WWE will premiere the first episode in a new documentary series on Sunday. The company announced the debut episode of WWE Untold will premiere on their YouTube channel at 1 PM.
The first episode will focus on the life and career of Eddie Guerrero.
Eddie Guerrero Documentary
“Eddie Guerrero was one of the most beloved Superstars in WWE history,” A WWE press release reads. “He played a huge role in defining SmackDown as a brand. The newest edition of the documentary series ‘WWE Untold’ explores Guerrero’s effect on the blue brand as it approaches its 1000th episode, and will stream live on WWE’s YouTube channel this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.”
The documentary will come just two days before Smackdown’s 1000th episode is scheduled to air.
“Featuring exclusive interviews with John Cena, Batista, Kurt Angle, JBL, Paul Heyman, Sasha Banks, Aiden English and Vickie Guerrero, this edition of “WWE Untold” will examine how Guerrero emerged as a leader on SmackDown in the early days of the 2002 brand split.”
Guerrero was the Smackdown brand champion in early 2004. He defeated Brock Lesnar at No Way Out and held the belt for 133 days. Guerrero would drop the title to JBL at the Great American Bash that year.
“Before SmackDown’s historic 1000th episode, take an incredible behind-the-scenes look at one of the blue brand’s greatest Superstars in an all-new edition of “WWE Untold,” streaming live on WWE’s YouTube channel this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT!”
Sasha Banks will always list Eddie Guerrero as one of her biggest influences. She was interviewed by Sky Sports earlier this year and spoke about how Eddie made her want to be a pro-wrestler.
“I knew right when I saw him that I wanted to do exactly what he did,” Banks said. “My whole life I’ve been like ‘watch Eddie, watch Eddie, watch Eddie’ and I wanted to be just like him.”
“He inspired me and I want to inspire people in the same way that he inspired me,” she continued. “I want little girls to feel how Eddie made me feel when I watched wrestling.”
Recently WWE.com asked Banks what match made her want to be like Eddie Guerrero.
Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio – WrestleMania 21
When Eddie Guerro met Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania 21 there were no titles on the line. It was just two of the top wrestlers in the world wrestling against each other. The two were co-holders of the WWE tag-team championships at the time. Sadly, Guerrero would pass away due to heart failure just seven months after wrestling Mysterio at WrestleMania 21.
The year before, Eddie Guerrero retained the WWE Championship against Kurt Angle. Guerrero had defeated Brock Lesnar for the championship at the No Way Out pay-per-view.
Sasha Banks and Women’s Tag-Team Division
Banks recently referenced a possible women’s tag-team division in her latest Instagram post:
Former SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero was recently a guest on The Roman Show to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Guerrero first commented on the possibility of WWE naming a tournament after her late husband and WWE Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero:
“I always dream about that, “ she said. “Me and the girls we always talk about If Eddie could be relived they’d have a tournament someway, but it never is too late and I’m hoping that if WWE is watching or listening I’m hoping that, we’d love to see Eddie have his own tournament named.”
She then noted that her experience of seeing Eddie practice his promos in the ring, and observing his mannerisms on TV helped her when she was cutting her own promos in the ring:
“No, I wouldn’t train (wrestling) with him. He would scare me. I watched him at the house do his promos in the mirror and watching him every night when he was on TV. I think his mannerism, habits rubbed off on me. Every time I was in the ring, I always pictured Eddie in the ring with me so I knew it wasn’t about myself.”
Guerrero then discussed writing her book about life with Eddie and wrestling:
“Honestly, I am writing a book right now about my life with Eddie I hated wrestling when I dated him. My grandfather used to make his dad’s robes. We used to play in the playpen together when we were like three years old.
“I never liked wrestling. I said, “if you can change that would be great’, but of course the sport grew on me I started getting a lot of respect for the wrestling industry and I was hooked.”
Eddie Guerrero Holds A Great Record Over Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar is undoubtably the most dominant man in WWE today. Since winning the Universal Championship from Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 last year in Orlando, Lesnar has successfully defended his title against the most elite RAW has to offer.
