RKO Edition XII: The Latino Heat Edition

[Kano]

RKO Edition XII
The Latino Heat Edition

Coming each and every week in the month of April will be the RKO Tribute Editions. Each and every Wednesday a new tribute column will be up for your own personal enjoyment. Next week will be getting Rated R, so as you can guess Edgeykins will be on the RKO Tribute Edition. The week after Edgeykins gets some spotlight in the RKO Tribute Editions, The Showstopper, Mr Wrestlemania "The Heart Break Kid" Shawn Michaels will be in the third out of four Tributes. And as everyone can guess, the end of April will be capped off with Randy Orton a legend as considered by many, and a man whom was robbed at Wrestlemania XXV. But enough of that let's go with todays current edition. I present to you

The Eddie Guerrero Tribute Column.

Becoming a Fan

Becoming a fan on Eddies Tribute show, some fans find that strange and some find it weird. To me I witnessed one of the best ever. I remember watching the start of RAW with grown men crying. The audience was in tears, and you could feel the emotion. The first thought I had was this guy must have been really good. And seeing a couple of highlight clips he was someone who looked good, but not knowing anything about wrestling at this point, I thought “Ah well, there’s still more of them alive”.

I then watched the main event of Randy Orton v John Cena, and since Orton has been a favourite. After the event and the weeks preceding I always wondered what Eddie was like in the ring. I remember buying the Royal Rumble 2006 on PPV, and waiting in excitement, I yes thought wrestling was real. So to see 30 men going at it for a spot at Wrestlemania had me excited. My friend told me I had to watch the previous year’s Royal Rumble, just so I get a feel for what the event and the Rumble match were like. Ok I thought and put it on. And low and behold #1 and #2 entrants were Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, I was immediately excited for this match. Watching Eddie for the amount of time he was in the ring, I was enthralled. Eddie was awesome, and since Eddie has been a personal favourite. But thanks to an invention known as the internet, I had to know more about this man known as Latino Heat.

Cheating Death and Stealing Life

After reading his personal story, it made me of a fan, from what he had gone from and then into. It was nothing more than inspiring for me and I can imagine a lot of people who have gone through a situation like Eddie had. The testimony of Eddie is something that shall never be forgotten and I think a lot of people are inspired by his story. Eddies in ring life and outside life were of two different natures. Eddie’s life had been one full of expectations from the get go. Coming from one of the biggest names in Mexican wrestling.

Eddies story is one that even if you don’t like professional wrestling, you still have to respect his story. There are only two men in the history of this business that I would think come under this and that is the testimony’s of Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero. There storys have influenced the lives of many and having given hope and courage to many reading and seeing their lives being transformed. The amount Eddie has survived is unthinkable, he has been in a car crash and was told he would never be able to walk again let alone wrestle. But less than a year later Eddie was stealing the show. His drug and alcohol addiction would end up coming second best in Eddies life because once Eddie was fired from the WWF, hence Eddie losing his job he ended up going through a patch of his life and coming out all the better for it. Eddie would not only get his job back, beat his drug and alcohol addiction, get his family and wife back but more importantly Eddie regave his life to the Lord which was a big deal to Latino Heat. Chris Jericho said it best at the end of Eddies DVD. "Eddie knew his bible, he was there if anyone needed a hand but he wouldn't shove it down your throat it made Eddie trustworthy".

Trials and Tribulations Defined

Fast forward to 2004 and at No Way Out Eddie Guerrero won the WWE Championship. All of Eddies struggles and hardships and overcoming all came down to that one day. That one night, that one match, and it was one of the most defining moments in his professional career. Eddie had lost his home, his family, his money and his job. Eddie rebuilt himself from being a drug addict, to becoming one of the most respected men to ever grace the squared circle. The fast forward to Wrestlemania XX when Eddie had retained against one of the most talented entertainer/athlete to ever step into a ring and that man is Kurt Angle.

After the main event which seen one of the best Triple Threat match’s Chris Benoit won the World Championship from Hunter and while Benoits music was going over the speakers and out came Latino Heat. The two men celebrated there career. What each one had gone through, from starting out in ECW then going to WCW, then to the WWE and finally winning the championship. This moment would have been huge for both men. More importantly it would have been big for Latino Heat. He was standing on the grandest stage of them all. Standing high satisfied with his personal and professional achievements, and for something like this, one can only take his hat off to Eddie. Few men can turn their life around the way Eddie had done. From stopping the drugs and the alcohol to stepping up in being a man, husband and father. Wrestlemania XX was the defining moment in Eddies career.

