5 of the worst pro wrestling character changes, and 5 of the best

Worst Repackaging #2: "Unmasked" Rey Misterio

Is that Rey Misterio WITHOUT his mask? Something that he, and fans, would like to forget!

The tradition of masked wrestlers is a long and glorious one, which includes such luminaries as Mil Mascaras, Kane, and Big Van Vader.

However, during the Monday Night Wars, many pro wrestling executives felt that a mask interfered with a wrestler's ability to resonate with the audience. In order to get fans emotionally invested in a character, they reasoned, the masked wrestler should be unmasked.

This led to several Lucha Libre stars losing their masks, such as Psicosis and Juventud Guerra. But while those two men managed to come out ahead by unmasking, one wrestling star wasn't so lucky; Rey Misterio Jr.

Rey had been a big star in the WCW Cruiserweight division. but the promotion wanted to elevate him to the heavyweight division. In order for this to happen, Misterio was told he would have to unmask. He put his mask on the line against Kevin Nash--in reality one of Misterio's friends backstage--and lost.

Unmasked Rey lost all of his mystique, and his babyface appearance made it difficult for fans to take him seriously as a threat to big men like Nash. When he made his debut for WWE, he had his mask back on.