Dark Pegasus Video Review: Eddie Guerrero – Cheating Death, Stealing Life DVD

This is from Superclash III, one of the last gasps for the AWA before it went under in the early 1990s. The Guerreros are Eddy’s brothers, natch. Cactus Jack, you know. The RnR RPM are Tommy Lane and Mike Davis. The RPMs are the Southern Tag Champs coming in. Cactus Jack is just there to fill space. The RPMs try to doubleteam Hector Guerrero, but it backfires as they collide. Mondo sunset flips Cactus Jack, but they’re in the ropes. Chavo backdrops Jack on the concrete. Sick. The Guerreros target Jack’s leg with splashes. Mondo and Hector each grab a leg and make a wish. Chavo hits Davis with a flying headscissors. All six men wind up in the ring and the Guerreros splash the heels to death. Cactus and Chavo wind up in there together. Jack gets one off an elbow. Referee Mike Enos (the future Beau Beverly in the WWE) kind of seems disinterested. All six men wind up in there. The RPM try a doubleteam clothesline on Hector, but Davis accidentally takes Lane out instead. Chavo goes up and finishes off a disoriented Mike Davis with a moonsault at 6:31. **3/4

This is from the “When Worlds Collide” AAA/IWS PPV. Art Barr was a tremendous heel back in the early 1990s. He looks kind of like Billy Ray Cyrus. El Hijo Del Santo is the son of El Santo and former partner of Eddy Guerrero. His father was actually partners with Gory Guerrero, so this one definitely has a historical element to it. Octagon looks a lot like The Great Sasuke.

First Fall: Eddy and Hijo del Santo mix it up on the mat to start. Octagon and Love Machine tag in. Barr offers a handshake, but Octagon’s not an idiot. Barr misses a senton. Octagon tags out. Eddy nearly kills Hijo del Santo with a Frankensteiner off Barr’s shoulders. That’s good enough for three. You have to beat both opponents, though, so Eddy superplexes Octagon off the top, allowing Barr to come off with a beautiful frogsplash to take the first fall in 4:05.

Second Fall: Eddy and Art taunt the fans between falls. Eddy jumps El Hijo del Santo and delivers a throwaway suplex. Octagon tags in, but Eddy goes to the eyes. Barr tags in and delivers a pair of standing dropkicks. Santo comes back in and sends Eddy to the outside. Santo drops an elbow on Barr and headscissors Eddy down again. The masked men dropkick Los Gringos Locos out and follow them out with double topes. Back in, Eddy delivers a huracanrana on Santo and eliminates him. That leaves Octagon alone against both men. Barr presses Octagon up, but Octagon ranas Eddy down for the three. Barr finally sees this, but Octagon wraps him up in Mr. Salty for the submission at 10:29.

Third Fall: Los Gringos Loco argue between falls. Santo reverses an Eddy powerbomb attempt to a rana for two. Eddy locks him in a camel clutch, so Octagon comes in and casually kicks him right in the face. Santo tries the same move, but Barr returns the favor with a kick. Santo small packages Barr, but Eddy makes the save. Octagon breaks up an STF by punting Barr in the ribs. Eddy goes for the Gory Stretch on Octagon. Santo breaks it up. He catches Eddy going up and delivers a super Electric Chair drop. Barr sends both of the masked men out, and the heels hit double topes. Eddy goes for a superplex, but we’re clipped to Santo sunset flipping over the top rope to the outside and slamming Eddy to the ground. The ref gets tied up with them, so Barr delivers a Tombstone to Octagon (which is usually illegal in AAA). That’s enough to eliminate Octagon. Barr clotheslines Santo into a Guerrero German Suplex for two. Guerrero superplexes Santo for Barr’s frog splash. ONE, TWO, THRR–NOOOO!!! The EMTs come down and stretcher Octagon out. Santo avoids a charge and flies out on top of Eddy Guerrero. The ref admonishes them, enabling Blue Panther to sneak in and piledrive Barr. HUGE POP for that! Santo slides back in and covers for the pin. Eddy delivers a belly-to-belly superplex, but it only gets two. The paramedics call for a neckbrace for Octagon while Eddy hits Santo with a super huracanrana. Guerrero delivers a Dragon Suplex for two. He tries again, but Santo reverses to a rollup for three at 22:12. One of the best matches of the decade — great story, wall-to-wall action, incredible heat. ****3/4

This is Eddy and Dean’s final match in ECW before jumping to WCW. Eddy says he’s glad the fans didn’t shit all over them because “they sold out.” In fact, they got a standing ovation during the intros. Eddy describes the arena as “special.” (I’ll be using the audio track with Todd Grisham, Eddy Guerrero and Dean Malenko for the review.)

