So earlier today I tweeted, "He was the wrestler that was never supposed to be, BUT true talent and hard work always break the glass ceiling. RIP EDDIE GUERRERO." For non-fans of wrestling, I am of course raising all sorts of red flags. He does know it is fake? I appreciate the terms, "pre-determined" and "choreographed", nothing fake about injuries and the pain these men and women experience. Jeez, I always thought Martin was kinda smart guy maybe I need to re-evaluate? (You should re-evaluate that just because I like wrestling and I wear zebra-print on normal basis) He does know that Eddie did not actually win anything? I would say to last statement, Eddie won the respect and admiration of millions of devoted followers and that is all that matters.
Such a happy camper
A common mis-conception about wrestling is that anybody can be champion. Yes, of course, the promoter (in the case of WWE, Vince McMahon) decides who will be his world heavyweight champion. However, just like in real life anybody could be the Vice-President of Marketing at Coca-Cola. It would behoove of the CEO of Coca-Cola to pick the most qualified. Of course there are times where nepotism and cronyism rears its ugly head, but for the most part the most talented and hard-working individual will win the position. The same applies to pro wrestling and the position of being the world heavyweight champion. There is a reason more people know who "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is than Bob "Hardcore" Holly, (whose name sounds kind of like a pornstar ). This is because Stone Cold worked hard and had talent both in and out of the ring that made him resonate with millions of people. In short because he was entertaining at the mid-card level, the powers that be continued to push him to the main event level. So Vince made the decision to make Austin world champion because he was the lucrative superstar meaning he drew people to the arenas, sold PPV's and moved massive amounts of merchandise.
The world champion tends to be the highest-drawing commodity in wrestling (as much as I hate to say it, that is why Cena is always hovering around the title) and has a certain credibility with the fans. If I trained to be a wrestler, there is no way I would win the world championship in my first match because I have no credibility with the fans and I wouldn't have any sustainable drawing power. It would be just like me becoming the CEO of Exxon-Mobil, tomorrow. Ok, Martin, so I understand now that winning the world championship is like a promotion on the corporate ladder and that hard-work and talent are important in pro wrestling, BUT how come Eddie Guerrero was the wrestler that was never supposed to be?
The Guerrero Family: Mando, Gory, Chavo Sr., Hector, Eddie (left to right)
Eddie was the youngest of the prolific Guererro family. Guerrero's were a Mexican family stationed in El Paso, their father was the famous luchador (a Mexican pro wrestler), Gory Guerrero. However, like most luchadors and Mexican wrestlers the Guerrero's (Mando, Chavo Sr., and Hector) had a hard time breaking through in the United States. Eddie is the general consensus best wrestler of his brothers and also was the most charismatic of the Guerreros as his brothers were about as interesting as potted plants, was the one who rose to the top of the pro wrestling world because of his in-ring talent and charisma.
Eddie honed his craft in Mexico and Japan (assuming one of the prestigious gimmicks in Japan that of being Black Tiger, given to the best foreign junior heavyweight in New Japan Pro Wrestling) becoming one of the best pure wrestlers in world today. There is a difference between one of the greatest wrestlers in the world between the ropes and being the most popular and well-known. Hulk Hogan is arguably the most famous pro wrestler, but any real wrestling fan will tell you he sucks in the ring. It is just like the difference between Britney Spears and Rush. Rush are technically some of the best musicians out there, but they lack cross-over appeal. With Eddie, he was technically the superior wrestler, but his charisma had not been the afforded the opportunity to shine through. His biggest strike against him was that he is under six feet tall, which is the ultimate sin in wrestling in the early 90s. Men such as 7-Foot Giant Kevin Nash have critical of "undersized" wrestlers because he feels that the fan can not connect with their lack of size noting that their lack of visual impression does not leave an indelible mark on the fans. He has gone so far as to claim he was a "vanilla midget" at one point, which draws even my ire. There was nothing vanilla about Latino Heat. Even in the ring against opponents like Rey Mysterio Eddie used his body language to emote in fashions that very few can. Since Eddie did a frogsplash and had athletic matches he got characterized as some sort of spot monkey by these jealous main event acts like Nash. Nothing could be furthered from the truth as Eddie worked harder than most of his peers at developing matches with great move selection and building them to a satisfactory climax.
