This is, on paper, is a great match. Kidman works awesomely with Juvy, and Rey works well with both Juvy and Eddie. So all that has to fall into place is Kidman matching up with Eddie, which I can’t imagine would be a bad. Let’s do this.

This match was during the horrible, yet forgettable, LWO (Latino World Oder) gimmick. Eddie is barking orders and generally being mean to Juvy; playing the evil leader. Eddie totally makes this match work early, from his control to his selling, he gets everything over and plays a great whiny somewhat fearful heel. You’d think it would be Rey that would shine, but Eddie makes it go.

Then they pair Kidman and Juvy, which is smart match layout. The story is Juvy trying to gain the favor of his unaccepting boss, Eddie G. While doing this well, he falters to both Rey Jr. and Kidman, and everything here is sold good impactful stuff, right down to the high spots and chops. The little that Kidman interacts with Eddie is fine stuff, though this match loses steam with all four men in the ring (Eddie fighting with Juvy at times). The babyfaces are in control when we go to commercial, and when it’s back we’re in the middle of the heat. It switches from Kidman to Rey, with Eddie visibly working the hardest to make this work.

The match was surprisingly lacking much heat, though the effort was there much of the time. Eddie pulled out an awesome Gori Special that ended with a spinning neck breaker. A lot of nearfalls that involve the face on the apron breaking up a pin. They heel control does get a little monotonous, but the crowd comes more alive from it, so I can’t really call it bad. Kidman actually saves Rey from the turnbuckle by using his own body, which is odd logic, but it allows Kidman to get the hot tag. Crazy Mid South sized back body drops! The faces hit some big spots for near falls. Phenomenal spots where Eddie tosses Rey into Kidman, perched on the top rope, and Juvy seconds later hits a crazy dive on Rey (on the floor). Eddie wins for his team with the Frog Splash in over 14 minutes. This one had some really good moments, and Eddie was at the heart of it. Nothing mind blowing as it wandered at times, but it hit it’s mark by the end. 3 and 6/10.

This disk keeps getting better and better. There’s no way an Eddie and Rey Jr. match can suck. This might be my third straight 3 ½ – plus rated match. My hopes are high.

We get a heel Eddie on the mic running down Rey as he stands there. Eddie is in his L.W.O. phase, which was pretty lame, but won’t limit his work. A burst of Lucha to start, and Eddie gets the advantage via sending Rey face first into the steel guardrails. Eddie pulls out a side suplex I’ve never seen him do before. Very Jumbo Tsuruta. This is a dome show, by the way, but I’m not sure if it’s the Georgia, Astro, or Super Dome. Nope, it’s the TWA Dome in St. Louis. Eddie keeps beating on Rey, with pacing breaks for heat (something Bret Hart always did well, and so does Eddie G.), and rips the mask. Match story via the announcers is Eddie trying to injure Rey before the next PPV.

Rey makes a small head scissors come back and Eddie does a great chop-block from the floor into the ring, damaging Rey’s knee braced left leg. Eddie goes right to work on the knee with some nifty submissions and strikes. The match at times gets a little dull, but it’s not like Eddie’s work is bad, just a lot of selling by Rey. I guess I’m not as much a fan of the underdog getting worked over without many hope spots. Another problem I have is Rey forgetting to sell the knee halfway through the match. Rey’s comeback is full of fun “movez” and Eddie selling, but this was tough to sell to a domed crowd, and I couldn’t fully invest in it, even as Rey Jr. was kicking out of some good near falls. Then there’s a ref bump, and it becomes completely nonsensical. I won’t go into it, but Kidman accidentally hits Rey, causing Eddie to win. It’s all to set up a three way that was already announced. It was a lame finish. 3 and 6/10.

Eddie jumps him from behind in the aisle and it’s on! Ultimo tries to get it together, but Eddie hits a rolling DDT to take full control. Just as that happens Ultimo reverses out of a move, locks in the Dragon sleeper, and Eddie taps to a huge pop just shy of the two minute mark. Eddie attacks him after, but that’s the whole match. ¾ and 1/10.

This is the match that was set up at the end of our last match (Match # 78: Guerrero vs Mysterio). Eddie is the WCW cruiserweight champ here, and as we begin the match the announcers are talking about the recently acquired Bret Hart. That’s right, we’re in the midst of Montreal Screw Job hysteria.

Eddie takes control early and he’s definitely getting a crowd response. They actually pop for Malenko’s offense, and Dean was never a huge fan favorite (he had a good run against Jericho on Nitro). There’s nothing to descript I can tell you about the first half of the match. Eddie does a great groveling heel at one point midway through. There’s a good flow, but nothing stands out until Eddie kicks out Dean’s knee and takes full control. Guerrero moves so well in this match that you really wonder what would have happened had he not been injured in a car accident and gotten so much bigger in WWE.

Eddie makes the match flow with his movement, and Malenko makes it work with his counter moves off Eddie. Great suplex in there that I can’t remember the name of for the life of me. They tease the Texas Cloverleaf once or twice. Guerrero hit the super plex but can’t capitalize. Malenko with a back drop superplex. They milk the ten count. No, that’s the finish in about nine minutes. Double ten count with no winner. A good tease towards a PPV match and a good showing from both. 3 ¼ and 6/10.

Hell yes. If I’ve seen too much post-prime Flair vs Savage on this ballot, I’ve certainly not seen my fill of this match up. Both guys in their prime, and this is only a week or two after their famous Halloween Havoc match.

Eddie jumps Rey at the bell. He gets huge heat and plays it up. He goes right to the big back work on Rey, as in many of their matches. Rey looks like he’s just rtying stuff out on the fly as he makes the babyface come back. Eddie bumps for all the head scissors and Lucha offense. Not quite as tight as some of their other matches, but still a lot of fun stuff. These guys never had a horrible match that I’ve seen. Eddie catches Rey with the superplex to start his second control segment. People love the Rey hope spots and flash pins.

