Greatest Match Of 2000 - The Countdown

[Crocker]

The year 2000 is the subject of the latest countdown, 2000 was the year in which Sony released the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft introduced Windows 2000.

Also in the news in 2000 George W Bush was elected as the 43 rd President of Tge United States of America and Vladimir Putin succeeds Boris Yeltsin as President of Russia.

Also in 2000 Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde flight crashed in a hotel shortly after takeover from Paris killing all 109 people on board and 4 people in the hotel.

Amongst the well known people who passed away in 2000 were Alec Guinness, Paula Yates, Walter Matthau, Kirsty Maccoll, Steve Allen and former WWF Champion Yokozuna

In music Santana equals Michael Jackson’s record of winning 8 Grammy’s in one night, Prince changes his name back to Prince, Britney Spears begins her first World Tour and a U.S district judge orders Napster from distributing copyrighted music

In sport France defeat Italy in the final of UEFA Euro 2000 thanks to a David Trezeguet golden goal, Kathy Freeman is the face of the Sydney Olympics has Steve Redgrave becomes the first person to won gold medals at five different Olympics and the St Louis Rams defeat the Tennesse Titans to win the SuperBowl.

Amongst the biggest films of the year were X-Men, Gladiator, Mission Impossible II, Charlie’s Angels and Erin Brockovich.

In wrestling Bret Hart wrestles his last match, David Arquette wins the WCW Championship & Triple H becomes the first heel to walk out of Wrestlemania as WWF Champion.

But what is the greatest match from this year, so we got five full lists from myself @GARBAGE @Hoss @Jacob Fox and @RDT and the countdown of the top 25 matches begins soon.

 

[Crocker]

25. AJPW Tag Team Championship
The Holy Demon Army vs No Fear
AJPW Super Power Series
June 9
21 Points
Hoss(5)

24. Triple Crown Championship
Vader(c) vs Kenta Kobashi
AJPW Excite Series
February 27
22 Points
RDT(4)



=22. WWF Championship
The Rock(c) vs Chris Benoit
Fully Loaded
July 23
23 Points
Jacob Fox(13), RDT(16)



=22. WWA Welterweight Championship
El Hijo del Santo(c) vs Blue Panther
Wrestling in Monterrey
April 9
23 Points
GARBAGE(3)

​

 

[RDT]

I don't watch much wrestling outside the US, but I dig the last great days of Vader.

 

[GARBAGE]

My number 3 dropping already hahah. Santo vs. Panther was one of the first lucha matches I watched fifteen years ago and I've never had any doubts about it holding up, no matter how much time I spend away from it. Calling a wrestling match 'beautiful' feels kind of silly but this is one of the few that deserves it just for how slick the exchanges are. If I had more time I would have watched it again (again) just to make sure I didn't want it at #2, because 3 actually felt too low. And even if I thought there were two matches better in 2000, it still may actually be one of the ten best matches of the entire decade to me.

I didn't wind up rewatching Vader/Kobashi but my #25 was Vader/Steve Williams vs. Kobashi/Akiyama so maybe I should have (first time seeing that tag and it actually really took me by surprise). Vader was kind of in and out of looking good in 2000 but I still like the Akiyama and Kawada singles matches too. I also didn't watch the No Fear tag but I did watch their match from January which was good shit so I'd believe that one is good as well. Benoit/Rock I saw most recently a few years and it certainly worked but didn't necessarily pull me in proper. I never really loved Benoit as a heel in the attitude era.

 

[Crocker]

=19. Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi
NOAH Great Voyage
December 23
24 Points
Hoss(13), Jacob Fox(15)

=19. No Disqualification Match
Goldberg vs Scott Steiner
WCW Fall Brawl
24 Points
RDT(9), Jacob Fox(19)



=19. Mexican Death Match
Super Crazy vs Yoshihiro Tajiri
ECW on TNN
January 21
24 Points
Hoss(7), GARBAGE(21)



18. WWF Championship
Triple H(c) vs The Rock
WWF Backlash
April 30th
31 Points
RDT(7), Crocker(14)



=16. WWF Championship
The Rock(c) vs Kurt Angle
No Mercy
October 22
33 Points
Jacob Fox(7), RDT(12)



=16. WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
Dean Malenko(c) vs Scotty 2 Hotty
Backlash
April 30
33 Points
Crocker(10), RDT(10), Jacob Fox(25)

​

 

[Hoss]

Always interesting to see the matches that go off the board early.

