I’ve actually had this disc sitting around for years and never really got around to watching it. I’m not reviewing the feature because… well… it’s fucking depressing anymore. So let’s get to the matches.
Match #1
Hector, Chavo, & Mando Guerrero vs. Cactus Jack & The Rock ‘n’ Roll RPMs
12/13/88 AWA Superclash III
Strange choice for the DVD but Eddie picked the matches himself. Hector starts with one of the random RPMs, I honestly don’t know which is which. RPMs tag quickly but Hector gets a head scissor and wipes the floor with both. Tag to Cactus Jack and a tag to Mando who gets a sunset flip for two. Wristlock but Cactus slugs out of it and dumps Mando to the floor. Cactus follows and gets his ass kicked and backdropped on the concrete by Chavo. Tag to Hector in the ring and he splashes Cactus on the leg, then tags to Chavo who gets a shot in. Tag to Mando for a Indian Top Deathlock, which is something I’m shocked Cactus has the flexibility to take. The blond RPM tags in and the announcers can’t bother to tell the difference between them so why should I? Chavo in and he armdrags him down. Head-scissors takedown into the hold, but the brown-haired RPM tags in, only for the Guerreros to kill them and we have a pile-on. Fans are loving all the Guerreros. It makes me think they wasted their careers in Mexico and Texas. All of them had the tools to make it big in the US. Cactus snapmares Chavo and elbowdrops him for two. RPMs tag in and slug away on Chavo. Mando tries to save but that goes nowhere. Chavo gets away and tags in Hector. Dropkicks for all and things break down. Three-way brawl, the RPMs accidentally clothesline each other and Chavo hits a moonsault for the pin.
*** Peppy match, pretty much a squash for the Guerreros.
Match #2: Hair vs. Mask, 2 out of 3 falls, elimination style where both guys have to be pinned to lose the fall
Eddie Guerrero & Art Barr vs. Octagon & El Hijo Santo
11/6/94 When Worlds Collide
Funny story about this PPV… it was supposed to be a combination of WCW talent and AAA from Mexico, but because of the way WCW wrote their contracts, nobody was obligated to appear here so most decided not to. Ric Flair wanted to do it, and would have likely had a good match, but WCW put a stop to that by having Flair lose a retirement match the previous month. So things are pretty shitty all across the board. However, the quality of the matches was decent. To this match. Eddie starts with Santo, who gets a quick armdrag. Chain-countering sequence goes nowhere. Eddie gets an armbar and some counter stuff into a headlock. Santo uses a leverage move to dump Eddie, but he comes back in and tags Barr. Octagon in too, and he armdrags Barr, then gets armdragged himself, but Barr misses an elbowdrop. Clothesline misses for Barr but Eddie KOs him out of nowhere. Santo in and he backdrop suplexes him. Electicarana, somewhat botched, gets the pin for Eddie & Barr. Man, that looked bad. Octagon in and he gets superplexed down and frogsplashed by Barr for the pin and the fall. A small (big) break as the fans almost riot due to their hatred for Art Barr that we sadly don’t see. Second fall and Eddie starts with Santo. Eddie hits a fall-away slam into a pin for two. Suplex for two. Santo bails and that means Octagon can come in under Lucha rules. Barr in and he gets a couple dropkicks. Man, Barr was so smooth on his moves, his death was a terrible loss to wrestling. Eddie in with the over the top splash, but Santo comes in and backdrops Eddie and dumps him. Faces team up with a chopblock-clothesline and Santo hits an elbow off the top on Barr, then gives Eddie head-scissors. Double dropkick sends both heels flying and a double dive knocks out Eddie & Santo, into the guardrails. In the ring, sunset flip to Eddie by Santo gets two. Eddie catches Santo climbing and gives him a rana off the top rope for the pin. They need to beat Octagon now to win the match. Heels double team Octagon but he hits a double facebuster and a frankensteiner to Eddie for the pin. Russian-legsweep into a abdominal stretch gets the submission and the fall for the faces. Thrid fall and Eddie starts with Santo, who hits a rana for the close two as Barr saves. Camel Clutch by Eddie but Octagon saves. Camel clutch by Santo but Barr kicks him in the head to save. Barr goes for a slam but Santo turns it into a small-package for two. Cross-leg stranglehold by Barr but Octagon comes in with some kicks. Double elbow to Barr. Suplex by Santo for… nothing as Eddie smacks him in the back of the head. Octagon in with some kung-fu stuff. He goes for the abdominal stretch but Eddie comes in and locks the Gory Special. Santo saves. Kneelift by Santo, but Eddie fights back with a slam. Electric-chair off the second rope by Santo for two but the heels knock them to the outside and a double suicida knocks out the heels. Superplex attempt… is not shown on the DVD as we are clipped to Eddie on the outside of the ring and Santo hitting a sunset flip on the outside. I’m guessing it was a blown spot or something. In the ring Octagon eats a SICK ASS leaping Tombstone Piledriver from Barr for the pin. They need Santo now. Clothesline/German Suplex by the heels gets two. Superplex by Guerrero and a frogsplash by Barr… for two. Man, fans bought that as the finish and didn’t pop for the kickout. Medics take Octagon away due to the injury from the piledriver. Barr accidently dumps Eddie and hits a plancha. Blue Panther runs in and hits a piledriver to Barr for the pin. It’s down to Eddie and Santo now. Santo rolls up Eddie for two. Eddie hits a tigerbomb for two. Belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope gets two. Rana off the top by Eddie for two. Sick fucking Dragon Suplex for two. A second one doesn’t work and Santo gets a rollup for the pin and the win. We don’t get to see Eddie and Barr get their heads shaved though.
