The Shimmy 7.10.06: The Rey Mysterio Report Card (Part Two)
Posted by Andy Clark on 07.10.2006
This week The Shimmy concludes it's look at Rey Mysterio's WWE career!
Welcome back to another blazing edition of The Shimmy! This week we tackle Part Two of our Rey Mysterio Report Card. Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em, folks, because we're gonna start the showing rolling.
WWE Tag Team Title Match: Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam vs. Kenzo Suzuki & Rene Dupree (Armageddon 2004)
From the Whole F'n Report Card: Things had got all set up for RVD and Rey to get their rematch for the titles…and they won them back on the SmackDown before the PPV. That basically sucked the wind out of this match even though I thought it was even better than their No Mercy match. RVD and Rey were excellent as tag team partners and it was cool to see them acknowledge this during their match at Head-to-Head.
My Grade: B+
2005 Royal Rumble Match (Royal Rumble 2005)
In my opinion this was Rey Mysterio's coming out party. Rey made it to the final four men in the match and that to me is what made a future title run seem possible. Starting right around this time WWE was dropping hints that Rey could one day be champion and seeing him do so well in the Rumble Match really helped solidify it. It was a good Rumble as well and was a great stepping stone for Rey's career.
My Grade: A-
WWE Tag Team Title Match: Basham Brothers vs. Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio (No Way Out 2005)
This was the best match on the PPV, although given the competition that isn't saying too much. Eddie and Rey had a great chemistry as a tag team and it was cool to see them winning the belts, especially using Eddie's "Cheat 2 Win" tactics. This was probably one of the best matches the Bashams had and sort of makes one reminiscent for them as a tag team.
My Grade: B-
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (WrestleMania 21)
I think a lot of people had their expectations up too high for this match, many thinking that they could bring out a bit of Halloween Havoc 1997 here. Unfortunately that isn't what we got although the match we did get wasn't bad at all. Of their PPV outings in 2005 this was probably their worst, but even the worst out of two men like Rey and Guerrero is awfully damn good.
My Grade: B
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (Judgment Day 2005)
Rey and Eddie picked up the quality with this match, although unfortunately Eddie was in his newly acquired heel character which meant he was playing the power game instead of playing to Rey's speed. The match was much better than their WrestleMania encounter but the DQ ending left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.
My Grade: B+
Extreme Luchador Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis (One Night Stand 2005)
Why exactly would the "extreme luchador" match be one of the slower matches on the card? Psicosis played the ground game for most of the match and the Hammerstein Ballroom sheep turned on Rey which made for a rather uneventful match. Fortunately we would see much better from both men in the coming months.
My Grade: C+
Secret Match: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (Great American Bash 2005)
Once again Eddie and Rey were the saving grace to a SmackDown PPV (although for the record, Booker-Christian and Benoit-OJ were both fine matches and Taker-Hassan was pretty decent even with the horribly unjust treatment to Hassan). Some will say that this match was too much storyline, focusing too much on the "Who's your papi" deal with Dominick, but I think that made this match stand out from their others. Eddie was ultra affective as the heel in this match and Rey was playing the emotional babyface perfectly. The part where Eddie grabs Dominick by the head to stop Rey from attacking him, while slightly uncomfortable, was gold. Eddie and Rey were building to something special and this was a great launching pad for that.
My Grade: B
Ladder Match, Custody of Dominick: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (SummerSlam 2005)
And this was that something special. Many people claim that the Eddie-Rey matches in 2005 were overrated, and I can sort of see their point. There is no overrating this match though, which was great. I named this my #7 best WWE match of the year and nobody argued that point. This was Eddie Guerrero's last great match and it is good to know that it was against his good friend Rey Mysterio on the second grandest stage of them all, SummerSlam.
My Grade: A
Rey Mysterio vs. JBL (No Mercy 2005)
Rey followed up his Eddie feud by taking on former Eddie foe JBL. The nature of this feud was similar to JBL's feud with Eddie, mainly focusing on immigration. The two men have a good big man-little man chemistry and this match is a testament to this. At the time I thought that this may have been a preview of the WrestleMania 22 main event, and I was only off by a few months. This particular match was one of the two best on the card and it's a fun midcard match to watch back again.
