Interesting line from the torch

[snuffbox 0]

Rulon Gardner nearly froze to death...that was news for a day or two. I already mentioned the mainstream ignoring boxing (and other sports as well) gold medalists...its not really that big deal outside of those people who really follow sports closely.

 

Whats the numbers on amateur wheightlifters dying young? Because Im guessing some do, and the mainstream news aint covering it...

[fisticuffs 0]

This is very disturbing news and I don't even want to speculate.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

My brother doesn't really follow wrestling yet he recognized Angle when he saw him on TV one day. I was watching wrestling and he walked in, my brother knows who the Rock is obviously, and he said, "who's Rock fighting? Oh it's Kurt Angle."

[Guest BillyTheStud]

Personally I think this story is sensationalist bullshit, but I do worry about Angle sometimes, he really needs to consider retirement...

[naiwf 0]

Rulon Gardner nearly froze to death...that was news for a day or two. I already mentioned the mainstream ignoring boxing (and other sports as well) gold medalists...its not really that big deal outside of those people who really follow sports closely.

 

Whats the numbers on amateur wheightlifters dying young? Because Im guessing some do, and the mainstream news aint covering it...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

But Rulon Gardner never did anything outside of amateur wrestling. Kurt Angle is a prominent person in an internationally known wrestling company. Trying to compare the two is laughable. We're not trying to say that if a luge gold medalist died it would be a big deal, but because Angle was a legit athlete who is on TV every week, if he died from steroid related activities it would be, because he clearly never failed a test in his amateur days. For him to die from complications related to steroids or something along those lines would firmly point the finger at his pro wrestling days and that would be a major story.

[snuffbox 0]

My stepfather knew of Eddie Guerrero...he hates wrestling and has never watched 10 minutes worth in his life.

 

When family members watch/talk about something alot others (aunts/uncles/siblings/parents) will catch on to certain aspects of it. This is not evidence that these people are popularly known in the mainstream.

[Guest]

There isn't any reason to speculate until it actually happens (if it does).

[buffybeast 0]

After watching "Breaking Bonaduce" on VH-1, I'll say its Angle because he has that roid rage look and his wife left him.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This is slightly off topic but... what happened with Angle and his wife? I read she left him because he slept with Dawn Marie. Is this true? I've been away from wrestling for over one year.

[benoit4hor 0]

The sad thing is that from all the stuff I've heard this week, Eddie Guerrero would have been the guy who would get in Angles(or whoever's) ear.

Possibly helping them overcome their problems.

[geniusMoment 0]

"Born to the Ring"

By Bruce Mitchell, Torch columnist

Originally published November 19, 2005

Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #887

 

"He always amazed me because he was in such pain, but when he went through that curtain the pain went away."

-Batista - Raw 11/14/05

 

Eddie Guerrero should have been a natural.

 

After all, he was born to the ring. His father, Gory Guerrero, was one of Mexico's top stars and most respected workers. His brother Chavo was the top babyface star in Los Angeles when Eddie was growing up. His other brothers Mando and Hector (who Eddie resembled so) wrestled a style that incorporated both lucha and mainstream in the '80s and was years ahead of its time.

 

As a kid Eddie got so much instruction and practice in the Guerrero family backyard ring that when he and his nephew Chavo would climb into a real one during intermission at his father's El Paso shows, fans would stay in their seats rather than miss the action.

 

Then there was his natural instinct for how to put together a chain of moves, of when to do what and when not to do anything at all, and the natural charisma that demanded fans pay attention. Eddie Guerrero had an acting talent that went beyond the typical big gesture overacting even the best wrestling performers relied on. Eddie could stop a match or a skit with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. He could make you believe he was a low life's low-life or he was the most fun you'd ever have or a serious athlete on the cusp of a major championship.

 

Just as important, he also had the resume. Eddie Guerrero got his Pro Wrestling Ph.D. touring the world and mastering the styles of the three wrestling countries: Mexico, Japan, and the United States. He was half of a Mexican box office sensation in the legendary Los Gringo Locos tag team with the late Art Barr. He worked as Black Tiger in Japan against the Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) a program that started a professional and personal friendship that would raise in ring standards around the world that would end in one's death and the other, considered the toughest man in the sport, breaking down on national television in a moment so personal it should never have aired.

 

But that's getting ahead of the story, and past the happy ending.

 

Eddie Guerrero should have been a natural.

 

But he wasn't.

 

Eddie Guerrero was too small, too short, too thin to be a star in the U.S. Well, that's not true. Eddie Guerrero was too small to just get a job, at least with either of the two national wrestling companies, WCW or the WWF. No matter what else Eddie Guerrero brought to the craft, he wasn't even going to get the opportunity in that era's wrestling world.

