La Familia (professional wrestling)

Infobox Wrestling team
article_name=La Familia
type=S

---

caption= (left to right) Zack Ryder, Edge and Curt Hawkins made up one half of La Familia
caption= The one-half of La Familia with Edge, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder as former members.
members=Vickie Guerrero
Edge
Chavo Guerrero
Bam Neely
Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder

debut=November 2007
disbanded=September 2008
promotions=WWE

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La Familia [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/power25/|title=Power 25|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] was a professional wrestling heel stable in World Wrestling Entertainment on the SmackDown and ECW brands.

History

The seeds for what became La Familia began to take hold as soon as former World Heavyweight Champion Edge returned to the "WWE Friday Night SmackDown!" brand at Survivor Series 2007, costing The Undertaker the World Championship against then-reigning champion Batista. [cite web|last=Dee|first=Louie|url= http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/matches/4334964/results/|title=On the Edge of Hell|accessdate=2008-07-12|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] The immediate SmackDown after would see Edge reveal a kayfabe romantic relationship with General Manager Vickie Guerrero, who gave Edge a world title shot against Batista and took a Tombstone piledriver from the Undertaker the same night. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/archive/11232007/articles/ratedtfortombstone|title=Rated "T" for Tombstone|accessdate=2008-07-12|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] As a Triple Threat match was soon made for the Armageddon pay-per-view, it was clear that Vickie was there to manipulate the scene and make Edge's road back to the World Title that much easier.

La Familia as a stable initially began informally in that triple threat no-disqualification match between Edge, Undertaker, and Batista for the championship. Toward the final minutes of the match, Edge apparently took both a spear from Batista and a chokeslam from Undertaker, both of whom were led to believe that they'd taken him out; however, the truth seemed to be that there were three Edges to confuse Batista and The Undertaker. With this distraction, Edge waited in the wings, took his opportunity, and gained his second World Heavyweight Title, pinning Batista after hitting Undertaker with a steel chair just after Undertaker had given Batista a Tombstone piledriver. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/armageddon/matches/554660422/results/|title=Edge's "three-meditated" attack to perfection|date=2007-12-17|last=McAvennie|first=Mike|accessdate=2008-04-26|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] On the next SmackDown!, Edge and Vickie outed Edge's doppelgangers as the Major Brothers, who had pretended to be brothers but were in fact Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder (later identified by themselves as the Rated-R Entourage), fans and protégés of Edge who formed the nucleus of the group. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/armageddon/exclusives/majorrevelation|title=A Major revelation|date=2008-12-17|last=Dee|first=Louie|accessdate=2008-04-26|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment]

When first hearing of this new group, Chavo Guerrero had misgivings, as he initially voiced his opposition of Edge and Vickie's relationship, thinking it disrespected the Guerrero name. But after an assist from Edge in winning the ECW Championship from CM Punk, and a combined beatdown on common enemy Rey Mysterio, Chavo cemented his allegiance to the group, and said that he, Edge, Vickie (who would soon become Edge's fiancée), and Hawkins & Ryder were now "one big happy family", marking the genesis of the "La Familia" name. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/archive/01152008/articles/edgespoils|title=Edge spoils CM Punk's run|date=2008-01-24|last=Rote|first=Andrew|accessdate=2008-04-26|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment]

La Familia then had control of two of WWE's World Titles until WrestleMania XXIV, where Chavo and Edge dropped the ECW and World Heavyweight Championships to the Brothers of Destruction, Kane and The Undertaker, respectively. Shortly after this, Edge and Chavo both received rematches for their titles, and Chavo brought Bam Neely (whose background was explained as Bam being a former border guard who became a bodyguard) [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/archive/04182008/|date=2008-05|18|last=Passero|first=Mitch|title=Anarchy in the U.K.|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] into the fold as an enforcer to help combat the brothers and bring the ECW and World Titles back to the familia. However, they both failed in their rematches at Backlash. On the May 16, 2008 edition of SmackDown!, Chavo and Neely walked out on La Familia prior to their scheduled 6-on-1 Handicap Match against The Undertaker, with Chavo stating earlier in the night that he was sick of being used as a pawn as in the Battle Royal the week before where Edge made his "miraculous recovery" and won the match. The next week however, things were smoothed over as La Familia accompanied Chavo during his match with the Undertaker and assisted him from outside the ring until being ejected by the referee. At One Night Stand La Familia interfered in Edge's Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the World Heavyweight Championship against The Undertaker.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/onenightstand/matches/edgevsundertakertlcmatch/results/|title=TLC RIP|date=2008-01-06|last=DiFino|first=Lennie|accessdate=2008-06-02|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] This interference helped Edge to win the match and his third World Heavyweight Championship, as well as giving the group the notoriety of having (kayfabe) banished the Undertaker from all of WWE. On the June 30 episode of Raw, Edge lost the World Heavyweight Championship to CM Punk who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase after Edge was attacked by Batista. The result meant that the title returned to the Raw brand. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/results/|title=A Draft Disaster|last=Sitterson|first=Aubrey|date=2008-07-12|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|accessdate=2008-07-01]

