Hector Guerrero on the Gobbledy Gooker Character, Mattel Not Paying Him for Recent Action Figure, Donald Trump Support, more

Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Hector Guerrero
Date: 08/13/2024
Your Host: James Walsh

For over an hour, I had the chance to sit down and talk to a wrestling legend. If you knew him as the Gobbledy Gooker from 1990 WWF or if you saw him in various promotions either playing the flashy Lazer Tron, the brash proud Mexican using his real name Hector Guerrero in Memphis, or if you only know him as the Spanish language announcer from TNA, hector has been around the wrestling business for over 50 years. A man of faith who is proud of his family heritage, this is a wonderful chat.

I stress that only some highlights are below. The whole conversation would be too long to fully transcribe. So, if you are curious what else we cover, you can listen in. It is free! You can tune in on YouTube! Don’t forget to subscribe when you do listen in and hit that notifications bell for future uploads.

Check out Hector Guerrero’s official website for signed merchandise and more!

Please also check out our website. www.WrestlingEpicenter.com. It is the one place to find all of our prior interviews, our store which is currently sporting a 20% off everything sale, and so much more. Check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com.

HECTOR GUERRERO:

On working as Lazer Tron in the NWA and Mexico:
“Well, first of all. If any promoters or anyone else hears this and are thinking about using it, you can’t. It’s mine! (laughs) Nowadays, you never know, it has gone crazy with the video games and toys. But, that one is mine! I have always loved kids. I’ve always been involved, even later in life, not with high school kids. But, I am certified K – 12 from Texas. I’m certified in the study of sports and movement. And, I have a minor in education… I went into education later. But, when I was working for Jim Crockett Promotions, I went to Dusty Rhodes and I said, “Why don’t we do something for the kids, man? The kids need something!” He said, “What do you have in mind?” Well, at the time, the Transformers were new and were a hot cartoon with Megatron and other Trons. And, laser tag was a popular thing. So, I kind of married both of them. Lazer Tron! I called my dad who was living in El Passo and he had the mask made in Warez, Mexico. He took a picture of it! (laughs) And, we kind of put it together from there and what it became, I really liked.”

On not going all the way with Lazer Tron:
“You know, I’m a believer in God. And, when you screw up, God has a way of fixing it. You know, we just saw something happen to (Donald) Trump. Just by him moving a little bit, it got only his ear. Or, he’d not be here. I think that is a little bit like what has happened to me with my situation in wrestling. I’ve never started anything. I’ve never sucker punched anybody but I’ve been sucker punched before. I never did any of that. If I had a fight with someone, it was man to man and eye to eye. Not turning around and getting sucker punched. In the wrestling business, I was a heel. So, I had to lie, cheat, and steal! That is what a heel does! That was the storyline. In wrestling, the bumps are real, the holds are real, but everyone now knows the outcomes are controlled. You do what the promoter tells you. And, if you don’t do what the promoter tells you, you don’t wrestle. And, if you don’t wrestle, you don’t get paid. You get blackballed. Well, for me, I got blackballed because I knew more than the promoter. Remember, I was a promoter’s son. Crockett”

On his fun heel character in Memphis showing some of that Guerrero charm:
“(laughs) Well, I wasn’t the only one who was doing that kind of thing at the time. I saw my brother Mondo doing some of the finishes Eddie would do later in WWE. You know, where he’d lay down, throw the chair on the ground, and the referee would think the other guy did it… My brother Mondo did all of that! (laughs) He was doing some of that back when my father ran the promotion in Warez too! But, the Memphis character with the guitar, well, I already told you I loved music so it just kind of came together. Jesse Barr helped me a lot. (laughs) Remember that song I did? “Ay, ay, mohito, at the Alamo, we beat you! No matter how much you say that you’re tough, you can’t kick my butt, ’cause I’m just too rough!” (singing) “Ay, ay, mohito, at the Alamo, we beat you! If you won’t eat my peppers today, I’ll cut ’em up, spit ’em out, and stick ’em in your eye!” (laughs) Jesse Barr helped me with that. He was really cool. He helpd me with the words. I did it there, we did the pinata with Lance Russell. That was something I brought from Mexico City. I enjoyed that character. I also was working with Manny Fernandez as a tag team. We were working for Crockett and we were being treated badly so he said he was coming to Memphis too. So, I went to see if we could come in as a tag team.”

On being a heel:
“Oh, you had to be careful. Look at people liek Roddy Piper and Victor Rivera… Roddy in New York… Stabbings. It was real. You had to be careful. I remember being in Miami and we had riot cops that would protect us. I gave one of them a Mexican hat They gave me a riot squad helmet! But, I remember Chavo would do interviews in Miami and he would say all of these things and not even consider them hispanic and I remember the riot squad had to walk us to the ring or else we probably couldn’t have gotten there! The Cuban fans there would call us all sorts of names! Hijo de puta! (laughs) And, we’d get in the ring, and the promoter would have us use some really dirty tactics in the ring all the while calling the people all kinds of names. So, when we would leave the ring, the riot cops would surround us and they would have their clubs and they’d hit their hands with their clubs and say, “Nobody touches our boys!” They called us their boys!”

