Two Years Without Eddy

It didn't even strike me until I saw a topic on a message board this morning, but it's now two years to the day that Eddy Guerrero died in his hotel room in Minneapolis. I wrote quite a bit about the topic at the time on this blog, here, here, and here if you'd like to take a look. After November of '05, however, it was difficult to discuss, as WWE constantly used Eddy's name for profit in the wake of his death, going so far as Randy Orton, in an attempt to get heel heat, stating for all the world to hear that Eddy was in Hell. Since then, wrestling has been in a strange place. Much has changed, but at the same time, nothing has. WWE has paid lip service to drug testing, but only seems to take it seriously intermittently. Rey Mysterio was elevated to a main even spot, essentially replacing Guerrero. The significance is that a man of his size had never been a headliner in a major American wrestling company. The other piece of that is, as he was just basically playing Eddy Guerrero at a period when the company was squeezing every dollar out of the death that they could, his time on top was brief, and looks unlikely to ever be recaptured.



But this isn't the time to talk about my disappointment in WWE and the wrestling industry at large. Today I just want to honor the greatest wrestler I ever saw. I still miss Eddy, and I probably always will. I've found a new favorite wrestler since then, but it's never going to be the same. It's never going to be just another "wrestling death" to me. I won't pretend that my life has been shattered by his death, but it is important to me. I'd like to quote something I posted two years ago, written originally by an admin for the Death Valley Driver Video Review Message Board, Dean Rasmussen, in response to Eddy's death. He said, in part:



"I've come to grips with what I think is important in my whole motherfucking life and one of the things that gave me insight into what is important in my life was the fact that Eddy Guerrero showed me that something dear to me- the Professional Wrestling- is worth finding spiritual catharsis in and that my upbringing and my memories and my shared experiences with with my brother and my friends through wrestling are IMPORTANT and legitimate."



This makes me think of years gone by, watching RAW with Lee and Franz when I was fourteen and fifteen years old, telling jokes, bonding, being a part of something. Wrestling fans are a special breed. I really believe that. And like Dean, I do think this illegitimate sport can foster very legitimate feelings and experiences.



Anyhow, Eddy, it's been two years and I still hate that you're gone. There's never been someone as good as you were at any one thing, let alone everything. Thank you for an incredible eighteen year career, the last eight of which I was honored to watch unfold in real time.



No Jenna today. Doesn't seem right.