On the special July 4, 2008 edition of SmackDown, Edge took his frustrations out on Vickie because he lost his title and told her the wedding was off. [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/archive/07042008/|accessdate=2008-07-12|date=2008-07-04|last=Passero|first=Mitch|title=A champion scorned|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] Edge was punished the next week after bragging about it, as Vickie put him in a No-DQ match against The Big Show. After this transpired Chavo, Neely (by proxy), Hawkins, and Ryder all attempted to play both sides of the controversy by getting on both Edge and Vickie's good sides. This earned Chavo a match with Triple H, which in which he was squashed. Around the end of Edge's match, which was the main event, Edge was about to be the victim of a con-chair-to by Big Show when Vickie, suddenly overcome with regret stopped the match to aid him and apologized. He asked her to marry him again, and she accepted. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/results/|accessdate-2008-07 12|date=2008-07-11|last=DiFino|first=Lennie|title=SmackDown - Endless Love?|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] On the July 18 edition of SmackDown!, Edge and Vickie held their wedding reception during the course of the show (the kayfabe wedding had taken place off-screen prior to the show). Triple H came out at the end of the show and showed a video of Edge cheating on Vickie the day before the wedding with Alicia Fox, the wedding planner. Vickie was outraged and began screaming and shoving Edge out of the ring as the show ended. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/results/|accessdate=2008-07-19|last=DiFino|first=Lennie|title=Love bites|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] The angle continued at The Great American Bash when Fox attempted to hand Edge the WWE Championship belt to use as weapon, but was stopped with a clothesline by Vickie. Edge attempted to spear the referee to delay the match, but hit Vickie instead after the referee got out of the way. Triple H used this distraction to recover and hit a Pedigree to retain his title. [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/matches/7582302/results/|accessdate=2008-07-22|date=2008-07-20|last=Adkins|first=Greg|title=Maul in the Family|publisher=WWE] On the following "SmackDown!", Vickie reinstated the Undertaker and told Edge he would be competing against Undertaker in a Hell In A Cell at "SummerSlam". [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/archive/07252008/|accessdate=2008-08-08|date=2008-08-25|last=DiFino|first=Lennie|title=SmackDown: A woman's scorn, a Deadman reborn|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] Edge then turned on La Familia during the August 8 edition of SmackDown!, and delivered a One man con-chair-to on Chavo in the ring, effectively betraying the stable (and destroying its original underlying purpose of perpetuating his success) as a horrified Vickie looked on. [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/results/|accessdate=2008-08-12|date=2008-08-08|last=Passero|first=Mitch|title=Edge’s descent into darkness|publisher=La Familia still exists, but the only members left are Vickie Guerrero, Paul Wight, Chavo Guerrero Jr., and possibly Justin LaRouche
World Wrestling Entertainment]

Gimmick

The stable gimmick derived from the roots of the Guerrero wrestling family; in the early days of the stable, it was even referred to as the "Guerrero Family." Much like JBL's Cabinet each stable member role is taken on in a more literal meaning of a family. The following symbolic roles in La Familia were stated by Edge on the April 15, 2008 edition of "ECW".
*Vickie Guerrero - General Manager
*Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder - Tag Team Champions
*Chavo Guerrero - Vickie's brother
*Bam Neely - second cousin

Championships and accomplishments

*World Wrestling Entertainment
**World Heavyweight Championship ( 2 times) [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldheavyweight/20071216|accessdate=2008-07-04|title=Edge's second World Heavyweight Championship reign|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldheavyweight/20080601|accessdate=2008-07-04|title=Edge's third World Heavyweight Championship reign|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] - Edge
**ECW Championship (1 time) [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/history/ecwchampionship/20070122chavo|accessdate=2008-07-04|title=Chavo Guerrero's first ECW Championship reign|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] - Chavo Guerrero
**WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wwetag/20080720|title=History Of The WWE Tag Team Championship - Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder|date=2008-07-20|accessdate=2008-07-21|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] - Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder

References

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/edge/ Edge's WWE Profile]
* [http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/vickieguerrero/ Vickie's WWE Profile]
* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/superstars/chavoguerrero/ Chavo's WWE Profile]
* [http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/curthawkins/ Hawkins' WWE Profile]
* [http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/zackryder/ Ryder's WWE Profile]
* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/superstars/bamneely/ Neely's WWE Profile]