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

DISC TWO

Gone Too Soon: Striker brings up Eddie Guerrero again. Rey of course looked up to Eddie and never felt that Eddie failed to give him advice when he asked for it. Eddie was his model to follow after as a person, father, and husband. He feels that Eddie is a person who left this world too soon as the title of the chapter suggests. Rey mentions in their WrestleMania 21 match that a button on his mask had come off right from the start and since he was worrying about his mask moving around on his face, it prevented the match from being what they had hoped it would be.

• Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero – (WrestleMania 21)
  

Rey and Eddie are the WWE tag team champs at this point. And no, Vince Russo isn’t booking here. Eddie just REALLY wants to defeat Rey Mysterio. Eddie is all headlocks and armbars to start. Rey tries fighting out into a sunset flip, but Eddie rolls through and catapults Rey to the floor. On the floor, Rey sidesteps a baseball slide and then fake-dives on Eddie. Back inside, Eddie goes back to working the arm. Rey escapes and delivers a monkey flip, but then Eddie forearms Mysterio to the floor. Eddie follows him out with a pescado. Back in the ring, that gets two. Back to the arm. When Rey starts to stand up, Eddie puts him down with a back suplex. Eddie applies the surfboard and then changes over to the STF. Rey fights up and armdrags Eddie out for a corkscrew plancha. On the way back inside, Mysterio delivers the springboard seated senton and starts running the ropes all over Eddie, but he gets shut down with a back elbow. Eddie wants the Three Amigos real bad, but Rey manages to counter them a few times. He even headscissors Eddie into the position for a 6-1-9, but Eddie ducks and drops Rey with the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Now Eddie is able to hit the Three Amigos, but misses the FROG SPLASH. Rey looks for the La Magistral cradle, but Eddie blocks for 1-2-NO! Rey finally hits the 6-1-9 and goes for the WEST COAST POP, but Eddie counters into a SICK powerbomb for 1-2-NO! Eddie catches Rey for another possible tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but Rey counters *that* into a hurracanrana for the 1-2-3! (12:23) It’s not Halloween Havoc ’97 like people were expecting, but I don’t think it was that bad. While I don’t think they got to tell the story they wanted, it was a pretty good part one to their feud. I just hated that they turned a great rivalry angle into a soap opera angle by SummerSlam. ***¼

• WWE Tag Team Champions MNM (w/Melina) vs. Rey Mysterio & Batista – (Smackdown, 12/16/05)
  

So earlier in the evening, Melina whored herself out to the World Champion Batista to try and get him to drop this match against her boys Nitro and Mercury. Her plan backfired as Batista ended up getting some crazy skanky sex and the tag titles match is still on. Remember when Trish tried to drive Bubba Ray Dudley crazy by wallowing around on tables? Of course those were a little different circumstances, but WWE didn’t even really try with this one. They just went straight for the sex angle – no creative innuendo whatsoever. Okay, now I can’t stop thinking about Trish and the tables and I know you can’t either. So let’s revisit the year that was 2000 and see what Trish was up to!

Ahem. Alright then. Well needless to say, Melina is PISSED. Once Batista and Rey make it to the ring, people start up the “Eddie” chant since those two were best buds with him. Depending on your stance, this is back when Smackdown either exploited his death or made tribute to the guy leading all the way into WrestleMania. While we are on the subject of chants, the “slut” chant directed at Melina is edited out in favor of loud boos. Batista glances over at her for a sarcastic “WHAT’D I DO?” look. Mercury and Mysterio start us off. Rey sunset flips all over Mercury and follows up with a pair of armdrags. Tag to Batista, and Mercury scurries back to tag Nitro. He tries kicking Batista, but one of his kicks gets caught and Batista flips him over. Tag to Mercury, he can’t clothesline Batista down. Batista goes for the DEMONBOMB, but Nitro superkicks him off. MNM attempt a double-team, but that fails and Batista clotheslines them both out as Rey comes over and drops an Asai Moonsault on them to lead into commercial. Looks like Joey’s nose is busted open. When we return, Mysterio becomes *your* face in peril while Melina looks on all evil-like. Rey makes a quick comeback, but Nitro helps Mercury block a hurracanrana by bouncing Rey off the top rope for a powerbomb as Melina distracts the referee. Now THAT’S team work. Mercury covers for two. More face in peril stuff as Rey keeps kicking out of everything. As Joey grabs a bearhug, Rey CHANNELS THE SPIRIT OF EDDIE GUERRERO as he starts to shimmy up to his feet. Rey hits the wheelbarrow bulldog, but MNM manage to cut off the tag again thanks to some distraction from Melina. Enziguri by Nitro slows Rey down for 1-2-NO! During a struggle on the top turnbuckle, Rey goes for a sunset flip powerbomb. While Nitro avoids it, he can’t avoid the reverse hurracanrana! HOT TAG TO BATISTA! MNM gets dismantled. Batista calls for the DEMONBOMB. As Rey hits Mercury with the 6-1-9, Melina gets in the way and takes it in the back of the head. (for the second time tonight, says Cole. Is that supposed to be a sex joke?). Joey staggers back into the DEMONBOMB and we’ve got NEW WWE tag team champs. (14:14 shown) So Rey and Batista head into Armageddon to face Big Show and Kane in a champs v. champs match. Decent match, but basically just run-of-the-mill tag formula. **¾

