Dark Pegasus Video Review: Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man, Disc Three

Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man, Disc Three by J.D. Dunn Your host is Rey Mysterio. WWE Tag Team Titles: The Bashams vs. Rey Mysterio & Eddy Guerrero. Eddy starts out with Danny. They exchange a few holds. Eddy comes out of that with a standing anklelock. Rey springboards in but gets caught in the wrong corner. Rey comes back with a springboard into an armdrag. Eddy gets the tag and ranas Doug to the outside. Danny locks in a Gokuraku-gatame, which used to be a cool move before every ham & egger started using it. Doug powerslams Eddy for two before Rey makes the save. Doug misses a diving headbutt, enabling Eddy to get the tag to Rey. Rey springboards into a crossbody for two. The wheelbarrow bulldog (called a DDT by Cole) gets two. The Bashams pull the old switcheroo and take over on Rey. Tazz calls Cole on his bias towards Eddy’s cheating. Danny locks in a Full Nelson on Rey. He switches to a reverse bearhug. Mysterio takes the back-bump off a whip to the corner. The Bashams double press Rey onto the top rope. Rey heads toward Eddy, but Danny scissors the leg and tags Doug. Doug sets Rey on top, but it backfires as Rey comes off with a moonsault. That gets two. Doug stays on top with a chinlock. As Eddy stretches into the tag, the referee realizes that something’s wrong. When he checks the tag ropes, it turns out that there are actually two tied together, allowing Eddy to stretch that much further. Eddy proclaims innocence. Funny stuff. The Bashams hit a wheelbarrow facebuster on Rey, but it only gets two. Rey darts around the ring, avoiding the Bashams at every turn. He ducks between them and gets the HOT TAG to Eddy. Eddy is a house of fire, but the Bashams catch up with him. They try a doubleteam suplex, but Rey runs in and tackles on of the Bashams. Eddy rolls up the other on in a replay of the old Rock ‘n’ Rolls/Midnights matches. Eddy gets frustrated and grabs one of the titles. Rey talks him out of using it, though, as the Bashams switch again. Eddy opts instead for a frogsplash attempt. It misses, but Eddy rolls through and plays possum. When the Basham tries to capitalize, Eddy small packages him. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! The other Basham tosses in the tag title to Eddy, trying to get him disqualified. Eddy throws it to Doug as the referee turns around. As the ref is confiscating the title, Rey slides in the other title to Eddy. Eddy BLASTS Doug with it as Rey hits Danny with the 619. The ref turns and counts ONE, TWO, THREE (14:51)! Nothing fancy, just solid wrestling plus Eddy’s usual antics. It made for a good opener. ***1/2 Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (“Judgment Day” — 05.22.05). Rey comes in with his ribs taped. No fancy lucha moves here, just an all-out brawl. They take it to the outside where Eddy slams Rey into the ringpost and then again down on the announce table. And again. Crowd starts an “Eddy” chant and jeers Brian Hebner when he prevents Eddy from taking the fight to the announce table. Finally, an “Eddy sucks” chant breaks out. Back in, Eddy drives Rey down on his ribs over and over again. He goes to the abdominal stretch. Rey armdrags out of it, but Eddy catches him with a facebuster. Rey kicks out of a single leg crab and delivers an enzuigiri. They tease a double countdown. Eddy charges, but Rey reverse monkey flips him. Rey springboards into a headbutt. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Rey fires away, but Eddy dropkicks him in the knee. Eddy busts out a Liontamer then into a full Boston Crab. Rey starts to crawl to the ropes, but Eddy segues to an STF. Nice! Rey makes the ropes anyway. Eddy slings him to the outside like a bucket of slop. Eddy sets up the ringsteps for another brainbuster. Rey rams him to the ringpost and delivers the ringpost 619. Back in, they slug it out in a battle of attrition. Rey wins that with a boot and delivers a springboard crossbody for two. The springboard senton gets a close two. Rey misses a charge, ramming his shoulder into the ringpost. Rey puts him on top and delivers a SUPERPLEX. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! They play the “Eddy can’t beat Rey” card. TRIPLE VERTICALS! Rey flips out of one and delivers a flying bodyscissors to set up the 619. Chavo Guerrero runs down to distract the ref as Eddy brings a chair in. Rey dropkicks Eddy’s knee, sending Eddy’s face into the chair. Rey sets him up and delivers the 619. The ref pushes Chavo to the back as Rey sets up for the springboard huracanrana. Eddy picks up the chair and tees off on a vulnerable Rey. That’s enough for the DQ at 18:28. After the match, Eddy attacks Rey with the chair again. As one of the few who loved their Mania match, I found this pretty disappointing. I was expecting a match filled with hatred and guttural violence. Instead, Eddy chose to play it with an aura of detached calculation. The