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Rey Mysterio celebrated his 46th birthday this month and it is still amazing to see him perform in the ring at such a high standard.
Mysterio is one of the best Luchadores in wrestling history. His ground-breaking performances in ECW, WCW, and WWE have inspired a whole generation of wrestlers.
His career has been stacked with amazing feats and astounding accomplishments. He won the Royal Rumble and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 2006. Mysterio has also held multiple tag team, Intercontinental and United States titles throughout his WWE career.
In 2015, Mysterio left WWE after 13 years with the company. During this time, he went and performed all over the world on the independent scene.
He would work for NJPW, where he teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger and challenged for the AAA Mega Championship at Verano De Escandalo. He also teamed with Bandido and Rey Fenix against the Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi at the event that was the catalyst for AEW, All In.
Mysterio would then return to WWE in 2018 after four years away from the company, entering the Royal Rumble at No. 27.
In this article, we will look at Rey Mysterio's top five moments since his highly-acclaimed 2018 return to WWE.
#5 Rey Mysterio's shocking return at Royal Rumble 2018
Let's start at the beginning. Rey Mysterio shocked the wrestling world when his music hit and he was revealed as a surprise entrant in the 2018 Royal Rumble.
Towards the end of match, only four entrants remained. The clock counted down for the 27th entrant and much to the joy, shock, and awe of the audience, Rey Mysterio appeared to a massive pop from the crowd.
To make his appearance even more amazing, he was in phenomenal shape and flew around the ring just like he always has throughout his amazing career. He would eliminate Adam Cole and hit a double 619 on Roman Reigns and John Cena, before being eliminated by Finn Balor.
It was a great moment in Rey Mysterio's illustrious career and kick started his current run with the company.
#4 Rey Mysterio loses an eye at Extreme Rules
Earlier this year, Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins were intertwined in a violent and brutal feud. The rivalry reached boiling point when Rollins attempted to severely injure Mysterio by forcing his eye into the corner of the steel ring steps.
His evil and twisted action led to the two having an Eye for an Eye match at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.
The match was a decent affair, with both Rollins and Mysterio pulling all out all of the stops and hitting their signature moves. Mysterio even hit Rollins with a Stomp of his own.
The match will forever be remembered for the ending, when Rollins would once against drive Rey Mysterio's head into the steel steps. Rollins wouldn't stop the assault and caused Mysterio's eye to pop out of his head, as seen by the gruesome images below.
The spot was hugely controversial and widely ridiculed by many fans. However, the ending of the match is as memorable as it is absurd.
#3 Rey Mysterio wins the United States Championship on RAW
In 2019, Rey Mysterio won the United States Championship for the second time in his career when he defeated AJ Styles on the November 25 edition of Monday Night RAW.
The two WWE top dogs put on a brilliant match. Mysterio played the underdog babyface as he has done his entire career, while AJ Styles was a perfect heel. The result of the match came as a huge surprise and was a fantastic feel-good victory for Rey Mysterio.
Amazingly, this match was the first and only time Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles have faced one another in singles action in WWE.
The win made for a great moment, as father and son got to celebrate the victory in the ring together. Dominik lofted his father on top of his shoulders in a brilliant post-match segment that showed just how much the win meant not only to Rey Mysterio, but for Dom also.
This special moment was another great moment in Rey Mysterio's outstanding career.
#2 Rey Mysterio challenges Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship
In the lead up to last year's Survivor Series, Rey Mysterio and Brock Lesnar had a fantastic feud, which led to an enjoyable and entertaining match at the event.
It all started when Rey Mysterio won a Fatal Five-Way to face Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship. The following week, Mysterio would cut a promo thanking the fans and Dominik for motivating and believing in him. However, a furious Brock Lesnar would crash the show and destroy both Rey and Dominik with an array of suplexes and F-5s.
Rey Mysterio would get his revenge on Lesnar when he brought his former UFC rival Cain Velasquez to the premiere edition of SmackDown on FOX. Lesnar would defeat Velaquez at Crown Jewel in a quick match by locking him in a Kimura and refusing to let go.
Mysterio would then attack Lesnar with a chair to take out the "Beast". Lesnar went on the warpath looking for Rey Mysterio after, but "The Master of the 619" was the first to strike and battered the champ with a steel pipe.
Mysterio threw down the gauntlet for a No Holds Barred title match at Survivor Series, which Lesnar accepted and the match was on.
The match itself was great fun, as Lesnar and Mysterio had excellent chemistry. Lesnar would beat down his much smaller opponent with massive strikes and brutal moves.
Dominik came to the ring to throw in the towel and begged Lesner to cease his assault. The Mysterio's would then low blow the champ and deliver an enthralling sequence of offence that had the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Although Mysterio was unsuccessful in the match, it was a fantastic moment to see father and son deliver a double 619 and frog splashes.
#5 Rey Mysterio teams with his son Dominick at WWE Payback
Rey Mysterio's son Dominik burst onto the WWE scene this year with an array of break-out performances and matches. His feud and resulting match with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam was a particular highlight. But one moment and match that must have been extra special for the Mysterios would their tag team win at Payback.
The father and son duo teamed up to face Rollins and Murphy after months of intense rivalry. The Mysterios emerged victorious in an excellent match and another impressive showing from Dominik.
Unfortunately, Rey Mysterio suffered an injury in the match that kept him on the sidelines and prevented them from teaming up since. However, that has not stopped him from wanting to win tag team gold with his son.
Earlier this year, Rey Mysterio appeared on WWE's The Bump and spoke about their move to SmackDown in the 2020 Draft. He mentioned how winning the tag team championships is a goal for them both.
“There’s a lot of challenges out there for Dom and for me on SmackDown, and we’ve talked about gold, you know, something that is really in the back of our minds. And what better time for us to obtain some gold as tag teams, you know? I think that would be a dream that I did not have contemplated during this time. You know, we always talked about being able to share the ring together, but when you talk about gold, it literally could be right around the corner.” (H/T to Wrestle Zone for the transcript)
Rey Mysterio also appeared on the Lilian Garcia show, Chasing Glory. There, he spoke about how emotional it was watching Dominik perform in the ring.
