René Guajardo

Manuel Guajardo Mejorado
Birth name	Manuel Guajardo Mejorado
Born	(1933-01-04)January 4, 1933
Died	May 11, 1992(1992-05-11) (aged 59)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	René Guajardo Indio Guajardo
Billed height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Billed weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Trained by	Gerardo Rodríguez Pérez (Zandor wrestler), Chema López Rolando Vera
Debut	October 8, 1954

Manuel Guajardo Mejorado (January 4, 1933 – May 11, 1992), better known as René Guajardo, was a

professional wrestler

.

Professional wrestling career

René Guajardo was born in

During the 60s, Ray Mendoza, Lagarde and Guajardo formed an alliance both inside and outside of the ring. In the ring, they competed alongside one another, outside of it, they were top negotiators. The pressure the three wrestlers placed on EMLL helped improve the conditions of other wrestlers working for that promotion. Guajardo and Lagarde's team, now known as "Los Rebeldes" (The Rebels), became National Tag Team champions in 1962. Guajardo, Lagarde and Mendoza would often team with one another, so when Lagarde and Mendoza were competing as a team, Guajardo would align himself with Rolando Vera and Benny Galán. On June 22, 1967, Guajardo achieved one of the greatest victories of his wrestling career when he defeated El Santo for the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, a title which Santo held for four years. Guajardo held the title for a few months until he lost it on March 9, 1968 to Alberto Muñoz. Guajardo regained the title on November 20, 1969, then lost it for the final time on May 13, 1970. In 1967, the Rebeldes team split up violently and both men started a long feud that culminated in their famous 1968 singles bout which saw Guajardo emerge victoriously.

When the famous EMLL split came in 1974, Guajardo, Mendoza and Lagarde played an instrumental role in the newly formed Universal Wrestling Association. On November 26, 1975, Guajardo became the first ever UWA World Middleweight Championship by defeating Anibal in Mexico City. He would later lose the title then regain it on October 31, 1976 from Gran Hamada, and finally lose it again on October 2, 1977 to Anibal.

Guajardo also began promoting "La Division del Norte" (The Northern Division) which was based in Monterrey and Nuevo León. His promotion company was very successful as it featured a less traditional style of wrestling that included a lot of ringside brawling and the use of bottles, chairs and illegal objects to "spice up" the matches. Guajardo competed sporadically until 1982 when he quietly retired from the ring.

During his career, Guajardo won several wager matches against famous wrestlers, such as Halcon de Oro, Ray Mendoza,

• Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre

• 2 times
  )
• 1 time) - with Karloff Lagarde
• NWA World Middleweight Championship (6 times)

• Universal Wrestling Association

• UWA World Middleweight Championship (2 times)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Luchas de Apuestas record

References