My favorite Eddie look (heel circa 1997). Best mullet EVAH~!
So Eddie made his way to Philadelphia to Extreme Championship Wrestling where his wrestling acumen was displayed against a fellow member of the Holy Trinity of Pro Wrestling, Dean Malenko. (The other member of this elite group was Chris Benoit, who before his heinous crimes was one of the most remarkably gifted pro wrestlers I have ever seen). The Holy Trinity were what hardcore fans considered the greatest wrestlers in the world today even though they were stuck toiling overseas or in the independents or eventually floundering in the mid-card of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). They ended up floundering because of the death-grip Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Roddy Piper and others had on the main event. Out of the gate they were treated as a special commodity with Benoit joining the Horsemen and Eddie & Dean winning the Crusierweight title and the US Heavyweight title. By 1999, it was painfully obvious that WCW was a sinking ship and that the mid-card was never going to get a chance to draw as main event acts.
One of their classic ECW encounters for the ECW World Television Title
Eddie arrived in WCW as apart of their new talent initiative to differentiate themselves from rivals, WWF. He played technically capable, second-generation, but vanilla babyface. He captured the second most-important title in WCW, but it didnt mean much as WCW did not seem intent in developing his character and letting him play with big boys like Hollywood Hogan, Randy Savage and Kevin Nash. Over the summer of 1997, he re-vamped his character into a brutal, sadistic heel that was hell-bent on ripping off the mask of little Rey Mysterio Jr. This is just when I was getting into wrestling and I thought this guy was a total smarmy prick and goddamnit did I want to see his ass beaten. One of my favorite memories from this time period, is when Eddie and fellow bad guy, Chris Jericho teamed in a match. The fans were red-hot with chants of "Eddie Sucks! Jericho Sucks!" and each of them would cover the other's ears so as not to let the fans get to them. This only made the fans chant louder. They were true geniuses, but I was too young to realize it. My parents on the other hand, who thankfully tolerate my wrestling obsession, became huge Jericho and Eddie fans I think at first to troll me, but to this day my parents only care about how Jericho is doing and both were devastated when Eddie passed away. They are the only two wrestlers I think they have ever become true fans of. Funny aside, the first time I purposefully swore, was to scream "Jericho Sucks!" and my mom was pissed. Now, Jericho is one of my five all-time favorite enternati, weird, huh, I was sooooooooo lame as a child. Now I am so cool liking pro wrestling properly and out-dated heavy metal. Coolest kid in the room right here.
I couldnt find my specific memory. This one is still special because Eddie is ostensibly the heel in this match and he still gets a pretty big hometown babyface pop. Huge Jericho sucks chants though.
In a testament to WCW's mismanagement, I dont remember much about Eddie's career after late 1997. I loved WCW, but how the fuck you dont push guys that are drawing that much heat in a throwaway tag match is beyond me. In a very generalized sense that is how it should work in wrestling, you develop a character in the mid-card and if it gets over with fans then you keep pushing them and see if their merchandise numbers and crowd response follow. Now it wasnt all WCW's fault, Eddie had some personal demons that related to alcohol and drug abuse, which resulted in a pretty horrific car accident that almost cost him his life nevermind his career. In 2000 with friends Benoit, Malenko and Saturn he abandoned the sinking ship known as WCW to depart for the WWF.
Benoit was clearly supposed to be the star of this foursome (he was the biggest of the four and most aggressive in the ring), but Eddie's out-sized charisma and heart could not be held down. His Latino Heat persona was hilarious and afforded the position of being an entertaining mid-card act. This all but flushed down the commode when drug abuse reared its ugly head and he was released and shipped off to rehab. In one of the few successful stories in wrestling, Eddie actually did get clean and returned to WWE in 2002. He won the Intercontinental title, the United States title and the World Tag Team championships with his nephew, Chavo Guerrero Jr.. He developed the mantra of "Lie, Cheat, Steal" and accentuated his Mexican hertiage with calls of "Viva La Raza" calling everyone, "Holmes, vato, or esse". Originally intended to be a heel character, the "Lie, Cheat, Steal" gimmick was so entertaining the fans turned Eddie Guerrero babyafce, which is truly something special in pro wrestling that does not happen often.
