In Perspective: Eddy Guerrero – The Shining Example in the Squared Circle

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It’s Tuesday night and I still feel like I’m trying to put off writing this column. I still can’t believe Eddy Guerrero is no longer with us. I’ve spent time since Sunday watching his DVD, watching music videos of Eddy’s career that fans have made and shared with the fellow internet wrestling community so generously, reading fans emails all over various sites, reading my fellow writers thoughts and of course watching the coverage by the WWE and mainstream media. Even when I tried to take a break from focusing my energy on Eddy, he managed to come through in his own way. My father and I were watching NFL football Sunday and there was something going on with the official and a call that was being made with a football player, my father commented on it and I immediately thought, “and that’s another thing! Eddy would be able to do the con the referee into believing him spot so well! It’s too bad we won’t see that today.”

Eddy Guerrero’s career and methods of his craft are something that the future generation of wrestlers should study with great emphasis. Similar to the WWE shirt he used to wear, Eddy could be consider the Al Pacino of professional wrestling by being able to show various emotions with such fresh intensity. Some of his best work can be found when he worked with Chyna in 2000 being playful and flirty or intense and controlling. Another example was in World Championship Wrestling when he worked with his nephew Chavo Guerrero being Chavo’s “favorite wrestler, Uncle Eddy” in a storyline by trying to “publicly apologize” when Chavo didn’t live up to the great Guerrero name. Study the timing he used in his promos, and how he fed off of the audience and had the audience in the palm of his hand each and every time he was given the opportunity to work the crowd.

Eddy Guerrero always had a great presence of mind in the squared circle as well. He brilliantly shined for knowing how to play off the camera at the right time with his facial expressions and perfect timing. The “lie, cheat and steal” gimmick worked and only someone like Eddy could pull it off so effortlessly. Eddy will always be remembered for having a character who could have the referee distracted or completely out, plant the evidence he just used on his opponent or was about to and be able to look like a angel and get his way. Even as a heel, one quick lay down on the mat had the fans popping, usually at a louder rate than anything the face had done in the match!

Eddy Guerrero as a match technician was also one of a kind and was consistency one of the best performers each and every night. Many talent had worked with Guerrero throughout his career all over the world but with some he had better chemistry than others. Regardless, Guerrero’s work ethic was apparent as he put his heart and soul into his performance, no matter what the attendance of the arena was. One of the greatest Eddy Guerrero matches of his career is when he fought his close friend Dean Malenko in a 2 out of 3 Falls match on August 26, 1995 in Philadelphia, PA that pleased a very hard to please ECW crowd, even with a tie as the final outcome. “Please Don’t Go!” was chanted along with a standing ovation, as the two men embraced and the locker room emptied out to celebrate a clinic style classic that they had just displayed for the boys and the fans. For the long time supporters of Guerrero, our big moment came when he got the torched pass to him, defeating Brock Lesnar to win the WWE World Championship at WWE No Way Out on February 15, 2004 to a electrified and appreciative crowd in San Francisco, California. This was a huge accomplishment on so many levels, most importantly in my eyes, a man who not only beat the odds personally but had climbed the ladder of success, who was never given the ball in WCW to be WWE World Champion. To get the WWE World Title signifies that you are ready to be the leader to the locker room and take on the responsibilities and role of a champion and representative face of the World Wrestling Federation as a company to the entire world. I was one of the millions watching at home who was popping and standing on my feet, so happy that someone who wasn’t the size of a Brock Lesnar, that had gone through the fire, one of my all time favorites in the entire industry, was given the chance to run with the ball.

There are so many matches and moments and angles I could highlight for you about Eddy Guerrero’s career. However, I’m not emotionally ready to put a beginning date and a end date on someone I enjoyed for over half of my life. I want this particular In Perspective to be a sampler plate to why, if you haven’t already, a person who wants to make professional wrestling a part of their life should study his career and look upon this man as a role model who made mistakes but was able to turn it all around in and out of the squared circle. I know that this won’t be the last time I write about Eddy Guerrero. I’m deeply sad that I won’t get to see him wrestle again in my state, or see him entertain me and maybe, if I’m lucky, look in my direction and flash his charming smile. I have plenty of memories, plenty of tapes to re-watch on a rainy day and interviews that I can look through and show my future family, a man who provided me some joy or got my mind off of my personal problems as a fan for at least one day a week. I have everyday to wake up and see as I have for years, the autographed promo he sent me on my shelf. As a wrestling journalist, I will have plenty of resources to draw from to keep the perspective of what makes a good wrestler special and how a man mastered his craft in a incredibly hard business to break into and with a passion that cannot be imitated. There is no greater example than Eddy Guerrero’s legacy and that’s putting it in perspective. God bless you Eddy, thank you for touching my life. Thank you for reading, feel free to drop me a line and share your Eddy memories with me at Bam@4sternstaging.com. I also want to send a special thank you to my fellow Inside Pulse family for being a amazing group of writers to work with. Thank you for paying respect to Eddy Guerrero this week with all of your special talents and heart into your work. I’m taking a vacation this weekend, so if I don’t write another column before Thanksgiving, may each of you have a blessed week with your family and friends and remember to be thankful for your next day and time with them.