Eddie Guerrero
Eduardo "Eddie" Gory Guerrero Yañez (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005) better known as Eddie Guerrero, was an American professional wrestler from a legendary Mexican wrestling family. He wrestled in Mexico, Japan, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and, most famously, in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
| Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes | |
|---|---|
 Guerrero at a SmackDown! taping in Tacoma, Washington on February 10, 2004 | |
| Born | October 9, 1967 El Paso, Texas, United States[1] |
| Died | November 13, 2005 (aged 38) Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Eddie Guerrero Black Tiger II Eddy Guerrero El Caliente Máscara Mágica Latino Heat |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (181 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 237 lb (107 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | El Paso, Texas[1] |
| Trained by | Chavo Guerrero Hector Guerrero Mando Guerrero |
| Debut | 1987 |
Wrestling career change
He started his wrestling career in 1987 in the Mexican Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre promotion. He became a star in Mexico long before he wrestled in the United States. In 1993, Guerrero began wrestling in Japan for New Japan Pro Wrestling, as Black Tiger II. He was one of the best Mexican wrestlers there are in the world and he made so many accomplishments throughout his lifetime. He won the NJPW Junior Heavyweight Super Grade Tag League Championship with The Great Sasuke making him the most successful Black Tiger. He also won the Best of the Super Juniors 1996 tournament of junior heavyweights. He got a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion The Great Sasuke at NJPW Skydiving J but lost the match.
Guerrero’s first break came in late 1994 when the owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling, Paul Heyman, noticed him and Art Barr. Barr died before he could join ECW with Guerrero. In honor of his fallen friend, Guerrero did his finishing move, the Frog Splash.
Eddie started wrestling for the WCW in late 1995 along with Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit, with whom he had worked in NJPW and ECW. At World War 3 he competed in the 3-ring, 60-man World War 3 battle royal for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Guerrero was one of the final 10 men in the battle royal, but was tossed out of the ring by Four Horsemen members. Randy Savage won the match. At Starrcade 1995, Guerrero represented WCW in a WCW vs. NJPW World Cup tournament series. He fell to NJPW wrestler Shinjiro Ohtani in the match but WCW went on to win the series.
Despite Guerrero's success and popularity, he had been one of many wrestlers that were upset at never being given a chance to be main event stars in WCW. Guerrero responded to Bischoff's actions by forming the Latino World Order (or LWO) with Hector Garza and Damien, a take-off on Bischoff's New World Order. with Hector Garza and Damien.
In 2000, Guerrero signed with the World Wrestling Federation (later WWE). On August 1, 2002 Guerrero began to wrestle for WWE's SmackDown! brand. Guerrero aligned himself with his nephew Chavo, forming the tag team Los Guerreros. At Survivor Series 2002, Guerreros faced the tag team champions Edge and Rey Mysterio, and Angle and Benoit for the titles. Eddie made Mysterio submit to The Lasso From El Paso to win their first WWE Tag Team Championship.
During the summer of 2003 Guerrero had begun driving a lowrider to ringside. Guerrero would also capitalize on his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" anti-hero image by using illegal tactics behind the referee's back to win matches. This caused his increase popularity to rise.
On January 29, 2004 Eddie won SmackDown’s! 15-man Royal Rumble, earning a shot at the WWE Championship. At No Way Out 2004, Guerrero defeated the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in the main event with help from Goldberg. At WrestleMania XX he kept his title by beating Kurt Angle. At the end of this event, Guerrero celebrated in the ring with the new World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit.
At the 2005 No Way Out event, Eddie teamed with Rey Mysterio and defeated the Basham Brothers to win his final title, the WWE Tag Team Championship for a fourth time, with being it Mysterio's third reign. In May Guerrero turned heel and began a feud with Rey.
Following this, Guerrero was named number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship and given a title match with Batista. Batista defeated Guerrero at No Mercy 2005 to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
Eddie Guerrero’s last televised match was on the November 11, 2005 of SmackDown. He defeated Mr. Kennedy, earning a place on the SmackDown! team in the 2005 Survivor Series. He was not able to be in this match because he died on November 13 of acute heart failure and was replaced by Randy Orton. Eddie Guerrero was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. Eddie's last match was actually on November 12th, 2005 in Albuquerque, New Mexico against Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Championships and accomplishments change
- Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion
- Extreme Championship Wrestling
- Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
- Latin American Wrestling Association
- LAWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- New Japan Pro Wrestling
- NJPW Junior Heavyweight Super Grade Tag League Championship (1 time) - with The Great Sasuke[2]
- Best of the Super Juniors (1996)
- Pro Wrestling Federation
- PWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Hector Guerrero[2]
- World Championship Wrestling
- World Wrestling All-Stars
- World Wrestling Association
- WWA World Welterweight Championship (1 time)[2]
- WWA World Trios Championship (1 time) - with Chavo Guerrero & Mando Guerrero[2]
- World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
- WWE Championship (1 time)[4]
- WWE Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Chavo Guerrero (2), Tajiri (1) and Rey Mysterio (1)[5]
- WWE United States Championship (1 time, first in WWE)[3]
- WWF European Championship (2 times)[6]
- WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)[7]
- WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)[1]
- Eleventh Triple Crown Champion
- Fifth Grand Slam Champion
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him # 2 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2004.
- PWI ranked him # 81 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- PWI ranked him # 18 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years with Art Barr in 2003.
- PWI Comeback of the Year (1999)
- PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2002)
- PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2004)
- Stanley Weston Award (2005)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
- Feud of the Year (1994) with Art Barr vs. El Hijo del Santo and Octagón
- Tag Team of the Year (1994) with Art Barr as La Pareja del Terror
- Feud of the Year (1995) vs. Dean Malenko
- Tag Team of the Year (2002) with Chavo Guerrero as Los Guerreros
- Most Charismatic (2004)
- Best on Interviews (2005)
- Most Charismatic (2005)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)
Media change
- 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 change
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Eddie Guerrero Hall of Fame profile". WWE Hall of Fame. WWE. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "WWE United States Championship official title history". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ↑ "WWE Championship official titlehistory". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ↑ "WWE Tag Team Championship official title history". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ↑ "WWE European Championship official title history". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ↑ "WWE Intercontinental Championship official title history". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-17.