I was at my lady's house, when her friend Lauren called with the news.  Eddie Guererro had died.  Shock hit me as I hoped she was mistaken, that someone with a cruel sense of humor was having a joke at our expense.  We hopped online & sure enough, WWE.com had it on the homepage.  Eddie Guererro was dead at 38 years old.

This rant will be my memories of Eddie Guererro. 

I'm unable to remember the first time I saw Eddie, but I can remember my favorites.  Like the great match he had as Black Tiger in New Japan against Sabu or his classics against Dean Malenko in ECW.  I can vividly remeber the episode of Nitro where Eddie did a shoot against Eric Bischoff about wanting to be released from WCW.

Some of my favorite Eddie Guererro matches aren't very well known.  Among them are when Eddie took on Essa Rios in a lucha libre style epic after taking Mamacita Chyna to the prom.  There's the underrated match he had against Test at Wrestlemania 18.  I loved his street fight with Edge on Smackdown.  Then there's the match that many WWE fans don't know about.  After being rehired by WWE & winning the Intercontinental championship from Rob Van Dam, Guererro fulfilled his commitment to 1 more show in Ring Of Honor.  On that night, Eddie teamed with Red in the main event against Jose & Joel Maximo.  He didn't have to be there, but Eddie gave his word to work that show.  His word to an independent company based out of Philadelpiha in the days of its infancy meant just as much as the bright lights in Stamford, Connecticut.  ROH even went on to call that event A Night Of Appreciation as a huge thank you to Latino Heat.

I had the opportunity to see Eddie Guererro wrestle live a few times.  The first was at a WCW house show at the Nassau Colliseum.  Eddie teamed with Chris Jericho against then WCW tag team champions Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko.  It was great to watch 4 wrestlers, whom Kevin Nash dubbed "vanilla midgets", outshine the fat wrinkled millionaires of WCW.

The next time I got to watch Latino heat up close was in an independent promotion called ICW.  It was Guererro's first match after being fired from WWE because of a drug relapse.  Indie wrestling fans are notorious for their insensitivity, but they had nothing but respect for Eddie who put on a wrestling clinic with the indie-icon, Low-ki.  Inside the Elk's Lodge on Queens Blvd, eddie jobbed to the ICW champ & gave the nod to a young man on the rise.

The last time I saw Eddie Guererro live was at a WWE Supershow at Madison Square Garden.  it was the night that kicked off the lamentable "I'm your Papi" fued with Rey Misterio.  I brought a sign to the show that made it onto TV for a blink & you'll miss it moment.  The sign said it all.  "I paid to see Benoit & Guererro".

Right before we got Lauren's call, Jen & I were watching a tape of that Friday's Smackdown.  We watched Eddie Guererro mix it up with Ken Kennedy.  As per usual, Eddie lied, cheated & stole his way to a victory.  The ref took a bump & Eddie got that trademark smile, the 1 of a mischievous child who knows he's doing a bad thing but just can't help himself.  He shrugged, grabbed a chair & went to whack Kennedy in the coconut with it.  But as the referee was coming to, Eddie tossed the chair to Kennedy & laid down as if he had been hit.  It was entertaining ring psychology & it 1 of the many images of Eddie Guererro that will endure in my mind. Eddie Guererro 1967-2005.  Latino Heat para siempre!

R

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