A Most Violent Poem: Eddy Guerrero, Rey Mysterio (WCW Cruiserweight 1997)

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Hope all the members of the Sleeze Synod had a Happy Easter. Here is the most excellent hymn to celebrate the Paschal Mystery

NOW That is an Easter Bunny!

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Ultimo Dragon vs Dean Malenko  

WCW Clash of the Champions XXXIV

Malenko will you come up from your leg bar and let the fans love you? You gotta let the fans love you before they fall asleep.

The fans at the Mecca in Milwaukee wanted desperately to cheer for Dean Malenko to kick some ass. Literally, every Malenko highspot gets a pop and they go wild for the finish. However, Malenko and Dragon seem committed to reversing the psychology much to the chagrin of the fans. Malenko vs Dragon is my least favorite cruiserweight/junior heavyweight match up of the 90s. Building an entire match around Ultimo Dragon selling the leg is a risky proposition and as expected he does not sell in the long run.  Which makes the fact that Malenko won't work a hot sprint, fist-throwing sprint all the more frustrating. Instead, they settle for the worst indulgences of 90s NJPW Junior match meaning first 75% is perfunctory submission, limb psychology before kicking into high gear. The perfunctory submission was actually very well sold and Malenko worked over the knee really well, but I knew Dragon would be up hitting Asai Moonsaults and landing on his knees without pain so it was just a waste. It was doubly so because this was a crowd begging to cheer for Malenko. They popped for a kneecrusher for Christ Sake! Anytime, Malenko did anything besides a hold they were ready to cheer. You know what they did not want a Dragon comeback, but that was the only possible option after Malenko basically took a heat segment. I really enjoy Dragon's offense, but it is so frustrating because Malenko did such a  stellar job working over the leg. Dragon's opponents should only work the arm. The finish run built to the climax of Malenko decking Sonny Onoo and applying Cloverleaf pretty well and the crowd popped huge for it. Deano Machino was over despite himself. Maybe he was playing hard to get? ***

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Syxx w/Kevin Nash vs Rey Mysterio - WCW Nitro 4/21/97

After a prolific breakout year in America in 1996, Rey Mysterio had a bit of a sophomore slump. Yes, he would have the best WCW match of the late 90s in 1997, but there was a wide chasm between the Halloween Havoc classic and his next best match. That is what happens when you feud with Prince Iaukea and basically given shit in the summer. I did not think the Dragon match at Spring Stampede was all that special so I would hold this up as my second favorite Rey match of 1997. As for Syxx, depending on how the Eddy ladder match goes, I have this only behind the tremendous Slamboree Six-Man for his tenure in WCW. It is so disappointing they were given such a short time, but they sure packed in a lot of action. Syxx was great at feeding Rey so fun spots early to get the crowd invested. His transition was great using Rey's speed against him by tossing him up and throwing him down. After being in the land of the giants in WWF, it must have been so cool for Syxx to finally be the bigger man in a match. You kinda forget that Syxx is a normal size human when he is always wrestling these behemoths. Syxx kicked some serious ass, but also kept it heel with the Bronco Buster (never liked that as a face move) and the cheating on the ab stretch. Rey crawling away from Big Sexy was a great visual. Rey's comeback off Syxx's missed Bronco Buster was great, but left you wanting so much more, a beautiful rana followed by maybe his best somersault plancha ever. Just when Rey Rey looked poised to win, Nash came in quick as a cat to stick him with the Jacknife. I actually liked Nash's involvement as it made the Cruiserweight Title mean even more with the elite of the New World Order taking the time to be at ringside and ensure his buddy's victory. It would have been better if it set up for a kickass rematch on PPV. Imagine Flair/Rey vs Nash/Syxx on Nitro to build to it. WOW! I have said it before and I'll say it again, if only I could have been booker of WCW in 1996-97 what a talent pool! Awesome TV match! ***1/2

