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Profile: Rey Mysterio
One of the most famous modern luchadors internationally, at 5'3" and billed as 165 pounds Rey Mysterio is the smallest WWE Superstar to ever be World Heavyweight Champion.
Originally named Colibri (Spanish for hummingbird), Rey wrestled his first match in 1989 at age 14 in Tijuana, Mexico. Once he turned 18, he was allowed to use the name Rey Misterio Jr, after the uncle who trained him. In AAA he feuded with Juventud Guerrera, and both teamed up with their respective fathers for a tag match.
In 1995 he debuted for Extreme Championship Wrestling, with booker Paul Heyman aiming to introduce lucha libre to an American audience. The attention garnered in ECW got Rey and several other wrestlers of smaller stature signed to World Championship Wrestling by Eric Bischoff, where they competed in the cruiserweight division. Americanizing his surname, Rey Mysterio Jr went on to become a five-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion, and along with Billy Kidman would be the second of only two teams to hold the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles, winning the belts on the final episode of Monday Nitro.
Whilst in WCW, Rey was forced by Eddie Guerrero to join his Latino World Order faction, but despite being a reluctant member, Rey refused to remove his colors when the New World Order demanded the parody be disbanded, earning himself a beating. Rey lost a tag match with Konnan to The Outsiders, forcing Mysterio to lose his trademark mask. Without his mask, he wrestled as a member of The Filthy Animals, and would later join The New Blood in 2000 in the war against The Millionaires Club.
When the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW in March 2001, Rey would not be seen on TV for over a year, before finally making his WWE debut in 2002 as simply Rey Mysterio, becoming an instant hit with his high-flying style, winning the Cruiserweight Title and later the WWE Tag Team Titles with partner Edge. Controversially, he had resumed wearing his mask, despite strict rules in Mexico forbidding doing so after losing it in battle.
In 2005, he began a long rivalry with Eddie Guerrero, involving a WWE Tag Team Title reign whilst opponents at WrestleMania 21. The feud became more and more personal as Eddie, frustrated at not being able to beat Rey, revealed to the world that he was the real father of Mysterio's adopted son Dominic, and embarked on a custody battle just to torture his former friend. Being professional wrestlers, they settled the matter in a ladder match at SummerSlam, with Rey achieving victory to retain custody of Dominic. Guerrero would finally get his long-awaited token over Rey shortly afterwards in a steel cage match on SmackDown.
When news broke of Guerrero's death in November, Rey was very open about his enduring real-life friendship with Eddie, and continued to wear an armband bearing his late friend's initials long after the tribute shows that week. He dedicated his victory in the 2006 Royal Rumble to Eddie, as well as his World Heavyweight Title win at WrestleMania 22. As World Champion (the word "Heavyweight" was often omitted in official references during his reign), and for several months after losing the title to King Booker at The Great American Bash, Rey made frequent references to Guerrero, and went on to feud with Eddie's nephew Chavo over what Chavo called a "leeching" of the Guerrero name. Eddie's widow Vickie would turn on Rey, siding with a heel Chavo on the issue. When Mysterio suffered a real knee injury, his required time off was set up by an "I Quit" match in which Chavo blasted the bodypart with a steel chair until Rey had no choice but to quit.
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