Chavo Guerrero vs. Funaki, Velocity 6/8/2002
Nifty four and a half minute match. Chavo is like a slicker Arn Anderson here, targetting Funakis back with a variety of cool offense, including a nasty dropkick to the kidney and a big backbreaker. I also really dug his smooth Stretch Plum. Funaki gets some nice brief flashes of offense including a really nice reversal into a Magistral. Funaki ends up going for some convoluted move trapping Chavos arm behind his back only to get kneed in the face and a Brainbuster for the 3. Cool!
Randy Orton vs. Rob Conway, Velocity 6/18/2002
WWE rookie match! Conways first TV appearance. They start working some nice basic grappling, both guys having really nice firemans carries. Conway goes for an up and over and seemingly twists his leg on the landing. They signal for an injury, having a bunch of officials come out, Orton is young and sportsmanlike and – Conway boots him in the face! Really effective opening that good a great reaction. I assume Conway was leading this and he does a solid job continueing to lead Randy through the match. Randy has a really nice dropkick, and wins with a big crossbody off the top which rules.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Albert, Velocity 6/18/2002
Aw yeah! Are these two gonna be our Velocity godheads? This was really good big vs. Little match! Opening of this ruled as both guys took some recklessly awkward bumps. Chavo gets flung around by Albert a bunch to start, but Albert misses a charge and flies over the top rope splatting on the floor in nasty fashion! Albert ends up catch a Chavo plancha though and drives him into the ringpost. Chavo continues to bump like a freak, getting gorilla pressed into the ring (getting his foot caught in the ropes and tumbling awkwardly), then he eats the catapult into the rope spot by just flying with his chin into the rope! Alberts big backbreaker was another highlight. Loved the way Chavo made his big comeback making use of the turnbuckle pad that Albert himself exposed (Albert needs to cheat to beat Chavo in a 4 minute match!). And then that finish! This was a blast.
Tajiri vs. Hugh Morrus, Velocity 6/18/2002
Two great big vs. little matches in one episode! Tajiri is so fucking good in 2002, it‘s unreal. They probably knew Albert and Chavo would do a bumpfest in the previous match so they don‘t event try for that and so they just slug it out. Tajiris precise kicks targetting Morrus‘ leg are so good, he even hits a slick dropkick through the ropes on him. I really liked how they worked the size difference, surprisingly Tajiri is higher in the pecking order than Morrus so he dominates, but they also have Morrus shrug off Tajiris chops and leather him with big chops of his own because Morrus is bigger and thicker. Tajiri does the Tarantula and continues to yank at Morrus leg against the rope which rules. Tajiri goes out of his way to let Morrus look good. Morrus makes the most of his 5 minutes on TV, he hits a really nice powerslam where he comes up limping paying tribute to Tajiris leg kicks, he hits an absolutely gorgeous huge elbow drop off the top and once again misses a huge moonsault. Brilliant finish.
Tajiri vs. Albert, Velocity 6/25/2002
These two are on a roll with good matches on Velocity, so seeing them go at it for 4 minutes is really nice! Tajiri is great once again, firing away at Albert with kicks from left and right, just looking awesome landing unexpected kicks. Really good big vs. Little work as Tajiri gets launched by an Albert kick out to the second rope and continues to attack. Albert has solid enough power offense, including a really nice stalling butterfly suplex. Finish was great as Albert went for a Vader Bomb but caught another kick coming down. Totally unexpected as I thought Albert was gonna go over this time. Tajiri remains strong killing giants!
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