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho vs Ultimo Dragon 

WCW Bash At The Beach 1997

Jericho certainly had a penchant for biting off more than he could chew in this time period. The dropkick while on the top rope could have been disastrous and the Super-Rana on Gedo was. Jericho was trying to make a name for himself and I respect that. Hell, WCW was putting him in a position to succeed his WAR buddies and people like Eddie Guerrero. I liked this match warts and all. There are a lot of warts in the form of blown spots, but this dripped with effort and was very competitive something that has been missing from previous Dragon matches. I really felt the competitive rivalry in the form of the chippiness of some of the back elbows and the kicks. The opening babyface mirror matwork spots were fun until they got to the passe dropkick each other spot, which got them no applause. Good on on you Florida, don't encourage that bullshit. I was always a mark for the Dragon headstand in the corner and I liked it as the transition here. A lot of the work revolves around them knowing each other well so you get a lot of them going the extra mile to sucker their opponent in or using a dropkick as a counter. Dragon's kicks look great and he seems much more invested in winning this match than showing off. Jericho is here to win and make a statement and his double powerbomb is the perfect move to accomplish both goals. A great familiarity spot is Dragon does his usual floatover in the corner and Jericho keeps running to hit a quebrada off the turnbuckles. Jericho knew what was coming and leveraged it for the upper hand. They struggle on the top rope and Dragon bails before Jericho dropkicks him. I think that was pretty wise by Dragon and Tony & The Brain agree. Jericho follows that up by wiping him out with a springboard shouldertackle to the floor. Jericho was vanilla as fuck as a character, but he was trying his damnedest to get over with his in-ring work. It does get a little too move tradey down the stretch as everyone starts hitting dropkicks to counter and Dusty points out all these counters are great, but you got to get to the pay windah. I agree there is competitive and then there is is just oversaturation and the counters become inconsequential. The spot that really sticks out is when Jericho goes for the springboard shoudlerblock again and Drago side-steps him that was one helluva bump to set up the Asai Moonsault. Loved, loved Jericho doing a Lionsault when Dragon setting up a dropdown-run the ropes-tackle spot. That was the little shit that throws you off and makes me pop. Lionsault does not get it done. Jericho wriggles free of the Tiger Suplex and Dragon Sleeper. Dragon snaps off a quick hurricanarana, but his own momentum takes him over and Jericho scores the victory. There were too many cool, unique spots to not call this less than very good and it all worked in the context of two familiar, competitive rivals. Tighten up the match and connect with all the spots and this would have been a classic. As is, it is a very good unheralded WCW babyface vs babyface cruiserweight match. ***3/4

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero - Fall Brawl 1997

WOW! I have seen this match before a bunch of times since I have it on DVD and always thought it was good, but today it really clicked with me. Eddie was just on fire during this heel run. He was doing all the right things. He was a sniveling coward, a funny stooge and a sadistic muthafucka at all the right times. Jericho during this bland Lionheart babyface run is not too fondly remembered, but when he was kicking ass he came off as a badass. I loved his chops and late in the game he kept up with Eddie spot for spot. His top wristlock really needs to be tightened up especially when Jarrett later on the show works a way better one. I miss top and double wristlocks in wrestling.

Big Eddie Sucks chant early and Eddie hits the stall to milk it by covering his heel. On the first armdrag, Eddie claims his hair was pulled. Eddie makes all of Jericho matwork really fun. Eddie takes his first big bump when he goes flying into the top rope to set up the Lionsault. It is all Jericho early who looks like a runaway freight train. Eddie out of desperation on the apron snaps Jericho's neck across the top rope. Eddie goes to town on Jericho's back with a ton of cool surfboards even breaking out the Gory Special. Jericho reverses into his own and drops Eddie on his face. Jericho follows up with some weak clothesline. I like how Tony calls them as such because Jericho has taken a beating that's how you call what you are selling but give a good kayfabe justification. Jericho consolidates his advantage when he crotches Eddie on the top rope and sends him for the ride. That spot never gets old! Perfect timing for Jericho's springboard dropkick. In the gnarly spot, I always remember Jericho looks to powerbomb Eddie off the apron, but drops back with it hotshotting him. Eddie falls off the apron onto Jericho. It was a desperation play by Jericho to level the playing field, but not without cost to himself. They just start throwing bombs with reckless abandon and it is super fun. Everything is hitting so crisply. Jericho's release German sent Eddie flying halfway across the ring. Again, Tony covering for the kickout saying Jericho had to crawl so far cost him the pinfall.  Jericho hits his double powerbomb spot and places Eddie on the top rope for the superplex. Eddie counters mid-move (Yes, it does look like Eddie took a Brainbuster) by reversing his weight. This leaves Jericho prone for the Frogsplash.

