Para un campeon verdadero: viva la raza.

"What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way."

-Johnny Cash, "Hurt"

It has been a couple of weeks now since Eduardo Guerrero passed away. For those who will actually read this, I predict that may not mean much to you. And that's okay; you didn't know Eddie. Neither did I, really. In fact, if there's one thing I have discovered over these last two weeks of reflecting on his death, it is that as much as I felt like I did, I really knew nothing about Eddie Guerrero. Watching him on TV for the last 10 years didn't amount to much. Because as much as I treasured the personae that Eddie portrayed on my screen every week, they weren't all that close to the truth behind his life. They didn't really show me the man inside. And apart from being a member of his family, I don't think there is any possible way I could ever understand what this extraordinary man went through in his life.

For those who don't realize or haven't heard, Eddie Guerrero was a professional wrestler working for WWE. His heart failed while he was brushing his teeth in the bathroom of a hotel in Minneapolis two Sundays ago. He was found dead on the floor by his nephew and fellow wrestler Chavo. Eddie was 38; he is survived by his wife Vickie and three children. Eddie grew up as part of a famous family of wrestlers in Mexico. His father Gori was a true legend south of the border and his three older brothers Chavo (Sr.), Hector and Mando preceeded him in the wrestling business. They were all immensely popular in their home country and established a great following stateside with a high-flying and fast paced style that while common in Mexico, was revolutionary in America in the 80s. Eddie started wrestling at 4 years old, and became well-known for working full-tilt wrestling matches with Chavo (Jr.), only a few years his junior, during the intermissions of the shows promoted by his dad. Eddie had a lot to live up to, but it became clear very early on that he was the most gifted of his brothers.

He cut his teeth in Mexico, Texas and Florida and became one of the most reviled and accomplished rudos (Spanish for heel, or bad guy) in history along with his tag team partner the late Art Barr. I have seen tapes of Eddie and Art wrestling; they did stuff in the early 90s that no one would even have the balls to try today, and anything that they tried that is still done today they did better. Eddie made a real name for himself under a different name ironically, as he wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling under a mask and calling himself Black Tiger. It was in Japan that Eddie met lifelong friends Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko, and their paths would continue to cross throughout the rest of their careers. Eddie's classic matches with Benoit, Malenko and the best junior heavyweight wrestlers of Japan are still the stuff of legend; innovative, ultra high impact and thoroughly engaging to watch. Though undersized compared to the dominant wrestlers of the U.S. at the time, Eddie, Dean and Chris got the chance to establish themselves in the States as part of Paul Heyman's fledgling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) organization out of Philadelphia. Along with future colleagues Chris Jericho, 2 Cold Scorpio, Rob Van Dam and Mexican stars Rey Misterio, Jr., Psychosis and Juventud Guerrera, these diminutive but freakishly talented individuals provided sizzle and substance to the hardcore bloodlettings that have come to define ECW. Eddie's technical masterpieces with Malenko, Benoit and Scorpio especially made the world stand up and take notice that ECW was doing things the WWF (now WWE) and their main rival WCW could not touch even for all the money, bright lights and ridiculous characters they threw out every week. They did it all--they flew, they grappled on the mat with Olympic-like precision, they took it to each other hard, and they cut a blistering pace all with spot-on execution and no wasted motion. It was a thrill to watch. So much so, that after less than a year with the company, the fans gave Eddie and Dean a standing ovation after their legendary farewell match in 1995. The farewell came due to Eric Bischoff, the executive producer of Ted Turner's WCW, signing Eddie, Chris and Dean within a few months of each other. Some say it was part of a larger plan to purge the upstart ECW of its best talent. Others say it was a savvy business move to make the WCW product more versatile. The evidence bears both choices out; Eddie was great in the ring during his time with WCW and became a very talented character to boot. But the company didn't really know how best to utilize his talent, and it led to serious problems for him.

