Rey Mysterio: The Life of a Masked Man
Three-Disc Set
Released: July 12, 2011

DISC ONE

Matt Striker sits down with Rey Mysterio for this DVD set.

Namesake: He was trained very young by his uncle Rey Misterio. When Rey wanted to debut as a junior to his uncle, there was no way his uncle was going to let that happen, so Rey had to wrestle under a couple of strange gimmick names first like La Lagartija Verde (the Green Lizard) and Colibrí (Hummingbird). Some of you might remember Mike Tenay mentioning the Hummingbird name during his WCW debut at the Great American Bash 1996. Anyways, once Rey got his feet wet in the business and wasn’t quite as “verde”, his uncle felt the time was right and honored his nephew with the Rey Mysterio Jr name. Striker asks Rey to speak about Konnan. Rey considers Konnan the Hulk Hogan of Mexico and calls him the godfather of the lucha libre expansion by paving the way for luchadores to become stars in the United States. In Rey’s life, first there is God and then there is Konnan.

• Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan vs. La Parka & Psicosis – (ECW Hardcore TV, 10/28/95)

Konnan actually wrestled against ECW main eventers in late 1995 during the EXTREME lucha libre era of ECW that culminated with an ECW world title match against the Sandman at the House Party show in January 1996 right as he left for the brighter lights and bigger paychecks at WCW. As for Rey and Psychosis, they had already put on two great matches in ECW (that are on other WWE DVD compilations) before they had their classic opener at WCW’s Bash at the Beach the following July. Not much to say about La Parka. There’s a lucha feeling-out process to start with Rey and Psychosis. When Rey tries a cross armbreaker, Psychosis hoists him up on his shoulder only for Rey to take him back down again. JIP to Rey giving Psychosis a drop toe-hold that sends him to the floor as Rey delivers a springboard headscissors on the floor! We fast forward to La Parka bullying Rey around. Parka does the strut and then struts with Rey in his arms. Rey cleans house on him with a flying headscissors. JIP again to Konnan owning both guys. Psychosis falls to the outside and gets a chair thrown in his face by Rey! Back inside, Konnan delivers SPLASH MOUNTAIN on Psychosis and then gives La Parka a couple German suplexes. Konnan holds up Psychosis for a DOOMSDAY HEADSCISSORS from Rey. As Psychosis rolls out, Rey gives him a springboard plancha up against the guardrail. Another JIP to Konnan tossing Rey with a monkey flip into La Parka holding a chair. It’s EXTREME lucha libre! Here comes Rey with a chair-assisted flying bodypress. ANOTHER JIP to Psychosis and La Parka trying STEREO SUICIDE DIVES only to descend into steel chair shots. Konnan sits Psychosis into a chair while Rey wipes him out with a somersault plancha. Meanwhile, Konnan takes out La Parka with a tope. That’s enough to keep the rudos down for a countout as Rey and Konnan pick up the win. (7:05 shown) The crowd wanted to see a finish, but they also want to see people put through flaming tables and women being beaten, so we’ll just ignore them for now. At least of what we saw, there’s not much in the way of a story. Just lots of lucha spots and they actually didn’t look too sloppy. **½

• Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera – 2/3 Falls (ECW Extreme Bash, 3/9/96)