I really liked how this match built perfectly to the finish. You had Jericho dominate early, but get caught by a nefarious Eddie tactic. Eddie worked a tremendous heat segment with a wicked sneer. Then it just came down to a crazy wild finish of bombs with each going for the win. It made the Cruiserweight title feel really important. I loved the finish with Jericho looking to pull the trigger on a superplex, which could win him the match, but on this occasion he pays the price for this high risk move and Eddie capitalizes. Great stuff! ****1/4

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Eddy Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio - WCW Halloween Havoc 1997 Title Vs Mask

When people talk about matches that you need to see before you die, this is near the top of the list. In fact, I think even non-wrestling fans could appreciate the athleticism and execution on display from these two high caliber wrestlers. From a pure execution standpoint, you will be hard-pressed to find a better match. It was two of the greatest wrestlers ever at their absolute peak just both having the night of their lives and coming together to make violent, yet graceful art. Rey was absolutely poetry in motion. Not one single flub in a performance that featured some of the most complicated moves you will ever see while not coming off as a forced spot. The springboard DDT counter and the somersault plancha into the hurricanrana are just mind-blowing. Then you have to remember, he had to do this having just taken a shit kicking from Eddy. Eddy was just at his violent best. Everything was just so crisp and nasty. His chops and strikes reverberated around the building. His backbreakers and whips into the steel were violent. His holds stretched Rey to his breaking point. Ripping at the mask, he was just adding insult to injury. The mask was attached to the bodysuit because of a previous incident where Eddy ripped off Rey's mask, which caused a Rey loss.  The Las Vegas crowd was with them in lockstep. "Eddie Sucks!" filled the ring during every brutal hold on Rey's back. They bit on Rey's nearfalls desperately hoping he would win the title and keep the mask. Eddy never let the match get out of hand. For every breath-taking Rey counter, he literally had a breath-taking counter which would evacuate the air from Rey's lungs (wicked double leg whip or back suplex) or knock him senseless (violent dropkick to the back of the head and HOLY SHIT powerbomb). Rey, though he screamed in agony, never quit. At first his fancy footwork was his downfall because Eddy anticipated his movements and could counter at will, but slowly he was connecting with more and more. Finally as he pulled himself from the Tree of Woe and Eddy slid into post, Rey took control and the crowd was cheering him on with each incredible move, the hurricanrana out of the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker is one of the best false finishes of all time. Eddie still would get his when he turned a springboard hurricanarana into a backbreaker. Eddy was poised to win with a frogsplash, but Rey moved and Eddy rolled through. Eddy looked to polish him off with Splash Mountain and just when it looked like Rey ran out of escapes he pulled out his best the hurricanarana out of Splash Mountain. You know until I watched it this time with a critical eye, it was the first time I noticed with was sub-15 minutes. They pack so much action in there that feels like a 20 minute match, but it is still so well-paced that you never feel like it is tiring. It does feel slightly abbreviated and they never really get a chance to milk any one spot, minor quibble. Eddie is just the meanest man in this match. He may have the best sneer in wrestling history and to think he may also have the most charismatic smile makes me miss him all that much more.  Rey is the ultimate underdog. That is it, he is the best underdog ever. You know how much the mask means to him and here is Eddy ripping it at and just being a total prick. They just could not fire a bad shot in this match. ****3/4

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Rey Misterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs La Parka & Psicosis - Nitro 12/15/97

Gotta love Larry Z marking the fuck out for the 450 Splash, which is a personal favorite move of mine. These guys went balls to the wall for this match and never let up. They win the crowd and the announcers over. Psicosis and La Parka were such great heels. it is a shame they never got pushed as a tag team. La Parka telling a fan to suck it was awesome. La Parka and Psicosis went off early with Psicosis hitting a nasty Guillotine Legdrop and La Parka with a wicked powerbomb. Rare misfire in a great match was when Juvy was shot into his own corner during the FIP. Once Rey gets in, they go all out to impress everyone. The stereo somersault planchas were awesome. I love when La Parka and Psicosis are shown up like when they kick La Parka leg out causing him to dropkick Psicosis. Juvy throws Rey into a hurricarna onto La Parka. WOW! Psicosis pulls Rey out. La Parka with a wicked chop, but Rey pays them back by tripping up La Parka. Juvy counters a top rope slam in mid-air and Tony loses his fucking mind. La Parka gets caught dancing one too many times and damn Rey's huricanrana game was off the charts as he nails him with a springboard hurricanrana to the floor on La Parka. 450 SPLASH! WOW! If only all spotfests were this good! ***3/4