According to PWStream on Twitter, Lesnar hasn’t been pinned in a championship match in 14 years. The last man to do it? Eddie Guerrero back in 2004 at the No Way Out pay-per-view (PPV):
Even at that, Goldberg assisted Latino Heat in taking the WWE Title off The Beast, but nonetheless, he’s the only man in 14 years to have pinned Lesnar in a WWE Title match. Lesnar went on to lose to Goldberg at WrestleMania 20, while Guerrero successfully defended his title against Kurt Angle.
Carmella On Salary Rumors
SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Carmella recently responded to a fan on Twitter who mentioned a rumor that she makes only 120k a year. Here’s how the Princess Of Statan Island responded:
One-half of The IIconics Peyton Royce was a guest on the recent episode of Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia podcast. In the episode, Peyton talked about the WWE Legend that inspired her to take up professional wrestling.
Royce started wrestling around Australia in 2009 and signed up with the WWE in 2015. She would continue to wrestle for WWE in NXT until she got called up with Billie Kay as “The IIconics” to SmackDown in the 10th April episode.
Peyton says that she realized she could become a wrestler herself when she was 13, and revealed that the wrestler who inspired her to get into professional wrestling was the WWE Legend Eddie Guerrero.
“It never crossed my mind that I can do that. I hate that it comes back into my head, but it was the day Eddie Guerrero died. That was it for me. I used to pray at night and tell him that I was going to do this for you because you gave me all these memories and all these feelings and I just wanted to give back to others the way you gave to me,” Royce said. “He was so charismatic. He would make me feel happy. He would make me laugh. He was so amazing to watch in the ring. He was so athletic and entertaining. I wanted to be able to speak Spanish, actually, I am taking Spanish now. I wanted to take Spanish in school because I wanted to talk like him, he was a big inspiration for my life.”
It is interesting to see how the “Latino Heat” inspired so many male and female wrestlers alike to join the business. Sasha Banks and Bayley are the other two female wrestlers who have said that their inspirations for joining the industry was Eddie Guerrero too.
– In one of Cody Rhodes’ latest Tweets he nudged at the possibility of his upcoming “All In” event in Chicago featuring pyrotechnics. The event goes down on September 1st from The Sears Center Arena, which holds up to 11,800 fans:
You better Slick Nick, because today's "All In" production call also included the revised budget…and I might have hyperventilated…#Pyro#wtfhttps://t.co/e9ID7oUkw0
– This week marks 14 years since late-WWE Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero defeated Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 20 to retain his WWE Championship. The Monday Night RAW General Manager took to Instagram to pay homage to his fallen friend:
“14 years ago to this day, I shared the ring with possibly the greatest overall performer of all time, #eddieguerrero. He always had something up his sleeve, and he didn’t disappoint in this Wrestlemania Showdown. Thank you Eddie. #LieCheatSteal #itstrue”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgT3HtdBrNZ/
– WWE has posted its latest installment of “List This!” on their YouTube channel. This week’s episode features the five shortest WrestleMania matches ever. Check them out here:
– SmackDown Live Superstar Aiden English took to Instagram this week while WWE was in El Paso, TX to post a tribute to his father-in-law and WWE Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero. English is married to Shaul Guerrero, who is the daughter of Eddie and Vickie Guerrero:
“I’m not taking a selfie or snapping a picture of myself here…that’s because this isn’t about me. And honestly, it’s not really about you. It’s about what you’ve given me. Something you never knew you’d be doing. It’s about the greatest gift I’ve ever had in my life. The gift you and the woman I now get to call “mom” gave me is a blessing beyond words. And that’s what this is about. It’s about her. She fills my day with love, laughter, joy and endless support.
“She sees me as I am and takes it all in with full heart – a job not always so easy. And here we are tonight in hers and your hometown to do what you spent your whole life doing to raise and support her and the family. I’m working tonight to try to do the same for her and to do the same for our future family. Here’s to work. Here’s to home. Here’s to familia. And here’s to her.”
