Chavo Guerrero On If AEW Can Challenge WWE
Lucha Underground isn't being cast in the best light as of late. In addition to the uncertainty of if there will be another season, many wrestlers say they are being held hostage due to their Lucha contracts.
Chavo Guerrero is not only a wrestler signed with Lucha Underground, but he is also a producer. He spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast to comment on reports that Lucha contracts are preventing talent from working elsewhere.
"I don't know if everybody has the same deal," admitted Guerrero. "I know originally with Lucha Underground in the first season, nobody could work for anybody. You could do indie shots, but no other TVs."
Guerrero then says during their hiatus wrestlers were allowed to work for other companies like New Japan or TNA but he doesn't know the specifics of other people's deals.
"I don't know their contracts," stated Guerrero. "I don't wanna know their contracts. I try to stay out of that stuff. That's not my forte and that's not what I wanna do?That's just above my pay grade and I kind of keep it that way. All I know is that with my contract I can do what I wanna do."
Guerrero was a part of the Monday Night Wars on WCW's side, but he also had a decade-long stint with WWE. He was asked if the rise of AEW reminded him any of the Monday Night Wars era.
"It doesn't remind me of the Monday Night War era yet because that was two companies battling back-and-forth and WCW almost put WWF out of business," said Guerrero.
"[In WWE] The payoffs for the boys were really low and attendance was low until [WWE] changed in the Attitude Era."
While he's not ready to crown this era the Monday Night Wars II, Guerrero did say he is happy to see another option for talent.
"I personally love competition and I think wrestling needs that," stated Guerrero. "Nobody's gonna challenge WWE. They're the Coca-Cola of wrestling. But you have a few different companies where wrestlers can go other places?
"WWE is not the only game in town? Competition is great because when there's a monopoly, that's when things don't go great."
Guerrero praised AEW for being able to sell out All In, even before they were officially known as AEW. But he says that needs to happen more than a couple of times a year before they can be viewed as a competitor to WWE.
"It's be great to see them sell out big shows as it gives them credibility," Guerrero said of All In selling out. "I would love to see them have 10 shows a month and not two shows a year and continue to do that. But it's really tough to get to that place."
As for any talks he's had with AEW, Guerrero said he's talked to Chris Jericho and would be willing to listen to what Cody has to say.
"I definitely am a free agent," declared Guerrero. "But I haven't talked to [AEW]. I chatted with Jericho a little bit and it's great to see him go there and see a big star make the jump. Hopefully other big stars make the jump.
"But I would be down talking to Cody or anybody. If it's a fit and works for them and works for me, then I'll be happy to go there."
The full audio for Wrestling Inc's exclusive interview with Chavo was included in a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard in the embedded player below. In it Chavo also discusses recently winning SAG and Emmy awards for his work on GLOW, when GLOW season three will be released, the future of Lucha Underground, possible Guerrero family films and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here.
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