20 Days That Changed WWE Forever

Over the years, fans have seen many wrestlers die early deaths as a result of the stress put on their bodies by their chosen career. Rarely, however, are the prematurely lost stars still headlining shows for WWE when they pass away.

On 13 November 2005, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was 38. The cause of death was determined to be heart failure. While Guerrero's past issues with alcoholism and drug abuse were well documented, he had been clean for the last few years of his life, earning the respect of the entire wrestling world in the process.

With his death, though, revelations about the wrestling industry on the whole started to come to light. While Guerrero was "clean" in the sense that he wasn't using any mood-altering substances or pain pills, he was still using steroids and growth hormone (confirmed in a 2007 investigation by Sports Illustrated) that likely contributed to his death.

How many other "clean" wrestlers were putting their bodies through the same punishment? In order to avoid another public relations nightmare, WWE created the Wellness Policy. Part drug test, part monitoring system, the policy was supposed to prevent future tragedies of the same sort.