Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

[10.0] "A SmackDown special. Eddie is genuinely happy to share the ring with Rey, whom he sees as a younger brother, while Rey enters the match nursing an injured arm from the previous match. At first, Eddie keeps the contest friendly, but once Rey outwrestles him and slaps him across the face, everything changes. Eddie becomes increasingly vicious, tearing Rey's arm apart with brilliantly creative offense, submissions and hammerlock variations that make every attack feel nastier than the last. An absolutely amazing TV classic. ****1/2"

[8.0] "Somewhat lost to time, this WWE Title match falls between more extended chapters of Eddie & Rey's rivalry, fittingly combining qualities of both. Due to matchup and circumstance, Guerrero leans heel, working a shoulder and allowing the people to embrace Mysterio as an underdog contender. It's not the sparkling classic that these two had produced previously, but it's a fiercely competitive main event style match, sporting more rough edges than you'd associate with this pairing. It's a cadence more suited to Guerrero's 2004 form though, equally giving room to Mysterio's always magnificent sell. ****"

[8.0] "This was a great match. Rey Mysterio had just won a gauntlet match to be the #1 contender to the WWE Championship mere minutes before Eddie Guerrero made his entrance. Eddie was just coming off of a successful title defense over Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XX a few days earlier. Eddie had a clear target by going after Rey's arm, but Rey had some great high flying offense to counteract Eddie's submission attempts. Eventually, Rey missed a springboard leg drop after hitting the 619 and Eddie used the La Magistral Cradle to retain the title. Post match had Paul Heyman come out and cut a heel promo. I find it funny that he said that Eddie and Rey should be deported considering that Eddie was born in El Paso, Texas and Rey was born in Chula Vista, California. Then the Undertaker came out and gave Heyman a Tombstone Piledriver, ****"

[8.0] "These two having a world title match on SmackDown is such a gift for the fans, and what a treat this is! Just two friends going at it, there's some tension, Rey even slaps Eddie, the action is great, Eddie's work on Rey's arm is excellent, there's some slick counters (a slightly botched one also) and I dig the simple but effective finish. ****"

[8.0] "A fantastic match that is easily match of the night. My personal favorite spot of the match was the Springboard Moonsault Rey hits from the top rope to the floor which looks amazing. Rey looks like he can go all night after being in two matches before the main event with Eddie here, and the champ looks looks great in his first match back from 'Mania as well. The finish was very sudden and I didn't mind it considering this being Rey's third match I can buy him being exhausted or too beaten down to kick out of a big move or a deep cover attempt. Solid 4 stars."

[9.0] "Fantastic match, much better than Eddie/Angle from the Sunday previous. One of their best matches together actually, awesome stuff."

[8.0] "Another fantastic Eddie vs mysterio match. These two couldnt have a bad match against each other if they tried thats how great their chemistry is. This match was eddies first title defense and it couldnt have started any better. Great action. Great match 4/5"

[8.0] "A great match despite Rey Mysterio pulling triple duty on the show. Mysterio's selling from the previous matches are great and the way Eddie targets the weakness is very creative as he pulls off a lot of submission moves you rarely saw from him. I liked how despite the fact Eddie was face, he show upmost respect for Rey's abilities by pulling no punches whatsoever. They would obviously have better matches than this, but it was still a very solid TV match."

[7.0] "A match filled with Eddie's submissions which were slowing the pace down many times. Nevertheless, I got to see the offence they couldn't recreate after Wrestlemania 21, so I would say they reached their potential here. Not as good as the WM bout, but it's still a good match"

