25 biggest pro wrestling ‘what ifs’ of the past 25 years

21. What if Eddie Guerrero hadn’t died?

While the Chris Benoit tragedy was shocking and surprising due to the graphic nature of the event, the death of Eddie Guerrero was just really sad. It’s no secret that he had battled addiction for a long time but it seemed that he had finally gotten his life on the right track, only to have his life end way too soon in 2005 at the age of 38. The years of abuse to his body wreaked havoc on his heart and was found by his nephew, Chavo, in a hotel room in Minneapolis. Guerrero’s death made WWE really look at how they monitored their performers and the Wellness Policy was introduced just a few months later. Like Benoit, you have to wonder what would have happened if Guerrero hadn’t passed away.

As far as wrestling goes, even at 38, Eddie was better than he’d ever been in the ring at the time of his death and things were only looking up. He’d gotten over the hump and won the WWE Championship in 2004 by defeating Brock Lesnar and successfully defended it at WrestleMania XX in a great match with Kurt Angle. After losing the title, he entered a long program with Rey Mysterio before getting back into the title scene in 2005.

In a cruel twist of fate, Guerrero is said to have been scheduled to win the World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat Match against Batista and Randy Orton the week that he died. There have also been rumors that a program with Shawn Michaels was set for WrestleMania 22, which could have resulted in one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history. Unfortunately, we’ll never know what could have been or how long Eddie Guerrero could have lasted at the top of the card in WWE.