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Rita Cosby Live & Direct Report
by Richard Trionfo
On Tuesday night, Rita Cosby had Vince McMahon, John Bradshaw Layfield, and Chavo Guerrero Junior on the first half of her show to talk about the life and tragic death of Eddie Guerrero.
Rita talked about how Eddie was found dead in his Minneapolis hotel room on Sunday morning at the age of 38 while footage of his final match on Smackdown against Ken Kennedy was shown.
Lisa Daniels narrated a feature on Eddie and mentioned that he was a hero to millions and was the first Mexican-American World Champion in the WWE, and he was a superhero to Latinos. On Sunday night, the bell tolled for Eddie Guerrero for one last time. We see footage of Vince McMahon’s statement at the start of Raw. At the tribute on Raw, powerful, huge men, built like solid rocks, professional wrestlers broke down in tears as did their fans after finding out that Eddie Guerrero had died on Sunday at age 38. Ron Meier of the Minneapolis Police Department said that the death did not look suspicious. There were no signs of foul play. Chavo Guerrero was notified by hotel security that Eddie had missed his wake up call. They showed footage from the press conference where Chavo said that he went to Eddie’s room and found him ‘out’ and he did not think anything of it. He turned Eddie over and said that something did not look right. The preliminary autopsy report attributes his death to heart failure, and his wife Vickie believes that it was from his past of hard exercise and hard living, including drug and alcohol abuse.
Wrestling was Eddie’s passion from a young age because he was born into Mexico’s first family of professional wrestling. Eddie’s father was the legendary Gory Guerrero. They showed footage from the UPN special where Eddie talked about how his father would watch him in the ring and shake his head at him and know that he was doing something wrong. From a young age, he was wrestling with Chavo. He wrestled while attending the University of New Mexico. In 1987, Eddie turned pro and became a star in Mexico before becoming a main event draw in the U.S. Eddie overcame obstacles to reach the top and became a WWE champion on three occasions including the tag title with Chavo. His last match was aired on Friday night. Eddie is survived by his wife, three daughters, and legions of fans around the world.
Rita said that she had the opportunity to meet Eddie when she attended a WWE show. It is a tremendous loss in the wrestling world.
Vince McMahon joins Rita from Stamford. Rita said that when she saw the tribute last night and to see the way that wrestling is covered and with the people involved in wrestling, it is really a family. She asked how tough and emotional the tribute was for Vince. Vince said that it is difficult when you have to endure something like that, especially when it was someone who meant so much to so many people like Eddie did. He was beloved by so many fans all over the world. It is a family atmosphere. Eddie was a patriarch to so many of the younger wrestlers. It was a painful experience. Vince was so proud of all of the superstars who put their personal feelings aside and do this special tribute to Eddie. Rita talked about how Eddie overcame his troubles. Vince said that Eddie was very proud of the hurdles that he overcame. He was also very proud of his heritage. He was very proud of his accomplishments. Eddie had just moved to Phoenix. He was a tremendous human being.
Rita asked Vince how he found out about Eddie’s death, and he said that he was in the car on the way to the arena on Sunday morning when he got the phone call. You cannot prepare for something like that and it was so surreal to first hear the news. It doesn’t sink in at first. It was a shock to everyone because Eddie had overcome his demons and was on such a positive roll.
Rita said that there were over 50,000 e-mails by fans after his passing. She read one of the e-mails. She asked Vince why Eddie was able to connect so well with the fans. He said that it is tough to say. He had an extraordinary charisma. He had an impish look on his face like no one else. His style and demeanor was unique to Eddie Guerrero. He was an extraordinary performer. She asked about the impact of Eddie’s death on the sport. Rita read Vickie’s comments about what caused his death. Vince said that there were situations like this in the past. How much of this was due to Eddie’s past catching up to him. It is a tough life to be a WWE superstar because of the travel involved. You have to keep yourself in shape in the gym. There is a lot of punishment in the ring. Even though it is entertainment, it still hurts. It takes its toll. All of those factors combined and had an effect on Eddie. He does not know if there was something genetic that might have led to this, but he is not aware of anything like that in Eddie’s family and he does not want to speculate on that.
