• Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. – (2/3 Falls – ECW Big Ass Extreme Bash 3/9/96)
  

As the pre-match graphic would suggest, this match will be fought under EXTREME lucha libre rules. That means anything goes! In their short careers, Juvi and Rey have feuded in both Mexico (naturally) and Japan. Now they have brought the feud to the states in the only American company that could possibly contain them: ECW! Juventud had beaten Mysterio in this same type of match on the first night of this two-day event. This was the match that always gets the most attention. Mysterio wants to shake hands at the start. Juvi spits in the face of people who want to shake hands. Rey tries stretching out Juvi once they lock up while Juvi knows to work the legs because this kid can FLY. Mysterio delivers a hurracanrana out of the corner for two. Short rollup sequence leads to a stalemate. Juvi plays the jerk by lifting his hands up just out of Rey’s reach for a test of strength. Monkey flips abound. Guerrera blows the first spot by trying a wheelbarrow into a reach around rollup into the ropes. Rey Mysterio is just too small for that. Rey counters a tilt-a-whirl into a hurracanrana for two. Satellite headscissors puts Juvi on the floor. Rey fake dives, but then kicks Juventud back and delivers a split-legged moonsault! Back in, Mysterio gives Guerrera a sunset flip powerbomb for two. Juventud puts a stop to any further offense from Rey for a while with a great brainbuster. He follows up with a springboard somersault kick. WHAT. Dragon Suplex gets 1-2-3! Juventud wins the first fall at 5:36. (Guerrera – 1 | Mysterio – 0) After a 30-second rest period, Mysterio shoots into the ring from the floor right at Juventud. Rey snaps off an amazing hurracanrana for two. Juventud misses a corner charge and rolls out. With Juvi on the apron, Mysterio flies from the top for a hurracanrana to the floor! Kind of botchy though. Rey isn’t finished though. He leaps off ref John Finnegan to nail Juventud with a somersault plancha! Styles says Rey should go to the Olympics in Atlanta for gymnastics. He thinks better of it though by saying that Mysterio wouldn’t want to go to Atlanta. Oh Joey, you could not be more wrong. Back inside, Mysterio delivers a sitout powerbomb and an Asai Moonsault for 1-2-NO! Juvi comes back with a clothesline and some stiff kicks, but then tries a crossbody out of the corner and leaps into a dropkick. Doctorbomb gives the second fall to Mysterio at 9:07. (Guerrera – 1 | Mysterio – 1) Much like Rey at the beginning of the second fall, Juvi charges at Mysterio with a dropkick and then proceeds to dropkick Mysterio off the top rope to put him on the floor. Juventud tosses Rey into the crowd and pulls the guardrail closer to the ring so he can give Rey an ASAI MOONSAULT IN THE CROWD! Chants of “ECW” go up. Styles ~ “You can almost smell the hatred.” Huh? In the ring, Guerrera delivers a Springboard Leg Lariat for 1-2-NO! Springboard somersault legdrop misses. Juventud shoves off a second hurracanrana out of the corner, but flies into a powerbomb for 1-2-NO! Rey misses a second springboard moonsault, so Juventud gives him a press into a fallaway slam. Well that was different. Cover, 1-2-NO! Rey fights back with a jumping leg lariat. Juvi escapes to the floor, but gets nailed with a baseball slide into a headscissors. Since they’re in ECW and fighting through the crowd is nearly a must, that’s what they do. ECW Hat Guy hands Rey a chair to smash in Juventud’s face. That staggers Juvi long enough for Rey to deliver a SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA INTO THE CROWD! Is there anything this guy won’t do? Seriously, this is when Rey was cool. Not like now, where he gets squashed by guys bigger than him and still beats them. Next, they head right outside the front door (which looks like a side door if you’ve ever been to the ECW arena) where Juventud powerbombs Rey on a Ford Taurus! Not even that will stop Rey though, as he jumps off the hood of the car and takes Guerrera over with a headscissors on the concrete. Now they head back to the ring where Rey makes Juvi wear a steel chair around his neck. The crowd wants tables and Rey looks like he wants to oblige the fans. In the ring, Juventud launches Rey up to the top rope for Splash Mountain, but Rey counters into a hurracanrana for 1-2-3! (Mysterio – 2 | Guerrera – 1 | 16:07) Just to show the fans that he hasn’t forgotten their request, Rey gives Juventud a powerbomb through the table after the match. Minimal screw-ups and awesome spots is about all you can ask from lucha libre matches. This was both of those things. It also makes me want to check out the 2/3 falls Mysterio/Psicosis match from October 1995 in ECW, which I don’t believe I’ve ever seen. Nevertheless, this was the swan song on the short-lived careers in ECW for both men as Eric Bischoff would come calling with more money for more talent. Rey Mysterio would debut at the Great American Bash in June while Juventud Guerrera would make his WCW debut two months later in our next match. ***¾

• Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman – (Nitro 8/26/96)
  

Tony Schiavone goes all out for Juventud’s debut – even going as far as to mention his father Fuerza! See what a little bit of homework can do for your product? Of course, this is the pre-Flock era for Billy Kidman as here he’s just a clean cut kid with a fancy finisher. He catches Juventud with a powerslam for two. They take a bump out to the floor off a crossbody from Kidman. After some slapping on the apron, Juventud climbs up on Kidman’s shoulders and eventually slides down his back for a sunset flip powerbomb on the floor! Tony mentions “a pescado into a legdrop”. Oh SNAP! While he’s close, it’s really just a slingshot legdrop on the floor. Back in, Juvi delivers a springboard corkscrew splash for 1-2-NO! Incredible! Springboard hurracanrana is countered into a powerbomb by Kidman for 1-2-NO! Kidman follows up with a slingshot legdrop for two. Kidman wins a suplex battle for two. Of course the crowd down in Florida doesn’t know who Juventud Guerrera is and that’s he’s in for a push, the SHOOTING STAR PRESS only gets two. Juvi stops Kidman up on top and hurracanranas him down for the 1-2-3. (3:43) No matter what he just did in the ring and their intentions, the crowd turns on Guerrera. If they wanted him to be cheered, why put him in there with Kidman? Gene Okerlund tries to get a word with Juventud after the match, which is a stupid mistake because he can barely speak any English. **

• Juventud Guerrera, Super Calo & Hector Garza vs. La Parka, Damien & Ciclope – (Nitro 5/26/97)
  

Juventud has his chance to shine on WCW PPV for the first time against Konnan as a replacement for Psychosis at Fall Brawl 1996. Either they didn’t have a place for him or they weren’t impressed enough with the match to have Juventud on PPV, but he would not get another chance to compete in a PPV singles match for about a year and a half after that first match. He competed in the six-man lucha tag match at Superbrawl VII, which was kind of a mess. This is one of the better and more exciting six-man tags from Nitro. This is the Nitro debut of the lucha libre match AND Hector Garza’s Nitro debut. That one is for all you Garzamaniacs out there. By the way, I’m a BIG fan of Super Calo. Don’t know what it is about him, I just liked him. I like all these guys, really. La Parka and Juventud Guerrera start the match and do the spot where La Parka corners Juvi and misses every kind of strike possible. Satellite armdrag doesn’t work out for Juvi, but a spinning back kick connects. La Parka catches Guerrera in mid-air and does his AWESOME strut. He places Juvi on the top turnbuckle and gives him a good slap. Juvi’s not down with that and leaps off the top and sends La Parka to the floor with a headscissors. Ciclope and Calo switch. Calo headscissors Ciclope from one end of the ring to the other. With Ciclope on the floor, Calo delivers a tope con hilo that sends him over Ciclope and into the third row! FANTASTIC. In the ring, Damien and Garza mix it up. Garza flips all over Damien out of the corner and catches him off a charge with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. They go to the floor where Garza nails Damien with a flying moonsault press! Back inside, Super Calo gets triple-teamed and kicked in the face by La Parka. La Parka = Randy Orton? Juventud comes in and gets triple-teamed as well. Garza avoids dropkicks from everywhere, but gets tripped up by Damien and pulled to the floor. Ciclope and Calo fight on the other side while La Parka and Juventud are left in the ring. Juventud lands on his feet off a release German suplex. Heel miscommunication ensues, leading to Juvi giving Damien a headscissors from inside the ring and off the apron. Holy crap. Juvi judo tosses La Parka off the apron for a hard landing on the floor. Juventud wipes out La Parka with a 450 degree plancha. Calo lands a slingshot senton on the floor across Damien’s chest. Ciclope takes down Calo with a somersault plancha. Now that everyone is on the floor but Garza, he can bust out the CORKSCREW PLANCHA! In the ring, Ciclope flies down into a powerbomb from Garza! Standing moonsault by Garza gets three! (6:26) Of course the work seems overly choreographed, but this was fun as fun gets for a spotfest. ***½

• Juventud Guerrera & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. La Parka & Psychosis – (Nitro 12/15/97)
  

