Forgotten Favorites 02.12.09: SmackDown 2003 - Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri

Posted by Jim Grimm on 02.12.2009

These two guys had some classics in 2003, but this particular Cruiserweight Title match is often overlooked. Relive the WWE's cruiserweight division when it actually meant something!

I really need to get some sort of generic disclaimer for the beginning of this thing. If you've been here before, you know the drill. If not, this column exists so that certain overlooked matches will remain looked over no more. If a match has been passed over on a retrospective or compilation DVD, it's my duty to bring that particular match into the spotlight and give it its proper time to shine.

I've looked back at past encounters between legends that have been overshadowed by their more recent confrontations. I've looked at certain stipulations and their effect on a match's legacy. But this week, I look at the legacy of an entire division by focusing on one specific match.




SmackDown - September 4, 2003
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Once upon a time, long ago, there was a certain gold belt that was actually taken seriously by the people in charge of it. There were many brave warriors who risked life and limb, walking through a warzone of 450s and Monkey Flips, all in the name of wearing this prestigious title. And then one day, the not talented Guerrero jobbed it to a midget joke act. And that's the end of that story. But somewhere in the middle, some great wrestling took place.

The WWE Cruiserweight Championship had its origins in WCW, dating back to Brian Pillman's tournament win in 1991. While the WWE would answer WCW with the introduction of the Light Heavyweight Title in 1997, this is not the same title that would become a staple of SmackDown wrestling. During the title scene clusterfuck of the 2001 Invasion angle, where just about all of WCW's championships started being defended on WWE television, the E's LHW Title and WCW's Cruiserweight Title were unified for a brief period, but when they were split again the LHW Title was ultimately abandoned. So the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, the more historically significant of the two, was renamed the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. The E hadn't really given much airtime to the smaller guys up until this point, but the brand extension of 2002 would bring a change to that.

With the draft of 2002, the Cruiserweight Title became the exclusive property of SmackDown. Guys like Tajiri, The Hurricane, and Jamie Noble ushered in a new era of WWE wrestling, one where they finally had a (somewhat) legitimate cruiserweight division. That summer, the WWE debut of a certain masked luchador brought even more credibility to the new division, and things were off and running.

At the No Way Out PPV in February of 2003, a trim Matt Hardy -- who had been training for weeks in order to meet the weight requirement -- defeated Billy Kidman to claim the championship. Hardy then entered into what was likely the most well-remembered feud of the title's WWE tenure, engaging in a several-months-long war with Rey Mysterio. Their feud culminated in Rey's first WWE Cruiserweight Title victory in a SmackDown main event in June, the only time I can ever recall the CW Title main eventing a WWE show.

While Rey was chasing Matt Hardy's title, another staple of the cruiserweight division was focusing on another title. Tajiri filled in as a last minute replacement for an injured Chavo Guerrero at the Judgment Day PPV in May, tagging with Eddie Guerrero to win the WWE Tag Team Titles from Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin in a ladder match. For a short time, Eddie and Tajiri clicked even better than the original Los Guerreros tandem, and the two high flyers dominated their tag team competition. However, Tajiri would pay the price for putting his trust in a Guerrero, as the devilishly evil Eddie turned on his partner once they lost their titles. Tajiri briefly spent some time unsuccessfully chasing Eddie's United States Title, but ultimately would return to his roots in the cruiserweight division.

Rey swam into tag team waters for a brief period, tagging with Kidman to take on Haas and Benjamin in some awesome showdowns, although he was unable to secure a Tag Title reign at the time. By the end of the summer, Rey's attention became fully focused on defending his Cruiserweight Title. On the August 30th edition of Velocity, the next challenger to Rey's championship was decided in a match where Rey's own tag partner Billy Kidman fell victim to a certain Japanese Buzzsaw.







