Eddie Guerrero v JBL (Judgment Day, 5/16/04) - EPIC
Well this is still good. It's the first look at JBL in a big singles spot after he sold the Acolyte Protection Agency and purchased an office space in New York. All of his anti-Latin rhetoric (i.e. blatant racism) leading into this is basically the catalyst for the Trump presidency campaign and the Latin-American community gets to live vicariously through Eddie Guerrero as he kicks the living shit out of the racist millionaire for a few minutes. JBL had also caused Eddie's mother to have a heart attack leading up to this, so naturally Eddie's mood is much different than it was against Angle at Wrestlemania. The early stuff with Eddie working on top is good and obviously Eddie is great at playing fired up babyface. Bradshaw gets almost nothing and actively begs off, a real cowardly lump. What that early stretch establishes is that Eddie isn't interested in BEATING Bradshaw as opposed to beating the brakes off him. He'll worry about actually winning the match later. You see that when Bradshaw is basically out cold on the floor and the ref' is at nine, so Eddie scoots back in to break it rather than staying in there for the count out win. BUT as he rolls back out JBL catches him and whips him into the steps, which was a nice way to start the transition. That sort of thing happened a few times and was a cool theme throughout -- Eddie being a wee bit overzealous, eager in his pursuit of VENGEANCE, and Bradshaw using it to his advantage. The second instance came shortly after that to properly swing the momentum, with Eddie going for a plancha, JBL catching him and hitting the fallaway slam on the floor. There was the old Scott Keith talking point about Bradshaw going to the headlock in this because he sucks and needed a rest hold for a while. I don't really care if he was gassed or not but the headlock worked, the way he really leaned his weight on top of Eddie and squeezed the thing tight. Plus you bought him going to that just so he could keep a lid on Eddie, anything that would rein him in and keep his temper in check. When that temper does flare up again Bradshaw bumps nicely off a couple armdrags, but again he can use Eddie's momentum against him as he backdrops him across one of the announcer's tables. JBL working the bearhug keeps with his containment strategy, using his size, not letting Eddie put anything together. The ref' bump off Eddie's comeback has always felt like one of the better ones. It's not contrived or obvious, Eddie just turns and runs into him and Hebner Junior goes flying. Then they go to the floor and Bradshaw fucking vaporises Eddie with the chair and Eddie's bladejob is the stuff of nightmares. I've seen this match half a dozen times in the last 10 years and it always shocks me how much blood he manages to squirt out his head. Literally seconds after the bladejob he's a total mess and one close-up shot alone elicits a holy shit chant. Everything after that is amazing. I guess a comparison would be Shawn/Undertaker in the cell, with Shawn's bladejob kicking off an epic finishing run. It's one of Eddie's greatest performances and maybe his greatest as a babyface. The blood-loss selling is just fantastic, though I imagine there must've been some of this that wasn't selling. He leaves literal puddles of blood on the mats outside, the canvas, bleeds so much that JBL is covered in it. At one point he actually slips on blood splatter which is just ridiculous and Cole is affronted at the state of him. The ring looks like a butcher's apron and JBL is measuring shots and punching Eddie in the cut, his hands covered in blood damn near up to the elbow. I thought the second ref' bump was great as well, partly because of how Eddie set it up. JBL goes for the lariat and Eddie, nearly bled out, rather than ducking just throws himself at Bradshaw's feet to trip him, or maybe he just fell and happened to land fortuitously, at which point Bradshaw wellies the ref'. The Clothesline from Hell that actually connects is legit Hansen level, then he powerbombs Eddie with so much force it fucking wakes up the first ref'! After Eddie kicks out to a monster pop, JBL immediately covers him again and Eddie's next kick out gets the same pop, which basically never happens but Eddie has lost so much blood that it's a plausible nearfall. That final blood-soaked shimmy is one of the best comeback spots ever and then the DQ finish is great. Bradshaw has almost killed this man legit and he won't stay down, so he tries to pull one of Eddie's tricks with the steel chair bait and switch, but it backfires and Eddie smashes him with the belt, clearly not caring about winning or losing, not that he ever really did. Then there's the post-match beatdown, which is about as satisfying as you could ask for if you thought the actual finish was deflating.
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