Eduardo Gori Guerrero Llanes was born 10/9/67 in El Paso, Texas. He was the youngest son of famous Mexican-American pro wrestler Gori Guerrero. Eddy Guerrero’s older brothers Chavo, Mando and Hector were also pro wrestlers of considerable acclaim. Eddy made his pro wrestling debut in 1986 at age 18. When he was taught how to work, he was taught to never raise his arm to get a crowd reaction after a highspot. Eddy was a good wrestler during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and he clearly showed potential. In 1992, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, the oldest existing wrestling promotion in the world, decided to repackage Eddy as Mascara Magica. Eddy didn’t really like this idea, and CMLL never really seemed to be too serious about doing much with him to begin with, so Eddy decided to take a rebellious risk and jump ship to the newly formed AAA league. This turned out to be a great move, as it was during this time that Eddy started blossoming. He wrestled in AAA from late 1992 through early 1995. He would also tour New Japan Pro-Wrestling on a regular basis during this time. In NJPW, he was repacked as Black Tiger (II) during the summer of ‘93. While Eddy did a very good job at portraying the Black Tiger character, it seemed that the gimmick limited him from truly shining as much as he potentially would have been able to do without the gimmick. The summer of ‘93 was an eventful summer for Eddy, as it was then that Eddy would turn heel in AAA after his tag team partner ‘Love Machine’ Art Barr had done the same. The tag team of Eddy and Art, La Pareja del Terror, was part of a stable called Los Gringos Locos, and they were the top heel stable in AAA at the time (other members would include Misterioso, Konnan, Louie Spicolli, Black Cat and Chicano Power). On 11/6/94, Guerrero and Barr lost a hair vs. masks match to Hijo del Santo and Octagon at a AAA show called When Worlds Collide, notable for being the only AAA show of the era broadcast on PPV in the USA. Their match was great, and stole the show. The future looked bright for Eddy and Art, but Art would pass away later that month. Eddy would go to Extreme Championship Wrestling where he feuded with Dean Malenko. This feud is considered to be one of the best feuds in ECW history, and it helped establish that ECW wasn’t necessarily only about garbage wrestling. Once they were signed by World Championship Wrestling, Eddy and Dean would continue to impress much larger American crowds with their impressive junior heavyweight-style wrestling. In NJPW, Eddy would win the BOSJ III tournament by defeating Jushin Thunder Liger in the final, which was one of Eddy’s biggest accomplishments as a singles wrestler. In the summer of ‘97, Eddy would turn heel in WCW after having been a babyface for that league since joining them, and he started feuding with Rey Misterio Jr.  Eddy and Rey would have one of the most memorable matches in WCW history at WCW Halloween Havoc ‘97 on 10/26/97. Unfortunately, Eddy would over the next several years have some trouble with personal issues, mostly due to addiction problems. During the final years of his career and life, Eddy wrestled in WWF/E. Eddy passed away on 11/13/05 at the age of 38 due to heart issues.

Eddy Guerrero was a great wrestler who was one of the most recognizable names in international junior heavyweight competition during the mid to late 1990s. He really started growing as a wrestler in 1992, when he started touring Japan and joined AAA. In 1993-1997, he was a highly respected competitor who was usually excellent, and sometimes even great. When he started wrestling in the United States more permanently, his career would slowly become less interesting from an in-ring perspective. This wasn’t just something exclusive to Guerrero’s work, of course, as this was the case with most wrestlers who would stop touring Japan and started focusing on being an American-style wrestler. But even when he was wrestling for the American leagues, he was always one of the most interesting guys on the card.

Let’s have a closer look at some of Eddy Guerrero’s most memorable matches…

ACASA 1990 Juarez Gimnasio Municipal: Negro Casas & Blue Panther vs. Eddy Guerrero & Hijo del Santo 23:05 (10:10, 5:27, 7:28). This match possibly took place in the month of January or February of 1990, but this is simply a guess on my part. Some sources say 1987, but that doesn’t feel right. There was another match these two teams had against each other in Juarez, but that one took place in November 1989 prior to Eddy Guerrero defeating Negro Casas in a hair vs. hair match at some point around December 1989 or January 1990. Either way, I’m pretty sure this particular tag match I’m reviewing here took place prior to Negro Casas’ Universal tour in March 1990. This match started off nicely with Eddy Guerrero and Blue Panther displaying some good mat wrestling. Panther was a particularly smooth mat wrestler, but Guerrero certainly held up his own during the counter wrestling sequences. Once Negro Casas and Hijo del Santo were tagged in, they displayed arguably even better mat wrestling, especially because they put over the struggle more, as opposed to mostly just focusing on smoothly executed moves. Eddy had only been in the business for a couple of years at this point, but this second-generation wrestler clearly showed tons of potential already back in 1989/1990. Eddy’s father (Gori Guerrero) and Santo’s father (El Santo) used to be a legendary tag team known as La Pareja Atomica. When Eddy was in the ring with Casas, the pace quickened and there was less mat wrestling. Santo got to show some of his athletic ability, and it was the technico team of Guerrero & Santo that won the first fall. In the second fall, we got to see a bit more of the great Casas vs. Santo feud, and they showed a lot of resistance and struggle, really selling the idea that these two were in a competitive feud with one another. In particular, Casas really made Santo try harder to apply a hold on him. The rudos eventually won the second fall. Eddy threw some well-placed kicks, which is something he wouldn’t really show much going forward in his career, as he seemingly would end up preferring to stomp his opponents instead. Some nice suplexes were being thrown. Guerrero went for a double-arm underhook suplex, but Casas made Eddy work hard for it, and Eddy eventually executed the move. Near the end of the match, Santo hit a tremendous tope suicida, and Eddy Guerrero hit a tremendous tope over the top rope to the floor. The wrestling displayed here was truly excellent lucha. Everything they did was done in such a smooth and well-executed manner. What probably kept this from potentially turning into a great match was the fact that the match had a relatively short finishing stretch, which was a finishing stretch that started kind of abruptly. This made it feel like the match had two parts, with the majority of the match featuring high-level wrestling that didn’t feel like it necessarily really led to anything and the short finishing stretch that served as a climax of sorts. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 4/16/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Top Of The Super Junior III: Negro Casas vs. Eddy Guerrero 7:28. This was Eddy Guerrero’s first tour of Japan, which happened thanks to Negro Casas recommending him to NJPW. This was definitely a big opportunity for Guerrero, who had yet to become an international star, and he made the most of it, giving a very good showing here in his Japan debut. They went back and forth, alternating the matwork with spots and sequences that were not mat-based. The matwork would see them try to counter each other, and the matwork was definitely quite solid, but it was often seemingly just there to provide an alternative to the non-matwork stuff. Eddy hit a missile dropkick into the ring, and he also hit a springboard plancha onto the floor. This was a short match in which Casas showed that he was Guerrero’s senior, because even though Guerrero showed lots of willpower and determination, Casas would eventually come back with an answer and have the last laugh. The action was short but sweet. Good match. ***  

