All language subtitles for EP-08 - Rey Mysterio

[crowd cheering]

[dramatic music]

- Wrestling is everything.

To be a wrestling fanatic
and to be a wrestler,

And still doing it--

- A dream come true,

Teaming up with his own son
at "wrestlemania."

- When everybody said
I was too small,

I'm still here.

[pyrotechnics booming]

- It's tradition
in
lucha libre
wrestling

That once the mask is removed,
that is the ultimate insult.

- This tradition that
my uncle gave to me,

It's part of my life.
It's not coming off.

This is staying on forever.
I mean forever.

♪ ♪

The mask has always
turned me into a superhero.

- That mask is his life.

It's been part
of his tradition.

- It transforms me.

♪ ♪

Both: Oh!

- Rey mysterio
is one of a kind,

A style of lucha libre that
you have never seen before.

- Oh, my goodness!
- Springboard!

- One side of the ring
to another--

- Mysterio in--
- defies gravity.

- Look at mysterio!
- Oh, my god!

- Rey changed the game--

Breaking down doors.

- 619 on the face!

- He broke the blueprint

Of what a wrestler
should look like.

- All odds are stacked up
against him,

And he beats 'em.
- Eddie and rey

Were like brothers.
They were family.

His family is
everything to him.

- For him, it was
the worst day of his life,

Because his best friend
passed away.

It was a hard time.

- The ultimate underdog
overcoming the goliath.

- Every time
I put on the mask,

That's what makes
rey mysterio.

[dramatic tone]

My parents, they were both
from guadalajara.

They met in tijuana.

My parents had to
make it across the border

Illegally at the time.
My mom was pregnant,

And then had to wait
for me to be born--

Oscar gutiérrez.

With my parents having me born
in san diego, california,

Was automatically
gonna immigrate

The rest of my family--
mom, dad, three brothers.

My brothers and I all went
to the school in san diego--

You know, gave us
a better education.

It is categorized
as the american dream.

- [speaking spanish]

- [speaking spanish]

[laughs]
- I remember as a kid

When we would
spend time in tijuana.

Being in tijuana,
for me, was the ultimate,

'cause that was the time
I got to spend with my uncle,

Rey misterio.

- As a family, we would go
and watch my uncle wrestle

And support him.

This whole street would be
packed with cars on fridays

Because everyone would
park down here,

And they would just walk
to the auditorium.

It was my introduction
to the world of wrestling,

Lucha libre.

♪ ♪

- [speaking spanish]

♪ ♪

- [speaking spanish]

- He enjoyed being at home
in tijuana, being a cop,

Being a wrestler
at night times.

At the time,
my uncle didn't have kids.

I was like his adopted child,

And for me, he was always like
my second father.

Really cool memories for me--
we would play-wrestle,

And you know,
this is five, six years old.

I felt like I was already
getting the spirit

Of becoming a wrestler
without even realizing it.

♪ ♪

We moved from san diego
back to tijuana,

Because it just made it

Much easier for my father
to go to work.

My journey really began at
5:30 in the morning every day,

Monday through Friday.

I would sleep already
with my clothes on

That I was gonna take to school
the next morning.

We'd cross the border
into the u.S.

School started at 7:45 for me.

I got out at 2:45,

Then I would have to go
to my part-time job,

Which was at godfather's pizza.

Once I got out of work,

Make it across to mexico,

And then I would have to
get ready

To go to wrestling school,

Which normally would start
between 7:00 and 8:00.

Because I was
rey misterio's nephew,

I got the opportunity
to be able to train

With the rest of the kids.

I was eight years old.

The youngest kid after me
was 15, 16 years old.

Always being the smallest
and being the underdog,

That was gonna just
harden me up

To be able to face
whatever was coming for me.

I wanna say the last time
I was here was probably 2002,

So 20 years ago.

We'd go on from 7:00 p.M.
Till 10:30, 11:00.

You know, sometimes,
we would just keep it open

Until we got tired.

This was our stomping ground,
you know?

We had every time in the world
to come in here and just...

Create ideas, have a good time,
kick it with the homies.

♪ ♪

- I used to box in the navy.

I was a bodybuilder,
and I was really big.

Rey mysterio sr.,
he said, "I'll train you."

So when I get to that class,

That's where I meet
rey mysterio jr.

That's his nephew,

And he's the smallest guy
there,

Probably, like, 5'3",
13 years old,

Really long hair,
really skinny.

We clicked immediately.
I loved him.

He was like
a little brother to me,

And immediately, I liked rey.

They wouldn't take it easy
on him, that's for damn sure.

Does this guy have what it
takes to be a wrestler?

- There were many times that

My uncle was head
of the class,

And we would go through
a routine.

I wouldn't do it correct,
or I would get it wrong,

Whether it was
a chop or a punch.

He would tell me,
"this is how it's done."

[smack]

And just me, nine,
ten years old, you know,

Taking a chop
from a 25-year-old man,

I just--like, I felt it.

