's every man for himself. The early HHH/Angle v Rock story and the fact it's short means there's no annoying "one guy takes a breather" stuff, which is generally what prevents me from liking this stip.

I agree with everything here and actually prefer this to their SummerSlam match. Although short, this is probably the best Kurt Angle match of the year with the Title win at No Mercy and the multiman HITC at Armageddon as arguable contenders.

 

The Rock v Kane (8/28/00)

 

I thought this was one of the better Kane matches I had seen. Rock does a great job making him look like a legit threat heading towards the Unforgiven PPV the next month.

I thought this was an average TV match. Not bad, but nothing that stands out to me. Kane had a much better match with Jericho later in the year and this was in a time he was feuding with the Undertaker and having not-so-great matches

 

Steve Austin, The Rock, Billy Gunn & Chyna v Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn & Eddie Guerrero (11/13/00)

 

Crazy match that winds up breaking down into a big brawl. Eddie is awesome as a smarmy little douchebag, and Austin hurls Saturn across the announce table like it's a slip-n-slide.

Good Brawl, but that's about it. The Eddy-Chyna interaction was fun as this was just after he got caught in the shower cheating on her. Aside from Eddy, not something I would put on a yearbook.

 

Steve Austin v Chris Benoit (11/20/00)

 

Probably the second or third best WWE TV match of the year.

Good match and I'd say probably the fifth best TV match of the year behind the 10 man Raw Tag, the three way mentioned above, HHH v. Benoit in Benoit's first WWE TV Match on Smackdown and the 6/12 HHH/Jericho match.

 

The Rock & The Undertaker v Edge & Christian (12/18/00)

 

Don't remember much about this other than the outcome. Did think it was a really good TV tag, though. And the crowd was rocking as usual.

Really hot crowd, nothing storyline or work wise that I'd see fitting on a yearbook.

 

There's also the HHH/Jericho match and angle where Jericho "wins" the title, but that's something that gets talked about pretty regularly, anyway. Although they had another match on June 12th that I thought was better as an actual match.

Agreed, the 6/12 match is the 2nd best TV match behind the 10 man Raw Tag

 

 

 

 

I think the Taka/HHH match should be included because it is the type of match that now 10 years later you know would never headline Raw and be as competitive as it was.

I wouldn't put this in a Top 25 of WWF for the year, but I did enjoy it while it lasted. Taka hiring the APA for protection in the early part of that gimmick as well as Funaki helping any way he can to help Taka pull off the upset is fun.

 

April 2000 has three of the most talked about HHH matches when his "epic" year is being talked about. You have this match on 4-10, then you have the 4-17 match with Jericho with the title change and subsequent reversal and 4-24 features the hot tag match with HHH and Benoit v. Jericho and the Rock mentioned earlier. I wouldn't put the latter two in a top 25 for the year either as HHH/Jericho had at least two singles matches better that year (6/12 Raw and Fully Loaded Last Man Standing) and while the crowd was hot for the tag as mentioned earlier, the match as a whole didn't do much for me.

 

 

WWF EDMONTON CANADA 5/28/00 WWF IC Title: Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho

This looks like a handheld that I have not seen. These two wrestled each other A LOT and had 4 PPV matches alone counting the three way dance with Angle at WM 16. Of the matches I have seen I think SummerSlam's 2 out of 3 falls is by far the best followed by the Submission match at Judgment Day. The WM match and Backlash match aren't that good IMO with the Backlash match having a finish the crowed HATED -- as did I.

 

However, as a whole year, Jericho has a really strong argument as WWE wrestler of the year. After the early nonsense with Bob Holly and Chyna, he had a good feud with Benoit, good to great matches with HHH, a short feud with X-Pac that produced a very good cage match at No Mercy and ended the year with a feud with Kane with the best of that series coming at Survivor Series.

[TravJ1979]

Here are some suggestions of what I would consider "Yearbook moments." I left out the praised matches as I figure that, one way or another, they will all end up on the set.

 

Forgive the formatting as I just slapped it together after having watched everything I could from the big 3 during the year ...

 

 

JANUARY 2000

 

Tazz debut and win over Kurt Angle - Royal Rumble

Mae Young in the swimsuit competition - Royal Rumble

Radicals debuting in the crowd - Raw

HHH title win over the Big Show to begin the Mcmahon-Helmsley era - Raw

HHH v. Rikishi - Raw, HHH first title defense of year

Rumble Match Highlights (Taka elimination, Rikishi dominance, Rock/Big Show Finish)

DDP v. Buff Bagwell last man standing Souled out 2000 feuding over Kimberly - Meltzer rated high

Mike Awesome Kills Spike Dudley - Guilty as Charged 2000

RVD vacates title after near two year reign with broken ankle

 

February 2000

 

Foley Retirement HITC v. HHH - No Way Out

Tank Abbott v. Big Al at SuperBrawl -- Tank pulls a blade

Sid v. Hall v. Jarrett - SuperBrawl Hall Injured

3 Count wins the Hardcore Title from Knobs + 3 Count singing

 

March 2000

 

Trish Stratus debut

new Jack and Vic Grimes almost die - Living Dangerously

Dusty Rhodes v. Corino bull rope match - Living Dangerously

 

 

April 2000

 

WrestleMania Highlights - ladder match, Title match - Hardcore battle royal

Raw 4/24 Trish's 4 vingettes crawling on tables teasing Bubba Ray Dudley leading to backlash