The two long-time rivals in Juventud Guerrera and Rey Mysterio come together. Guerrera gives Psychosis a flying headscissors early, but La Parka kicks him in the back of the head when he tries to come off the ropes to cause Juvi to stumble into a Psychosis clothesline. La Parka tags in and kicks Juvi in the face! I’m telling you – he’s Randy Orton! With Juvi draped across the middle rope, Psychosis flies in with a GUILLOTINE LEG DROP! La Parka busts out some power moves with a belly-to-belly suplex and a NICE powerbomb for two. Juvi avoids a missile dropkick from Psychosis which nails La Parka. Psychosis still manages to cut off the tag and brings Juvi back to his corner. The heat segment ends as La Parka misses a corner splash and Psychosis takes a Juvi Driver. Hot tag to Rey, as the crowd wakes up. La Parka and Psychosis double-whip Rey in as Juvi tries a springboard crossbody. He gets caught, but Rey takes them all down with an Asai Moonsault. A complicated little sequence leads to Rey springboard splashing his opponents. Stereo kicks from Mysterio and Guerrera put La Parka and Psychosis on the floor for STEREO SOMERSAULT PLANCHAS! Back inside, Psychosis receives Air Juvi for two. Rey trips up La Parka into Psychosis to put him on the floor. With La Parka perched up top, Guerrera launches Rey for a hurracanrana! From the floor, Psychosis pulls Rey off the cover. Psychosis grabs Juventud from the apron. La Parka charges, but Rey is there to trip him up. With Psychosis and Juventud up top, Juvi rolls through a SUPER POWERSLAM and ends up slamming Psychosis to the mat for 1-2-NO! La Parka makes the save. He gets too busy strutting, so Rey dropkicks him out. Rey and Juvi look for a Doomsday Device of sorts, but La Parka comes over and crotches Juvi. More strutting from La Parka gets him knocked off the apron and then Rey wipes him out for good with a SPRINGBOARD FLYING HEADSCISSORS up the aisle as Juvi climbs back up to the top for the 450 SPLASH to Psychosis! That gets the win! (6:33) It took a while to get going, but it sure picked up towards the end with awesomeness. ***¾

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Ultimo Dragon vs. Juventud Guerrera – (Thunder 1/8/98)
  

This is from the debut Thunder show. As we see in the video, Juvi beat Psychosis to earn this title shot. Feeling out process to start. Juventud hits a springboard leg lariat on Dragon. He misses a corner splash and takes the kick combo. Now Dragon misses his Handspring Elbow in the corner. Dragon avoids a hurracanrana and crotches Juvi to the floor. He tries a moonsault press, but Guerrera is too far away and Dragon hurts himself. Back in, Juventud flips out of one release German suplex, but not a second for two. Juventud escapes the DRAGONSTEINER, but leaps down into a dropkick. While that seems like a real tide turner, Juvi counters a powerbomb into a DDT! Juvi Driver sets up the 450 SPLASH to pick up the win! (4:19) We’ve got a NEW WCW World Cruiserweight Champion! A few neat spots like the DDT counter, but too short otherwise. **¼

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio – (Thunder 1/15/98)

On the Nitro before this show, Chris Jericho interrupted the Juventud/Mysterio match and attacked Rey Mysterio within the first minute or so to cause a rematch here tonight. When you factor that in, it seems apparent that Mysterio is going to win. But if you didn’t factor it in, you’d probably enjoy this match a lot more. Then why would I tell you that part? I’m here to tell you the truth, OKAY? Sorry. Oh yeah, and Chris Jericho beat Eddie Guerrero earlier in the show to earn a cruiserweight title shot at Souled Out. D’oh! Okay, onto the match. It’s a real romp ’em-stomp ’em start with tons of counters from both guys. Rey finally gets a tilt-a-whirl headscissors to put Juvi on the floor for a somersault plancha. Back inside, Juventud rolls through a springboard sunset flip and catapults Rey to the floor as it’s his turn to fly with a no-hands tope into a headbutt on Mysterio. CRAZY! Back in, Juvi hits a slingshot legdrop for two. He continues with the offense by delivering a Muscle Buster to Mysterio. But instead of dropping Rey’s neck to the mat, Juvi drops to his knees to make sure that Mysterio needs to see a chiropractor in the morning. Cover, 1-2-NO! More work on the neck as Juvi connects with a brainbuster. They fight to the apron where Mysterio while lying down, launches Juvi into the ringpost and then sends him crashing to the floor. That doesn’t stop Guerrera though as he comes from the inside out to the floor with a slingshot legdrop. Back in the ring, Juvi connects with a springboard missile dropkick. Mysterio comes back by tripping Juventud into the ropes. Juventud begs off, but then yanks Rey into the corner. Nice! Juvi takes too long celebrating and flashing his tongue Gene Simmons-style at the crowd. Rey fires back and hits a double-underhook faceplant for 1-2-NO! Rollup sequence leads to a powerbomb from Juventud, but Rey punches out and sits down on top. Juventud avoids Rey’s Tornado DDT by dumping him out to the apron. Juventud stops Rey up top, but he sends Juvi down to the mat the hard way. Flying Hurracanrana? Nope! Juvi counters with a powerbomb. 450 SPLASH misses. Juvi lands on his feet though, but Rey snaps off a hurracanrana just like that for 1-2-3! (9:48) Rey wins his third WCW Cruiserweight title. Great match that told a story, which doesn’t happen too often with Juventud Guerrera matches. This game of hot-potato with the Cruiserweight title doesn’t end here as Chris Jericho begins his third Cruiserweight title reign by beating Rey Mysterio in nine days at Souled Out. ***½

