Eddie Guerrero as Black Tiger vs. Sabu (and other Dream Matches!)

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time, a search for Black Tiger stuff ended up finding the SECOND incarnation, Eddie Guerrero, fighting for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in Japan against Sabu! I didn’t even realize Sabu was the champion at one point! And finally, at last, I find out of my Dream Matches Holy Grails on YouTube, as the WCW Channel uploads JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. REESE from 1998’s Great American Bash! One of the great wild mismatches and styles clashes!

Next up, it’s another look at Outback Jack, as his jobber phase continues with a squash at the hands of Ted DiBiase! Following that, a true rarity sees SUPER CALO “jump” to ECW, where he’s immediately fed to their own established “Super C___”, Super Crazy! Then one of those bouts you see periodically in the WWF since they have some Michinoku Pro guys- Taka Michinoku against the Big Boss Man in a heel vs. heel Jakked match!

IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE:
SABU vs. BLACK TIGER:
(New Japan, June 12th 1995)
* !! I went looking for some Rollerball Rocco as Black Tiger stuff but the first thing that popped up was THIS- Eddie Guerrero’s run as the second incarnation of the “Evil Tiger Mask”, when he was IWGP Jr. Champion… and here he is against SABU! I mostly recall Sabu’s FMW and All Japan runs, so it’s weird seeing him turn up holding New Japan’s belt. I guess I don’t know that lineage at all cuz I was expecting Eddie to be Championl. Uhhhhh looks like he was in New Japan more than anywhere else in ’95, too! 64 matches! I’m told this is the cause of that time Paul Heyman came out and publicly shat on Sabu for bailing on an ECW Arena show to do a New Japan tour.

Sabu immediately tries his “dive at the guy’s ankles” bit but gets stuffed amateur-style and Tiger cranks on his neck for a while. It’s that usual New Japan Junior style where it’s perfunctory “feeling out” stuff to create some valleys before the big moves. Sabu comes back with his specialty- Sloppy Nothing That Dooesn’t Hit Right, slamming the mat in frustrating and hitting a chinlock again. Eddie hits his senton, they fight over a scorpion deathlock, and Sabu rushes in to avoid a dive, making the fans wait on the cool shit. Tiger goes to the eyes and Germans him for two, so Sabu bails and flings a chair his way as they continue to kill time. Man, the New Japan Match Cadence is so clear here. Tiger doing Sabu’s point taunt ACTUALLY WORKS as Sabu looks up and gets charged. Clothesline & powerbomb get two. Tiger can’t get the Gory Special so settles for a backslide on the spot, drawing a pop for how slick that was. Sabu just starts beating on him to come back, hitting his slingshot legdrop for two. More strikes & chinlockery leads to Tiger retaking the lead- Sabu rolls over his back as a counter (getting a pop) but hurts his back and Eddie seems to improvise a counter-session, ending in his backdrop suplex.

Black Tiger fallaway slam, and he goes up, getting superplexed off for our first big move, Sabu sliding around in a circle to sell the back before covering. Sabu tries his moonsault but lands on knees, then Tiger climbs and gets caught, but hits a weak sunset flip powerbomb for two. We’ve clearly hit the “big moves now” portion of the match as they fight up top again and Sabu hits the Super Frankeinsteiner for two. Tiger nails Sabu in the nuts and haha does the “oh, never mind…” when he comes off the ropes and realizes Sabu’s still selling. Powerbomb/Frog Splash- two! His big finishers not working, he slams Sabu on the floor and hits a big plancha for the biggest pop of the match (lol those happen 10 times a show these days), then Tiger CHEATS TO WIN by bringing in a chair, but misses a charging chairshot and Sabu slingshots him into the corner while he’s still holding it in a contrived bit that the fans like. And of course bringing in the chair sets up Sabu’s shit, as he hits the chair-vault kick that puts Eddie off the top and onto the floor, then a somersault pescado, then lays him on a table draped across the guardrail and whiffs on a tope con hilo, just smashing into it. Tiger senses victory, pumping his fists as he hits his perfect Brainbuster (love that “snap” he puts into it), but he tries another Frog Splash and hits knees! Sabu immediately hits his “flip off the ropes” slingshot moonsault for the pin (15:50), the camera catching him being super gentle with it. Eddie just gets up like “DAMN!” and leaves, Sabu moonsaulting knee-first through the table to do one last crazy thing.

