Eddie Guerrero is one of the most universally-respected wrestlers in modern WWE history. His tale is one of hard work, backstage politics, personal struggles, incredible redemption and devastating loss. Indeed, WWE was dealt a devastating loss when Eddie Guerrero passed away.
But what if he didn’t? What if Latino Heat was still alive and actually continued to wrestle for a few more years? That is what we’ll be looking at here today.
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In this article, we’ll take into account where Eddie’s career and life were going at the time of his real-life passing, and look at what could’ve happened to him had he not passed away so suddenly.
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The immediate differences
The first most notable difference had Eddie still been alive would be that the 2006 Royal Rumble would’ve gone very differently. The main story of that event was Rey Mysterio ‘defying all odds’ and winning the Rumble match, despite entering at #2.
Throughout this match and subsequent storylines of Rey’s, the underlying idea was that Rey was doing all of this as some sort of tribute to Eddie Guerrero. Some called it a great tribute, while others considered it a morbid exploitation of Eddie’s death for additional publicity.
But in this case, a living Eddie would’ve meant a different Rumble winner. As good as he was, Rey Mysterio wasn’t even in the world title conversation prior to Eddie’s death. And since Eddie’s closest living relative Chavo was even further away from that picture than Rey, WWE had no other choice than to go with the diminutive masked Superstar.
If Eddie were alive, he would still be feuding with Batista into late 2005 and early 2006. The initial plan for that feud was for it to continue with a Triple Threat Match between Batista, Eddie, and Randy Orton on the November 18th episode of SmackDown.
Since Eddie passed away, that didn’t happen. Furthermore, there were reports at the time that Batista had injured himself prior to this planned match occurring, so this match would’ve been the perfect moment for Eddie to capture the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.
Such a decision would’ve made sense. Eddie was already a world-champion-level athlete by 2005, and he was involved in a personal rivalry with Batista. Orton, meanwhile, was still growing as a Superstar, and still wasn’t ready to carry any brand as its top draw.
Given Eddie’s popularity and the rivalries going on at the time, it’s highly likely Eddie would’ve entered the 2006 Royal Rumble PPV as SmackDown’s World Heavyweight Champion.
Here, he would’ve defended it against either Randy Orton (who’d have ended his feud with the Undertaker), or Batista (if he was still healthy), or Kurt Angle (who jumped to SmackDown in the beginning of 2006). Any one of these would’ve made sense, with the Eddie vs. Angle match being the best and most desired match possibility.
As a result of this, the Royal Rumble match itself would’ve been won by someone else. The actual 2006 Rumble didn’t have many likely winners, but a few names come to mind: Bobby Lashley, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton or Shelton Benjamin, all could’ve used a Royal Rumble win and could’ve grown as stars.
Had Rey Mysterio not ridden the wave of sympathy brought about by Eddie’s death, he wouldn’t have been the winner here.
A major match at WrestleMania 22
Eddie was a very popular and gifted wrestler. He had worked himself tirelessly throughout the 1990s, but personal problems and substance abuse plagued him throughout. Ultimately, these issues caused him to leave WWE, only for him to clean up his act and return a changed man, while also finding religion in the process.
Does this description remind you of someone else?
Shawn Michaels had the same career experiences. He had serious drug and personal problems that forced him to take a four-year hiatus. By the time he returned in 2002, he was a changed man after having found God and proceeded to have one stellar match after another.
A match between Eddie and Shawn at WrestleMania 22 could’ve been the equivalent of Shawn vs. Kurt Angle from the year prior: a spectacular, technical masterpiece filled with traditional wrestling psychology, deep storytelling, and convincing emotion. Both of these men knew how to control the crowd with passionate facial expressions and realistic emotion, so a contest between them would’ve been a true ‘dream match’.
Here is what former WWE writer Court Bauer had to say on the matter from an interview in November 2013:
‘Being the heartthrob in Mexico and this mercurial figure south of the border, and the American version being HBK. They had never really worked, and you would've had such a great dynamic between the two with heel Eddie versus Shawn. That'd be your 'tear the house down,' high quality match at WrestleMania 22 in Chicago. Vince was like, 'God damn, that's really appealing. We could parallel their careers. What kind of footage of Eddie do we have outside of WCW? We could really do some impressive packages.'"’
Even Vince McMahon himself was quickly impressed with the idea for the match, and this was before Survivor Series had even taken place. WWE could’ve put in months of careful booking and planning that would’ve led to these two technical wrestling icons clashing on the grandest stage of them all.