 

You see, Vince McMahon had a vision of what a professional wrestler should be. Hulk Hogan and The Road Warriors personified that vision. The fans ratified it. Eddie Guerrero didn't come close.

 

It's not every wrestler that I know exactly where and when I saw him for the first time, but I sure know where and when I first saw Eddie Guerrero. Terry Funk, who had just put Ric Flair through a table to start their legendary feud, brought Eddie to WCW Saturday Night as his handpicked opponent. He wanted Guerrero for his ability to sell and take his signature piledriver. Eddie did a great job in the role. He was something different and even then he had that Eddie energy. For his stellar work that day he got about two hundred bucks and a ticket home. He did a great job, he had a ton of talent, but he was too small.

 

So Eddie, like his father Gory, went to Mexico to make his name. Before the Mexican economy collapsed in the mid-'90s, the lucha libre business was strong and it was the Chicano baiting Los Gringos Locos team that drove fans crazy. Business was so good that promoter Antonio Pena brought his AAA promotion to the L.A. Coliseum and turned away thousands in an era when WCW and the WWF were happy to draw two thousand disinterested fans to their lackluster house shows.

 

There was so much money in this new audience the two companies had ignored for so long that WCW agreed to run an off-brand pay-per-view featuring the top Hispanic stars just as an experiment. That pay-per-view was the still remembered When Worlds Collide Show in 1994, a show well ahead of the ones the Big Two put on in both work rate and critical acclaim. The main event may have featured famous soap opera star Konnan in a rare singles steel cage match with legend Perro Aguayo, but the heart and soul of the show was Octagon & El Hijo del Santo vs. Los Gringos Locos in a double mask vs. hair match.

 

Eddie Guerrero and The Love Machine Art Barr taunted the Hispanic crowd, "swimming" on their backs, beating up their heroes, arrogantly forcing fans to believe that the unthinkable was about to occur, that the son of their national hero El Santo would lose his mask and fifty years of tradition would come to an ignoble end before their eyes. It remains one of the most dramatic matches of the last twenty years. Art Barr and Eddie Guerrero lost the match and their mullets, but for all they lost they had stolen a show that was almost impossible to steal. Guerrero and Barr worked so hard and so well because they knew both WCW and WWE were watching and they saw this as the ultimate try out.

 

It was more than that, and less. It was Art Barr's last match.

 

Barr died two weeks later (in similar circumstances to Guerrero), eleven years ago this month. Critics may have loved the match and salivated at the possibilities of a team that could get that much heat and wrestle at that level working on the bigger stage but, well, Los Gringos Locos were too small. The only wrestler to get a job (as a curtain jerker) out of When Worlds Collide for either of the two companies was Madonna's Boyfriend (the late Louie Spicolli, who died in similar circumstances as Guerrero). The only thing memorable about Madonna's Boyfriend was his jacket, which had "Madonna's Boyfriend" printed on the back. Well, that and Spicolli had recently put on a lot of muscle in a short time.

 

So Eddie Guerrero, like Chris Benoit, like Chris Jericho, like Dean Malenko, had to ply his trade overseas. Paul Heyman gave Guerrero and his peers a few shots and Guerrero again made a real impression on everyone watching, but the money wasn't there. Tape traders may have loved Guerrero and Benoit, but most wrestling fans had no idea who they were.

 

The day came, though, when a hungry, ambitious Eric Bischoff attended Antonio Inoki's Wrestle Peace Festival in L.A. and saw the action cruiserweights could bring to his three hour Nitro show. Bischoff may not have taken the likes of Guerrero, Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Rey Mysterio Jr. seriously as ticket selling main eventers, but he was more than willing to let them add much needed action to shows that featured the aging likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, The Outsiders, and Ric Flair.

 

For Eddie Guerrero, it was the break he'd been waiting for and the continuation of an unnatural progression, because no matter how good he was in the ring, no matter how fans reacted to his grinning and sneering, the talk in the WCW locker room (and it was Hulk Hogan's locker room) was he was too small.

 

So Eddie Guerrero did what it took to get bigger. It's easy to forget after watching him and all his peers who made their calling card their work ability and not their size for all those years, but Eddie Guerrero carried much more muscle mass than his frame was naturally built to carry.

 

Watch Eddie Guerrero on the big screen television against the other wrestlers and he looked like just a guy who trained hard and was in great shape. See him in the locker room or away from the ring, though, and his unnatural muscularity, the way his skin seemed like it was about to pop like an overcooked sausage, was disturbing, even when he looked like all the other wrestlers.

