From The Bowery: Rey Mysterio-619

Rey Mysterio: 619

-The WWE quickly capitalized on the popularity of Rey by dropping this 1 Disc DVD less than a year after his WWE Debut in the summer of 2002.

-Eddie and Bischoff put over Mysterio as his high flying/daredevil clips are shown. Benoit and Rikishi mention how his offense is believable against much larger wrestlers. Angle calls him one of the top guys in the business. More comments from ex-lovers Kidman and Torrie Wilson as they put over Rey. Again, I am perplexed how Kidman was able to convince Torrie Wilson to have sex with him.

-Video package of the Mysterio vs. Prince Albert match on SmackDown. Albert actually went over clean and post match destroys the knee of Rey. This was done to write Rey out of the show to have knee surgery.

-We get footage of Rey at the hospital (still wearing his mask) as he gets ready to have the knee surgery. Naturally, Dr Andrews is the surgeon of choice. Nice touch as Mysterio is shot from behind when he isn’t wearing the mask. We get comments from Rey’s wife, as you can tell she is nervous about the surgery, and isn’t that comfortable on camera.

-Surgery goes well, and Dr Andrews tells him to rehab hard for 4-5 weeks and he can get back to wrestling. Ever the pro Mysterio keeps kayfabe and swears revenge on Albert. That’s actually pretty awesome. It’s still real to me damn it!

-We travel back in time to Rey as a child. His mother and father discuss Rey’s childhood. Lots of subtitles when his parents speak, as they use their native tongue or broken English. It’s like a Mel Gibson movie without Jesus Christ bleeding all over the place. Misterio takes over and says he owes a lot to his Uncle, Rey Mysterio

-Rey travels to Mexico and meets up with old friends. He’s not wearing the mask during the segment and the camera always avoids showing his face or they blur it out completely. For those not aware, Rey lost his mask in a match in WCW against the Outsiders. That shit is taken seriously in Mexico, and some have stated Rey knows he can’t wear the mask in Mexico. Whether that is true or not, I’m not sure, but it makes for a great story.

-Next Rey shows off the arena where he first started wrestling. It should be noted he is wearing a mask in this segment. Though he isn’t on the streets at night and is talking while a girls’ volleyball game is happening in the background. It would have been awesome if they gang tackled him and ripped off the mask.

-Rey shows us where he trained, and tells the story of doing suicide dives between the 1st and 2nd ropes as a 4-year-old kid. That’s fucking insane. Mysterio continues to lay the bad mouth on Albert. His commitment to that angle is pretty awesome. He shows the statue of a crucified Jesus Christ that hangs in the gym. See, it is like a Mel Gibson film.

-His 1st match was at the age of 15, and at that time he had been begging to have a match for 7 years. Seriously, he wanted to have a match since he was 8. I think Ric Flair would have gladly put over an 8 year old Mysterio.

-We skip over ECW (WHY?) and head straight to his WCW debut (thanks to Konan) at The 1996 Great American Bash against Dean Malenko. Both men talk about the match and how they each took it as a challenge. Both men received a standing ovation after the match from the boys. More on this match later.

-The Malenko/Mysterio feud over the cruiserweight title is covered next. It was a great feud and helped elevate the newly created cruiserweight title. The title was basically made for Mysterio and on an episode of Nitro from Disney; he defeated Malenko for his 1st CW title. More on this match later.

-We skip about a year and head to Eddie vs. Rey at Halloween Havoc 1997. This was mask vs. title and they delivered one of the greatest matches you will ever see. More on this match later. For greater insight though, get the Eddie DVD and watch the match with the commentary of Rey and Eddie. Lots of good stuff there.

-Discussion of the mask, and various shots of masked wrestlers in WCW at the time (Ultimo Dragon, Juventud, Super Calo, etc). The mask is his life in the ring. It’s what he treasures. Rey claims in a WCW interview he will never lose the mask. As noted before, he does lose the mask, but we skip over that on this DVD.

-We jump to the end of WCW as Vince buys his competition. Rey did some independent shows before getting the call from Vince. The WWE did a great job in hyping the debut of Mysterio. His debut occurred on SmackDown (where he remained until this past summer) against Chavo. The mask returned and the Jr. was dropped from his name. More on his debut match with Chavo later. Tazz calls the 6-1-9, the 6-19 in a weird moment.

