While Shaul Guerrero may have taken six years off from actually wrestling, it wasn’t as though the third-generation star wasn’t involved in the business altogether. Many would recognize Latina Heat as the ring announcer for Women of Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and last year’s AEW Tag Team Cup Tournament among her many exploits in the performance arts. While the differences between ring announcing and wrestling itself are vast (to make an obvious statement), I assumed that being in front of a wrestling crowd would have eased the transition to actually stepping inside the ring again. Guerrero spoke glowingly of her time as a ring announcer, but admitted that it wasn’t much help when it came to wrestling itself.
“Absolutely. It’s a different beast, 100%,” she commented. “I feel very blessed that I’m like, I guess I have my little wedge in the Guerrero family tree when it comes to wrestling. I’m like, ‘yeah, I did the announcing.’ I was like, that’s really cool that I had that little thing kind of to myself, pretty much.”
“But yeah,” she continued. “It’s a different animal when we’re talking about in-ring, because then it’s like, okay, you’re gonna play with the big boys, literally.
And then my mom was an amazing promo as well. And so I was like, I have a lot to live up to, for sure.”
“You don’t even [have] a weak spot you can exploit,” I replied.
“No, and that’s kind of the big pressure,” she admitted. “But, people love my family so much, and I’m so humbled and appreciative of that. But then, at the same time, it’s also like, you’ve got a lot to live up to, kid. So you know what? One match at a time. Keep learning keep growing. Little Eddie Guerrero and little Vickie Guerrero?
That’s not gonna happen overnight, guys. I’m just getting started. I’m really excited.”
When it comes to paying tribute to her legendary parents, there are literally thousands of ways that come to mind that Guerrero could potentially honour her father inside the ring. However, Vickie Guerrero’s in-ring resume is certainly smaller than Eddie’s, and it’s perhaps a little more difficult to find where to pay homage to her mom. However, one phrase instantly comes to mind when it comes to Nyla Rose’s current manager, and I had to ask Guerrero about it.
“Now, it’s pretty easy to sort of surmise how you could pay homage to your dad inside the ring,” I asked. “But, are we gonna get the Shaul Guerrero ‘Excuse Me?’ Is that gonna be a thing?!”
Guerrero laughed before answering.
“She actually has that trademarked!
I can’t legally!” she responded. “Which I’m like, that’s a boss. My mom is a boss-ass bitch, and I’m just like, and she’s – you know what, I could never do it like my mom.”
However, says Guerrero, she does have one part of her in-ring repertoire that she sees her mother’s influence.
“Honestly, the thing I’m really excited about, even though I will be, I think I’ll be paying homage to my mom in a different, surprising, unexpected way that – it was kind of manifesting itself in NXT,” she mused. “I had this crazy, evil laugh that would happen in the ring. It was like a cackle. I don’t even know where it came from and like, it keeps happening when I’m training and like when I’m in matches. I was like, you know what, I think that is kind of like my little homage to my mom. Because it’s a vocal, it makes everyone be like ‘ugh,’ everyone just like recoils a little bit. I’m like, this is good! I think this is my little homage to my mom.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.
