A Tribute To My Friend!

• 21Jul 06

  A Tribute to Eduardo Guerrero Llanes - 1967-2005

  
  Former WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero was supposed to be one of the “happy
  endings” of professional wrestling. He was supposed to be the star who
  overcame his demons and started a new life for himself. He was supposed
  to be the smaller wrestler who overcame his critics and ended up World
  champion. He was supposed to be remembered as one of the greatest
  wrestlers who ever stepped inside a ring.
  
  
  
  Eddie Guerrero was found dead this morning in the bathroom of his
  Minneapolis hotel room, harking back to the frightful day when Brian
  Pillman was found in his St. Paul hotel room in October 1997. Although
  details are still coming in at this time, the entire wrestling industry
  as a whole is devastated as Guerrero was one of the most universally
  liked wrestlers in the entire business, having passed through every
  major company of the last decade at every position imaginable.
  
  
  
  There are no happy endings today, not for Eddie’s friends, his fans, or
  most importantly, his family. Not for a business that now has to bury
  another one of it’s own. Eddie Guerrero was supposed to be the happy
  ending, but instead he’s left behind a wife and three daughters, far
  too soon and far too young. There are no happy endings today, just
  unanswered questions, guilt, grief, and sadness for those closest to
  Guerrero. This is a sad day for the wrestling business, and
  PWInsider.com offers our deepest condolences to everyone who cared
  about Eddie Guerrero.
  
  
  
  EDDIE: THE EARLY YEARS
  
  
  
  Eduardo Guerrero was born on 10/9/67 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico into the
  famous Guerrero wrestling family. His father, Gory Guerrero, was a huge
  Lucha Libre star. Growing up in El Paso, Texas, Guerrero grew up with a
  wrestling ring in his backyard where he and his father, brothers, and
  uncle . It was the family business. His brothers Hector, Chavo &
  Mando all wrestled, as did Guerrero’s nephew Chavo Jr.
  
  
  
  Guerrero made his official debut on 9/18/87, and was considered a good
  wrestler, although the knock on him was that he was too small. In a
  famous story, Terry Funk brought in Guerrero to a 1989 NWA TV taping to
  face with Guerrero working as an enhancement talent. Despite a great
  showing and a great match, he didn’t get a job offer.
  
  
  
  EDDIE & ART: LOS GRINGOS LOCOS
  
  
  
  Guerrero finally caught on in Mexico, working . He and the late “Love
  Machine” Art Barr began teaming, soon becoming the top heel unit of
  AAA, which was a really hot company at the time with sellouts all over
  Mexico and some cities in the United States, alongside the late Louie
  Spicoli, and current TNA star Konnan. Machine and Guerrero, Los Gringos
  Locos, had a great feud with Octagon and El Hijo Del Santo, which
  culminated in a hair vs. masks tag match at the first and only AAA PPV,
  When World Collide, in Los Angeles on 11/6/94. The match was praised as
  being an awesome bout and the belief was Guerrero and Barr were going
  to become one of the great tag teams of the decade. There were plans
  for ECW to bring them in a month later and they had just completed
  their first New Japan Pro Wrestling tour prior to the AAA PPV. The sky
  was the limit.
  
  
  
  Art Barr never wrestled again. On 11/23/94, Barr was found dead in his
  Oregon home, sleeping next to his young son. The cause of death was
  never discovered, but the feeling among many in the business was that
  it was substance abuse related.
  
  
  
  Guerrero continued to work in New Japan, adopting the masked persona of
  Black Tiger, where he often worked against and with the likes of Chris
  Benoit and Dean Malenko, who became his best friends as the trio stuck
  together from that point on in their careers.
  
  
  
  THE MALENKO-GUERRERO CLASSIC
  
  
  
  Several months after the passing of Art Barr, Guerrero was finally
  brought into Extreme Championship Wrestling by Paul Heyman. Malenko and
  Benoit were already main eventers in the company. Debuting at The
  Three-Way Dance in April 1995, Guerrero defeated 2 Cold Scorpio for the
  ECW World Television championship in his debut. His background story
  was that he had come to America to become a singles star, living out
  his late partner Art Barr’s dream. He was immediately accepted by the
  ECW fans and for the first time, was a star in the United States within
  an American company.
  
