“Vamos a decirlo al Chile. Let’s tell it straight up, man”: Eddie Guerrero in WWE Confessional Stories 2001-2019

Hello reader, and welcome to this series on the WWE’s confessional stories from 2001-2019. This first edition is a little bit of a cheat (Eddie Guerrero wouldn’t have it any other way!) in that it forms a small part of Guerrero’s angle with Brock Lesnar, rather than the entirety of the angle. Nevertheless, I’m using Guerrero to kick off this series because, along with the interesting use of Guerrero’s first language (Spanish), this might’ve been one of the first times performer substance issues were directly referred to on-screen, by the performer themselves. When Shawn Michaels ‘lost his smile’, his issues were hinted at, and audience members with insider knowledge may well have recognised this, but with Guerrero, there’s no hints, no double-meaning – his difficulties are made explicit, and so commoditised as part of a WWE Title programme.

Background

To start off, a bit of background for you: Guerrero joined the WWE from WCW in January 2000 as part of the Radicalz stable, along with Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko. Despite a successful love angle with Chyna, Guerrero’s issues with substance abuse led to the WWE releasing him in November 2001. Six months later, when the company was happy he’d cleaned up his act, he returned to the WWE. He found success and popularity teaming with nephew Chavo, regularly performing superb tag-team matches with Edge & Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit – who were dubbed the ‘SmackDown Six’, due to their prominent role on the show. In July 2003, the WWE attempted to turn Guerrero heel again, but such was his popularity at this point, the crowd refused to accept this and continued to cheer him.

This popularity propelled Guerrero into winning a mini Royal Rumble on the January 29, 2004 SmackDown, securing himself a title shot at February’s No Way Out PPV against the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. This left only two weeks of build for the Guerrero versus Lesnar feud. On the February 5 SmackDown Brock interrupted Eddie’s in-ring interview, where in a brief confrontation Guerrero referenced ‘his demons’. However, it’s the promo on the February 12 SmackDown, the go-home show, that I solely want to focus on here…

February 12, 2004 confessional promo

During this episode, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar – regrettably – brings out a mariachi band to poke fun at Guerrero’s Mexican heritage, before Guerrero interrupts. Brock speaks directly to Eddie in the ring: “Eddie Guerrero, I really hope you are addicted. Addicted to losing. Because this Sunday at No Way Out, you’re gonna get your fix.” Note, the promo starts with Lesnar gleefully and ironically using the language of addiction – ‘fix’ – without direct reference to Eddie’s issues. But once Eddie takes the mic, Lesnar does not offer any riposte. This promo is solely about Guerrero reclaiming his issues, and attaching an emotional journey of redemption to the WWE Title. So, how does he do this?   

Guerrero starts his retort by signalling his confessional intention – “let’s do what we say in Spanish. Vamos a decirlo al Chile. Let’s tell it straight up, man.” As we see here, Guerrero displays an extra layer of reality by speaking in his mother tongue, Spanish. This may help the emotions in the promo to feel rawer, but he also translates the Spanish idiom straight away, to maintain his connection with the majority-English-speaking audience. He then confesses directly:

“I am an addict … about 3 years ago, homes, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, vato, your [Lesnar’s] home state. That’s right, vato. In the shower, in the locker room, oh man, I was high, bro. I was high, high, high.”

The word ‘high’ could be a source of shame here, but Guerrero yells it three times while smiling. I’d say this shows his comfort with the confessional ritual, and a strong intention to rewrite his narrative.     

Guerrero goes on to tell the story of him entering rehab amid the risk of losing his wife and children in 2001 – the same story I mentioned above, and referenced in the Wrestling Observer and elsewhere. In other words, this very much appears to be a true story. He eventually rounds this story out:

“Day by day, by the grace of God, I have earned my way back into this ring, man. Day by day, by the grace of God, I have earned the respect of my kids again.”

Here, Guerrero reinforces the confessional ritual by acknowledging its religious roots. And by Guerrero ‘rounding out’ the story, I was referring to the redemption arc Guerrero offers here – “earned my way back/earned the respect … again”. He’s undertaken a journey of redemption, and this is acknowledged by the crowd. The crowd acts as the confessor and Guerrero the confessant. The confessor’s job in the confessional ritual is to measure the confessant’s morality (as, for example, a Catholic priest in a confessional booth). And the crowd’s hot reaction here tells you that Guerrero is very much forgiven for his ‘sins’.   

Finally, Guerrero ties his journey of redemption back to the WWE Title:

“That symbolizes for me [pointing at the belt around Brock’s waist] … That’s my way of telling my family I’m sorry. That’s my way of telling my kids I’m gonna provide a better way of life for them. I’m gonna get the bikes that they wanted. I’m gonna give them a better education … Because you know as well as I do, homes, oh, what a high it is when we’re in here [the ring], brother. See, the difference between me and you, bro, is that I’m an addict, and I’ll do anything and run over anybody that it’s gonna take to get that around my waist and get my high at No Way Out and become the WWE Champion while I live.”

Guerrero emphasises that the WWE Title, for him, goes beyond status or professional success; Guerrero transposes his high from drugs onto a high from performing and providing for his family. When we get to Jeff Hardy’s confessional story later down the line, we may see an issue with this kind of transposition. But for Guerrero, in this case, it’s effective. And until the end of the promo, Guerrero uses the Mexican slang, homes/ese/vato, all meaning dude or mate, constantly reasserting his pride of who he is, both in terms of his heritage and what he’s been through.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed this analysis. Let me know what you think of how the WWE used Guerrero’s issues on-screen. I’ll deliver more confessional stories to you in the weeks ahead.