Juventud Guerrera

Career

Early career

Early in his career Guerrera was a main stay in the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración promotion. He had a very lengthy feud with Rey Mysterio, Jr. in which they traded the WWA World Lightweight Championship back and forth. The pair also had several tag team matches in which Guerrera would team with his father Fuerza Guerrera, while Rey, Jr. would tag with uncle and trainer Rey Misterio, Sr.

Guerrera wrestled in many Mexican independent promotions as a masked wrestler but he first gained American exposure in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) alongside fellow luchadores Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis, Konnan and La Parka, all of whom were also wrestling for Konnan's Promo Azteca in Mexico at the time. When Konnan left for WCW, Guerrera and the rest followed.

World Championship Wrestling

In WCW, Guererra made his debut on August 26, 1996 edition of Monday Nitro in a victory over Billy Kidman. He would compete throughout 1996 and 1997 under a mask, like he had in Mexico and ECW. His most remembered matches of 1996 and 1997 were clashes with fellow masked luchadores Rey Misterio, Jr. and Psicosis. Beginning in 1998, Guerrera pinned Último Dragón to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship on the inaugural edition of Thunder on January 8, 1998. However, he would then lose the title to Rey Misterio, Jr. one week later on the following edition of Thunder. At SuperBrawl, Guerrera challenged Chris Jericho for the Cruiserweight Title in a Mask vs. Title match, in which Guerrera lost forcing him to unmask. After unmasking Guerrera, Jericho would often berate Guerrera for his hideous looks by referring to him as "Quasi-tud" which was in reference to "Quasimodo", the disfigured lead character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Later in the year, Guerrera defeated Jericho at Road Wild to capture his second Cruiserweight Championship. He retained the belt at Fall Brawl against Silver King, before losing it to Billy Kidman the following night on Nitro.

Later on, Guerrera became an announcer on Thunder in order to remain on-screen while rehabilitating an injury. During this time, Guerrera often imitated World Wrestling Federation star The Rock by calling himself "The Juice" and imitating The Rock's catchphrases, which became an annoyance to the audience. After his injury healed, he joined former rival Rey Misterio, Jr., Konnan, Billy Kidman, and others to form the Filthy Animals and during the group's run, Guerrera and Misterio, Jr. became the World Tag Team Champions.

In October 2000, during a WCW tour of Australia, Guerrera was arrested at the hotel in which the wrestlers were staying, after an incident in which he was discovered naked and screaming in a hallway, and then attacking police officers who had arrived to detain him. According to the 2004 book The Death of WCW, Guerrera was reportedly under the influence of PCP at the time, after having earlier smoked an unknown substance that was laced with the drug. He pled guilty to assaulting police, causing bodily harm, disorderly behavior, willful exposure, and possession of ecstasy. Guerrera was expelled from the remainder of the tour and later released by WCW, and was ordered to pay nearly $1,800 in fines.

Independent circuit

After being released from WCW, Guerrera went on to wrestle for many other promotions including Xtreme Pro Wrestling, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, World Wrestling All-Stars, Frontier Wrestling Alliance. He also made a brief appearance in Pro Wrestling NOAH as one of 12 participants in a championship tournament to crown the first GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and lost to Yoshinobu Kanemaru at the tournament finals in Nagoya on June 24, 2001. While in CMLL, he frequently re-teamed with fellow WCW alum Rey Mysterio, who had left WCW due to its purchase by the World Wrestling Federation, in CMLL before Mysterio's signing with WWE. After Mysterio signed with WWE in 2002, Guererra joined the upstart promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

In Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Guerrera was joined by fellow AAA wrestlers Mr. Águila, Héctor Garza, Abismo Negro, Heavy Metal to form a group first known as Team AAA, then later renamed to Team Mexico to compete in TNA's World X Cup Matches. Guerrera would also take part in the 2003 Super X Cup, where he advanced all the way to the finals before being ultimately defeated by Chris Sabin.

