Professional wrestling career[]
[edit] Early career[]
Oscar Gutierrez was born on December 11, 1974. He was trained by his uncle Rey Misterio Sr. and made his pro debut in 1989.[5] He began a feud with Psicosis using the ring name Colibrí (Spanish for hummingbird). The feud lasted several years, continuing even after Mysterio's career moved to the United States of America.
In Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) he feuded with Juventud Guerrera, including a tag match with Misterio, Sr. and Misterio, Jr. taking on Juventud and his father Fuerza Guerrera.
After AAA, Rey Mysterio Jr. along with Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis were contacted by Paul Heyman to sign a contract for ECW in the states. Though Rey Mysterio Jr. only had a brief stint in ECW, he had a Mexican Death match with Psicosis that was ranked best match of the year 1995. Mysterio left ECW however to join World Championship Wrestling.
[edit] World Championship Wrestling (1996–2001)[]
[edit] Cruiserweight division (1996–1998)[]
Misterio went on to gain fame in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1997, where he was the flagship of the new "Cruiserweight Revolution" in the United States. The spelling of his name was partially anglicized as "Rey Mysterio, Jr." to market him as a "mystery man". Mysterio, Jr. made his WCW debut at 1996 The Great American Bash, challenging Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, which Malenko retained by cheating to win. At Bash at the Beach, he defeated longtime rival Psycosis in a number one contender's match to earn another shot at the Cruiserweight Title.[6] The next night on WCW Monday Nitro, he defeated Malenko for to win first Cruiserweight Championship.[7] He reigned as champion for three months, which included title defenses against the likes of Ultimate Dragon, Malenko and Super Calo before he lost the title to Malenko at Halloween Havoc.[8][9][10][11] After his first Cruiserweight title reign ended, Mysterio challenged Ultimate Dragon for the J-Crown Championship, but was unsucessful in his title match at the 1996 World War 3.[12] In early 1997, he feuded with Prince Iaukea over the WCW World Television Championship. He challenged Iaukea for the title at SuperBrawl VII, which Mysterio lost after Lord Steven Regal attacked him.[13] Mysterio lost again in a rematch for the title at .[14] He had short feuds for the rest of the year before he began a feud with his real-life friend and Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero. He defeated Guerrero in a Title vs. Mask match at Halloween Havoc for his second Cruiserweight Championship.[15] On the November 10 edition of Nitro, he lost the title back to Guerrero. They had a rematch at World War 3, which Mysterio also lost.[16]
On the January 15, 1998 edition of WCW Thunder, Mysterio defeated Juventud to win his third Cruiserweight Championship, but lost it nine days later to Chris Jericho at Souled Out.[15][17] After the match, Jericho continued the beating by using a toolbox he found at ringside. This storyline was used to cover Mysterio's need for a knee operation that kept him out of the ring for six months. He made his return at Bash at the Beach, where he defeated Jericho for the Cruiserweight championship.[18] The next night, however, the result was overturned and the belt returned to Jericho due to the interference by Dean Malenko.[18] Later that year, Eddie Guerrero formed a Mexican stable known as the Latino World Order (LWO) (a spin off of New World Order) that included nearly every luchador in the promotion. Mysterio continually refused to join and feuded with Guerrero and the LWO members, including winning a match against long time rival and LWO member Psychosis in a match at Road Wild.[19] He, however, was finally forced to join the group after losing a match to Eddie Guerrero. Mysterio's on-and-off tag team partner Billy Kidman joined him during the feud with LWO, wrestling against the LWO despite Mysterio being a part of the group. His alliance with Kidman was formed after Mysterio helped Kidman defeat Juventud for the Cruiserweight Title at World War 3. Mysterio feuded with Kidman over his Cruiserweight Championship being defeated at Starrcade in a Triangle match also tgat also involved Juventud and defeated him again at Souled Out in a Fatal Four-Way match that also included Psychosis and Juventud.[20][21]
[edit] Unmasking (1999)[]
[1][2]An unmasked Rey Mysterio.In 1999, after the two factions of nWo reformed - nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac - they demanded that the LWO disbanded. Mysterio refused to take off his LWO colors and was attacked by the nWo as a result. This led to a match at SuperBrawl IX where Mysterio and tag partner Konnan lost a "Hair vs. Mask match" against Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, forcing Mysterio to remove his mask. After the match, he phoned his uncle to tell him the news. Mysterio has publicly expressed his disappointment over being unmasked:
| “ | I was strongly against it! I don't think WCW understood what the mask meant to me, to my fans and to my family. It was a very bad move on their behalf. The fans wanted Rey Mysterio with the mask and losing it hurt me a lot. It was also frustrating that it didn't come as the climax to a feud with another masked wrestler, but in a throwaway match. The same thing happened to Juventud and Psicosis and psychologically wise it was a bad move by Eric Bischoff. I think the fans understand that I was in a position where I had no option. I either had to lose my mask or lose my job.[22] | ” |
Mysterio later became a "giant killer" by defeating bigger opponents such as Kevin Nash,[23] Bam Bam Bigelow, and Scott Norton.[24] He faced Nash at in a match where Lex Luger interfered and helped Nash in winning the match. Although he participated in several notable matches with some of the heavyweight top card wrestlers, it was made very clear to him that he would never receive a push to become a main eventer. This was due to Eric Bischoff utilizing cruiserweights as comic relief to the heavyweight wrestlers. As one of the top wrestlers in the cruiserweight division, Mysterio would go on to voice his disdain in regards to not being pushed:
| “ | The division kicked off to a certain point but they never put us on top, and when they unmasked us it all came tumbling down. Those in charge of WCW had the mindset that only big men could draw and didn't create new superstars. But wrestling now has changed so much. Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho have all been world champions, but back in WCW they were mainly cruiserweights. Also the top guys in WCW were scared that fans were more interested in watching luchadore action and high-flying moves than big men just going out there and stomping on each other for 10 minutes. But later on he was interupted by rising superstar Iffah. But the heavyweights were getting into Eric Bischoff's ear, saying: "We can't let these guys be on top. They're small and wrestling has never been about this, we've got to keep the tradition going." It was stupid for Eric Bischoff, who was running a huge company like WCW, to listen to other people. Vince McMahon runs his own company and does what he wants to do, as did Paul Heyman. Wrestling is about what the fans want, not what the boys want.[22] | ” |
The next night on Nitro, he defeated Billy Kidman to win his fourth Cruiserweight Championship.[15] Two weeks later, both men teamed with each other and defeated Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship,[25] making Mysterio a double champion. Mysterio successfully defended his Cruiserweight Title against his tag team partner Kidman at Spring Stampede[26] before losing the title on April 19, 1999 edition of Nitro to Psychosis in a Fatal Four-Way match that also involved Juventud Guerrera and Blitzkrieg.[27] On the following edition of Nitro, he defeated Psychosis to win his fifth Cruiserweight Championship.[15] At Slamboree, Mysterio and Kidman lost the title to Raven and Perry Saturn in a Triangle match, also involving former champions Benoit and Malenko.[28] Óscar Gutiérrez (born December 12, 1974)[3] is a Mexican-American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), wrestling on its SmackDown brand. Gutiérrez was trained by his uncle Rey Misterio and wrestled early on in Mexico where he learned the Lucha Libre high flying style that has been his trademark. Despite weighing only 175 lb (79 kg) Gutérrez has achieved success wrestling in both the heavyweight and cruiserweight weightclasses, as well as tag team competition. Gutiérrez originally worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) in Mexico, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling as Rey Misterio, Jr./Rey Mysterio, Jr. but dropped the "Junior" from his name when he began working for the WWE in 2002.
Mysterio is known for having a high flying style, which helped kick-start the cruiserweight wrestling revolution in the United States in the late 1990s during his time in WCW. In WWE, Mysterio has won the World Heavyweight Championship, the WWE World Cruiserweight Championship three times, the WWE Tag Team Championship four times and the WWE Intercontinental Championship twice, making him the 21st person to win the Triple Crown Championship. Mysterio was also the winner of 2006 Royal Rumble. In WCW, Mysterio won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship five times, the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times and the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship once with Billy Kidman as part of the Filthy Animals.