-Rey shows off his home as the WWE rips off Cribs (actually, this is kind of cool). Attention to detail is awesome here as they blur out his face in his wedding photos. Mysterio comes off as a very humble and appreciative guy in this piece. Mysterio goes gangsta as he even has a framed photo of “Scarface.” The wrestling memorabilia room he has is pretty insane, and shows how much of a fan he is of the sport. He even has the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Title he won with Kidman. They won the titles on the last episode of Nitro, and since WWE didn’t want the straps, he and Kidman kept them.

-His first major program in the WWE was with Kurt Angle. Angle’s “I just got beat by a freaking 12 year old” is still classic. Their match as SummerSlam had a lot of hype as people wondered how their 2 styles would clash. Pretty damn well, I’d say. Mysterio was under the ring to jump Angle and he couldn’t find his mask because of the darkness. Somehow in the dark he was able to find the mask, and they had a pretty awesome opener from there. Rey dropped the match to Angle, but it helped him in the long run as he went toe to toe with a Main Event star.

-The WWE Tag Titles were created for SmackDown in the Fall of 2002, and a tournament was held to crown the new Champs. Edge and Rey formed one tag team and they faced Benoit and Angle in finals at No Mercy. They resulting match was my Match of the Year for 2002. Angle and Benoit win the titles in one of the greatest Tag Matches you will ever see. Watch this match to see how awesome tag wrestling can be.

-The rematch occurred on SmackDown and was 2 out of 3 falls. This era on SmackDown featuring these 4 plus Eddie and Chavo was some of the best-televised wrestling seen in years. Heyman was behind the whole thing, and while they tore the house down each week on SmackDown, it hurt their PPV matches some (due to the hype and not getting as much time).

-Rey takes his son to a tattoo parlor (start ‘em young I guess) and Rey gets the 619 tat on his forearm. He says he loves the pain and thinks it is a healthy addiction. I’ll stick to video games. I know I can’t get hepatitis from them. Rey even gives a cheap plug to the Parlor: Just ask for Jason.

-Back full circle and more Albert bashing from Rey. The blow-off comes in Jan of 2003 as Show/Albert take on Brock and a mystery partner. Mysterio was that partner and he finally gets his revenge on A-Train.

-Rey takes aim at the Cruiserweight Title (held by Matt Hardy) and wins a #1 contender’s Triple Threat match involving Jamie Noble, and Tajiri. Looks like a good match from the video package.

-This leads to Matt defending the title against Mysterio (in Dare Devil suit) at WrestleMania XIX. It was a short match, but they packed as much as they could into it. Hardy gets the win in controversial fashion. It’s a shame that a WRESTLEMANIA match was used to build to the blow-off on SmackDown. Sure, it was a great moment when he won the title in his hometown in the Main Event of SmackDown, but WrestleMania should blow off feuds. The eventual win over Hardy is not mentioned on this DVD.

-The main program wraps up with more wrestlers discussing how awesome Rey is.

Bonus Matches

AAA When Worlds Collide (11.6.1994)
Rey Mysterio Jr, Heavy Metal, & Latin Lover vs. Fuerza Guerrera, Psicosis & Madonna’s Boyfriend

-This would be the AAA PPV where they partnered w/ WCW. Mike Tenay and Chris Cruise are our announce team for this match. Guerrera and Heavy Metal (the 2 captains) start the match for their respective teams. Quickly Rey and Psicosis jump into the action and they battle to a stalemate. Rey hits a rana from the top rope and Psicosis bails. In a nice touch, Psicosis runs up the ramp because he is aware Rey could be following him. Spicolli (Madonna’s Boyfriend) tosses Rey around, and he bails to let the Latin Lover take over. Tenay informs us that the Latin Lover was a former male stripper. Thanks for that Mike. Don’t really want to know where his sources dug up that fact. This is Lucha rules and thus you get a 20 count on the floor, but if someone is on the floor his partners can legally jump in the match without a tag. This is non-stop action, and really I am having a hard time keeping up, as I am not all that familiar with Lucha. Once again Psicosis hits the floor and again sprints away from the ring to avoid anyone jumping down on him. Rey hits a rana off the apron to the floor on Fuerza (the father of Juventud). The action slows as Psicosis and Heavy Metal pick things back up in the ring. Spicolli jumps back in and suplexes Heavy Metal. Spicolli brawls with Mysterio on the floor and press slams him into Row 4. Nice spot there. Spicolli continues to dominate Rey as he drops him on the floor with a suplex. While Louie beats on Rey, Psicosis and Fuerza pound The Latin Lover back in the ring. Things settle down again as Rey and Psicosis do battle in the ring. And just as quickly they bail and we are left with Fuerza and the Latin Lover. LL misses a top rope splash, and Fuerza locks in a version of the Scorpion Deathlock. Heavy Metal save his partner, and Psicosis decides he wants a piece of him. The cameraman doesn’t even know what to shoot at this point as things are breaking down all over the place. Rey hits Spicolli with a Swanton from the top rope to the floor. Heavy Metal hits a suplex on Fuerza back inside, but misses from the top rope. Fuerza locks in a stump puller and that’s enough to get the submission at 12:49.