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– Two-time WWE Hall Of Famer “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair recently posted a teaser video of some content he is working on with YouTuber Anwar Jibawi. Check it out:
– Early tomorrow morning Chris Jericho will be returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) for his highly-anticipated match-up against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Jericho took to Instagram to post some fan art that showed himself, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero. “Y2J” said that he is dedicating his match tomorrow to his “fallen brothers”:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdfXpUjlQnS/
– In the dark main event after SmackDown Live and 205 Live tapings; a Six-Man Tag Team match between the teams of AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura took on the team of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Jinder Mahal. “The Phenomenal One” and his team were able to emerge victorious to send the crowd home happy.
WWE Superstar Sin Cara recently did an interview with Hidden Remote to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Cara was asked if he believes there’s any Latino stars who can fill Eddie Guerrero’s shoes, WWE expanding their partnerships with sneaker companies, and his brief work in the Cruiserweight division. You can check out the highlights here below:
If any Latino stars can fill Eddie Guerrero’s shoes:
“I don’t think, to be honest, that’s a question anyone can really answer. I can’t compare myself to Eddie or that I’m going to fill anyone’s shoes. I’m Sin Cara, I’m unique, I’m different from everybody else. Kalisto’s different. I think we’re just trying to make our own history here in the company, and for me, the most important thing is keeping myself healthy and keeping my legacy going and hopefully one day when my career’s over, I can say I also had a great career, but nobody can replace Eddie.”
WWE expanding their partnerships with sneaker companies such as Foot Locker:
“I think there’s a lot of sneaker lovers and some people that don’t know about wrestling that are going to end up knowing who Sin Cara is or who Ric Flair is or who other Superstars are because it won’t be the typical going to WWEShop.com or going to a wrestling show to buy a wrestling shirt. You’re going to see it at a Foot Locker and maybe the fan that’s not the normal fan for us is going to have the opportunity to buy a t-shirt even if they don’t know about wrestling but if he likes it, he’s going to buy it and wear it. That’s the great opportunity here to get to a different type of market.”
His brief work in the Cruiserweight division:
“To be honest, I was trying to make the most of my opportunity, but in my case, I was only there for a couple of weeks. I wasn’t really there for long. I think the Cruiserweights are great athletes and talented wrestlers, but in my case, I think I’m too big for the division. Not weight-wise because I weigh like 198, but height-wise I’m a lot bigger. I’m about 5 ’10” and I put on the boots and I’m 6?. But it’s one of those things where they want a certain type of wrestler in the division and that’s fine. I didn’t think it was a bad decision by the company not using me there but now there’s a lot of opportunities for the all the kids that are doing that. Kalisto just transitioned into 205 [Live] and I wish him the best and hopefully that division can flourish now.”
You can read Cara’s full interview with Hidden Remote by visiting this link here.
Today would have been the 50th birthday of former WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero, who passed away in 2005 due to heart failure at 38 years old Guerrero was born on October 9th, 1967 in El Paso, Texas and was part of the legendary Guerrero wrestling family.
During his 18 year career, Eddie wrestled for AAA, New Japan Pro Wrestling, ECW, WCW and WWE. He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time.
Eddie’s widow Vickie tweeted the following day in remembrance:
– This Sunday is WWE RAW’s Clash of the Champions. The official theme for RAW’s first exclusive pay-per-view of the new era is “Bulletproof” by Young Guns.
– As seen below, Sheamus was doing MMA training with Josh Rafferty yesterday:
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast interviewed Hector Guerrero on their latest episode, and in addition to discussing his brief run as the Gobbledygooker in WWE, he covered a number of other topics, with some key quotes excerpted below.
On giving back to the pro wrestling business:
I’ve been giving back to it all the time and all my life my friend. That’s what wrestling is all about. You say how do I give back? I’ve given it all I’ve got. My body, my thoughts, my mind and every time I wrestled, I wrestled with my heart. I gave it all. I was reading a blog from Kurt Angle and it was about how when he was ready to give up and went home for three months and he said he was going to give it all he had and the rest was history. He won a gold medal and then he came back and got into professional wrestling and look at what he’s done in professional wrestling. It’s kind of like the way my Dad taught all the Guerreros. When we went out to the ring we gave it all we had. If it wasn’t good enough for the people or wasn’t good enough for the promoter or good enough for myself I still would have that satisfaction that I gave it all I had. That has been the main thing that I think all of the Guerreros have had. Everyone of us, Gory who taught us to Chavo Jr. who is holding the name up right now.
