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In the previous installment of the Eddie Guerrero DVD review series, I looked at Eddie's classic match against Edge in September 2002. On the DVD, we now pick it up seven months later in April 2003 with Los Guerreros.

It was only natural Eddie would end up paired with his nephew, Chavo Guerrero. Earlier in the DVD review series, I looked at their program in WCW where Chavo was in Eddie's shadow and trying to fight for his own time in the sun.

In WWE, Eddie and Chavo were put together for the obvious reasons of being Guerreros, but also because they simply knew each other and had developed chemistry in the ring, but most importantly, out of the ring. I'll pick up the second part of that in a second.

"Too often, tag teams are two guys thrown together because the creative team can't find anything else for them to do," Eddie wrote in his autobiography. "That rarely works, because there's no way to fake chemistry. You either have it or you don't."

He continued: "In no time at all, Chavito and I hit that magical place where we each knew what the other was thinking. All we'd have to do is look at each other and we'd know what the other one wanted."

On the Eddie DVD, the match selected from the "Los Guerreros" era is a match against Team Angle of Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas from the Backlash 2003 PPV.

Immediately following WrestleMania 19, where Team Angle defeated Los Guerreros and Rhyno & Chris Benoit in a three-team tag title match, Eddie & Chavo picked up a two-on-two re-match for the tag titles.

"They wanted to go. They came ready to go," Chavo said about working with Shelton and Haas. "We had to psyche ourselves up. Eddie and I would look at each other and slap each other a few times. We'd get in there and actually beat them up. It was a lot of fun."

Eddie and Chavo were supposed to be heels, living by the "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" gimmick that initially had them booed, but suddenly became part of their charm to generate cheers. Eddie didn't get it at first, but by this time in April 2003, he was embracing the gimmick.

"In the beginning, the cheers confused the s--- out of me," Eddie wrote. "One thing you can never do is force-feed the people. If they want you to be a babyface, then believe me, you'll end up a babyface."

Eddie and Chavo's work in the ring during this 15-minute opening match on the PPV was entertaining for the live audience to keep them interested in the action. Too often, wrestlers settle into a tag team formula going-through-the-motions style and forget to include the crowd. That wasn't the case here.

However, the more important story with Eddie and Chavo was outside of the ring. Eddie was sober. Finally. And throughout most of the time Eddie was in a dark, dark world of addiction, Chavo was picking him up and trying to guide him through life.

Sober in 2003, Eddie struggled to deal with the grief even though Chavo didn't need any apologies. Eddie recounts one exchange in particular from when they were traveling through an airport and Eddie told Chavo to go on ahead of him. An excerpt from Eddie's book:

Chavo: "No, I'll wait and make sure you're okay."

I looked at him and realized what he was thinking. "I'm not f----- up anymore, bro."

Chavo smiled sadly. "I'm sorry," he said.

Seeing him standing there, waiting to clean up after me yet again, hurt me deep inside. I though, 'My God, what did I put this guy through?'

The chemistry between the two was evident in the ring, but the more important aspect of their relationship was Chavo keeping Eddie on his feet. It developed a real, personal bond between the two.

"In a way, Chavito still takes care of me," Eddie wrote in reflection. "I can talk to him like no one else, releasing all my doubts and issues and bad feelings."

TOMORROW: Eddie and John Cena from five years ago.

Over the course of 25 days, I will be reviewing the "Viva La Raza" Eddie Guerrero DVD recently put out by WWE. I'll be looking at the significance of each of the 25 matches on the DVD as well as establishing the context of events that were occurring at the time of each match.

EDDIE GUERRERO DVD REVIEW ARTICLE LIST

-- Day 15 - Must-See Match of the DVD vs. Edge.
-- Day 14 - Working with Jeff Hardy.
-- Day 13 - RVD match; Eddie overcomes personal pain.
-- Day 12 - Matt Hardy match; void in life unfulfilled.
-- Day 11 - WWE debut against Chris Jericho.
-- Day 10 - Personal tragedy with Vickie Guerrero's public commentary.
-- Day 9 - Battle with Juvi; personal issues bubbling below surface.
-- Day 8 - WCW front office issues and vs. Ultimo Dragon.
-- Day 7 - Eddie the in-ring Technician vs. Dean Malenko.
-- Day 6 - Rey Mysterio classic and character adjustment.
-- Day 5 - vs. Chris Jericho and no one cared.
-- Day 4 - Rubbing shoulders with Ric Flair.
-- Day 3 - Stealing the show at Starrcade '95.
-- Day 2 - Breakthrough in ECW - Eddie vs. Dean Malenko.
-- Day 1 - influence of Art Barr; Eddie vs. 2 Cold Scorpio.
-- Intro on DVD review series.

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