Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story – Disc 2

WCW Bash at the Beach
San Diego, California
July 12, 1998

Chavo Guerrero vs. Stevie Ray

Chavo submitted to a handshake so he would remain fresh for his match with Eddie that was coming right after. Well, that’s one way to book a storyline.

 

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero [Cabellera contra Cabellera]

We had “crazy” Chavo here with his uncle bullying him. They had a rather lifeless match, and it was very depressing to see them try to make it work. They both tried to cut each other’s hair late in the match. Chavo’s attempt gave Eddie a chance to catch him with a pinning combo to win the match. Chavo was so “crazy” that he cut his own hair. This was some serious Wrestlecrap (even if you ignore the hideous portrayal of mental illness).

Watch this match here.

 

While predictably and understandably not discussed, Eddie did wrestle between his WWF stints. Watch him wrestle on the first ROH show, work in NJPW, and do a triple threat with CM Punk and Rey Mysterio.

 

Raw
Edmonton, Alberta
May 27, 2002

Eddie Guerrero(c) vs. Rob Van Dam [Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship]

When you see this matchup on paper, you have to think there is a decent chance of a styles clash that a ladder could only make worse. Eddie was so talented though, and he made the styles clash into something of interest instead of a weakness.

A lot of work before ladders get involved in ladder matches feels obligatory instead of something contributing to the match. Eddie’s work on top before the ladders come into play actually works because he is focused in his attempts to weak RVD. RVD’s spots (which can feel like him getting his shit in against lesser opponents) actually work as his desperate attempts to make the match competitive. RVD’s strategy actually causes Eddie to lose focus and play RVD’s game instead, as he probably had an opportunity to win but chose to hit a dive on RVD instead.

From there, they basically try to big movez to each other to give themselves a chance to win. The work Eddie did early on gave the match enough credibility to make this closing sequence feel earned. A lot of other ladder match participants could learn something from this one. This eventually came to bite RVD in the ass, as one of the ladders gave out on him when he went for a five-star off the top of the ladder. That would have been an excellent setup for the finish, but RVD then recovered quickly enough to send Eddie to the floor to give him enough time to grab the belt (the wet-fart-ness of that finish leads me to believe the botch was not on purpose). This was a great match that seamlessly blended in traditional psychology early on to give the stunt-show aspects later on more meaning. (****1/4)

Note: they edited out the part where the fan interfered.

 

Survivor Series
New York City, New York
November 22, 2002

Edge & Rey Mysterio(c) vs. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo Guerrero) [Elimination Match for the WWE Tag Team Championships]

The infamous Smackdown Six were brought together for the same match for the tag team titles. This match has been historically labeled a disappointment, but I always go into it with the intention of figuring out if that is really fair. It pains me to say though that tjos most recent viewing of the the match has caused me to feel it deserves to be a disappointment and then some.

It starts off okay with everyone going back and forth. Then they decide to do a lengthy beatdown of Rey Mysterio that really does not lead anywhere. By the time the match breaks down, Rey gets back into the thick of it quickly enough. The breakdown in the match at least picks up a lot, and it is clearly the highlight of the match. If they had managed to make the match more about sequences like that, we would probably have had a great match to look back on.

That leads to a sequence where Chavo uses one of the belts to cause a breakdown in the powder keg that was the Benoit/Angle relationship. That makes Benoit easy prey for the spear, and the dream team is eliminated. The match foolishly slows to a crawl again for a heat segment on Edge. That was just the last thing the match needed after making a full recovery. This caused to lose the momentum for good, and it only led to an unsatisfying hot tag that ended with a belt shot/submission combo from Los Guerreros on Rey. This was no good overall despite plenty of good moments. (**1/2)

 

WWE Vengeance
Denver, Colorado
July 27, 2003

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit [United States Championship]

This was the finals of a tournament to crown the United States Champion.

This match was a mixed bag for sure. The first two-thirds were interesting, as they basically took turns controlling the match for a bit. The tone was set: these two were equals in the ring, and it was going to come down to who kept whom down first. I was on board with that. Then the final third of the match was all about shenanigans and tomfoolery.

Now, Eddie’s character was all about lying and cheating. I get that. He lied and cheated to make it through the tournament to crown the champion, and this finishing sequence was consistent with that story. I get that. I don’t like any of that, but I can see how Eddie using all the shenanigans could theoretically create some intrigue down the stretch. However, having Rhyno interfere and cost Benoit the match is just unacceptably booking in this situation. If this was a television match to build up a PPV match, it would be less annoying. If this was not the finals of a tournament to crown a champion, it would be easier to swallow. It was a PPV match and a tournament final though. That is just bad and lazy.

This was a classic WWE match: enjoyable but undermined by hideous booking. (***1/4)

 

WWE No Way Out
San Francisco
February 15, 2004

Brock Lesnar(c) vs. Eddie Guerrero [WWE Championship]

This was a great match. They took the crowd on a long and gradual journey, and it was all worth it. The big man/little man dynamic was in full effect, and the broad strokes of that at least was executed to perfection.

Some of the details of the match were disappointing though. For instance, I would have preferred for Brock to keep selling the leg down the stretch or for Eddie to at least return to the leg when the match mattered most. The match also kind of awkwardly was grounded to a halt right before Eddie’s final comeback for reasons that are logical (Brock slowing down a match to wear down an opponent) but are not exactly entertaining. The Goldberg interference has always bothered me a little bit, and it would have been nice for Eddie to win in a cleaner fashion. Regardless, this was a great match and a great moment. The macro positives vastly outweighed the micro negatives. (****)

 

Watch some free Eddie matches!

Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge [GREAT match. One of the best either man ever had.]

Eddie Guerrero vs. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio [Campeonatos en Mascara]

Eddie Guerrero vs. The Rock

Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho

Eddie Guerrero vs. Low Ki

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko [from ECW]

Eddie Guerrero vs. Shinjiro Otani

Eddie Guerrero vs. Super Crazy [from the first ROH show]

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho

Eddie Guerrero & Black Tiger vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Wataru Inoue

Eddie Guerrero vs. Tommy Dreamer

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero

Eddie Guerrero vs. Billy Gunn

Eddie Guerrero vs. Johnny B. Badd

Eddie Guerrero & Booker T vs. RVD/Rey Mysterio vs. The Bashams vs. Luther Reigns/Mark Jindrak

Eddie Guerrero & Amazing Red vs. The SAT

Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero vs. WGTT

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Looking back at this DVD was surprisingly fun. That was mostly because I have never given some of these matches a close look before, and I always appreciate the opportunity to do just that. As always when watching a bunch of Eddie, you realize all over again what an amazing he was for at least the last decade of his life (I have only seen bits and pieces of his work before '95-'96). He was truly one of the all-time greats and possibly in my top ten of all time.