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It is Sunday, November 13, 2005, an ordinary, average Sunday for us. For one Eddie Guerrero, he is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, preparing for a super show in which both RAW and Smackdown superstars were scheduled to appear before heading to the United Kingdom for an overseas tour. What was supposed to be an ordinary day turned into tragedy on that day. At 7:30 a.m., Eddie was in his hotel bathroom innocently brushing his teeth when he suffered a heart attack and was lying on the floor. When knocks to the door went unanswered, Eddie’s nephew, Chavo, was called and later that morning the wrestling world was told of Eddie’s passing.
What was supposed to be a super show in Minneapolis pushing toward the Survivor Series turned into tribute matches dedicated to the memory of Eddie. There were plenty of tributes, plenty of tears and a lot of class shown by everyone in WWE.
One thing Vince McMahon loves to do is be a babyface at times of disaster only later to take his “Mr. McMahon†character and find a way to exploit it. The reason why I think he does it is “shock valueâ€ÂÂÂ. He thinks if he does it, it will get a reaction. There is only one problem with that. Vince has had a history of doing this over and over to now when he does it the fans are now indifferent to it. The indifference is so apparent that it occurred again a few months ago. My question though is where the world of wrestling is one year after Eddie’s passing.
I really worry about the state of wrestling one year later. Here we are one year later and once again Vince McMahon is exploiting a sad situation just to see if it gets a reaction. Right now, Smackdown is doing a storyline between Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio doing a storyline about who is glomming off Eddie’s legacy. The truth of the matter is no one involved in this storyline is glomming off Eddie and his legacy.
The truth is it is Vince is glomming off Eddie’s legacy. If he weren’t, he would spend as much money as necessary to make sure Vicki and her three daughters are taken care of for the rest of their lives. He would never put Chavo and Rey in a situation where they are fighting over Eddie’s legacy. Not only that, he would never ask a widow to turn heel and involve herself in taking sides.
As long as Vince continues to exploit real stories, the wrestling industry will continue to be where it is.
All I ask, knowing full well this will fall on deaf ears, is for Vince McMahon to book wrestling angles that exploit sad situations. I hope this week if they do something regarding Eddie, do something in remembrance instead of continuing this story that no one wants to see. I know as sure as I am sitting here that Eddie will be remembered on this sad anniversary by the fans. Eddie’s fans will remember him. I just hope WWE will do something in class fashion.
Jeff Payton
Chattanooga, Tennessee
ke4ole@bellsouth.net
