Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero

[8.0] "The first nationally televised to what will feel like hundreds of singles matches between these two. And this one is just a super junior match. Incredible match. Some grittiness while still being a very flashy match. One of the forgotten singles between the two. (****)"

[9.0] "One of the best Nitro matches, and one of the best sub-10 minute matches. The key is how common moves are applied with extreme stiffness. Logical build, fast 'n hard execution, arm psychology. ****"

[8.0] "A great use of 8 minutes for a TV match. Just fantastic moves from both. The middle rope Tornado DDT and of course the Powerbomb. The combination of aerobatic paired with power from these guys was great."

[9.0] "That was beyond impressive match of a pro wrestling. That was so impressive in its simplicity, the way the moves looked, and the beautiful transitions! Again THE BEAUTIFUL TRANSITIONS! , that was tremendous and great. ****1/2"

[8.0] "Awesome awesome match. Truly groundbreaking stuff for mainstream wrestling at this point in time. Nobody was working the way these two worked in American wrestling. 4/5"

[8.0] "A blast of an 8-minute match! Fantastic athleticism on display, crisp, explosive, high impact action. I only wish this went on for (much) longer. ***3/4"

[8.0] "One of the first gems in Nitro History in a 10 minute match these guys absolutely smashed it. Terrific technical wrestling from both and jesus Christ that powerbomb still makes me flinch"

[6.0] "The power bomb that ends this has been seared into my brain for years. Commentary sounds genuinely terrified when Benoit hits it and Eddie sells like he needs to go straight to the hospital. A terrific TV match."

[8.0] "What more could you ask for out of a 10 minute TV match. Benoit was such an exciting wrestler. Add Guerrero to the mix and you can't go wrong. Flash moves, scary bumps, storytelling. Brilliant."

[9.0] "Terrific high quality technical match which is exactly what you would expect to see whenever these two wrestled each other. It goes up another gear after it spilled to the outside and Eddie had the upper hand until he accidentally hits his arm on the ring post. Benoit is relentless in targeting the injury afterwards and Eddie's selling was fantastic where he would make brief comebacks and would always favour the arm to sell the damage. The targeting played to the finish as well where Guerrero sells the pain when his used his injured arm to strike Benoit and Benoit quickly took advantage with the full nelson pin."

[8.0] "One of the best matches from Nitro's early days. The psychology in this was great with Benoit working over Eddie's right arm, and Eddie took the time to sell the injured body part after every move he delivered. The story of the match smartly played into the finish with Eddie striking Benoit with his injured arm only to backfire. The smart psychology and gasping offense make this one a great watch. [***3/4]"

[8.0] "Very good match here great chemistry. Benoit hits a sick powerbomb that made me gasp. Which while good made the finishing slightly underwhelming as it was less devastating but good match overall."

[7.0] "***1/2 / Only given 9 minutes this wasn't allowed to hit that high level but for the time they were given they did a great job. Benoit was vicious and Eddie took all of his moves well. I wish Eddie got more offense in but I like the way commentary built Benoit up and the way he followed in their words."

"One of the best sub-10-minute matches that happened in the Monday Night Wars. A great showing to the Western audience that didn't have access to their matches in Japan. Definitely a must-watch for people that have not watched a WCW match"

[8.0] "They didn't get much time and the crowd wasn't red hot for this but man this ruled. Maybe the best power bomb I've seen from a non-giant, and Eddie had some wonderful moves and counters, especially off the ropes and on springboards. It wasn't a sprint but it was fun and hard hitting"

[8.0] "That was an awesome match for TV. I really think they couldn't do better than that in 8 minutes. They have one of the best chemistry I have ever seen and it's not a surprise. Benoit's powerbomb was unbelievable."