My Grade: B
Interpromotional Match: Chris Masters & Snitsky vs. Rey Mysterio & Matt Hardy (Taboo Tuesday 2005)
Despite the bait-and-switch with Edge pulling out of this match, this was a surprisingly good Interpromotional match up. Hardy and Rey have acted as a good tag team in the past and Masters and Snitsky have a bit of an odd chemistry as well. The story here was the classic battle of speed vs. power and ultimately speed won out.
My Grade: B
Interpromotional, Ten Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Batista, Randy Orton, JBL, Rey Mysterio, & Bobby Lashley vs. Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Kane, Chris Masters, & Carlito (Survivor Series 2005)
Some people weren't impressed with this match, but this match really summed up the whole "gang warfare" mentality of the invasion. Imagine if there had been clear sides like this during the WCW invasion, and heels and faces could team together without having to turn. This was a unique match up, and it delivered with other unique mini-match ups throughout. Some may dislike the brand fraternization, as I have my own criticisms of it, but it brought back some of the tradition of the Survivor Series while adding a new spin to it.
My Grade: A-
Interpromotional Match: Batista & Rey Mysterio vs. Big Show & Kane (Armageddon 2005)
I have not seen this match so I cannot comment on it. If anyone has seen this match feel free to e-mail me, but really, do you care that much?
My Grade: N/A
2006 Royal Rumble Match (Royal Rumble 2006)
You know, this wasn't a classic Royal Rumble Match, and its placement on the card left a bad taste in many people's mouths (mine included), but the emotional nature of the match can't be denied. Rey won the match after starting at #2 and his celebration post-Rumble was actually probably longer than his abbreviated celebration post-WrestleMania.
My Grade: B-
No. 1 Contender's Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton (No Way Out 2006)
This year Rey and Orton have proved that they work well together and this is a testament to that. I think there was a sense of dread in the pit of the stomach of many wrestling fans as we were expecting Rey to lose his WrestleMania opportunity, and we didn't know if he would get it back. It was a sad event when Orton won, but that doesn't take anything away from the actual in-ring performance by these two men.
My Grade: B+
World Heavyweight Title, Triple Threat Match: Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio (WrestleMania 22)
From the Kurt Angle Report Card: Fucking Chicago fans. Angle was, alas, pretty impressive in this match, too impressive if ya ask me. Seriously, making Orton AND Rey tap? Just job the hell out, dude. Anyhow, this was about as good as a nine minute WrestleMania co-main event could be.
My Grade: B
World Heavyweight Title Match: Rey Mysterio vs. JBL (Judgment Day 2006)
Rey and JBL continued their work from No Mercy in this rather dramatic match. If the poor booking of Rey as World Heavyweight Champion did anything it made the outcome of this match rather cloudy. I'm not sure that this match was quite as good as their No Mercy match, but it certainly surpassed it in terms of unpredictability.
My Grade: B-
World Heavyweight Title, Interpromotional, Extreme Rules Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Sabu (One Night Stand 2006)
Ok, this is a tough one for some. A lot of people didn't like the no contest finish and while I would have preferred to see Rey actually win a match every once in a while, I understood why they did it. Plus, it's not like you see a finish like that every day. Both Sabu and Rey sold the bump at the end like they were dead (especially Rey). The action up to the finish was up to the "dream match" billing, at least as much as the two men still could, and it was a treat to see this match take place.
My Grade: B+
So that concludes our look at Rey Mysterio's WWE PPV efforts. He has an upcoming PPV match with Booker T that could and probably will be a great match. Speaking of Booker T, next week we will see Part One of the Booker T Report Card, you won't want to miss it. All hail King Booker! All hail King Booker!
A Reason For Bullet Points
I suppose I should start this off with saying a little something about Rob Van Dam. I've got to say that I'm a bit torn on this one. I've been a fan of RVD's for a number of years and I was so excited to see him finally get the ball this summer. Seeing him lose everything that he worked for get flushed down the drain was just sad. That being said, he brought it on himself. I can feel sorry for his situation all I want, but the fact remains its his own fault. I'll skip out on the "should he or shouldn't he" debate on him smoking pot in the first place, but carrying it around in your car? Screw that, carrying it around in your car while you're speeding? You know what, even screw that, carrying it around in your car while you're speeding and the WWE Champion?! Look, I understand RVD is a pothead, good for him, but you'd think he'd have enough sense to lay low until he wasn't the top guy in the company anymore. I'm not really sure what saved his job more, the fact that he was champion at the time or the existence of TNA. All I know is that RVD better be glad this wasn't four years ago or else he could go hang out with Jeff Hardy and Scott Hall in who knows where.