Best Friends

One of Eddies closest friends was and is easy to see, Rey Mysterio. And as it is easy to see, these guys had great in-ring chemistry and a friendship that shone like none other. And as the column forum easily voted on, there match’s feud and moments dominated anything else Eddie had done. Eddie and Mysterio and like bread and butter. They mesh together so well. And it was easy to see, I think we all remember Eddies last major feud with a superstar, and that was Mysterio. Sure some will disagree that it was Batista, but really, it did nothing but show Batista’s flaws. We all remember the ladder match between Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. It was by far one of the best ladder match’s to go down in WWE history.

These two high flyers going at it in one of the most dreamt about match’s in history. Then, from what I can remember Eddie and Mysterio in another epic steel cage match that will go down as nothing but awesome. But among these match’s there is still one that stands out in peoples memory’s and that is, Eddie Guerrero v Rey Mysterio at Halloween havoc 1997. Mysterio and Guerrero have both been quoted saying “That match will never happen again. Everything went right about that night.” Even Eddie has gone on record saying that WWE has asked him and Mysterio to pull off the DDT that happened in the night, and even someone of the skills and talent of Eddie has said they have tried numerous times but to no avail it has never happened again. The match even won WCW’s match of the year 1997. Losing Eddie for Mysterio was one of the biggest blows to him professional and personally, as it was for a lot of people and I believe the booking of Mysterio post Eddie death, was nothing but disrespectful. Do you really think people like Randy Orton wanted to go out and say “Your looking up at the heavens bro like you’re looking at Eddie. But let me tell you something bro Eddies not up there, he’s down there in hell”. Do you really think Rey wanted to go out there every night and say the same old sad story about dedicating that certain match in the memory of Eddie Guerrero?

Championships, Achievements and Accolades

No one can deny the amount of achievements Eddie overcame in his life, but hey, let’s focus of Eddies personal life for a moment and look at his professional achievements.

PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) Voted Eddie as

#2 Singles Wrestler in 2004
Most inspirational wrestler in 2002 and 2004
Comeback of the year in 1999
PWI Stanley Weston Award (For those of you who are unsure of what this accolade that acknowledges a life time achievement from a certain wrestler. Names like Bruno Sammartino, Owen Hart and Ric Flair have won this award)

WWE Championship
Defeated Brock Lesnar at No Way Out and lost it to JBL at the Great American Bash in 2004
Main Evented Wrestlemania XX
4 Time WWE Tag Team Champion, 2 reigns with Chavo Guerrero, 1 with Tajiri and 1 with Rey Mysterio
One time United States Champion
Two time European Champion
Two time Intercontinental Champion
WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2006
11th Triple Crown Champion
6th Grand Slam Champion

Eddie has won and achieved some of the biggest achievements in professional wrestling history. The Stanley Weston award and HoF award are some off the biggest on there. Of course Eddie has won many more championships then the ones mentioned, but for the sake of getting my point across I thought I would take the two biggest ones on the list being PWI and WWE.

To note in WCW, Eddie won just 3 championships in 5 years.

Post Eddie Death

The life of Eddie Guerrero is one that should not only be mourned but also celebrated. Eddie Guerrero is one of the best to ever step into the ring hands down. Eddie was talented in all areas of his career. Eddie could cut a promo, he was charismatic , he was hands down one of the best technical and high flyers to ever grace the professional wrestling world. I think that it is one of the more saddening events to occur and it defiantly changed the landscape of the WWE and professional wrestling in general.

Many people, well critics seen this as a time to jump on professional wrestling and drugs etc. About how wrestlers lives end early because of drugs the media looks at this time as a time of jumping down the throats of wrestling. Let’s not forget the excitement that Eddie brought each and every event. I have read and heard many of times that people actually stopped watching Smackdown and the WWE altogether because of Eddie no longer with the WWE. Even after Eddie died the ratings started to slip which shows the level of skill Eddie was at. But more importantly Eddies fan base whom were and still are loyal to Eddie, Eddie still gets some Eddie chants and as I said before some people have quit watching wrestling because of the fact Eddie was gone.

