June 7, 2004 Observer Newsletter: Eddie Guerrero TV special, Vince McMahon Off the Record appearance, more
The life and near death of Eddie Guerrero made for a riveting television special on UPN on 5/26, called “Cheating Death, Stealing Life.” The story was about Guerrero’s childhood, wrestling career and battle back from drug and alcohol addiction that came closer to killing him than nearly anyone realized.
The unfortunate thing is the show was programmed against the “American Idol” finals (17.74 rating), and got destroyed in the ratings. A special like this could have made Guerrero’s triumphs into a much stronger character had it been done when wrestling was hot and there was a large passionate audience. Today, I just see it as potentially making for a great DVD story when, presumably, it gets released late this year. It had no real business impact other than showing WWE can do an interesting wrestling documentary, that even with promotion for weeks, can’t get most of its core audience to watch.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.