lol, this was a fascinating showcase of both the New Japan Junior Cadence (slow start/perfunctory weardowns intermixed with teases of big spots/escalating spots/big finish attempts), and how weak Sabu was without his wild chair spots. Eddie noticeably had to carry almost the entire load of the match with Sabu filling it with only chinlocks and the most basic of legdrops & elbows because he really couldn’t work the mat well or even do regular-ass offense in a believable way. So poor Eddie’s gotta run through every single move he has except the Black Tiger Bomb (sit-out razor’s edge) and have Sabu kick out of everything, then just tries the Frog Splash again and gets caught (this was again pretty typical of NJPW Juniors- the finisher either misses the first time or misses the second) and immediately pinned. Sabu was either hurting or needing to be carried WAY too hard, so it was practically a showcase of how good Eddie was. Sabu’s title reign only lasted 42 days, and it looks like two long Koji Kanemoto reigns surround it- sounds like they wanted to break that up but not with someone who’d be too damaged (ie. a regular) so in came another foreign dude.

Rating: **3/4 (actually a great showcase of Eddie moves, though it was an open carry-job and Sabu struggled much of the way)

This really says it all, doesn’t it? What a spectacle, lol. I love wrestling!

JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. REESE (w/ Lodi):
(WCW The Great American Bash, 1998)
* FINALLY!! I’ve had this on my “To-Do List” for years, and all of a sudden WWE Vault’s WCW channel pops it out. I mean, it’s one of the biggest David vs. Goliath matches out there, as Juvi is unmasked and given a babyface push to make up for Rey Mysterio being injured. The lead-up is that Reese has been picking on Juventud frequently for weeks- interfering in matches against other Flock guys like Kidman, and Juvi finally has had enough and challenges him, leading to one of the great size disparities you’ll ever see- Juvi is maybe 5’7″ 175 lbs., and Reese is at least 7 feet tall and over 350 lbs. The funny thing is the match is really just “We Have Rey Mysterio at Home” vs. “We Have The Giant At Home” and it’s a very deep undercard match (Reese especially was NOT in contention for any titles and was easily stomped by other big guys, and the Flock was actively splitting up), but it’s quirky and weird and looks way different from anything else anyone was trying, so I declare it a worthwhile use of time! It’s such a perfect encapsulation of what made WCW so fun- a dickhead luchadore repackaged as a plucky babyface against a gigantic JTTS who is so much bigger that it’s a mismatch regardless. Juvi was one of WCW’s better in-ring guys at that point anyways. Not that Reese is carryable at all. This might be his only PPV singles match.

Juvi, who’s spent most of his career working as a douchebag heel, immediately gets into an underdog babyface character by both allowing Reese to loom over him, jabbing his finger in Juvi’s chest, but going to the corner and literally praying to God into it, crossing himself, then looking over at Reese with this great nervous energy that revs up the fans a bit, at which point he acknowledges them and starts pumping himself up USING THEM and they’re kind of into it. Reese manages to fuck up blocking a punch and has to snag him with an awkward T-Rex arm so he can shove Juvi into the corner, Heenan putting over how hopeless this is for Juventud and how Reese looks just like a schoolyard bully. Reese misses a charge and easily absorbs a flurry of punches, shoving Juvi across the ring, then Juvi just does the same thing and the same deal happens. The announcers chide his strategy but of course this sets the stage for the fans to get into the story- Juventud cannot hurt this man and the odds are nearly hopeless. Juvi bails to think it over, provoking Reese into a chase, but it’s a trap- Juvi slide-kicks him and goes for a springboard… but Reese just laughs as he effortlessly catches him and walks him into the post. A press-slam into the ring has Juvi land on his feet, though, and he catches Reese stepping in by booting his leg a bunch, but again Reese is able to twice just fling him away like King Kong swatting down biplanes.

