Original subtitles

- Are you ready?

Eddie, this is Chris.

- Hi, nice to meet you finally.

- Chris, how are you doing?

- Nice to meet you finally.

- Nice to meet you.

- How are you?

- Good.

- Thanks for everything.

- How are you doing Eddie?

- Oh, go ahead.

[Hydraulic suspension noise]

- Oh.

- Try it again, this side.

[Hydraulic suspension noise]

- Does that mean you're ready?

- I'm ready.

- All right.

- This is kinda really where I grew up.

This is my neighborhood, man.

Um, wow.

Right here, the area, the coliseum, man,

where my dad used to have the wrestling.

I never ever in my dreams did I expect to-

to reach where I'm at today.

Enjoy the ride as long as you can because

it's not gonna be there forever.

But, you know, I shouldn't be worrying about things that

aren't happening yet.

Heck, I haven't even hit the top of the mountain yet.

When I was born, I came out of my mom,

I dropkicked the doctor, that's right.

- Here's the fourth Guerrero brother who's name is Eddie.

I've had a chance to see him, and he's coming along.

- His whole family were just top-notch workers,

but I think Eddie may have been the best of all of them.

- What fight, what determination in this Eddie Guerrero.

- Eddie was just doing groundbreaking stuff.

- You want some Latino Heat.

- He was just such a different hero for the culture.

- It wasn't just Latinos who loved him, everyone did.

- Eddie Guerrero did the unthinkable.

- You're doing these great things in wrestling and it's

great, but after you done it, there's nothing to fill you.

- There was like two Eddie Guerreros.

- It's a little snowball and before you know it,

it's an avalanche.

- It's very easy to fall into any type of abuse.

- I lost my wife, I lost my kids, I lost my spirit.

- He never had his eyes open to how close he was to death.

- A stunning tragedy strikes the world of wrestling.

- I couldn't believe that this was really happening.

[crowd chants: "Eddie"]

- Driving around the neighborhood, uh,

El Paso brings back a lot of memories.

My dad had this Pinto and he used to give me a ride every day

to school, and I didn't want him to give me a ride, and he said,

"No, I'll drive you."

I go, "Dad, you don't have to."

He said, "No, no, son. I'll drive you."

I said, "All right, dad." You know?

So we'd get in the car and we'd be cruising.

He'd be going 10 miles an hour.

I'd be crouched down really, really low in the seat, like,

I didn't want nobody to see me, you know?

[laughs]

And my dad knew what he was doing.

He'd do it on purpose.

He was ribbing me, you know?

Describing myself as a kid, I was a spoiled brat

running around El Paso.

You know, I was Gory Guerrero's son.

Or Chavo's younger brother or Mando's younger brother.

You know, I was one of the Guerreros.

- Eddie is my baby.

My husband and all of his brothers and my daughters,

we are wrestling family.

- My dad was a legend, you know, and I'm not just saying that

because he's my dad.

He was a world champion in Mexico.

He was a promoter of wrestling in Ciudad Juárez and

in El Paso for many years.

I used to run around with my dad, you know, in the dressing

room when he was a promoter.

And as I got bigger, you know, idolizing my dad,

I wanted to be just like him.

- He is always like my husband, wrestling in the mind.

- Other kids had jungle gyms in their backyards.

We grew up with a wrestling ring in our backyard.

You know, we put covers over the ropes and I'd camp out at night.

- He wanted to be like his brothers, wanted to be, uh, part

of the wrestling world, and he would just go in there,

and sure, we'll teach him everything.

-You know, we were taught at an early age how to fall,

how to roll.

To us, it was playing, but to them, they were teaching us.

- It was sometime around junior high, you know, there was a buzz

that, uh, this kid, you know, this scrawny little kid, uh,

was related to the wrestling Guerreros.

Eddie Guerrero of the great Guerrero family.

- Hector, Mando, and Chavo, the Guerrero brothers.

- It's hard to live, uh, under the shadow of a father,

under the shadow of your own brothers, and Eddie's right

in the middle of it.

- I met Eddie when I joined the wrestling gym at Thomas

Jefferson High School.

The coach was taking roll call.

All of a sudden, he calls out Eddie, Eddie Guerrero.

I'm like, "Guerrero?"

So I was just like, "Hmm."

And of course, after practice, I walked up to him and I asked

him, "Hey, by chance is Chavo Guerrero a relative of yours?"

- Chavo Guerrero.

- He says, "Yeah, that's my brother."

Eddie would, you know, work out with his brothers

and roll around, stuff like that whenever he could.

I said, "Well, fantastic, you know, sign me up."

Hello, my name is Hector Rincon.

Thank you.

- I'm Eddie Guerrero.

- We would meet at Eddie's house about eight o'clock

in the morning.

Anytime we got into the ring, you didn't see that he was

slacking off, or being lazy, nothing to that affect.

No, it was go, go, go, go, go.

- First, I will just demonstrate right here what's called

a standing dropkick.

I'll jump up with both legs and hit him on the chest, and

hopefully knock him down, okay?

Ready, Hector?

- Yeah, okay.

- Come down from here, come down here, come back here.

Okay, now the purpose of it here, this is just a setup.

- Chavo, whenever he was in town, he would train with us,

you know, show us a few things.

But, I mean, he was a professional.

It was hard on Eddie.

People think, "Oh, Eddie had it easy.

He was a Guerrero."

No, that's not true.

He had that reputation to uphold.

- I remember my dad used to watch me wrestle,

and I could see him shake his head like this.

And he knew I was doing something wrong, you know,

and then I'd tense up.

This was my dad's here.

This is Hector's ring now.

I just get the pleasure of coming in, jumping in.

It makes me feel good.

You know, Hector's got the setup just almost like

I did back home, you know.

- Hey, and then you know what?

That's still the original board.

I haven't-I haven't changed it.

I mean, it is the original board.

[chuckles]

- This is where my weightlifting career started in the backyard.

- That's what I was telling her, yep.

Nothing fancy about it.

- You know, it makes me feel, um,

it makes me feel a little guilty, and, uh, happy.

Guilty that I didn't, you know, continue it like this,

but it makes me feel happy that Hector's done it, you know.

It's like a-- It's like my dad.

I like my dad's here right now, you know.

It feels good. [chuckles]

I think the only thing that if you wanna say a negative was

was, uh, the pressure that I put on myself when it came down to

athletics, you know, especially in wrestling, you know.

Living up to the name-

-and being watched all the time.

Always felt like I was under a microscope.

- Gory could see that Eddie was ready.

And Eddie, he was beaming with confidence.

He was ready to go.

- You've seen the workout and now as you see

our wrestling attire.

We're getting ready for a match.

- As soon as we, um, graduated high school,

a couple of years after that,

you know, he was already headlining

the matches in Juarez, you know.

- I got a hundred dollars from my first match

because of my dad's name.

I mean, the place sold out.

[crowd cheering]

- And of course, being that he was a young Guerrero, you know,

he had to prove, uh, his worth.

- And they had me in the main event and the other boys

didn't feel I deserved it.

And they were right.

- And a lot of the times, you know, he was- he was beat up,

uh, substantially.

They were making him pay his dues.

- Basically, each match would turn out to be in a fistfight.

- You know, he'd come back and his-his chest was purple,

you know, from all the slaps that, uh, he had received.

- You know, having a Guerrero name is a plus and a negative

at the same time.