[8.0] "They only get eight minutes to work with and I assume that they were just going to go through sequences that they got ironed out after working with each other many times in Japan, but they were able to cram a lot into this with Benoit working a mean control segment on Guerrero's arm after Guererro accidentally clotheslines the ring post as he was swinging for Benoit. Benoit was super intense here, with every shot looking stiff and he hits one of his best ever powerbombs here, which sees Eddy's head violently bounce off the mat. Guerrero is able to kick out of that, but his injured arm comes into the play again and Benoit has Guerrero looking up at the lights after finishing him off with a nasty Dragon suplex. Guerrero looked a lot better here than he did during his ECW run as he actually shows some personality and that he can work as a babyface and not just a wrestler who does spots. The wrestling here was obviously top-notch and both men have tremendous chemistry, I just with the commentators paid more attention as they were way too preoccupied talking about Hulk Hogan that calling the match."

[8.0] "These guys were so ahead of their time it is unbelievable. The storytelling was tremendous, of course, with Eddie Guerrero attempting a Lariat near the ring post and paying the price. From there, Chris Benoit methodically picked the arm apart and executed an abundance of high-impact offense. What makes this match so special for 1995 was how experimental and explosive they were in the ring. Moves that simply were not executed, let alone attempted, on American television at that time. The Springboard Tornado DDT made me jump out of my seat and they never really slowed down from there. 4 stars, 8 out of 10. It is easy to see why so many wrestlers cite Benoit and Guerrero as influences."

[8.0] "Absolutely brilliant match in which Eddie and Chris used every second allocated to them to full effect. This was Benoit's debut and the selling of Eddie's arm being hurt compensated for his opponent's lack of any ongoing narrative within the company. I couldn't tell whether Eddie getting tied up in the ropes was intentional or not but it didn't detract from the action, particularly the hurricanrana variations and the absolutely brutal finish in which Benoit near enough drove Guerrero through the mat."

[10.0] "Completely fantastic! Even better than the incredibly crisp action is the perfectly told story around Eddie's injured arm. Eddie lashing out with the injured arm and hurting himself leads directly to the finish, I love it!"

[7.0] "When you're only given nine minutes, you're not going to have a great match, but these two had about as good a match as you can have within such a short space of time."

[9.0] "real quick action from the start. wild moves off the bat like Guerrero jumping from the top rope to the outside and Benoit hitting a back suplex where both of them falling outside of the ring. Eddie hurt his arm on the post which was a focus in the match where he was handicapped with only one arm as well as it being worked over by benoit. A great move was by Benoit hitting Guerrero with a hard powerbomb which was great. good stuff."

[7.0] "This was a really solid match for its short time of 8 minutes. There was a very nice display of aggressive power against high-flying lucha. Benoit was a total monster, going full force with every strike and every power move, while Eddie was very fluid with all his lucha-based spots. Benoit was fantastically cold and methodical when working Eddie over, but would burst out in rage when unable to put him away. Eddie injured his arm at one point and Benoit made sure to then target it, making for a nice sub-story to the match. Eddie still managed to execute his usual offence but was clearly suffering from his arm injury. This would ultimately cost him the match as he bent over and held it in pain after striking Benoit, which then allowed Benoit to pick Eddie up for the match-winning dragon suplex. A basic match but worked extremely well. Oh and that powerbomb was absolutely brutal. ***1/4"

[8.0] "Great debut match for Chris Benoit at Nitro against Eddie Guerrero. Their styles mix well and the match is great but short (not even 10 minutes). It works perfectly for them and there are great moves. ***3/4"

[9.0] "A tremendous 8-minute TV match. A total sprint - Eddie & Benoit packed so much action into the time they got, and also managed to sneak in awesome arm psychology in there as well. Great, great stuff. ****"

[7.0] "A good match between two fantastic wrestlers. Plenty of chemistry between the two. Benoits work of Eddies arm is great as is the selling, the athleticism shown is also very impressive and everything is just so crisp, good match especially for such a short time. PS Benoit's 'Wild Bomb' was sick. My rating ***1/2."

[8.0] "Another Nitro classic with both men pulling out all the stops. As Mongo would say, “If you’re not impressed with these two, you got rocks in yo head ****"