Basically a southern style tag on lotsa speed. It was six and a half minutes and they kept the broad structure of a traditional tag, more AWA than Crockett with one shorter heat segment followed by a longer one (relative to the match length), but they never really leaned into any hope spots or cut-off teases. Instead they went for the all-action approach, hit everything hard, hit it fast, and in the end it felt like the match had way more than six minutes of content. In the best way possible, I mean. It was urgent but not rushed. Or maybe it was rushed but it didn't FEEL rushed. Or maybe it did but not in the shitty way. Prolly. Look, it's right at the beginning of the Smackdown Six period so you know that above all else these guys are going to go out and try to rip it up for however long they get. The Eddie/Rey parts were magic. Eddie absolutely drills him with a powerbomb, that leads to Rey going FIP while the Guerreros target the back, and of course I'll always love the hilo to the lower back spot. There's a bit early on where Eddie gets knocked off the apron before Chavo is backdropped over the ropes onto him, but Eddie was so good at making it not obvious he's out there waiting for Chavo to land on him. Maybe this is the old man yelling at clouds part of me, but those spots happen all the time today and they almost never look organic. It's always obvious what's about to happen. And it wasn't just Eddie either, all four of them - yes even Chavo - were great at running through their sequences and hitting their stuff in a way that didn't take me out of the moment. And then Angle appeared and went jock roid rage on Rey and maybe after twenty years this Smackdown Six stuff will feel fresh again? He asks, knowing he'll never watch it all. But this was quality.
Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit v The Rock & Edge (Smackdown!, 8/22/02) - GOOD
This got more time, about thirteen minutes which you can't complain about. They made the most of it and they cut a strong pace again, but it also felt fleshed out and nothing really came off rushed. Both babyfaces play Ricky Morton for a bit, Rock having the longer heat segment and I'm fine with that because I like him and do not like Edge very much. Eddie channels intensity every bit as believably as Benoit and all of their stuff looks like it would actually hurt, their cut-offs are sharp and their work on Rock's ribs is good. Eddie goes for a frog splash, Edge juuuuust manages to trip him before he jumps and Eddie lands practically on his face. There were a few minor miscues in the first half and Edge's stuff looks sort of crummy, but I can't say I'm not at least a little interested in finally revisiting the Edge/Eddie feud after all this time. I hope I like it more in 2022!
No comments:
Post a Comment