On Top of the World: Rey mentions how good it felt winning the Royal Rumble in 2006. For him, it felt like he accomplished that specific goal in honor of Eddie. Oh, HERE we go. Of course then going on to win the World title at WrestleMania 22, he felt he couldn’t get any higher. That feeling helped him move on from Eddie’s death.

• Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton – (No Way Out 2006)
  

The winner faces whoever the World Champ is at WrestleMania 22. “Eddie” chants go up at the bell as Cole runs through the history for the Latinos at No Way Out. Notice how he didn’t mention Rey lost the Cruiserweight title to Chavo in 2004. Orton’s cockiness shines through early in this match. Mysterio makes him pay with a wheelbarrow bulldog, but then Orton ducks a springboard crossbody and finds back his arrogant smile. The crowd starts Eddie chanting again to get Rey going, but Orton decides to mock the guy. Rey headscissors Orton to the floor. He wants a seated senton off the apron, but Orton catches him and slings Mysterio into the ringpost. Back inside, Orton works the injured arm. Rey fights out, but Orton catches him and delivers a neckbreaker off his shoulder for two. Back to the arm. Rey mounts a bit of offense and capitalizes with a sunset flip powerbomb for 1-2-NO! He CHANNELS THE SPIRIT OF EDDIE and hits the Springboard Seated Senton. Rolling neck snap gets two. Rey went for a swinging DDT, but that came off kind of botchy. Orton stops Rey as he comes off the top with a dropkick to the chest. Time for the RKO, but Rey stops the lunge with a dropkick of his own! Orton falls into the second rope, but ducks the 6-1-NINER and schoolboys Mysterio while using the ropes for leverage to pick up the win. (17:28) I wish more people would sucker Rey into trying the 6-1-9 instead of just ducking the thing. If you listen to the commentary, they push the Eddie Guerrero part of the angle to almost a disgusting excess. ***

Viva Mexico!: To show you what a big deal this was, Rey was inducted into the first AAA Hall of Fame class in 2007 alongside the founder of AAA himself – Antonio Peña. Down in Mexico, his fans still show him the love and adoration after being in the business now for over twenty years.

• Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero – (SummerSlam 2007)
  

Back at No Mercy in 2006, Rey defeated Chavo in a falls count anywhere match. On that same night, Mysterio suffered a knee injury and took ten months off to get his knee back in fighting shape and now he’s BACK for revenge. Rey is all decked out supposed to be looking like the Silver Surfer since Fantastic Four II was one of the summer super hero movies of 2007. I’m thinking he looks more along the lines of Tobias from Arrested Development covered in that diamond cream though. After some lucha stuff, Chavo goes for the knee. When he misses a dropkick and falls out to the floor, Rey follows him out with a somersault plancha. Back inside, Chavo trips Mysterio on the top turnbuckle into the tree of woe which wrenches the knee. He continues the knee violence with a stretch muffler. Rey escapes with a headscissors, but Chavo stays on top of him. More knee work, but Rey enziguri kicks Chavo for the 6-1-9. As he comes off the ropes, his knee gives out and Chavo grabs the half crab. Rey finds the ropes and puts Chavo in the tree of woe to wrench his knee. To the floor, Rey follows him out with a seated senton off the apron. Back inside, he hits another seated senton and Buzzsaw kicks Chavo in the head for 1-2-NO! Quebrada into a swinging DDT (or twirling DDT if you’re Michael Cole) gets 1-2-NO! Rey misses a flying bodypress, so Chavo goes for the kill with the GORY BOMB for 1-2-NO! Chavo ducks the 6-1-NINER and tries the Three Amigos, but Rey flips out of the third one and hits the 6-1-9 followed by a springboard splash for the win. (12:05) So his knee gets better as the match goes on? Weird psychology, but that’s WWE sometimes. Every babyface is a superman. **½

• Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay – Stretcher Match (Cyber Sunday 2007)
  

YAY FINLAY! Rey starts off with fists-a-blazing, so Finlay takes him down and then throws Rey into the ringpost. To make things easier on himself, Finlay slides Mysterio under the bottom rope right onto the stretcher! Rey refuses to go though. Finlay makes him wish he had with a front suplex on the stretcher. Another ride for Rey, but Mysterio rolls off. Back to the ring, Rey fights back with a headscissors. Since the ‘shillelagh on a pole’ was one of the match options the WWE fans got to vote on, they both struggle to reach the weapon until Rey gives Finlay the sunset flip powerbomb. Rey retrieves the shillelagh, but Finlay trips him up and takes it away from him. OH SNAP. Finlay beats on Rey’s knee and drags him around. Rey dropkicks the shillelagh away, but gets punched down onto the stretcher. Finlay starts to wheel him across the finish line. Rey knees Finlay away so he can escape, but then Finlay runs the stretcher into him a few times. Rey makes him pay with more of the same and once Finlay is on the stretcher, Mysterio delivers a somersault plancha. That looks to be it, but the TV cable gets wrapped up in the wheels. While Rey is taking care of the cable, Finlay finds the shillelagh. Now the stretcher is free. When he goes to whack Rey, Finlay takes a flapjack onto the stretcher and Rey wheels him across the finish line for the win. (9:46) Harmless fun. These two seem to work well together. I’ll give them that. **½

Putting the Mask on the Line: Striker asks what prompted him to putting his mask on the line against Kane. His uncle told him to never put the mask on the line unless you know you can win. In other words, never let the booker tell you to lose your mask unless Kevin Nash tells you to. This three-year time period where Rey is unmasked is of course never mentioned. Rey tells a story of getting to meet an unmasked Mil Mascaras and how it took their friendship nearly fifteen years to get to that point where Mascaras trusted him enough to hang out without wearing the mask.

• Rey Mysterio vs. Kane – (No Mercy 2008)
  

Rey puts the mask on the line here. Kane would too, but he’s already lost his mask like FIVE years ago. Mysterio tries a constant barrage of offense, but then runs into a boot. Rey goes on the move again, but Kane stops a 6-1-NINER with a clothesline. Kane catches a dive to the floor. Rey maneuvers around for a sleeper, but Kane dumps him onto the barricade. Back inside, Kane is all over Mysterio’s back. Rey fights back with a moonsault press that hits Kane in the face with his knee. Buzzsaw kick and Rey DROPS THE DIME for 1-2-NO! Kane stops him again this time with a side slam for two. Another comeback from Rey as he hits the springboard splash for two. Kane misses a corner charge and lands on the apron where Rey delivers the 6-1-9 on Kane’s butt to send him walking around ringside. Here comes Rey off the top, but Kane has a chair in his hand and the chair destroys Mysterio for the DQ. (10:10) Crazy Kane. You didn’t care about winning at all, did you? **

• WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho – (Judgment Day 2009)
  

