Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 11/25/95

[Guest wildpegasus]

Spoilers are in here so if you don't want to ruin yourself on a great match don't read this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero WCWSN 11/18/95 A lost classic

 

I love this match even though I haven't watched it in a long time. This is what I wrote about it on the smarkschoice.com board. I would love to hear opinions on this match so please feel free to share.

 

 

 

This is what I wrote before about the match with a little bit more stuff added in. Keep in mind at that time I hadn't seen it for a while and actually still haven't as of this somewhat new writing. This is a match I've been praising for quite a while. I didn't find the double KO dissapointing. It fit into the story of the match of each wrestler trying to be the best and I would prefer this over Benoit and Eddie being victorious by themselves. After watching the two Nitro matches it's obvious to everyone watching that Benoit and Eddie are on a whole different level. Tony Schiavone even goes on about this in the match until Dusty gets a little defensive. Benoit and Eddie are hitting their stuff more fluid, using moves that nobody was using in WCW at the time and on top of that are doing cool transistions with those new moves. In this way they are equals and in the match itself there's a sequence of moves here that exemplify this. A game of oneupmanship where Benoit and Eddie try to prove who's the best wrestler. The sequence in question is perhaps my favourite of all time where Benoit throws Eddie into the turbuckle and finishes it off with a desperation clothesline. The moves inbetween here are great. Not too long but that's the beauty of it. You can literally hear Benoit and Eddie trying to oneup each other while at the same time thinking moves ahead like you would in a chess game. Eddie hits a high flying maneuver out of the corner to irritate Benoit and show him he's the man. Benoit says, "Screw that, I'm not having any of this" and proceeds to run the ropes. While he does that Eddie BEAUTIFULLY gives him an aissist as he's basically reading Benoit's mind telling Benoit "Just bring it, let's see what you got. I'll even help you (the aissist) do whatever you're doing because I know I can once again nail you with something." Eddie goes for an elbow? but of course Benoit turns it around and lands on his feet temporarly oneupping Eddie and getting some revenge back in the process. The desperation clothesline at the end just puts over the whole chess game deal and how important it is to both wrestlers. Right before the clothesline Benoit is staggering around on his feet which is something he doesn't usually do. It's a new trick and here he's tempting Eddie to nail him who's aggravated because Benoit just nailed the last move in Benoit and Eddie's attempt to outdo one another. Eddie goes for it only for Benoit to duck and for Benoit to come back with one of those awesome clotheslines that only he can. See, part of why this was so great was that Eddie didn't know wether Benoit was really staggering around or if he was just trying to suck him in. The way Benoit hits the clothesline, the expression on his face and how he moved to the ropes afterwards put this sequence of who's the surperior wrestler over so well. It also gives the audience and Benoit himself a chance to collect their thoughts and think about the awesome exchange they just witnissed. Throughout the whole match we have each wrestler trying to put away the other with some fantastic, believable pinfalls but nothing is working so Benoit has to one up Eddie to try to win which he does. Benoit puts Eddie on the top rope and executes the belly to back suplex but even this wasn't your normal top rop belly to back suplex. THis one had extra mustard on it which was needed because Benoit needed something super to put Eddie away. But in the end and in one of the most realistic finishers I've ever seen Benoit goes too far and knocks himself out as well proving that both wrestlers are truly equals. Benoit's ambition that proved succesful earlier in the match is now actually the downfall of him. The oneupmanship has gone too far and as a result we have what we have as a finish. Schiavone picked up on the fact both wrestlers were equal saying that we need a rematch though it kind of made him look bad when all he was thinking about was a rematch when both wrestlers were sprawled out on the ground while the medics were attending to them. Great match. You don't get work better than this.

