Eddy Guerrero
Profile
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Biography
Eddie Guerrero, born Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 ? November 13, 2005) was an American professional wrestler of Hispanic extraction. Born into a legendary wrestling family, Guerrero managed to maintain the storied Guerrero family legacy. 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 extremely popular because of his charisma and the fact that his character seemed to largely be a reflection of himself.
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 professional wrestling storylines. Despite all these issues, Guerrero managed to be extremely popular, winning numerous titles during his career, including the WWE Championship. Guerrero became a born again Christian in 2002.
Early career
Guerrero came from a legendary wrestling family. His late father, Gory Guerrero, is considered one of the greatest wrestlers in Mexican history. His three brothers Chavo Guerrero, Hector Guerrero and Mando Guerrero all followed in their father's footsteps and became professional wrestlers. Guerrero's nephew, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. also became a wrestler. Guerrero's uncle Enrique Llanes and cousin Javier Llanes are popular wrestlers in Mexico.
Guerrero was raised in El Paso, Texas and attended the University of New Mexico as well as New Mexico Highlands University on an athletic scholarship, where he wrestled collegiately, before returning to El Paso to train as a professional wrestler. He debuted in 1987 in the Mexican Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre promotion. He became a star in Mexico long before he main evented in the United States.
In 1993, Guerrero began wrestling in Japan for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he was known as Black Tiger II. In Mexico, he wrestled mainly for Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion, teaming with El Hijo del Santo as the new version of La Pareja Atómica (The Atomic Pair), the legendary tag team of Gory Guerrero and El Santo. After Guerrero turned on Santo and allied with Art Barr as La Pareja del Terror (The Pair of Terror), the duo became arguably the most hated tag team in lucha libre history. Along with Barr, Konnan and Madonna?s Boyfriend, Guerrero formed Los Gringos Locos (The Crazy Americans), a heel stable.
Guerrero and Barr's first break would come when they were noticed in late 1994 by the owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling, Paul Heyman, and were approached about wrestling for him in 1995. However, Barr died before he could join ECW with Guerrero. As an homage to his fallen friend, Guerrero adopted his friend's finishing move, the Frog Splash.
Guerrero won the ECW World Television Championship on his debut and went on to have a series of acclaimed matches with Dean Malenko before they both signed with World Championship Wrestling later that year. After their last match at the ECW arena, the locker room emptied and the two were carried around the ring by their fellow wrestlers while the crowd chanted "Please don't go."
World Championship Wrestling
In WCW, Guerrero found considerable singles success, winning the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in late 1996 and the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship twice in 1997.
Guerrero as a member of the Latino World Order.Despite Guerrero's success and popularity, he was one of many wrestlers who were frustrated at never being given a chance to be main event stars in WCW. These frustrations came to a head when Guerrero got coffee thrown at him when he requested that WCW President Eric Bischoff pushed his character or asked for a raise in his pay for family reasons. Guerrerro responded by asking for a release from his WCW contract on a live episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Guerrero then left the company for a period of months, angry at Bischoff for what he had done. However, Guerrero later returned to WCW, leading to the belief that maybe Guerrero's angry speeches against Bischoff were actually worked. Guerrero would later rebut this on WWE's DVD Monday Night War claiming that he tried to put personal differences aside for the good of the company, yet found himself angry and outraged once more because of Bischoff's continued refusal to elevate Guerrero and other similar wrestlers.
Guerrero responded to Bischoff's actions by forming the Latino World Order (or lWo), which was understood by the fans to be a mockery of Bischoff's New World Order. The group was an answer to Bischoff's refusal to push Latino wrestlers in ways they deserved. The group eventually grew to encompass almost all the Mexican wrestlers working for WCW at the time. However, Guerrero was involved in a serious car accident in 1999 that cut short the lWo storyline. Guerrero managed to survive the accident and in a matter of months he returned to wrestling.
After his return, he continued to be displeased with WCW management and signed with the WWF in 2000 along with top WCW stars Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn.
World Wrestling Federation
Guerrero and the other WCW wrestlers debuted in the WWF on January 31, 2000 as The Radicalz. In March 2000, Guerrero began pursuing the affections of Chyna, who he referred to as his "Mamacita." Chyna initially rejected his advances, but allied with him following WrestleMania 2000, declaring that she "couldn't resist his "Latino Heat."
Guerrero won his first WWF title by defeating another former WCW wrestler, Chris Jericho for the European Championship. He and Chyna began a feud with Essa Rios and Lita, which culminated in a European title defence at the 2000 Backlash, which was also billed as the night of Guerrero's prom (he was said to have just earned a GED). Guerrero defeated Rios after arriving at ringside in a 1957 Chevrolet. Guerrero successfully retained the title in matches against Saturn and Malenko before finally losing the title to Saturn on July 23.