It, it hurt.

- [speaking spanish]

- A lot of times, I would cry,
get out of the ring,

And say,
"I've had enough. This is it.

I'm done with this [bleep]."

I would go to that
little corner over there,

And I would just tear up, cry.

You know, that was, like,
my hiding spot.

I would kind of look out
the corner of my eye,

See if my uncle was gonna
come over,

But that toughened me up,
because he never came.

♪ ♪

So after almost
seven years of training,

I remember telling my uncle,
"I'm ready.

I'm ready to go out there
and have a match."

Keep in mind
I was 14 years old.

So that was an issue
right off the bat.

You have to be 18
to have a wrestling license,

Or you have to get a letter
from the parents.

- [speaking spanish]

- They never really saw the
passion that I had for this.

- [speaking spanish]

- I actually thought that I
was gonna be rey mysterio jr.

Right off the bat.

- [speaking spanish]

- My first wrestling name
was "the green lizard,"

"la lagartija verde."

My first opportunity
was outside a church

In a parking lot in tijuana.

I won that match, by the way.

Then after that,
the name "colibri"

Pops into my uncle's head.

From that day on,
I was named colibri,

And that means
"the hummingbird."

[all cheering]

You could've mistaken me for a
kid sitting in the front row.

At the age of 14,
I was that skinny.

I was that small.

[all cheering]

It was pretty clear from
the start that rey was special,

That rey was different.

- The creativity that he had--
aerial art, if you will.

[all cheering and screaming]

Kind of a little bit
of a prodigy.

[bell ringing]

But you know, there was nobody

His size really wrestling.

- I knew my size was an issue.

I remember numerous times

Trying to have
promoters book me.

"man, you're too skinny, kid.

You gotta eat some more.
You gotta drink beer."

Subconsciously,
I was struggling with it.

There was only one passion.

Just given
the opportunity to wrestle.

That's all I ever wanted to do.

This is where
it all began for me.

This is where I crawled
for the first time,

Where I got up and walked,

And where I ran
for the first time,

And after I ran,
I ran straight out of here

And never came back until now,

'cause I was ready
to make it big.

A lot of memories here,

A lot of incredible memories.

Yeah.

♪ ♪

- This is my neck
of the woods, man.

This is where
I was pretty much raised.

Like, my surroundings
were so close.

Where I would go to
wrestling school was

Five minutes over here.

The auditorium is
right over there.

This is where dreams
began for me,

You know, as a little kid,

Wanting to be a wrestler
like my uncle.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- [speaking spanish]

- When you look at the history
of
lucha libre
in mexico,

There was a tradition
of the masks and the outfits.

- [speaking spanish]

- There was a famous masked
wrestler named el santo,

Or silver mask.

El santo was also a movie star

That acted in movies
wearing his mask--

To this day, one of the
biggest stars ever in mexico.

- [speaking spanish]

[suspenseful music]

- What really stands out
within
lucha libre

Besides their high-flying
maneuvers

Is the masks.

The mask is what makes
lucha libre.

- [speaking spanish]

♪ ♪

- How important the mask is,

It's kind of like
the heritage.

It's your lineage,

Kind of like a religion
in many ways.

- [speaking spanish]

- Breaking into this industry
in the late '80s,

Early '90s was very tough.

A lot of promoters
didn't wanna book me

Because I looked too fragile.

- Rey's story from the start
has been the ultimate underdog.

Everyone has had challenges

That they think
are impossible.

That's the story
that rey mysterio tells

Every time he's in the ring.

- So you start
right from the bottom,

And you work
your way up slowly.

What I had to do is compensate
for my lack of size

And create something special,

Being innovative,
being different.

This was a high-flying
paced wrestling.

- He's doing things
that other guys aren't doing,

The uniqueness, the grace
with which he did it,

And I'm thinking to myself,
"what's he gonna look like?

What's he gonna be like
in a couple years?"

I would have to convince
people to use him

Because of his height,

And I was like, "this is
not a basketball game.

Just look at what he can do."

And so what I did is,
everywhere I went,

I would say,
"I want you to see this guy."

♪ ♪

I would even bring him
to bars in hollywood.

Well, you had to be over
21 years old to go in,

And he was, like, 16 years old.

He'd go in there, and
the bartender would be like,

"hey, what are you doing?"
and I'd go,

"hey, he's a little person.
He's very sensitive.

Don't bring up his height."

- They would tell me,
"rey, put the mask on,

And don't take it off
for nothing, all right?"

I would sneak
into the back of the bars,

And that's how I made
most of my living

Throughout the ages
of 14 to 17.

- After the match,
the bartender would be there

Asking for his autograph,
and I was like, "I was right."

- Without a doubt, the mask
was a lifesaver for me.

It just hid my identity.

So now I was starting
to get booked.

I was building my name up--
going up to the first match,

When your name is
actually on the flyer,

It took me a good three years
to make it to the second match.

