The Contentious Ten 11.08.10: Top 10 Eddie Guerrero Matches

Picking a match for the #10 spot was difficult, as Eddie has had a great deal of fantastic matches over the course of his career. Several are superior to this one in terms of “workrate” and even in “storytelling”. What this one has going for it is the sickening amount of blood loss for Guerrero in this match. There’s no barbwire, nails or glass, but the match doesn’t need them to be gruesome. Every cliché you’ve ever heard for blood loss applies to this one; crimson mask, bleeding like a sieve, like a stuck pig, the blood was flowing freely that night in Los Angeles. A true testament to Eddie’s physical and mental toughness, as well as his ability to have a hate-filled brawl. As a worker, Eddie’s defining trait was versatility, and though this isn’t a typical Eddie match, it is definitely one of his memorable.

* Normally I wouldn’t do this, because I’m not here to baby people. However, I would like to say that the opening graphic in this video does not necessarily represent the views of myself or of 411.

Any time Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were in the ring together, you were going to get a good match. This one is no different, as they put on a clinic battling to be the first United States Champion in WWE. However, that’s not why this match makes the top ten. While wrestling is always very good, in order to truly break out as a star, you have to develop a personality that entertains the fans. This match is a classic example of Eddie’s “Lie, Cheat and Steal” character, playing a conniving heel that you can’t help but cheer for because he’s so funny. Multiple referee bumps and Rhino interference would normally be a detriment. But for me, watching Eddie shrug his shoulders and hitting a Frog Splash after the Gore is something I always think of when thinking of Eddie. As United States Champion, he would become a cornerstone of Smackdown and truly break the glass ceiling.

Another title victory, another great wrestling match. This one was particularly important in Eddie’s WCW career because he was getting his first heel run in the U.S. He had connected with audiences as the underdog who has exciting moves and puts on great fights with Ric Flair, but this is where he truly started shining. The sleaziness and viciousness he puts into his character made his matches a highlight of every show he was on. Jericho was able to match him in the wrestling department, but this is really the Eddie show. It was around this time that a lot of critics were really starting to view him as the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world, and is arguably Eddie’s best period.

Eddie’s first big break stateside was in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where Paul Heyman allowed him to showcase his incredible wrestling skills against the likes of 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko. His series with Malenko was the best pure wrestling that ECW ever had, and it was only appropriate that their final match in the company would be against each other. Combining classic mat wrestling with high impact offense down the stretch, both Guerrero and Malenko gave the fans a match to remember. While the match is something of a glorified exhibition, the emotional grounding of the fans chanting “Please don’t go!” and genuinely appreciating both men makes the match something special.

This was a match that a lot of people raved about at the time but that I found overrated. I expected something faster and more amateur based, but instead they gave us a classic pro wrestling match really good psychology. I’ve warmed up to the match as my tastes have changed, and now it seems to be more of a forgotten classic because of the show it took place on. Eddie is one of the last people wrestling fans would have expected to be WWE Champion going into the twentieth Wrestlemania, but he came in and left as champion, putting on a fantastic match with one of the most creative finishes you will ever see.

Eddie Guerrero was successful regardless of the company or continent. In New Japan Pro Wrestling, he took the mantle of Black Tiger, the evil rival of Tiger Mask, and had a very successful career in the early to mid ’90s. In 1994, he competed in the inaugural Super J Cup and lost to Wild Pegasus in the semi-final round. Two years later, the two friends once again found themselves in the semi-finals. In his book, Eddie calls this one of the best of his career, and I definitely agree wholeheartedly. Watching them work the crowd into a frenzy of cheers by having Eddie fight of sleeper holds is a thing of beauty, and the finishing stretch is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Guerrero would win this match, then defeat Jushin Thunder Liger in another great match to win the tourney. On a career night, Eddie Guerrero delivered the goods.

Eddie’s 2002 return to the WWE really kicked into high-gear when he moved to Smackdown! His first feud was with Edge, which provided two very good matches at Summer Slam and Unforgiven. But it would be on free television, on Smackdown!, that the two would really hit their peak. In a No Disqualification match, Edge and Eddie tore the house down with a great wrestling matching before kicking it up a notch with chairs and ladders. Though Edge won the toll-taking contest, the crowd knew they saw something special and gave both men standing ovations. Eddie was a few months from a babyface turn, but it was clear that the fans respected his talent and his toughness. One of the best matches of 2002, and with the series of great matches the Smackdown! Six put on in the fall, that is saying something.

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Eddy Guerrero & Art Barr vs.
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Unfortunately, the only decent video I could find of this match has embedding disabled, but you can watch it here. Fully explaining the history behind this match would take an entire column’s worth of writing. In short, El Santo was a Mexican demigod because of his popularity in lucha libre, wrestling for forty years, starring in movies and being buried in his silver mask. El Hijo del Santo (The Son of Santo) carried on this tradition. For him to lose his mask would be sacrilege to the lucha fan. Eddie Guerrero and Art Barr play up their American history and work the crowd into a frenzy, and due to the unique structure of the rules (both team members must be beaten to end a fall) come very close to removing Santo’s mask on several occasions. In the end, it comes down to a singles match between Eddie and El Hijo del Santo, former partners battling and settling their grudge. The storytelling is virtually perfect, and if you only watch one lucha match in your life, make sure this is the one.

My favorite singles match of all time. The match is a classic in every sense; Eddie is a great evil bully and Rey is the best sympathetic underdog ever, so the characters are perfect. Eddie has a clear strategy, targeting the back and giving the match flow, and just executes every move in a way that it looks like he’s killing Mysterio. Rey responds with perhaps his greatest performance, hitting mind-boggling moves that are unbelievable on point. If you watch, you’ll also notice a trend where Eddie loses control of the match whenever he gets cocky and starts beating on Rey instead of working the back. Pure and simple, this is a match that you have to see at least once. Only circumstance and sentimentality keep this from topping the list.

At its core, professional wrestling is about dramatic storytelling. It’s about heroes and villains, dragons and dragon slayers. It’s about passion, desire, and achieving your dreams. This match is a metaphor for Eddie’s life. He comes into the match confidant and optimistic, despite the overwhelming odds. Brock Lesnar is 300 pounds. He’s bigger, stronger, younger, tougher, faster and meaner than Eddie. And Goldberg has speared him already, so he’s just not in a good mood. Brock absolutely dominates the match, hurling Eddie like a ragdoll with suplexes and squeezing the life out of him with wear down holds. But Eddie refuses to give in. He fights through the pain and carefully picks his spots, trying to attack his legs and bring him down. But Brock is too good. He keeps coming back. But Eddie doesn’t give an inch either. It’s a battle of wills; Brock and Eddie. Eddie is broken down and worn out, but he looks to the heavens as if asking God to give him the strength to keep fighting. Seemingly, divine intervention happens when Eddie’s body knocks out the referee as Brock gives him a massive F-5. Goldberg comes down and spears Brock again, but that doesn’t get Eddie the win either. He got help, but he still has to beat this demon on his own. And he does, countering an F-5 into a tornado DDT on Brock’s championship belt and then soaring through the air with a Frog Splash, upsetting the giant and finally having his moment in the sun.

The greatest tribulations will immediately precede the redemption.