Almost Random Wrestling Match Review (February 12, 2012)

Welcome to my ALMOST Random Wrestling Match Review. I'm tired of randomly picking matches and getting matches I don't want to review. It sounded like a good idea at first, but then I had to review THREE Bret Hart matches. So I think from now on, I will review a random match and my next review will be an almost random match. How is this match review almost randomly selected? I get to pick the match I want to review, but I can choose from only 10 randomly selected matches. What I did was randomly select a number between 0 and 4 and randomly pick a number between 0 and 9. I have 445 wrestling matches on DVD so the first number means the match has to start with that number and the second number means that match has to end with that number. The numbers I picked were 2 and 5. That means my options were 205, 215, 225, 235, 245, 255, 265, 275, 285, and 295. I looked at my list to see which matches those were and I picked 255. I tried picking a match that I liked, but not a match that is very well-known. The match I will review is...

Chavo Guerrero vs. Jamie Noble vs. Funaki vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Nunzio vs. Tajiri vs. Shannon Moore vs. Billy Kidman vs. Akio [First-Ever WWE Cruiserweight Championship Open] (WrestleMania 20- March 14, 2004)

I saw this match for the first time a few weeks ago. Most of the participants in this match are familiar names, but many of them were never huge stars in the WWE. Rey Mysterio is the only superstar from this match who is currently still in the WWE. Many of these guys were probably making their WrestleMania debut and I'm sure they wanted to steal the show.

The Facts:

• This match happened at Madison Square Garden in New York City in front of 20,250 fans.
• Michael Cole and Tazz were the announcers for this match.
• This match had a 11:32 time length.
• Chavo Guerrero was released by the WWE on June 25, 2011.
• Ultimo Dragon's match against Chris Jericho in Japan in 1995 helped Jericho become a wrestler for ECW. Ultimo left the WWE in 2004.
• Jamie Noble announced his retirement from professional wrestling on November 10, 2009. Noble currently works for the WWE as a producer and wrestled Daniel Bryan at a WWE House Show on January 13, 2012.
• Funaki was released by the WWE on April 22, 2010. Funaki's WWE career started in March 1998. This was not Funaki's first WrestleMania match. At WrestleMania 2000, Funaki participated in a 15-minute hardcore battle royal for the Hardcore Championship.
• Shannon Moore and Nunzio were released by the WWE on August 8, 2008. Moore is currently wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Nunzio returned to the WWE in late 2010 as a referee. In September 2011, it was announced that Nunizo was no longer working for the WWE as a referee.
• Billy Kidman was released by the WWE on July 6, 2005. Kidman is currently a WWE producer.
• Tajiri left the WWE in December 2005.
• Akio was also known as Jimmy Wang Yang. He was released by the WWE on April 22, 2010.
• Rey Mysterio was dressed as the Flash in this match. Mysterio is still on the WWE roster, but he is currently recovering from an injury he suffered in 2011. It has been reported that Mysterio will not be competing at WrestleMania 28.

The Match:

This match started with two wrestlers in the ring and whenever a wrestler was eliminated, a new wrestler would enter. The last man standing would win the match and become Cruiserweight Champion. It is like a Tag Team Turmoil match without the tag teams. The first two wrestlers in this match were at a huge disadvantage because they had to defeat nine wrestlers to become the champion. The first two wrestlers were Shannon Moore and Ultimo Dragon. Those two wrestlers worked at a very fast pace. Tazz pointed out that there were a lot of near-falls very early in the match because of the speed of the athletes. Michael Cole said that the quicker that one of these men could eliminate their opponent, the better their chances of out-lasting the other eight wrestlers. Moore attempted to hit Dragon with a corkscrew moonsault but Dragon got out of the way and avoided contact. Dragon hit a move that looked like Brian Kendrick's finisher move in the WWE called The Kendrick. The move was Kendrick applying a headlock on his opponent, dragging him to the corner, pushing off the turnbuckles with his feet causing Kendrick to do a back-flip/moonsault while still holding onto his opponent's head. It was a cool looking move. Dragon did the same but was able to do a standing back-flip without using the turnbuckles. Dragon covered Moore and got the three count.