How has the pro wrestling business evolved?
Wrestling has changed but it always evolves. But it always comes back. It’s like a circle. It says on the marquee wrestling. It doesn’t say circus or it doesn’t say Soap Opera or it doesn’t say football game. It says wrestling. It’s always had it’s own following and it’s a big following here in the United States and a big following in Japan and a big following in many other places too. Europe has always been big on wrestling but I didn’t think it would evolve to this situation but it will cycle again. Every time, it was always go to wrestling again.
Learning about pro wrestling from growing up in a wrestling family:
There is always going to be people out there who think they know everything about the business. That includes me too. We don’t always know everything but me, I started when I was a kid learning how to fall in a backyard ring. We learned how to do all the Lucha drills when we were 5, 6, 7, 8 years old and that is including Eddie. He was doing arm-drags and head-scissor takeovers with us when he was a baby. So it’s something we grew up in. It all depends on the circumstances of how life evolves. With us, it evolved because we took it as something we loved. We lived it and we would mastermind the shows around our dinner table at dinner. That was just the way my Dad had us. Even my Mother would give her input and even Eddie I remember giving his input as a little baby. Everybody was laughing but Dad had always said he was right.
The whole family being such great workers:
Gory Guerrero was a brand name in Mexico. He was known as “The Phoenix Bird”. The reason they called him that was because he created riots. My Dad was not afraid. I’ve heard stories that my Dad would back down crowds of people that were coming at him and just wave his fists and they would back off. My Dad had such a respect of him in Mexico that you would have no idea but what you saw, you saw Eddie. Eddie has a lot of big moments but all of us had our big moments. I’ve heard about myself that I couldn’t have a bad match. My Dad taught us to wrestle like if we were wrestling with brooms. If we could wrestle with a broom, you could have a match. I’ve seen my oldest brother Chavo [Sr.] move the Olympic Auditorium in ecstasy in a match with him vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper. I’ve seen matches where my brother Mondo would wrestle and be in matches with Victor Rivera. I had great matches with John Tolos at fifty years old and I was in my youth and he would keep up toe to toe with me. Unfortunately my brother left us too soon. That is why there has been such an impact. If it was an impact on you, can you imagine the impact on us?
In the full interview, Guerrero talks about his time in TNA, working under a mask as Lazertron, and more.
– Lilian Garcia has released a song she wrote paying tribute to Eddie Guerrero after he passed away 10 years ago. It is called “Live On.”
“10 years ago we not only lost a great wrestler but an amazing man — Eddie Guerrero,” Garcia states. “He inspired me to write a song about him and his life. It’s called “Live On” and it has never been released…until now. It’s a tribute to show how his spirit continues to truly live on….”
– Early 1990s WWE tag team The Beverly Brothers reunited on Saturday at The Big Event IX at the LaGuardia Plaza Hotel in East Elmhurst, New York. Here is a photo of former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts with Beau Beverly (Wayne Bloom) and Blake Beverly (Mike Enos).
– Fans can preview the recently released Undertaker book, Undertaker: 25 Years of Destruction, at undertaker25yearsofdestruction.com. The synopsis of the book reads: “See The Deadman like you’ve never seen him before! With stunning visuals and in-depth commentary, Undertaker: 25 Years of Destruction takes the reader deep into the darkness, where few dare to tread! Learn everything you need to know about sports-entertainment’s mysterious grim reaper of justice with this massive hardcover tome.”
If you asked me about the first time I ever saw Eddie Guerrero wrestle, my first instinct would be to respond with one of the more common answers: The match where he and Art Barr lost their hair to El Hijo del Santo and Octagon at AAA When Worlds Collide in 1994. It’s a positively brilliant match, one that not only blew away the lucha libre newbies watching on pay-per-view, but played off years of storylines that long-time fans would know. The match got him his job in ECW, which he parlayed into his WCW run.