From my Juventud Guerrera mixtape recap. As the pre-match graphic would suggest, this match will be fought under EXTREME lucha libre rules. In their short careers, Juvi and Rey have feuded in both Mexico (naturally) and Japan. Now they have brought the feud to the states in the only American company that could possibly contain them: ECW! Juventud had beaten Mysterio in this same type of match on the first night of this two-day event. This was the match that always gets the most attention. Mysterio wants to shake hands at the start. Juvi spits in the face of people who want to shake hands. Rey tries stretching out Juvi once they lock up while Juvi knows to work the legs because this kid can FLY. Mysterio delivers a hurracanrana out of the corner for two. Short rollup sequence leads to a stalemate. Juvi plays the jerk by lifting his hands up just out of Rey’s reach for a test of strength. Monkey flips abound. Guerrera blows the first spot by trying a wheelbarrow into a reach around rollup into the ropes. Rey Mysterio is just too small for that. Rey counters a tilt-a-whirl into a hurracanrana for two. Satellite headscissors puts Juvi on the floor. Rey fake dives, but then kicks Juventud back and delivers a split-legged moonsault! Back in, Mysterio gives Guerrera a sunset flip powerbomb for two. Juventud puts a stop to any further offense from Rey for a while with a great brainbuster. He follows up with a springboard somersault kick. WHAT. Dragon Suplex gets 1-2-3! Juventud wins the first fall at 5:36. (Guerrera – 1 | Mysterio – 0) After a 30-second rest period, Mysterio shoots into the ring from the floor right at Juventud. Rey snaps off an amazing hurracanrana for two. Juventud misses a corner charge and rolls out. With Juvi on the apron, Mysterio flies from the top for a hurracanrana to the floor! Kind of botchy though. Rey isn’t finished though. He leaps off ref John Finnegan to nail Juventud with a somersault plancha! Styles says Rey should go to the Olympics in Atlanta for gymnastics. He thinks better of it though by saying that Mysterio wouldn’t want to go to Atlanta. Oh Joey, you could not be more wrong. Back inside, Mysterio delivers a sitout powerbomb and an Asai Moonsault for 1-2-NO! Juvi comes back with a clothesline and some stiff kicks, but then tries a crossbody out of the corner and leaps into a dropkick. Doctorbomb gives the second fall to Mysterio at 9:07. (Guerrera – 1 | Mysterio – 1) Much like Rey at the beginning of the second fall, Juvi charges at Mysterio with a dropkick and then proceeds to dropkick Mysterio off the top rope to put him on the floor. Juventud tosses Rey into the crowd and pulls the guardrail closer to the ring so he can give Rey an ASAI MOONSAULT IN THE CROWD! Chants of “ECW” go up. Styles ~ “You can almost smell the hatred.” Huh? In the ring, Guerrera delivers a Springboard Leg Lariat for 1-2-NO! Springboard somersault legdrop misses. Juventud shoves off a second hurracanrana out of the corner, but flies into a powerbomb for 1-2-NO! Rey misses a second springboard moonsault, so Juventud gives him a press into a fallaway slam. Well that was different. Cover, 1-2-NO! Rey fights back with a jumping leg lariat. Juvi escapes to the floor, but gets nailed with a baseball slide into a headscissors. Since they’re in ECW and fighting through the crowd is nearly a must, that’s what they do. ECW Hat Guy hands Rey a chair to smash in Juventud’s face. That staggers Juvi long enough for Rey to deliver a SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA INTO THE CROWD! Is there anything this guy won’t do? Seriously, this is when Rey was cool. Not like now, where he gets squashed by guys bigger than him and still beats them. Next, they head right outside the front door (which looks like a side door if you’ve ever been to the ECW arena) where Juventud powerbombs Rey on a Ford Taurus! Not even that will stop Rey though, as he jumps off the hood of the car and takes Guerrera over with a headscissors on the concrete. Now they head back to the ring where Rey makes Juvi wear a steel chair around his neck. The crowd wants tables and Rey looks like he wants to oblige the fans. In the ring, Juventud launches Rey up to the top rope for Splash Mountain, but Rey counters into a hurracanrana for 1-2-3! (Mysterio – 2 | Guerrera – 1 | 16:07) Just to show the fans that he hasn’t forgotten their request, Rey gives Juventud a powerbomb through the table after the match. Minimal screw-ups and awesome spots is about all you can ask from lucha libre matches. This was both of those things. It also makes me want to check out the 2/3 falls Mysterio/Psicosis match from October 1995 in ECW, which I don’t believe I’ve ever seen. Nevertheless, this was the swan song on the short-lived careers in ECW for both men as Eric Bischoff would come calling with more money for more talent. Rey Mysterio would debut at the Great American Bash in June while Juventud Guerrera would make his WCW debut two months later in our next match. ***¾

Experiencing ECW: On WWE releases, the people who worked in ECW call the company similar performing in front of a cult. On any other video releases, they mention walking into the locker room and seeing all the CRAZY amount of drugs. Rey talks about how cool Paul Heyman was with allowing a performer to just go out and have fun. Striker mentions Rey’s off-the-charts chemistry with Juventud Guerrera. Rey calls him one of his best opponents not only because of their similar style, but that they both had an incredible desire to succeed.

• Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera – (WCW Pro, 11/3/96)
  

Rey just lost the WCW Cruiserweight belt back to Dean Malenko at Halloween Havoc a week earlier and looks to hopefully regain some confidence against Juventud. They trade some mat work to start. Rey satellite headscissors Juvi to the floor and fakes a dive. Back in, Juventud delivers a half-nelson suplex and flying somersaults onto Rey’s chest. During a struggle on the top turnbuckle, Rey counters a super powerbomb into a headscissors for the 1-2-3. (3:22) Short little showcase to led up to a great finish. *

• Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. – (WCW Saturday Night, 1/11/97)
  

Quick start as Rey slows down Chavo with a spinning heel kick, but then runs into a sitout powerbomb. Chavo grabs a camel clutch, but breaks loose and gets a nearfall off a Flying Jalapeno. Snap suplex gets two. Chavo delivers another powerbomb and tries maybe a Brainbuster and screws it up as he just lands Rey for a suplex. He attempts a crossbody out of the corner and slips to knock him silly long enough as Rey delivers the SPRINGBOARD HURRACANRANA for the win. (3:24) Not sure why they picked this match since it made Chavo who is still a WWE employee look bad with a couple miscues in such a short match. ¾*

Eddie’s Guidance: Rey says he first got to know Eddie when he was a teenager, but then later being in AAA together and actually being able to compete against each other was great. Every time they met in the ring was a learning experience and everything everyone has said about Eddie is true times a million. He always managed to Rey look more than a million bucks. Striker asks a silly question: is there any difference in the preparation between a TV match and a PPV match. Rey says its all TV, so there’s no difference.

• Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero – (WCW Monday Nitro, 9/8/97)
  

The commentary is SUPER edited here. Tenay tells us that while these two have met in six-man tags, they had never wrestled one-on-one. This is Rey’s return match after taking time off for a knee injury at the hands of Konnan back at Road Wild. Eddie is really getting into his role here as the awesome sleazy douche. An “Eddie sucks” chant prevents an initial lockup. Eddie tries to work the arm, but Rey keeps countering everything with armdrags. Eddie makes him pay with a European uppercut and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. As Eddie grabs a Fujiwara armbar as we go to break. When we return, Eddie is STILL working the arm. Rey flashes an AMAZING slingshot headscissors, but gets cut down with a clothesline. A satellite headscissors sends Eddie to the floor as Rey follows up with a springboard somersault plancha. Back inside, Rey gets a double-jump moonsault press for two. Rey tries a flying bodypress, but Eddie catches him in mid-air into a powerslam for 1-2-NO! The nasty snap powerbomb from Eddie gets 1-2-NO! Pumphandle backbreaker scores another nearfall. Eddie applies the Gory Special, but Rey armdrags out. Rey counters another powerbomb with a headscissors, but gets pitched over the top to the floor. That’s just NOT good for your knees. However for Rey, he pops right back up on the apron and fires off the SPRINGBOARD HURRACANRANA for the surprise 1-2-3! (5:38 shown) Great comeback match for Rey. ***

• Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Chris Jericho – (WCW Monday Nitro, 11/17/97)
  

Gotta love Jericho’s short pyromaniac Beavis impression on the way to the ring. Here’s another match that follows Rey just losing the Cruiserweight belt. Feeling-out process to start. Rey hits a monkey flip and then nails Jericho with a springboard dropkick. Jericho stops a headscissors and clotheslines Rey down. They head up top where Jericho delivers a SUPER GUERRILLA PRESS SLAM! As Rey rolls to the floor for a breather, Jericho drags him back inside by his mask. Great stalling suplex by Jericho gets two. Double-underhook backbreaker, but no cover. A series of side backbreakers gets two. Rey tries to block a charging Jericho in the corner with boots and maybe a headscissors, but Jericho pulls him out of the corner into a powerbomb. Lionsault hits knees and Rey gives Jericho a sunset flip for two. Handspring into a hurracanrana, but Jericho counters into a DOUBLE POWERBOMB. He goes for a third, but Rey slips out and springs off the top rope for a hurracanrana on Jericho for the 1-2-3. (6:31) Good match, but I like what they do at Souled Out much better. All the same, good TV match. **¾

The Creation of the Mask: Rey recalls the first time he met Chris Jericho. It was down in Mexico at a hotel all the AAA wrestlers stayed at. On a day off, Jericho caught Art Barr and Rey Mysterio hanging out in the hotel room and Jericho got all weirded out and thought Art Barr had a kid in his room. Art Barr had to explain to Jericho that Rey was one of the wrestlers. Rey thinks this is a great story. As for the masks, Rey said he never touched the design of the mask in the beginning. Since then, he’s traded the crown on the forehead for the cross and the traditional shoe laces for the Aztec calendar. Except for changing the colors, everything else is the same except when he gets creative for WrestleMania. Rey mentions some of his favorite masked luchadores. Matt Striker’s favorite mask was Super Calo because his hat never fell off. And that comment segues into our next match.