 

He felt compelled to look like that, even if it was never enough, and that alone was going to take its toll over the years. Compounding that was the talent and desire that made Guerrero push himself beyond his physical limits in the ring year after year, month after month, night after night. He knew he better have the best match on the card or darn close if he was ever going to receive the break that was even bigger than the one he got when WCW let him in the back door, the break that would put him in the main event.

 

That hornet's nest of drug dependency was stirred even further by a family history of addiction, specifically alcoholism. Eddie's bother Chavo Sr. flamed out of a lucrative WWE job Eddie got him when he went on a bender in the middle of a tour, which was no real surprise to anyone who remembered when he used to do the same thing when he was on top in Los Angeles all those years ago. Eddie had the same disease, one that makes a pill dependency that much more dangerous. The now-famous four years of sobriety may be in reference to Eddie's alcoholism, since it's hard to fathom how a 38 year old man with twenty years of ring time who wrestled that style that often, who, as Batista put it, was in pain until he hit the curtain, did it completely straight.

 

Guerrero wanted the main event, he wanted his family to have the financial rewards that came with it, and he paid the enormous price to get them. The skinny kid Terry Funk crunched on Center Stage became WWE Champion, even more rare and valuable in the wrestling business, a real, certified draw who could bring in fans no other performer could and celebrated his title along with his great friend and greatest peer Chris Benoit in one of the most memorable moments in WrestleMania history.

 

That title win is the point where the Eddie Guerrero career retrospective DVD "Cheating Death, Stealing Life" ends and if it's true that every happy ending is only part of the story, Guerrero felt a tremendous amount of pain along the way. Every one reading this knows his story, how the number of pills to sleep through the pain the ring and his opponents inflicted naturally accelerated, how the recreational drugs did the same, how Eddie had to keep traveling, working and taking drugs - the cycle of the road, until a night in Minneapolis came when even his friends couldn't watch anymore, the car accident that should have killed him (like Brian Pillman, who died under similar circumstances), the firing, the breakup of his family, the long road back, the temporary redemption...

 

(Which story was seamlessly folded into WWE's marketing of Latino Heat Eddie Guerrero I Lie, I Cheat, I Steal, Viva La Raza much like Hawk's story (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero) was seamlessly folded into the marketing of the Road Warrior retrospective DVD and the New Legion of Doom revival and crackhead Jake "The Snake" Robert's lies were seamlessly folded into the Pick Your Poison (Jesus, what a name) DVD, which ends with Vince McMahon proclaiming that for Jake, "the best is yet to come." Jake celebrated that public endorsement in appropriate fashion by no-showing his next appearance, much like Eddie Guerrero's death and everyone's grief was seamlessly folded into the week's Raw and Smackdown shows within twelve hours of the news by a crack production crew that knew what to do through hard-earned practice.)

 

It's a deadly pattern, one that has repeated itself again again, from Rick Rude (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero), to Curt Hennig (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero), to Hercules Hernandez (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero), to the Big Bossman (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero), to Crash Holly (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero), to Chris Candido (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero), to Davey Boy Smith (who died under similar circumstances to Guerrero), to Scott Hall (who just got out of jail).

 

Guerrero's championship reality, like many dreams come true, wasn't quite what Eddie had hoped. He was expected to carry the Smackdown brand, and despite the fact he was drawing Hispanic fans, particularly in the Southwest, the rest of what it takes to make a wrestling company work just wasn't in place. Guerrero took that failure as his own and wanted to be removed as champion. He chose to turn heel, even when most fans loved it when he acted up (and like Ric Flair and Steve Austin before him, it didn't take), so he could work with his close friend Rey Mysterio (who also carries an enormous amount of extra muscle for his frame).

 

His acting and psychology were so powerful in the storyline where he stole back his illegitimate child from Mysterio (another seamless folding) that not only did fans look beyond the ridiculousness of the whole mess but no one much noticed that the other goal of the change, having a series of great matches, never gelled. Guerrero knew that he no longer had the stamina to keep up with the likes of Kurt Angle. When he worked with him, he had to cut down the length of their matches. As a result, he wanted to work with someone he was ultimately comfortable with in the ring,. But it didn't work.

 

No one noticed, that is, except Eddie. The Fate of Dominick may have been the best feud this year (and I hold a special prayer for Dominick Gutierrez, whose pain over what he went through over the summer could only have been intensified by the death of his Uncle Eddie), but Eddie was facing up to a harder reality.

 

He was 38 years old, his body was breaking down, his window of opportunity to stay a top performer was closing, he didn't save the money a main eventer of his tenure should have saved, and he had a young family that he loved and wanted to provide for, the same way he always had. He didn't always see that his acting ability and psychology might have carried him forward as a top performer for many years to come.

 

That was a heavy burden to carry for a man who who wore every emotion he felt - his joy at delighting fans, his passion for working great matches, his love for his mother, his brothers, his wife, his daughters and his friends, his religious faith, his insecurity, and his despair on that expressive face for everyone to see.

 

And then, like so many times before, that burden was lifted off his shoulders forever.

 

"If my story can be a positive influence to one person..." said Eddie Guerrero on "Cheating Death, Stealing Life."

 

The problem with stealing is sooner or later you get caught.

 

Bruce Mitchell has been a Torch columnist since September 1990. He recommends "The Plot Against America" by Phillip Roth for your reading pleasure. You can hear him every weekend in the Bruce Mitchell Audio Update at the Torch VIP website (PWTorch.com/members).

 

 

I usually do not do this, but that was Bruce Mitchell's column on Eddy, I thought it was a good read.

[snuffbox 0]

Great essay...thanks for posting that.

[CBright7831 0]

If Angle dies, I'm just going to quit.

 

The fact that Kurt went from hating professional wrestling as a whole to loving the business so much he would throw away his body and his family just so he can wrestle is amazing.

[cabbageboy 0]

I'm still trying to figure out who that cryptic remark was pertaining to. I'd almost have to say Steve Austin if he counts as actually being on the roster these days. He just seems like someone that is going to end up in a bad way sooner or later.

 

I don't think HHH or Angle dying would even bring the sort of outpouring that Eddie's death has. Let's face it, HHH simply isn't well liked enough or likable enough to grieve. I can't really see myself crying over HHH, or watching countless online tributes from guys who probably didn't even like him when he was alive.

 

Angle might be a slightly bigger news story than Eddie due to his Olympic background, but would fans grieve him more than Eddie? Not really.

 

Flair would be huge but would people be as saddened? Nah. Flair is old, he's had a hell of a run. He wouldn't be dying in his prime (or very near it). That said, I don't think Flair is on a death watch by any means. If he was that bad off they'd probably make him retire.

 

I'm going with Austin though.

[LJSexay 0]

holy shit guys. Why the hell was this brought up in the Torch? That doesn't sit right with me.

 

I will agree with one thing though. If we lose one more superstar this year, it will most definitely be the beginning of the end, in terms of how business is currently run. This kind of shit shouldn;t be happening to these guys.

[justcoz 0]

Ask 20 people who dont know any wrestling about 'Kurt Angle' and you will probably get alot of confused looks. He has not been active in the mainstream and his olympic gold didnt get much recognition in 1996. If this is about him, it will not make the Eddie story look 'minor'. Either that assumption by the torch is wrong or it is not Kurt Angle.

 

Angle dying would be really bad for the wwe...but dont expect espn, nbc, and fox news to change their schedule for it too much.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Are you kidding me? ESPN and news outlets would be all over an Olympic gold medalist dying while wrestling as a pro. My fiance's father knows nothing about pro wrestling, thought that I was referring to the reverend when I talked about Superstar Billy Graham, but he wrestled in high school. Whenever I have wrestling on, whether it's WWE, TNA or the ECW PPV, he's going to ask me how Kurt Angle is doing. People remember Olympic gold medal winners. His win wasn't as pushed into pop culture as Mary Lou Retton but plenty of people knew the name of Kurt Angle before he even stepped on WWE television. He was a celeb in his hometown of Pittsburgh, did sportscasting for local news a few appearances on ESPN.

 

It's ridiculous to even argue about who people would care more about if they died in similar circumstances as Eddie but it was even more ridiculous for Keller and company to publish such a statement. I personally can't see anyone else on the current roster that the reference could apply to. Nobody knows who HHH is. He may think he's a crossover celeb like The Rock and we may think he's a crossover celeb because he's a McMahon and all over their television but I could hardly see mainstream media caring.

 

Then again, if you would have told me Eddie Guerrerro was going to die at 38 years old and the media would be all over the story, citing his draw as a Latino superstar, the importance of his WWE title win, speaking of his family's wrestling background, etc. - I wouldn't have believed you either.

 

This sucks. Things in the business, particularly WWE, need to change.

[Dandy 0]

Isn't Angle in the College Wrestling Hall of Fame? If so, that would be one more reason for him to be well-known.

[UZI Suicide 0]

I agree with the people saying it's Kurt Angle. It's got to be him. With all the surgeries and shit the guy has been through, plus he's always banged up with some little injury, I've got imagine he must be on a shitload of pain killers. Plus he does have Angina too.

 

If he died it would be bigger news than anyone else aside from Flair, The Rock or Stone Cold.

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

If he died it would be bigger news than anyone else aside from  Flair, The Rock or Stone Cold.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[CanadianChris 0]

The only person I thought of when reading that bit was Angle. The funny thing is that they could have printed that two years ago and I would have thought of the exact same person.

 

It may sound callous to say this, but unless someone intervenes (and I can't imagine who that someone would be), I'd be surprised to see Angle around to ring in 2008.

[UZI Suicide 0]

If he died it would be bigger news than anyone else aside from  Flair, The Rock or Stone Cold.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Forgot about him

[Guest wahoo]

Angle would be the biggest news by far. It has nothing to do with him being recognizable by people; it has to do with him being a gold medalist in wrestling. He goes from clean cut athlete in a real sport to sleazy "fake" rasslin' taking him and chewing him up in a matter of years. This is how the media would have a field day with this. They would show before and after pics and just go crazy.

 

This would be like Miss America becoming a Playboy playmate and then being found dead in Hugh Heffner's bed from a drug overdose. It wouldn't have anything to do with how many people had heard of her, just the nature of the story.

 

Michaels & Regal in particular should be quite worried because their lives haven't been that much different than Guerrero and both are in the same age range.

 

I would bet that Guerrero had taken way more roids than Michaels & Regal combined. Michaels also had the years off and Regal had the time off.

[Vyce 0]

Angle did win a gold medal, so he is a fairly big name.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This is the ONLY reason why he'd be given more attention than Eddy by the media.

 

I'm sorry, Kurt Angle marks, as much as you or I may love the guy, if he dropped dead tomorrow (god forbid), to the pro wrestling world his death would not be as big as Eddy. It'd be big news for his past achievements OUTSIDE of pro wrestling. Angle's respected by many, but he's not as universally respected and adored as Eddy.

 

I doubt Angle will or would die. Maybe cripple himself if he keeps pushing himself too hard, though.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

If Angle dies I bet ESPN does one of those Beyond the Glory shows on him where they basically say exactly what's being said in here. How he went from legit wrestler to pro wrestler and it killed him.

[Guest Brian]

Angle did win a gold medal, so he is a fairly big name.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This is the ONLY reason why he'd be given more attention than Eddy by the media.

 

I'm sorry, Kurt Angle marks, as much as you or I may love the guy, if he dropped dead tomorrow (god forbid), to the pro wrestling world his death would not be as big as Eddy. It'd be big news for his past achievements OUTSIDE of pro wrestling. Angle's respected by many, but he's not as universally respected and adored as Eddy.

 

I doubt Angle will or would die. Maybe cripple himself if he keeps pushing himself too hard, though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think, though, for people on the edge of wrestling, who have left over the last five years, it may be as big. The fanbase right now is just that, and that's why a death hits so hard, but I have a feeling that because Angle was involed with the main event for 2000-onward, he may draw a bigger. I don't think it'll resonate as hard, but the impact within the industry and those on the fringe, it probably will.

[Guest wahoo]

to the pro wrestling world his death would not be as big as Eddy. It'd be big news for his past achievements OUTSIDE of pro wrestling.

 

It could be big news for the future of wrestling. Imagine Vince testifying before congress...

 

It's not as if the mass media has some type of ranking system for wrestlers. Unless your name is Hogan, Rock or a few others, the coverage would be the same for any active WWE wrestler. Eddy G to them is the same as Rosey, Orlando Jordan or Paul Burchill.

 

I doubt Angle will or would die.

 

Roided to the moon, probably on pain killers and God knows what else and his family has a history of angina. Ummm, if that doesn't make one a candidate...

 

 

 

 

[Guest xad]

Well if the system isn't changed as stated in the article, i guess unfortunately we'll get to see what kind of an impact the persons death makes.

 

Will be interesting to see in the coming weeks/months whether changes do take place or whether McMahon loves his ratings/money too much.

[Guest Brian]

Damn, Kurt really veined out. I mean, DAMN.

[tominator89 0]

Some of these before-and-after pics are really are really troubling.

[Downhome 0]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

He looks like he's about to pop right there.

 

What happened with Kurt anyway? Once upon a time it seemed like, while he loved the business, it didn't totally mean the world to him and he could just up and quit it at any point. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he totally dedicated his life to the business 100%.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I still think its Hogan cause he has to be on something to still be in relative shape at his age, vitamins and prayers be damned.

 

Vince would never tell Hogan to stop because he's still a 3 or 4 big show draw for a couple more years even if he's not full time.

 

And I think just about everyone knows who Hogan is.