Down With The Brown: Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story DVD

Well, firstly I want to thank the 411’ers for welcoming me back with open arms after a six-month absence. And more importantly, I want to thank you the readers for welcoming me back. Now that I’ve compiled a heck of a lot of wrestling DVDs (courtesy of the Deep Discount sale of a few weeks back) I’ll be cranking these out hopefully at a more rapid pace.

I’ve been wanting to get the Eddie Guerrero disc for quite some time now, it’s just the thing that has been so damn expensive. I’ve been hearing time and again how this is one of the truly great WWE documentaries, and always being a big Eddie fan, I was finally able to pick it up.

And for this review, Kerwin White does not exist. He is Chavo.

The Documentary

As much as I hate to say it, the special is a little bit of a disappointment. And that’s not say it isn’t a good documentary, because it is. But I don’t feel it really digs as deep as it could have, though with the subject matter being what it is, I can understand why. This is a 50 minute documentary that takes a look at Eddie’s career, highlighting his fall from grace in 2000-2001 to his Rocky-like title win in 2004. There are certainly a ton of interesting facts and interviews (Eddie’s wife, kids and brothers are all interviewed as well as Benoit, Malenko, JR, and others), but the meat of the story, Eddie’s abuse of alcohol and drugs seems almost glossed over. And I realize it’s probably opening a can of worms by explaining how difficult a wrestler’s life is and how easy it is to get hooked on a variety of vices. They never exactly get into WHY Eddie became so addicted, he just suddenly is, goes to rehab, relapses, and then he’s okay again. A piece of the puzzle just seems missing.

Not to mention, too much of Eddie’s career gets glossed over (though the extras take care of it later.) Barely any mention is made of his insanely hot partnership with Art Barr, his arm injury in his first WWF match is basically ignored, his WCW days are regulated to his Rey match at Halloween Havoc (NO word is mentioned of the lWo angle or his real life feud with the WCW bookers. Granted you can’t fit it all in, but it seems if you can take five minutes to discuss Eddie’s love of cars, you should be able to profile more of his career. All in all, it’s a very good show, I was just expecting something a little more than it was.

The Matches

Now, just because I criticize the documentary, does not mean I say nay to the disc. Au contraire.

The disc includes 10 big matches from Eddie’s career in AAA, ECW, WCW, and the WWF. And they picked some good ones:

-The Guerreros (Hector, Mando, & Chavo) vs. The Rock & Roll RPMs & Cactus Jack. This match I think is more to show Foley’s early career than anything else since Eddie isn’t even in this match. This is from the AWA SuperClash III, the first and last AWA PPV. Decent match, nothing too spectacular. The only real highlight is listening to announcer Lee Marshall call the match with him having absolutely no idea who the members of the RPMs are (They were Mike Davis and Tommy Lane, just for the record.) I swear he actually freezes at one point: “Hector in there with ……………an RPM.”

-Eddie Guerrero & Love Machine vs. Octagon & El Hijo Santo (2/3 Hair vs. Mask). This is AAA action from the When Worlds Collide PPV that WCW helped sponsor, and even if you know nothing about lucha libre (as I do), you’ll love this match. It takes a minute to get used to the elimination rules (you have to pin both team members to get a fall), but aside from that, this is an OUTSTANDING match. Love Machine is also known as Art Barr (The Juicer in WCW) and it is really sad that he passed away soon after this match (Lots of similarities between Barr and the late Gino Hernandez, both men masters of the “asshole heel” persona, both men passing away soon after losing “hair matches.” Barr had a great look and an absolutely killer personality, but a lack of size and an unfortunate incident with a fan in Portland as well as an even more unfortunate “Juicer” gimmick in WCW railroaded him in the US, but was able to be fully appreciated in Mexico. Without knowing a thing about the angle or storyline, he comes off as a major prick within thirty seconds of the match, and you’re ready to see him get his ass kicked. Hot match, hot crowd, those who know me know this rating comes very infrequently…..****.

-Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (2/3) -this is the ECW farewell match, and one I have always enjoyed, but have also found a little overrated. Not being one of the mutants in 1995 probably gives me less of an appreciation for it, but it is a terrific match. ***1/4

-This match also features alternate commentary with Todd Grisham, Eddie, and Dean. Dean’s awesomeness in the ring is equal to his unawesomeness on the mic.

-Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho -Remember the next time you get mad at how the WWE treats Paul London, both of these guys were “cruiserweights” in 1997 WCW and looked to be heavily misused. Solid match that features a BEAUTIFUL old-school Lionsault and at least three moves I’ve never seen in a WCW ring or WWE ring that just look SICK. Only a sloppy finish prevents this from getting the full 4, but I gotta at least go ***3/4 on this one. As great a PPV match it would very shortly be surpassed by………

-Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio -the match from Halloween Havoc 97 that many have called the greatest WCW match of the 90s, and others call the greatest opening match in wrestling history. It’s hard to refute either one, though in a sense this match has put a curse on both men, as both have been expected to or even top this performance ever since. Not having been a huge WCW fan in 1997, this was the first time I have seen this match, and I gotta say: it lives up to the hype. Outstanding match with some of the crispest and tightest offense and selling you’re going to see in any match. Very innovative moves that you’ll only see in this match. An easy ****, I’ll even bite the bullet and go ****Ѕ. (You gotta work, slave, and damn near put out to get over **** from me.)

-The match also features alternate commentary with Michael Cole, Eddie, and Rey and the three make a pretty fun team. There’s a cute moment on camera before the match starts where Rey loses his train of thought and Eddie finishes it for him and gets a laugh off-camera. Very informative stuff as Rey tells us what moves he has never done since this match, and how feeling slighted by Bischoff motivated them to steal the show. Great exchange with Cole asking Rey how hard it was to wrestle with a torn mask obscuring his vision and Eddie asking why no one asked what it was like to wrestle with his long hair in his face.

-Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero (Hair vs. Hair) -Psycho Chavo was a guilty pleasure of mine in 1998 and that persona helped get Chavo a job in the WWE and saved him from getting lost in the Kidman-Shannon Moore cruiserweight shuffle as he was able to show his charisma. Actually we get a bonus match as this includes Chavo vs. Stevie Ray as Chavo had two matches at Bash at the Beach. That match is literally nothing, and the following Guerreros match is a letdown as Eddie oversells Chavo’s craziness a bit too much. It takes a while to get going, and even when it does, it’s less than thrilling. The only thing that saves it is Chavo’s post match antics as he shaves his own head in a bit of inspired lunacy, an example of WCW falling into gold, then not knowing what to do with it.

(BTW, I find it telling that there are no matches from Eddie’s low period on here, as the Chavo match is from 98 and the next highlight won’t be until 2002. Though it does spare us any of the Chyna stuff.)

-Eddie Guerrero vs. Rob Van Dam (Ladder Match) -Excellent match that is probably more infamous for the drunk fan who gets in the ring and almost knocks the ladder over with Eddie on it, which is a shame because this a great match on its own. BTW, if you’re wanting to relive that moment, look for a tape trader, because the whole incident and JR’s commentary about it is edited out of the DVD, instead cutting to a crowd shot, though RVD’s “WTF?!?” reaction remains. I can understand the reasoning, but still, it’s a bit of a letdown. Though the match itself is awesome anyway highlighted by an improvised finish as RVD accidentally falls off the ladder when attempting a frog splash. One of the few RAW main events from 2002 that I fondly remember, ***Ѕ .

-Alternate commentary with Grisham, Eddie, and RVD (who apparently is a Dunkin’ Donuts fan, who knew?) Grisham (as Eddie’s old theme music plays): Do you miss your old Latino Heat song? Eddie: No. Grisham asks some stupid questions but also asks some good ones as Eddie admits his lack of ladder match experience (admitting his ladder match with Sean Waltman in WCW was “less than stellar”) and Rob shares his admiration for Brady Boone and Lanny Poffo. A fun commentary.

