Mr. Kennedy Speaks On Being Eddie Guerrero’s Final Opponent
Mr. Kennedy has opened up about being Eddie Guerrero’s final opponent just two days before Latino Heat passed away.
On November 13th, 2005, the wrestling world lost the legendary Eddie Guerrero. At the time of his passing, Guerrero is widely regarded as one of the best to ever do it and was a top star in WWE. While he would lie, cheat, and steal to gain victories over his opponents, fans loved him all the more for his antics.
Whether a heel or a babyface, Eddie Guerrero knew how to keep the audience entertained. In 2004, he defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship and went on to successfully defend it against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 20.
Guerrero’s final storylines saw him in rivalries with the likes of Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Batista. The Animal defeated Guerrero in his last PPV match at No Mercy 2005 to regain the World Heavyweight Championship.
His final match took place on the November 11th, 2005 episode of SmackDown and saw him defeat Mr. Kennedy by DQ.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Mr. Kennedy spoke about the match and going out to dinner with Guerrero and Benoit afterwards.
“I remember him telling me to calm down in the beginning, there was some, we did some chain wrestling. I remember I was scrambling to get to the ropes quickly to break. And I remember him telling me like, just calm down, like, you don’t have to go so quickly there. And then I remember, we were talking through the match, I’m supposed to hit him with the chair at the end, and I remember he’s like ‘Bring it. Hit me with it.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna hit you with it.’ And then I hit him with it. And we got backstage and he was like ‘Maybe a little too much.’
“But then we went out to dinner that night, I was riding, I was actually riding with him and Benoit at the time, and we went to a steakhouse. And I remember they were talking because the next week after, it was like a super show in Minneapolis. It was Raw and SmackDown, I’m not sure if ECW was around at the time yet. But it was going to be a Raw SmackDown Super Show and then we were heading to the airport, we were going to fly out and doing my first international tour.
“They were like, you know, you’re gonna get [pranked] they’re gonna mess with you. They’re gonna shave your eyebrows while you’re sleeping. You know, stuff like that, get me all riled up.”
When Kennedy got to the arena for the show, however, he found out the news of Guerrero’s death.
“And then I remember, I pulled into the arena. And the guy that parks the cars that helps park all the vehicles told me, he’s like Eddie died. And I walked into the building. And it was just like this crazy, sick feeling that everybody had all day. Everybody was super sombre and sad It was, it was a crazy, crazy day.”
H/T to Inside The Ropes for the above transcription.