This is where I first encountered Eddie Guerrero. My cable didn't allow me to see ECW, but I watched both WCW and WWE faithfully each week, and anyone who debuted for either company that I had heard of but hadn't seen was of special interest to me. I read in wrestling magazines about the amazing stuff Eddie had done in ECW, and I was not disappointed by what he was capable of. Though he looked like just another smallish, bland babyface (good guy) on the surface, Eddie had skills that blew my young mind. After years of thinking a bodyslam was a good move, I was amazed to see him routinely pull out stuff I couldn't even name. It boggled my mind, but Eddie had just about the best match of the show every time I saw him. And though he got pushed as a big player at times, he never seemed to get anywhere near the top of the heap. I don't know if that's what drew me to him, or if my naivete was drawn to his constant smile and the tremendous sense of honor and fair play he brought to his matches and interviews, but something made me really like Eddie as one of my few favorites. I think he reminded me of another all-time great, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. In any case, when Eddie won the United States championship at WCW's biggest pay-per-view event, Starrcade, in 1996, it was an awesome moment for me. At the time, the whole company was embroiled in the NWO storyline that saw a gang of former WWE stars try to take over WCW with an evil Hulk Hogan at the helm. And though the NWO managed to poke their nose even in Eddie's match that night, the outcome and quality of it made it a nice change of pace from what was quickly becoming the same old stuff with the NWO. Besides that, it was great to see Eddie's talent appreciated for once as he got the company's second most important title. To me, that was the story of the next 3 years or so of Eddie's career: he put on great matches, pulled new moves out of nowhere every night, not to mention got more and more entertaining on the microphone when he went heel, yet he continued to struggle to get noticed in the wake of the NWO's annoying prevalence on the shows. He even gained some notoriety for his nephew Chavo by playing the foil to Chavo's crazy, maladjusted younger brother character. But he continued to get nowhere near the main event.

Eventually, the frustration coupled with the physical and emotional stress of being constantly on the road caught up with Eddie. After a car accident in 1999, he became addicted to pain medication. He had numerous rehab trips and relapses, and alcohol also reared its ugly head in his life. Despite all his problems, Eddie joined Dean, Chris and fellow ECW and WCW alum Perry Saturn in jumping to WWE in January of 2000. Despite the fact that he dislocated his elbow in his very first TV match with the company, the move to WWE was probably the best thing Eddie could have done professionally. He developed the character of "Latino Heat," a sleazy Latin lothario convinced he was God's gift to women. His choice of female prizes was a bit surprising, as he wooed the Amazonian mutant Joanie Laurer, then known as Chyna, getting her to fall in love with him only days after kicking his ass like a little girl at Wrestlemania. But Eddie went with what was written, and it was all very funny. And I must say, Eddie's constant worship of Chyna coupled with the "smoldering temptress" persona she adopted around him actually accomplished the goal of making her seem sexy. At times. If you're into the 200 pound bodybuilder who gets facial surgery and breast implants type. More importantly, Eddie was such an entertaining heel that many fans couldn't help but like him. But outside the ring, Eddie's personal problems continued to haunt him. Miraculously, they never affected his work. Eddie continued to put on tremendous efforts that put most of his coworkers to shame even while hooked on drugs. But the writers weren't helping by not giving his character much of a purpose, and eventually after one final relapse, it was determined that Eddie's behavior was affecting his work and ruining his life. His wife and kids wanted nothing to do with him, and his own friends Dean and Chris reported him to company owner Vince McMahon and asked him to do what needed to be done so Eddie could get his life back together. He was pushing too hard and not facing up to his real problems, and if he didn't soon he was doomed. Eddie was released from WWE in late 2001.

After that, Eddie finally got his life back together. He started from the ground up. He went to rehab and got sober once and for all. He found God and became a born again Christian. He slowly but surely reclaimed the trust and support of his family. And finally, when he was ready, he began working wrestling shows again for the independent promotion Ring of Honor. It didn't take long for WWE to notice that Eddie was doing the best in-ring work maybe of his whole life, and with the understanding that he was off the drugs for good, he was re-signed in the spring of 2002. For the next 3+ years, in my opinion Eddie had the most brilliant period in his career. He started by tearing the house down in feuds with Rob Van Dam and Edge, then formed an amazing tag team with his nephew Chavo. That team also allowed him to develop a new character; he and Chavo were ne'er do-well Mexican-Americans intent on screwing white America out of their affluence and making it their own, all the while using shortcuts and backstabbing to win wrestling matches. Their motto was "We Lie, Cheat and Steal," and they shot a series of vignettes that were downright hilarious to get the idea over. Their team, along with the combinations of Rey Misterio and Edge & Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, became known as the "Smackdown Six," and had an unbelievable series of matches on WWE's Smackdown program Thursday nights and on pay-per-view for about a two month period in the fall of 2002. In '03, Los Guerreros continued to shine, and Eddie started to break out on his own, first with Tajiri as a tremendous substitute partner for the injured Chavo, and then finally on his own again. Eddie won the U.S. title again in a great match with old friend Chris Benoit at the Vengeance pay-per-view in July. Around this time, Eddie began to perfect his "lying, cheating and stealing" character and using it during matches. He did amazingly funny and clever things to convince referees that his opponent had cheated when he actually had, or to prevent the ref from seeing him doing something illegal to incapacitate his opponent. His acting was high-level screwball comedy on a less respected scale, and made him the ultimate combo of talent and entertainment value. It seemed the time was finally right for him to move to the next level, as his pure heel gimmick was now actually making him one of the most popular wrestlers in the company. But would he be overlooked as he was so many times in WCW?