It's a plus because you get a lot of opportunities a lot

quicker, but at the same time there was no way I could live up

to it because I didn't have the time or experience.

- I met him at a nightclub and my best friend had pointed out

to me that this, you know, "That's Eddie over there."

And I kind of looked at him and-and I said,

"He is kind of cute."

He was wrestling on Thursdays and Sundays,

and I was still working at the time.

So I would just go on Sundays to see him wrestle and, uh,

it was quite an adventure.

[chuckles]

He was just starting out, but to me, he was already a star.

He has a great heart, which made me fall in love with him.

- Vickie's tremendous.

You know, as a matter of fact, my dad-

my dad really liked her, you know?

- When I met his dad, he was very sick at the time,

so I got his soft heart.

Our wedding, that was really hard.

His dad passed away, um, that Tuesday before we got married

and we buried him on Friday, and then we had the wedding on

Saturday and his dad- his dad's wishes were,

"Please, you know, go ahead and get married."

- You know, in my life, you know, I always wanted

to be like my dad.

I never got to see my dad in his prime.

You know, I saw him wrestle later on as he was older.

I wanted to be that person that I never saw.

That was my focus, that was my drive.

Hello, my name is Eddie Guerrero, a friend to you,

but also professional wrestler.

- Eddie Guerrero.

- First time I saw Eddie Guerrero, I was just a fan.

He came from the Guerrero family after Mondo, Hector, Chavo,

you know, the youngest out of all them.

- There is the fourth Guerrero brother.

His name is Eddie.

I've had a chance to see him and he's coming along.

- I hear nothing but great things about young

Eddie Guerrero.

They say he is one piece of work.

- Eddie Guerrero-

- He conquered Mexico with his style, lucha libre

[Spanish language]

- Lucha libre it's like freestyle wrestling, you know.

All the throws and the high flying.

Lucha libre is fast, very fluid.

It identifies as a Mexican culture.

[crowd chants "Eddie"]

- Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.

In Mexico, the word Eddie does not exist,

but that's the way it is.

Eddie, it started with Eddie.

Eduardo.

Eduardo.

They don't say that.

They say, Eddie.

[crowd chants "Eddie"]

- Eddie left from Mexico, went to Japan.

He mixed many styles in one.

American, Japanese, Mexican.

- It took me about five, six years, you know,

before I started becoming successful.

I think wrestling under a mask in Japan was a-a great blessing

for me because, you know, I didn't have to be Eddie Guerrero

or one of the Guerrero's anymore.

I was, uh, Black Tiger.

I stopped living up to my dad and my brothers.

Yeah, this is where my oldest daughter was born.

It's the same hospital my dad passed away in.

And he was-- That's where he was at when he passed away.

- There's a lot of times that I regretted Eddie

being out of town a lot.

And he went to Japan, those were very difficult because

he would be gone for months sometimes.

And then also when our second daughter was born,

he missed the birth.

That was really hard for us to accept.

- I was up in, uh, I was in- I was in a truck stop in Japan.

Having truck stop spaghetti and I called home and yeah,

Vickie had just had Cheryl then, you know.

And I was on the road wrestling, you know.

So, you know, it's just part of-- I guess it's just part of

being a-a wrestler, you know.

You hear about it all the time, you know.

I never dreamt of wrestling in the States.

I never thought it was possible.

In that time it was the Hulk Hogan era where if you weren't

6-foot-7, 350 pounds, you weren't gonna be used.

The smaller wrestler wasn't in style here in the United States.

But that's when the doors opened up for me in ECW.

- Eddie Guerrero ascends to the top turnbuckle.

- I was very much aware of what Eddie Guerrero was doing in

Mexico, so I brought Eddie Guerrero into the United States.

Eddie was putting on a performance that was just gold.

He's already the best of the Guerreros.

He was destined to become a top star in the industry.

- Hooks the legs, we've gotta a new television champion.

- Yeah, I did it.

I -- did it.

The fans loved it.

- You're witnessing the fulfillment

of a young man's dream.

- When I came into ECW,

the lucha libre style had not been exposed yet.

Paul Heyman was the one that started exposing it in ECW.

- Frankensteiner in midair.

He hooks the legs.

Now Malenko rolls over, Guerrero rolls over Malenko, two three.

He got him, he got him.

- Then later on WCW got a hold of it and really exposed it.

- Eddie Guerrero, one of the newest editions to the lineup.

- I've got a roster full of 6-foot-5, 300-pound guys,

and they all more or less worked the same in the ring.

So I thought, "Okay, well, how do I do something different?

I know.

I'll create a cruiserweight division."

Smaller guys that could do all of the flying, all of the

athleticism, all of the, "Oh my gosh, did you see that?"

- Look at that.

- People love action, and Eddie, he brought not only action-

- Eddie springing on the top rope.

- -and drama, but he did it with believability.

- Eddie's work was flawless.

I loved working with that kid.

- When you watch early Eddie Guerrero stuff,

he's maximizing his size for a five-foot-eight guy.

- It's gonna be high flying, exciting.

So don't even think about missing this one.

- The cruiserweight division, they changed the game, period.

Immediately I started watching and paying closer

attention to Eddie.

- Oh my goodness.

- He deserved attention.

- Eddie was just doing groundbreaking stuff that now

is much more commonplace.

But at the time is very uncommon.

His incredible moves in the ring head scissors, would do a flip

and bouncing off the rope and doing a half spin.

- We knew each other from Tijuana and there was

an instant click.

- You're watching right now probably the most talented

man in our sport ever.

- Lucha libre is fast-paced, but he would always tell me

to slow down.

"Tell the story, let the fans react to what you do."

- I think a lot of Eddie's success is attributed to the

blending of the lucha libre style and

the American wrestling style.

You know, he kind of wore his own boots instead of trying

to fill in his father's.

- There's a new United States Champion, Eddie Guerrero.

- Eddie became a champion in WCW,

right along the same time when the nWo became a thing,

which was a spark for the second wrestling boom.

A guy from El Paso became US champion in WCW while Hulk Hogan

is the heavyweight champion, that's amazing.

- This point in my career, you know, it was going great.

It was sailing, you know.

Um, opportunities happened that I had never dreamt about.

You're doing these great things in wrestling and it's great, but

af-after-after you've done it, you know, the feeling's gone.

There's nothing to fill you, you know.

- The lifestyle, the work hard, play hard, trying to balance

that, being on the road all the time,

Eddie did struggle with that some.

- Starts with an aspirin.

Mm, a little bear with an aspirin.

[chuckles]

Ooh, little smoke over here about this.

Oh, it feels good all by myself.

Makes it easier to be alone.

- Dealing with demons is something that I think anybody

in the entertainment business can relate to.

The roar of the room is such an incredible feeling.

And then now you get off the stage and you're

by yourself and it's quiet.

It's very easy to fall into any type of abuse.

- You know, I was already drinking.

I started taking a pill here and a pill there, and experimenting

with other stuff and

just started going downhill, you know.

New Year's '99, we had a party that night at-at the house,

you know, and after everybody left, my wife went asleep.

So, uh, I was hungry.

So I wound up driving down the road.

I was taking RenewTrient, uh, which is GHB, uh,

it's the date rape drug.

I was taking it for sleep.

So I say, actually, I was taking it more for the high.

I don't know why.

