Dangerous River

Eddie Guerrero/Essa Rios VS the Hardy Boyz - WWF 4/17/2000

CJD: This is such a good television tag match. Really everything you could want especially with all the moving pieces. It honestly exceeded my expectations... except one glaring issue. You'll be able to tell by the end. I rewatched a few times to try to figure out what happened and I think it was a rare Eddie botch where he immediately realized he had to just own it to make the spot work. But man is he so, so fucking good as always every other second from the moment he walks out with Chyna to the moment the video cuts off. I loved the two of them together in this run. Essa has a real edge in this match that I enjoyed. The Hardys in this era were every backyard wrestler's heroes. And they were such a force in US wrestling in general, so unique and totally unstoppable. I can gladly overlook that one miscommunication to play this one forward to you. It's a real moment in time!

JJZ: This is a fucking dream match on paper. Could you imagine if they got twenty minutes. Totally forgot Lita was with Essa Rios at one point. Watching Eddie wrestle is like Christmas moring. I'm so excited for all of his moves. They are like little presents. I know what I'm going to get but I love them every time I open another box. The Hardys and Rios have such explosive offense that you can't blink. Also Jesus Jeff bumps so hard for everything I don't know how he is walking today. Another fantastic TV match. Love me some Eddie. You absolutely know where I'm going next!

Rock Star, Flip Into The Crowd Like TAKA Michinoku

TAKA Michinoku VS Papi Chulo - ECW 4/3/1999

JJZ: Redo! So with this match I just wanted some late night junk food  goodness. We got all the hits in this one. The best thing about this match that was they hit everything on point. You know with ECW that matches like these, it can go off the rails sometimes. Now I know we both have seen this before but I'm 100 percent positive that we've never reviewed it before. Love me some ECW and their ability to let wrestlers be themselves. It made a lot of wrestler's careers. Watching ECW is like putting on an old pair of shoes. It just feels good man.

CJD: I'll be honest, I remember a few matches from this show, but absolutely nothing about this match. Not even that TAKA came back to ECW at all. So this was a pleasant surprise! The execution was good in this one indeed. It was a little your turn, my turn, but looking at where it was in the card and the time they had that kinda makes sense. The crowd was totally along for the ride. In some ways it was just fascinating to see what a match like this looked like in ECW in 1999. One guy on his way up to WWF. One guy on his way out. International talent colliding which ECW loved. And the two standouts from our last MDTSOCWWKD match going one on one! This was meant to be JJZ.

Astral Projector, Super Astros Projector

TAKA Michinoku/Sho Funaki/Tiger Mask IV VS Papi Chulo/Super Loco/Apolo Dantes- WWF Super Astros 5/30/1999

CJD: I didn't know which way I was going this week. And maybe the weird stuff is just catching my eye right now, but after watching a few okay matches this one stood out because it was just so damn unique. If we watched this in 1999 our minds would have been blown. If you cut out the intros and the Owen Hart memorial stuff this match might not even be 5 minutes. But for what it is, on a WWF show at the time, and with the guys involved... this is fucking bonkers. Pro wrestling is so weird. It's hard to really critique something like this but I will say TAKA and Papi Chulo both came off like stars which was clearly the intent. And our boy TMIV held his own in the process! We've had plenty of weird detours over the years here at PIF and this is one of the weirder ones. Enjoy my friend.

JJZ: So much flavor in this banger baby. I think everyone really shined in this match. It started at a 10 and never stopped honestly. I'm always super impressed with matches like this when the energy is so high and every crazy spot is hit perfect. The chance for shit to go off the rails is very high but all six wrestlers kept it on track. That T Mask backflip kick thingy might've popped me the most because it was hit right on target and that could of easily fanned. Nice pick baybay!