****1/2 No matter, this was awesome, clipping aside. Hot crowd, good action, good drama.
Match #3: 2 out of 3 Falls
Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko
8/26/95 ECW
I’m listening to Dean Malenko & Eddie’s commentary. Both guys are leaving for WCW after this match. It takes seven minutes to get to the opening bell and you really aren’t missing anything so just fast forward. Circle to start, with the fans chanting “please don’t go.” They should have chanted “please don’t make dough, please don’t make dough” because that’s what not going meant. Heyman was paying these guys in McDonalds vouchers. Expired McDonalds vouchers. That were only good for a child size icecream cone to begin with. Circle goes nowhere so we get a knucklelock that goes nowhere. Eddie grabs a hammerlock into a hiptoss, then into an amature rollup for two. Still grounded on the mat, Dean gets control by grabbing the leg and turning it into a standard anklelock. Edie turns it into body-scissors, then an armbar. Fans are still all pissy instead of enjoying the match, which is par for the course for the idiot ECW fans. Please don’t go? Bitch, please. Both guys were higher on the card in WCW then they were in ECW, never mind the pay. Dean rolls through that and goes to get a rollup and now some idiots are screaming ‘boring.’ Fucking mutants. Clean break, then Eddie hits a hiptoss and a rana but Dean flips out. Dropkick misses and Eddie grabs a rear chinlock. Eddie grabs a wristlock then does the top rope leverage move, always a crowd pleaser. Or so you would think. Fisherman’s suplex for two by Eddie. Headscissors sleeper by Eddie on the mat. Dean gets out and turns it into triangle pin for two. Man of a thousand holds indeed. He turns it into a triangle leglock, then into a Regal Stretch type version of the STF. Eddie gets out and we’re at a standstill. Dean punches Eddie down but Eddie to his feet to trip down Dean and do the face spinner. Uppercut by Eddie and a shoot off the ropes ends with Dean getting tossed out of the ring, although it looks like Dean just sort of threw himself out without contact in what might have been a blown spot. Back in, thumb to the eye by Eddie and an overhead throw for two. Enziguri for two. Superplex for two as Dean is caught calling a spot in the pin. Yeesh. Tilt-a-Whirl backbreaker, but then Dean reverses a sunset flip for two. Eddie flips out something and gets the first pin. SECOND FALL… and the fans are still chanting ‘please don’t go.’ Dropkick to the knee by Dean but Eddie no-sells and hits a german suplex for two. Eddie goes to pick up Dean but gets shoulderblocked in the knee and dropkicked down. Figure-four by Dean but Eddie gets a leg free, so Dean just works on the leg he has. Eddie gets to the ropes but Dean kicks away in the corner. Eddie tries to flip out of a corner move but gets caught by Dean with an Alabama Slam. Dean slaps on the Texas Cloverleaf (man, he’s just traveling to all the hillbilly states) to get the submission. THIRD FALL… and Eddie jumps in the ring with an uppercut but Dean hits a stiff ass clothesline in the corner and a SICK brainbuster for two. Anyone that says that Malenko was robotic in the ring is wrong. If anything, when he got intense he was like the terminator. And the Terminator wasn’t robotic. He was cyboric. Big difference. They fight to the outside where Eddie gets flung into the guardrail, then back in another stiff clothesline by Dean. Dean loads up Eddie and hits a Tigerbomb for two. Tornado DDT out of nowhere by Eddie and now things are really cooking. Eddie hits a brainbuster of his own, although his version of it was never very brainbusterish if that makes sense, more of a snapping suplex then anything. Eddie climbs and hits the frogsplash… for two. Rana for two. MDK bomb off the second rope for two. Another tornado DDT goes nowhere as Dean throws Eddie through the air like a ragdoll. Exploding gutbuster by Dean but he gets cocky and takes too long to cover for two. Rollup for two by Eddie but then Dean gets a rollup, but his shoulders are down too so the match is ruled a draw. Lame ending.
