Page 1: Eddie Guerrero Wins The WWE Championship - No Way Out 2004
EEDDIE GUERRERO Vs BROCK LESNAR
NO WAY OUT 2004
In the year 2000, at the turn of the century, Eddie Gurrero and friends Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn walked out of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after the company failed to elevate him and his friends to main event status.
This was when they signed to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) now known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Eddie Guerrero debut at the WWF in a faction called The Radicalz alongside Malenko, Saturn and Benoit.
His debut match in the WWF was in a tag team match alongside Saturn against the New Age Outlaws on Raw Is War.
The finish to the match consisted of Eddie landing his signature move, the Frog Splash off the top rope, in which Eddie had landed wrong and dislocated his elbow, which caused him to be out for a few weeks.
In 2001 Eddie Guerrero was sent to rehab due to a pain killer addiction that he had developed from a car accident, that had happened back in 1999.
He was arrested in 2001 on a DUI charge and was subsequently released by the WWF a few days after the incident.
This was not a high period for Guerrero but it would prove to be a saving grace for what was to come.
In 2002 after a short run on the independent scene, Guerrero returned to the now WWF to a roaring crowd on Raw and would spend the next 2 years on Smackdown leading the locker room and building the then secondary brand up to what it is known today.
Eddie would finally gain his first-ever world title shot after his friend Chris Benoit had won the 2004 Royal Rumble.
Eddie’s title shot would, however, come much sooner, when he won a 15 Royal Rumble match on the January 29th episode of smackdown in 2004.
This was the opportunity he had been waiting for since he had left WCW back in 2000.
He had finally been bumped up to main event status.
This is where he began a feud with Brock Lesnar as the number one contender for his WWE World Championship.
In 2004 on the smackdown pay-per-view “No Way Out”, Eddie would face Brock in his first-ever world title opportunity.
After a gruelling 30 Minutes with “The Next Big Thing” and arguably in my top 10 matches of all time, Eddie would defeat Brock Lesnar to attain his first-ever World Championship.
Making him a grand slam champion.
This is the match I have depicted in this page of “The Pro Wrestling Colouring Book” because of not only it’s significance to me and my history as a fan of Sports Entertainment, but the significance to Eddie.
After this match, Eddie would go onto Defeat Kurt Angle and retain his title at Wrestlemania XX and eventually drop the title to JBL.
Eddie may not have had a long title reign but it was made even more powerful, on the fateful night of November 13, 2005.
On the November 14th episode of Raw In 2005, at the ramp of the arena, the entire roster and cast and crew of the WWE was gathered, headed by none other than Vincent Kennedy McMahon, who proceeded to pay tribute to the late great Eddie Guerrero, who had passed away at the young age of 38, from natural causes connected to his heart.
On the November 18th episode of Smackdown! Eddie was to compete in a triple threat match with Batista and Randy Orton, for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which Eddie would be booked to win the title and gain his second world Championship.
Instead, Batista made his way out to the ring Eddie’s low rider, said a few words in the ring and then left up the ramp after leaving the World Heavyweight Championship on the hood of Eddie’s car as a gesture and almost as if to say that it was no longer Dave’s title it truly was Eddie’s turn, to hold the mantel.
This is a significant moment in my fandom as not only was this one of my first experiences with death, but I was a massive fan of Eddie and his high flying style.
There really was not another like Eddie Guerrero and his ring style and psychology could only be pulled off with such finesse and style as he committed by none other than Eddie Guerrero.
