WWE – Rey Mysterio: The Life of a Masked Man DVD Review

Exploding onto the scene in the early 90s in Mexico, it wasn’t until 1995 and his appearances in ECW (much like the man himself, ECW was a promotion that was told it was too small to compete… but didn’t listen and forged their own path) that Rey Mysterio made a name in the United States.

Stellar matches fought at a pace the US had never seen before, his encounters against Psicosis inside the hallowed ECW Arena brought him to the attention of Eric Bischoff and WCW… and, with that, true international exposure.

His bouts in WCW against the likes of Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera and many, many more are the stuff of cruiserweight legend. Moves and counters you wouldn’t believe unless you’d seen them with their own eyes were a nightly occurrence and eventually created a legacy that wouldn’t be surpassed.

From there, WWE came calling in 2002 and despite numerous knee surgeries and a slower-paced modification of his style, Rey Mysterio is still the benchmark when it comes to the cruiserweight style. His work in WWE with Jericho, Eddie, Randy Orton, Kurt Angle, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk and Edge was phenomenal and, to this day, the man continues to have “Match of the Night” encounters on virtually every show he works.

Join us as we look at the career of one of the modern greats as we chronicle The Life of a Masked Man.

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 512mins (8hrs 32mins)

Discs: 3

Disc 1 – Chapters

• Namesake
• Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan v La Parka & Psicosis – ECW Hardcore TV (28th October, 1995)
• 2 out of 3 Falls Match: Rey Misterio Jr. v Juventud Guerrera – ECW Extreme Bash (9th March, 1996)
• Experiencing ECW
• Rey Mysterio Jr. v Juventud Guerrera – WCW Pro Wrestling (3rd November, 1996)
• Rey Mysterio Jr. v Chavo Guerreo Jr. – WCW Saturday Night (11th January, 1997)
• Eddie’s Guidance
• Rey Mysterio Jr. v Eddie Guerrero – Nitro 8th (September, 1997)
• Rey Mysterio Jr. v Chris Jericho – Nitro 17th (November, 1997)
• The Creation of the Mask
• Rey Mysterio Jr., Super Calo & Hector Garza v Psychosis, La Parka & Silver King – WCW Saturday Night (17th January, 1998)
• Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman v Eddie Guerrero & Juventud Guerrera – Nitro (28th December, 1998)
• Who’s That Jumpin’ Out the Sky?
• #1 Contenders Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship: Rey Mysterio & Edge v Eddie & Chavo Guerrero – SmackDown (24th October, 2002)
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman v The World’s Greatest Tag Team – Vengeance (27th July, 2003)
• 6-1-9
• Rey Mysterio v Kurt Angle – SmackDown (28th October, 2004)
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Eddie Guerrero & Booker T. v Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam – SmackDown (30th December, 2004)

Disc 2 – Chapters

• Gone Too Soon
• Rey Mysterio v Eddie Guerrero – WrestleMania 21 (3rd April, 2005)
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Rey Mysterio & Batista v MNM – SmackDown (16th December, 2005)
• On Top of the World
• Mysterio’s Opportunity for a World Heavyweight Championship Match at WrestleMania 22 is on the Line: Rey Mysterio v Randy Orton – No Way Out (19th February, 2006)
• Viva México!
• Rey Mysterio v Chavo Guerrero – SummerSlam (26th August, 2007)
• Stretcher Match: Rey Mysterio v Finlay – Cyber Sunday (27th October, 2007)
• Putting the Mask on the Line
• If Rey Mysterio Loses, He Must Unmask: Rey Mysterio v Kane – No Mercy (5th October, 2008)
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Rey Mysterio v Chris Jericho – Judgment Day (17th May, 2009)
• The Art of Mysterio
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Rey Mysterio v John Morrison – SmackDown (4th September, 2009)

Disc 3 – Chapters

• Respecting the Mask
• #1 Contenders Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Rey Mysterio v Batista – SmackDown (18th December, 2009)
• Rey Mysterio v Shawn Michaels – SmackDown 29th January, 2010
• Coping with Injuries
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: The Undertaker v Rey Mysterio – Royal Rumble (31st January, 2010)
• Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Rey Mysterio v Dolph Ziggler – SmackDown (5th February, 2010)
• Alone Time
• Rey Mysterio Joins the SES v CM Punk’s Hair: Rey Mysterio v CM Punk – Over the Limit (23rd May, 2010)
• “I Can’t Do It Solo.”
• Fatal 4-Way World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jack Swagger v Rey Mysterio v CM Punk v The Big Show – WWE Fatal 4-Way (20th June, 2010)
• Opportunity Knocks
• Rey Mysterio v Alberto Del Rio – SmackDown (18th October, 2010)
• Rey Mysterio v Cody Rhodes – WrestleMania XXVII (3rd April, 2011)
• Fantasy Warfare

Disc 3 – Extras

• Going Home
• Standing Ovation

Rey Mysterio has had a number of DVD releases devoted to him, but when you have such a back catalogue of great matches to fall back on, another one is always going to be welcome.

Taking a “two-tone” approach, the DVD is split between a sit-down interview conducted by Matt Striker where Mysterio discusses topics like his uncle (the original Rey Mysterio), his friendship with Eddie Guerrero and the aftermath of his death, ECW, WCW, what the mask means both to him and in Mexico and winning the World Championship and a selection of matches from his early days in ECW through to his bout against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania XXVII this year.

The sit-down is above par for these types of thing, with Matt Striker being a knowledgeable interviewer and Mysterio a semi-candid subject, while the matches are rarely below very good in standard, with pretty much all of them being watchable again and again.

Extras

Two extras that aren’t all that special, but worth a viewing all the same.

Overview

My main gripe, which has been the bug bear of all WWE-related releases concerning Mysterio, is the absence of his de-masked run in WCW (which explains why there is gap from 1998 to 2002 on the first disc). I understand that WWE don’t want to show him without the mask (from both a merchandise POV and the fact a lot of his fans in WWE will never have seen him without it), but he had some really good matches during that four-year period too.

Also, as they are trying to show how important the mask is, they could’ve included the match in WCW where he lost it to emphasise how important it is AND build more hype for his Mask Match against Kane.

To be fair, however, that is a relatively minor issue when you have the calibre of matches on show. Many wrestlers would kill for a back catalogue this diverse and entertaining and they’re reason enough to by the collection on their own.

An affable host, a surprisingly verbose interviewee and a litany of great matches spanning over a 15yrs; you couldn’t really ask for a better addition to your collection.

Points: 8/10

Buy It:

UK: DVD

USA: DVD

Canada: DVD