****1/4 Slow to start, peppy last fall, bad ending.
Match #4: WCW Cruiserweight Championship
(c) Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero
9/14/97 Fall Brawl
Eddie is the heel here, and Jericho is the plucky babyface who had not exactly hit his stride. He would soon become the devilish master of loopholes. At this point, I don’t think anyone would have guessed that Jericho would be the man to make one of the biggest talent jumps ever. Eddie bails to start as the fans completely hate him. Armdrag to start by Jericho. Lockup and they trade wrestling stuff, but that goes nowhere and Eddie bitches about Jericho pulling his hair. Lockup, shoot off the ropes by Eddie but he gets shoulderblocked down and stalls to the ropes. Eddie grabs a cross-leglock and then grabs an arm and some hair. He tries to leverage Jericho around but gets punked out and bails to the ropes again. Lockup and Eddie gets Jericho to the corner for some uppercuts and chops. Shoot to the corner but Jericho hits an armdrag and a chop, then another armdrag into an armbar. Boring and predictable thus far. Wristlock into an armdrag into an armbar but Eddie tries to get out. He fails and Jericho keeps him grounded. Eddie gets a foot on the rope but no break. Eddie tries to get out and gets into a pin for two. Shoot off the ropes, reversal but Jericho blows the spot, then gets a pin for two and then back into the armdrag into an armbar. This is like a bad attempt at Steamboat/Flair. This goes on forever. To their feet, where Eddie flips out then throws elbows, but Jericho flings Eddie into the ropes and hits the lionsault for two. That was odd to do at this point in the match. Armbar but Eddie hangs him up and dropkicks him into the ropes, then dropkicks his back and stomps away. Ram into the corner and a chop, then a hard whip to the other corner. Iron Maiden by Eddie and a backdrop suplex, then it looks like a mexican surfboard but he goes back to the Iron Maiden, which is like a surfboard with a chinlock. He lets go of the chinlock part and grabs the surfboard instead. Jericho almost gets out so Eddie gives him an uppercut and a knee, then the slingshot splash by Eddie for two. Gory-Special type move but Jericho flips out of it and gets his own version. Eddie onto Jericho’s shoulders for a face-first electric chair. Sick bump there, he took it full on. Elbowdrop misses for Jericho, but a dropkick misses for Eddie and they chop off. Jericho wins out and sends him from pillar to post with clotheslines. Eddie walks the ropes with a wristlock but Jericho crotches him and shake the ropes. Springing dropkick knocks Eddie to the apron, where Jericho hits a Steve Austin classical Stun Gun on Eddie, with Jericho landing on the floor and Eddie into the ropes. Very cool. Eddie actually falls into Jericho and knocks him to the guardrail. Jericho goes in and tries to beat Eddie via countout but Eddie is back in. Eddie misses the slingshot splash and Jericho gets a pin for two. Eddie hits a spinning Rock Bottom for two. Powerslam by Jericho for two. Jericho gets thrown into the corner but throws Eddie off and hits a spinning heel kick for two. Pancake slam but Eddie turns it into a regular pin for two. Weird. Double powerbomb by Jericho and then he sets Eddie up on the top rope. Superplex is countered by Eddie into a splash, then a frogsplash finishes clean for Eddie.
***1/4 Boring start but a fairly hot final seven minutes. Not the best choice for Eddie’s DVD.
Match #5: WCW Cruiserweight Championship, Mask vs. Title
(c) Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio
10/26/97 Halloween Havoc
I’m listening to the commentary by Eddie & Rey. Rey is wearing a full-body purple suit tonight, which looks terrible. Eddie swings to start and misses. Armdrag and a monkeyflip, then a clothesline to send Eddie out of the ring, but Eddie grabs an attempt at a plancha and Rey takes a skip bump on the floor. Shoot into the stairs, then into the ring for the slingshot splash and Eddie feels very good. Rey tries something flipy-flopy and gets planted on the mat by Eddie. Rey is bumping like crazy here. Brainbuster for two by Eddie. Tilt-a-Whirl backbreaker for two and then he tries to unmask Rey. Abdominal stretch and Eddie goes for the mask, which is actually part of the entire outfit. Eddie lifts up the abdominal stretch into a backbreaker, unprotected for Rey. Sick, sick stuff. Double knucklelock by Eddie, with a couple pins, but Rey jumps on the top ropes and plants Eddie with a Backflip DDT, according to Rey the only time he could ever do such a move. He can’t keep control and Eddie dropkicks him off the apron into the floor. Now into a camel clutch, and Eddie ripes the mask of Rey. He looks even funnier now with the mascara on his face, like a raccoon. Gory-Special by Eddie, then he lets go and dropkicks Rey into the face. Canadian Backbreaker into a bow-and-arrow hold. Spinning back-elbow for two. Rey fights back and chops away, but Eddie gets him in the tree of woe and dropkicks him. Baseball slide into Rey’s face misses and Eddie crotches himself on the ringpost. Rey hits a plancha on the outside then tossed him in. Back in and Rey hits snapping rana for two. Into the ropes, Rey almost hits the 619 long before it was an offensive move, but then dumps Eddie. Seated Senton over the top rope and to the outside for Rey into a rana on the floor. Cool stuff. Spaceman Corkscrew into Eddie for two. Splitleg moonsault but Eddie gets his knees up. Eddie then hits the sickest powerbomb this side of Sid Vicious at War Games… for two. Ram into the corner but Eddie misses a charge and eats the turnbuckle hard, then gets knocked down to the mat. Mysterio goes for a springboard off the ropes but Eddie catches a backbreaker. Eddie goes for the frogsplash but Mysterio moves. Eddie crotches him on the top turnbuckle and goes for splash mountain, but Rey turns it into a rana for the pin and the title.
