Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005), better known by his ring name Eddie Guerrero, was a Mexican American professional wrestler, born into a legendary Mexican wrestling family. Through the 1990s, he had a distinguished career, working for every major professional wrestling promotion in the United States during that period: Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment.
Guerrero's in-ring character was that of a crafty, resourceful wrestler who would do anything to win a match. His famous mantra became "Cheat to Win". Despite being a heel for much of his career, he became popular in and outside the ring.
Throughout his career, Guerrero encountered various substance abuse problems outside of wrestling, including alcoholism and an addiction to pain killers. His problems outside of the ring were sometimes integrated into his storylines. Notwithstanding these issues, Guerrero won numerous titles during his career, including the WWE Championship.
Guerrero came from a legendary wrestling family. His father, Gory Guerrero, was a founding father of Lucha Libre, a prominent wrestling trainer and an influential figure in Mexican professional wrestling. His three brothers Chavo Guerrero, Hector Guerrero and Mando Guerrero all followed in their father's footsteps and became professional wrestlers. Guerrero's nephew, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. also became a wrestler, while his uncle Enrique Llanes and cousin Javier Llanes wrestled in Mexico. As a boy, Guerrero's father allowed him and Chavo Jr. to wrestle one another during intermissions in the wrestling arena that Gory owned. Guerrero was born in Juarez, Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas and attended the University of New Mexico as well as New Mexico Highlands University on an athletic scholarship, where he wrestled collegiately, before returning to El Paso to train as a professional wrestler. He debuted in 1987 in the Mexican Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre promotion. He became a star in Mexico long before he wrestled in the United States. In the late 1980s, Guerrero debuted in the National Wrestling Alliance affiliate World Championship Wrestling (formerly known as Jim Crockett Promotions) as a jobber. While wrestling in Juarez, Guerrero and 5 other wrestlers, were accused of statuary rape on a underage wrestling groupie, who had become pregnant. Out of the five accused, the Mexican authorities went after Eddie, due to him being American. He then left Juarez and did not return for several years, in fear of being arrested
In 1993, Guerrero began wrestling in Japan for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he was known as Black Tiger II. In Mexico, he wrestled mainly for Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion, teaming with El Hijo del Santo as the new version of La Pareja Atómica (The Atomic Pair), the legendary tag team of Gory Guerrero and El Santo. After Guerrero turned on Santo and allied with Art Barr as La Pareja del Terror (The Pair of Terror), the duo became arguably the most hated tag team in lucha libre history. Along with Barr, Konnan, Chicano Power and Madonna’s Boyfriend, Guerrero formed Los Gringos Locos (The Crazy Americans), a heel stable. Guerrero later said that no matter how many people joined Los Gringos Locos, the stable was all about Art. Los Gringos Locos feuded mostly with El Hijo del Santo and his partner Octagón, eventually ending in a Hair vs. Mask match at the first lucha pay-per-view in America, When Worlds Collide, which they lost.
Guerrero and Barr's first break would come when they were noticed in late 1994 by the owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling, Paul Heyman, and were approached about wrestling for him in 1995. However, Barr died before he could join ECW with Guerrero. As an homage to his fallen friend, Guerrero adopted his friend's finishing move, the Frog Splash.
Guerrero won the ECW World Television Championship on his debut and went on to have a series of acclaimed matches with Dean Malenko before they both signed with World Championship Wrestling later that year. After their last match which ended in a draw in a 2 out of 3 falls match at the ECW arena, the locker room emptied and the two were carried around the ring by their fellow wrestlers while the crowd chanted "Please don't go."
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