Grilling JR - Vickie Guerrero [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Vickie Guerrero

Vickie Lynn Benson (formerly Guerrero) was born on April 16th, 1968 in El Paso, Texas. When she was in school, she was a cheerleader and in the band.

Vickie & Eddie met on a blind date, in 1986, the year that Vickie graduated from High school. Eddie was wrestling in AAA at the time. Their respective best friends knew each other, so they all went to a club. Before the date, Vickie told her friend that if she doesn't like Eddie, so can go dance with someone else, but Vickie and Eddie hit it off. Vickie said she even stayed past curfew to spend more time with Eddie, and got her car taken away for it, but she said it was worth it

When did you first meet Vickie?

What's interesting is, Vickie wasn't a wrestling fan growing up. In fact, she hated wrestling, but her brothers were big wrestling fans. However, Vickie's Grandfather knew the Guerrero family, because he actually made Gory Guerrero's boots for him. Gory was Eddie's father.

Amazingly, Vickie and Eddie used to play in the playpen together when they were both 1 or 2 years old in her Grandfather's shop

Pretty amazing coincidence there.

Vickie & Eddie were married on April 24th, 1990. They have 2 daughters, Shaul Marie & Sherilyn Amber. 

Shaul got into the business and wrestled as Raquel Diaz, in FCW winning the FCW Divas title, she was the longest reigning Divas champion. She later joined NXT before leaving the company in 2014.

Vickie said she left because she hurt her neck. She decided to go to school to become a vet. On February 17, 2018, Guerrero made her return to professional wrestling as a commentator at the Reality of Wrestling event, Ladies Night Out. In September, Guerrero signed a contract with Women of Wrestling to work as ring announcer. 

Did her and the kids ever travel with Eddie when he was in WWE?

When Eddie and Rey Mysterio were doing an angle about if Eddie was Rey's son, Dominic's real father, Vickie and their daughters appeared on TV. Talk about how that came to be.

Vickie made her debut with Eddie & Rey when a storyline escalated in which Eddie promised to reveal a secret concerning Mysterio's son, Dominick. Vickie was on the July 14th Smackdown with two of Eddie's three daughters to stop Eddie from revealing Mysterio's secret. Eddie promised not to reveal the secret should he lose to Mysterio at The Great American Bash, however Eddie revealed that Dominick was really his (kayfabe) biological son.

When Vickie appeared on TV for the first time during the Dominic angle with Rey Mysterio, she said that Vince first approached her about doing it. Vickie said that she didn't take it too seriously at first, but each week their roles became more, and Vickie & Eddie's daughters loved it and did great in their roles. For example, when Vince would tell them that I need you to cry when I tell you to, they'd start crying right there for him during rehearsals.

What's your memories of their first appearances on TV at the time and how did Eddie feel about them being involved?

Vickie later reappeared at SummerSlam to convince Eddie to put a stop his feud with Rey and not to go through with the "Custody of Dominick" ladder match that night. When that failed, she cost him the match by pushing over the ladder he was on as he was about to win. 

After that she held down Eddie on the ground afterwards so he couldn't get up and attack Mysterio.

How was her performance that night received by everyone backstage?

Sadly, Eddie Guerrero passed away on November 13th, 2005 in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota of heart failure.

I'm sure we'll talk more about Eddie on future shows. But, talk about your memories of that tragic day 

Vickie said that Eddie had no idea that he had heart problems. In fact, the day before he passed away, he ran 4 miles

After Eddie passed, Vickie said she didn't know what to do next. They had just bought a house in Phoenix, Arizona and they were only there about 2 months when he passed away. Vickie said his passing was a shock, and she didn't really grasp it until a few months later. 

As mentioned in the Chris Benoit Dark Side of the Ring documentary, Nancy Benoit stayed with Vickie and helped her take care of the kids

Did you ever speak with Vickie after Eddie passed?

When Eddie was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006, Vickie said it was emotional, scary, sad. She said having her daughters on stage with her was very comforting. She said it was an opportunity to tell the fans that Eddie loved them and it was a great night because she got to see everyone again.

