10 Real Life Events That Forced WWE Title Changes
3. Rey Mysterio Takes Eddie Guerrero's Place And Wins World Title At WrestleMania 22
Would Rey Mysterio have become a World Heavyweight Champion in 2006 if Eddie Guerrero didn't pass away in November of 2005? That's a question that nobody can really answer except for Vince McMahon, but the general feeling is that it would have been very unlikely.
We all know how much WWE values wrestlers that are bigger and Mysterio was one of the smallest guys on the roster. They could justify it by saying he was really popular and sold a lot of merchandise, but it's not like they wanted to push him as far as they did.
Mysterio dedicated the 2006 Royal Rumble to his late friend Eddie, wearing an Eddie t-shirt along with the "EG" arm bands and entering the arena in a low rider. He went from bell to bell as the second entrant in the match and has the all-time record for time spent in a Royal Rumble at 62:12. They must have mentioned Eddie's name at least thirty times during the match, which was too much.