Óscar Gutiérrez y Rubio, better known by his ring names Rey Misterio, Jr., Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Rey Mysterio (born December 11, 1974 in San Diego, California), is a Mexican-American professional wrestler currently performing for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the SmackDown! brand as the current World Heavyweight Champion.
Gutierrez is a luchador as is his uncle and trainer, Rey Misterio, Sr. He debuted as a wrestler in April 1989 at the age of 14 in Tijuana, Mexico. He was too young to wrestle in the United States, as athletic commissions would not give him a license. Technically, he was also underage in Mexico, but enforcement was generally lax. In Mexico, using the stage name Colibri (hummingbird in Spanish), he began a feud with another luchador, Psicosis (who was also trained by Rey Misterio, Sr.). This feud lasted several years even after Gutierrez's career moved to the U.S. When he turned 18, his uncle allowed him to use the ring name "Rey Misterio, Jr." Gutierrez later changed the spelling to "Rey Mysterio, Jr." and eventually dropped the "Junior".
In 1995 he defeated Psicosis during their debut match on Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). This match was their first real impact in American professional wrestling, outside of the WCW-promoted When Worlds Collide pay-per-view (PPV). Their feud stopped for a while after a Mexican Death Match in November 1995 at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. Mysterio also appeared at the reunion show, ECW One Night Stand 2005, where he beat Psicosis.
In 1996, he joined Psicosis in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), continuing their feud on and off for a few years. Mysterio would find success there, winning several WCW Cruiserweight Championships.
In 1999 he was involved in a feud with Kevin Nash. The feud with Nash culminated in a Caballera vs. Mascara Match (Hair vs. Mask) in which Mysterio lost. Unmasked, he still had a moderately successful career in WCW with The Filthy Animals until it was sold to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2001. Rey then went back to Mexico to work for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, where he fought in some high profile matches.
In 2002, Mysterio signed with WWE, but was asked to wear the mask again. In Mexico, one could be fined or even have their license suspended in lucha libre by the Box y Lucha Commission for this; there, once a wrestler loses his mask, he cannot regain it. In deference to this tradition, Mysterio continues to not wear a mask when performing in Mexico. This includes non-wrestling appearances in the Rey Mysterio: 619 DVD produced by WWE, although he wore a mask on the recent tour in Mexico on January 1 and January 20, 2006.
Mysterio is known for his aerial wrestling techniques and has won the WCW/WWE Cruiserweight championship eight times - more than anyone else in history. Rey also performed on the WWE Originals CD (2004) with a bilingual song called "Crossing Borders". The song served as the official theme song for 2004's No Way Out PPV event in San Francisco, California where he was defeated by Chavo Guerrero, Jr. for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
On February 20, 2005, Mysterio won his third ever WWE Tag-Team Championship with long time friend, and former rival, Eddie Guerrero. They won by defeating Doug Basham and Danny Basham (a.k.a The Basham Brothers) at the 2005 No Way Out. However, in a departure from traditional booking, the new champions did not defend their titles at WrestleMania 21 on April 3, 2005, but instead faced one another, with Mysterio winning. This led to storyline in which the team broke up and had Guerrero turn heel. According to the storyline, Mysterio was absent from SmackDown! due to an attack by Guerrero. Mysterio returned at Judgment Day and won against Guerrero again, who went on to attack Mysterio repeatedly with a steel chair.
Guerrero and Mysterio continued to feud, with Guerrero threatening to reveal a secret he and Mysterio shared involving Mysterio's son, Dominic. Unless Mysterio deferred to Guerrero's authority, he threatented to go public with the secret. A match was scheduled for the July 24, 2005 during the Great American Bash, with stipulations that if Mysterio won, Guerrero wouldn't tell the secret, but if Guerrero won, he would. Mysterio defeated Guerrero with his son at ringside.
After the Great American Bash, Guerrero broke his promise and revealed that he was Dominic's biological father. The storyline went that Guerrero knew Mysterio was having trouble starting his own family, so Guerrero left Dominik with Mysterio and his wife Angie to raise. In subsequent weeks, Guerrero threatened to take custody of Dominic, even drawing up custody papers and having his lawyer present them to Mysterio. At SummerSlam 2005, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a Ladder Match for the custody of Dominic.
On the first edition of Friday Night SmackDown!, Rey Mysterio had his second loss (the first being a WWE Championship match on the SmackDown! after WrestleMania XX) to Eddie Guerrero in a steel cage match, after first missing a crossbody from the top of the cage, and then being hit with Guerrero's Frog Splash.
Mysterio then engaged in a brief feud with John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) with Layfield eventually coming out the victor at No Mercy 2005.
Mysterio then debuted a reggaeton song called Booyaka 619 where he sings along with Mad One in October of that year.
On November 13, 2005, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That same day at a WWE "Super Show" where SmackDown! and RAW were both taped, Mysterio gave an emotional speech about Guerrero, and even took off his mask (though he put his head down, so no one could see his face.) Mysterio went on to defeat Shawn Michaels in an interpromotional match later the same night. After the match, Michaels and Mysterio hugged in the ring and Mysterio pointed up to the sky, crying, in memory of Guerrero.
