Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match # 40: Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro 7/15/96)

Cute little trick that gets me right into this one: Benoit makes the ref check Eddie’s boots for paraphernalia then attacks his occupied opponent. The kind of tricks Guerrero would use later in his career in his “cheat to win” mode.

Benoit was such a tight worker. Even with the camera guys on the apron in the corner it looks like a legit serious beating. Guerrero sells better with the right guy across the ring with him, and The Crippler was one of those guys. Lots of little tricks of the trade that I like involving choking, grabbing the hair, and kicks to the gut that a lot of people walk through.

Guerrero goes on offense with a great body press off the top to the outside. He was developing some good signature stuff by this point. Benoit keeps cutting him off with some really solid moves. Every hope spot from Eddie gets a cheer and every cut off gets an “oh”. There is still a bit of soullessness to the match, as things happen quickly without a full connection to the fans. That’s always true of all the great wrestling technicians before they get to a main event level though. Benoit’s power bomb is one of several moves that probably hurts for real to take.

There are some timing issues as Benoit slows it down at an odd point where the fans aren’t ready to get to hot for Eddie, but a Guerrero superplex gets them on serve, so to speak. A chop battle really highlights the intensity of this one. They both fall over the top rope and Eddie starts selling the knee, but then stops. Malenko comes out to attack Benoit, who I thought was the heel here. Just shows how little care was put into booking these guys seriously. Perhaps I missed something. Guerrero wins when Benoit can’t make the count back into the ring and he does in 9:30. Good stuff that would have been much more given 5 more minutes. 3 stars and 6.3/10.