***** Simply amazing how they could pull off this masterpiece of high-risk stuff and full speed without blowing spots and looking awkward. The best flyer match ever by a major federation in the United States, and that’s saying something.
Match #6
Stevie Ray vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
7/12/98 WCW Bash at the Beach
So Eddie and Chavo are having their crazy family feud, one thing leads to another and now they have a hair-vs-hair match at Bash at the Beach. Chavo was just awesome at playing the bat-shit crazy guy, doing nutty things like challenging Goldberg to a match. However, Eddie tricks the insane Chavo Jr. into accepting a ‘tune-up’ match before their match starts. Thus, we get Stevie vs. Chavo, with the hair match following. Eddie comes down to watch Chavo tune up. Chavo dedicates the match to Eddie to start. Man, this is like watching every Mysterio match from 2006. Chavo blocks a lockup attempt to start. Stevie gets pissed so Chavo offers a handshake. Stevie accepts the handshake, which Chavo then submits to. Even Stevie is pissed and he won. Funny stuff!
No Rating, but it leads to…
Match #7: Hair vs. Hair
Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero
7/12/98 WCW Bash at the Beach
Chavo taunts Eddie that’s he’s totally gassed after that grueling matchup. Shoulderblock by Chavo to start and then he bites Eddie’s ass. Eddie tries to show the referee the marks but Charles Robinson doesn’t want to see them. So Chavo offers a handshake and Eddie gets even more pissed. Eddie grabs a chair, but Chavo ends up sitting in it. Eddie offers a handshake but Chavo doesn’t want to, but ends up doing it and clotheslining Eddie down. High back-bodydrop and Eddie bags off to the ref, then Chavo bites Eddie’s ass again. This is like a midget match. Dropkick to the knee by Eddie and to the turnbuckle for some shoulderblocks to the back and a hard dropkick. Brainbuster and another dropkick. Stomping and the slingshot splash, no cover. Eddie rams Chavo and then slings himself over the top rope and to the floor with a shot to Chavo. To the outside where Chavo eats guardrail, then back in the ring where Eddie slaps on the Gory Special. A whole lot of nothing happens as Eddie turns it into a camel clutch. This match sucks. Release and Eddie chops away, but Chavo gets a headscissors and a monkeyflip. Chops and an uppercut, then Chavo recovers from a corkscrew and hits a tilt-a-whirl, but damage done to the back and Eddie dumps him to the outside. Eddie goes for a suplex on the concrete, but here’s the funny part, he wouldn’t actually suplex him on the concrete, he would have suplexed him on the mat, which obviously means that Chavo gets the reversal and Eddie hits the concrete. Horrible spot. Scoopslam in the ring and Chavo climbs, but Eddie crotches him. Superplex and both guys are out as the crowd is gone. Chavo slings Eddie into the turnbuckle pad, then Chavo goes for a frogsplash but Eddie gets his knees up. Tornado DDT by Eddie and he starts to cut Chavo’s hair, but the ref stops him, so Eddie climbs and goes for a frog splash, but Chavo misses. Crowd doesn’t care. Tornado DDT by Chavo and then he grabs the scissors, but the ref stops him, so Eddie gets a small-package for the pin.
1/2* Terrible, terrible match, no heat, bad spots, honestly this had to be Eddie’s worst match of his career.
