Eddie Guerrero: Encyclopedia II - Eddie Guerrero - World Wrestling Entertainment

Eddie Guerrero - World Wrestling Entertainment

Guerrero returned to RAW on April 1, 2002, attacking Rob Van Dam and reuniting with Chris Benoit. On April 21 at Backlash 2002 he defeated Van Dam for the Intercontinental Championship. He lost the belt to RVD a month later in a ladder match. Guerrero then started a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, but Austin left WWE before a match could take place. Guerrero then went on to feud briefly with The Rock.

On August 1, Guerrero and Benoit began to wrestle exclusively for WWE's SmackDown! brand. With Benoit starting to focus on Kurt Angle, Guerrero aligned himself with his nephew Chavo, forming the tag team Los Guerreros. In contrast to a previous WCW storyline with his nephew, Chavo fully adopted his uncle's policy of "Lie, Cheat and Steal" to win matches. The duo entered the eight-team tournament for the new WWE Tag Team Championships and began a feud with the newly formed tag team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. In one of the team's definitive moments, Chavo told Benoit that his former friend Guerrero was assaulted by his tag team partner Kurt Angle. Benoit ran to make the save, only to have himself locked inside a room. Guerrero then materialised in the room and assaulted Benoit with a steel chair.

Benoit and Angle managed to overcome their differences and eventually defeated Los Guerreros in the tournament semi-finals. Later on, Benoit and Angle won the WWE Tag Team Championships. Benoit and Angle then fought for a trophy for being the first WWE Tag Team Champion. Much to Benoit's surprise, Los Guerreros helped him win the match.

Los Guerreros would then be given another shot at the WWE Tag Team titles and the new champions, Edge and Rey Mysterio. At Survivor Series 2002, Guerrero made Mysterio submit to The Lasso From El Paso. With this victory, Los Guerreros began their reign as the WWE Tag Team Champions, a reign that lasted until they were defeated by Team Angle. Los Guerreros participated at WrestleMania XIX as contenders for the Tag Titles, along with the team of Chris Benoit and Rhyno. Prior to Judgment Day, Chavo tore his bicep. This forced Guerrero to look for another partner. He chose Tajiri. They won the Tag Titles at Judgment Day in a ladder match. The following week, Guerrero and Tajiri managed to retain their titles by cheating. In addition, they also defeated the legendary Roddy Piper and his protegè Sean O'Haire. After Guerrero and Tajiri lost the titles to Team Angle on July 1, Guerrero turned on Tajiri, slamming his partner through the windshield of his low-rider truck.

In mid-2003, Guerrero competed in a tournament for the WWE United States Championship. He managed to advance to the final round, defeating Ultimo Dragon in the process, where he would meet Chris Benoit. In this match, Guerrero turned to his cheating tactics, hitting Benoit with the belt at one point in the match. Guerrero tried to get Benoit in trouble by placing the title belt on top of the unconscious Benoit. It did not work, however, since he knocked out the ref earlier with a belt shot to the kidneys. The match ended with interference by and a Gore from Rhyno, Benoit's own partner, who was furious at the team's failure. Guerrero pinned Benoit and won the United States Championship.

At SummerSlam, Guerrero retained his title by defeating Rhyno, Benoit and Tajiri in a four way match. He turned face again by engaging in a rivalry with John Cena. Guerrero challenged Cena to a "Latino Heat" street fight for the United States Championship, which Guerrero won. Chavo made his return in this match, assisting Guerrero in executing his Frog Splash on Cena. On September 16, 2003, Los Guerreros defeated The World's Greatest Tag Team to regain the WWE Tag Team Championships. Eddie Guerrero thus held the United States Championship and one-half of the Tag Team Championships concurrently.

Guerrero lost the United States Championship to The Big Show at No Mercy 2003 in October after a feud which involved Guerrero poisoning the Big Show with some laxative laced burritos and then later spraying the Big Show with a sewage truck. Four days later, Los Guerreros would lose the WWE Tag Team Championship to the Basham Brothers. As Los Guerreros attempted to regain the tag team titles, things began to go downhill between Chavo and Guerrero, and the two fought one another at the 2004 Royal Rumble in a match that was won by Eddie Guerrero.

As Guerrero's popularity grew, he began seeking the WWE Championship. In a storyline, Guerrero's singles success made Chavo jealous and Chavo broke from the team.

During the summer of 2003, Guerrero had begun driving a customized lowrider to ringside as part of his ring entrance. Guerrero would also capitalize on his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" anti-hero image by brazenly using illegal tactics behind the referee's back to win matches on occasion. He was well known for hitting someone with a steel chair (or handing the opponent the steel chair and then pretending to be knocked out himself, just as the referee turned around), or using illegal weapons during the match. Despite (or possibly because of) his immoral tactics, Guerrero continued to increase in popularity.

On February 15, 2004 Guerrero won the WWE Championship at No Way Out 2004, defeating Brock Lesnar following interference from Goldberg. He would enjoy many months of success as champion, which included a win against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XX as well as victories over the Big Show and Rey Mysterio. He would later lose the title to John "Bradshaw" Layfield, due to Angle's interference. At SummerSlam, Angle made Guerrero submit to the ankle lock. Guerrero then allied himself with the Big Show, who also despised Kurt Angle for firing him while Angle was still SmackDown! general manager.

