I lie, I cheat, I steal.
No truer words aligned so perfectly with a wrestling superstar, a creative, innovative, and loveable character that we unfortunately lost to an untimely death.
14 years on the wrestling world still mourns the loss of Eddie Guerrero, a main event name and a triple crown champion. I can remember exactly where I was when Eddie won the World Championship from Brock Lesnar, the literal rollercoaster of emotions as a teenager that I felt to the core, and these are the exact same feelings that I felt the day we lost Eddie too. I had watched Eddie from a very early age, we had a cable box in our house that I’d be able to catch WCW Nitro on TNT on every Friday night over watching WWF Superstars on a Saturday morning.
Lucha wrestling was fascinating to me, it drew me in and Eddie was among characters like La Parka, Juventud Guerrero and Rey Mysterio Jr of whom he had some of the best wrestling transitions I had ever seen. As WWE became more mainstream and available on terrestrial television into my teenage years I lost touch with WCW, until the invasion angle came around. I was once again bought back into my love for Eddie, his arrival in WWE had him aligned with Perry Saturn, Chris Benoit, and Dean Malenko as The Radicalz. Unfortunately, after a short run with the group, Eddie was released by the WWE due to alcohol abuse, putting him at the lowest point of his life, but he came back stronger than ever, putting himself some might say on the Mount Rushmore of Smackdown.
It’s no surprise as a second-generation wrestler that Eddie and his influence on wrestling in the modern day are still going strong. There are those that still use the Frog Splash in memoriam, some that will run the Three Amigos, and Rey Mysterio who has his initials on his arm in every match. Deeper even than the use of Eddie’s famous moves, Eddie really opened doors for many of the wrestlers that we see on the main roster today including guys like Seth Rollins and Ricochet. Eddie himself wasn’t considered as a ‘big guy’ in the WWE at only 5’8 and weighing 228lb he wasn’t the typical fit for a championship picture.
Eddie hasn’t only influenced the male roster, his mainstay status on Smackdown in the early 2000’s put him firmly in the spotlight for members of the female roster. Sasha Banks has at every opportunity cited Eddie as her inspiration in wrestling from wearing his gear to riding down the ramp in NXT to pay tribute, she was at the show Eddie was to appear at when he unfortunately passed. Peyton Royce also has mentioned that the day Eddie died was the day that she knew she wanted to become a WWE superstar. She also wore gear in tribute to Eddie when her and Billie Kay won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.
For anybody that has seen Chavo Guerrero’s speech at the Hall Of Fame inducting Eddie, he mentioned that Eddie was every bit of the supporting figure that anybody could ask for. He taught him and took him under his wing. One emotional part that resonates with me to this day is that Eddie taught Chavo that it was ok for men to cry and I feel that these days those kinds of things can be forgotten. In days where mental health should be at the forefront we have to hear that it is ok to cry and it is ok for us to show emotions and for a man like Eddie Guerrero to say that “Hey…It’s alright to cry” we should take that on board.
Eddie Guerrero is a legacy in his own right, he’s one of the greatest of all time, he has plaudits from the best echoing that fact. If you ever want a lesson in cheating to win you only need to search his name into google. If he’s throwing a chair and lying on his back, stealing Kurt Angles gold medals, or laughing along with Mr McMahon. He’s the entertainment in Sports Entertainment.
I genuinely wish that I could do him more of justice in writing an article about him, and I’ve done my best and I hope that it’s enough, I am genuinely honoured to be able to do this. I’d love to hear your Eddie memories so hit me up over on Twitter. Thank you, Eddie.
If you liked this article, please check out more of our stuff on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
You can find me on Twitter @RobTroubadour. Thanks for reading.