When I think deeper about when I first saw Eddie, the real answer is probably one of two other matches. The first would be his famous squash match loss to Terry Funk in WCW in May of 1989. I don’t really remember for sure if I saw it when it aired since I was very young, but I was watching all of WCW’s shows then and I’m pretty sure I did see it. Funk was wrestling his first WCW match since debuting by injuring Ric Flair, and Eddie was brought in as a great working job guy to make him look amazing. Funk being Funk, he gave Eddie a lot, including a gorgeous plancha, before winning the match. Since it was 1989, Eddie was “too small” to hire and not given a second look.
The only other match I would have seen first was from a TV taping for Red Bastien’s WIN promotion, a short-lived lucha libre startup. Mario Savoldi’s ICW promptly lifted matches from WIN shows to craft an “international” tag team tournament in 1990, which included a throwaway Eddie Guerrero match that I know I saw. That’s how I saw a lot of older wrestling for the first time: ICW airing it because reasons.
I became a huge fan of Eddie’s during his ECW run, though unlike most fans, I was partial to his matches with 2 Cold Scorpio over his more famous feud with Dean Malenko. As wonderful as the technical wrestling was in the Malenko matches, the Scorpio matches weren’t run into the ground and had a more clear babyface/heel dynamic. In WCW, he built upon that by becoming one of the best babyfaces in the business, even being named the most likable wrestler in the company when they hired research companies to poll the audience.
As he mastered the psychological side of the business more and more, that became his strength. It carried him to a level of stardom in WWE that nobody could have foreseen, especially as his body was breaking down. Not only was his heart on borrowed time as we soon learned, but his back was a wreck to the point he shouldn’t have been able to walk.
I hate to say it, but my reaction when he died was not exactly surprise. He had gotten too muscular and he had a long history of drug abuse. When the coroner listed steroid use as a contributing factor in his death, there was hope that the black and white information would lead to changes. To a point, they did. Days later, another wrestler had a drug-related episode on WWE’s European tour, and the company announced that they’d be resuming drug testing. As much as there’s been skepticism into WWE’s Talent Wellness Program, and rightfully so at times, in the long run, it has been a net positive.
But that’s just a silver lining. It doesn’t bring Eddie Guerrero or anyone else back. There should have never been the pressure on him to get bigger that he had to deal with for his entire career. Has that changed? Probably.
Has it changed enough? I honestly have no idea, and that worries me.
Ten years ago today, former WWE champion Eddie Guerrero passed away from heart failure in a Minneapolis hotel. One of his best friends and fellow WWE alumni Dean Malenko recently spoke with The Sun to remember Guerrero.
On his match with Guerrero at WCW Starrcade ’97:
“We’d always try different things every night — see what worked, what didn’t work. And we fell into something, some kind of move – and the place started going crazy.
“I grabbed Eddie in a rear chin lock, and he goes: ‘Listen to the crowd! They’re going nuts!’
“I looked over my right shoulder into the audience, and everybody’s looking up into the tiered seating. There was a girl who had lifted her shirt off and was well-endowed and entertaining the menfolk there in the crowd. So I turned to Eddie and said: ‘This is what they’re popping on, buddy.’
On Seth Rollins using the frog splash:
“Seth [Rollins] had a match with Kane and he hit a frog splash off the top. And the crowd responded by chanting Eddie’s name, and it gave me goosebumps.
“Wrestling fans have never forgotten and will never forget Eddie Guerrero.”
– This past Sunday marked the ten year anniversary of WWE Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero’s final pro wrestling match. You can watch the complete Guerrero vs. Mr. Kennedy match above.
– WWE’s official Twitter account posted a link to a new WWE.com article dealing with surprise Superstar appearances in the past. Oddly enough, the one name WWE used to promote the article on social media was AJ Styles. Check it out below.
– WWE Diva Paige will be the guest on Emma’s “Taste Of Tenille” cooking show on YouTube this week. Emma posted the following tweet to promote the show.