NJPW 4/19/92 Tsu City Gymnasium, TOSJ III: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Eddy Guerrero 12:13. Liger had wrestled luchadores before, as he had wrestled guys like Negro Casas, Villano V and Black Cat, and this fact, along with Liger’s natural ability to have a good feeling for the opponent’s style, helped Liger doing a very good job of adapting to Guerrero’s style, which at the time was still mostly standard lucha. It was these tours to Japan that really seemed to help Guerrero increase his intensity and overall ability during the mid ‘90s. In this match with Jushin Thunder Liger, Guerrero showed some pretty good mat wrestling skills. It wasn’t anything high end, as it was more the type of random lucha stuff you’d expect to see in the opening phases of a midcard trios match, but it was fun to watch. Liger seemed to enjoy the direction Guerrero was going to take this, and Liger probably also intuited that the relatively inexperienced Guerrero probably was better off staying close to home stylistically. Liger did a good job of blending in lucha elements of the match with some more standard NJPW juniors stuff. Guerrero hit some neat-looking offense, including a springboard bodypress into an armdrag and a springboard plancha to the floor. Eddy also performed the Gori special, the move made famous by his father, Gori Guerrero. Eddy definitely worked hard, and understood that impressing in this tournament against a top-notch worker like Liger would be beneficial for his career. Guerrero definitely showed that he had the potential to go far internationally in the pro wrestling business due to showing signs of versatility. Liger won this match by finishing Guerrero off with a submission hold that was rather unusual and somewhat odd in a NJPW setting, but it’s the type of thing that wouldn’t have looked out of place to finish off a second fall in a lucha trios match, and since this match was overall a bit more lucha than puroresu, it worked. Good match. ***¼   

NJPW 4/30/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Negro Casas & Eddy Guerrero vs. Pegasus Kid & Fit Finlay 11:57. This was the day of the TOSJ III final. Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai would battle each other in a great match that night, but this tag match earlier on the card was quite an interesting one as well. The two Mexican representatives of the tournament, Negro Casas & Eddy Guerrero, teamed up together to battle Canada’s Pegasus Kid and Northern Ireland’s Dave ‘Fit’ Finlay. Needless to say, this match featured quite a mixture of styles that somehow meshed relatively well together, avoiding what potentially could have been a clash of styles. Casas was a great luchador, but he was pretty much only doing pure lucha. Guerrero was mostly still doing solid lucha, as he hadn’t quite incorporated more puroresu elements to his style yet. Pegasus had spent time in Mexico as well and had proven to be a superbly versatile worker, so anytime Pegasus was in the ring, the work was flowing excellently. Pegasus’ work was done in his typical Dynamite Kid-esque puroresu-inspired Calgary style that he was known for, but he allowed the lucha work of Casas and Guerrero to blend in with his work. Finlay was the odd one out, as he prefers to work stiffer and rougher than his opponents, and he is far less flashy than them. Still, Finlay was a very good worker overall, so his sequences were still quite good for the most part, but things seemed to slow down slightly when he was in. Nobody did any real matwork here, as it was just a non-stop series of workers leaping at each other in between some roughhousing. Guerrero executed a nice superplex on Pegasus. When Guerrero wanted to follow it up with a splash, Pegasus got his knees up. One of the coolest moments in the match was Guerrero hitting a springboard plancha over the guardrail to the floor onto Pegasus and Finlay. The sequences between Pegasus and Guerrero were among the best in this match, which was a sign of things to come in the future, as these two workers would have several memorable matches against each other. Casas did well, but he wasn’t thriving as much as Pegasus and Guerrero were in this match. No real stories were being told, but everyone worked hard, and this was quite a fun match at all times. Very good. ***¾

NJPW 12/9/92 Niigata City Gymnasium: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Eddy Guerrero 16:52 of 17:04. Jushin Thunder Liger was arguably the best junior heavyweight wrestler in the world at this point in time (rivaled only by Pegasus Kid). Despite not quite having hit his peak yet, Guerrero’s work here was significantly more confident and better overall compared to his previous NJPW tour. Eddy Guerrero had just joined AAA, and you could tell that there was more energy and enthusiasm to his work compared to earlier this year. This probably had a lot to do with him leaving the established order of CMLL and joining the rebellious AAA. This jump was truly justified, as CMLL never seemed to do much with Guererero. The matwork was solid, but it was just seemingly happening for the sake of it, which is something not uncommon for junior heavyweight matches from this era. Everything they did was all executed very well though. In typical NJPW juniors fashion, the action picked up during the final minutes. Liger hit a plancha off the top to the floor. Guerrero hit a springboard dropkick, and he also hit a springboard plancha to the floor over the guardrail onto Liger. Not much later though, Liger ended up scoring the pinfall for the victory. This was a very good match that was fun to watch. ***½ 

AAA 2/12/93 Mexico City Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera: Lizmark & Eddy Guerrero & Rey Misterio Jr. vs. La Parka & Heavy Metal & Psicosis. Eddy Guerrero had joined AAA in November 1992. This was a big move for him, as it meant he had jumped ship from CMLL, the oldest and most traditional league. AAA was a fresh new league with a lot of young and exciting talent. This is when and where guys like Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis and La Parka became famous. The tension between the two teams was put over well from the start. Heavy Metal and Rey Jr. worked particularly fast sequences together. Everyone worked hard in this match. Lizmark was the only one who seemed a bit out of place, as he appeared to have some trouble keeping up with the pace in this particular match. The tecnicos won the first fall. This match is an excellent example of how good AAA could be during its heyday in the mid '90s. For those who paid attention to lucha at the time, it must have been clear that Rey Jr. was a super talented worker who would eventually reach greatness. Of course, he relied a lot on solid rudo bases like Psicosis, Parka and Metal. The rudos won the second fall, which is traditionally the shortest and least eventful fall, usually merely there to get the team that is behind to score the equalizer. Guerrero gave a very good performance. Guerrero's most memorable spot in this match happened when he hit a springboard plancha to the floor onto Psicosis. Metal hit a quebrada onto Guerrero immediately afterwards. This was a really fun action-packed match. ***¾ 

