Shaul Guerrero Discusses Attempted WWE Return

Shaul Guerrero, daughter of late WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero, looked back on her short WWE stint. Wrestling under the name Raquel Diaz, Guerrero sought to continue her father's legacy in WWE starting in Florida Championship Wrestling and later "WWE NXT." However, in September 2012 she was granted a leave of absence to attend the University of Houston, returning to developmental in 2013 but was finally released in April 2014.

"I was trying my hardest," she recalled during an interview with "Developmentally Speaking," "I think the values they held with what they wanted from somebody who's female presenting the company, they were not aligned. Those values with my recovery were not aligned, and I needed a longer break so I took a year off."

Guerrero said that she thought – at first – that she couldn't return to the company, but after speaking to John Laurinaitis she was brought back to the Performance Center, "So I packed my bags and I drove from Houston to Florida and we tried again. At that time I was at the WWE Performance Center and I was like, 'This is nice!' like, 'This is different.' Even though that next time still didn't work out like as far as neck injuries, it just wasn't... going. Like, the way I wanted it to go and it wasn't working out. But I happened to meet my husband at the time, and it all worked out in a different way." 

She would meet Matthew Rehwoldt – WWE's Aiden English – during her return to the company, and the pair married in 2016. She later described feeling like a failure by not continuing wrestling, cognizant of the fact that some of her family feel the same way, but said she was happy with her current career as a burlesque and fire artist. "Actually my moniker right before I go out is 'Latina Heat' so it's still a nod to my dad," she gleamed.

Shaul Guerrero went seven years before wrestling after leaving WWE. Participating in the 2020 GCW Cup, she reached the semi-finals only to be eliminated by Queen Aminata. She also appeared in AEW that year to announce the Women's Tag Team Cup. When asked if she had closed the door on returning to wrestling, she said:

"Darling, it's never closed. You know how it goes, people retire at least eight times. However, when it comes to matches and stuff like that, it's got to be the right person, just because I got a jacked up neck." 

She reflected on her neck injuries, reasoning that they may have been a leading reason for her eventual release. After informing WWE that she couldn't perform the duties expected of her as a wrestler, despite telling her it wouldn't be an issue, Guerrero said she was informed of her release. 

"I was like, 'I don't think I can be a wrestler for you but I would love to be an announcer, a commentator...'," she said. "At the time they told me it wasn't going to be a problem. I had a lot to offer in other ways but that week I got let go. So I think as a wrestler it was just that was the only thing they wanted from me."

Guerrero feels that were she return to wrestling, she would like to do either announcing or managerial work, so she can remain involved while not putting her body at risk. But she wouldn't mind the occasional bump.