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Rey Mysterio is arguably the most famous luchador in modern wrestling and the most famous masked Superstar in WWE history. Rey has been wrestling for almost three decades at this point and has won 3 WWE World Championships, 2 WWE Intercontinental Championships, 5 WCW Cruiserweight Champions and the 2006 Royal Rumble amongst a host of other accomplishments.
With wearing a mask, comes the danger of being unmasked. As many other WWE Superstars, Mysterio has been unmasked a number of times. In today's article, we take a look at 5 times Mysterio was unmasked on live television in WWE and WCW.
#5 Randy Orton (2018)
The most recent entry in this list came in November 2018. Orton was acing Mysterio in the main event of WWE SmackDown when Orton countered a baseball slide with an RKO at ringside. Orton followed it up with a second RKO to win the match but the story didn't end there.
Orton followed it up with a nasty attack on Mysterio after the match which ended with Orton unmasking Mysterio on live television. Orton proceeded to carry Mysterio's mask to SmackDown the following week, carrying it around as a trophy.
#4 Cody Rhodes (2011)
Rey Mysterio accidentally broke Cody Rhodes' nose in 2011 which led to Cody's "Handsome" gimmick with his protective nose guard on. Cody then orchestrated a vicious ambush on Rey Mysterio as revenge.
After being lured into the ring by Cody's dad, the late Dusty Rhodes, Mysterio was viciously attacked from behind by Cody Rhodes. Rhodes led Mysterio up the entrance ramp and after smashing him face-first into the entrance-tron and then unmasked him. Rhodes then held up Rey Mysterio's mask like a sick trophy.
#3 Chris Jericho (2009)
It was 2009 and WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio was facing Chris Jericho at WWE Extreme Rules. In the buildup to the match, Jericho had guaranteed that he would both win the WWE Intercontinental Championship as well as take the mask off Rey Mysterio's head.
After a back and forth battle between the two WWE legends, it looked like the diminutive Mysterio had the upper hand. Mysterio had Jericho positioned on the middle rope and was getting ready to hit the 619. Jericho attacked Mysterio in the middle of the move and pulled off Mysterio's mask.
As Mysterio hid his face from the fans and the cameras, Jericho used the opening to roll Mysterio up for the 3-count to win the match and the WWE Intercontinental Championship thus living up to the guarantee's he'd made in the buildup to Extreme Rules 2009.
#2 Eddie Guerrero (1997 and 2005)
Rey Mysterio was unmasked by good friend Eddie Guerrero not once but twice.
The first time was in 1997 on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Rey Mysterio was facing 'The Man of a 1000 holds' Dean Malenko in a singles match. Mysterio had just hit Maleno with a springboard hurracanrana and was in the midst of pinning him when Guerrero came in from ringside and pulled the mask right off Mysterio's head.
Malenko locked in the Texas Cloverleaf on Mysterio who was hiding his face. Mysterio immediately tapped with his only objective being hiding his face from the cameras.
Guerrero unmasked Mysterio for the second time on an episode of WWE SmackDown in 2005. It looked like Guerrero was coming out to rescue Mysterio from a beating at the hands of MNM but he turned on Mysterio after chasing away the then-SmackDown Tag Champs.
Guerrero culminated his vicious attack by tearing Mysterio's mask off.
#1 Kevin Nash (1999)
It was 1999 and Mysterio was teaming with Konan to face Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in a mask vs hair match at WCW Superbrawl IX. Konnan and Mysterio came within moments of winning on a couple of occasions but it wasn't to be.
After their loss, Mysterio was forced to unmask in what was probably his most famous unmasking on American television.
Mysterio later spoke about not being a fan of this unmasking saying:
“I don’t think WCW understood what the mask meant to me, to my fans and to my family. It was a very bad move on their behalf. The fans wanted Rey Mysterio with the mask and losing it hurt me a lot. It was also frustrating that it didn’t come as the climax to a feud with another masked wrestler but in a throwaway match.”
Mysterio returned to the mask as soon as he signed for WWE.
