The Day I met Eddie

May 25th, 2000 I attended the Brian Pillman Memorial show in Cincinnati. This is always an important event for me as Brian Pillman attended my high school and was one of my favorite wrestlers, but also, that night a close friend of mine was wrestling on the card as "Mad" Anthony McMurphy, and more of my favorite wrestlers were also on the card: Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Raven, Saturn, and Eddie Guerrero.

After the show, Mad Anthony was invited to an after party in the bar/lounge adjoining the hotel many of the wrestlers were staying at near the arena. A combination of tagging along with him, in addition to this being an establishment where I had worked previously made it possible for the 5 or 6 of us all to get in with Mad Anthony. Other than most of the wrestlers from the show and their guests, there were a few patrons in and a few fans, but other than that the bar/lounge that we were in was closed to anyone but hotel guests, so it was a fairly non-crowded area with several wrestlers to meet. Knowing the we didn't want to mark-out to embarrass Mad Anthony, we mostly just talked amongst ourselves, and casually talked with any nearby wrestlers when the opportunity presented itself.

Toward the end of the night, i saw Eddie sitting by himself at the bar. As the bartender had just made last call, I asked Mad Anthony if he thought it'd be wrong in any way for me to ask Eddie to get in a picture with me. I knew this was technically marking-out, but with it being the end of the night and most everyone was busy saying their goodbyes and so forth, I figured it couldn't hurt. Other than being a fan of most of the workers there, Eddie was at the top of my picture list, because back at home, on my N64 video game, Eddie and myself were the tag-team champions, and my roommate above all else would get a kick out of a picture of the 'champs' hanging on the wall.

Upon getting Mad Anthony's blessing, I handed him my camera and told him to watch for my signal so he could step in and snap the photo. As I approached Eddie I noticed he was in the middle of a Wendy's sandwich (since the hotel kitchens were closed, Wendy's across the street had 'catered' for the evening). I awkwardly paused behind his bar stool for a second to let him finish his bite, then eased up to the bar right next to him. He noticed me immediately and looked right at me, and i casually asked "Hey Eddie, would you mind getting in a picture with me?" Eddie completely ignored me and turned to his drink. I felt as stupid and out-of-place as if i'd just been laughed at by a girl I asked out. Not knowing what happened (maybe he didn't hear me) I kind of stood there for a moment, as Eddie yelled for the bartender to get him another drink. The bartender went about cleaning and reminded Eddie that last call had been made a few minutes ago, and no more drinks would be served. Seeing this as an opportunity to restore my dignity AND still get the picture I was after, I tapped Eddie on the shoulder and told him that I know the bartender, and that I would get him a drink if he'd get in the picture with me. I did know the bartender from, as mentioned earlier, working at that hotel, and thought I'd have enough clout to get him to pour me a quick one. We'll never know if he would have because Eddie's reaction to my offer wasn't what I expected.

Eddie turned to me and with a look of death, said "How about I stick you shove your picture up your ass...!?" (exact quote).

Now... I admit I should have probably at that point just walked away from Eddie and left him alone. However, I'll be the first to admit I don't always make the best decisions...

Stunned, I looked at him and tried to explain/apologize and said something like "Look, I'm not trying to be a mark or anything, I just...". He then stood up off the barstool and got in my face and yelled "HEY FUCK YOUR MARK!" I'm 5' 11" and about 150 pounds, and while Eddie was shorter than me, I have no problem in admitting that I wouldn't have a chace in hell of accomplishing anything more than getting my ass kicked, and while I had no interest in getting beaten up by my favorite wrestler and 'tag team partner', but to most anyone who's ever been 'called out' like that can attest to the 'don't back down' mentality, so I just stood there face-to-face with him like were about to fight. In that 2 or 3 seconds that we're staring off, a huge grin creeped across my face because of 1) the absurdity of the situation, 2) the angle I can build out of this in the video game at home, 3) I'm about to get my ass kicked by Eddie Guerrero, 4) my group of friends over Eddie's shoulder pointing and laughing rather than bailing me out.

Thankfully, Dean Roll (who wrestles as Shark Boy) and some other guys who I didn't know, were standing nearby and saw this and all grabbed Eddie by the arms and restrained him (I guess no one thought I was much of a threat...damn!) Again, at that point I should probably have walked away, but since I knew I had an audience, I felt it better to make faces at the restrained Eddie to only enrage him more. He was struggling to get free but they had a good hold of him and were shouting at him "Calm Down!" and "It's not worth it!", at which point I picked up the remaining portion of Eddie's sandwich and proceeded to finish it in front of him. They walked him to the other end of the bar, as my friends came over to me and we were all wise enough to know not to make any more of a spectacle, so we kind of hung around for a few more minutes, then powdered out of the place with the rest of the crowd as the lounge was closing.

To this day, it's still a story told when out drinking with friends or gathering for a pay-per-view. We often joked how we would plan a run-in on Eddie match whenever RAW of SMACKDOWN were in town. At the time I was a little let-down, thinking that he didn't owe me a picture or autograph or anything, but as one person to another, he had no right to react the way he did. I don't feel that any of my actions or statements before he got off the bar stool deserved the reaction he gave. I didn't take if personal or anything, I just decided to boo him in jest rather than root for him in the storylines. Having seen his DVD STEALING LIFE AND CHEATING DEATH I realized he was more-than-likely in the midst of one of his altered states.

I will always be a fan of Eddie's, and thank him for giving me this story to tell.