Match #8: Intercontinental Championship, Ladder Match
(c) Eddie Guerrero vs. Rob Van Dam
5/27/02 Raw
Listening to the alternate commentary by Eddie and RVD. I’m actually digging this set for all the alternate commentaries. Before the match, Eddie talks about how he wasn’t confident in his ability to perform in a ladder match. They joke about Eddie’s mighty mullet as he enters, with Todd Grisham asking RVD if he would consider such a haircut. They put over Mark Jindrak’s ability to get the belt without the ladder. If only the WWE could have figured out a way to use him. Brawl to start, lots of ducking of moves, then RVD hits a spin kick. Eddie bails, Rob goes for a plancha and misses, but still sends Eddie into the guardrail off a whip. Spinning legdrop onto the guardrail by RVD. Eddie on commentary puts over how no spot here was pre-planned as he whips RVD into a ladder. The ladder breaks during that spot. Eddie throws the ladder on top of RVD, then tries to do a sandwich spot but the ladder is trashed so he weakly whacks at him a few times with it. Back in the ring, Eddie shoots off and gets a back elbow. RVD calls Leaping Lanny Poffo his favorite wrestler growing up, along with Brady Boone. Eddie pulls RVD to the post and rings his leg on it, then smashes it with a chair. Back suplex by Eddie, then to the corner where RVD tries to fight back but Eddie slugs him down. Reverse to the corner where RVD hits a wonky monkey flip. Eddie comes back with a nasty looking powerbomb. Eddie bails to grab a new ladder, but RVD baseball slides him. Van Dam goes for an Asai Moonsault but Eddie gets the ladder up and we have a double KO on the outside. BUT WAIT~!! Chris Benoit is making is way to the ring after returning from his June of 2001 neck injury. Security tries to cut him off, but he has a ticket. Commercial time.
We’re back with Eddie whacking RVD with a chair. On commentary, both guys talk about the importance of streching in wrestling. Eddie preps the ladder but this one is broken as well. Jesus christ, what did they make them out of, tin? Or whatever Mr. Kennedy’s body is made of? Eddie starts to climb but RVD comes off the top with a missile dropkick to knock it over. Shoot off and RVD hits a backbreaker to position Eddie on the ladder, then hits a rolling splash. RVD slides into Eddie with a kick, then starts to climb. Eddie climbs up the other side and hits the MDK bomb off the ladder. Eddie climbs and the DVD edits out a part where, if memory serves me correctly, a fan comes in and knocks Eddie off the ladder. We get shots of Chris Benoit reacting at ringside instead. When we come back, the ladder is tipped over and Eddie isn’t climbing anymore. No mention of it on commentary. Horrible editing.
I get that they don’t want to show it and risk more fans doing it, but the WWE in the Steve Austin DVD set showed the part where a mentally handicapped teenager ran into the ring at the 1997 King of the Ring. The kid was sparred by Michaels and sent off with a pat on the back, which was the right thing to do of course. The kid had downs syndrome, and nobody thought he deserved to have his brains bashed in like Scott Hall did to a fan running in during the Bash at the Beach 1996 main event. Well, in this match, the fan that ran it was also retarded but not in the medical sense. The fan deserved a thrashing and he got it, with Eddie punching him out and then the security guards kicking his ass too. I can’t think of a better way to say “do not attempt to do this, or you will suffer severe consequences.” I also think the announcers should talk about it instead of ignoring it. They should point out that when you run in, the wrestlers have the legal right to basically mangle you, possibly even kill you if the situation calls for it, and no matter how much you get your ass kicked you will be charged with multiple crimes and serve some jail time as soon as you get out of the hospital while the wrestler you attempt to assault will get away scott free.
Back to the match, as Eddie climbs again, then drops a back splash off the top… then covers. Ugh. RVD fights back with a chair, kicking it into Eddie in the corner. More kicking, then a running dropkick into the chair into Eddie’s face. Split leg moonsault onto the chair. RVD climbs but Eddie yanks him off and suplexes him into the standing ladder. Eddie places it in the corner but gets reversed on a whip and eats it. RVD goes for the monkey flip but it gets reversed, only to be turned around and RVD hits the flip on Eddie into the ladder. Rolling thunder on the ladder, then a trust kick to send Eddie into the corner. He preps the ladder but Eddie lands a dropkick to RVD’s knees. Eddie grabs a chair only for RVD to hit the Van Damninator on him. RVD struggles prepping the ladder in the corner, then climbs to the top, but he loses his balance and falls off. At least he sells it. Eddie climbs the corner but RVD pushes him off the top, then climbs and grabs the belt.
**1/2 Between the blown ending, the time wasted on Benoit coming out to watch, and the fan running in, this was pretty weak.