NJPW 6/9/93 Kashihara Nara Prefectural Gymnasium, TOSJ IV: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Eddy Guerrero 14:39. This was the third singles match between Jushin Thunder Liger and Eddy Guerrero. By this point in his career, Guerrero had become significantly more confident about his ability, as he had been having quite some success in both AAA and NJPW for a while. The work was performed well. At some point, the random matwork became less random when Guerrero started focusing more specifically on Liger’s legs, especially targeting Liger’s left leg. This more focus approach made the match more intriguing. When Liger fought back, he would still shake his leg a bit to sell the effects of the damage done by Guerrero. However, he wouldn’t overdo the selling and had no trouble executing a plancha off the top to the floor onto Guerrero. It wasn’t just Liger who did fancy moves. Guerrero hit a tremendous springboard plancha to the floor over the guardrail onto Liger. Apart from the few big highspots and just the overall solid work you’d expect from these two, this wasn’t necessarily a match that exceeded expectations. Still, this was a very good match overall. ***½

AAA 7/2/93 Monterrey Arena Coliseo: Love Machine & Eddy Guerrero & Lizmark vs. Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera & La Parka. This was the second week in a row that these two faced each other. Their 6/25/93 match was good, but this one from 7/2/93 was even more of a heated and action-packed match. Blue Panther’s rudo team was playing dirty, but the tecnico team was determined to fight back. The rudos showed strong teamwork. The early portion of the match was mostly intense brawling because of the rivalry that had been built up among these workers, but the pace was relatively high, which made the lack of more refined wrestling not too much of an issue. The rudos were in control for several minutes until the tecnicos were able to fight back. Lizmark did some cool-looking moves against Fuerza Guerrera. Eddy Guerrero and La Parka worked super fast sequences together that were really smoothly executed. The pairings would get switched up occasionally, but the main storyline in this match was the Love Machine (Art Barr) vs. Panther feud. The rudos won the first fall when Parka claimed Lizmark hit him with a foul, and rudo referee Tirantes disqualified the tecnicos. This only caused the match to get even more heated. In the second fall, they picked up where they left off, as the pace was still quite high. La Pereja del Terror, Machine and Guerrero, showed very good teamwork. Lizmark tried to make Parka submit just before we got more of Machine vs. Panther. Parka tried to throw Machine into the ropes, but Machine hit a tope suicida on Panther. Guerrero and Lizmark then worked over Parka. Lizmark hit a plancha off the top to the floor. Guerrero hit a springboard dropkick on Guerrera. During these final minutes, the match was even more exciting than before. Guerrero kicked Guerrera through the ropes, as Guerrera took a Fuerza bump. The match ended when the rerferees were distracted and didn’t see that Panther hit Machine with a foul. Panther pinned Machine for the win. This meant the rudos had beaten the tecnicos in two straight falls, but both times they had to cheat. It’s a shame about the screwy finishes, but now things were certainly even more heated between Machine and Panther, which was helpful for the continuation of their feud. For those who are interested in how this feud continued, on 7/23/93, during the conclusion of a good match, Machine and Guerrero would turn heel (and Panther would subsequently turn face as part of an intriguing angle in which Machine convinces Guerrero to attack Hijo del Santo, which is worth checking out because of the interesting and well-executed angle). From an in-ring perspective, this 7/2/93 match was the best match in the Machine vs. Panther feud during the summer of ‘93, though. Very good match. ***¾  

NJPW 9/26/93 Osaka-Jo Hall: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger II 16:04. Eddy Guerrero had made his first appearance as Black Tiger II after Jushin Thunder Liger had successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title against Top of the Super Juniors IV winner Wild Pegasus on 8/8/93 by attacking Liger. The Black Tiger gimmick was first used by Mark Rocco back in the early 1980s when he was one of the main rivals of the First Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama). While Guerrero was a good choice to play this gimmick, it feels like the gimmick kind of was a hindrance to Guerrero’s progression in NJPW. During the Top of the Super Juniors tournament, Guerrero had given his best puroresu performances as of yet, and it seemed this growth as a potential top junior heavyweight came to a slowdown due to the Black Tiger gimmick. This wouldn’t be the first time, as this was also exactly the case for Black Tiger I, Mark Rocco, who was usually more impressive without the gimmick due to seemingly feeling the pressure to act more heelish than perhaps was necessary. In this match against Liger, Guerrero executed a couple of really neat-looking springboard moves, and the execution was quite crisp overall, but it never felt like a big match by any means. Guerrero got a lot of offense to establish him as a threat to Liger’s position as champion. This was a non-title match, but, of course, Guerrero had to come out looking good in order to set up a potential title match. It was particularly tepid when you consider this was their first singles match together since Guerrero started using the Black Tiger gimmick. It had the feel of a match that just had to happen in order to establish Guerrero as a threat, which is what it essentially was, as Guerrero ended up pinning Liger here. Liger got defeated relatively easily, and while that served the purpose of the match, it would have probably resulted in a slightly better match if there was more of a struggle. It was definitely a good match, but it was a little bit disappointing when you consider the talent involved. ***¼ 

AAA 10/15/93 Mexico City Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera: Hijo del Santo & Octagon & Lizmark vs. Heavy Metal & Love Machine & Eddy Guerrero. 'Love Machine' Art Barr sold big for Hijo del Santo. Eddy Guerrero and Heavy Metal were the workhorses of the team. Barr brought extra drama and charisma. The tecnicos all gave good performances, but it was the rudo team that carried the match, which is a common aspect of lucha libre Mexicana. Lizmark hit a nice tope suicida onto Guerrero. Octagon worked fast-paced sequences with Metal. The villainous Barr riled up Guerrero with the intention to lose whatever respect Guerrero had left for his former tag team partner Santo. Metal was so quick at the time, bumping and selling like a madman. The middle portion with the rudos in control was slower but well executed. It is a shame about the anticlimactic finish of the match, but it was a very enjoyable match for the most part. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 11/24/93 Niigata City Gymnasium, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger II 13:30. This match had a lot more energy than the 9/26/93 match. Of course, this time it was for the title, and it had been established that Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) was able to beat Jushin Thunder Liger in singles action. Guerrero did a good job of portraying the hunger of a challenger, and Liger did a good job of portraying a champion who knew it wasn’t going to be an easy fight. The work was even more crisp than in their 9/26/93 match. So, not only did Guerrero come across as a serious threat, this time it also felt like a struggle was necessary for someone to win this title bout. Still, this wasn’t on the level you’d expect a Liger vs. Guerrero match to be. Liger was arguably the best junior heavyweight in the world at the time (rivaled only by Canadian pro wrestler Wild Pegasus), and Guerrero was probably a top 10 junior heavyweight at the time (especially when you consider his AAA work as well). By the way, I believe this was the first ever puroresu match I ever watched when I originally viewed it in the fall of ‘94, and it was quite a shocking experience for the young WWF mark I was at the time. It was a very good match, but it felt like perhaps a minute or two extra would have made it even better. Still, this was their best singles match together thus far. ***¾  