I took about three caps, you know,

capfuls when all it takes is one, just to put you out.

- I guess it was about 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning,

the phone rang, "This is St. Joe's Hospital.

We would like to talk to you about Eddie's accident."

And I started getting that knot in my stomach, thinking,

"Oh my gosh."

They said, "Ms. Guerrero, they don't think he's gonna make

it through the night."

- New Year's '99.

Fell asleep at the wheel, and from what I understand,

I was going, um,

I was going about 130 miles an hour.

That's what they tell me.

I don't remember.

And, you know, uh, I hit a curve.

Car- the car started flipping and, uh,

I was shot out of the T-top.

I broke my hip socket, fractured my collarbone,

punctured my liver, and, uh, they really didn't think

I was gonna recover from that.

- I remember seeing him when I just walked into the hospital

and they said it took him like three hours

to remember our phone number.

It was like a dream.

You know, you just dream this, that, you know,

he can't pass away.

There's no way that he's gonna leave us.

And there's a doctor, you know, saying that, you know,

"You need to, you know, expect this, that this could happen."

- Was I surprised when I got a phone call, and was told that

he was in a bad car wreck?

No.

I was very, very concerned 'cause it was

a very serious car accident.

He could have easily died.

- It was just a blessing from God that he-

he wasn't ready to take Eddie.

He started getting stronger and, um, his body started healing

from all the injuries.

Uh, it was- it was amazing how things can happen so quick.

- It didn't make a dent on me at all.

I don't know why.

It-it, uh-- I know why now, you know.

I was of a disease, disease of addiction, you know, and okay,

it wasn't my time.

And then you start feeling bulletproof.

- Eddie took about four months at home to heal,

and then he was ready to go back to work.

- Eddie is fortunate to be alive.

His first wrestling match back since the car crash.

Looks very, very good, in good shape here.

Let's just see how he can perform.

- He still had a lot of pain.

And so to take away the pain, that's when he started getting

into the painkillers, for him to be able to go back to work

as quick as he did.

- I was supposed to be out for about a year.

Being the extremist that I am, uh, I pushed it and, uh, I was

back in the ring in six months.

- What song? The Frog Splash.

And Eddie Guerrero wins his first match back

since the car crash.

- Eddie had a lot of passion.

- I'm back.

What do you think?

- Some of Eddie's greatest strengths that made him who

he was in the ring, can sometimes they can work

against us outside of the ring.

- I'm ready.

- What fight, what determination in this Eddie Guerrero.

- What Eddie did in the ring, the abuse that his body had

already taken, and now you add a really bad accident to it,

it just quadrupled.

And Eddie's not a guy who's gonna phone in anything.

- Look at this.

Oh, he did it.

- He didn't wanna cheat the people, but he also wanted

to feel that energy off of them for what he was giving off.

- I came back too early and my body was hurting.

And, uh, I was prone really to pain pills, you know.

I liked them.

You know, I wanted to keep working, but I needed

to get through the pain.

And, uh, when the pain went away, you know,

I just continued to use it.

It's a little snowball and before you know it, it

-it's an avalanche.

Maybe about a year after my car accident, I took some GHB to go

to sleep, and, uh, it had a bad reaction and my wife wound up

having to call, uh, 911.

They put me on a respirator.

They-they put a machine down my throat, you know, to help me

breathe, 'cause my lungs did collapse.

That was my first OD.

And then a month later, I went to a pain specialist, you know,

to help out with my pain, you know.

And, uh,

[clears throat]

they got me on some medicines and I went to El Paso

for Christmas.

The whole family was there.

And, uh, I started drinking, you know, mixing.

- I'd say, "Son, I think you drink too much."

They say, "Oh, no, mom, this only holidays.

And don't tell me nothing."

They say, "You know me, I'm- I am in control."

- And I guess about after an hour he had gone to bed, but

Mando said that he could hear Eddie breathing really shallow.

Just like, um,- like just deep breaths, but not grabbing a full

breath, um breath of air.

- Open up his eyes, he had- he had--

You couldn't see the-the eyes.

It was just white.

And I-- So I started getting him mouth to mouth.

- He was blue, all his body, blue, blue, blue here.

[choking sound]

[Spanish Language]

overdose, overdose in the- in the bathroom.

- Then they called the, uh, ambulance and, uh, rushed me

to the hospital and, you know, fixed me up.

[chuckles]

I still wasn't done after that.

- I was, um, very scared at times because, you know, I wa--

I didn't know how to treat him.

He never had his eyes open to how close he was to death.

And by me telling him over and over, it wasn't doing any good,

because it would just make us fight.

- I mean, I didn't think nothing was wrong with me.

You almost kill yourself in a car crash, you OD, and then

a month later you're ODing again, and-and you-you don't

think nothing's wrong.

- The return of Eddie Guerrero and he's got

that surly attitude.

- Eddie had some challenges with pills, with alcohol,

and there was like two Eddie Guerreros.

There was the lovable, fun, easygoing, chill Eddie, and then

there was the Eddie that had a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

I think it was pressure that Eddie put on himself to live up

to his own expectations.

Let you out?

Eddie was right up in your face.

He didn't care.

- You made me the star.

I didn't do that on my own in the ring.

- No, no, no.

- I didn't do that on my own in the ring.

- Often times these cruiserweight matches aren't

going to be the ones on that main event.

They were like supporting characters.

They were the B plot.

- I don't care anymore, Eric Bischoff.

You got a lot of young talent here in WCW and

all you do is hold us down.

I wasn't happy anymore because they weren't-

I didn't feel they were using me right, and uh,

asked for my release,

called WWE.

- I bring Eddie down to Vince's office.

They meet, Vince walks out.

He goes, "Bruce, he's so tiny."

And I'm like,

"Yeah, but his personality is bigger than this building.

He's a Mexican Shawn Michaels."

[crowd cheers]

- Eddie Guerrero.

Oh, my God.

What a Frog Splash.

- He's got "it."

- I was just excited to get out of WCW man and I was so excited

about working in WWE, you know, because

Vince gives people opportunities.

If he sees potential in you, he'll give you an opportunity.

And I was so determined to show Vince I had potential.

When I got to WWE, yeah, there was that sense of I've arrived,

you know, this is it.

I was watching a movie, The Birdcage with Robin Williams and

his housekeeper, you know, he's asking him, um,

"You know, why don't you let me perform, you know, in the show?"

- Armand, why don't you let me be in the show?

Come on.

Are you afraid of my Guatemalan-ness

- Your what?

- My Guatemalan-ness.

My natural heat.

- Guatemalan Heat

You know, I was watching that.

I said, mm, Latino Heat.

Take it easy, Mamacita, I know you're here really because you

want some Latino Heat.

And it got such a big pop from the audience that, um,

I felt it, you know I felt that- that's it.

No, no, you don't get it, there's more to heat

than just heat.

- When Eddie Guerrero created Latino Heat and, uh, started,

uh, that onscreen relationship with Chyna, this is where he

showed the other side of him, the layers that he added and-

and the personality you see ooze out of him.

- I thought the pairing of Eddie Guerrero with Chyna was

brilliant to pair this kind of hyper-masculine macho character

with Chyna, who was not hyper-feminine.

- That whole Mamacita and the whole thing, it was just great.

- Who cares about winning or losing?

As long as we all dance afterwards.