2 Out of 3 Falls: Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Ultimo Dragon

Hey yo,

What do you when all your friends have jobs and your brother has school? You, of course, call up your septuagenarian friend and have a grand ole time playing tennis and watching ’68 Tigers World Series Campaign (Mickey Lolich hit a homer in Game 2 and Holy Shit were Denny McLain and Bob Gibson absolute beasts!). Tigers Sweep! Lets Go Tigers! Yankees Suck!

So I am going to try to be most efficient in my analysis. This is because of three reasons:

• I don’t have time to write these 10-page long comparative analysis pieces
• You probably don’t have the time to read all that
• Match reviews already exist. There is no point in rehashing it. I want to focus more on analysis

From now, I will provide links to match reviews, which will also give the reader a general feel of the consensus on the match.

Seriously, where do all these girls play tennis??!?!??!!

This week’s 2 Out Of 3 Falls was inspired by a poster (named Loss, who watches a lot of friggin wrestling) at prowrestlingonly.com forums in the 1996 yearbook. In 1996, WCW made their big push against the WWF with the New World Order angle. In addition to a hot angle on top, WCW inject their mid-card with exciting, young international talent especially in their cruiserweight division. Up until 1996, American wrestling promotions featured most of their attention on heavyweights. In an effort to further differentiate their product, WCW made the call to develop and emphasize a cruiserweight division. This division comprised mostly of Mexican luchadores was totally fresh to American wrestling fans who grew to love their breath-taking dives and cool masks.   This week’s piece will look at the beginning of the cruiserweight division through the context of three major superstars of the formative period of the division: Dean Malenko,  Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon (poor Psychosis, he always gets left out). The matches evaluated will  consist of Dean Malenko/Rey Mysterio GAB ’96, Rey Mysterio/Ultimo Dragon.

Iceman

Dean Malenko – “The Iceman” was a part of a dying breed of chain wrestlers with a very workmanlike approach to his wrestling. At his best, Malenko could deliver an interesting, grind-away counterpoint to the flashy style of his opponents such as Eddy Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. However, The “Man of 1000 Holds” often had a tendency to have self-indulgent, ego-masturbatory wankfests for matches. The best way to describe Malenko is that he is like a progressive rock band such as Rush. A very talented individual with lots of moves, but all these moves do not always tell a very interesting story. Originally, he was hailed by smart mark community as one of their darlings and a very underutilized talent. However, in recent years, it seems revisionist history has taken hold and labeled Dean Malenko as boring. By the end of this blog, we will be able to better evaluate if Malenko was a boring, self-indulgent arteest or a highly skilled artist.

Eddie vs Rey what a classic

Rey Mysterio – Between the years 1994-96, Mysterio has the case of being the greatest wrestler in North America. In 1994 and 1995, he was presenting incredible lucha classics against the likes of Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera in Mexico. Lucha is a style that I personally have found very inaccessible. However, even with my hardened heart towards lucha, I have found Rey’s work in Mexico to be interesting and entertaining. In late 1995, Rey and Psicosis took their show on the road to Japan and ECW, where they exposed foreign crowds to lucha libre for the first time to great success. One of my favorite matches of all time is the 2 Out of 3 Falls match between Mysterio/Psicosis in ECW. Thus it was just a matter of time before WCW gobbled up the King of Luchadores: Rey Mysterio to be a part of their new cruiserweight division. In June of 1996, Rey made his debut against the reigning cruiserweight champion Dean Malenko at Great American Bash. I think the comparative analysis of these three matches will allow people to see how well Rey adapted to American audiences and wrestle two very different opponents.

Ultimo Dragon – O Dragon! What a headache you can be, Mr. Asai. Personally, I am a fan of Ultimo Dragon and think when he is on that he is one of best junior heavyweights ever. However, Dragon is prone to fits of laziness or weird psychology. Dragon offers a great array of strikes and high-impact moves (suplexes, powerbombs etc), which are not the specialty of Malenko and Mysterio. Actually he is probably the most well-rounded wrestler offensively of the three as he can take it to the air or wrestle on the mat as well. However, Mysterio blows him away in selling and bumping, which makes hard for Dragon to make up that gap. That is where the Dragon can really hurt his matches. He will oft neglect to sell during latter part of the matches just so he can get all of his cool shit in. His matches can also have poor transitions due to his forgetfulness of earlier psychology and the employment of moves willy nilly. When the Dragon uses his arsenal in a logical fashion and is allowed to control the match, I believe that is when his matches are at their best.

