Moving Right Along: Eddie Guerrero

[Guest TSMAdmin]

Well folks, it’s time once again for everyone’s favorite column from the world’s favorite wrestling columnist. But enough about what Dr. Tom is doing, this one is all about me, Mark Goodhart. A guy who writes columns that generate pure, unbridled love. That’s right. I’m the Sir Hugsalot ™ of the Smart Marks and don’t you forget it or I’ll mop the floor with you.

 

So I guess convention would dictate that I ramble on for a little bit before I actually say anything of consequence. So just allow me to just tell you how busy these last few weeks have been... not very. Basically, living in the Washington, DC area I’ve been rather preoccupied with dodging snipers until Thursday. To be quite honest, I tried not to think about the whole getting shot thing, because it just made me angry. I mean the police were actually telling the populace to walk the streets in a zigzag pattern to make it harder to shoot us. Yeah, sure Bacon, now you want me swerving all over the streets when three weeks ago, it would have gotten me a Breathalyzer. I’m getting mixed messages here.

 

In other Goodhart news, my roommate of five years moved out last weekend, so now I’m paying for a two-bedroom apartment on my own. So, in other words, I’m going to be going stir crazy in about three weeks and be accusing the houseplants of treason. Damn that bush and its rampant scheming. On the other hand, I will have no money to spend on anything. So I’ll be doing either a lot more writing or a lot more sitting around.

 

You know, sometimes I feel ashamed with myself for watching anything even wrestling related. Case in point, the Fox Saturday morning cartoon show, Ultimate Muscle. Quite frankly, it’s about the sickest, nastiest wrestling show ever. Well, except for RAW. Anyway, in this show, the main character frequently wets himself and sprays urine all over everything. I’m not joking. And then, another time he defeated an opponent by taking a dump in the middle of the ring. I kid you not. Yet, here I am still watching it. I’m blaming it on the fact that I had some of the little pink figures that came out something like fifteen years ago of the same name. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

 

Well I guess that’s all the wacky ranting I’m going to do for today. So let’s move on to the main event. And that would be a serious discussion of the moveset of one Mr. Eddie Guerrero. Guerrero has certainly been tearing up the house on SmackDown the last few months both in singles action and while teaming up with his nephew, Chavo Guerrero. So, one would assume he’s got to have one well of a well-executed arsenal. Well, let’s take a look at just that, and make sure things are as sure as we think they are. Here’s a hint though for those of you with short attention spans, they are.

 

The Frog Splash

Eddie has recently joined the ranks of WWE wrestlers with more than one finisher by adding the Lasso from El Paso leglock to his moveset. But for now, let’s just concentrate on Eddie’s original marquee move, the frog splash. Now, a lot a people seem to make the mistake of trying to compare Eddie’s splash to the one used by Rob Van Dam. When, in my mind, the two variations are trying to accomplish two different things. Van Dam’s is obviously designed in order to get the maximum amount of height on the leap and crush the life out of his opponent for an extended period of time while Van Dam himself recovers from the high impact blow. Where on the other hand, Eddie has designed his splash to go for distance and to simply get the pin fall. For RVD, it’s an attempt to get the maximum amount of impact. And while Eddie’s splash doesn’t imply the same amount of concussion as Van Dam’s, it is a much more efficient use of the high risk maneuver that still does the job on most occasions.

 

The issue with the frog splash is that Eddie no longer seems to build towards it as much as he once did when facing WCW cruiserweights. Within the confines of the WWE style, Eddie has been forced towards wrestling a more brawling style against larger opponents he cannot lift for backbreaker type setups. The only rib-targeting holdovers from Eddie’s cruiserweight days are the slingshot senton and the belly-to-back suplex. Ergo, Eddie’s splash loses some of the dramatic tension that used to go along with it, even though you can’t find a single fault in his execution.

Grade: B+

 

The Lasso from El Paso

Eddie’s new secondary finisher accomplishes its goal of adding a touch of submission wrestling to Eddie’s customary highflying style but doesn’t really do much else. The hold is basically a scorpion deathlock applied without actually having a firm grip on your opponent’s legs. In the few times I’ve seen Eddie lock on the Lasso, it has never failed to look as though the person in the hold could easily escape by simply moving to one side or another. This is mostly due to Eddie having to pull straight back on the legs instead of putting on the move while the opponent in on his back and then turning him. Quite frankly, the mechanics of the Lasso just do not allow Eddie get a firm enough grip on his opponents in order to make the move look good. It always appears loose and unlikely to actually cause an opponent to submit.

The other issue with the Lasso is that Eddie seldom does a thing to set the hold up until about ten seconds before he’s going to apply it. Given the tenuous nature of the hold, it would seem very important that Eddie prepare his opponent and the crowd for its arrival. Yet, Eddie has barely set up the Lasso at all, mostly utilizing a chair shot or chop block mere moments before tying on the hold.

