Eddie Guerrero (Biography)
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00:00:00Thanks for everything, sweetie.
00:00:03Oh, hi there, sweetie.
00:00:06Oh, go ahead.
00:00:08Oh.
00:00:17Does that mean you're ready?
00:00:18I'm ready.
00:00:19All right.
00:00:22This is kind of really where I grew up.
00:00:26This is my neighborhood, man.
00:00:30Wow.
00:00:34Right here, the area of the Coliseum, man, where my dad used to have the wrestling.
00:00:40I never, ever in my dreams did I expect to reach where I'm at today.
00:00:49Enjoy the ride as long as you can, because it's not going to be there forever.
00:00:55But, you know, I shouldn't be worrying about things that aren't happening yet.
00:00:59Heck, I haven't even hit the top of the mountain yet.
00:01:04When I was born, I came out of my mom.
00:01:06I dropkicked a doctor.
00:01:07That's right.
00:01:08There is a fourth Guerrero brother.
00:01:09His name is Eddie.
00:01:10I've had a chance to see him, and he's coming along.
00:01:12His whole family were just top-notch workers, but I think Eddie may have been the best of all of them.
00:01:18What fight, what determination in this Eddie Guerrero.
00:01:22Eddie was just doing groundbreaking stuff.
00:01:25You want some Latino heat?
00:01:27He was just such a different hero for the culture.
00:01:30It wasn't just Latinos who loved him.
00:01:32Everyone did.
00:01:33Eddie Guerrero did the unthinkable.
00:01:36You're doing these great things in wrestling, and it's great, but after you've done it, there's nothing to fill you.
00:01:43There was, like, two Eddie Guerreros.
00:01:45It's a little snowball, and before you know it, it's an avalanche.
00:01:49It's very easy to fall into any type of abuse.
00:01:52I lost my wife.
00:01:54I lost my kids.
00:01:56I lost my spirit.
00:01:57He never had his eyes open to how close he was to death.
00:02:01A stunning tragedy strikes the world of wrestling.
00:02:04I couldn't believe that this was really happening.
00:02:20Driving around the neighborhood, El Paso, brings back a lot of memories.
00:02:25My dad had this Pinto, and he used to give me a ride every day to school, and I didn't want him to give me a ride.
00:02:31And he said, no, I'll drive you.
00:02:33I said, Dad, you don't have to.
00:02:36He said, no, no, son, I'll drive you.
00:02:38I said, all right, Dad.
00:02:40So we'd get in the car, and we'd be cruising.
00:02:43He'd be going 10 miles an hour.
00:02:47I'd be crouched down really, really low in the seat.
00:02:50Like, I didn't want nobody to see me, you know?
00:02:54And my dad knew what he was doing.
00:02:56He'd do it on purpose.
00:02:57He was riveting, you know?
00:03:02Describing myself as a kid, I was a spoiled brat running around El Paso.
00:03:08You know, I was Gorey Guerrero's son.
00:03:11Or Chavez's younger brother, or Mondo's younger brother.
00:03:15You know, I was one of the Guerreros.
00:03:18Eddie is my baby, my husband, and all of his brothers and my daughters.
00:03:25We are a Ruslan family.
00:03:29My dad was a legend, you know?
00:03:31And I'm not just saying that, because he's my dad.
00:03:34He was a world champion in Mexico.
00:03:37He was a promoter of wrestling in Ciudad Juarez and in El Paso for many years.
00:03:43I used to run around with my dad, you know, in the dressing room when he was a promoter.
00:03:48And as I got bigger, you know, idolizing my dad, I wanted to be just like him.
00:03:56He is always like my husband, Ruslan, and the man.
00:04:01Other kids had jungle gyms in their backyards.
00:04:04We grew up with a wrestling ring in our backyard.
00:04:07You know, we put covers over the ropes, and I'd camp out at night.
00:04:12He wanted to be like his brothers, wanted to be part of the wrestling world.
00:04:19And he would just go in there, and sure, we would teach him everything.
00:04:23You know, we were taught at an early age how to fall, how to roll.
00:04:26To us, it was playing, but to them, they were teaching us.
00:04:31There was some time around junior high, you know, there was a buzz that this kid,
00:04:35you know, this scrawny little kid, was related to the wrestling guerreros.
00:04:39Eddie Guerrero of the great Guerrero family.
00:04:43Hector Mando!
00:04:47It's hard to live under the shadow of a father, under the shadow of your own brothers.
00:04:53And Eddie's right in the middle of it.
00:04:56I met Eddie when I joined the wrestling team at Thomas Jefferson High School.
00:05:00The coach was taking roll calls.
00:05:03And I was on the phone with Eddie, and I said,
00:05:06Eddie, I need to talk to you, I need to talk to you, I need to talk to you.
00:05:10Thomas Jefferson High School.
00:05:12The coach was taking roll calls.
00:05:15And all of a sudden, he calls out Eddie, Eddie Guerrero.
00:05:18Guerrero?
00:05:20So I'm just like, hmm.
00:05:22And of course, after practice, I walked up to him and I asked him,
00:05:24hey, I chanced Chavo Guerrero, relative of yours.
00:05:28Chavo Guerrero!
00:05:30He says, yeah, that's my brother.
00:05:32Eddie would, you know, work out with his brothers and roll around and stuff like that whenever he could.
00:05:36I said, well, fantastic.
00:05:38He signed me up.
00:05:46We would meet at Eddie's house about 8 o'clock in the morning.
00:05:49Anytime we got into the ring, we didn't see that he was slacking off or being lazy, nothing to that effect.
00:05:55No, he was go, go, go, go, go.
00:05:57First, I will just demonstrate right here what's called a standing drop kick.
00:06:01I'll jump up with both legs and hit him on the chest and hopefully knock him down.
00:06:07Okay? Ready, Hector?
00:06:09Yeah.
00:06:15Coming from here, come down here, come back here.
00:06:19Okay, now the purpose of it here, this is just a setup.
00:06:22Chavo, whenever he was in town, he would train with us, you know, and show us a few things.
00:06:27But, I mean, he was a professional.
00:06:32It was hard on Eddie. People think, oh, Eddie had it easy.
00:06:35He was a good athlete.
00:06:36No, that's not true. He had that reputation to uphold.
00:06:39I remember my dad used to watch me wrestle, and I'd just see him shake his head like this.
00:06:46And he always doing something wrong, you know, and then I'd tense up.
00:06:55This was my dad's ring.
00:06:57This is Hector's ring now.
00:06:59I just get the pleasure of coming in and jumping in and hitting him.
00:07:05It makes me feel good.
00:07:12You know, Hector's got the setup just almost like I did back home, you know?
00:07:17Hey, and then you know what? That's still the original board.
00:07:19I haven't changed it. It is the original board.
00:07:22So where have my weightlifting career started?
00:07:25In the backyard.
00:07:27Nothing fancy about it.
00:07:30You know, it makes me feel...
00:07:40It makes me feel a little guilty and happy.
00:07:45Guilty that I didn't, you know, continue it like this.
00:07:49But it makes me feel happy that Hector's done it, you know?
00:07:53It's like my dad. It's like my dad's here right now.
00:07:57It feels good.
00:08:05I think the only thing that if you want to say a negative was,
00:08:10was the pressure that I put on myself when it came down to athletics,
00:08:16you know, especially in wrestling, you know, living up to the name
00:08:20and being watched all the time.
00:08:23I always felt like I was under a microscope.
00:08:30I'm going to see that Eddie was ready.
00:08:33And Eddie, he was beating with confidence. He was ready to go.
00:08:36You've seen a workout, and now as you see a wrestling attire,
00:08:40we're getting ready for a match.
00:08:42As soon as we graduated high school, a couple of years after that,
00:08:47you know, he was already headlining the matches in Juarez, you know.
00:08:52I got $100 for my first match because of my dad's name.
00:08:57I mean, the place sold out.
00:09:06And of course, being that he was a young guerrero, you know,
00:09:09he had to prove that he was ready to go.
00:09:12And of course, being that he was a young guerrero, you know,
00:09:14he had to prove his worth.
00:09:17And they had me in the main event,
00:09:19and the other boys didn't feel I deserved it.
00:09:23And they were right.
00:09:24And a lot of the times, you know, he was beat up substantially.
00:09:28They were making him pay his dues.
00:09:30Basically, each match would turn out to be in a fistfight.
00:09:35You know, he'd come back and his chest was purple, you know,
00:09:38from all the slaps that he had received.
00:09:42You know, having a guerrero name is a plus and a negative at the same time.
00:09:46It's a plus because you get a lot of opportunities a lot quicker.
00:09:51But at the same time, there was no way I could live up to it
00:09:53because I didn't have the time or experience.
00:09:58I met him at a nightclub, and my best friend had pointed out to me
00:10:02that this, you know, that's Eddie over there.
00:10:04And I kind of looked at him, and I said, he's kind of cute.
00:10:08He was wrestling on Thursdays and Sundays,
00:10:11and I was still working at the time,
00:10:13so I would just go on Sundays to see him wrestle.
00:10:16And it was quite an adventure.
00:10:18He was just starting out, but to me, he was already a star.
00:10:24He has a great heart, which made me fall in love with him.
00:10:28Vicky's tremendous.
00:10:30You know, as a matter of fact, my dad really liked her, you know.
00:10:34When I met his dad, he was very sick at the time,
00:10:37so I got his soft heart.
00:10:40Our wedding, that was really hard.
