Badseed's Bottomline #287
What's Next For Eddie Guerrero
By Badseed
I wrote this story some time ago. It was after Eddie Guerrero won the World Title from Batista and cemented his status as a legend, while also completing his slow climb back to the top after battling drug and alcohol addiction. I figured it would be a nice touch to bring the story to G-Pop and let the fans share in a memory from a key point in Eddie's Guerrero. We are missing you. Thanks for the memories.
Hey yo! This is Badseed with another Bottomline as promised. I just got off a busy deadline this week, but I am refreshed and more excited than ever about the upcoming Wrestlemania PPV. Usually, No Way Out is a weak PPV or at least whatever the title of the February PPV is, is usually a weak PPV and in all honesty, this past weekend's show really wasn't that good, but the end had me digging right into my pockets for the big show in March.
Yes, while watching the first few matches of the PPV, I felt sick to my stomach. There was nothing good about the show at all. I mean, Nidia really saved her match with Jamie Knoble, because she is truly a good talent and Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas saved their match with APA, because they are the best tag-team in wrestling, yet the WWE does not know what to do with them. Remember back in the day when the writers could come up with storylines for the Rockers and keep the team together for several years, but now, it is hard to keep the World's Greatest Tag-Team together for mote than a year. Amazing. I actually liked the Rhyno vs. Hardcore Holly match for some reason, but it would have been fine for free TV, not a PPV. So, with not much hope going into the three last matches; a cruiserweight title match when those are not normally given much time, a match involving an injured Cena and the Big Show and a match between two stars with contrasting styles over the world title. Needless to say, I was not confident in No Way Out.
The last three matches made the show worth its money. When Chavo Guerrero won the cruiserweight title, I was pissed, because Rey Mysterio is the greatest cruiserweight in the WWE and they should treat him like such, by giving him the title for longer than a few months. It was a great match, back and forth and a lot of false finishes, but they went with the screwjob ending that seemed obvious. Still, the match work was awesome, exciting and much more than I expected and when Chavo won, I thought back to Owen Hart and Bret Hart and realized that Eddie was going to overshadow his nephew once more with a world title victory, so that excited me, too. Great start of the triple main event.
Then we got John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Big Show. In the end, no one was made to look bad at all. We all knew about Cena's injury. We all knew that Kurt Angle was ruthless and going to go after whatever he wanted. Big Show was the US title holder and we knew he was going to dominate with his strength like in the Royal Rumble and he did. He was eliminated in the match in the right way and the story telling in this match was perfect. It really worked and Kurt Angle proved he was back in shape and ready for action. He is a perfect challenger for the World Title and he got the big win. Cena and Big Show can now move in the U.S. Title match and we can actually see a US champion who will defend his title. This match worked on so many levels and an Angle victory, using Cena's injury to his advantage was almost a subtle foreshadowing of a possible heel turn up ahead. Good job booking this match.
Then, we get the World Title match and this had to be the greatest match on the show and probably one of the greatest matches I have seen on a PPV in a very long time. They keep one-upping themselves. I forget who said it in a column on Wrestleview.com, but yes, as I was watching this match, I certainly did feel like I was watching a classic confrontation between Ric Flair and one of his many rivals. The match just went back and forth and back and forth and every time you took things for granted and thought, well Guerrero has too much of an edge with the leg injury, he is certainly going to lose, everything was turned around and there was no way of predicting the outcome at all. Lesnar made Eddie Guerrero in that match. He sold things in the right way, he made Guerrero look like a legitimate contender and having the Goldberg interference not directly result in the pin, made Guerrero a worthy champion, too. Eddie Guerrero wrestled with a lot of fire. He truly looked like a main eventer last night. I thought he was not going to be given the title, but they did it; they gave us what we wanted and wow, did I pop big time. A 30-minute title match is now what I will expect with Eddie Guerrero in the title mix.
