The Gobbledy Gooker: Wrestling's Most Unusual and Outlandish Persona

My memories of being seven are hazy, but one moment stands out vividly: Thanksgiving Day in 1990 at my Uncle John’s Staten Island home. While the adults enjoyed drinks and laughter in the dining room, I was captivated by the TV, watching legends like Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, and the Legion of Doom. It was the WWF’s Survivor Series pay-per-view, and to me, it was the most thrilling event I’d ever witnessed.

However, that night was also historic for another reason: the introduction of one of wrestling’s most iconic figures, a competitor who would later secure seven WWF (now WWE) Heavyweight Championships and achieve an unmatched streak of 21 consecutive Wrestlemania victories. This figure wasn’t just a man—he was a supernatural entity, a “Phenom,” as WWE commentators would famously describe him.

That day marked the world’s first encounter with the Undertaker.

This tale isn’t about him.

Instead, this story revolves around another debut that night—one so baffling that, even after more than 25 years, fans remain utterly confused.

I’m referring to what is widely regarded as one of wrestling’s most disastrous gimmicks: the Gobbledy Gooker.

WHAT'S INSIDE THE EGG?

Surprisingly, the Gobbledy Gooker was the most eagerly awaited moment of the evening, which only deepens the enigma of how things went so wrong. For those unaware, the Gobbledy Gooker began as an egg, heavily promoted on WWF television broadcasts in the weeks before Survivor Series. The world was promised a reveal of what was inside the egg during the Thanksgiving pay-per-view event.

When Survivor Series aired, the big reveal finally happened. “Mean” Gene Okerlund, the iconic voice of the WWF during the 1980s and early 1990s, heightened the suspense. “Could it be the playmate of the month?” Gene quipped, eliciting cheers from the male audience. “It sounds like the speculation is finally over!” I was on edge. Just crack open already, dammit. Crack!

When the egg finally cracked open, the crowd at Connecticut's Hartford Civic Center was stunned by what emerged: a man dressed in an oversized, comical turkey costume.

To say the fans were disappointed would be an understatement. Watching the footage today, the boos are unmistakable. As the turkey steps down from its platform, “Mean” Gene attempts to hype it up. “Take a good look, ladies and gentlemen!” Okerlund declares. “Feathers, a beak, and a little rooster tail on top. You’ve even got legs like my mother-in-law, buddy.”

The Gooker leans forward and lets out a loud gobble into Okerlund's microphone.

"What’s with all the gobbledy?" Okerlund asks. "Don’t tell me you’re the Gobbledy Gooker?"

The Gooker takes hold of Gene, and the pair head to the ring, bounce off the ropes, and dance their way off the air to a corny rendition of “Turkey in the Straw.”

At the time, I was puzzled, though not as upset as most of the fans there. Reflecting on it now, I still can’t figure out what the point was supposed to be. After roughly a month, the Gooker vanished, becoming nothing more than a strange, tryptophan-fueled memory.

If the intention was for him to wrestle, the entire costume seemed impractical. If he was meant to be a mascot, who exactly was he representing? And why did Vince McMahon, who had just introduced the legendary Undertaker hours earlier, follow it up with this?

I needed answers.

So I decided to ask.

THE MAN BEHIND THE BEAK

The Gobbledy Gooker was portrayed by Héctor Guerrero, a member of the legendary Guerrero wrestling family—son of the renowned Gory Guerrero and brother to Chavo, Mando, and Eddie Guerrero. While he may not have reached the hall-of-fame status of Eddie, Héctor’s career was still impressive. He secured over two dozen titles nationwide, including multiple tag team championships, an NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship with Crockett Promotions, and an NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship. In 2007, he transitioned to broadcasting, joining the Spanish commentary team for Total Nonstop Action, where he stayed until 2015.

Many wrestlers have had gimmicks that flopped or ones they’d rather forget. For instance, the tough British technical wrestler William Regal once went by “The Real Man’s Man,” a character who chopped wood and wore a hard hat. Kane, the Undertaker’s demonic brother, was previously a wrestling dentist. These oddities are just part of the wrestling world.

Speaking over the phone from his Florida home, Hector doesn’t seem embarrassed at all. He views the Gobbledy Gooker as a missed opportunity that could have succeeded with the right audience. He firmly believes that, in front of a more suitable crowd, it would have been seen for what it was: a fun, kid-friendly character. “It was always meant for the children,” Hector told Mytour. He admits he wasn’t prepared for the rowdy northeastern audience in Hartford that night and feels a more family-oriented crowd would have been a better fit.

“It wasn’t a crowd full of kids,” he chuckles.

GOOKER'S ORDERS FROM THE TOP

Hector began receiving calls from the WWE in early 1990, several months before Survivor Series. Initially, he wasn’t eager to respond. He recalls a brief but tense interaction with one of the company’s agents years earlier, which made him hesitant. However, he eventually agreed and soon found himself speaking directly to Vince McMahon, the current WWE CEO. Their conversation was friendly—McMahon reached out because wrestling icon Dusty Rhodes had recommended Hector.

As Hector recalls, the concept was to create a fun mascot for children that would eventually transition into wrestling. Months after Vince’s call, Hector auditioned in person for the Gooker role.

There was some initial concern about Hector’s physique. The WWE had just emerged from the 1980s, an era that celebrated the muscular builds of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan. Hector, who had recently completed two tours with Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling, was smaller than most of the roster.

The Guerrero family, hailing from Mexico City, was renowned for blending the thrilling, fast-paced, and acrobatic Mexican lucha libre style with the traditional American wrestling approach inspired by legends like Dory Funk Sr. Years later, when Hector’s brother Eddie and other lucha-style wrestlers rose to fame in WCW, they were primarily part of the cruiserweight division, which often required a smaller, more agile frame.