00:10:45His dad passed away that Tuesday
00:10:49before we got married, and we buried him on Friday.
00:10:52And then we had the wedding on Saturday,
00:10:54and his dad's wishes were, please, you know, go ahead and get married.
00:10:59You know, in my life, you know, I always wanted to be like my dad.
00:11:05I never got to see my dad in his prime.
00:11:08You know, I saw him wrestle later on as he was older.
00:11:13I wanted to be that person that I never saw.
00:11:18That was my focus. That was my drive.
00:11:21Hello. My name is Eddie Guerrero.
00:11:23A friend to you, but also a professional wrestler.
00:11:26Eddie Guerrero!
00:11:30The first time I saw Eddie Guerrero, I was just a fan.
00:11:34He came from the Guerrero family.
00:11:36After Mondo, Hector, Chavo,
00:11:39he came from the Guerrero family.
00:11:42Eddie Guerrero.
00:11:45Eddie Guerrero.
00:11:48Eddie Guerrero.
00:11:51Chavo, you know, the youngest out of all of them.
00:11:53There is a fourth Guerrero brother. His name is Eddie.
00:11:55I've had a chance to see him, and he's coming along.
00:11:57I hear nothing but great things about young Eddie Guerrero.
00:12:00They say he is just one piece of work.
00:12:03Eddie Guerrero!
00:12:05He conquered Mexico with his style.
00:12:08Lucha Libre.
00:12:15Lucha Libre, it's like freestyle wrestling, you know?
00:12:18All the throws and the high flying.
00:12:21Lucha Libre is fast, very fluid.
00:12:24It identifies as a Mexican culture.
00:12:28Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.
00:12:32In Mexico, the word Eddie does not exist.
00:12:35But that's the way it is.
00:12:37Eddie, it started with Eddie.
00:12:39Eduardo, Eduardo.
00:12:41They don't say that. They say Eddie.
00:12:44Eddie left from Mexico, went to Japan.
00:12:47He mixed many styles in one.
00:12:51American, Japanese, Mexican.
00:12:57It took me about five, six years, you know,
00:13:00before I started becoming successful.
00:13:07I think wrestling under a mask in Japan,
00:13:10I think wrestling under a mask in Japan
00:13:13was a great blessing for me because,
00:13:16you know, I didn't have to be Eddie Guerrero
00:13:18or one of the Guerreros anymore.
00:13:20I was a black tiger.
00:13:24I stopped living up to my dad and my brothers.
00:13:28Yeah, this is where my oldest daughter was born.
00:13:32It's the same hospital my dad passed away in.
00:13:35That's where he was at when he passed away.
00:13:40There's a lot of times that I regretted
00:13:42Eddie being out of town a lot.
00:13:45When he went to Japan, those were very difficult
00:13:47because he would be gone for a month sometimes.
00:13:51And then also when our second daughter was born,
00:13:54he missed the birth.
00:13:56That was really hard for us to accept.
00:13:59I was up in, I was in a truck stop in Japan
00:14:03having truck stop spaghetti.
00:14:06And I called home and, yeah,
00:14:08I figured I just had Cheryl in, you know.
00:14:11And I was on the road wrestling, you know, so.
00:14:14You know, it's just part of,
00:14:16I guess it's just part of being a wrestler, you know.
00:14:19You hear about it all the time, you know.
00:14:23I never dreamt of wrestling in the States.
00:14:25I never thought it was possible.
00:14:27In that time, it was the Hulk Hogan era
00:14:30where if you weren't 6'7", 350 pounds,
00:14:34you weren't going to be used.
00:14:36The smaller wrestler wasn't in style
00:14:39here in the United States.
00:14:43But that's when the doors opened up for me in ECW.
00:14:46Eddie Guerrero ascends to the top turnbuckle.
00:14:51I was very much aware of what Eddie Guerrero
00:14:53was doing in Mexico,
00:14:54so I brought Eddie Guerrero into the United States.
00:15:00Eddie was putting on a performance
00:15:04that was just gold.
00:15:07He's already the best of the Guerreros.
00:15:10He was destined to become a top star in the industry.
00:15:14Hook the leg! We've got him now!
00:15:20The fans loved it.
00:15:22You are witnessing the fulfillment of a young man's dream.
00:15:27When I came into ECW,
00:15:29the Lucha Libre style had not been exposed yet.
00:15:35Paul Heyman was the one that started exposing it in ECW.
00:15:39Frankensteiner in midair!
00:15:40He hooks the legs!
00:15:41No, Malenko rolls over!
00:15:42Guerrero rolls over Malenko!
00:15:44Two, three, he got him! He got him!
00:15:48Then later on, WCW got a hold of it and really exposed it.
00:15:52Eddie Guerrero, one of the newest additions to the lineup.
00:15:55I've got a roster full of 6'5", 300-pound guys,
00:16:00and they all more or less work the same in the ring.
00:16:04So I thought, okay, well, how do I do something different?
00:16:06I know, I'll create a cruiserweight division.
00:16:10Smaller guys that could do all of the flying,
00:16:13all of the athleticism, all of the...
00:16:15Oh, my gosh, did you see that?
00:16:18Look at that!
00:16:19People love action,
00:16:21and Eddie is the man.
00:16:25He brought not only action...
00:16:27Eddie springing on the top rope!
00:16:30...and drama.
00:16:32But he did it with believability.
00:16:36Eddie's a work of flawless.
00:16:39I love working with that kid.
00:16:43When you watch early Eddie Guerrero stuff,
00:16:45he's maximizing his size for a 5'8 guy.
00:16:49It's gonna be high-flying, exciting,
00:16:51so don't even think about missing this one.
00:16:55The cruiserweight division,
00:16:57they changed the game, period.
00:16:59Immediately, I started watching
00:17:01and paying closer attention to Eddie.
00:17:03Oh, my goodness!
00:17:05He deserved attention.
00:17:07Eddie was just doing groundbreaking stuff
00:17:10that now is much more commonplace.
00:17:13At the time, it was very uncommon.
00:17:15These incredible moves in the ring,
00:17:17head scissors to a flip,
00:17:19and bouncing off the rope,
00:17:21and doing a half spin.
00:17:23We knew each other from Tijuana,
00:17:25and there was an instant click.
00:17:27You're watching right now
00:17:29probably the most talented man in our sport ever.
00:17:32Lucha Libre is fast-paced,
00:17:34but he would always tell me to slow down.
00:17:36Tell the story.
00:17:38Let the fans react to what you do.
00:17:46I think a lot of Eddie's success
00:17:49is attributed to the blending
00:17:51of the Lucha Libre style
00:17:53and the American wrestling style.
00:17:57You know, he kind of wore his own boots
00:17:59instead of trying to fill in his father's.
00:18:06Eddie became a champion in WCW
00:18:08right along the same time
00:18:10when the NWO became a thing,
00:18:12which was a spark for the second wrestling boom.
00:18:15A guy from El Paso
00:18:17became U.S. champion in WCW
00:18:19while Hulk Hogan is the heavyweight champion.
00:18:21That's amazing.
00:18:25At this point in my career,
00:18:27it was going great.
00:18:29It was sailing.
00:18:31Opportunities happened
00:18:33that I never dreamt about.
00:18:37You're doing these great things in wrestling,
00:18:39and it's great,
00:18:41but after you've done it,
00:18:46the feeling's gone.
00:18:48There's nothing to fill you, you know?
00:18:51The lifestyle,
00:18:53work hard, play hard,
00:18:54trying to balance that,
00:18:55being on the road all the time.
00:18:57Eddie did struggle with that some.
00:18:59Starts with an aspirin.
00:19:02A little beer with an aspirin.
00:19:04Ooh, a little smoke over here.
00:19:06Oh, it feels good all by myself.
00:19:08Makes it easier to be alone.
00:19:11Dealing with demons is something
00:19:13that I think anybody in the entertainment business
00:19:15can relate to.
00:19:17The roar of the room is such
00:19:19an incredible feeling, and then now
00:19:21you get off the stage and you're by yourself
00:19:23and it's quiet.
00:19:25It's very easy to fall into
00:19:27any type of abuse.
00:19:29You know, I was already drinking.
00:19:33I started taking a pill here and a pill there
00:19:35and experimenting with other stuff
00:19:37and
00:19:39it just started going downhill,
00:19:41you know?
00:19:44New Year's 99.
00:19:46I had a party that night at the house,
00:19:48you know, and after everybody left,
00:19:50my wife went asleep, so
00:19:52I was hungry.
00:19:54So I wound up driving down the road.
00:19:58I was taking Renutrant,
00:20:00which is GHB.
00:20:02It's the date grape
00:20:04drug. I was taking it
00:20:06for sleep.
00:20:08So I say, actually,
00:20:10I was taking it more for the high.
00:20:12I don't know why.
00:20:16They talk about three caps,
00:20:18you know, capfuls,
00:20:20when all it takes is one
00:20:22just to put you out.
00:20:24I guess it was about six or seven
00:20:26in the morning the phone rang.
00:20:28This is St. Joe's Hospital.
00:20:30We would like to talk to you about Eddie's accident.
00:20:32And I started getting that nod in my stomach
00:20:34thinking, oh my gosh.
00:20:36They said, Ms. Guerrero, we don't think he's
00:20:38going to make it through the night.
00:20:47In PG.
00:20:52New Year's 99.
00:20:56Fell asleep at the wheel and
00:20:58from what I understand, I was going
00:21:02I was going about 130 miles
00:21:04an hour. That's what they tell me. I don't remember.
