Next week marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of Eddie Guerrero, who died on November 13, 2005. His final match was a victory over Mr. Kennedy at a SmackDown taping.
Speaking on Something to Wrestle, Guerrero’s close friend and former rival, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, addressed internet rumors that a chair shot in that final match may have contributed to his death.
“No, yeah, never. Not one time, no. And I think I’ve heard that over the years. I think it kind of kind of sounds familiar, but nobody thought that. You know, guys have gotten 1000s of chair shots over the years, and guys don’t die from chair shots, you know? And so I get why the conspiracy gets put together. Hard chair shot you die, however long later it was. And I get why people could put, you know, two and two together like that, and get that. But nobody at the time thought that, and I certainly don’t believe that.”
Eddie’s Health
JBL clarified that, from his perspective, Eddie did not appear to be struggling physically, and his death was a shock to everyone.
“Apparently, his heart just stopped. You know, I talked to, you know, Chavo’s told the story about finding him in his bathroom. You know, he got up in the morning, brushed his teeth, and just died. You know, his heart just quit. His life was over. You know, his life ran out, and there was nothing really, you know, Eddie had, there wasn’t, there weren’t any specific health issues at the time, and there certainly wasn’t anything in ring, you know, it’s just something that it wasn’t like a deteriorating condition. You know, unfortunately, his heart was just given out on him, and he didn’t know it, and all of a sudden it just stopped one morning. And you know, there was not something that led up to it, that he was tired or he was despondent, or anything like that. There was nothing like that. I was around him as much as anybody, you know, and Chavo hadn’t mentioned anything about it either. You know. He just got up one morning, and unfortunatel,y his heart stopped.”
The official autopsy report later confirmed that Guerrero passed away from acute heart failure due to underlying arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Something to Wrestle with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can listen to the full episode on podcast platforms or watch at SomethingToWrestle.com.
