How Good Was Eddie Guerrero Actually?

6. Cultural Significance

With no exaggeration, a wrestler will pay tribute to Eddie Guerrero on a U.S. television show once a fortnight. 

Rey Mysterio has kept Eddie’s memory alive in virtually every match for 21 years. He is joined almost as frequently by AEW's Mercedes Mone, who idolised him growing up and uses his Three Amigos trifecta of suplexes and Frog splash* as signature moves, and uses a lucha-tinged repertoire more generally. Penta is one of countless wrestlers who will lovingly borrow Eddie’s signature shoulder shimmy. Penta even used a chair from No Way Out 2004, adorned with Eddie’s face, in a match for AAA decades later. 

*While Guerrero’s former tag team partner Art Barr pioneered the frog splash, and Eddie himself adopted it in tribute, wrestlers think of Eddie when they launch themselves from the top turnbuckle. 

Nobody can do anything except his shimmy or the signatures he could more easily hit when thrashed in WWE, because none of them are able to execute the more mind-blowing reaches of his arsenal. 

It’s not just the moves. Eddie had a great trademark spot. With the referee dazed and or distracted, Eddie would grab a steel chair. He’d smash it against the canvas and throw it to a baffled opponent, who would instinctively catch it. The ref would then penalise the beleaguered, innocent opponent. Much like the WrestleMania 13 finish, or the tap-out introduced by Taz, Eddie’s spot has become an ever-present staple of in-ring storytelling. The Eddie spot is in fact so prevalent that some fans roll their eyes at the cliché. It’s not his fault that his successors lack his creativity. 

Eddie wasn’t a household name. He wasn’t a crossover celebrity. He wasn’t even at the very top of WWE for long during a cold period for the business. 

But if you’re a pro wrestler in 2026, nobody else is better, and nobody else - other than perhaps Shawn Michaels or AJ Styles - has done more to shift the stylistic landscape. 

7.5/10