The internet was flooded with messages in tribute for a man that everyone was use to seeing each and every Friday Night Smackdown.

Wow.
Not much to say.
Terrible news. Unfortunate, and will be missed.
But... always remembered.
R.I.P Eddie.

One of my bro's rang me a lunch today with the news. Eddie for the majority of the last few years was my favourite wrestler on the active WWE roster. Needless to say the news had quite an impact on me but i wont go into that.
I'll always have the memories of the two visits to Burswood and talking with him after Passport To Smackdown. U could tell that he was one of those guenuinely nice people on this Earth.
Thank you Eddie, thanks for the inspiration you gave me
Rest In Peace
Fan

such a travasty losing a great wrestler eddie will be dearly missed RIP eddie

Last weeks Raw and Smackdown were very classy shows too. Fitting tributes. And the emotion shown was raw and very powerful. Its the most real tv can get I guess - you wont see any other shows have actors break character to honour a cast member. The ten-bell salute was heart-wrenching, as was anytime Benoit or Batista talked. The pain was so evident.

Long live Eddie. His memory remains immortal.

For me I don’t think there is anything more than I can say but “Thank you Eddie, Thank you for the courage and inspiration you gave each and everyone of us fans. Thank you for being the standout of the WWE, giving your all to each and everyone of us fans. May you rest in peace and see you up at the big dance”

R.I.P. Eddie Guerrero October 9th 1967 - November 13th 2005

[Lucas_Nova]

Cool coloumn man, i only came to Eddie Guerrero properly when he debuted in WWE so hearing about his WCW exploits was entertaining. a really informative read and makes you question, yet again, the booking habits of WCW/Eric Bischoff, why not push the likes of Eddie and Jericho rather than dragging out the likes of Hall. Always good when a coloumn leaves you pondering more.

Im new to the coloumn lark so am reading closely gaining tips, structurally i was impressed, its simple but effective.

Top work man, look forward to the Edge read!

[jbroderway]

I enjoyed reading this for one very big reson in particular.

You only talked about the parts of Eddie's career that you had witnessed just prior to his death and the tribute show afterwards as what made you a fan. You could have went on and on about the classic matches he put on with Mysterio Jr. in WCW or his matches with Malenko in ECW but you didn't.

There were a few grammatical errors.

Good work.

[Martin Riggs]

Ok, i can feel the feedback brewing inside me. Let's do this with the bad fist:

Constructive Critisism:

- Check those spellings, boy! I mean things like there/their/they're, as they don't get picked up by a spellcheck. And if you're not sure which one is appropriate, remember what the 'there' means and see if it makes sense.

- The paragraph 'Cheating Life, Stealing Death' didn't end... i'm not sure if this was deliberate or not, but it seemed to cut off mid-sentence.

- Your mini titles (see, right 'your' there!) and headers didn't seem logical at one point. Not in reference to what you were saying, that was fine, just that it didn't read well. 'Post Eddie Death' could read 'Post-Eddies Death', or 'Post the Death of Eddie', or something else, it just feels stunted the way it is.

- Onto my biggest problem here. Repitition. When it's deliberate, it can be good, used for comedy or emphasis. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this was not overly intentional repitition. Which just makes you look like you have a limited vocabulary (which i know you don't!) For example,
"Eddie Guerrero is one of the best to ever step into the ring hands down. Eddie was talented in all areas of his career. Eddie could cut a promo, he was charismatic , he was hands down one of the best technical"
within 3 sentences you've used the phrase 'hands down' twice! 'Without a doubt', 'Absolutely', 'In my opinion' all work to make that same point in different ways. So yeah. Have another read through and look out for repititon, you'll see what i mean. this was littered with it! Even down to single words like 'tribute' (i know it's the title of the columns but you don't need to remind the audience every time)

- Watch that punctuation. The comma is sacred, and should be treated as such. Make sure your sentences make sense with punctuation in place. If you're reading it, take a small pause when you see a comma. If it sounds wrong... then it is ;-)

- Be careful of sentence structure, because at times your sentences didn't quite make sense, due to the offhand colloquial manner you chose to write in, which was reflective and genuine but a little hard to read at times. On a sentences note, watch out for making sentences too short as well. There was a few moments, especially near the end, when it seemed like you were using a lot of short sentences in a row, which wasn't reading brilliantly (unless you were trying to build up tension - which i don't think you were, in either case it wasn't how it was reading to me) so watch out!