Thankfully, times had changed just a bit by the beginning of 2004, and WWE was willing to change with them and listen to what the fans in arenas and especially the internet had been telling them for years. Eddie got his chance after winning a battle royal on Smackdown in late January of 2004. In February, at the No Way Out pay-per-view in San Fransisco, Eddie met WWE's hottest young star Brock Lesnar for the WWE championship. After a now trademark dose of cheating, using the title belt as a weapon, Eddie used his patented frog splash finishing move to pin Lesnar and win the belt, sparking one of the great, emotional celebrations of all time. The next month, Eddie topped himself with an awesome title defense against former U.S. Olympic gold-medal winning wrestler Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania. He then provided me and many fans with one of the most memorable and tear-jerking moments in wrestling history. After his good friend Chris Benoit won WWE's other world title, the World Heavyweight Championship in the last match of the night, Eddie joined him in the ring for a tearful celebratory embrace. As they raised their arms in a token of collective victory, it was clear that these two veterans who had wrestled on 3 continents and struggled for years for main event respectability had finally gotten the moment in the sun they deserved. It was amazing to watch.

After that, things cooled off a bit for Eddie over the next year and a half. Eddie's run as champion did not garner the TV ratings and merchandise sales that the company had hoped, so he lost the title to former Guerrero family protege John "Bradshaw" Layfield in June. It was said that Eddie took losing the belt quite hard, and that he blamed himself for the failure of his time with the title. It was feared that Eddie might relapse for a time, but his newfound strength in God and his family pulled him through. He kept on having great matches and delighting crowds with his cheating antics. Then in February of 2005, he got the special chance to win the WWE tag team titles with his old friend from Mexico Rey Mysterio. Great as that was, the company wanted these two to recreate some of the magic they had as opponents in WCW. So despite being partners and champions, they wrestled against each other at Wrestlemania this past March. The match was not up to their usually stellar standards, but was still incredible and as good as anything on the card that night. A breakup of the team was teased, as Eddie and Rey kept facing each other and Eddie got more and more frustrated with his inability to beat Rey. Finally, Eddie got a chance to show how twisted a heel he could be when he turned on Rey once and for all and brutally attacked him. The feud proper began at this point, and although the matches were always good, it lasted a bit too long and got more and more contrived and silly as it went along. Finally, Eddie revealed that Rey's son Dominic was actually Eddie's biological child that he had given to Rey to raise as his own after his birth. Eddie attempted to get to Rey by reclaiming Dominic since he couldn't beat him in the ring. The whole thing was tough to watch, because as good a wrestling actor as Eddie was, he seemed a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing, as did Rey, his wife, Eddie's wife Vickie and poor Dominic, who all got dragged on screen to make the thing look real. The feud culminated with Rey beating Eddie in a ladder match at Summerslam by climbing a ladder and grabbing papers making him Dominic's legal guardian. The finish to the match was botched because Eddie's wife missed her cue to run in and push Eddie off the ladder and Eddie committed the rare faux pas of screaming about it on camera. This was indicative of the silliness that he was resorting to at WWE's command. After he finally beat Rey in a cage match, WWE realized that Eddie was still the most talented guy on the Smackdown show (the roster is split with half the guys on Smackdown on Thursday nights and the other half on Raw on Mondays) and put him in a program with World Champion Batista. The story was that Eddie was claiming he was over his evil behavior with Rey and Dominic and now just wanted to be friends with Batista, but Batista could see through his B.S. and didn't trust him. Eddie played the wolf in sheep's clothing to a T, but the storyline seemed to be leaning towards Batista actually starting to befriend Eddie after their first match at the No Mercy pay-per-view in October. It looked as if we might never see how it would ultimately turn out when Batista injured his back in a match Nov. 1. The plan was for the title to be made vacant and for Eddie to face the talented young heel Randy Orton to decide a new champion two Mondays ago. It was rumored that Eddie was going to win the belt and dedicate it to his new friend. And the world really did never get the chance to find out, as Eddie died the day before the match was to be taped.

