Guest Benjie Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Chris Benoit vs. Rey Mysterio, 3/10/02 Having watched quite a lot of Guerrero vs. Mysterio matches lately, I felt as though I needed to watch Mysterio?s match with Benoit just to see how I would view it now. Watching this match showed me just how much Benoit has declined in just one year. Up to a point, he was great last year, but this year he isn?t being inventive. I agree with the sentiments that he?s comfortable with just chopping his way through matches and landing multiple German Suplexes and deeming it acceptable. He is certainly inventive in this match and having Mysterio in there to provide for his usual cool spots makes for a great match. The opening of the match was had some fantastic action. Benoit established himself as the aggressor with some mean strikes to the head as well as targeting Mysterio?s back with a backbreaker and a hard Irish whip to the corner, which Mysterio did well to put over as legitimate damage. This all lead to Benoit getting cocky and Rey punished him for it by landing a few high flying moves in a quick burst of offence that was so pleasing to the eye. Mysterio?s offence stopped when Benoit threw him up in the air and Rey landed back-first on Benoit?s knee. The spot was something that Benoit isn?t today and that is inventive and it was a great way to transition onto Benoit?s offence for a while. Benoit is fantastic at portraying the methodical wrestler and he does it well in this match. His offence felt as though he was thinking at what he was doing and because he displayed a great deal of aggression, his offence never became dull. His offence was fairly simple as well. It included a German Suplex (which looked tremendous as it was a counter to Mysterio?s wheelbarrow bulldog), back body drop, a back Suplex and simple hard Irish whips into the turnbuckles. But because he spaced them out in between submissions and also giving Mysterio a few openings to land two or three high flying moves Benoit?s simple offence have more impact. The stretch at the end as expected is crazy. The highlight was when Benoit used the same counter of the 619 that he used in the No Mercy match but landed a shoulder breaker and the Air Canada for a hot near fall. The finish with Angle interfering should do no harm to anyone?s enjoyment as it is kept to the absolute minimal and played off their feud and what had happened earlier in the show as well. **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Real F'n Show Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 Excellent write up of an excellent match. It's sad that these two hardly ever wrestled each other (this being an exception), as they could have had tons of classics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 9, 2005 Report Share Posted August 9, 2005 I believe this is the first and only singles match they've had against each other, and I agree that it was a fantastic match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Benjie Posted August 29, 2005 Report Share Posted August 29, 2005 s17.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3AS40RU1RJ33F1JZ2SM9NI96TH I thought I might as well put a link of the match here as someone asked me to up it for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Benjie Posted September 2, 2005 Report Share Posted September 2, 2005 Eddie Guerrero vs. Rob Van Dam, 27/05/02 The match is often praised as one of the best WWE matches from 2002 but I would comfortably say that Eddie was in about two or three matches that were at least better than it, and RVD?s match with Benoit at SummerSlam could be argued as the stronger match. The ladder match itself has a few drawbacks. One of them being that I wasn?t a fan of the first half, as they didn?t do much with it. All it consisted of was Eddie beating RVD down with stomps and right hands with not much depth to the work. I thought they could?ve used the ladder a bit more as I was dieing for them to pull out a big spot. RVD?s selling in the match is great at times and then at times poor. At various points throughout the match Eddie hit RVD?s leg with the steel chair and I think Eddie was trying to use it as an Achilles heel for RVD where whenever RVD was on the offensive end for a bit all Eddie had to do was target the leg and he?d be back in control. However, RVD didn?t pick up on it and just brushed it aside, which was a shame because it could?ve added more heat to the match but would?ve also improved RVD?s performance. The botch Five-Star Frog Splash was a real shame as well. What they did manage to do well though was make the second half of the match exciting. The spots that they nailed were all of high-quality, with my favourite being the Slingshot Senton Eddie nailed from the top of the ladder and of course the Sunset Powerbomb which never gets boring. Not to be outdone though, RVD also provided his usual innovative offence but if I?m honest I wasn?t really enthralled by anything he did, which is half of the reason why the botched Frog Splash was a real shame. To his credit, he did take punishment