Eddie Guerrero Wrestled for 19 Years — and He Remains Popular 19 Years After His Death

Turn on any WWE programming and you’re likely to see at least one wrestler acknowledge WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero. Nearly 20 years since his untimely passing, the wrestler known as "Latino Heat" is just as beloved as when he was in the ring.

Though he only lived to the age of 38, Eddie seemingly wrestled everywhere for everyone. The son of a wrestler and the father of a wrestler, Eddie has influenced countless grapplers, especially those who work in Mexico and Japan.

Eddie’s professional wrestling debut was on Sept. 5, 1986, before he was even 20 years old, working for legendary lucha promotion CMLL out of Mexico City. After winning the respect of fans in Arena Mexico, Eddie moved to another Mexican-based promotion in 1992: AAA. While working primarily in Mexico in the early '90s, Eddie, like a lot of independent wrestlers, also took his talents to New Japan Pro Wrestling. After leaving Mexico’s AAA he had a brief stint at Extreme Championship Wrestling out of Philadelphia.

Eddie’s profile as an in ring general greatly grew when he joined WCW in August 1995. He wrestled for the promotion during its heyday and left for the greener pastures of WWE (then WWF) in January 2000. While his final run in WWE would be monumental, the initial one wasn’t ideal. He was no longer with the company by the end of November 2001, spent some time working for NJPW in March 2002 and up-and-comer Ring of Honor in the spring of 2002, and returned home to WWE in April 2002. He was with World Wrestling Entertainment until his untimely death on Nov. 13, 2005.

The initial reports of Eddie’s death focused on the heart attack and his already weak heart from heart disease. A month later on Dec. 26, 2005, The Wrestling Observer newsletter went into detail about why a 38-year-old athlete would die from a heart attack.

The death certificate by the Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Medical Examiner's Office noted the death was due to arteriosclerotic heart disease, a hardening and narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with blood and oxygen. Eddie had an enlarged and damaged heart due to abusing growth hormones (steroids). Add in his well-documented painkiller addiction and alcoholism, both of which were used in WWE storylines, and the death was all but inevitable.

It's been 19 years since Eddie passed away. Eddie happened to wrestle 19 years. He appears to be moving just as much merchandise in the last 19 as he did the first 19. He's still a playable character in WWE video games and has more items currently for sale in the WWE Store than he did when he was still in the squared circle. His legend continues to grow with modern grapplers like Dominik Mysterio, Zelina Vega, the modern Latino World Order, and other wrestlers wearing ring gear and doing moves inspired by Eddie.