AnneCarlini.com Home
 
  Giveaways!
  Insider Gossip
  Monthly Hot Picks
  Book Reviews
  CD Reviews
  Concert Reviews
  DVD Reviews
  Game Reviews
  Movie Reviews
  Check Out The NEW Anne Carlini Productions!
  [NEW] Belouis Some (2024)
  [NEW] Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel (2024)
  [NEW] Mark Ruffalo (‘Poor Things’)
  [NEW] Paul Giamatti (‘The Holdovers’)
  [NEW] Crystal Gayle
  [NEW] Ellen Foley
  Gotham Knights [David Russo - Composer]
  The Home of WAXEN WARES Candles!
  Michigan Siding Company for ALL Your Outdoor Needs
  MTU Hypnosis for ALL your Day-To-Day Needs!
  COMMENTS FROM EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE READERS!


©2024 annecarlini.com
Ghost Canyon

Rey Mysterio ('WWE: The Biggest Little Man') Rey Mysterio ('WWE: The Biggest Little Man')

'Tall Tales From The Little Big Man'

Since debuting in the mid-1990s, Rey Mysterio has amazed and astounded millions with his incredible acrobatic agility and high-flying, high-impact maneuvers. His colorful masks and lucha libre style of wrestling have made Mysterio a perennial favorite with fans all over the world.

A veteran of ECW, WCW, Japanese and Mexican promotions, this San Diego native made his WWE debut in 2002 and has been a top contender ever since. He has held three WWE Cruiserweight Championships and four WWE Tag Team Championships. He has battled seven-foot giants and won the 2006 Royal Rumble with a record-setting time to go on to victory at Wrestlemania for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Now, as Mysterio sits on top of the sports entertainment mountain, World Wrestling Entertainment is proud to present an extensive career retrospective, including matches that have never been released on DVD before. “Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man” showcases Mysterio’s trials and tribulations throughout the years as he has faced and defeated foes literally twice his size and some of the biggest names in the wrestling business, including Eddie Guerrero, Randy Orton, Matt Hardy, Kurt Angle, JBL and more. Rey has also formed many friendships and alliances throughout his career. This 3-Disc set highlights some of his finest tag-team outings alongside partners Batista, Edge and Rob Van Dam.

“Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man” also features deluxe packaging, with four different collectible DVD covers, each a different mask color. With 9 hours of extensive footage, including exclusive commentary from Rey himself, this collection is an essential for any Rey Mysterio fan.

Being that your brand new 3-Disc DVD “Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man” is a complete retrospective of one of the most distinguished careers in professional wrestling, please tell us where it all began first for you with regard this wonderful career? Rey Mysterio: "I was inspired by my uncle. I grew up pretty much always around him from an early age and I always say that I have wrestling in my blood. I was only 4 years-old when I was introduced to the sport. And at that age you really have no idea. But as I got older I started to realize what wrestling was and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. So, at the age of 8 and instead of practicing any other sports like soccer or football, I was training for wrestling."

At what point did it cross your mind that after all this work to become a wrestler that your growth spurts weren't going to kick you up to be as tall as most all the other wrestlers at the time - and indeed still today? "I don't think my size really mattered at the time. I think size started to matter when I became a professional wrestler and my career was starting to peak up ... and I was gonna start to appear on television. That's when I realized that I had to eat more, I had to work out a little bit more, and make myself look good for television."

"You know, in Mexico you don't see the bigger physiques that you would see in the United States."

Along the way to winning titles down the years you’ve battled (and beaten) seven-foot giants. So, for all those smaller stature wrestlers out there just starting out, just how does someone of your height of 5 foot 6 beat a seven-foot giant?! "In my case it all has to do with strategy. Strategy plus agility; agility plus the passion you have for this business. And I think it all comes down to the passion. You gotta have passion for this sport. A regular person is not built to become a wrestler. And so if you want to train to become a wrestler at the age of 25 it's gonna take you a while to learn ... unless you're a very, very, very, very fast learner. But, besides that you have to have a lot of desire for this."

