Eddie Guerrero was an A+ Player
Jul 27, 2021 11:41:23 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2021 11:41:23 GMT -5
So, I believe people are allowed to have their opinions, especially on a subjective art form such as pro wrestling. Absolutely. Far be it from me to knock anyone for their taste in art. And we attack each other over opinions too much. An unfortunate side effect of the social medialized world we live in.
However, when I read that someone tweeted as follows: "Eddie Guerrero was a B+ player at best, and the only reason people hold him in high esteem is because he's dead", it hit something in me. But instead of attacking the person, I just thought about writing a little piece about Eddie Guerrero, and about what he meant to me as a wrestling fan growing up. I used to write a lot, and I got the spark, I may be rusty, but let's see how this goes.
Eddie Guerrero was always one of my favorites. Main event, opening match, it didn't matter. There was a charisma about Eddie that no one else in wrestling really had. I did latch on to others, as well, such as Shawn, Bret, Benoit, Curt Hennig, lots of guys. But Eddie was always in a special place. Even if I said overall, Shawn is my favorite ever, Eddie was - well, Eddie. And he was always in this special place in my wrestling fan heart.
As a performer, I don't know if I've ever seen anyone quite as versatile; Eddie could make you laugh in a promo, and on the drop of a dime, he could make it serious, and then back to funny again. He could play the best wholesome babyface on the roster, and he could be the most vicious heel. The range Eddie had as a performer was unprecedented. Eddie could make you feel what he wanted you to feel with simple body language, a twinkle in his eye, a slight smile, or a cold, dead stare. Eddie always understood his character, and he brought with him a passion rarely seen in wrestling.
Being 13 at the time, I still remember the No Disqualification match Eddie had with Edge on SmackDown in late 2002. It was a match between two men out to make a statement, and did they ever. Both men worked extremely hard, but what was notable was that Eddie went into the match as a heel, and as a mark kid, I felt exactly what the crowd felt at the end of the match when they gave Eddie a standing ovation. One of the first times I can remember seeing the heel get a standing ovation from the crowd. You could see what Eddie was doing to his body in order to entertain, and you couldn't help but respect the effort.
That was the night that made me feel Eddie could one day be the WWE champion. Even though I always liked Eddie, the WWE was way different in the early 2000s compared to today, and someone of Eddie's stature usually wasn't in the conversation when discussing potential WWE champions. Not to mention WCW.
I remember showing the No Disqualification match back in the day to my dad - who has won boxing championships, and who always ragged on wrestling being fake, and wrestlers not being tough. He sat there silent for the entire match, and after it was over, he just mouthed "Well, goddamn". I still remember that, and it was an awesome feeling of vindication.
Eddie was one of those guys who could just make everything work; it felt like whatever the material given, Eddie made it entertaining. A lot of the comedy spots would have been cringeworthy WWE comedy with anyone else, but Eddie not only succeeded in them, but thrived. Winning over the hearts of wrestling fans all over the world. From the partnership with Chyna to Los Guerreros to lovable lying, cheating, stealing babyface to WWE champion, and then to the most vicious, aggressive heel you've ever seen in WWE.
Eddie made it all work.
Watching Eddie pin Lesnar for the WWE title, unspoiled, has to go down as my happiest wrestling fan moment. Sure, if I watched it today, the jaded wrestling fan in me would see it from a mile away that Eddie's going over, but the then-14-year-old aspiring smart mark sat there with his hands folded, saying "No way they're giving Eddie the strap, I love Eddie, but he's 5'7, and they don't give the title to guys who are 5'7, no way". And when that referee's hand hit the mat for the third time, I was ecstatic to such a degree that hasn't been topped during my time as a wrestling fan.
Not only was Eddie an absolutely amazing performer to watch, not only had I latched on to him as a wrestler, but the storyline going into No Way Out taught me to respect Eddie Guerrero the man. The fact that he was at one of the lowest points you can sink into in your life, and fought hard and fought valiantly to make his way back to the ring, and to his family, earned him a level of respect I rarely feel for other people.
Eddie Guerrero, to me, then, stood out as a man I looked up to.
