Hector Guerrero

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Exposer]

Is it Hector or Mando who can be really annoying in matches sometimes? If this is him then probably not. I do know he wrested in late 90s WCW some and I've enjoyed a few of the matches I've seen from there but they're all about five minutes or less. The Guerreros trios from Lucha I've seen are fun to good but I can't remember if Hector is actually in them. Anyone have him as a contender? Recommendations?

[KB8]

I nominated him and will almost certainly vote for him in my bottom 20 somewhere.

 

I'll be honest, he mostly stands out to me because I find him almost eerily similar to Eddie in a lot of respects, and Eddie is my favourite wrestler ever. Watching the Houston footage from NWA Classics he's been fun as hell in all of it, and if you squint hard enough you'd think it was 1997 Eddie in there rather than Hector. The way he begs off, the way he takes a backdrop, even the way he moves around the ring - he and Eddie were almost identical, and it seems pretty clear Eddie based a lot of what he wound up doing on what Hector did.

 

I mean, I didn't nominate him solely because he reminds me of his brother, because that would be silly, but it's something I thought was cool.

 

For Hector performances, the Texas Death Match against Jose Lothario from 6/8/84 is the first one I'd go to. Hector starts out acting like a good sport, but he does it in this subtly disingenuous sort of way where you know it's only a matter of time before the charade crumbles. Then when it does crumble he turns into a vicious bastard, just headbutting Jose in the face and busting him open on the ring post. He also sells Jose's incredible punches in really spectacular fashion; especially the big uppercut. I thought the whole match was tremendous and it would've made my top 10 for the Mid-South set had it been available at the time.

 

There's also plenty of good stuff where he's tagging with Chavo. You can't really go wrong with the Lothario feud there, either. Pretty much anything involving Hector and Lothario is worth watching.

 

There's also a really good Hector/Buddy Rose match that made Will's Rose set that I think is from '79.

[Exposer]

I've seen the Buddy match! It rules!

[Phil Schneider]

I reviewed a random 1999 Hector and a local v. Terry Funk and local from an indy somewhere, pretty fun bit of Hector shtick late in his career

 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/01/tuesday-night-digging-in-crates-hector.html

[KB8]

Man, Hector v Terry Funk is sort of a dream match I never even thought about. Cool find.

[KB8]

I had Hector as my 75 in 2016 and that's probably too high, but at the same time it could be 50 spots too low. Who can really say for sure? Look, he got the Favourite Bump. He's my avatar, fer cripes! I watched as much Hector as I could find on the run up to the deadline and there was never any chance I wasn't voting for him, but everything I watched was fun and he kept leapfrogging people on his way to that #75 spot. I'll tell you what, though -- Hector Guerrero fucking ruled. He was basically Eddie before Eddie. Seriously, this was 1997 Eddie Guerrero plucked out of time and dropped into the 1980s. I don't even know if Eddie's talked about who he emulated before, and I guess it would be a safe bet that he'd be emulating one of his brothers anyway, but watch enough Hector and it's clear as day where he borrowed his shtick. The way he moves, how he scoots across the mat on his knees to the safety of his corner, how he stooges, how he bumps, everything -- it's Hector Guerrero. That all sounds like I voted for Hector because he reminds me of my all-time favourite wrestler. That's not the case because that would be stupid (but then again it might've been the case. How well can one truly know their own mind?). What I'm trying to say is that Hector at his best was pretty damn similar to Eddie at his best and that is ridiculously high praise. The Guerreros team was awesome and the Mid-South/Houston footage gives us a lengthy look at that. As heels and babyfaces, they were great in both roles. Could work straight tags or stipulation tags and they brought tonnes of nifty offence to everything. Not only that, you could tell they were all about variety, because just about every Guerreros match, whether it's a four minute studio match against Mike Jackson and a teenage Shawn Michaels or a showcase arena match against the Fantastics, has SOMETHING unique, SOME play on the norm. And the feud with Jose Lothario is just the greatest thing ever and the Mexican Death Match is honest to god one of my five favourite matches of the 80s. If we get some Florida arena footage at some point over the next five years then he might end up top 5. 

 

HECTOR GUERRERO YOU SHOULD WATCH:

w/Adrian Adonis, Ron Starr & George Wells v Buddy Rose, Ed Wiskowski, Roddy Piper & Killer Brooks (Portland, 4/7/79)

v Jose Lothario (Houston, 6/8/84)

w/Chavo Guerrero v Rock n Roll Express (Mid-South, 2/13/85)

w/Chavo Guerrero v The Fantastics (Houston, 1/24/86)

w/Chavo Guerrero v The Sheepherders (Houston, 3/14/86)

[KB8]

I have since softened on my stance that 75 was probably too high for Hector in 2016. If anything, I have become HARDENED on the stance that 75 is too low!

I've been watching a bunch of random Hector stuff over the last few days and I find something at least fun about his performances in literally every match he's involved in. Evert single one of them. Like his brothers he's someone who clearly likes to be inventive and he's honestly do something different every time out. There's a six-man where he's tagging with Denny Brown and Tim Horner against the Horsemen (the episode of Worldwide that leads to the impromptu Flair/Windham match) and I'm telling you now, they should've had Tully and Hector feud for six months and then if Crockett had his wits about him Hector should've main evented Starrcade against Flair. Rugged Ronnie? What about Handsome Hector, Jim?! Hector Guerrero v Sangre Chicana was not a dream match I dared dream of but the Guerreros/Chicana-Markus-Markus Jr. trios from '87 is a total blast and Hector v Chicana was amazing. It's hard to really elucidate but Hector just has this demeanour in the ring, the way he carries himself, how he moves from moment to moment, where he looks like the most natural pro wrestler going. Eddie clearly emulated his brother - I've said it before, but it's striking how similar Hector his to what Eddie would be - and wrestling would be a hunner times better if more guys decided to be Hector Guerrero rather than Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart or a pillar of All Japan.

I feel like I have more of a "methodology" or whatever snooty term you want to use when it comes to putting my top 100 together this time around. It's not a BIGLAV or anything remotely like that, but I know what I value most and one of my three biggest priorities is, if I were to take every match of a wrestler and plug them into a shuffle playlist, who could I sit and watch for longest without getting bored? And Hector Guerrero scores absurdly well on that. 

I'll have him as high as I can possibly justify, and then he'll get the favourites bump and go higher than I can ACTUALLY justify but I'll do it anyway.