Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match # 71: Psicosis vs. Eddie Guerrero (Nitro 10/13/97)

Eddie is the U.S. Champ here, I believe. They never really say but from the glimpse of the belt I think it’s the U.S. title. Eddie is your cocky heel here. He outsmarts Psicosis at the bell, but Psicosis come back and hits a nasty senton to the floor on a prone Guerrero. Thankfully Psicosis sells his back too (maybe legit from the looks of the landing), allowing Eddie room to come back. Really solid fun start.

This is from the period where Tenay was profiling Lucha Libre on the show, so it was getting a push to a degree, with Eddie as the main heel and Rey Jr. as the face. Psicosis isn’t a great face, but Eddie compensates enough here in a single match setting (I’m watching a set of great or memorable matches, not episode to episode. I also never realized how much Eddie works the back on Lucha opponents, but seeing a lot of Eddie on Nitro really puts into perspective how cerebral his matches could be. I just thought he did moves well and could move as a teen.

I love the way Psicosis kept escaping moves acrobatically to come back, and progressively Eddie short cuts his way back into control. I’m also left wondering who influenced who to use the big superplex: Guerrero or Benoit. Maybe the answer is as simple as New Japan super juniors.

Eddie wins with a great frog splash across the ring in 4 minutes. It got cheered because Eddie was so good and Psicosis wasn’t a beloved face in a sea of cruiserweights without a real push. This was the opener on this night, so it was a good way to start a show, but by no means did we see an epic match. Still, I almost wanna over rate it because it was so good for what it was. 2 ½ and 5/10.