'WWE Smackdown!' Star Guerrero Dies

[CatWoman]

I know we just have to have some "rassling" fans in the Lounge:

MINNEAPOLIS — A World Wrestling Entertainment star was found dead in his hotel room Sunday in Minneapolis, where he was scheduled to appear that evening in a WWE show.

Eduardo Gory Guerrero, 38, didn't respond to a wake-up call Sunday morning, authorities said. His nephew, fellow WWE wrestler Chavo Guerrero, and hotel security at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center forced their way into the room and found him.


(enlarge photo)
Professional wrestler Eduardo Gory Guerrero speaks at a press conference in New York in this Thursday, March 11, 2004 file photo. World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room Sunday morning, Nov. 13, 2005, in Minneapolis, where he was scheduled to appear that evening in a WWE Supershow. He was 38.

There were no apparent signs of foul play, police said. An autopsy was planned to determine how Guerrero died.

His nephew said Guerrero was open about past drug and alcohol abuse but had been sober for four years. Guerrero was married and had three children.

"This is a huge loss," said WWE chairman Vince McMahon. "Eddie was a wonderful, fun-loving human being. Eddie was a consummate performer."

Guerrero was a featured star on the UPN series "WWE Smackdown!" and son of Mexican wrestler Gory Guerrero. Last year, he became the second wrestler of Hispanic heritage to be WWE champion, though he lost the title four months later.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/TV/Obit_Guerrero.html?imw=Y

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. Yes, this is very sad. He was one of my favorites.

Not only did he have a ton of charisma, he had excellent technical wrestling skills to back that up. Just another in a growing list of untimely wrestling deaths over the years:

Brian Pillman
Owen Hart
Rick Rude
Davey Boy Smith
Miss Elizabeth
Chris Candido
Big Bossman
Crash Holly
Kurt Henning
Yokozuna
Road Warrior Hawk

In fact, I can only think of a few (Freddie Blassie, Lou Thesz, The Crusher, Gorilla Monsoon) who died of old age.

[ghostsofgiants]

3. Damn, I forgot some of those guys were dead...

*Goes off to sulk in the corner*

[Celeborn Skywalker]

4. I'll bet most of those deaths were drug overdoses.

My dad had a friend in the industry and he said many were addicted to several drugs.

[REP]

5. Hart Died Due To A Botched Stunt

It happened in my hometown, so I remember it, though I don't follow wrestling. He was to be lowered from the ceiling and dropped, but something went wrong and he was dropped from too great a height (I think I recall that he was acrophobic, making his death even more horrible).

[Bassic]

7. Kurt Henning is dead?

And Yokozuna too? I haven't watched wrestling for a while and it's starting to show.

When did Henning die?


Sad for Guerrero, he was cool.

[Beware the Beast Man]

8. Yokozuna died in 2000, of a heart attack.

Considering he was around 600 pounds when he died, it's little surprise.

Mr. Perfect, sadly, died in 2003 of "acute cocaine intoxication."

[Bassic]

18. 600 pounds, man.....

I guess that must be the life expectancy of a lot of Sumo wrestlers.

[Zuni]

11. woah--wait a sec

Miss Elizabeth, Hawk and Rick Rude are dead? how did that happen?

[Beware the Beast Man]

14. Rick Rude died in 1999 of heart failure ('roids).

I remember when ESPN used to show World Class Championship Wrestling (the Dallas, TX promotion) in the afternoons. He was one of my favorite heels.


Hawk also died of a heart attack in 2003.

Elizabeth died of an "accidental" overdose in 2003. Here's the details:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/misseaut1.html


It's sad just how many deaths have occured in pro wrestling the last few years, especially those of "natural" causes.

[Zuni]

20. that is just nuts

and Lex Luger was involved?

:wtf:

[flvegan]

13. Don't forget 3 Von Erichs

David, Kerry and Mike, also all deceased.

Last night's show was tough to watch. You could see during his segment, Batista's eyes were SO puffy. Obviously been crying a great deal.

Benoit, with Eddie since ECW, I believe (or maybe WCW was first...I don't recall) was really tough to watch.