First Fall: They hit the mat to start. Eddy snapmares him down, but Dean bridges to avoid being pinned with a crucifix. Todd “Research” Grisham reminds Eddy that Dean was there to congratulate him when he won the WWE title at Wrestlemania XX. I don’t even know where to begin with the corrections that sentence needs. Todd covers it up nicely, though. Dean counters a hiptoss to a monkeyflip, but Eddy lands on his feet. Eddy goes for a Boston Crab, but Dean rolls him away. Eddy springboards into a takedown. Eddy slams him down with a uranage for two. Dean counters an armbar into a version of the Haas of Pain, then into an STF. Eddy makes the ropes. Eddy delivers an overhead belly-to-belly for two. He follows up with an enzuigiri for two more. A superplex gets another two count. Dean counters with a sunset flip for two, but Eddy rolls him up for the first fall win at 10:31.

Second Fall: Dean misses a dropkick to the knee. Guerrero comes back with a bridging German for two. Dean finally hits that dropkick to the knee. He slaps on a leglock, but Eddy makes the ropes. Eddy tries to slip over Dean, but Dean counters to an Alabama Slam. The Texas Cloverleaf finishes Guerrero at 13:26.

Third Fall: Eddy comes out fired up. Dean reverses a whip and delivers a stiff clothesline in the corner. He follows up with a suplex. The flying leg whip sends Guerrero to the outside. Dean gets two off a Tiger Driver. He sets Eddy on top, but Eddy counters to a Tornado DDT! ONE, TWO, THR–NOO!!! Eddy follows up with a brainbuster and the frogsplash for two. Dean presses him, but Eddy counters to a rana for two. Dean goes for the super electric chair drop, but Eddy counters THAT to a sunset flip for two. Eddy sets up for another Tornado DDT, but Dean tosses him across the ring. Dean gets a wicked press stomach buster. He takes too long to cover, though, and only gets two. Eddy reverses a hiptoss to a reverse rollup, but both men’s shoulders are down. ONE, TWO, THREE. Double pin at 19:42. Much more technically sound than WWE matches. Deeper than your average TNA match. ****

After the match, both men thank the ECW fans, which was interesting because Malenko had never spoken a word in ECW to that point.

Easter Egg Alert! Highlight “ECW” and push “LEFT” twice to get the ECW buildup for Guerrero vs. Malenko.

This is from Fall Brawl and is probably the most over Eddy had ever been until he arrived in the WWE. Eddy complains about hair-pulling early. Eddy tries multiple headlocks and complains about hair-pulling again. Jericho armdrags him down, so Eddy pulls his hair. Classic! Neither man can gain an advantage. They exchange majestral cradles, and Jericho gets two. Small “boring” chant somewhere in the back. Jericho presses Eddy on the top rope and delivers the Lionsault. Eddy counters an armbar by hanging Jericho off the top rope. He takes over with a Surfboard chinlock. He follows that up with a Mexican Surfboard, then into a Dragon Sleeper. Eddy drops it and delivers a slingshot senton on Jericho’s injured back. Eddy locks in an inverted Gory stretch, but Jericho counters to one of his own. Eddy tries to walk the ropes into a huracanrana, but Jericho crotches him. Jericho hotshots Eddy from the apron! Back in, Eddy falls victim to a release German suplex for two. Eddy reverses a powerbomb to a uranage. Eddy charges but it’s right into a powerslam. ONE, TWO, TH–NO! Eddy charges again, but Jericho tosses him across the ring. LEG LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Jericho goes for a majestral cradle, but Eddy counters for two. Jericho delivers a pair of powerbombs and sets up for a superplex. Eddy counters in mid-air and finishes with the frogsplash at 17:21. Tremendous match. ****1/4