- Eddie had that way with people, he would bring out the

best of people and he would bring out their personality and

he would have them shine with him.

- I really couldn't resist your Latino Heat.

- I never pictured myself being entertaining in that funny way.

- It helped him start to really express who Eddie Guerrero was,

you know, along with finding a little character here and there.

- Please forgive me,

find it in your heart to forgive me, please.

- I kind of wondered what took Eddie so long to come to the

realization that it's not just going to be his in-ring skills

that make him so great.

- I felt like, babe, this is a new start for you.

- You want some Latino Heat, baby?

- Let's take away all this bad stuff that's going on in you

and let's enjoy this.

And he was really determined.

He-he always wanted to have a better life for himself,

but the partying still continued.

We had a lot of fights.

You know, there was a lot of times in the restaurants, you

know, the waiters would come up to me and say, "We're not--we're

not giving him any more liquor."

You know, and there was times at-at night when it was really

bad, I took the kids and we went to hotels because

he was just a monster.

It was unbearable.

- I never ever ever once thought what I was putting

my family through.

You know, her having to leave the house because I became

violent, not towards her, just being violent.

You know, now that I realize it too, you know, it was even

dangerous for the girls to be in that atmosphere.

- You always think it can't happen to me.

I'm married to Eddie Guerrero.

You know, we have the house with the boat and

the pool table and the cars.

This can't happen to us.

- Eddie put on a great mask at times.

There were demons, um, that would manifest themselves

every once in a while.

- We were at a TV in Minneapolis.

I remember Eddie walking in, coming down the hallway,

but nobody was home.

Eddie went into the dressing room and sat in the corner

and just wasn't there.

- I showed up to work messed up, you know, uh, they were gracious

enough to send me to rehab and I went.

You know, I went because that was the only way to keep my job.

I didn't want to go.

- I didn't want to be with him anymore.

He was telling me that he really wanted to try, but by that time,

I had given up on all the promises that he had given me

about saying that he wanted to get sober.

He wanted to have a better life.

He didn't want to hurt me and the girls anymore.

But I was so discouraged, and I went, "I don't believe you."

When he was in rehab, I wrote him a letter asking

for the divorce.

- Coming out of rehab, losing my wife and losing the family,

my thoughts were, well, at least I got wrestling.

Everything that I had just gone through the four months, man,

it just like didn't sink in.

I had kind of accepted the fact that I can't do drugs anymore,

but there was still the doubt that, well,

maybe I can handle drink.

I went and picked up a bottle of wine and I took it home,

and I said, "All right, nobody's gonna see me here.

I'm not gonna hurt anybody."

As soon as I took that first drink, there was

a tingling sensation.

I remember it.

I mean, that just went through my whole body.

One glass led to two and, uh, two led to the whole bottle and

I went to buy another bottle and I stayed at the bar and, uh,

I woke up in jail.

- We sent Eddie to rehab.

Upon his release, he went right out and had a DUI, got drunk,

got a few other instances with the law.

- That was hard because the girl saw Eddie's picture on the news

and the paper was all over the place.

You know, the girls heard about a time they got back to school.

- Rehab didn't help and this is now on Eddie.

Eddie needs to get himself straight and we released him,

we released Eddie from his contract.

- When I got the phone call, he told me, "I'm sorry to tell you,

but you've been let go," and my first thing was,

"Please, don't let me go, you know.

I've lost everything, I can't lose this."

I wanted a tattoo for a long time.

As you see on the tattoo they're kind of tied together

and it's pierced.

You know, it shows like it's pierced through

the skin and got blood.

Uh, the piercing means just-- it's a reminder of the pain

I was in when I was going through my addiction.

You know, I was in a lot of pain, a lot of emotional pain,

kind of, and there was that kind of pain, it was kind of like

a piercing inner pain that I couldn't-- I had no relief of,

you know, and, um, you know, um, the only person that got me out

of it was Christ and He still to today, it's the only peace

I find and, you know, His blood sets me free.

I had gone to recovery group,

that's when I believed that this is a disease,

man and I don't have no control over it.

All I wanted to do was have one glass of wine

and look what happened.

You realize you're not gonna wake up-

-you're not gonna wake up with your children anymore.

Everything you've worked for, you just --

down the tube, you know?

And, you know, you got no one to blame but yourself.

It's the hardest thing to do in this life, is to look at

yourself and realize that you gotta make changes.

- November 9th was his first day that he got sober.

And you know, at that time, I was just like,

"Okay, great, you know,

you're sober for a day."

My heart had gone so cold to him, that it didn't matter if he

was getting sober, because I never believed it.

- Eddie had hit rock bottom.

I mean, he had lost his career, he had lost Vickie, and his

girls, and he had lost everything.

So after that, there was no way to go but up.

- From El Paso Texas, please welcome back to the ring,

Eddie Guerrero.

[crowd cheers]

- You know, he was scrambling, of course,

to try to get his job back.

To see someone who was so good as a wrestler, as a person,

just bottom-feeding, you know, and just trying

to struggle to make it, man.

I told him how proud I was of him.

- WWE said, "You know, the door's always open."

I didn't believe it.

I guess they were watching.

- I would call just to check in on him.

He says,"You know, I'm taking it one day at a time.

Doing my meetings, doing my stuff."

And that's fine for Eddie to tell me that.

But when other talent that have no dog in the fight say,

"Hey Eddie's coming around.

I haven't seen him messed up.

He's not drinking after the matches."

When you get enough of that, then we were willing to take

another chance on him because the talent and the human being,

you couldn't find any better.

- Hey, look at this, JR.

- Oh, there's Eddie.

Oh, wait a minute.

There's Eddie Guerrero.

- Nobody ever questioned his ability in the ring.

- This guy will do a little Frog Splashing of his own.

Look at this.

- Boom.

Boom.

- He's always been one of the best, always.

My job, I felt, was just give him support.

- Eddie wasn't necessarily on a short leash, but he did have an

awful lot of eyeballs on him.

Placing Eddie with Chavo was kind of a security blanket

because now Chavo could travel with Eddie.

- We're here in Turku, Finland.

- Turku or Turku, ese?

Get it right, vato.

- Eddie was Chavo's uncle, but they were more like brothers.

A lot closer in age.

It was something that Eddie could lean on, and Eddie also

adored Chavo and was happy that he could bring Chavo up.

- And I'll tell you-

- Look out.

- Whoa.

- Chavo Guerrero.

- We used to play in the backyard, in the ring and we

used to play tag team champions of the world.

- And Mysterio taps out.

[bell rings]

- The Guerreros are tag team champions.

- And then we became, you know, the world champs

and we lived out our dream.

You know, my, my dad, he's, uh, watching from above.

- Smiling

- You know, the family and- and, uh, you know,

I'm getting chills right now.

It was just a dream come true.

What else you want?

- He started living for himself and I was always happy for him.

I accepted our life as me and Eddie being separated and

sharing the kids and the divorce still hasn't gone through.

The girls were always a priority to me and Eddie.

I just said, "You know what, I want to be your friend, and I-

I don't want to fight with you anymore."

We just started hanging out together and having lunch

together, and I fell in love with him all over again.

- One, two-

You know, it's really amazing how, when you lose something

and-and you get it back, even if it's for one day,

how much you appreciate it.

- January 9th of 2003, we renewed our vows.

- Eddie was living his life, with his family.

