http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpK_sENFkXY This is one of those matches that WWE fans never forget because when Eddie Guerrero won the WWE Title for the first time it really was a big deal. He's one of the most liked wrestlers ever and somebody that we could all root for. Seeing him accomplish that WWE Championship dream led to genuine emotions from fans around the world. The finish of the match was very memorable. Lesnar hit the F5 right into the referee, which knocked both Guerrero and ref Brian Hebner out. Lesnar grabbed the belt, Goldberg ran in, hit Brock with a spear and left. Eddie crawled on top for the cover that only got two. I thought that was it. The ref was still groggy, so they fought over the belt and an F5 attempt by Lesnar was countered into a DDT by Guerrero on the belt. Eddie threw the belt out, climbed to the top and hit the perfect frog splash for the pinfall victory after 30 minutes. Jubilation. Excitement. Joy. I remember when Eddie won and I was so genuinely excited for Guerrero. Watching it again, I'm still excited about this match. I liked the psychology of the match with Guerrero working on the knee as a way to slow Lesnar down while Brock targeted Eddie's shoulder area because it was an easy part of the body for him to work on. The pacing of the match was perfect. It was slow at the right times and fast at the right times too. The best thing was it wasn't too long. Sometimes a match will go 30 minutes and you'll groan because it would have been better at 20 minutes. This one was the right amount of time because of all the work both guys did in trying to slow the other one down. My favorite story in any wrestling match is always the big man vs. little man dynamic. I loved it in any Undertaker vs. Michaels match, Flair vs. Vader at WCW's Starrcade '93 and Michaels vs. Diesel back in April of '96. I think big man vs. little man presents the easiest storyline for a wrestling booker to tell. All you have to do is look at the size of the guys and you have your story right there. It's that easy. Anything you can put on top of that is just gravy, which is what this match had due to Guerrero never being at the top of the mountain before while Lesnar played the bully role so well. It's a shame Lesnar walked out of WWE a few months later because this was their first match on PPV and I think it's safe to assume that if they had more they would be just as good as this one if not better.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.