This match has a fascinating alternate commentary with Eddy, Rey and Michael Cole. Rey continues his superhero tributes here with “The Phantom.” Rey springboards into an armdrag and sends Eddy over the top. Eddy pulls him out and tosses him into the ring steps. Eddy comes back in with a slingshot senton. Rey tries to cartwheel into a headscissor, but Eddy counters to an Electric Chair drop. Eddy locks Rey in an abdominal stretch and rips at the mask. He segues into a pump handle backbreaker. Just sickening! That gets two. Rey springboards into a backflip DDT. INSANE! Rey tries to springboard out, but Eddy avoids him. Eddy whips him into ring barrier and sends Rey back in for a camel clutch. Eddy rips the mask a little and locks in the Gory Stretch. Eddy traps Rey in the tree-of-woe but misses a sliding dropkick and crotches himself. Rey flies out on top of Guerrero. Back in, Rey ranas him for two. Eddy pops up and clotheslines him down. Rey sends Eddy out and flips over the top into a Dragonrana. Rey comes back in with a twisting cannonball. Eddy blocks a springboard moonsault and just KILLS Rey with a powerbomb. ONE, TWO, THRE—NOOO!!! Rey avoids a charge into the corner but springboards right into a backbreaker. Eddy crotches Rey on top and goes for Splash Mountain (the siren song of Mysterio opponents). Rey counters to a huracanrana for three. (13:49). One of the best matches of the decade. *****

These aired on Smackdown in 2003 to get the Guerreros over as a team just before they imploded.

Baby Carriage: The Guerreros stop a MILF on the street and snatch her purse.

Pool: Eddy and Chavo con their way into an old lady’s swimming pool and have a party.

Low Rider: Eddy and Chavo steal a couple of gringos’ girlfriends.

Golf: Eddy and Chavo whips a couple of racist pricks at golf.

Valet: Los Guerreros disguise themselves as valets and “borrow” a new car.

This is from Bash at the Beach ’98. The story is that Chavo has to fight Eddy immediately following this match so Chavo submits to the opening handshake. (1:33) O

Chavo bites Eddy in the ass. They try to one up each other with cheap heat tactics. Chavo clotheslines him off a handshake. Eddy takes a monster backdrop and crawls over to the comfort of Referee Charles Robinson. Chavo bites Eddy’s ass again. Eddy sucker dropkicks Chavo’s knee and dropkicks him in the corner. Eddy’s a vicious bastard when he wants to be. A suplex and a slingshot senton works the back even further. Eddy locks in the Gory Special. He lets that go, and goes to a chinlock. Chavo catches Eddy with a reverse monkey flip and a tilt-o-whirl backbreaker. Eddy tosses Chavo to the outside for a rest. Eddy peels back the ringside mat, but Chavo reverses his suplex attempt and puts Eddy down. Eddy crotches Chavo on top and superplexes him. Chavo’s frogsplash finds Eddy’s knees. Eddy follows up with a Tornado DDT. Eddy goes for the frogsplash but misses. Chavo repeats the exact same sequence with a Tornado DDT. He grabs the scissors, but Robinson stops him. That gives Eddy the opportunity to sneak up and small package Chavo for the win at 11:53. *** Crazy Chavo cuts his own hair after the match.

This match has alternate commentary from Grisham, Guerrero and Rob Van Dam. This was just after Eddy returned to the WWE, and it’s certainly one of the most memorable matches in Raw history.

Eddy ducks under a kick, but gets thrown to the outside. RVD tries a pescado, but Eddy avoids it. Eddy whips him into the ladder and snap suplexes him on the outside. Back inside, Eddy delivers a reverse elbow. Eddy wraps Rob’s leg around the post and destroys his knee with a chairshot. Rob whips him into the corner and monkey flips him. Eddy responds with a powerbomb. Eddy grabs the ladder, but Rob dropkicks it into him. Van Dam moonsault onto Eddy and the ladder as Chris Benoit comes through the crowd with a ticket. Back from commercial, Eddy goes up for the belt as Rob scrambles up the ropes. Van Dam kicks the ladder out from under Guerrero. Van Dam hits ROLLING THUNDER on Guerrero and the ladder. They both head up, and Guerrero sunset flips into a powerbomb off the ladder. Eddy goes up and sentons off onto Rob. Eddy wears Rob out with the chair, but Rob dropkicks it into his face. Rob sets the ladder on Eddy and delivers the split-legged moonsault onto him. He goes up, but Eddy catches him. Eddy sets up the ladder in the corner, but RVD reverses a whip, sending Eddy into it instead. RVD misses a side kick but monkey flips Eddy into the ladder. Ouch! Van Dam hits him with Rolling Thunder on the ladder. Eddy grabs a chair, but Van Dam hits him with the Van Daminator. Rob tries to do the frogsplash off the ladder, but it gives way. Eddy goes up, but Rob knocks him off the ropes to the floor. Rob goes up and grabs the title for the seemingly anti-climactic win at 17:56. ***3/4

The “real” version of this match has a fan jumping in the ring and pushing the ladder out from under Eddy as he’s going up. I can see why they cut it out, but if they were going to cut out the most memorable moment from the match, they probably should have just gone with Edge vs. Guerrero from Smackdown a few months later.

