Eddie Guerrero. Amazing Wrestler, Better Person.
November 13th, 2005. That date will forever be remembered as the day the wrestling world lost one of it’s greatest. This Sunday morning, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room. When I first heard this news I was in shock. Just a day before I was reading about how he had a WWE Championship match, and how I was going to be there to see it. Now, I am just a few hours away from a supershow, without Eddie Guerrero. I didn’t know what to expect.
What I got was an amazing night of wrestling, but more importantly, a tribute to the life of Eddie Guerrero. A great wrestler, an amazing performer, but an even better person. Hearing what all the wrestlers had to say, and seeing the wrestlers faces made a few tears run down my face, and I’m not ashamed to say that. I am glad that I was there to be able to pay my respects to Eddie. I did it with a sign, with cheers, and with my prayers. Now, many others are going to pay tribute to Eddie here in this column.
Kyle West, Former Wrestling Column Writer, Iowa, westman00@hotmail.com-
“The clock was an hour off at my work. One read 5:22 the other read 4:22. I got confused and didn’t know what time it was so I picked up my cell phone hoping it would read 5:22, all the closer to quitting time. When I flipped my top open I seen the big blue screen that told me I had an incoming message. It was from my friend and wrestling fan Jordan and it simply read:
“I duno if u heard, but eddie is dead”
Eddie? I thought to myself. Eddie Guerrero? I walked to the back of the store, so no customers could see what I was doing and I typed back a simple “what?”. Not really knowing what to expect I waited for a message back. And sure enough I got one.
Eddie Guerrero had passed away in his hotel room. Right then and there my heart sunk into my chest. It was a weird feeling. And I immediately thought of Owen. Because once again a superstar was taken away from us long before he should have been. And just like Owen, Eddie left behind a family. A family that now must go on without a father and husband.
None of us knew Eddie on a personal basis. It’s not in our place to judge him that is in god’s hands now. It’s not our right to speculate how he passed away. Don’t even begin to think about that. I hope that the entire wrestling community can forget whatever they have read, and just remember the man for what he did best. 5 star matches. Eddie lived his life to perform in front of us. I had the honor of seeing him perform live about two years ago at a Smackdown house show in Iowa. This was right before his Wrestlemania win and he was right smack in the middle of his feud with JBL. From what I seen that night, and many other nights on TV, Eddie seemed to love what he did. I don’t believe that it was just simply a job for him; he always looked like he was having fun. At least that’s how I perceived Eddie Guerrero.
For a man who gave everything he had to this industry, and to us the fans, it’s now our turn to give back to him. To let him rest in peace. And to let his memory live on forever.
May you finally find peace Eddie. We all know you won’t have to Lie, Cheat, or Steal your way into heaven. Thanks for the memories Eddie, thanks for the memories.”
He’s right. None of us knew Eddie on a personal basis. But, we all knew the man we saw on TV, and under all the storylines, we could see the real man. The man who loved what he was doing, and loved performing for the fans. He put on many memorable moments, matches, and feuds for every one of us. So we will all watch the memorial shows, pray for Eddie, write about Eddie, anything we can. But sometimes, a simple poem does the job.
Chelsea Colclough, Columnist in Forums, England, spazta@hotmail.com-
“Rest In Peace
Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes
1967 – 2005
I lied, I cheated, I stole the show,
Now its time for me to go,
And when WWE seems incomplete,
Always remember Latino Heat.”
Stole the show. That is what he wanted to do every night and he very often achieved that goal. I was in MSG when Eddie battled Kurt Angle in an amazing match for the WWE Championship. In true Eddie fashion, he won by untying his boot and getting out of the Ankle Lock applied by Kurt Angle. Fast forward one more year, and I’m sitting in Staples Center. Eddie puts on a great match with his friend Rey Mysterio. A couple more months, yet another great match stealing the show at Judgment Day against Rey in my home state of MN, the very place where he would rest for good. Those, along with countless house shows, Smackdowns, Raws, Nitros, Thunders, old ECW tapes, make Eddie an amazing wrestler. He did many things in his career, and Brad touches on some, as well as how he feels about the passing of Eddie.
Brad Borchardt, Former Wrestling Columnist, Michigan, b-rad73@hotmail.com
“November 13, 2005, was the first time I read a piece of wrestling news and literally felt my body shock and get goose bumps. That is when I read about the tragic death of one of the best performers in wrestling today, Eddie Guerrero.
