JBL (John Layfield) shuts down rumor regarding the death of Eddie Guerrero
During the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL (John Layfield) and Conrad Thompson discussed the late Eddie Guerrero. Here is the exchange that they had…
Conrad: “Let’s talk abou a sad anniversary. Unfortunately, it was 20 years ago this week that Eddie Guerrero had his last match. He faced Mr. Kennedy at a SmackDown taping. And, you know, I guess I wanted to talk to you about that. Is it true that some wrestlers in WWE were initially concerned—again, there’s no factual basis on this—but this has been a rumor amongst internet fans that maybe that chair shot was too much? I mean, that seems silly and it feels like fans trying to connect the dots, but I know in the wake of someone passing, everyone’s sort of looking for answers. Do you remember anybody thinking at the time that, hey, maybe wrestling had something to do with this? And I don’t mean like his personal, um, off-the-field decision-making. I just mean like bell-to-bell stuff that was happening in the ring. Did that ever come up about Eddie?”
JBL: “No. Not one time. And I don’t—I think I’ve heard that over the years. It kind of sounds familiar, but nobody thought that. You know, guys have gotten thousands of chair shots over the years, and guys don’t die from chair shots. 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.”
Conrad: “Did Eddie seem himself in the final days, or now with the benefit of hindsight, do you realize maybe he was physically struggling? Because as a fan watching at home, it felt like he was performing at such a high level. It feels like it just caught everyone off guard.”
JBL: “Yeah, his heart—apparently his heart just stopped. You know, Chavo told the story about finding him in his bathroom. You know, he got up in the morning, brushed his teeth, and just died. His heart just quit. His life was over. You know, his life ran out, and, uh, there was nothing really. You know, Eddie had—there weren’t any specific health issues at the time, and there certainly wasn’t anything in-ring. You know, it wasn’t like a deteriorating condition. Unfortunately, his heart was just giving 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. He just got up one morning, and unfortunately, his heart stopped.”