Kurt Angle has recalled the moment when he realised that there was something very wrong with his friend and on-screen rival Eddie Guerrero.
At No Way Out 2004 Eddie Guerrero finally reached the top of the WWE mountain and was crowned World Champion after defeating Brock Lesnar.
After losing the title to JBL in June at The Great American Bash, Guerrero then entered into a feud with Kurt Angle who had been appearing as SmackDown General Manager. The pair continued to battle for the rest of year before Guerrero began a storyline with Mysterio in early 2005.
During his feud with Angle the pair met in a Lumberjack Match on the September 7th episode of SmackDown, which ended in a no contest. However, Angle has now revealed that he remembers the match for all of the wrong reasons.
During an appearance on Cafe De Rene with Rene Dupree, Angle recalled the match, citing it as the first time he realised Guerrero was unwell, although no one at the time realised just how unwell the star was.
The former World Champion detailed how during the match Guerrero clutched the ropes and wouldn’t let go, imploring Angle not to touch him. Angle added that if Guerrero had spoken up and sought the necessary medical help he wouldn’t have died a little over a year later.
That’s when I first realised that there was something wrong with Eddie. You know, there were days when he couldn’t move. He would be backstage with the winter jacket on, with the hat on, he was walking around like an old man. Some days he was energetic like ‘Hey I’m Eddie Guerrero! Let’s have fun!’ Some days he wasn’t, and it had to be his heart. There was something going on with Eddie and nobody knew, Eddie didn’t even know.
But that Lumberjack match, that was a big sign that there was something seriously wrong with Eddie. He could not go, I couldn’t get him to go. He was holding onto the ropes like ‘Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me.’ I’m like ‘I have to Eddie, this is a wrestling match. I have to do the next spot.’ He was like ‘I don’t want to, I don’t want to.’ This is Eddie Guerrero, the greatest wrestler of all time, and he can’t finish a match, it was crazy.
You can’t blame it on the WWE, Eddie knew that there was something wrong with himself and he just didn’t want to find out, I think. I mean I’m not saying that Eddie wanted to die on purpose, I’m saying that Eddie just didn’t want to take the extra time to find out if something was wrong with him, and he should have. He would have been alive today if he had done that, and I think a lot of us should have spoken up.”
Following his feud with Rey Mysterio, Guerrero became number one contender for Batista’s World Championship. He wrestled his final match against Mr Kennedy on the November 8th, with the bout being broadcast on SmackDown three days later.
Eddie Guerrero sadly passed away on November 13th 2005.
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