Kidman vs Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera (WCW, 12-27-1998)

WCW Starrcade, Washington, DC

This is a triangle match for Kidman’s cruiserweight title. Kidman had emerged as an alpha cruiserweight in ’98, which at the time really did freshen up the top of that division and give it some new life. Guerrera also emerged as a consistent higher-end cruiser in ’98, for that matter; both had been around in WCW for a while but really broke out as title guys that year.

Guerrera is with the Latino World Order, led by Eddie Guerrero, and he’s Eddie’s hand-picked guy to take the belt here. Mysterio hates the LWO, and Kidman is white.

There’s a funny bit early where Mysterio accidentally forearms Kidman and they start to go at it, and Juvi cheers it on before they both drop him. Cool spot that ends with a nice Kidman lariat on Juventud. A bunch of very teamwork-y spots that look cool enough if sometimes a little obviously set up. This stands out less now, but also the execution — at higher levels — is usually better these days, but is smoother always better? You can form a really dumb argument that ACTUALLY if things look shittier, it’s more reali–

I’m sorry, I don’t care. I thought this match was alright but not great in ’98 when I ordered the pay-per-view, but my expectations were different then. Now, it plays maybe a bit better to me, perhaps just powered by nostalgia. Tenay figures we’ve seen about 25 near-falls when we’ve maybe seen five. Wrestling commentary used to kick ass. Or maybe I’m wrong. I do know this: I’m not going back to find out.

Mysterio hits a top rope Asai moonsault onto both on the floor. Guerrera hits a Juvi Driver, doesn’t get all of it, on Rey for two, with Kidman coming back in for the save. Lots of cool highlight reel stuff, but the things in between aren’t clicking fully, feels sort of labored around the highspots. There are enough highspots to make it worth the watch still.

Eddie Guerrero comes down eventually, and he tries to interfere on Juvi’s behalf, but Kidman winds up winning anyway while Guerrero doesn’t notice. Then Guerrero does, and he does some very good acting.

There is a lot to like here, if you fancy just a bunch of cool things happening, the match is probably better to you than it is to me. There’s a sort of disconnect between the highspots that sticks out bad to me, though. But I still like the match, and you could create a GIFset that makes this look like a classic. One thing I really do like is other than the constant third guy breaking up the pin, this doesn’t reek of a typical “triple threat” style match, in that pretty much the entire thing is worked by all three guys instead of someone lying around on the floor somewhere like WWE would fashion into the house style.

Rating: 3/5