Lucha Underground star Chavo Guerrero recently appeared as a guest on The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On what is The Chavo Show and what makes it different from other shows: “What I didn’t want to do is another wrestlers podcast. This is a different kind of interview show on the net and you know how the interest of fans go, so it’s a quick little twelve to nineteen minute video thing but it’s actually more then just a podcast with talking it will be something where you can see us interacting.”
On Roddy Piper taping the pilot episode of The Chavo Show: “The way it came about and it’s sad that we are even talking about it like that now but it was going to be my pilot episode. That actually was the fourth episode that I filmed but it was Piper, so he gave us some They Live stories and how that all came about, I’ve known the guy since I was five years old so just the camaraderie of us hanging out together really came through on camera and since things weren’t really ready we were wondering, do we scrap this episode but it was just so good and I want people to see Roddy the way I knew Roddy. It’s getting a great buzz and again Roddy Piper is getting ratings and stealing the show and thank GOD he was able to help me out so it’s kind of bitter-sweet. I am happy and proud it’s out there but I am missing my friend.”
On how do you handle working different characters and gimmicks when they are pitched: “A lot of times it was how things were done at TV and thinking about how you get on TV, so when they pitch stuff to you sometimes you say that’s something I probably wouldn’t pick for myself but if it was all up to us we would all be the Heavyweight Champion, the John Cena or the Batista. When they give you something it’s like, Ok let’s not knock it out of the park and let’s run with it. One thing that I’ve been told also is that I kind have shown on TV that I was able to do everything. I’ve been able to be a tag team wrestlers, a singles wrestler, a heel, a face, a different character making people laugh and cry and people hate me. So I’ve kind of been able to do a little bit in a sense, kind of do everything. Which is cool because that translates into Hollywood because they kind of start seeing different ones I play on TV and they start thinking wow this guy can do some stuff.”
On if being an accomplished performer has helped at Lucha Underground: “Being on Lucha Underground now it’s like a movie so you’ve got to be able to act a little bit. We go back there and the Director Skip Chasyn likes working with me because I can do things in a few takes so it’s kind of worked to my advantage.”
On Eddie Guerrero not being recognized by management while alive: “If you remember he (Eddie) went a long time with getting overlooked and passed over and told by WWF/WWE he was just a Cruiserweight and would never be THE guy. We all knew that Eddie was great. The fans knew that Eddie was great. But it’s like he wasn’t 6’10’ and he wasn’t 300 pounds, he was always the guy that could work and get those people over who couldn’t get themselves over. Eddie was in that spot for a long time and even after he was the World Champion in WWE he went back and he ended up working with Luther Reigns they wanted him to get this big (Kurt Angle’s) henchman over and Eddie was pissed. He was just coming off a World Champion run and now they wanted him to get a guy over when he should have been working with Triple H, with Shawn Michaels but they put him back with putting guys over. It took him a long time to get that recognition.”
On wrestlers similar to Eddie that don’t get the respect they should by management: “It makes me kind of angry a little bit. People always say he’s so good, well YES. Like CM Punk it was the same thing. He was really good, threatened leaving the company so they put the rocket on him for a little bit. Sometimes, the guys that are always held down are the guys that are the best ones at making everyone look good. They are so good at their craft that nobody else can make them look good so they are stuck in a rut just alway putting people over.”
On what made Eddie and Chavo, Los Guerreros so special as a team: “I think at that time and there were a lot of good tag teams that were at their best. The Hardyz, The Dudleyz, Edge and Christian were still around here and there but there was a lot of really, really good tag teams. But at that time as far as overall and as far as wrestling and performance and entertaining and kind of doing everything I feel that we were just in the zone. Teaming with Eddie was the best because we didn’t even have to talk matches. We knew each other so well, we’ve been doing this with the ring in the back yard since we were born it just came so natural to us.”
– Triple H tweeted a photo from the WWE tryouts that took place this week at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. You can check it out below.
On Monday’s RAW, JBL made a joke during the Luke Harper vs. Ryback match in which he said Harper looked like a “Zombie Eddie Guerrero” when he dove over the top rope.
