In the mid-90s WCW's Cruiserweight Division picked up pace and became what the Light Heavyweight Division should have been in the early 90s. While everyone has there favorite Cruiserweight matches, not all of them are given fair ground in my opinion. While we remember all the Mysterio matches that MADE the division a force, so many great matches happened with much less fanfare and hopefully will not be entirely forgotten. We have three threepeaters on this tape: Chris Jericho, Billy Kidman and Juventud Guerrara. We also have a pair of doubles with Rey Jr. and Eddy Guerraro. And you can't have a Cruiserweight compilation with Dean Malenko and Ultimo Dragon...and remember Blitzkrieg? He's on here too.

1. Billy Kidman vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrara (Starrcade `98)
Interesting as we have several future Filthy Animals in a rare three-way for the #1 contenders seat. Juvi has joined Eddy Guerraro's LWO, while Mysterio was forced into the group and Kidman had been free from the Flock for some time. Guerrara is double-teamed early and rather effectively, until Rey accidently elbows Kidman. They brawl back fourth, until they realize Juvi's just watching and then it becomes every man for himself. Guerrara is so arrogant that it's almost comedic, but he still draws heat. The match itself is well-paced and not overly spotty, but it is still a three-way. The highspots were really good and the transitions were good considering those involved and their styles. Only flaw was the inconsistant crowd heat, though they boo'd Eddy huge when he swaggered out toward the end. The finish saw Guerraro try to help buddy Guerrara, until Rey helps Kidman get the win and keep the belt. Guerraro berates his LWO partners afterwards and challenges Kidman, who will take Eddy on right then.
Rating: ****

2. Billy Kidman vs. Eddy Guerraro (Starrcade `98)
After an excellent match and a big win for Kidman, he must take one of the best wrestlers at the time. Guerraro controls early and Juvi even gives him a hand (literally), but Rey stops him. Eddy's abuse of Juvi is actually quite funny, though it draws more heat on him and in fact he riles some "Eddy sucks" chants. The fans really get behind Kidman during the hope spots. Guerraro uses boot (he's still in street clothes) and arrogant taunts to get some great heat. There is some focus on the knee by Eddy and the announcers say Kidman has had injury problems recently. Eddy does his rope-assisted rana, but with one boot on, which makes it that much cooler. The finish is hot too with Rey tossing Eddy into Juvi and then Kidman executing the Shooting Star Press for the win. Better heat then the previous three-way, excellent psychology because Eddy was just in another league and in street clothes nonetheless.
Rating: ****

3. Chris Jericho vs. Ultimo Dragon (Bash at the Beach `97)
Two real life friends, who've had good matches in Japan, Mexico and the US. Jericho's best days were ahead of him, while Dragon's career would be over sooner than it should've been. The work is quite good with excellent pacing, big moves and smart highflying. There is a lot of counterattacks, which makes this seem really unusual. The crowd is kind of baffled by the organization it seems as neither really calls their spots as they mostly develop out of counters. Appropriotely, the win comes from a cradling sequence and the two have a handshake at the end, which is even unusual for the Cruiserweights. This seemed like a Guerraro-Malenko or Mysterio-Psychosis match, where these two were just operating on another level. I can't believe this doesn't stand out more in my mind, but this is just awesome. Definitely one of the classic Cruiserweight matches and a type of match you rarely see.
Rating: ****

4. Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko (Uncensored `98)
The beginning of the heated Jericho-Malenko feud, the heel champion has his "1,004" tights on to mock Malenko's "Man of 1,000 Holds" gimmick. The crowd really plays to Jericho's heel tactics as he displays a nice offense, but does it arrogantly. Then they get into the all the Malenko hope spots. Awesome finish with Jericho turning Malenko's leg lariat into the Liontamer, then when Dean is almost to the ropes he's dragged back to the center and has to tap. Crowd heat helped this a lot as it was Jericho playing the heel and Malenko trying to comeback again and again, but keeps following short. That psychology was excellent and started a story that would go longer and be hotter than any other cruiserweight feud. Gene Okerland does a post-match interview with a uncharacteristically dispondant Dean Malenko and calls him a "bonafide loser" and Dean says he's going "home."
Rating: ***3/4

5. Juventud Guerrara vs. Billy Kidman (Bash at the Beach `98)
Kidman's big coming-of-age match in WCW as member of The Flock taking on WCW's most dynamic luchador. The early work is fast-paced and has the crowds into the match. Lodi interferes, but is taken out by Air Juvi and things can continue fairly. Kidman and Guerrara bump for each other a lot and the ground stays into the start-stop action fairly well. The finish is pretty good with Kidman missing his Seven Year Itch (Shooting Star Press) and Juvi hits his 450 Splash for the win. This was like a really, really good indy match with all the highspots being pretty much flawless and they try to cram as many as they can into a 10-minute match. While the selling was more exaustion from the tempo, they bumped quite a bit and had the crowd going, which is very important.
Rating: ****

6. Eddy Guerraro vs. Chris Jericho (Fall Brawl `97)
A rematch after the Clash, which was a turning point for Eddy and now he's coming in as a full-fledged rudo. He complains to the ref early on to draw heat on himself. Then they kick into wrestling. Guerraro roughs up Jericho with chops and European uppercutts, while the champ uses science. Then they transfer into a less lucha-style psychology as Guerraro starts to grind away on "Lionheart" and concentrates on the back especially. Jericho has lots of neat little counters that the crowd really get into moreso than Eddy's heel tactics. The finish is really awesome with Jericho hitting two powerbombs than setting up for the Superplex. The fans stand for that, but Eddy evades his attempt and follows up with Frog Splash for the clean win. The pace of this was quite slow as Eddy used a lot of submissions and they sold the big moves very well. The crowd seemed to be really behind Jericho, but weren't booing Eddy, which was too bad. This was third big show match and far and away the best and a classic for sure.
Rating: ****