NJPW 3/21/94 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger II 16:37. This was their third singles match together since Eddy Guerrero had become Black Tiger II, and it was a significantly better match than their previous two matches (9/26/93 and 11/24/93, which were good and very good respectively). Jushin Thunder Liger was arguably the best junior heavyweight in the world at the time (truly only rivaled only by Wild Pegasus and maybe potentially by Ultimo Dragon or Great Sasuke). Guerrero was arguably a top 5 junior heavyweight at the time, as he had kept improving as an overall worker and had been having a lot of momentum both in Mexico and Japan, further refining his unique blend of Mexican lucha libre and Japanese puroresu. Guerrero was really feeling it this day. After a monkey flip by Liger, Guerrero landed on his feet like a cat-like creature. The typical NJPW junior heavyweight matwork that doesn’t really lead to much was at least executed with a lot of intensity, which means it was at least somewhat useful. During the final five minutes, we got to witness state-of-the-art junior heavyweight wrestling action. After suplexing Guerrero to the floor, Liger hit a plancha off the top onto Guerrero. When Liger went for a baseball slide, Guerrero moved out of the way and clotheslined Liger over the guardrail.  If this was 1982, it would have resulted in a disqualification, but luckily this was 1994. Because Guerrero was able to follow up with a tremendous springboard plancha over the guardrail onto Liger. Back in the ring, Guerrero hit a huracarrana off the top with great authority. We got several near falls. Guerrero came close to winning a couple of times, and Liger came close to winning a couple of times. Things really felt like they could go either way. It certainly wasn’t out of the question that Guerrero could win this. Guerrero hit his amazingly crisp brainbuster for a near fall. He then hit a swinging DDT, but Liger kicked out once again. However, in the end, Liger anticipated Guerrero coming off the top rope and arm dragged Guerrero as Guerrero was coming off the top rope. Liger was really in the lucha mood and came flying off the top rope with a huracarrana for the win. This was an excellent match, and it was nice to see these two deliver a match of this quality together after two somewhat disappointing matches. **** 

NJPW 4/16/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, Super J Cup Round 1: Black Tiger II vs. TAKA Michinoku 6:47. Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) hit TAKA Michinoku with some really explosive offense early in the match. Guerrero was a lot more experienced than young TAKA and Guerrero gave him quite a beat down. However, TAKA proved his toughness and persevered. TAKA then started hitting some of his AMAZING athletic ability by hitting springboard moves. While it initially seemed like Guerrero was going to be the one totally carrying this match, in the end, TAKA came out looking amazing by displaying his incredibly high flying ability. Of course, Guerrero deserves credit for being a strong base for TAKA’s amazing flying. Guerrero was arguably a top 5 junior heavyweight in the world at the time, but the big story is that TAKA showed that he showed the incredible potential to be a top 5 junior heavyweight wrestler in the near future himself. In the end, Guerrero used his experience to win this bout, but what a delightful performance by TAKA! How good can a 6-minute match be? This has to be one of the very best matches under ten minutes ever. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 4/16/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, Super J Cup Quarter Final: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger II. Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero. Both men showed a great deal of intensity from the start. One of the reasons this match didn’t quite reach the level of excellence you’d expect from these two extremely talented performers was the fact that this match lasted less than nine minutes. Still, this was excellent while it lasted. Guerrero gave one of his stronger performances here, as he had someone to work with who truly understood his style in Pegasus. Of course, Pegasus was super intense, as always, as he executed every move with authority. One of the great things about Pegasus during the ‘90s was how he would always be focused on giving the fans his best performance within the context of the match. Pegasus won this match when he caught Guerrero coming off the top rope into an armdrag for the win. It was a very good and relatively satisfying match, but they would have even better matches against each other in 1995. ***¾ 

NJPW 10/18/94 Okayama-ken Taiikukan, Super Junior Tag League Final: Black Tiger II & Great Sasuke vs. Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Otani 18:14. This started off with intense brawling on the floor. This showed that it was going to be quite a different match from the match these two had against each other earlier in the tournament. Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) and Great Sasuke showed very good teamwork. They beat up Shinjiro Otani during the early stages of the match, as they tried to keep him in the ring, because young Otani was the weak link (relatively speaking) of his team. Otani managed to fight back though and hit a springboard plancha to the floor onto Guerrero. Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) showed his tremendous intensity when he entered the ring. Every move he executed had a lot of force behind it. Sasuke and Otani worked beautiful sequences together. It was a very competitive match that could go either way. When Guerrero broke up Pegasus' pin attempt, he didn't just shrug it off, he came charging at Guerrero and beat him up in the corner. Both teams showed a strong will to win in this match, which really gave it that important feeling you want to see in a tournament final. Guerrero hit a tremendous huracarrana off the top rope on Otani. Sasuke hit a big dive off the top to the floor onto Pegasus. However, Pegasus recovered quickly, and hit a powerful-looking powerbomb that looked like it almost sent Sasuke through the canvas. While coming off the top rope, Guerrero hit a huracarrana on Pegasus. The action continued to go back and forth. Guerrero hit a Black Tiger bomb and a swinging DDT on Otani. Sasuke went for a quebrada, but Pegasus moved out of the way. Pegasus and Otani tried to finish off Guerrero with a big move as Pegasus had Guerrero on his shoulders as Otani came off the top rope. However, the move didn't go as planned, as everyone fell to the canvas. Otani quickly hit a dragon suplex for the win. Excellent match. ****¼ 