Eddie winning the title had a significant impact on me growing up because it became a thing I looked at and thought that you should never give up, no matter what life throws at you, you should keep working and working hard, fight through all the obstacles and all the bullsh*t life throws at you. And you should also respect the struggles of others.
From then on, Eddie was my top babyface in the company. I watched SmackDown solely for Eddie - even if I didn't care about anything else, Eddie was a draw for me. I was sad to see Eddie drop the title after a few months, but Eddie, again, worked so hard to make Bradshaw into JBL, WWE champion. JBL has said it himself that he owes everything to Eddie, Eddie was the one who went out of his way to make JBL the guy. He literally almost bled to death to make it happen. And I dare say no one else could have been the hero for early JBL. It had to be Eddie. And it's since been said that Eddie took it upon himself as a project to do everything he can to make Bradshaw main eventer in basically two months. From nothing.
He was such a beloved babyface, when I heard reports a year later that they were planning to turn Eddie heel, I laughed because there was no way it was ever gonna work. And I don't know, at this point still, I doubted Eddie, but I did, and I was wrong. Eddie became an absolute machine, a cold blooded killer as a heel. The likes of which I had never seen.
This is where he really showed his range. It wasn't a forced heel turn, Eddie never begged anyone to boo him. He simply flipped a switch, and did his role to perfection.
And he maintained his spot as one of the highlights of SmackDown, this time as a villain.
The day Eddie died was my The Night Wrestling Died. I was never quite the same as a fan after that. It just wasn't the same for me. There was no longer an Eddie Guerrero match or segment to look forward to. And the product seemed empty. So I took a long break. And then the Benoit stuff happened, and that was the one-two punch, unfortunately.
That time period was the end of my childhood wrestling fandom. And it's never coming back.
The ending of WrestleMania XX has since become a tragedy, and it's hard to look back at, but I'm extremely grateful to have the ending of No Way Out 2004, which will go down as the peak of my wrestling fandom.
Eddie Guerrero, to me, was an A+ player - an A+ player to a level that few have reached in the history of the business, and I've seen it all from World Class to WWF to ECW to WCW to TNA to AEW to RoH to IWA:MS to CZW to you-name-it.
What are you some of your favorite Eddie Guerrero moments?
However, when I read that someone tweeted as follows: "Eddie Guerrero was a B+ player at best, and the only reason people hold him in high esteem is because he's dead", it hit something in me. But instead of attacking the person, I just thought about writing a little piece about Eddie Guerrero, and about what he meant to me as a wrestling fan growing up. I used to write a lot, and I got the spark, I may be rusty, but let's see how this goes.
Eddie Guerrero was always one of my favorites. Main event, opening match, it didn't matter. There was a charisma about Eddie that no one else in wrestling really had. I did latch on to others, as well, such as Shawn, Bret, Benoit, Curt Hennig, lots of guys. But Eddie was always in a special place. Even if I said overall, Shawn is my favorite ever, Eddie was - well, Eddie. And he was always in this special place in my wrestling fan heart.
As a performer, I don't know if I've ever seen anyone quite as versatile; Eddie could make you laugh in a promo, and on the drop of a dime, he could make it serious, and then back to funny again. He could play the best wholesome babyface on the roster, and he could be the most vicious heel. The range Eddie had as a performer was unprecedented. Eddie could make you feel what he wanted you to feel with simple body language, a twinkle in his eye, a slight smile, or a cold, dead stare. Eddie always understood his character, and he brought with him a passion rarely seen in wrestling.
Being 13 at the time, I still remember the No Disqualification match Eddie had with Edge on SmackDown in late 2002. It was a match between two men out to make a statement, and did they ever. Both men worked extremely hard, but what was notable was that Eddie went into the match as a heel, and as a mark kid, I felt exactly what the crowd felt at the end of the match when they gave Eddie a standing ovation. One of the first times I can remember seeing the heel get a standing ovation from the crowd. You could see what Eddie was doing to his body in order to entertain, and you couldn't help but respect the effort.