WWE devoted both Raw and Smackdown that week to tributing Eddie's life and career. Wrestler after wrestler broke character as well as broke down into tears while offering testimonials on Eddie's life. I had only seen something like this once before. It was in May of 1999 when Owen Hart tragically died during a stunt in which he was to descend from the ceiling of the arena on a harness and fell headfirst into the ring. The next night's Raw show was dedicated to him and took on the same format as Eddie's tribute show. This one was somehow different. For one thing, the matches were longer and better as the talent seemed intent on giving their all to honor one of the best in-ring workers ever. Matches were put on that had never been seen before, such as Eddie's good friend Rey Mysterio against the legendary Shawn Michaels and the future of WWE, John Cena and Randy Orton, meeting one on one. And everyone cried. Everyone. Some didn't on Owen's tribute show; you could tell there was a lot of anger over the nature of the accident and the fact that WWE was going on with the show despite their part in Owen's death. But Eddie's death seemed even more senseless and shocking. True, the strain that Eddie had put on himself with work, travel and the use and recovery from drugs must have contributed to his death. But his heart still failed virtually without warning, and many simply couldn't believe he was gone that way. I, for my part, did find myself crying a little. I liked Owen Hart as a perfomer, for sure. And I've since heard he was a pure soul and one of the greatest people you could ever meet. But I had a more profound connection with Eddie. Maybe that's what made me take more notice of what was said about him. What came out more than anything in the testimonials was that Eddie was loved by literally everyone. The demons of his past had not prevented him from touching the lives of everyone around him in a positive way. He was respected for finding God; everyone who spoke mentioned knowing for sure if anyone was in a better place, it was Eddie. And he loved his family even more than his job, and that I believe to be the truest testament to his life. Even on the road between 200 and 300 days a year, his family was always first on his mind. No amount of adulation or well-earned hatred from the throngs he performed in front of could compare to the love of his wife and kids back home in El Paso, Texas. To me, that is the measure of a great man.

I will always remember Eddie as one of the most talented, accomplished and polished in-ring workers ever, bar none. He gave me something quality to watch and listen to every time he stepped in the ring or in front of the mic. He made me laugh and he made me want to smack him around equally well. I hope that his legend and his status in the eyes of wrestling fans and followers will only grow over time; especially because I think he had plenty of years of great performances left in him. Unfortunately, though, that's as far as I can go. I didn't know the man personally. I didn't really know how hard his problems were. How difficult it was to try to get clean, and lose literally everything in the process. To fight his way back and regain the trust of his loved ones. To reclaim the respect of his peers and critics in the wrestling business. Or how jubilant it was to get everything back, to reclaim his family, and then to reach the pinnacle of his profession just when he might have thought he never could. I don't know what that was like for Eddie Guerrero. I have to trust what his peers said about him. And on that subject, I know this. Pro wrestlers pretend for a living. They pretend to hate each other and kill each other when they really love each other. Lying and deception are in their nature. But even the really big assholes were genuine when they spoke of their admiration, respect and mournfulness over Eddie Guerrero. How great a husband and father he was. And anyone, even in death, who can get guys like that to be that sincere and that emotional, has to be an extraordinary person. So I will believe that Eddie Guerrero was a great man. And that he is receiving his greater reward in Heaven. And I will pray for his family and hope they can take the smallest bit of solace in knowing he was among the best ever at what he did, and he improved the lives of everyone around him. That may not be at the core of who he was as a man; only they can know that truth and cherish it. But it's something, and it will help get me through.

God bless you, Eddie. I'll miss you, and I'll never forget.

-Jake