Gory Guerrero
Encyclopedia
Salvador Guerrero Quesada (January 11, 1921 – April 18, 1990), better known as Gory Guerrero, was one of the premier Hispanic
professional wrestlers
in the early days of Lucha Libre
when most wrestlers were imported from outside of Mexico
. He wrestled primarily in Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre
(EMLL) between the 1940s and 1960s. He was also the patriarch of the Guerrero wrestling family
.
from Diablo Velasco
and El Indio Mejía. He wrestled his first professional wrestling match on September 14, 1937, jobbing to El Rojo. He began his career in Mexico working under the ring name
Joe Morgan, but later changed his name to Gory Guerrero—a reference to his bloody matches.
He made his debut for the Mexico City
promotion Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre
(EMLL) in 1943 and was named "Rookie of the Year" later that year. In 1945, he briefly held the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
. Several months later, he won the Mexican National Middleweight Championship
, which he held for approximately one year. Guerrero and his brothers also feuded
with Cavernario Galindo
and his brothers.
In the late 1940s, Guerrero began tag team
ing with El Santo as the undefeated La Pareja Atómica (The Atomic Pair). Guerrero also appeared in some of El Santo's films.
He also feuded with Enrique Llanes
and his tag team partner Tarzán López. He defeated Lopez for the NWA Middleweight title
. In 1954, he wrestled a championship match against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz
but did not win the title.
Guerrero broke away from EMLL in 1966 after refusing to drop the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
to Ray Mendoza
. He worked as an independent in the mid-sixties. He also began to branch out into booking and training with Dory Funk, Sr.. In addition, he helped run shows in the World Wrestling Association
for two years, and later he booked shows for World Class Championship Wrestling
. With age his in-ring performing decreased until his ultimate retirement in the 1980s.
Guerrero is credited with the invention of La de a Caballo (Camel Clutch) and the Gory Special, a type of backbreaker
. He also invented the back to back stretch hold which has been modified into a facebuster move (Gory Bomb), a piledriver (Barry White Driver), a powerbomb (Stu Hart Special), a reverse STO (The Deal) or a neckbreaker/backbreaker (Widow's Peak).
to a family of migrant worker
s. He attended school in the United States until the age of nine when his mother died. His family moved to Mexico
, and Guerrero's father used his English language
skills to work as an interpreter in Guadalajara
.
Guerrero's wife Herlinda was the sister of wrestler Enrique Llanes
. They married in 1947. They had six children: four sons Chavo, Mando
, Hector
, Eddie
, and two daughters, Mary and Linda.
After retiring from active wrestling, Guerrero sold auto insurance. Two weeks before his death, Guerrero's liver crashed and he developed cirrhosis
due to hepatitis
.
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
professional wrestlers
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
in the early days of Lucha Libre
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
when most wrestlers were imported from outside of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. He wrestled primarily in Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
(EMLL) between the 1940s and 1960s. He was also the patriarch of the Guerrero wrestling family
Los Guerreros
Los Guerreros is a Mexican American family that has been involved with professional wrestling for three generations with the patriarch of the family Gory Guerrero making his debut on September 15, 1937...
.
Professional wrestling career
In Mexico, Guerrero joined a gym with the intention to learn to box, but instead learned lucha libreLucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
from Diablo Velasco
Diablo Velasco
Cuahutémoc Velasco Vargas was a professional wrestler and trainer of other wrestlers under the name Diablo Velasco. Velasco trained many famous Mexican wrestlers, including Gory Guerrero, Perro Aguayo, Essa Rios, and Mil Máscaras...
and El Indio Mejía. He wrestled his first professional wrestling match on September 14, 1937, jobbing to El Rojo. He began his career in Mexico working under the ring name
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...
Joe Morgan, but later changed his name to Gory Guerrero—a reference to his bloody matches.
He made his debut for the Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
promotion Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
(EMLL) in 1943 and was named "Rookie of the Year" later that year. In 1945, he briefly held the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
Mexican National Welterweight Championship
The Mexican National Welterweight Championship is a Mexican professional wrestling championship created and sanctioned by Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. . While the commission sanctions the title, it does not promote the events at which the title is defended...
