Yoshihiro Taijiri v Psicosis

[Loss]

Yoshihiro Taijiri v Psicosis - 08/20/00 (ECW)

 

I have no problem saying it again ...

 

Man, FUCK this crowd! Since when is it a sign of "respect" for a bunch of self-important fans to spend the duration of a match putting themselves over and finding ways to break kayfabe? Reactions like the ones here essentially make ECW a useless exercise overall, because the mutants refused to buy into anything the company was selling, they were dead set against suspending their disbelief, and their top priority seems to be coming up with creative chants, with swear words whenever possible, instead of letting the workers tell a story, reacting to it and *then* doing their pretentious applause, probably not even having a clue why they're clapping in the first place.

 

This time, more than any other time I've seen this happen in ECW, it's a travesty, because this is a really nice little match, featuring the ever-awesome Psicosis and the one guy in ECW who was good enough to work on his level. It's pretty apparent than Psicosis is not comfortable with the way the crowd is reacting, and in an especially funny moment, he looks at them like the fucking idiots they are when they start chanting "lucha libre" and clapping their hands. This is NOT lucha libre. We've never seen anything close to the real lucha style in a WWF, WCW or ECW ring, no matter the participants. And Psicosis keeps doing everything right to try to turn the crowd against him and make them rally behind Taijiri, but nothing ever really works because that would mean the audience would have to suspend their disbelief, and they don't believe in that.

 

Psi immediately goes for Taijiri's neck, which gets countered right away. They lock up again, and this time Psi tries a bow-and-arrow, and it too gets countered right away. They're doing a nice job establishing parity early on with these sorts of moves, and they go into some really nice, fast-paced matwork from here, with Psicosis changing strategies looking for something that will work by going after Taijiri's leg, but having that countered immediately as well. It's Psi's frustrated facial expressions that cinches this as meaningful and hints that this is going somewhere. He keeps trying the knee and has mixed results, but can't sustain any type of momentum, because Taijiri is just too multi-talented and fast to be neutralized. With every sequence, Psicosis comes a little bit closer to solving the mystery, but can't ever seem to put enough together to keep him where he wants him. He temporarily takes control after a face-first vertical suplex, but Taijiri eventually comes back from that as well, and Psicosis' selling of Taijiri's kicks is a sight to be seen. Taijiri is now firmly in control with his quick kicks, and Psicosis teases a comeback, but gets overzealous along the way, leaving him open to a somersault plancha while on the arena floor. A chairshot FINALLY turns the tide, giving Psicosis some semblance of offense for a little while, and he makes the most of it with cool stuff you don't see often, like a wheelbarrow suplex or a hands-free pescado over the guardrail!

 

A few spots are blown, but they keep the pace going quickly enough that the problems are nicely covered. Outside of that, the only real problem I have with this match is the excessive low blows used to counter moves. It felt cheap, considering what they were trying to do, and I would have liked to have seen them stay a little more true. Outside of that, they did some nice work, and hopefully, one day, Psicosis will get his due in the US.

 

***1/4