Each week Angle and his new allies Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak began targeting Guerrero and the Big Show. General Manager Theodore Long booked a Survivor Series Elimination Match between a team led by Guerrero and a team led by Kurt Angle. Guerrero's team consisted of himself, Big Show, Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam. The following week, Guerrero was forced to find another member for his team because Rey Mysterio had just been given an opportunity to regain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Guerrero selected John Cena, who was feuding with Carlito, a member of Angle's Survivor Series team. At Survivor Series, Guerrero landed the Frog Splash on Kurt Angle for the victory.

Guerrero, along with Booker T and The Undertaker, then challenged John "Bradshaw" Layfield for a WWE Championship rematch. Along the way, Guerrero found a partner in Booker T. Despite losing two matches in a row as a tag team, Guerrero and Booker managed to get along. At Armageddon, Guerrero and Booker worked as a unit, taking down both Bradshaw and Undertaker. However, during the match, the two broke away from the team and made it clear that it was every man for themselves. Guerrero would then be taken out by The Undertaker while Bradshaw pinned Booker following the Clothesline From Hell. Afterwards, Guerrero and Booker briefly and unsuccessfully attempted to win the WWE Tag Team Championships.

On February 20, 2005, Guerrero once again became a tag team champion, this time with long time friend and sometimes rival Rey Mysterio when they defeated Doug and Danny Basham at No Way Out 2005.

Many expected the new champions to defend their titles at WrestleMania 21, but after encouragement from Chavo, instead Guerrero challenged Rey to a one-on-one match so they could "bring the house down." The two wrestled a match at WrestleMania with Mysterio getting the win. Although visibly frustrated, Guerrero congratulated his partner. After several mishaps in the weeks following WrestleMania, the growing tension between Guerrero and Mysterio finally erupted when they lost their tag titles to new team MNM on the April 21 episode of SmackDown! Although they received a match to regain the titles, Guerrero turned heel once again by abandoning his partner, who he had dubbed "his family" earlier in the show.

Guerrero then adopted a new, somewhat sociopathic gimmick. During this time, he also stopped driving his low-riders down the ring and walked to the ring with a frown on his face, and reverted to using the Lasso from El Paso as his finishing move. At the end of one edition of SmackDown!, he viciously and emotionlessly beat up his former tag team partner, leaving him bruised and bloody after suplexing him onto a set of steel steps. At Judgment Day 2005 on May 22, Guerrero lost to Mysterio by disqualification.

Several weeks after the match at Judgment Day, Guerrero threatened to reveal a secret about Rey and Rey's son Dominik. The storyline (which involved equal parts of work and truth, and had Rey's full approval) grew to involve the families of both men, with both sides pleading for Guerrero not to reveal the secret. Rey defeated Guerrero at the Great American Bash, a match with a stipulation that if Guerrero lost, he would not tell the secret. Yet Guerrero revealed the secret any way on the following episode of SmackDown! - telling Dominik and the audience that Guerrero was his real father. The following weeks had Guerrero revealing the details of the secret in a series of what he called "Eddie's Bedtime Stories". He claimed that he had a child out of wedlock (Dominik) while his marriage was going through hard times. He claimed he then allowed Mysterio and his wife, who were "having trouble conceiving", to adopt the child as their own.

At SummerSlam 2005, Guerrero lost a ladder match over Dominik's custody to Mysterio. Their emotional feud ended at the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown!, where Guerrero finally gained a victory over Mysterio in a steel cage match.

Following his feud with Rey Mysterio, Guerrero was named number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship and given a title match with Batista at No Mercy 2005. Despite this, Guerrero quickly proclaimed himself to be Batista's friend. However, Batista was wary of Guerrero and a series of matches with MNM only supported his suspicions, as Guerrero appeared to have reverted to his cheating ways. In response to Batista's suspicions, Guerrero helped Batista win a match against his tag team partners, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Christian.

Batista defeated Guerrero at No Mercy to retain his World title. During the match, Guerrero struggled with a decision about whether or not to use a steel chair to secure the victory, eventually opting not to use it and losing as a result. Though the two demonstrated mutual respect after the match, Guerrero seemed displeased by the loss. Eventually, Batista and Guerrero would become allies against Randy Orton, Bob Orton and Ken Kennedy. Guerrero would tell Batista that he realized how low he had sunk since being WWE Champion in 2004, having attacked his best friend Rey Mysterio. Guerrero told him that Batista shaking his hand at No Mercy had returned his respect to him.

On the November 11 edition of Friday Night SmackDown!, Eddie Guerrero wrestled what turned out to be the final match of his career, a victory by disqualification using his trademark cheating tactics over Mr. Kennedy. Kayfabe-wise, this was a Survivor Series qualification match which was to have Guerrero put in the Smackdown side of a Brand-war Survivor Series match.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "World Wrestling Entertainment", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki