Latino Heat Eddie Guerrero The Pioneer in WWE
Undoubtedly Eddie Guerrero is considered the best wrestler to lace up a pair of boots. From his techniques in the ring to his funny personality, Guerrero has a legion of fans who love him (and also sometimes hate him). But most importantly he has shown his Latinx pride and Mexicana heritage in World Wrestling Entertainment, and has inspired not only regular fans but many of the Latinx fans watching wrestling. Let’s explore a retrospective of the career of Eddie Guerrero in WWE and how he became the Latino pioneer in WWE.
Note: this article will not be discussing his career in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling for the sole reason that I want to put a big focus on his career in WWE where he had lots of success as a Latino wrestler.
Eduardo Gory Guerrero was born on October 9, 1967 in El Paso, Texas. Wrestling was in his blood as his father Gory Guerrero was a former wrestler who revolutionized the early ages of Lucha Libre in Mexico, and his brothers would follow suit which made it inevitable that he would be the next to join the family lineage. Guerrero was trained to wrestle by his father and wrestled for different promotions around the world.
Guerrero got his big break in Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1995 where he would be a 2-time ECW Television Champion. After being in ECW he would go on to wrestle for World Championship Wrestling where he would go on to join WCW to fight in their cruiserweight division and also to compete in a rating war at the time against Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). Guerrero would be the WCW United States Champion and a 2-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion.
In the early 2000s, Guerrero asked for his release from WCW to join the WWF. His career in WCW was mildly successful, but he was never given a chance to be a main eventer or a high mid-card wrestler. The head of WCW, Eric Bischoff, believed that most of the wrestlers in the cruiserweight division, who were mostly Latinos, didn’t have the size or muscle to compete in the main event, much less compete in a high mid-card match. Even though the cruiserweight division made WCW lots of money and made the product way different than their WWF competition.
Guerrero and other Latino wrestlers like Rey Mysterio, Psicosis, Konnan, Juventud Guerrera, and much more were trailblazers in WCW and ECW for mainstream American wrestling in an industry where there weren’t many Latinos. They defied the odds and put on a show for the fans even though they weren’t given many opportunities due to their size and wrestling style. This mistreatment was more seen in WCW.
In an interview with Hollymood Entertainment, Konnan, a former wrestler in WCW, talked about the mistreatment Latino wrestlers faced in the WCW. “A lot of subtle racism holding back all the Latinos and we all know that one of the reasons we beat Vince McMahon is because those guys were out there doing those weekly car crashes. There ain’t one kid that was like 9 you know 15 years old or even one teenager who didn’t like the Mexican style but you know they were too busy on the air making fun of them like Tony Schiavone and people like that and relegating them you know to just first match on the house show.”
These are some of the reasons why Gurrero and many other Latino wrestlers weren’t pushed to the main event; they were a joke to the higher-ups like Bischoff and only considered openers and mid-card wrestlers even though they sacrificed their body and career by doing high flying moves for the company.
Guerrero’s career in WWE started on the right foot as he quickly rose to the top and won his first title in the company and that was the European Championship. He would then go on to win the Intercontinental Championship before being released by the WWE for a drunk driving incident in November 2001. Before that incident seven months prior he was sent to rehab due to his addiction to painkillers after his 1999 car accident. Like many people, Guerrero had demons that haunted him and through it all, his wife Vickie Guerrero was there for him. Guerrero became a born-again Christian, cleaning himself up from pills and alcohol. He was brought back to WWE in 2002 after wrestling for independent wrestling promotions.
Guerrero would come back to WWE and would win the Intercontinental Championship once again against Rob Van Dam at the Backlash Pay-Per-View in 2002 they would feud for two months until Guerrero would lose the Intercontinental Champions to RVD in a ladder match on the May 27, 2002 episode of Raw. Guerrero would be moved to Smackdown, his nickname and character gimmick was Latino Heat, and he would revamp this gimmick and team up with his nephew Chavo Guerrero to form the team Los Guerreros.
Los Guerreros would have lots of success and would propel Eddie and Chavo to the tag team division on Smackdown with their slogan “We Lie, We Cheat, and We Steal,” a slogan that Eddie would use later when he became a singles competitor again. Los Guerreros would win the WWE Tag Team Championship at the Survivor Series Pay-Per-View in 2003 against Rey Mysterio and Edge, and against Team Angle that included Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. Four months after winning the title they would lose to Team Angle in a February Smackdown episode which began their feud. They would lose to Team Angle in back to back Pay-Per-Views.