  
  
  Guerrero was scheduled to face Sabu a week later at Hostile City
  Showdown ’95, but when Sabu no showed the Three-Way Dance (at the time,
  ECW’s most important show) he was fired. Paul Heyman substituted Dean
  Malenko in Sabu’s spot, creating the legend of the Malenko-Guerrero
  Classic.
  
  
  
  Malenko and Guerrero fought to a 30 minute time limit. Although there
  were some hecklers, the same ECW Arena audience that craved blood and
  mayhem gave the two athletes a standing ovation. The two traded the ECW
  TV title back and forth from April until August, putting together
  excellent matches and at one point, wrestling a three match series
  through three cities in two days. The rivalry became the stuff of ECW
  legend and is still remembered by ECW fans as some of the greatest
  wrestling they had ever seen presented.
  
  
  
  In August 1995, Guerrero, Malenko, and Benoit all received and took
  offers to join World Championship Wrestling. In an era where stars were
  routinely buried on the way out, ECW did the exact opposite. Guerrero
  and Malenko had one last farewell match, a Best of Three Falls bout
  ending with a double pin draw. The crowd chanted and pleaded with each
  to “Please Don’t Go” and both wrestlers had to stop to regain their
  composure during the bout. When it was over, each man gave an emotional
  speech that ended.
  
  
  
  ”You can say I sold out, you can say whatever you want. You paid for
  your ticket and you got that right. For the rest of you, I can’t tell
  you what an honor it’s been to wrestle in this stadium and in front of
  each and every one of you, each and every week. I want you to know what
  I appreciate all of you, because without all of you people, this
  wouldn’t exist.”
  
  
  
  After Malenko spoke (the first and only time he spoke on the mic in
  ECW, adding to the emotion of the evening), Guerrero took the mic and
  told his rival, “I just want you to know you are one of the best
  wrestlers I’ve ever encountered in the world. God bless you and your
  family.” The two hugged and several ECW wrestlers and officials came to
  the ring to embrace the pair. Guerrero gave a final salute to his old
  partner Art Barr before exiting the building with a circle of hugs and
  well wishes from the Philadelphia fans, many of whom were openly crying
  from the moment.
  
  
  
  WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING
  
  
  
  Guerrero, Malenko, and Benoit were all brought in to add to the
  fledgling Cruiserweight division in World Championship Wrestling. Under
  Eric Bischoff, WCW was about to begin its Monday Nitro run on TNT,
  going opposite Raw on the USA Network. The Monday Night Wars had begun
  and Bischoff began assembling the best soldiers he could find to flesh
  out the undercard and provide fans with excellent wrestling underneath
  the star power of Hulk Hogan, Sting, Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and other
  prime names.
  
  
  
  Guerrero worked and feuded with Rey Misterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight
  championship including an excellent bout at Halloween Havoc ’96 that is
  still considered to be one of the best matches in either man’s career.
  Guerrero got to work with other top flight workers including Chris
  Jericho, Ultimo Dragon, Rick Martel, his own nephew Chavo, Juventud
  Guerrera, Ric Flair and others. Guerrero and Malenko reprised their ECW
  feud as well, although it was never given a major focus from the
  company. During his run, Guerrero would hold the Cruiserweight and
  United States championship belts.
  
  
  
  At the same time, Guerrero began having problems with substance abuse,
  leading to a New Year’s Eve car wreck in 1999 that saw him expelled
  from the car. While his family and friends hoped the situation would
  make Guerrero realize his problems, Eddie would later comment on a UPN
  show dedicated to his career that “it didn’t make a dent.” Lucky to be
  alive, Guerrero came back too soon from the accident and began taking
  pain pills to compensate. Six months later, Guerrero overdosed.
  
  
  
  Despite having some of the best matches in the company and connecting
  with the fans, the WCW Cruisers were often overlooked for their
  importance in the WCW mix. Far too much credit went to the main
  eventers and no thought was given to shaking things up by moving the
  next generation of stars into the top to keep things fresh. Although
  many of those responsible would today blame the AOL/Time Warner merger
  for the death of WCW, the truth is that the company had been rotting
  away from the inside due to mismanagement and an abuse by its stars for
  a long time.
  
