By William Quant
Wrestlemania 39 is finished and within the books, all the weekend full of nice matches and even better moments. There was one match particularly that demonstrated to me the gorgeous nature of the best way wrestling tells tales. While Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. The Usos and Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair had been additionally beautiful shows of totally different sorts of wrestling storytelling, none of them had a sure additional layer of mystique that solely lucha libre can convey.
At the WWE’s premier occasion, Rey Mysterio went one-on-one together with his organic son Dominik Mysterio in a contest plagued by references, subtleties, and homages to many ranges of wrestling and lucha libre, in addition to having an enormous tie to 1 of comics’ first costumed heroes.
The Players:
Rey Mysterio (Jr.)
Undisputedly the most influential lively wrestler on the earth as we speak. The quantity of grapplers from Japan to Mexico to Canada to the States that cite Rey Mysterio as the explanation they laced up boots and/or placed on a masks is innumerable.
Not solely has he impressed the newest technology of wrestling performers, however his high-flying, fast-paced, lucha libre model was one of the primary and most prolific of its form to make its approach onto mainstream tv within the 90s, making him one of the constructing blocks of a whole craft within the modern-day. In a land of giants, the 5” 2’ Rey Mysterio impressed numerous smaller wrestlers and helped kick begin the cruiserweight revolution that’s nonetheless very a lot felt as we speak.
Originally competing as Rey Mysterio Jr. till 2001, Rey dropped the “Jr.” upon signing with the WWE in 2002. He was simply inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on Wrestlemania 39 weekend. Among a mountain of accolades, he’s a 3x world champion, 9x cruiserweight champion, and 9x tag crew champion – with one of these reigns being alongside his real-life son, Dominik.
Dominik Mysterio
Dominik Mysterio is the organic son of Rey Mysterio. After teaming together with his father from his in-ring debut in 2020, Dominik turned on his dad in September of 2022 to hitch a delinquent faction, The Judgment Day. The rift between father and son would construct for months earlier than Rey and Dominik locked horns at Wrestlemania 39.
While he didn’t try and step into the household enterprise full-time till 2019, his on-screen debut got here virtually a decade and half earlier than as an 8-year outdated. Dominik was used as a pawn to power Rey Mysterio into another match with a rival; a rival who claimed to be Dominik’s REAL organic father. Said rivalry culminated with maybe probably the most outrageous and telenovela-esque of all wrestling stipulations: a ladder match for the custody of a toddler. The man who was utilizing Dominik to get to Rey was one of his oldest mates on the earth, Eddie Guerrero.
Eddie Guerrero
Eddie Guerrero is probably the most influential Latino wrestler on the earth not named Rey Mysterio. He wrestled anyplace there was a hoop and in each main American wrestling promotion all through the 90s and early 2000s – even displaying up in Ring of Honor of their founding yr.
One of probably the most revered performers of the trendy period, Eddie got here from the wrestling household of the Guerreros, who’ve a legacy of grappling in Mexico and the southwest US that spans a long time. In Rey Mysterio’s personal phrases, Eddie was “the bridge” for all Latino wrestlers hoping to carry out within the States; his success gave all of them alternatives and Eddie helped everybody who came to visit any approach he might. Able to play each man and unhealthy man with aplomb over his profession, one of his remaining feuds was in opposition to pal Rey Mysterio the place he claimed to be Dominik’s “Papi.”
Sadly, Guerrero handed away resulting from coronary heart failure in November 2005 at age 38. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the next spring.
The Phantom
A costumed crime fighter who debuted in 1936, created by Lee Falk, predating even Superman. Still operating as a newspaper strip to at the present time, the Phantom is an motion journey story centered on the masked essential character. The Phantom is credited as the primary fictional hero to put on a skintight costume and a masks that hides the wearer’s pupils, each of which might grow to be iconic options of the superhero and vigilante comedian ebook genres.
At its peak, The Phantom would attain over 100 million individuals a day. Among the locations it will attain is Mexico, the place just a few future performers could possibly be impressed by his design…
The Play
Right off the bat, you’ve obtained one of an important elements of a wrestler’s character: their entrances. While Dominik’s managed to make headlines for, uh, negligent causes, Rey had a direct tribute to the late Eddie Guerrero, coming into the sector to Eddie’s entrance music whereas additionally coming into in a Low Rider (pushed by Snoop Dogg, no much less) as Eddie did in his remaining years; simply the primary of an abundance of Eddie tributes all all through the match made deeper by his reference to Dominik.