What's your memories of Eddie's induction that night and did you get to talk to Vickie that night?

Eddie's long time friend, Rey Mysterio won the World Title at WrestleMania 22 by winning a triple threat match over Kurt Angle and Randy Orton.

In the weeks leading up to that match, they used Eddie's name a lot to further the feud, including having Randy say some very desparging things about Eddie.

Vickie has said that them using Eddie's name in the storyline didn't bother her because in short, she was able to separate the business from real life in other words. What was your feelings on them using Eddie to build that angle?

Vickie said that around May or June of 2006 John Laurinitis contacted her about making some appearances to get involved in the Chavo Guerrero & Rey Mysterio feud. Vickie agreed, but told him it'd only be for 1 or 2 shows because of her kids

When do you remember the idea being brought up about having Vickie appear in that storyline and how was her name brought up?

Vickie said after she made the initial appearance, they kept calling her back and Johnny joked with her, maybe you should get a nanny and told her that they wanted to keep her longer. By October, she had a contract with WWE.

She first got involved on TV during a feud between Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero when Chavo accused Mysterio of being "nothing but a leech living off the blood of the Guerrero name" on the August 4th Smackdown. She later acted as peacemaker between the two until she seemingly inadvertently interfered in their match at SummerSlam in 2006, costing Mysterio the match.

Vickie later openly sided with Chavo and hit Mysterio in the back with a chair on the following Smackdown, turning heel in the process. On the September 1st Smackdown,Vickie declared herself Chavo's business manager and Mysterio an "insignificant chapter" in her past. At No Mercy, Chavo lost to Mysterio in a Falls Count Anywhere match. On October 20th Smackdown, Rey lost an "I Quit" match against Chavo after interference from Vickie. 

Vickie said getting into the business at the time helped her heal mentally from Eddie's passing because the WWE was like her second family and she got to bring her girls with her sometimes. She said when she was in the ring, she could see Eddie laying on the ropes, diagonally and she always felt him near her.

Talk about Vickie's early days in the company as a regular talent. How did everyone treat her? Did Vince feel it was the right thing to do, to bring her in after Eddie's passing?

It was tough for Vickie at first, doing promos. She said after one of her first times doing one and when she came back, Dusty Rhodes was standing at Gorilla and put his arm around her and said, sweetheart, you suck out there. He told her it's going to take some time, but he comforted her & let her know that she's going to get better. Vickie said that Dusty was always with her, and helping & coaching her

She said the best advice that Dusty gave her about promos is speak how she wants to speak, not how the writers say. Don't be afraid to change things up because if you're not feeling it, you won't believe it 

Did Vickie ever talk to you about any struggles that she was feeling?

Vickie said that everyone liked her and the first 3 months or so was great but she felt that there was some jealousy and resentment when she stayed longer and she felt that she had to prove herself and she felt that she proved a lot of people wrong

Do you recall anyone having any bad feelings towards her or anything of that nature in her first few months there?

Vickie said that she respected Stephanie as her boss, but she had no relationship with Triple H. She said that she felt it was personal and she always felt closer to Vince than Hunter

Were you aware of any issues that Triple H might've had with Vickie or even Eddie that he might've carried over to Vickie?

Vickie said that Vince was always a big help to her. She said that he'd always come to her and put his arm around her to talk and she said then she knew it'd be something bad, but she always wanted to make the best out of whatever they wanted her to do. She said that Vince was a father figure to her

Vickie said that she loved her character, being a heel, slapping at people. Whose idea was it to take her character in that direction and why was that decided? Did she have any input on it?

On October 27th 2006, Chris Benoit became involved in the storyline. He tried to figure out what Vickie was doing with Eddie's estate while also defending the United States Championship in a rivalry with Chavo.

At Survivor Series, Chavo kicked out of an attempted sharpshooter, causing Benoit to knock Vickie off the ring apron and on her head, causing her to begin to wear a neck brace and blame Benoit for intentionally hitting her.