And I think there was an inner peace there

that made Eddie happy.

Behind the scenes, and in front of the camera.

- Órale.

Whoo, haha.

- Seeing the progression of Eddie and his career, I find it

interesting that it's like he got way more Chicano.

- Hey, holmes, these are some nice medals, man.

Are they gold?

- Yeah, they're real gold.

- What do you think I'd get out a pawn shop for those?

- Get out of here.

- Chicano is a Mexican American.

You know, uh, órale, holmes.

You know, my character.

Órale, vato, take it easy, ese.

It's really a part of me, you know, that those are the guys

I grew up with, you know, and that were at school.

That's who I portray on TV.

You have any Tabasco?

Tabasco?

I put Tabasco in my ice cream, vato.

- In some early promos, he just kind of talked

like a normal American dude.

- You know, as a wrestler, you try and study your opponent.

- But then, by that point, he's doing more of the dropping

in Spanish words and phrases into his English promos.

- Oh, [Spanish language]

You're trying to be Chicano.

[Spanish language]

Let's go get it.

- Come on.

- Órale.

- But I liked that there was somebody speaking like a Chicano

from El Paso and owning it on the screen,

even if it was almost cartoonish at point.

- Can you say more than five words in a sentence without

one of them being ese?

- I sure can, ese.

That's not a problem, holmes.

You know, uh, when we go to Mexico- when I go to Mexico,

forsay, you know, I'm an American citizen.

You know, I'm not a real Mexican.

That's the way they look at me.

You know, that's the way my cousins look at me in Mexico.

And when I come here, you know, living here,

I'm not a real American.

You know, forsay, you know, I'm a Mexican American.

So, we kind of had to create our own image.

You know, our own little race.

- Guerrero style.

Lowrider City, baby.

- There's the Latino culture, and there are,

just like in every culture, there are subcultures.

- He put it right in your face, and he put low riders

on national TV.

- Mr. McMahon is doing his version of Latino Heat.

- There was even a time where he threw Vince in the car.

- Mr. McMahon is gonna get a ride from Latino Heat.

- And started hitting it, and you see Vince,

he's like, "Oh, my God."

He made it cool.

He made it mainstream.

And you could see the joy in his face every time he would do it.

- Check out el low rider.

- That's a bad ride right there.

- It's an expression of art Chicano style.

If you go back to the history of Mexico, you see that there's a

lot of art formastics, you know, drawings and stuff like that.

Low rider, you know, spiffied up, you know,

it's beautiful paint jobs.

You got the hydraulics on it.

We're so just proud that WWE is looking at that now and-and

grasping that and giving the Latino people that respect,

if you want to say that, that acknowledgment.

It means the world.

It's that one thing that we've been working for, and we're

spotlighted now.

You know, that's been the difference in my career is, once

I started having fun with it, man, it just, like, took off.

[yelling]

- Woo-hoo.

- Yeah, oh yeah.

The real Eddie Guerrero is a people-pleaser.

You know, it's a good asset and a bad asset, too, you know.

You know I don't have to tell you.

What's up, holmes?

See, I'm a people pleaser.

[chuckles]

I dropped it.

Hey, man.

- Hey, that's okay.

It's not ours, right?

- No.

That's not, ese.

- You know, when Eddie came back to WWE,

he was visibly a different person.

- We, uh, borrowed it.

- Like he had a second lease on life.

He had a second opportunity.

And you could almost feel that he was- he was about to embark

on the most important part of his career.

- We lie.

We cheat, we steal.

- The whole lie, cheat, steal motto was kind of, uh, just came

about as a joke, almost.

- We're here to clean your pool.

- Oh, I didn't order any pool boys.

- Uh, not clean your pool, fix your pool.

- That's right, señora.

- We'd talked to Vince McMahon and said, you know, we want to

do these vignettes about us lying, cheating and stealing.

- Are you boys almost done?

- Oh yeah, grandma.

Just a couple more tests.

- What do you say to a little wager here?

Winner takes all.

- Yeah.

- And, uh, the fans, they caught on to that,

but instead of hating us,

they loved us for it, you know?

- Easy.

- Yeah, come on, all.

Give me that.

- Because our motto was, yeah, we lie, we cheat, we steal,

but at least we're honest about it.

Is that a Rolex watch?

- I don't know.

Ese, what are you gonna do with that?

- There were some that were like,

"Oh, this is cool, this is awesome."

And then, of course, you got the, you know, the ones

that are like, "Oh, really?

This is what we got.

This is our representation."

- Eddie Guerrero was able to take stereotypes that most

Mexican Americans or Chicanos would normally find offensive

and turn them into qualities.

And put the joke that you would think you would put on him,

back in your face, with a smile on his.

- Don't forget, we take plastic too.

- Smart.

- You had to love everything they did.

- I thought y'all, uh, uh Freddie got you guys

good with the baby.

- Oh, thanks, bro.

- That's good.

- Because the way Eddie did it.

- You would watch how he would win and the creative finishes.

- Look at this.

- Caught the smoking sun.

- He's cheated, but in a way where it was endearing,

and it was fun.

And the result was a performance that everybody

was entertained by.

He took lie, cheat, and steal, and made those three words okay.

And that's how good a performer Eddie Guerrero is.

- He was just so endearing.

You do-- you couldn't help but cheer for his-his smile.

I'm half-Mexican.

He was just such a different hero for the culture.

- Eddie, there's toilet paper in here.

- You can tell he was having fun because he knew that we were

enjoying it as fans.

And he really loved to make us smile.

- What the-- what the hell's he doing?

- I'll tell you what he's doing, Eddie just got Carlito and Jesús

kicked out of the arena.

- Every time that Eddie was put into a situation,

Eddie stole the show.

- Can we see Eddie's in a swarm of humanity over here.

- I can't remember the last time I've seen an-

an entrance like this.

- When you talk about Eddie Guerrero, you can't just say,

"Oh, my God. What a great Mexican star he was."

It wasn't the case.

We had a megastar who happened to be Hispanic.

- Eddie had been clean for two years, and he had proven

himself to the point that the WWE decided it was time to go

all the way with Eddie Guerrero.

- [Spanish language]

- Ladies and gentlemen, and who, in 10 days will meet Brock

Lesnar for the WWE Title at No Way Out, Eddie Guerrero.

- Eddie's greatest moments were where he stopped being so tough

and began to wear his heart on his sleeve and connect with the

audience one set of eyes at a time.

[crowd chanting "Eddie"]

- You knew him as a person, a real person.

- Eddie had talked about his addiction, talked about his

recovery, and it was out there.

- The only thing I have going for me is that every obstacle

that's been put in front of me, I have overcome.

- So it's therapeutic to go out and tell the story and-and be

able to relate to the audience that may have gone through

a lot of those same issues.

- [Spanish language]

"Eddie, those personal demons that you battle every day,

they're too strong for you.

You can't beat them."

- He had such intensity, not just in the language,

but like his face was working to get these emotions of anger

or frustration across.

- "You'll never gain your kids back.

You can't do it, Eddie. You're no one.

No, it is not."

- Being humbled by life, and not being shaken by that,

I think that's empowering.

- Listen here, addict.

Come this Sunday at No Way Out, you're not fighting the odds,

Eddie, you're fighting me.

- Truth is, Brock, I am an addict.

They carried me out of that arena, and they carried me

straight into rehab.

