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WWE's decision to make Eddie Guerrero WWE Heavyweight Champion in 2004 demonstrated a change in the company's attitudes when it came to selecting what type of performer would headline its events.
At five feet six inches tall, Guerrero was at least a foot shorter than WWE's preferred template for headliners. He was no Undertaker, Rock or Stone Cold that's for sure. Although physically he did not measure up, he more than made up for it with his electrifying charisma.
His infectious personality endeared fans to him and following his title win, WWE were forced to re-evaluate their stance regarding smaller performers who could connect with an audience.
If Guerrero had not become champion, then it's highly likely that the likes of Edge, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles and other smaller, slender performers would never have become World Champions in WWE.
Latino Heat unquestionably paved the way. His World title run was entertaining for sure and began with a bang when he upset Brock Lesnar at No Way Out on February 15, 2004. Although his feud with his conqueror JBL underwhelmed in the ring and at the box office, his reign remained significant. Guerrero delivered as champion but struggled with the burden and was genuinely grateful to JBL for succeeding him as the figurehead.
Guerrero's death on November 13, 2005, in many ways was even more groundbreaking for the company as a whole.
Guerrero's tragic demise led WWE to begin drug testing its performers once again (it had previously tested its wrestlers between 1992-96) for recreational and performance-enhancing substances. It would later employ stringent testing for concussions also. The health of WWE's performers has never been better in the years since.
Part 12 looks at WWE Championship reigns from 2003 through to January 2006.
Previous parts in this series can be found here:
Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10 and part 11.
Brock Lesnar (March 30, 2003 - July 27, 2003)
Brock Lesnar regained the WWE Championship in a dream bout between two former standout amateur wrestlers when he ended Kurt Angle's third reign as champion in the main event of WrestleMania XIX.
On a card that also played host to Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock, Hulk Hogan versus Vince McMahon and Triple H versus Booker T for the World Heavyweight Title, it was an amazing show of faith by WWE to place the youngster Lesnar in the headline spot rather than the tried and tested veterans. That Angle entered the bout with a career (and potentially life) threatening neck injury was an even greater risk to WWE.
The 'Mania top liner was a sterling technical collision. However, Lesnar nearly paralyzed himself at the conclusion after a Shooting Star Press attempt went awry and he landed head-first into the canvas. An impromptu F-5 ended the bout instead.
Lesnar remarkably recovered quickly and next clashed with then mid-carder John Cena in an average match at Backlash one month later before next successfully retaining the title against a familiar foe, The Big Show in an amazingly exciting Stretcher Match at Judgment Day.
Angle had been sidelined since WrestleMania after undergoing neck surgery but returned in time to face Lesnar and Big Show in a triple threat encounter at Vengeance on July 27.
In a stunning encounter, Angle pinned Lesnar to end the champion's second WWE Championship reign.
Kurt Angle (July 27, 2003 - September 16, 2003)
Kurt Angle returned as a babyface after undergoing minimally invasive neck surgery following WrestleMania and reappeared on WWE television in June.
He was immediately placed back into the title picture and was part of a triple threat bout with Big Show and the champion, Brock Lesnar at Vengeance on July 27, 2003.
Angle pinned Lesnar in a stunning triple threat match to become WWE Champion for a fourth time (becoming only the seventh wrestler to do so).
Angle and Lesnar were friends in the storyline following Angle's comeback but Lesnar betrayed his boss and aligned himself with Vince McMahon. He turned heel on Angle to set up a blockbuster SummerSlam rematch of their 'Mania encounter.
Their SummerSlam title bout was another incredible in-ring effort which saw Angle earn the win clean with the Ankle Lock.
Another rematch was booked for the September 16, 2003 episode of SmackDown. A compelling match saw Lesnar regain the strap by five falls to four in an Ironman match.
Angle remained at the top of the card for the next six months before he was sidelined in April 2004 with further neck problems.
Brock Lesnar (September 16, 2003 - February 15, 2004)
Brock Lesnar's separation from the WWE Championship was brief.
After failing to regain the strap from Kurt Angle in a terrific collision at SummerSlam, he fought Angle again under Ironman rules on the September 16, 2003 episode of SmackDown.
It was a compelling encounter and cemented Lesnar as the top star on the SmackDown brand.