This was the end of the short-lived “Golden Era” of the Smackdown Six, when any combination of these six guys would produce a great match on Smackdown. Immediately after this show, Rey was jobbed to A-Train, Benoit and Angle split up, and the Guerreros were left with no real challengers. (The DVD authoring on this match seems particularly bad for some reason.)

The Guerreros play instigators early on, trying to start trouble between the other two teams. Benoit and Rey finally start. Rey flapjacks him and drops a leg across his neck. Edge and Mysterio double hiptoss Benoit. Benoit tags out to Angle who, almost immediately, tags to Chavo. Rey springboards into a splash on Chavo. Eddy tags in and runs right into a headscissor takedown. Rey gives another one to Angle. Angle charges but hits the post. Mysterio slips off the top rope and nearly breaks his neck. Benoit and Angle decide to target Rey’s neck non-stop. Rey counters an Angle Slam to an armdrag, but Kurt levels him with a clothesline. They go back to isolating Mysterio’s neck. Mysterio lands on his feet off a German suplex attempt. He cuts Angle down with a spinning wheel kick. The Guerreros bail out as Angle tries to make the tag. Mysterio makes the HOT TAG to Edge as Benoit tags in. Edge takes on everyone but winds up in the Crippler Crossface AND Anklelock. Rey breaks it up and corkscrews onto Angle and Chavo. INSANE! Benoit hits Edge with the Rolling Germans, but Eddy sunset flips him on the final one. Benoit slips out of a Guerrero suplex and suplexes him to the outside. Edge attacks but takes three more German suplexes. Eddy tries to sneak in a frogsplash win, but Benoit breaks it up with a swan dive headbutt. Benoit locks Edge in the Crossface as Angle puts the Anklelock on Eddy. Chavo breaks up the Crossface with a beltshot. He tosses the belt to Angle so Benoit thinks Angle was the one who hit him. Edge and Benoit wind up in there together, and Edge hits a spear to eliminate Benoit & Angle at 13:03. Big boos for that from the partisan MSG crowd. Benoit and Angle take out their frustrations on all four other men. The Guerreros isolate Edge. Edge flapjacks both Guerreros and makes the hot tag to Mysterio. Mysterio headscissors Chavo and hits Eddy with a tilt-o-whirl backbreaker. Chavo tries to help out but winds up splashing his partner. Edge spears both Guerreros and boosts Rey up into huracanrana. Rey 619s Eddy, but Chavo nails Rey with the belt behind the ref’s back. Eddy locks in the Lasso From El Passo for the submission win at 19:19. People were disappointed in this match, but it’s pretty good. Nothing was going to live up to expectations set by the previous few weeks.
***1/2.

Eddy had recently turned heel and become more popular than ever. Benoit defeated Rhyno and Matt Hardy to get to this point. That becomes important later. Benoit elbows out of a hammerlock and steamrolls Eddy down. Eddy returns the favor. Denver crowd is really into it, making me proud. Benoit wins a test of strength, but Eddy takes him down. Eddy goes for a rana, reversed to a sunset flip by Benoit, reversed to a jackknife rollup, reversed back to a sunset flip for two, into a rollup by Guerrero for two, into another Benoit rollup for two. Awesome! They go at it on the mat, and Eddy goes for a Tombstone Piledriver. Benoit reverses to a shoulderbreaker. CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Eddy breaks on the ropes and takes a powder. Benoit follows him out with a tope. Back in, Benoit targets Guerrero’s shoulder with a half-Nelson. Guerrero rolls through a school boy attempt and sets Benoit up for the huracanrana. It gets two. Crowd chants “Benoit!” Guerrero cuts that off with a backdrop suplex for two. They exchange chops, and Guerrero goes to the eyes. Benoit delivers a super backdrop suplex for a double KO. Benoit covers. ONE, TWO, THRE—NOOO!!! Benoit recovers first and hits Rolling Germans! Eddy reverses the last one but winds up in the Crippler Crossface. Eddy just gets his foot on the ropes to break the hold. Eddy comes back with two vertical suplexes and a SUPERPLEX! Eddy goes up for the frogsplash, but Benoit MOVES at the last second. Benoit destroys Guerrero with a powerbomb, but it only gets two. Crippler Crossface, but Eddy’s at the ropes. Eddy spears Benoit right into Referee Mike Chioda. Guerrero grabs the title and BLASTS Benoit with it. FROGSPLASH! ONE, TWO, THRE–NOO!!!! Eddy grabs the title again and blasts the referee. He tosses the belt onto Benoit so the referee will disqualify him, but the ref is out! Benoit recovers and locks Guerrero in the Crossface. The ref is still out, so Benoit tries to revive him. Benoit goes up for the Swandive Headbutt, but Guerrero pulls the ref in the way. Tazz: Mike Chioda’s getting his ass kicked in this match! Rhyno comes down, seemingly ready to gore Eddy. Instead, he gores Benoit out of jealousy. Eddy goes up and delivers the frogsplash for the win and the title at 22:13. Lots of overbooking held this one down, but it was still a fun match. ****1/4

