Thanks to James Walsh for sending us the following:
Show: Interactive Wrestling Radio
Guest: Chavo Guerrero Jr
Date: 07/24/18
Your Host: James Walsh
In 2005, we were supposed to interview Eddie Guerrero on his “Cheating Death, Stealing Life” book tour. Sadly, that never came to be due to his untimely death. We never, at that point, had a Guerrero on our show. That is, until now. The legendary Chavo Guerrero Jr, the son of Chavo Classic and nephew of Eddie Guerrero, joined us to discuss everything from his role in Lucha Underground, reinstatement to the ring after being retired by Rey Mysterio last season, GLOW, and even a few cool memories about Eddie. A somewhat brief yet meaningful interview with a member of one of the most iconic wrestling families in history. Check out Lucha Underground every Wednesday night on El Rey.
On returning to in-ring competition in Lucha Underground Season 4:
“I always love getting into the ring. A lot of stuff I am doing now is behind the camera. I do love that also. I actually have really grown to love how to create behind the camera. But, you know, you still have that itch every once in a while. So, I get to itch and scratch it every once in a while in Lucha Underground. So, I’ll step back in the ring for a couple matches, I’ll jump out and I’ll do stuff behind the camera. (laughs) You know?”
On his official title at Lucha Underground:
“So, at Lucha Underground, I produce the show. In Hollywood, getting a producing credit, sometimes you introduce two people and you get a producing credit. And, sometimes, you’re hands on everything! It seems like here at Lucha Underground, I’m hands on everything! Especially the first season. The first season, I was doing stuff with set design, costumes, involved in some writing, agenting, and still wrestling… Helping out the director and showing him how – A lot of these guys had never done wrestling and obviously, I had. After the first season, a lot of that went away because everyone picked it up so good. So, now I produce the show. My title? I guess I’m “Supervising Producer”. That means I’m kind of supervising the other producers! (laughs) I’m still very hands on. Basically, the writers are writing stuff and I’m giving that to the wrestlers and translating to the wrestles. And, I’m involved in agenting amtches and calling matches, different interviews… I’m hands on a lot of things, to be honest. (laughs)”
On his take of the different approach of Lucha Underground:
“Man, I felt that wrestling had gotten a little stale. It became a lot of the same thing. You have WWE, basically the CocaCola of wrestling, if you try to create another cola, you’re just a knock-off. You’re like an RC Cola! What I love is with Lucha Underground, we’ve created a whole new product – A whole new drink! And, we put something else out there. I’m just so proud of our product. I love it. I don’t think you can touch our wrestling. You can’t touch our production. I think we’re the best wrestling on TV, to be honest.”
On Ricky Mandel’s crazy doll versus his WCW stick horse Pepe:
“WOW! It is almost like he took my stick horse and evolved it. He’s gone creepy with it. (laughs) With Pepe, I just ran around the ring and hit people with it. (laughs) He’s got that thing and he’s talking to it and doing some other things with it. (laughs)”
On Season 2 of GLOW:
“It started, man! We’re the number 1 show on Netflix and season 1 is up for 10 Emmy Awards!”
On his involvement with GLOW:
“It is different. I’m the wrestling coodinator and the wrestling consultant on the show. I also have a little part in season 2. I’m the wrestling guy on set! I order the rings, I’m involved in set design, wardrobe, training all the girls, putting all the matches together. Kind of anything wrestling, I’ve got my hands on all of that stuff. Kind of like what I’m doing over there at Lucha.”
On his favorite memories from his WCW and WWE runs:
“I always loved the stuff I did with Eddie. We were so natural together. My Uncle Eddie (Guerrero)… The stuff in WCW where he was trying to get me to turn but I was sticking to my ethics and I started going a little crazy and stuff… Then, in WWE, when we were Los Guerreros! The whole “Lie, Cheat, Steal,” all that holds a special place in my heart. It is hard to top working with Eddie. We were so good together.”
On Eddie’s legacy:
“People still remember Eddie so much. People had that connection with him. He touched a lot of people’s hearts. His passing really effected a lot of people. I have a lot of people come up to me and tell me they stopped watching wrestling when he passed away. To this day (in the ring), I just point up and people start chanting “Eddie.””
On future goals for Lucha Underground:
“There’s definitely some goals in the ring. You always want to capture championships! But, my goal in Lucha Underground Season 4 is, you always want to create the best show possible, that you can, you know? I don’t like watching the show and thinking, “We could have done that better.” I like to watch it and say, “That was good! Now I’ve got to top that next week!” Those are really my goals now, man. Getting that best show out there for our fans!”
On today’s wrestling scene:
“Man, it is a good time to be a wrestler! It got stale for a bit. It’s coming out of it! It goes through cycles. Right now, it is in an up cycle. People are watching wrestling again. Between New Japan, Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, WWE, Lucha Underground, all the different Japanese promotions. Man, it is really cool. There’s a lot of good wrestling out there! And then, good organizations going head to head. You didn’t see that for a long time. WWE is talking about doing something with New Japan – It is like WOW! That is the way it used to be done back in the day when Ric Flair used to wrestle Bob Backlund, AWA versus WWWF. You’d never see whoever is WWE champion versus the Lucha Underground champion. But, hopefully, you will see that in the future!” The fans are going to win, the wrestlers are going to win, the promoters are going to win. It is a win across the board!”
