| From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com News and Notes World Wrestling
Insanity Remembers
Eddie
*** "I am sitting here trying to figure out something eloquent to say about Eddie Guerrero. Trying to remember the first time I heard about him (on the pages of some wrestling magazine back in '94 talking about Art Barr's death), trying to remember the first time I saw him (on WCW Nitro), trying to remember my favorite memory of him (he and Chris Benoit celebrating together at the end of WrestleMania). I don't know if my words can accurately describe how I'm feeling about this whole situation...but I'll try. Eddie Guerrero was a wrestler that not only grew up in front of our eyes, but many of us grew up watching him. In turn he became a part of us...a part of the family. He made us laugh when he was chasing after Chyna. He amazed us with his Intercontinental title matches with Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam. He made us proud when he won the WWE title. He made us laugh again when he began his "lying, cheating, stealing" character. He shocked us when he turned on Rey Mysterio. I guess that's the whole point, isn't it. Eddie Guerrero was such an outstanding performer that he made us FEEL something...which is the whole point of this business. He was absolutely one of the greatest wrestlers ever. R.I.P. Eddie...you will be missed tremendously but never forgotten."
*** "My favorite Eddie Guerrero moments go back to the "Lie, Cheat & Steal" era. Eddie and Chavo seemed to be having so much fun with that storyline that it transcended the fact that it was probably not politically correct. They always put a smile on my face. Eddie was as talented as an actor as he was a wrestler. No matter what the role called for, either mean or happy-go-lucky, Eddie made you believe he was that character. And I know that from now on when I see a lowrider, I'll think fondly of Eddie and his awesome four-wheeled entrances." - Mallory Mahling *** His most recent work with Rey and Batista is testament to his ability to save storylines and cultivate interest in empty writing. WWE will be in trouble without his superior talents. God rest, Eddie." *** "I have so many good memories of Eddie Guerrero
that it's hard to know where to start. In just the last
few weeks, since I've started reviewing Smackdown for
this site, Eddie has been the highlight of the show week
in and week out. He is just a fantastic performer that
seems to be able to work with any material. I'll share
a few of my favorite Eddie memories from when he was still
with WCW. Eddie was a highlight there as well, in an organization
that didn't have many highlights in the last few years.
The LWO was great. The NWO was a tired and dead act by
then, but somehow Eddie was able to breath a little bit
of life back into it. There was also the who stole Eddie
Guerrero's wallet segment on WCW. It cracked me up. Eddie
was a fantastic wrestler, obviously, but he could always
make me laugh as well, and he didn't need to resort to
crude humor to do it. I'm really going to miss him being
on my television every week. " *** "I always enjoyed Eddie as a performer. Since the first time I saw him on the AAA Pay-Per-View with Art Barr, I recognized that he had in-ring talent. It wasn't really until he came to WWE that he blew me away as an all around entertainer. I remember when I first saw how funny he could be. The moment is actually so little that most people might not even remember it. Guerrero was pursuing Chyna on-air. It was very early in his run with the company. She was in the ring. He was in the aisle. As Joanie made faces to indicate that she wasn't interested, Eddie smiled huge. He looked like the Cheshire Cat. He then turned to her and said: I know…you want to…shake that bon-bon with me, baby! I laughed so hard at that. It became a quote that I've stolen and used when kidding around about something. Every time I repeat it, I do an impression of Eddie's voice. Other people might not know why I do the line with an accent, but I do. Just writing this gives me a stinging feeling. I'm really
going to miss Eddie Guerrero. We all are." *** "Eddie Guerrero is gone. I am still in shock and
everything right now feels so surreal. But i can actually
sit here and name a bunch of favorite memories off the
top of my head that i have of Eddie G. Some are things
that most of you all remember from his WWE days and even
his WCW days. Some however are more obscure. Some are
obscure enough that you may not even remember that you
saw it. My favorite run of his would have to be him and
Chavo during their Lie, Cheat, Steal period. They were
easily the best tag team during that time period and that
is including the Chris Benoit/Kurt Angle, team as well
as Edge and Rey Mysterio. All of their skits and angles
were GOLD. They evolved from there until the World's Greatest
Tag Team feud."
There's a line from Kim Carnes' song "Looker" that goes: "But when she smiles, is she really smiling? She's the only one who really knows." I thought of that line often when I saw Eddie smile. It was often hard to tell if he was genuinely happy or if he was merely baring his fangs at the thought of another victim. As painful as it is becoming knowing I'll never see another
match from Eddie Guerrero, I'm glad that his final day
on Smackdown was so memorable. He used his chicanery to
fool the referee into thinking that he had been attacked
Too bad Eddie died before he could even win the World
title that night. Would Eddie have continued in his current
persona of a flawed hero or would he have turned heel
(well, more heel) as champion? Who cares? Either way,
Oh, I seem to have gone on so long about Eddie's ring
psychology, I forgot to mention the other thing I liked
so much about him: he was a damn good worker. Not many
people in WWE could stay move-for-move with Chris Beniot,
But I suppose my favorite Eddie memory came in 2000,
when he was one of several WCW and WWE superstars that
agreed to take part in a benefit show to help Brian Hildebrand.
Like the rest of the troupe, Eddie had absolutely It's harder that one might think to take solace in the
idea that Eddie is now with many of his friends, like
Art Barr, Brian Pillman and his father, Gory Guerrero.
We selfishly want him here with us, but we can keep part
of Via con dios, amigo." *** "My favorite memory? January 25, 1997. The best
damn ladder match I'd seen in years. Eddie was defending
the U.S. Title against Sean "Syxx" Waltman.
Those two not only showed us what cruiserweight matches
could and would be, *** "My favorite Eddie moment might be slightly different
than most people's. Sure, there's the WMXX moment, The
Radicalz jump, his feud with Rey Mysterio, and countless
excellent matches between him and Chris Benoit, but those
have all probably been covered extensively. Sure, it was the stereotypical Mexican Cheech Marin thing, but Eddie made it work. My personal favorite storyline was when Eddie went back to school to get his G.E.D. and he took Chyna to the prom. The prom, you ask? I know it was silly, but I thought it was hilarious. He wrestled in his tuxedo pants, bow-tie, and cumber bun on the PPV that night. Eddie had just started rockin' the low riders with the fuzzy dice, and his wrestling abilities and fun-loving personality were a breath of fresh air in the company. I just really got a kick out of the whole thing, and I've been a big fan ever since. Thanks for all the great memories, Eddie. You truly will
be missed." *** "Eddie Guerrero helped revive my interest
in wrestling back when the WWF and WCW were at an all-time
low. No matter how much Hogan and his friends stunk up
Nitro, you could always count on Eddie to provide an exciting
match. Even when WCW didn't allow Eddie to do much other
than wrestle, you could tell he had a charisma and fire
to him. Once he jumped to the WWF, he finally got a chance
to shine and it was like watching a star go supernova.
Whether he played a heel or a face, Eddie was always magic.
Whether it was Latino Heat cheating on his Mamacita Chyna
or Eddie coolin' in his lowrider, Guerrero knew how to
light up a show. Eddie always reminded me of a little
kid who got into mischief but who was so cute that you
couldn't hold it against him. Even when he played a heel,
he had that gleam in his eye where you just couldn't hold
it against him and the fans found it next to impossible
to hate him. - Mike Rickard *** © Copyright by WorldWrestlingInsanity.com WorldWrestlingInsanity.com is not
affiliated with any wrestling promotion. |