At the end of December, she interfered in a United States Championship match between Chavo and Benoit, which caused Chavo to lose and Benoit to retain the title. As a result, Chavo shouted "If you wanted me to win the title, then stop getting me disqualified," before pushing Vickie over 

Vickie said that she loved taking bumps and was very excited when they let her take her first few. Vickie said it Vince's idea for her to start doing them and she said that it made her feel more apart of the team

In May 2007, Kristal, the on-screen girlfriend of General Manager Teddy Long, convinced him to give Guerrero an interview for the position as his assistant. A week after the interview, Vickie was given the job, turning face.

Vickie said that she hated being a face, but she loved working with Teddy. She said that they played off each other great and they got along great. You go back with Teddy to your NWA days together. We don't often get to talk about him. Any memories or stories about him that you'd like to share?

On the June 29th Smackdown, Vickie acted as interim general manager of Smackdown while Long was planning his wedding with Kristal. She was soon named the maid of honor at Long and Kristal's "wedding". On the September 21st Smackdown, Long suffered a kayfabe heart attack during his wedding to Kristal before they had legally wed.

The following week, Vince McMahon named Vickie the new General Manager.On the November 23rd Smackdown, she "punished" Edge for his interference in the championship match at the Survivor Series by making him the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, before revealing that she 

had begun a romantic relationship with him and had facilitated his "plan" to regain the belt. As a result, Vickie turned heel once again. 

Later in the night, as she stood alone in the ring, after watching Edge be attacked by Batista, The Undertaker appeared and performed a Tombstone Piledriver on Vickie.

Vickie said that she was honored to take the tombstone and Undertaker was great to work with. She said that he took care of her. Told her to wear pants and that he would pick her up and turn her how he needed her to be for the tombstone. She had a lot of fun doing it

After being off-air for several weeks, she returned on December 14 in  wheelchair, making biased matches in favor of Edge which led to him winning the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon. 

The excuse me line that became Vickie's catchphrase of sort actually happened by accident. It was during the time when she was doing the angle where she was in a wheelchair and she had a big promo that she had to do, but she forgot her lines. Vickie said fans were yelling to her that they knew she forget her lines

She said when the fans started to get more rowdy, she said excuse me and they reacted to it and it helped her refocus and she got through the promo. But the writers noticed and suggested that she say it again the next night and it just went from there

It's amazing how many things over the years in wrestling that became popular happened organically, without being written by a writer

In early 2008, she formed La Familia with her nephew Chavo, Edge, the team of Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, and later, Bam Neely. 

One of her first acts as part of the new group was to help Chavo win the ECW Championship from CM Punk. At the Royal Rumble, Vickie interfered in the World Heavyweight Championship match between Edge and Rey Mysterio, allowing Edge to retain his title.

On the following Smackdown, Edge proposed to Vickie, who accepted, but the event was interrupted by Mysterio. After Vickie had helped Edge to retain his championship for almost 4 months, he eventually dropped the title to The Undertaker. This started a feud between Edge and the Undertaker, with Vickie giving Edge numerous title opportunities and placing The Undertaker in difficult matches. 

Why was the decision made to make Vickie and Edge and on-screen couple? Vickie said she enjoyed working with Edge

On the May 2nd Smackdown, she stripped The Undertaker of his championship after deciding that his new gogoplata (called Hell's Gate) submission hold was too dangerous and made a match between The Undertaker and Edge for the vacant title with the stipulation that Undertaker would be banished from WWE if he lost. Following interference, Edge won the match and Vickie 'banished' Undertaker.

However, Edge lost his title shortly afterwards to CM Punk. On the July 4th Smackdown Edge took his frustrations for losing the World Heavyweight Championship out on Vickie by telling her the wedding was off. The next week, however, Edge re-proposed to Vickie after Smackdown had gone off the air 

On July 18th, at the wedding reception (the wedding had occurred off-screen before the show) Triple H came out and showed a video of Edge cheating on Vickie the day before with Alicia Fox, the wedding planner. 