The match


WHY IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

First things first: cruiserweight wrestling sells. I'm not saying that fans were watching Nitro in '97 just to see Rey vs. Psychosis, but that's sure as hell the reason they tuned in for the first hour. The top wresting stars in the United States are almost always guys of a larger stature, but that doesn't mean fans want to see roided up bulls charging at each other in every match on a card. Critics can say what they want about WCW's shoddy booking in the mid to late 90's, but the fact is that Nitro pulled in a serious amount of viewers. These people weren't tuning in for three hours just because they thought the nWo was cool; it was because, for a period of time, Nitro was a well-balanced card that delivered in every aspect of wrestling. You had wrestlers of all weight classes getting good exposure inside the ring, along with a steady balance of singles and tag outings. Hogan and Company may have always closed the show with some shenanigans, but the cruiserweight matches of the early evening were often the highlight of the night (even when they didn't feature Y2J). Sting, Flair, and the nWo may have brought the viewers to Nitro, but it was the actions from the cruiserweights that got them to hang around and watch the whole show.

The reason I'm looking back at this particular Tajiri-Rey match is because it is proof that WWE can emulate the success of WCW's cruiserweight division. You have two amazing wrestlers like Tajiri and Rey Mysterio, both consistently over with the crowd, and they're fighting for their World Championship. To guys under the 220 pound weight limit, the Cruiserweight Title was the WWE Title. Or at least it felt that way for a very brief period of time. When you watch this match, it's undeniable that the crowd is into it. And it's undeniable that there's emotional involvement, considering the reaction Tajiri gets with his post-match heel turn. When Tajiri cheated to win the title in a rematch, fans cared. When Rey fought through Tajiri's henchmen Akio and Sakoda in his quest to regain the belt, fans cared. For a short period of time, fans cared about a feud for the Cruiserweight Title. Put that in your billion dollar pipe and smoke it, Vinny Mac.

Also, if we forget this match, we risk forgetting the awesome versatility of one Yoshihiro Tairi. Here's a guy who's turned face and heel more times than I can count, and yet I can't remember a single time when a turn wasn't believable. Whether he was the smiling high flyer or the stoic kicking machine, this dude was over. I have a hard time believing the man was sold as short as he was in WWE, because he was consistently one of the best performers on each show. He had a hell of a fun and unique style in the ring, and most importantly, he connected with the audience. Whether he was a good guy or a bad guy, the fans became emotionally involved in his matches and cared (there's that word again) about the outcomes. It's unfortunate that a completely forgettable United States Title reign was Tajiri's only run with a major singles title, but alas, in wrestling, as in life, sometimes shit just ain't fair.


The Japanese Buzzsaw deserved so much more ...


WHY IT ISN'T REMEMBERED

First things first: cruiserweight wrestling bores Vince McMahon. Even at the Cruiserweight Title's highest level of prestige it was still considered kids' stuff by WWE. The smaller guys would be given their time to go out and pop the crowd, and then they'd be escorted off so that the grown-ups could come out and have the matches everyone paid to see. Right? Right.

The degradation and eventual disappearance of the Cruiserweight Title hammered in the final nails on this match's coffin. Cruiserweight wrestling was never completely respected by WWE, despite the division's performers consistently putting on excellent matches and earning fans' interest. Blame Vince's big man fetish. Or blame the creative team for not being able to properly book the division. Or blame Hornswoggle. It's not easy to lay blame in a particular direction, but history shows that cruiserweight wrestling and WWE simply do not mix.

Now let's look at the possibility for this match's continued life on DVD. I know this might come as a shocker, but sadly the world has yet to see a three-disc Best of Tajiri DVD set. I'm not giving up hope, but I don't expect to see it hit store shelves anytime soon. 2003's Rey Mysterio 619 DVD was released several months before this match even took place, and 2007's Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man features another SmackDown confrontation with Tajiri, likely chosen because it's where Rey won his title back. If this match was going to make it onto any DVD set thus far, it would've been Rey's 2007 release, but it was apparently not meant to be.