00:21:06And, you know,
00:21:08I hit a curve.
00:21:10The car started flipping
00:21:12and
00:21:14I was shot out of the T-top.
00:21:16I broke my hip socket,
00:21:18fractured my collarbone,
00:21:20punctured my liver,
00:21:22and they
00:21:24really didn't think I was going to recover from that.
00:21:30I remember seeing him when I
00:21:32just walked into the hospital
00:21:34and they said it took him like three hours
00:21:36to remember our phone number.
00:21:38It's like a dream, you know, you just
00:21:40dream this, that, you know, he can't
00:21:42walk away. There's no way that he's going to leave us.
00:21:44And there's the doctor, you know, saying
00:21:46that, you know, you need to, you know,
00:21:48expect this, that this could happen.
00:21:50Was I surprised when I got a phone call
00:21:52and was told that he was in a bad car wreck?
00:21:54No. I was very,
00:21:56very concerned because it was
00:21:58a very serious car accident.
00:22:00He could have easily died.
00:22:02It was just a blessing
00:22:04from God that he wasn't ready to take
00:22:06Eddie.
00:22:08He started getting stronger and
00:22:10his body started healing from all the
00:22:12injuries.
00:22:14It was, it was
00:22:16amazing how things can happen
00:22:18so quick.
00:22:20It didn't make a dent on me at all.
00:22:24I don't know why.
00:22:26I know why now,
00:22:28you know, I was,
00:22:30I have a disease, disease of
00:22:32addiction, you know, and okay,
00:22:34it wasn't my time, and then you start
00:22:36feeling bulletproof.
00:22:38Eddie took about
00:22:40four months at home to heal
00:22:42and then he was ready to go back to work.
00:22:44Eddie is
00:22:46fortunate to be alive. His first
00:22:48wrestling match back since the
00:22:50car crash looks very,
00:22:52very good, in good shape here. Let's just see
00:22:54how he can perform.
00:22:56He still had a lot of pain, and so
00:22:58to take away the pain, that's
00:23:00when he started getting into the painkillers
00:23:02for him to be able to go back to work as quick
00:23:04as he did.
00:23:06I was supposed to be out for about a year.
00:23:08Being the extremist
00:23:10that I am, I pushed
00:23:12it, and I was back in the ring
00:23:14in six months.
00:23:16What's on the frog splash?
00:23:18And Eddie Guerrero
00:23:20wins his first match back
00:23:22since the car crash.
00:23:24Eddie had a lot of
00:23:26passion.
00:23:28What do you think?
00:23:30Some of Eddie's greatest
00:23:32strengths have made him who he was in the ring.
00:23:34Sometimes they can look against us
00:23:36outside of the ring.
00:23:40What fight, what determination
00:23:42in this Eddie Guerrero.
00:23:44What Eddie did
00:23:46in the ring,
00:23:48the abuse that his body had already
00:23:50taken, and now you add
00:23:52a really bad accident to it.
00:23:54It just quadrupled.
00:23:58And Eddie's not a guy
00:24:00who's going to phone in anything.
00:24:02Look at this!
00:24:04Oh, he did it!
00:24:06He didn't want to cheat the people,
00:24:08but he also wanted to
00:24:10feel that energy off of them
00:24:12for what he was giving off.
00:24:14I came
00:24:16back too early, and my body
00:24:18was hurting.
00:24:20And I was
00:24:22prone, really, to
00:24:24pain pills. I liked them.
00:24:26I wanted
00:24:28to keep working, but
00:24:30I needed to get through the pain.
00:24:32And
00:24:34when the pain went away,
00:24:36I just continued to use it.
00:24:42It's a little snowball, and
00:24:44before you know it, it's an avalanche.
00:24:48Maybe about a year after
00:24:50my car accident,
00:24:52I took some GHB to go to sleep,
00:24:54and had a bad reaction.
00:24:56My wife wound up having to
00:24:58call 911.
00:25:00They put me in a
00:25:02respirator. They put a
00:25:04machine down my throat to help
00:25:06me breathe, because my lungs did collapse.
00:25:10That was my first OD.
00:25:12And then a month later,
00:25:14I went to a pain specialist
00:25:16to help out with my pain.
00:25:22They got me on some medicines,
00:25:24and I went to El Paso for
00:25:26Christmas.
00:25:28The whole family was there.
00:25:30And
00:25:32I started drinking, you know,
00:25:34mixing.
00:25:36I say, son, I think you drink
00:25:38too much. They say, oh no, mom,
00:25:40this is only holidays, and
00:25:42don't tell me nothing. They say, you know me,
00:25:44I am in control.
00:25:46And I guess about after
00:25:48an hour, he had gone to bed, but Wando
00:25:50said that he could hear Eddie
00:25:52breathing really shallow, just like,
00:25:54just deep breaths, but not
00:25:56grabbing a full breath of air.
00:25:58Opened up his eyes, he had,
00:26:00you couldn't see the eyes, it was just white.
00:26:02So I started giving him mouth to mouth.
00:26:04He was blue, all his body
00:26:06blue, blue, blue hair.
00:26:08Estaba overdose.
00:26:10Overdose.
00:26:12El Paso.
00:26:14Then they called the ambulance and
00:26:16rushed me
00:26:18to the hospital.
00:26:20And, you know,
00:26:22they fixed me up.
00:26:26I still wasn't done after that.
00:26:28I was very scared
00:26:30at times because, you know,
00:26:32I didn't know how to treat him.
00:26:34He never had his eyes open
00:26:36to how close he was to death.
00:26:38And by me telling him
00:26:40over and over, it wasn't doing any good.
00:26:42Because it would just make us fight.
00:26:46I mean, I didn't think
00:26:48nothing was wrong with me.
00:26:50You almost kill yourself in a car
00:26:52crash, you OD,
00:26:54and then a month later you're ODing again
00:26:56and
00:26:58and you
00:27:00don't think nothing's wrong.
00:27:08The return
00:27:10of Eddie Guerrero
00:27:12and he's got that surly attitude.
00:27:14Eddie had some
00:27:16challenges. With
00:27:18pills. With alcohol.
00:27:22And there was like two Eddie Guerreros.
00:27:24There was the lovable,
00:27:26fun, easy going,
00:27:28chill Eddie.
00:27:30And then there was the Eddie
00:27:32that had a bit of a chip on his shoulder.
00:27:34I think it was pressure that
00:27:36Eddie put on himself
00:27:38to live up to his own expectations.
00:27:40Eddie was right up in your face.
00:27:42He didn't care.
00:27:44I didn't do that on my own.
00:27:46I didn't do that on my own.
00:27:48Often times, these
00:27:50cruiserweight matches aren't gonna be
00:27:52the ones on that main event.
00:27:54They were like
00:27:56supporting characters. They were the
00:27:58B plot.
00:28:00I don't care anymore, Eric Bischoff.
00:28:02You got a lot of young talent
00:28:04here in WCW.
00:28:06And all you do
00:28:08is hold us down.
00:28:10I wasn't happy anymore.
00:28:12I didn't feel they were using me right.
00:28:14And
00:28:16as for my release,
00:28:18I called
00:28:20WWE.
00:28:22I
00:28:24bring Eddie down to Vince's office.
00:28:26They meet.
00:28:28Vince walks out.
00:28:30He goes, Bruce,
00:28:32he's so tiny.
00:28:36Yeah,
00:28:38but his personality is bigger than this
00:28:40building. He's a Mexican
00:28:42Shawn Michaels.
00:28:46He's got
00:28:48it.
00:28:50I was just excited to get out of WCW.
00:28:52And I was so
00:28:54excited about working in WWE.
00:28:56You know, because
00:28:58Vince gives people opportunities.
00:29:00If he sees potential
00:29:02in you, he'll give you an opportunity.
00:29:04And I was so determined to
00:29:06show Vince I had potential.
00:29:10When I got to WWE,
00:29:12yeah, there was that sense.
00:29:14I've arrived.
00:29:16This is it.
00:29:20I was watching a movie, The Birdcage,
00:29:22with Robin Williams.
00:29:24And his housekeeper,
00:29:26he's asking him,
00:29:28why don't you let me perform
00:29:30in the show?
00:29:32Armand, why don't you let me be in the show?
00:29:34Come on, aren't you afraid of my
00:29:36Guatemalan-ness?
00:29:38My natural heat?
00:29:40Guatemalan heat.
00:29:42You know, I was watching that,
00:29:44and I said, hmm, Latino heat.
00:29:50Take it easy, mamacita.
00:29:52I know
00:29:54you're here, really,
00:29:56because you want some Latino heat.
00:29:58Mamacita.
00:30:00And it got such a big pop
00:30:02from the audience that
00:30:04I felt it.
00:30:06That's it.
00:30:08No, no, no, you don't get it.
00:30:10There's more to heat than just heat.
00:30:12When Eddie Guerrero created Latino heat
00:30:14and started that
00:30:16on-screen relationship with Chyna,
00:30:18this is where he showed
00:30:20the other side of him.
00:30:22The layers that he added and the personality
00:30:24you see ooze out of him.
00:30:26I thought the pairing of
00:30:28Eddie Guerrero with Chyna
00:30:30was brilliant.
00:30:32To pair this kind of
00:30:34hyper-masculine, macho character
00:30:36with Chyna,
00:30:38who is not hyper-feminine.
00:30:40That whole mamacita
00:30:42and the whole thing, it was just great.
