It was in WCW that Juventud Guerrera - along with fellow stars such as Rey Mysterio Jr. and Psychosis (a.k.a. Nicho El Millianario)- solidified his reputation as being one of the pioneers of the lucha libre revolution that was at that time taking over America, and in fact is still quite popular to this day. He was among the hottest stars that the WCW cruiserweight division had to offer. His style was that which you could get from only a handful of others. Not only was he a stupendous high-flyer and a relatively sound technical wrestler, but Juvi (as he's often referred to, for short) had charisma to boot. A number of times on WCW television he was seen cutting hilarious promos where he'd mock The Rock. Juvi was one of the most exciting talents that was featured by WCW in the late '90's, the promotion's most successful era of all.

At the same time that he was electrifying crowds with his aerial antics, Juvi's world began to come crashing down right on top of him, however. On the night of Wednesday, April 28, 1999, Juvi and fellow-WCW wrestler Jerry Flynn were driving (Juvi was at the wheel) in Pennsylvania when Juvi refused to obey a cop's orders and pull over his vehicle, instead opting to drive straight through several stop signs. He eventually got out of the car and started fleeing the scene, only to be arrested at gunpoint. Alcohol was found to be present in his system, and after being charged with drunken driving, Juviwas released at $10,000 unsecured bail.

A year and a half later in October of the following year, Juvi was involved in another legal incident, only this one cost him his WCW job. In Brisbane, Australia at the Marriot Hotel in which he was staying for a WCW tour, a nude Juvi began shouting obscenities, throwing chairs around, and violently shaking his arms and legs, including at other people. A number of WCW wrestlers were unsuccessful in their attempts to restrain him and it eventually took six police officers to subdue him via the use of capsicum spray (similar to pepper spray).

During the melee, Juvi punched a female officer, breaking her ribs and requiring her to undergo hospitaliziation. Two green ecstasy tablets were later found in his possession, and it was learned that he had accepted drugs the previous night at a party that several WCW wrestlers attended. He pleaded guilty to all six of the charges (a total of six counts), including - but not limited to - assaulting a police officer, willfull exposure, and possession of illegal narcotics. Shortly after being fined close to $1,800 and being sent home from the tour without pay, WCW fired Juvi. It was an unexpected and greatly embarassing period for the guy who had previously been regarded as one of the most exciting stars in wrestling.

Following his release from WCW, Juvi hit the independent circuits and worked on shows in the U.S., Australia (ironically), Japan, and his home country, Mexico. His first major appearance after leaving WCW came in November, for Rob Black's California-based Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW, for short). Juvi continued to work for XPW until its demise in early 2003. In 2001 and 2002, he - when not working in for EMLL, AAA, and other companies in Mexico - toured Japan for Pro Wresting NOAH and got involved with upstart promotions such as Andrew McManus' upstart Wold Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) and Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart's Xtreme Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotions.

On the 12/20/00 UPW show, Juvi had a great, "no-frills wrestling match" - as Dave Meltzer (who saw it live) called it the next day - with Mikey Henderson. Many others at the event called it the best match of the night. Meltzer cited that Juvi "didn't do any high risk stuff, but the way he moves and works is world-class. I seriously doubt there are more than a handful of wrestlers in his league inside the ring." However, three months later on February 26, 2001, he was in a tag team match in the main event of an EMLL show and put forth a pitiful performance. According to a results post by Meltzer on WrestlingObserver.com, newspaper reports in Mexico the day following the show stated that Juvi was in no condition to compete and that it was sad to see the rest of the match's participants (including world renowned tag team Los Guerreros del Infiernos, comprised of Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero) risking their health while trying to work with him in the condition he was in.

Half a month later on March 17, Juvi no-showed an EMLL show in Mexico City that he was scheduled to compete on. Although he had what was said to be a solid match against long-time rival Rey Misterio Jr. on an April 6 show in Mexico, he arrived late to the venue for his scheduled participation in the first annual Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) "Best of the Best" Junior Heavyweight Tournament on May 19. As a result, CZW scheduled one of their homegrown wrestlers to replace him in the first round, and then had him job to Trent Acid in the second round (the quarterfinals). That match - although it wasn't horrible - showcased Juvi pretty much walking through the motions and not putting all that much effort in, a tendency that he'd continue to display over the next couple of years.

Then, on May 30, his workrate (or lack thereof) really started to catch up with him. He faced independent sensation Super Dragon on a UPW show in California. The match itself - well - it really exemplified the lack of effort Juvi had been putting in to most of his U.S. matches over the past year and a half or more. Juvi won the bout with his signature Juvi Driver (Michinoku Driver II [Sitout Head Drop Bodyslam]), but according to a May 2002 interview that Nate Hiatt conducted with Dragon, "The Juice" just walked through the motions and was very stubborn when it came to allowing Dragon any significant offense.

Dragon - for all intensive purposes - seemed to say what was on the mind of everybody who had seen Juvi work as of late...and not just fans, but workers, too, who were frustrated by his unwillingness to work at a level everyone knew that he was capable of. Dragon said that "Juventud is just lazy now," and that "He really didn't want to let me do anything" in the UPW match they had. "If he had it his way, I would stand in the middle of the ring and he would spit on me from a lawn chair while drinking lemonade." According to Dragon, that "idea may have come better" than the match they actually had. He also said that he was talking to Yung Yang (now Jimmy Yang in WWE) after the show and that Yang told him that "he had the same problems with Juvi" during their matches with one another in WCW.