. Several months later, he won the Mexican National Middleweight Championship
Mexican National Middleweight Championship
The Mexican National Middleweight Championship is a national Mexican professional wrestling championship controlled by a "National title" controlled by the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." , which regulates all matches where the title is defended...
, which he held for approximately one year. Guerrero and his brothers also feuded
Feud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...
with Cavernario Galindo
Cavernario Galindo
Rodolfo Galindo Ramirez was a Mexican luchador and film actor, best known by his ring name Cavernario Galindo , who was active in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre from the 1930s to the 1990s...
and his brothers.
In the late 1940s, Guerrero began tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
ing with El Santo as the undefeated La Pareja Atómica (The Atomic Pair). Guerrero also appeared in some of El Santo's films.
He also feuded with Enrique Llanes
Enrique Llanes
Enrique Juan Yañez González , best known under the ring name Enrique Llanes, was one of the premier Hispanic professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside of Mexico...
and his tag team partner Tarzán López. He defeated Lopez for the NWA Middleweight title
NWA World Middleweight Championship
The NWA World Middleweight Championship is a currently inactive professional wrestling championship, promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance . For the majority of its existence it has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , where it was known as the Campeonato...
. In 1954, he wrestled a championship match against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz
Lou Thesz
Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz was a United States professional wrestler and 18-time world heavyweight champion, most notably holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. Combined, he held the NWA Championship for 10 years, three months and nine days , longer than anyone else in history...
but did not win the title.
Guerrero broke away from EMLL in 1966 after refusing to drop the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
The NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship is a currently inactive professional wrestling championship promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance . For the majority of its existence it has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , where it was known as the Campeonato...
to Ray Mendoza
Ray Mendoza
José Díaz Velazquez was a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Ray Mendoza. Diaz had great success in the National Wrestling Alliance, where he was a five time World Light Heavyweight Champion, as well as the first Mexican to hold the championship...
. He worked as an independent in the mid-sixties. He also began to branch out into booking and training with Dory Funk, Sr.. In addition, he helped run shows in the World Wrestling Association
World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)
World Wrestling Association was a professional wrestling promotion based in Los Angeles. The promotion was established in 1959 originally as the North American Wrestling Alliance...
for two years, and later he booked shows for World Class Championship Wrestling
World Class Championship Wrestling
World Class Championship Wrestling ' was a regional professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by 1966 it was run by Southwest Sports, Inc., whose president, Jack Adkisson, was better known as wrestler Fritz Von Erich...
. With age his in-ring performing decreased until his ultimate retirement in the 1980s.
Guerrero is credited with the invention of La de a Caballo (Camel Clutch) and the Gory Special, a type of backbreaker
Backbreaker
A backbreaker refers to professional wrestling moves which see a wrestler dropping an opponent so that the opponent's back impacts or is bent backwards against a part of the wrestler's body, usually the knee...
. He also invented the back to back stretch hold which has been modified into a facebuster move (Gory Bomb), a piledriver (Barry White Driver), a powerbomb (Stu Hart Special), a reverse STO (The Deal) or a neckbreaker/backbreaker (Widow's Peak).
Personal life
Guerrero was born in Ray, ArizonaRay, Arizona
Ray is a ghost town in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. There is a huge copper mine there. The town of Kearny was founded by the Kennecott Mining Company in 1958 as a planned community to accommodate the populations of Ray, Barcelona and Sonora, which were about to be enveloped by Kennecott's...
to a family of migrant worker
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
s. He attended school in the United States until the age of nine when his mother died. His family moved to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and Guerrero's father used his English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
skills to work as an interpreter in Guadalajara
Guadalajara
Guadalajara may refer to:In Mexico:*Guadalajara, Jalisco, the capital of the state of Jalisco and second largest city in Mexico**Guadalajara Metropolitan Area*University of Guadalajara, a public university in Guadalajara, Jalisco...
.
Guerrero's wife Herlinda was the sister of wrestler Enrique Llanes
Enrique Llanes
Enrique Juan Yañez González , best known under the ring name Enrique Llanes, was one of the premier Hispanic professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside of Mexico...