Now, onto how the RVD situation was handled. Him losing the WWE Title on Monday night was probably the easiest choice as it looked like they were heading that way at Saturday Night's Main Event anyhow. The only probably with that was 1) At least I was looking forward to the mystery tag partner, and 2) It really kills any interest in SNME now. Still, it was cool to see a title change on Raw, as we know how infrequently we get those.
The more controversial decision this week was having Paul Heyman turn on RVD and Big Show winning the ECW Title on Tuesday night. I have a few reservations myself as to how the turn was pulled, but ultimately it had to happen. My main issue is that Paul Heyman should not have gleefully turned on RVD. Heyman should have been somber while doing so, doing it only because it "had to be done." I mean, RVD was defending the title too much, ECW had the WWE Title in its grasp and RVD lost it. RVD was a liability to ECW and he had to be taken down. Now, Heyman will probably tell that same story next week, but instead of it being from the concerned business perspective it will be from the evil authority figure perspective. As for Big Show, sure he won't be lighting the world on fire with his matches, but who else was their? Tommy Dreamer and Sandman are out of the question now that the ECW Title is a legitimate World Title, and Sabu is in the same boat as RVD. The most logical choice would have been Kurt Angle coming back to take on RVD, but really, do you want him skipping out on yet another well deserved time off? So, if it's not Big Show than that pretty much leaves us with Mike Knox. Oh yeah, that's a much better option. A lot of people seem to think that Big Show winning the title is indicative of where WWE wants to go with the company. That is complete nonsense. I doubt very seriously that WWE had any intention on putting the belt on Big Show this early in his ECW tenure. Oh, and I wish that Big Show would have walked into the crowd right in the direction of those classless Philly morons that were throwing trash in the ring. Seriously, grow the fuck up.
I just had to mention JR and The King from this past Monday. Those two were on fire on commentary, probably the best free TV commentary I've heard from them for a while.
OK, so Joey Styles is in my head. He mentioned that Big Show would be the first person to hold the WWE Title, WCW Title, and ECW Title just seconds after I thought the same thing.
It's official. The WWE creative team are a bunch of pussies. They should have let The Sandman beat the hell out of that dude even while he was a man of the cloth. Oh yeah, not offending people, that's hardcore!
Test vs. Al Snow, huh? Finally we get to see the rematch from the Armageddon 199 pre-show. What?
Speaking of Test, I though WWE hired him back because he was naturally large. Seriously, was he tired of getting confused for Lance Hoyt or something? Dude looks was too ripped.
I managed to watch SmackDown this week and the announce team of Michael Cole and JBL is leaps and bounds better than the last time I watched. JBL seem to have toned down on his character and focused more on commentating, something he seems pretty good at.
If there is one good thing about the whole "Vito wears a dress" story it's seeing Michael Cole of all people punk out the conservative JBL. You tell him, Coleslaw!
Was I the only person that was disappointed in Batista's return? I mean, he's back for three minutes and already he just feels like part of the show. I was looking forward to a nice new suit, and welcome back speech, and then maybe a small brawl with Mark Henry. I definitely would have saved the Mark Henry beatdown until the PPV, but hey, what do I know.
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean on Saturday night, and if WWE ever needed a midget version of Snitsky I think I found one. Actually, a midget version of Snitsky might be pretty funny. I mean, looking at the group Snitsky was in Monday night and he'd probably fit right in.
Speaking of midgets, this would be the point where I'd try to take a shot at Domingo, but he gets a free pass this week since he quoted one of the greatest songs of all time in his column this week. Congrats, man.
The Shimmy Likes It Raw!
What's on tap for tonight?
Trish Stratus vs. Melina: We get a WrestleMania quality Women's Match on Raw. Something tells me we won't get a clean finish.
The 2006 Diva Search Contestants Debut: Randy Orton, man your battle station!
The Rated R Era Begins (again) on Raw: Will there be live sex?
Well that does it for another edition of The Shimmy. Feel free to send me in your thoughts on the Rey Mysterio Report Card and be sure to check back next week for Part One of the Booker T Report Card. As always, don't die. Clark…out.
