Chavo Guerrero , Sr . Salvador Guerrero III ( January 7 , 1949 – February 11 , 2017 ) , better known as Chavo Guerrero or Chavo Guerrero Sr . , and also known colloquially during the 21st century as " Chavo Classic " , was a professional wrestler . He was best known for his work in Universal Wrestling Federation ( UWF ) , American Wrestling Association ( AWA ) and World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) and for being the father of third generation wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr . He was the oldest son of Salvador " Gory " Guerrero , and part of the Guerrero wrestling family . He was the oldest WWE Cruiserweight Champion . Professional wrestling career . Early career . Earlier in his career , Guerrero feuded with Atsushi Onita in Japan over lighter - weight titles . In the 1970s , Guerrero moved his family to California so he could compete in Los Angeles ' s NWA Hollywood Wrestling . He also feuded with Roddy Piper for the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship . Guerrero held the title 15 times between 1975 and 1980 . He usually teamed with his brothers , Mando and Héctor wherever he wrestled . In the late 1980s , he teamed with with his brother Mando to go after the AWA World Tag Team Championship held by Diamond Dallas Page ' s team of Badd Company ( Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka ) . World Wrestling Entertainment ( 2004 ) . In 2004 , Guerrero began working for World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , joining his son Chavo Jr . in a feud with the younger Chavo ' s uncle and the older Chavo ' s brother Eddie . While with WWE he competed as Chavo Classic and became the oldest WWE Cruiserweight Champion in history , defeating Chavo Jr . and Spike Dudley in a triple threat match . On the April 1 episode of " Smackdown " , Classic and Chavo Jr . lost to Spike Dudley and Rey Mysterio . In the April 22 episode of " Smackdown " , Classic and Chavo Jr defeated John Cena in a 2 - on - 1 handicap match . On the May 11 episode of " Smackdown " , Chavo Classic defeated Jacqueline thanks to outside help by Chavo Jr . On the June 3 episode of " Smackdown " , Chavo Classic retained the Cruiserweight Title against Funaki thanks to outside help from Chavo Jr . He eventually lost the title to Rey Mysterio less than a month later . On June 15 , 2004 , he was fired by WWE for no - showing multiple " SmackDown ! " house shows . On the November 15 , 2010 , " Old School " episode of " Raw " , Guerrero returned as Chavo Classic , driving Alberto Del Rio to the arena . Lucha Underground ( 2016 ) . Chavo Classic first appeared on Lucha Underground talking with Rey Mysterio about the upcoming match of the latter against his son Chavo Guerrero Jr . in a " Loser Leaves Lucha match " . During the match , Classic , who was in the attendance , turned on Mysterio and attacked his son , helping him win the match , but Dario Cueto ordered to restart the match , and Mysterio hit the " 619 " on Classic and defeated Chavo Guerrero , leaving Lucha Underground the Guerreros . Personal life . Chavo is the son of Gory Guerrero and the older brother of Mando , Hector , and Eddie Guerrero . He grew up in El Paso , Texas , where he attended a segregated school . Growing up , he faced discrimination . He has two children , wrestler Chavo Jr . and daughter Victoria and he is the brother in - law of Vickie Guerrero . In July 2016 , Guerrero and his son were named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury . The suit is litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros , who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE . On February 11 , 2017 , Guerrero died due to liver cancer , aged 68 . Other media . In 1978 he co - starred with Henry Winkler in the movie " The One and Only " as a wrestler called Indian Joe . He is the subject of the song " The Legend of Chavo Guerrero " by The Mountain Goats and is featured in its music video .