Two and a half years ago, I was ready to stop living.

I was ready to give up my life.

I lost my wife, I lost my kids, I lost my spirit.

And now, you know, I'm actually enjoying my life.

Day by day, by the grace of God, I have earned my way back

into this ring, man.

- "Hey, I've stumbled, but you know what?

I have an opportunity to go where nobody thought

I could go."

- Day by day, I have earned my life back.

If my story can be a positive influence to one person, then,

you know, I don't care about my life being out there.

The difference between me and you, bro, is that I'm an addict,

and I'll do anything to get that around my waist and become

the WWE Champion.

Órale vato.

[crowd chanting "Eddie"]

- He's good, but is he that good?

And he wanted to prove that he was that good.

- For the first time ever, Eddie Guerrero, who's been in this

business for so many years, is battling for the WWE

Championship.

- I was just happy to be there as a fan.

That's one of the feelings I keep with me still to this day.

It felt like such a relief that he was finally in that spot,

but if he didn't go through what he did to get there,

it wouldn't have meant as much.

- I will never forget all those fans standing,

and you saw the Eddie sign.

[crowd chants "Eddie"]

- They were so behind Eddie because they wanted to see

a change in the WWE.

[crowd chants "Eddie"]

- How does Eddie Guerrero, somebody who's never been

in that position, beat that guy?

- Look at that backdrop.

- Eddie Guerrero off the big backdrop,

and Lesnar's in control.

- Brock's such a complete wrestler, strong, powerful.

- Eddie Guerrero thrown halfway across the ring.

- I tell you.

- He looked like he wasn't as strong as Brock Lesnar,

but he didn't look weak.

- Look at this, here we go.

F5

I told you, he took the turn.

- Into the referee.

- So there's a part of you that's like, "This is not gonna

happen, but it should."

- And Brock Lesnar lifting Eddie Guerrero up.

- And now, I told you, Cole.

Here it comes, Cole.

- A counter.

A counter.

- Out of the gold.

- Fire, passion.

That's my brother.

- Come on, Eddie.

Come on, Eddie.

Eddie to the top rope.

Frog splash.

Frog splash.

- No.

- That's one.

- Two.

- Yes.

- No.

- Eddie Guerrero is Champion.

[crowd cheering]

- You work so hard all your life, you know, for something.

And sometimes, this dream seemed so unattainable to me, you know,

that-that it was hard for me to believe when

it actually happened.

- Eddie Guerrero did the unthinkable.

Eddie Guerrero is the new WWE Champion.

- When he won the title, it was like we were all one big family

celebrating someone we knew, which we've never met before,

we've never had a relationship with.

But he just let us in so much that we felt like

we all won the title.

- I was there.

I was there, and I was so happy.

When I saw this match.

I feel more proud of him.

- Eddie Guerrero's mother, Eddie Guerrero's brother, Mando,

in attendance, to watch Eddie Guerrero climb the mountain.

- We're a tight family, but at the same time, we push each

other, and we expect the best out of each other.

It's sometimes hard to get that approval, you know.

And I got that approval from my mom that night,

and it meant the world to me.

I knew my dad was there, spiritually, watching me.

And I looked up and, uh, you know, I said, "Hey, Dad.

You know, this one's for you."

- That's all he talked about, was just making it, you know,

to the top.

I just cried for him, and when he called,

I couldn't stop talking.

[laughs]

I was just so happy, and he worked so hard for that.

And, um, I just thank God for that blessing because he-

he deserved it.

- I just wanna thank you.

- For what?

- For standing behind me.

[laughter]

- Vickie, girls, I love you.

[Fans chant "Eddie"]

- [laughs]

- It truly was a game changer.

- 5'8" dude from El Paso, Texas, crossing the border back and

forth to go wrestling, ended up wrestling all over the US,

Mexico, Japan, WWE, and got the championship.

You can't write a better story.

- Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce to you,

the new WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero.

- A celebration for the new WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero.

- Eddie Guerrero, the wrestler or the person, was the same

thing for every Latino out there.

Latinos were portrayed one way on television.

We were always criminals.

- Hey Smiley.

- Hold up, ese..

Let me get his money first.

- We're trying to rob banks, we're shooting people,

we're killing people.

It's rough to have to watch that as a kid, and have everyone that

speaks the same language as you be a horrible human being.

Eddie Guerrero was something different.

He was a hero.

Not only was he a hero, he was the world champion.

- The support of the fans has allowed Eddie Guerrero to fight

back, fight through all his problems over the years.

[crowd chants "Eddie"]

- You know, it was huge.

He wasn't just some new wrestler.

Its-it's somebody that I followed for a very long time.

And so to witness that whole process was pretty awesome.

- Usually, I'm a little bit more shy, you know what I mean?

[laughs]

But as for tonight, you know what

vatos locos.

I can stand in this ring and say,

Órale I am the WWE Champion,

or should I say, we are the WWE Champion.

[crowd chants "Eddie"]

- When Eddie Guerrero wins the WWE championship,

he goes from being a favorite of WWE fans to

somebody that the world recognizes.

Eddie Guerrero starts showing up on Mad TV.

- No, no, no, no.

I tell you what, chicks dig, homes Latino Heat.

- He's on magazine covers.

Eddie is now a mainstream star and a household name.

- Viva la raza.

- That's right, holmes, Viva la Raza.

- Viva la Raza means like, long live the race.

Viva la Raza encompasses national pride, like where we're

from, like Mexico, but also this ethnic pride, from a specific

region with a specific history.

- As huge as Eddie became, both nationally and internationally,

nowhere was he a bigger star than at home in El Paso, Texas.

- You know, there's not a lot to do, but the people

there are so homey and loving.

They're just, uh, very family-orientated people.

When you go there, man, they just greet you with open arms.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

You're welcome.

[laughter]

- Eddie was one of the guys.

- I love Eddie.

- Around here.

Actually around downtown.

And somebody recognized him, and they were driving their car,

and they honked, and they yelled "Eddie."

- Eddie.

- That's the type of guy that we as El Pasoans envision

Eddie to be.

One of us.

- Chico's Tacos is right here, holmes.

See the- see the guy with a hat.

- And to have seen one of us triumph in, in, in primetime

American cable was-was a treat.

- We gotta go in and have a taco.

- In El Paso, there's a lot of family trauma, whether it be

because of a lack of a father figure, drug use, alcoholism,

which are all prevalent due to our proximity to a border where

drugs run rampant.

- Eddie Guerrero, is that you?

Hey, man, I need your autograph.

- I got it.

- It's very important for a young kid to see somebody who

looks like him, somebody who speaks the language that he

does, and be able to say, "I can do that too,"

and that's very profound, very powerful.

- Okay, who wants some tacos?

Everybody want some tacos?

- The way he treats people and how he prioritizes his life,

I learned from him, you know, what life is all about.

He's just a big kid, and he has a good young heart.

- I'm-I'm getting ready to start making Chicos Tacos.

- Well, he was really my first hero.

- At that point, not a lot of people got outta here.

I guess the most infamous person to come outta here at that point

in the '80s, uh-uh, was Richard Ramirez, the-the Night Stalker.

So, once Eddie Guerrero made it, not just outta here, but you

know, to the highest levels of wrestling, and he's the world

champion, that meant something.

- He was the first individual from El Paso who a lot of people

saw at the County Coliseum, on Friday nights, as a teenager,

make it into primetime on Monday nights.