• Rey Mysterio Jr., Super Calo & Hector Garza vs. Psychosis, La Parka & Silver King – (WCW Saturday Night, 1/17/98)
  

This is lucha rules, folks! Meanwhile, Dusty is talking about Ernest Miller giving somebody a spin kick and how it was his favorite spin kick move ever. He says that to say you’ll probably see something like in this match. Rey refuses to be embarrassed by La Parka to start, which leads to a triple-team mudhole stomping. Rey comes back on La Parka with an inverted double-underhook face slam to give La Parka his receipt as Calo and Garza join in on a triple-team mudhole stomping of their own. Silver King delivers a swinging DDT on Garza. When Garza tries a backflip out of the corner, he lands funny on his knee. Garza goes out, Super Calo comes in. Dusty tells Psychosis not to be looking at him, but try to end this match so he can go to the PAY WINDAH RIGHT HERE ON THE MUTHASHIP! Gah, I love Dusty. Lots of running the ropes here. Calo side slams Psychosis and kicks him to the floor for the slingshot senton. Calo ducks a fake dive from Silver King, but then La Parka flips Silver King back onto Calo. Garza might seriously be hurt here. While Silver King and Calo trade punches, it’s now come down to Rey and La Parka inside the ring. La Parka struts a lot and gets tripped, which drives Dusty wild. Alabama Slam by La Parka gets two. Powerbomb gets another two. Rey pulls La Parka down from the top to prevent the CORKSCREW SENTON. They both meet up on the top turnbuckle where La Parka gets crotched. As Rey lands on the apron and La Parka sitting on the top rope, he fires back on La Parka with a SPRINGBOARD HURRACANRANA for the 1-2-3. (6:17) Fun little lucha match that looked rather improvised near the end due to Garza’s injury. **¼

• Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman vs. Eddie Guerrero & Juventud Guerrera (w/Spyder) – (WCW Monday Nitro, 12/28/98)
  

From my August 2009 Classics on Demand Showcase recap. Eddie is pissed at Juvi for losing the triple-threat match with the Cruiserweight champ Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio on the night before at Starrcade – even though Eddie lost his impromptu match with Kidman right after that. Spyder is just the muscle behind the LWO with a spider tattoo on one of his forearms. This seems to be a period where Rey Mysterio was LWO whether he liked it or not. He carried the t-shirt and came out to their music, but he didn’t care anything about them. Weird. Maybe I’ll understand it more once I get to December 1998. Whatever year that will be. 2011? 2035? Who knows. Juvi does all he can to calm Eddie down to start. Anyways, Mysterio starts with Eddie. He delivers a back suplex, but Rey flips out of a second one and they run the ropes ending with Guerrero charging into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Tag to Juvi, he tries to convince Eddie that he will NOT disappoint this time. Now Kidman tags in and with Juvi distracted with LWO business, Kidman starts unloading on him with clotheslines. Juventud comes back with a wheelbarrow bulldog and checks with Eddie on how he’s doing. Kidman avoids a corner charge and tags Mysterio for a Bronco Buster. Juvi crawls over to Eddie, who’s propped up in the corner. Eddie still isn’t pleased or so we thought as they charge at Kidman and Rey. Juventud saves Eddie by taking Kidman down with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors, but Rey springboard dropkicks Juvi into Eddie. They go tumbling out to the floor as Kidman and Mysterio follow up with STEREO SOMERSAULT PLANCHAS! Commercials! We come back to see Kidman fighting out of a chinlock slapped on by Juvi. He misses a dropkick in the corner, allowing Kidman to deliver a tornado bulldog. Mysterio gets the tag and delivers a crucifix into a headscissors, but Eddie breaks up the pin and gives Rey a NASTY powerbomb for 1-2-NO! Juvi catches Rey with a springboard body press off Eddie’s shoulders for two. Eddie hits the Hilo and then abuses Rey in the corner with some chops. Gory Special into a helicopter spin gets two. The LWO keeps up the double-team moves now as Juvi springboard legdrops Rey off Eddie’s shoulders for 1-2-NO! Kidman continues to make the save for his partner. Kind of a dumb spot as Eddie takes Rey over to Kidman and goes to whip him into Juvi’s foot, but Rey reverses and Guerrero eats the boot. Kidman softens the blow off a corner whip for Rey, but then Eddie charges and gets launched into Juvi. HOT TAG TO KIDMAN! Juvi gets dumped as Kidman lifts Eddie up for a powerbomb, but Mysterio adds in the exclamation point with a springboard senton for 1-2-NO! Juventud saves, but gets dumped again. Eddie goes for a powerbomb on Kidman, but everybody knows you can’t powerbomb Kidman. Face slam sets up a Springboard Leg Drop for 1-2-NO! Juvi gets blocked by Rey, but Eddie still manages to lift up his shoulder. Kidman and Rey whip Eddie and Juvi into each other as Mysterio hits a jumping X-Factor on Juvi while Kidman delivers a Sitout Spinebuster to Guerrero. As Kidman heads to the top, Guerrero launches Rey into him off a charge. They collide and Eddie dumps Rey for a somersault plancha from Juvi. Meanwhile, Eddie tosses Kidman into the ring for a FROG SPLASH, which gets the 1-2-3. (13:50) Loads of action, but the crowd seemed to deflate the match. Three nights later, Eddie would be involved in a terrible alcohol-induced car crash that nearly ended his life. ***¼