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera – (Title vs. Mask – Superbrawl VIII)

So Jericho is on this kick where he wears the Cruiserweight title everywhere now. He’s still wearing it after the bell sounds. Just to show him how dumb that is, Juvi hits him in the belt with a jumping back kick. If you watch closely, Juventud actually just kicks him in the chest. Off comes the belt. Honestly, I don’t think the crowd gives one crap about Juventud. After a short time on the mat, Guerrera nails Jericho with a springboard spin kick and then gives him a springboard headscissors off the apron. Juvi heads back into the ring while Jericho plays ‘possum on the floor trying to lose by countout so that he still keeps the belt. Juvi sees what’s happening here and drops an elbow on Jericho for trying such a thing. Back in, Guerrera flips out of a German, but runs into a hotshot. Jericho delivers his Springboard Dropkick to the apron. On the floor, Jericho props Juvi up against the guardrail and uses the steps for Air Jericho, but he takes too much time setting it all up that he gets caught and dropped on the railing! That was nasty looking. Back inside, Juventud springboards into a tombstone piledriver! Slow cover gets two. Jericho shows a little frustration and kicks Juvi around. Stalling suplex connects to set up the running senton splash for two. Jericho grabs a backbreaker submission. He releases the hold to convince the ref that Juvi gave up, which doesn’t work and a temper tantrum ensues. Maybe the sound is just bad, but there’s still no real response to anything in this match. You’d think the crowd had been here for two days and this was during Jericho’s hottest period in WCW. We’re in SAN FRANCISCO for crying out loud! You guys love watching men roll around on top of each other for long periods of time. And when I say that, I’m talking about professional wrestling. Nothing else. Juvi shoves Jericho off the top, but flies down and gets caught for an Electric Chair Drop! Well that was impressive. Guerrera’s back up and dropkicks Jericho off the top down to the floor. Jericho sells the knee and starts to walk up the aisle way when Air Juvi occurs all upon Jericho! Back in the ring, Juvi delivers the Juvi Driver and hits the 450 SPLASH! Cover, 1-2-NO! Jericho grabbed the bottom rope. The bell rings prematurely, so Juvi thinks he’s won. Big mistake. Jericho runs up behind him with a chopblock. Lots of nearfall rollups occur – leading to Jericho stopping Juvi for the LIONTAMER. So much for that “Never Surrender” attitude, because Juvi gives it up and unmasks while Jericho calls him Quasi-Juice and every other combination of words he can make up beginning with Quasi just to be a jerk. (13:30) So Juventud becomes the first of three masked luchadores to unmask while in WCW. Not a bad match even with some of the botches. That’s pretty much par for the course with Juventud though. The crowd could not have cared less about this though. ***¼

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho – (Special Referee: Dean Malenko – Road Wild 1998)
  