Over the next few months, friction began to build between Guerrero and Chyna. Chyna was upset when Guerrero pinned her to advance in the King of the Ring tournament. On August 27, Chyna won the Intercontinental Championship. Guerrero claimed to not mind and then begged Commissioner Mick Foley to let him take part in a title defense between Chyna and Kurt Angle, claiming he was afraid that Angle would injure Chyna. After Angle knocked Chyna down with the title belt, Guerrero "accidentally" pinned her while trying to revive her.
Chyna became visibly uncomfortable as Guerrero began to cheat in order to retain his title, while Guerrero was upset that Chyna was posing for Playboy magazine, even trying to invade the Playboy Mansion to stop the photoshoot. Just when it appeared that Chyna would leave Guerrero, he proposed to her and she accepted. The engagement was called off when Guerrero was caught showering with two of The Godfather's hos claiming that "Two Mamacitas are better than one!" Guerrero turned heel once again as a result of the incident and was later defeated for the Intercontinental Championship by Chyna's friend Billy Gunn.
The Radicalz reunited in late 2000, assisting Triple H in his match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series. In early 2001, Guerrero feuded with Test, winning the European Championship for a second time at WrestleMania X-Seven with help from Saturn and Malenko. Guerrero eventually left the Radicalz, siding with The Hardy Boyz and Lita. At this point, Guerrero developed an addiction to pain medication stemming from his 1999 car accident and in May 2001 was sent to rehabilitation. On November 9, 2001 he was arrested for drunk driving and was subsequently released by the WWF three days later.
Guerrero then appeared with numerous independent promotions, including World Wrestling All-Stars and IWA Mid-South. He was also one of the original wrestlers in the Ring of Honor promotion. Following a number of highly acclaimed matches, such as his bout with Doug Williams at FWA British Uprising, as well as his series of matches with CM Punk, he was rehired by the renamed WWE in March 2002. When he signed, he was committed to one more ROH and IWA Mid-South show. WWE permitted him to fulfill the obligations, and on April 19, he wrestled CM Punk and Colt Cabana in Dayton, Ohio. A little over a week later on April 27, he teamed with The Amazing Red to defeat The S.A.T. at A Night of Appreciation, an ROH show dedicated to him.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Guerrero returned to RAW on April 1, 2002, attacking Rob Van Dam and reuniting with Chris Benoit. On April 21 at Backlash 2002 he defeated Van Dam for the Intercontinental Championship. He lost the belt to RVD a month later in a ladder match. Guerrero then started a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, but Austin left WWE before a match could take place. Guerrero then went on to feud briefly with The Rock.
Los Guerreros
On August 1, Guerrero and Benoit began to wrestle exclusively for WWE's SmackDown! brand. With Benoit starting to focus on Kurt Angle, Guerrero aligned himself with his nephew Chavo, forming the tag team Los Guerreros. In contrast to a previous WCW storyline with his nephew, Chavo fully adopted his uncle's policy of "Lie, Cheat and Steal" to win matches. The duo entered the eight-team tournament for the new WWE Tag Team Championships and began a feud with the newly formed tag team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. In one of the team's definitive moments, Chavo told Benoit that his former friend Guerrero was assaulted by his tag team partner Kurt Angle. Benoit ran to make the save, only to have himself locked inside a room. Guerrero then materialised in the room and assaulted Benoit with a steel chair.
Benoit and Angle managed to overcome their differences and eventually defeated Los Guerreros in the tournament semi-finals. Later on, Benoit and Angle won the WWE Tag Team Championships. Benoit and Angle then fought for a trophy for being the first WWE Tag Team Champion. Much to Benoit's surprise, Los Guerreros helped him win the match.
Los Guerreros would then be given another shot at the WWE Tag Team titles and the new champions, Edge and Rey Mysterio. At Survivor Series 2002, Guerrero made Mysterio submit to The Lasso From El Paso. With this victory, Los Guerreros began their reign as the WWE Tag Team Champions, a reign that lasted until they were defeated by Team Angle. Los Guerreros participated at WrestleMania XIX as contenders for the Tag Titles, along with the team of Chris Benoit and Rhyno. Prior to Judgment Day, Chavo tore his bicep. This forced Guerrero to look for another partner. He chose Tajiri. They won the Tag Titles at Judgment Day in a ladder match. The following week, Guerrero and Tajiri managed to retain their titles by cheating. In addition, they also defeated the legendary Roddy Piper and his protegè Sean O'Haire. After Guerrero and Tajiri lost the titles to Team Angle on July 1, Guerrero turned on Tajiri, slamming his partner through the windshield of his low-rider truck.
