Salvador Guerrero Quesada (January 11, 1921 – April 18, 1990), better known as Gory Guerrero, was one of the premier

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

professional wrestlers Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

in the early days of

Lucha Libre Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

when most wrestlers were imported from outside

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He wrestled primarily in

Empresa Mexicana de la 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'') (''Me ...

(EMLL) between the 1940s and 1960s. He was also the patriarch of the

Guerrero wrestling family The Guerrero family is a Mexican-American family that has been involved with professional wrestling for three generations. The patriarch of the family, Gory Guerrero, made his debut on September 15, 1937. Members of the Guerrero family have worke ...

Early life

Guerrero was born in

Ray, Arizona Ray is a ghost town in Pinal County, Arizona, United States; it is mostly known for the large copper mine there. It was named after the nearby Ray mine, which was begun by the Ray Copper Company in 1882, after the sister of one of the miners, whos ...

to a family of

migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who Human migration, migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant worker ...

s. He attended school in the United States until the age of nine when his mother died. His family moved to

, and Guerrero's father used his

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

skills to work as an interpreter in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

Professional wrestling career

In Mexico, Guerrero joined a gym with the intention to learn to box, but instead learned

lucha libre Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

from

Diablo Velasco Cuahutémoc Velasco Vargas (April 28, 1919 – June 13, 1999) was a Mexican professional wrestler and trainer under the name Diablo Velasco. Velasco trained many famous Mexican wrestlers, including Gory Guerrero, Raul Armas, Los Hermanos Crucero, ...

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 A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Joe Morgan, but later changed his name to Gory Guerrero—a reference to his bloody matches.Guerrero, Eddie. ''Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story'', p. 6–8. He made his debut for the

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

promotion

(EMLL) in 1943 and was named "Rookie of the Year" later that year. In 1945, he briefly held the

Mexican National Welterweight Championship The Mexican National Welterweight Championship (''Campeonato Nacional Peso Welter'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a Lucha libre, Mexican professional wrestling championship (professional wrestling), championship created and sanctioned by Comisi ...

. Several months later, he won the

Mexican National Middleweight Championship The Mexican National Middleweight Championship ''()'' is a championship (professional wrestling), professional wrestling championship controlled by the ' (Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission). The official weight definition of the Professi ...

, which he held for approximately one year. Guerrero and his brothers also feuded with

Cavernario Galindo Rodolfo Galindo Ramirez (September 27, 1923 – July 19, 1999) was a Mexican luchador and film actor, best known by his ring name Cavernario Galindo (Caveman Galindo), who was active in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre from the 1930s to the 1990s. W ...

and his brothers. In the late 1940s, Guerrero began

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

ing with

El Santo Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), known professionally as El Santo or in English The Saint, was a Mexican luchador enmascarado (Spanish for "masked professional wrestler"), actor and folk hero. He is one of the mo ...

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 Juan Yañez González (August 24, 1919 – September 18, 2004), 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 ...

and his tag team partner

Tarzán López Carlos López Tovar (28 August 1912 – 28 August 1975) was a luchador who was active in the 1930s and 1940s, better known by the ring name Tarzán López. Known as "Tarzan" because of his bodybuilder's physique, Lopez held the Mexican national ...

. He defeated Lopez for the NWA Middleweight title. In 1954, he wrestled a championship match against

NWA World Heavyweight Champion The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus, who is i ...

Lou Thesz Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002) was an American professional wrestler. He was a three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and held the title for a combined total of 10 years, three months and nine days (3,749 ...

but did not win the title. Guerrero broke away from EMLL in 1966 after refusing to drop the

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship The NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For the majority of its existence the title was promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libr ...

Ray Mendoza José Díaz Velázquez (July 6, 1929 – April 16, 2003) 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 W ...

. He worked as an independent in the mid-1960s. He also began to branch out into booking and training with

Dory Funk Sr. Dorrance Wilhelm Funk (May 4, 1919 – June 3, 1973) was an American professional wrestler. He is the father of wrestlers Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk, and was a promoter of the Amarillo, Texas-based Western States Sports promotion. Early li ...