From their July Nitro Match

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio Jr.
Great American Bash June 16, 1996 ( Scott Keith GAB '96 )

This match simultaneously salvaged the fledging cruiserweight division and made it into a sensation over night. This match is the best exhibition of Malenko’s chain wrestling being entertaining and working well within the confines of the layout. Malenko knows he cannot let Rey create space between them or otherwise face the damage of Rey’s vaunted aerial attack. If he can ground Rey, he eliminates that threat. That is the crux of the match Rey trying to squirm away from Malenko and Malenko trying to wrangle Rey.

From the outset, Malenko is one who is able to strike first with a cool looking Greco-Roman knucklelock arm snapping-thingy. It looked sweet trust me. He works over that arm relentlessly and convincingly with a great variety of moves. It always feels like he is trying to gain a new advantage or add a different degree of pain to Rey’s arm to keep him off-balance. My favorite moment is a flying hammerlock into a kimura that just looks so fuckin sweet. The key in this control segment is that Rey still has hope spots. This was Rey’s debut and it was critical to have these hope spots especially when he did not get an opening shine or you run the risk of jobberizing him.

As the match progresses and Dean is still struggling to put Rey away, you come to see a recurring theme with Malenko he does show emotion. Dean is not more relatable wrestler or the best seller, but he is really good at selling frustration at the inability to put an opponent away. This combined with Rey’s resilience and sympathetic underdog selling creates a very powerful story for the audience that is rooting for the underdog in this debut match against the champion.

When Dean finally does lose control, Rey unleashes that arsenal of aerial maneuvers, which both wow the fans and does a good job displaying why Dean was working so hard to ground Rey. The finish is thrilling with Rey’s quick pinfall attempts and all his quick counters. However, he finally succumbs to a massive powerbomb by Dean, who puts his feet on the ropes for three. The finish is a satisfying climax to this cat and mouse game. Rey looks like a champ with hot finish and Dean is able to retain due to one big move.

Most of what I have read has been in favor of declaring this match a classic, but it feels that many feel the need to defend it against a vocal minority that believes Dean gobbled up Rey for too long. Now, if Dean just sat in an armbar for the entirety of his lengthy heat segment, I would agree. Dean was really active with a lot of gnarly submissions and high-impact blows into pinfalls. It truly felt like he was trying to win a match and I can appreciate that. I think where these critics have a point is that Dean should not have immediately entered into a heat segment. In their subsequent Nitro match in July, Rey has a really cool babyface shine to open it. In that match, it really sets up the idea of what Dean has to fear. If Dean can not ground him, Rey will have him going in circles and Dean really sells that frustration in that match well. In this match, you don’t really get the feeling that Dean has anything to worry about in the context of the match because Rey did not open with anything. The drama in the Great American Bash would have been greatly enhanced by allowing Rey to hit a couple big moves off the bat to demonstrate how he lethal he could be. Since I brought up the Nitro match, the big problem with that match is that Malenko’s heat segment really meanders and is not really as good as this one. The Great American Bash match is a better complete match.

In sum, I think if you tack the babyface shine segment from the Nitro match and splice it into the Great American Bash match you have a Match of the Year Candidate for 1996. As is, it is one of three best matches from 1996 in WCW (Mysterio/Psychosis, Benoit/Sullivan), but doesn’t rank that highly in the world. This heat segment definitively proves in my mind that Dean Malenko is not boring. Can he be boring? Yes and we will see that! But he definitely can be a fuckin fantastic offensive wrestler. I think Dean’s strong suit is as a heel. Malenko is one of the few American wrestlers to always be straddling the face/heel line. I think if the booking team just went full bore with Dean as a sadistic, ground-based heel he would have had more entertaining matches consistently. This match showed how effective he could be as a yin to Mysterio’s yang. Mysterio for his part continued his campaign to be best wrestler in North America. I agree that Mysterio should have worked the majority of the match from underneath. His selling endeared him to the fans, his hope spots were well-timed to keep the audience engaged, and the match was structured to give his aerial spots time to breathe and seem more important to the audience. In the Dragon match, he will not be so lucky. 

