Found this article from the time of Eddies Passing, thought Id share it: All of WWE was deeply saddened by the news that Eddie Guerrero passed away Sunday morning in Minneapolis. Everyone who knew Eddie has been deeply affected by his untimely passing. RAW and SmackDown Superstars will have the chance to express their thoughts on the former WWE Champion on both RAW and SmackDown this week. Chris Jericho also wanted to express his feelings and thoughts on his long-time friend. In addition, Jericho has provided this special photo (left) from his personal album. The photo is very meaningful to Jericho, as it depicts him and his three closest friends backstage. WWE caught up with Jericho who fondly remembered a friend that he has traveled with through Mexico, Japan, ECW, WCW and of course WWE. WWE: When did you hear about Eddie Guerreros passing? Chris Jericho: I heard about it yesterday at around noon. Shane McMahon called me and told me. I am devastated by the news of Eddies passing. WWE: What did Eddie mean to you personally? Chris Jericho: Eddie was one of my best friends in the wrestling business. Ive known him for 12 years since we met in Mexico City. Weve been through so much over the years. I hadnt seen him too much over the last couple of years because we were on different shows. Then, the night before SummerSlam, my flight got delayed. So, instead of flying to wherever we were going, we just stayed overnight at the airport in Tampa. It was my wife and I, and Eddie and his wife happened to be there too, and we talked them into staying over as well. That was probably the last time I had the chance to have a good conversation with him. We had the kind of relationship where all you had to do was talk for about five minutes and youd be back to where you were the last time you talked to him. Weve been through a lot of great things together and had a lot of fun together and learned a lot from each other. WWE: You said that Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko were your three best friends in wrestling. What does that picture (above) of the four of you mean to you? Chris Jericho: Theres a picture of us like that one with Brian Hildebrand the night of that Memorial. When we were in WCW they would call us the New Japan 4 because all four of use came in around the same time, and we all had about the same basic impact. We all came in the same way. We came through new Japan, through ECW. Chris and I came through Calgary and Eddie and Dean came through Florida. We had a lot of respect for each other and we were like kindred spirits. The four of us used to travel together. It was funny because Chris and Eddie would always watch what they eat, and me and Dean were like the fatsos that would look at the back of a cookie box and just laugh. Eddie and Chris eventually split off a little bit because they would want to train at 7:00 in the morning, and me and Dean would wait until 2:00 in the afternoon. But the four of us would always travel together and follow each other. We all respected each other. To get that picture at SummerSlam, eight years after we had the one with Brian, is really special. My wife actually reminded me I had that picture, and Im so glad we took that picture. Looking at it makes me feel a little better about what happened. Im not worried for Eddie because he was a man of God and I know hes in Heaven. I just feel really bad for his family, and I selfishly feel bad for myself. I love Eddie, he was my brother on the road. Even though we didnt talk too much over the last couple of years, you cant replace those experiences we had back in Mexico, through Japan and ECW, through WCW which was a hellhole for us at the time -- to go through all of that together is special. To eat dinner in each others homes and have our wives know each other -- its just really sad. Of all the guys who have passed on over the years, and it seems like theres been a hundred by now, this one hurts the most because this was one of the brothers. Anyone will tell you that you can probably count the guys you trust on one hand, and now I have four fingers left on that hand. Eddie was almost a mentor to me in a lot of ways, and I was a mentor to him in a lot of ways too. It just hurts. It really, really hurts. WWE: You and Eddie have had several matches together over the years. Are there any that stand out to you in particular? Chris Jericho: We didnt work together too much in WWE because we usually werent on the same show. I think my favorite match I had with him was at Fall Brawl 97 in WCW. We had a great match there. He was as talented as they come and a true class act. Another one we had that was never on TV was myself and Eddie versus Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit in Knoxville, TN, which was a benefit show for Brian Hildebrand (Mark Curtis) who was a referee for WCW. He was a friend of all four of ours and he had cancer, so we had a benefit to help pay for his bills. It was a great night. It was an appreciation night for him. They put us in the main event, which never happened back in those days. It used to always be guys like Lex Luger and Sting, but they knew we were Brians friends. It was just a great match. Eddie and I actually had great chemistry as a tag team. We used to laugh that we were the best tag team that really never was. They used to throw us together from time to time in WCW and we would always tear the house down. We used to call ourselves Eh and Buey because buey is a Mexican term and of course Eh because Im from Canada. Another name we called ourselves was North and South of the Border. He was just one of those guys that could work with anyone. If you had any kind of chemistry at all, you could have a great match with him. WWE: What will you remember most about Eddie? Chris Jericho: Just how humble he was. He had two sides to him. He was very serious, but he had a really funny sense of humor. He was a really fun guy to be around when he was in that type of mood. And anyone who knows him knows about The Cricket. Im not going to explain it, but those who know, know. And those who dont, wish they knew about The Cricket. That was probably about the funniest thing you could say about Eddie. He was just a really cool guy. He had a real strong faith and belief in God, too. He was never afraid to talk about it, but he would never push it on anyone. He was a true family man and most importantly a warrior for God. He taught me so much about wrestling and about being a man and it is an honor to call him a true brother and friend. WWE: What do you think it meant to Eddie when he finally won that WWE Championship? Chris Jericho: Eddie felt about it, the same way I felt when I won it, because we talked about it. Its kind of like wining an Oscar. Its like getting a pat on the back for years of hard work. We laughed because Chris Benoit, Eddie and myself were basically kicked out of WCW for not being big enough or World Championship material and then less than five years later all three of us were champions in the biggest wrestling company in the history of the world. It was vindication for us. We always knew we could do it and had the confidence. I remember Eddie told me that his dad always said that it says wrestling on the marquee, and if youre a wrestler youll always have a job and it always comes back to wrestling. And hes right. No matter how much BS there is, and how its sports-entertainment, the bottom line is, it comes back to wrestling. And if you can wrestle, youll always rise to the top, and Eddie proved that.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 00:07:20 +0000
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