Rey Mysterio

[Matt D]

Rey is pretty much ready to come back, right? Is he being kept off the Mania card due to the injury still or some other punishment? I really hope they feud him with DB.

[Jingus]

I think he had another maintenance surgery on one (both?) of his knees while he was out for this most recent injury, so it might be another few months.

[cm funk]

His name has been bounced around for the 12 man tag

[Big Rob]

Back to the GOAT subject, my tastes have changed so widely since I voted in that Smarkschoice poll, and there's a ton more footage available from all over the World on Youtube, Dailymotion and DVD. Stuff like World of Sport has got a ton more available thanks to Youtube uploaders. I'd love to participate in another poll sometime soon.

 

As for Rey, he's probably been WWE's best guys for the past several years, and excels in so many different kinds of matches. He can still do the flippedy dippy style when working with the right guy, but also churns out epic babyface performances like the last couple of Elimination Chamber matches he was in.

[Exposer]

I've watched a shit ton of early WWE Rey recently and boy does he blow away the other "SD six" guys. Eddie is arguably just as good but the others aren't even close.

[Dylan Waco]

I've watched a shit ton of early WWE Rey recently and boy does he blow away the other "SD six" guys. Eddie is arguably just as good but the others aren't even close.

Talk about some of the matches.

[Exposer]

Per Dylan's request I will now list and talk about some of the Rey matches I watched over the Holidays:

 

Rey Mysterio vs. A-Train (SD! 1/28/03) -

 

This was a revenge match for Rey after A-Train put him out for a month in late 02. The opening to this is tremendous with Rey attempting a 619 to A-Train as A-Train was about to get in the ring. The crowd gets really hot for this as Rey keeps attempting high spots and a relentless aerial assault to take out A-Train. A-Train just counters everything with violent power moves that send Rey crashing. Rey gets a couple of exciting hope spots after getting worked over and eventually sets A-Train up for the 619 but he runs right into an absolutely brutal brogue kick to the face that looked to have decapitated him. A-Train hits that sick backbreaker finisher he used back in the day and gets the win. This was a really excellent underdog vs. big bad bully match and a really awesome early WWE Rey find.

 

Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri (SD! 7/30/02) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q9Anp4w_iE

 

It's possible Dylan already reviewed this in the Tajiri thread. This is Rey's second match in WWE. The start of this match rules too with Rey hitting a springboard moonsault on Tajiri. These two just bring out the high spots but also do a good job of selling in between as well. The finish is great here too with Rey winning with a top rope west coast pop.

 

Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle (SD! 1/21/03) - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x68lm0_re...=2#.UP47PSfLSSp

 

I liked this a good bit and thought it was arguably as good as their Summerslam match. Rey is a good match for Angle and it shows here. What stood out most for me in this was the unique finish which saw Rey attempt a West Coast Pop only to get smashed into the turnbuckle and get hit with an electric chair pinning combo for the Angle win. That was a great finish and really cool way to stop a Rey comeback.

 

Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble ( Velocity 4/27/04) -

 

This was holy shit level great and one of the five or ten best matches in the company from 04 that I can recall. There is some really awesome mat exchanges and counters here. Noble works on Rey's arm throughout the match and Rey sells it terrifically. You'd think Rey's arm isn't the best limb to be targeting considering his style of offense but it comes off very believable and Noble does end up catching Rey off the ropes with a fujiwara armbar further legitimizing the story of the match. Also, each big spot is built up with major importance and the near falls are set up and separated very well. Rey wins this by dropping the dime after the 619 but man this fucking blew me away.

 

I think these are good matches that show how well Rey could work with various people in different types of matches and succeed in all of them. Plus, I don't know how many of these matches are remembered. It just goes to show someone how good Rey was week in and week out on television and further proves his status as "The Greatest Television Worker of All Time."

[Exposer]

I just want to point out that I will review some matches of his with the other "SD six" guys but those were the four matches that I really wanted to pimp before going back into stuff a lot of people have likely seen.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Charisma is definitely something that transcends language barriers. Kobashi is actually a notoriously bad interview, but his charisma is off the charts.

Sounds like Billy Graham.

 

Wait, Huh? Graham was a tremendous interview.

 

(Back to Rey talk) And speaking of charisma, my little nephew who's only two has been watching wrestling with me his whole little life. He LOVES Rey. He has no idea what wrestling even is. He calls it "Bump", which is god damned adorable. But he will sit still through a Rey match and say "OH NO!" when Rey gets slammed, and he will point at the TV and say "Rey" when he wants me to put on a Rey match.