00:30:44Who cares about winning or losing?
00:30:46As long as we all dance afterwards,
00:30:48we're gonna have a lot of fun. Come on, baby.
00:30:50And Eddie had that way with people. He would bring out the best of people,
00:30:52and he would bring out their personality,
00:30:54and he would have them shine with him.
00:30:56I really couldn't resist
00:30:58your Latino heat.
00:31:00Yeah!
00:31:02I never pictured myself
00:31:04being entertaining
00:31:06in that funny way.
00:31:08It helped him
00:31:10start to really express
00:31:12who Eddie Guerrero was,
00:31:14along with finding a little character
00:31:16here and there. Please forgive me.
00:31:18Find it in your heart to forgive me.
00:31:20Please.
00:31:22I kind of wondered what took Eddie so long
00:31:24to come to the realization that
00:31:26it's not just going to be his in-ring skills
00:31:28that make him so great.
00:31:30I felt like, babe,
00:31:32this is a new start for you.
00:31:34You want some Latino heat, baby?
00:31:36Just take away all this
00:31:38bad stuff that's going on in you,
00:31:40and let's enjoy this.
00:31:42And he was really determined.
00:31:44He always wanted to have a better life for himself.
00:31:48But the partying still continued.
00:31:52We had a lot of fights.
00:31:54You know, there was a lot
00:31:56of times in the restaurants, you know,
00:31:58the waiters would come up to me and say, you know,
00:32:00we're not giving him any more liquor.
00:32:02You know, and there was times at night
00:32:04when it was really bad, I took the kids and me,
00:32:06and we went to hotels because
00:32:08he was just a monster.
00:32:10It was unbearable.
00:32:14I never, ever
00:32:16once thought what I was putting my
00:32:18mind with him.
00:32:20You know, her having to leave the house because I became
00:32:22violent.
00:32:24Her just being violent.
00:32:28You know, now that I realize it too, you know,
00:32:30it was even dangerous for the girls to be in that
00:32:32atmosphere.
00:32:34You always think it can't happen to me.
00:32:36I'm married to Eddie Guerrero.
00:32:38You know, we have the house with the boat
00:32:40and the pool table
00:32:42and the cars.
00:32:44This can't happen to us.
00:32:48Eddie put on a great mask
00:32:50at times.
00:32:52There were demons
00:32:54that would manifest themselves every once in a while.
00:32:58We were at a TV in Minneapolis.
00:33:02I remember Eddie walking in,
00:33:04coming down the hallway,
00:33:06but nobody was home.
00:33:08Eddie went in the dressing room and sat in the corner
00:33:10and just wasn't there.
00:33:14I showed up to work, messed up.
00:33:16You know,
00:33:18they were gracious enough to send me to rehab.
00:33:22And I went, you know, I went because
00:33:24that was the only way to keep my job.
00:33:26You know, I didn't want to go.
00:33:28I didn't want to be with him anymore.
00:33:32He was telling me that he really wanted to try.
00:33:34But by that time, I had given up
00:33:36on all the promises that he had given me
00:33:38about saying that he wanted to get sober.
00:33:40He wanted to have a better life.
00:33:42He didn't want to hurt me and the girls anymore.
00:33:46I was so discouraged. I'm like,
00:33:48I don't believe you.
00:33:50When he was in rehab,
00:33:52I wrote him a letter asking for the divorce.
00:33:58Coming out of rehab,
00:34:00losing my wife and losing the family,
00:34:02my thoughts were, well,
00:34:04at least I got wrestling.
00:34:06Everything that I had just gone through,
00:34:08the four months,
00:34:10man, it just, like, didn't sink in.
00:34:14I had kind of accepted the fact that,
00:34:16you know, I can't do drugs anymore,
00:34:18but there was still the doubt that,
00:34:20well, maybe I can have a drink.
00:34:22I went up, picked up a bottle of wine,
00:34:26and I took it home.
00:34:28And, you know, I said,
00:34:30all right, nobody's going to see me here.
00:34:32I'm not going to hurt anybody.
00:34:34As soon as I took that first drink,
00:34:38there was a tingling sensation.
00:34:40I remember it.
00:34:42I mean, that just went through my whole body.
00:34:44One glass led to two,
00:34:46and two led to the whole bottle,
00:34:50and I went to buy another bottle,
00:34:52and I stayed at the bar,
00:34:54and I woke up in jail.
00:34:58We sent Eddie to rehab.
00:35:00Upon his release,
00:35:02he went right out
00:35:04and had a DUI,
00:35:06got drunk, had a few other instances
00:35:08with the law.
00:35:10That was hard because the girls
00:35:12saw Eddie's picture on the news,
00:35:14and the paper was all over the place,
00:35:16you know, and the girls heard about it
00:35:18by the time they got back from school.
00:35:20The rehab didn't help,
00:35:22and this is now on Eddie.
00:35:24Eddie needs to get himself straight,
00:35:26and we released him.
00:35:28We released Eddie from his contract.
00:35:30When I got the phone call,
00:35:32you told me, I'm sorry to tell you,
00:35:34but you've been let go.
00:35:36And my first thing was,
00:35:38please don't let me go.
00:35:40I've lost everything.
00:35:42I can't lose this.
00:35:56I wanted a tattoo
00:35:58for a long time.
00:36:02As you see on the tattoo,
00:36:04they're kind of tied together,
00:36:06and it's pierced.
00:36:08It shows like it's pierced
00:36:10through the skin and got blood.
00:36:14The piercing means
00:36:16just a reminder of the pain
00:36:18I was in when I was going
00:36:20through my addiction.
00:36:22It was a lot of pain,
00:36:24a lot of emotional pain.
00:36:26It was that kind of pain.
00:36:28It was kind of like a piercing
00:36:30inner pain that I had no relief of.
00:36:32And,
00:36:34you know,
00:36:36the only person that got me out of it
00:36:38was Christ, and still to today
00:36:40it's the only peace I find.
00:36:42You know, his blood sets me free.
00:36:46I had gone to a
00:36:48recovery group.
00:36:50That's when I believed that
00:36:52this is a disease, man,
00:36:54and I don't have no control over it.
00:36:56All I wanted to do was
00:36:58have one glass of wine,
00:37:00and look what happened.
00:37:04You realize you're not going to
00:37:06wake up.
00:37:08You're not going to wake up
00:37:10with your children anymore.
00:37:12Everything you worked for,
00:37:14you just sh**ed up
00:37:16the tube, you know?
00:37:18You know, and you got nobody to blame
00:37:20but yourself.
00:37:24It's the hardest thing to do in this life,
00:37:26is to look at yourself
00:37:28and
00:37:30realize
00:37:32that you got to make changes.
00:37:36November 9th was his first day
00:37:38that he got sober.
00:37:40And, you know, at that time I was just like,
00:37:42okay, great, you know, you're sober for a day.
00:37:44My heart had gone so cold to him
00:37:46that it didn't matter if he was getting
00:37:48sober because I never believed it.
00:37:50Eddie had hit rock bottom.
00:37:54I mean, he had lost his career,
00:37:56his agency, his girls.
00:37:58He had lost everything.
00:38:02So after that, there was
00:38:04no way to go but up.
00:38:18He was scrambling, of course, to
00:38:20try to get his job back.
00:38:22To see someone who was so good
00:38:24As a wrestler, as a person, just bottom feeding, you know,
00:38:29and just trying to struggle to make it, man.
00:38:32Told him how proud I was with him.
00:38:37WWE said, you know, the door's always open.
00:38:40I didn't believe it.
00:38:42I guess they were watching.
00:38:45I would call just to check in on him.
00:38:47He says, yeah, I'm taking it one day at a time,
00:38:50doing my meetings, doing my stuff,
00:38:52and that's fine for Eddie to tell me that,
00:38:56but when other talent that have no dog in the fight
00:39:01say, hey, Eddie's coming around.
00:39:03I haven't seen him messed up.
00:39:05He's not drinking after the matches.
00:39:09When you get enough of that,
00:39:10then we were willing to take another chance on him
00:39:13because the talent and the human being,
00:39:17you couldn't find any better.
00:39:20Hey, look at this!
00:39:21Oh, there's Eddie, oh, wait a minute.
00:39:23That's Eddie Guerrero.
00:39:25Nobody ever questioned his ability in the ring.
00:39:28This guy'll do a little frog splashin' of his own.
00:39:30Look at this!
00:39:31Boom, boom!
00:39:32He's always been one of the best, always.
00:39:35My job, I felt, was just give him support.
00:39:38Eddie wasn't necessarily on a short leash,
00:39:41but he did have an awful lot of eyeballs on him.
00:39:44Placing Eddie with Chavo was kind of a security blanket
00:39:48because now Chavo could travel with Eddie.
00:39:50We're here in Turku, Finland.
00:39:52Turku, or Turquoise, they say.
00:39:54Get it right, my fool!
00:39:56Eddie was Chavo's uncle,
00:39:57but they were more like brothers,
00:39:59a lot closer in age.
00:40:01It was something that Eddie could lean on,
00:40:06and Eddie also adored Chavo
00:40:08and was happy that he could bring Chavo up.
00:40:12And I'll tell ya, look at Chavo Guerrero!
00:40:15We used to play in the backyard, in the ring,
00:40:19and we used to play tag-team champions of the world.
00:40:24And Mysterio taps out!
00:40:26The Guerreros are tag-team champions!
00:40:31And then we became the world champs,
00:40:34and we lived out our dream.