That was the night that made me feel Eddie could one day be the WWE champion. Even though I always liked Eddie, the WWE was way different in the early 2000s compared to today, and someone of Eddie's stature usually wasn't in the conversation when discussing potential WWE champions. Not to mention WCW.
I remember showing the No Disqualification match back in the day to my dad - who has won boxing championships, and who always ragged on wrestling being fake, and wrestlers not being tough. He sat there silent for the entire match, and after it was over, he just mouthed "Well, goddamn". I still remember that, and it was an awesome feeling of vindication.
Eddie was one of those guys who could just make everything work; it felt like whatever the material given, Eddie made it entertaining. A lot of the comedy spots would have been cringeworthy WWE comedy with anyone else, but Eddie not only succeeded in them, but thrived. Winning over the hearts of wrestling fans all over the world. From the partnership with Chyna to Los Guerreros to lovable lying, cheating, stealing babyface to WWE champion, and then to the most vicious, aggressive heel you've ever seen in WWE.
Eddie made it all work.
Watching Eddie pin Lesnar for the WWE title, unspoiled, has to go down as my happiest wrestling fan moment. Sure, if I watched it today, the jaded wrestling fan in me would see it from a mile away that Eddie's going over, but the then-14-year-old aspiring smart mark sat there with his hands folded, saying "No way they're giving Eddie the strap, I love Eddie, but he's 5'7, and they don't give the title to guys who are 5'7, no way". And when that referee's hand hit the mat for the third time, I was ecstatic to such a degree that hasn't been topped during my time as a wrestling fan.
Not only was Eddie an absolutely amazing performer to watch, not only had I latched on to him as a wrestler, but the storyline going into No Way Out taught me to respect Eddie Guerrero the man. The fact that he was at one of the lowest points you can sink into in your life, and fought hard and fought valiantly to make his way back to the ring, and to his family, earned him a level of respect I rarely feel for other people.
Eddie Guerrero, to me, then, stood out as a man I looked up to.
Eddie winning the title had a significant impact on me growing up because it became a thing I looked at and thought that you should never give up, no matter what life throws at you, you should keep working and working hard, fight through all the obstacles and all the bullsh*t life throws at you. And you should also respect the struggles of others.
From then on, Eddie was my top babyface in the company. I watched SmackDown solely for Eddie - even if I didn't care about anything else, Eddie was a draw for me. I was sad to see Eddie drop the title after a few months, but Eddie, again, worked so hard to make Bradshaw into JBL, WWE champion. JBL has said it himself that he owes everything to Eddie, Eddie was the one who went out of his way to make JBL the guy. He literally almost bled to death to make it happen. And I dare say no one else could have been the hero for early JBL. It had to be Eddie. And it's since been said that Eddie took it upon himself as a project to do everything he can to make Bradshaw main eventer in basically two months. From nothing.
He was such a beloved babyface, when I heard reports a year later that they were planning to turn Eddie heel, I laughed because there was no way it was ever gonna work. And I don't know, at this point still, I doubted Eddie, but I did, and I was wrong. Eddie became an absolute machine, a cold blooded killer as a heel. The likes of which I had never seen.
This is where he really showed his range. It wasn't a forced heel turn, Eddie never begged anyone to boo him. He simply flipped a switch, and did his role to perfection.
And he maintained his spot as one of the highlights of SmackDown, this time as a villain.
The day Eddie died was my The Night Wrestling Died. I was never quite the same as a fan after that. It just wasn't the same for me. There was no longer an Eddie Guerrero match or segment to look forward to. And the product seemed empty. So I took a long break. And then the Benoit stuff happened, and that was the one-two punch, unfortunately.
That time period was the end of my childhood wrestling fandom. And it's never coming back.
The ending of WrestleMania XX has since become a tragedy, and it's hard to look back at, but I'm extremely grateful to have the ending of No Way Out 2004, which will go down as the peak of my wrestling fandom.
Eddie Guerrero, to me, was an A+ player - an A+ player to a level that few have reached in the history of the business, and I've seen it all from World Class to WWF to ECW to WCW to TNA to AEW to RoH to IWA:MS to CZW to you-name-it.
What are you some of your favorite Eddie Guerrero moments?
