What if Eddie Guerrero hadn’t passed away?
Eddie Guerrero is one of the best-loved and most respected figures in the history of professional wrestling. Yes, he was an all-time great, but an inextricable part of his legacy also remains the fact that we all lost him much too soon.
While Guerrero may not have been entirely innocent in his death (claims emerged that his heart issues were related to past drug abuse), it’s a particularly sad note that he had by all accounts gotten himself cleaned up and was broaching new heights in terms of both his accomplishments and level of performance when he passed on.
No one saw Guerrero’s death coming, and thus it’s only natural to wonder what might have been had he not passed on over a decade ago. This article takes a look at five possibilities of what might have followed within the world of World Wrestling Entertainment had he lived on from that point.
#5 Rey Mysterio doesn’t win a world title
When Rey Mysterio won the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar, it was a surprise not only for the immediate upset of Guerrero pinning Lesnar but because it wasn’t clear whether Guerrero ever would reach the top of the mountain in WWE. It’s not a company where relatively small wrestlers have garnered much main event level success, nor have many Latino stars attained world champion status.
Despite being over in his own right, Rey Mysterio didn’t show any meaningful signs following in Guerrero’s footsteps—an even smaller wrestler, even more entrenched in his lucha libre roots by wearing his mask.
When Guerrero passed on, it only opened a void on top for Mysterio to step up into but provided a feel-good story for Mysterio to rise up in tribute to his fallen friend. Given how WWE booked that title reign, though, with Mysterio losing more than he won, and given that Mysterio would only enjoy lightning quick world title reigns to follow (he’d lose each of his next two world titles on the same night he won them), it stands to reason WWE never really meant to book him on top.