  
  
  At the time, WCW tried to halt the bleeding by bringing in former WWF
  writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara. Their attempt to turn WCW into a
  clone of WWE’s sports-entertainment flopped. Under the Russo regime,
  Guerrero would later become part of a unit called “The Filthy Animals”
  alongside Misterio, Konnan, and Billy Kidman. His personal issues
  continued.
  
  
  
  The WCW management scene was an absolute mess and the product wasn’t
  much better, with PPV buyrates, ratings, and attendance all crashing.
  Every few weeks there was a new booker in charge. When Kevin Sullivan
  had his turn during a period where Russo was ousted, Guerrero, Benoit,
  and Malenko, among others were furious. There had been a long-time
  issue between Benoit and Sullivan after Sullivan booked the end of his
  own marriage when an on-camera pairing between Benoit and Nancy “Woman”
  Sullivan turned into real life with the Sullivans splitting and Nancy
  later marrying Benoit.
  
  
  
  The feeling among Benoit and the others was that they’d never be able
  to trust Sullivan with their careers. Sullivan tried to prove them
  wrong by putting the WCW title on Benoit, but it was to no avail.
  Guerrero, Benoit, Malenko, Perry Saturn, Konnan, and Shane Douglas all
  requested and received released, although in the end, only four ended
  up jumping to the World Wrestling Federation. WCW would never recover.
  The heart and backbone of the company was gone in one fell swoop.
  
  
  
  THE RADICALZ
  
  
  
  On January 31, 2000, The Radicalz arrived in the World Wrestling
  Federation. Guerrero, Malenko, Benoit, and Saturn showed up expectedly
  sitting in the front row of a live episode of Raw. The buzz was huge as
  the heart of WCW had walked out of the company. They immediately ended
  up in a brawl with DX where it was revealed that their “old friend”
  Mick Foley had invited them to the show.
  
  
  
  Unfortunately for Guerrero, he would suffer a dislocated elbow hitting
  a frog splash in his first WWF match, teaming with Saturn against the
  New Age Outlaws, throwing all plans out the window. Guerrero returned
  to the ring in March, and made his Wrestlemania debut in a loss to Too
  Cool and Rikishi while teaming alongside Malenko and Saturn.
  
  
  
  Guerrero would eventually be paired up with DX’s Chyna, with the idea
  that she had fallen for him due to his “Latino Heat”, a moniker that
  would remain with him until the end of his career. Guerrero defeated
  Chris Jericho to win the WWF European championship in April 2000, the
  first WWF title of his career.
  
  
  
  ROCK BOTTOM
  
  
  
  Although Guerrero was wrestling against the likes of Steve Austin, The
  Rock, Kurt Angle, Edge, Christian, and others, he was also dealing with
  his substance abuse problems. His wife had left him and taken their
  daughters and his professional life was about to join his personal life
  in a tailspin.
  
  
  
  After arriving at a show, which as sad irony would have it, was in
  Minneapolis, in no condition to wrestle, Guerrero was sent home. He
  learned later that it was his own friends, Malenko and Benoit, that had
  stooged off his condition to WWF management in an attempt to help him.
  Malenko commented on the UPN Guerrero special that he did it because he
  “didn't want to be one of those wrestlers that gets to an arena and
  finds out that one of his best friends was found dead in his hotel
  room.”
  
  
  
  Guerrero was sent to rehab to clean up, and spent time in then-WWF
  developmental territory HWA preparing for his return. He made his
  return to WWF’s house show circuit but was quickly released after being
  arrested for DUI on November 9, 2001. Guerrero later claimed he was
  trying to prove that he wasn’t an alcoholic by going to a bar for one
  drink, but by the time he was aware of where he was again, he was
  incarcerated.
  
  
  
  After being released, Guerrero cleaned himself up and hit the
  independent scene. He returned to both Mexico and New Japan Pro
  Wrestling. Guerrero also worked for a number of high profile indy
  groups including IWA Mid-South, ICW, and the first several Ring of
  Honor events, working against such names as Low Ki, Crowbar, CM Punk,
  Rey Misterio Jr., and The SAT. His second and final ROH appearance was
  billed as a “Tribute to Guerrero” where he openly thanked all the indy
  promoters and wrestlers for accepting him and giving him a chance to
  rebuild his life.
  