In addition, he helped run shows in

NWA Hollywood Wrestling NWA Hollywood Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Los Angeles) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Southern California. It ...

for two years, and later he booked shows for

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) (1986–1991) was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed ...

.Guerrero, Eddie. ''Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story'', p. 26–27. 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 Professional wrestling holds include a number of set moves and pins used by performers to immobilize their opponents or lead to a Submission wrestling, submission. This article covers the various pins, stretches and transition holds used in the ri ...

) and the '' Gory Special'', a type of

backbreaker Backbreaker refers to a kind of professional wrestling move which sees 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. The standard version of the ...

. 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 A widow's peak is a V-shaped point in the hairline in the center of the forehead. Hair growth on the forehead is suppressed in a bilateral pair of periorbital fields. Without a widow's peak, these fields join in the middle of the forehead so as t ...

Personal life and death

Guerrero's wife Herlinda was the sister of wrestler

.Guerrero, Eddie. ''Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story'', p. 9–10. They married in 1947. They had six children: four sons Chavo, Mando,

Héctor Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein'', m ...

Eddie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...

, and two daughters, Maria and Linda. After retiring from active wrestling, Guerrero sold auto insurance. Guerrero would also open his home to aspiring wrestlers, training them in the backyard in an old ring. Two weeks before his death, Guerrero's liver failed and he developed

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

due to

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time)* **

( 1 time) **

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

)¹ **

NWA World Welterweight Championship The NWA World Welterweight Championship ( es, Campeonato Mundial Welter de NWA) is an inactive professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and most recently promoted by NWA Mexico. The championship was ori ...

( 1 time)² **

World Middleweight Championship In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

( 1 time)³ ** Rookie of the Year (1943) *

NWA Americas Tag Team Championship The 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. The championship began as the WWA World Tag Team Championship f ...

( 1 time) – with

Chavo Guerrero Sr. 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 ...

Pacific Northwest Wrestling Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) (also known as Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling) is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. T ...

NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship The 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. states of ...

( 1 time) – with Luigi Macera *

Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) and Museum is an American professional wrestling hall of fame and museum located in Wichita Falls, Texas currently closed to water leaks. The museum was founded by Tony Vellano in 1999, and was previo ...

** Class of 2019 *

Southwest Championship Wrestling Southwest Championship Wrestling (SCW) was a professional wrestling promotion that was owned by Joe 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. H ...

SCW Southwest Junior Heavyweight Championship The 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 ...

( 1 time) * Southwest Sports, Inc. **

NWA Texas Tag Team Championship The WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship was the secondary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area-basedWorld Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The championship was originally known as the NWA ...

( 1 time) – with Cyclone Anaya *

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

** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Amarillo version)'' ( 6 times) – with Gordo Chihuahua (1), Luis Hernandez (2), Pancho Lopez (1),

Ricky Romero Ricardo Romero Jr. (born November 6, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays. Prep career After spending three years at Garfield High School, Romero graduate ...

(1) and

Sonny Myers Harold "Sonny" Myers (January 22, 1924 – May 7, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, involved in the business for sixty years. Professional wrestling career Myers held prominent heavyweight championships in several territories, most ...

(1) * ''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four We ...

'' **

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of t ...

( Class of 1996)

Notes

¹The NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship is no longer a championship that is sanctioned or acknowledge by the National Wrestling Alliance as a world title.
²The NWA World Welterweight Championship is no longer sanctioned or recognized by the NWA as a world title.
³This title would later be recognized by the NWA, though Guerrero's reign with it occurred prior to the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance. The NWA World Middleweight Championship is also currently not sanctioned or recognized by the NWA as a world title.

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Footnotes

References

External links

Online World of Wrestling profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerrero, Gory 1921 births 1990 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers American professional wrestlers of Mexican descent Los Guerreros People from Pinal County, Arizona People from Ray, Arizona Professional wrestlers from Arizona Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Professional wrestling trainers Baptists from Arizona 20th-century Baptists American expatriates in Mexico American male actors of Mexican descent Mexican National Middleweight Champions NWA World Light Heavyweight Champions NWA World Middleweight Champions NWA World Welterweight Champions