Rey Misterio

Miguel Ángel López Díaz (January 8, 1958 – December 20, 2024) was a Mexican professional wrestler and trainer, better known by his ring name, Rey Misterio ("Mystery King"). He was also referred to as Rey Misterio Sr. to distinguish him from his nephew, who initially wrestled as Rey Misterio Jr., but has for the majority of his career been billed as Rey Mysterio.^[1]

Professional wrestling career

Misterio first began training to be a boxer, but after his body got bigger, he took a lot of bumps and lost some of his punching ability. When his trainers told him that he could not still punch hard, they told Misterio about wrestling. His brother soon began to take him to train for professional wrestling. On the sixth of January 1976, Misterio finally made his debut as a wrestler on a show called "Day of the Kings", or Día de los Reyes.

Misterio appeared at World Championship Wrestling's Starrcade 1990 pay-per-view event where he teamed with Konnan and competed in the "Pat O'Connor Memorial International Cup" representing Mexico. In the first round the team defeated Chris Adams and Norman Smiley representing the United Kingdom, but lost to The Steiner Brothers in the second round.^[2]

Training

In 1987, Misterio opened a gym with Negro Casas and Super Astro. His first class included future international superstars such as Konnan, Psicosis, Halloween, Damián 666 and his nephew Rey Mysterio. Misterio is also known to have trained wrestlers such as Cassandro, Hayabusa, Extassis, Tigre Uno, Fobia, Misterioso, Demus 3:16, Ruby Gardenia, The Warlord, and Venum Black.

Personal life and death

Misterio's son is also a wrestler, who appears under the name El Hijo de Rey Misterio.

Misterio was also uncle to wrestlers Rey Mysterio (who originally wrestled as Rey Misterio Jr.) and Metalika, grand uncle to Dominik Mysterio, and brother-in-law to Super Astro.^[3]

He is featured in the horror film El Mascarado Massacre (or Wrestlemaniac).^[4]

Rey Misterio died on December 20, 2024, at the age of 66, 19 days before his 67th birthday.^[5]

Championships and accomplishments

• Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
  • IWC World Middleweight Championship (2 times)^[6]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #373 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003
  • PWI ranked him #212 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2004
• Pro Wrestling Revolution
  • Revolution Tag Team Championship (1 time)- with El Hijo de Rey Misterio
• Tijuana Wrestling
  • America's Championship (1 time)^[6]
  • Baja California Middleweight Championship (1 time)^[6]
  • IWC Television Championship (1 time)
  • Tijuana Welterweight Championship
  • Tijuana Tag Team Championship (3 times) – Saeta Oriental (1), Pequeño Apolo / Super Astro (1) and Rey Guerrero (1)^[6]
• World Wrestling Association
  • WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[6]
  • WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rey Mysterio Jr.^[6]
• World Wrestling Organization
  • WWO World Championship (1 time)
• Xtreme Latin American Wrestling
  • XLAW Extreme Championship (2 times)
• Other accomplishments
  • Tijuana Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)^[7]

Luchas de Apuestas record

1. ^ Last two men in an eight-man Steel cage match.
2. ^ Last two men in a Steel cage match that also included El Hijo de Rey Misterio and Super Parka.

Footnotes

1. ^ "Rey Misterio". Cagematch.net. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
2. ^ Scott E. Williams (8 March 2016). Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW. Sports Publishing. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-61321-873-0.
3. ^ "Rey Mysterio Jr.". Slam! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. April 26, 2005. Archived from the original on April 29, 2015. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
4. ^ Oliver, G. "WWE Meets Horror!". IGN. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
5. ^ Rey Mysterio Sr. è morto a 66 anni (in Italian)
6. ^ "Rey Misterio, Sr". Online World of Wrestling.
7. ^ Bryan Curtis. "The Tijuana Sports Hall of Fame". Grantland
8. ^ "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras" (in Spanish). Psicosis. October 2007. p. 60. Tomo III.
9. ^ "SLAM! Wrestling International -- 2000: The Year-In-Review Mexico". Slam Wrestling!. Canoe.ca. Archived from the original on November 17, 2002. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
10. ^ Guzmán, Alejandro (November 8, 2018). "5 importantes cabelleras ganadas por idolos Tijuanenses" (in Spanish). TJ Sports. Retrieved November 8, 2018.

References

• Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 389–402. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
• "Luchas 2000" (in Spanish). Rey Misterio. Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 26–27. Especial 20.