[1997-01-25-WCW-NWO Souled Out] Eddy Guerrero vs Syxx (Ladder)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The Hall and Nash match is over. I really wish Bischoff would shut up about it.

 

Say what you will about Eddy Guerrero and Sean Waltman, but Eddy's 1990s has been worse than expected to this point while Waltman's has been better than expected, and Waltman did outwork Eddy here. I'm sure this was the best match on the show, but I thought it was pretty disappointing compared to other ladder matches.

[Ditch]

Eddy's 1990s has been worse than expected to this point

I don't think Eddy hit his big peak until the 2002 WWE return. Wasn't spectacular in New Japan during the '90s despite a ton of talent around him, a couple great matches in WCW but not *that* many, and some good stuff in the initial WWF run but nothing mindblowing. Then can three straight years of gold.

[Childs]

I agree that Waltman has been more impressive than Eddy on the yearbooks overall. But I didn't see him outworking Eddy here, and I do think Eddy had probably passed him in 1996 with stuff like the Benoit match in New Japan. Ditch is right about Eddy's true peak coming in WWE. But I remember getting pretty excited about him when he turned heel in 1997. We'll see if that holds up. This was not a memorable ladder match, though it was fine. WCW in-ring has not kept up with the promos and angles so far.

[soup23]

I liked this match a lot as building up to the ladder spots and Eddy being neutralized by Syxx with his strikes. Syxx also looked like a strong NWO member by being out there on his own. Eddy was able to build up a lot of crowd support and this may be the loudest "eddy" chants to date in WCW.

 

Bischoff did yammer on about the Steiners match a bit too much in this match but at other points him and Dibiase were great with Dibiase talking about Hall helping train Syxx for the ladder match and Bisch giving some credit to Eddy throughout the match.

[FLIK]

I wish I could remember the details cause Waltman's told the story a few times but the gist is they had planned on this being a lot better then it was but things got fucked up for some reason

 

Been years since I last watched this but recall liking it at tthe time

[soup23]

There was a couple of blown spots but it seemed to progress nicely to me where there wasn't an obvious example of it getting cut short or anything. I could see maybe a few more dueling climbing spots but that is about it.

[Robert S]

I completely forgot about these "loser" soundbits throughout the whole show.

[Kevin Ridge]

They avoid the ladder early and mostly wrestle in the ring. Couple blown spots by Guerrero. They are using a in ring camera trying to be different but it really doesn't add much. They do a couple dives on each other and then do the slow climbing of the ladder which sucks. Both guys grab the belt at the same time with Syxx falling to the mat and the belt landing by his feet. Nick Patrick totally could have called it that Syxx had the belt there. Very average Ladder match.

[BackToBionic]

I completely forgot about these "loser" soundbits throughout the whole show.

I wonder who had their finger on that button?

[El-P]

To me the standards for ladder matches are all screwed up when idiotic stuntfests are considered great matches. This was a very nice match to me, worked the old-school way, much like the early Bret vs Micheals match from 92, with lot of wrestling and a few ladder spots. There was enough big spots throughout to make the gimmick relevant, and they didn't do a lot of awkward überslow climbs. Waltman seemed more at ease with the ladder than Eddie was, but to say that he totally outworks Eddie here is a stretch. Underrated match.

[PeteF3]

This was okay, but for "ladder matches worked the old school way" Candido vs. Smothers smokes this to death. Hell, Razor-Shawn II had body part psychology and other smart work in between the stunts. This had a few nice moments and not much else, with some blown spots and an awkward anticlimactic finish. This wasn't offensive but I didn't much care for it, but IIRC this was still the match of the night. Fairly or not, when you promote a ladder match on PPV ESPECIALLY in 1997 you're more or less promising an epic, and this simply didn't deliver.

[KB8]

I thought this was alright. Some of the ladder spots looked pretty nasty, like Eddie being flapjacked knees-first on the ladder (even though that was probably a bit flubbed), and overall they worked a decent wrestling match built around a small handful of big moments. Eddie has an awesome run after the heel turn and we're not quite there yet, but I've always liked this well enough as a look at him starting to find his feet a bit more as a pure babyface. You could tell he never really put it together as a character until the turn, because by October he was a sneering asshole with charisma out the wazoo whereas here he still seemed a bit reserved. Bischoff must've spent a good three minutes trying to put Waltman over as a legit karate practitioner - while also putting over his own karate prowess, because if HE wasn't a master of the discipline then how could he possibly know for sure that Waltman was? - only to later tell us Waltman missed a stamp to the solar plexus despite clearly stomping the ladder into Eddie. The way him and DiBiase played up Scott Hall giving him ladder match pointers was cool, though. 

[dawho5]

I thought both guys worked hard and blew some spots.  Eddy taking the ladder to the knees had to really suck.  As ladder matches go (and I don't particularly like ladder matches anymore) this was acceptable.  I've also noticed while watching all the Nitros from 96 that Eddy as a white meat babyface is a little less than compelling.  Hopefully the heel turn and subsequent matches are as good as I remember.