WWE superstar Rey Mysterio is 36 years old. He has the knees of an 80-year old. If he keeps up longer without getting a break, he’ll be in a wheelchair by age 50. Each week, in what I can imagine to be against his better judgment sometimes, he takes at least one big bump that drops my jaw.
A tumble to the outside. Going hard into the ring steps or post. Taking an extra stiff move, like the slingshot powerbomb from The Miz on Monday night RAW. He’s leaving it all in the ring, despite the fact that it’ll cost him his mobility. And what does a good portion of people I interact with on the Internet do?
They tell him he sucks as an in-ring worker and base it on his overuse of the 619, his booking or a combination of both.
Yet, I don’t see any honesty out there. People patently ignore the fact that the guy kills himself for the art of a great wrestling match, and people say he’s terrible because of the 619 set ups, despite the fact that it’s a move that’s over as all get out and stuff that’s over gets driven into the ground in WWE. Meanwhile, other guys kill themselves without the purpose or ear towards storytelling that Rey does, and they get the blanket praise.
Pardon my French, but I think that’s screwed up.
You have the right to your opinion. You don’t have the right to facts, and the facts are that Rey Mysterio does the same things in the ring that have gotten men such as Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk and others high marks from an in-ring standpoint. He bumps hard, he works great matches and he gets the crowd involved. But you think his finisher is contrived, random Internet poster?
Name me the most contrived move in wrestling history. If you didn’t say “The Irish Whip” then you’re flat out wrong. To wit, it’s not even that contrived to think that Rey Rey, a veteran of over 20 years,would know how to get people into the 619 position.
Meanwhile, the other argument is not to be laid at Rey’s feet at all. He wins all the time, so let’s hate him. Okay, I could buy that argument if the guy was booking the company, but like John Cena, Mysterio is just a wrestler who happens to be super-over with the existing crowd. Do I like seeing the same guys win all the time? Hell no. But at the same time, I don’t sit here and pretend that it makes Rey a bad worker. His bosses like him and give him chance after chance to shine. That’s not on Rey, that’s on the bookers who don’t know how to book.
Otherwise, you’ll continue being the reason why we nerds can’t have nice things.
Tom Holzerman is a lifelong wrestling fan and connoisseur of all things Chikara Pro, among other feds. When he’s not writing for the Camel Clutch Blog, you can find him on his own blog, The Wrestling Blog.
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Eric G.
Eric is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Camel Clutch Blog. Eric has worked in the pro wrestling industry since 1995 as a ring announcer in ECW and a commentator/host on television, PPV, and home video. Eric also hosted Pro Wrestling Radio on terrestrial radio from 1998-2009. Check out some of Eric's work on his IMDB bio and Wikipedia. Eric has an MBA from Temple University's Fox School of Business.
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