The storyline continued at The Great American Bash when Fox attempted to hand Edge the WWE Championship belt to use as weapon, but was stopped with a clothesline by Vickie. Edge attempted to spear the referee to delay the match, but hit Vickie instead. Triple H used this distraction to recover and hit a Pedigree to retain his title. On the July 25th Smackdown, Edge attempted to get Vickie to forgive him, but instead she announced the reinstatement of The Undertaker, whom Edge would face at SummerSlam in a Hell in a Cell match, turning her into a fan favorite for the first time since 2006.

A few weeks later, as revenge, Edge attacked the members of La Familia and tipped Vickie from her wheelchair. The Undertaker refused to accept her apology for his banishment, but Vickie stated that she was not afraid of him. She also stated that at Unforgiven, she would force him to apologize to her, but at Unforgiven when The Undertaker did not comply, the Big Show knocked him out and Vickie spat in his face, turning heel once again.

Big Show then aligned himself with Vickie. After Undertaker attacked Chavo, Vickie pleaded with Undertaker for forgiveness for her actions. Undertaker, however, once again hit her with a Tombstone Piledriver, forcing Vickie to rely on both a neckbrace and a wheelchair again. Over the following weeks, Vickie put the Undertaker in matches against the Big Show that seemed impossible for him to win. The feud ended after Big Show lost to Undertaker in a casket match. 

At Survivor Series, during a match for the WWE Championship between the champion Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov, Vickie came out to the arena making the announcement that "he's here". Edge's music was played and he came out  making it a triple threat match. At the end, he won the championship, and as he went to the back, he greeted Vickie with a hug. On the December 5th Smackdown, they kissed, thus reinstating their on-screen relationship. On the December 8th Raw, Vickie and Edge won a Slammy Award for the Couple of the Year. 

On February 23rd, 2009, she was appointed the interim General Manager of Raw during Stephanie McMahon's absence. On the following Raw, Guerrero announced that Edge would be facing Big Show for his World Heavyweight 

Championship at WrestleMania 25 On the March 9th Raw, John Cena showed footage of Vickie cheating on Edge with Big Show after Guerrero had added Cena to the World Heavyweight Title match through blackmail of revealing the secret affair, making it a triple threat in the process.

Vickie and Show then started a brief romance including where they kissed in the back and she slapped his ass, which was unplanned and Vickie said that Vince said that's some good shit, Guerrero

On the April 6th Raw, Guerrero was given the choice of either being General Manager of Raw or Smackdown. She then announced that she would move to Raw in order to become its new General Manager, subsequently resulting in her being separated from Edge.

After being insulted for a few weeks because of her weight by Santino Marella, Vickie, with help from William Regal, won the "Miss WrestleMania" crown from Santina Marella, Santino's "twin sister", in a No DQ match sanctioned by Chavo on the May 18th Raw

At the Extreme Rules ppv Vickie lost her "Miss WrestleMania" title to Santina in a hogpen match with Chavo by her side. The following night on Raw, Vickie announced her resignation as Raw's General Manager. After her announcement, Edge came out and told Vickie that he was sorry for saying disrespectful things about her, only to reveal that he only married her so she could help him in World Championship matches, and now that she quit, she was useless to him in his endeavors to become the champion again. He then told Vickie that he wanted a divorce, leading to her suffering from a nervous breakdown. 

That was just done to write Vickie off of TV because she had decided to leave WWE.

She decided to leave WWE because her girls were in high school and she was missing a lot of their growing up. 

When she left, she had no intention of coming back. But after about 3 months, she called Johnny and told him how much she missed being in the company and he told her to come back

Vickie returned to WWE on the Smackdown 10th Anniversary special episode on October 2, with a new look, where she cut her hair & she introduced her storyline boyfriend, then-heel, Eric Escobar, who she would be managing on the SmackDown brand.

Around this time, she started the cougar gimmick where she was after younger guys

On the November 20th Smackdown Vickie was named as a Smackdown consultant by Vince McMahon.

Escobar wasn't in the company very long and was released shortly after the storyline with Vickie started. Why was he released?