[Beware the Beast Man]

15. Is Malenko back in the WWE, or is this a one-off thing in tribute to Eddie

[flvegan]

16. He works for them, but I don't think he's "back" so to speak.

He's one of their agents though.

[Beware the Beast Man]

17. That's right. I forgot that he retired, but wasn't released.

Thanks.

[Blackfish]

2. Viva La Raza

he was involved in some of the best matches i have seen.

RIP

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

6. RIP Eddie. You will be missed.

Yes. I'm a diehard fan. Like I said, Eddie Guerrero will be missed.

[HughBeaumont]

9. Last night's show was hard to watch.

Especially with Malenko, Chavo, Benoit and Rey. These guys have been with him since the beginning, through the nightmares of WCW and the stardom in WWE. I'm guessing it was a heart attack. Even though he's been sober for years, all of those pills can do long-term damage.

[MN ChimpH8R]

12. Chris Benoit was difficult to watch

To see a guy as stoic and legitimately tough as Chris Benoit break down in front of the camera was hard to watch. He and Eddie went back ages together, and the closeness of their friendship was very much apparent. That was also the first time I have ever seen any honest emotions from Steph and Trips. It's a tough business and a brotherhood, and the fans got a chance to see how close the wrestlers are to each other.

Eddie was one of the best I've ever seen and he will be greatly missed. I only hope that his wife and daughters will be taken care of. That's not one of McMahon's strong points.

[Beer Snob-50]

10. Last ngihts show was a great tribute to Eddie

it brought out the fact that these wrestlers are human and that this is a show.

Reminds me of the show they did many years ago when Kevin Von Erich died.

[alarcojon]

19. All you'd want to know about wrestling deaths is here:

http://www.wrestlingencyclopedia.com/obituaries.html

[Beware the Beast Man]

22. Thank you.

I was trying to find a concise list, but was fruitless.
I completely forgot about some of these. Man, what a rough business.

[alarcojon]

25. Very rough business

mostly heart attacks, with steroids and/or other drugs suspected. Quite a few suicides. Some accidents and murders round out the list. Quite a few of these folks died in their late thirties/early forties, a few in their twenties.

[HughBeaumont]

21. Statement from Vicky Guerrero - I was right . . .

Vickie Guerrero speaks on Eddie's autopsy report
Nov. 15, 2005

“It was heart failure. It was from his past – the drinking and the drug abuse. They found signs of heart disease. She (the examiner) said that the blood vessels were very worn and narrow, and that just showed all the abuse from the scheduling of work and his past. And Eddie just worked out like crazy all the time. It made his heart grow bigger and work harder and the vessels were getting smaller, and that’s what caused the heart failure. He went into a deep sleep.

As soon as they saw his heart, they saw the lining of his heart already had the heart disease. There was no trauma, and Eddie hadn’t hurt himself in any way. It answered a lot of questions. I knew Eddie wasn’t feeling very good for the last week. He was home and kept saying he wasn’t feeling good and we thought it was just “road tired.” So we thought he just had to rest. It answered a lot of my questions, too, because he was just so exhausted. She said it was normal because the heart was working so hard.

When he didn’t call me last night and the night before I knew it was for real, because he would call me every night. I miss his phone calls. I cried through the whole thing (last night).

I loved his laugh. His laugh was the best.

We just celebrated his four-year sobriety last Thursday. We just thought we had life by the handful. We thought we had it all figured out. He worked so hard to make a better life for us.

I’m just overwhelmed by how people are coming out. It’s touched my heart a lot.

Everybody was just in awe last night in how beautifully everything was put together.

All my life was wrestling. All he did was take care of them and live for that. And I don’t know what to do now.”


:cry:

[William Bloode]

23. I knew it was a drug related heart attack.

I knew so from the very beginning. I had worked in the business for quite some time. I have had to live with many people i know die early due to drugs. This problem is endemic to this later generation of wrestlers, old performers from days gone by have not experienced this. It comes from something i had trouble with when i wrestled. It comes from being pushed to use the juice (steroids). The push started in the 80's and was very prevalent and open for some time. When Vince had to go to court for steroids it went a touch underground. There were no more people openly telling you to juice to get bigger, or faster, but the implication was there and continues to be.