The remark got a lot of fans riled up on Twitter, with JBL posting this response on Facebook:
“The spot with Luke Harper I saw some Twitter comments over. I had just mentioned Walking Dead show and Luke does the ‘Eddie’ spot over the top rope, my comment (since I had mentioned Rick Grimes before toward Luke) was ‘it looks like a zombie Eddie Guerrero’. This was a WALKING DEAD reference toward Luke-who I have said before looks like a ‘walker’.
I would NEVER insult my friend Eddie, for those who took it wrong-sorry about that, but it is what it is.”
The following are highlights of a new Newsday interview with Lucha Underground wrestler Chavo Guerrero:
On criticism of Lucha Underground featuring ex-WWE stars like John Morrison (as Johnny Mundo): “If they couldn’t do that style, I would see the difference. If they pushed a guy with big name brand recognition who can’t do lucha libre, who is kind of just adding name value, I would see people getting upset. But you have a John Morrison, who can do things in the ring that a lot of even the Latino luchadors can’t. So it’s not like he’s a charity case.”
On Lucha Underground’s unique production style: “If you look at any other wrestling show, they’re filming backstage segments and promos on video with one camera. We’re filming them like a movie. We have lighting, a props department, wardrobe. We’re filming them from all sorts of camera angles, spliced together with music in the background. I think, and not just because I’m working there, that this is the best wrestling product on the market. The best.”
On what Eddie Guerrero would have thought of Lucha Underground: “He would have loved this. This product is so different and gritty. I know he would be asking, ‘How do I become part of this. His wrestling IQ was off the charts . . . As great as [Lucha Underground] is now, it would be even better with his knowledge.”
The following are highlights of a new v2 Wrestling Podcast interview with Hernandez:
On Chavo Guerrero using Eddie Guerrero’s mannerisms to get himself over: “TNA wanted him to do that. You know damn well when he was in WWE he wasn’t doing that crap. Why else would he do it? The guy’s been wrestling twenty years, he’s not retarded. He’s an excellent wrestler. Why would you want to be a novelty act? They didn’t even give us a team name because they wanted to sell Guerrero t-shirts.”
On his departure from TNA: “The only way I know that I’m not on the show no more is I don’t get a cheque no more. The last time I got a call from TNA was the end of November 2013; my contract ended May 12th (2014), which is awkward because I thought it was the 14th of May. I wake up on the 12th, and it was all over social media, Impact wrestling unfollowed me on Twitter… I text Mrs Carter the day after my contract expired saying “thanks for the eight years”; I’m still waiting for a response. It is the most bush league thing I’ve ever heard of.”
On the main problem with TNA: “As long as the Carters have billions of dollars, that company will never go away. I just think the infrastructure just needs, you know, how you snake a toilet? They have Jeff Hardy, you had Sting, Kurt Angle, the best up and coming talent (like) Austin Aries, Roode, Styles, all these guys that could do anything, and you let every former WWE employee that served coffee to Vince McMahon try to be the boss time after time after time.”
On LAX: “The reason why you saw LAX being so good and so strong on TV was because Konnan literally had to threaten to quit and take his bag and roll into the parking lot every time they came up with some corny ass idea for LAX.”
On whether he would return to TNA: “Of course not. You wrestle somewhere eight years, you do every stupid semi-racist vignette. I know how a Mexican looks, acts and talks. I don’t need a fifty year old white man telling me I’m not being Mexican enough. At the beginning of Mexican America I was doing all the talking, but because I wasn’t saying essa and orale I magically became the non-speaker. I told them I wouldn’t talk like that because I live in Houston and I’m not gonna get my ass kicked because I’m making fun of my own people.”
Hernandez also revealed that he has signed on to wrestle for Lucha Underground.
The following are highlights of a DC 101 interview with WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee:
If we’ll ever see Divas in Hell In a Cell: “I can tell you for sure that women like myself and Paige are down for it, and I think more than capable of hanging with the guys in that kind of scenario, because we’re insane and we like to jump off of stuff!” “I think if anyone could do it we could, but if it’s not in my generation, it needs to happen someday, and I really think women could handle that.”