“They expected me to be bigger, but at the time, I was on a very strict diet,” Hector explains. “They didn’t realize that lighter wrestlers like us could perform moves that could potentially draw big crowds.”

Despite this, Hector believes his compact, athletic build and quick reflexes were what caught the WWF’s attention. His work in WCW as “High Flying” Hector Guerrero introduced innovative moves to American audiences, and despite his smaller size, he impressed during his WWE Survivor Series tryout—all while wearing the full turkey costume.

He was instructed to put on the costume and demonstrate his in-ring abilities. He leaped from rope to rope, performing flips and cartwheels. To see, Hector had to peer through two holes in the turkey mask’s oversized plastic eyes, which was incredibly challenging. To look left or right, he had to turn his entire head. Despite these obstacles, he aced the audition and secured the role.

Hector began receiving a regular stipend and officially joined the company. When wrestler Tito Santana was set to introduce a new character, El Matador, the WWE enlisted Hector, a native Spanish speaker, to assist with filming promotional vignettes in Mexico. At 36, Hector had been in the wrestling business since his teens and knew several familiar faces in the company. His travel partner, Terry Szopinski—known to fans as the Warlord—helped him build muscle on the road. Hector also had a brief history with the Undertaker, who debuted the same Thanksgiving night, having been impressed by the big man’s agility during their time in WCW.

GOBBLEDY GOOKER'S BIG NIGHT

On Thanksgiving 1990, Hector spent four hours crouched inside a box beneath the giant egg to ensure no one entering the Hartford Civic Center would spot him before the show. He was provided with a TV monitor, a light, and some snacks and drinks. The crew played a prank by taping inappropriate photos inside the box. (Hector, a devout Christian by then, was not amused.)

As the night progressed, Hector waited patiently for his cue. When Gene Okerlund started discussing the egg, the Gobbledy Gooker knew it was time to make his entrance.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.

“As I stepped down to talk to Gene, the boos grew louder,” he recalls. “I couldn’t hear any kids cheering, but the adults were clearly unhappy. They were booing like crazy.”

Okerlund set the microphone aside and told Hector, “We’re going to make this work.” They headed to the ring, and Okerlund, to his credit, performed his best Charlie Chaplin impression, stumbling and falling repeatedly. Hector later heard that Okerlund woke up the next day covered in bruises from his efforts to sell the act.

After the Gobbledy Gooker’s performance, Hector walked backstage and felt the weight of everyone’s stares, instantly feeling like an outcast. “I gave it my all,” he says. “I put in 110, 115 percent, just like I do in all my matches. I poured everything I had into it.”

“It was an egg,” he says, frustrated. “What else could possibly come out of an egg?”

THE GOBBLEDY GOOKER'S END

Hector continued traveling with the WWF for a month without any major issues, except for one incident. He was asked to perform his Gobbledy Gooker routine again, this time at Madison Square Garden. The crew promised to shine a spotlight on him as he entered the ring, and he agreed.

When announcer Howard Finkel announced the Gooker’s name, the familiar tune of “Turkey in the Straw” began to play. Hector was pushed through the curtain by stagehands, and that’s when he realized something was wrong.

Hector stepped through the curtain into complete darkness. Suddenly, a spotlight hit him, shining directly through the large white eyes of the costume’s mask, blinding him completely.

According to Hector, crew members rushed him down the aisle as he fumbled his way forward. He eventually reached the ring, banged his knee on the steel steps, climbed onto the apron, and, unable to see, flipped over the top rope, landing hard on the mat with a loud thud.

“All I could see was white,” he remembers. “I couldn’t tell where the ground was. I couldn’t land properly because everything was white. So I ended up landing on my backside.”

The main lights finally came on, and a disoriented Hector completed his routine. Backstage, Vince McMahon, visibly upset, walked away without a word. Later, the legendary announcer “Gorilla” Monsoon approached him.

“You couldn’t see, could you?” Gorilla asked.

“Yeah,” Hector replied.

“We figured as much,” Gorilla replied dryly.

Hector describes it as an impossible situation. Roughly a month after his Survivor Series debut, he was let go. There was no formal discussion—the company simply stopped scheduling and paying him.

Reflecting on the incident years later, Hector holds no resentment, though this wasn’t always the case. Losing the WWF opportunity was a blow to him and his family, and he took a job as a gymnastics coach before returning to wrestling with smaller promotions. Around Survivor Series 1991, he was offered the Gobbledy Gooker role again but declined.

Over time, Hector’s perspective shifted. He now sees any past grievances as “water under the bridge.” His younger brother, the late Eddie Guerrero, and his nephew, Chavo Guerrero Jr., both achieved stardom in the WWF. He’s pleased with how his family was treated by the company later on, holds no grudges, and describes most of his experiences working with McMahon and others as highly professional. After leaving Total Nonstop Action in early 2015, Hector launched a wrestler consulting business, aiming to use the knowledge he gained from his father and over 30 years in the industry to help other wrestlers succeed.

In 2001, Hector even agreed to wear the Gobbledy Gooker costume again at Wrestlemania X-Seven in Houston for a “gimmick battle royal” featuring 18 other quirky wrestlers from WWE’s history. It was an over-the-top-rope elimination match, and he was eliminated by Tugboat, a wrestler known in the 1980s for his sailor-themed attire.

At the 2006 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, Hector Guerrero was in the audience to witness the induction of his late brother, Eddie.

That same evening, “Mean” Gene Okerlund was also inducted, and he reminisced about the infamous moment he shared with the Gooker 27 years earlier.

“Hector, we had a lot of fun,” Okerlund remarked. “But let bygones be bygones.”

Sorry, Gene, but the Gooker’s legacy endures. And Hector wouldn’t want it any differently.

This article originally ran in 2015.