Onto the positive *sigh of relief*

- Your passion shines through in this, which is always important. I can really tell you were being sincere and this came from the heart. Good stuff there.

- Nicely chosen to mention only what you know, not to try and delve into the depths of Guerrero's past. It's a scary place, and you stayed with what you knew. A solid, safe choice.

- Good mix of perspective and fact, you combined information with opinion really well.

There was never going to be as much positive as the critisism, but that doesn't change the fact that i really enjoyed this column. I just want to see you improve for the next one! Keep going bro, i really liked this!

[BeyondKnight]

Kano,

Boomer left you some amazing feed, so I going to ultra specific about just a couple of points contention.

- Orton was not robbed at Mania anymore more than the Joker was robbed at the end of The Dark Knight. Fred has been playing the role of the uber-villain throughout the entire build for Mania, and since its inception Mania has always been about villians getting thier come-uppance. And the story is not over yet so just chillax.

- For your next 3 tributes try to get a little more of a creative title than, The Eddie Guerrero Tribute Column.

- I don't think Guerrero would have an issue at all in how his legacy was used to perpetuate the WWE storylines and I don't believe it was disrespectful at all. Orton wasn't making crass comments at his induction ceremony or to the press, it was in the confines of his character in the storyline. And while this is slightly off topic, I think Guerrero would be exceptionally proud of Vickie and the way she's been able to craft a character for herself to continue to support the family after Eddie's death, and achieve heel heat the likes Eddie could have only dreamed of.

- I know that it was meant as a means of respect in the tribute, but the repetition of "Eddie" over and over adds a layer of redundancy that makes it more difficult for the reader to engage. Vary back and forth between Guerrero and Eddie to give it a sense of balance.

- Be careful how much biography you include. When you eulagize someone its much better to honor them for their life and accomplishments, but to also include personal information on how the loss has affected the world around you. I think the column could have benefitted more from your insight about Eddie's legacy than the quote messages of rememberance.

- Finally a word of caution for your forecoming tributes. Remember than no wrestler is flawless and be prepared to rubuke or address any percieved shortcomings. I would hate for this series to become a tirade of mindless alliegence and fan service.

Good work, and I'll catch you next time.

~BK

[Leonard]

Hi there, Kano:

I think BK and JBoom hit the nail on the head in terms of criticism. Piggybacking on the idea of punctuation, be careful to not omit possessive apostrophes (such as Leonard's conducting baton, rather than Leonards conducting baton). I agree that Eddie probably wouldn't have a problem with his use in story arcs after his death, and that he would also be proud of Vickie, who has made one hell of a heel general manager.

All in all, though, I found this a very interesting and genuine read. I'll read you next time, friend.

--Leonard

[Kano]

• Feedback Part 1
  
  First up big ups to everyone who has feedbacked me thus far, encouragement is very well appricaited and I hope I did Eddie G justice in my column, but I guess you took the time to feedback me, I should be a kind sir and repay a favour.

• Lenjr 04: Thanks for the kind words friend. I agree with you on the fact that Eddie would not have minded, but what I tried to get at, which I don't think I did, is many fans have a problem with the way Mysterio won the gold. To keep this short, Eddie wouldn't have minded purely because he was a man who cared for the business. Thanks for the read man.

• Beyond Knight, to start out with Orton was robbed on the grandest stage of them all. He single handedly made the feud interesting and the must watch thing week in week out. Sorry H marks but he is old, Orton is the future and he deserved the win at the biggest stage of them all. But alas, maybe next year. I'll just quickly reply to something I noticed, yes each Wrestler has a flaw about them and yes they will be covered, and to let you know each and every tribute column shall be different and more awesome.

• Theres a saying JBoom and that is "Friends arn't the one who paid your bail. Friends are the ones who tell you you messed up" And this is a classic example, you pinnedpointed my flaws which I shall try my hardest to over come in the next column man, I did one over this and there seemed to be no glarring errors, but next time. thanks for the kind words at the bottem friend they make this seem like a battle for a good cause, glad you enjoyed it and hope you enjoy this when it gets a little bit R rated.