The champion was pitted against The Undertaker once more. He defeated the Deadman in a Biker Chain on a Pole match at No Mercy on October 19, 2003. Not a patch on their collisions a year earlier, it was nevertheless an entertaining encounter.
Lesnar next segued into a feud with long-time opening card act, Hardcore Holly, which culminated in a bout at the 2004 Royal Rumble. Despite it being two-month feud, which was based on a real-life injury Lesnar had accidentally inflicted on Holly the previous year, the feud ending collision lasted a paltry six minutes.
Despite an incredible push during his two years as part of the main roster and three World title reigns, Lesnar was fast tiring of the relentless schedule and long travel hours. Lesnar found the grind so off-putting that he requested WWE drastically reduce his schedule.
WWE refused to yield to Lesnar's demands, feeling as if the youngster had already had preferential treatment. Lesnar dropped the title to Eddie Guerrero in an upset at No Way Out on February 15, 2004, and three weeks later handed in his notice to WWE.
Six days later, Lesnar left the company. He would not return for eight years until the April 2, 2012 episode of RAW.
Eddie Guerrero (February 15, 2004 - June 27, 2004)
Eddie Guerrero achieved what many believed was impossible at No Way Out on February 15, 2004.
The five feet six inch Guerrero did not fit the typical headliner mold that WWE preferred. However, Latino Heat's charisma, Lie, Cheat, Steal persona (which stereotypical as it was, connected with the WWE audience) and strong singles push in 2003 forced WWE to push Guerrero into the main event bracket.
He did not disappoint. The man who had reigned as Cruiserweight Champion in WCW became Heavyweight Champion in WWE when he pinned Brock Lesnar in a stunner of a bout. The match told the perfect David versus Goliath story as the cocky Lesnar took his smaller foe too lightly then realized to his horror much too late that he had underestimated him.
Following Guerrero's shock victory, he next became embroiled in a feud with Kurt Angle. In order to solidify his credibility, Guerrero defended his belt against Angle in a technical battle at WrestleMania XX.
So far so good. However, Guerrero was being to crack under the pressure as champion and was already voicing to WWE that he wanted to be relieved of the strap.
SmackDown to whom Guerrero was exclusive was not blessed with much headline talent in mid-2004. The departure of Lesnar following 'Mania was a huge loss. It was one that had not been adequately filled in the post 'Mania draft lottery. Booker T and Rob Van Dam could have been pushed into that bracket when they were transferred from RAW but WWE stuck them both in mid-card feuds instead. Shockingly, their choice for Guerrero's next title feud was long-time tag team wrestler, Bradshaw.
The APA member was repackaged as JBL, a JR Ewing-style millionaire character, who despised Guerrero for his ethnicity and became an anti-immigration campaigner, beating up Mexicans trying to cross the Mexico/United States border in one unforgettable SmackDown segment.
It was an abhorrent storyline but yielded an extremely heated match at Judgment Day on May 16. Guerrero lost so much blood in that battle that doctors advised he undergo a blood transfusion. Latino Heat refused and he went into shock backstage and was hospitalized for several days. Guerrero smashed JBL with the title belt which earned him a DQ loss.
That finish was designed to prolong the feud which lasted another month and saw the pair clash in a Texas Bullrope Match. Guerrero had been expected to exact his final revenge on his challenger for his nefarious deeds. It was not to be. It came as a Wall Street sized shock then that Guerrero lost the title to JBL at the Great American Bash on June 27, 2004.
Guerrero would never regain the Heavyweight title and died the following year on November 13, 2005, at the age of 38.
John "Bradshaw" Layfield (June 27, 2004 - April 3, 2005)
JBL's main event push seemingly came from nowhere. Onscreen he was a beer-swilling tag team specialist with long-time buddy, Ron Simmons, who had had a semi-successful run as a tandem over the prior five years. However, Bradshaw's previous forays into singles competition had always ended in failure.
Backstage, Bradshaw had been pals with Vince McMahon for years and his loyalty paid off in a big way following Brock Lesnar's departure from WWE and another serious injury to Kurt Angle.
After Eddie Guerrero failed to cope with the pressure as champion, JBL was selected above more worthy candidates such as: Booker T, Rob Van Dam, The Undertaker, and others to succeed Latino Heat as champion.
