Wrestling / Rey Mysterio Jr.

aka: Rey Mysterio

The King of Mystery.

One of the most famous lucha libre wrestlers in the World to date, Rey Mysterio Jr. (real name Óscar Gutiérrez, born December 11, 1974) is the nephew of Rey Misterio Sr. who helped train the young wrestler. Starting his career on the independent circuit of Tijuana after being trained by his Uncle, he was picked by a newly established major promotion called AAA, which in turn lead to Mysterio going to ECW in 1992, where his high-flying style attracted the attention of Eric Bischoff - who was scouting for lucha wrestlers in order to give WCW a more unique feel to it. Along with other luchadores and cruiserweights, Mysterio caught the attention of the crowd with the fast paced and risk taking matches, becoming one of the high points of WCW all the way up to its demise.

After WCW collapsed, Mysterio competed for various independent circuits - including wrestling against future world champions Eddie Guerrero and CM Punk in IWA Mid-South - before signing with WWE in 2002, where he has since become one of its biggest stars and a main eventer on the company's SmackDown brand, up until he was drafted to Raw in 2011.

When his WWE contract expired in 2015, Mysterio returned to AAA and also made appearances in Lucha Underground.

Later returning in Royal Rumble 2018, Mysterio started working for WWE again as a part-timer. This also applies to New Japan Pro-Wrestling as of a segment taped for The New Beginning in Osaka 2018, making him the second performer behind Chris Jericho to form working ties simultaneously with both companies in the 21st century.

An animation series called Rey Mysterio Versus La Oscuridad (or Rey Mysterio vs the Darkness) starring the titular luchador premiered on HBO Max and Cartoon Network Latin America on December 8th, 2023. In it, Rey Mysterio will team up with a fan named Oscar to fight against the forces of evil all led by the villain Uroboros. A U.S. release is set for 2024.

On March 10, 2023, he was declared the first inductee and headliner of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2023. He was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame three weeks later, on March 31, 2023.

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"Who's that tropin' out the sky? R-E-Y Misterio, here we go":

• Aborted Arc: Before his feud with Myzteziz could really get started, CMLL, facing diminishing returns with Atlantis, decided they wanted Myzteziz back and he promptly left AAA.
• Affectionate Nickname: Vampiro sometimes referred to him as "Little Rey-Rey", particularly when talking about how far back the two of them go together. Johnny Mundo also referred to him as "Rey-Rey", though not so fondly.
• Arch-Enemy: He's had many enemies over the years, but his archenemy would probably be either Psicosis or Eddie Guerrero. Eddie's nephew Chavo is also consistently a thorn in his side. In the latter part of his WWE career it was Alberto Del Rio.
  • In Lucha Underground, it was Dario Cueto, whom Rey believed was responsible for the death of his mentor. However Rey tried to defy this trope, as he believes that protecting others is far more important than obsessing over revenge.
  • After his return to WWE he's feuded with Randy Orton, Andrade "Cien" Almas and Samoa Joe.
  • In 2019, Rey won a number one contender match to face Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship but was attacked by Brock Lesnar on the same night of his supposed match with Rollins for no reason. Not only this pulled Mysterio out of the match, Lesnar also attacked Mysterio's son, Dominik. Angered over the attack of his son, Rey brought in Lesnar's worst nightmare from UFC, Cain Valsquez to help him. While Valsquez failed to defeat Lesnar at Crown Jewel 2019, Mysterio took matters into his own hands and attacked Lesnar with a steel chair several times (including one of the few head shots in the modern era). The next night on SmackDown, Lesnar responded to the attack by switching over to Raw to challenge Mysterio.
  • In 2020, he feuded with Seth Rollins after Rollins injured his right eye.
  • His son Dominik wants to be this to him after Dominik's Face–Heel Turn, but Rey refuses to bite how much Dom baits him. It took Dominik insulting and disrespecting his own mother, Rey's wife, in order to finally get Rey to strike him at all.
• Author Appeal: He's friends with the members of P.O.D., who also hail from the San Diego area. They perform the entrance theme he's been using since 2006.