Jaime Noble entered the ring next and hit Dragon from behind. The interesting thing about this match is that the wrestler in the ring does not know who is their next opponent. All of the participates surrounded the ring so they could immediately enter as soon as someone was eliminated. Noble whipped Dragon into the ropes and tried to backdrop Dragon but Dragon was athletic enough to flip off Noble's back and land on his feet. Dragon took control of the match and attempted a moonsault off the top rope. Noble got out of the way but Dragon landed on his feet. Noble hit a nice neckbreaker and put Dragon in a submission hold. Dragon had to submit and Dragon was eliminated.

Funaki entered the ring next by jumping off the top rope. Funaki landed on Noble but Noble was able to roll into a pin. Funaki was pinned for a three count! Tazz and Cole were calling it the fastest elimination in WrestleMania history.

Nunizo entered next. It sounded like the fans were chanting "Little Guido". That was his name in ECW. Nunzio climbed to the top rope and hit a nice kick off the top rope. The sound of his feet making contact with Noble was loud and it reminded me of Cody Rhodes's loud kicks. Noble was able to force Nunzio out of the ring and Noble climbed to the top rope. Noble did a front flip off the top rope and landed on Nunzio outside the ring! Awesome! Noble tried to climb back into the ring, but Nunizo pulled him off the ring apron. Nunzio tried to get in the ring. Nunizo was standing on the ring apron, and Noble pulled his leg which caused Noble to fall face first on the floor. Ouch! Nunzio sold it very well. Noble rolled back into the ring, and Nunzio was counted out.

Billy Kidman entered next. Before I watched this match, I don't think I ever saw a Billy Kidman match. Kidman flipped Noble onto the apron and Nunzio pulled Noble off the apron. Kidman then did a baseball slide into Nunzio. Kidman climbed on the ring ropes and did a SHOOTING STAR PRESS ONTO NOBLE AND NUNZIO!! HOLY SHIT!!! That was impressive! New York City starts chanting "Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!". Kidman gets Noble back in the ring and hits a beautiful enziguri kick on Noble. Kidman climbed to the top rope, but Noble stopped him from jumping. Kidman hit the BK Bomb off the top rope which looked like a power bomb! Wow! Kidman eliminated Noble with a three count pin.

Rey Mysterio entered next by springboarding off the ropes and onto Kidman. Rey bounced off the ropes and ran right into a dropkick! Rey quickly regains control of the match, but Chavo distracted him and the control of the match went right back to Kidman. He got Mysterio to the top rope and climbed to the second rope but Mysterio was able to hit a move that was half sunset flip and half power bomb! Interesting move! Mysterio pinned Kidman's shoulders to the mat and got the three count.

Tajiri entered next. Tajiri whipped Mysterio into the ropes but Mysterio did a back flip off the ropes. Tajiri and Mysterio were using the ropes to do interesting moves. Tajiri seemed to be done after Mysterio hit the 619, but Tajiri avoided Mysterio's springboard attempt. Akio tried helping Tajiri but Tajiri accidentally spit green mist at Akio that was intended for Mysterio. The distraction helped Rey roll Tajiri into a pin and eliminate Tajiri.

Akio couldn't compete because the mist went in his eyes so Chavo entered next. Chavo took control of the match right away but Mysterio was able to hit a springboard hurracarrana. Chavo Sr. tried to interfere in the match which angered Mysterio so he tried to do a suicide dive to the outside on Chavo Sr. The referee stopped Mysterio. The ref turned his back on Mysterio to talk to Chavo Sr. and Mysterio did a front flip over the referee and onto Chavo Sr. outside the ring! Mysterio climbed onto the ring apron and flipped into the ring and over Chavo. When Mysterio landed, he tried to do a sunset flip and pin Chavo but Chavo reversed it into a pin. Chavo reached outside of the ring and grabbed the hands of Chavo Sr. which helped Chavo steal a victory.

Winner: Chavo Guerrero

Rating: ***3/4

That was a fun match and a great spotfest. I loved how fast the match was. There wasn't any boring parts in the match. It wasn't a WrestleMania classic match, but many WrestleMania matches are bad and this match was very good. I would have loved to see a few more unique spots, but there were so many fun and exciting spots in this match. It was a very entertaining match. This match didn't steal the show, but the participants in this match performed well at Madison Square Garden.