FORMER WWE WORLD CHAMPION EDDIE GUERRERO PASSES AWAY

I remember turning into to watch WCW Saturday Night on TBS and being awe struck by the pure athleticism of one of the wrestlers. His name was Eddie Guerrero, and he was one of the first, in what would be a wave, of amazing Hispanic talents to his the shores of the US.

It’s because of wrestlers like Eddie that I first fell in love with professional wrestling. I never cared for the drama, the storylines, the promos, I loved the matches. I loved the athleticism of the men and women in the ring, and Eddie was a part of revitalizing the athletic aspect of wrestling back in the early to mid 90s.

His career started in Mexico, where he is from the famous Guerrero wrestling family. His father was a former champion in Mexico, and he was destiny to follow in his fathers footsteps. Eddie came to the US and made his name in ECW, wrestling for Paul Heyman. After a short run there, Eddie signed with Eric Bischoff’s WCW, where he stayed for most of the 90s. Eventually, Eddie was signed to Vince McMahon’s WWE. Two years ago, Eddie fulfilled his dream when he won the Heavyweight title by beating Brock Lesnar.

Eddie’s career was filled with highs and lows. He has battled drug addition and alcohol addition most of his life. The life of a wrestler is hard, harder than most realize. They are on the road 250-300 days a year, being able to spend two to three days, at most, a week with their families. Living in hotels, motels, busses, and other places leads many men and women to use drugs and alcohol as a form of escape. Eddie was no exception. However, he fought back from his demons, as chronicled in his biography “Cheating Death: The Eddie Guerrero Story.”

I always liked Eddie, because he always just had solid matches. His promos on camera were great, he had a fun character, both when he was a good guy and a bad guy, and you always knew than when Eddie was in a match you were going to get your monies worth. His series of matches with Kurt Angle will always be looked at as one of the best under card feuds ever in wrestling, or at least in this decade.

Eddie had come a long way in his life, overcome many obstacles, and was truly a role model for any who doubt that drugs and alcohol can truly be beaten. The ring will be a little less special now with him gone, and that’s a real shame. Eddie will live on however, his matches chronicled on DVD and video so that everyone will be able to look back and see how one of the best in the business took care of things in the ring.

Eddie Guerrero died today, he was on 38.

-O