• Badass Boast: To Prince Puma when accepting Puma's invitation to a match at Ultima Lucha Dos.
  Rey: "But you are still a Prince, and I am el rey ('the king')".
• Bash Brothers: WCW was going to set Rey Mysterio up with still-masked Juventud Guerrera, united against Chris Jericho, but the Juice got in trouble and the angle was killed.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Místico had been taking the feint out of the Tiger Feint Kick in the same manner as Misterio for years. When they finally met as opponents, it was only appropriate Rey would subject Myzteziz to his own famed submission hold.
• Big Brother Mentor: Became one to Sin Cara, with whom he has formed a tag team. The announcers explicitly refer to their team-up as a mentor-protege relationship.
  • And is one to both El Dragón Azteca Jr and Prince Puma. Though the former's desire for revenge against the one who killed his predecessor led him to abandon Rey's teachings.
• Breakup Break Out: Rey Mysterio was once a member of the stables known as the No Limit Soldiers and then the Filthy Animals in his WCW days. Since then, Rey Rey has achieved the most success as a singles competitor in the U.S. Eddie Guerrero would be a close second.
• The Cameo: Appeared in a video package for AAA's Triplemanía XXII. Rey Mysterio wanted to show up in person but WWE wouldn't let him.
• Canon Discontinuity: WWE does not acknowledge that Rey Mysterio lost his mask in WCW. Ever. This is more obvious on DVDs, but made patently clear when, during a PPV match featuring Mysterio, the announcers said that ever since he started wrestling, he'd never taken the mask off. It helps that nobody wants to remember Rey's unmasked period in WCW. The only reason it happened in the first place is because Eric Bischoff thought masked wrestlers weren't "marketable". Rey (and the WWE) would get the last laugh later on, as the Mexican Athletic Commission hated what Bischoff did enough to let the flagrant Loophole Abuse in Masked Luchador tradition slide (see the Masked Luchador entry below), which the WWE would take advantage of and make millions and millions of dollars off of their line of top-selling Rey masks.
• Captain Ersatz: In Fire Pro Wrestling, before the original Rey Misterio!
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Inverted. As a Face for nearly his whole career, Rey probably has been betrayed as many times as Sting. The list includes Batista, three members of the Guerrero family, his own son, and Santos Escobar.
• Cool Mask: The design of his masks changed a lot over the years before it finally become somewhat standardized in WWE. He still got new mask designs but he wears them over his standard ones.
• Cool Sword: He collects them.
• Cosplay: Whenever the time calls for it, Rey loves adapting his mask and other ring gear to be based on that of famous superheroes. Looks include Wolverine (during All In 2018), Captain America (during WrestleMania XXVII), The Phantom (during Halloween Havoc 1997), Heath Ledger's version of The Joker (during WrestleMania 25), Joaquin Pheonix's version of The Joker (during Survivor Series 2019) and — perhaps unsurprisingly — as Mysterio (during WrestleMania 35).
• Costume Evolution: Whereas he began his career wearing the standard Mexican Luchador outfit (mask, tights, lace-up boots) with tasseled armbands on each of his biceps, Rey for much of his initial WWE run replaced the tights with loose-fitting trousers and got rid of the armbands (save for the time after Eddie Guerrero’s death, during which he wore a black armband with Eddie’s initials as a tribute). He had since reverted to his original attire following his return to the independent circuit and carried it over to his return to WWE in 2018.
• Costume Porn: Rey has an affinity for Comic Book themed attire, especially when WrestleMania rolls around.
• Curbstomp Battle: On the receiving end of a very unique one from Último Dragón in their first match for the Cruiserweight Title. Dragón was being booked as someone with a skill set that luchadores in general didn't match up well against, and he beat the living hell out of Misterio for about 10 minutes. Misterio wouldn't quit. Eventually he started throwing out reckless offense that turned the match back and forth before Dragon finally put him a way with a bounce-off-the-ropes powerbomb.
  • His first battle with Matanza. Considering that Rey had just fought for nearly an hour in Lucha Underground's equivalent of the Royal Rumble, and he was facing an Ax-Crazy Physical God, it's honestly astounding he managed to last as long as he did (about a minute or so). And to be fair, Matanza had already curb-stomped 8 other men first before he got to Rey.