So it's-it's very organic.

- It's funny 'cause this is the area of the Coliseum, man,

when my dad used to have the wrestling.

I've wrestled back in El Paso ever since I'm-I've been in

WWE, but never, in all my life, did I wrestle in the coliseum.

This where my dad held the wrestling for, God,

12 years, I think, straight.

You know, I've been here and, you know, done all of it.

Set up the ring, you know, you know, pass out flyers, and sell

tickets, you know, run the contracts back and forth

to the boys.

It's the first time I'm gonna be wrestling in it, and, man, it's

not just special, it's like, "Wow-

-full circle, full circle."

- And from El Paso, Texas.

Weighing in at 228 pounds, he is the WWE Champion,

Eddie Guerrero.

[crowd cheering]

- Eddie won the big one.

The WWE championship.

And there was not a way that you could be in El Paso

and not feel a sense of pride.

- I never treated him as Latino Heat or as a wrestler.

Uh, because he's my friend.

I was so happy that he had just come full circle.

- He was the first wrestler from El Paso to have reached the

highest level of wrestling, at a time where there was

a bunch of superstars.

But Eddie made it in one of the most competitive times ever.

- How does it feel to be world champion, homie?

[crowd cheering]

- And it's a testament to the grit and enthusiasm that people

from El Paso bring to their- to their respective industries.

- See, 'cause the way I look at it, holmes,

this isn't mine, it's yours.

[crowd cheering]

- El Paso Coliseum, but I not only came back as a wrestler,

I came back as your champion.

There's something that I've realized, carrying the belt is a

lot harder than just getting it.

When I lost it all, when I lost my family, when I lost this job,

I could go back, and I could reflect on everything that I've

done and, uh, you know, when I- when I sobered up, you know,

I asked God, I said, "God, you know, if I ever get the

opportunity to go back to WWE, I don't want everything.

All I want is the opportunity to say, 'I did my best, I gave it

everything I had.' And, um, today, I can say that.

Now, what I didn't realize

[chuckles]

is, there's a lot more to give.

But that's a day-to-day thing.

I can only imagine what tomorrow's gonna bring.

'Cause, like I said, everything is gravy for me now.

You know, it's just, I never, ever in my dreams did I expect

to-to reach where I'm at today.

You know, and I know it's only by the grace of God that I'm

here, and the way I look at it is that I'm-I'm not here for me,

I'm here to serve others.

- After he had went through his demons, and he had faced the

challenges that he had faced, he had gotten saved,

re-introduced his life to God, and it was just a bundle of joy

to be around him.

Eddie would break out scriptures.

Especially if you were feeling down and out and you needed

someone to talk to, he would always find a perfect scripture

to handle whatever situation you were dealing with.

And by the time you were done talking to Eddie,

you felt uplifted.

And he was always helping other people out as well.

Tell them what they were doing wrong, or what they were doing

right, and encourage them.

- There was one guy who was just constantly on my side.

He was constantly supporting me and backing me and feed my ego,

and that was Eddie Guerrero.

He's just relentlessly supportive of me.

[laughs]

It was getting an education while having fun.

- Personally, he went through good times and bad times, we all

do, but he never ever sacrificed it when he stepped in the ring.

Every night, and this is something that

Eddie Guerrero instilled in me,

"Do good work, and do your best to entertain the audience."

- In the business, from the outside looking in,

you don't see the, you know, the toll that it takes.

Being a world champion is the hardest part of the business.

And Eddie would come in, and a lot of times,

he would look really, really tired.

- He was one of those guys, behind the scenes,

he would walk like he was an old man.

And once he went through that curtain, and went out there,

he was Eddie Guerrero, Viva La Raza.

- Both of these men are world-class athletes,

tremendous superstars.

- The WrestleMania 20 was special in itself because the

WrestleMania before, I was in, uh, a three-way tag team,

you know, and in this Wrestlemania,

I was one of the three main events.

What an honor.

- I never saw anyone that was damn good, that loved the

so business so much.

- Eddie, countered.

- And that wasn't Eddie at his best.

That was Eddie after he was pretty beat up.

- There are master storytellers that, regardless of the movie

they're in, you're gonna go see the actor.

You're just gonna.

- But wait a minute, Eddie's untying his boot.

What the hell is he doing?

- You may say, "Yeah, the movie was no good, but man,

so and so was great."

- Wait a minute, the boot went flying.

- His boot came off.

- Look at this, small package.

One, two, there, he wins.

[bell rings]

- Once you put Eddie in the story, it wasn't just the story

that was legitimate, his opponent became

even more legitimate.

- Eddie Guerrero outsmarted Kurt Angle, remains WWE Champion.

- Eddie took pride in whatever it was that he was doing.

He brought up whoever he was up against.

John Layfield is a perfect example of someone that

a lot of people had doubts.

Like, "Ah, you know what, he's Bradshaw, and I don't know if he

really can ever be a top guy."

Eddie was like, "I'll make him a top guy."

- I'll be damned, it's Eddie Guerrero.

- I think we look back on JBL as one of the biggest villains that

Smackdown ever saw.

I truly believe the only reason for that is because of his

rivalry with Eddie Guerrero.

- Eddie sacrificed his own career for me in-

in a lot of ways.

And this ain't personal, my friend.

- I'll make it personal.

- And Eddie wanted me to succeed.

Eddie used to call me all the times, at night, and say I've

got a storyline for you.

Here's what I want you to do."

Take me back to New York City, now.

- New York City?

- Hey, whoa.

- He molded the JBL character.

He took it up personally, that he was the champion,

and that he, as champion, he should be able to make anybody.

And Eddie took that personally.

And he can take this guy who was a barroom brawler and make him

into a world champion.

- The new WWE Champion, John Bradshaw Layfield.

- The belt, don't get me wrong, I love it, and it's great,

and it's a wonderful blessing, but it's materialistic.

Everything that I did to receive that belt,

that's what it's really all about.

It's all the hard work and everything that I did to get

there, that's who I am.

- I thought he had the title for a long time, you know.

It felt like it.

But he didn't have a very long title run.

And I think he started getting to a point where

he could help others.

He was getting to the level of Undertaker, Shawn Michaels.

You get to that level, and it's like, you've made it, and you're

helping make other stars because you're already that star.

[crowd cheers]

- There was something about him that one second could be so

lovable and so funny, and the next second could just be so

despicable and hateful.

- Hey.

- He could flip that switch like nobody I've ever seen.

- What the hell is this all about?

- It was definitely weird seeing, uh, my dad and Eddie

go at it in front of the camera, knowing that they were

such good friends.

- Eddie and I had something very, very special.

It was just a bond that-that only we can understand.

- You are stealing my Latino Heat.

- It happened inside the ring, it happened any time we were

around each other.

- Great American Bash, I was sitting there, ringside,

and they're just killing each other.

To me, this is crazy that these two friends that, you know, are

in the back, hugging each other, playing around, and then next

thing you know, they're out there trying to kill each other.

So for me, it was definitely a- a different environment.

- I'm your father, Dominik.

[crowd cheers]

- I'm your Papi.

- That feud was so much fun between Eddie and Rey

when Dominik became into the picture of this custody battle,

which we were very nervous about.

- Is it true, Dad, is it really true?

When the custody of Dominik first got presented to me,

I think it was more of like a- an idea.