Since losing the match in February, Juventud Guerrera got the big cruiserweight push and started racking up a bunch of wins – including a few PPV matches with Reese and Kidman from Raven’s Flock to lead into his Cruiserweight title return match with Jericho. Of course, Jericho had his own problems with Dean Malenko throughout the spring and into the summer of 1998 after talking junk about Dean’s dead father. That whole feud turned Dean Malenko from the Iceman into the Fireman! Get it? Because he was MAD! Oh man, I’m a riot. Yeah, so let’s move on. The reason I mention Dean Malenko is because he is *YOUR* special guest referee for this match. This is the only way Dean can get at Jericho now that he lost that “last chance to EVER wrestle Jericho” match. With those kinds of odds, is there any chance Jericho walks out with the title? Jericho berates the bikers, which isn’t a very hard thing to do. Juvi gets beaten down early on – to the point where he falls out to the floor. Malenko warns Jericho, so he responds with “Shut up Deano Machino”. That fires up Dean as he yanks Jericho back into the ring by his golden locks. You know, just to show him who’s the boss. It’s not Tony Danza by the way, it’s DEAN FN MALENKO. Jericho begs off into the corner while Dean thinks about how much fun it would be to tear into Jericho right now with his best Humphrey Bogart impression. He’s so film noir and he doesn’t even know it! Juvi comes back with a missile dropkick that takes Jericho to the floor. Jericho begins to teeter off the edge of the stage. After a few chops, he flies down chest-first onto the guardrail. Juvi goes airborne with a HUGE springboard plancha on Jericho. I mean, he had to jump really far for that one just to clear the stage. Back in, Juvi hits a slingshot legdrop for two. Springboard crossbody from Juvi gets two. No fast counts from Malenko. Jericho catches a second flying bodypress and drills Juvi with a tombstone piledriver. That gets two. Tony thinks it’s a slow count. Tenay disagrees. Jericho hits the stalling suplex and the “COME ON BABY!” boot cover gets two. Hmm, Juvi takes a walk on the outside. Jericho meets him coming in with a boot and slams him for a running senton splash for two. Still no fast or slow counting from the Machino. Juvi escapes a chinlock and counters a suplex. That doesn’t stop Jericho though. Lionsault hits knees, Juvi delivers a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. He connects with a flying spin kick for two. Juvi flips out of a German, but runs into a Double Powerbomb! I haven’t seen him do that in a long time. Instead of capitalizing, Jericho decides to pose and then kicks Juvi to the apron for a springboard shoulderblock. Back in, Jericho cuts off Juvi with a clothesline and covers for two. He thinks he had Guerrera pinned and gets in Dean’s face. Juvi counters a powerbomb into a DDT! He hits the Juvi Driver and looks to finish Jericho off, but he’s crotched for a top-rope superplex. Both men are down, but Juvi turns over on Jericho for 1-2-NO! Jericho tries his double-underhook into a backbreaker. Juvi tries to counter with a hurracanrana, but Jericho counters *that* with the LIONTAMER! Juvi makes the ropes. Jericho plays his game where he tries to convince the ref his opponent, but Dean’s not falling for that. Didn’t you know that he’s the boss, Chris? Juvi avoids a corner charge and starts unloading on Jericho. He accidentally nails Malenko, which allows Jericho to grab his title belt and NAIL Juvi in the face. Jericho slaps Malenko before covering. Malenko hesitates, but then does his job and counts 1-2-NO! Juvi kicks out. They start slapping each other back and forth until Juvi staggers Jericho and puts him on the top turnbuckle. Malenko pulls Juvi off him for some reason. Jericho kicks Malenko back, but then Guerrera charges at them both. Malenko grabs Juvi and launches him into Jericho for a headscissors. Juvi covers for 1-2-3! (16:25) Good solid match with a great finish. Juventud finds retribution for Jericho costing him his mask by taking Jericho’s Cruiserweight title away from him. ***½

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera – (Nitro 11/16/98)

