Salvador Guerrero Llanes (January 7, 1949 – February 11, 2017), better known as Chavo Guerrero or Chavo Guerrero Sr., and also known during the 21st century as "Chavo Classic", was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his work in Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF),

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part o ...

(AWA), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and for being the father of third-generation wrestler

Chavo Guerrero Jr. Salvador Guerrero IV (born October 20, 1970) better known by his ring names Chavo Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr., is an American professional wrestler. He has previously worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWE, World Wrestling Feder ...

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

In 1977, Chavo competed for

NWA Western States Western States Sports (also known as the Amarillo Territory) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Amarillo, Texas in the United States. Founded by Dory Detton in 1946, the promotion enjoyed its greatest success in the 1960s and ...

. Guerrero later moved his family to California so he could compete in Los Angeles's NWA Hollywood Wrestling and San Francisco's Big Time Wrestling. In NWA Hollywood, he feuded with

Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for hi ...

for the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship. Between 1979 and 1980, he held the title 15 times.

Various territories

He spent the early 80's splitting his time between All Japan Pro Wrestling, Mid South Wrestling, CWF, and Houston Wrestling. In 1982, Guerrero feuded with Atsushi Onita over the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship in All Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1983, he feuded with Gino Hernandez in Mid South Wrestling. The feud resulted in Loser Leaves Town matches, Texas Death Matches and a Mexican Chicken Match. In 1984, he teamed with his brother Hector Guerrero in Championship Wrestling from Florida. They had rivalries with

The U.S. Express The U.S. Express was a professional wrestling tag team composed of Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham in the World Wrestling Federation. Windham was later replaced by Dan Spivey and the team was renamed the American Express. History Championship ...

, from whom they captured the NWA United States Tag Team Titles from and The Breakdancers of Brickhouse Brown and Mark Ragin. In 1985, Hector and Chavo then traveled back over to Mid South Wrestling, where they feuded with The Rock 'n' Roll Express. They then engaged in a rivalry with Ted DiBiase and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams over the UWF Tag Team Championship. In 1986, they wrestled The Fabulous Ones on multiple occasions for Mid South.

AWA and EMLL

In 1988, Mando and Chavo stopped in the AWA. They went after the AWA World Tag Team Championship held by Diamond Dallas Page's team of Badd Company (

Paul Diamond Thomas Boric (born May 11, 1961) is a Croatian retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Paul Diamond. He is best known for being one half of the tag team Badd Company with Pat Tanaka and for his time in the World Wrestling F ...

and Pat Tanaka). However, they were unable to capture the titles in multiple attempts. In 1990, Chavo teamed with his brothers Mando and Eddie in EMLL. He competed with his brothers in multiple trios matches.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2004, 2010)

In 2004, Guerrero began working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), joining his son Chavo Jr. in a feud with his younger brother Eddie. While with WWE, he competed as 'Chavo Classic’. On the May 20, 2004 episode of Smackdown, Chavo Classic 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. On the April 22 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Classic and Chavo Jr defeated John Cena in a 2-on-1 handicap match. On the May 13 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 Funaki (written: 船木) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Kazuyoshi Funaki (born 1975), Olympic ski jumper * Mari Funaki (1950–2010), Australian contemporary jeweller, designer, metal-smith and sculptor *Masakatsu ...

, thanks to outside help from Chavo Jr. He 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 Lucha Underground was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2014 by United Artists Media Group. Partly owned by Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), ''Lucha Underground'' also refers to its weekly television program, which featured c ...

talking with Rey Mysterio about the upcoming match of the latter against his son

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 Luis Fernandez-Gil is a Spanish actor and professional wrestling personality. In the 2000s and 2010s, Fernandez-Gil appeared in films including ''The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down'' and '' Jack and Jill'', as well as television shows includ ...

ordered to restart the match, and Mysterio hit the ''619'' on Classic and defeated Chavo Guerrero, leaving Lucha Underground without the Guerreros.

Personal life

Chavo was the son of Gory Guerrero and the older brother of Mando, Hector, and Eddie Guerrero. He grew up in El Paso, Texas He had two children, wrestler Chavo Jr. and daughter Victoria,Guerrero, Eddie. ''Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story'', p. 16. and he was the brother in-law of Vickie Guerrero. In July 2016, Guerrero and his son were named as part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE that alleged wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. Over a year after his death, US District Judge

Vanessa Lynne Bryant Vanessa Lynne Bryant (born January 27, 1954) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Early life Bryant was born in Queens, New York, and graduated from Howard University with ...

dismissed the lawsuit in September 2018.

Death

On February 11, 2017, Guerrero died of

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

, at the age of 68.

Other media

In 1978 he co-starred with

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (born October 30, 1945), is an American actor, comedian, author, executive producer, and director. After rising to fame as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series ''Happy Days'', Winkler has ...

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 The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the ...

and is featured in its music video. The 2017 Netflix series, GLOW has its 7th episode dedicated to Chavo Guerrero Sr.

Championships and accomplishments

* All Japan Pro Wrestling ** NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title history
At wrestling-titles.com *

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

** 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 Paul Vachon (born October 7, 1937) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is a member of the Vachon wrestling family. He is perhaps best known by his ring name Butcher Vachon. Professional wrestling career Paul Vachon grew up as one of ...

(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/

& The Godfather) * World Wrestling Association ** WWA Trios Championship ( 1 time) – with Mando and Eddy GuerreroWWA World Trios Title (Mexico) history
At wrestling-titles.com * World Wrestling Entertainment/ WWE **

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Two professional wrestling championships have been named WWE Cruiserweight Championship by WWE: * WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1996–2007) – originally established as the WCW Cruiserweight Championship by World Championship Wrestling in 1996, ...

( 1 time) *'' Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' ** Best Wrestling Maneuver (1986) Moonsault block 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 Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

, an NWA affiliated promotion in Mexico. After the promotion's 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.

References

;General sources *

External links

Chavo Guerrero Sr.: A Legend (Official Website)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guerrero, Chavo 1949 births 2017 deaths Los Guerreros American professional wrestlers of Mexican descent People from El Paso, Texas Professional wrestlers from Texas Professional wrestling managers and valets Professional wrestling trainers American male professional wrestlers Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from cancer in Texas 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers WCW/WWE Cruiserweight Champions NWA World Light Heavyweight Champions NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champions NWA United States Tag Team Champions (Florida version) NWA Americas Tag Team Champions NWA Americas Heavyweight Champions