• Darker and Edgier: Perhaps as a result of circumstance, but Rey's second WWE run has seen him as this in comparison to his original WWE run where he was (except when channeling his friend Eddie Guerrero) basically a boy scout. The main catalyst of this seems to be his family being too close to the action but he's seen employing much more Combat Pragmatist and outright brutal tactics, such as Knee-capping Brock Lesnar with a steel pipe several times during their 2019 feud, and going as far as to challenge Seth Rollins to a match where the Instant-Win Condition was to remove the opponent's eye from its socket. And actually went through with trying to do it. Also arranged for his entire family to gang-beat Murphy with kendo sticks, including his wife Angie, who seemed... reluctant to participate.
• David Versus Goliath: Rey's always the former when put up against guys even half above his height. And despite his can-do attitude against big men, he'll often lose to these kind of guys, whether or not the match was won cleanly.
• A Day in the Limelight: The first volume of the Lucha Underground interquel comics featured him going to the States seeking the second Dragon Azteca, witnessing the Disciples of Death vaporizing luchadors and Vampiro getting admitted at the psychiatric ward in the process.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: He pinned Matanza!
• Dented Iron: His long career and acrobatic style has taken a hellish toll on his body, especially his knees, which are in bad shape even for a luchador. However it may be considered subverted as Rey can still perform to an extremely high level, as seen on Lucha Underground (particularly his main event match at Ultima Lucha Dos against Prince Puma, considered one of his best in years).
• Determinator:
  • Perhaps the fact he still wrestles at all is a sign but the basis of his (first) feud with Kane was having this put to the test.
  • Royal Rumble 2006 showed how much he was willing to go, as his record of 62 minutes was still the longest time in the Royal Rumble until Daniel Bryan's 76 minutes more than a decade later.
  • An unconventional and rather tragic case is his absolute refusal to fight his son Dominik. No matter how much Dominik tries to provoke him and disparage his legacy, Rey will not lay a hand on him. Ultimately, Rey only gave in and agreed to a match with his son after Dominik disrespected his own mother, Rey's wife Angie.
• Disney Death: Actually had this during Money In The Bank 2020, where at the climax of the titular match King Corbin bodily pitches Rey off the roof of WWE Corporate Headquarters. Rey survives, which is explained away by the announcers, who claim that there was a lower roof portion just out of camera shot.
• Divergent Character Evolution: The uncle that trained him was more known for power bombs than planchas but Jr picked up more and more of the aerial offense the Mexican lucha circuit is famous for as he made his rounds on it.
• Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: In his WrestleMania match against his son, Rey took his belt off and gave his son a well-deserved lashing.
• Doting Parent: Would affectionately call his daughter "Princess" when she was on TV.
• Early-Bird Cameo: His WWE ring attire (sans mask) makes an appearance in IWA Mid-South in January 2002, five months before his debut in WWE.
• Establishing Character Moment: His mid-air hurricanrana on Psicosis at Bash at the Beach 96.
• Estrogen Brigade Bait: Back in WCW when Rey was actually maskless... just damn. This is what led to.....
• Even the Guys Want Him: All of which crosses over into outright Bishōnen especially in the SmackDown intro video. There, he looks barely a teenager, the lighting really emphasizes his long eyelashes and eyes, and to top it off, the lighting combined with his mask also gives him bishie sparkles.
• Eye Scream: On the May 11, 2020 edition of Raw (the night after Money in the Bank), Seth Rollins forced his right eye at the sharp corner of the steel steps. Exaggerated at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules that July, when Mysterio and Rollins met in an "Eye for an Eye" match, in which the winner had to gouge his opponent's eye out. Rollins succeeded in "gouging out" said eye.
• Face: Rey has spent almost his entire career as a face. Even his stint in the heel stable the Filthy Animals, he came across more as a tweener going along with the heel thing because it's what his friends were doing. Since joining the WWE, Rey has never been anything but a pure face, a shockingly rare feat in the land of Heel–Face Revolving Door that is pro wrestling. He's effectively the Ricky Steamboat of his generation.