JBL unsuccessfully challenged Guerrero at Judgment Day but won the strap in a Texas Bullrope Match the following month at the Great American Bash. Both cards pulled woeful numbers on pay per view: 235,000 and 240,000 buys respectively. These numbers were the worst buyrates the company had pulled since 1997.
Business did not improve with JBL on top but with few other options to succeed him as champion, he continued to hold the belt.
His feud with The Undertaker over the summer months and subsequent defenses versus Booker T and Big Show also underwhelmed at the gate and inside the ring.
JBL neither had the moveset or stamina to wrestle long, main-event matches although he did offer entertainment outside of the ring with his excellent promo and character work.
His long reign finally ended nine months after it started when he passed the torch to WWE's latest great hope for company figurehead, John Cena at WrestleMania 21 on April 3, 2005.
John Cena (April 3, 2005 - January 8, 2006)
WWE decided to go all the way with rising star John Cena at WrestleMania 21, which also saw Batista lift the World Heavyweight crown from Triple H.
WrestleMania 21, held on April 3, 2005, was the beginning of a new era with two brand new champions at the heart of it.
Cena would soon become the poster boy for the next decade.
It was an inauspicious start to his reign when he defeated JBL in a mediocre ten-minute match, which was instantly forgettable at 'Mania. However, Cena showed he did possess headliner credentials in a truly exciting 'I Quit' war with the same opponent at Judgment Day the following month.
Cena's reign would be another lengthy one. He held the belt for 280 days, the exact same number of days as his predecessor, JBL.
The Doctor of Thuganomics was drafted to RAW during the summer draft lottery and was quickly exposed on the live show versus the pre-taped SmackDown. Cena's in-ring performances were no longer edited. His clumsy offense and loud spot calling caused him to fall out of favor with the adult male audience who had once supported him. Also, Cena stopped performing his rapper gimmick and began marketing himself to children which further alienated his core fan-base.
Boos first became audible in his feud with Chris Jericho, which Cena won decisively at SummerSlam in a match which forced Jericho to leave the company for several years.
Cena would never win back the fans that abandoned him. His subsequent feud with Kurt Angle in the Autumn highlighted these issues in stereo. Fans simply refused to boo the respected Angle against Cena, even when the odds were stacked against the champion.
WWE wanted to persevere with Cena as a face and thus decided to relieve him of the title earlier than planned in a bid to see off the troublesome boos.
After defending the title successfully in an Elimination Chamber bout at New Year's Revolution on January 8, 2006, Cena dropped the title in an impromptu defense versus the inaugural Money in the Bank holder, The Rated R Superstar, Edge.
Edge (January 8, 2006 - January 29, 2006)
Edge debuted for WWE in the summer of 1998. Over seven and a half years later, he finally won his first World title.
Many observers thought Edge who had been tag team champion seven times with his onscreen brother, Christian as well as Intercontinental and United States Champion and the 2001 King of the Ring was a mid-carder for life due to the length of time he had been outside of the main event.
However, Edge in 2005 finally hit upon a character that made him into a bonafide headliner. He owed much to the real-life scandal in which Edge cheated on his wife with his best friend, Matt Hardy's girlfriend Lita.
Edge (and WWE) capitalized on the enmity with which the pair received from fans following the affair becoming public by teaming Edge and Lita up on television and encouraging the negative chants from the audience.
Edge re-christened himself the Rated-R superstar and after winning the Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania, he had his shot at becoming WWE Champion at a time of his choosing.
At New Year's Revolution 2006, Edge finally picked his spot. After Cena had retained the gold in a grueling Elimination Chamber match, Edge cashed in the briefcase and speared his way to his first WWE Championship win.
Ratings increased dramatically after Edge's title victory, with many lapsed fans tuning back into RAW to see a wrestler they remembered from the Attitude Era as WWE Champion.
RAW's ratings were the highest since the Attitude Era ended in 2001 and for that reason, many in WWE wanted Edge to remain champion long term. However, Edge's reign was a short term fix for the troublesome boos WWE Champion, John Cena was receiving and the long term plan for the main event of WrestleMania 22 was Cena versus Triple H with the WWE Title on the line.
Therefore, Cena had to regain it. That he did, three weeks later at Royal Rumble 2006. However, Edge's short reign had cemented him as a permanent main eventer.