In mid-2003, Guerrero competed in a tournament for the WWE United States Championship. He managed to advance to the final round, defeating Ultimo Dragon in the process, where he would meet Chris Benoit. In this match, Guerrero turned to his cheating tactics, hitting Benoit with the belt at one point in the match. Guerrero tried to get Benoit in trouble by placing the title belt on top of the unconscious Benoit. It did not work, however, since he knocked out the ref earlier with a belt shot to the kidneys. The match ended with interference by and a Gore from Rhyno, Benoit's own partner, who was furious at the team's failure. Guerrero pinned Benoit and won the United States Championship.
At SummerSlam, Guerrero retained his title by defeating Rhyno, Benoit and Tajiri in a four way match. He turned face again by engaging in a rivalry with John Cena. Guerrero challenged Cena to a "Latino Heat" street fight for the United States Championship, which Guerrero won. Chavo made his return in this match, assisting Guerrero in executing his Frog Splash on Cena. On September 16, 2003, Los Guerreros defeated The World's Greatest Tag Team to regain the WWE Tag Team Championships. Eddie Guerrero thus held the United States Championship and one-half of the Tag Team Championships concurrently.
Guerrero lost the United States Championship to The Big Show at No Mercy 2003 in October after a feud which involved Guerrero poisoning the Big Show with some laxative laced burritos and then later spraying the Big Show with a sewage truck. Four days later, Los Guerreros would lose the WWE Tag Team Championship to the Basham Brothers. As Los Guerreros attempted to regain the tag team titles, things began to go downhill between Chavo and Guerrero, and the two fought one another at the 2004 Royal Rumble in a match that was won by Guerrero.
WWE Champion
As Guerrero's popularity grew, he began seeking the WWE Championship. In a storyline, Guerrero's singles success made Chavo jealous and Chavo broke from the team.
During the summer of 2003, Guerrero had begun driving a customized lowrider to ringside as part of his ring entrance. Guerrero would also capitalize on his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" anti-hero image by brazenly using illegal tactics behind the referee's back to win matches on occasion. He was well known for hitting someone with a steel chair (or handing the opponent the steel chair and then pretending to be knocked out himself, just as the referee turned around), or using illegal weapons during the match. Despite (or possibly because of) his immoral tactics, Guerrero continued to increase in popularity.
On February 15, 2004 Guerrero won the WWE Championship at No Way Out 2004, defeating Brock Lesnar following interference from Goldberg. He would enjoy many months of success as champion, which included a win against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XX as well as victories over the Big Show and Rey Mysterio. He would later lose the title to John "Bradshaw" Layfield, due to Angle's interference. At SummerSlam, Angle made Guerrero submit to the Ankle Lock. Guerrero then allied himself with the Big Show, who also despised Kurt Angle for firing him while Angle was still SmackDown! general manager.
Each week Angle and his new allies Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak began targeting Guerrero and the Big Show. General Manager Theodore Long booked a Survivor Series Elimination Match between a team led by Guerrero and a team led by Kurt Angle. Guerrero's team consisted of himself, Big Show, Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam. The following week, Guerrero was forced to find another member for his team because Rey Mysterio had just been given an opportunity to regain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Guerrero selected John Cena, who was feuding with Carlito, a member of Angle's Survivor Series team. At Survivor Series, Guerrero landed the Frog Splash on Kurt Angle for the victory.
Guerrero, along with Booker T and The Undertaker, then challenged John "Bradshaw" Layfield for a WWE Championship rematch. Along the way, Guerrero found a partner in Booker T. Despite losing two matches in a row as a tag team, Guerrero and Booker managed to get along. At Armageddon, Guerrero and Booker worked as a unit, taking down both Bradshaw and Undertaker. However, during the match, the two broke away from the team and made it clear that it was every man for themselves. Guerrero would then be taken out by The Undertaker while Bradshaw pinned Booker following the Clothesline From Hell. Afterwards, Guerrero and Booker briefly and unsuccessfully attempted to win the WWE Tag Team Championships.
Feud with Rey Mysterio
On February 20, 2005, Guerrero once again became a tag team champion, this time with long time friend and sometimes rival Rey Mysterio when they defeated Doug and Danny Basham at No Way Out 2005.
Many expected the new champions to defend their titles at WrestleMania 21, but after encouragement from Chavo, instead Guerrero challenged Rey to a one-on-one match so they could "bring the house down." The two wrestled a match at WrestleMania with Mysterio getting the win. Although visibly frustrated, Guerrero congratulated his partner. After several mishaps in the weeks following WrestleMania, the growing tension between Guerrero and Mysterio finally erupted when they lost their tag titles to new team MNM on the April 21 episode of SmackDown! Although they received a match to regain the titles, Guerrero turned heel once again by abandoning his partner, who he had dubbed "his family" earlier in the show.