  • It's really hard to boo him. Only the most smark-heavy crowds ever turn against his plucky face persona, and only when he runs up against a path to a scenario they want to come to pass. For example, New York gave him some Heel heat during a Royal Rumble 2008 match with Edge, who was SmackDown's Big Bad at the time, mainly because they preferred seeing Edge defend against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIV over Rey getting another Eddie-motivated title reign. And then there was 2014's Royal Rumble, when it was revealed that he was the final entry, meaning Daniel Bryan, whom the crowd desperately wanted to win the title at WrestleMania XXX, would not be in the Rumble at all. To say the crowd was furious would be the Understatement of the Year. As an addendum to this, on both of those occasions where Rey Mysterio was booed at the Royal Rumble, Undertaker and Bryan walked out of those WrestleManias with the World Heavyweight Title.
• Fatal Flaw: His dedication to familia often results in him taking too long to intervene when there's internal strife in said familia, as shown with both his hesitation to retaliate against his son's constant antagonism, and later his failure to defend Escobar from Carlito's insults resulting in the former's Face–Heel Turn.
• Fragile Speedster: With the very brief exception of Blitzkrieg in WCW, Mysterio has always been the fastest man in the match while wrestling in the USA. He's also the smallest, especially back in WCW when he weighed in at around 150 lbs, and even his fellow cruiserweights could hit him with powerbombs and other moves usually done by heavyweights.
• Friend to All Children: Probably the most popular wrestler (behind John Cena of course) among young children. In fact, just take a gander at his entrance, where he stops to shake hands with or kiss every single child in the front rows before entering the ring.
  • Bonus points for children in the front seats who wear a Rey Mysterio mask. Rey will come to them and do a luchador-esque forehead bump to them and will give a lucky child the mask over his mask.
  • His popularity is easily greater than John Cena's because he is also loved by smarks who liked him in WCW and ECW and fans of lucha libre. However, WWE has always made sure that the most promoted wrestler is a heavyweight face, and Cena fits that bill.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Rey's bad knees have veered into Black Comedy Running Gag territory. You know it's bad when your frequent injuries earn their own meme.
• Genre Savvy: When up against Eddie Guerrero in a mask vs title match in '97, Mysterio anticipated Guerrero making illegal attempts at removing the mask during the match, and wore a full body costume with a mask that attached to the rest of it.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Oh, brother. Lately, it seems as if Mysterio has turned into the wrestling equivalent of Dora the Explorer. It gets worse whenever he appears in California or the Southwest. ("Kane is a little delusional!"/"Es un vato loco!") Somewhat justified, as a key part of SmackDown's ratings during its broadcast TV run was its excellent numbers in Latino households, thanks chiefly to Rey and the late Eddie Guerrero.
• Happily Married: To his wife Angie, whom he paid homage to in his Hall of Fame Induction speech. So happily married, in fact, that disrespecting Angie is what finally caused Rey to snap and attack their son Dominik.
• He's Back!: After a 30-year absence, he returned to Triple A, his first national promotion. Most appropriately at Rey de Reyes, and in the main event no less.
• Heroic BSoD: This happened when his own son Dominik betrayed Rey to join the villainous Judgment Day and outright rejected Rey’s attempts at reconciliation. He attempted to quit WWE, but Triple H talked him out of it and convinced him a trade to SmackDown would be a better idea. Rey has been able to cope better since then, but on the road to WrestleMania 39, Dom has upped his attempts to provoke Rey into fighting him, which is only causing his father more distress. Dominik finally pushed Rey too far by turning his hate on his mother and retaliated by punching him down.
• Horned Humanoid: WCW glued devil horns on the side of his head after he was unmasked.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: The undisputed Ricky Steamboat of his generation, Rey has almost never been heel. There was an attempt during his unmasked period in WCW with the Filthy Animals, but first, they were tweeners, second, as far as everyone is concerned, that never happened. And unlike John Cena, Rey was always better off staying a face.
• Institutional Apparel: Rey occasionally competed in a set of orange prison scrubs during his unmasked period in WCW (chiefly when he was a part of the Filthy Animals).