After regaining the belt at Road Wild, Juvi quickly makes a star out of Kidman the night after he was set free from Raven’s Flock on the September 14 edition of Nitro in a great match that cost him the Cruiserweight title. Rey Mysterio actually beat Juventud Guerrera for a Cruiserweight title shot at World War 3, so Kidman defending the Cruiserweight title against the LOSER of that match FIRST would only happen in WCW. Well, maybe TNA. Basic feeling out process to start over a headlock. Tony informs us that this crowd is JACKED. Juvi charges into a Sitout Spinebuster, which I believe he calls a BK Bomb now since he’s too bulky to do the Shooting Star Press these days. Juvi takes a breather on the floor after that one. Back in, Kidman hits a slingshot legdrop and then cranks on a chinlock. Guerrera elbows out and headscissors Kidman out of the corner. He gives Kidman another tilt-a-whirl headscissors and goes to the corner for a ten-count punch. Flying bodypress gets 1-2-NO! Kidman backdrops Juvi on the apron and dropkicks him to the floor for a plancha. Back inside, Kidman covers for two. Back to the chinlock. It’s odd seeing Kidman play the heel in this match. When Juvi starts to fight out, Kidman levels him with forearms up against the ropes. He charges, but Juvi hits the mat and that causes Kidman to go flying over the top rope to the floor. Juvi flies down on top of Kidman just for fun. Back in the ring, Guerrera delivers a tail-bone bruising springboard legdrop. Delayed cover gets two. Kidman charges into a spinebuster and then takes a wheelbarrow face slam. Next up, YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN! That gets two. Juvi tries another wheelbarrow, but Kidman counters into a release German! Another nearfall for Kidman. Guerrera flips out of a German and drills Kidman with a Juvi Driver! Cover, 1-2-NO! Juventud cannot believe it. Kidman lowblows Juvi off a top rope hurracanrana attempt and deliver the Super Sitout Spinebuster! Oh man. SHOOTING STAR PRESS? Nope. Juvi trips up Kidman and sets him in place for the 450 SPLASH! That connects and gets the 1-2-3! (12:09) And Juventud Guerrera wins his third and final WCW World Cruiserweight championship. These two just really had a great chemistry together. Six days later, Kidman would get his rematch at World War 3 and
regained the belt to pick up right where he left off the week before. ***¾

• Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg – (Spring Stampede 1999)
  

Sorry about the sound on this match. There’s not anything I can do. Winner gets a title shot on Nitro. Blitzkrieg was a red and black masked wrestler from southern California who enjoyed a small amount of success in WCW from 1998 into 1999. He’s like the ’90s version of Jack Evans where he’s small and does things you’ve never seen before. Oddly enough, Jay Ross, who plays the Blitzkrieg character, handed his mask over to Jack Evans in a sign that he is fully retired from wrestling in 2004 for a short stint in Japan. Some flipping and flopping stuff to start. Blitz complains about some mask pulling and then cranks on a headlock. Juvi can’t monkey flip OR hiptoss Blitzkrieg as he keeps landing on his feet. Juvi then charges into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. He answers back with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Blitz reverses a cross corner whip for a handspring elbow and a ten-count corner punch. Juventud one-ups him with ten-count turnbuckle smashes! Springboard dropkick from Juvi connects to put Blitz on the floor. NO-HANDS PLANCHA from the Juice! Back in, Guerrera hits a brainbuster for two. Blitz escapes a surfboard by wiggling out and falling on top of Juvi for two. He follows up with a series of kicks that puts Guerrera on the floor. Juventud walks around the ring to prevent any chance of Blitzkrieg flying down on him. When he does come off the top, Juvi stops him in mid-air with a dropkick! Back inside, Blitzkrieg puts Juvi back on the floor with a lucha armdrag. Blitz takes his turn to fly with a quebrada! In the ring again, Blitz slips out of a Juvi Driver and tries a reverse suplex. Juvi lands on his feet and drops Blitzkrieg down on the mat for 1-2-NO! Up in the corner, Blitzkrieg looks like he’s going to counter a back superplex with Sliced Bread #2 perhaps, but they crash and burn on the mat. SKY TWISTER PRESS misses, but he counters another Juvi Driver with an inside cradle for 1-2-NO! Not sure what he was going for, but Blitz ended up giving Juvi wheelbarrow roll to the mat for 1-2-NO! Back to the top, Juvi prevents whatever Blitzkrieg wants to do and kills him dead with a SUPER JUVI DRIVER! Goodbye. (11:11) Few botches aside, this was easily one of the best PPV openers in WCW history. ****

• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jushin Liger vs. Juventud Guerrera – (Nitro 11/29/99)

This is for you, Frank the Tank! Guerrera has an expired visa to work here in the states, so this is a must-win situation for him thanks to the Powers That Be. As soon as the bell sounds, Brad Armstrong doing his hippie gimmick walks out with a hippie protest sign that says “Down With Big Brother”. And yes, Vince Russo has come to WCW. What gave it away?! Anyways, Buzzkill joins Tony and Bobby at the announce table for commentary on this match. Meanwhile in the ring, Juvi hits Liger with a wheelbarrow bulldog. A headscissors from Juventud puts Liger on the floor to set up a springboard plancha. Back in, Liger shoves Juvi off the top for a frog splash. That gets two. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Liger leads into a Surfboard. Buzzkill calls Heenan ‘Bobby Eaton’ just for kicks and grins. Quick belly-to-belly suplex gets two for Liger. Juvi counters the LIGERBOMB into a backslide sequence for two. Liger whiffs on a dropkick and gets his neck snapped on the top rope. Springboard legdrop from Juvi connects. He calls for the Juvi Driver, but Liger slips away and hits a release German as Buzzkill gets up from the table to show off his sign to Liger. That gives Juvi enough time to grab his bottle of tequila and smashes it in Liger’s face for 1-2-3. (5:34) Okay well that was disappointing. This would prove to be Juventud’s one and only IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship to date. If this makes it any better, Liger regains the belt a week later on Nitro from Psychosis who defended the belt in Juvi’s place after he fractured his arm. **

