Eddie Guerrero: The ABC of WWE Legend
Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes a.k.a Eddie Guerrero was born on October 9, 1967, in El Paso, Texas. He was a former professional wrestler and used to work at WWE. He was of Mexican-American descent and his entire family was comprised of wrestlers. Eddie lived up to his family legacy and had a distinguished career at Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment. Eddie Guerrero died on November 13, 2005 in Minneapolis, Minnesota at an age of 38. The cause for Eddie Guerrero’s death was later revealed to be due to acute heart failure.
Professional Career
In the early stages of his career, Guerrero performed in Mexico and Japan for several major professional wrestling promotions. He was also a part of major wrestling tournaments in the United namely Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE).
Guerrero initially teamed up with Art Barr during his early career at Mexico . Guerrero caught his first break in 1995 when he joined ECW and won the ECW World Television Championship. Later that year, Guerrero moved to WCW, where he became WCW United States Champion and also WCW Cruiserweight Champion.
Guerrero's character portrayed "Latino Heat”. He was a crafty, resourceful wrestler who would go to any extents to win a match when in character. His catchphrase was "I Lie! I Cheat! I Steal!" which also became one of his entrance themes.
Eddie moved to WWF along with his WCW colleagues Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn. These three went on to form an alliance and were called The Radicalz. Guerrero won the WWF European Championship and WWF Intercontinental Championship before being released in 2001 due to addiction issues.
Guerrero returned in 2002 and formed Los Guerreros with his nephew Chavo. The uncle-nephew duo went on to winthe WWE Tag Team Championship, after which Gurrero established himself on the SmackDown brand. He won the WWE Championship, his sole world championship at No Way Out in 2004. But he lost the title very soon in the same year. Guerrero was at the peak of his career during 2003–2005. This was the time he became the top wrestler on the SmackDown brand. However soon his lifestyle got inflicted with various substance abuse problems, including alcoholism and an addiction to painkillers.
How did Eddie Guerrero die?
Guerrero was found unconscious in his hotel room at the Marriott Hotel City Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 13, 2005, by his nephew, Chavo. Chavo noticed that Guerrero was not breathing and hence attempted CPR. Guerrero was however already dead by then. Eddie Guerrero died at a very early age of 38 years. According to the autopsy, the cause of Guerrero’s death was an acute heart failure due to underlying atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Following Eddie’s death, tributes were paid to him at a ceremony on an edition of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown!. Eddie was inducted by his nephew, Chavo, into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. Eddie was also honored, on 10 year anniversary event of SmackDown, which was also his birthday.