AAA 11/6/94 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Hair vs. Masks: Eddy Guerrero & Love Machine vs. Hijo del Santo & Octagon 19:20. This was a super heated battle between the two top tag teams in AAA. Eddy Guerrero & ‘Love Machine’ Art Barr had been riling up the Mexican crowds with their red, white and blue tights. Barr was considered to be one of the best heels in the pro wrestling business at the time due to his great heel charisma and ability to play the crowd. He had a relatively uneventful career until he found his true calling during the summer of ‘93 when he turned heel on Blue Panther (who then turned babyface in the process in a well-executed double turn), making it even more tragic that he passed away soon after this classic, as clearly he was just finally tapping into his potential. Guerrero and Barr were known as ‘La Pareja del Terror,’ and they were part of a stable called ‘Los Gringos Locos.’ Barr bumped big for the babyfaces. However, the great teamwork by Guerrero and Barr resulted in La Pareja del Terror to win the first fall. Guerrero and Barr successfully pulled off a complicated  move when Guerrero leaped off the top rope and huracarrana’d Santa off of Barr’s shoulders. This was a move Shinjiro Otani and Wild Pegasus were unable to pull off successfully just a few weeks earlier in Japan during the NJPW Super Junior Tag League Final. Guerrero pinned Santo, and then it was Guerrero who hit a superplex on Octagon, which enabled Barr to hit his spectacular frog splash. Barr had copied this move from Guerrero, who had copied it from La Fiera. Guerrero and Barr had not only proven to be effective rudos, as the crowd looked on in shock, but La Pareja del Terror had also proven to be wrestlers who executed their moves superbly. Guerrero pulled off some really well-executed suplexes that would remind those who knew that he was also wrestling frequently in Japan as Black Tiger II during that era. The tecnicos fought back and hit a tremendous double tope suicida. What was very unusual was that Guerrero pinned Santo once again in the second fall. The unusual part was that usually, if a wrestler gets pinned in a fall, his tag team partner will get pinned soon after for the predictable ending of the fall. However, here they went in against the norm, as Octagon had to overcome all the odds to provide a huge comeback in the match for the tecnicos. Octagon pinned Guerrero and then Barr to win the second fall. This was wonderfully executed. Both teams were now tied, and the third fall would have to decide the winner. The third fall was definitely the most dramatic one. Barr hit a tombstone piledriver, which is a move that was banned in Mexico, but the referee didn’t see it happen. With Octagon now selling the effects of the piledriver, it was essentially just Santo against two opponents. Antonio Pena came to ringside to check on Octagon, and Octagon did a stretcher job. Blue Panther entered the ring and hit a piledriver on his old rival Barr. The referee didn’t see this piledriver either. Santo pinned Barr. Now it was just Guerrero vs. Santo that would decide the final result of this match. Guerrero hit several well-executed moves, displaying his unique blend of lucha libre and puroresu, basically a more explosive version of lucha. Guerrero almost pinned Santo with a dragon suplex, but Santo kicked out. Guerrero went for another dragon suplex, but Santo reversed with a rana and pinned Guerrero for the victory. Great match! ****¾   

NJPW 3/7/95 Kanazawa Ishikawa Sangyo Tenjikan: Black Tiger II & Koji Kanemoto vs. Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Otani 14:20. The work was excellent. Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) worked nice-looking sequences with Shinjiro Otani in particular. Wild Pegasus showed lots of intensity and viciousness against both Guerrero and Koji Kanemoto. Since January 1995, Kanemoto had been wrestling under his real name again after spending the majority of the previous year and a half or so as Tiger Mask III. Otani vs. Kanemoto was a new feud that had just started a month prior. Guerrero hit a vicious brainbuster on Pegasus. Otani hit a huge missile kick on Kanemoto. Otani was really stepping up his game a lot around this time. With Jushin Thunder Liger out of action due to injury, it was a big opportunity for Otani and Kanemoto to show everyone what they were capable of during the first seven months of 1995, giving the NJPW junior heavyweight division a different twist. This match came to an end when Pegasus won the match via a flying headbutt on Kanemoto. The match was just starting to get more exciting as it was over all of a sudden. With a few more minutes, it could have potentially been an excellent match. Nonetheless, this was a very good match. ***¾ 

ECW 4/8/95 Philadelphia, PA ECW Arena, ECW World Television Title: 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Eddy Guerrero 14:49. Eddy Guerrero came into ECW with a big reputation. This is why it was plausible for him to get a title shot in his first ECW match. In spite of ECW's reputation as a garbage wrestling league that catered to bloodthirsty fans of the extreme style of hardcore wrestling presented by the Philadelphia-based league, the ECW Arena crowd was known to not only accept but also eat up anything ECW promoter Paul Heyman wanted to put over. In 1994, 1995 and 1996, Heyman put over some of the best international junior heavyweights in the world, as he didn't just want his league to simply be a trashy league featuring mediocre brawlers. Heyman realized that what really would get ECW more attention was showcasing of some of the best pro wrestlers in the world, who were at the time still extremely underrated or extremely unknown by the general public. His problem was he knew that most of these talented wrestlers would unfortunately get swallowed right up by the big money-wasting machine known as WCW, whereas Tommy Dreamer wasn't likely to attract interest from the major American promotions. Top talent like Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Rey Misterio Jr.  Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera and Dean Malenko all made appearances in ECW prior to joining WCW. Eddy Guerrero really got to show his stuff in this match against 2 Cold Scorpio. The two had already wrestled each other several times in Japan, so they were no strangers to one another. Guerrero pretty much worked the way you would expect him to work in Japan, except here he was wearing Gringos Locos gear and not Black Tiger gear. Guerrero's moves were superbly executed. He did all kinds of cool moves, including wicked suplexes and a big dive to the floor. What prevented this match from being truly excellent was that we didn't get enough back-and-forth action. They mostly just took turns controlling for longer segments, rather than making things less predictable by countering each other more frequently. Other than that, the wrestling was really good and very enjoyable. Scorpio didn't get to really show his stuff until the final minutes, but this match was more about Guerrero anyway, as this was the big introduction of Guerrero to the ECW crowd. In his first ECW appearance, Guerrero wins the TV Title. Very good match. ***¾

ECW 4/15/95 Philadelphia, PA ECW Arena, ECW World Television Title: Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko 25:57. This is one of the most memorable feuds in ECW history. They had several good matches against each other in ECW, but this one from Hostile City Showdown was arguably their best match. ECW TV champ Eddy Guerrero was wearing his Gringos Locos gear. He had been the ECW TV champ since defeating 2 Cold Scorpio a week prior, which was Guerrero's ECW debut. Dean Malenko had been appearing in ECW for several months at this point, usually teaming with Chris Benoit. The matwork in this match was fancy and effective. The counters were intriguing. The timing was superb. The execution was precise. In other words, this was a really good match. It was the first of many times these two would wrestle each other in the United States after having faced off three times in singles action against each other in Japan prior to the start of this ECW feud. After a lot of back-and-forth action, Malenko started working over Guerrero's left leg. Guerrero fought back and hit a swinging DDT out of the corner. After Guerrero hit a huracarrana off the top rope, he sold his leg to acknowledge the damage done by Malenko. Guerrero hit a plancha off the top rope to the floor onto Malenko. Guerrero hit the frog splash (referred to as "an undescribable splash" by commentator Joey Styles). Guerrero couldn't put Malenko away though, as Malenko kicked out at two. After a series of near falls, the ECW Arena crowd proudly chanted: "EC-dub!" to show their approval for these two impressive workers. Just before the 26-minute mark, the bell rang, and it was decided the '30-minute' time limit had expired. This was a very important match, as it really started people becoming more aware of the possibility that good junior heavyweight-style wrestling could indeed get over with an American audience. Of course, once both wrestlers got signed by WCW, they played a big role in the success of WCW's cruiserweight division. But, that journey really began here in the ECW Arena. Very good match. ***¾ 