- [screams]

- [speaking spanish]

♪ ♪

- Here in tijuana,
at the auditorium,

This holds a particularly
special spot in my heart,

Because this is where
rey mysterio jr. Was born.

♪ ♪

17 years old.

One night, we had a tag match.

They make our announcements.

- [speaking spanish]

- And then all of a sudden,
my uncle comes out.

He has a mic.
He's talking to the crowd

And saying, "you've all
known him as colibri."

"what is this?
What are you doing?"

- [speaking spanish]

[cheers and applause]

- It was like, wow.
It came out of nowhere.

As he's taking off
my colibri mask,

He's putting on
the rey mysterio jr. Mask

Without showing my face.

♪ ♪

- It hits you
in a different way,

And only another masked
wrestler would understand

Carrying such a name
and a legacy,

Knowing how special
it is for me,

Carry on the mysterio name,
a true blessing.

(announcer in spanish)

- And that's how
rey mysterio was born.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

I knew there was
a world of wrestling

Outside of lucha libre,

Which was the wwe.

It was hard enough for me
to make it in mexico

Because of my size
and my weight.

Wwe was completely
out of the question.

It never crossed my mind.

- I was 17 years old,

And then one of my friends
tell me,

"hey, do you wanna go to
this gym?"

The first day
I went to this gym,

I saw him.

- And there's a connection
immediately.

I was 15.
She was 17.

So obviously, I had this
attraction for older women.

[chuckles]

- When I saw him,
and I say hi to him,

He was, like,
super nice with me.

My friend invite me
to a wrestling show,

And I'm like, "oh, not really.
I don't wanna go."

- The wrestling part
didn't really click with her.

She thought it was
for a lower class.

- That day,
I went to the auditorium,

And he was walking
in front of me.

So I screamed to him, "hey!"

And he was like, "hey,"

And he come to me
and say hi to me.

- The last thing
I was thinking of is,

If she was dating someone,
which eventually she was.

Her boyfriend was
in med school, you know?

And angie was in high school,

Getting ready
to go to college.

- After two months,
I was dating rey.

My boyfriend,
he was in mexico city,

And I promised rey
I was gonna end it with him,

And that happened.

So only one boyfriend.

[hip-hop music]

- I remember running
into her mom several times

At the beginning,
when we were just "friends."

I felt like
she was a mean lady.

I'm sure that if I had
a daughter that was 17,

And a 15-year-old kid

That probably looks like 12
was coming around,

I would push him away,

And she had every right to.

- Working at
godfather's pizza,

Going to school,

Wrestling on weekends,

In love with my girlfriend,

The grind just doesn't stop.

- Konnan!

- Konnan at the time
was huge--

Megastar in mexico.

I would watch him
sundays on tv.

He was the hulk hogan
of mexico.

He kind of gives me the scoop
on what's going on,

That a lot of guys
are starting a new company

By the name of aaa,
based out of mexico city.

I was like,
"whoa, that's cool."

- Like, "no, I'm telling you

"because I want you
to come over here.

This is your big break."

- I was like, "hey, man,

How much money
are you making in school?"

He goes, "none."
I go, "how much are you making

At that pizza place,
folding boxes?"

And I go, "well,
I think you could probably make

Five times that wrestling."

- I told him,
"dude, my parents aren't

Gonna let me go over there.
I'm in high school."

I was 17 years old,

And my parents were never
really up-to-date with

My wrestling progress,
and don't really understand it.

- I go,
"I'll talk to your parents,"

And he goes, "yeah,
but I also got a girlfriend,"

And--[chuckles]
I actually told him,

"if she loves you,
she'll wait for you."

[chuckles]
in other words,

There was nothing he was gonna
tell me that was gonna stop me

From bringing him to mexico.

That's how much
I believed in him,

And so I came
and I talked with his parents,

And they let him go, you know?

- Six of us stayed in a hotel.

We're there close to a month,

Waiting for this to kick off.

[both speaking spanish]

- We run out of money,

And we kind of all gather up
in a circle.

"okay, how much do you have?

How much do you have? Okay."

And we can't stay at
a hotel anymore.

[dramatic music]

- [speaking spanish]

♪ ♪

- I remember every Sunday
using the phone

And talking to angie
and just bawling out.

- Oh, my gosh.
We cry every single time.

At that time,
they are living in a gym.

- I was tired.
I was anxious.

I was just ready
to go back home.

I was ready to hang up
the mask and say, "I'm done.

Nothing's gonna happen here."

[dramatic music]

- My wrestling gear comes from

A very special place

In osaka, japan,

And he goes by the name
of masahiro hayashi.

Hayashi!
- Hey, good morning.

- ¿cómo estás?
- What's up?

Morning.
- What time is it?

- [chuckles]
- [speaks spanish]

- 8:00 a.M.

- Está loco. You're crazy.
- [chuckles]

- My first tour in japan,

He just popped up one day
with an outfit,

You know, made for me.

He said, "please, try it on,

"and if you wrestle with it,
I made two masks.

