
The first match went off the rails quickly, with both men botching spots they’d never really attempted before. They had met in singles competition only twice before, both in the month leading into the bout.

There wasn’t a lot of shared experience to lean on. The ChallengeĪlthough relieved, the two now faced a new challenge-coming up with a different finish as the clock ticked. The mask, for the moment, would stay right where it was. Just a half hour before the show began, Arn Anderson told Misterio he would be the new champion. Having won the battle of wills, Bischoff magnanimously allowed Misterio to win the match that night. Misterio conceded he would eventually lose the mask like Bischoff wanted-with the proper build. Misterio and the boss met the night of the show as Bischoff finalized his plans for Halloween Havoc. In fact, Misterio’s son Dominik had been born just six months earlier-throwing away his six-figure job simply wasn’t an option. He an Guerrero contemplated a double cross, with Eddie putting his young friend over despite his marching orders, making a dual stand to defend the heart and soul of their culture. But that was a temporary solution to a problem that wasn’t going away so easily. He talked with Kevin Nash, who encouraged him to fake an injury and just stay home. Misterio’s options got more and more desperate as the event date approached. It was almost as if he was doing it just to show his power, like, “You’re going to lose your mask because I say you’re going to lose your mask.” Cheating Death, Stealing Life He just wanted to do what he wanted to do. He didn’t give a shit about the heritage of the mask. “Eric didn’t care,” Guerrero wrote in his book Cheating Death, Stealing Life: Misterio was furiously opposed to the idea, thinking it too soon to even contemplate something most Mexican wrestlers generally only considered after a long, fruitful life in wrestling. The vignettes were designed to educate the viewers and make the loss of the mask a real moment, albeit one just filling time in between various idle speculation about the NWO. “I wish it would never happen in my career but they could beat you and this thing comes off…That could be the end of my career.” Thinking about losing it,” Misterio told Tenay on an episode of Nitro. “I kind of get nervous thinking about it.
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On WCW television, announcer Mike Tenay made the long journey to Mexico City for a series of videos explaining the Mexican wrestling culture and the importance of the mask. WCW President Eric Bischoff had ordered Misterio to lose both the bout and his mask, believing it was holding him back from further mainstream success. Thirty minutes before the match, however, things looked grim and the tension was thick. The hair-versus-title match has brought thousands of fans joy over the years, widely celebrated as one of the greatest bouts of the Nitro Era. Just do it.’ Sure enough, we’d pull it off.” Rey Mysterio: Behind the Mask by Jeremy Roberts “And you’d say ‘Eddie, are you sure we can do it?’ “He’d mention an idea backstage,” Rey wrote in his book Rey Mysterio: Behind the Mask: The older and more experienced Guerrero was the steady hand, not just holding the match together but encouraging the young protege to push limits and boundaries. At the tender age of 22, Misterio was an athletic marvel.

The match itself is a study in perfection, a collection of highspots executed without hesitation, the timing and flow separating it from a million copycat matches to follow.

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That itself was revelatory in a time when Hulk Hogan and his plodding leg drop were still the standard bearers of the sport.īut if Shawn was just starting to walk forward on the path leading into a great, big, beautiful tomorrow, Rey and Guerrero were at a full sprint, lapping everyone else who dared step onto the track and racing towards immortality. In 1996, state-of-the-art on the American wrestling scene was Shawn Michael’s relatively clunky moonsault bodyblock off the top rope. It was a brutal ballet of violence, blindingly fast and breathtakingly beautiful, two wrestlers on a mission to share their spectacular vision with the world. Such was the power of this match and these men-they grabbed a hold of an entire industry and dragged it kicking and screaming into a bold new world.
