[1995-08-01-ECW-TV] Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

While Eddy definitely got over through his ring work in ECW, looking back, I would say Paul Heyman pigeonholed him too much. They didn't bother putting any type of storyline with these matches, and by this point, Eddy had stopped doing the cheating mixed in with highspots that made the Scorpio match so fun. The difference in crowd reaction between that match and this match, despite this match likely being technically better, tells the story. So this is another beautiful match, but once you get past the execution, there's really no substance, and nothing at all going for it. That makes this the kind of match that doesn't hold up. I think it's pretty common knowledge that matches that have a really strong sense of psychology look much better when watching old footage than those that were just athletically impressive. Obviously, those can do both are the classics. This isn't a classic.

 

Even when you look at the nature of the wrestling, there's no real point to it. Neither guy is really established as being better than the other guy. No moves have greater meaning than other moves. "Let's throw out a great match for no other reason than having a great match" seemed like a pretty odd idea to veteran promoters at the time, and time has proven them right. Eddy does the clothesline after the match because he doesn't like that he lost, but he wasn't working bell-to-bell as a heel, so it was all for naught.

[Tim Evans]

Watching Eddy in ECW, I just keep wondering what Art Barr would have been like in ECW? This wasn't horrible but was kinda boring like the fans were chanting early on. Eddy should have played the heel more in this since it was in Dean's hometown.

[PeteF3]

I liked this the best of the series so far, but all of Loss' points are spot-on. This is Heyman as Mr. Burns: baseball coach, shouting, "You, Strawberry! Hit a home run!" There's no story or direction to any of these matches besides, "These two are evenly matched." That's fine as a baseline, but the match or the series has to go somewhere. Compare and contrast to something like Robinson vs. Bockwinkel in 1980 All-Japan, which also brought the "parity" storyline but realized that that's part 1 of a story, not *the* story. The contrast in personalities between Billy and Nick was brought out more, and as the match went on you had a pivotal turning point when Robinson hurt his knee doing his backbreaker, allowing them to focus on something else. Here...well, it's less of a spotfest than a Sabu match or the Hayabusa/Awesome match we just saw, since these guys are better at transitions and matwork and little things in general. But all in all it's basically a technical spotfest. Styles brings up that we're in Deano's hometown and this is his last shot at the TV title, but none of that comes through in the match either. Some heeling by Eddy or a sense of desperation from Malenko would have been welcomed. Also this match is another one hurt by the editing, and this time it's really annoying constantly going to the same smarky signs in the front row.

 

Eddy's hammerlock into a spinning crucifix-style pin was absolutely gorgeous, by the way. I don't know why I've never seen that spot before or since.

[Zenjo]

16m was shown. They also seemed to clip out a fair amount with shoddy editing. That made it feel a bit disjointed and hurt the viewing experience. From a technical standpoint there's some nice wrestling here. It would require a more clearly defined structure or something in the way of psychology to make this into anything meaningful. The vibe was 'We're trying to have a good match' rather than 'I don't like this guy' or 'I really want to win'. Every face vs heel match has a baseline level of psychology that this dips below. They're trying to import the Puro-esque athletic contest feel, yet it doesn't quite come across like that either.