This was a little slower and back and forth than their other matches, including a couple rest holds. Looks like they try a bunch of new things and accomplish about half. Not a knock with these guys, just an observation. The crowd has stayed with it and it’s not bad. Eddie’s frog splash is bad ass, but then he stands up and looks around before the awkward pin. The win feels anticlimactic, and was a bit of an indicator for how the match felt as a whole. Malenko comes in for a wordless stare down with your new WCW Cruiserweight champ, Eddie Guerrero. 2 ¾ and 5.5/10.

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.

Ah, the great debate. Was Ultimo over-rated or under-rated. I use to think under-rated. Recently, I’m leaning towards over-rated. I’m hoping Eddie working heel in this helps swing me back towards thinking Ultimo needs more accolades. Good news: Ultimo is out with no Sonny Ono in sight. There’s a belt on the line, but they aren’t saying what it is yet. As a side note, this match wasn’t listed on a Meltzer star rating resource site, but the main event of Benoit vs Hennig was. What gives?

Don’t get me wrong, Ultimo does a lot of flashy stuff and lands most of it, but I get the impression he has his set of 8-10 spots/moves and he’s a robot doing them. It’s like if he really had to deviate and call it one the fly, show some passion, ne might be lost. That being said he certainly does what he does well, but I’m reminded of an early WWE knock on CM Punk: “he simulates good work”. That may apply here.

No matter. Eddie is the ring general heel here and he makes sure everything looks tight and is sold accordingly. He controls the first half of the match until Ultimo goes through his rolodex and hits a dive at the end. After I write all thee above Ultimo hits a nice modified release German suplex and sells well while still trying to make a cover. Ultimo goes through some reversals to get his Dragon Sleeper, but Eddie makes the ropes and eventually hits a tornado DDT. He follows that up by going ¾ across the ring for the Frog Splash and the win in about 6:30 minutes. Good times. 2 ¾ and 6/10.

No need for introductions in this match. Both guys rule. Both guys were in a groove by this point with some three hour Nitros giving them time to perform, if not frustrate them with a lack of upward mobility.

You can definitely seem some *ahem* body changes in both men. Eddie more than Rey. Big “Eddie sucks “chant to start, so we know who is over as the heel here. Eddie plays that perfectly thrice in the first minute alone. Great Lucha to start, then Eddie takes over with a hold to sit through a commercial break (which sucks as the first minute-thirty was awesome. The announcers are far more concerned with the NOW and the Four Horseman during this match, but the crowd is heavy into this one. Rey plays the face in peril better with Eddie maybe even more than he does with anyone, including Psicosis (which is saying something). Eddie’s control segments rock as he knew how to work heel perfectly interacting with the crowd at the right moments. Too much to comment on in-ring wise.
Rey hits a high spot to the outside, but favors the knee. Eddie catches him a minute later cuts him off huge. A big power bomb gets a two. Great near falls and crushing back-specific work. Not everything landed in this but nothing looked horrible and Lucha-wise it made sense. Rey wins off his springboard ‘rana in about 7 minutes. 3 ½ and 6.8/10.

I wasn’t as high on their earlier Nitro matches (Match # 40 & 45) as some people because either they needed a bit more time to fit what they had mapped out doing, or they lacked the right feel for me as a fan to connect with them. They were really good matches, but I wasn’t ready to lavish full praise on them. This match starts off with an intensity and crowd atmosphere that could vault it into a great match. These guys had a little feud going by this time, some history, and I’m hoping we get something great as I view on.

Well, WCW did a lot to kill this match after the guys opened with a very Japanese gun slinger approach. While they work we get a screen inset promo from Kevin Sullivan, and then DDP comes out to the announcers both and they take the cameras off the ring.

I like they way there bringing it up and down, trading moves and takeovers then going back to a side headlock on the map. It’s the chess game style that I prefer because it builds better. Benoit couldn’t out strike or intimidate Eddie, and now he can’t stay out of the headlock. He’s got to subtly cheat, and even then he gets caught with quick Guerrero stuff.

Benoit takes control and does some vicious stuff that pops the crowd. A power bomb rocks Eddie, and after each big move he goes for a pin. He’s also showing more personality and crowd interaction. Eddie is less Lucha and a bit more NJPW tight. Definite improvements.

Guerrero fighting form the bottom against a machine like Benoit is pretty great stuff. This is everything I’d hoped for. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker comeback, Eddie gets caught going for the frog splash. Benoit turns into a superplex. Eddie won’t stay down. Eddie turns the tables, hits the frosh splash, and wins clean in a very exciting ten minute match. That’s the best ten minute match you’ll see, even with the WCW distractions. 3 ½ and 7.5/10.

This is break neck speed work from the onset. It’s all really good tight work, but neither guy is at the point where they are given the air time, nor do they have the experience, to fully engage the crowd in all the great stuff they are doing here. They just move from place to place, and while the movement is good, the crowd doesn’t get emotionally involved. I don’t fully commit either, but it is really good action.

Benoit slows it down and works submissions after the first minute or two and I like that bit of build to the match. Certain head scissors combos I dislike here were edited from Eddie’s routine as his career went on, and for good reason. Benoit goes with whatever Guerrero wants to do, and that’s not always pretty, but they were still ahead of their time. Benoit’s choices, like a great top rope superplex, I like a bit more. Eddie’s selling doesn’t blow me away here. Lacks a lot of emotion.

The final minute is excellent, from both men falling out of the ring, Woman getting involved to distract Eddie, a great flash small package near fall when they get back in, to Benoit eventually reversing into a roll up for the pin. 2 ¾ and 5/10.