Ranking the 10 Greatest Matches and Moments of Eddie Guerrero's WWE Career

The wrestling world lost one of its greatest and most influential performers on November 13, 2005, when Eddie Guerrero died in his hotel room at the age of 38.

A virtuoso wrestler and larger-than-life personality, he captured the attention of any audience he performed in front of and forged a bond with fans that remains as solid today as it did nearly two decades ago.

During the course of his WWE career, he provided fans with a number of indelible matches and moments. Fifteen years after the tragic day that robbed family, friends and fans around the globe of their Latino Heat, relive these 10 moments that helped define his run with Vince McMahon's sports-entertainment empire.

10. A Radical Debut

Every journey has a beginning, and Eddie Guerrero's magical WWE run kicked off on January 31, 2000, in Pittsburgh, where he and former WCW stars Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit made a stunning jump to McMahon's wrestling empire.

Seated at ringside for the night's opening match between The New Age Outlaws and Al Snow and Steve Blackman, it did not take Guerrero and Co. long before they attacked Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, kicking ass in a memorable debut.

They would become known as The Radicalz and immediately begin creating a legacy for themselves in the most prominent promotion in the industry to varying degrees of success. For Guerrero, it was the start of a chapter in his career that would deliver him everything he had ever dreamed of inside the ring.

Even if there was a roadblock or two along the way.

9. Latino Heat

The on-screen relationship between Guerrero and Chyna cannot be overlooked or underestimated when discussing Latino Heat's early success in WWE.

Their on-screen chemistry undeniable, theirs was a fun partnership that allowed Guerrero to showcase a larger-than-life personality he had never been allowed to express in WCW. The over-the-top nature of the relationship captured the attention of the WWE faithful and helped make Guerrero a star almost instantly.

He immediately saw his star rise and his connection with the audience strengthen. Of the four men who made the jump to WWE as part of The Radicalz, his transition to McMahonland was most seamless.

It did not hurt that he was paired with Chyna, who had already been established as a mainstream crossover star under the WWE umbrella, but it was mostly his enormous personality and desire to entertain both in the ring and out of it that made him such an early success.

8. Creating a New Main Event Star

As WWE champion, Guerrero faced incredible pressure to carry the company at a time when it was in transition. McMahon's traveling combat circus was in the process of building new stars and presenting new feuds fans could invest in after the departures of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock.

With the weight of the world on his shoulders, almost to his detriment, the decision was made to transition the title off him and on to a new main event competitor. That man? Longtime undercard and tag team performer John "Bradshaw" Layfield.

Guerrero respected the big Texan and set out to prove he could elevate his star and create a viable main event attraction out of him. And he did.

First, he offered up his mother for a red-hot angle in El Paso, Texas, in which JBL caused her to have a heart attack. Then he bled buckets in an intensely personal championship defense at Judgment Day 2004. In between, he portrayed the proud Mexican-American fighting against the bigoted, loudmouthed New York City transplant.

The dynamic of the rivalry, Layfield's desire to succeed and Guerrero's determination to present his dance partner as a top star made for storyline magic. By the time Great American Bash rolled around, there was no questioning that Layfield was ready for a run at the top of the promotion.

That never would have happened had Guerrero not embraced the challenge of creating a brand-new main event star out of Layfield and succeeded in doing just that.

7. Parking Lot Brawl vs. John Cena

Speaking of elevating fresh faces to his level...

The Parking Lot Brawl against John Cena for Guerrero's United States Championship carried considerable implications for both men. For the challenger, it was the latest opportunity to prove himself against an established star. For Guerrero, it represented another opportunity to show that he could perform at the highest level of competition as he built momentum for a potential main event run.

With stakes high for both men, they delivered a physical battle that saw Guerrero silence the Doctor of Thuganomics with a frog splash off the top of a minivan on to the hood of a car.

In hindsight, Guerrero had better, more traditional matches over the course of his run with the company, but the Parking Lot Brawl was evidence that he could deliver under any circumstance, an absolute must for any main event performer in McMahonland.

That he was able to make Cena look even better than he was entering the match only helped elevate Guerrero's stock at a time when fans, insiders and company officials were debating his value as a potential top star.

6. No Disqualification Match vs. Edge

There are certain instances in a wrestler's career that one can point to as the match or moment that they began their journey to the top of the card. For Guerrero, it was the September 26, 2002, No Disqualification Match against Edge on SmackDown.

