'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Former WWE Champion Rey Mysterio made his full-time return to WWE following a four-year absence, on the historic 1000 episode of WWE SmackDown this past Tuesday.
Before, during and after his original run in WWE, Rey was regularly wrestling the best match of the night. Rey has wrestled countless outstanding matches and has often won awards throughout wrestling media for Wrestler of The Year and Match of The Year, and is very deserving to have done so.
As we prepare to watch Rey have many more great matches in WWE for the foreseeable future, let's take a look at the best of Rey Mysterio in WWE with his top ten best matches for the company.
#10 Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton vs. Kurt Angle - WrestleMania 22
To be honest, Rey Mysterio has had more than a dozen one-on-one matches in WWE that were far superior to this Triple Threat, but it still takes a place here over those because of the emotion in it and what it involved.
As much as Rey deserved to be a Heavyweight Champion in WWE, this one (of his three) will always be tainted by the real-life death of his best friend, Eddie Guerrero. Never the less, the trio still put on a good show. The rapid Chicago crowd that night knew Rey's win was coming, and that predictability along with it being a tainted win over Eddie, and how great of a World Champion Kurt Angle had been, the majority of fans that night seemed to want nothing more than to see Kurt retain.
While the audience may have been on Kurt Angle's side, Rey still took in a good response for his three count over Randy Orton. The match itself, although it could have been better, was still pretty good. The time for the match was allocated to just 9 minutes, so they had to squeeze everything they had in mind for it in that small amount of time, but I think they succeeded for the most part.
We had some great three-way moves, including an awesome double German suplex from Kurt, each man got his time to show how good he could be o the great stage and although Rey's overall run as World Champion in 2006 was pretty bad, on this night he was allowed to come off as legitimate.
#9 Rey Mysterio vs. Shawn Michaels - Eddie Guerrero RAW Tribute Show
This was an emotional one.
Taking place just one day after the sudden death of Eddie Guerrero was announced, Rey Mysterio still decided to compete that night. His opponent for the night would be a first time meeting that fans had been hoping to see for a while, Rey Mysterio one-on-one with Shawn Michaels.
A clearly emotional Mysterio went out that night to do Eddie proud, and he certainly did. The two put together a very good match. Some nice chain wrestling, some submissions from HBK, various reversals and a surprise 619 and legdrop for Rey to get the win.
No, it wasn't a classic that people will talk about forever, more of a forgotten gem that deserves a lot of credit for both men, especially Rey, performed that night with the emotional state they were in. Rey and Shawn had a nice embrace following the decision.
#8 Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk - Over The Limit 2010
WWE Over The Limit 2010 is probably one of the worst WWE events of the 2010's. Matches had unusual finishes, most performances seemed lacking and most of them were not timed very well. The show did, however, have just one saving grace, Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk.
This was the final match in the series of Mysterio and Punk's thrilling yet overlooked feud. They first squared off at WrestleMania 26, where if Rey lost he would join Punk's Straight Edge Society stable. Rey would win in a very short but decent match (for it's length). They met at Extreme Rules next where if Punk lost, he would lose his hair. It was a thrilling match, won by Punk, and then we finally had this, both stipulations in the one match at Over The Limit.
The best of their series came here, at Over The Limit. The two put together a damn fine match that made the whole PPV worthwhile. They went back and forth all match, a lot of smooth action and a dozen reversals. At one point Punk gets split open and the blood pours enough for the ref to call a pause for a few moments to try stall the wound, but Punk remains a mess as he gets trapped in a roll-up for the pin and win for Rey, and it’s haircut time.
#7 Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho - The Bash 2009
Surprisingly, this feud wasn't in the works for a long time, so much time that it was Chris Jericho himself who went to creative and requested to do a program with Rey Mysterio.
The two would meet on pay-per-view in 2009 three times for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, at Judgement Day, Extreme Rules and this, The Bash. Each time they put on a show-stealing affair. Rey had won the first at Judgement Day, Chris took the win, the Intercontinental title and Rey's mask at Extreme Rules, and finally came to this, a Mask vs. Title match at The Bash.
Not just a show stealer but without a doubt one of the best WWE matches of 2009, this match is an ultimate Classic from storytelling, to in-ring drama and chemistry, the reversals and the climax all played off from a wonderful feud that translated nicely inside the ring. Some great notable moments including when Rey springboarded off the ropes and fell right into the Codebreaker by Jericho, and in the end when Rey was able to trick Jericho by wearing a second mask.
Top notch quality and a great win for Rey.
#6 Rey Mysterio vs. John Morrison - September 4, 2009
The WWE Intercontinental Championship has a rich history of some of WWE's all-time greatest matches. And not only is this one of them, but it is often a highly overlooked gem.
The interesting thing about this match is that it almost didn't happen. The reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio had been feuding with Dolph Ziggler over the gold for the previous few months, meeting twice on pay-per-view. At the beginning of September, Rey was informed that he would be suspended over a wellness policy violation, and would need to drop the Championship, and would do so to rival Dolph Ziggler.