Winner: Team Fuerza via submission @ 12:49
-This was just a chaotic mess, and I seriously had trouble following everything that was occurring. I’m just not that familiar with the Lucha style, and it is pretty jarring after you spend over 20 years watching what Vince and company put on TV each week. It certainly was never boring, but it just seemed way too chaotic at time. The submission also seemed to come out of nowhere. **1/2

Great American Bash ’96 (6.16.96)
WCW Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko © vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

-This match takes place from Baltimore, MD and is Rey’s PPV debut. Announcers for this match are Tony, Dusty, and Mike Tenay. Feeling out process to start as Malenko tries to keep Rey grounded. Mysterio tries to out wrestle Malenko and that leads to a stalemate. Dean gets the advantage with a side headlock, but breaks when Rey gets to the ropes. Rey gets a nice pop from the crowd as he spins around Malenko’s head and pulls out an arm drag. Malenko bails to the floor to slow things down a notch. Back inside the ring and Malenko slingshots Rey over the top rope to the floor. Malenko tries a baseball slide, but Rey just slides back into the ring to counter. Sure, not very flashy, but it is effective. Malenko injures the arm, and them methodically attacks that part of Rey to keep things grounded. The action spills to the floor and Malenko abuses the arm on the guardrail. Rey walks the ropes and hits a springboard dropkick. Rey tries a rana, but Dean flips him out and delivers a wicked clothesline. Back to the mat as Malenko locks in an armbar and then drop kicks the arm as it rests on the turnbuckle. Nice! Belly to back suplex with the arm pinned behind Rey’s back gets a 2 count for Malenko. Overhead suplex with a hammerlock continues the destruction of Rey’s arm/elbow. Dean is just relentless as he continues to attack the injured arm. Rey breaks out the surfboard to a nice pop as this was during the early days of the Cruiserweight Invasion in WCW. I enjoy the fact that common sense would seem to dictate working on Rey’s leg, but Malenko caught an early opening on the arm and has gone with that. The crowd is starting to get restless though with the mat work from Dean. Seemingly realizing this, Dean drops Rey with a suplex for 2. A butterfly suplex gets another 2 count, and he goes back to the arm. This has been 15 minutes of a Malenko slaughter at this point. Dusty is actually begging for the ref to call the match as this point as he worries about Rey’s future. Malenko gets dumped outside and that’s the advantage Rey was looking for as he hits a beautiful springboard somersault plancha. Now that woke up the crowd! Back inside Rey hits a springboard dropkick for a great near fall. Rey gets another 2 count of what we now call the West Coast Pop. Up top go both men, and Rey is able to hit another rana from up there. Rey reverses a tilt-a-whirl slam to a pin, but that only gets 2. Rey makes the mistake of going for 1 rana too many and eats a powerbomb to finish. Dean even puts hit feet on the ropes for that added heel touch.

