While Edge and Randy Orton may not have officially pulled off “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever,” at Backlash, their duel did live up to the hype as one of WWE’s best matches of the year. In “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever,” the two legends paid homage to some of the greatest wrestlers of all time by using their signature moves, such as the Rock Bottom and the Pedigree.

Both of them also used Eddie Guerrero’s signature Three Amigos suplex, where the wrestler hits three consecutive suplexes on their opponent. Before Randy Orton delivered his version of the Three Amigos to Edge, he paused to look up to the ceiling of the performance center for a few moments. The commentating crew instantly interpreted that as Orton looking to the Heavens and acknowledging the late great Guerrero.

It's fitting that the two legends paid homage to Guerrero because they are two of the few superstars left on the active roster who got to wrestle him. Edge wrestled him plenty of times, including one of the greatest Smackdown matches of all-time in 2002, and Guerrero had one of the last matches of his career against Orton on Smackdown.

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What’s ironic about him supposedly looking up to Heaven is that in 2006, mere weeks after Guerrero’s untimely passing, Orton infamously told Eddie’s best friend Rey Mysterio that he was in Hell. While it's unlikely that was Orton's actual opinion in real life, in kayfabe he said that to goad Mysterio into putting his WrestleMania World Championship match on the line at No Way Out.

The Legend Killer had been the last elimination in Mysterio's historic Royal Rumble match win. Orton won the match at No Way Out by cheating, prompting Smackdown general manager Teddy Long to make the WrestleMania title match a triple threat between Orton, Mysterio and World Heavyweight champion Kurt Angle. Mysterio's Cinderella story culminated when he pinned the Legend Killer to win his first World Championship at WrestleMania 22.

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WWE using Guerrero’s death as a part of a storyline was highly controversial at the time and hasn’t aged well since. Even giving Rey Mysterio, a career cruiser weight, the Royal Rumble win and the world heavyweight title at WrestleMania 22 didn't erase the bad taste left in fans' mouths by sullying Guerrero's name.

WWE also used his death in a mid-card angle between JBL and Chris Benoit, and used it again later that year when Eddie's nephew Chavo turned on Mysterio out of jealousy. At least those poor angles contributed to Eddie's widow Vickie becoming one of the best Heel personas of all-time.

In the proceeding years since the infamous “Eddie is in Hell” angle, the WWE has continued to use other real life tragedies to further angles. One of the more infamous examples came when Paul Bearer passed away during the buildup to CM Punk and The Undertaker’s match at WrestleMania 29. The dastardly Heel CM Punk interrupted The Undertaker's tribute to Bearer, stole his signature urn, and had Paul Heyman dress up like Bearer to play mind games with The Deadman. Some hated it, others thought it was brilliant, but either way it shows that the WWE has no qualms about pushing the envelope when it comes to sensitive topics.

Fourteen years after the infamous angle, Randy Orton confirmed to the world that his character now thinks differently as to where Eddie Guerrero is in the afterlife. Onscreen, The Viper may still be a despicable Heel who put Edge and Christian on the shelf, but the real Orton found a subtle way to pay tribute to Guerrero, while trying to make up in some small way for the worst angle of his career.

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