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JBL says he refused to beat Chavo Guerrero on WWE’s Eddie Guerrero tribute show

Posted: Oct 5th 2026 By: Ian Carey

JBL says there was “not one chance in a million” he was going to defeat Chavo Guerrero on WWE’s Eddie Guerrero tribute show.

Speaking on Something to Wrestle, JBL and co-host Conrad Thompson discussed tribute shows in wrestling, with JBL recalling WWE’s tribute to Eddie Guerrero in 2005. He said there was discussion of him defeating Chavo Guerrero on the show, but he immediately rejected the idea and instead wanted Chavo to beat him with Eddie’s Frog Splash.

JBL said:

“Shortly after we were going to Europe and all of a sudden you’re doing a tribute show for a guy that you think will live forever. And at first they had the match and there was a talk of me going over. I said, ‘Hey, there ain’t a chance in the world I’m going over. Not one in a million. I’m not doing it.’

“And I said, ‘I want to work with Chavo and I want [Chavo to beat me] with a frog splash.’ And that’s what we did.

“And I was glad that I got to work with Chavo. And I was glad Chavo made it through. The same reason that, you know, like Elton John said about Princess Diana, you made it through because you had to, because it was for somebody that was important and that’s what you do.

“It’s a tribute. And you make it through because of who they are. And at that point, you’re doing something that you feel like really all you can do for them.”

Chavo defeated JBL with the Frog Splash on the Eddie Guerrero tribute edition of SmackDown, which aired on November 18, 2005.

JBL and Eddie Guerrero feuded throughout 2004, with JBL defeating Guerrero for the WWE Championship in a Texas Bullrope match at the Great American Bash pay-per-view. JBL would later retain the title in a steel cage match against Guerrero at the July 13, 2004 SmackDown taping.

Guerrero died from arteriosclerotic heart disease at the age of 38 on November 13, 2005. He was found unconscious in a hotel room in Minneapolis by his nephew Chavo.

That day, WWE taped upcoming episodes of Raw and SmackDown in Minneapolis, with both shows serving as tributes to Guerrero. Raw aired on November 14, while the SmackDown tribute aired on November 18.