Eddie Guerrero in 2005.Guerrero then adopted a new, somewhat sociopathic gimmick. During this time, he also stopped driving his low-riders down the ring and walked to the ring with a frown on his face, and reverted to using the Lasso from El Paso as his finishing move. At the end of one edition of SmackDown!, he viciously and emotionlessly beat up his former tag team partner, leaving him bruised and bloody after suplexing him onto a set of steel steps. At Judgment Day 2005 on May 22, Guerrero lost to Mysterio by disqualification.
Several weeks after the match at Judgment Day, Guerrero threatened to reveal a secret about Rey and Rey's son Dominick. The storyline (which involved equal parts of work and truth, and had Rey's full approval) grew to involve the families of both men, with both sides pleading for Guerrero not to reveal the secret. Rey defeated Guerrero at the Great American Bash, a match with a stipulation that if Guerrero lost, he would not tell the secret. Yet Guerrero revealed the secret any way on the following episode of SmackDown! - telling Dominick and the audience that Guerrero was his real father. The following weeks had Guerrero revealing the details of the secret in a series of what he called "Eddie's Bedtime Stories". He claimed that he had a child out of wedlock (Dominick) while his marriage was going through hard times. He claimed he then allowed Mysterio and his wife, who were "having trouble conceiving", to adopt the child as their own.
At SummerSlam 2005, Guerrero lost a ladder match over Dominick's custody to Mysterio. Their emotional feud ended at the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown!, where Guerrero finally gained a victory over Mysterio in a steel cage match.
World Heavyweight Championship contender
Following his feud with Rey Mysterio, Guerrero was named number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship and given a title match with Batista at No Mercy 2005. Despite this, Guerrero quickly proclaimed himself to be Batista's friend. However, Batista was wary of Guerrero and a series of matches with MNM only supported his suspicions, as Guerrero appeared to have reverted to his cheating ways. In response to Batista's suspicions, Guerrero helped Batista win a match against his tag team partners, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Christian.
Batista defeated Guerrero at No Mercy to retain his World title. During the match, Guerrero struggled with a decision about whether or not to use a steel chair to secure the victory, eventually opting not to use it and losing as a result. Though the two demonstrated mutual respect after the match, Guerrero seemed displeased by the loss. Eventually, Batista and Guerrero would become allies against Randy Orton, Bob Orton and Ken Kennedy. Guerrero would tell Batista that he realized how low he had sunk since being WWE Champion in 2004, having attacked his best friend Rey Mysterio. Guerrero told him that Batista shaking his hand at No Mercy had returned his respect to him.
On the November 11 edition of Friday Night SmackDown!, Eddie Guerrero wrestled what turned out to be the final televised match of his career, a victory by disqualification using his trademark cheating tactics over Ken Kennedy.
Death
On November 13, 2005, Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Marriott City Center Hotel by his nephew, Chavo. 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 of that year. 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 over four years, his past excesses contributed to his heart failure. At the time of his death, he had recently used narcotics.
Guerrero's wife Vicky 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 traveling 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 30, 2005 edition of Byte This!, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. 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. Guerrero, Jr. 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
An emotional Chavo Guerrero performs at the SmackDown! tribute show to his late uncle.See also: Tributes to Eddie Guerrero On the day of his death, Guerrero was set to face Batista and Randy Orton in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship on the November 13 taping of Friday Night SmackDown! (which would have aired on November 18). Stephanie McMahon hinted that Guerrero had been scheduled to defeat Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship, which would have begun Guerrero's first reign as World Heavyweight Champion.
The episodes of RAW on November 14, 2005, and Friday Night SmackDown! on November 18, 2005, each aired as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero. No WWE employees were compelled to perform, although several matches took place, including one featuring Chavo. These shows were similar in format to the RAW is Owen special edition of RAW, which paid tribute to the late Owen Hart, and the SmackDown! special in Houston, Texas two days after the September 11, 2001 attacks. 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 passing) to Guerrero.
Eddie Guerrero's funeral took place on Thursday, November 17 in Phoenix, Arizona at Green Acres Cemetery. The private service was performed by retired wrestler "Superstar" Billy Graham. Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Vince McMahon, Tom Prichard, all of Guerrero's brothers, one of his sisters, Chavo Guerrero and Valerie Coleman Graham all spoke at the funeral. Wrestlers and wrestling personalities from all around the world of wrestling were in attendance, including:
Billy Anderson, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Doug Basham, Chris Benoit, Christian, CM Punk, Tommy Drake, Kevin Dunn, Edge, Jackie Gayda , Charlie Haas, Michael Hayes, Gregory Helms, Chris Jericho, Mark Jindrak, Konnan, Billy Kidman, Gail Kim, John Laurinaitis, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Lita, Dean Malenko, Linda McMahon, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon, Rey Mysterio Jr, Jamie Noble, Bruce Prichard, Tom Prichard, Raven, Sting, Mike Tenay and Torrie Wilson