When TNA's working relationship with AAA came to an end, Team Mexico disbanded and Guererra was released to continue working for Lucha Libre promotions.

World Wrestling Entertainment

In the spring of 2005, Guerrera had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He debuted on television, wrestling simply as Juventud, on June 18, 2005, defeating Funaki on SmackDown!'s sister show Velocity. On June 23, he, Super Crazy and Psicosis (collectively called the Mexicools) interrupted a match between Chavo Guerrero and Paul London by riding to the ring on a lawn mower and attacking both wrestlers.

This was followed week by week of The Mexicools interrupting matches and beating down seemingly random wrestlers and cutting promos. Juventud quickly established himself as the mouthpiece/leader of the group and began using his old nickname "The Juice".

At the Great American Bash on July 24, The Mexicools defeated the newly reunited Blue World Order (Big Stevie Cool, The Blue Meanie, and Hollywood Nova) in a six-man tag team match.

After more weeks of interruptions and sneak attacks, The Mexicools were sent down to Velocity. The group feuded with Velocity main-stay and then WWE Cruiserweight Champion Nunzio and his tag partner Vito. Each member of The Mexicools picked up numerous pinfall victories over the champion during this time.

At the October 4 SmackDown! tapings for Velocity, Juventud (along with Super Crazy and Psicosis) faced Brian Kendrick, Paul London, Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki in an over-the-top battle royal with the stipulation that the winner would receive a title shot at the Cruiserweight Championship at No Mercy. After finally eliminating London, Juventud won the battle royal and the title shot. At the event on October 9, he defeated Nunzio following a Juvi Driver to capture the Cruiserweight Championship, his first title in WWE and, due to the title being originally from WCW, his fourth Cruiserweight Title reign.

Juventud later went on to lose the title back to Nunzio at a live event in Italy. On November 25 however, Juventud regained the title on an edition of SmackDown! from England. Guerrera soon lost the title to Kid Kash at Armageddon on December 18, 2005.

On January 6, 2006, WWE announced that Juventud had been released from the company. His final match aired that evening on SmackDown!, a Cruiserweight Title rematch against Kash which Juventud lost. During this match, Juventud would use many high flying moves - despite WWE telling its cruiserweights to tone down those aerial moves - and the 450° splash, a move WWE outright banned due to an earlier match Juventud had when he messed up the move and ended up fracturing bones in Paul London's face.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

After being released from WWE, Guerrera returned to Mexico to compete with AAA. Guerrera returned to the promotion on April 30 and formed a new stable known as the Mexican Powers alongside Psicosis II, Extreme Tiger, Joe Lider and Crazy Boy, although Psicosis II and Extreme Tiger would later leave the group. During a TNA vs. AAA Mexico show, Juventud was one of the Mexican wrestlers who aided The Latin American Xchange and attacked A.J. Styles. This footage was later shown on the October 5, 2006 episode of TNA Impact!.

In August 2008, Juventud held a press conference to announce his departure from AAA to compete on the Mexican independent circuit. In September, he formed Los Sexicools, a parody of his Mexicools group, with El Intocable and Toscano.

On March 15, 2009, Guerrera made a surprise return to AAA at the annual Rey de Reyes event. Juventud helped Charly Manson and D-Generation MEX win their match and joined D-Generation-Mex.

Other media

Guerrera appears as himself in the 2000 film Ready to Rumble, although his name is spelled in the credits (and in the closed captioning) as "Juventud Guerrero".

Personal life

Guerrera is the son of Mexican wrestling legend Fuerza Guerrera. His cousin also wrestles, under the name Furia Guerrera in Mexico.

In March 2009, Guerrera sufffered bruising and a broken nose in a backstage fight with Konnan and Jack Evans. The fight started after Guerrera accused Konnan of defecating in his bag, which Konnan denied, and then Evans, with whom Guerrera had had a match that evening, grabbed Guerrera from behind, provoking the fight.