Part of it comes from the publics, and managements demand for bigger and more impressive stars. You cant be "normal" body type and get over, or thats the perception. Also an overly large/cut man/woman will get opportunities people with more normal bodies receive. Which in turn encourages use of these drugs. Guys like Eddie, Benoit etc have it very tough being they are/were not giants to begin with(5'8), and so were encouraged to get as big as possible in order to gain wide acceptance as viable contenders.

Add with that the fact wrestling puts you on and impossible schedule where your body never is fully healed and in good shape. This leads to prolific use of pain killers, so guys can just continue day after day. It ain't no picnic getting beat and thrown around 280 days a year. Trust me, after 15yrs of it i am now disabled due to injuries,
and i was only a part time indy guy.

I find no fault with Eddie doing the 'roids and other drugs. It's a choice he made to continue and try to be more successful. He did indeed achieve the ultimate gold ring before his demise, a life long dream fulfilled. Sad thing is he was scheduled to win the title again During Sundays taping of Smackdown.

I just hope the madness stops soon. It's hell to see friends and acquaintances die at an ever increasing rate. Makes me wonder how much time i have left. It has in fact made me very fatalistic in my world view the past couple of years.

I had not personally seen Eddie since like 96' when he was young and hungry looking to break big in WCW. My memories will be of him from that time. He was a great all around guy and he will be missed greatly.

[MN ChimpH8R]

24. Wrestlers need time off over the course of the year

The stresses that are put on their bodies working these schedules are ridiculous. Fly all over the country, take tons of bumps, up at dawn to catch the next plane to the next hotel - the human body, even one in top shape, was never made to take that kind of abuse 50 weeks a year. It's absurd that these guys have to put themselves through this with time off only when seriously injured. It's inevitable that they will take pain pills to keep going through the minor (and sometimes more serious) injuries because down time can get very costly. Vince McMahon makes a lot of money on the backs, necks, knees and shoulders of his talent. He should take much better care of them. I hope Vicky and the girls are well provided for.

One of the good things about the rise of TNA is that most of their wrestlers are not huge, gassed-up muscleheads. AJ Styles and the other X Division guys are believably muscular 200-225 pounders, not monsters. Their heavyweights are big, but not gassed-looking. One look tells you that Samoa Joe is no 'roid head - he's just a big, husky Samoan guy.

The most successful talents over the long run are seldom the muscleheads. Mick Foley, Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Rick Steamboat - none of those guys were bodybuider types. They got over because of their great personalitites and their hard work in the ring, not their physical appearance.

[William Bloode]

26. You made some good points.

I agree with the idea of time off. But it just does not happen. If you take time of you slide down the ladder while a new comer slides in your spot, and you don't get paid.

It's rough business. Even with predetermined outcomes, and work to minimize the damage done from many high impact moves your body takes one hell of a beating. Many ex pro football players will tell you wrestling is far harder on the body than football, and much more demanding overall. Working injured is the norm and not the exception. You learn to work with torn acl's, messed up rotator cuffs, bad knees, cracked and broken bones, swollen joints etc.

Sadly Vince won't do anything much for the family. It's just not how he's made(don't get me started on Vince). Good thing is this will cause a big run on his merchandise and they will reap the rewards of that. Which in all probability be enough to take care of them.

Hahaha TNA lol! I worked for TNA before it was TNA lol! The Jarret's used to own USWA/Mid South in Memphis for many years. Jerry Jarret has a good mind but is stingy as hell lol! I do enjoy it though as they tend to focus more on the wrestling aspect instead of a more entertainment based program.

Charisma and decent in ring work get you farther than anything in the end. I wonder why Vince never learned that. Look at old Dusty Roades, fat and round, but due to his charisma in the 80's his popularity was 2nd only to Hulk Hogan. The next Hulk, and Ultimate Warrior is what Vince is always looking for. He's always had a hard on for big guys.