Dragon even went as far as to say that that match "was probably the worst match I had all last year," and quite frankly, that's saying something. 2001 saw Dragon win SoCalUncensored.com's So-Cal Wrestler of the Year award for his stupendous matches with the likes of fellow indy stars Ultra Taro Jr. (a.k.a. TARO), Rising Son, B-Boy, Mr. Excitement, and others. Dragon cited how Juvi "ducked all my offense, and anytime I said I wanted to do anything, he told me he had to 'look strong to the people,'" even though he was going to be "winning (the match)." Then, came the exclamation point. Dragon stated: "When I started wrestling, he (Juvi) was one of the people I respected most in wrestling. I thought he was an incredible talent, and if I got to wrestle him three years ago it would have been an honor. Now, it was a big disappointment."

Then, in August, reports surfaced that Juvi was frustrated about the fact that he wasn't getting as many main event spots on shows in Mexico as he'd like to. Apparently, he expected to get some more attention upon returning to his native country, based on the publicity he had received while in WCW. As time progressed, a trend in Juvi's work began to show itself. He worked considerably hard in his matches in Mexico, but most of his other matches - including the many ones he had vs. Psichosis in Australia's World Wrestling All-Stars promotion - showcased a great deal less effort than what everyone knew he was capable of. There were a few exceptions, such as his tag team match (he teamed with Tommy Drake) against Mike Modest & Donovan Morgan on the debut Pro Wrestling Iron show in California on May 31, 2001 (Modest told me an interview I conducted with him in February 2003 that he thought that match "was one of the best (matches) of the night."). However, with most of his other matches in the states, Juvi just walked through the motions.

His matches in XPW represented it a mixed bag when it came to his workrate. Some nights, he worked very hard, while others saw him put in minimal effort. Save for a couple of exceptions, though, (such as his February 24, 2001 match vs. Kid Kaos) most of his matches from his first year in XPW displayed a considerable lack of effort on Juvi's part. One of his best friends, fellow luchadore Rey Mysterio Jr., echoed a similar sentiment in a May 2001 interview with Bill Apter for W.O.W. (World Of Wrestling) Magazine, when asked about which cruiserweights he'd like to see imported to WCW to work with: "I would efniitely bring back Psychosis and Juventud. They have a lot of potential. Right now where they're at, wrestling in California's Xtreme Pro Wrestling and for organizations in Mexico, they don't give it all they got. If they came back here (to WCW), they'd come back really hyped and ready to go."

In all honesty, while neither was working to his full potential, it's generally agreed upon by fans who've seen each wrestlers' matches in XPW that - while neither worked as hard as they could - Psychosis was consistently putting in more effort than his counterpart, Juvi. Even when these two nearly decade long rivals squared off in XPW in October 2001, they took it realtively easy. Granted, it was better than most of the matches they had previously had in XPW, but it was still lackluster. The same thing went for Juvi's match vs. fellow luchadore Mosco de la Merced in February of the next year. It was good, but clearly not worked by Juvi to his full ability.

When XPW began running on the East Coast (primarily at Viking Hall in Philadelphia) in August 2002, Juvi's effort really started to pick up.

Juventud Guerrera was said to be unhappy with the order of elimination in the Team Canada vs. Team Mexico bout to air next week (like 3/10).  Without giving away too much of the finish, the angle is that Team Mexico loses their captain first and must overcome this to win.  Juvi apparently didn't want to be the first one out and tried unsuccessfully to get it changed.

Juvi pulled out of his spot in the 2002 IWA Mid-South Ted Petty Invitational Tournament.

2/1/2003 2:09:00 PM

Show: Smackdown

Taped date: 9/24/02

Opponent: Shannon Moore

All that I heard about it is that as soon as the match started, he stared wrestling double speed and hit all of his signatures as soon as he could in the time limit that the two guys had to work with.

Date: September 24, 2002
Opponent: Shannon Moore

From the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (C&P to Lords of Pain):

"Juventud Guerrera was given a try-out at this week past SmackDown! tapings where he wrestled Shannon Moore. Before his match agents told him to slow down his style and not try lots of high spots. Straight after this his match began and reports say he went double speed and tried all his signature spots. This is said to of angered many in managment and harmed his chances of getting a WWE contract as not only did he not wrestle WWE style but he also went against WWE's requests."

New Breed Wrestling last night in St. Petersburg, FL before 125 fans: Special Ed b Mark Zout, Lex Lovett b Shedrick Strong & Roderick Strong in three-way, New Heavenly Bodies b Snow & ?, Agent Steele b Pat Powers, Barry Horowitz b Scott Davis, Juventud Guerrera won five-way elimination match over Kamikaze, Kid Romeo, Nephtali and Justice. Romeo and Guerrera looked great. Rumor has it Guerrera got $1,000, and considering trans and $15 tickets and what the attendance was, that was a tough night for the promoters. (thanks to Len Thomas) 4/21/2002 1:17:00 PM \

Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Juventud Guerrera earlier today in Nagoya to win the GHC jr. tournament and become the first champion. In a tag match in the main, Jun Akiyama pinned Mitsuharu Misawa with an an offshoot of his exploder finisher to set up Misawa vs. Akiyama as the main event at Budokan Hall on 7/27 on the company's first anniversary show and biggest show in its history.

6/24/2001 1:14:00 PM

From the Observer edition from the 4/2/04

Juventud Guerrera was attacked in the locker room in Mexico by Abismo Negro due to his comments backstage at TNA. If you remember, Juventud complained that he should not be eliminated early in the 8 man match because no one cared about the others. Garza and Aguila know English but Abismo does not know English so well. He did not find out what Guerrera said until they were back in Mexico. Many people stood around and watched not coming to Guerrera's aid. Due to recent rave reviews about his matches, Juventud has once again gotten a big ego.