One thing I want to debunk is that at least initially the commentary team (sans the Brain) did a very good job trying to get over the cruiserweights. You could feel how excited Dusty was to watch them and how much he enjoyed their work. As time progressed, of course like with all things in the mid-card, the WCW commentary team would just ignore it and talk about the Hogan-related item of the night. 

Thats the fuckin J-Crown. Pretty Badass

J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon vs Rey Mysterio Jr.

World War III November 24, 1996 ( Scott Keith WWIII '96 )

[The J-Crown was a set of 8 cruiserweight/junior heavyweight titles from around the world including incidentally enough the WWF Light Heavyweight Title. That’s at the height of the Monday Night Wars the WWF Light Heavyweight Title. The J-Crown always looked impressive as Dragon would walk out with his 8 titles on TV. I actually just watched the two most famous matches from the J-Crown tournament. I highly recommend the semi-final between Shinjiro Ohtani (my choice for best wrestler in the world in 1996) and Ultimo Dragon. The final between Great Sasuke and Ultimo Dragon is a fun high-flying exhibition, but the semi-final is one of the best junior heavyweight matches ever.]

Rey Mysterio had become the centerpiece of WCW’s cruiserweight division, but had dropped the title back to Malenko at Halloween Havoc, the previous month. In this match, it is Rey’s job to cement Ultimo Dragon as the top heel of the cruiserweight division. This is the match where people rightfully so complain of Rey getting gobbled up by Dragon’s offense. Whereas, the Malenko match felt like a struggle where two men were trying to win a match with natural strategies, this match felt like an exhibition of Dragon’s spots. Don’t get me wrong, Dragon has some pretty nifty spots (he busts out the Giant Swing!!!), but never feels like he is trying to win. Instead, he is just trying to show-off all his cool moves. Here is a list of the cool moves:

• Spinning Argentine Backbreaker
• Giant Swing
• Slingshot Powerbomb
• His Intricate Outside the ring sequence
• Spinning Tombstone Piledriver
• Running Ligerbomb
• Brainbuster
• Surprisingly did not do the Asai Moonsault (named after him)

This is the type of story that always falls flat with me. It is simply because there is no story. There is not a struggle. It is just an exhibition. It is fun visually, but not emotionally. In addition, Dragon did really use anything to set up his moves. Usually, he uses a ground game to weaken his opponents before he works his shit in. Instead, it just felt like pick up Rey and do his spots.

Rey be assertive. Where were your hope spots? The match was dying because of the babyface was getting totaled out there. It looked like match I had against my stuffed bear yesterday erm I mean 15 years ago. I totally mean 15 years ago.

Dusty was cracking me up throughout the match, but this quote not only makes me laugh, but is accurate portrayal of the match “This is pants-down momma spankin you whuppin!”  Of course at the finish, Rey does make his comeback and hits his visually impressive spots like his somersault plancha. The finish was hot, but the how fuck would the finish not be hot when you have Dragon with his ZILLION moves and Rey flying around at a mile a minute. They had a perfect ending: Dragon is able to catch Rey Rey off the springboard and hit a fuckin Slingshot Powerbomb (BITCHIN~!) for the win.

I have watched this match a lot because I happen to love watching Ultimo Dragon’s offense, but it is not a very dramatic match and thus loses a lot of points in my book.

Spoiler Alert: Dragon wont sell the leg

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon

Starrcade December 29, 1996 ( Scott Keith Starrcade '96 )

These wrestlers sure did a great job reinforcing each other’s worst behavior. It was a like a vicious feedback loop where the problems just got compounded as the match progressed. Malenko gave one of his tone-deaf performances where he was committed to wrestling HIS match rather than the match the fans wanted. Dragon was in full one-up manship mode and totally focused on getting his offense over rather than getting the match over. Together these two presented an incredibly disjointed performance. It was not horrible, just really weird and not the classic that I was expecting.