Who’s That Jumpin’ Out The Sky?: In between the end of WCW and being signed by WWE, Rey witnesses the birth of his daughter and briefly works for CMLL. Through CMLL, he was able to achieve a dream of working in Arena Mexico – the MSG of Mexico. During this time, he also worked in Puerto Rico for the Colon family. No mention of the IWA Mid-South appearance though where he wrestled in a three-way with Eddie Guerrero and CM Punk. In 2002, he entered WWE to hopefully prove everyone wrong who said a little man couldn’t make it in WWE. Who’s responsible for Rey’s entrance? Kevin Dunn, but also DEAN MALENKO. Rey feels he was able to live up to the hype WWE was giving him and I personally have to agree.

• Rey Mysterio & Edge vs. Los Guerreros – (WWE Smackdown, 10/24/02)
  

The winners of this match gets a WWE tag titles shot. This airs just four days after the end of the WWE tag team titles tournament at No Mercy where Rey and Edge lost to Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle. Edge is all armdrags and hiptosses on Chavo to start as Edge appears to be going for the win early with a bunch of pinfall attempts. Spinning heel kick by Edge and he tags in Rey. He whips Edge into a cornered Chavo for a spear. Meanwhile, Eddie gets knocked off the apron so Rey can deliver the Bronco Buster to Chavo. Split-legged moonsault by Rey hits knees. Tag to Eddie, Rey fights off a double-team from the wheelbarrow position and takes Chavo to the floor with a headscissors. Edge comes in and sends Eddie out to Chavo with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors of his own. Rey tries a pescado on Los Guerreros, but gets caught. Edge tries to help and slides underneath them, but then Los Guerreros clotheslines Edge down using Rey’s body! Back inside, Rey becomes *your* face-in-peril over on the wrong side of town. Pumphandle backbreaker by Eddie gets two. Eddie gives Rey a beautiful tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and tags in Chavo. Rey takes a hard whip into the corner, but flips out of a back suplex and dropkicks Chavo face-first into the middle turnbuckle. Eddie attempts to prevent the tag, but takes a spinning heel kick to the face. HOT TAG TO EDGE! He’s a house of fire as he delivers a DOUBLE FLAPJACK on Los Guerreros! Edge-O-Matic on Chavo gets two. Rey backdrops Eddie out, but that ends up backfiring as Eddie catches the 6-1-9 on Chavo and dumps Rey on the floor. Meanwhile in the ring, Edge hits Chavo with the SPEAR for 1-2-NO! Eddie makes the last-second save. Rey dumps out Eddie again and this time they deliver the 6-1-9 on Chavo on the opposite side of the ring. DOOMSDAY SPRINGBOARD SENTON to Chavo! He’s done. While the ref is getting Rey out, Eddie breaks up the pin with the Hilo. He puts Chavo on top of Edge. Now while the ref is busy with Eddie, Rey DROPS THE DIME on Chavo and turns Edge over on top of him for the 1-2-3! (7:10) Classic ’80s finish with seven minutes of constant action. Just needed more time to work that heat segment though on Rey and you could have had a MOTYC because everyone here seemed real motivated. The Smackdown Six era was so great. Two weeks later, Edge and Rey would win their one and only WWE tag team championship by defeating Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit in an amazing 2/3 falls match. ***¼