• Invincible Hero: In the past few years, he has become nearly unstoppable. Losses, clean or otherwise, have become a major rarity for Rey (which doesn't stop the commentators from calling him an "underdog").
  • It wasn't as bad in 2009 and 2010, with Rey being beaten by the likes of Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, CM Punk, John Morrison, Kane, and Alberto Del Rio, as well as losing one fall to Jack Swagger via submission in a two out of three falls match.
  • He has gotten most of those losses back from Del Rio, Chris Jericho, and CM Punk. In fact, after they (CM Punk and Chris Jericho) beat him once, Mysterio went on and started pinning them clean.
• Irony: Back and forth on this multiple times with regards to the Latino World Order. Back in WCW, Rey Mysterio Jr. initially refused to join the LWO and only complied after losing a match with Eddie Guerrero. But when both WCW President Ric Flair and the original New World Order (nWo) asked the group to disband, Mysterio had become the most loyal to the LWO's cause and thus was the only one who didn't take Flair up on his promise of women and fast cars to fight for WCW against the nWo. This would put Rey the furthest in the nWo's crosshairs out of all the now ex-members of the LWO, to the point they would turn against his friend Konnan and then strongarm Rey Jr. into a Lucha de Apuesta with Kevin Nash wherein he lost his mask and everyone outside of WCW and the nWo absolutely hated it. (To wit, his uncle and the governing lucha authorities created a loophole with his identity to let him wear his mask again as soon as he was free of WCW, and absolutely no one acknowledges on camera that it happened ever.) And after all that, fast forward 25 years later in WWE, Rey Mysterio revives the faction with Legado Del Fantasma as its new leader, complete with a tribute to Eddie Guerrero in its new theme.
• It Will Never Catch On:
  • Eric Bischoff said masked wrestlers didn't sell, unmasked Rey, and proceeded to do nothing meaningful with him. Rey would re-mask, go to WWE, and proceed to become the most famous luchador in mainstream wrestling, while hundreds of thousands of fans would buy his mask and make him (and WWE) lots of money.
  • Similarly, Chris Jericho mentioned meeting an 18-year-old Rey in his autobiography and was convinced that Rey had no future in the business and would be lucky to be working ring crew, but didn't have the heart to tell him that. Not only did that not turn out to be true, Rey and Jericho ended up having their own prominent rivalry over the years.
• Jumped at the Call: He may have refused the call to wear Dragon Azteca's mask, but he did NOT refuse the call to avenge him. He quickly answered Dragon Azteca Jr.'s call and took him under his wing as his new mentor and ally.
• Kid-Appeal Character: He will likely always appeal to kids for his height alone but he also gives out masks to them and frequently wears bright colors like yellow.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: He began in the Mini Estrella Division at age 14 and has spent most of his career as what they call a babyface in the United States.
• Legacy Character:
  • To his uncle, despite the Jr, or the fact his uncle is much larger and more grounded when he wrestles. This was not initially the case, his gimmick on the indies alternating between La Lagartija Verde and Colibrí, but his uncle became impressed enough with his work to offer him the Rey Misterio mantle. It's since become a tradition, as both Hijo de Rey Misterios explicitly had to earn the right to use the gimmick first.
  • Defied in Lucha Underground. Rey was chosen to wear the mask of Dragon Azteca as his successor, but he instead decided to forge his own legacy out of his mentor's shadow.
• Living Legend:
  • Literally NO ONE in the Temple is as big a name as Rey.
  • Also applies to his second WWE run. It was further reinforced when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame while still an active wrestler, the second to do so after Ric Flair. And unlike Ric, there's no indication that Rey plans on retiring anytime soon.
• Location Theme Naming: The West Coast Pop is obviously named from the West Coast of the US, while the 619 is the area code of San Diego, CA (which is part of the West Coast), Rey's hometown.
• Loophole Abuse: See Masked Luchador.
• Masked Luchador: DUH!
