Chavo Guerrero & TNA Wrestling
Professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr. has made his mark in wrestling, now he wants to take on the world of super heroes.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. has had an 18-year career that includes championships in the now defunct WCW and in the WWE. He belongs to a legendary wrestling family started by his grandfather Gory Guerrero, one of Mexico's most famous luchadores, later followed by his father Chavo Sr. as well as his uncles Eddie, Mando and Hector. Guerrero sat down with Fox News Latino to talk about wrestling for Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling, the WWE and the tragic death of his uncle Eddie in 2005.
Fox News Latino: You’ve recently been a in a feud with Bobby Roode and Austin Aries, two young veterans who haven’t had as much exposure as you. Is wrestling talent like this one of the reasons you signed up with TNA Wrestling?
Chavo Guerrero Jr. : Oh, yeah. What happened was I took about a year off. When they started talking TNA a little bit here and there, I started really watching the show and looking at the roster — it speaks for itself. I mean, it’s so good. It was a lot of people that I haven’t wrestled, like A.J. Styles, so many people that I could just tear down the house with. I had to try it.
FNL: You’ve been teaming up with Hernandez, how is that going?
Guerrero: It’s been really good. You really do have to gel as a tag team especially to last a long time. You know with Eddie [Guerrero] that was a no-brainer. I remember when we did our first tag team match in WWE and we came back and, you know, Vincent McMahon was like, “Oh, my God, that was incredible,” and I’m like, “Vince, we been doing this our whole lives.” So now with Hernandez, out of the ring he was a really cool guy and really nice guy. I really liked him, he’s a power guy, I’m like, “Wow, yeah, I think we could do something,” and then getting in the ring, I just think it just brings a whole different dynamic to any other tag team that’s really out there. Because it’s like power and grace, you know? He’ll come in and just throw people around like crazy, and then I’ll come in and do some flying and head scissors and wrestle with them. So we got two completely different dynamics in the ring, but I think it gels well together.
FNL: You talk about the legacy of Eddie Guerrero, who’s a WWE Hall of Famer. It’s been eight years since his untimely death, how has your career been without Eddie?
Guerrero: I had another three tag team championships runs and an ECW Championship. It’s awesome. The very last year [in the WWE] left a lot to be desired, you’re off TV and all of a sudden they start giving you this little program, you kinda make the most of them and make the best of them. They say the average life of a professional wrestler’s about four and a half years. I’ve been doing it 18.
You know our whole lives we’ve always been compared to other Guerrero’s... You know, I’ve heard it. “You’ll never be as good as Eddie.” My whole life, [my family] always told us and said, “Look, you’re your own person.
FNL: You’ve got this historic family. The Guerrero family has been big. It’s been big in Mexico, it’s been big in the U.S. It’s a lot to live up to. Do you feel like the last Guerrero?
Guerrero: For now. You know, we got other ones that are maybe coming up. It depends. You know, there’s no guarantee in the wrestling business, of course.
Our whole lives we’ve always been compared to other Guerreros. My dad Hector and Mando were compared to my grandpa Gory. You always have the critics, “Oh, you’ll never be as good as him,” and they’re as good as him. Eddie heard it his whole life. “You’ll never be as good as your un-, as your dad and your, your, your older brothers.” You know, I’ve heard it. “You’ll never be as good as Eddie.” My whole life, we’ve always, they’ve always told us and said, “Look, you’re your own person. You’re not us. We’re not you. You do stuff better than us, we do some stuff better than you. This can’t compare. You’re comparing apples and oranges.” It’s like comparing Owen Hart and Bret Hart. They grew up in the dungeon, but two completely different wrestlers.
FNL: I always find it kinda funny that you and Eddie did a “lie, cheat, and steal” gimmick but got cheered like crazy for that.
Guerrero: Originally they could not stand us. Then all of a sudden we shot those vignettes, me and Eddie did and we were stealing a baby’s bottle and stuff like this, and all of a sudden —we, went from one day to the next, we walked out, and they went from boos to cheers. I remember, we started walking down the aisle and they were cheering us. We stopped, looked at each other, and went, “Oh, man. I guess we’re good guys now.” It’s funny because we didn’t change our wrestling style. We still lied, cheated and stole but we did it almost like in a cute style now, you know, in a funny way. And they ate it up, they loved us.
FNL: Right.
Guerrero: We were thieves, we lied, cheated, and stole, but at least we were honest about it. [LAUGHS]
FNL: You’re 40 years old now. How long are you going to keep going?
Guerrero: In the wrestling business, you know, you really don’t know what you’re doing ‘til about seven, eight years in. You look back to the way wrestling used to be — you didn’t even make it to the big time until you were ten years in minimum. Now you’re in the business for six months or a year and they come in the ring and they’re getting shots at big time. And if you see the wrestling , especially at the other place, you can tell. I won’t even watch that program because it’s bad. The wrestling is so bad.
If he can’t wrestle, then he can’t wrestle, you know? Very, very few and far between do we get a Triple H or a Rey Mysterio, a Randy Orton. That doesn’t happen too much anymore. It’s very few and far between. You can tell who’s making John Cena look good.
Follow Victor Garcia on Twitter @MrVicGarcia.
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