Contrary what many believe, Salvador "Gory" Guerrero was not from Mexico, but was born in Ray, Arizona in 1921. He was, however, trained across the border and made his pro debut in Guadalajara in 1937. From there he became a sensation both in Mexico and the southwestern United States, where he wrestled for several years. He also lived to see his sons become wrestlers, the family name continuing on to this very day. Gory, however, died in El Paso, Texas in 1990.
Though a mainstay in Mexico, Gory was extremely popular in the Arizona, Texas, New Mexico area, where he also ran shows. By the mid 1970's however, following the death of his friend Dory Funk Sr., he went to Juarez and operated promotional efforts entirely south of the border, running wrestling cards in the Alberto Balderas bullring.
Aside from training his sons to wrestler, he started off many others including Zombie Palacio, who was supposedly a "living dead man" long before The Undertaker rose to fame. During the last few years of his life he was also active in the Masonic lodge and selling real estate.
During the 1960s, Gory returned to his native Arizona for a lengthy run, most notably programming with Don Arnold,. who was top heel in the area at the time. They met on numerous occasions at the old Phoenix Madison Square Garden and the old Tucson garden arenas, where their bouts generally erupted into slugfests, ending in double disqualifications. In most of these encounters Gory would be on the verge of winning, only to have Arnold do something sneaky at the last minute to win. One of Arnold's favorite tricks was to pull a roll of dimes out of his trunks, smash his opponent in the jaw with them and gain an illegal win. More than once this happened to Guerrero, which provoked the predominately Hispanic audience to riot pitch. There were times when Arnold could not leave the arena without armed security or had to wait until the stadium cleared out before heading for his car.
During the same time he was feuding with Arnold on the Phoenix circuit, Gory also appeared in Nogales and San Luis Rio Colorado, where he again enjoyed great popularity. Here he was seen in varied main events against the established rulebreakers on the border. Surprisingly, he and Arnold never squared off on the Mexican side of the line and it may have been a good thing as surely, the hated villain would have not left the arena alive.
Guerrero likewise had some hectic matches with Chuck Karbo, a plodding, snarling lumberjack-looking man with a nasty buzz cut and even nastier disposition. Like Arnold, Karbo was a hated white heel, usually pitted against popular Mexican grapplers such as Tito Montez, Luis Martinez, and Pancho Pico. It was only natural for him to face Guerrero as well. Unlike Arnold, however, he usually came out on the losing end to the popular Gory.