Reese now literally does the “lol you’re too small” thing by holding Juvi’s head and watching him windmill air-punches helplessly, but Juvi finally staggers him with a bunch of shots to the knees and leaps onto his back from the top rope, gouging the eyes and even outright choking him in desperation, Reese almost selling well until he just steps back into the corner and smashes him. Reese casually hits a backbreaker and bends Juvi over his knee, then hits a huge biel. haha now he just stands on his hair and pulls Juvi’s arms up- I love how he has 250 lbs. on him and is CHEATING. Reese hits a bearhug as the fans start losing patience despite Juvi doing the Jake Roberts “plead desperately for the ropes” stretch. Juvi gets dragged out from a slide and nearly hit with Reese’s finisher (YES HE HAD ONE- a double-arm chokeslam!), but just kicks him straight in the balls to counter. Haha well THAT works. Juvi does another one in full view of the ref, who is just giving weak lectures about it, but charges right into a fist when Reese hits his knees and sticks his arm out. A delayed vertical suplex and Reese looks suuuuuuuuper tired. Like he demands the ref count Juvi down and he has to crawl all the way over, haha. Thank god they’re about done, as Reese now GRABS A CHAIR just to be a dick, but the ref makes a heroic save by yanking it out of his hands. This sets off an argument with Lodi, allowing Van Hammer, who’s also split from the Flock recently, to hit ringside- Juventud comes flying off the top rope, easily caught in powerbomb position by Reese, but he walks around with him and Van Hammer hits the apron and smashes him in the back. The shittiest hurricanrana ever GETS THE PIN at (8:46) as Juvi needs a whole heap of help to do it and nearly jobs to a vertical suplex, but a win is a win!

A fun little Big/Little match, but a bit clumsier than most- Reese obviously doesn’t have the cardio for matches over 4 minutes, and was drooling and sucking wind for the last few minutes as the pace keep slowing. Juvi’s selling was terrific, flopping around off of basic transition moves because of the size difference, and they played up the hopelessness of it- that it WOULD be completely impossible for someone his size to deal with a giant monster, even if he is a midcarder. Poor Juvi couldn’t get ANYTHING going, even resorting to kicking him in the nuts repeatedly and still running into a punch, but then Reese tries to cheat anyways and it backfires on him. Ending it with a rana is kind of funny- Juvi barely had his neck by the ankles and that’s supposed to be enough leverage? Ah well, at least it’s not like today’s stuff, where he’d probably kick out of two finishers and hit a big slam move to pin him. You could at least say these two kept their styles intact in a “Styles Make Fights” sort of way, even if they weren’t raining stars in the joint. The fans were into it to start, slowly died out as it dragged a bit, then popped pretty good for the ending. Not that it helped Juvi a TON since it was such a tainted win, but it elevated him a bit and he kept getting pushed for years.

Rating: **1/4 (hard to give any Reese match more than that, but the psychology was strong even if his cardio failed him and the brutality was hurt by how slow it was)

“THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN” TED DiBIASE (w/ Virgil) vs. OUTBACK JACK:
(WWF SuperStars, April 23rd 1988)
* It’s late era Outback Jack! And he STILL has a theme song and an entrance, while TED is the one “in the ring to my right”. I love the “little things” with his gimmick as he’s hailing from his spring residence in West Palm Beach, Florida. He pounces before the bell.

DiBiase springs in with punches & chops, but Jack ducks him and hits a clothesline and some gut punches that don’t look QUITE as bad as before. He eventually runs into Ted’s boot and flat-backs (not bad!) and Ted hits an elbow smash off Bret’s Rope and follows with two of those amazing fistdrops, Ventura marking out for how great he can wrestle. Jack does a good bump rolling over Ted’s knee to the gut. Ted drops two elbows and puts him out with the Million Dollar Dream (2:11). Actually not a bad squash- Jack had his working boots on and was springing off the mat every time Ted dropped a strike on him. He makes a far better jobber than he did a guy getting offense. Sadly by the time he figured anything out he was about to be turfed.

Rating: 1/2* (another quick squash, this one with a modicum of Jack offense before he’s taken out)

I’m way more interested in this balcony at ring-apron height than I am this indie-level match.

SUPER CRAZY vs. SUPER CALO:
(ECW Hardcore TV, 1999)
* “It’s Super Calo! He’s jumped to ECW!” cries Joey Styles as one of the worst of WCW’s luchadores ends up on Hardcore TV to face Super Crazy. That’ll move the needle for sure! Crazy’s in X-Men colors while Calo’s in black. The arena, the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA, has something interesting- there’s an elevated level in the stands that’s level with the ring, meaning wrestlers can’t move 360 around it.