A physical, hard-hitting bout, it was a coming-out part for Guerrero, who had returned to the company earlier in the year. Embracing the opportunity to steal the show with an equally motivated young star, Guerrero pulled everything out of his arsenal, including a sunset flip powerbomb.

Though he lost the match after enduring an impaler DDT off a ladder, Guerrero laid in the center of the ring, basking in a standing ovation from an audience that appreciated the effort he put in to not only elevate his own star but help to further establish the future Rated R Superstar as a viable main event performer on the blue brand.

Guerrero had the uncanny ability to make others while forcing WWE management to sit up and take notice of him, his abilities and his willingness to exhaust himself while chasing the push that eluded him in WCW. It defined his first few years with the company. But unlike in Ted Turner's wrestling empire, where the inmates ran the proverbial asylum, the warden of WWE was paying close attention.

5. SummerSlam 2005 Ladder Match

One of the most surreal storylines of the past two decades featured Guerrero revealing to the world that he, not Rey, was the father of young Dominik Mysterio. Guerrero's delivery, the warped sense of satisfaction he got in tearing a family to shreds and forcing a young boy to question everything he knew about his life, made for some stellar heel work throughout the summer of 2005.

What started as a fractured friendship devolved into some straight-up Maury Povich/Days of Our Lives nonsense, culminating in a surreal ladder match for the custody of Dominik.

Yes, you read that correctly. No, you shouldn't overthink or try to make legal sense of it.

The absurdity of it all mattered not once the SummerSlam match started. Guerrero and Mysterio brought a physical intensity to it that, for a moment, made the audience forget about the soap opera-style melodrama that had bogged down their rivalry.

Mysterio won to reunite his happy family, but the match was yet another example of Guerrero's excellence, both as a worker and a character. In the midst of an extraordinary heel run that earned him a program with world heavyweight champion Batista, the SummerSlam match with Mysterio would serve as Eddie's last great pay-per-view contest.

4. Hall of Fame Induction

Rarely is a Hall of Fame induction so heartbreaking.

Not because it was long overdue, but because it came far too soon.

Guerrero's death in November 2005 shook the wrestling world to its core, and the decision was made to enshrine Latino Heat in 2006 class, celebrating his life and career as the emotional wounds created by his death remained fresh and gaping.

Presented by Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero and Chris Benoit, the induction speech was an emotional and tearful one that reminded the world just how beloved Guerrero was. There were a few laughs, but the sense of loss was real.

Why would such a gut-wrenching moment be included on the list of Guerrero's greatest WWE moments when he was not around to partake in it?

For that answer, you must look no further than where he came from.

In ECW, he was a great wrestler whose future as a star in North America was in real question because of his height (or lack thereof). In WCW, he established himself as one of the best wrestlers on the planet but faced creative and political hurdles that threatened his ability to succeed at the level he demanded for himself.

When he came to WWE and could be himself, captivating audiences with undeniable charisma all while continuing to showcase that incredible in-ring acumen, he became the legend we know him as today. He became more than a champion and main event star. He was an iconic, beloved performer whose legacy will live on.

The Hall of Fame induction was a celebration of his journey, his successes and the life he shared with millions around the globe.

Did the fans watch with lumps in their throats, heaviness in their chests and a desire to have him back? Yes, but there was also a sense of happiness that a wrestler they loved so dearly was taking his place alongside other luminaries like Bret "Hitman" Hart, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, the great Sensational Sherri and legendary promoter Verne Gagne.

It's a place that may never have been his had their love, energy and desire to see him succeed not pushed WWE to make him the star he always knew he could be.

3. Retaining at WrestleMania XX

Defending the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX.

It is a position few could have ever imagined Guerrero in when he made the jump from WCW to McMahon's pro wrestling empire in 2000, but there he was, entering the famed Madison Square Garden on March 14, 2004, the top dog on the SmackDown brand.

His opponent that night? Kurt Angle, a man he had clashed with numerous times before but never on that grand a stage. Driven by the desire to steal the show on wrestling's most prestigious night, both champion and challenger left fans buzzing with a match that exceeded even the loftiest of expectations.

For a little more than 21 minutes, Guerrero and Angle waged war in a physical battle, the right to call themselves the best and hoist the WWE Championship overhead. In the end, it was Guerrero's mantra of lying, cheating and stealing that proved the difference.

