Rey Mysterio reports out that he is done with WWE. After all the injuries in recent years, it doesn’t surprise any of us
wrestling fans he is hanging up the boots. Is he retiring? No, but he
won’t be having the brutal schedule that WWE has. Whatever makes Rey or
any wrestler for that matter happy, good for them. The way I look at it,
it just gives a young guy an opportunity to make a name for himself
with him done with WWE. In any case, I made this to show much needed
love to a superstar we all loved for 20 years virtually. From his days
in ECW, WCW, and of course WWE.
Being a fan: Everyone is a fan of Rey Mysterio
young and old because he gives us his all in the ring every night he is
out there. He has fought for everything he has earned. From the
cruiserweight title all the way to the heavyweight title. His highflying
lucha libre style brings fans to their feet. Even purchase all the
masks in the front row to the back as he makes his way to the ring.
Injuries however, have hurt his fan support because of frustration which
provided opportunities for other latin stars, but they couldn’t live up
to the standard of replacing Rey. Sin Cara, Del Rio, or whoever….Mysterio is truly 1 of a kind and WWE realizes that. That is why they are not ready to let him go.
WCW: From his matches with Malenko, Psicosis, and other cruiserweight stars. No rivalry compared to Eddy Guerrero/Rey Mysterio.
The match that will be talked about til the end of time, Halloween
Havoc 1998. For the cruiserweight championship, champion Eddy vs Masked
Mysterio. Title for mask, Mysterio won that 5 star classic. His greatest
match and arguably greatest moment in WCW. However, WCW did have him
defend his mask again. Actually ended up losing it, forcing him to
unmask on primetime TV in front of the world. Hair vs mask was the
stipulation in a tag match. It was arguably the worst moment in the
career of Rey Mysterio.
WWE: Made his highflying
debut on Smackdown in 2002 off a steel cage. Had a great opening match
with Kurt Angle to open Summerslam that year. Met in the finals of the
WWE tag team title tourney teaming with Edge.
Kurt Angle/Benoit vs Edge/Mysterio is a match that is still talked
about among wrestling fans as was the triple threat at Survivor Series.
However, his longtime friend Eddie winning the tag titles is the moment
every one talks about. Everyone knows the history of being friends and
rivals. Bringing the best out of each other and they did again at WM
that year opening the show. Memorable ladder match at Summerslam
2005….Rey kept beating Eddie until their final match at Smackdown
inside the steel cage.
Crowning moment: After
the passing of Eddie Guerrero, at a press conference for the Royal
Rumble I believe, Rey dedicated the match to Eddie Guerrero. I believe
Chavo did to, but come on…..who really had a believable shot at
leaving with a victory that year at the Royal Rumble? You thought he had
a shot, but you weren’t sure because of his size and the top names at
the top rumored to be in the main event of Wrestlemania. To this day, I
wonder if Rey would have became a world champion if not for Eddie. Rey
ended up winning lasting over an hour in the Royal Rumble match
defeating the man who I wanted to win….Randy Orton.
How times have changed, huh? Exciting ending to a tremendous Royal
Rumble that was in the middle of the show. I really enjoyed their No Way
Out match for the spot at WM. Triple threat was too short for me, but
they did pretty good with the time they had. I believe CW network got
Smackdown debuting shortly afterwards which was really the first time I
got Smackdown. 2006 Smackdown sucked! They had to have Raw superstars
towards the end compete on Smackdown ppvs. As great as Finlay was, he
didn’t belong in the main event of a ppv. As far as his WWE title reigns
which were cute, reports said the reason he won the title was because
WWE didn’t want him to take a vacation. I respect Mysterio, I just
disliked the use of Eddie to get to the world title along with the
endless Chavo matches during that period.
Fantastic matches/rivalries: No matter the match on the card, whether it be with a guy like Batista or Edge….Dolph Ziggler
or MVP….Rey entertained us and brought the best out of his opponents.
Memorable match at Royal Rumble 08 vs Edge 619 Vickie as Vickie was
shielding Edge for him to retain, Summerslam vs Dolph for the IC title, and 09 vs Batista or Jericho. Hell vs CM Punk and the Straight Edge Society. You go back and watch his matches after his world title run or even before…..you still enjoy Rey Mysterio.The injuries slowed him down in the ring, yea, he isn’t as great as he
was 5 or even 10 years ago. However, I feel as time has went on from his
WCW to WWE….Rey has you more emotionally invested in his matches.
Remembering Rey Mysterio:
The last 5 years or so, probably less than that, but Rey had his share
of injuries where us as fans seeing him keep getting hurt….really?
Just retire! Fans were frustrated, however, WWE made attempt after
attempt to make a new Rey Mysterio, whether Del Rio or Sin Cara…..they
know as well as everyone else have figured out. WWE can try as much as
they want, but Rey Mysterio is 1 of a kind. We have as fans have come to
appreciate Rey Mysterio even more realizing it while he was sidelined.
Never say Never for last match, but we as fans can’t say Thank You to
Rey Mysterio enough for what he has done in 20+ year career!
