Daredevil

Since I live in Minnesota, I actually decided to read the newspaper today to see what they said about Eddie. Both the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune had Eddie on the front page.

Here is what the Pioneer Press had to say:

Wrestler Guerrero found dead in hotel

WWE star was in Minneapolis for event at Target Center

BY FREDERICK MELO

He was supposed to be a comeback kid.

Groomed from childhood to follow in the professional wrestling career of his father and three older brothers, Eddie Gory Guerrero made his debut in Mexico 17 years ago as the "Magic Mask."

Later dubbed "Latino Heat," the 5-foot-8-inch, 220-pound entertainer carved a following for himself on both sides of the border, battling gargantuan rivals in the ring while fighting a career-stunting addiction to cocaine, painkillers and alcohol outside of it.

At 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Guerrero, 38, was discovered dead in his hotel room at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center, hours before an event at Target Center. His nephew, fellow professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr., and a security guard found his body.

The two men forced Guerrero's door open after he failed to answer a wake-up call. They found him on the floor. His door had been latched from the inside.

Authorities would not speculate on a cause of death. Minneapolis police said they do not suspect foul play. The Hennepin County medical examiner's office is expected to perform an autopsy today.

The two athletes had flown to Minnesota together late the previous night. Sunday night's event was a show to be taped for World Wrestling Entertainment. The company dedicated the event to Guerrero's memory, and segments will air tonight on USA Network's "WWE Raw" and Friday on UPN's "WWE SmackDown!"

"If this is a tribute show to Eddie, then I definitely want to be a part of it, and I know that he would want me to be a part of it also," Chavo Guerrero said at a news conference Sunday afternoon with WWE Chairman Vincent McMahon Jr.

Eddie Guerrero, a native of El Paso, Texas, recently moved his family to Phoenix. He is survived by his wife, Vickie, and their three daughters, Shaul, 14, Sherilyn, 9, and Kaylie Marie, 3.

"This is a huge loss for WWE. Eddie Guerrero was one of our star performers," McMahon said. "Eddie was a consummate performer."

At Target Center on Sunday, most fans knew about Guerrero's death. They described the wrestler as a skilled performer able to throw his body around the ring and make his matches exciting and believable.

Guerrero's signature move was the "Frog Splash," in which he would fly from the top of ropes and land on his opponent. It was the move he used to finish off matches, said Jerry Otto Jr., who brought a portfolio of photos and articles about Guerrero to the event.

"Eddie could do pretty much any move he wanted to," Otto said.

Chris Vetter said Guerrero was a tremendous wrestler: "He knew how to make a crowd cheer for him when he was a good guy and boo like crazy when he was a bad guy."

As a child, Guerrero cultivated his fighting stances under the tutelage of his father, Gory Guerrero, who was idolized in Mexico as a founding hero of the "lucha libre," a Mexican fighting spectacle featuring wrestlers as masked avengers.

Guerrero, who grew up in South El Paso, wrestled at the University of New Mexico before joining his three older brothers in professional leagues in Mexico and Japan. He broke into the U.S. television market in the mid-1990s, competing for four years with World Championship Wrestling.

He later left WCW and in January 2000 joined its rival, WWE, where he was spotlighted as a star performer.

"Out of my whole life, there were maybe four months that I thought I don't want to be a wrestler," he told the El Paso Times in an August 2003 interview. "I grew up watching my dad and my older brothers do it. This is a dream for me."

But the dream was nearly cut short by his public battles with alcoholism and drug abuse. After flipping his car while high on liquid Ecstasy, Guerrero bounced back from a knee injury with an addiction to painkillers. He was fired from WWE in 2001, his wife filed for divorce and the IRS seized his wages.

After regaining his sobriety, Guerrero reconciled with his wife and was rehired by WWE in 2002. He performed tag-team matches with his nephew and became an inspirational symbol to fans struggling with their own addictions, Chavo Guerrero said.

The two men shared a flight from Phoenix on Saturday night, and Eddie Guerrero appeared in good health. He told his nephew that he was celebrating his fourth year of sobriety this month, Chavo Guerrero said, and he congratulated him.

"We sat next to each other; we watched the movie; we talked," he said. "Everything was fine."

Professional wrestling has been plagued by the untimely deaths of star entertainers. According to a March 2004 article in USA Today, 65 wrestlers died in seven years, many from enlarged hearts and other coronary diseases consistent with drug or steroid use.

In October 1997, former Cincinnati Bengals football player Brian Pillman was found dead in his Bloomington motel room. Pillman, who wrestled under the name "Flyin' Brian," was later found to have died of heart disease.




