Eddie being the smallest of the Guerrero brothers, also had the most natural talent. The Journey Mondo, Gory, Chavo, Hector and Eddie all pose for a family picture. This was Guerrero’s first stage, going from “Vanilla Midget” to full fledge legend. It was Barr who helped Eddie embrace his personality and find who he is. mask match here) But at first, Eddie’s personality wasn’t ready to be the top heel in the company. In Mexico, Eddie’s turn was as big as the Mega Powers exploding in the ’80s. El Santo’s mask is the most important in Mexican history. It’s important to note in the Los Gringos Locos story, Eddie just didn’t turn heel, he turned heel against El Hijo del Santo. Working with Art Barr brought Eddie out of his shell. Though the Guerreros were great performers, Eddie had admitted to only focusing on wrestling, not character. In Los Angeles, Chavo Guerrero was the top babyface of the territory, but when the Guerreros traveled to Florida they were heels. The Guerrero brothers were all well-rounded performers, able to be heel or face depending on the territory. El Santo is featured in the Disney movie CocoĮddie also credited Barr with bringing out his personality. Barr thought it looked cool so a finisher was born. Eddie used the Jackknife Splash as a high spot but didn’t finish matches with it. This is because Barr saw Eddie do it and thought it made a great finisher. (Check out Mondo Guerrero at the 14:00 mark here) But it is often said Eddie used the Frog Splash as a tribute to Los Gringos Locos partner Art Barr. Video evidence exists of the Guerrero brothers using the Frog Splash in EMLL before 1992. And people booed the Gabacho and Chicano. Eddy Guerrero and Art Barr, are covered from head to toe in the United States flag. Now I can’t remember where in the card it was, but in that show, Los Gringos Locos came out. But when I surfed the channels and saw Lucha Libre, my dad said, “Stop! Leave it there, that’s the REAL wrestling!” And to my dad, this is what he grew up watching in the LA territory. AAA being a new promotion in Mexico, I can’t say I followed them up to 1994. It was there that I was first exposed to Eddie Guerrero. Univision in Los Angeles showed AAA every Saturday afternoon. The little representation we had was not unifying us, it was dividing us. The younger, more American Chicano crowd wanted to see de la Hoya beat Chavez and get rid of the old ways. The traditional older Mexican crowd wanted Chavez to kick that pretty boy’s ass. Southern California had a huge generational divide between Chavez and de la Hoya when they fought. You had boxers like Julio Cesar Chavez, Hector Camacho, and Oscar de la Hoya, or baseball players like Fernando Venezuela and Sammy Sosa. Other than that, Latino representation usually came through sports, or Spanish TV. Oscar de la Hoya represents both American and Mexican flags As George Lopez once said, you have cowboys selling salsa, which would be like men selling female hygiene products. There was Save By the Bell, which had one episode in the “College Years” that admitted AC Slater was Chicano and his dad changed his name from Sanchez to move up the military ranks. Other than Ricky Ricardo in I Love Lucy, you didn’t see much Latino representation. Seeing someone who looked like you in the 1990s was rare as a Latino. To quote a random person, Eddie Guerrero acted like your tío at the family party, but if your uncle was buff. Videos, Tik Tocs, Tweets, posts, and dozens of conversations all pointed to the same thing, Eddie Guerrero connected to Latinos, specifically the Mexican-American/Chicano population, in a way that no one on TV had before or since. But did they feel like I did? Well, after reading the comments of other Latinos, the answer was yes. What made Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes an icon of Mexican American identity? Are my feelings shared by others? Did others feel the same I did? I know when I watched wrestling, it looked like the crowd connected to Eddie. My research is about how one person made a community feel. My research isn’t wrestling past or in-ring work. Selena’s dad (played by Edward James Olmos) explains it best…īefore writing this piece, I went all over the internet looking at different conversations between Latinos. It’s a very unique experience that many don’t understand. What’s a Chicano? Well, Chicano is a Mexican who was born in the United States. The first track, “Lowrider.” Here we are, in an old beat-up car playing Lowrider as loud as we can. He had bought his first CD a week before, preparing for this. In 1995, my dad finally got a CD player in his car. We saw ourselves in him because he was us. Eddie Guerrero was featured in the popular Mexican American magazine Lowrider
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