"the one you wrestle in,
can you please give it to me

"after you wrestle?

And I made an extra one
so you can take with you."

Ever since then,
we've been best of friends.

It would be cool
for us to pay a tribute

To both eddie and art barr,
"love machine."

One outfit, usa flag--

The other outfit,
mexican flag,

Representing both countries.
- Oh.

- I like it.

- Special.

- Awesome.

So right now, you go to sleep
and rest up,

And then tomorrow, work again.
- Mm-hmm.

[both speak japanese]

♪ ♪

- In mexico city, I know that
he slept at a gym,

And you know,
not having a lot of money

And not having
a lot to eat is hard,

But it was almost--back then,

It was just kind of, like,
paying your dues.

♪ ♪

- I told him, "stay over there.
I try to send you money."

- She was very optimistic,
and she kept my spirit up.

- I quit med school,

Because I tried to help him
with his career.

I make, like, 500 pesos--
less than $50.

So I grab money for my gas,

And I send him the rest
of my money every single week.

- That was a big,
big relief for me

Until eventually,
aaa kicked off

And our first show happens,

And that happens
in the city of veracruz.

[festive music]

♪ ♪

Aaa, the first show that
we had was sold out,

A full house.

- Rey mysterio!

- [speaking spanish]

- We actually did really good,
but peña was very picky.

- The owner and founder,
his name was antonio peña,

And he goes,
"his punches looked really bad.

We're gonna have to put him
with the minis."

The minis, even though
they were little,

They were already, like,
grizzled men.

Forget that.
These bitter guys are just

Gonna beat him up and
run him out of the business.

- Konnan pulled me aside

And said, "bro, if you don't
learn how to hit,

He's gonna put you
with the minis,"

And I remember practicing
punching a wall,

Timing it
where I could stop the punch.

- I went to antonio peña,
and I go, "look,

"just put him
on the main roster.

Trust me."

They were still
rough with him,

'cause it was
a different mentality.

That's just
how it was back then.

- They gave me so many
ass-whoopins, and I took.

I was always the smallest guy
in the ring.

Why wouldn't they test me?

- Live, from
the l.A. Sports arena,

It's finally here,

The wrestling style
that is sweeping the world.

- The first time I ever saw
rey mysterio would've been

At the aaa "worlds collide"
pay-per-view

That was broadcast
here in the states.

- Rey mysterio jr.!

- In america, we all grew up
with "superfly" jimmy snuka

Doing a dive
off the top of the cage,

And that was
the most sensational thing

We had ever seen,

Until you take a look
at
lucha libre.

It was mind-blowing.

- [speaking spanish]

- An entirely new set
of american eyeballs

Were able to watch you.

[both speaking spanish]

- And rey mysterio jr. Has
come up with some moves

That we have
literally never seen.

- [speaking spanish]

- Just like this--
look at that!

- [speaking spanish]

- Look out!

- [speaking spanish]

- I would imagine that
paul heyman

Or other american
wrestling promoters

Would've been watching
this new style of wrestling.

- The buzz about rey mysterio
was so strong,

I knew, "this is someone
I have to keep my eye on."

This is ecw!

In the 1990s,

Ecw was the disruptor

In the professional
wrestling industry.

Ecw couldn't afford
madison square garden.

Where did we play?

A dilapidated bingo hall

Literally on the wrong side
of the train tracks

In south philadelphia,
pennsylvania.

- There is nowhere
like philly.

- You know how
the philly fans are?

That they boo santa claus,
and you know,

And they just--
they were just wild.

- Blood, sweat, and tears!

[crowd chanting]

- So I was speaking to konnan,

Who was the biggest superstar
in all of mexico in the 1990s.

Konnan was also a magnificent
power broker behind the scenes.

- He asked me--he goes,
"those two guys that are

"working for you in aaa,
rey mysterio and psicosis,

I keep hearing a lot
of good things about them,"

And I go,
"well, with all due respect,

"it's gonna be very hard
to follow those two guys.

They're kind of
revolutionizing the sport."

This man has revolutionized
aerial wrestling.

He is the best.

And he says,
"all right, send 'em to me."

- Konnan was always
my front man.

He was always the one that
was opening up doors for me.

[crowd chanting "lucha"]

It was crazy to even walk out
there for the first time

And hearing the fans go,
"lucha! Lucha! Lucha!"

[all cheering]

I remember asking
mr. Paul heyman,

"is it okay if we use
a table and a chair?"

He said,
"rey, use whatever you want."

- Oh, dios mios!

- There's your canvas.
You're an artist.

Paint the masterpiece.

- Springboard plancha
into the second row!

- I called konnan
during their match,

And I said,
"I love you. I love them.

I'll take them next weekend,
the weekend after that,

And any other weekend
that you can give me.

- Without a doubt,
we became crowd favorites.

- Somersault flat!

- "hey, uh, pauly,
could we dive off of a car?"

"yeah."
- oh, my god!