Match #9: WWE Tag Team Championship, Triple Threat Elimination Match
(c) Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle vs. Eddie & Chavo Guerrero
11/17/02 Survivor Series
Mysterio starts with Benoit, who fires off a sick chop, then a slightly less sick one. The first chop was the cancer of all chops. The second one was the flu of all chops. Benoit goes for a backdrop but Mysterio turns it into a rana, then a flapjack and a legdrop. Drop toehold in the corner and a tag to Edge for a double armdrag. Elbow drops by Edge, but Benoit fires back with some more chops. They would be the… I don’t know… bladder infection of all chops or something. I’ll stop that now. Angle in only to get backdropped and clotheslined. Shoot off the ropes and Chavo kicks at him, so Angle tags him in. Drop toehold by Edge, shoot off and Edge gets a shoulderblock. Chavo nips up from that, so Edge fires a dropkick. Tag to Mysterio who splashes him off the top for two. Armdrag, shoot off by Mysterio but Chavo backdrops him and tags Eddie. Eddie kicks away ony for Mysterio to hit a headscissors and a monkey flip. Eddie tags Angle, who comes in with some punches. Mysterio takes him to the corner, then a shoot off but Mysterio moves out of the way of a charge and Kurt eats the post. Mysterio charges but gets flung into the top rope, losing his balance and flopping off. Kurt kicks away and fires off a suplex for two. Short arm clothesline and a tag to Benoit with a neckbreaker. VERY high angle back suplex gets two. Hard whip to the corner and a tag to Angle who hits a slightly less high angle back suplex. Benoit’s was the Mt. Everest of back suplexes, while Angle’s was the K2.
I really need to stop that.
Angle stomps away and goes for the Angle slam, but Mysterio flops out of it. Angle clotheslines him instead for two. Tag to Benoit who kicks away. Kitchen sink kneelift and a snap suplex for two and two. Angle in with a snapmare into a front facelock. Blah blah rest hold in a three team match Shit just befuddles me. Mysterio to his feet to slug it out, then reverses a suplex with more shots. Angle loads up a German but Mysterio flips out of that and gets a spin kick for a double KO spot. Angle goes to tag the Guerreros but they bail to avoid it. Tag to Benoit, hot tag to Edge. Clotheslines to Benoit, spinkick to Angle, single-arm takedown to Benoit, belly to belly overhead by Angle, and things break down. Edge charges but gets caught in both the crossface and the ankle lock, but Mysterio saves. Chavo pulls Angle out of the ring while Benoit starts firing off rolling germans on Edge. Eddie comes off the ropes and sunset flips Benoit, who holds onto Edge causing a very cool (if unlikely) double pin off a german suplex and sunset flip. Benoit disposes of Eddie and rolls with the germans. He climbs but Eddie gets a frogsplash first, only to eat the diving headbutt. Crossface to Edge, ankle lock to Eddie, but Chavo saves with the title belt, whacking Benoit with it. Chavo tosses the title belt to Angle and bails. Benoit sees Kurt with the belt and is all aghast. They get into a shoving match, but Mysterio comes out of nowhere with a double dropkick. Edge spears Benoit and pins him to eliminate their team. Angle with a german suplex to Edge, then he goes back to jawing with Benoit, setting up their Royal Rumble match two months later. Angle slam to Edge and both guys finally decide to leave. Eddie is still standing so he covers Edge for two. Suplex and a tag to Chavo who does a low dropkick for two. Uppercut and stomping. Snapmare and a tag to Eddie with the back body splash for two. Edge fights back but Chavo makes the blind tag and hits a dropkick for two. Kicks in the corner pisses the referee off, which allows Eddie to choke Edge with the tag rope and a handful of hair. Tag to Eddie with a back suplex and a front facelock. Tag to Chavo who dropkicks Edge in the face for two. Eddie in only to get a double flap jack and the hot tag to Mysterio. Crossbody to Chavo, head scissors to Chavo, tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to Eddie, Chavo misses a splash and hits Eddie, spear from Edge in the corner to the heels. Edge flings Rey up to give Eddie a rana, then dumps Chavo. He tries to set up Eddie up for the 619 but Eddie oversells it. So he does it again and Mysterio gets the 619, but Chavo whacks him with the title belt. Edge goes to take on Chavo while Eddie locks on the lasso from El Paso, which is good enough for the submission.
***1/2 Started really good when Angle and Benoit were in the match, then got way worse once it was down to the Guerreos and Edge/Mysterio. It was the structure of the match where Mysterio and Edge took the beating the entire time while the Guerreos stayed out of the match. Edge and Mysterio are good atheltes but were pretty gassed by time the second fall started. Still not a bad match.