[7.0] "A mixed but still mostly pretty good match. Their chemistry was fantastic, making for some beautifully smooth lucha exchanges that they pulled off intermittently throughout the match. I liked how their initial respect grew into heated tension as Eddie realised just how much of a real threat Mysterio was, leading Eddie to become far more aggressive and merciless in his targeting, essentially doing a full 180 and turning heel for the first time in a while. It was especially cool seeing Eddie go after Mysterio's injured arm with his old heel physicality. Mysterio's arm-selling was sadly pretty inconsistent in the long term, but he at least sold the arm really well whenever it was being targeted in real time. It was definitely still jarring, though, seeing him sell the arm like it was broken one moment but then have it magically be fine in the next moment when he was executing all his high-flying stunts which heavily involved that same arm for all the set-ups. Eddie playing up his aggravated heel attitude and his heelish selling mannerisms was very fun to see return as well, and Mysterio's babyface-selling was naturally very good and convincing as well. Mysterio remained great at getting those flash pins out of absolute nowhere with the help of his insane agility, making for some really fun and at least quarter-convincing near falls. This was about equal to their 2002 Smackdown match, though obviously still very far below their famous 1997 Halloween Havoc match. ***1/4"

[8.0] "Good match here between Eddie and Rey as usual, it seems they can't have a match that's below like ***1/2. Starts off a bit slow due to the fact that they want to have a friendly competition since both men are friends, but they both get much more aggressive later on in this. The ending was a bit abrupt but this was good.****"

[8.0] "This was pretty damn great for a tv match. Eddie and Rey always worked well together and here was no exception, they delivered a fast paced, back and forth matchup with some particularly great counters. Rey's high flying style always worked so well with Eddie's and here is a perfect example of that. Loved the moonsault out of the ring by Rey and the brutal-looking tilt a whirl backbreaker by Eddie. My only real complaint is the ending seemed rather abrupt and was kind of a lame way to end a match like this. With a better ending, this could've been even better. ****"

[9.0] "This was so good. I'd wager to call it their best given that I don't care for the 05 series and I think I slightly prefer it to Halloween Havoc. Just a straight up master performance from Eddie. He's on top for the vast majority and he is doing such cool holds, hype cut-offs, and is just so entertaining on offense. Rey's comebacks were really nice with some really cool set-ups and a really impressive dive or two. The match never overextends itself, it knows its story and the dynamic well and wrestles to that. It is a TV match between two guys on different levels at the moment but they know each other so well. The finish was really unique and perfectly fitting as well."

[6.0] "I'm not as much of a fan of these later Eddie matches as most people as it is clear his cardio is gone and he is having to rely on restholds as a crutch and just generally doesn't have the same sparkle that he had a few years earlier. This was alright but it's a long way off what they were doing in their WCW matches."

[5.0] "Nothing to write home about really, these two had much better matches than this one. Started out kind of slow then right when it started to pick up it was over."

[9.0] "Damn, these two just can't have a less than good match, can't they? Well, except for the WrestleMania 21 match, that's not very good. Other than that though, top quality. Eddie getting super frustrated with Rey and getting more and more angry with him not giving up to his brutal arm submissions made for a great story. Eddie is peak face Eddie but he blends that line with Rey super well. Rey? s hope spots was timed perfectly, as is his selling. The mat work by Eddie was great. Vicious and creative, aka his hammerlock variation of the glory bomb. Loved how it paid off with the leverage pin with Rey just crumbling under the weight of his useless arm and Eddie's weight. Great match. ****1/4"

[8.0] "Underrated match between the two, love the story that Eddie and Rey start off as friends who just want a respected matchup but get much more hostile as the match continues. Aggressive Eddie is best Eddie. Lots of great counters, Eddie's backbreaker reversal in particular is f**king nasty. ****"

[5.0] "OK TV Match. The match start with respect between Eddie and Rey but after a few minutes the match become more agressive. Eddie worked on Rey Mysterio arm but Rey doesnŽt sell well the arm. The finish of the match was bad too."

[9.0] "Way better than the match Eddie had few days earlier vs. Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 20. This started out as a respectful contest between the 2 friends, but as it went on, the sense of urgency picked up & Eddie got more aggressive. Great match. ****"