On November 13th, 2005, Eddie Guerrero passed away at the age of 38 of a heart attack at a hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I remember the very somber feeling of his passing like it happened yesterday. Eddie Guerrero was the consummate performer that you hated when he was a heel but you cheered your heart out for when he was a babyface. I still get emotional when I watch any tribute video to this day on him. I have pegged 12 reasons, one for each year why we miss Eddie Guerrero:
- He lied. Eddie Guerrero lied to steal victories, but he did it in the most creative ways, whether it was to put one over on his opponent, but he used it to play mind games on his opponents.
2. Eddie Guerrero cheated.
Watch Eddie Guerrero put one over on Mr. Kennedy
3. Eddie Guerrero stole.
Here is Eddie Guerrero switching out Royal Rumble numbers with Ric Flair
4. Eddie Guerrero made the cruiserweight division amazing in WCW.
The Eddie sucks chants showed how great of a heel he was. Plus, check out this clinic he put on against Rey Mysterio, Jr.
5. Eddie Guerrero’s matches against Dean Malenko. I argue that this was the greatest clinic/feud in ECW/WCW history. Wow!
6. Eddie Guerrero as a comedy wrestler. His feud with the Big Show was tremendous. It showed that Eddie could have chemistry with anyone, big and small.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpjNfEwTd4c
7. Eddie Guerrero as tag team champions with Chavo Guerrero as Los Guerreros
8. Eddie Guerrero defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship
9. Eddie Guerrero retains against Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xa6W61mgO4
10. Eddie Guerrero celebrates with Chris Benoit after his World Heavyweight Championship win. Yeah, I know that Chris Benoit’s legacy is that of a murderer who committed suicide after killing his wife and son, however, this was an emotional moment and it showed that Eddie celebrated for his friends more than his own accomplishments.
11. Eddie Guerrero saw main event talent when no one else did. In real life, him and JBL were very close friends. People saw JBL as the other member of APA with Faarooq, however, Eddie catapulted JBL into the main event scene with in my opinion, the most underrated feud in Smackdown history.
12. Eddie’s legacy. There will never be another one like you. Pure wrestling ability, charisma, and heart for the business. We still miss you Eddie.
*Photo credit goes to WWE and Cageside Seats