Because they-- I guess, at the end of the day,

they needed my green light, if I wanted to do it.

And, uh, my dad told me, he's like, "Hey, they're, uh, they're

gonna pay you, you won't have to go to school," and I was like,

"Huh, I won't have to go to school?"

We went to a park, and there's a huge camera crew there, and they

had a-a bunch of, like, actors kids, for, like, the background.

And I started getting a little embarrassed, and I was like,

"I don't know if I wanna do this."

- Hey, Dominik, Come here man, come here.

Yeah.

- But, yeah, then Eddie was like,

"Come on, miho, it'll be okay."

So then I was like, "All right."

- [Spanish language]

You want some candy?"

- So when we started filming it, I just remember, after every

take and even in-in between takes Eddie would give me, uh,

some Twizzlers and some candy, in between, just to kinda help

the time fly by, and it was always a good time with him.

- Yeah.

- It was a story that was beyond what we could ever imagine.

- Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio for custody

of Dominik, SummerSlam?

- And to work with Dominik and-and Rey,

Eddie had a great time with them.

- You're on.

- Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in the history of the

WWE, the custody of a child, will be determined in a match.

- He would go out there and give it his all.

And the reason I can tell that he would do that was because,

how he treated me out there.

- And all Rey Mysterio could do is watch Eddie Guerrero climb

the ladder and take down those-

- He's in pain, Cole, he's in pain.

- Wait a minute.

- What the hell?

- Wait a minute.

- Dominik, get out of there.

- Dominik trying to shake the ladder, but he can't move it.

- Not strong enough.

- I was in the corner, after I shook the ladder, and he was

just very intense in the middle of a match, just yelling at me,

and then I know he would never lay a hand on me.

But in that moment in time, I was-- it was so intense and,

like, just backed up in a corner, where I-I didn't know

what was gonna happen.

- This-- Look at this son of a bitch, wow.

- Hey, Rey.

- Wow, God.

- Rey Mysterio with the right hand.

- Eddie really put Rey on the map, as far as WWE is concerned.

Took him to the next level.

- Look at this reversal.

- Flips him.

- Rey reversed it.

- I was able to display myself to the world on

a different level.

Eddie gave me that opportunity.

- Come on, Rey.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yes, Rey Mysterio has Dominik back.

- Besides everything that happened, the reason why this

match was so special to me because

that was my last match with Eddie.

- Eddie had been doing great, and he conquered drugs and

alcohol and had been living his life healthy and-

and really doing great.

And one day we're in Minneapolis, someone said,

"Hey, there's a really bad rumor going around.

They found Eddie Guerrero at a hotel."

- If God were to take me today, I can honestly say that,

you know, I'm satisfied.

I really am.

I'm- I'm- I'm- I'm pleased with the way my career has gone.

- November 13th, 2005.

It changed my life.

- I was walking into the Target Center there, in Minneapolis,

and I saw Rey, and he was overcome with emotion.

And, um, I knew something terrible had happened.

- Couldn't believe that this was really happening.

None of us could.

None of us could.

- A stunning tragedy strikes the world of wrestling.

- Hotel security of downtown Minneapolis Marriott found

38-year-old Eddie Guerrero dead in his room this morning.

- His widow says it was from heart failure caused by a past

filled with drinking and drug abuse,

combined with working out all of the time.

- It just-- Eddie's heart gave out brushing his teeth, and-

and it was horrible.

It just was a huge hole in my heart.

And I- and I think a hole in the industry, overall.

- He had a huge heart.

One of the biggest hearts of any person that I know personally.

And I know that he's going to be missed, not just by the family,

not by the wrestlers, but by the fans, tremendously.

- Obviously, we're all deeply saddened by-

by Eddie's, uh, passing.

Um, and, um, it's gonna be tough to get over, but Eddie would

want, uh, the show to go on.

And that's what we're gonna try to do here tonight.

[crowd chanting "Thank you Eddie"]

- Even in the wake of Eddie Guerrero's death, wrestlers

said, "The show must go on," so they could pay tribute to one of

the most popular stars in the business.

- I walked into the arena, and I saw all these signs that said,

"Rest in peace, Eddie."

And as a kid, I just-- it didn't quite hit me.

I just was a little confused.

[crowd chanting "Eddie"]

- So this guy walked up to me and goes, "Did you hear?

Eddie Guerrero passed away?"

And I just remember everything at that moment,

just stopped for me.

And then I took a look around, and I saw those signs again.

I was like, "This can't be real."

[crowd cheering]

- Eddie Guerrero has passed away.

Eddie was in the prime of his life, 38 years old,

in the prime of his career.

So tonight, we celebrate the life of Eddie Guerrero.

[crowd cheering]

- It's different when somebody's ill, and you know

that, potentially, it can lose their lives.

With Eddie, they came from left field.

We had no idea.

- The whole building, everybody, the crew,

the wrestlers, the audience, everybody was just devastated.

Still haven't gotten over it.

- You'd think after all these years it'll be easier to-- but--

Eddie Guerrero loved this business.

He ate, he breathed, he slept, he bled this business.

[crowd chanting "Eddie"]

[birds chirpping]

- I miss you,

and I wish you were still here.

Man, we talk about you all the time.

You inspired so many of us.

I love you for that.

- Eddie is always with us.

And so to give tribute to-to Eddie, and to give him

recognition, it just shows our love and that,

um, we're never gonna forget about him.

Eddie made it a point to make himself better.

- [laughs]

What's your name?

- And I am very proud of him.

- All right.

He's a man that went down to the bottom and climbed

all the way at the top.

[fireworks]

- His ability to connect with not just Latinos,

but everyone makes him a unicorn.

Eddie had something special where he brought the best of

Lucha libre to a mainstream style of wrestling and was so

good at it that he then inspired multiple generations

to do the exact same thing.

- Dominik wasting no time.

Gonna show 'em how it's done.

Frog splash.

- It's odd, you know, when you don't know somebody,

but they've literally affected your life.

They've inspired you, they've made you change

the way you live.

You deal with loss, you lose your heroes,

but Eddie hit different.

- 100 years from now, people are gonna look at Eddie Guerrero,

and they're going to be entertained because he was one

of the greatest entertainers that has ever lived.

- [Spanish language]

- And by the way, he happened to be able to wrestle-

-his ass off.

- Eddie to the top rope.

Frog splash.

- I think the reason he became so beloved,

is because he was authentic.

When you see Eddie, you're probably seeing an uncle,

you're probably seeing a family friend,

you might be even seeing yourself.

And that's what made Eddie so special and charismatic,

that he was one of the people.

If you go through our underpasses, there's murals of

Eddie Guerrero, almost 20 years after his death.

- You know, um, wow.

I've never been here

I've been here, but ooh, it's been a while since

I've been here.

I wanna check it out.

You come out here, man, you see these murals in 2000 years from

now, you know, and this may still be standing up like the

ruins, you know, and they'll be looking at this like our art,

you know?

There's a lot of things I wish my dad could have saw,

like winning the WWE championship.

These are days I wish he could have been there.

You know, I-I always wanted to make my dad happy.

I think every child wants to, you know, uh, strives for that.

And, uh, you know, I got my mom, and I got my kids and my family.

Now, these are days that you just wish, uh, I wish my dad

could have seen, you know.

This is a dream I'm living with my dad.