- "which car?"
"any car. Pick a car."

- Hurricanrana
on the concrete!

- That's your canvas.

- Oh, my god! Hurricanrana!

- Without konnan,

Lucha libre would have
been stuck in mexico.

- In mexico, you got
an extreme type of wrestling.

It's called lucha libre.

- Shortly after
we were starting to feel

Very comfortable in ecw,

Konnan gets an opportunity
to have a tryout match in wcw.

- Three!
- Yes.

- And this new door opens up,

And it's konnan
going into wcw.

He was the guy
that brought me to mexico.

He was the guy
that took me to ecw.

Now, to hook me up
to get a tryout in wcw.

C]
[romantic music]

- [singing in spanish]

- We get married in 1996.

♪ ♪

And I wait for him, four years.

It was a big wedding,
probably 300 people--

The best day of my life.

- She went to my first match,

And she's been by my side
ever since.

Truly have a lot
to be thankful for.

[pyrotechnics booming]

- Eric bischoff was
in charge of wcw,

And in an effort
to compete with wwe,

He programmed wcw

At the same time
as "Monday night raw."

- I realized
that the only way

That I was going to be
successful

Was to find a way to be
different than the competition.

What I wanted to do was create
a cruiserweight division,

A smaller
performers' division.

The professional wrestling
industry

Has always showcased
larger-than-life talent.

- You had the scott steiners,
the rick steiners,

Hulk hogan,

Ric flair,

Dusty rhodes.

You had all
the big-time superstars.

- Konnan became instrumental
in helping us identify

The right talent

That was coming out of
lucha libre
at the time.

- From tijuana, mexico,
rey mysterio jr.!

- Rey was even smaller than
the average cruiserweight.

- When he first got there,

Everybody was making
fun of him.

"oh, are we having
a minis division?"

You know, "does this guy
have a driver's license?"

I went to rey, and I go,

"bro, I don't wanna
put no pressure on you,

"but you know what?
You're representing mexico.

"you're representing aaa.

"you're representing
little guys.

"you're representing
lucha libre.

Just go out there and kill it."

[crowd shouting]

- Mysterio is up and down!
- Springboard--

- The same guys
that were making fun of him,

They were like, "oh, my god."

Like, they couldn't believe
what they were seeing.

- On top again.

- He was inventing moves that
had never been seen before.

- Revolutionary moves.

- I just was looking--
"whoa, hold on."

You know, "what's going on
out there?"

- One of the finest
cruiserweight matches ever.

- Rey took advantage
of his small size

With having crazy
athletic ability.

- That night,
things shifted from,

"what the hell
is he doing here?

Where is he gonna fit in?"
to, "oh, my goodness.

How am I gonna follow that?"

- Truly one of the greatest
matches we've had this year

On pay-per-view.

- When he came back in,

They gave him
a standing ovation

In his debut match--
the wrestlers.

- Unbelievable.

They all just went--
[clapping]

That's a very special moment

That stands out in my career.

- I remember when rey was
this young, impressionable,

Joyful kid.

He goes, "I just had a son."

- When dominik was born,

I had signed with wcw,
so I was excited.

I was gonna pass down my love
for the world of wrestling.

- And he tattoos dominik's name
on the inside of his arm--

Loved being in the ring--

Had no qualms about
whatever he was asked to do,

And enjoyed every second of it,

And never had an ego.

- Jimmy hart--
- I remember I was

Part of the creative process.

"we're gonna have this outside
brawl. Put it together."

- Cameraman is
going to the back.

- So wcw created
a villainous group.

- There they are!
- They got baseball bats!

- And some of the wrestlers
were there to try to stop them,

One of which was rey mysterio.

- And there's rey mysterio.
- Hey! He dove off--

- He says to me, he says,
"nash," he says,

Do you think you can throw me
through that window?"

I'm like, "there's glass
in the window.

- No!
- Rey mysterio--

- Oh, no!
- [grunts]

- Damn it!
- And like a lawn dart,

Throws him
into the side of a trailer.

- He threw him
like he was a dart!

People looked at it,
and they went, "wow."

Like, rey did such a good job
on the sell job.

- Rey goes, bonk! Poof.

And the whole place,
all of us in the back went,

"oh, god! He killed rey!"

- I don't know
what I was thinking.

But at the time,
it seemed cool, and I did it.

- Tough as nails. Fine.

[dramatic music]

This is the first place where
I was able to meet eddie.

Eddie guerrero, for the first
time, I met him here.

- Eddie guerrero!

- I was just a fan.
I was just a kid.

12 years old.

Who would've thought back then

That we were gonna meet
down the road,

And we were gonna
share a ring together,

Become brothers?

It's amazing how life just
manifests in special ways.

[upbeat music]

- The guerreros are
a super-important family

In mexican wrestling lore.

- The head
of the guerrero clan

Was a gentleman
by the name of gory guerrero,

And gory spawned some
really talented wrestlers.

Eddie was a megastar,

Just an incredible talent.