Vicki began involving herself in the rivalry between Women's Champion Mickie James and Michelle McCool and Layla, taking the sides of Team LayCool after Mickie accidentally doused her with cottage cheese on the February 12th Smackdown

On the February 26th Smackdown Vickie was the special guest referee for a title match between James and McCool, ultimately costing James the title after slapping her. Two weeks later she got involved in a match between Women's Champion Michelle McCool and Tiffany causing Tiffany to win the match by DQ. After the match, McCool and Layla began to beat down Tiffany until Beth Phoenix made the save, in the process delivering a clothesline to Vickie. 

Two weeks later Guerrerro appeared in a 5-on-1 handicap match with Alicia Fox, Maryse and Team LayCool against Beth Phoenix. Guerrero mainly hid behind Alicia Fox, Maryse, and Team LayCool, letting her partners do the dirty work until Phoenix was weakened and Guerrero made the pin, winning the match.

At WrestleMania 26 Guerrero's team won a 10-woman tag team match when she climbed the turnbuckle and gestured to the sky before connecting a frog splash, as tribute to Eddie.

On the May 10th Raw, Guerrero was named the permanent general manager of the Raw brand for the second time, but then resigned on the same night after being intimidated by Randy Orton. Although not the general manager, she returned to SmackDown as the Consultant on the May 14th episode

In June she began a romance storyline with Dolph Ziggler and began accompanying him to the ring. On the August 31st NXT, it was announced that Vickie would be the storyline mentor of Aloisia for the all-female 3rd season. However, due to circumstances, Aloisia was sent to FCW, which was WWE's developmental system and was later released. 

Vickie was assigned a new rookie on the show, Kaitlyn whom she began feuding with. On October 5th, she was defeated by Kaitlyn in a rookie versus pro match. Kaitlyn was caught backstage kissing, Ziggler. Kaitlyn went on to win NXT and later joined SmackDown 

In January 2011, she became the acting General Manager of SmackDown after Theodore Long was found unconscious backstage. At the Royal Rumble, Kelly Kelly attacked Vickie during Ziggler's match with Edge. 

On the February 4th Smackdown Ziggler and LayCool lost to Edge and Kelly in a two-on-three handicapped mix tag match for the World Heavyweight Championship. 

Afterwards, Vickie fired Kelly, and announced a championship match between Edge and Ziggler, with her serving as the special guest referee of the match. The following week, while officiating the match, she attempted to spear Edge but injured her ankle as part of the storyline. While she was down, Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers replaced her as referee, and Edge went on to win the match. 

The next week, on Smackdown's 600th episode, she stripped Edge of the title and fired him. Later that night, there was a coronation for Ziggler as World Heavyweight Champion. However, the returning Theodore Long revealed that he was once again in charge and that Vickie and Ziggler were behind his attack, and making an impromptu match between Ziggler and a reinstated Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which Edge won. 

After the match, Long fired Ziggler. On the February 25th Smackdown, Long announced that a match would take place with Edge and Kelly Kelly facing Vickie and Drew McIntyre. Vickie lost the match, and was then fired from her consultant role by Long 

On the March 7th Raw, Guerrero and Ziggler made their return to the brand, with Vickie managing him in a singles match defeating John Morrison. After the match, the anonymous Raw General Manager informed Vickie that Ziggler had been hired, but they did not hire her yet. The general manager then continued by issuing a match between her and Trish Stratus for the following week, with the stipulation being if Vickie wins, she would be hired.

What did you think of the anonymous Raw GM angle? Whose idea was that?

The following week, Vickie defeated Trish in a No DQ match with the help of Team LayCool. Afterwards, Guerrero challenged Stratus, Morrison, and that week's Raw's guest star Snooki, who had slapped Guerrero earlier in the night, to a six-person mixed tag team match against LayCool and Ziggler at WrestleMania 27, which they accepted.