only thing I can think of is that they didn’t want to show up the “I Quit” match. Not that it didn’t have it’s moments. In fact, I’m sure a lot of people will like this better than the Mania match. I was expecting more, though. ***1/2 Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (“Smackdown” — 06.23.05). Cautious back and forth wrestling to start. Rey kips up and armdrags Eddy away, but Eddy comes back with a side headlock. Rey sends Eddy flying with a reverse monkey flip. We come back from commercial to Mysterio holding an abdominal stretch to work Eddy’s bad ribs (from last week’s chairshots). Eddy makes the ropes and sets Rey on the top rope. The ref asks for a clean break, but Eddy shoves Rey all the way to the floor. Rey clutches his knee, but Eddy pounces, slamming Rey’s face into the announce table. He whips Rey into the ringsteps as we take another break. Back from break, Eddy applies the Gory Special. Rey slips out but runs right into a tilt-o-whirl backbreaker. Eddy kicks him like a dog (not that you should) and gives him a vicious powerbomb. That gets several two counts. Eddy grabs a camel clutch, hoping to work the back and get a submission. Rey bucks him to the outside, but Eddy stays on top with a hard whip to the corner. Eddy chokes Rey, but hides it from the ref old-school style. Suddenly, Rey catches Eddy with a headscissors, but Eddy cuts off the 619 with a clothesline. He gets a series of two counts off a backbreaker. Frustrated, he goes after the referee. Rey comes back with a bulldog, and they slug it out. Rey wins that battle and springboards into a crossbody for two. The springboard senton gets two, and Rey pummels him in the face. Rey goes up but gets crotched. Eddy’s feeling it. TRIPLE VERTICALS! Rey counters the final one and dropkicks Eddy in the back. Eddy avoids the 619 and finishes the Triple Verticals. FROGSPLASH? NO! Rey rolls out of the way! Eddy goes for the finish, but Rey rolls him to the ropes, hits the 619 and finishes when he drops the dime at 27:57. Good, but not the MOTYC they seem to be trying for. ***3/4 Shawn Michaels vs. Rey Mysterio (“WWE Raw” — 11.15.05). This is from the Eddy Guerrero Tribute on Raw. Both men have “I’m Your Papi” T-shirts on. Handshake to start. They reverse hammerlocks, and Rey snapmares Shawn over. They exchange counters as Styles notes that Shawn is in the unusual position of having someone smaller and quicker than he is. Shawn takes him over in a headlock and blocks the counter. Rey misses a dropkick, but he lands on the apron as Shawn tries to catapult him over. Shawn plants him on a headscissor attempt, though. Lawler brings up the battles between the Guerrero family and Shawn Michaels’ trainer Jose Lothario. Shawn avoids the 619 but gets hit with a pescado as we go to break. We come back to Rey in a sleeper. Rey rolls him up for two, but Shawn stays on top with a backbreaker. Rey finally comes back with the tilt-o-whirl headscissors and a springboard crossbody. He starts kicking Shawn’s leg and does the Eddy shimmy. A low dropkick gets two. Shawn comes back with the flying forearm and the kip up. Shawn goes up top and hits the flying elbow drop. Rey ducks Sweet Chin Music and sets Shawn up for the 619 with a rana. The Dime Drop finishes at 13:14. Both men hug after the match. ***1/4 World Title, Triple Threat: Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio (“WrestleMania XXII — 04.02.06). P.O.D. plays Rey Mysterio down to the ring. Rey continues his superhero theme by coming out as Hawkman. Okay, maybe not. It’s probably some Aztec god headdress, but come on, he looks like Charo. Orton blasts Angle in the face with the title belt and dropkicks Rey. Angle sneaks back in and German Suplexes both men, sending Rey flying across the ring. Angle sets Orton on top, but Rey sneaks in and rams Angle’s head into Orton’s crotch. The crowd is sharply divided on Rey with half the crowd chanting 619, and the other half booing the hell out of him. Angle blocks the 619 and locks in the Anklelock. Rey taps, but Orton has the ref distracted. Kurt starts busting out German Suplex after German Suplex. Angle locks Orton in the Anklelock, but now Rey distracts the ref while Orton taps. Angle posts Mysterio and throws him to the floor to a huge pop. Orton hits the RKO on Angle! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Rey slips while trying to hit the ringpost 619 on Angle. He finishes it anyway and gets two back inside. Orton comes back in with a Canadian Neckbreaker and stalks Rey for the 619. Angle sneaks in and hits Orton with the Angleslam from behind. He tries another on Rey, but Rey armdrags him to the floor. 619 TO ORTON! WEST COAST POP ON ORTON! