3/8/2024 0 Comments Funeral eddie guerreroGuerrero was a fronterizo, one who was at home on both sides of the El Paso-Juárez border. “Arriba Juárez, arriba Mexico, arriba El Paso,” he’d say during interviews. Seemingly every time he spoke, he mentioned not just Juárez but El Paso. If you listened to Guerrero close enough, you could hear him speaking Spanish with an accent, the sort that, if he wasn’t who he was, could get him described as a “ pocho”. And though he likely spent as much time in Juárez as in El Paso-as many of us who live on the United States-Mexico borderlands do-he went to school on the north side of that divide, at Jefferson High School–or La Jeff, as we used to call it. Guerrero was from El Paso, on the other side of the border. There was also something else about Guerrero that made him different: the way he spoke and the things he said. Someone like El Santo was “old man Mexican buff,” Eddie Guerrero was not. Because he didn’t wear a mascara, he appeared younger than other wrestlers, and he was also more athletic, and with a slimmer build, than the usual luchadores, who years later we described as “old man Mexican buff”-thick, flat-chested torsos with powerful arms and a layer of fat covering their muscles. The youngest of the Guerrero family was charismatic, with long hair that went past his neck. That wasn’t what made him stand out, though. My uncle and grandmother–who often took me to the lucha libre, and who had watched for decades–mentioned that Guerrero was part of a legendary wrestling family. Guerrero differed from the other luchadores. I watched Konnan turn heel-it was the sort of act that could break a prepubescent child’s heart, if not for Eddie Guerrero. He wore a mask, had the physique of a superhero, and at first, didn’t speak, then communicated only in English to keep his mysterious aura. Around the time of Eddie Guerrero, Konnan also started wrestling in Juárez. and, on a special occasion, the priest-turned-luchador Fray Tormenta-the inspiration for the main character in Nacho Libre-wrestled and sold key chains as part of his fundraising to support an orphanage. Still, every Tuesday and Sunday, the gym hosted lucha libre nights, with Europe’s “ Final Countdown” serving as the theme song both in person and on television.Īmong other luchadores who regularly fought in Juárez were Rocky Star, who rumor had it, was a local pharmacist. If you were lucky, that liquid was beer, though it was hard to distinguish it from the agua de riñon that misted over the ring. If you went there enough times, however, you instinctually learned that, after controversial matches, you had to be wary of getting splashed by what filled the cups thrown into the ring. It was never clear if the lights were purposefully set low to disguise the gym, or if that was the extent of their illumination. Its bathrooms were almost unusable, and low-dimmed lights kept one’s vision from fully taking in the surroundings. The gym was in rough shape back in the late 1980s. Eddie Guerrero attends a press conference to promote Wrestlemania XX at Planet Hollywood Main New York City. I used to watch Guerrero fight in the Gimnasio Josué Neri Santos-a gym in downtown Juárez, less than a mile from the border separating two countries. And though he is largely known for his WWE wrestling, I first saw him–and this is how I still remember him–away from the televised events of multimillion dollar wrestling corporations, and removed from the celebrity he found later in his career. But then again, I never associated glamor with Guerrero. This is where Eddie Guerrero comes from, and this is where we return to, 12 years after the wrestler’s death.Īs it’s caught in the middle between a decade and a 15-year anniversary, remembering the dozen years since his passing is not a particularly attractive activity. The sand blasts mixed with the sun and dry heat–born from months between rains–eats away at anything colorful. On those days, the sky turns a light pink, and you hear what sounds like a low-powered sand blaster hitting house windows and cars. And even then, sandstorms that seemingly come once every month-and-a-half will likely damage both. To grow either requires great investment in time and money-assuming there are no watering restrictions. Either that or simply weeds and dirt, both more common than grass and trees in the barren desert. Colored rocks, surrounded by long rows of rock walls are a common part of the area’s home landscaping. Very few things grow in the Chihuahuan Desert, where El Paso–the westernmost part of Texas–meets Juárez, the northernmost point of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
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