[1997-02-23-WCW-Superbrawl VII] Dean Malenko vs Syxx

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Not a good match and not much heat. For the finish, Syxx is about to hit Malenko with the cruiserweight title. Eddy shows up and tries to pull the belt away from him, but when he lets go, the momentum propels him to hit Malenko with the belt and secure a pin. The NWO has another title.

[soup23]

I must say the Cow Palace may be my most maligned building as it never seems to have good heat. Action was not very inspiring here and there is something about Bobby AND Dusty on commentary that doesn't jive. Finish was pretty contrived with the momentum spot finishing in Malenko getting hit with the belt. Syxx wins the cruiserweight title which I am interested to see if people think is beneath him. I am conflicted myself.

[Robert S]

Pretty bad finish as there was no way that Mark Curtis could have missed the (accidental, I guess) belt shot the way this was set up.

[Kevin Ridge]

Lack of heat is obvious. The fans seemed to always to be hot for cruiser opening matches but not here. Guerrero and Syxx have a tug of war over the belt which leads to Syxx hitting Malenko with the title.

[El-P]

I really don't know what match you were all watching. This is really good, as Malenko is at his best playing fiery babyface, and Syxx is excellent here. Sure, it didn't look like your traditionnal fly around cruiserweight match but it was more traditionnal old-school heel vs face stuff and *got heat* from this crowd. Syxx is basically Norio Honaga and that's a good thing. I always liked that finish too, thought it was well executed, and it looked like a fuck up from Guerrero, as the momentum throws the belt right into Deano's face, which is why the referee doesn't DQ Syxx.

[PeteF3]

Okay-ish but not outstanding finishing stretch, but the "tug of war leading to accidental clobbering of the babyface" finish had been used *twice* with Sting and Luger the previous year then reappears here. That's not "crucifix power bomb attempt on Rey Jr." or "guy tries to backdrop Mr. Perfect" levels of overdone, but it's a particularly contrived spot to begin with to be used this much in this amount of time.

[DMJ]

Am rewatching SuperBrawl VII right now and thought this was pretty good. I'm not a fan of the finish, but I feel like this is a better match then the Guerrero/Syxx Ladder Match from the previous month. Malenko brings more character and fire into this than in most that I'd seen from him prior and Syxx's offense is just on point throughout. Thought these guys showed good chemistry and given an additional 2-3 minutes and an actual clean finish, this would be much better regarded.

[Mrzfn]

I agree with those saying this match was actually pretty good, bad finish notwithstanding.

[brocklock]

I just finished this and I have to side with those that liked it. The last couple minutes weren't great, but it started really hot. Asskicking babyface Malenko is a ton of fun and they did a lot good traditional heel/babyface stuff. Waltman is such a great slimy little heel and Malenko's offense looked great.

[KB8]

I kind of checked out on this when watching it in full. Decent enough and I thought both guys were solid, though the finish of course isn't great. I wonder if Malenko will seek retribution...