They show a pre-match interview with Jericho where he promises Rey Mysterio will not give him the 6-1-9. Champ enters first, but does this old tradition where he usually loses happen anymore anyway? I’ve stopped paying attention a long time ago. Right from the start, Rey goes for the 6-1-9 and Jericho ducks out. Keep in mind – Jericho looks SKEERED of the move. That becomes important later. Rey hits a seated senton off the apron. Back inside, he DROPS THE DIME while Jericho is hanging up in the ropes for two. Jericho knocks Mysterio off the top to the apron and then a springboard dropkick takes Mysterio to the floor. Back in, the second attempt at the 6-1-9 fails as Jericho catches him coming off the ropes and backdrops him down. He’s got a plan! The Ultimo Dragon spinning backbreaker gets two. They struggle with each other on the top turnbuckle as Jericho tries to rip off Mysterio’s mask. That ain’t happening. Mysterio fights back with the seated senton and a springboard crossbody gets two. Rey rolls through a sunset flip with a Buzzsaw kick for two. Jericho avoids a sunset flip into the WALLS OF JERICHO, but Mysterio flips Jericho away from the hold. Rey gets another shot at the 6-1-9, but Jericho ducks and blocks a hurracanrana into the WALLS OF JERICHO! Wait, not just yet. Jericho headscissors him back onto the second rope for the 6-1-9, but this time Jericho catches the move and applies the WALLS OF JERICHO for real! Rey escapes into an inside cradle for 1-2-NO! Nasty powerbomb by Jericho gets 1-2-NO! Just as Rey looks out on his feet, he sends Jericho with a drop toe-hold into the second turnbuckle instead of on the ropes and hits the 6-1-9! Springboard Splash gets the 1-2-3! (12:37) Loved the 6-1-9 story. Jericho took advantage of Rey constantly going after the move and made him pay up until he was put in a place where he didn’t expect the 6-1-9. Great match, and they only got better throughout the summer. ***½

The Art of Mysterio: Striker asks Rey about his tattoos. He’s got tattoos all tend to symbolize his faith and family. Being Catholic, he mentions leaving home without his rosary and feeling naked without it. If he ever leaves without it again, he’s got a rosary tattooed on his body now.

• WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. John Morrison – (Smackdown, 9/4/09)
  

Winner of this match faces Dolph Ziggler at the Breaking Point PPV in a match that never actually happened. Mysterio’s feud was with Ziggler and I’m not too sure he wouldn’t have retained the title here had he not violated the Wellness Policy and was to be suspended for 30 days after this match. They get fancy with a test of strength to start as Rey battles out into a sunset flip for two. Lots of nearfalls follow that lead to a stalemate as we go to break. AND WE’RE BACK! Rey headscissors Morrison to the floor. They’re both back inside at the count of nine. Rey runs his shoulder into the ringpost, which gives away the first clear cut advantage of the match. Satellite headscissors by Rey gets two. Morrison tries to be all quick to sucker Rey into a rollup, but eats a Buzzsaw kick for even trying. Split-legged moonsault gets two. A series of sliding legdrops gets two. Morrison fights back with a standing SSP for 1-2-NO! Morrison hits the break dance legdrop and then hooks on the Anaconda Vice. Rey comes back and gets a couple nearfalls. He fails to hit the 6-1-9, but now we see a double-KO to set up another commercial break. When we come back, they head to the floor where Rey slides through the ropes and headscissors Morrison down. Back in, Rey DROPS THE DIME for 1-2-NO! Morrison blocks a wheelbarrow bulldog and delivers the Running Knee Smash for 1-2-NO! Rey comes off the top, but Morrison catches him on the way down with a dropkick for 1-2-NO! STARSHIP PAIN misses, but the seated senton does not. 6-1-9 connects, but Rey is too fatigued to quickly follow up. Morrison ducks another seated senton and hits the Flying Chuck for 1-2-NO! Rey tries to prevent STARSHIP PAIN, but fails on a reverse hurracanrana and falls in place for the STARSHIP PAIN for real! Cover, 1-2-3! (18:19 shown) Ladies and gents, we’ve got a new Intercontinental champ! This could have been the beginning of something great, but Morrison was booked as champion in some lame feuds with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre for the rest of the year. All the same, this was a top ten WWE MOTYC in my eyes. ***¾

Final Thoughts: This started out well and managed to end well too. However, the middle portion was pretty lame. Then again, they didn’t have a lot to work with here. The second set gave us the best of his world title reign including the title win at WrestleMania and his Judgment Day match against JBL, so that’s forgivable. He just missed a lot of time in 2007 and 2008. When he was around, it wasn’t very good and involved Kane. So with 2009, he managed to bring back the greatness with his Jericho and Morrison matches. Since its his third set and we’ve exhausted so much of his work already, I’m going with a thumbs in the middle. However, disc three could still change all of that. We’ll just have to wait and see.