Eddie Guerrero

Eddie Guerrero died today.

I really don't know what to say about all of it. One of my favorite wrestlers has died today. Obviously, I was shocked and shaken by it. He was only 38.

I was really hoping that it was a misprint or something. This had happened before. I remember when the internet had proclaimed that Viscera had died a few years ago. Clearly, that wasn't the case as he's on TV right now. Sure, WWE.com was reporting this, but they've unintentionally posted things before, too.

I was also hoping that it wasn't due to a drug overdose or something like that. Eddie has had problems with that sort of thing before. He got fired from the WWF, went to rehab, cleaned himself up and came back. He won the WWE title. He had been sober for about four years now. As a wrestling fan, we've had to deal with this sort of thing a few times, most notably, Brian Pillman, who also died in a hotel room in Minneapolis, hours before a big show. The thing with Eddie is that he's a favorite with many. He's one of the best in the world. And he cleaned himself up, changed his life, came back to wrestling and rose to greater heights than ever. Casual fans had begun to recognize what the hardcore fans had known all along. Eddie Guerrero is one of the best wrestlers they'd ever seen. I remember when Eddie came to the WWF in 2000, with Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn. I said then that Benoit would win the title and Eddie would be the guy who deserved to have it, but wouldn't get it. Out of that group of four great wrestlers, I felt he would be best of the four. I feel that he has been, to this day.

As far as the drugs go, I guess I just don't want the cause of death to be a drug overdose. I can deal with something natural. I can digest that. But I don't want one of my favorites to have died a junkie. And to think that he might have done that after all he'd been through angers me. Writing this, it's starting to dawn on me that it's been bothering me all day. I teared up as I typed those words, "died a junkie." Over the last few years, I've grown to hate junkies in wrestling. Another of my favorites died a few years ago of a drug overdose, Curt Hennig. When that happened, it barely fazed me. He knew the risks when he put that shit in his body and he suffered his fate. I miss him, but...that was his choice. I don't want to be mad and cold and uncaring with Eddie like I was with Curt. And I guess that's what hurts, that I might have to be.
After learning of his death, I decided to watch my tape of Smackdown. I work nights, so I have to tape wrestling, but I hadn't watched Smackdown regularly in a year or so. But out of the blue, I decided to tape it this past Friday, just to see what was going on. I planned to tape over it on Monday. Now that tape has a new meaning, because it contains Eddie's last televised match. And it wasn't a great match. He seemed to be a little disinterested in what was going on. It was Smackdown, though. He was wrestling Ken Kennedy. I didn't expect it to be Guerrero/Mysterio all over again. It has a funny ending, though, where he banged a chair against the mat when the ref wasn't looking, but he could hear it. Just before the ref turned around, he tossed the chair to Kennedy and dropped to the mat, feigning unconsciousness. The ref saw the scene and disqualified Kennedy. Eddie Guerrero won his last match.

I don't even know where i'm going with all of this. I guess I don't really need to have a point. One of my favorites has just died. It turns out that a lot of fans are hoping that he didn't die of an overdose, just like me. Some are saying that wrestling doesn't need another drug related wrestling death. I'm not worried about that. Wrestling is going to be okay either way. I just don't want people dragging Eddie through the mud, because that's what's coming if it was drugs involved and because he's so young, that's very likely. I'm still going to miss seeing Eddie Guerrero either way. His talents in the ring, his humor, his charisma. One of my all-time favorites, since 1997.

I've been with you since you and DDP were feuding over the Battlebowl ring. The match with Rey Misterio, Jr. at Halloween Havoc is one of the best I've ever seen. I bought Rey's DVD just to have that match. I always thought the LWO was one of the lowest points of your career. So was that car accident you were in. I just wanted you to be okay, and although it was selfish of me, I wanted to see you wrestle again. I was just glad you weren't dead. When the Revolution came around, to me it was just another point where you were underutilized. You made a grown man jump around like a schoolgirl in his dorm room when you delivered the frogsplash to Road Dogg on Raw for the first time. Then, when you injured your elbow on Smackdown...man, that sucked. I was pissed at you when got fired from the WWF, but I was in the house when you came back and attacked Jericho on Raw and I think I was one of maybe five people who recognized you through your dyed hair. I wanted you to beat the crap out of that guy who came in the ring during the ladder match. I was really glad to see you let the mullet go. I didn't even bother watching No Way Out because I didn't think the "E" would really let you go over Brock Lesnar. And I'll always remember seeing both you and Benoit in the ring with the championship belts, because it was a day that i never thought I'd see. And that brings me to today, because it was a day that i never expected to see. Goodbye, Eddie.