Late in the match, Guerrero loosened his boot, seemingly to lessen the pressure on his ankle after Angle spent the majority of the match focusing on it. When Angle applied his trademark ankle lock, Guerrero kicked at the boot, wiggling his way out of hold and leaving a stunned challenger holding the gear. 

Angered, Angle rushed Guerrero, who rolled him up for the win.

Here was Guerrero, a Superstar who introduced the Lie, Cheat and Steal gimmick almost as a comedic element of his character, emerging from a main event-level match on the sport's biggest stage with the most coveted championship in the industry in his possession.

It was an incredible moment for him, but it paled in comparison to what came later in the night, when he joined best friend Chris Benoit in the center of the squared circle, each man the champion of his brand, for an emotional embrace.

The event, a culmination of a career spent sacrificing, grinding and proving doubters wrong, was theirs. It was a show dedicated to them and their journey from nothing to the top of the world of professional wrestling.

2. WWE Championship Match vs. Brock Lesnar

For Guerrero, the WWE Championship was once considered unattainable. 

It was a title held by Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior, large-than-life performers who had a specific look that, to be blunt, he did not. It was a title reserved for the attitudinal "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the brash Rock, the cerebral Triple H and the gothic Undertaker.

He was just Eddie, a second-generation wrestler with the industry in his blood and a knack for lying, cheating and stealing. He had repeatedly proved himself as a good hand and a midcard champion, but the prospects of him ever standing atop the WWE mountain as its champion were seemingly nonexistent.

Until they weren't.

After a year of building momentum, fan support and a character that engaged audiences, Guerrero entered San Francisco's historic Cow Palace for a WWE Championship match against the massive, unforgiving Brock Lesnar. The match, the main event of the 2004 No Way Out pay-per-view, represented the culmination of a career-long journey to the top of the card. The show was built around him, and there was a considerable expectation that he would finally pay off his steady rise with a world championship victory.

He did, absorbing everything Lesnar threw at him and hanging around long enough to capitalize on a spear from an interfering Goldberg, delivering a frog splash to win the title.

The emotional post-match celebration with his mother and family at ringside is one of the great moments of the 2000s and the most defining moment in his unforgettable career.

So why, then, is it not the No. 1 moment on this countdown?

Because WWE had something even bigger in store for SmackDown a few nights later.

1. WWE Championship Celebration

The booming voice of Tony Chimel introducing the new WWE champion. The roar of the crowd as Guerrero made his first appearance with the gold. The confetti, the balloons and the pyro.

Eddie's WWE Championship Celebration on the February 19, 2004, episode of SmackDown was solely about paying homage to the new champion. There was no Brock Lesnar or Goldberg to share the spotlight with. It was a moment when Vince McMahon and his company acknowledged that Guerrero was now the guy.

It was appropriate that the new champion made his way to the ring through the audience in that it was the fans who were as responsible for his rise to gold as he was. It was they who embraced the lying, cheating and stealing persona. It was they who refused to accept him as a heel in the summer of 2003 when WWE tried to cool off what was a runaway train of popularity. They never let their collective foot off the pedal, forcing the company's hand and ensuring Guerrero achieved the level of success that his hard work and dedication had earned.

And in turn, it was the emotion Guerrero elicited from them that made them care about him and want him to succeed. At a time when giants from the Attitude Era were leaving and the industry was changing on a seemingly weekly basis, Guerrero kept those fans invested in something they loved so much, with his influence on them equally as significant as theirs on him.

With chants of "Eddie!" raining down from the stands, Guerrero basked in the moment and experienced what stardom at the highest level of felt like.

And there was the obligatory interruption, but not by some random heel or the next challenger to his throne. No, it came in the form of brother Chavo Sr. and nephew Chavo Jr. While they had been presented as rivals in the weeks leading to that moment, the sense of pride they shared standing in that ring, both Eddie and Chavito champions in the biggest wrestling company in the world, had to be overwhelming.

The moment is often overlooked in the annals of SmackDown (and WWE) history, but one would be hard-pressed to find one that was more emotional, real and indicative of the special bond between performer and audience than what unfolded on that evening.

While it may lack the meaning of winning his first world title, it was as special a moment in Guerrero's career as any to that point and a reminder of just how beloved the Hall of Famer was.