On the changes in wrestling styles now:
“There is always going to be a danger for the heels especially if you really connect with the audience. My dad always told us never to just go out there and insult the people because that would be cheap heat. What you do in the ring, though, could really make you a true heel. But, wrestling has changed so much now. I get asked to go and do seminars sometimes and I go and do it and I tell the class, “I couldn’t go and wrestle the way that you do now.” They say, “What do you mean?” What I mean is what they do is everything is choreographed now. Everything. From the moment you’re walking to the ring, to the match, and even walking back, it is all choreographed. And, I couldn’t do that. When I was wrestling, that was all ad libbed for me. Everything was ad lib except for the finish. The promoter would determine what they wanted to finish to be and that is what you would know going in. Maybe you would know one or two little things you wanted to do in the match. But, most of it was all ad lib. Now, you watch, and there is so much flying and action going on because of TV ratings. But, if you go back and you watch older wrestling, there was a lot more wrestling going on. And, all that mat wrestling was ad lib. That was like a chess match. I’d grab a hold, do an arm bar, I’d go around and reverse it and put on a toe hold. “Well, you choreographed that.” No! That’s chain wrestling! No matter if you were winning or losing, you still did it. That’s called wrestling! That is how I learned. I learned wrestling.”

On being given the Gobbledy Gooker character:
“I wanted to go to WWE, WWF at the time. I called up there and Pat Patterson told me, “Don’t call here anymore.” That ticked me off. Pat was a heck of a good wrestler. He wrestled my Dad in El Passo. I saw a great match with he and my Dad. I couldn’t believe that he did that to me. So, that really PO’d me. Well, I was married to my first wife at the time and I don’t know how they got my number but they (WWE) called and said to call them back. It was Bruce Prichard. At the time, I was working some WCW tapings for World Wide Wrestling on TBS. I wasn’t signed or anything. But, I was just doing some stuff with them. So, I told her, “Yeah, Ok. I will.” And, I never called them back. Three days or so goes by, Bruce Prichard calls back again and my ex says, “He really wants to talk to you.” I said, “Hang u!” She said, “Are you sure?” I said, “Yeah, hang up!” And, she did. This was nothing against Bruce. Bruce was one of my best friends. But, I didn’t want to take the call. This goes on about 5 or 6 times until one day she wasn’t home, the phone rings, and I answer. “Is this Hector Guerrero?” “Who wants to know?” The guy says, “Vince Mcmahon wants to talk to you.” Well, I was about to hang up but I didn’t. Vince came on the line and he pitched the Gobbledy Gooker to me. He wanted to do something for the kids. That is what won me over. At that time, I was a gymnastics coach and perpetual motion in Tennessee. I was still wrestling independents and doing the stuff with WCW World Wide Wrestling – They were using me. I stress that, they were using me as in prostituting me. That is what I call it. My Dad called it the same thing.”

On the birth of the character:
“Well, the limo picked me up. The Undertaker was picked up at that same time. We talked and they took me to the seimstress. This was only a few weeks before the Survivor Series. They took me there and Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper were doing voice over work and I got to meet Vince then. Roddy and I were friends ever since working in California together. That was great to see him again. Anyway, the Survivor Series. They had the egg and they said, “We’re going to put you in there about six hours before the doors open.” I was like, “What if I have to go to the bathroom?” Brother, I was in there for hours. I had a bean bag chair, all my stuff in there. All my Gooker stuff and costume, and I had a monitor so I was watching everything from in there. I was in there for so long because they didn’t want anybody to know who the Gooker was… But, some of the employees leaked that out. I found that out later. But, I watched the show as it progressed and then it was time for me to come out of the egg. And, they boo’d it.”

On the reaction of the people when he hatched from the egg:
“Gene Okerlund pulled the microphone down and I said to Gene, “Gene, they’re booing it.” He said, “Lets just get this thing over.” And, we went to the ring and did the dancing. Gene went in and did his dancing and tumbling. I didn’t see him the next day. But, I was told he was black and blue all over. Gene was a great announcer. But, you step into the ring, it is different. He was great, though! I was doing cartwheels and stuff and he would go to hit the rope and fall like he tripped. Really, he was great! But, I was told he was really black and blue all over after that. I learned that from the office. But, that was that. Then we went to Orlando and did it and it was great! Orlando is Disney, Universal, and a spot where there is a lot of kids. That is kid land! But, why did they debut it in the Meadowlands in New Jersey? I remember wrestling for Crockett in Philadelphia. But, never Newark (East Rutherford). So, I didn’t know how they’d react. But, if they had said they were going to debut it in Philadelphia, I would have said, “You’re going to do a kid gimmick in Philadelphia? (laughs) I don’t think so!” *laughs) But, anyway, it was a good experience anyway!”

On if he got paid for the Gobbledy Gooker action figure recently released:
“No! They didn’t give me nothing! I think it has something to do with Mattel… I will tell you though that at WrestleCon before WrestleMania, there was a guy who had me sign some of them for a certain amount per and I did do that. Then there were promoters asking me to sign some at way lower than what I was getting at WrestleCon. I don’t know. Listen, the guys that do the thing for the signing. They prostitute us just the same way they do for us when we wrestled. I found out after I did it a few times that when I did it at WrestleCon, I did it for a percentage and I made more money than I ever had before. He made money, I made money. Oh, it was great. But, I hope my wrestler buddies are listening to this because I want them to know if they’re being prostituted or not. Some say, “Oh, they won’t use you if you don’t do this.” I don’t care. The Lord blessed me with a teaching degree. I just recently retired back in November of 2023. I taught 23 years in Florida. I’ve got my pension from there.I’ve got my Social Security, thank God.”

On who he is pulling for in the 2024 election:
“We had better vote Trump back in or they are going to destroy America. Just before we started, I watched the whole Trump interview with Elon Musk. It was so good! I read reviews saying, “Oh he’s just saying the same things for the people who want to hear it.” No, I’ll tell you what. It was really good! It is like 2 hours long and he goes into details, I say again, details on everything going on around the world! Elon Musk was for Biden in 2020 but he sees it now and he’s voting for Trump this time. You know, God forbid they try and steal it again in November. Because, that is what they did.”