Rey Mysterio is a superstar with decades of in-ring experience and a number of dope showdowns with a variety of opponents. He came into wrestling at an interesting time during the late 1980s.
At that time, guys like Lizmark had innovated lucha libre to the point where flash and fearlessness were becoming the approach to matches. Stateside, this upgraded lucha libre would become part of the foundation for modern high-flying.
Rey Rey was part of that new wave of luchadors along with the likes of Psicosis, Misterioso, Lizmark Jr, Super Calo, and so on. Over the following decade, fans would experience a buffet of exciting, risky flying maneuvers and Rey Jr would contribute to a number of those moves.
I’m looking over his move set, I found that Mysterio had signatures that would’ve made for a good finisher and finisher that just got put away. This might be a difficult “Moves of Doom” Monday as we could go with Rey Classic or Modern Rey.
A coin was flipped and modern-day Rey Mysterio won out.
Droppin’ Da Dime
Rey’s knees are dust. They should be shards but a lot of Mysterio’s 20s and 30s were spent on the high-speed, high-risk end of things. Those dives and bumps turn everything to dust eventually.
During the 2000s, Rey began using a new move to finish off matches: Droppin’ Da Dime. This was around the time when Rey Mysterio really began rocking with his San Diego culture and pride in-character.
Droppin’ Da Dime involved a springboard leg drop and is sometimes preceded by our third entry. I always enjoyed this move as it could’ve been a definite finisher. It flowed very well with his later finisher sequence and seems like the natural evolution of our final entry.
I’d say that it lacked overall destructive power and would’ve been more effective if the dime was dropped to the back of the head.
DOOM Scale: 2.25 out of 5
Frog Splash
We all know the Frog Splash as introduced to 90s wrestling fans by Eddie Guerrero and Art Barr. While different wrestlers can make this move as devastating or as gorgeous as possible, it was still a Frog Splash.
Rey Jr took his move from good friend the late Eddie Guerrero. His version doesn’t have the flavor of Eddie’s, the speed and force of Art and RVD’s, or the extension of D’Lo and CIMA’s.
Rey Mysterio’s Frog Splash is a functional one. It’s a Frog Splash in execution but there’s really nothing that makes his version unique to him. Honestly, it can come off as a compromise move to where his body has taken a ton of damage but high-flying is what brought him to the dance.
DOOM Scale: 2 out of 5
619
One thing I’ve never seen is Rey knock out an opponent with the 619. It just seems like it would be a spot or something random just to make the 619 appear dangerous out of nowhere to those of us viewing at home.
As it’s been for about two decades now, it’s always been an S-tier setup move or signature. I’d put it up there with Stone Cold’s kick to the gut before the Stunner.
That’s because we’ve seen Rey do the move as a lead-in to either Droppin’ Da Dime or our final entry. It’s never been considered a finisher nor did it ever have the power to end a match.
DOOM Scale: 1 out of 5
West Coast Pop
Besides classic Rey’s Super Hurricanrana and clean Hurricanrana, his West Coast Pop—another rana variant—was an iconic Mysterio finisher. He began using this in the early 2000s during his first WWE run and it simply worked for him.
The West Coast Pop is a springboard hurricanrana that lacks destructive power but it keeps with Rey’s theme of the King of Mystery and Master of Hurricanranas. A rana can be a very surprising move and that pinning finish will steal a couple of wins.
I guess you could say that it’s highly unlikely to put an opponent away but at the same time, it’s effective and unlikely to be the target of move thieves in WWE.
DOOM Scale: 1.5 out of 5
CHECK IT OUT: To get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