- You're not gonna find
a better pro wrestler

Than eddie guerrero.

- The latino heritage is

A bond between me and rey.

It's a tremendous bond.

I remember when
I met rey in tijuana.

Konnan introduced us.

I just remember this kid that--

Always had a smile in his face.

You can't help but like him.

- Eddie and rey
were like brothers.

They were family.

Rey and eddie could have
a match blindfolded,

And it would be excellent.

- To this day, rey mysterio
versus eddie guerrero

At "Halloween havoc 1997"

Is easily in my top five ever.

♪ ♪

- Two of the greatest
wrestlers ever,

Two latinos going out there

And just having
an incredible match,

Including one
of the greatest moves

That had never been
seen or done before.

- Right there!
- Ddt out of nowhere!

- He does
a springboard backflip.

In midair, he ends up
hooking eddie's head

And bringing him back
for a ddt,

And I have watched it
probably 150 times.

- In many cases,

Unmasking is devastating
to a wrestler's future.

- If eddie gets that victory,
rey gets unmasked.

- It'd be very difficult to do
that, because the mask is part

Of this bodysuit
that he has on here.

- There was a plan
to unmask rey then.

Rey didn't wanna do it
and told eric bischoff as much.

- I remember thinking,
"I'm not gonna show up.

I just won't show up."

I get a call from eric.

- [screaming]

- "and rey,
if you don't show up

"for Sunday's pay-per-view,

"you're in breach of contract,
and you don't wanna know

What's gonna happen
after that."

- I was particularly supportive

Of the idea of rey
losing the mask.

What I didn't appreciate
was what losing that mask

Meant to rey personally.

- Tugging on the mask!
- Hey, he's got the mask.

- The heritage that the mask
represents in
lucha libre.

Those are all things that were
incredibly important to rey

That I didn't relate to.

- It was a big deal for him
to lose his mask.

He didn't wanna lose it.

There was a lot
of politicking going on.

I said, "yeah, I don't mind
doing the favor tonight,

You know,
and taking care of rey."

If anything, I've always wanted
to take care of rey.

He's like my little brother.

[screams]

- Day of the show, maybe a
match or two before our match,

The direction gets changed.

- Ultimately,
when it became obvious to me

What an issue it was for rey,

We had to relent and revisit
the topic at a later date.

- It is
from the middle turnbuckle!

- He did it--mysterio!
One, two, three!

[bell rings]
[crowd cheering]

- Yes!
- New champion!

- I end up winning
the cruiserweight title,

And then who would've
ever thought

That that was gonna be
match of the year?

- This is what the belt
means to me,
mira--

Tears coming out of my eyes.

- [grunts]

- I was determined.
I really believed that rey

Could be a bigger star to us
without the mask.

We need to see rey's face.

- You know something?
It's not gonna happen.

I'm not gonna lose the mask.

- Hall and nash on--

- The match is
scott hall and kevin nash

Versus konnan and rey mysterio

A team that couldn't
exemplify
lucha
more.

- If we win,
we take miss elizabeth's hair,

So they would shave her bald.

If I lose,

I would take my mask off,
and...

- He was super bummed out.

You know,
he didn't wanna do it,

But you know,
you had a job to do,

And you didn't wanna get sued.

- Up on the top!
He's got this.

The world--
- oh, there's the edge.

- Here, he's got the cover.
- No!

- It's over. It's over.
[bell rings]

- Let's see
what he looks like.

- When we had lost--

- The mask does have to
come off.

- And I was untying
the mask from behind--

- Rey jr., a man of his word,
is gonna take the mask off.

- Pulling the mask off slowly

And then showing my face.

It's a crazy moment.

It's crazy, crazy--

Undescribable.

- As a spectator,
you're watching

And you're waiting
for that mask to come off,

And then it comes off,
and it's--

"who the hell is that guy?"

[laughs]
you know?

- It's "leave it to beaver."

- Our first look at the face.

- In mexico, the mask
symbolizes their identity,

And to lose a mask
is losing your identity.

- Removing the mask
is not just, "okay,

We're gonna start wrestling
under a different name."

It's shedding an entire lore
that you've built.

- He's a handsome,
young man there.

- I truly felt like
I had let my fans down

And my family down,

My heritage down,

My uncle, for all the hard work
that he had put in.

I was heartbroken.

- [speaking spanish]

- I was super pissed, and
I thought it was bull[bleep].

You know, I was like,
"this is [bleep]"--

I'm still kinda hot about it,

But I just thought
it was, like,

Rey deserved better than this.

- Whenever someone asked me,
"in hindsight,

Would you do
that same thing again?"

Nah, I would've probably
done it differently, um,

Or perhaps not at all.

But at that time, operating
with the data, the information,

The context of the moment,

Yeah, I would do it again.

Si [crowd shouting]

[percussive beat]

- For the first time,
since I started wrestling,

I'm wrestling without a mask.

- Look at his face.
Look at his determination.

