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CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 19 - Eddie wins the World Hvt. Title from Brock Lesnar Dec 11, 2008 - 4:30:04 PM
"Eddie Guerrero is champion!" Michael Cole exclaimed when Eddie won the WWE Title from Brock Lesnar at the February 2004 No Way Out PPV.
It was one of the more memorable moments in WWE history after everything Eddie had gone through at that point in his career to reach the point where he claimed his first World Title.
The storyline leading up to that point was very much focused on real-life. In the build-up to No Way Out, WWE painted a picture of Eddie being close to death so many times until finally getting to the point where he was in a WWE Title match with a chance to win.
"For Eddie Guerrero, tonight is a chance at redemption," Michael Cole said on the PPV broadcast to hype the storyline. "Three years ago, Eddie Guerrero was dragged out of a drunken high. Eddie Guerrero was fired and Eddie admitted he was an addict. Tonight, Eddie Guerrero has the opportunity to come full circle."
The opportunity to work with Brock wasn't lost on Eddie, who respected Brock's work ethic and dedication to wrestling even if his mind was elsewhere - such as getting the heck out of wrestling.
"Brock was very focused," Eddie wrote in his autobiography. "I know that people felt that Brock's early success was forced, but at the end he was carrying the title like a true champion."
As for the PPV match itself, there was a certain mystic in San Francisco. I remember watching the match in my college apartment and knowing Eddie was winning the belt when he came out to the ring.
Pulling up in the low-rider, he could barely hold back his smile. It was almost as if he was biting his tongue to not give away the finish of the match.
When the match started, Brock dominated thoroughly. It was as if an underdog coming into a major football game feeling good about the potential for an upset, then the big-bad favorite starts scoring a few touchdowns and the happy "underdog" feeling disappears into reality.
But, in a classic wrestling storyline, the favorite became cocky and didn't pounce on the underdog when he was reeling and vulnerable.
The match then turned into one of Eddie's finest efforts guiding a wrestling match, as he took the crowd on a few separate highs by working in submission moves that had Lesnar in jeopardy. Working with Brock for three weeks prior to the PPV helped.
"Brock and I spent those three weeks learning how to work with each other, going thirty minutes at every house show," Eddie wrote. "We needed to get a feel for each other. Working night after night with a bull like Brock really helped me get into shape for our match."
On the PPV, Eddie was able to incorporate the charisma, showmanship, in-ring psychology, and solid foundation of wrestling moves to tell a WWE main event style story that had the fans in the palm of his hands.
After Bill Goldberg's interference and Eddie countering the F-5, Eddie finally won the WWE Title with the frog splash to set off a huge celebration worthy of Eddie's finest moment in his wrestling career.
"Eddie Guerrero will no longer be known as addict," Michael Cole said at the conclusion of Eddie's chilling post-match celebration. "He'll simply be known as champion."
Eddie's wife, Vickie, who had been through so much pain with Eddie, was not in the Cow Palace for the PPV, but she talked to Eddie after he went to the back and hugged wrestlers and Vince McMahon.
"I just remember him calling me and crying because he was so happy," Vickie Guerrero says on the DVD. "Eddie felt like his work finally paid off. He had finally reached his goal."
Said Eddie: "I really wish Vickie could've been there, but she was doing her job as a wrestler's wife. She was home, being a mom, taking care of the family."
The DVD includes the famous post-match footage of Rey Mysterio slapping him in the back and Vince McMahon towering over Eddie before embracing him. Eddie knew the significance of the moment.
"I went through the curtain, still overflowing with emotion," Eddie wrote. "I certainly didn't expect the reception that I received from the boys. Everybody was clapping, people were shaking my hand and congratulating me."
The moment really encapsulated everything Eddie had worked up to, worked through, and finally won through redemption. He lost the respect of the wrestlers in the locker room showing up high as a kite a few years earlier, but the respect after his WWE Title victory showed he redeemed himself on the most important night of his career.
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.
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