Match #10: United States Championship
Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit
7/27/03 Vengeance
This is the finals for the newly reserrected championship. The WWE actually considered this the same championship as the original WCW/NWA belt. They should have done the same thing with the World Heavyweight Championship. It was the same belt after all. Eddie apparently blinded Benoit the week before, and starts the match by mocking him. Eddie bails to the corner as Benoit comes in to smack him around like his name was Nancy. Circle and Eddie takes Benoit down with an armbar, but Benoit gets to his feet and shoulderblocks him. Eddie bails. Back in, Eddie grabs a top wrist lock, then goes for another armbar, into an extended trade sequence. It ends with Eddie getting a shoulderblock. Test of stregth now, with benoit winning out. Well no kidding. Eddie kick him and then takes him down with a wrist lock. To their feet, Eddie decides to chop at Benoit, which Tazz rightfully points out is stupid as Benoit is something of an expert at using those chops. Series of reversals leads to multiple pin attempts. They trade armdrags, with Benoit actually bailing out of the ring to a mixed reaction. Back in, Eddie with a headlock takeover. He holds onto the headlock, then blocks a Benoit comeback with a shoulderblock, then back to the headlock, then another headlock takeover. They trade reversals with Benoit hitting a shoulderbreaker, followed by the crossface, but Eddie wiggles his way to the ropes. Suicida through the ropes by Benoit and both guys are down on the floor. Moment on commentary that made me chuckle. “That’s like something you would see at the Broncos training facility” says Michael Cole. “Eh, the Broncos suck” replies Tazz casually. Back in, Benoit attacks the shoulder, then scoopslams Eddie. Another scooplam, then a half nelson on the ground. Eddie shoots Benoit to the corner but Benoit goes for a rollup. That doesn’t happen for some reason so Benoit tees off on Eddie. Shoot to the corner but Benoit runs into a back elbow. Eddie puts Benoit on top and fires off a huricarana for two. SICK back suplex by Eddie with Benoit’s head bouncing off the canvas for two. In an unrelated note, shortly after taking that suplex Daniel Benoit started chanting “RED RUM!” Eddie gets cocky and dances around Benoit, stompping away at him. He hooks in an armbar. Benoit to his feet with a chop off. Eddie blatantly thumbs the eye, called a ‘slap’ by Michael Cole. What a douchebag. For real. Backdrop by Benoit, a shoulderblock, then to the corner for more chopping. Benoit loads up for a german, but Eddie switches. Benoit takes control again and hits a back suplex off the top for a double KO spot. Benoit takes forever in making the cover for two. Rolling germans from Benoit, with him applying the crossface after the second. Eddie should have just taken the third. Serves him right. Eddie gets a foot on the rope to break it up. Eddie’s turn on offense as he hits the three amigos, hitting a superplex on the third one for another double KO. Eddie gets all arrogant and goes for the frog splash, but Benoit moves out of the way. Benoit still eats Eddie’s forearm, and it’s another double KO. Powerbomb by Benoit gets two. Crippler crossface again, and once again Eddie is too close to the ropes. The ref has problems pulling Chris off the crossface, in what should have in theory been a disqualification. Eddie pushes Benoit into the referee, bumping him in fairly unconvincing fashion. Eddie hits Benoit with the title belt, then hits the frogsplash… for two. As my grandfather would say, that’s horse shit sailor. Eddie grabs the title belt and hits the referee with it, then hands Benoit the belt as things become a comedy match. Eddie plays dead, but he hit the referee too hard and can’t get him to wake up to see Benoit with the belt. He shakes at the ref only for Benoit to sneak up and slap on the crossface. Eddie taps, but the ref is still out. Benoit goes to shake the referee awake, avoids Eddie hitting him with the title belt, gives him another german, and climbs for the headbutt. Eddie pulls the referee in front of him, and the ref is now legally dead. BUT WAIT~! Rhyno runs in and teases hitting Eddie, but instead GORE GORE GORE to Benoit. Eddie has no clue what’s going on, but is okay with it. Frog splash, new champion.
***1/4 I wasn’t digging this one as much as some. Too many dead spots, too many rest holds, stupid comedy spots, weak methods of ref bumpage, bad ending… but these guys are so good it’s still ***1/4 worthy. Makes you wonder how good this match would have been if they had shaved off four or five minutes and cut the bullshit out.