"And that is what I would tell the up comers. Show some enthusiasm. Show some fire. Show some passion for what you're doing. I think sometimes it's not so much to have to show it, but to have it within you. And if you don't have it in you then there's no sense in you being here."

So where was the desire to wear all these colorful masks first born? "That came from my uncle. You see, my uncle was always very fashionable and is still to the day. He'd always wear different outfits every time he'd go into the ring. And that's where the name comes from too ... Rey Mysterio means 'King Mystery.' The mystery was you never knew what he was going to wear the following week so he was always changing his outfits; the colors, the designs. And now what I do, as I don't change the design on my masks, what I do is I just rotate colors."

"I also like to dress nice out in public. I'm a very fashionable guy. I like to buy nice clothes and wear nice shoes. And I think the same way I'm in the ring is the same way I'm outside the ring."

How many of these colorful masks do you own? "I got about 300 of them! It's just something that hopefully after I retire from wrestling and if my son ever wants to become a professional wrestler those outfits will be there for him to use."

They claim you have a ‘Lucha Libre’ style of wrestling … but what does that mean? "That means freestyle wrestling. That's what I grew up training. That's what they taught me. And that's right now what I practice."

You’ve astounded millions with your incredible acrobatic agility and high-flying, high-impact maneuvers, but have any gone upscriptedly, and therein badly wrong? "Oh yeah, many times. But, I would have to say my last knee surgery was one of the worst. I just had knee surgery last November. I had an 'I Quit' match. And an 'I Quit' match means you don't have to get pinned, you can get beat up as much as you can until you can't take it anymore and then you can say 'I quit.' That's what an 'I Quit' match is."

"So, being in one of those matches - which includes being all around the arena, not only in the ring, but outside the ring in the stands with the fans - it came down to me hanging upside down by a rafter and Chavo Guerra grabbed a chair and he started hitting my knee. He hit it about five times and I think by the third one my knee was already bad. But, I was still able to take two more shots and that's when I said 'I quit.' And that's when I realized my ligament had been torn."

Did this 'I Quit' match where this happened have a tournament name? "No, it was just a Smackdown Event in Los Angeles, California back in October of last year."

Your brand new 3-Disc DVD 'Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man' is now out in stores, but did you help them put it together? "Oh yeah, I picked out all the matches. I would have to say my favorite match was in 1997 at Halloween Havoc, Rey Mysterio Vs. Eddie Guerrero. That was voted match of the year."

And why is that still so special to you today? "Let's just say that that day I did moves that I have never in my career of wrestling have I ever been able to do again. I've tried them, but they haven't come out the way they did that night. That was a very special night for me."

"And I have to say that the chemistry between Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio was actually beyond chemistry. It was incredible."

And how was his passing dealt with within the WWE community? "Well, it was very unexpected. It was hard on his friends, on the wrestlers. I was very close to him. He was one of my mentors. I looked up to him as a brother. I knew his wife, his daughters. He spent nights over at my house when we lived in San Diego. So we were very, very close."

And what are your thoughts on the whole Chris Benoit situation? "That was something that only God can judge. You know, upon his actions. I can just say that I live on his memories. That's a person that I travelled with for many years and that I used to train with. I wrestled with him and against him and he was a great person."

Finally, it’s claimed your trademark '619' move now has a connection to the TV show 'Heroes'! Is that true?! "619 is the area code for San Diego and that's one of my signature moves ... that's my finishing move on my opponents. With regard 'Heroes,' that's an episode that I still haven't been able to watch. I've heard about it, but I didn’t even know I was a part of it until just earlier today! I was actually on tour in Europe when that happened so I still gotta get posted on that and know what was going on."

Interviewed by Russell A. Trunk

Rey Mysterio: Biggest Little Man' DVD Purchase Link

Watch That 'Heroes' Episode Mentioned Above!

www.ReyMysterio.com

wwe.com

Back To Archives