Surprisingly, it was Eddie Guerrero who had actually gone ahead of Chris Benoit and won the World Title before his Radicals counterpart did. Unlike Benoit, who may still win the World Title at Wrestlemania, Guerrero has everything Benoit has and more. Guerrero can wrestle with the best of them and his facial expressions and match action are more exciting, but the mic skills are what put him on top of it all. His promos rank up there with the best of them. I have not seen the new crop of stars talk like that at all. What was once reserved for Austin, HHH, Ric Flair, The Rock and Mick Foley can now be applied to Guerrero who really puts everything in his matches and his promos, an overall package that excites the fans and had them pushing for this big win. Benoit does not really have that going for him. Whatever people may think about squashing a push, fans were clearly behind HBK in his match with Benoit and while we weren't really given an opportunity to see how the fans would have received a big Benoit win over HBK, if he talked on the mic a little more, the technical wrestling would be much more greatly appreciated. While Guerrero was not really pushed to the world title; he found a way to make the fans push the WWE's hand to guide him to the world title. Benoit has not been able to do that.
Now that Eddie Guerrero is champion, the WWE must not screw up his push. The WWE did that once and everyone knows that Chris Jericho was not given the proper push as the first Undisputed Champion. Why was that? Well, he was a heel champion and heel champions that tend to be funny characters are not going to be taken seriously as World Champions. He was just coming off his run as a face and was pushed right into the title and with plans for HHH to win the title already cemented in stone the day he was injured, Jericho did not really have a chance. If Jericho was to win the title now, he would have a stronger run. He is no longer a goof wrestler, who relies on calling Stephanie a slut. He is a much more well-rounded wrestler and his title reign would be more acceptable. Guerrero is already there. He has the fire. He has the heart. He has the support and he won the title as a face, whose whole gimmick is lying, cheating and stealing, which means, it actually becomes more acceptable when he does it. Jericho just made his title seem worthless since every time he defended the belt, he won on a screw job finish.
Now, there is a problem with this new title change. What the hell do we do next for Guerrero? Here we go. The next challenger for Guerrero is Kurt Angle. The WWE may be tempted to give Angle one last run for the title, but I don't think they will. I think Guerrero really needs a big win in a title defense to really get over as a champion. On Smackdown, where wrestlers keep leaving for Raw, they need to develop more main event stars. Guerrero is already there. A win with Kurt Angle will cement that, but he needs another contender to defeat. Chavo Guerrero immediately comes to mind, because he is the nephew, but I would like to make it like the Owen Hart and Bret Hart feud. They don't need to fight right away. It is time to build Chavo as a more legitimate threat, because they need to build those. With the exception of Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and the Big Show, there is no one else for Eddie Guerrero to feud with, which means Lesnar will win the title right back at the next Smackdown PPV after Wrestlemania. That should not be the case unless Guerrero ends up winning it back eventually.
What I am hoping for is that the WWE is smart enough to move a wrestler or two over from Raw to Smackdown. RVD would be a great feud for Eddie Guerrero. They really should have kept Matt Hardy on Smackdown so he could get a great push, but he will never go anywhere on Raw. Edge should not come to Raw, because he would be an excellent contender for the Smackdown title. Maybe Rhyno can be developed into a star, but he is not ready yet. I would love to see Guerrero hold onto the title or be the champion by next year's Wrestlemania and the same for Benoit. Then the WWE could put the Raw champ vs. Smackdown champion in a dream match that could sell the PPV on its own. We can give that match 45 minutes.
However, in reality, I am afraid the WWE didn't put too much thought into making Guerrero a long-term champion and I doubt it will happen. We can all wish, but in the end, at least Guerrero can say he was the WWE Intercontinental Champion, European Champion, U.S. Champion, WWE Tag-Team Champion and WWE World Champion and that is still a pretty exclusive club. His victory on Sunday cemented his status as a true WWE great. It was a long climb to the top and no matter what happens in the future, the obstacles that Guerrero overcame, he climbed his way to the top and I will remember that day he walked right through a crowd of fans to compete on a USA Pro show and was polite enough to not push past, but excuse himself past me and as he brushed past me, I didn't know it then, but it was my brush with greatness. He did it. He came back and for that Guerrero is truly the real People's Champion. Now he has the World Title to go with it. Congratulations.
Well, it is time for me to go. This has been the Pied Piper of wrestling columnists. Come follow me. Peace
For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at jminners@g-pop.net.
For more of Badseed's Bottomline check out our Archive!