Winner: Dean Malenko via pin from powerbomb @ 17:50
-This was a good debut for Rey, but the action was pretty tame compared to what he would eventually do in WCW. This was mainly Dean working the arm for 15 minutes and then Rey hitting some spots before getting caught in the last 3 minutes. Still, it did its job in making Rey look like a breakout star. ***1/4

Bash at The Beach ’96 (7.7.96)
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psicosis

-This is from the Bash show in Daytona Beach where Hogan turned heel and the n.W.o was born. Actually, this is the opener to PPV, and boy did they every chose a great way to kick off this show. Tony, Dusty, Bobby, and Tenay are our announce team. Tenay mentions how big of a rivalry this is between the 2 men. Some early mat work to start was the crowd is just waiting for the spots to start flying. Hearing Tenay reminds me of how much I miss the Tenay from WCW before he became what he has in TNA. I liked the Professor much more than what we get now. Psicosis nails a beautiful suicide dive to the floor and hits his own head on the guardrail. Back inside we go as Psicosis drops a leg for a 2 count, and then applies a headlock. He heads to the top rope and drops a guillotine legdrop for another 2 count. Psicosis must have been a hulk-a-maniac, as he drops another leg, this time on the ring apron. Both men battle on the apron and in an awesome spot, Rey monkey flips Psicosis head first into the pole (which was for the Big Bubba/Shark match later). Rey nails a rana from the ring apron to the floor in a breath taking moment. A springboard rana back inside gets a close count for Rey. The audio on this DVD seems off as the crowd is very silent, and you can barely hear them even when a big move is done. Psicosis gets hung in the tree of woe and Rey follows with a drop kick. Things slow down again as Psicosis takes things back to the mat to keep Rey grounded. Awesome moment as Psicosis alley-oops Rey over his head and onto the top rope gut first. Psicosis shows how crazy he is by hitting a Senton backsplash from the top rope to the floor. Yeah, both these guys are nuts. Rey cartwheels into a head scissors and follows with a springboard dropkick. Psicosis walks the apron thinking he is safe, but Rey springs off the middle rope to the outside and hits a rana off the apron. That’s pretty ridiculous. Rey gets a springboard dropkick that sends Psicosis to the floor, and follows that with a twisting Asai-moonsault. Rey took a nasty bump off that as he hit the railing. Back inside and Rey tries another springboard, but gets dropped with a powerbomb. They fight in the corner and both men head to the top rope. Psicosis tries to hit Splash Mountain, but Rey turns it into a rana and that is enough to get a 3 count @ 15:17.

Winner: Rey Misterio Jr. via pin from Top Rope Rana @ 15:17
-This was basically 15 minutes of non-stop action as they kept the mat work to a minimum and pulled out all stops. This was insane stuff at the time, as Rey would use every inch of the ring to hit move after move. Great opener and probably one of the best show openers you’ll ever see. ****1/2

WCW Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko © vs. Rey Mysterio Jr

-This is from Nitro the day after Bash at the Beach, and it takes place at Disney MGM. Tony, and Larry Z are your announcers. The crowd is a lot more jacked for this match than their GAB meeting. The fans now know what to expect from Rey, and were getting way behind him at this point. This also has a lot faster pace than the previous match. Rey hits a springboard dropkick early on to get a 2 count. Dean finally gets hold of Rey and hits a sweet tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Dean locks in a bow and arrow as we take a commercial break. Thankfully this is a DVD and we return with Dean still in control. A double underhook powerbomb gets another 2 count for Malenko, and then he goes back to the mat with a camel clutch. Dean tries to bury a knee into the abdomen, but Rey rolls him up for a 2 count. Malenko dumps Rey on the top rope and grounds him again with a reverse chinlock. The crowd gets behind Rey as they cheer for him to break the hold, but nothing doing. Finally, Rey gets to the ropes, and Dean opts to dump him to the floor. In a sick spot, Dean hits a swank brainbuster on the floor. That move needs to be used more today. Rey reverses a pumphandle slam into a 2 count. Both men head to the floor when Rey hits a rana off the top rope, but it only gets 2. Rey heads to the top rope again, but Dean cuts him off and hits a gut buster from the top rope. Dean does something you would never see from him as he pulls Rey up after a 2 count. He makes the mistake of doing it again. It comes back to bite him in the ass as Rey hits a quick rana and gets the pin and his first Cruiserweight title @ 9:29.