  • It's interesting to note that the last couple of years of Rey's WCW career were spent unmasked. As pointed out above, WWE never acknowledges this, and everyone from Rey himself to his uncle and predecessor to the Mexican Athletic Commission itself absolutely hated that decision. In fact, this is in part why he's simply called "Rey Mysterio" in WWE. Rey Jr. and his uncle found a way around the strict rules in Mexico regarding luchadores losing their masks (if they lose it, they can't put it back on); while Rey Misterio Jr. had been unmasked, Rey Misterio (the original) had not. The original Misterio gave Rey Jr. permission to use the WWE-marketed Rey Mysterio (minus the "Jr."), with the original becoming Rey Misterio Sr., and Rey's mask was back on — this time, for good. By the time he returned to the Mysterio Jr. name on the independents, the whole thing was forgotten to anyone that mattered.
  • The spelling of Rey Jr.'s surname in WCW seemed to alternate from "Misterio Jr." with two is to "Mysterio Jr." with a y and an i depending on the time and source. The Spanish for "Mystery" is actually Misterio, but was tweaked to Mysterio so people would realize it means "mystery" as opposed to meaning "mister". Given WCW's known inconsistency regarding pronouncing and spelling the luchadores' names (most notably promoting Último Dragón [actually translates to "Last Dragon"] as "The Ultimate Dragon" for about 2 years), the change to y only became fully entrenched when he signed with WWE, which also coincided perfect with him dropping the Jr. and regaining his mask despite the fact that WCW started it.
• Meaningful Name: His name is Spanish for "The King of Mystery"; his early WCW ring attire was dotted with question marks.
  • One of the most infamous of such attires was a Phantom-inspired purple bodysuit that had question marks all over it; this attire was most notably worn during his famous match with Eddie Guerrero at WCW Halloween Havoc 1997.
• The Mentor: Ever since forming a tag team with Sin Cara, he's been referred to as a mentor to him.
  • In Lucha Underground, he plays this role to Dragon Azteca Jr. and technically to Prince Puma, as he was the one who referred him to Konnan.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In one of the most famous clips of the nWo running roughshod over the WCW roster, Kevin Nash (7'2") picked up Mysterio (5'3") over his head and threw him head-first into a production truck like a lawn dart. The thud and the accompanying bellyflop to the pavement were sick to look at.
  • The Big Show would top this at the 2003 Backlash PPV. After Big Show shrugged off THREE 619 maneuvers in a row and defeated him handily, Rey was taken out on a stretcher board. Big Show, however, came back down, picked up Rey still strapped to the board, and swung the board like a baseball bat against the ring post (which would be sick in itself, but the immobile Rey also splatted face-first to the mat).
  • Let's face it. If you are a heel, want to do a Face–Heel Turn, or just want to gain credibility as a heel, beat the ever loving hell out of Rey Mysterio. It seems to be in the heel manual these days.
• Older Hero Versus Younger Villain: He's the Older Hero opposed by his son, the Younger Villain Dominik Mysterio.
• Older Than They Look:
  • The mask and Rey's small stature work well to hide the fact that he's much older than his appearance lets on. He was born in 1974. He's barely aged a day since his WCW days. Chris Jericho thought he was a 13-year-old boy the first time he saw him, according to Jericho's own biography. For the record, Jericho and Rey first met when the latter was eighteen.
  • To put this in perspective, his Survivor Series 2019 match against Brock Lesnar? Lesnar is three years younger than Rey (b. 1977).
• Omniglot: Maybe not in real life, but he seems to be able to easily converse with everyone else on the roster, up to and including a mute leprechaun and a giant who can barely even speak his own language.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Ever since Dominik's Face–Heel Turn and subsequent feud with him, "deadbeat dad" and other variations have become most heels' go-taunt for Rey.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Usually when Rey is in a Papa Wolf mode, he's angry but he'll make sure to be calm about it. Brock Lesnar going after his son? Cue Rey attacking him with a steel pipe and even challenging Lesnar to a match at Survivor Series, going as far as to deliver chair shots as a statement.
  • You know that Rey is officially done with his son's bullshit when he decides to deck him with a solid hook after Dominik started badmouthing Angie.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Harming his kids is a good way to get him angry, as seen with his feuds with Eddie Guerrero (when Eddie tried to use his son Dominik as a shield) and CM Punk (for causing his daughter Aalyah to cry on her birthday).