That would’ve done wonders for both of them and would’ve solidified both of them as wrestling legends.
Next steps
Assuming Eddie hadn’t died in 2005, his career wouldn’t have lasted that much longer. He had debuted all the way back in 1987, and would’ve been wrestling for 30 years had he continued to this very day. But it’s unlikely that he would have wrestled for that long. Odds are, he’d have kept going until maybe 2009 or 2010 at the most.
Eddie was 38 when he passed away. Had he gone another four or five years he would’ve been in his early forties. It is at that point that many wrestlers contemplate retirement, and justifiably so. By that point, their bodies are far more worn down and become more susceptible to long-term damage and health concerns.
Eddie was no exception, being in considerable pain as far back as 2004, during his first World Title run.
If Eddie somehow managed to pull through and enjoy one last run, here’s how it could have gone down. Eddie would’ve won the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista in late 2005, only to lose it somewhere around the Royal Rumble. From there he’d have entered a brief feud with Shawn Michaels that would’ve culminated in a dream match at WrestleMania 22.
Then, Eddie would’ve become one of the veteran workhorses of SmackDown who could’ve helped elevate younger talent to higher positions in the company. It’s highly likely that he’d have entered into feuds with Bobby Lashley, Edge, The Undertaker, and later, CM Punk.
Eddie’s position on the card would’ve been similar to that belonging to the Undertaker: an established veteran that feuds with rising stars, while at the same time flirting with the main event scene and enjoying the occasional world title reign.
However, WWE would not have built the blue brand around Eddie. Eddie was downright thrilled when they put the title on JBL instead of him, as the pressure being put on him during his first reign was a major catalyst in the decline of his health.
After he defended his title successfully against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XX, SmackDown’s roster was crippled by two devastating losses: Brock Lesnar had given his notice, and Kurt Angle needed surgery again. Without any top heels that were also believable as SmackDown’s top heel, the blue brand’s house show attendance and overall ratings declined.
While this can be attributed to a number of reasons (lack of top draws overall, post-WrestleMania slump, a general decline in interest in wrestling following the end of the Attitude Era), Eddie took the weakening numbers personally, which only amplified his stress.
Had Eddie not passed away, there’s no way the WWE would’ve put the title on him unless the promotion was confident that it could square him up against another draw on the card, who would be popular enough to keep the numbers consistent.
In all likelihood, Eddie would’ve hung up his boots by the end of 2009 or somewhere in 2010. He’d have had several dream matches against fellow veterans (Shawn Michaels, Edge, the Undertaker, maybe even Jeff Hardy as well), and would’ve remained a celebrated and beloved champion. But his final feud would be the one to truly elevate another wrestler.
Going out on a high note
Eddie’s final feud would’ve been against CM Punk, a wrestler whose stock in the company was rising quickly at the time. But instead of Punk being the one to end Jeff Hardy’s WWE career (for a time), Punk would’ve been the one to end Eddie Guerrero’s career…permanently.
The storyline would be centred on Punk being his usual, obnoxious, straight edge self, mocking anyone that didn’t follow the virtuous path he was following. In time, he’d turn his crosshairs onto Eddie, a man who had defeated his demons in the past but still had some ‘negative’ qualities about him (lying, cheating, stealing, among other things).
Punk would condemn and talk down to Eddie on every occasion, costing him big matches and even insulting his family (much like he did with Rey Mysterio’s daughter). This would lead to a bitter match at WrestleMania XXVI, with Eddie putting his career on the line.
The two would have a technical masterpiece of a match that would also feature Eddie trying to prove he still has it and wanting vengeance on the obnoxious Punk. Unfortunately, Punk would out-do Eddie in every way, eventually defeating him and ending his career.
With that, WrestleMania XXVI would be the closing chapter not just for Shawn Michaels, but for Eddie Guerrero as well. Two men, technical masters that defined an era and that became arguably the best grapplers in modern WWE history, retiring on the same night together, with Eddie’s case symbolising the passing of the torch to a younger Superstar.
After this, Eddie would stay away from active wrestling altogether. He wouldn’t wrestle anywhere else, instead opting to stay with his family and probably train his daughter on how to wrestle. He’d make guest appearances here and there, especially whenever WWE rolled into El Paso, Texas.
But he’d never lace up a pair of boots again because he’d have made enough money to never have to. He’d still be a legend and would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame eventually, just not as soon as he was in actuality.
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