Eddie Guerrero...

It saddens me, but one of the greatest wrestlers passed away on Sunday. From a wrestling background, Eddie was one of the "bad guys," you always had to root for. His was one of the first wrestling websites I visited, titled www.eddiesucks.com . He understoond that the fans knew wrestling was fake, but was generally booing or cheering him out of respect for his characters. Very few wrestlers could get a crowd to boo while he was in the ring, then laugh and cheer as soon as they stepped off.

If you never were into wrestling, I bet you would watch an Eddie Guerrero match and at least walk away thoroughly entertained if not an immediate fan.

I have a secret to make, I haven't always been a wrestling fan. Like many boys, I enjoyed watching WWF on television. Then came a period after I learned it was fake, and my mother didn't really like me watching it because she thought I was getting too rough with my sisters and cousins. And then I got teased a lot, so I decided to just drop it all together.

Then came college, or maybe it was late in highschool and I watched an Eddie Guerrero match. Didn't think too much about it, but I found myself flipping through the channels just hoping I could see him again. The week after that, I would tune in again, to see Eddie and a few other people he wrestled with. Again this continued until I became the rabid fan I am today.*As I'm learning with this comedy, the greatest gift a performer has is the ability to make his companions look good, if not better than he is, regardless of their ability. Eddie always brought out the best qualities of the other wrestlers.

To be the ultimate performer is to have the ability to make the audience wait for you to arrive on stage, and for them to relax when you do. Just knowing Eddie was on the scene meant the rest of the show would go well, and whatever scenes he was in would be entertaining, even if he wasn't the center of it.

As an audience, we knew what his alliances were--it was always with the fans. So we booed or cheered, whatever he wanted to do just to put him over and have the company. He was looked over as a small, but overly-competent wrestler. Eddie was a man who could Greco-Roman (or Olympic-style) wrestle or he could mimic the more highflying Luchadores of Mexico. He had a range of characters, from the Gringo (American) who hates Latinos in his days as a Mexican wrestler, to the super crafty and (stereotypically) Latin loverboy known as "Latino Heat."After many years of struggling because of his size (a "generous 5'10") and ethnicity he finally made it to today's highest honor in professional wrestling by winning the WWE Championship belt on February 15, 2005.

Later that year at Wrestlemania XX**, Chris Benoit, his best friend who faced similar setbacks in his carrier, won the World Heavyweight Championship and celebrated with Eddie in the ring. It was a cool night to be a wrestling fan, to see two long-time underdogs win. And moreso than that, it was a night when all fans won. As you know, wrestling often showcases circus freaks and comic book characters, under the mistaken theory that these characters are what draws the most attention. But finally on the day after Valentine's Day, it wasn't the big "monster", or the "Sufer Dude" with beach blonde looks, but the guy who put the maximum effort into putting on a good show. That night was about the guy with the biggest heart. (pun intended)

Now that's enough details for you. This isn't a wrestling blog, but it's really a shame to see one of the best performers, or rather entertainers, pass away so suddenly.

It's a bummer, but for someone who entertained me so much, he deserves some sort of blog entry.

Peace.

* Okay, there may have been other reasons for me starting to like wrestling again, like the Rock and Booker T, but Eddie Guerrero was a major factor, okay?

** Wrestlemania is the Superbowl of wrestling. At one point it was the Superbowl of Superbowls, but those times have passed.