How did Eddie Guerrero die? Everything you need to know

Eddie Guerrero was one of the greatest entertainers of the WWE. Guerrero hailed from the Mexican Guerrero family and spent his early wrestling career fighting in Mexico. He joined the mainstream in the United States via ECW in 1995, and later that year, he joined WCW. Guerrero’s fame shot through the roof when he joined the WWF. 

Guerrero showed technical excellence in the ring and unrivaled showmanship off it. Though he played the villain for the first years of his career, fans adored him. When he shifted to the hero in his later years, fans almost worshipped the wrestler. Eddie Guerrero’s death on 13th November 2005 marked one of the saddest days in wrestling history. 

Eddie’s nephew, Chavo Guerrero, found Eddie unconscious in his hotel room at the Marriot Hotel City Center in Minneapolis. The wrestler was barely alive when Chavo found him, and by the time the ambulance arrived, Eddie was dead. 

WWE put all storylines on hold during the next episode of Raw. No one was forced to perform, but some wrestlers, including Chavo, wrestled. Chavo finished the match with Eddie’s maneuver: the frog splash. 

An autopsy revealed that Eddie Guerrero died due to heart failure caused by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. 

In 2001, Eddie was released by the WWF for alcoholism, promising that he could return after getting clean. Eddie was clean for four years before his death, but some speculated that his past drug use might have contributed to his death. 

Guerrero was once hooked on pills following a car crash in 1999. His widow, Vickie, revealed that Eddie would rather take a pain pill than miss work. However, she said that Eddie soon became dependent on medication:

“I thought everything is okay–he’s just trying to cover up his injuries, but then I started seeing that I was driving him everywhere. I was picking him up because he couldn’t function. What y’all saw in the ring, he would turn on his lights in the ring. He loved what he did, but coming home, it was a mess.”

In 2009, Eddie’s friend Rey Mysterio announced his entry into rehab to deal with pain killer addiction. Rey mentioned Eddie, stating that he didn’t want to suffer the same fate. Mysterio suggested that his past drug use contributed to his death. 

Regardless, Eddie’s still considered one of the best of all time. In his five years at the WWE, he participated in some of the franchise’s greatest matches, coined terms that still evoke memories today, and brought smiles on the faces of millions of fans. 

“I mean, he could have been the absolute greatest of all time because when I wrestled him, he was still in that top three we were talking about, so Eddie had it all,” Kurt Angle said on The Talk is Jericho podcast. “He was so entertaining, but he also had all the technique. He was such a great wrestler and he got it.”