Grade: D+

 

The Belly-to-Back Suplex

One of those little moves that Eddie seems to slip in when you aren’t paying real close attention, the belly-to-back suplex is still a formidable weapon in the Guerrero holster. Much like Chris Benoit, Eddie lifts his opponent, pauses while the opponent is up in the air, and then drives them into the canvas. But unlike Benoit, Eddie’s pause serves a greater purpose than adding a mildly dramatic moment. Eddie is one of the few wrestlers in the world who can accelerate quickly from any position in the ring at will. And the belly-to-back is one of those positions where you can clearly see it. Eddie manages to make it look as though the person taking the suplex is hitting the mat at one hundred miles per hour at the moment of impact. The belly-to-back also manages to cause an impact on the back of the opponent, and leads well into the build for the frog splash. Yet, when it really comes down to it, Eddie still brings his target down to the mat in a flat back bump instead of driving their shoulders into the mat. And that keeps his belly-to-back from reaching the heights that it could.

Grade: A-

 

The Brainbuster

Eddie’s principle set up to the frog splash is a major victim of the WWE’s policy of “no dropping people on their heads.” Honestly, there is very little to distinguish Eddie’s brainbuster from a vertical suplex other than when the announcers tell you there is a difference. Most of the time, Eddie simply uses the suplex to drop his opponents more just below the shoulders than on the small of their backs and calls it a brainbuster. The move also does nothing to actually damage the ribs for the frog splash and doesn’t fit in with the rest of Eddie’s principle high flying and brawling offence. Although, Eddie gets the same kind of acceleration on the brainbuster that I already mentioned that he gets for the belly-to-back suplex in order to keep the move somewhat respectable.

Grade: C

 

The Eye Gouge

This will probably be the only time I ever comment on someone’s eye poking ability, but Eddie simply has one of the best “I’m being a jerk to you” moves in wrestling history. Stepping on an opponent’s face, Eddie twists his foot all the way around and mashes the features of his opponent like a potato. No, this move has little to nothing to do with actually putting a match together but it does highlight Eddie’s character as a complete jerk in one swift moment. Always flawless, Eddie’s eye gouge is a great example of a little thing a worker can do to accentuate who they are and what they do.

Grade: A

 

The Forearm Flurry

A rather new addition to the Eddie Guerrero arsenal, the forearm flurry adds a bit of punch to Eddie’s rather lackluster striking ability. Previous to the introduction of the forearms, Eddie was rather dependant on using the European uppercut for impact striking since his punches aren’t all that demonstrative. So what does Eddie do? He strings together a stunning set of forearms that individually wouldn’t be impressive, but together get across an actual offensive threat. Adding in that trademark Guerrero acceleration, this series helps make a simple collection of forearms an exciting part of Eddie’s matches where other people would simply be punching away. But, once again, the forearms don’t help set up any of Eddie’s finishers, keeping them just out of the A+ range.

Grade: A

 

The Ropewalk Frankensteiner

This move is quickly becoming Eddie’s version of Ric Flair going to the top rope since it hardly seems to work anymore. More than 75% of the time, when Eddie climbs up the ropes for the frankensteiner, you know he’s going to end up getting powerbombed to the canvas in the end. And while that is fine in a way, since you have to transition to defense in some way, using the ropewalk frankensteiner to do it is becoming rather stereotyped to the role. I also believe that the rope walk part of the move is rather unnecessary and prolonged in that the person taking the move is stuck standing there in a wrist lock while Eddie makes his way up the ropes. The execution of the actual move is fine, although again I have to point out, it does nothing to help with the ending of the match and is basically just another spot.

Grade: C-

 

The Slingshot Senton

Sweet mercy, something that actually works the ribs! Thank you oh mighty gods of psychology. Anyway, the slingshot senton used to be a sticking point of mine back when Eddie was in WCW. Back in that day, Eddy would make almost no contact with his opponent and would glance off like a Jeff Hardy swanton bomb. Thankfully, Eddie seems to have corrected that and it constantly making a lot more back-to-chest contact while retaining the speed with which he would come flying over the top rope. So I have absolutely nothing negative to say about it.

Grade: A+

 

In Conclusion:

Eddie is one of those wrestlers that does the little things extremely well, but is seemingly losing a little bit of his fastball. It just seems to me as though Eddie’s high impact offence is losing a bit of its mustard recently as Eddie spends more time brawling and throwing forearms than he does going to the air or using throws anymore. That it of itself is mildly disappointing, but doesn’t overshadow how good of a worker Eddie is beyond the moveset discussion we’re having here. So with that in mind…

Final Grade: B+

 

So, that’s all I have to say about that, if you have anything to say to me, send it to [email protected] and I might read it. Unless I’m very tired. I’m tired a whole lot. Oh and join the SWF at the bottom of the board, its fun and exciting and run by very handsome people with good teeth.

 

Mark