  • The beatdown Brock Lesnar laid on his son Dominik in 2019 pushed Rey to take vengeance in ways we haven't really ever seen from him before, including beating the crap out of Lesnar with a steel pipe during one RAW episode.
• Parental Neglect: During their feud in late 2022/early 2023, his son Dominik accuses him of this, consistently calling him a "deadbeat dad" and other similar names. Rey later admits this is true, as he missed a lot of his children's childhoods to focus on his wrestling career, which meant being constantly on the road.
• Parents as People: What his feud with his son Dominik ultimately portrays him as. Rey admits that Dominik's criticisms about him aren't unwarranted and he constantly prioritized his career over his kids. However, he points out the reason for his Parental Neglect was so he could give them a life he could only ever dream of, including fabulous wealth and a privileged name. In the end, despite whatever Dominik may believe or claim, Rey does love him, and it is only because of that love that he endured months of physical and verbal abuse without kicking his son's ass no matter how much he deserved it. Dominik picked the wrong line to cross by flinging verbal abuse at his mother and sister as well. Rey had enough and attacked his son, and then accepted his challenge for a match at WrestleMania.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He is 5'2". He is a top level wrestler.
• Put on a Bus: Took time out for a knee injury. He had a date set for his return but was suspended for 60 days for failing a Wellness Test.
  • The Bus Came Back on July 16 - naturally, running over Alberto Del Rio in the process.
• Rage Breaking Point: Throughout the road to WrestleMania 39, Rey keeps his cool despite his son wanting to goad him into a match and to have Rey hit him. It's not until Dominik starts disrespecting Angie, Rey's wife and Dominik's own mother, that Rey decides to punch his son in the face and accept the challenge.
• Refused the Call: As mentioned above, he refused to wear the mask of Dragon Azteca, instead allowing Dragon Azteca Jr. to carry the honor of their master's legacy.
• Relative Button: Wanna make Rey really pissed off at you? Then you can go one of two routes:
  • As shown in Papa Wolf, his biggest button is anyone hurting his kids. CM Punk and Brock Lesnar have both learned this the hard way, the former towards his daughter and the latter towards his son.
  • Insulting his wife is also another one. Rey — who had been goaded by his own son to attack him — doesn't lay a finger on Dominik until after Dom started trash-talking her.
• Religious Bruiser: Rey is as Catholic as he is badass, which is to say very. He opens most of his matches by taking a knee and crossing himself, and has a number of crosses and Christian symbols tattooed on his body.
• Rogues Gallery: Good Lord, where to begin? Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero Jr., The Big Show, Randy Orton, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Batista, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, and Alberto Del Rio. And that's just his WWE tenure.
• Shout-Out: His falls count anywhere match against Cody Rhodes had several shout-outs to ECW including a long brawl throughout the arena, "HOLY SHIT!" chants, a failed attempt at a Psycho Guillotine (longtime rival Psicosis's finisher), and finally beating Cody by using Asian mist like Tajiri.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: Dominik Mysterio, at 6 foot 1 and 200 lbs, is on the small side of average size for a pro wrestler. Nonetheless he towers over his 5 foot 6 father Rey.
• Summon Bigger Fish: After he and his son Dominik were severely beaten up and victimized by Brock Lesnar on the September 30th 2019 edition of RAW, he responded by bringing in UFC fighter Cain Valsquez, who beat Brock for the UFC Championship, to take the fight to him.
• This Is Gonna Suck: At the end of Aztec Warfare II, after Puma was eliminated by Matanza, Rey was left alone in the ring with the monster, who still hadn't even been knocked off his feet yet. As one of the very few men in the know about what Matanza really is, Rey's expression was utterly grim, because he knew he was going to be tested like he'd never been before (and had already been in the match since the start).
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: His wife Angie is taller than Rey.
