Raquel Diaz Reflects on WWE Developmental Days

Raquel Diaz, the daughter of WWE legend Eddie Guerrero, recently opened up about her time in the developmental system during an interview with “Developmentally Speaking.” Wrestling under the name Raquel Diaz in both FCW and NXT proved to be a learning experience for Diaz, who said that it was always on her mind that she was following in her father’s footsteps.

Diaz started off in FCW, where she described a very hard-nosed atmosphere. “Rolling up to FCW, which is this black warehouse, I was wondering if I’m going to die or if anybody is ever going to see me again?” She explained how every opportunity had to be earned and that they were not given any kind of privilege because the facilities were warmer or colder than the outside temperature and less comfortable.

In terms of describing what wrestlers did at the grassroots level during her early days, Diaz said: “You are going around the town driving three hours out and hammering posters all around. So I feel very honored that I was part of that era where we didn’t have any kind of privilege; you were roughing it.”

Diaz’s Dual Worlds

Having gone through all of that before hitting WWE’s Performance Center made things even wilder for Diaz.

“The Performance Center was nice, different not what I started with,” she said. “It’s kind of crazy seeing the two different worlds of the developmental era that I was able to be exposed to.” Her dad played a huge role in getting her into wrestling so it only made sense for his presence to be felt throughout her career.

She talked about working alongside Norman Smiley and Joey Mercury, both friends of Eddie’s: “I really loved working with Norman. He’s just an infinite well of knowledge. And Joey Mercury he’s like a father figure to me brilliant at what he does.” For as much as wrestling helped get Raquel through her father’s passing at such an early age, she also believes that it helped others too.

“Wrestling is dad, and dad died so young for me,” Diaz said before…