Unfortunately the audio is not great on this so it is hard to make out Rich's pre-match tirade, but his hair and jean jacket almost make up for it as the immediate effect of just seeing him is to laugh hysterically. Guido is really great in the opening exchange and I loved the subsequent mat exchange as well with him and Saturn that built to a really well executed spinning jump kick from Saturn for a theatrical Guido bump. Smothers flips in backwards and mimes his opposition to Kronus karate tactics. Rich is infuriating by Kronus fighting stance and demands the ref intervene to stop him. Tracy ends up taking Kronus down but Kronus escapes which of course leads to a debate about whether or not Kronus used the tights or not. They come up for a rope running spot that ends with a powerslam and spinkick to Tracy and the crowd is going ballistic. Kronus misses his handspring elbow and Tracy clothesline's him pretty sharply and follows up with a bodyslam but misses a standing big splash. Guido and Smothers end up taking some elaborate Elims double teams that usually look like dogshit, but the FBI really makes them look good. Rich gets on the apron at this point but backs down when Saturn charges toward him and the place explodes again. Smothers and Saturn face off mid-ring and Smothers gets into a verbal spat with him that last for nearly a minute then flips him off and pushes him then starts shit talking him again than slaps him. Saturn answers with a slap of his own that floors Tracy and they go into a good chop exchange with both guys really laying it in. Saturn hits a sunset flip but Guido distracts him. Saturn ends up getting tripped to the floor by Smothers where Rich gives him the crotch posting on the steel. Saturn FIP is better than you might expect as the FBI really do bust out some offense you might not expect (loved the double dropkick) and Saturn actually takes a really cool flip bump on a clothesline after a well executed hope spot. FBI do a really great job building heat on him by cutting off the ring and at one point Rich smacks him on the face with the flag pole and then Guido works him over on the floor with Saturn getting a brief hope spot their which is an old Ricky Morton trick. Rich bitch up the ref on the counts is great as he sounds like a redneck at an SEC football game bitching about corrupt officials. Saturn gets a good hope spot off of a crossbody and then dos a double axe kick and avoids some FBI elbow drops to set up the hot tag to Kronus. Kronus is a house of fire but ends up missing a moonsault and it looks like the heels might steel one but the Elims fire back. Cool spot with Rich getting knocked off the apron into the steel and then Smothers knocked to the floor. Guido stumbles to his feet and the Elims hit a Total Elimination that almost has a feel of desperation to it. Kronus takes the fall as Saturn runs around the ring thwarting the potential save of Smothers and Rich. This was really a tremendous match. Easily the best Elims mach I've ever seen as it had great structure and was not a spot overload. FBI came out of this looking like serious challengers and the Elims cmae out look liking fighting champions which is really the point.

Eliminators vs. FBI (5/3/97)

- Tommy Rich is on fire before the match. I think the FBI may be the perfect team to counter the Elims spotty nature. They can counter the spots with fluid motion. They can control the tempo of the match, do their shtick in the middle of the match and allow the Elims to hit all of their posts on a big comeback. I am not really a fan of Kronus but I thought both guys were fine here. I don’t see this not making the set. It may be the one Eliminators match on the set where I didn’t have to hold my nose in order to put it on. Easy nomination.