. They married in 1947. They had six children: four sons Chavo, Mando
Mando Guerrero
Armando Guerrero Llanes , better known as Mando Guerrero, is a retired professional wrestler. He also was the trainer for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, an all female professional wrestling promotion.-Movie stuntman career:...
, Hector
Hector Guerrero
Héctor Manuel Guerrero Llanes is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, better known simply by his paternal name, Héctor Guerrero...
, Eddie
Eddie Guerrero
Eduardo Gory "Eddie" Guerrero was a Mexican-American professional wrestler born into the Guerrero wrestling family. He wrestled in Mexico and Japan for several major professional wrestling promotions...
, and two daughters, Mary and Linda.
After retiring from active wrestling, Guerrero sold auto insurance. Two weeks before his death, Guerrero's liver crashed and he developed cirrhosis
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
due to hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
-
- Gory special – innovated
- Signature moves
-
- La De A Caballo / Camel clutch – innovated
- Nicknames
- El Ave de las Tempestades (Thunder Bird)
Championships and accomplishments
- Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha LibreConsejo Mundial de Lucha LibreConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
- Mexican National Middleweight ChampionshipMexican National Middleweight ChampionshipThe Mexican National Middleweight Championship is a national Mexican professional wrestling championship controlled by a "National title" controlled by the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." , which regulates all matches where the title is defended...
(1 time) - Mexican National Welterweight ChampionshipMexican National Welterweight ChampionshipThe Mexican National Welterweight Championship is a Mexican professional wrestling championship created and sanctioned by Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. . While the commission sanctions the title, it does not promote the events at which the title is defended...
(1 time) - NWA World Light Heavyweight ChampionshipNWA World Light Heavyweight ChampionshipThe NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship is a currently inactive professional wrestling championship promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance . For the majority of its existence it has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , where it was known as the Campeonato...
(2 times)1 - NWA World Welterweight ChampionshipNWA World Welterweight ChampionshipThe NWA World Welterweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance . For the majority of its existence, the title has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , where it was known as the Campeonato Mundial Welter de...
(1 time)2 - World Middlweight ChampionshipNWA World Middleweight ChampionshipThe NWA World Middleweight Championship is a currently inactive professional wrestling championship, promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance . For the majority of its existence it has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , where it was known as the Campeonato...
(1 time)3 - Rookie of the Year (1943)
- NWA Hollywood WrestlingNational Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
- NWA Americas Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Americas Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Americas Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the National Wrestling Alliance's NWA Hollywood Wrestling based out of Los Angeles, California....
(1 time) – with Chavo Guerrero Sr.
- Pacific Northwest WrestlingPacific Northwest WrestlingPacific Northwest Wrestling is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925...
- NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and defended in its member promotion Pacific Northwest Wrestling, which promoted shows in the U.S...
(1 time) – with Luigi Macera
- Southwest Championship WrestlingSouthwest Championship WrestlingSouthwest Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was owned by Joseph Blanchard and based in San Antonio, Texas, from 1978 to 1985, when it was purchased by Texas All-Star Wrestling and absorbed into that company.-Venues:...
- SCW Southwest Junior Heavyweight ChampionshipSCW Southwest Junior Heavyweight ChampionshipThe SWCW Southwest Junior Heavyweight Championship was a secondary title in Southwest Championship Wrestling, challenged for by lighter weight wrestlers. It lasted from 1981 until 1985, when it was abandoned after SWCW was sold to Texas All-Star Wrestling....
(1 time)
- Southwest Sports, Inc.World Class Championship WrestlingWorld Class Championship Wrestling ' was a regional professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by 1966 it was run by Southwest Sports, Inc., whose president, Jack Adkisson, was better known as wrestler Fritz Von Erich...
- NWA Texas Tag Team ChampionshipWCWA Texas Tag Team ChampionshipThe WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship was the secondary tag team championship in World Class Championship Wrestling, originally known as the NWA Texas Tag-Team title until 1981 where they were abandoned. The titles were brought back in 1987 as the WCWA Texas Tag-Team titles but once the WCWA joined...
(1 time) – with Cyclone Anaya
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameThe Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to the sport. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is not...
(Class of 1996)
Further reading
- Wrestling With God by Chad Bonham, 2001, ISBN 1-58919-935-9, pp. 125–138.