Exploring Eddie Guerrero's Journey From Tag Team Wrestler To Main Eventer In WWE
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Eddie Guerrero had a tremendous wrestling career that still gets appreciated today by fans and his peers. WWE was the place that used Eddie in a main event role to showcase his full potential. There were a few fascinating chapters of Guerrero’s career with many coming in the biggest wrestling promotion.
Chavo Guerrero teaming with his uncle Eddie led to an outstanding tag run as Los Guerreros. WWE could have easily kept them together for the rest of their careers, but Eddie was getting over too much on his own. Vince McMahon saw something special and wanted to go all in on the right time. Eddie’s journey from a great tag team wrestler to WWE Champion warrants a deeper look.
Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Got Over In Tag Team Action
WWE used Eddie Guerrero in various roles over his first few years, but the tag run with Chavo Guerrero is where he broke out. There were some previous hits like Eddie’s romantic angle with Chyna or his Intercontinental Championship feud with Rob Van Dam. However, it was the tenure in Los Guerreros that made fans start to see a new side of him.
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Both relatives in the Guerrero family filmed incredible vignettes of them lying, cheating, and stealing in everyday life to set up their tag team gimmick. This started off as a heel act since those actions are inherently evil. Eddie and Chavo started off as heels as part of the SmackDown Six tag division, but this character change set them up for a face run.
WWE fans surprised the company by reacting well to Chavo and Eddie based on how much they loved those segments and their character work. The audience loved Eddie far more due to his antics in the ring selling the gimmick and making him must-watch television. WWE started to see the writing on the wall of his upward trajectory leading to a bigger push on his own.
Chavo Guerrero Attacked Eddie, Ending Their Tag Team Run
The breakup of Los Guerreros was the story in between their tag run and Eddie Guerrero becoming a main eventer. A slow burn heel turn for Chavo saw him becoming jealous of Eddie’s connection with the audience and accusing him of trying to hog the spotlight to himself. The Basham Brothers defeating Los Guerreros to win the WWE Tag Team Championship led to the issues becoming a bigger part of the show.
Each week featured a new advancement in the Eddie and Chavo story, leading to things falling apart at the end of the line. One final tag title shot against the Basham Brothers after a few months of tension saw Chavo officially turning on Eddie. The tag team run ended with Chavo attacking his uncle despite Eddie trying to mend fences every single time.
Chavo’s father and Eddie’s brother, Chavo Classic, joined the company as his son’s new manager. This added another element of Chavo Sr. claiming that Eddie was always the most selfish member of the family. Eddie initially didn’t want to fight his nephew, but the segments and general story worked so well when they finally had their match.
Eddie Guerrero Became WWE's Next Top Star
WWE used the feud between Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero to highlight Eddie’s journey to the next level. This program was needed, and it had to work if Eddie was going to move into the main event picture at any point moving forward. There was a real intensity and emotion involved in this story since it featured a real-life family. Wrestling fans respect and adore the Guerrero family to this day, so it was cool to see Eddie, Chavo Jr., and Chavo Classic all working in such a personal feud.
Royal Rumble 2004 was a big stage where Eddie scored a decisive win over Chavo to close the book on that feud. Eddie even attacked his brother and nephew after the match to leave them in blood to put that in his past. WWE didn’t have Eddie in the Rumble match that year since they wanted fans to remember him on a high note for winning the feud vs Chavo ahead of his next step.
Eddie next won a SmackDown exclusive Rumble match to get a title shot against Brock Lesnar at No Way Out 2004. The rest is history as most fans of that time will never forget the incredible memory of Eddie’s massive upset. Guerrero defeating Lesnar to win the WWE Championship started his main event run that fans still talk about today. The lying, cheating, and stealing that started in Los Guerreros tag team continued all the way to the biggest spot in WWE.
