JBL Addresses Rumors Surrounding Eddie Guerrero’s Death Ahead of 20th Anniversary

JBL Addresses Rumors Surrounding Eddie Guerrero’s Death Ahead of 20th Anniversary – Next week marks twenty years since the wrestling world lost Eddie Guerrero, who passed away on November 13, 2005. Guerrero’s final match took place just days before his death, when he defeated Mr. Kennedy during a SmackDown taping.

On the latest Something to Wrestle podcast, Guerrero’s close friend and longtime rival John “Bradshaw” Layfield (JBL) reflected on his passing and addressed long-circulating internet rumors suggesting that a chair shot during that final match might have contributed to Eddie’s death. JBL dismissed the theory outright.

“No, yeah, never. Not one time, no. And I think I’ve heard that over the years. I think it kind of kind of sounds familiar, but nobody thought that. You know, guys have gotten 1000s of chair shots over the years, and guys don’t die from chair shots, you know? And so I get why the conspiracy gets put together. Hard chair shot you die, however long later it was. And I get why people could put, you know, two and two together like that, and get that. But nobody at the time thought that, and I certainly don’t believe that.”

JBL also spoke candidly about Eddie’s health at the time, emphasizing that Guerrero showed no signs of physical decline or distress leading up to his passing.

“Apparently, his heart just stopped. You know, I talked to, you know, Chavo’s told the story about finding him in his bathroom. You know, he got up in the morning, brushed his teeth, and just died. You know, his heart just quit. His life was over. You know, his life ran out, and there was nothing really, you know, Eddie had, there wasn’t, there weren’t any specific health issues at the time, and there certainly wasn’t anything in ring, you know, it’s just something that it wasn’t like a deteriorating condition. You know, unfortunately, his heart was just given out on him, and he didn’t know it, and all of a sudden it just stopped one morning. And you know, there was not something that led up to it, that he was tired or he was despondent, or anything like that. There was nothing like that. I was around him as much as anybody, you know, and Chavo hadn’t mentioned anything about it either. You know. He just got up one morning, and unfortunately, his heart stopped.”

Guerrero’s official autopsy later confirmed that he passed away from acute heart failure caused by underlying arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. His sudden passing sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling world, and two decades later, his legacy remains one of the most celebrated in professional wrestling history.