Aside from the non-DVD-release-age, there's another obvious factor for this match's forgotten status, that being that it was aired on free television. Just like Jericho and Christian inside the Cage, Rey and Tajiri have suffered the same fate as countless others who've given away awesome wrestling on free TV. Also hurting this match is the fact that these two guys had several other badass title matches right around the same time period, most of which occurred on TV. With three TV title matches (no, not TV Title matches; Booker T was not involved) and one at October's No Mercy PPV, it's kind of hard for WWE to devote time to all of their classic title fights. So even though these guys had a series of awesome matches, the No Mercy and Rey-DVD-featured battles are likely the only ones that will have any kind of serious legacy.


Their No Mercy encounter has overshadowed the greatness of their TV matches


WILL IT BE REMEMBERED?

I've got my fingers crossed for a Best of the Cruiserweights DVD set, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. That isn't to say that all hope is lost for this match, because I don't think it is. 2009 marks the ten-year anniversary of the blue brand's debut broadcast, and I see a Best of SmackDown DVD coming in the near future. Naturally WWE is going to want to at least give some recognition to what was, for a while, an entire division that was exclusive to SmackDown. Rey and Tajiri had, hands down, some of the best matches in the division's WWE history, so I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that this particular match could end up being featured.

However, outside of the SmackDown DVD possibility, the future isn't too bright. We're not going to get any new Rey DVDs for a while, and Tajiri's legacy is about as important to Vince McMahon as TNA Impact's ratings. I'm sure WWE appreciates the work Tajiri did for them, but I don't see them going out of their way to make sure he's fondly remembered by fans -- or remembered at all, really.

This match lives on for cruiserweight enthusiasts and Tajiri-marks like myself, but as far as WWE concerns itself, this match is dead. A sad state of affairs, but as we've noticed, not every classic encounter gets its just due.


Feedback! (or, Proof That The World Knows I Exist!)

I definitely haven't forgotten about this feud, it was part of WM20, the greatest WM of all time.

Posted By: Guest#3638

A great WrestleMania, yeah. But I wouldn't go so far as to call it the greatest. The third and nineteenth editions are both personal favorites of mine, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a better card than WM 17.

Before I get on with commenting about the match, I just want to say that I realized you're a really good writer this week. You made some insightful comments and some of your jokes were legit lol funny. Most 411 writers suck at comedy. You don't. Great job!

The Jericho-Christian feud is criminally overlooked. Their WM 20 match doesn't get nearly as much love as it should. Unfortunately, it's probably because it was only the 4th best match on a stacked card.

As for this particular match, I don't remember it all. Maybe I've never seen or maybe it is a true forgotten classic and I can't even remember it. Time to check it out...

Posted By: Guest#1105

Thanks, yo. I will attempt to continue not sucking at comedy.

And you're right, this match has taken a backseat simply because WM 20 featured so many other more significant moments. This match is overlooked the same as Jericho-HBK from Mania 19. No matter how a good a match is, it can't compete with three or four main event caliber matches following immediately after.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio from Smackdown 05 where Batista got drafted to SD and Benoit vs. Regal from July of 05 Velocity deserve a look.

Posted By: JP Nichols

Eddie and Rey had a ton of awesome matches in 2005, and even if I don't cover that one in particular I'm sure I'll get to this feud eventually. I would've loved to do Eddie's SmackDown Title defense against Rey right before the 2004 draft, but the recent Eddie DVD shattered my dreams. But 2005 is indeed a goldmine of good Eddie-Rey matchage, since these two were putting on a new classic every month (sometimes in consecutive weeks).

Orton/Edge, on Raw night after Backlash 07 - The best TV match under twenty minutes!

The Rated RKO blowoff that could have been legendary gave us one awesome awesome match, awesome.

Posted By: Brad

Hells yes. I loved the shit out of this match when it first aired. Couldn't believe they actually gave it away for free at the time. It was recently featured on the new Edge DVD, but I'm not ruling out a future column. The tension between Rated RKO towards the end was getting an insane response from the crowd. They wanted an Edge-Orton blowoff feud. And yet, the feud that indeed could've been legendary, never was.

