WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2023: Rey Mysterio
In 1996, I was eleven years old. I was still pretty naïve to pro wrestling. At the time, the Monday Night Wars between Raw and Nitro were heating up. On one spring evening, I remember watching WCW Nitro and seeing this young masked man come to the ring and put on an absolute show. The masked man was luchador Rey Mysterio. I remember early on he feuded with the likes of Dean Malenko, Psychosis, and Ultimo Dragon. Prior to those feuds in WCW, he did spend some time in ECW. He feuded with Psychosis and Juventud Guerrera prior to become an integral part of WCW’S Cruiserweight Division. Along the way he defeated Dean Malenko, Juventud Guerrera, Billy Kidman, and most notably Eddie Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
I say most notably Eddie Guerrero, because the match they had WCW Halloween Havoc in 1997 is one of the greatest matches in the history of professional wrestling. It really put lucha-libre and the Cruiserweights on the map in America. Even though the early beginnings of Rey’s WCW were phenomenal, they didn’t stay that way. In 1999, to no fault of his own he was unmasked and lost the mystique that he once had upon arriving in WCW. He stayed unmasked for the remainder of WCW being open and even when he appeared on the independents after. Ironically enough, one of my favorite independent wrestling matches involved an unmasked Mysterio in a Triple Threat Match with CM Punk and Eddie Guerrero. When WCW closed, I was unsure if I would ever see Mysterio again on my television.
Fast forward to 2002 and Mysterio appeared in WWE. He was immediately was thrown into a feud with Kurt Angle and he was off running. He spent the next thirteen years facing almost everyone you could think of in the company. He won the Cruiserweight Championship, Tag Team Championship, United States Championship, Intercontinental Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, and WWE Championship. He also won the Royal Rumble in 2006. Some of my favorite feuds Mysterio was in were against Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, JBL, CM Punk, and Cody Rhodes. One of my favorite Rey Mysterio matches was under the worst circumstances of his personal and professional life. The day after Eddie Guerrero passed away, he went out on Raw and had a classic match with Shawn Michaels to pay tribute to his friend. It was a dream match and it was one of only two time that I remember them facing each other one on one. Throughout Rey’s tenure in WWE, they respected his heritage, the lucha libre tradition and have been very protective of the mystique and legacy that the mask carries.
He departed WWE in 2015 and began to work in AAA Lucha Libre again and worked the independents as well. He faced stars like AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, Pentagon Jr., Adam Page, and Jeff Jarrettt. He also made appearances on Lucha Underground. After three years away from WWE, he returned to the company where he has been since. He has feuded with the likes of Andrade, Seth Rollins, and Samoa Joe. Over the last two years he has been most involved with his son Dominik. They began teaming and facing the various tag teams WWE had to offer. They became the first father-son tag team in WWE history, but now he is feuding with Dominik in one of the most entertaining feuds that WWE has had in quite some time. Rey Mysterio is only the second active full time WWE Superstar to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. The other was Ric Flair in 2008. I’m not going to speculate whether WrestleMania 39 will mark the end of Mysterio’s career. However, if his career is coming to an end he absolutely deserves this honor. He is the Hulk Hogan of Lucha Libre. When people think masked wrestlers, they think of Rey Mysterio. Congratulations to Rey Mysterio on being named to the WWE Hall of Fame for the class of 2023.