A collage of only a smattering of Rey Mysterio’s comedian character tributes (even the dorky Ben Affleck model of Daredevil)
A giant factor of be aware right here is Rey’s entrance apparel, which doesn’t appear to have a selected property in thoughts in phrases of inspiration. Rey is thought for paying tribute to some form of comedian ebook hero or character for a lot of of his Wrestlemania outfits, however right here, the factor of be aware is that is the primary masks Rey has worn, presumably ever, that truly exhibits his age. He’s been described as an ageless surprise for a very long time, doubtless as a result of his conventional masks hides any age traces on his face. But right here, going through his son, a wider window to his face lastly appears to point out that he has the concern traces of a father. Not having a comic book ebook tribute and looking out older is a narrative in and of itself.
Bonus point out right here goes to Rey Mysterio’s outfit that he wore in that outlandish match in opposition to Eddie Guerrero for the custody of his son again in 2005 being normal after the long-lasting Fantastic Four’s blue numbered bodysuits for a match that was all about household then and created sufficient echoes to have one other match about household now.
While Rey’s apparel for the Wrestlemania 39 match didn’t have one direct inspiration, Dominik’s completely did. His purple and black apparel matches in with the colour scheme of The Judgment Day people he’s been operating with, however it additionally permits him to make a unclean homage to maybe his father’s most well-known apparel.
Back in 1997, Rey Mysterio Jr. received the WCW Cruiserweight Championship in a Title vs. Mask Lucha de Apuesta match. That match is in consideration for the very best match in WCW historical past, in addition to within the dialogue for best wrestling match interval. Who was reverse Rey in that historic contest? None apart from Eddie Guerrero. In addition Dominik’s mullet he rocks in the course of the present-day match makes him rattling close to equivalent to late-90s Eddie Guerrero, truly making a case for actually being Eddie’s child in spite of everything these years.
Speaking of Rey and his comedian ebook inspirations, his iconic outfit in that iconic match was impressed by none apart from The Phantom. We’ve obtained a reference on high of a reference with a deeper reference that harkens to a key piece of lucha and comedian historical past and that’s stunning. And this isn’t the final time The Phantom will create layers on this match.
Part of the best way by way of the competition, Dominic’s operating buddies, the Judgment Day, interrupt and begin attacking Rey. The soiled tactic turned the title of the battle for a second, however Rey had been getting back-up for a pair of weeks from another Latino wrestlers they usually returned right here to assist even the percentages. This is critical as a result of that man on the far left over there.
His title is Santos Escobar, or a minimum of his WWE ringname. Prior to signing with the WWE in the course of the Pandemic, he competed for over a decade in Mexico as El Hijo del Fantasma, a masked luchador who additionally belongs to a wrestling household. This makes three lucha libre wrestling households to have illustration or be referenced on this match already.
Escobar is the respectable, actual life son of famed luchador Fantasma. If you check out Fantasma or his son’s masks, you’ll discover they bear a placing resemblance –
– to our boy The Phantom. I’ve by no means encountered something to substantiate this for certain, however the truth that the long-lasting Fantasma masks, which interprets to “Phantom” in English, shares a close to equivalent design to the face of that Golden Age vigilante The Phantom can’t be a coincidence. This of course turns into a recursive reference that Rey himself made in his iconic match with Eddie and that’s once more referenced by Dominik’s apparel.
Oh, for much more layers, we’ve obtained Santos Escobar and his buddies carrying LWO shirts, which stands for Latino World Order. The LWO was an offshoot of the extremely standard NWO, probably the most impactful wrestling faction of the 90s and presumably in all of wrestling historical past. The LWO is fondly remembered as we speak, even when the precise steady solely existed for only a couple of months in 1998-1999. The chief of that faction? Eddie Guerrero. The group’s remaining notable motion? Forcibly recruiting Rey Mysterio Jr. into their ranks.
All all through the match, an infinite portion of Dominik’s moveset had been extra derogatory references to Eddie’s outdated moveset whereas trying just like the spitting picture of him. With the quantity of wrestling households concerned simply on this contest alone, it’s only becoming that the match and this story attains its cathartic finish with the identical household that watched Dominik be fought over in a ladder match serving to reign within the rebelling youth and giving Rey the possibility to defeat his son with Eddie Guerrero’s ending transfer, the Frog Splash.
Professional wrestling is a bizarre animal that you just both get otherwise you don’t; there doesn’t actually appear to be an in-between. But the multi-generational reverence on this match exhibited simply how inventive lucha libre {and professional} wrestling could be; not within the punches and kicks, not within the suplexes, however in simply the subtleties of the craft itself.
Discussion about this post