NJPW 6/26/95 Omiya Skate Center, BOSJ II: Black Tiger II vs. Koji Kanemoto 17:25. Even though the early matwork was somewhat basic, it always had a certain amount of grittiness to it, which helped make it significant. Of course, once the highspots started happening, that’s when the match really started taking off. They both hit a plancha off the top rope to the floor. While standing on the apron, Kanenoto suplexed Guerrero from the ring to the floor. Guerrero hit his signature brainbuster. The action continued in back-and-forth fashion with several near falls. Guerrero hit another brainbuster. And why not, since his brainbusters look awesome. Guerrero even hit a third brainbuster, but this one was a super brainbuster executed from the top rope! This was the finish of the match. The final minutes were definitely excellent. Very good match. ***¾ 

NJPW 7/4/95 Aomori Shi Min Taiikukan, BOSJ II: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger II 12:35 of 20:20. A tremendous display of high-quality junior heavyweight wrestling. Lots of explosiveness. Lots of great athleticism. It seems both these two exceptional gaijin workers were truly at their very peak during the summer of ‘95. Wild Pegasus was super intense and explosive, yet he was still flexible and agile enough to do the junior heavyweight stuff at a high level at this stage of his career, and he was arguably the very best pro wrestler in the world at the time. As excellent as Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) was in this match, it was Pegasus’ performance that truly turned this into a great match. In the end, despite Pegasus looking stronger for the vast majority of the match, Guerrero got the win with a big move off the top rope. Great match. ****½ 

NJPW 7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, BOSJ II Semifinal: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger II 16:37. This was probably even better than their previous match. Of course, it helps that we got to see the complete match here, but there also appeared to be more of a struggle happening. It was a very even struggle, and both wrestlers were on top of their game. Even the early stuff wasn’t just your  typical wear down stuff, as it was them truly intensely stretching each other and beating each other up. Wild Pegasus’ powerbomb is so powerful looking that it almost seems like he’s about to powerbomb Black Tiger II through the canvas. This tremendous level of intensity is what made this match so eventful. Yes, these were two great wrestlers who were familiar with each other, but they didn’t always wrestle each other in such a big-match way. The way they wrestled each other here was like it truly mattered. The work they showed here is truly top-notch junior heavyweight wrestling. Pegasus scored a big win to advance to the final (which ended up being a good but disappointing final that saw Pegasus put away Shinjiro Otani). Great match. ****¾ 

ECW 8/3/95 Middletown, NY Orange County Fairgrounds, ECW World Television Title: Dean Malenko vs. Eddy Guerrero 11:47. Dean Malenko and Eddy Guerrero started the match off with some nice counter wrestling. Malenko went for a monkey flip, but Guerrero landed on his feet. The way these two wrestled certainly revealed that they were obviously very familiar wrestling each other. The execution was super crisp for the most part. After the initial counter wrestling stuff, they focused more on bigger and more exciting spots. What they did here was basically have a Japanese-style junior heavyweight match in an American league. Very good match. ***½ 

WCW 10/16/95 Albany, GA Civic Center: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero 8:36. This match took place on the seventh edition of WCW Monday Nitro. The work was super crisp and spectacular. It was basically a very condensed, highspot-heavy version of their Japanese matches. It was the first of many times these two would wrestle each other in the United States after having faced each other several times in Japan. These two great workers were a big reason why WCW was a lot of fun to watch during the mid-late '90s. Very good match. ***¾ 

NJPW 2/25/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Gran Hamada & El Samurai & Black Tiger II vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Dean Malenko 16:26. Almost exactly a month prior to this match, El Samurai and Shinjiro Otani had worked a great progressive singles match against each other, but here they were in a six-man tag that looked very interesting on paper and turned out to be excellent in actuality. Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) and Dean Malenko were very familiar with each other, as they've wrestled each other in several different leagues. Their work against each other was very smooth, and was able to impress the tough Sumo Hall crowd. The underrated El Samurai once again was super reliable and played a big role in this match being cohesive, as he was able to work well with everyone in this match, which included both partners and all three opponents. Everyone was able to try to make every move count, as there was very little time being wasted, yet the match was wrestled at a somewhat deliberate pace. It was the intensity and eye for detail that made this match so good. All six workers were attentive and made sure whatever they contributed was for a greater good. While it shouldn't be surprising that this match was excellent, as all six names are big names in 1990s junior heavyweight wrestling, but the NJPW junior heavyweight division has always been hit-and-miss, despite its glorious reputation. However, this match certainly was able to live up to its potential. It was cool that Samurai and Otani were the ones who started this match and the ones who ended this match. **** 

NJPW 2/15/96 Marugame City Gymnasium: Jushin Thunder Liger & Black Tiger II vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani 13:00. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani showed they were hungry young wrestlers who wanted to teach these more established wrestlers a lesson in intensity. During the early portions of the match, they spent a good deal of time beating up Jushin Thunder Liger through smart teamwork. When Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) entered the ring, the action became a bit more random in its nature. Guerrero was able to cut off the momentum of the opposition, and this gave Liger also time to recover. Liger & Guerrero were now in firm control. Kanemoto & Otani certainly appeared frustrated that the progression they had made during the early portions of the match had pretty much been nullified. However, towards the end, Kanemoto & Otani fought back, and this initiated the exciting finishing stretch that truly made this match really good. Kanemoto & Otani started believing in themselves again. However, Liger & Guerrero were always one step ahead. In the end, Guerrero pinned Otani after a vicious brainbuster. Very good match. ***½  

NJPW 5/24/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, BOSJ III: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger II 13:27. The work was crisp and the overall wrestling was quite solid in this match. However, that was about what you’d expect from these two. They did quite a good job of putting over the struggle in this match. It never felt like they were going through the motions. However, it definitely had the feel of a match that happened in the middle of a BOSJ tour. If you’ve watched a good amount of BOSJ matches, you know what that’s like. It’s like it’s the type of match that is quite good and significant in the context of a tournament, but as a stand alone match, it doesn’t necessarily seem very significant. Still, the work was good enough for this to be considered a very good match overall. It was certainly better than their disappointing match from 2/3/96, which was decent but was ultimately disappointing due to these two simply going through the motions. ***½ 