Trish going through a table at Backlash by the dudleys

Vince Russo reboots Nitro, 4/10 Nitro Highlights - Kidman/Hogan, Awesome/Nash, All titles stripped

David Arquette wins the title - Thunder

Terry Funk v. Norman Smiley Hardcore match - Spring Stampede

Malenko v. Scotty 2 Hotty - Backlash

Raw April - HHH v. Taka, HHH v jericho with fake title change

 

May 2000

 

Norman Smiley/Ralphus win a backayard wrestling title - Thunder

Three tier Cage match with Jarrett - DDP - Arquette and Kanyon getting dumped off cage by Awesome - Slamboree

Undertaker's Return at Judgment Day 2000

 

 

June 2000

Goldberg heel Turn - Bash

Human Torch Match: Vampiro + Sting - Bash

Hulk Kidman - Bash

Evening Gown Match Patterson v. Brisco - King of the RIng

Kurt Angle wins King of the RIng + King Kurt

 

 

July 2000

Russo "shoots" on Hogan - Bash at the Beach

Graveyard match with Demon + Vampiro - Bash at the Beach

Booker T wins first Title - Bash at the Beach

XPW disrupts ECW Heatwave PPV

Rikishi splashs Val venis off top of cage - Fully Loaded 2000

 

 

August 2000

Bret Hart appears at New Blood Rising

HHH/Angle/Steph love triangle - Summer 2000

lawler v. Tazz for JR's honor - Summerslam

Kat v. terri Stink face match - Summerslam

 

 

September 2000

N/A

 

October 2000

gertner over cyrus with kamala belly paint - anarchy rulz

austins attempted homicide of rikishi - no mercy

Angle wins first WWE Title - No Mercy

 

 

November 2000

eddy cheats on chyna with chicks in the shower, engagement off

Austin dumps HHH off a forklift while he is in a car "worst match ending ever" - Survivor Series

 

 

December 2000

bunkhouse brawl at starrcade with filthy animals v. jarrett/harris boys

 

 

Other

Natural Born Thrillers debut

70's Guy Mike Awesome

Rikishi revealed as guy who ran over Austin last year

HHH shoves his way into "Who ran over Austin" storyline after getting cheers during the Angle/Steph Storyline

HHH having Trish bent over, caught by Stephanie

Tajiri and Mikey team up

mae young births a hand, dates mark henry and gets put through a table twice by the dudleys

[Loss]

How is this for 2000 All Japan? Does everything have a place and is anything missing?

 

01/17/00 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi

01/23/00 - Vader vs Jun Akiyama

02/17/00 - Vader vs Toshiaki Kawada

02/17/00 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue

02/20/00 - Vader & Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama

02/27/00 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama

02/27/00 - Vader vs Kenta Kobashi

03/31/00 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada

04/15/00 - Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori

10/28/00 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Genichiro Tenryu

 

Was there any type of press conference or anything that actually aired on TV about the split? I'd like to somehow make it clear in televised format that it happened.

[Bix]

I'd have to find the dates but these are must haves from the comm tapes AJPW put out after the split:

 

Kawada vs Fuchi (Kawada lights up Fuchi's chest with chops as they desperately try to show the new AJPW can put on a quality main event)

Tenryu's return at Korakuen Hall (He comes out in a suit to a huge reaction, I think introduced by Mrs Baba)

Kawada & Tenryu vs Hansen & Kea (Hansen's last great match)

Fuchi vs Chono (1st AJPW vs NJPW match)

Tenryu vs Hansen (From the Triple Crown tournament, Hansen's last stand as a singles wrestler, not a great match since Hansen's back is fucked but fun)

 

Fun/interesting/whatever stuff that might have a place:

Early post-split undercard highlights with a hodgepodge of Indy guys

Koshinaka stuff where he joins the AJPW side

Kroffat/Fujiwara tags from the tag league that show Kroffat was still an amazing finish guy even with no knees.

[rzombie1988]

Mask vs Mask - Atlantis vs Villano 3

[rzombie1988]

IWA-Puerto Rico 2000 - Ricky Banderas (El Mesias from AAA) vs Slash Venom - Part 1 is here:

This is an absolute must just for the bump Slash took off the bleachers to the floor. He missed the table and went splat from 15 feet up. Great heat and I remember enjoying the match.

[Chess Knight]

Was there any type of press conference or anything that actually aired on TV about the split? I'd like to somehow make it clear in televised format that it happened.

Saw this on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPhJiBEEczw

[PeteF3]

How is this for 2000 All Japan? Does everything have a place and is anything missing?

 

01/17/00 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi

01/23/00 - Vader vs Jun Akiyama

02/17/00 - Vader vs Toshiaki Kawada

02/17/00 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue

02/20/00 - Vader & Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama

02/27/00 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama

02/27/00 - Vader vs Kenta Kobashi

03/31/00 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada

04/15/00 - Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori

10/28/00 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Genichiro Tenryu

I think Akiyama vs. Omori from the '00 Carnival needs to be on there for the novelty factor...and it's not like it's gonna eat up a ton of space.

[Tim Evans]

I've been watching some Memphis 2000 lately. Nothing earth shattering but MCW had a good tv match from 9/9 between Spanky and Steven Regal. Lots of WTF stuff from that promotion like the Memphis version of Angle/HHH/Steph with K Krush/Lawler/Stacy, Lance Russell calling Jasmin St claire matches and Lawler vs Eddie Guerrero. I'm not sure if that match aired on TV or not.