Chris Jericho Recalls First Meeting Eddie Guerrero, Vince McMahon Thinking Highly Of Eddie, Why He Always Tips 20%

Chris Jericho, Konnan, DDP, and Rey Mysterio hosted a forum on The Jericho Cruise where they honored Eddie Guerrero by reminiscing and sharing stories about the late WWE Hall of Famer.  The following is excerpted from the Talk Is Jericho podcast; highlights appear below:

(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, WrestleZone) 

Chris Jericho On His First Encounter With Eddie Guerrero:

Hector Guerrero, Eddie’s brother, was in charge of taking care of me [while in CMLL]…all I ever heard was, ‘Eddie Guerrero nicest guy. Best guy. Such a good worker. Cool guy. Best guy.’ So, I’m with Hector and after a show we come back and he says, ‘Hey, Eddie’s in my room. He’s staying with us and Eddie was working for AAA with you guys. You want to come meet him?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah! Eddie Guerrero, he’s like a super nice guy, everyone’s told me.’ I go up to the room, open the door. Eddie’s standing there just wearing tighty whities and nothing else and he’s loaded. He’s drunk, which I never got to meet Eddie Guerrero the first time. I got to meet Eddie The Giant.

Eddie The Giant is what we called Eddie when he was loaded. I go in the room. Hector goes, ‘This is my brother Eddie.’ Eddie’s standing there. Eddie had this almost hunch back, but the biggest latch you’d ever seen….’What’s your name?’ ‘My name is Corazon de Leon, but that’s just Spanish for Lion Heart.’ My real name is, ‘Chris.’ He goes, ‘I’m Spanish. I know what Corazon de Leon means.’ [laughter] He goes, ‘You think your sh*t don’t stink? [laughter] That was a big Eddie line, ‘You think your sh*t don’t stink?’ I’m like, ‘No! My sh*t stinks.’ He was so mad at me because when he asked me what my name was I didn’t know if he meant my wrestling name or my real name. About 5-10 minutes later, he’s passed out. Next morning, I’m downstairs eating breakfast. He comes down stairs, ‘Hey Eddie.’ He goes, ‘Hey, I just want to apologize for what I did. I don’t remember what I did, but I’m sure I did something bad, so I apologize.’ I was like, ‘Apology accepted. Sit down.’ We were friends ever since.

Chris Jericho On Eddie Guerrero Urinating On Elvis Presley’s Childhood Home:

We were traveling together at that time and Tupelo is the home birthplace of Elvis Presley: The King. His childhood home is in Tupelo and me and Eddie and Dean [Malenko] went to visit it and Eddie was loaded. He pissed on Elvis’ house. When I said, ‘Eddie, you can’t piss on Elvis’ house.’ And Eddie’s mad. He said, ‘F*ck Elvis. Who did he ever beat?’ [laughter]

Chris Jericho On Vince McMahon Thinking Highly Of Eddie Guerrero Early On In WWE:

He came in with Chris [Benoit], Perry Saturn, and Dean [Malenko]. They were called The Radicalz, imagine combination. Now, if you look at those guys, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. It’s the WWE system. Who’s gonna make it? Right from the start – I vividly remember this two weeks after they got there – I heard from a very high source, ‘Vince says, ‘Eddie’s the guy.’’ I was like, ‘Really?’ ‘Eddie’s the guy. He’s the one?’ ‘Out of all these other guys?’ Perry’s all big and Benoit was Benoit and Dean was Dean. Vince said, ‘Eddie’s the guy.’ Because he checked off all the boxes. He didn’t have the size, but he worked like he was a giant. He thought like he was a giant. He could do anything, as all of us know, and he had the character and charisma. Lo and behold – Vince is a genius and Vince knew what he wanted and Vince made him one of the biggest stars in the company, but that was right off the bat. He saw that, which I always though, ‘Wow, right away, you could see Eddie’s character and charisma coming through.’

Chris Jericho On Eddie Guerrero’s Fight With Kurt Angle:

Eddie would snap. He had a really bad temper and like I said, his line was always, ‘You think your sh*t don’t stink?’ I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t. Now we’re in trouble.’ Something happened in the match with Kurt and Eddie. It was a SmackDown show. They got into a fight in the middle of the ring. I don’t know why. I don’t know what happened. There might have been a miscommunication. Kurt was very green. Eddie was very intense and afterward came back and Eddie said, ‘You think your sh*t don’t stink?’ He took a swing at Kurt and there was a fracas, a bruhaha. Eddie called him out. Eddie said, ‘You think your sh*t don’t stink? What’s wrong with you?’ There was an issue and Kurt tied him in a Christmas bow. [laughter] If Kurt were here, he could tell the story better. Eddie challenged Road Warrior Hawk to a fight. Eddie’s this tall. Road Warrior Hawk is this tall. That didn’t end up very good for him.

Rey Mysterio On What Eddie Told Chavo Guerrero After The Kurt Angle Fight:

Chavo [Guerrero] goes, ‘Man, why did you pick a fight with Kurt? What were you thinking?’ [Eddie impression] ‘Sh*t, I wasn’t thinking man!’ [laughter] That’s why.

Chris Jericho On Eddie Guerrero Carrying ‘The Weight Of The World’ After Winning The WWE Championship:

He became the champion, but then I saw Eddie – not change – but the weight of the world was on his shoulders. If there was a crowd, with 10,000 people cheering and 2 people in the front row saying, ‘You suck, Eddie,’ that would drive him crazy. He really started feeling depressed about being the champion.

Chris Jericho On Eddie Guerrero Being The Greatest Of All Time:

Who might be the best of all time? Everyone says [Ric] Flair. Everyone says Shawn [Michaels]. Agreed. Agreed. Bret Hart. Agreed. Deep down inside I think Eddie Guerrero might have been the best pro wrestler of all time. He checks all the boxes; acting, character, work, creativity, fearlessness, calling it in the ring. Who calls sh*t in the ring now?

Chris Jericho On Why He Always Tips 20%:

To this day, I always tip waiters or waitresses 20% because Eddie told me, ‘Bro, tip them 20%. It means nothing to you, but to them it could mean paying their power bill or paying their electricity or whatever.’ It’s such a little thing, but every time I go eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, you name it, drink at the bar tonight, you get the bill, I look. If it’s $10, I tip $2. If it’s $50, I tip $10 because Eddie told me, ‘Always tip 20%.’ That’s what I remember.

Readers may listen to Talk is Jericho in its entirety below:

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