00:40:37You know, my dad, he's watching from above,
00:40:42you know, the family,
00:40:43and I'm getting chills right now.
00:40:45It's just, it's a dream come true.
00:40:48I don't know what else you want to do.
00:40:51He started living for himself,
00:40:53and I was always happy for him.
00:40:56I accepted our life as me and Eddie being separated
00:40:59and sharing the kids,
00:41:01and the divorce still hasn't gone through.
00:41:08The girls were always a priority to me,
00:41:10and I just said, you know what?
00:41:13I want to be your friend,
00:41:14and I don't want to fight with you anymore.
00:41:18We started hanging out together and having lunch together,
00:41:21and I fell in love with him all over again.
00:41:24One, two, three.
00:41:27You know, it's really amazing how when you lose something
00:41:31and you get it back,
00:41:34even if it's for one day,
00:41:37how much you appreciate it.
00:41:39January 9th of 2003, we renewed our vows.
00:41:44Eddie was living his life with his family,
00:41:48and I think there was an inner peace there
00:41:50that made Eddie happy.
00:41:53Behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
00:41:56Olé!
00:41:58Woo!
00:41:59Ha ha!
00:42:00Seeing the progression of Eddie and his career,
00:42:04I find it interesting that it's like he got way more Chicano.
00:42:08Hey, homes, these are some nice medals, man.
00:42:10Are they gold?
00:42:11Yeah, they're real gold.
00:42:12I think I'm getting a bunch of chromosomes.
00:42:15Get out of here.
00:42:16Chicano's a Mexican-American.
00:42:18You know, olé, homes, you know my character.
00:42:21Olé, vato, take it easy, ese.
00:42:24It's really a part of me, you know,
00:42:26that those are the guys I grew up with, you know,
00:42:28and that were at school.
00:42:31That's who I portray on TV.
00:42:33You have any Tabasco?
00:42:34Tabasco?
00:42:35I put Tabasco in my ice cream bottle.
00:42:37In some early promos,
00:42:39he'd just kind of talk like a normal American dude.
00:42:42You know, as a wrestler, you try and study your opponent.
00:42:45But then, by that point,
00:42:48he's doing more of the dropping in Spanish words
00:42:51and phrases into his English promos.
00:42:55Oh, man, no mames, ese.
00:42:56Let's play for your butt, man.
00:42:58You trying to beat Chicano?
00:42:59Pues vamos a darles pedo, ese.
00:43:01Let's go get it.
00:43:02Come on.
00:43:03Órale.
00:43:04But I liked that there was somebody
00:43:07speaking like a Chicano from El Paso
00:43:11and owning it on the screen,
00:43:14even if it was almost cartoonish at points.
00:43:16Can you say more than five words in a sentence
00:43:19without one of them being ese?
00:43:20I sure can, ese.
00:43:22That's not a problem, mames.
00:43:26You know, when we go to Mexico,
00:43:29when I go to Mexico, verse A,
00:43:31you know, I'm an American citizen.
00:43:32You know, I'm not a real Mexican.
00:43:34That's the way they look at me.
00:43:36That's the way my cousins look at me in Mexico.
00:43:39And when I come here, you know,
00:43:41living here, I'm not a real American.
00:43:43You know, verse A, you know,
00:43:44I'm a Mexican-American.
00:43:45So we kind of had to create our own image,
00:43:49you know, our own little race.
00:43:53Guerrero style, lowrider city, baby.
00:43:57There's the Latino culture,
00:43:58and there are, just like in every culture,
00:44:00there are subcultures.
00:44:02He put it right in your face
00:44:04and put lowriders on national TV.
00:44:08Mr. McMahon is doing his version of Latino heat.
00:44:10There was even a time
00:44:11where he threw Vince in the car.
00:44:12Mr. McMahon is gonna get a ride from Latino heat.
00:44:16And started hitting it,
00:44:17and you see Vince like, oh my God.
00:44:19He made it cool.
00:44:21He made it mainstream.
00:44:23And you could see the joy in his face
00:44:25every time he would do it.
00:44:27Check out that lowrider.
00:44:29That's a bad ride right there.
00:44:32It's an expression of art, Chicano style.
00:44:37If you go back to the history of Mexico,
00:44:40you see that there's a lot of art formastics,
00:44:42you know, drawings and stuff like that.
00:44:44Lowrider, you know, spiffied up, you know,
00:44:47it's beautiful paint jobs.
00:44:49You got the hydraulics on it.
00:44:54We're so just proud that WWE's looking at that now
00:44:59and grasping it and giving the Latino people
00:45:05that respect, if you wanna say that,
00:45:07that acknowledgement.
00:45:08It means the world.
00:45:09It's that one thing that we've been working for,
00:45:11and we're spotlighted now.
00:45:15You know, that's been the difference in my careers.
00:45:17Once I started having fun with it,
00:45:19man, it just like took off.
00:45:21Ah!
00:45:22Woo-hoo!
00:45:23Yes!
00:45:23Oh, yeah!
00:45:24Being real Eddie Guerrero is a people pleaser.
00:45:28You know, it's a good asset and a bad asset, too.
00:45:31You know, you're not the same.
00:45:32What's up, homes?
00:45:34See, home people pleaser.
00:45:37I just wanna be loved by everybody.
00:45:39Latino heat opens that door.
00:45:48All right, man, let's do it, bro.
00:45:50Let's say we got, well, you know, we got the-
00:45:52Hey, man, check it out, man.
00:45:55I dropped it.
00:45:56Hey, man.
00:45:57Hey, that's okay.
00:45:57It's not ours, right?
00:45:58No, that's right.
00:45:59You know, when Eddie came back to WWE,
00:46:01he was visibly a different person.
00:46:03We borrowed it.
00:46:05Like, he had a second lease on life.
00:46:07He had a second opportunity.
00:46:09And you could almost feel that he was about to embark
00:46:12on the most important part of his career.
00:46:14We lie, we cheat, we steal.
00:46:17The whole light cheat, steal model was kind of,
00:46:20just came about as a joke, almost.
00:46:22We're here to clean your pool.
00:46:23Oh, I didn't order any pool, boys.
00:46:26Not clean your pool, fix your pool.
00:46:27That's right, Senorita.
00:46:29We talked to Vince McMahon and said, you know,
00:46:30we wanna do these vignettes
00:46:32about us lying, cheating, and stealing.
00:46:34Are you boys almost done?
00:46:35Oh, yeah, Grandma, just a couple more ticks.
00:46:38What do you say to a little wager here?
00:46:40Winner takes all.
00:46:43And the fans, they caught on to that.
00:46:46But instead of hating us, they loved us for it, you know?
00:46:49The keys?
00:46:50Yeah, come on, all.
00:46:52Give me that.
00:46:53Because our bottle was, yeah, we lie, we cheat, we steal,
00:46:56but at least we're honest about it.
00:46:57Hey, is that a Rolex, bro?
00:46:59I don't know.
00:47:00I said, what are you gonna do with that?
00:47:02Some of them were like, oh, this is cool, this is awesome.
00:47:04And then, of course, you got the ones that are like,
00:47:06oh, really, this is what we got?
00:47:08This is our representation?
00:47:09Eddie Guerrero was able to take stereotypes
00:47:13that most Mexican-Americans or Chicanos
00:47:17would normally find offensive
00:47:19and turn them into qualities
00:47:22and put the joke that you would think you would put on him
00:47:25back in your face with a smile on his.
00:47:29Don't forget, we take plastic too.
00:47:32Come on.
00:47:33You had to love everything they did.
00:47:35I felt y'all were like the rednecks
00:47:38you guys did with the babies.
00:47:39Oh, thanks.
00:47:40Yeah, we're gonna-
00:47:41Because the way Eddie did it,
00:47:44you would watch how he would win
00:47:47and the creative finishes.
00:47:48Look at this.
00:47:50Look at this fucking guy.
00:47:51He's cheated, but in a way where it was endearing
00:47:54and it was fun and the result was a performance
00:47:58that everybody was entertained by.
00:48:00He took lie, cheat, and steal
00:48:02and made those three words okay.
00:48:03And that's how good a performer Eddie Guerrero was.
00:48:07He was just so endearing.
00:48:08You couldn't help but cheer for his smile.
00:48:12I'm half Mexican.
00:48:14He was just such a different hero for the culture.
00:48:17Eddie, let's go.
00:48:18Toilet paper in here.
00:48:19Come on.
00:48:20You gotta do this to me.
00:48:21You could tell he was having fun
00:48:23because he knew that we were enjoying it as fans
00:48:26and he really loved to make us smile.
00:48:29What the, what the hell's he doing?
00:48:31I'll tell you what he's doing.
00:48:32Eddie just got Carlito and Jesus kicked out of the arena.
00:48:37Every time that Eddie was put into a situation,
00:48:41Eddie stole the show.
00:48:43Can't even see Eddie, he's in a swarm of humanity over here.
00:48:46I can't remember the last time I've seen
00:48:48an entrance like this.
00:48:49When you talk about Eddie Guerrero,
00:48:51you can't just say, oh my God,
00:48:52what a great Mexican star he was.
00:48:54That wasn't the case.
00:48:56We have a mega star who happened to be Hispanic.
00:49:00Eddie had been clean for two years
00:49:04and he had proven himself to the point
00:49:07that the WWE decided it was time to go all the way
00:49:11with Eddie Guerrero.
00:49:12Orale, mi raza!