On the March 21st Raw, Guerrero, LayCool, and Ziggler lost to Stratus and Morrison in a 4-on-2 handicap match. At WrestleMania 27, Vickie's team of LayCool and Ziggler were defeated by Snooki, Stratus, and Morrison. The night after WrestleMania, on Raw, Vickie and Ziggler were defeated by Stratus and Morrison 

Vickie said that Snooki slapped her and at WrestleMania, Vickie was supposed to slap her back, but Snooki backed out of it and Vickie was very upset about that

After showing "evidence" to the WWE Board of Directors of AJ Lee fraternizing with a WWE wrestler, which was later revealed to be John Cena, AJ was asked to resign. On the October 22nd Raw, Mr. McMahon announced Guerrero as the new Raw Managing Supervisor. 

On the December 10th Raw, Guerrero defeated AJ with help from Brad Maddox, who was the special referee for the match. At the TLC ppv, Guerrero tried to help Dolph Ziggler in his ladder match against Cena, until she was attacked by AJ, who betrayed Cena and helped Ziggler win. The following night on Raw, Guerrero teamed with Cena to defeat Ziggler and AJ by DQ due to interference from Big E 

On the February 18th, 2013, Raw GM Vickie named Brad Maddox as her assistant, where Maddox came up with the name of Team Brickie. In mid-2013, Vickie entered a storyline where Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H pressured her to increase the level of her authority. 

On the July 8th Raw, after undergoing a job evaluation, the fans did not vote in Vickie's favor, resulting in her getting fired by Stephanie McMahon. Vince McMahon tried to console her afterwards, and appointed her assistant, Brad Maddox, as the new General Manager. 

On the July 19th Smackdown, Vince McMahon hired Guerrero as the new General Manager of SmackDown. Guerrero told the fans she hated each and every one of them, blaming them for her getting fired as Managing Supervisor of Raw. In addition to this, when Maddox congratulated her, Guerrero slapped him

On the November 18th Raw, Stephanie McMahon forced Guerrero to compete in a match against the Divas Champion AJ Lee, which she lost. On the March 24th Raw, after hearing insulting comments from AJ towards her, Guerrero forced AJ to defend her Divas Championship in a 14-woman "Vickie Guerrero Invitational" at WrestleMania 30.

On the June 16th Raw, Roman Reigns tried to convince Vickie to put him into the battle royal for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at Money In The Bank, Vickie refused, because The Authority wouldn't allow him in it. Reigns then spiked the coffee she gave to Stephanie McMahon, causing Stephanie to throw up on Vickie.

Vickie later gave Reigns a chance in the battle royal, which he won. On the June 23rd Raw, Vickie lost in a pudding match against Stephanie McMahon with her job on the line, after interference by Alicia Fox, Layla and Rosa Mendes. 

Vickie ultimately lost the match and was fired, however she got to throw Stephanie into the mud pool and mouthed, "I love you"; a tribute to Eddie, and did his signature dance while leaving the arena.

Vickie said that she didn't know Stephanie was going to do that. Vickie said she was honored by it and thanked her afterwards.

During the last 3 years of her tenure in WWE, Vickie started attending school online. Eventually, she got tired of the traveling and they started not using her often, so she was even doing her homework in the dressing room. And she just decided that it was time to move on. 

On the July 4th, 2016 Raw Vickie returned to WWE as a heel, announcing her intentions to become the new Smackdown General Manager after the WWE Brand Extension; however, she was escorted out of the arena by two security guards.

At the Royal Rumble 2018, Vickie made a surprise entrance at number 16 during the first women's Royal Rumble match, in which she was eliminated by Becky Lynch, Michelle McCool, Ruby Riott, & Sasha Banks in 57 seconds. Afterwards, she attacked Carmella, who entered at number 17, by hitting her with her Money in the Bank briefcase. 

On the 1000th episode of Smackdown she made an appearance

On December 11, 2019, she appeared as a guest commentator for AEW Dark, Episode 11 that premiered December 17, 2019 on YouTube.

According to Vickie, this appearance caused WWE to "cut her off"

How did that get arranged for her to be on that show and what did you hear about WWE's reaction to her appearance?

Do you think Vickie should be in the WWE Hall of Fame?