NJPW 6/5/96 Beppu B-Con Plaza, BOSJ III: Black Tiger II vs. Shinjiro Otani 15:20. Even the matwork during the early stages of the match was quite interesting, because they would constantly be moving. Of course, this was when Shinjiro Otani was one of the best workers in the world, so he was very motivated and able to give an excellent performance. Black Tiger II (Eddy Guerrero) was definitely feeling it as well here, and he showed a great deal of viciousness. The timing was superb. The execution was excellent. This match was quite the contrast to Guerrero's match twelve days later, when Guerrero would suffer from a severe case of food poisoning that would be the main cause of his 6/17/96 match against Great Sasuke to be an incredibly disappointing match. This match with Otani was certainly intriguing from start to finish. What made this match particularly excellent is that they just organically went from moment to moment, always focusing on being in the moment without ever going through the motions. The match gradually became more dramatic. After some solid matwork, Guerrero worked over Otani’s legs more aggressively, which was sold by Otani quite well. They both were able to put over the idea that trying to overcome the other’s punishment in order to create opportunities to fight back became increasingly more pressing as the match went on. They both really gave a performance that made you believe they gave it all they had. Excellent match. ****     

NJPW 6/11/96 Hiroshima Sun Plaza, BOSJ III Semi Final: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger II. Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero had been in WCW for eight and nine months respectively at this point. They had still been going on these Japanese tours from time to time. However, it was after this Best of the Super Juniors III tour that they would both show up in Japan less and less frequently (and once they joined WWF in 2000, they were no longer allowed to tour NJPW). This was unfortunate in many ways. Not only were they two of the most exciting gaijin in NJPW, but less touring of Japan would also have a noticeable impact on the in-ring work of both competitors (as in the American leagues, they would wrestle shorter and simpler matches than in NJPW). It was nice to see these two have a 20-minute match against each other. Between 1992 and 2005, these two wrestled each other nearly fifty times in singles action, but this was probably one of the longest singles matches they had against each other. The work was intense and crisp, as you would expect from these two in 1996. However, the extra time given wasn’t necessarily always utilized optimally. Wild Pegasus would keep going back to the sleeper hold to wear Black Tiger II down. While this could be seen as a smart strategy, it didn’t necessarily make for intriguing viewing. Things picked up during the final six minutes of the match. Guerrero’s little detailed selling of shaking his head as he climbed the top rope was brilliant, not only because it meant he acknowledged previous damage done by Pegasus, but it also gave a viable excuse for him not being able to score the pinfall via his big move, the frog splash, as he took a long time to ascend to the top turnbuckle. Pegasus’ intensity played a big role in the final six minutes being of superb quality. Based on the final six minutes, these were two of the absolute best pro wrestlers in the world at the time. It was especially wonderful to see that Pegasus, who had been one of the best pro wrestlers in the world during the previous three or four years or so, still had it in him to perform at a high level in Japanese junior heavyweight competition. It’s just a shame that the first 14 minutes of this match weren’t as interesting as expected, because that meant this match wasn’t quite going to match the greatness of their matches from July 1995. Still, this was an excellent match overall because the execution was always superb and the final six minutes were truly great. 20:17. ***¾   

NJPW 6/12/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, BOSJ III Final: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger II 18:44. This was arguably the second-best singles match these two had against each other (their best one was 3/21/94). The work was good throughout this bout, but the overall match was quite disappointing, which seemed to be a pattern in the Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Eddy Guerrero series. Apart from the excellent 3/21/94 match, they never seemed to have any other singles matches against each other that lived up to expectations. While the work was solid, it took a long while for the match to get really interesting. After ten minutes of just solid wrestling, things finally picked up when Liger hit a plancha off the top to the floor onto Guerrero. What followed was about eight minutes of excellent junior heavyweight wrestling, but it’s hard to overlook the rather insignificant first ten minutes. Overall, this was a very good match. ***¾ 

WCW 10/26/97 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Arena, WCW Cruiserweight Title vs. Mask: Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. 13:51. This was arguably the best match in WCW history. These two worked this match at a high pace, great intensity and crisp execution. Eddy Guerrero had turned heel in the summer of ‘97, and this heel turn had given him newfound energy and enthusiasm. It was the first time he had a heel run in WCW since joining the promotion in 1995. Guerrero showed the heelishness that he used to show back in the days of Los Gringos Locos. Mikey Tenay mentioned that Guerrero used to wrestle as a masked wrestler himself when he was Mascara Magica in Mexico and Black Tiger in Japan. Guerrero executed a Wild Pegasus-esque powerbomb that looked like he was going to powerbomb Rey Misterio Jr. through the canvas. The highspots in this match were amazingly executed and truly breathtaking. However, the moments in between the highspots weren’t that special. The match was less than 14 minutes long, but it was an excellent match. **** 

NJPW 3/17/02 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Black Tiger III & Koji Kanemoto & Eddy Guerrero & Jado vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Katsuyori Shibata & Wataru Inoue 16:53. Eddy Guerrero showed some good intensity when he was in the match, but his work overall was quite a step down from his work in the 1990s. This was understandable though, since he had spent most of the previous four years in the two big American leagues. Black Tiger III (Silver King) and Koji Kanemoto stood out as the best workers of this match. Liger and Samurai were the best on their team. Samurai spent a lot of time getting beat up by his opponents. Katsuyori Shibata & Wataru Inoue were the youngest and least experienced workers in this match, but they tried their best and did quite well for themselves. In an upset, Shibata scored the win for his team by pinning Tiger. The storyline here was that Shibata & Inoue really wanted to prove themselves and this win certainly helped their momentum a lot. Five days later, Shibata & Inoue would beat Tiger & Guerrero in a tag match that was okay. Overall, this 8-man tag was a good one. ***½

NJPW 3/24/02 Hyogo Amagasaki-shi Kinen Koen Sogo Taiikukan, Shin Ni Jr. vs. T2000 Jr. Sanbon Shobu Saishusen 5 vs. 5 Single Kachinogisen: Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka & El Samurai & Masahito Kakihara & Masayuki Naruse vs. Black Tiger III & Koji Kanemoto & Eddy Guerrero & Jado & Gedo 45:40. ***½ 

a) Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Jado 9:29. Liger was the most experienced wrestler on his team, and he was the leader of the New Japan juniors. Team 2000 was a heel stable that feuded with the New Japan army, and here we got to see the junior heavyweights that represented T2000 fighting the NJPW babyfaces. Jado (along with Gedo) was the veteran for the heel team, so it was fitting he would start this match off to battle Liger. The wrestling was very good and it was a strong foundation for what they were trying to build towards in this 5 vs. 5 match. They were teasing a draw in the middle of this match, as Jado was trying to prevent Liger from re-entering the ring after they both had ended up on the floor. The match continued as they made it back into the ring on time. Jado really put over very well that all he had on his mind was to take Liger out of this match. Finally, Jado was able to prevent Liger from re-entering the match just before the 10-minute time limit, as Jado was holding onto Liger’s legs with all his strength. Jado did what he had to do, and both were now eliminated from this match. This segment had done a really good job of setting the right tone for this match.

