Chavo Guerrero Sr & Mil Mascaras vs Football Players
The recent passing of Chavo Guerrero Sr brought back many memories of his career, and as a guy who never backed down from a fight, some of those memories were bound to find their way to our Backstage Fights section.
Fight: Chavo Guerrero Sr & Mil Mascaras vs Football Players
Date: 1980 (exact date unknown)
Location: San Jose Civic Auditorium in San Jose, CA
Source: Wrestling Observer Radio
Chavo Guerrero Sr made a big name for himself in Los Angeles in the 1970s, rising to fame with a memorable feud with a very young Roddy Piper. He would often come up to Northern California for Roy Shire’s Big Time Wrestling promotion, although he wasn’t pushed as much there due to his relatively small size. Mil Mascaras was in his late 30s by this point, and the two teamed up on a show in San Jose against two mid card wrestlers from California named “Dynamite” Jack Evans and “Bomber” Ray Evans.
Obviously this Jack Evans isn’t the wrestler of the same name who wrestles today on the indie scene and in Lucha Underground. Ray Evans, real name Steve Schumann, was a very talented wrestler from Northern California who had quite a personality. The two were not related to each other. They were also stars for the Los Angeles territory Chavo worked for at the time as well.
On this night, two local football stars from San Jose State University were at the show. One of them was a Division I All-Star lineman, about 6’-4” and over 260 pounds. His friend, also a lineman, wasn’t at the level he was, but still a big guy. Famous wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer was attending the same college at the time, but for some reason was not at this particular show. But his friend was ringside and recounted the story from an eye witness perspective, which Dave told on the air on his radio show.
The Confrontation
The match ended and Chavo Guerrero Sr and Mil Mascaras were victorious. The two linemen were very inebriated and tried starting trouble with them, with the star player and Chavo Guerrero Sr in particular trading harsh words. It’s not clear if the show had ended at this point, as in those days, often times the main event was not put on last. It’s also not clear how the linemen were able to hop the rail, but security in those days was notoriously weak.
Mil Mascaras was not known for being the toughest man in wrestling, but he could still take care of himself thanks to his background as a Mexican judo champion. While Chavo was known for having a hot temper (which goes for all the Guerreros, as Chavo Sr once almost got into a fight with Big Show), Mascaras wanted to avoid anything physical tonight. Mascaras had a huge ego, and any situation in which his aura might be exposed would threaten his drawing power. He was almost 40 by this point, and these were two big football players almost half his age.
The friend of the star player went after Mil Mascaras, who was on the ground level floor and took him down in what was described as a Ronda Rousey hip toss. He landed on his back and luckily stayed down after that. The blow may have knocked the wind out of him if it was concrete, and as noted, he was quite drunk.
That left the star player to continue yelling back and forth with Chavo Guerrero Sr. The lineman had cleared the rail, but Chavo was still on the ring apron, but outside the ropes. Out of nowhere, Chavo did a flying butt bump, nailing the guy right in the face. It wasn’t quite the move one would expect in a situation like this, but it worked. It allowed Chavo to mount him and throw punch after punch, beating the guy badly until he was pulled off.
The incident became famous around town, as expected. The story quickly spread of the two tough football players getting destroyed by relatively short wrestlers smaller than they were. Almost 40 years later, the story hit the rounds again with the passing of Chavo Guerrero Sr.
