Overlooked Feuds: Eddie Guerrero vs Batista
It is frequently said that we do not know what we have until it is gone. Far too many of us take for granted so many aspects of our own lives, whether it be within our personal surroundings, or in the entertainment we consume. In this case, one could consider the talents of Eddie Guerrero as something many fans did not fully understand until after his untimely passing. Looking back, it’s quite clear why Eddie is considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He had it all, amazing technical in-ring ability with a Lucha influence, a one-of-a-kind charisma as well as an innate ability to make you love or hate him on any given night.
Throughout Eddie’s career, we were treated to many incredible feuds. Most notably is clearly his feud with Rey Mysterio, one that lasted on and off from the 1990s all the way through to 2005, the year he passed. Their match at WCW Halloween Havoc 1997 still remains a watershed moment for the newer, faster, and more exciting style of wrestling that is more prevalent than ever in 2021. His battles with fellow Radicalz members Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit are legendary. He single-handedly helped turn John Bradshaw Layfield from a mid-card tag team wrestler into a main-event heel champion. But one of his most overlooked feuds would be the one that was also his last. In late 2005, Eddie became part of a well-told story between himself and the World Heavyweight Champion Batista that would sadly be cut short due to his death but also featured some of the best characterizations of both performers as they worked together.
The summer of 2005 saw Eddie Guerrero feuding with Rey Mysterio with Eddie at his most dastardly, insinuating that he had a horrible secret about Rey and his family. This would go on to be revealed that Eddie was the “real” father of Rey’s son Dominik. The feud would culminate at SummerSlam in a “Custody of Dominik” Ladder Match. While it is undeniably one of the most ridiculous angles ever promoted on WWE television, the sheer efforts of both Eddie and Rey somehow made it work.
As for Batista, he was having a star-making year in 2005. At WrestleMania 21 earlier in the year, he finally put an end to Triple H’s infamous “reign of terror” by dethroning him and becoming the World Heavyweight Champion. In the months following he would continue his battles with Triple H on RAW and on PPV, culminating in a Hell In A Cell match at June’s Bad Blood PPV. After WWE Champion John Cena was drafted from SmackDown to RAW, SmackDown was left without a Champion. While there was a match set up to determine a new champion won by JBL, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long would reveal that Batista had been drafted over to SmackDown. Batista would feud with JBL briefly through SummerSlam before his path would cross with Latino Heat.
The SmackDown following SummerSlam would see a blockbuster main event pitting US Champion Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and World Heavyweight Champion Batista against JBL, his protégé Orlando Jordan and Eddie Guerrero. The match was simply pitting SummerSlam opponents against one another but it would also lay some groundwork for the upcoming feud between The Animal and Latino Heat.
Before the two could link up though, Eddie needed to attempt some closure In his feud with Rey Mysterio. SmackDown consultant Palmer Canon (remember him?) would grant Eddie a steel cage match with Mysterio to finally put an end to their business for the time being. On the September 9th, 2005 episode of SmackDown, Eddie would cement himself as moving on by defeating Rey in a strong fashion. He would leave the cage but before putting his feet on the floor, turned back and landed his patented Frog Splash to finally pin Rey in WWE. In the same episode, JBL would challenge Batista in a Bull Rope match, the same type of match he won the WWE Championship from Eddie Guerrero a year prior. Batista would prevail and remain the World Heavyweight Champion, putting their own feud to rest.
The following week on SmackDown, SmackDown GM Theodore Long and Palmer Canon would introduce Batista to the ring. After Long would clearly insinuate that the number one contender would be Rey Mysterio, Cannon would steal away the microphone and announce it as Eddie Guerrero, who would make his way to the ring. But this was a new and improved Eddie who would speak openly about his addictions:
“Now let’s face it. Everybody knows I have a history. Everybody knows about my past. Everybody knows about my demons. Everybody knows about my addictions. And the worst addiction of them all, the worst one, was my addiction to manipulation. But after last week, when I finally beat him, when I finally beat Rey Mysterio! Ahh, I found a new addiction. Yaw anna know what that addiction is homes? That addiction is respect. That addiction is honor. That addiction is doing the next right thing.