  
  
  RETURN TO WWE
  
  
  
  Guerrero was promised by WWE management that if he cleaned himself up,
  he’d be brought back and they stayed good to his word. He was brought
  back and immediately given the Intercontinental championship with a win
  over Rob Van Dam. Guerrero was back in the thick of things, working
  with and against Chris Benoit, Steve Austin, Ric Flair, The Dudleys and
  other top names.
  
  
  
  With the WWE brand extension, Guerrero and Benoit were moved to
  Smackdown. Guerrero and his nephew Chavo were put into a team, titled,
  “Los Guerreros” given the tag line and theme song “We Lie, We Cheat, We
  Steal.” A series of vignettes getting the characters over were big hits
  with the duo feuding with Team Angle, Chris Benoit & Rhyno among
  others. An injury to Chavo saw Yoshihiro Tajiri put together with
  Eddie, with that duo capturing the WWE Tag Team championships. When WWE
  decided to bring back the dormant United States championship, Guerrero
  won the tournament with a final victory over Chris Benoit at the 2003
  Vengeance PPV. Guerrero defended the belt at that year’s Summerslam
  against Benoit, Rhyno, and Tajiri at Summerslam 2003.
  
  
  
  Chavo was turned heel on Guerrero, with the storyline being that he
  didn’t believe that his uncle had been there for him. Chavo Guerrero
  Sr. was brought in for some time to manage his son and feud with Eddie
  as well.
  
  
  
  In a surprising move, the decision was made to put the WWE championship
  on Guerrero leading into Wrestlemania XX, defeating Brock Lesnar in San
  Francisco, California. Guerrero faced Kurt Angle in a successful title
  defense at Mania XX in Madison Square Garden, although the most
  memorable Guerrero appearance at the show was Guerrero coming to the
  ring to congratulate his best friend Chris Benoit, who had just
  defeated Shawn Michaels and Triple H for the WWE World title to close
  the show. With confetti falling, both men, now champions on top of the
  company, cried and embraced. All that was missing was Dean Malenko, now
  an agent with WWE, who watched with pride from backstage.
  
  
  
  The marketing machine got behind Guerrero, producing an excellent UPN
  special titled “Cheating Death, Stealing Life” which highlighted not
  just Guerrero’s career but his battle with substance abuse and his
  attempts to overcome it. Guerrero had reconciled with his wife and she
  discussed their marital problems on the special, which was later
  released on DVD.
  
  
  
  The pressure of being champion got to Guerrero, who commented to those
  close to him that carrying the belt was harder then anything he had
  dealt with previously in the business, because everything falls on your
  shoulders, from the ratings, to the schedule, to the buyrates. After a
  several month reign, the belt was moved to John Bradshaw Layfield.
  Guerrero would later comment that JBL did a better job carrying the
  pressure then he did.
  
  
  
  Guerrero continued his feud with Kurt Angle after losing the title,
  although a heel turn and last major feud was against Rey Mysterio with
  the storyline being that Mysterio had secretly adopted Guerrero’s son
  Dominick years ago since he couldn’t have children. In reality,
  Dominick was really Rey’s son. Since the two had a major falling out,
  Guerrero wanted custody back as a way to wage psychological warfare on
  his old friend and partner. In the end, it was, Mysterio winning the
  feud, although Guerrero was marketed with a new T-shirt with “I’m Your
  Papi” emblazoned across the front.
  
  
  
  In recent months, Guerrero had been involved in a storyline where he
  and WWE World champion Batista had been uneasy friends while competing
  for the title. Guerrero had tried to play his mind games with Batista
  only to be “one upped” by the champion, leading to what was supposed to
  be an unlikely partnership.
  
  
  
  In Guerrero’s final PPV appearance, he lost to Batista at No Mercy with
  the storyline being that when he had a chance to cheat, he didn’t. In
  his final match, Guerrero defeated Ken Kennedy in a Smackdown bout that
  was aired just this past Friday night. Guerrero was scheduled to
  challenge Batista for the World title in a Three-Way with Randy Orton
  at tonight’s Smackdown taping.
  
  
  
  As irony would have it, WWE was scheduled to release a Guerrero autobiography on 12/20. Eddie Guerrero was only 38 years old.
  
  • Posted Jul 21, 2006 1:32 pm GMT
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