I did not get a chance to see a lot of his WCW and ECW stuff although I caught some on tape. When and he finally did. He was even given the Intercontinental Championship; a belt that he should of held on longer too but was jobbed out to The One Billy Gunn. He then rejoined the Radicalz and feuded with the likes of Road Dogg, K-Kwik, Chyna, Billy Gunn, and Hardy Boyz. Towards Wrestlemania 17, they split the Radicalz again and Eddie had a great match with Benoit. He then recaptured the European title at Wrestlemania 17 against Test, which I feel was one of the most underrated Wrestlemania matches of all time. He dropped the title to Matt Hardy after his feud with Raven was mysteriously dropped and he was released from WWF due to substance abuse.
In April 2002, he made his surprise return to the WWF and recaptured the Intercontinental Title at Backlash against Rob Van Dam right before WWF changed to WWE. He went on to have a great series of matches through the Spring and Summer of 2002 as he feuded with Rob Van Dam which included a ladder match, Ric Flair at King of the Ring, and Edge towards the end of summer. He went on to have a match of the year candidate when him and Edge faced off in a No DQ Match in the fall of 2002 on SmackDown!. He then started tag teaming with Chavo Guerrero and Tajiri in which we won the titles with both men. In 2003, Eddie won a fantastic tournament including the finals where he defeated Chris Benoit to become the first United States Champion in the WWE era.
After dropping the title to Big Show, he tagged with Chavo again and had another Tag Title run. Him and Chavo broke up and had a match at Royal Rumble. He then won a 15 man Royal Rumble to earn a title shot at Brock Lesnar. At No Way Out, Eddie achieved his dream when he defeated Lesnar to become WWE Champion. He went on to have a great match with Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 20 and had a post match celebration with Chris Benoit I saw him, I thought to myself, he would be great in WWF. Then in 2000, a great thing happened. Along with Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero jumped to the WWF. His first memorable storyline was his love affair with Chyna, which I thought was humorous but didn’t use him to his full potential. Thankfully he defeated Chris Jericho for the WWF European Championship the night after Wrestlemania 16. He then became one of my favorite European Champions until losing the title at Fully Loaded to Perry Saturn.
He than began to tease becoming a heel again with Chyna that nobody will ever forget. He dropped the title to JBL and floated around feuding with JBL, Angle, and Luther Reigns. He began tagging with Rey Mysterio and won the Tag Titles for the Basham Brothers.
He then faced Rey at Wrestlemania 21 and came up short. He and Rey broke up and had a great feud involving a ladder match and a cage match. He was then put back in the World Title picture with Batista. With Batista hurt, they scheduled a triple threat match between Eddie, Batista, and Randy Orton for the title and many thought he would win the title, but fate reared its ugly head and that’s where we are today.
Eddie will go down as one of the most inspirational wrestlers in history. He overcame his drug problems to not only get his job back, but to become WWE Champion. Whether he was face or heel, there was no denying that the fans loved him. He had many friends in the business such as Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, and several others. He had such a passion for the business and you could tell by the way he risked his body and interacted with the crowd. Eddie, you will be missed. You were the breath of fresh air after all of WWE’s bad ideas. You made me stay home some Friday nights just to see you perform. His motto was lie, cheat, and steal. Well it would be a lie to say he didn’t get cheated and have his life stolen. Eddie, one last time for you, VIVA LA RASA! And thank you for all the memories.”
This all is just what four people have to say. Everyone has their own memories about Eddie Guerrero. I was at the show live, and I know that as I type this no one has seen the shows yet, and from the wrestlers I found out one thing – Eddie was a great performer, but and even better person. He loved his family more than anything else, and was a friend to many. Chris Benoit showed this. He went out and wrestled an amazing match the same day his best friend passed on. The same can be said for Rey Mysterio, Big Show, HHH, and so many others. That, to me, shows how deeply they felt about Eddie and how they knew that Eddie would want the show to go on. There was one man who had to suffer perhaps even worse than anyone else, and who paid tribute, in my mind, better than anyone else.
That man is Chavo Guerrero. Technically Eddie’s nephew, but Chavo said himself they were brothers. I will leave the rest for Chavo to say, but I just want to commend you Chavo. You did something many others could not do. I knew, looking at my brother in the stands with me last night, 7 years old, that I would want to do the same, but not knowing if I would be able to.
I myself am going to miss Eddie. If I watched Smackdown, he was one of the only reasons I did. I loved to watch him perform and he very often made me laugh. His matches were some of the best, his personality was great, and he had a passion for the business not many have. Thank you Eddie, for all the times you put your body through hell just to entertain me. I am happy knowing you are at peace, and one day I will see you again, as I will be sitting in the stands again, watching you in the great wrestling ring in the sky. My email is jordanprill on AIM or showtime1up@hotmail.com on MSN, feel free to add me. There is one last thing I want to say, and my little brother said it perfectly at the show last night.
“Thank you Eddie! I’m going to miss you!”
In Loving Memory of Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes, 1967-2005
