Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story - Review
This is a book is close to my heart. This man is my hero and favourite singles wrestler of all time. I am reviewing this from an unbiased and purely critical perspective.
Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story is a good book and also an unusual book and there are two major reasons why. Which I will come too in a second.
The book itself is well written and while like many celebrities, who have had help this feels very much like Eddie. It doesn’t seem like the ghost writer. It covers his childhood and the years he spent wrestling. The promotions and styles he has wrestled and the people he worked with is staggering. The training at the hands of his father and brothers is also great for wrestling fans as it provides an insight into another big wrestling families like the Harts and the Von Erichs.
He discusses all his years in Mexico, Japan, WCW, WWF/E and then on the indie scene during his recovery. He has some hilarious stories of the road and also some tragic ones. The discussions and stories of Art Barr are some of my favourites. I also like when he discusses his storylines with about Chavo and Chyna in WWE
What makes this book more than just the ups and downs in the story of a wrestler is it discusses his alcoholism and more importantly his recovery. Eddie spares no detail. It is very personal and deep. I cannot imagine what it must be like battling alcoholism and I imagine it is a very private journey. So to have someone talk openly adds real weight and depth. He gives us an insight into factors that contributed, how he takes responsibility and also raises issues that I never thought about. It opened my eyes and really made me think about recovery and the process.
The second reason this stands apart is the fact it is written and published a year before he died. It makes his positive recovery all the more heart-breaking. More importantly it serves as sort of a time capsule of sorts. It discusses the friendship with Chris Benoit and how close they were and how good he was. I love this because, it isn’t marred by what eventually happened to Chris Benoit. Compounding this is the fact that Eddies death, which has been cited by several sources, had a detrimental impact on his mental health, if Eddie hadn’t of died would the Benoit Incident still have happened. If it had still happened, how would Eddie handle it. It brings up some fascinating questions.
To conclude, I recommend this book, for the real-life content as much as the wrestling and in ring anecdotes. It is a must for any wrestling fan to read given the history of the family and the years Eddie wrestled in. If you’re an Eddie Guerrero fan then this is your holy bible. Happy Reading.
