It seems remarkable that it was 15 years ago today that the late great Eddie Guerrero was found unconscious in a hotel room in Minneapolis.
Guerrero was found on the floor by his nephew and fellow WWE wrestler Chavo Guerrero and was later pronounced dead at just 38 years old.
Vince McMahon would then deliver the heartbreaking news that wrestling fans around the world did not want to hear on Fox 9 News.
This resulted in questions over whether or not a show should be cancelled that day, however, Chavo claimed that this would have been the last thing that his uncle would have wanted. Chavo would come out that night with blonde hair in tribute to ‘Latino Heat.’
Despite being so young, ‘Latino Heat’ gave us some truly wonderful and memorable moments in a wrestling ring.
None more so, however, than his unforgettable career-defining moment back in 2004.
Guerrero earned the right to face one of the youngest-ever WWE champions in Brock Lesnar at the No Way Out pay-per-view event after emerging victorious in a battle royal.
‘Latino Heat’ would then produce a performance of a lifetime at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. The 30-minute match with Lesnar largely resulted in a rather one-sided beating dished out by the man known as the ‘The Beast’.
Guerrero, however, would simply not give up and produced one of the all-time great wrestling counters when he reversed Lesnar’s signature F5 move into a DDT onto the championship belt.
Subsequently, Guerrero climbed to the top rope and delivered a memorable Frog Splash and got the referee to count the pinfall to pick up a truly spectacular victory.
This match cemented his legacy as one of the best in-ring performers in wrestling history.
This victory gave him an iconic connection with the WWE fans and ‘Latino Heat’ would go on to successfully defend his title at the Grandest Stage Of Them All WrestleMania XX at Madison Square Garden against Olympic gold medal winner Kurt Angle.
Guerrero would later drop the WWE title to JBL a few months later before going on to have a memorable feud with fellow Latino great Rey Mysterio in a phenomenal Ladder Match at SummerSlam.
In truth there are too many moments featuring Eddie Guerrero to list, but one thing is clear, he would always ‘lie, cheat and steal’ and won his one and only WWE Championship in truly memorable fashion.
RIP Eddie.