This is quickly becoming my favorite column on the site. Cheers. And this is the first match I've truly forgotten, though to be fair I moved out in March of '04 so catching Raw was sporadic at best. But Jericho versus Christian equals win so it's cool to see them again. Hell, maybe Christian wasn't behind the Jeff Hardy attacks and returns as a face to Raw to feud with Y2J. Hmm...

And I don't think anybody, myself included, were throwing the Armageddon 2002 DVD out to discredit its forgotten status. I just wanted to let people know it's out there as it's the reason I bought the DVD in the first place.

Another good match was the Mike Awesome/Spike Dudley title match from Guilty as Charged 2000. Brutal match but Heyman booked it so you could really see Spike winning, but still fully put over Awesome's monster status.

Posted By: neverAcquiesce

Ha! I can't please a woman, but hot damn, it seems I can please at least one reader! And no worries, I don't think it's been discredited at all. A lot of people have either legitimately forgotten this match or never even knew it took place. And I totally forgot about that Awesome/Spike match. Haven't seen it since it originally aired and it was indeed a hell of a match.

Another great article. I never thought of Christian being the OG Rated R Superstar, but it does look similar. I guess it was the difference in merchandise volume that gave Edge the push instead, since he never really made it past mid card before his Rated R gimmick. And since they booked Captain Charisma to look like a clown.

Posted By: Tobey Kinson

Christian really had the potential to go to the top, although I've got to question whether or not he would've made it as far as Edge. Not to diss Christian, cause the cat is mad talented, but Edge is far and away one of the best heels in recent history, outdone only by the kickass 2008 Chris Jericho. Whether or not Christian could've sold as much merchandise or made as big a splash as Edge, well that's up for debate. Not to take anything away from Christian, because he's a hell of a performer, but I think Edge may have gotten the push because he was, uh, better?

I love Leanne Gillick.

Posted By: Propagandhi

She must be a special lady then.

It seems like Christian should make his triumphant return on Smackdown, walk down memory lane with Edge for a few months (be it side-by-side or toe-to-toe) and re-acquaint himself with the audience, then get sent to Raw in the draft. Then they'd satisfy the fans salivating for an E&C reunion, and still give Cpt. Charisma his chance to shine on his own, before Edge's shadow buries him in obscurity.

Forgotten classic: Sting vs DDP on Nitro, sometime in 1998... or maybe early 1999... I just remember it being a great match, and Sting reversing the Diamond Cutter into a Scorpion Death Drop for the win.

Posted By: KanyonKreist

Well now we know Christian is on ECW, and all of our predictions have been completely owned. It seems there's no interaction with Edge, Matt, or Jeff in the immediate future for Christian, and I guess for a while that could be alright. WWE may be hoping to quickly reacquaint fans with Captain Charisma before moving him into the inevitable program with any of those three guys.

I need to check out the Sting/DDP match, as I haven't seen it. And now that's got me wondering: with the success of the Starrcade DVD, could a Best of Nitro DVD be on the horizon?

Loved the acticle!
Being from Canada, I thought it was neat that Trish, Cage, and Jericho were all Canucks. I'm not usually a fan of the 'soap' style storylines, but they pulled this one off quite well and the match was sa-weeeeeeet!
Jericho has been so great in the past and he's even better now- IMO he's the best thing on RAW right now and that's no small feat.

Posted By: FUZEY

The soap opera angles are usually quite lame, but as you said, they were able to pull it off this time. I can't agree with you more, since the romantic angles are almost always vomit-inducing and unbearable, but I guess it depends on the talent involved. You can't go wrong with Trish, Christian, and Y2J.

Certainly not an all-time classic, but I'd still call it a forgotten favorite on the basis that it was a blow-off match of an excellent feud that nobody remembered. This isn't the first time a feud has been settled on TV instead of a PPV. I remember the series of matches that Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero had in 2005. Eddie became obsessed with trying to beat Ray, but never could. Then came the whole custody storyline to distract us from what the feud should have been about. The final blow-off came on Smackdown in September(in a steel cage, I believe). Eddie finally got the win he wanted over Rey. But nobody really remembered that final match in their series (and I don't think it's ever been released on DVD).