Possible contenders for the Divas Title after Paige: “I see so much potential in people who haven’t particularly gotten that opportunity yet, like Emma and Summer and even Lana. I think they are interesting characters and women who have a lot of potential and I would love to something that’s vastly different with one of those girls. Just someone we haven’t seen yet get a chance.”
What really made her love wrestling: “Anything with Eddie Guerrero, especially WrestleMania 20 because I was at that one. Just to see the confetti and him crying and holding the title. Anything that he was in I was drawn to. I liked having a character that wasn’t 100% good or 100% evil, he just rode that line.”
Chris Jericho held a live Q&A on Twitter on Sunday night. Below are some highlights.
– He said Triple H was his biggest guest and best interview on his podcast so far. He said the ratings for his HHH interview are insane. He also mentioned that the next 12 weeks worth of “Talk Is Jericho” guests are planned out and he has some “amazing” names scheduled.
– He said Fozzy is working on a huge U.K. tour that will be announced in the near future.
– He confirmed that he will not be part of the WWE’s U.K. tour in November. He also confirmed that he won’t be wrestling at the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view.
– He said if Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were still alive today they would still be “kicking ass” and “working behind-the-scenes.”
You can check out more from Jericho’s Twitter Q&A at @IAmJericho.
– WWE will be releasing “John Cena: Greatest Rivalries” in October to coincide with the release of the new WWE 2K15 video game. Included in the set will be Cena vs. Eddie Guerrero in a #1 contender’s tournament match from the 4/3/2003 SmackDown and Cena vs. CM Punk from the 11/23/2009 RAW.
– Longtime WWE Executive Producer Kevin Dunn unloaded 30,000 shares of his WWE stock on August 21st for $433,200. Dunn still owns 242,406 shares.
On the June 23rd edition of Raw, Vickie Guerrero lost her pudding match against Stephanie McMahon and was fired as a result. This ended Vickie’s nine year carer with WWE. Vickie initially entered into WWE storylines with her husband, the late great Eddie Guerrero. After a successful run in WWE, Vickie is likely headed to a place in the company’s Hall of Fame right next to her late husband.
As a manager, Vickie Guerrero helped elevate up and coming stars. Dolph ZIggler’s best run as a heel began when he was managed by Guerrero. Ziggler’s promos have improved since then, but at the time Vickie’s talking helped bring heat to the Blondie from Ohio.
Speaking of heat, Vickie was a magnet when it came to the boos from the WWE Universe. There were often times when you couldn’t hear Vickie speaking because the boos were so loud. Whether it was with Ziggler, Edge or on her own as a general manager, Vickie was among the most hated heels in WWE. Her screechy voice screaming “Excuse Me!” certainly didn’t help.
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These attributes and moments that Vickie gave to the WWE Universe along with her great relationship with Vince McMahon and the company will certainly pave the way for her rightful place in the Hall of Fame.
However, Vickie’s career is not the only thing that came to an end on June 23rd. The era of general managers in WWE is finally over now.
In 2002, WWE was split into two separate brands due to partial ownerships of Vince McMahon and WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. McMahon was in charge of Smackdown, while Flair was the head of Raw. In the last twelve years, authority figures have come and gone. While at first it seemed that these people truly had power in WWE, the role eventually became less and less relevant.
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Now that WWE has naturally and gradually got rid of the brand extension and Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are running the company on screen, the general managers were rarely seen anymore. Vickie was someone who spent time on and off as an authority figure in WWE, but it was never quite believable. Brad Maddox having control over the company was laughable.
Just like WWE did with the brand split, they gradually and naturally got rid of the general manager position. Maddox was fired weeks ago for letting The Shield be at ringside during a match and now Vickie is gone. The general manager position had a nice run, but let me speak for the entire WWE Universe when I wish the role the best in it’s future endeavors.
Seth Guttenplan is a math and computer technology teacher for special education students in New Jersey. In his free time, Seth writes about wrestling for Camel Clutch Blog and SEScoops. Follow Seth on twitter @sethgutt