For whatever reason, Rey vetoed the idea, and instead someone, quite possibly Rey, suggested that he drop it to John Morrison instead, and the date was set for the September 4 edition of SmackDown. The two high flyers tore the house down. A match that can be best described as a pay-per-view quality nail-biter, the two had a fantastic affair, with so much unpredictability in their moves and drama, the fans were on the edge of their seat.
John Morrison pinned Rey with the Starship Pain to take home the Intercontinental Championship.
#5 Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle - SummerSlam 2002
This is one of the best opening matches in pay-per-view history. Not quite as good as Bret and Owen Hart opening WrestleMania X, but somewhere close enough.
This was Rey Mysterio's first pay-per-view match in WWE and what an impression. The match had just really been thrown together and the feud between them only lasted 3 weeks but we got this thriller out of it, as well as a solid rematch on SmackDown 2 weeks later.
The action started off hot when Rey came from under the ring and hit Kurt from behind with a head scissors, dropkick and a monkey flip that sent Angle across the ring. The crowd was super hot all night, so were really into this opening bout. A lot of really fast-paced action, a lot of reversals, Mysterio ran the ropes and hit a somersault dive over the referees back to take out Angle on the floor, which looked awesome.
The end came when Rey went for a hurricanrana off the top but was reversed into an Ankle Lock, giving Kurt the win. This was perhaps the best match you will ever see that lasted under 10 minutes.
#4 Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman vs. Charlie Hass & Shelton Benjamin - Vengeance 2003
This one is an incredibly underrated gem from a really excellent yet overlooked pay-per-view. SmackDown was running a little low on tag teams at the time so we had a brief reunion of former WCW Tag team Champions Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman, to challenge Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Tag Team Championships.
Without a doubt the shining moment in the WWE career of Billy Kidman, this was one of the best WWE tag team matches ever. The action was red hot all match long, both teams going back and forth, a sling of reversals by both teams, several near falls including Kidman launching Rey onto the top rope for a hurricanrana on Hass but only leads to a 2 count. Kidman delivers a springboard Shooting Star Press to a huge pop.
The end came as Hass reversed Rey's headscissors into a modified Doomsday Device from Benjamin. Fantastic tag team match.
#3 Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero - SummerSlam 2005
Rey Mysterio has actually revealed that this match is his favorite match that he ever had in WWE (and maybe ever).
Rey and Eddie Guerrero had been feuding for just about five months, with the big hook being that Rey and Eddie's number in one-on-one matches. This was to be their biggest match, however, as Eddie revealed weeks earlier that he was actually Rey's sons Dominick's real father, and the winner of this Ladder match would receive his custody papers.
The drama and emotion in this match was off the charts. You really bought into that, no matter how uncomfortable this angle got at times, that it was still an emotionally driven encounter. After a few minutes of Eddie assaulting Rey, it didn't take long for some ladders to be involved. They were used a lot as a weapon, mostly Eddie on Rey.
We had some high flying use of them, including a slightly botched sunset flip powerbomb that left its mark none the less. Dominick got involved at one point, aiding his father. Rey performed a 619 on the ladder to Eddie, followed by a couple more high powerbombs. They had to improvise at one point after Vickie Guerrero missed her cue (Eddie flipped out in the ring over it) but she eventually ran out and pushed Eddie off the ladder, allowing Rey to win.
#2 Royal Rumble 2006
The biggest underdog in WWE history did what no one thought he would ever do, especially for a man his size, and won the WWE 2006 Royal Rumble. Rey entered at number #2 and not only won but broke the record for the longest time spent in Royal Rumble history, a record which still stands today. Rey eliminated 6 men along the way before last eliminating Randy Orton to take home the win.
Due to Rey's time in the match lasting over an hour, there were several points in the match where Rey was laying in the ring pretty lifeless. This is highly understandable due to the toll a match like this would be taking on his body but never the less, Rey soldiered on gave a memorable performance.
The other goings on the match was pretty good too, including the number #1 entry Triple H lasting almost an hour and being in the final three before being eliminated by Orton, fun WWE returns of Goldust and Tatanka, comical moments from Jonathan Coachman and Viscera and more great action.
#1 Rey Mysterio & Edge vs. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit - No Mercy 2002
And it will be a tag team match that tops off the list, but rightly so as this may just be the greatest tag team match in WWE history.
To crown the first ever WWE Tag team Champions of SmacDown (ironically these are the RAW titles today) Rey Mysterio was paired with Edge in an unlikely team who made it to the finals at No Meryc with another unlikely team, in Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit.
The action here was simply phenomenal. Rey and Kurt started things off with a very fast pace of arm drags and takedowns. Angle and Edge had some nice mat wrestling, Kurt and Benoit both delivered a dozen suplexes each to their opponents as Edge and Rey battle back. We had an amazing spot of Edge hoisting Kurt on the top rope and would alley-oop Rey onto him into a Frankensteiner.
Some close near falls, everyone hitting their finishers and more double team moves before Angle forces Edge to tap out for the win.
Outstanding performance.
