[2019-01-15-WWE-Smackdown] Rey Mysterio vs Andrade

[SmartMark15]

A crazy sprint that got hella time on Smackdown. Rey looks as good as ever athletically, pulling out moves, dives, and bumps like it's 1997. But that's not all he has, as he proved in the opening minutes, his star power is so bright that he could a headlock sequence over as babyface. Fantastic. Andrade for his part also went the extra mile, taking some crazy bumps like the headscissors off the apron and bringing the aggression. An excellent TV match, one to be looked back on fondly in the SD! archives.

****1/4

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Loved how this started off with them trying to outswagger each other. Also loved the headlock & hammerlock stuff. Eventually the big MOVEZ & counters become the focus of the match, with them busting out all kinds of cool stuff, and it's good. It's not the kind of wrestling that I go "holy shit this is amazing" to, but Rey & Almas did it much, much, much better than many others, and I enjoyed it a ton. Almas has some very solid viciousness to everything he does & Rey is still as explosive as ever. ***1/4

[nivvad]

When Andrade is on, he's really on. Despite the dumb name change, Andrade put on a great match with Rey Mysterio in the year of 2019. Rey Mysterio in 2019! Those words are really strange to me because I had zero expectations of Mysterio putting on this type of bomb fest way past his prime. Finish was typical WWE booking though as Andrade won with a distraction, even though the finish was still clean? I know it doesn't sound like it makes sense, but re-watch the finish and you will get what I'm saying, ****1/4.

[Boss Rock]

A PPV-caliber match that we got on free TV. Always good stuff. Since they got a lot of time with this one, I really liked how they started slow with Rey consistently keeping Andrade grounded with the headlocks and holds. Really told a good story of Rey being the wily veteran who is always one step ahead. And one step ahead he remained as he surprisingly controlled the majority of this match. Andrade still got his fair share of offense in, particularly a nasty powerbomb to the floor. The finishing stretch had all the high-speed, high-impact offense you'd expect from these two and yet still left room open for another rematch (which was obviously intentional with the 2/3 falls match this week).

Unbelievable that Rey is still this good, although it helped he was in the ring with one of the best in the world.

****1/4

[peachchaos]

Finally...this has been added to The Network. 

Rey works smart like a territory era veteran and moves like a spring chicken. Andrade is as proficient a worker in terms of execution as they come, so this is a perfect fit. The headlock sequence at the start is easily one of the best in company history. It's not even just an entertaining struggle for control, it's a sequence of innovation and creative expression. Once a viable and viscous finisher, the headlock became relegated to rest hold status as the style of worked combat evolved. It's usually a meaningless time-filler in the lull of a match before a cut-off and comeback. But Rey Mysterio approaches rainy days like he's the Cat in the Hat. From there, the matwork builds to some big high risk spots that foreshadow a big finishing run that we don't get to see due to some good heel tactics. They move so fluent and fast that it's easy to miss some of the bombs they drop and carefully placed strikes from Andrade. Roller coaster ride with substance and a good n dirty heel finish to draw me into the rematch. ****