First Up: THE Malenko vs. Guerrero ECW series of matches in 1995
This is the Catch-As-Catch-Can newsletter, where we discuss the world of professional wrestling on another (intelligent) level.
Even though most who watched the original ECW TV show (when Paul E. Dangerously Heyman was the driving force behind the original concept) would equate it with mostly violent and/or crazy matches, there are some incredible catch-as-catch-can (the acronym will henceforth be known as C-A-C-C) matches as well. In my memory, there are few series in pro wrestling that - from a technical perspective - are better than the Dean Malenko/Eddie Guerrero classics from ECW back in 1995.
Warring frequently over the ECW Television Championship in some of the most breathtaking wrestling clinics ever witnessed, Guerrero & Malenko combine for some incredible C-A-C-C action.
Starting off with their first encounter in ECW for the ECW TV title (Guerrero was the champ), the pair wrestled to a brilliant 30-min. draw that left the ECW audience with no choice but to give both competitors a standing ovation.
I’ve probably watched this match (along with their final match in ECW before both left for WCW - a 2-out-of-3 falls classic) at least 20 times (several times right after I first witnessed it) and - to me - it certainly stands the test of time. Here were two evenly-matched grapplers who could counter each other’s best offerings with technical wizardry the likes of which we had rarely seen on TV in pro wrestling up to that point in the U.S. of A.
If you haven’t watched their matches from ECW, find the YouTube videos or - if you have it - go to the Peacock app and check out their classic ECW C-A-C-C encounters for the ECW World Television Championship.
Please let me know what you think of these matches (several matches were televised and one was from ECW’s Hostile City Showdown 1995 PPV) and how well they rate on the C-A-C-C scale (let’s go with the King Kong Bundy/Big E - your preference - scale of a FIVE count, with 5 being the best and 1 being the drizzling sh!ts).
This is the Catch-As-Catch-Can newsletter, where we discuss the world of professional wrestling on another (intelligent) level.