See, I am the new Eddie Guerrero! I am the new and improved Eddie Guerrero! I’m not about all that anymore, I’m about love homes! Which just brings me to you, Mr. Batista. I wanna thank you, I wanna thank you for having me as the Number One Contender for your World Heavyweight Championship, ese! I mean, let me be the first one to tell you homes, that I have the most respect for you out of anybody here. See, you’re not only the World Heavyweight Champion, and you not only wear that belt righteously around your waist. You are what this business is today, you are greatness. And I just want to let you know, that at No Mercy, I don’t want to have to hate anymore. See there’s no more hate left in me. I want to prove to the whole world, to these gentlemen and to you, that me and you can come out in here in this ring and give the best damn match in the history of professional wrestling! And never hate each other. I want to prove that that can be done. And I just wanna thank you.”
It was a startlingly stark contrast to how Eddie had been acting for previous months, but Eddie’s sheer charisma and ability, in addition to Batista’s pitch-perfect selling of the moment made it real. Eddie was trying to draw Batista in and the Champion saw through it but was still willing to go along with it. The two would end the promo perfectly for the moment.
Eddie: “Well, win, lose or draw. I know that me and you can come out of this more than just opponents, Batista, me and you can become friends, maybe even best friends! I just want to be your friend.”
*Eddie extends his hand in friendship*
Batista: “No Eddie, friends don’t shake hands! Friends gotta hug! Give me a hug!”
Much like Batista’s selling, Eddie’s facial reactions during the hug sold the entire promo and set the feud perfectly in motion. Backstage throughout the show, Eddie would keep appearing in the office of Long and Canon, at one point interrupting the new Cruiserweight Champion Nunzio (the former Little Guido in ECW) complaining about not being featured. Using his phenomenal manipulation skills, Eddie convinced Canon to book Nunzio in a match against Batista in an effort to wear down the Champion ahead of their title bout in a few weeks. During the bout, Eddie would appear at the top of the stage to show his ‘moral support’ for his new friend. As expected, Batista would put away Nunzio, and Eddie would give applaud his victory and give him a thumbs-up, a play on Batista’s thumbs down taunt before landing a Batista Bomb.
The following week both Eddie and Batista would be scheduled to face off against one of the top tag teams on SmackDown at the time, MNM, consisting of Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro. Throughout the show, Eddie was showing signs of cramps and illness. Knowing what Eddie was trying to do, Batista, being the great amigo that he is, would bring in his own doctor who would seemingly perform a prostate check. It was silly and ridiculous throughout, but again the talents of Batista and Guerrero carried it along. The match with MNM would essentially be a handicap match though due to Eddie’s ‘illness’ preventing him from participating. In the end, after Batista did all the work, Eddie would tag himself in and hit the Frog Splash for the win, then hand Batista the World Title and celebrate together before feigning his illness returning.
By this point, Eddie was firmly back to the ‘Lie, Cheat and Steal’ mode of his character, and the fans beginning to adore him. This would feature one of the funnier segments of the feud, with the famous scene of Batista stealing Eddie’s food. By this point, the chemistry between the two was undeniable. The two would team up to challenge for the Tag Team Championships against the 2005 Legion of Doom (Animal and Heidenreich) but the match would end in a disqualification when MNM appeared to attack. As Batista was going for a Batista Bomb on Nitro, Eddie would go to hit Mercury with a chair but he would move to leave Guerrero to hit Batista. Quick on his feet as always, Eddie would toss the chair to Mercury and lay on the mat, leaving Mercury to be demolished by Batista, who would soon realize the truth of what happened.