b) Masayuki Naruse vs. Black Tiger III (Silver King) 7:59. Naruse’s moves lacked intensity, but Tiger did an excellent job of trying to make Naruse look good. Naruse was a former shoot style wrestler who had a rough time trying to adapt to regular worked style puroresu. This is the type of performance that showed Silver King was still a top worker. He knew exactly how to time his moves and how to react to what Naruse was doing. When he was on offense, Tiger was quite explosive. Tiger got the deserving win here in this decent segment. NJPW 0-1 T2000.

c) Masahito Kakihara vs. Black Tiger III 3:56. Kakihara showed a lot of energy, but his broken fingers were preventing him from being able to work to full capacity. Tiger did an excellent job of making the most out of this situation, but this segment, while good overall, was quite short. It did help add more drama to this match. NJPW 1-1 T2000.

 d) Masahito Kakihara vs. Eddy Guerrero 5:12. In what was a pleasant surprise, Guerrero’s work here resembled the intensity of his work from the 1990s. He showed more energy and explosiveness here than he had done in any of his other matches on this tour. Kakihara was still mostly selling his broken fingers, but he reacted well to everything Guerrero did. This was a relatively short segment, but it was good. NJPW 1-2 T2000.

e) El Samurai vs. Eddy Guerrero 6:28. This was one of the best parts of the match. The work was really crisp, but it’s a shame it was only six minutes long. It would have been interesting to see these two get closer to the 10-minute mark. What they showed here was really good junior heavyweight wrestling that resembled the high quality work they were capable of delivering in the mid 1990s. Guerrero really was on a roll in this match, and managed to pin Samurai in this very good segment to give his team a 2-fall lead. NJPW 1-3 T2000.

f) Minoru Tanaka vs. Eddy Guerrero 4:48. This didn’t quite have the quality of the previous segment, but it was decent. Tanaka acted like he was more tired than Guerrero, despite Guerrero just having gone through two opponents and Tanaka being fresh. After dominating pretty much this entire portion of the match, Tanaka eventually scored a flashy submission win. NJPW 2-3 T2000.

g) Minoru Tanaka vs. Koji Kanemoto 7:48. Inspired by Tanaka’s selling of fatigue, Kanemoto seemed really tired real fast. It’s almost like these two guys were more tired from standing at ringside watching the entire match than actually having a good reason to sell like this. Either way, this was the final chance for Liger’s team to survive in this match, so there was a lot of pressure on Tanaka. It would have been nice if Tanaka showed a bit more desperation to really put this over. Instead, he seemed more annoyed than actually interested in keeping his team alive in this. Despite Kanemoto uncharacteristically selling like he had been in a long battle, Kanemoto did a good job of acting cocky and confident, and he put it over well that his mission here was to finish things off. This segment was good overall, and the final minute had some extra heat. In the end, Kanemoto pinned Tanaka to get T2000 the win without Gedo even having to get into the ring, as all members of Liger’s team were eliminated before it was Gedo’s turn. This was probably a good thing, as Gedo would probably have just dragged things down. NJPW 2-4 T2000.

1989-1992: Good

1993: Very Good

1994: Excellent

1995: Great

1996-1997: Excellent

1998-1999: Very Good

2000-2005: Good

After being a good worker who showed lots of potential to become even better, it was in 1992 that Eddy Guerrero slowly started turning into the wrestler who would be admired by many. During his first tour in NJPW, the TOSJ III tour, he wasn’t very impressive yet, but it was an important learning experience. His work was quite good during the end of 1992, as he was a solid and oftentimes impressive trios performer in trios matches in AAA. He would continue this trend in 1993 and 1994. Despite giving good showings in AAA, for the most part, despite being entertaining matches, the trios matches he was involved in never really reached a true level of excellence (however, this wasn’t necessarily Guerrero’s fault). Even in Japan, his matches were often ‘just’ good, as he and/or his opponents weren’t always taking things to the next level, seemingly content with merely doing some cool moves here and there. That being said, Guerrero wrestled most of his very best matches during the period of 1993-1997. In 1994, he really stepped up and was involved in several excellent matches. 1995 was arguably his very best year, as he gave impressive performances in NJPW, ECW and WCW. After 1997, his work would become increasingly less interesting, as he would become more used and content working the American wrestling style (accompanied by an increase in steroid usage). In particular, his 2000-2005 WWF/E run wasn’t very memorable compared to his work during the ‘90s, despite, of course, Guerrero being one of the best workers on the WWF/E roster at the time and far more memorable than most of the sports-entertainers over there. Guerrero was a very complete all-round performer, as he was able to have success in Mexico, Japan and the United States. By 1995, it had become clear that he was able to work different styles at a high level, which made him very useful for all the companies he would wrestle for. Also, he had always been superb at executing moves excellently.

In the end, we have to come to the conclusion that he was an excellent wrestler during the mid ‘90s who was sometimes even great. However, one can’t help but feel that despite his tremendous talent, a lot of his matches didn’t end up being as good as expected for various reasons. Still, Eddy Guerrero is definitely one of the best 75 men’s wrestlers of all time (and arguably even one of the top 50 men’s wrestlers ever).

1. AAA 11/6/94 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Hair vs. Masks: Eddy Guerrero & Love Machine vs. Hijo del Santo & Octagon 19:20. ****¾ 

2. NJPW 7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, BOSJ II Semifinal: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger II 16:37. ****¾   

3. NJPW 7/4/95 Aomori Shi Min Taiikukan, BOSJ II: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger II 12:35 of 20:20. ****½ 

4. NJPW 10/18/94 Okayama-ken Taiikukan, Super Junior Tag League Final: Black Tiger II & Great Sasuke vs. Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Otani 18:14. ****¼ 

5. NJPW 6/5/96 Beppu B-Con Plaza, BOSJ III: Black Tiger II vs. Shinjiro Otani 15:20. **** 

6. NJPW 2/25/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Gran Hamada & El Samurai & Black Tiger II vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Dean Malenko 16:26. ****

7.  ACASA 1990 Juarez Gimnasio Municipal: Negro Casas & Blue Panther vs. Eddy Guerrero & Hijo del Santo 23:05 (10:10, 5:27, 7:28). **** 

8. AAA 10/15/93 Mexico City Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera: Hijo del Santo & Octagon & Lizmark vs. Heavy Metal & Love Machine & Eddy Guerrero. ****

9. NJPW 3/21/94 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger II 16:37. ****

10. WCW 10/26/97 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Arena, WCW Cruiserweight Title vs. Mask: Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. 13:51. **** 

Honorable mention:

11. NJPW 4/16/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, Super J Cup Round 1: Black Tiger II vs. TAKA Michinoku 6:47. ****

Eddy Guerrero - Hall Of Talent video version

Hall Of Talent YouTube Playlist