Details On Hardy's TNA Contract
Jeff Hardy actually signed a contract with TNA over a week ago. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but TNA officials are asking for roughly...
No Mercy 2005 Eddie Guerrero vs. Batista Batista hoists Eddie up for a thundering spinebuster and gets the 1-2-3, retaining the world title as the fans in the Toyota centre jump to their feet. This day would be Eddie’s birthday and after the camera’s stopped rolling Batista had the fans up and singing happy birthday to Eddie Guerrero for the last time. With No Mercy gone, what were the real plans for the next WWE PPV, Survivor Series? And what affects did Eddie’s death have on them? It was well documented that Batista (as world champion) had a muscle tear which required surgery. The WWE scrambled to find a new champion; they were deciding between Eddie Guerrero and Randy Orton. In the end the WWE went with Eddie Guerrero to defeat the animal to capture the world heavyweight championship for a second time. These plans would never eventuate as Eddie died before the Smackdown airing of this match. Batista went on to carry the world title until he had to vacate it in early 2006 due to a tear in his right triceps. But…what if these events didn’t transpire? What is Eddie never passed away and went on to defeat Batista for the title on Smackdown? Let’s take a look at how this may have turned out.
Smackdown 18th November 2005 Batista vs Eddie Guerrero vs Randy Orton World Heavyweight Title Match The Smackdown fans are on their feet surprised that they just witnessed a world title change hands; the initial shock wears off as they cheer for the new champ, Eddie Guerrero. “Viva la raza” plays over the huge speakers as Eddie weeps at his efforts. Batista pulls himself up using the ring ropes and is now at a vertical level. The crowd quietens down as they wait to see what events will transpire. Batista approaches the sobbing Eddie and gives him a big hug as Batista raises Eddie’s hand in victory. Batista exits the ring limping and holding his rib area; it will be months until he steps into the ring again.
Eddie Guerrero went on to represent the WWE as any great champion would; he would make lots of money in the meantime, keeping the big man happy. Leading up to Survivor Series Eddie would feud with the Big Show. This was a very personal feud for Eddie, through a personal year (after the Rey Mysterio feud culminated in a Custody of Dominick ladder match at Summerslam) The Big Show would accuse Eddie of not being a competent father and would find advertisements in the yellow pages to give to Eddie for child support. The Big Show would even go as far as bringing a kid into the ring on the November 25th episode of Smackdown to “display” how Eddie treated his kids.
This personal feud would culminate in a tremendous 23 minute world title match at Survivor Series that left fans begging for more. Knowing this, the feud continued into the next WWE extravaganza Armageddon. The feud would reach a new low for The Big Show as on the December 9th episode of Smackdown, Big Show would bring out Eddie’s real son and have Santa give him presents which turned out to be alcohol. The WWE received numerous criticism from the media and parent companies for this, but it further drove the feud for the two characters. On the next episode of Smackdown, Eddie retliated by showing a pre recorded video of him stealing items from Big Show’s home. Show would call the police on the same episode who actually hung up on him as they “never want to do business with him again”. This was a very funny show and ended in true Eddie fashion with him getting the last laugh. General Manager Theodore Long made the Armageddon match a Hell in a Cell match after Eddie proclaimed his feud with Big Show was just as bad as being in hell. Eddie would go on to defeat Big Show at Armageddon in a passable encounter. It was only given 18 minutes, a very short Hell In A Cell match for the buildup. After the Christmas break the Smackdown roster was ready to start fresh for 2006. Going into the year Eddie was champ on Smackdown and HHH was champion on Raw. Throughout most of January Eddie would have a mini feud with Mark Henry, it seems to have been put together to have Eddie work with someone until the Royal Rumble. On the 29th of January 2006, the WWE presented the annual Royal Rumble event this time live from the Mellon arena in Pittsburgh. Eddie would obviously go into the Royal Rumble as the champ and would leave as the champ after a successful title defense against Mark Henry. Randy Orton would go on to win the Royal Rumble in true controversial fashion after lastly eliminating Rey Mysterio. This controversy carried over to Smackdown where Randy Orton would go to new extreme lengths to make sure he was the official victor. Orton would threaten Vince McMahon to declare him the official winner, a threat that Vince took seriously and immediately gave into.
Eddie was not impressed with the way Randy was handling his Royal Rumble win as he cut an excellent promo about him on the February 10th episode of Smackdown. Eddie talked about his past demons and how he tried to control himself and how he didn’t threaten other people to get what he wanted. The final stop before Wrestlemania was the annual February ppv, No Way Out. This event would be headlined by Eddie in a triple threat match with Chris Benoit and Bobby Lashley. Randy Orton would interrupt towards the end of the match and help Eddie win the match, the audience was shocked. On the next episode of Smackdown Randy explained his actions and said that he wanted to face Eddie for the title as he would be the easiest opponent to beat on the biggest stage of all. He said that he would like to show Dominick why he’s dad is always wrong and he would like to beat Eddie to a bloody pulp. The final buildup to the big match was very captivating. Fans were left on the edge of their seats wondering what would happen next.
Wrestlemania 22 Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois Eddie Guerrero vs. Randy Orton World Heavyweight Championship
The match is a very solid piece of art with the 27 minutes of work the superstars have to manage with. It ends with Randy Orton applying the sleeper hold which is quickly reversed by Eddie into an Indian death lock. The fans agree with Michael Cole when he says “this is a very rare move used in the WWE but applied beautifully by Eddie Guerrero.” Eddie would then drop an elbow on Randy Orton and climb the top turnbuckle for a perfect frog splash for the 1-2-3. Wrestlemania closed with Eddie weeping holding his world title high in the air for the Chicago crowd to see. Eddie had made it past the criticism; he proved his critics wrong and was on top of the world once again.