Mysterio participated in the main event of Survivor Series as part of Team SmackDown! (along with Randy Orton, Eddie Guerrero's replacement), debutant Bobby Lashley, Batista and JBL who defeated Team RAW (Shawn Michaels, Kane, Big Show, Carlito, and Chris Masters). On the Tuesday after Survivor Series, Mysterio faced RAW's giant, Big Show, in a match billed as David vs. Goliath in a Smackdown! Special.
The grudge match, stemming from Mysterio pinning Big Show at Survivor Series, ended as a "no contest" when Big Show's tag team partner, Kane, interfered in the match. On the December 2, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio teamed with JBL to take on Big Show and Kane, but JBL left the match early claiming that the referee had poked him in the eye, leaving Rey all alone with Big Show and Kane, eventually losing the match. After the match, Big Show and Kane continued to attack Mysterio, and Batista ran in to save him. It was announced later that Mysterio and Batista would team up to face Big Show and Kane at WWE Armageddon on December 18, 2005.
On the December 16, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, Batista and Mysterio defeated MNM to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions in a match they both dedicated to the late, Eddie Guerrero. Now the Tag Team Champions, Mysterio and Batista's match with Big Show and Kane at Armageddon turned into a Champions vs. Champions encounter. Mysterio and Batista lost when Kane chokeslamed Mysterio. On the December 30, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, MNM envoked their rematch clause, defeating Batista and Mysterio, with help from the returning Mark Henry, to regain the WWE Tag-Team Championships.
On January 29, 2006 Mysterio won the Royal Rumble in Miami, Florida. Entering the ring in the number 2 position, Mysterio dedicated his fight, and later his win to Eddie Guerrero. Mysterio lasted over one hour, two minutes in the ring. Althougth WWE has stated that Mysterio is the first to enter at number 2 and win, the first was actually Vince McMahon in 1999. He is, however, the smallest wrestler to ever win the event in both height and weight by a large margin. By winning the Royal Rumble, Mysterio gained the choice of having a World or WWE title shot at WrestleMania 22 on April 2, 2006 -- the first time he has ever competed for a World Title at a pay-per-view event. After his win, he was congratulated by Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Rob Van Dam - all old and close friends of Eddie Guerrero.
When Rey Mysterio won the 2006 Royal Rumble, the last elimination was Randy Orton. Still upset by this, on the February 3, 2006 episode of Smackdown!, Orton interrupted Mysterio's victory speech and verbally attacked him, saying "there was no way Mysterio could ever beat him in a real wrestling match". So Orton wanted to challenge Rey for his Wrestlemania 22 title shot. As Mysterio looked upwards, Orton continued by saying that "Eddie Guerrero ain't in heaven, he's 'down there'-- IN HELL!" Infuriated, Mysterio attacked Orton with a flurry of enraged punches, while security tried to stop him. He lost his tag-team match later that night with Kurt Angle against Orton and Mark Henry, and afterward put his title shot on the line by fighting Orton at No Way Out on February 19, 2006.
At No Way Out, Randy Orton beat Mysterio by pinning him while grabbing the ropes. Having lost his title shot at WrestleMania 22 for the World Heavyweight Title, he cried backstage and Eddie's wife, Vickie, and nephew, Chavo Guerrero. Jr, consoled him. Then, during the February 24, 2006 edition of Smackdown!, Theodore Long announced that he was disgusted with the way Orton won the match, and that while he couldn't take Orton out of the main event, he could add to it. Long then declared that Mysterio would compete for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22 in a Triple Threat match against Randy Orton and World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle. Orton didn't like this announcement, but was told by Long to either accept it or be taken out of the main event, which Long had just told Mysterio that he could NOT do.
On April 1, 2006, Mysterio, along with Chris Benoit and Chavo Guerrero Jr., posthumously inducted Eddie Guerrero into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2006.
At WrestleMania 22 in Chicago, Mysterio became the World Heavyweight Champion by pinning Randy Orton in a Triple Threat Match, following a 619 and a West Coast Pop. This victory was historic on many levels as Mysterio became the shortest (5'6") and lightest (165 lb) World Heavyweight Champion in WWF/E history. He is the third masked wrestler (after Kane and Mankind) and third Hispanic wrestler (after Pedro Morales and Eddie Guerrero) to win a WWE world title . Following this victory, Mysterio was congratulated on the entrance ramp by Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Vickie Guerrero and back stage by his good friend Chris Benoit.
World Heavyweight Champion
On the April 7, 2006 edition of
SmackDown!, Mysterio, who was billed as being an "underdog champion", made his
first World Heavyweight Title defense against Randy Orton. Mysterio went on to
retain his title in a rematch against Kurt Angle before starting a feud with the
United States Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield.
This feud with JBL saw Mysterio face off against any opponent of JBL's choosing
in the weeks leading up to his title match against Mysterio at WWE Judgement Day
2006. Mysterio was defeated by Mark Henry and squashed by The Great Khali in
non-title singles matches before facing RAW's Kane in a match, that went to a no
contest, leading up to the PPV. He retained his title at Judgment Day using a
Frog Splash to win the match.