• Tough Love: During his late 2022/early 2023 feud with his son Dominik, Rey did everything he could to defy this trope in regards to his son, absolutely refusing to harm him no matter how much Dom tried to provoke him. This despite several of his oldest friends/acquaintances, many of whom knew Dominik as he was growing up, outright telling him that it was the only way he was going to straighten Dominik out. Things finally hit a breaking point when Dominik started verbally abusing and disrespecting his mother and sister too, at which point Rey finally had enough and decided to invoke this trope to teach his son a lesson in respect, with his family's full support.
• Trope Maker: The Tiger Feint Kick is so called because it is a feint. It was originally something to psyche out wrestlers who thought their opponent was going to dive out of the ring. If you ever see anyone actually use the move offensively, it is most likely because of this guy.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: While a lot of WWE's major stars tend to wear same ring gear for at least a few months at a time, Rey Mysterio seems to have a different set of mask and matching pants every other week.
• Verbal Tic: Yells "WA-AHHHH" while striking.
• Weaksauce Weakness:
  • Mysterio beating on you? Everything you throw at him failing? Rip off his mask and he'll immediately try to cover his face, leaving himself wide open to be pummeled. Alberto Del Rio uses this tactic liberally.
  • Subverted during his match against Chris Jericho at The Bash 2009 when Jericho got his mask off but Mysterio was wearing another mask underneath it! Jericho was so surprised that he ate a 619 and Rey got the pin.
• Wham Shot: On the final Friday before WrestleMania 39, Rey hands Legado de Fantasma some black shirts, to which they look in surprise. Rey then reveals that it has the logo of the Latino World Order on it!
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: A rare justified example and a tremendous Call-Back to his feud with the late Eddie Guerrero in 2005. After months of having to endure his son's verbal and physical abuse, Rey finally snaps and strikes Dominik after the latter starts flinging his abuse at his mother as well. After the deed is done, Rey says this trope verbatim, and in this case, it's very much the truth.
  "You pushed me! You pushed me to do this! I didn't want to hit you! You made me hit you! You don't disrespect your mother like that! That's my wife! You wanted a fight at WrestleMania? You're on! I'll see you at WrestleMania, son!"
• Would Hit a Girl: In the Royal Rumble (2019) he attacked Nia Jax with a 619 and later eliminated her.
• Wrestling Family: WWE refuses to acknowledge this, but Rey Misterio (Rey Misterio Jr.) is in a pretty well known family south of the border. He is a second generation superstar, and might be considered the best in this line. So every time Mysterio starts a feud with a Guerrero where one or both accuse Rey of wanting to be a Guerrero, a Wallbanger ensues.
  • The legacy continues, with Rey's son Dominic (with a slight name change to "Dominik" in the ring) having started training as a wrestler and making almost weekly on-screen appearances with Rey. Presumably in storyline this is meant to be Dominik shadowing his father more closely to learn the ropes. He's gotten a literal crash course in taking bumps.^note Rumor has it, actually, that part of the reason Rey returned to WWE for what may be his final full-time run as an in-ring competitor, is that WWE agreed to take Dominik on at the Performance Center in developmental when they deem him ready. In 2020, shortly before Dominik was set to make his wrestling debut against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, Rey told an interviewer that his long-term goal was to have Dominik wrestle as Prince Mysterio. At the time of the interview, Dominik already had masks and costumes designed for the Prince character. And then in 2021 Rey and Dominik formed a tag team, eventually taking the SmackDown tag team belts off Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, becoming WWE's first father-son tag team champs.
  • In 2008 Rey Sr. introduced El Hijo de Rey Misterio to continue the family line, though he retired after a generally uneventful career in 2011. A second El Hijo debuted shortly after that, before renaming himself Rey Horus^note And also Dragon Azteca Jr. in Lucha Underground in 2014. Despite the name these 2 are both actually Rey Sr.'s nephews. Rey Sr has bestowed the name upon several other wrestlers since then but none are actually related to them.
• Wrestling Psychology: Mysterio is probably the best at selling without overselling, and the best at being a babyface in the industry.
  • Though considering that he's had surgery five times on his knees, how much of it is selling?
• Yank the Dog's Chain/Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: His WWE championship run only lasted about an hour, after being forced to defend it against John Cena, and unlike other heels, Cena got away with it.

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