Many fans raised their eyebrows when Rey Mysterio won the 2006 Royal Rumble, which he had dedicated to the memory of Eddie Guerrero. The beloved superstar had passed away two months earlier, and exploiting him for the sake of a Mysterio push didn't seem like the classiest move. They hadn't seen anything yet. Randy Orton, whom Mysterio eliminated en route to victory and who wanted the title shot for himself, began to goad the Royal Rumble winner into putting the shot on the line by insulting Guerrero. In a particularly infamous moment, Orton declared that Eddie wasn't in heaven, but was instead in hell. Orton got his way, and at No Way Out, he took on Mysterio for the WrestleMania slot. "The Viper" won the bout, pinning Mysterio with his feet on the ropes. Later on Smackdown! Teddy Long added Mysterio back to the match, and the result was a triple threat bout, which Rey won.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
