[Mikey]

The 3-14 contest in the Charlotte bracket sees beloved and much-missed Eddie Guerrero taking on founding NWO member Scott Hall. Can Eddie lie, cheat, and steal some votes to advance, or will the Bad Guy be saying hello to the second round?






Poll closes Wednesday, February 13 at 11:59 EST.

[Lucky]

This one's tough for me. Love both. Neither got as high as he should have. Eddie at least tasted it. Both could have been maineventers and Hall probably could have been a much more loved wrestler if he had killed himself with the substance abuse problems before he managed to became a joke. Of course if he had also managed to clean up and revitalize his career that would have helped too. But I'm voting for Benoit so my personal value judgments of the men shouldn't factor in.

Eddie was a better wrestler but not by much. Hall was a better talker but not by much. The two of them might be the best examples of "ring charisma" I've ever seen. What Hall loses in never reaching the World Title level he HAS to make back in being part of the single most HOLY SHIT moment in wrestling history and being the key part of what changed the business. The nWo making WCW and kicking off the Monday Night Wars and the Wolfpac making heels cool and basically faces.

I think I'm voting Hall. I know he's gonna lose. But really, if he had flamed out and died years ago I bet he'd do better.

[Batman]

articles.citypages.com/2005-12-28/news/artists-of-the-year/6/

This is not an obit, this is an essay in City Pages "Artist of the Year" issue:

Eddie Guerrero
By Nate Patrin
If professional wrestling is a vulgar art, it's also one of the most difficult professions in entertainment. It requires that rare combination of iron-man athleticism and rock-star charisma, plus a Buddhistic tolerance for pain. You have to be willing to get tossed around like a rag doll and wake up with seriously aching joints every morning. You have to pull off a nonstop in-ring performance in one take, usually with a fair deal of improvisation. Oh, and sometimes you have to bleed copiously out of your forehead.

Eddie Guerrero, who died in a Minneapolis hotel room in November of 2005, mastered all those things. He was especially strong during the last four years of his life, after kicking the addiction to the painkillers, drugs, and alcohol that would eventually enact their toll on his heart. Guerrero was one of the WWE's biggest stars, a charismatic veteran who emphasized his Latino background and his wrestling family history. His spectacular high-flying techniques followed the model of his father, Gory Guerrero, who worked alongside Mexican icon El Santo in the '50s and '60s and brought the agile, acrobatic lucha libre style to an international audience.

And nobody worked both sides of wrestling's hero/villain divide better. As a fan favorite, Guerrero could get thousands of kids in Little Rock to cheer the phrase "Viva la Raza," boo his Latino-mocking enemies (like John Bradshaw Layfield, a caricature of a Texas neocon millionaire) and applaud his clever underhandedness. Often he would get his opponents disqualified by slamming a steel chair against the mat while the ref wasn't looking, ditch the chair, drop to the canvas, and make it look like he'd been clocked one.

And when he was a detestable asshole, it transcended the gonna-kick-your-ass platitudes of pro wrestling cliché and skewed closer to Robert Mitchum: During his feud with longtime friend and rival Rey Mysterio, he'd send manic, furious threats to Rey's children to "take away your daddy" one week; the next week he'd simply stand in the ring, staring with pure hatred at Mysterio's purloined mask--silent, seething, for minutes on end--before simply dropping it to the ground and grinding it under his foot like a spent cigarette.

You could say that Guerrero was wrestling's Bruce Lee: a man who mastered and revolutionized his art, spread its cultural heritage, and then left us too soon. And there wasn't a damn thing fake about him.



Nate Patrin is a St. Paul writer and a frequent contributor to City Pages.

[Batman]

Also . . .

luckylopez said:

Hall was a better talker but not by much.

Not on his best fucking day.

Please show me an example, because I'm boggled that anybody would even assert that.

[Stu]

Eddie main evented the first wwe even I ever went to, and was great. So vote goes to him.

[Lucky]

sergeial said:

Also . . .

luckylopez said:

Hall was a better talker but not by much.

Not on his best fucking day.

Please show me an example, because I'm boggled that anybody would even assert that.

Show me an example of Eddie being a special talker first so I can find the bar. Because I can't for the life of me think of one promo of his I truly remember. Just that he was a charismatic and comfortable dude who came off cool even when he was putting on a fucking ridiculous accent that wasn't his and spouting quasi racist terms. And Hall was doing that when Eddie was still a nobody.

[gooker]

I love both of these guys in their prime too, but I had to go with Eddie. He made it further up the mountain and he is one of my favorites of all time, unlike Hall.

[DevSop]

My voting here is probably personal, but Eddie fixed his life as best we can tell...Hall is still a walking joke. And I believe Eddie is a MUCH better wrestler than Hall.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

I'll never forget the standing ovation Eddie got on the first SD after winning the title. Still gives me goosebumps.

[Mikey]

Want a balloon, homes?

[Batman]

I misunderstood you Lucky. I was assuming that you were saying that both guys were great on the mic, but Hall was slightly better. Instead you meant that both guys were nothing special on the mic, but Hall was slightly less mediocre?

You watched the same damn show I did, so if thats how you feel, I don't think I can change your mind. But I want to share some of the reasons I think you're crazy, anyhow.

I can't find most of my favorite Eddie promos anywhere on the internet. For those of you who may remember, I'm referring to the promo where he claims to beat his daughters for having a poster of the Rock in their room, the one where he just glares at Mysterio's bloody mask and then grinds it under his boot, and the one where he's in a cage leading up to his last match with Mysterio, and asks how you can beat a man who's already lost everything.

Here are a couple I was able to find:

Eddie and Lesnar:


Eddie and Angle:
"Maybe I can't beat you without cheating. But what if I can?"


As far as I'm concerned, Eddie is on the same rarefied level as Foley, Flair, and Heyman on the mic.

I'd love him just as much if he had died with a fucking needle in his arm, or if he had lived and had lots of relapses with drugs and alcohol like Hall. His #3 ranking on my ballot is not based on sentiment, and Angle and Foley just barely edged him out.

[Lucky]

Its not that I think both are mediocre. Both had great charisma and mic skills. Both were stuck with retarded stereotypes and goofy characters. Eddie's promo is great when he's yelling "Esse, vato" and "holmes" every 5 seconds? Suffice it to say that even without the retarded overplay of his ethnicity that was nothing close to his true person I think that Lesnar promo is pretty damn underwhelming. Although maybe going against Brock makes him look better because I had forgotten how bad Brock was.

I think there are two types of great mic workers. One is the guy who can cut a killer promo. One is the guy who just always seems so at ease on the mic and can own a crowd. Eddie and Hall could both do that. I have yet to see a great promo from either.

[Attitude Adjuster]

Don't give Eddie pity votes just because Hall isn't dead...yet.

The Outsiders. 'Nuf said.

[Batman]

I say again:

sergeial said:

I'd love him just as much if he had died with a fucking needle in his arm, or if he had lived and had lots of relapses with drugs and alcohol like Hall. His #3 ranking on my ballot is not based on sentiment, and Angle and Foley just barely edged him out.

Fuck the Outsiders.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

Until the run up to WMXX I would have voted for Hall. But Eddie won me over that year in his matches against Lesnar & Angle and even JBL.