Eddie Guerrero's life story would have made a hell of a movie. He thrived in the wrestling business despite his diminutive size, becoming arguably the top performer of the 1990's and early 2000's. Then a car accident nearly ended his life in 1998, and even though he survived he found himself addicted to pain killers and much worse. The addictions got worse and they ended up costing him his job with the WWE in 2001.

Eddie was at rock bottom then, forced to work small shows in armories in front of maybe a few hundred people on a good night, when previously he worked before thounsands live and millions more on television.

But we kept hearing good things, that Eddie had cleaned himself up and was working hard. Then he got the most precious gift in the world: a second chance. He got another shot with the WWE, and he made the most of it. Even though he was never positioned as a top guy, the crowds kept cheering him like one. The momentum kept building, and then, in February 2004 he defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Title. He had clawed his way from the bottom of the barrel all the way to the top of his profession. Fade to black, roll credits.

Sadly, life is not a movie. Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his Minneapolis hotel room by his newphew Chavo on Sunday. He was only 38.

The autopsy results came out today, saying the cause of death was heart failure,
so all the damage Eddie did to his body finally caught up with him. And given that Eddie worked so hard to clean himself up (his greatest accomplishment by far), it just doesn't seem fair.

Real grief should be reserved for those who knew Eddie personally (I've personally never been within a hundred feet of him). But after watching the man nearly every week on TV for a decade, and hearing of his travails outside the ring, you can't help but feel a connection to the man. I have a million memories of Eddie, from great matches to funny interviewed to him standing in the middle of Madison Square Garden with Chris Benoit to close out Wrestlemania XX.

It's sad that wrestling fans won't get to see him perform anymore. But the ultimate tragedy is that three little girls will have to grow up without a father, a family is missing a son, a brother, an uncle, and an ex-husband, and a respected, well-liked, and phenomally talented man was taken from the Earth well before his time.