• WCW World Tag Team Champions The Great Muta & Vampiro (w/The KISS Demon) vs. Juventud Guerrera & Rey Mysterio (w/Konnan, Disco Inferno & Tygress) – (Nitro 8/14/2000)

I was definitely watching WWE at this point in WCW’s history, so I have no fond memories of this time period. Kronik comes out for commentary. They lost the tag belts to Muta and Vampiro the night before at the New Blood Rising PPV thanks to some interference from the Harris brothers. To show you how terrible this was, Rey is unmasked and has devil horns stuck to his head. We go to a clip of Kevin Nash, Sting, Scott Steiner, Disco Inferno, and Booker T being a part of some VH1 talk show called “The List”. Konnan spits out his usual lines and makes Richard Gere gerbil jokes directed at Kronik. That actually make me laugh – because it made me think of Peter Griffin on his Easter egg hunt. The Harris boys get into a fight with Kronik that ends up in the crowd to take them away. Konnan takes over special guest commentator duties. In the ring, Muta and Vampiro dominate Mysterio. Nothing really happening. Vamp gives Rey a nice powerbomb toss. Meanwhile, Tony is getting out of hand with comments about how this was the most uncontrollable and insane edition of Nitro in the history of our sport. While Vampiro messes with Juvi in the ring, Muta jabs a steel chair into Rey on the floor and then whips him into the guardrail. Inside the ring, we see some heel miscommunication. BIG X-Factor from Rey to Vamp leads to a hot tag to Juventud! Spin kicks and dropkicks for everybody! Wheelbarrow bulldog to Vampiro. Front rollup to Muta gets 1-2-NO! Juvi throws Rey into Vampiro, who gets caught. Meanwhile, Muta gives Juvi the MIST of some indeterminable color. Vampiro gives Rey the NAIL IN THE COFFIN while Muta delivers a dragon screw leg whip to Juvi. Either somebody has started flicking the light switch on and off, or HERE COMES STING! Yeah, okay, it’s Sting. He takes out the Dark Carnival with his trusty ball bat and leaves. And the ref lets the match continue because apparently the lights were too scary for him and he had to look away, so he saw NOTHING. Everybody’s down. From the floor, Disco turns Rey over on top of Muta for 1-2-3! (6:13) And there you go. Just a nothing match, but Juventud Guerrera has won the WCW World Tag Team Championship with his buddy Rey Mysterio for the one and only time. They would hold on to the belts for about a month before they lost them in some funky WCW 2000 sort of way. Things got worse for Juventud though personally, as he was fired from WCW in October because of a terrible incident involving some PCP. That stuff will mess you up. *

• Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Sabin – (Super X Cup Finals – TNA PPV 9/3/2003)
  

