Chavo Guerrero Sr.

###

El Paso, Texas

**Salvador Guerrero III** (born 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"**, is a retired professional wrestler. He is 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 is the oldest son of Salvador "Gory" Guerrero, and part of the Guerrero wrestling family. He is 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 wrestling in the AWA on ESPN. He was teaming 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

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. 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.

#### Cameo appearance (2010)

On the November 15 "Old School" episode of Raw, Guerrero returned as Chavo Classic, driving Alberto Del Rio to the arena.

## 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.

### 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, helping his son 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 without the Guerreros.

## Deatth

On February 11, 2017, Guerrero died of liver cancer, at the age of 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.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Gory Special* – adopted from his father Gory Guerrero
	+ Moonsault – adopted from his brother Mando Guerrero
* **Signature moves**
	+ DDT
	+ Dropkick
	+ Multiple suplex variations
		- Belly to back
		- Delayed vertical
		- German
	+ Short-arm clothesline
	+ Sitout spinebuster
	+ Somersault plancha
* **Managers**
	+ Dark Journey
	+ Baby Doll
	+ Sir Oliver Humperdink
	+ Chavo Guerrero Jr.

## Championships and accomplishments

* **All Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **National Wrestling Alliance**
	+ NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
* **Atlantic Coast Championship Wrestling**
	+ ACCW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
* **Championship Wrestling from Florida**
	+ NWA United States Tag Team Championship *(Florida version)* (1 time) – with Hector Guerrero
* **Eastern Wrestling Federation**
	+ EWF Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
* **Empire Wrestling Federation**
	+ EWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **Hollywood Heavyweight Wrestling**
	+ HHW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **International Wrestling Federation**
	+ IWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **NWA Hollywood Wrestling**
	+ NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (15 times)
	+ NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (11 times) – with Raul Mata (2), John Tolos (1), Gory Guerrero (1), Butcher Vachon (1), Victor Rivera (1), The Canadian (1), Hector Guerrero (1), El Halcon (1), Black Gordman (1) and Al Madril (1)
	+ NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)1
* **New Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
* **Pro Wrestling Illustrated**
	+ PWI ranked him # **130** out of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
* **Southwest Championship Wrestling / Texas All-Star Wrestling**
	+ SCW Southwest Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ SCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Manny Fernandez
	+ TASW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ TASW Texas Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Al Madril (1) and himself (1)3
	+ Texas All-Star USA Heavyweight Championship (1 times)
* **Vendetta Pro Wrestling**
	+ Vendetty Award—2014 Co-Special Guest star of the Year (w/ Chavo Guerrero Jr. & The Godfather)
* **World Wrestling Association**
	+ WWA Trios Championship (1 time) – with Mando and Eddy Guerrero
* **World Wrestling Entertainment**
	+ WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1991–2007) (1 time)
* **Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards**
	+ Best Wrestling Maneuver (1986) Moonsault block

### Notes

1When Chavo Guerrero won this championship, it was still officially recognized and sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and was primarily defended in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, an NWA affiliated promotion in Mexico. After the promotions withdrawal from the National Wrestling Alliance, they kept the title and continue to use the NWA initials. However, the NWA no longer recognizes or sanctions it.
3Defeats Al Madril to claim Madril's part of the championship, though he quickly surrenders the titles on the same day.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `OWOW`
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Guerrero, Eddie. *Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story*, p. 16.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kapur, Bob 2007-11-27. Chavo Classic still loves 'that feeling' . SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved on 2010-01-28.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Van Der Griend, Blaine 2010-01-28. Discrimination was always a part of Chavo Guerrero Sr.'s life . SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved on 2010-01-28.
5. ↑ WWE sued in wrestler class action lawsuit featuring Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, Paul ‘Mr Wonderful’ Orndorff . *FoxSports.com*. Fox Entertainment Group (21st Century Fox) (2015-07-18). Retrieved on 2016-07-20.
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9YvDfiAXT8
7. ↑ American Wrestling Association (1988-12-26). "AWA Vs CWA; The RPMs & Cactus Jack Vs The Guerrero Brothers". *AWA SuperClash III*.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
9. ↑ NWA United States Tag Team Title (Florida version) history At wrestling-titles.com
10. ↑ Independent Wrestling Results - March 2006 . onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
11. ↑ NWA Americas Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
12. ↑ NWA World Light Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
13. ↑ SCW Southwest Junior Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
14. ↑ SCW World Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
15. ↑ Texas All-Star Wrestling USA Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
16. ↑ SCW Southwest Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
17. ↑ 2014 Vendetty Awards . Vendetta Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2016-04-25.
18. ↑ WWA World Trios Title (Mexico) history At wrestling-titles.com

## References

* Guerrero, Eddie (2005). *Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story*. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-9353-2.

## External links

* Chavo Guerrero Sr.: A Legend (Official Website)
* Profile at Online World Of Wrestling