Winner: Rey Misterio Jr wins WCW CW Title via pin from a rana @ 9:29
-A lot faster pace here compared to the early match, and I think it made for a better match. It also helped that the crowd was more invested in Rey at this point. He truly was the perfect man for this division, and this was as good as a time as any to put the strap on him. I also dug the story with Dean getting frustrated to the point that he opted to continue punishing Rey instead of getting the win. ***1/2

Halloween Havoc ’97 (10.26.97)
WCW Cruiserweight Title vs. Mask: Eddie Guerrero © vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

-Rey’s rocking the bodysuit tonight, and the crowd is immediately all over Eddie with the “Eddie Sucks” chants. Tony, Bobby, Dusty, and Tenay are the announce team for this match. Fast start as Rey uses his speed to get the advantage, but it doesn’t last long as Eddie takes over as they hit the floor. Tenay puts over the mean streak of Eddie, and on cue he tosses Rey into the ring steps. They head back inside and Rey reverses a whip into a dropkick. Eddie catches Rey on his shoulder and drops him with a backdrop suplex. Eddie follows with a brainbuster that gets 2. A nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets another 2 count. These moves are just being hit with such force and look so crisp. Eddie locks in an abdominal stretch, and he uses that opportunity to tear at Rey’s mask. Eddie transitions from the stretch to a pump handle back-breaker. A mat sequence leads to an insane spot as Rey springboards of the top rope and hits a DDT. Seriously, what the hell where these guys smoking to think of this crazy shit. Rey can’t keep the advantage for long as Eddie takes back over when they hit the floor. Guerrero shows the mean streak off again as he fires Rey into the railing. The mask gets ripped open back in the ring after Eddie locks in a camel clutch. Tenay has been awesome in this match with his commentary. Rey reverses a Gory special into an arm drag, but again, Eddie is one step ahead and hits a seated dropkick to the back of the head. More punishment from Eddie as he hits a sweet shoulder breaker, and then locks in a bow and arrow. Rey gets caught in the tree of woe and Eddie delivers a drop kick. Eddie tries to hit a baseball slide, but Rey lifts up and Eddie slides nut first into the steel post. I’m sure Eddie appreciated the protection from the Slim Jim padding around the post. Rey finally has the advantage and leaps over the steel post and splats on top of Eddie on the floor. Rey snaps off a rana for a hot near fall, but again, Eddie cuts off the comeback. Rey hits an early version of the 6-1-9, but catches Eddie in a head scissor and flips him to the floor. Then in one of the most insane moves I have ever seen, Rey hits a springboard somersault planchas from the ring to the floor and is able to transition into the West Coast Pop. That looked absolutely seamless, and I’m not sure they could ever pull that off again. Back in the ring and Rey continues with the high flying, but gets caught with a stiff powerbomb for a great near fall. Eddie charges in the corner, but misses and Rey follows with a spin wheel kick. Rey tries for the West Coast Pop, but Eddie catches him in a back breaker. Both men head to the top rope, and Eddie tries for Splash Mountain, but Rey reverses into a top rope rana for the 3 count @ 13:49. Sure, it was the same ending as the Psicosis/Rey Bash Match, but who really cares.

Winner: Rey Mysterio wins WCW CW Title via pin from Top Rope Rana @ 13:49
-This easily gets votes as the Greatest Match in WCW History. Easily the greatest match in the n.W.o era and up until the company closed in 2001. The crowd was hot from the start and they hit everything crisply. They have had many other big matches where they tried to recreate the magic here and it has never happened. *****

Bash at the Beach ’97 (07.13.98)
WCW Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho © vs. Rey Mysterio Jr

-This match takes place in San Diego, CA and marks Rey’s return from injury. Jericho was in the middle of becoming the next big star (which WCW screwed up) as he was running through all the CW and collecting trophies from them. It started in Jan. when he destroyed Rey’s knee at Souled Out. Jericho had no opponent for this show and instead tried to entertain Jo Jo Dillon with a dance number. Dillon said he had a hometown kid ready to challenge Jericho, and it turned out to be Rey. This match is also no DQ, though I’m not sure why. Thankfully, a fast start as Mysterio shows a lot of fire with right hands and chops galore. Springboard leg drop to the back of the head gets a 2 count for Rey. Jericho says to hell with this and bails to the floor. Rey gives chase and catches Jericho in a head scissors that sends him into the guardrail. Once back in the ring, Jericho attacks the knee with a chop block (as he should). Jericho backs him in the corner and continues to attack the damaged knee. Blind charge misses for Jericho, and they head back to the floor. The brawl continues up the aisle and they take the action to the beach set. Jericho climbs the lifeguard stand and gets tossed into a sandcastle. Tony actually tries to sell the sand as being dangerous. Seriously! He actually puts over how abrasive it can be. Rey fires off a rana from the top of the lifeguard stand. It’s announced that Jericho was the one to ask for the no DQ clause. They head back to the ring with Jericho in control (after using sand to blind Rey). Jericho hits a top rope powerslam and heads outside to get a chair. One shot to the knee with the chair, and Jericho then tries to pilmanize the knee, but Rey is able to move. Now it’s Rey’s turn with the chair as he puts it to good use on Jericho’s knee. Rey tries the West Coast Pop, but Jericho reverses to a weak powerbomb. That didn’t really go as planned. Dean Malenko makes his way to the ring and is enough of a distraction to Jericho that Rey can snap off a rana for the 3 count and title @ 6:04. The DVD cuts the match off there, and doesn’t show the brawl between Dean and Jericho. I guess that will have to wait for a Dean DVD. Keep your fingers crossed kids.

