The Clint High School graduate is professional wrestling's queen of mean, and she knows exactly which buttons to push.

"I love making people mad," Guerrero said in a telephone interview.

As one of the stars of "WrestleMania XXV" on Sunday evening, she has a chance to make millions of new enemies. The show will draw about 70,000 fans to Reliant Stadium in Houston, and it can be seen nationally on pay-per-view.

World Wrestling Entertainment has done its best to cement Guerrero's villainous image, turning her character into a power-hungry woman who is romantically linked with two wrestlers. On screen, she is "married" to heavyweight champion Edge (Adam Copeland), while engaging in a public affair with the Big Show (Paul Wight).

Big Show and fan favorite John Cena will wrestle Edge for the title in a triple-threat match in one of Wrestle Mania's main events. Guerrero is stuck in the middle of it all.

Guerrero, 40, has emerged as one of WWE's leading heels, or villains, since the death in 2005 of her real husband, champion wrestler Eddie Guerrero.

She said she did not aspire to a life in professional wrestling, but is proud to be on its biggest stage now.

"WrestleMania is our Super Bowl," she said.

In the beginning, pro wrestling did not interest her at all.

"I never liked it," she said. "I was a girl who was into cheerleading and dance. My brothers and family loved wrestling."

That all changed the day Vickie Lara went on a blind date with Eddie Guerrero, youngest son of El Paso wrestling legend Gory Guerrero.

"When I came home and told my parents I had met Eddie Guerrero, they knew exactly who he was," Vickie said.

She married Eddie in 1990. He traveled the country, working as a bad guy for various wrestling companies.

They eventually moved to Tampa, Fla. Vickie lived her life quietly, the wife of the brash performer who was always on the go.

"I knew I would have to be home more and see him less," she said. "That's when I called his mom more and more."

She found solace from her mother-in-law, Herlinda Guerrero, who counseled Vickie on how to be strong while her husband traveled from show to show.

WWE, the big fish of wrestling companies, hired Eddie in 2000, but that's when life got darker for the Guererros.

Stress, injuries and a near-fatal car crash contributed to Eddie's addiction to alcohol and painkillers. WWE released him, and he separated from Vickie and their two children.

"It was very difficult time," she said. "We weren't together, so he had a lot of proving to do for the kids and me."

Eddie began a relationship with another woman that led to his fathering another child. He and Vickie stayed in touch for their kids' sake. She said Eddie eventually worked his way back into her good graces by proving he could go to shows sober. The WWE gave him another shot in 2003. So did Vickie.

"I never stopped loving Eddie, despite all the problems," she said. "I didn't see the demons in his eyes anymore. And that's when we started dating again."

After they renewed their marriage vows, life turned around.

The family was back together, and Eddie was on top. Fans rallied around him, and the company rewarded him with the most coveted prize in the business, the WWE championship, in 2004.

"As his wife I wanted him to win," she said. "When he won, I was crying and me and the girls were jumping all around."

A little over a year later Vickie got her first taste of the limelight during a feud between Eddie and longtime friend Rey Mysterio. The story line involved the two fighting over the custody of Mysterio's real-life son, Dominic.

"Vince (McMahon, boss of the WWE) wanted it to be as real as possible and brought me and my daughters in," Vickie said. "I wanted to be there for Eddie 150 percent."

The angle to this wrestling story climaxed at the annual SummerSlam show in 2005, as Vickie intervened in the match between Eddie and Mysterio.

Eddie died less than three months later in a Minnesota hotel room. The cause was a heart ailment, made worse by his earlier use of recreational drugs and steroids, according to the autopsy.

"For some reason when he left at the airport he didn't want to let go of us," she said. "We knew that was God's way of letting us have that goodbye."

In the next year, Eddie's legend grew. Vickie, who moved back to El Paso, began to make appearances on televised wrestling shows. These included her husband's induction to the WWE Hall of Fame in April 2006.

"The fans chanted and clapped for 15 minutes, and that was just overwhelming," she said. "I always thank the fans

because that's what Eddie would do."

Vickie got a contract offer from WWE in October 2006. Her character was born, and she is as treacherous as they come. When things don't go her way, she promises to lie, cheat and steal until the tide turns. That was Eddie's persona in the ring, too.

In the past two and a half years, Vickie's character has seized the title of general manager of the "SmackDown" production, and she recently became interim manager of the "Raw" show. She "married" Edge and tangled on-air with the giant Undertaker and diminutive Mysterio. This led to her own catch phrase -- "Excuse me!"

"The 'excuse me' line was something that just happened," she said. "The crowd went crazy because I was trying to tell them to shut up."

Now she is recognized around the country. Still, the former El Paso Diablos dancer says she has a favorite town.

"Nothing is like El Paso. It's home for me."

She's gone from wife of a wrestler to being a WWE star in her own right. But, she said, she will always be a simple girl from El Paso who became her husband's No. 1 fan.

"I'll always be Eddie's wife inside. He was my first and last love," she said. "But I never thought I'd have a husband and a lover on the show."