• WWE Tag Team Champions The World’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman – (WWE Vengeance 2003)
  

Shelton overpowers Rey with his mat wrestling to start, so Rey shows off his speed with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Tag to Kidman, we see some Midnight Express-style double-teaming with a drop toe-hold and a dropkick from Kidman. That gets two. Tag to Haas, he gets pretty rough with some forearms up against the ropes. Haas misses a Bossman straddle and while he’s hanging off the ropes, Rey DROPS THE DIME on him for 1-2-NO! Rey tries a wheelbarrow bulldog, but Haas counters with a full-nelson slam for two. Shelton tags in and launches Rey into the air off a whip for two. Rey fights out of a chinlock and as Benjamin rolls through a headscissors, Rey rolls through as well and then dropkicks Shelton in the face. Tag to Kidman. He goes Dropkick Crazy! BK Bomb on Haas for 1-2-NO! Benjamin stops a headscissors in the corner on Haas and drapes Kidman across the top rope for the Leapfrog Guillotine, but Rey pulls Benjamin out. Meanwhile, Kidman headscissors Haas onto the middle rope for a 6-1-9, but this time it’s Benjamin tripping up Rey! He makes Shelton pay with a Springboard Senton on the floor. Haas takes a backdrop to the floor so Kidman can give TWGTT a SPRINGBOARD SHOOTING STAR PRESS! Insanity. Back in, Kidman covers Haas for 1-2-NO! Haas backdrops Kidman out to the apron and while Kidman punches him back, Shelton runs over and sends Kidman back-first into the ringpost for a nasty bump. Back in, Haas gets two. Tag to Benjamin, he slams Kidman on Charlie’s knee and then grabs a bow-and-arrow. Kidman manages to dump out Haas to set up the blind tag spot. That causes a double-suplex on Kidman for two. Snap powerbomb by Benjamin gets two. He tries a second one, BUT YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN. I know – that first powerbomb kind of kills the running gag. HOT TAG TO REY! He manages to dump out Haas so he can maybe get the win on Benjamin. Wheelbarrow DDT gets two. Tag to Haas, Kidman necksnaps Haas into the 6-1-9! Springboard seated senton to Haas, but Benjamin kicks Rey in the head to break the pin while the ref was with Kidman. Haas covers Rey for 1-2-NO! Rey recovers with a jawbreaker and as Kidman sets Haas up on the top turnbuckle, we see the launching pad hurracanrana for 1-2-NO! Crowd thought it was over there. As Rey tries to spin around on Haas shoulders for a hurracanrana, Shelton springboard clotheslines Rey off his shoulders for the win. (14:53) Fantastic match on a fantastic PPV. The World’s Greatest Tag Team certainly had amazing potential, but the tag team scene in WWE when they were together was just so barren of anybody great to work with, that they produced very few memorable matches. ****

6-1-9: Rey actually reminds us that he and Kidman were the one and only WCW cruiserweight tag team champions on the final night of Nitro. He still has that belt hanging up on his wall! Striker asks him what he thinks of Kurt Angle. Rey says that much like Eddie, Kurt brings the best out of him. Rey was inspired by the song “Area Codes” by Ludacris for the name of his finisher: the 6-1-9. Apparently unlike Ludacris, all of his hoes are in that one area code.

• Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle – (WWE Smackdown, 10/28/04)
  