00:49:22Ladies and gentlemen, the man who in 10 days
00:49:25will be Brock Lesnar's for the WWE title at No Way Out,
00:49:29Eddie Guerrero!
00:49:35Eddie's greatest moments were where
00:49:37he stopped being so tough
00:49:39and began to wear his heart on his sleeve
00:49:42and connect with the audience one set of eyes at a time.
00:49:49You knew him as a person, a real person.
00:49:54Eddie had talked about his addiction,
00:49:55talked about his recovery, and it was out there.
00:49:59The only thing I have going for me
00:50:01is that every obstacle that's been put in front of me,
00:50:05I have overcome.
00:50:06So it's therapeutic to go out and tell the story
00:50:09and be able to relate to the audience
00:50:11that may have gone through a lot of those same issues.
00:50:14Orale, Eddie!
00:50:16Those personal demons that you battle every day,
00:50:20they're too strong for you!
00:50:22You can't beat them!
00:50:23He had such intensity, not just in the language,
00:50:27but like his face was working
00:50:29to get these emotions of anger or frustration across.
00:50:34You'll never gain your kids back!
00:50:37You can't do it, Eddie!
00:50:39You're no one, no it is not!
00:50:42Being humbled by life and not being shaken by that,
00:50:47I think that's empowering.
00:50:48Listen here, addict!
00:50:54Come this Sunday at No Way Out,
00:50:57you're not fighting the odds, Eddie.
00:51:00You're fighting me.
00:51:01Truth is, Brock, I am an addict.
00:51:05They carried me out of that arena
00:51:07and they carried me straight into rehab.
00:51:11Two and a half years ago, I was ready to stop living.
00:51:16I was ready to give up my life.
00:51:18I lost my wife, I lost my kids,
00:51:24I lost my spirit.
00:51:26And now, you know, I'm actually enjoying my life.
00:51:31Day by day, by the grace of God,
00:51:35I have earned my way back into this re, man.
00:51:41Hey, I've stumbled.
00:51:44But you know what, I have an opportunity
00:51:46to go where nobody thought I could go.
00:51:50Day by day, I have earned my life back.
00:51:54If my story can be a positive influence to one person,
00:52:00then, you know, I don't care about my life being out there.
00:52:04The difference between me and you, bro,
00:52:07is that I'm an addict and I'll do anything
00:52:10to get that around my waist
00:52:13and become the WWE champion.
00:52:16Orale, Gato!
00:52:23He's good, but is he that good?
00:52:27And he wanted to prove that he was that good.
00:52:31For the first time ever, Eddie Guerrero,
00:52:33who's been in this business for so many years,
00:52:36is battling for the WWE championship.
00:52:41I was just happy to be there as a fan.
00:52:43That's one of the feelings I keep with me still to this day.
00:52:48It felt like such a relief
00:52:51that he was finally in that spot.
00:52:53But if he didn't go through what he did to get there,
00:52:56it wouldn't have meant as much.
00:52:58I will never forget all those fans standing
00:53:01and you saw the Eddie sign.
00:53:06They were so behind Eddie
00:53:07because they wanted to see a change in the WWE.
00:53:14How does Eddie Guerrero,
00:53:16somebody who's never been in that position,
00:53:19beat that guy?
00:53:23Look at the backdrop!
00:53:24Eddie Guerrero off the big backdrop
00:53:25and Lesnar's in control.
00:53:27Brock's such a complete wrestler.
00:53:30Strong, powerful.
00:53:31Eddie Guerrero thrown halfway across the ring.
00:53:35He looked like he wasn't as strong as Brock Lesnar,
00:53:39but he didn't look weak.
00:53:41Look at this, here we go!
00:53:43And five!
00:53:43I told you!
00:53:44He hit five!
00:53:45He hit five!
00:53:46He's a referee!
00:53:49So there's a part of you that's like,
00:53:51this is not gonna happen, but it should.
00:53:54And Brock Lesnar,
00:53:55looking at Eddie Guerrero.
00:53:57Here it comes, Cole!
00:53:59Box out!
00:54:00Out of the corner!
00:54:01Out of the corner!
00:54:02Out of the goal!
00:54:03Fire, passion.
00:54:05That's my bro.
00:54:08Come on, Eddie!
00:54:09Come on, Eddie!
00:54:11Eddie to the top rope!
00:54:13Frog splash!
00:54:14Frog splash!
00:54:16No!
00:54:17Don't let him do it!
00:54:19Two!
00:54:20Yes!
00:54:21Eddie Guerrero is champion!
00:54:24Eddie Guerrero!
00:54:25Eddie Guerrero!
00:54:27Eddie Guerrero!
00:54:28Eddie Guerrero!
00:54:29You worked so hard all your life,
00:54:32you know, for something.
00:54:33And sometimes this dream seemed
00:54:37so unattainable to me, you know,
00:54:39that it was hard for me to believe
00:54:43when it actually happened.
00:54:44Eddie Guerrero did the unthinkable!
00:54:47Eddie Guerrero is the new WWE champion!
00:54:51When he won the title, it was like we were all one big family celebrating someone we knew,
00:54:57which we've never met before, we've never had a relationship with,
00:55:00but he just let us in so much that we felt like we all won the title.
00:55:08I was there. I was there and I was so happy when I saw this match.
00:55:14I feel more proud of him.
00:55:17Eddie Guerrero's mother, Eddie Guerrero's brother, Mondo in attendance
00:55:22to watch Eddie Guerrero climb the mountain.
00:55:27We're a tight family, but at the same time we push each other
00:55:31and we expect the best out of each other.
00:55:35It's sometimes hard to get that approval, you know,
00:55:39and I got that approval from my mom that night and it meant the world to me.
00:55:47I knew my dad was there spiritually watching me and I looked up and,
00:55:53you know, I said, hey dad, you know, this one's for you.
00:56:05That's all he talked about was just making it, you know, to the top.
00:56:10I just cried for him and when he called I couldn't stop talking.
00:56:14I was just so happy and he worked so hard for that
00:56:17and I just thank God for that blessing because he deserved it.
00:56:26I just want to thank you for standing behind me.
00:56:33Becky, girls, I love you.
00:56:36Eddie! Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!
00:56:41It truly was a game changer.
00:56:49Five foot eight dude from El Paso, Texas crossing the border back and forth to go wrestling
00:56:54ended up wrestling all over the U.S., Mexico, Japan, WWE and got the championship.
00:57:02You can't write a better story.
00:57:11Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce to you
00:57:15the new WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero!
00:57:22Viva la Raza!
00:57:24A celebration for the new WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero!
00:57:31Eddie Guerrero!
00:57:40Eddie Guerrero, the wrestler or the person, was the same thing for every Latino out there.
00:57:47Latinos were portrayed one way on television.
00:57:49We were always criminals.
00:57:55We're trying to rob banks, we're shooting people, we're killing people.
00:57:59It's rough to have to watch that as a kid
00:58:01and have everyone that speaks the same language as you be a horrible human being.
00:58:07Eddie Guerrero was something different.
00:58:09He was a hero. Not only was he a hero, he was the world champion.
00:58:14The support of the fans has allowed Eddie Guerrero to fight back,
00:58:18fight through all his problems over the years.
00:58:22You know, it was huge.
00:58:25He wasn't just some new wrestler.
00:58:27It's somebody that I've followed for a very long time.
00:58:31And so to witness that whole process was pretty awesome.
00:58:36Usually, I'm a little bit more shy, you know what I mean?
00:58:42But as for tonight, you know, guavatos locos,
00:58:46I can stand in this ring and say,
00:58:49Orale, I am the WWE Champion!
00:58:56Or should I say,
00:58:58We are the WWE Champion!
00:59:09When Eddie Guerrero wins the WWE Championship,
00:59:13he goes from being a favorite of WWE fans
00:59:17to somebody that the world recognizes.
00:59:20Eddie Guerrero starts showing up on mad TV.
00:59:23No, no, no, no.
00:59:24I tell you what chicks dig, homes.
00:59:26Latino he.
00:59:28He's on magazine covers.
00:59:30Eddie is now a mainstream star
00:59:35and a household name.
00:59:37Viva la raza!
00:59:39That's right, homes! Viva la raza!
00:59:44Viva la raza means, like, long live the race.
00:59:49Viva la raza encompasses national pride,
00:59:54where we're from, like Mexico,
00:59:57but also this ethnic pride
01:00:00in a specific region with a specific history.
01:00:05As huge as Eddie became both nationally and internationally,
01:00:09nowhere was he a bigger star
01:00:12than at home in El Paso, Texas.
01:00:16You know, there's not a lot to do,
01:00:18but the people there are so homey and loving.
01:00:21They're just very family-orientated people.
01:00:25When you go there, man, they just greet you with open arms.
01:00:29Thank you!
01:00:30You're welcome, you're welcome.
01:00:33Eddie was one of the guys.
01:00:35I love Eddie!
01:00:38Around here, actually, around downtown,
01:00:40and somebody recognized him,
01:00:42and they were driving their car, and they honked, and they yelled,
01:00:45Eddie!
01:00:48That's the type of guy that we as El Pasos
01:00:51envision Eddie to be, one of us.
01:00:54Chico's Tacos is right here, home.
01:00:56See the guy with the hat?
01:00:58And to have seen one of us triumph
01:01:01in prime-time American cable was a treat.
01:01:06We gotta go in and have a taco.