Winner: Rey Mysterio wins WCW CW Title via pin from Rana @ 6:04
-Very short match that was more CW meet hardcore wrestling. I liked the idea of Jericho attacking the knee and Rey showing a more aggressive side, but six minutes isn’t really enough time to get things going. *3/4

Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero

-This is Rey’s WWE debut and takes place on the 7.23.02 edition of SmackDown. Cole and Tazz are the announce team at this point. Chavo was the perfect guy for Rey’s debut at this point. Great pop for Rey as he unveils his unique entrance. The Jr. was dropped from Rey’s name as he made the transition from WCW to the WWE. Tie-up to start and Chavo takes things to the mat early. They do a lucha sequence that leads to several near falls from Rey. Hearing Cole try to pull a Mike Tenay and call all the moves is pretty funny actually. Chavo finally gains an advantage and drops Rey gut first on the top rope. These two had some damn fine matches in the closing days of WCW when Chavo got a run with the CW Title. Chavo fires Rey across the ring and to the floor as Rey hits with a nice thud. Back inside the ring as the crowd is patiently waiting for Rey to start flying. A gut-buster gets a 2 count for Chavo. Finally Rey comes alive and hits a cork-screw tope to the floor. He heads upstairs, but Chavo catches him. Rey fights off and hits a seated Senton for 2. Chavo comes back with a Gory bomb for a close 2 count. The crowd starts getting behind Rey and he responds with the very first 6-1-9, or 6-19 as called by Tazz. The West Coast Pop finishes @ 5:49.

Winner: Rey Mysterio via pin from West Coast Pop @ 5:49
-This was a perfect debut for Rey in the WWE. He was in there with a perfect opponent for him, and the results were a strong TV match. Things were a little watered down as Rey was becoming a different wrestler at that point, but he still pulled out enough crazy shit to make him look like a big deal in the WWE. **3/4

Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle

-Again from SmackDown (09.12.02) and again, Tazz and Cole are our announce team. These two had a pretty awesome opener at SummerSlam just a few weeks earlier. This edition of SD is being held in Minneapolis, MN and was being billed as the Season Premiere of SmackDown. This was also the show with the commitment ceremony of Billy and Chuck. Angle is in badass mode here as he slaps Rey around to let him know how things will be handled tonight. Amateur wrestling from Angle as he dominates and he continues to slap around Rey. Angle gets frustrated when Rey hits a fireman’s carry. Angle chases Rey around the ring, and hits the floor when Rey fakes him. A blind charge by Angle hits nothing but post. Rey is able to springboard into a moonsault for a 2 count. The pace remains quick and that benefits Rey as he gets another near fall. Angle finally catches Rey and casually tosses him across the ring with a German suplex. The pace is more at Angle’s liking and he dominates with suplexes. Rey tries to quicken the pace again, but gets caught in a over head belly to belly that sends him flying. Angle grounds Rey with a body scissor and Tazz does a great job of putting over the effects of the hold. Mysterio reverses the 3rd of the Triple Germans into a bulldog to leave both men laying. In a sick spot Rey gets alley-ooped to the top rope, lands on his feet, and immediately springs back with a moonsault for a two count. Great balance there from Rey. Outside and Rey hits another moonsault. Rey drops the dime back inside and that only gets a 2 count. Angle turns that into an ankle lock, but Rey reverses that into the 6-1-9. Kurt ducks the West Coast Pop, but Rey is still able to snap off a standard rana for a 2 count. Rey heads back to the top, but Angle catches him with the Pop-Up Angle Slam and that gets the 3 @ 8:27.

