Eddie Guerrero's WWE Career: Overrated or Underrated in WWE?

This topic has been on my mind for awhile now. Ever since rewatching old Summerslam tapes (and DVD's) to get ready for Summerslam, and my articles related to the event, I kept thinking of how Eddie and Angle just did not do much for me at the 2004 summer blockbuster.

Two of the best ever inside the ring going at it, and Toronto (and myself) did not "feel it" that night for whatever reason. That brings me to what has been bugging me lately—why?

Was Eddie running out of steam as a top face at that point? Was Angle (or Eddie) not in the right mind frame to work with each at Summerslam? Was their WrestleMania XX match lightning in a bottle and they could not recapture the magic?

Well, for the sake of this column, I am going to pose a question—maybe Eddie was just not as good as Angle? Maybe he couldn't keep up? Maybe us fans have put him up on a pedestal that was never there to begin with since his death in 2005.

People tend to do that when an athlete, singer, artist, wrestler—whoever—dies. Suddenly, they become underrated, and everyone was a big fan through all the years.

Have we done the same with Eddie and his WWE career? Maybe...just a little. That one Summerslam match with Angle has made my mind spin into a million questions about Eddie's WWE run.

Starting in early 2000, he came in with the Radicalz. Okay, no problem there. They made a big splash...well, a frog splash that damaged Eddie's arm.

Finding his footing a few months later, with Chyna as his girlfriend, was really some highly entertaining stuff, but let's face it—he was a comedy character here. Not exactly a serious competitor.

By 2001, he was fired for a variety of reasons (drugs? alcohol?). As always though, second chances in life do come...

His first serious run began on Raw in 2002 when he returned to the company and attacked RVD. One IC title win later, and a "non" feud with Stone Cold, Eddie was on the rise.

Moving to Smackdown later in 2002 was a great move...I mean, great move. Matches with Edge, Rey, and others really put him on the map for the first time in may fans' eyes.

Onto 2003. As great as his tag team run was with Chavo, it was a waste for Eddie. He was past being a tag team wrestler, and everyone knew it. Looking back, I really did enjoy the Guerrero tag team and their fun, but man...Eddie was ready.

Thankfully, WWE realized Eddie was ready by the beginning of 2004. I do not even need to recap the weeks leading up to No Way Out 2004. Facing Brock Lesnar on PPV for the WWE title was what everyone had dreamed of for Eddie over all the years.

In one of the more emotional matches of all time, Eddie won the WWE Championship over Brock. This is where things get a little weird for me.

He beat Angle at WrestleMania 2004, as I mentioned above, but after that...business on the Smackdown brand started to tank. Bad!

Blame it on Foley leaving. Rock leaving. Goldberg leaving. Brock leaving. Austin leaving. Angle being hurt. Big Show being hurt. All at the same time too!

Either way, with Eddie on top, the Blue Brand struggled, and sadly for fans, it falls on Guerrero's shoulders. Top face on each brand is the top of the food chain.

Of course, the call was quickly made to give JBL the title (great move), and Eddie was pushed back down into his "comfort level"—midcard face.

His last hurrah was 2005—a great heel turn and series of matches with Rey (only getting one win, maybe?) were just not very good. Blame it on the terrible story, but it just was not very fun to sit through.

Finally, his feud with Batista. His last feud. As great as it seemed at the time, it just fell flat for a lot of fans, and yes, ratings and buyrates back this up big time (sorry).

Like a lot of people, the day (and week) Eddie died, I was destroyed. Just completely taken out of it for a few hours, days, weeks. Now that time has past however, was his WWE career really all that we cracked it up to be?

In my opinion (yes, this is my opinion remember), I would say I don't know. I can see both sides of the coin here.

Overrated because he died and was an "internet favorite".

Underrated because he never got his "due" and will be remembered forever, even though WWE never used his talents to the fullest.

I fall somewhere in the middle. I hate to take a "cop-out" answer, but I think "it is what it is".

He had great moments, wonderful matches, funny promos—definite WWE Hall of Famer, but some "over the top, greatest ever, god of a wrestler"? No.

EDIT: The poll has been updated for anybody wishing to still vote.