Posted By: Ricky C.

To Ricky C.:

The cage match between Eddie and Rey is on the Viva La Raza 3-Disc DVD Set that came out recently.

Posted By: Teddy Rhodes

The custody drama ruined what could have been a great straight-up wrestling angle. Eddie was driven to madness by his inability to get the win over Mysterio, and he was willing to resort to anything in order to end his losing streak. This is wrestling at its most basic and most fulfilling: two guys determined to prove they're better than the other. The custody case was just unnecessary crap. But as far as the matches go, each one was badass, that Cage match especially.

Great article. I don't remember this match but I hardly miss Raw proving that it is a forgotten favorite.

As for Mania20, it's one of my favorite events ever and Trish joining Christian is one of my favorite moments from that show. A well done heel turn. Now that you reminded me of that, and remembering Trish/Mickie match at Mania22, I now want even more to see Trish make an appearance (and wrestle) on this year's card!

As for Christian's return, I'm excited but I hope he ends up on SD! with Edge, Matt and Jeff. Althoug I don't get to see SD!, I truly think that where he belongs as he's much more remember for E&C than for his team with Jericho.

Posted By: MachoManFanStill

I'm not usually that big on women's wrestling, but I'd definitely be interested in seeing Trish return to the ring. If there's any woman who's remained consistently entertaining both in and out of the ring, as both a face and heel, it's Trish Stratus. As far as Christian goes, I'm sure that he'll eventually end up on SmackDown. Battles or alliances with Edge, Jeff, and Matt are unavoidable.

Bischoff was pissed that Jericho was the last RAW guy in the 04 Royal Rumble and didn't win.

Posted By: Quinny

This totally slipped my mind. Good call.

I see this happening again. This fued could once again be started. Chris Jericho believes the fans are hypocrites whereas Christain has the coalition behind him.

Posted By: Guest#4222

Fans would definitely get into Christian-Jericho if it happened again. I'm with you on this one, 4222nd Guest.


I'm sure Christian's push with Trish & Tomko ended due to him getting a back injury for several months. Then when he returned, Trish was kicking her own thing and Captain Charisma was put with just Tomko. Had he not been injured he may well have received the Edge Rated-R story line and push!

Anyway, glad he is returning. Get him back on TV sharpish. And they better ensure he's got a strong storyline with which ever show he's on.

Posted By: Guest#9665

After posting this column I severely regretted not going into detail on the back injury. The Cage match was actually Christian's last in WWE for several months, and undoubtedly affected the push he was receiving pre-injury.

Hi man. Just wanted to say nice column!! As a fellow "forgotten match seeker" myself, I always love reading up and talking about matches that I've witnessed and loved, but were sadly forgotten about! Good stuff.

Posted By: Julian Bond

Much thanks. Some of these matches are only going to live on by word of mouth, so it's our job as overly-obsessive fans to continue to spread the good word.

what you need to remember here is this was when wwe did single brand pay per views, so one show would have a barren month where key angles would get a blow off on free tv, kinda like the matt hardy -rey mysterio feud a year prior to this

Posted By: DaJ

And it's that single-brand format that's going to give me plenty of material for future columns. It was an interesting time creatively, since shows had so much freedom in between PPVs. It definitely allowed feuds and storylines more time to develop. Single-brand PPV cards weren't always that impressive, but at least fans were given time to digest feuds.


Perhaps Next time Trish and Lita do a one shot deal together they should run into E&C backstage.

Posted By: Sev

As long as RVD's involved.

- -

Alright, guys, that's it for this week. What did you think of this week's pick? Do you remember this one? Would you rather not remember this one? I must know!

So keep the wrestling conversation going, and as always, stay safe and out of jail.