Here is what the Star Tribune had to say:

WWE wrestler found dead in Minneapolis hotel room

Foul play isn't suspected in the death of wrestler Eddie Guerrero, in Minneapolis to tape a show. Fans paid tribute at Target Center.
Chao Xiong

When World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Eddie Guerrero didn't answer his wakeup call Sunday and didn't respond to a knock on his Minneapolis hotel room door, his nephew and security forced their way in. They found the 5-foot-8, 220-pound wrestler on the floor.

Efforts to resuscitate the 38-year-old weren't successful and the WWE was suddenly faced with finding the delicate balance between continuing with Sunday's show at Target Center while paying tribute to one of its biggest attractions.

"This is a huge loss," said WWE chairman Vince McMahon. "Eddie was a wonderful, fun-loving human being. Eddie was a consummate performer."

His nephew and fellow WWE wrestler, Chavo Guerrero, said he found his uncle dead shortly after 7 a.m. in his room at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

Police said there were no signs of foul play or indications of suicide.

Chavo Guerrero said everything with his uncle had seemed just fine.

The flight from Phoenix to Minneapolis Saturday. The post-flight dinner. The last time they talked they made plans to order breakfast and then hit the gym Sunday morning. Instead, Chavo Guerrero spent the morning breaking the news to family members and preparing for his own performance Sunday night.

The show goes on

"I know Eddie would want the show to go on," he said.

Chavo Guerrero said his uncle was candid about his past drug and alcohol abuse; he recently reached four years of sobriety. Whether or not his former drug use played a role in his death is unknown; the Hennepin County medical examiner's office said the cause of death might not be known for several weeks.

"With Eddie's history... that no doubt takes a toll on your body, and whether that had anything to do with his untimely demise, I don't know," McMahon said.

Guerrero was in the Twin Cities to film "Friday Night Smackdown" at Target Center for the UPN Network. About 60 to 80 WWE wrestlers were in town for the show, which included filming for "Monday Night RAW" on the USA channel. Sunday's taping of Smackdown will air Friday and RAW will be shown today.

Red-eyed and somber at a news conference Sunday afternoon, Chavo Guerrero and McMahon said there would be special tributes to Guerrero at tapings of both Smackdown and RAW. "It's been devastating," McMahon said.

Defeated Brock Lesnar for title

Guerrero has been with WWE since 2000 and became champion in February 2004, defeating Brock Lesnar, a former University of Minnesota wrestling standout. Guerrero lost the title four months later.

He was a big boost to the WWE's popularity among Hispanics, said Wade Keller, publisher and editor of Minneapolis-based www.pwtorch.com and Pro Wrestling Torch, a weekly newsletter.

"He is regarded universally as one of the premier athletes in terms of what it takes to be good in this business," said Keller, who has known Guerrero for more than a decade. "Eddie was different in that he was very well liked. He was so emotional. He didn't shake hands, he hugged."

Guerrero was known for his athleticism inside the ring and his nuanced acting, Keller said. He also was known for a troubled past.

In May 2004, UPN aired the special "Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story." The program chronicled his childhood and struggle with drugs, which almost cost him his job, family and life before his recovery and eventual capture of the WWE title.

A family of wrestlers

The son of wrestler Gory Guerrero, he was born into Mexico's first family of professional wrestling and grew up in El Paso, Texas. He recently moved to Phoenix to be closer to his family. He and his three older brothers were all wrestlers.

His drug escapades as an adult included flipping his car going 130 miles per hour while taking Ecstasy. Doctors told the family that it was unlikely he would survive. From there, he went on numerous binges, abusing cocaine, alcohol and pain killers. He was fired by the WWE, his wife filed for divorce, and the IRS seized his wages.

After recovery, he remarried his wife, reclaimed his job and became the second wrestler of Hispanic heritage to be WWE champ.

"Eddie felt he was on borrowed time because he had done so much, and he had escaped death so many times because of car crashes and drugs and alcohol," Keller said.

The pro wrestling profession has seen numerous deaths over the years; USA Today reported that steroids played a role in seven deaths since 1997.

Sad fans outside Target Center

On Sunday night outside Target Center, teenage boys held cardboard signs honoring Guerrero and stood wide-eyed describing his signature "three amigos" move in which he plucked up opponents and dropped them on their backs three times.

"He was so charismatic," effused Ryan Hoyt, 15, of Champlin, who made a sign bedecked with photos of Guerrero that men and boys alike signed to pay their respects. (It will hang on his wall.) "Everyone just loved Eddie."

"He always had something to say," said Newell Mott, 17, of Rochester.

Words may have come easy to Guerrero, but some of his fans were speechless when they learned about his death as they arrived for Sunday's show.

Jennifer Morales, 21, of Minneapolis stared slack-jawed at her friends before she could manage: "I'm shocked. I liked him because he was Hispanic like me." She has followed his career for almost half of her life. "He knew how to represent the community."

He is survived by his wife, Vickie, and daughters Shaul, 14; Sherilyn, 9, and Kaylie Marie, 3.