Chavo would get injured 5 days before their rematch against Team Angle at the Judgement Day Pay-Per-View, and replacing him would be Tajiri. Eddie would go on to win his second tag team championship with Tajiri; their championship reign would only last three months, then Eddie went on to singles competition.
Guerrero would use the lie, cheat, and steal gimmick that he used with Los Guerreros even though he didn’t like how it stereotypes Latinos, and riding a low rider to the ring didn’t help, either. He stuck with the gimmick but he felt it was shaming the name of his family that had built generation after generation of wrestlers. Guerrero would set his sights on the WWE United States Championship he would enter a tournament for the championship he beat out Ultimo Dragon and Billy Gunn to get to the finals and win the United States Championship at the Vengeance Pay-Per-View in 2004.
Guerrero would add another championship to his career so far during his time in the WWE he managed to be a European Champion, 2-time Intercontinental Champion, 3-time Tag Team Champion, and the United States Champion. For somebody who was doubted in WCW due to his size, he managed to get so much gold around his weight, accomplishing so much as a Latino wrestler in an industry where not many Latinos succeeded, but there was one more championship in Guerrero’s career that would skyrocket him to the top.
On February 15, 2004, at the No Way Out Pay-Per-View at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, Guerrero was getting ready for the biggest match of his career as he was ready to face WWE Champion Brock Lesnar for the title. This was the biggest milestone in Guerrero’s career as he was going to get a chance to compete for WWE’s major championship. Guerrero worked hard to get to this moment: all the sacrifices and hard work put into his wrestling career and also the demons he beat for this moment to happen. He was considered the underdog in this match due to size, and while commentators doubted him and counted him out, the fans were on his side, with the Latinx fans rooting for Guerrero’s win.
Guerrero would win the WWE Championship against Lensar that night, giving him a title that many people thought he would never hold. He didn’t only inspire fans but Latinx fans who never thought they would see a Latino hold a WWE Championship over their shoulders in a company where past championship reigns were held by mostly white men, but he inspired the Latinx community and aspiring Latino wrestlers that anything was possible.
Guerrero would defend his WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 20 against Kurt Angle, where he would retain his championship. He would then go on the feud with John Bradshaw Layfield for his Championship he would retain his title twice at two Pay-Per-Views but would lose his championship to Layfield in a steel cage on a July 15, 2005 episode of Smackdown ending the magical WWE Championship run.
Guerrero’s last few years of his career he would tag team with his real-life best friend Rey Mysterio by capturing the WWE Tag Team Championship, defeating the Basham Brothers at No Way Out. He would then have an excellent match against Mysterio at Wrestlemania 21 then he would turn his back on Mysterio and have a long feud with him. After this feud, he would go on to feud with Batista which led him to a World Heavyweight Championship match at No Mercy which he lost. His last match was on a November 11, 2005 episode of Smackdown beating Mr. Kennedy.
On November 13, 2005, Guerrero was found dead at a hotel in Minneapolis Minnesota. The cause of death was heart failure according to his wife Vickie, Guerreros past drug use was the reason his heart failed even though he quit in 2001. The whole wrestling community was in shock as he was only 38 years old when he passed away. In 2006 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. No doubt that Eddie Guerrero was a Latino pioneer in WWE, capturing almost every major championship.
Guerrero is a big inspiration to Latinx fans in the WWE. You would not see at least one fan have a Guerrero “I Am Your Papi” shirt or a Latino Heat sign being held up or fans saying “Viva La Raza.” Guerrero would represent his Latinx heritage with pride by wearing Mexicana art and graffiti on his attire or using the color of the Mexicana flag on his lowriders. He would shout out his Latinx fan base with his catchphrase “Viva La Raza.” He inspired many Latinx people who didn’t see their own culture in professional wrestling.
Long time wrestling fan Fausto Alvarez was inspired by Latino Heat, like many Latinx wrestling fans who grew up watching Guerrero. “He set the standards for everyone to love the sport, especially us Latino people, and I believe every Latino wrestler can say that they were inspired by the great Eddie Gurerrero.”
He has inspired many Latinx fans to fall in love with wrestling, making him a symbol of the Latinx community. A guy who worked hard to get all the accomplishments he earned, going through adversity, like many Latinx go through in this country to reach the American dream of success. He opened up the doors for many Latino wrestlers like Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, Angel Garza, Andrade and many more to be successful in pro wrestling, a historically white-dominated profession. Guerrero’s legacy continues to live, he is and always will be the Latino pioneer and pride of the WWE.
