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When they split the brands, there were a
lot of skeptics to the fact that

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SmackDown couldn't stand on its own two
feet.

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And now that we're celebrating a
thousand episodes of this show and it

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to be a wonderful standalone brand,
that's because of Eddie Guerrero.

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He was the SmackDown locker room. He's
one of the top entertainers, one of the

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best guys who will ever grace that ring.

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I love, I cheat, I steal!

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You gotta build a Mount Rushmore for
SmackDown.

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First person's face that goes up there
is Eddie Guerrero.

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When I got to WWE, yeah, there was that
sense. I've arrived, you know, this is

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it. And I was so determined to show
Vince I had potential.

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I think that was really important for
Eddie to prove to himself and to

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else that, you know, the love of
wrestling and the love of what he did

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resonated.

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At this point in my career, you know, it
was going great.

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Opportunities happened that I never
dreamt about.

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How did it go sour? Jeez.

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You never think that, you know, WWE was
going to fire him. I think Eddie kind of

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played with that, you know, quite a bit.

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throughout his days of drug abuse and
using alcohol.

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And then, you know, when the day came
that, you know, they did fire him and he

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had to actually work for the bottom up,
you know, go through rehab. And he had

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to learn that he had to do it for
himself and not for everybody else to be

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and sober.

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It was my fault.

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Nobody's fault but my own.

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I think I really had to prove myself.
You know, WWE, they know.

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They know what's going on. I did a lot
of independent work.

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And I guess they were watching.

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And we did. We talked. And they took me
back. They gave me another opportunity.

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That's Eddie Guerrero!

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That's Rick Flair's apparently son,
Eddie Guerrero! Eddie Guerrero making

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presence felt here with the
Intercontinental Champion!

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I think when WWE had...

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confidence in him again, that he could
be employed and he could work again and

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still take care of himself.

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He was very grateful and humbled about
it. I had a lot of doubts about myself

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and about going back.

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But as far as them wanting me,

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I always kind of knew in my heart that I
might have a second chance.

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Eddie Guerrero was on the first roster
list of stars to be designated to

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SmackDown. And there was a small group,
Eddie being one of the team captains of

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that group, that really wanted to
champion the brand of SmackDown. And of

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course, our goal was to make it better
than Monday Night Raw.

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Well, the reimagining of SmackDown was a
long -term project that needed to also

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net short -term results.

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We knew Edge was going to be a long
-term main eventer. We knew Kurt Angle

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going to main event more WrestleManias.
We knew Rey Mysterio was going to be a

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huge superstar for us. But we also
needed someone who could come in

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from Raw.

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and immediately ascend to the top of
SmackDown while we took the time to

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all of these other personalities. And no
one was more qualified to become an

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instant sensation than Eddie Guerrero.

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We had all these great talent on
SmackDown, and what we decided to do as

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was make SmackDown a wrestling show.

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I remember watching SmackDown, and I
knew that was the show for me overall.

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But I just remember seeing him, and I
was just instantly hooked.

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Everything about him was just off the
charts. His lying, cheating, stealing to

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the matches he had. I think Eddie was a
huge part of SmackDown, and for quite a

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while was the face of the brand.

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Viva la raza!

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Alasky Bastille!

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Latino Giroda Lejones, yeah, man, you
know, that's what I grew up with, you

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know, those are my homies.

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Just a part of me, I just take it to
another extreme.

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I never pictured myself being
entertaining in that funny way.

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You got the deer in the headlight. Look,
look, look. You look like this.

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No, no. I mean, if I had a camera, I'd
take a picture. You're funny.

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He could take a crowd and go on a roller
coaster of emotions with them. He can

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make you love him one second and
literally five seconds later be booing

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hating him. He was just that good at
changing emotions and stuff. And he

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also, in that same couple minutes,
just... have you in tears laughing it

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feel for him you tell eddie this is what
you need to say to bromo he couldn't he

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couldn't remember it but it was always
something special

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the

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only thing is he was cheating

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but you totally got that moment And he
was clever. He was too clever not to

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appreciate.