Winner: Kurt Angle via pin after Top Rope Angle Slam @ 8:27
-Strong TV Match as they did their best to top the SummerSlam match. These 2 meshed so well, and Angle always made Rey’s offense look so believable. ***1/4

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit vs. Rey Mysterio

-Again from SmackDown (09.26.02) as we are days removed from the Unforgiven PPV. This is firmly in the middle of Heyman’s SmackDown Six days when we would get matches like this on a weekly basis. Rey is super over with the crowd as this show is taking place from his hometown, San Diego. Benoit and Angle face-off as they look to continue their feud from Unforgiven. Rey gets tossed early, and keeps getting tossed, as Angle and Benoit want to settle things. The crowd is getting considerably pissed with the way Rey is being treated. He finally gets back in the ring and uses his quickness to fluster both men. Benoit cuts off Mysterio with a back suplex after Angle gets tossed to the floor. Already this is following the odd man out triple threat formula. A snap suplex gets a 2 count for Benoit. Angle returns and immediately throws Angle to the floor. Angle and Benoit square off again and chops are thrown. Stiff clothesline from Benoit drops Angle as Cole and Tazz put over the Angle/Benoit match from Unforgiven. Benoit hits the first two of the three Germans, but Angle reverses to his own and hits another one. He can’t get the elusive third one, but is able to get an Angle Slam. Rey springs off the top rope with a dropkick when Angle had his back turned. Angle is now pissed and tosses Rey again. He heads back inside and gets German Suplexed for his troubles. He even does the complete flip sell of it. All three men hit the floor and Rey gets tossed into the barrier. Back inside Kurt applies the ankle lock to Benoit, but he is able to get to the ropes. Angle won’t break, so this gives Rey a great opportunity to hit a 6-1-9 on both men. Angle walks right into the Crippler Crossface, but Rey breaks that with a springboard legdrop to Benoit, and that only gets 2. Benoit dumps Angle to the floor and when he turns around he gets hit with the West Coast Pop for the 3 count.

Winner: Rey Mysterio via pin on Benoit after West Coast Pop @ 8:42
Awesome TV match, and what’s insane is that you were getting matches like this every week on SmackDown back in the fall of 2002. I love the story with Angle and Benoit wanting to tear each other apart. That worked to Rey’s benefit and he was able to capitalize to send his hometown fans happy. ****

Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble

-Again this is from SmackDown (11.21.02) and like always Tazz and Cole have the announcing duties. This is a very odd choice for a match on this DVD. SmackDown was in Hartford, CT this week. Noble was in his redneck, trailer park phase with Nidia as his g/f. He had just dropped the Cruiserweight Title to Billy Kidman a few days earlier at the Survivor Series. That was the show that introduced the Elimination Chamber. Quick start, naturally, by Rey as he sends Noble to the floor. Noble gets the advantage and fires Rey back into the ring. Noble works the arm in the corner, but Rey escapes a suplex attempt. Flapjack from Rey gets a 2 count. Noble hits a swank front suplex that Tazz takes credit for inventing. Rey quickly hits a 6-1-9, but Nidia stops the West Coast Pop. Rey chases her into the ring, and Noble oops him to the second rope, but Rey is able to spring back and hit the West Coast Pop for the pin @ 2:54. That was a pretty strong ending to what was basically a Mysterio squash. That final sequence was pretty awesome though as it looked like Rey was moving in reverse with that springboard.

Winner: Rey Misterio via pin from West Coast Pop @ 2:54
-This was basically a squash, but it was an entertaining one. Again, the ending was pretty sweet, and gets this match a better rating by itself. I’m not sure why this match was included. The only thing I can think of is the ending spot. *3/4

-The extras wrap up with a piece from WWE Confidential about the 6-1-9.

The 411: This was in the early days of the DVD push by the WWE. They have since come out with a 3 Disc DVD set that is probably the must have Rey set. Still, this is a solid DVD with some good matches from the SmackDown 6 days that probably aren't on the 3 Disc set. The lack of ECW was pretty glaring, but there is more than enough on here to justify a purchase to go along with the later Rey set.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]