01:01:08In El Paso, there's a lot of family trauma,
01:01:11whether it be because of a lack of a father figure,
01:01:14drug use, alcoholism, which are all prevalent
01:01:17due to our proximity to a border where drugs run rampant.
01:01:24It's very important for a young kid
01:01:27to see somebody who looks like him,
01:01:30somebody who speaks the language that he does,
01:01:33and be able to say, I can do that, too.
01:01:36And that's very profound, very powerful.
01:01:39Okay, who wants some tacos?
01:01:41Everybody wants some tacos?
01:01:44The way he treats people and how he prioritizes his life,
01:01:48I learn from him, you know, what life is all about.
01:01:53He's just a big kid, and he has a good young heart.
01:01:56I'm getting ready to start making our Chico's Tacos.
01:02:01He was really my first hero.
01:02:03At that point, not a lot of people got out of here.
01:02:07I guess the most infamous person to come out of here at that point in the 80s
01:02:11was Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker.
01:02:14So, once Eddie Guerrero made it, not just out of here,
01:02:18but, you know, to the highest levels of wrestling,
01:02:21and he's the world champion, that meant something.
01:02:33He was the first individual from El Paso
01:02:36who a lot of people saw at the county Coliseum on Friday nights as a teenager
01:02:41make it into primetime on Monday nights.
01:02:44So it's very organic.
01:02:46It's funny, because this is the area of the Coliseum, man,
01:02:50where my dad used to have the wrestling.
01:02:53I've wrestled back in El Paso ever since I've been in WWE,
01:02:57but never in all my life did I wrestle in the Coliseum.
01:03:03This is where my dad held the wrestling for, god, 12 years, I think, straight.
01:03:08You know, I've been here and, you know, done all of it.
01:03:11Set up the ring, you know,
01:03:13you know, pass out flyers, sell tickets,
01:03:16you know, run the contracts back and forth to the boys.
01:03:21It's the first time I'm going to be wrestling in it.
01:03:26Man, it's not just special, it's like, wow.
01:03:30Full circle.
01:03:33Full circle.
01:03:59And he won the big one, the WWE Championship.
01:04:02And there was not a way that you could be in El Paso and not feel a sense of pride.
01:04:09I never treated him as Latino or as a wrestler.
01:04:14He was my friend.
01:04:16I was so happy that he had just come full circle.
01:04:20He was the first wrestler from El Paso to have reached the highest level of wrestling
01:04:25at a time where there was a bunch of superstars.
01:04:30But Eddie made it in one of the most competitive times ever.
01:04:34How does it feel to be world champion, homie?
01:04:42And it's testament to that.
01:04:43How does it feel to be world champion, homie?
01:04:49And it's testament to the grit and enthusiasm
01:04:51that people from El Paso bring to their respective industries.
01:04:55See, because the way I look at it, Holmes, this isn't mine, it's yours.
01:05:04El Paso Coliseum, I not only came back as a wrestler,
01:05:09I came back as your champion.
01:05:14There's something that I've realized.
01:05:17Carrying the belt is a lot harder than just getting it.
01:05:26When I lost it all, when I lost my family, when I lost this job,
01:05:30I could go back and I could reflect on everything that I've done.
01:05:34And, you know, when I sobered up, you know, I asked God, I said,
01:05:40God, you know, if I ever get the opportunity to go back to WWE,
01:05:48I don't want everything.
01:05:50All I want is the opportunity to say I did my best.
01:05:54I gave it everything I had.
01:05:57And today I can say that.
01:06:02Now, what I didn't realize is there's a lot more to give.
01:06:06But that's a day to day thing.
01:06:08I can only imagine what tomorrow is going to bring.
01:06:12Because like I said, everything's gravy for me now.
01:06:14You know, it's just I never ever in my dreams that I expect to
01:06:21to reach where I'm at today.
01:06:24You know, and I know it's only by the grace of God that I'm here.
01:06:28And the way I look at it is that I'm I'm not here for me.
01:06:33I'm here to serve God.
01:06:34I'm not here for me.
01:06:36I'm here to serve others.
01:06:39After he had went through his demons and he had faced the challenges that he had faced,
01:06:44he had gotten saved, reintroduced his life to God.
01:06:47And it was just like a bundle of joy to be around him.
01:06:50And he would break out scriptures, especially if you were feeling down and out
01:06:54and you needed someone to talk to.
01:06:56He would always find the perfect scripture to handle whatever situation you were dealing with.
01:07:00And by the time you were done talking to Eddie, you felt uplifted.
01:07:03And he was always helping other people out as well.
01:07:06Tell them what they were doing wrong or what they were doing right and encourage them.
01:07:11There was one guy who was just constantly on my side.
01:07:14He was constantly supporting me and backing me and feeding my ego.
01:07:18And that was Eddie Guerrero.
01:07:20He just relentlessly supportive of me.
01:07:23It was getting an education while having fun.
01:07:28Personally, he went through good times and bad times.
01:07:30We all do, but he never, ever sacrificed it when he stepped in the ring.
01:07:35Every night, and this is something that Eddie Guerrero instilled in me,
01:07:39do good work and do your best to entertain the audience.
01:07:44In the business, from the outside looking in,
01:07:49you don't see the toll that it takes.
01:07:52Being a world champion is the hardest part of the business.
01:07:55And Eddie would come in and a lot of times he would look really, really tired.
01:08:02He was one of those guys, behind the scenes, he would walk like he was an old man.
01:08:08And once he went through that curtain and went out there, he was Eddie Guerrero.
01:08:13Viva La Raza.
01:08:15Both these men are world-class athletes, tremendous superstars.
01:08:20The WrestleMania 21 special,
01:08:22The WrestleMania 21 special in itself,
01:08:25because the WrestleMania before, I was in a three-way tag team.
01:08:29And in this WrestleMania, I was one of the three main events.
01:08:34What an honor.
01:08:36I never saw anyone that was so damn good, that loved the business so much.
01:08:44And that wasn't Eddie at his best.
01:08:46That was Eddie after he was pretty beat up.
01:08:49There are master storytellers, that regardless of the movie they're in,
01:08:54you're gonna go see the actor.
01:08:56You're just gonna.
01:09:01You may say, yeah, the movie was no good, but man, so-and-so was great.
01:09:18Once you put Eddie in a story, it wasn't just the story that was legitimate.
01:09:23His opponent became even more legitimate.
01:09:33Eddie took pride in whatever it was that he was doing, he brought up whoever he was up against.
01:09:40John Layfield's a perfect example of someone that a lot of people had doubts.
01:09:45Like, ah, you know what? He's Bradshaw.
01:09:49Yeah, I don't know, he can never be a top guy.
01:09:51Eddie was like, I'll make him a top guy.
01:09:57I think we look back on JBL as one of the biggest villains that SmackDown ever saw.
01:10:06But I truly believe the only reason for that is because of his rivalry with Eddie Guerrero.
01:10:12Eddie sacrificed his own career for me in a lot of ways.
01:10:18And this ain't personal, my friend.
01:10:20Oh, make it personal!
01:10:23And Eddie wanted me to succeed.
01:10:25Eddie used to call me all times of night and say, I've got a storyline for you, here's what I want you to do.
01:10:29Take me back to New York City now!
01:10:32New York City? Hey, whoa!
01:10:36He molded the JBL character, he took it up personally.
01:10:39That he was the champion.
01:10:41And that he, as champion, he should be able to make anybody.
01:10:45And Eddie took that personally.
01:10:48And he can take this guy, who was a barroom brawler, and make him into a world champion.
01:10:55The new WWE champion, John Bradshaw Layfield!
01:11:02The belt, don't get me wrong, I love it, and it's great.
01:11:06And it's a wonderful blessing, but it's materialistic.
01:11:11Everything that I did to receive that belt, that's what it's really all about.
01:11:17It's all the hard work, everything that I did to get there, that's who I am.
01:11:22I thought he had the title for a long time, you know, it felt like it.
01:11:26But he didn't have a very long title run.
01:11:29And I think he started getting to a point where he could help others.
01:11:33He was getting to the level of Undertaker, Shawn Michaels.
01:11:37You get to that level, and it's like, you've made it.
01:11:41And you're helping make other stars, because you're already that star.
01:11:47There was something about him, that one second could be so lovable and so funny.
01:11:52And the next second could just be so despicable.
01:11:56And hateful.
01:11:59He could flip that switch like a switch.
01:12:01He could flip that switch like nobody I've ever seen.
01:12:05What the hell is this all about?
01:12:07It was definitely weird seeing my dad and Eddie go at it in front of the camera,
01:12:11knowing that they were such good friends.
01:12:13Eddie and I had something very, very special.
01:12:16It was just a bond that only we could understand.
01:12:21You are stealing my Latino heat!
01:12:25It happened inside the ring, and it happened anytime we were around each other.
01:12:29Great American Bash, I was sitting there ringside,
01:12:32and they were just killing each other.
01:12:36To me, this is crazy that these two friends that, you know,
01:12:40are in the back hugging each other, playing around,
01:12:42and then next thing you know, they're out there trying to kill each other.
01:12:44So for me, it was definitely a different environment.
01:12:47I'm your father, Dominic!
01:12:54I'm your papi!
01:12:55I'm your papi!
01:12:57That feud was so much fun between Eddie and Ray,
01:13:00when Dominic became into the picture of this custody battle,
01:13:03which we were very nervous about.
01:13:06Is it true, dad? Is it really true?
01:13:09When the custody of Dominic first got presented to me,
01:13:11I think it was more of like an idea,
01:13:13because they, I guess at the end of the day,
01:13:15they needed my green light if I wanted to do it.