This was odd, mostly for the fact that there just wasn’t enough time to build a feud with them. In fact, Lesnar’s major feud was with Goldberg, which put Eddy behind the 8-ball right off the bat because it made the championship secondary to Goldberg. But, hindsight is 20/20. Brock shoves Eddy backward and tells him he ain’t nothing. Eddy gets his feet up to block a charge, but Brock blocks a huracanrana and helicopters Eddy across the ring. Brock tosses him around like a ragdoll and destroys Guerrero with a running knee. Brock belly-to-bellies Eddy all the way to the outside. Eddy is just getting murdered in there. Eddy tries a little strategy by wrapping Brock’s leg around the ringpost. Brock just yanks Eddy into the post. Brock drops Eddy with a Fireman’s Cradle Suplex for two. Eddy counters a chinlock to a jawbreaker and dropkicks Lesnar’s knee. Brock explodes with a clothesline. Lesnar delivers shoulderblocks in the corner. He tries another high knee, but Eddy ducks out of the way! Lesnar topples over the top, injuring his knee even further. Back in, Eddy drops Brock with a suplex. He charges but takes a hotshot for two. Brock talks trash, but Eddy takes him down into an STF. Brock shoves out of a figure-four. Crowd chants “Goldberg!” Eddy slips out of a suplex and headscissors Brock down. Eddy goes back to the leg and finally locks in that figure-four. Lesnar pulls himself to the bottom rope. Eddy slaps on another STF, but Brock just brushes him off. Brock just MURDERS Eddy with a spinebuster. ONE, TWO, THR–NOO!!! Brock suplexes Eddy and yells, “Just die!” Brock applies a gutwrench lock to wear Eddy down even further. Eddy starts to power up, so Brock tosses him across the ring. Eddy headbutts him and goes back to the knee. Brock pops up, but Eddy sends him down with another headscissors. Eddy delivers the Triple Verticals and goes up. Eddy comes off for the frogsplash, but Brock rolls out of the way. Brock hits the F5, but sends Guerrero into Referee Brian Hebner. Brock covers, but there’s no ref. Lesnar brings in the title belt, but Goldberg slides into the ring and SPEARS HIM! Eddy covers. ONE, TWO, THRE—NOOOOO!!! Eddy sees that the ref is still groggy, so he picks up the belt and…MISSES! Brock picks him up for the F5, but Eddy counters to a DDT on the title belt. Eddy hits a frosplash. ONE, TWO, THREE! New champion! (30:05) Tremendous long match. It felt a little like Flair vs. Vader from Starrcade with Guerrero just whittling away. Goldberg’s interference was a bit of a blight on the match, but since it didn’t lead directly to Guerrero’s win, it’s forgivable. ****1/4

Final Thoughts: Another winner from the WWE. There’s something compelling about a fallen angel regaining his wings. If Chris Benoit’s story is modern-day Horatio Alger, Eddy’s is Christopher Marlowe. The story is rendered beautifully through the interviews, especially the point where Eddy learns Malenko and Benoit went to management because they were so worried about him. The matches themselves are great, although I would have liked to have seen some of his Black Tiger matches from NJPW. Minor quibble, though. From top to bottom, just another tremendous job.

Enthusiastically recommended.

J.D. Dunn