Hollywood Has Significant Interest in Wrestling Biopic About Eddie Guerrero’s Family

The forbidden door between professional wrestling and Hollywood has been opened. A24’s The Iron Claw hit theaters this past December to critical acclaim, with many expecting the tale of the Von Erichs to rack up a number of nominations come awards season. Bringing this squared circle story to the big screen reignited conversation about other professional wrestling stories that would warrant the biopic treatment. While some studios have flirted with the idea of doing projects like these, with Netflix notably developing stories centered around Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan, few have been eager to pull the trigger as much as A24 was with The Iron Claw.

Beyond that, The Iron Claw had talent involved that are eager themselves to tell more wrestling stories.

Guerrero Family Biopic Following in The Iron Claw’s Footsteps?

Viva la raza.

Speaking to Shakiel Mahjouri for CBS Sports, The Iron Claw star and stunt coordinator Chavo Guerrero Jr. revealed that he has been “approached” to do a Hollywood project centered around his legendary wrestling pedigree.

“With the success that I believe this movie will have, and telling the story of the Von Erich family, I think there is definitely an avenue to do a movie or documentary or series on the Guerrero family,” Chavo said. “I’ve been approached about it a lot.”

The Guerreros are a three-generation wrestling family. The lineage began with Gory Guerrero, a pioneer of Mexican Lucha Libre and the inventor of the Camel Clutch submission maneuver. Gory had three brothers-in-law that all also wrestled.

Gory and his wife Herlinda had six children together, and their four boys, Chavo Sr., Mando, Héctor and Eddie, all pursued professional wrestling. Eddie emerged as the most famous of all the Guerreros, ascending the ranks in WCW before becoming a main-event talent in WWE. The Guerrero family has two third-generation stars, those being the aforementioned Chavo Jr. and Shaul. 

While there is room to tell stories about the entire Guerrero family, most fans clamor the loudest for the possible project to be centered around Eddie. Like the Von Erichs, Eddie’s story is one of both triumph and tragedy, as he was able to overcome addiction for a period of time and eventually win the WWE Championship, but passed away from a drug overdose in the prime of his career. Eddie is still celebrated today, with many current wrestlers citing Latino Heat as inspiration for their in-ring style.

The Iron Claw is now in theaters.