01:13:17And my dad told me, he's like, hey, they're going to pay you.
01:13:21You won't have to go to school.
01:13:23And I was like, huh, I won't have to go to school.
01:13:25We went to a park, and there's a huge camera crew there,
01:13:30and they had a bunch of actors' kids for the background.
01:13:33And I started getting a little embarrassed,
01:13:35and I was like, I don't know if I want to do this.
01:13:37Hey, Dominic, come here, man! Come here!
01:13:39Yeah!
01:13:41And then Eddie was like, come on, mijo, it'll be okay.
01:13:43So I was like, all right.
01:13:45You want some candy?
01:13:47So we started filming, and I just remember after every take,
01:13:49and even in between takes, Eddie would give me some Twizzlers
01:13:52and some candy in between,
01:13:53just to kind of help the time fly by.
01:13:55And it was always a good time with him.
01:13:57Yeah.
01:13:59It was a story that was beyond what we could ever imagine.
01:14:01Eddie Guerrero, Ray Mysterio,
01:14:04for custody of Dominic Summerslam.
01:14:08And to work with Dominic and Ray,
01:14:10Eddie had a great time with him.
01:14:12You're on!
01:14:15Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in the history of the WWE,
01:14:19the custody of a child will be determined in a match.
01:14:21He would go out there and give it his all.
01:14:23And the reason I could tell that he would do that
01:14:26was because how he treated me out there.
01:14:29And all Ray Mysterio can do is watch Eddie Guerrero
01:14:31climb the ladder and take down those custody papers.
01:14:34He's in pain, Cole, he's in pain!
01:14:36Wait a minute! Wait a minute!
01:14:38Dominic! Dominic! Dominic trying to shake the ladder,
01:14:40but he can't move it!
01:14:42He's not strong enough.
01:14:44I was in the corner after I shook the ladder,
01:14:46and he was just very intense in the middle of a match,
01:14:48just yelling at me.
01:14:49I know he would never lay a hand on me,
01:14:51but in that moment in time,
01:14:53it was so intense,
01:14:55and I just backed up in a corner
01:14:57where I didn't know what was going to happen.
01:15:00Look at this son of a bitch!
01:15:02Good! Ray Mysterio with the right hand!
01:15:05Eddie really put Ray on the map,
01:15:09as far as WWE is concerned,
01:15:11took him to the next level.
01:15:13Look at this fucking Ray!
01:15:15Ray Mysterio!
01:15:16I was able to display myself to the world
01:15:19on a different level.
01:15:21Eddie gave me that opportunity.
01:15:23Come on, Ray! Yes!
01:15:25Yes!
01:15:27Ray Mysterio has Dominic back!
01:15:31Besides everything that happened,
01:15:34the reason why this match was so special to me,
01:15:37because that was my last match with Eddie.
01:15:43Eddie and Dominic,
01:15:45Eddie had been doing great.
01:15:47Eddie conquered drugs and alcohol
01:15:49and had been living his life healthy
01:15:51and really doing great.
01:15:54And one day, we were in Minneapolis.
01:15:58Someone said,
01:16:00hey, there's a really bad rumor going around
01:16:02that they found Eddie Guerrero at the hotel.
01:16:15If God were to take me today,
01:16:19I can honestly say that,
01:16:23you know, I'm satisfied.
01:16:25I really am.
01:16:27I'm pleased with the way my career has gone.
01:16:38November 13, 2005.
01:16:41It changed my life.
01:16:44I was walking into the Target Center there in Minneapolis
01:16:47and I saw Ray.
01:16:49And he was overcome with emotion.
01:16:51And I knew something terrible had happened.
01:16:54I couldn't believe
01:16:56that this was really happening.
01:16:59None of us could.
01:17:01None of us could.
01:17:03A stunning tragedy strikes the world of wrestling.
01:17:06Hotel security at downtown Minneapolis Marriott
01:17:08found 38-year-old Eddie Guerrero
01:17:10dead in his room this morning.
01:17:12His widow says it was from heart failure
01:17:14caused by a past
01:17:16filled with drinking and drug abuse
01:17:18combined with working out all of the time.
01:17:21It just,
01:17:23Eddie's heart gave out brushing his teeth.
01:17:25And it was
01:17:27horrible.
01:17:29It just was a huge hole in my heart.
01:17:31And I think a hole in the industry overall.
01:17:37He had a huge heart.
01:17:39One of the biggest hearts of any person
01:17:41that I know personally.
01:17:42And I know that he's
01:17:44gonna be missed not just by the family,
01:17:46not by the wrestlers,
01:17:47but by the fans tremendously.
01:17:49Obviously we're all deeply saddened
01:17:51by Eddie's passing.
01:17:53And it's gonna be tough to get over.
01:17:56But Eddie would want the show to go on.
01:17:58And that's what we're gonna try to do
01:18:00here tonight.
01:18:05Even in the wake of Eddie Guerrero's death,
01:18:08wrestlers said the show must go on
01:18:10so they could pay tribute
01:18:12to the popular stars in the business.
01:18:16I walked into the arena and I saw
01:18:18all these signs that said
01:18:20Rest in Peace, Eddie.
01:18:22And as a kid, it didn't quite hit me.
01:18:24I just was a little confused.
01:18:28So this guy walked up to me and goes,
01:18:30Did you hear?
01:18:32Eddie Guerrero passed away.
01:18:36And I just remember
01:18:38everything at that moment just stopped for me.
01:18:40And then I took a look around
01:18:42and saw all those signs again.
01:18:44And I was like,
01:18:46This can't be real.
01:18:53Eddie Guerrero has passed away.
01:18:57Eddie was in the prime of his life,
01:18:5938 years old,
01:19:01in the prime of his career.
01:19:03So tonight,
01:19:05we celebrate the life of Eddie Guerrero.
01:19:08It's different when somebody's ill
01:19:10and you know that potentially
01:19:13they can lose their lives.
01:19:15With Eddie,
01:19:18it came from left field.
01:19:20We had no idea.
01:19:23The whole building,
01:19:25everybody,
01:19:27the crew,
01:19:29the wrestlers,
01:19:31the audience,
01:19:33everybody was just devastated.
01:19:35Still hadn't gotten over it.
01:19:38You'd think after all these years
01:19:40it'd be easier, but...
01:19:44Eddie Guerrero loved this business.
01:19:47He ate,
01:19:49he breathed, he slept,
01:19:51he bled this business.
01:20:08I miss you.
01:20:12I wish you were still here.
01:20:14We talk about you all the time.
01:20:17You inspire so many of us.
01:20:24I love you for that.
01:20:29Eddie is always with us.
01:20:32And so to give tribute to Eddie
01:20:35and to give him recognition,
01:20:37it just shows our love
01:20:39and that we're never going to forget about him.
01:20:44Eddie made it a point
01:20:46to make himself better.
01:20:51And I am very proud of him.
01:20:57He's a man that went down to the bottom
01:20:59and climbed all the way at the top.
01:21:05His ability to connect with not just Latinos,
01:21:09but everyone,
01:21:11makes him a unicorn.
01:21:13Eddie had something special
01:21:15where he brought the best of lucha libre
01:21:18to a mainstream style of wrestling
01:21:21and was so good at it
01:21:23that he then inspired multiple generations
01:21:26to do the same thing.
01:21:28It's odd, you know,
01:21:30when you don't know somebody,
01:21:32but they've literally affected your life.
01:21:36They've inspired you.
01:21:38They've made you change the way you live.
01:21:40You deal with loss.
01:21:42You lose your heroes.
01:21:44But Eddie hit different.
01:21:47A hundred years from now,
01:21:49people are going to look at Eddie
01:21:51and they're going to look at Eddie
01:21:53and they're going to say,
01:21:55A hundred years from now,
01:21:57people are going to look at Eddie Guerrero
01:21:59and they're going to be entertained
01:22:01because he was one of the greatest entertainers
01:22:03that has ever lived.
01:22:08And by the way,
01:22:10he happened to be able
01:22:12to wrestle his ass off.
01:22:17I think the reason he became so beloved
01:22:19is because he was authentic.
01:22:21When you see Eddie,
01:22:22you're probably seeing an uncle.
01:22:24You're probably seeing a family friend.
01:22:26You might be even seeing yourself.
01:22:28And that's what made Eddie so special and charismatic,
01:22:30that he was one of the people.
01:22:32If you go through our underpasses,
01:22:34there's murals of Eddie Guerrero
01:22:36almost 20 years after his death.
01:22:40You know,
01:22:43wow, I've never been here.
01:22:45I've been here, but
01:22:47ooh, it's been a while since I've been here.
01:22:49Wow, check it out.
01:22:52You come out here, man,
01:22:54you see these murals,
01:22:56and 2,000 years from now,
01:22:58this may still be standing up
01:23:00like ruins.
01:23:02They'll be looking at this like our art.
01:23:07There's a lot of things
01:23:09I wish my dad could have saw.
01:23:12Like winning the WWE Championship.
01:23:15These are days I wish
01:23:17he could have been there.
01:23:19You know,
01:23:20I always wanted to make my dad happy.
01:23:22I think every child wants to,
01:23:24strives for that.
01:23:26And I got my mom,
01:23:28and I got my kids,
01:23:30and my family.
01:23:32These are days that you just wish,
01:23:34I wish my dad could have seen.
01:23:36This is a dream I'm living with my dad.