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Wasn't it you that stole my memorabilia?
That was for a good cause. That was for

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charity. I don't give a damn what it was
for. That was mine.

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It was the one that the fans took to
very quickly.

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Even though he lied, cheated, steal, the
fans loved him for it.

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Everything about him, I was just like
instantly hooked. And I knew that I

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to become a celebrity superstar.

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Every other dream that I ever had just
kind of went out the window, and I knew

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had one goal in life.

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You like Eddie Guerra?

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You know, Eddie at home was very quiet.
And, of course, with me and the girls,

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we always, you know, had family day
where it was movies and, you know, eat

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and make pellets on the floor. And, you
know, he would watch all the Disney

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movies for the girls that they wanted
until they fell asleep.

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He just, he was at home, and he liked to
relax and kind of be quiet.

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de -stress from the road. And then as
soon as that red light comes on the

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and he gets into the doors of the arena,
he turns into this other person. And

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it's because he loved what he did so
much.

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And he was so happy at work. He was
happy at home, don't get me wrong.

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But there was something about when he
walked into that arena and it was

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showtime. He was in love with what he
did.

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And that was something that made me
happy because he had different loves. He

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the love of his home and he had the love
of the arena. And then to go out into

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the arena and see the fans, he loved to
look everyone in the eye and make eye

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contact and let them know, I see you.
And that was important to Eddie.

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Here's your winner and the new WWE
Champion,

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Eddie!

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WWE Championship.

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Wow, man. You worked so hard all your
life, you know, for something. And, you

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know, days, months away from your family
to obtain something

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like this.

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And sometimes this dream seemed

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so unobtainable to me, you know, that it
was hard.

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for me to believe when it actually
happened.

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I mean, this is everything that he
became sober and clean and wanted to be

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better when he had his second return to
WWE.

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This was everything that had happened
previous in his life, that this was the

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moment that he was able to prove to
himself that he could do this all by

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himself. Eddie was able to prove to
himself and everyone around watching

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match that night that It's not about the
size, it's about your heart. And the

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heart wins every time.

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It opened doors for everybody.

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What Eddie did was he made a statement
that night that size doesn't matter.

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Eddie was that person.

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He was the guy that started it. He
started the whole, you know, era of

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anything's possible. It doesn't matter
how big or small you are. You can make

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your dream come true.

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The day you beat Brock.

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The next night, you're walking out, and
that's the big litmus test.

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And the place gave an eruption like I've
almost never heard. It was like Stone

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Cold at its heyday at The Rock. I mean,
it was unbelievable.

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And I'll tell you, Eddie, when he held
the title, he did it with dignity and he

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did it with pride. He really matched
well with the fans.

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Backstage, Eddie Guerrero was a genuine
pain in the ass.

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Eddie Guerrero...

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Wanted to know every single solitary
detail of every single solitary segment

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that he was in. And that's because he
was a second generation superstar with a

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lifetime of experience.

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So he brought a micromanagement style to
his

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performance that every top performer
should have. Eddie's insight and ability

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to.

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navigate through action. You think of a
parking lot brawl, and you immediately

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come up with things that should be
involved.

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Eddie's ability to really innovate and
use everything more than

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would be expected was the greatest thing
that Eddie Guerrero taught me. Use all

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of your surroundings to your advantage.
And I think this is what helped him

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really develop the lie -cheat -steal
personality.

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Well, you have to remember, Eddie was
very honest.

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He was actually brutally honest.

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He watched the whole show.

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He watched everybody wrestle.

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He watched the first match all the way
to the last match. Eddie always went out

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of his way to give advice to every
single wrestler that wrestled on the

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That's what made Eddie special.

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And I'm very, very thankful to work
under the wing of Eddie Guerrero and

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not probably all of his secrets, but
most all of his secrets.

