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Eddie Guerrero

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Eddie Guerrero
BornOctober 9, 1967
El Paso, Texas
DiedNovember 13, 2005
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Black Tiger II
Eddie Guerrero
Eddy Guerrero
El Caliente
Máscara Mágica
Billed height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Billed weight228 lb (104 kg)
Billed fromEl Paso, Texas
Trained byGory Guerrero
Debut1987

Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005), better known by his ring name Eddie Guerrero, was a Mexican American professional wrestler, born into a legendary Mexican wrestling family. Through the 1990s, he had a distinguished career, working for every major professional wrestling promotion in the United States during that period: Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Guerrero's in-ring character was that of a crafty, resourceful wrestler who would do anything to win a match. His famous mantra became "Cheat to Win". Despite being a heel for much of his career, he became popular in and outside the ring.

Throughout his career, Guerrero encountered various substance abuse problems outside of wrestling, including alcoholism and an addiction to pain killers. His problems outside of the ring were sometimes integrated into his storylines. Notwithstanding these issues, Guerrero won numerous titles during his career, including the WWE Championship.

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Death

On November 13, 2005, Guerrero was found dead by his nephew Chavo, in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Marriott City Center Hotel. Eddie was 38 years old. Several hours later, WWE.com released the following announcement:

WWE is deeply saddened by the news that Eddie Guerrero has passed away. He was found dead this morning in his hotel room in Minneapolis. Eddie is survived by his wife Vickie and daughters Shaul, 14, Sherilyn, 9, and Kaylie Marie, 3.

The same day, WWE held a press conference with a speech from his nephew Chavo, who spoke of Guerrero's four years of sobriety that would have come on November 15, 2005. Chavo adamantly defended his uncle, saying he had defeated his "personal demons." WWE Chairman Vince McMahon declined to speculate on the causes of Guerrero's death, and both men said that Guerrero would have "wanted the show to go on."

Cause

An autopsy revealed that Guerrero died as a result of acute heart failure, caused by undiagnosed arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and enlargement of the heart as a result of prior anabolic steroid abuse. Although Guerrero had not taken alcohol or illicit drugs for nearly four years, his past excesses contributed to his heart failure. At the time of his death, he had recently used narcotic painkillers.

Guerrero's wife Vickie said that he had been lethargic and unwell in the week preceding his death, but that this had been attributed to the stress of continuously travelling and performing. She added that the doctors had told her that Guerrero's blood vessels had shriveled and weakened owing to undiagnosed heart disease, and that he had simply dropped into a deep sleep.

On the November 15, 2005 edition of WWE Byte This!, Chavo Guerrero said that Guerrero had been working very hard and was at peak physical fitness as a result, doing cardiovascular and weight training exercises every day. There had been no symptoms or cause for concern. Chavo noted that, while many people abuse drugs for over ten years with no ill effects, Guerrero, despite having ceased to abuse drugs four years earlier, had suffered heart complications that were not detected in time to prevent his death.

Events following Guerrero's death

File:Chavo EddieTribute.jpg
An emotional Chavo Guerrero performs at the SmackDown! tribute show to his late uncle

Guerrero was set to face Batista and Randy Orton in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship on the November 15, 2005 taping of Friday Night SmackDown! (which would have aired on November 18, 2005). Stephanie McMahon hinted that Eddie Guerrero had been scheduled to defeat Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. This would have begun Guerrero's first reign as World Heavyweight Champion and his second world championship reign overall.

The episodes of RAW on November 14, 2005 and Friday Night SmackDown! on November 18, 2005 each aired as tributes to Eddie Guerrero. No WWE employees were compelled to perform, although several matches took place, including one featuring Chavo. RAW started off with all the superstars and several personnel on stage, as Vince McMahon addressed the live crowd. A video was then shown featuring many clips of Guerrero in and out of the ring to "Hurt" as performed by Johnny Cash. A similar video was shown on Friday Night SmackDown to an acoustic version of "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down.

In addition to the RAW and SmackDown! tribute shows, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling dedicated the pay-per-view TNA Genesis (which aired the evening of his death) to Guerrero, while Ring of Honor named their next show "Night of Tribute".

As a direct response to Guerrero's death, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced the implementation of drug testing for WWE wrestlers, which began in March 2006. Guerrero was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 1, 2006 by Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and his nephew Chavo Guerrero in Chicago, Illinois on the night before WrestleMania 22. His widow, Vickie, accepted the honor. Guerrero also appears in the video game, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 as a legend.

Randy Orton took Eddie Guerrero's place on Team SmackDown! at the 2005 Survivor Series, and would go on to win the match as its sole survivor.

On every house show on the European tour which would led him to Germany (Leipzig, Berlin, Nuremberg), a ten-bell salute occurred and fans stood up in silence to honor Guerrero who died several days before the event. The local newspaper of Leipzig, the "Volkszeitung", also noticed the death of Guerrero.

Currently, some of Eddie's closest wrestling friends such as Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, and Chris Benoit pay tribute to him in their matches in much the same way as Eddie paid tribute to Barr by using the frog splash as a finishing move.

Sports Illustrated steroid investigation

On March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted on its website an article in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Eddie who was alleged to have obtained hCG and the steroid stanozolol in early 2005.

Finishing and signature moves

Eddie Guerrero performs the Frog Splash during a WWE live event
  • Nicknames
    • Latino Heat
  • Cheating tactics
  • Eddie Guerrero was known for his "Cheat 2 Win" motto where he often wins matches by cheating. Common tactics were:
    • Playing possum while opponent holds a steel chair, appearing that the opponent had attacked him. With this usually the referee was already knocked out, and whilst playing possum, Eddie would sit up and try and shake the referee awake.
    • Smashing the chair on the mat to make it sound like someone was hit then tossing the chair to his opponent, whilst lying on the ground pretending to be have actually been hit.
    • Hitting the opponent with a steel chair behind the referees back.
    • Low-blowing the opponent while the referee replaces steel chair.
    • Also, when champion or facing a champion, Eddie would sometimes use the championship belt in a similar way to the steel chair, by throwing it to his opponent and lying on the mat pretending to have been hit by it.

Championships and accomplishments

File:EddieGuerrero Gold.jpg
Guerrero during his fourth WWE Tag Team Championship reign

Media

  • Cheating Death, Stealing Life - The Eddie Guerrero Story (DVD, 2004)
  • Cheating Death, Stealing Life - The Eddie Guerrero Story (book, 2005)
  • We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal - Song with Chavo (WWE Originals)

References

External links



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