World Tag Team Champions: Los Guerreros
When I began watching again in 2003, I was over-joyed to see Shawn Michaels had returned and Jericho was in a prominent role, but my dad was happy to see Eddie back and being entertaining as ever. (I had stopped watching because of the badly bungled WCW invasion storyline of 2001.) My dad, deferring to me on wrestling-related matters, always wondered why Eddie was never given a consistent push to the main event scene. I would respond, "He's too small, Dad. Look at Brock, that's their money draw." My dad accepted this and just enjoyed watching Eddie performed. We NEVER expected that Eddie Guerrero would get the honor of being WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Brock why did you ever leave us? Great heel work here!
Then in early 2004, something unexpected happened, Eddie was going to get a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a PPV main event against burgeoning superstar, Brock Lesnar. This was Eddie's first PPV main event in his career and I immediately informed my dad and he was definitely ordering this one. I reminded him that Wrestlemania was next month and this was just a throw-away PPV. He was like yeah, Eddie probably won't win, but it was worth it to see him get his shot.
The match is truly one of the best matches I have ever seen and is a great showcase of both Brock's and Eddie's abilities as pro wrestlers and show-men. The false finishes to this match was so brilliantly executed and even had me a jaded wrestling fan biting on the possibility that wrestling darling, Eddie Guerrero could pull of the upset. However, with each Brock kick-out, I was waiting for inevitable Brock victory. Then the unexpected happened, Eddie Guerrero in true "Lie, Cheat, Steal" fashion, countered Brock's F-5 into a tornado DDT onto a title belt with the ref unconscious and hastily got rid of the evidence before covering Brock for the three-count and his first and only world championship. (Read that sentence again, that's why I love pro wrestling).
What followed is one of those brief moments when pro wrestling is so very real. It was the only time ever, my dad's excitement for wrestling matched my own as my entire family celebrated Eddie's success. The absolute and utter joy in Eddie's eyes and body language tell the entire story. He was truly happy. There was no faking this, those were incredibly real emotions displayed by him, his family, my family and fans in the arena and assuredly around the globe.. He leapt into the front row before even getting the belt to celebrate with the fans. He hugged his crying mother and his older brother. Every fan was on their feet, cheering on Eddie because for Eddie was the world champion that was never supposed to happen. He was supposed to be the entertaining mid-card act that supported the main event players. On this night, he broke through glass ceiling and proved talent and hard-work do matter. On this night, Eddie Guerrero was recognized as the best damn wrestler in the world and he deserved it.
End of the match, Look up the rest of match if interested. Includes celebration.
I along with my entire family got the opportunity to watch Eddie defend his championship against Rey Mysterio Jr. (a favorite of my mother's) in Boston and is one of my favorite memories. Along with watching Eddie face-off against Chris Benoit in 1998 for my first live wrestling show ever, I am so glad I was able to watch Eddie live and in vivid, technicolor before he passed.
He was so entertaining, he couldnt be a heel no matter how he tried.
The story does not have a happy end as Eddie passed away on this day in 2005. Eddie was clean when he died, but years of hard living, the constant punishment of wrestling and life on the road caught up to Eddie. I am still remember having to tell my family and the amount of devastation on their faces. It was just another moment when pro wrestling is all too real.
Pro wrestling is one of the weirdest entertainment media you will ever find. One part sport, one part broadway showmanship, one part slapstick comedy, one part morality play and all-around entertaining. However the weirdest part is the fact that you grow up with these men and watch their journeys every week so that you become attached to them. When they die it truly does hurt because you are so accustomed to seeing them every single week that they become apart of your daily life. I miss Eddie Guerrero and my thoughts and prayers go out to this family and friends.
One of the greatest all-around pro wrestlers in history.
Viva La Raza, Esse! RIP Eddie