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He is an integral part of the style that
I have today. I take so many of his

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teachings and try to use them every day.
I'm very grateful for having worked

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with him.

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A complete, utter shock.

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I was just trying to accept the fact
that he was gone.

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I got a call from Ed Kosky, who told me
that Eddie Guerrero had passed away.

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We found out it was a Sunday morning,
and it was about 6 .30, and we get a

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doorbell that rang.

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And at first I thought I was dreaming. I
didn't know. And Eddie was on the road.

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He was in Minneapolis, and I didn't
understand why the doorbell was ringing.

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thought maybe it was my front door
neighbor that needed something.

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So I got up, and when I opened the door,
all of Eddie's family was there.

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And so when I opened the door, his
sister started crying.

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And they came in and said they had to
talk to me.

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And that person had told me that they
had contacted the family. They didn't

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to let me know since I was alone with
the girls. They wanted to let the family

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come over to my house and let me know
what was going on.

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By 7 .30, my whole world had changed.

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And I missed a call from Eddie, you
know, like around 4 .30. And I just

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understand why he was calling so early.

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When he called, it was a missed call,
and I thought, well, maybe he just got

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and he went back to bed, so I didn't
think anything of it. And I don't know

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it was something that he, you know, was
going through or he was trying to call

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me before he passed away.

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I still keep all his voicemails. I mean,
it's still something that's very

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special to me because I like to know
that it was the last one that he talked

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and he was trying to call.

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It was unreal for him.

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Gosh, for like a month, everything just
seemed like it wasn't true.

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But little by little, you don't
understand what God's reasonings are,

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why things happen.

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But I know that Eddie's in a better
place than we are, and I will see him

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one day, and that's something that I
live for.

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Eddie was in the prime of his life, 38
years old, in the prime of his career.

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Eddie loved to perform more than
anything else, whether he's booed or

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was cheered. He loved to perform for all
of you.

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Eddie's goal every night, Eddie's goal
every night was to steal the show.

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So tonight, there's no doubt in anyone's
mind that Eddie would want the show to

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go on, and so it shall.

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Amazingly enough, I think one of the
most memorable moments having to do with

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Eddie Guerrero on SmackDown with the
tribute to Eddie Guerrero because it

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00:14:52,060 --> 00:14:57,540
put forth the impact of how much Eddie
Guerrero meant to the WWE Universe.

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They had me go out and speak and I was
just so heartbroken. I was literally

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devastated.

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If I know anything about Eddie Guerrero,
I know that he would hate to see me in

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this ring crying like a little baby.

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Well, Eddie, I'm sorry, I just can't
help it because I just can't believe

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gone.

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It was hard being out there, like really
hard. I think mostly it was hard

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because I was falling apart.

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Like after all these years, it's still
pretty hard to talk about.

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If a lot of today's superstars claim
they were influenced by Eddie Guerrero,

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then I would suggest their attention is
placed on the right person in history.

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I don't believe SmackDown would still be
around if Eddie Groh wasn't here. He

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made it so special.

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He made SmackDown magical.

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When you transcend time, I think it's
one of the greatest legacies you can

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and it shows how great that person is.

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Eddie's one of the great ones.

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He's one of the top entertainers, one of
the best guys who will ever grace that

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ring.

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00:16:04,730 --> 00:16:08,450
But I think for the guys who were there,
the fans who watched them, it means

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much more than that.

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I would put him at the very top as far
as being the guy that made

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the biggest difference on SmackDown.

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Eddie's legacy is unique.

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He had gratitude for being able to be in
that ring. Eddie wanted the

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satisfaction of those fans leaving that
arena and being happy with that show.

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This is a business that fed our family
and it provides so much entertainment

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that this is...

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This is what it was about, you know, was
Eddie wanted the show to keep going on.

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If he was hurt or, you know, when he
passed away, I know that the show went

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and that's what he would have wanted to
do. And that's a legacy that he would

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want to leave is that, you know, the
show goes on, and that's how it should