He is in the ring,
ready to go.

- After losing my mask,
the following night,

I have a one-on-one
against kevin nash.

I feel like I'm naked.

It was just weird.

- [speaking spanish]

[crowd cheering]

- The direction
for rey mysterio

Goes a different way.

- Oh--oh!

- They see a real-life
david and goliath.

- The thing with rey is,
he was so fast and so quick

That it made sense.
It was believable.

It worked, and the roof
blew off that place.

- He's hooked on the head!

[crowd cheering]

- You know, him working with
kevin nash, 6'10",

Made no sense to me at all
when it was booked,

But then when I saw it,
I went--

"okay, rey mysterio
can beat kevin nash."

- The giant-killer is born.

- Bam bam bigelow--
- living legend.

- Roll up!
- Rolls him up!

One, two, three!

[bell rings]

- The giant-killer lives!

- That happened
for a couple years.

There is life.

There is a future
after losing the mask.

[dramatic music]

- Here I am on wcw television.

How can that happen?

You see, it was just
a matter of time

Before I, vince mcmahon,

Bought my competition.

- When wwe purchased wcw,
there were no plans for rey.

Rey had a very lucrative
contract with wcw,

And it was more advantageous
for rey to sit out.

Also, there wasn't
a lot of interest

In rey in wwe at that time.

- The same thing
I've heard for years--

That vince wasn't big
on smaller talent.

When I sat down with 'em,

They said, "we're just gonna
let your contract run out."

And I felt like that was
a way of them telling me,

"yes, we wanna work,
but not now,"

Meaning, maybe never.

- He was still getting
a paycheck every week,

And a healthy one at that.

So I said,
"spend time with your family."

So that's kind of
where we left it.

- I was pregnant at that time
with my daughter, aalyah,

So he was, like, super worried,

Because he knows vince mcmahon
doesn't like, like, short guys.

At that time, he was, like--

He got, like, hate me, but--

- One second.

- [sighs]

♪ ♪

I had a super bad time when
I was pregnant with aalyah.

He makes me cry a lot.

- My wife's pregnancy obviously
had me a little bit stressed--

The fact that I didn't know

What the future
was gonna look like.

Being at home when
you're constantly on the move,

It just put me on the edge.

- I only want
to sleep and eat.

He called me fat,
so that hurts me.

- That's when I really
turned to a big douchebag

And became really,
really bad husband

And father with my wife.

- I tried to be patient,

But he was, like,
super hard with me.

♪ ♪

But the day of my c-section,

When the doctor
pulled my baby out,

He was crying next to me.

"I'm sorry.
I don't know why I feel this,"

And everything changed.

- That moment,
when she was born,

I felt so bad
for how I was acting.

♪ ♪

And then, sure enough,
wwe reaches out,

And j.R. Says he wants
to sit down and talk business.

- Vince always had this vision

Of this
mighty mouse character--

A constant underdog.

- ♪ here I come
to save the day ♪

♪ that means that mighty mouse
is on the way ♪

- From the old cartoon series,
years and years ago.

We wanted a overachieving,
diminutive superhero

That could do things that
other guys just didn't do.

- And mighty mouse
rules again.

- I said, "I wanna hire you,

As long as we could do some
sort of sensible negotiation."

[dramatic music]

- I remember sitting down

And angie and I were at home
watching "smackdown."

All of a sudden, you just saw
a bunch of images, like--

[rapid blowing]

You couldn't catch
what it was.

[rapid blowing]

- And it said
rey mysterio was coming,

And it excited me

Because not only,
"this is amazing.

"rey mysterio is on his way,

"but that looks like the mask.

Please tell me
the mask is back."

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

- One amigo,
two amigos, three amigos.

- Frog splash.
- Yup.

- Not in a million years
did I ever think that,

You know,
this would be happening.

We're going into
"wrestlemania,"

Tagging with my dad--

- You see that
first kick coming--

- He's a walking cheat code,
man.

He's given me so much advice.

- No.
- Okay.

You don't--no, no, no.
You don't have to.

- I can, I just--
- I mean, it's only--

I can be a little bit
hard on him,

But I've learned
how to ease back

And just let him
enjoy the moments.

♪ ♪

Nice.

They're not better than us.

That's for damn sure.
- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- Viva la raza.

♪ ♪

[crowd shouting]

I left wcw not wearing a mask,

Thinking that I'm gonna come
into wwe without a mask.

My train of thought
was
lucha libre.

You lose your mask,
you don't come back to the ring

Under the same name
with the mask that you lost.

♪ ♪

- It's not that
we were so smart

To put the mask back on.

It was just a refusal for us
to be stupid enough

To keep the mask off.

- You just wanna be
part of wwe.

The power that comes with it

And that pushes you out
into the world is tremendous.

- He is the sensational--
- aw, yeah.

- The high-flying,
rey mysterio!

- ♪ who's that jumpin'
out the sky? ♪

- Ha ha, whoo!