During the entrances, Malenko was surprisingly over with fans especially given he was playing a heel in October against Rey. Though, I think was more due to Dragon playing the evil foreigner archetype than Malenko tweaking his character. The problem with Malenko’s performance was that he would do a big move to pop the crowd and then immediately grab a hold in such a way to kill the excitement of the fans, who just wanted to see him let loose. Malenko clearly wanted to work a mat-based style in order to set up the exciting finishing stretch. Dragon can go on the mat with best of them. His matches with Liger and Ohtani prove that. However, Dragon did not seem to get the memo in this match. I think Dragon was under the impression that American crowds were dumb and they just wanted highspots. So he set out to deliver highspots rather working with Malenko. Ergo the transitions were non-existent and each segment felt artificial and in vacuum.

At the beginning of the match Malenko hit a back drop driver to a big pop only to slap on a chinlock and then have Dragon take over is a perfect example of bringing the crowd up only to let them down. This was another problem with the match it felt too back and forth with not real strong stretch to build heat. Dragon runs through his offense until another Malenko back drop driver wakes up the crowd. Surprisingly, Malenko is selling better than Dragon. In a weird moment, Mike Tenay, resident cruiserweight expert analyst says that Dragon should really be pronounced Dragone for some stupid reason. Dusty thinks this is hilarious and proceeds to call him Dragone the rest of the match. I love Dusty Rhodes and I don’t care who knows it.

The finish is definitely the best part of this match as they just say “Fuck the rest of the match, LETS FUCKIN GO!” Dragon busts out a powerbomb to kick things off and the reverse tombstone spot with Malenko executing is always a crowd-pleaser and a great false finish. Malenko hits a Tiger Driver for 2, which was a killer false finish with Dragon timing his kick-out for maximum effect. Dragon adds the Asai Moonsault and Malenko busts out the Texas Cloverleaf before Dragon is able to garner the victory with a Tiger Suplex.

The finish was fun in the same way a Michael Bay action movie is fun because it is just a bunch of big moves strung together. The body of the match was basically non-existent and did not factor into the finish at all. This match is a perfect case for the detractors of both men as Malenko delivered a rather tepid performance until the end and Dragon focused more getting himself over at the expense of the match.

I have NEVER seen such beautiful and ugly form at the same time!

 I do not if somebody got in Dragon’s ear in WCW or if it was his own perception how to work in America because it seems that he believed in a high-spot laden exhibition was the best way to excel in America. Ultimately, Dragon was phased out of WCW by late 1997, whereas an exciting performer like Rey, who worked hard to get the match over and himself became a two-time World Heavyweight Champion and one of the biggest stars in the WWE. For Dragon, I would check out the two J-Crown matches I mentioned early and his match against Jushin Liger in December of 1995 to illustrate how good Dragon can be.

Deano Machino would keep on plugging away in the WCW mid-card until early 2000 when he jumped to WWF and was totally lost in shuffle. However, Malenko now works successfully as a road agent for WWE. Malenko was a great chain wrestler, who sometimes worked matches that were more self-indulgent than anything else. His match against Rey Mysterio proves how his style can mesh incredibly well by building an anticipation to highspots of his opponents. I recommend his matches with Eddie Guerrero in ECW. I cant recommend his match against Benoit at Hog Wild ’96 in full conscience because I have only seen it once and I don’t remember it clearly.

Rey Mysterio became the breakout star of the cruiserweight division because of his ability to adapt his lucha style to the American style. Almost immediately, he understood the idea of playing a sympathetic babyface and timed his hope spots so well. I think sometimes he does let himself get dominated too much like against Dragon, but usually just the credible threat of his highspots is enough to keep the crowd invested. Rey Mysterio before his first knee injury in January 1998 is one of my favorite wrestlers in the world. If you want a good exposure to lucha, I recommend his 9/22/95 match against Psicosis and any of his matches against Juventud Guerrera in AAA. In addition, I would add his ECW matches against Psicosis and his Bash At The Beach ’96 match against Psicosis, which is my pick for match of the year from WCW and his match against Jushin "Thunder" Liger at Starrcade '96. Rounding Rey’s killer first run, everybody needs to see his match against Eddie Guerrero at Halloween Havoc ’97 as it is the pinnacle of the cruiserweight division and one of the top matches in the history of the WCW.

I have not done any tag team matches or matches from WWF/E so I definitely plan on doing something related to that. Until next time,

Yankees Suck! LETS GO TIGERS!!! WORLD SERIES, MUTHAFUCKAS~!