Eddie Guerrero v JBL (Bullrope Match) (Great American Bash, 6/27/04) - GREAT
As far as bullrope matches go this wasn't quite Hansen v Colon, but it's probably the best bullrope match WWE has ever done. I mean I'm sure they've done at least a couple, right? The early parts are a wee bit tentative, both of them almost seeing what they could do without the bullrope getting in the way. Then they settle into their groove pretty quickly and things pick up nicely. They do a little back and forth part midway through where they each touch three of the corners before being interrupted, and I liked it as a bit of foreshadowing for what to expect at the end. Also shows how difficult it'll be for one of them to essentially drag the other around the ring so they can touch all four corners, especially if the guy on the other end of that rope is in no mood to be cooperating. We get a couple of the bullrope/strap/chain match staples as JBL gets the rope pulled into his privates, Eddie uses it to yoink him into the ring post, then JBL chucks Eddie all the way across the announcer's table just to get rid of him for a second. Eddie braining him with the chair in a carbon copy of Judgment Day was an amazing callback and one that didn't feel completely on the nose. JBL doesn't bleed to the extent Eddie did at Judgment Day because quite frankly that would be impossible short of a legitimate stabbing, but he does get nice colour and his blood-loss selling was really good from that point forward. There were a couple great moments where Eddie would almost have all four corners touched and JBL would just curl up on the mat and wrap his legs around the rope and refuse to move. What else could he do? For Eddie it was sign of frustration, because JBL has the weight to just lie there on the ground, as well as the long legs to cling to a rope or post. So Eddie would need to escalate things, which he does with the frog splash, but again as he almost touches the fourth corner JBL outright rolls to the floor. He just lies there after it, half dead, knowing at least that he can't LOSE the match out there. Eddie's first table bump is a corker as he tries to drag JBL back in the ring but gets yeeted from the apron over the announce desk by the bullrope. The table doesn't break and Eddie just bounces off the thing, so JBL powerbombs him on it and that very much broke the table. JBL doesn't so much win in the end as opposed to find himself in a fortuitous spot, but you do what you need to do and those fine margins matter.
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