Former WWE commentator, Jim Ross, has lifted the lid on the on-screen partnership of Eddie Guerrero and Chyna in 2000.
One of wrestling’s great love stories, Chyna and Eddie Guerrero may not have been together for long, but their time as a couple is one of the most cherished memories of the end of WWF’s Attitude Era.
As WrestleMania season approached in 2000, Chyna left the WWF Intercontinental Championship behind her and began a feud with The Radicalz – Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko – thanks to the seemingly unwanted affections directed at her by ‘Latino Heat.’
The enmity resulted in a 6-Man Tag Team Match at WrestleMania 2000 where ‘The Ninth Wonder of the World’ teamed with Too Cool to defeat Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko. However, all wasn’t as it seemed and twenty four hours later on Monday Night Raw Chyna succumbed to the advances, turned heel on Chris Jericho and helped her new beau capture the WWF European Championship.
Following a mini-feud with Essa Rios and Lita, descension became apparent in the relationship when Guerrero eyed the WWF Intercontinental Championship which his Mamacita had already held. In a bid to aid her lover to the prize, Chyna teamed with Eddie at SummerSlam to battle Trish Stratus and Val Venis with the gold on the line. The only snag was that the person who made the deciding fall would be crowned champion.
As it turned out, Chyna pinned Stratus to capture the strap causing Guerrero to hatch a plan to dethrone his woman. Slithering his way into a WWF Intercontinental Championship defence on the September 4, 2000, Monday Night Raw which ended with Chyna being knocked out and Guerrero sneakily covering her – while feigning concern – to capture the gold.
Now Jim Ross has sat down on his Grilling JR Podcast to talk about the dynamic of the pair on and off screen, stating that it was Eddie who was more invested in the storyline:
“Eddie was more invested in it. Eddie went along with it better. Eddie was magic. It was obvious Eddie Guerrero was one of the top, whatever small number you want to anointed, workers in the world. He was at the top of his game in the sports entertainment aspect. [Chyna’s] business was all sports entertainment, it had no basis in old school pro wrestling. Eddie had come into that world and really started doing well, Eddie pulled it off.
Him and [Chyna] liked each other, they enjoyed working together. As far as all the stuff that Chyna did, Eddie was her best benching partner for me.”
The relationship hit the skids thanks to Guerrero’s cheating ways and when the star announced that she was going to pose naked for Playboy, a series of vignettes were shot at the Playboy Mansion in which ‘Latino Heat’ would attempt to gain access in order to stop her going through with the shoot.
Following a brief engagement angle, the pair split when Eddie was caught on camera showering with two of The Godfather’s hos – one of them being future WWE Women’s Champion, Victoria – which lead to a reformation of The Radicalz and a watered down version of D-Generation X when factions collided.
Credit for the interview: Grilling JR Podcast
h/t for the transcription: Wrestling Inc.