10 Harsh Realities About Rey Mysterio His Fans Need To Realize

The career of Rey Mysterio will go down in history as one of the most impressive to ever take place in wrestling. Mysterio embraced the underdog role by getting over as the smallest wrestler in WCW before doing the same on a grander level in WWE. A career spanning over three decades sees Rey still performing at a high-level today.

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Most fans have a respect and love for Mysterio that will stand the test of time. However, even the most avid supporters of Rey will run into some unexpected variables from his career that prove not everything is perfect or as it seems. The following harsh realities will shine a deeper light on Mysterio’s career through the ups and downs.

10 Never Had A Great World Title Reign

Rey Mysterio has won three world titles during his legendary WWE career, but none of them went as fans hoped. WrestleMania 22 was the night of the first huge win when Mysterio won the World Championship and dedicated the moment to the late Eddie Guerrero.

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WWE booked Rey terribly by getting squashed against giant wrestlers in non-title matches before losing it. Mysterio winning the WWE Championship at the end of a tournament saw him holding it for a few hours as he lost it right back to John Cena. The second World Championship reign after defeating Jack Swagger was the best of the three, but it only lasted under a month.

9 Unmasking In WCW Wasn't The Worst Thing

WCW has been criticized for decades for unmasking Rey Mysterio back in 1999. A tag match defeat to Kevin Nash and Scott Hall saw Rey forced to unmask as per the stipulation. Many pundits and fans claim this was the beginning of the end for Mysterio as a major WCW player.

However, this actually set up his biggest push with the giant killer character defeating bigger men. Kevin Nash, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Scott Norton all suffered losses to Rey to help his push. Mysterio was even protected with a DQ finish against WCW Champion Ric Flair to show he did benefit from unmasking over the first few months.

8 Family Storyline Got Overbearing

WWE has found success with Dominik Mysterio turning heel and feuding with his father Rey. However, there was a point during the process of the Mysterio family storyline where fans were clearly getting sick of the overbearing presence on the show.

Rey’s daughter Aliyah entered a romantic storyline with Buddy Murphy when the Mysterio family angle jumped the shark. WWE phasing that out and focusing more on Dominik’s heel turn saved what was becoming a failed overall idea.

7 Was In A Huge WCW Failed Investment

Eric Bischoff believed that rapper Master P would be the perfect celebrity to get a younger audience invested in the product. Master P led the No Limit Soldiers faction based around Rey Mysterio and Konnan as the main wrestlers doing the work.

WCW fans didn’t care about Master P and the plan backfired with them turning heel. Mysterio’s previous giant killer character was sacrificed for this idea since WCW felt it would be huge. Unfortunately, the failure saw Rey involved in one of WCW’s most disappointing ideas.

6 Cruiserweight Division Limited His Upside

Rey Mysterio’s legacy sees his work in the cruiserweight division as a huge part of that concept for both WCW and WWE. The WCW run saw Rey almost always in the cruiserweight division since he was the smallest wrestler on the entire roster.

WWE had Mysterio working with upper card names early to get credibility, but he moved back into the cruiserweight division. Both companies viewed Rey as being valuable to the overall success of the division. However, it just limited his ceiling until WWE finally ended his time with the cruiserweights.

5 Was Involved In Lackluster WCW Romance Angle

A forgotten time in Rey Mysterio’s career featured him having a romantic storyline in his WCW run. Former Nitro Girls dancer Tygress started dating Rey to change up his character when both were now members of the Filthy Animals together.

RELATED: 5 Ways Rey Mysterio Was At His Best In WCW (& 5 Ways He Is Better In WWE)

WCW didn’t benefit much from this partnership, and Mysterio felt out of place with the new character. Most fans would name this time from 2000 as the worst overall chapter of Rey’s television career in either WCW or WWE.

4 Was Part Of Embarrassing Cain Velasquez Stint

WWE booking Rey Mysterio in a feud with Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship was great for him, but there was one terrible aspect of that story. Former UFC fighter Cain Velasquez joined Rey to defend him and Dominik by attacking Brock to play into their history in MMA fights.

There was a failed mini-feud between Lesnar and Velasquez that hurt the latter’s wrestling career. WWE didn’t trust Cain moving forward as the rest of his run led to nothing happening. Mysterio even being involved in this disaster was a bad look.

3 Relied On Hurricanrana Too Much In WCW

The hurricanrana move is a huge part of Rey Mysterio’s arsenal, but it became too much of his matches in WCW. Mysterio broke out the move multiple times per minute and used that as his version of a strike or a rest hold that other wrestlers used often.

Fans still love Rey’s matches in WCW since they hold up extremely well, but the amount of time placed into the hurricanrana move stands out as a rare negative. Mysterio changed that up at the end of the WCW run and had his perfect move set by the time he joined WWE.

2 Losing Eye Vs Seth Rollins Was An All-Time Embarrassing Moment

Rey Mysterio had one of the strangest feuds of his career against Seth Rollins that led to some odd turns. WWE booked an eye-for-an-eye match marketed around the two wrestlers trying to rip an eye out of the other’s socket.

The cheesy segment featured Mysterio pretending to lose his eye as Rollins scored the win. Neither man benefited from this angle due to fans mocking it and finding it outlandish. Rey returned and eventually dropped the façade he lost an actual eye.

1 Been Booed Way More Times Than The 2014 Royal Rumble

One of the most shocking moments of Rey Mysterio’s career featured him getting booed for being the 30th entrant spot in the 2014 Royal Rumble when fans wanted Daniel Bryan instead. WWE and many wrestlers talked about how Rey had never booed before to sell the shock of that moment.

However, there were a few other instances of crowds wanting to boo Mysterio since he was a babyface in front of some hostile crowds. Matches against Sabu, Edge, and Kurt Angle all saw Rey getting booed out of the building in favor of his opponents all before the Rumble moment.