They do very basic stuff to start- not even lucha sequences really, but then do a quick one ending with Calo’s slingshot headscissors into one of those ECW-style “trip then attempt to pin” series that ends with the “pause for applause”. Calo gets two tilt-a-whirl backbreakers, then another slingshot headscissors puts Crazy out, Calo ending up with a slingshot senton to the floor. They actually sell that a bit to put it over, then Calo hits a flying shoulder/headbutt and changes his mind about pinning Crazy at the last second (hah) and instead builds his SmackDown! Meter. Then he does a spinning version for two, then a tilt-a-whirl side slam, but Crazy catches him with a powerbomb and promptly recovers for a slingshot moonsault from the apron, then the “fans count in Spanish” ten-count punches. Springboard missile dropkick sets up Crazy’s big move- pulling in the guardrail so he can hit a big Asai Moonsault. He misses a flying headbutt in the ring and Calo gets two, then does a hideous rolling cradle and a back elbow, then a Ligerbomb for two. A super version of his headscissors gets two, but a run-up missile kick misses. Instantly Crazy is just fine, hitting a springboard wheel kick and Ligerbomb of his own and hits his finisher- the Triple Moonsault (off the first, second, and third ropes) for the pin at (7:32).

A very “you hit your shit, then I hit mine” kind of match, as Super Calo goes through his clumsy “almost misses” stuff, then Crazy counters and immediately stops selling so he can hit all of his things with perfect agility. Then he misses and it’s Calo doing the same. Then CRAZY gets another turn! This kind of hit the entire indies all at once and never really left (they started calling them “Video Game Matches” when the Young Bucks started doing it, I believe), but stands out especially weird here because they do the otherwise normal cadence of wrestling where each guy controls for a bit at a time instead of the “back and forth”. The funnier thing is the repeated offense- Calo has to hit 3 variations of his upside-down headscissors thing because it’s the only tool in his kit, really, then both guys do Ligerbombs and Crazy keeps doing springboards because HE’s limited and you can sorta see why these dudes didn’t go that far- they just default to the same stuff.

Rating: ** (flawed without being abysmal- insta-recoveries and nothing but flips)

THE BIG BOSS MAN vs. TAKA MICHINOKU:
(WWF Jakked, Aug. 12th 2000)
* haha I know Taka was in the WWF for a number of years, but I feel it’s almost underrated how bizarre sights like this are. A star of Michinoku Pro going up against the fuckin’ BIG BOSS MAN? Like, the dude who fought Hulk Hogan in a cage and was on the Arsenio Hall show and he’s taking on a 120-lb. Japanese tape-trader darling? Never mind that this is heel vs. heel- the true hallmark of the “fuck, I dunno- *throws darts at names on a board*” booking of Jakked.

Boss Man uses his raw speed to tag Taka early on, but Taka ducks under him and fires off some shots (lmao he’s so short that Boss Man has to lean down into them to make it work) until he’s booted down. Boss Man one-handed chokes him and bends Taka over his knee. Some choking in the corner has Taka backflip over him and nails some dropkicks that have Boss Man taking a really good “deflects off the middle-rope” bump into another one, but he counters a pescado and Taka’s in trouble. Boss Man shoves him into the steps but doesn’t want a three-counter, opting for a clothesline off the ropes instead. NOW Boss Man tries to pin him, getting irritated at Taka’s incessant kickouts while Michael Hayes on commentary puts over how exhausting it is to have to kick out several times in a row. They trade strikes, but a second corner charge sees Boss Man drop-toeholded so Taka can do a one-man clubbering into his “pray, then dropkick him in the face” move. But Taka’s strategy of “just keep yeeting at him” backfires as he gets caught in a massive Boss Man Slam, pinned with one finger at (3:20). lol didja have to do THAT pin? I know he’s a jobber at this point but wow.

Actually not as bad as I was expecting, as they more or less played up to their strengths and styles- Taka’s speed vs. Boss Man’s size and brawling advantages. Taka kept using evasion and running tactics, but eventually his luck ran out and Boss Man could catch him. But it was an unover heel vs. heel match so the fans didn’t really care (not that the Jakked Heat Machine would let you know that).

Rating: *1/2 (perfectly acceptable early morning fare)