The whole 2003 Super X tournament was awesome, but I’m sticking with just the finals match. Both guys play that game of mirroring each other’s moves that leads into a stalemate. They run the ropes and Juvi snaps off a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and grabs an armbar. What appears to be a screw up, Sabin dumps off a headscissors and nails Juventud with a jumping enziguri for two. Juvi comes back with a spinning heel kick to put Sabin on the floor. He fake dives, but then lands a pescado and takes a water break. Great stuff. Back in, Juventud delivers a slingshot elbow drop for two. Guerrera applies an abdominal stretch. From there, Sabin takes Juventud up into an electric chair drop position. When Juvi tries to counter with a wheelbarrow bulldog, but Sabin shoots him off with a release German suplex. That gets two. Juvi tries to powerbomb Sabin out of the corner, but Sabin slips away into a rollup only for Juvi to flip through that into a basement dropkick. Nice! Sabin goes to the eyes and pulls back on the arms to keep Juventud grounded. Juventud catches Sabin again in the corner and delivers an OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX for 1-2-NO! Awesome! Juvi flips out of Germans and powerbombs to lead into an extended rollup sequence. Fantastic. Don West says he’s getting dizzy and he’s sitting down! More reversals from these two. Sabin calls for Lynn’s Cradle Piledriver, but Juvi knows it’s coming and surprises Sabin with a quick rollup for 1-2-NO! Sabin rolls through *that* and gets caught with a wheelbarrow bulldog! Both men are down! Springboard dropkick from Guerrera is delivered. He kips up! Could we see the Juvi Driver? No! Sabin slips out and flips Juvi off his shoulders into a DDT! Cover, 1-2-NO! Juvi counters the CRADLE SHOCK for a TIGER DRIVER ’98! Will that be all? Cover, 1-2-NO! We see more counters as Sabin turns the Juvi Driver around with a DDT! Sabin flies down on Guerrera, but gets nailed in mid-air with a dropkick. Sabin stops Juvi up top and gives him a top-rope superplex. Both guys drape their arms across the other for 1-2-NO! Now they both take turns sneaking rollups on each other for nearfalls. Juvi Driver! 450 SPLASH! Cover, 1-2-NO! Sabin has his foot on the bottom rope. Guerrera goes for some sort of pumphandle move when Sabin escapes and drops Juvi in the middle of the ring with a Fisherman’s Buster! That gets him the three-count! (14:46) Two weeks earlier, Sabin had lost the first-ever Ultimate X match and failed at regaining the X-Division title. Now he wins the first-ever Super X tournament and gets a trophy that he can’t lose! Easily the best non-gimmick match in 2003 TNA. I defy you to find something better. Guerrera would return in 2004 for a rematch with Sabin, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the original. ****¼

• WWE Cruiserweight Champion Nunzio (w/Vito) vs. Juventud Guerrera (w/Super Crazy & Psicosis) – (No Mercy 2005)
  

Alright! A match from YouTube! I’ve tried to review this PPV a couple times in the past. I just couldn’t do it. It just bored the crap out of me. This is Juventud deep into the Mexicools tricked out lawn mower riding gimmick. If Sonny Oono could sue for racial discrimination in WCW, how could Juventud, Super Crazy or Psicosis not sue WWE for the same thing? Just glad to have a job I guess. Anyways, Juventud won a real nifty cruiserweight battle royal on Velocity the week before to get this title shot. I miss Velocity. Quick rollups from Juvi to start. All that leads to a stalemate. Juvi catches Nunzio with a boot and delivers a tilt-a-whirl headscissors for two. Half-nelson backbreaker gets two. Up top, Nunzio yanks Juvi down to the mat so he can pull back on his arms with both feet placed in between the shoulder blades. Juvi fights out into a rollup. Russian legsweep by Nunzio gets two. Both guys fight on the top turnbuckle ending with them smashing each other’s faces into the mat. Pretty wild stuff. That gets two counts for each of them. Juvi charges at Nunzio with a spinning heel kick. He gets fired up, so Nunzio tries to cool him off with forearms and a sunset flip, which Juvi rolls through for a dropkick. Shining Wizard! Of course Michael Cole doesn’t know what to call it. Juvi catches Nunzio out of the corner for a sitout facebuster for 1-2-NO! Nunzio blocks a corner charge with a boot, but misses the SICILIAN SLICE. Vito tries to help out, but he winds up taking a headscissors off the apron to wipe him out. Back in, Nunzio rolls through a flying bodypress for 1-2-NO! He looks to counter the Juvi Driver, but Juventud fires off a Northern Lights suplex to set up for the JUVI DRIVER! Cover, 1-2-3! (6:50) I was never that impressed with Nunzio anyways, but these two did not seem to have much to do together. Then again, you can tell Juventud had to tone down his style quite a bit to be in WWE. Between No Mercy and Survivor Series, Juventud would trade the belt back and forth with Nunzio before losing it for good to Kid Kash at Armageddon. *¾

Final Thoughts: Wow, fourteen matches. That’s a lot of Juvi. There’s a few other matches I could have stuck in here like his Pro Wrestling NOAH tag match that everybody in that whole scene raves about, some lucha PPV matches from 1997 and Souled Out 1998, and those four-way dances at Starrcade 1998 and Souled Out 1999. They’re fantastic matches, but he didn’t win them or do anything that stood out to me, so I didn’t feel like they needed to be on here. At least I got all his big title wins covered though and the match where he lost his mask. It’s safe to say though that when Juvi Juice can cut loose (and kick off his Sunday shoes) that he is quite awesome. You can definitely see how he has matured and his spots become less and less likely to be botched as time goes on. Ultimately, I suggest you check out those two four star matches where Juventud really shows what he’s made of there. It’s just like Konnan says, “He’s got it like that.” Such words of wisdom.