I'm always psyched about new Guerreros footage, not just because they were an awesome tag team, but because any Hector Guerrero is a treat that I can't not be thankful for. This isn't even "new" in the sense that it was recently unearthed or whatever. It opened a pretty famous card and as far as I'm aware that full show has been out there forever. But other than the Flair/Wahoo match I'd never seen anything from it, nor did I know until last night that there was a lengthy Guerreros tag right there jerking the curtain. And this was pretty damn great. It got lots of time to build and they clearly put some thought into what they were going to do in each segment. The Guerreros always throw in some neat - dare I say INNOVATIVE? - stuff and I loved their play on the "babyfaces get whipped into each other" spot. Just before the point of contact they decelerate, then push off one another as they roll backwards and flip up to a standing position. When Oliver and the Grappler try the same immediately afterwards they are much less graceful, and the Guerreros catch them prior to the backwards roll and jump into the row boat sequence using the heels' legs as oars. Hector has a long stint in peril and Oliver and the Grappler were a really fun pair of bruisers. At one point they did a king of the mountain segment with Chavo getting more and more irritated, but every time he lost his head Hector would get thrown into a table or the barricade or sent flying across the floor while hanging off the edge of a chair. They even get a few minutes after the hot tag to take it home, and I liked how Chavo never just ducked out the way of the loaded boot shot, but actively pulled Oliver into its path as he leaped to safety. The Guerreros. What a wrestling family.
Hector & Mando Guerrero v Badd Company (AWA, 5/14/88)
Well this was like two thirds of a stone cold classic. A few more minutes during the heat segment, maybe a bit less time spent on the babyface shine, a proper finish, we're easily looking at a five and one quarter star affair. Pre-match DDP asks the Guerreros where the nearest Taco Bell is, so Hector grabs his bullwhip and threatens to bring some ruckus. A man who's had to endure that sort of shit more than once. When the match actually starts, Mando does a goofy Karate Kid crane pose in front of Tanaka and Tanaka looks at him like "c'mon man, really?" A man who's had to endure that sort of shit more than once. I actually like how Tanaka played it up like he was almost disconcerted by it. "Okay mate, you can stop now, I've seen it before, we all think you're hilarious." Except Mando kept doing it and then even Hector started and Tanaka must've figured there was something not right with these two. The Guerreros were just a hoot running up the score here, and the crowd went from being sort of apathetic towards them to losing their minds for all of the cool stuff they were doing. They work Tanaka's arm for a while and run a bunch of fun double teams and miscommunication spots, cleaning house to a standing ovation while Mando does a mini spin-a-roonie in the middle of the ring (a mini-roonie!). One or two of the spots didn't come off perfectly, but it's hard to ding guys for trying something different rather than going through the motions. Trongard and Nelson are going wild for all of it on commentary as well, culminating with Mando hitting a bonkers dive from the top rope to the concrete, wiping out both Diamonds (Paul and Dallas Page). What held it back most was the TV time limit, so we never got much of a heat segment despite Tanaka leading into it with his impeccable leaping forearm. Hopefully there's a longer match between them because this could be a killer pairing.
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