Rita asked Vince what made Eddie unique and so loved by the fans. Vince said Eddie was gifted athletically and had a desire to perform. He wanted to give everything when he was in the ring. His charisma combined with his gift of gab contributed to it. They went to commercial.
They returned from commercial with comments from fans about Eddie.
Chavo Guerrero Junior and John Bradshaw Layfield joined Rita and Vince. Rita asked Chavo about the shock of finding Eddie in the hotel room and how it has affected him personally. Chavo said that it was ‘not real’. He tried to get Eddie up and he did not have time to feel shocked until he got back to his room. It has had a huge effect on him. Even thought Eddie was his uncle, he felt like his brother because they were only three years apart. He was the big brother that Chavo never had while Chavo was the little brother that Eddie never had. Rita asked about being a part of the Guerrero family growing up. Chavo said that it was a blessing as well as detrimental. They had a lot of doors opened because they were Guerreros. When they got there, they had to be the best because they were compared to everyone else in the family. It was tough, but it was great.
Rita commented on a black eye that John had and he said that it was from his match with Chavo on Sunday night. Chavo said that when Eddie passed, Bradshaw thought he was done with the Guerrero family, but there are a lot of them. John said that it was fitting that he was Eddie’s arch enemy so when Vince asked him if he wanted to wrestle that he would do it. He told Vince that he wanted to wrestle Chavo. Rita asked John about how he got along with Eddie outside the ring and commented on how Eddie was a groomsman at John’s wedding. He said outside the ring, they had a tremendous relationship. Eddie and his wife were at his wedding and Eddie said that he would not miss it for the world. Eddie touched a lot of lives outside the ring. While Bradshaw was going through a divorce a few years ago, Eddie saw him at the baggage claim in Calgary and asked to ride with John. Eddie wanted to know what was wrong and John said that nothing was wrong. Eddie told John that they were not leaving the restaurant until he told Eddie what his problem was. He finally told Eddie what was wrong. Over the course of the next few weeks, Eddie would bring him a new Scripture. John mentioned that Eddie was a very religious person. Eddie helped John through his problems. He realized that Eddie was doing this for a lot of people. Eddie seemed as happy about John’s marriage as John was. Eddie spoke at John’s wedding; and John mentioned that he will be speaking at Eddie’s funeral. Eddie was one of the most passionate people he ever met. He was one of the best people he ever met. To be able to justify his life in any form is impossible. He hopes to be able to tell everyone what Eddie meant to him and to a lot of people. He expects to get emotional. He wants to be able to tell Vickie about how many lives he influenced while he was away from his family.
Rita asked Vince how to memorialize Eddie on Thursday after what was done on Raw. Vince mentions that they will be doing something similar on Smackdown on Friday night, but none of it is enough. With someone like Eddie who gave so much and was so passionate about the business, you cannot do enough to match what Eddie contributed to the business.
Rita asked Chavo how the family is dealing with this. He said that the family is close and everyone is taking it hard, but they are rallying together for Vickie and his children. Regardless of how it is affected the other members of the family; it is affecting Vickie and the children so much more. She asked Chavo if he has talked to Vickie and the children and he said that it is very up and down. Vickie was in denial when she first heard it until she heard it from someone from the WWE. Then it set in and she was very emotional.
Rita asked John what he is going to remember most about Eddie. John said that he will remember what Eddie had to overcome to get everything back. John mentioned that Eddie lost his family through his addiction. He overcame a lot to get it back. He said that ‘he smelled like smoke because he had been through fire’. He had just moved to Phoenix. He will remember a guy who overcame so much because of his love of his family. He hugged Eddie every time he saw him. He will always remember Eddie’s mischievous smile.
She asked Vince what he will remember most about Eddie. He will remember Eddie’s personality and all of his positive influences on the audience and everyone in the locker room. He was an extraordinary human being.
She then asked Chavo how he will remember Eddie. He will remember Eddie’s heart. He always looked out for Chavo and always had his back. Now he doesn’t have anyone like that around him any more and it will be different for him. When they were tag team partners, they could go against anyone because Eddie was there next to him. If he is tagging with someone else, it will feel different if a situation arises where a fan runs into the ring or something else happens. He will miss that tremendously.
Feel free to send feedback to richard@pwinsider.com.
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