 

 

I got him the Rey Bashing Buddy for his birthday, and it took him forever to pretend to fight it, I'd imagine because he loves Rey.

 

So yeah, charisma transcends language AND age. It helps when there's cool fucking masks involved, too.

[NintendoLogic]

I was just thinking about whether the Rumble impacts Rey's standing as an all-time great babyface. I never heard Ricky Steamboat get booed out of the building the way Rey was last night.

 

Replies to anticipated responses:

 

-Yes, there were the "Steamboat sucks" chants at the Chi-Town Rumble. But he won that crowd over in the end.

 

-The crowd wasn't just pissed that Bryan wasn't there. Rey was booed pretty heavily during his appearance in the pre-match video package.

[Jimmy Redman]

Rey has been booed quite a few times before. Maybe not that badly, but it has definitely happened. Off the top of my head:

 

- At MITB 2011 in the Raw ladder match he was booed whenever he went anywhere near the briefcase.

- vs Dolph at Summerslam 2009 the crowd cheered Dolph over him, way before Dolph became the smark cause du jour.

 

And there are definitely other times in the last few years that I just can't think of right now. Maybe in a previous Rumble or something like that.

 

To be honest I think (like a lot of the booing of people lately) that it is just a case of people being tired of the same old thing. Rey's issue is that he can never turn heel or really freshen up his character in any way. He's always going to be babyface Rey having Rey matches, and I think a lot of people don't really need to see another Rey match at this point. I'm not talking personally, I love the shit out of Rey and will do so until the end of time most probably, but the crowds clearly don't care much about him anymore, and anecdotally the people I know think of him as "old". He is prone to some backlash whenever they put him in a featured position these days. He's just not a guy people want to see all over TV or taking the spot of someone newer. MITB 2011 is a good example of that. It's not that anyone hated Rey, it's just that they REALLY didn't want him to win MITB and have another title run (ironic since he ended up winning the title immediately afterwards).

[ohtani's jacket]

I don't see why Rey should be penalised because WWE crowds are so bad.

[rovert]

Rey's 619 was booed at ECW One Night Stand too.

[shoe]

I think 6 months from now the majority of fans aren't going to remember Rey getting booed. They're going to remember the main story of not getting Daniel Bryan at the Rumble.

[Matt D]

Obviously, Rey and Batista should become a heel unit because of their resentment.

[Jimmy Redman]

Yeah, in this particular case the booing had little to do with Rey. Practically anyone on earth in that spot was going to die a death.

 

I'm just making the point that Rey has been booed before. This is current era WWE, seemingly all the faces get booed at some stage.

 

And no, it shouldn't be held against him as an all-time babyface worker.

[Matt D]

When's the last time the crowd turned on Santino?

[Frankensteiner]

Rey was also booed during his big World Title win moment at WM 22 and in his title match against Edge at Rumble 2008.

[Loss]

Underdog babyfaces often have a shelf life. Look at the Rock & Roll Express in 1987, after being over huge the year before.

[WingedEagle]

I think Rey gets a pass on that one. The crowd may have been willing to get behind Reigns a bit at the end, but I don't think it made a difference which of the 30 entrants came in at #30. If the name wasn't Daniel Bryan, they were catching hell.

[Bix]

His promo during the montage before the match got booed live. Wasn't just him being #30.

[peachchaos]

If your audience is booing Rey Mysterio, there is something fundamentally wrong with your wrestling promotion.

 

Whether this has been the case for years is inconsequential.

 

Rey should be a Legend performer at the level of Taker. Instead, he was upstaged by a mini.

[WingedEagle]

I think Rey gets a pass on that one. The crowd may have been willing to get behind Reigns a bit at the end, but I don't think it made a difference which of the 30 entrants came in at #30. If the name wasn't Daniel Bryan, they were catching hell.

Whoops, I missed that. Sounds like Misterio was catching hell no matter where he was slotted.

[goodhelmet]

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If your audience is booing Rey Mysterio, there is something fundamentally wrong with your wrestling promotion.

 

Whether this has been the case for years is inconsequential.

 

Rey should be a Legend performer at the level of Taker. Instead, he was upstaged by a mini.

This is an excellent post. Rey has been wrestling for over 20 years, in the U.S. for about 18 of them, in WWE for 12 of them and he isn't treated the same way others in his boat have been. The presentation of Rey as a groundbreaking character, Mexi-hero, Greatest high flyer, legend of speed etc. has never been explored.