• A wise man once said J that in your columns if you only came into wrestling in 2005 tell me about John Cena and Batista, don't pretend youve been watching for years and you can tell me about Ricky Steamboat. I used this, I wrote what I knew about Eddie, how he effected my life in general, how he effected everyone elses life and professional wrestling. Glad you enjoyed it man, the Edge one shall contain far more content if thats what your after. Later Hombre

• Again thanks for the kind words man, and glad you entered into our little relam in column writing. Glad you enjoyed the way everything is set out man, I will make sure I catch out for your work man, Good Luck in column writing

So there we have a batch of feedback to the feedback. If you havent already let me know what you think, that shall be champ!

Later Hombres

[NightofDay]

Excellent read Kano. It's kind of hard to believe that it will be 4 years this November since Eddie died. He was truly a one of a kind performer. He could make you laugh, he could make you cry, he could make you love him and he could make you hate him. He was just so good at his job. It's a shame because I really felt that he was going to be the top heel on SmackDown with his feud with Batista that he had going until his death. I've always believed Eddie was supposed to win the World title the day he died.

Great job. I'm going to take a guess at your next tribute column and say... Owen Hart?

EDIT: Screw it. Forget that last bit. I see the bit at the beginning. I'm a fucking idiot.

[The Maz]

Dude - Got to say this was a very enjoyable read.

The spelling errors are still there but getting less but it is the phrasing that was hurting you here. I am not sure what the best way to help you out with this is but I would suggest you do a read out loud proof read so you can hear what it sounds like... Even better would be if you have someone who can read it out loud to you.

Couple of examples:

I then watched the main event of Randy Orton v John Cena, and since Orton has been a favourite. - There is no deed for and in this sentance, it makes it confusing.

One of Eddies closest friends was and is easy to see, Rey Mysterio. And as it is easy to see, these guys had great in-ring chemistry and a friendship that shone like none other. - Here the flow is just off. You used it was easy to see twice in consecutive sentences and try and avoid starting a sentence with "And".

A final thing is use of apostrophes. You used Eddies quite a few times where this should have been Eddie's.

These are the things right now that are holding you back as content wise you are becoming very very comfortable.

Also, Orton wasn't robbed, he did his job very well but to suggest that he single handedly made the feud interesting is ludicrous, but fret not, Fred's title reign is coming soon.

[L-Man]

Great job here man, sorry it took me so long but I have been super busy. A coupl of grammar and spelling mistakes here but it was still good and it was fun to read some praise to Eddie. Good job I am looking forward to the next one.

[Kano]

Feedback Part 2

NightofDay- You know what bro, I'm actually not going to be realsing the Edge or Orton one until sometime in the near future, there ones shall be epic and both realeased in August (my birthday month) HBK shall be out this Wednesday. Thanks for reading man, glad you enjoyed it, looking forward to your installment, you doing Backlash predictions with a twist?

Mazza: Hey dude, glad your still showing us little boys some love. All in all, i hope spelling and grammer are improved because like you said its the one thing holding me back. thanks for reading bro good luck for CSI GF

LMAN: theres no feedback like usall but thanks for reading

To all like i said in NODs feedback, I'm leaving my tribute columns for Orton and Edge til August because with Sean having to write up an Orton tribute it might be a bit much. But like always check back on wednesday for an RKO Edition.

Kano

[Coolio]

Eddie was one of the only wrestlers that could pull off being both a heel & face great, because he was that good. I was happy for the men when he finally beat Lesnar, because he had beat all his demons, and just like Jeff Hardy it was a feel good story, because it showed that you can make mistakes, but its how you come back that shows who you are. Very good column.

[Captain Awesome]

A nice look back at the final years of Eddie's career. Everyone else has already covered the constructive criticism I would give so I'll leave it at that. Looking forward to your Orton tribute.

[Valleyboy]

Not a bad column at all. Spread out nicely with a good balance of facts and opinion. Keep it up. And, I'm still of the opinion Eddie Guerrero will go down as one of the very best wrestlers in history. The more I watched his older matches in WCW, as he was roided up in '04 with the WWE title, I came to appreciate just how diverse and talented he was.