The Attitude Era was known for many things, but one of the least appreciated aspects of this period was the innovations that took place within WCW’s Cruiserweight division. Future icons of their time travelled across the globe from Mexico, Japan and Europe to pioneer the light-heavyweight style of wrestling, bringing a faster-paced, harder-hitting genre to an industry that had grown a little too comfortable with the standard American match-structure.
Names like Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon, Eddie Guerrero and Tiger Mask all found their feet as part of WCW’s revolutionary Cruiserweight movement, redefining wrestling by bringing together Lucha, Japanese and European Strong Style, meshing it with the Western style of sports entertainment. If it weren’t for the Cruiserweights in WCW, chances are we wouldn’t be enjoying the likes of Daniel Bryan, Johnny Gargano and Zack Sabre Jr in their respective promotions.
In this Unsung Hero piece, we’re going to take a look at the career of Juventud Guerrera, an often forgotten member of WCW’s Cruiserweight roster who helped pave the way for the future 205ers. A man who dazzled audiences across the world with his hybrid Lucha-style, wrestling masked for many years before revealing the young face of a future legend.
Juventud first made a name for himself as part of Extreme Championship Wrestling, the third brand that completes the Monday Night Wars trio. Juvie, along with fellow Lucha stars: Rey Mysterio, Konnan and Psychosis, only stuck around in ECW for a year, before departing for Ted Turner’s WCW in 1996.
The Hispanic stars made their debut and immediately caught the hearts and minds of the wrestling world, bringing a faster pace to their matches that regularly acted as curtain jerkers to capitalise on the excitement of the live audience. Guerrera would begin his career wearing the same mask seen in ECW, and before that the promotion that would later become AAA. The Luchadore genre of wrestling was slowly taking over the American wrestling scene, and Juvie was in the middle of all of it.
Guerrera would go on to capture his first Cruiserweight Championship during the inaugural episode of WCW Thunder – the brand’s secondary show – defeating Ultimo Dragon in the main event. Juvie would then lose it a week later in a spectacular match with Rey Mysterio, but his title win helped elevate him from being a mere undercard wrestler. Guerrera was seen as one of the wrestlers at the forefront of the Cruiserweight division, and was treated as such in his feuds with Billy Kidman, Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko.
A few years after unmasking at the hands of Chris Jericho, Juventud would go on to make history once again by defeating Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship on an episode of Monday Nitro. Unfortunately, due to a DUI case, Juvie would have to be subbed out of his continued feud with Liger by Psychosis, feigned as an injury to the people at home. Once he returned, Guerrera went on to win the WCW Tag Team Championships alongside Mysterio, keeping his status as one of WCW’s top young talents.
Even though Juvie left WCW on bad terms, it cannot be understated how much of an impact Guerrera had within the Cruiserweight movement. He helped put the Lucha style back on the worldwide map and built a reputation for he and his fellow Latino stars for them to later be considered and signed by WWE. Fans were enlightened by Juventud’s efforts and many aspiring wrestlers were left inspired by the classic matches with Dragon, Mysterio and Jericho.
If only WWE were able to use him a little more respectfully than when he was signed in 2005 as part of the Mexicools, who rode lawnmowers to the ring and acted exactly like a bunch of college jerks. Even though Juventud was later reunited with the Cruiserweight Championship, it never quite captured the same magic that he created as part of the Attitude Era.
Today, Juventud Guerrera continues to tear things up on the independent scene. Re-masked and re-dubbed ‘The Juice’, Juvie wrestles across the world, predominantly for AAA where he’s shaping the next generation of lucha stars as part of the trio known as MAD.
Two decades on from the Monday Night Wars and one thing’s for sure: Juvie’s still got it.
READ NEXT:Â Unsung Heroes Of The Attitude Era: Ken Shamrock
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site.
