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CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 24 - Eddie vs. Rey Part II Dec 19, 2008 - 2:44:15 PM
Way back on Day 6 of the Eddie Guerrero DVD review series, I looked at the cruiserweight feud between Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio that stole the show at WCW Halloween Havoc 1997 and helped bring the cruiserweight division to prominence.
Eddie wanted more because he felt he was capable of more than just being one of the over-looked cruiserweights putting on great matches, but never truly having the respect of a main eventer or someone able to carry the show.
"Eddie was a person that carried himself very well in and out of the ring," Rey Mysterio says on the DVD. "(He was) a person that showed respect because when you show respect, you want respect being given back to you."
Eight years later, WWE booked an Eddie vs. Rey storyline that was the centerpiece of Smackdown, but also pushed the line pretty far on good decency. Fans from 2005 remember Rey's son, Dominick, being involved and the battle for custody that ensued, etc.
Not the brightest moment in WWE creative team history, but it helped propel Rey Mysterio into the spotlight working with Eddie, who turned heel and carried an amazing heel charisma with him into the feud.
"He was full of charisma," Rey says. "That all comes from the heart. I don't think you learn that. I think you're born with that. Eddie was born with charisma. Eddie was born to be a wrestler."
Ironically, the feud culminated with Eddie getting the last victory on a September 9, 2005 Smackdown where Eddie won a steel cage match. He was then put into World Title contention, but after Eddie's death, Rey essentially stepped into his spot and became World champion at WrestleMania six months later.
As for the Sept. 2005 match included on the DVD, it was a great showcase of Eddie's ability to work in any type of match. He told a great story at the end with the option of walking out of the cage satisfied with his first WWE victory over Rey after countless failures or walking back into the cage to deliver an emphatic frog splash to score the pin.
Eddie used WWE's ridiculous cage match stipulations to enhance the story, taking a final point in the feud and adding bold, italics, and underlying to draw attention to what he was trying to do.
"Adding a stipulation like a cage was awesome," Rey says. "It gave us more options to work with."
Eddie was a master storyteller to go along with being a master in-ring technician. These things are often under-appreciated by casual fans of Eddie who simply knew him as the "I lie, I cheat, I steal" guy with the memorable catchphrases and mannerisms. There was much more to Eddie that was revealed in every match situation because wrestling was part of him.
"Eddie was a perfectionist and very competitive with himself," Rey says. "When you have wrestling in your blood, in your background, in your family, it makes you want to be better and better."
TOMORROW: Final PPV match vs. Batista, who comments on Eddie's last day
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.
That was when Eddie pulled off the greatest promo ever. He slowly got to
the ring while the booing rose, looked around at the entire crowd, pulled
out a Mysterio mask, slowly squashed it under his boot, leered at the crowd
some more (who were throwing things by that point), left the ring and cooly
sauntered back up the ramp.
He was able to captivate and control the audience for over five minutes -
without saying one word.
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Way back on Day 6 of the Eddie Guerrero DVD review series, I looked at the cruiserweight feud between Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio that stole the show at WCW Halloween Havoc 1997 and helped bring the cruiserweight division to prominence.