Match #11: WWE Championship
(c) Brock Lesnar vs. Eddie Guerrero
2/15/04 No Way Out
Circle and a lockup, with Brock muscling Eddie to the corner, then a push off on a second lockup. Third lockup and Brock takes Eddie to the corner and stomps a mudhole. Shoot to the corner and a backdrop. Suplex by Brock and some punching. Eddie fights back with some punches but Brock is too big and too strong for him, kneeing him in the ribs to take control. Eddie gets a foot up on a charge and dives off the ropes trying for a rana, nearly killing himself as Brock wasn’t ready for the move, barely catching him. That could have been disasterous, but both guys covered it well, making it look like a paticularly sick powerbomb, then a airplane bomb to follow. A pair of overhead belly to belly suplexes and they’re doing a really good job putting over what a mis-match this is. Shoot to the corner and Brock gets a flying knee that looked vicious. Eddie tries to slug back and again Brock knees him in the ribs to stop it. Another overhead suplex, this one sending Eddie out of the ring, and Brock looks like a total asshole. I love this match. Eddie beats the count back in, only for Brock to kick him in the ribs and send him to the floor again. Eddie to the apron again and AGAIN Brock knees him in the ribs to huge heel heat. I so miss Brock. Eddie gets a shoulder to the gut and a hangman. Eddie tries to bring Brock to the post to ring his leg, and Brock being the awesomely awesome guy that he is actually puts up a fight to make it look real. Eddie does ring his leg a couple times, but Brock’s just too strong and pulls him into the post on the third attempt. Back in, Brock does the delayed fisherman’s buster to Eddie for two. Excellent spot to display the size difference, as Eddie is almost able to lie down on Brock’s shoudlers. Brock rolls him up with a sleeper. Eddie tries to elbow out and then escapes with a jaw breaker. Brock catches Eddie and tries to press slam him, but Eddie wiggles out with a dropkick to the knees. It stuns Brock a bit, but he still kills Eddie with a nasty clothesline. German suplex by Brock that looked nasty, possibly almost botched. That’s one thing about this match is they’re covering their mistakes very well. Shoulder blocks in the corner, then an attempt at the flying knee again but Eddie ducks and Brock flies out of the ring, destroying his knee. Miserable fuckwit Kevin Dunn misses Eddie hitting a placha over the top because he’s too busy showing a replay of the previous move. Back in, Eddie hits a back suplex, only to miss a charge and allow Brock to hit the mother of all hot shots for two. That was NASTY looking. Brock perches over Eddie, only for Eddie to slowly lock in an STF. Awesome. Eddie breaks the facelock part of it, but Eddie holds onto the leglock, then releases and slams him knee on the canvas. Eddie kills the knee some more, then struggles to get a figure four locked on, but Brock fights it off. Another attempt at it but Brock kicks off again. Dropkick to the face and another attempt, but Brock again kicks off. Awesome psychology. Brock’s leg has recovered enough to pop up with a belly to belly overhead as moronic fans chant for Goldberg. Brock limps to his feet and goes for a suplex but Eddie wiggles out and hits a head scissors, then a dropkick to the knee. Eddie manages to put in a figure four, which is difficult because Brock’s legs likely weigh as much as Eddie’s entire body does. But he does get it on, and Brock sells it brilliantly for a bit, then uses his weight advanage to drag Eddie closer to the ropes and get the break. Brock up to shake some blood back into his leg, so Eddie kicks his legs out and hooks in a half crab, then really torques up on it, then goes back to the STF on the other side. I absolutely LOVE this match. Eddie is still giving up power and strength to Brock, who gets a german suplex. Eddie charges and runs into a sick spinebuster for two. Brock is selling the knee injury with gusto as he makes another cover for two. Brock hooks in on a chicken-wing body scissors on the mat, right in the center of the ring. He releases the chicken wing and changes it for the rear naked choke instead. Eddie gets to his knees and sends uses momentum to send Brock face-first into the turnbuckle. Eddie climbs and goes for the missile dropkick but misses and it’s a double KO spot. Brock limps over to Eddie and hits a fucking beautiful vertical suplex for two. Brock yells at Eddie to “just die.” Eddie is like “Give me time, bro. Get back to me next year.”
Brock slaps a bearhug on the match, then turns it into a gutwrench suplex before it gets too boring. Eddie rolls around on the mat trying to get a pinfall, then back to the bearhug on the mat. Eddie elbows out and fires off some headbutts. Dropkicks to the knee and back of the head, then a headscissors. Brock gets a knee up but misses a charge and eats the three amigos. Eddie is feeling froggy and he climbs, but Brock rolls out of the way of the frogsplash. Brock goes for the F5 and hits it, but he accidentally wiped out the referee while doing it. Brock bails and grabs the title belt, BUT WAIT~! because Goldberg is here with the spear to finish the build for their uber-shitty Wrestlemania 20 match. It’s a three way KO spot. Eddie and the ref recover at the same time and Eddie covers for two. Brock goes for the F5 but Eddie turns it into a DDT on the title belt and hits the frog splash for the pin and the title.
****3/4 Awesome match. Would have gone the full monty if the pace hadn’t been slowed down to a crawl during the finishing sequence. Four minutes to hit three moves is a bit of a downer. Otherwise, I loved the psychology, pacing, the fact that Brock actually sold the knee injury through out, and the fact that I’m a sucker for big man vs. little man matches. I really wish the ending had been, if not different, done faster.
BOTTOM LINE: Discounting the Chavo/Stevie Ray comedy match, there were ten full matches here. Four of them crossed the four star line, with one of them making the full five-stars and remaining the best flyer match by a major North American promotion ever. Only one major stinker, and a handful of fairly decent matches makes this an easy thumbs up.