The next week Guerrero would speak in the ring wearing a Batista shirt to discuss his admiration and love for ‘The Animal’ and that he will always have his back. Batista would come to the ring and show the footage of him being hit in the back by Eddie with the chair. To show he wasn’t afraid to play the same mind games, Batista would hand Eddie a steel chair and turn his back. Eddie would seem conflicted before throwing down the chair. Eddie would then speak from the heart.
“You’re gonna tell me that you actually believe I did that on purpose? You know what man, I guess I was wrong about you. I thought you were exactly like me. If anything I thought I had found my soulmate in you. You really think, I mean hey man, let’s think about it. I thought I found someone who doesn’t play by the rules. But I guess I was wrong. You actually believe I did that on purpose? You’re gonna tell me, let’s say the roles were reversed. You’re gonna tell me that couldn’t have been you laying the chair on me? You saw the film. MNM ducked, I didn’t hit you on purpose. You know man, you actually. I don’t get it.”
Batista would go on to say that he really wanted to believe that Eddie had changed. He told Eddie that from all of his time in Evolution he grew eyes in the back of his head and that he was always watching. He then told Eddie that if he screwed him, he was gonna hurt him, to which Eddie replied “I’d expect nothing less.” Later in the night, the two would compete on opposite sides of a six-man tag match. Eddie would end up costing his own team the match in an effort to help Batista’s team win. Once again, all of this tied together wonderfully and in the hands of less-capable performers, it would not work at all.
Finally, the big match at No Mercy would occur between the two. The two would battle back and forth in a decent match worthy of being a PPV main event. At one point Eddie had the opportunity to cheat and nail Batista with a steel chair but would prove that his claims of being a changed man were real and chose not to cheat. Batista would put Eddie away with a spinebuster following a missed Frog Splash for the win. After the match, with the fans chanting Eddie, the two men would shake hands as Batista celebrated his victory.
The SmackDown following No Mercy would see Eddie Guerrero have to face Randy Orton for the Number One Contendership, a match Eddie would win by disqualification following interference from Cowboy Bob Orton. Batista would make the save and Theodore Long would come out to announce a tag match between the Ortons and Batista and Guerrero. The next week would see Bob Orton unable to compete, and Randy Orton would turn to the newest dominating heel on SmackDown as his partner, Mr. Kennedy (an odd choice seeing as Orton would play a big part in Kennedy being released a few years later, but that is a story for another day). The match would end via disqualification just like the week before when Kennedy went to attack Batista with a chair, but Eddie would prove his true friendship by laying over him and taking the chair shot for him. A bullet in the line of duty so to speak.
In an absolutely bonkers main event the following week that seems ridiculous to think happened in 2005, Eddie would team with Batista and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper against Mr. Kennedy, Randy and ‘Cowboy’ Bob Orton that would end with Piper, in his old stomping grounds of the Cow Palace, locking Bob Orton in a sleeper hold for the victory. Throughout, the friendship and on-screen chemistry of Batista and Eddie had become the absolute highlight of every single show.
Just like earlier in the feud, the duo would once again challenge for the Tag Team Titles the following week against new champions MNM. The match would end with a brass knuckle shot to the face of Eddie, who would be rolled up by Mercury to retain the titles as Batista was unable to intervene in time. This would sadly be the last time we would see the duo operate together, as the following week would see Eddie competing in a match against Mr. Kennedy to qualify for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. He would win in his normal ‘Lie, cheat and steal’ fashion but would receive a skull-crushing steel chair shot following the bout.
Sadly, on November 13, 2005, Eddie Guerrero would pass away of acute heart failure. On that day we sadly lost one of the most talented and one-of-a-kind talents the world has ever seen, and the wrestling business has never been the same without him.
The following SmackDown would open with Batista riding Eddie’s signature lowrider to the ring and paying tribute to his fallen friend. The two men shared a close bond from their brief time working together, and there is really nothing else that I can add but share Batista’s tribute to his fallen friend.
Viva La Raza.