-Edge/Mysterio vs. Angle/Benoit vs. Los Guerreros – This is from Survivor Series 2002 and is of the Three-Way-Dance variety where last team standing wins. I think part of the what made the Guerrero team work is that they weren’t idiots. It wasn’t a “Lie, Cheat, Steal” mentality so much as they just did what any normal person would do in that situation. If I’m in an elimination match, I’d stay the hell away from the action too. Opening fifteen minutes are great, but the match really suffers once Angle and Benoit leave. 2002 Edge has always left a bad taste as the WWE always saw him as a much bigger star than he really was. A *** match but the last ten lags, and there is an awful lot of sloppiness.

-Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit – This is the tournament final for the vacant U.S. title, and not being a big Smackdown fan at the time, I had never seen this match until now. Great running gag as the ref gets knocked down at least three times with each knock out being more brutal than the one before. Naturally, he sells each one less in comparison. Pretty entertaining *** match that is marred by a totally unnecessary run-in. And it shows you how far the U.S. title has fallen as we’ve gone from Eddie-Benoit to Orlando-Heidenreich.

-Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar- I likened this match to the film Rocky earlier which might be a little extreme, since there was a rumbling at the time that Eddie was going to win. Outstanding match that unintentionally becomes the WWE big machine against the smaller indy guy as really, Eddie was just too small for so long for either WWE or WCW to dare give a title run to. And therein lies its charm. Couple that with the story of Eddie’s descent from rock bottom to King of the World and you have one of the most emotional finishes and post-match celebrations in history. ***1/4 match, **** celebration.

-JBL scares Eddie’s mother into a heart attack. Personally, I’d rather have the Eddie-JBL bloodbath from a few weeks later, but this was a house show angle that ended up becoming a big Smackdown angle. Really, it’s the kind of thing the WWE should be doing more often. Good, solid angle though as we all would later find out, JBL would be a much better heel than he shows here.

Ten matches, only two fail to hit the *** mark, provided you don’t count Chavo-Stevie Ray. That is an incredible batting average, and one you’ll rarely see outside of the Flair DVD.

And you ALSO get:

-Three Eddie Guerrero music videos
-Five vignettes of Los Guerreros
-Four Confidential pieces (Eddie’s YJ Stinger spots, his Low Rider Magazine shoot, a “What’s your favorite color” type interview with Josh Matthews, and the cameras following an emotional Eddie backstage after his WWE title win.)

AND extra material from the documentary:

-Eddie gives a brief summary of his father’s legacy, and how having the Guerrero name made Eddie a target.
-A hilarious story about Eddie’s first heel turn against a stuffed monkey.
-A story about Chavo perfecting the moonsault, and Eddie having a less than impressive first perfomance of it.
-A better look at Eddie dislocating his elbow against Billy Gunn in his first WWF match.
-A brief history of the Eddie & Chavo team.
-Highlights of his WMXX match with Angle and his post-match hug with Benoit

All of these are great additions and it’s great to see them included. The documentary would have had much better with these segments intact, but considering the subject matter (and the time constraints), I can see why it wasn’t.

Easter Eggs? You want Easter Eggs?

-Hector Guerrero tells us what it was like to be the Gobbledygooker and Gene Okerlund admits his embarrassment over the entire incident.
-A recap of the Guerrero-Malenko feud which gave me a whole new appreciation for their battles. Includes Dean Malenko’s best promo ever.
-A recap of how Los Guerreros earned a title shot at Survivor Series 02. And watching this, WOW do I not miss Stephanie in the slightest as she manages to put herself over the titles, Chris Benoit, and Kurt Angle just in the PROMO.

All told, this is an outstanding disc. Don’t expect the documentary to be a shocking expose of the Real sports variety and you’ll be fine. The matches and extras more than make up for any of the shortcomings. It’s a great, great set.

Highly recommended, thumbs up, A.