It's a shame no one else was feeling NO FEAR vs. Holy Demon Army as much as me. One conclusion I came to while watching matches for this project is that I love Yoshihiro Takayama and Takao Omori is also pretty slept on. I think NO FEAR are an impeccable hoss team so I was naturally compelled to rate that one quite highly.

Another conclusion I came to was that Tajiri was one of the best workers in the world in 2000. He had so many fun matches to revisit. I'm shocked only me and Garbage ended up voting for the Mexican Deathmatch.

Very shocked that Goldberg vs. Steiner made the top 25 at all, much less getting two votes and ending up top 20. To each their own, I suppose. I wouldn't have had it top 40 I believe.

Scotty vs. Dean was probably the top match revealed so far that I didn't vote for, but came very close to.

 

[Crocker]

15. AAAW Championship
Aja Kong(c) vs KAORU
GAZA Big Destruction
February 13
34 Points
Hoss(2), GARBAGE(16)



14. Jun Akiyama vs Mitshuharu Misawa
AJPW Excite Series
February 27
35 Points
GARBAGE(2), Hoss(15)



13. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Shinjiro Okami & Tatsuhita Takaiwa(c) vs Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka
NJPW Summer Struggle
June 25
43 Points
Jacob Fox(8), Hoss(9), GARBAGE(18)



12. WWF Championship
Iron Man Match
The Rock(c) vs Triple H
Judgment Day
May 21
48 Points
Crocker(3), RDT(3), Hoss(24)



11.Cactus Jack, Rikishi, The Rock & Too Cool vs Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Triple H & X-Pac
Raw
February 7
49 Points
Crocker(8), RDT(11), Jacob Fox(14), GARBAGE(22)



​

 

[GARBAGE]

I don't know if I have anything specific to say about Akiyama/Misawa but it was even better than remembered. A fitting last epic in All Japan for the ace before he would jump ship.....ark.....make the ark himself.

Kong vs. Kaoru is a great match not just in and of itself, but great to get to look at Aja Kong showing so much vulnerability. An excellent showing from her in a side we don't tend to see very often. Kong vs. Satomura from May may be considered the better match by most, but I thought the layout and Kong's performance really made the Kaoru match the best joshi match of the year.

Otani/Takaiwa vs. Kanemoto/Tanaka I had to do a double take because I thought there was no way I had it all the way down at #18 but I guess I did. Kobashi/Akiyama I didn't even really like much. I used to be a massive fan of it but while watching it I thought they threw a lot at the wall early and then still went another 35 minutes or something and I had dropped my interest fairly quick. I hope Kobashi/Takayama 5/26 shows up later because I thought that showed way more of Kobashi's strengths as an all time great seller and as a main event match worker as far as pacing, and building a match upward into a peak goes.

That Raw tag I've seen five hundred times and it never loses its lustre. One of the most fun matches ever in history. #22 feels a little low but this was another year for me dominated by the best of Japan and Mexico. That and Tajiri vs. Super Crazy were actually my only votes from US matches, to be honest I didn't even know I had them back-to-back. Tajiri was definitely one of the best wrestlers in the world in 2000 even if I didn't add any more of his matches (the Psicosis match was on there up until right at the end, it might be my unofficial #26). Someone could vote for seven of his matches that year and I wouldn't bat an eye. I do think HHH/Rock at Backlash is a fucking HOOT and I've always loved it as one of the best overbooked attitude era main events, the competition is just stiff and 25 is actually a pretty small number when deciding the best of something.

 

[RDT]

I too want to vouch for Tajiri in 2000. I actually have the Psicosis match on my list.

 

[Crocker]

10. WWF Tag Team Championship
Ladder Match
The Dudley Boys(c) vs Christian & Edge vs The Hardy Boys
Wrestlemania 2000
April 2
49 Points
Crocker(6) , RDT(6), Hoss(16)

​

 

[Crocker]

9. Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada
NJPW Do Judge!!
October 9
55 Points
GARBAGE(5), Hoss(6), Jacob Fox(12)

​

 

[GARBAGE]

I had that match at #5 so I'm hoping the count isn't wrong somehow

 

[Hoss]

9. Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada
NJPW Do Judge!!
October 9
53 Points
Hoss(6), Jacob Fox(12), GARBAGE(13)

​

Top tier hoss battle

 

[Crocker]

I had that match at #5 so I'm hoping the count isn't wrong somehow

Slight error, fixing it now

 

[Crocker]

8. Masanobu Fuchi & Toshiaka Kawasaki vs Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata
NJPW The 2nd Judgment
December 14
61 Points

Jacob Fox(3), GARBAGE(4), Hoss(10)


​