 

Ahh, I may as well as talk about this some more. Benoit soooo needs to bring back that move where his opponent picks up his legs but Benoit counters by twisting his head to his opponent's leg and using his hamstrings to push the opponent downwards into a pinning predicament. Here, he hits it better than he ever did before in his career and it's such an awesome, awesome visual that is a completely buyable near fall since it looks so legit. I've only seen Benoit in the WWF hit the non pinning version on Saturn in that gauntlet match against the Radicals.

 

The shoulderblock that started off this bout was superb. Maybe the best I've ever seen.

 

Eddie needs to bring back Splash Mountain. This was the first and only time that I know of where he used it against Benoit during the WCW days.

 

Nice avoidance of some moves that cost Eddie previously on their Nitro encounters.

 

I found this match built itself up pretty well. It went on a nice upwards swing until it finally hit its climax.

 

The fan in the buisness suit is as fun as the match itself. I think it's safe to say that he was new to wrestling and during this match you can see him paying close attention to it. You can see him popping for stuff and even one time jumps out of his seat in appreciation of what he just saw. I remember another couple of fans standing up in appreciation as well.

 

I don't want to say too much more about this though. Otherwise, I'd ruin the match for those who haven't seen it yet. Everybody should be watching this yesterday! WCW match of the 90s candidate!

[Guest Real F'n Show]

Great read as always wildpegasus. I've never been able to find a copy of this match myself. Is it better than their first Nitro match (Benoit's redebut)?

[Guest wildpegasus]

Great read as always wildpegasus. I've never been able to find a copy of this match myself. Is it better than their first Nitro match (Benoit's redebut)?

I think I got the match from a couple of places. www.johnmcadam.com has the match in the WCW section I believe but that page is down right now. Mcadam is a little expensive but I think he's reliable. I ordered a good amount of tapes from him a few times awhile ago and the only problem I had was when two of them were blank which I believe was an honest mistake as the rest of the tapes I got in that order were fine. The quality of the match there isn't perfect but it's good to pretty good. The other place I looked at which had fantastic quality on their video tapes doesn't seem to be there right now. Does anybody out there know where to get the match at?

 

Yes, it's better than the redebut Nitro match which is going to be on the DVD if anyone doesn't know. I can see someone liking the redebut match better but I believe most people would pick this one over the excellent redebut match. WCW recognized this match as top class too because they replayed highlights of it on WCW Saturday Night in a review special at the end of the year. I believe there was a rematch on 11/25 but I've never seen it.

[BUTT 0]

Yeah, that was a great match. I think I have it on tape somewhere, but I'm not sure. I didn't like the ending, though.

[Guest Choken One]

is this the one on the Benoit dvd? If not, then i'll read...if so, i wont.

[Guest wildpegasus]

is this the one on the Benoit dvd? If not, then i'll read...if so, i wont.

It's not the one on the Benoit DVD. The match we're talking about occured on 11/18/95 WCWSN show so read away if you want to be spoiled.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Great read as always wildpegasus. I've never been able to find a copy of this match myself. Is it better than their first Nitro match (Benoit's redebut)?

I think I got the match from a couple of places. www.johnmcadam.com has the match in the WCW section I believe but that page is down right now. Mcadam is a little expensive but I think he's reliable. I ordered a good amount of tapes from him a few times awhile ago and the only problem I had was when two of them were blank which I believe was an honest mistake as the rest of the tapes I got in that order were fine. The quality of the match there isn't perfect but it's good to pretty good. The other place I looked at which had fantastic quality on their video tapes doesn't seem to be there right now. Does anybody out there know where to get the match at?

 

Yes, it's better than the redebut Nitro match which is going to be on the DVD if anyone doesn't know. I can see someone liking the redebut match better but I believe most people would pick this one over the excellent redebut match. WCW recognized this match as top class too because they replayed highlights of it on WCW Saturday Night in a review special at the end of the year. I believe there was a rematch on 11/25 but I've never seen it.

Actually I did find the match on Mcadam's site. It's in the NWA section.

 

 

TAPE J1655: NWA WRESTLING from November 1995:

 

There you go.