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! WAIT YESSS! He did what now?! Rey won? Really? YES! (9:20) Rey celebrates with Chavo Jr. and Vicki Guerrero. Suddenly, everyone in the crowd is a Rey fan. I really think most of the Rey hate in the match was because people thought he didn’t have a chance and was just taking up space. Of course, you could argue that there is some obvious political (as in U.S. border) backlash too. Anyway, this was okay for the short time they had. Even though the offense was about even at 1/3 each, it still felt like the Kurt Angle Show until Rey’s win. Oddly enough, the WWE Cruiserweight Champion is now heavier than the Heavyweight Champion. Just thought I’d throw that out there. *** World Heavyweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (“Judgment Day 2006” — 05.21.06). JBL’s U.S Title is not on the line here, in case you’re reading this in 2009. Lots of trashtalk and mindgames to start. Rey goes for the 619 early, but JBL bails. Back in, Rey gets a crossbody for two. Rey points to the crowd to distract Nick Patrick and then goes low with a baseball slide. JBL tosses him into the steps to take over. He works Rey over methodically, even busting out the Triple Verticals. Rey has somehow gotten busted open. JBL boots him in the face for two and goes to the eyes to cut off a comeback. Rey counters a powerbomb to a rana and the 619, but JBL pulls the ref in front of the West Coast Pop. JBL powerbombs Rey as Charles Robinson runs down. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! JBL takes out Robinson for not counting fast enough. He brings in a chair and charges with it, but Rey dropkicks it back into his face. 619! FROGSPLASH! And we’re out at 15:56. Chavo Guerrero comes out to congratulate Rey. You’d expect a turn, but it doesn’t happen. ** But it would eventually, leading to… Falls Count Anywhere: Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero (w/Vickie Guerrero — “No Mercy 2006” — 10.08.06). Quick start with both guys trading blows. They fight on the top and knock each other to the floor early. Chavo takes Rey up to the ramp and tries to powerbomb him, but Mysterio grabs on to the entrance architecture and counters to a rana for two. They fight over near the hockey boards where Rey hangs Chavo on a railing and then legdrops him for two. Chavo blocks a wheelbarrow and starts swinging Rey’s head into the chairs and crowd barrier. Crazy! They fight up the steps into the crowd and back down again. Chavo hits a wicked short clothesline. Now to one of the portals to the back where Chavo whips Rey into the railing. Rey knocks him away and uses the railing to hit a 619! He then one-ups himself with a flying crossbody off the railing to the floor! Insane! They botch the pinfall, but Rey gets the pin on a second count at 12:11. After the match, Rey tries to get at Chavo again, but Vickie covers Chavo to protect him. This was a wild brawl, but it could have used more time to build to a crescendo. As it is, it’s just a lot of violence with no real back and forth to create a coherent storyline. The intensity and creativity of some of the spots lift it well above average, though. *** Notice how they just forgot about the stipulations for the next match? Loser-Leaves-Smackdown “I Quit” Match: Chavo Guerrero (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Rey Mysterio (“Smackdown” — 10.20.06). They take it to the floor early as Rey hits a somersault senton over the top. Rey whips Chavo into the steps and then to the post. Chavo gets back in, so Rey grabs a chair and wears him out with it. Chavo still refuses to quit, so Rey hits the 619 and goes up. Vickie grabs Rey’s leg, allowing Chavo to recover and throw the chair in his face. Now, Chavo targets Rey’s knee with the chair and applies a single-leg crab. Chavo Pillman-izes Rey’s leg with a frogsplash to the chair, but Rey won’t quit. They brawl up the ramp where Chavo tries to suplex Rey off the landing to the floor. Cole goes into whiny bitch mode, which you probably remember from the Royal Rumble “I Quit” match between Rock & Mankind. “No! Put him down! Put him down, Chavo!” Thankfully, he calms down after a while. Rey knocks Chavo to the floor below and hits a seated senton. Rey actually busts out the Crippler Crossface, but Chavo won’t quit. Rey drops that and tries to crush Chavo’s trachea with a chair. Chavo tries to crush Rey’s knee with an equipment case, but Rey moves and shoves Chavo into a lighting scaffold. However, Chavo hangs Rey upside down on the structure so that he’s helpless. He hits Rey’s exposed knee (in theory) over and over with the chair, finally forcing Rey to quit at 13:28. This, I believe, is one of the few times that a babyface has cleanly lost an “I Quit” match. *** Rey promises the best is yet to come.

The 411: An exhaustive (nearly nine hours) look at one of the most exciting wrestlers of the 1990s and early 2000s. Although there are a handful of repeats from Rey's first disc, there is more than enough new content to recommend purchasing this one as well. If you don't have the first one, then this is an absolute must-own. I won't put it up there with the Bret, Benoit and Flair DVDs, but it's still a fine set in its own right. Thumbs way up.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]