from Eddie well. I liked this quite a bit, but I don?t think it was a great match by any means. I think Eddie and Rey had a better match or at least a match of a similar level a few weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted September 2, 2005 Report Share Posted September 2, 2005 The best thing I can say about this match is that it was falling apart at the seams constantly, and Eddy refused to let it go completely asunder. Great performance by Guerrero in carrying Rob Van Dam through a pro wrestling thunderstorm, but the match itself is nothing - at all - to write home about because of those very flaws. Most will be hard pressed to find a better performance from an individual though, at least one where they're having to deal with opponents blowing everything left and right and a fan running in and practically trying to shove Eddy off of the ladder, only for Eddy to salvage it all into something watchable. For 2002 clusterfucks that aren't good matches, this is smoked by the Edge match just after Unforgiven on Smackdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Famous Mortimer Posted September 2, 2005 Report Share Posted September 2, 2005 For 2002 clusterfucks that aren't good matches, this is smoked by the Edge match just after Unforgiven on Smackdown. I love this match, but Loss is right about the Edge match...having the Edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted November 13, 2005 Report Share Posted November 13, 2005 *bump* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 I thought it was a really good match. I was wondering what everybody's take on them piping the crowd noise. I feel a hot crowd can only help a match, but this crowd wasn't hot. Would you rather them pipe it in, or leave it as is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monday Night Jericho Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 I've not seen Eddy/RVD since it happened (I do remember a match they had at a WWE PPV the same year being pretty damn good... and featured a great performance from Guerrero), but last time I watched that Edge/Eddy match (which was, baring in mind, a couple of years ago at least) I was soured by all the contrived spots they did near the end; it's not really something I'd expect in a Guerrero match. I'd like to hear some other thoughts on it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Real F'n Show Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 I disagree. While they're chemistry isn't the greatest, it's far from bad. This match was a fine example of not the greatest but far from bad here. They seemed to work a lot better together in the tag matches from the Smackdown 6 era and also in WCW in the spring of '99. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Chris Jericho & Christian vs. Booker T & Goldust 12/23/02 One of the matches that I see Loss heap praise on is the No Mercy tag between Booker & Goldust vs. Christian & Jericho. I haven't seen the No Mercy tag in awhile but I know it was getting hot before the ropes break. However, I did get to see the match between the two teams that took place on RAW 12/23/02. I thought this one ran circles around the No Mercy tag and that isn't a knock on that match so much as it is praise for this one. Well, the tag match is more story driven than move driven but I was happily surprised at the lack of blown moves considering that Booker, Goldust and Jericho have all been criticized heavily for their poor execution. For those who don't remember, Goldust was under fire for being the weak link of his team and urging Booker to find another partner. The main story of the match is that Goldust and Booker would break-up if they lost and everytime that Booker and Goldust gained the upper-hand, something would happen to cast doubt on a victory. Early in the match, it appeared they won but the ref ordered the match restarted. I usually hate these kind of moments but it fit by making the crowd doubt the outcome. The rest of the match was a showcase of how many false finishes can be incorporated to cast doubt on the outcome of a match. Whether it was Jericho reversing the Curtain Call, trapping Goldust in the Walls while Booker was unable to help, Jericho using the ropes for leverage in an illegal pin that the ref did not see, to Jericho setting up the Lionsault with the bulldog, it semeed like they had exhausted the possible situations in which Bookdust could win. After the restart, the match seemed to be arranged for the inevitable crowd let down but the crowd was going absolutely nuts at the ending and deservedly so. It was Goldust who won the titles for his team and a perfect moment of redemption that usually isn't captured in WWE TV matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 I agree that this was a really good match, and I'd put it above the No Mercy match as well. Sadly, I haven't seen it since it aired live, but I have the full seasons of Raw and Smackdown for 2002 on the way, so I can go through all of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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