Pro Wrestling Chronicle

The Paul & John Top 30 Nitro Ballot Blog

So in this case I have no other ballots to combined and get a consensus. What are the top Nitro matches in history? I don’t know, but I’ve got a top 30, and they are somewhere in there. So I got my good buddy Paul (MFP to those who follow) and we’re gonna go through these and get his opinions. I’m making a final ballot off of these watchings. I guess we’ll start from thirty and work our way down, doing this in fives and tens. First up thirty down to twenty-five. We’ll post thoughts and discussions from here on.

First up… Goldberg vs. Raven (Nitro 4/20/98)

This was our baseline calibration match. We thought it was a great place to start. Great heat. Showed WCW at it’s peak. Goldberg was no slouch, and we can’t emphasize that enough. He obviously does not have the skill-set that we expected out of late 90’s main-eventers, but his intensity and facials more than make up for it. He’s not “Ultimate Warrior 2.0”, so much as “5.0”. Raven worked his ass off and the match story was good. We’re pretty happy with the first match. This may move up. The only negative is we weren’t fans of Tenay or Zybisco’s commentary.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro 5/25/98)

We liked how everything built to the high spots instead of just having high spots. We liked the commentary (Heenan especially), which Paul points out is a tricky art of building and adding to the match while at the same time building up the bigger WCW storyline picture. These guys had a three man booth here and nailed it. Both guys took each other’s moves well and Kidman engaged the crowd, which was a failure of someone higher up in fan’s eyes like the Benoit’s of the world. Paul comments that this match is great and reminds him of a high end HBK TV match, with both guys selling the totality of the match ¾ of the way in. They were definitely given enough time for the match and it showed. The way they teased the shooting star and ended with Juvy’s 450 was great. Ended at the right time. As Paul points out both men come away looking good. This was definitely better than the last match, so it’s standing only moves up.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro 11/17/97)

I love that I knew without commentary in the first moments that Eddy was the heel. The movement here is great. Paul mentions that Eddie was definitely on GH here, and I can’t disagree, but on the positive side we both acknowledge these guys liked working together. That showed. Eddie’s heel act here was in main event form. We recognize Malenko’s “stomping a muddle hole” and Guerrero’s selling is on the level with Austin in his prime, almost better. Paul points out how vanilla Malenko is with lack of facial expressions, adding how he worried too much about the technical match and it made him look choreographed. Eddie, Paul is telling me, was awesome at working the crowd, and I’d typed that just before he said it. On a critical note, Paul notes on a PPV with more time than this would be a four plus star match, but being on TV they rush to get all their spots in, and that gives it a choreographed feel. That said, Paul and I enjoyed the time limit finish, which you rarely see these days. Better than # 30, but Juvy vs Kidman was better according to Paul.

DDP vs. Goldberg (Nitro 4/19/99)

Paul is on the same page with me that DDP had great intensity and presence at the start of the matches. Page would learn from his mistakes, and we both like the psychology. Page foreshadows his yoga for regular men by landing with his legs behind his head out of the ring. Crowd and atmosphere raises this up. Page came out of a mid-match spear well, which was a nice touch. We both agree any mistakes made here are Goldberg’s fault, because we like to place blame. Believe me, he’s not bad in this match. Interesting to see heavyweights doing head scissors. We comment on the lack of a commercial break and how it makes a match feel better artificially. This was well laid out, we agree. After the longer ref bump Paul gives in and tells me it’s getting too “sports entertainment” in him, but adds it’s better to do this on TV than PPV. The heel turn is effective, but as a match started to lose us because it’s not a famous turn. Kevin Nash comes down, and the way he holds up Goldberg makes Paul wonder whether a kiss was next. Homoeroticism aside, we place this match last so far, strictly due to the last 5 minutes.

Chris Benoit vs. Curt Hennig (Nitro 10/6/97)

Both guys in this match are dead. Wrestling is so fucked up. Benoit’s trunks have a distracting black patch in between the legs, making it seem as though he has either shat his pants, or sewed on a leather apparatus of some sort. Either thought sickens me. Paul has a good thought: Hennig joining the NWO was a waste of time and talent. He should have stayed with the Horseman as a strong face as a built up credible good guy hope. We bullshit great booking ideas for 1997 WCW that will never be. Oh yeah, there’s a match going on. Hennig’s intensity in the first half was really surprising. Paul popped for that and the finish. “Nice little TV match”. This was short.

Match order so far:
30. Chris Benoit vs. Curt Hennig (Nitro 10/6/97)
29. DDP vs. Goldberg (Nitro 4/19/99)
28. Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro 11/17/97)
27. Goldberg vs. Raven (Nitro 4/20/98)
26. Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro 5/25/98)