Angle’s protégés Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak are barred from ringside. My, how wrestling has changed. Angle plays some mind games to start. It’s headlocks and shoulderblocks with Angle getting the advantage. Rey baits Angle around and out to the floor for a good time. Oh snap, now Kurt’s angry. Back in, Rey headscissors Angle out of the corner. He charges Angle up against the ropes, but take an overhead belly to belly over the top rope to the floor. Commercials! When we come back, Rey tries to headbutt out of a Belly to Belly Suplex, but it’s inevitable. WOO! Backbreaker gets two. Textbook body slam gets two. Rey escapes a waistlock, but takes a release German for two. Angle hooks on a body scissors. Rey fights out and hits a swinging DDT for 1-2-NO! Springboard seated senton warms up Rey as he delivers a satellite headscissors and a wheelbarrow bulldog for 1-2-NO! Angle goes for the ANKLELOCK, but Rey kicks him off into the middle rope for the 6-1-9, but Angle ducks. Rey attempts a springboard crossbody, but Angle moves and the ref gets wiped out. ANGLE SLAM is countered into a headscissors into the 6-1-9, but Mark Jindrak shows up out of nowhere to take the blow for his mentor. Luther Reigns is down at ringside as well. He gives Rey a backbreaker and throws him back inside. But wait, here comes RVD for the save. Meanwhile in the ring, there’s an ANGLE SLAM and DOWN COME THE STRAPS! Hold up, Eddie Guerrero comes down and pounds on Angle for the FROG SPLASH. He takes out Luther Reigns with a pescado while Rey jumps on top of Angle for the 1-2-3! (10:27 shown) Not a bad match, but Mysterio and Angle in low gear is still better than most. ***

• WWE Tag Team Champions Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam vs. Eddie Guerrero & Booker T – (WWE Smackdown, 12/30/04)
  

Two years later, all four would be former world champs and one would be dead. Rey and Eddie start with some feeling-out stuff. Rey goes to flying snapmare out of a hammerlock and ends up taking Eddie over with an armdrag followed by a monkey flip. Tag to Booker, he tries to pound Rey and takes a dropkick right in the chops. RVD tags and Booker backs away. RVD hits a crossbody out of the corner for two. He hooks on a headlock and will not let go. Booker misses a Harlem Side Kick and gets kicked down by RVD for two. Eddie pulls RVD off the cover. The tag champs deliver 4:20 on Booker as Michael Cole says they get that name because they have four legs and twenty is their combined shoe sizes. That’s right, folks. When you’re talking about a tag team containing Rob Van Dam and one of their double-team moves is called the 4:20, this can in NO WAY be a drug reference. Tazz just basically laughs off that comment. Rey takes a catapult to the floor as the tag champs decide to regroup on the floor. Commercials! AND WE’RE BACK! Rey misses a corner charge and runs shoulder-first into the post. Booker scores with a Hook Kick and tags in Eddie as the challengers deliver a suplex-Hilo combo for 1-2-NO! Eddie grabs a chicken wing submission until RVD makes the save. Tag to Booker, he hits a spin kick for a few nearfalls. Booker knocks RVD off the apron so he and Eddie can double-team. Back suplex by Eddie gets two. Eddie applies a key lock and Rey fights out into a swinging DDT. HOT TAG TO RVD! Northern lights suplex gets two. RVD monkey flip connects. He knocks Booker off the apron for his receipt and then nails the FIVE-STAR FROG SPLASH for 1-2-NO! Booker makes the save. Now it’s RVD going shoulder-first into the ringpost. Booker tags and unloads on RVD in the corner. Bicycle Kick by Booker gets two. Back over to Eddie. He hits the Three Amigos, but Rey breaks up the pin. Tag to Booker again. RVD escapes a chinlock, but takes the BOOK END for 1-2-NO! Rey makes another save. RVD blocks a turnbuckle smash and kicks Booker away for a HOT TAG TO REY! Super Hurracanrana on Eddie gets 1-2-NO! As Eddie and RVD get dumped, Rey ducks a Harlem Side Kick and the ref gets nailed. Rey hits the 6-1-9, but Eddie trips the follow up springboard. SCISSORS KICK to Rey! Booker SPINAROONIES up, but RVD kicks his head off. As RVD and Booker tumble to the floor, Eddie battles with his conscience over whether or not to cheat using one of the tag team belts. He goes back and forth, but finally goes through with it. He hands Rey the belt and plays dead as the ref wakes up. Ref Nick Patrick lays a tongue lashing on Rey, but then Eddie gets caught sitting up. Whoops. Again he plays dead, but the gig is up. Eddie throws a tantrum, which allows Rey to fly in with a springboard into a wheelbarrow rollup for the 1-2-3. (17:13 shown) Interesting match considering everyone were faces beforehand and we saw Eddie and Booker reach down a little into their dark side to try and win the gold. While not really a favorite match of mine, it was probably one of the better tag matches back then that we had seen on Smackdown in quite some time. ***¼

Final Thoughts: While the WCW material was fairly lackluster outside of the obvious (let’s not forget how well represented WCW was on the last 3-disc Rey set), they reminded us all of the great TWGTT match and included a handful of other fun matches that might have been forgotten. Disc two is up next!