JourneybyTrain

Started off really nice, had me hoping for a more action-packed sprint given the time length, but they slowed it down and had a full match in the short amount of time. Akiyama is one of the better guys I've seen at controlling a workover though given the two guys never meeting in NOAH despite being corners of the promotion I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic. Still pretty fun.

This was pretty boring. Was surprised to see Benoit dominate Sid, didn't have much intensity to the work over though I liked the drop kicks into the stairs and his chops were good as usual. I liked Sid allowing himself to be lifted up by a fan yelling for him to kick Benoit's ass, didn't like him blowing off 10 minutes of a work over to nonchalantly slap Benoit as soon as the crowd started chanting his name. Terrible finish, made even worse by Arn correctly calling the ropes right before. The choke slam was the only good thing here.

I really like black Liger, not sure how long this lasts but I hope we have a few more matches of him palm striking his way through the junior division. Match definitely could have been done better while achieving the same thing but I like the way the top-rope German kind of ends the match but he punishes Kanemoto with the Liger Bomb and Brainbuster anyways.

Montoya does a decent job with the franchise gimmick, the stuff about Lawler and Memphis got a laugh out of me. Kind of got dragged down by Homicide yelling the word "shoot" ten times to build up to the shoot-style match (I did like the authority figure bringing keyfabe back into it later though). Thought the actual match was pretty boring, Low-Ki is pretty much the main reason I ever go digging into obscure early 2000s indies this is the earliest I've seen him and he didn't seem to have it together yet. Homicide on the other hand seemed about the same, came across as the star of the segment.

Decided to re-watch this after the tables match from the Rumble, while the match did drag at times with some spots being set-up and I preferred the tables match I thought this was pretty good. Some of the spots were really cool, I actually thought the best spot was Bubba chucking this time chucking a ladder into Jeff doing his barricade run. The Dudleys were definitely the high point of the match, liked them getting some babyface reaction and Bubba acting like a psycho path who's more concerned with putting people through tables then actually winning the match. Finish was a little anti-climatic after Jeff's big Swanton spot.

I remember getting a VHS copy of this PPV back in 2002 which makes it the first non-live show I've ever watched. Would have preferred this to open the show rather than Taz vs. Kurt Angle with that in mind but anyways I liked this way more than I expected. Last time I re-watched the TLC matches I remember they're being too many contrived overly long set-ups and some of the spots seeming kind of lack-luster. This one the only spot that required some set-up was the end, which was a cool spot (I think the visual off a balcony dive with the crowd behind Jeff is just cooler than a ladder dive) and even gave us two spots instead of one. Had some nice organic stuff as well, like Bubba flinging a table into Jeff when he was doing his running barricade senton.

I don't know anything about Don Frye but he looks like he's from a Hollywood action movie which is pretty cool. Was expecting a short burst of violence and was surprised to find they worked a pretty good match focused on the mat wrestling. Sasaki was good here, specially loved the big running lariat out of the corner who burst out in the middle and the finishing run of lariats was good as well.

Kind of surreal to see skinny Kobayashi as I've only seen matches of his from the last decade or so (pointy shoes are nice as well). The majority of this match was kind of average BJPW wandering around, throwing some mediocre strikes and doing a spot with some barbwire, chair or ladder that has not much build up or drama to it. But the three big spots towards the end are all great, specially liked Honma smashing the ladder into Kobayashi's face with a leg drop. Seemed like he improved going for the submission after just hitting the arm on the big headbutt spot, which is pretty brilliant if so. Was thinking this was kind of boring but those spots really saved the match.

First time seeing an Osaka pro match I believe. Really enjoyed the aggressive working of basic opening holds here, and thought some of the submission work in Togo's control section was nice. Never really felt like the second half of the match came together into anything notable though.

I enjoyed Benoit's WWE run but man I would have much preferred him having a heavyweight run in either of the three big Japanese companies during the first half of the decade. I don't know how they would book him, was kind of disappointed to see him drop the fall kind of suddenly here, but his performance in the match was really good. Stiff as hell chops and it was cool to hear the big crowd pop for his throat slash. Fun match overall.

Seeing 2000s lucha being covered here was really nice to see, as my viewing of it was limited to the two amazing Villano mask matches and a few random matches here and there (most which I enjoyed). I know the decade doesn't have a great reputation among lucha fans but it's kind of weird to have seen so little (though I wouldn't want to buy every CMLL show either). This is a nice match to start the millennium with between two guys I've never seen before, didn't get much of a grasp on Tarzan Boy but I dug Rey Bucanero. Great look with the demonic face paint and do-rag and he wrestled like he looked. One of the things I dislike about modern CMLL is how often the first two falls are incredibly rushed, so it was nice to see a sustained heel beat-down in the first fall and the flash pinfall not come right away in the second. The third fall didn't feel as dramatic as I hoped but it was still pretty good, nice way to start the decade.

Some references I've noticed in Japanese Comic Books. The World God Only Knows: One of the girls considers Jumbo Tsuruta her idol, going so far as to explain the Misawa vs. Jumbo feud to her class and give a speech on why Pro Wrestling is better then MMA. There is also a date scene at a Pro-Wrestling NOAH show where Misawa and Akiyama are wrestling two generic gaijins. Hajime no Ippo: This has been publishing sense 1989 (and is really something I can't see pro-wrestling fans disliking on a side note), one of the chapters has a character celebrating Hashimoto finally beating Tenryu. Gintama: Various jokes centered around Inoki's jaw as well as a male S&M character explaining why he likes Joshi. One Piece: A recent tournament has Abdullah the Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh as well as The Funks as tag teams.

From the ones I've seen Michael Elgin vs. Davey Richards is by far the worst match. That said Tanahashi/Okada from last October is probably the most boring.

Hey, I'm Casey 20 years old from Burgaw, North Carolina, and I like (heavyweight) puro and modern WWE. Sans the All Japan guys (four corners, Tenryu, Jumbo and Hansen) I really like Hashimoto, Fujinami and Aja. I figured I'd sign up to learn the prices of the yearbook which sound amazing.