- ♪ mysterio, ooh,
here we go ♪

- Vince wanted that
mighty mouse role filled.

- Break in.
- Oh, what a dropkick!

["619" by wwe & jim johnston]

- Look at this.
Corkscrew, top--

- Top rope--
- oh!

- Rey far exceeded
the cartoon version

Of vince's vision for him.

- There's only one
rey mysterio.

- We knew we had to do
something very special

On rey mysterio's first night.

- It's rey mysterio!

He's scaling the cage!

Mysterio up high!

- What the hell
is mysterio doin'?

- The moment that people
were gonna remember

Was rey mysterio scaling
the cage and diving off of it.

- Look at rey!
Look at mysterio!

- Oh, my god, a crossbody
from the top of the cage!

- He kind of hovered.
He floated for a second,

And maybe that's just my memory
looking at it differently,

But the way he flies
is just different.

- Folks, you are looking at

The exciting future
of the wwe!

- He's spider-man,

But we don't need cgi.
We don't need ropes.

We don't need any of that.
Just let rey be rey.

- Rey is known for
the hurricanrana.

- Top rope, springboard--
- no!

- Hurricanrana!

- The frog splash.

- Mysterio!
- Oh!

- The splash!

- The west coast pop.

- West coast pop!

- 619.

- A 619!

- Everybody had
their own signature move

And a name right behind it.

Fans identify you with
that name or that move

Or that number.

- When rey was first
doing the move,

We just tied in the area code
from san diego

And came up with
the legendary move,

Which is now named "the 619."

- 619!

- Picture a human replicating
a helicopter blade.

You know as he's winding up
for that move,

As soon
as you fall on that rope,

That place is
gonna come unglued.

- Oh!
- 619!

- ♪ 'cause he's kickin'
your ass ♪

- ♪ come on ♪
- ♪ who's that jumpin' ♪

♪ out the sky?
R-e-y mysterio ♪

- But you can't help but
like him when you meet him,

And I've yet for anyone
within our industry

To say anything bad about him.

That is unheard of.

Both: Oh!

- Take advantage.
- One, two, three!

- The new tag team champions!
- ♪ better tap out ♪

- And part of that
is because he is not

The biggest guy in the world,

And I think that makes him
much more relatable.

- ♪ with the mask out,
the girls, they pass out ♪

♪ the boys just black out,
better tap out ♪

- I'm so excited for you!

[speaks spanish], homes.

I'm even wearing
one of your shirts

In support of you, ese vato.

Orale, ese!

- Rey mysterio came to wwe,

But he didn't
come with konnan,

And eddie guerrero kind of
took konnan's place

As the father figure.

- Two of the greatest
latino wrestlers.

- A mentor,
a confidante, a brother.

- We've got new
tag team champions

In mysterio and guerrero.

- And eddie was
a very complex,

Albeit, talented-as-hell
individual.

Sometimes eddie
was his own worst enemy.

- I knew that he had demons.

With eddie, you know,
it was just a difficult time.

I wouldn't even wanna
touch the subject.

- Eddie had alcohol issues
and he had drug issues.

It ruined his marriage
at one point,

And he was lucky to--
to get his family back.

Eddie was fired for his demons
and his drug issues

And showing up to work
in no condition to work.

But eddie also
got a second chance

And made the most of it.

- The connection with eddie
was always at 1,000.

Every time
we would see each other,

"hey, you okay?
You need anything?"

"no, I'm okay."
"okay, love you."

- Super close.

They are, like, super,
super close friends,

But rey loves eddie
like his own brother.

[soft dramatic music]

- They had each other's backs.

They understood the culture
from which they both came,

And they a great respect
for each other as men.

- We had done a show
in san diego,

And he came over to the house,

And eddie didn't drink,
so we didn't drink either.

Angie went to bed.

Eddie and I stepped out
into the backyard,

Turned the jacuzzi up,

And we were just
choppin' it up,

Just talking about life,

About parenting,
relationships, wrestling.

We touched every subject
that night.

- Dad,
can I ask you a question?

- Sure, baby.

- What was the big secret
uncle eddie had?

- The custody story.

Well, eddie wrote a book,

And in eddie's book,

Eddie spoke about
his separation

With his wife, vickie,

And while eddie was separated,

Eddie had a child
with another woman.

Not a lot of people knew that
until the book came out.

Interesting.

Meantime,
you've got rey mysterio,

And you see
cute, little dominik.

- Rey mysterio--
- oh, my god.

- Did it for his son!

- And just thinking,

"hmm."

What if,
when eddie was separated,

He had an affair

With angie, rey's wife,
and they had a child,

But rey never knew,

And rey thought it
was his child,

And just raised dominik
as his own?

I threw it at eddie first,

And then I took it to rey.

- Hey, rey.

This should look
kind of familiar to you.

This is your son,
dominik's day care.

Good-looking kid--

Kind of a chip
off the old block,

Wouldn't you say, rey?

- The first person that
approached me was my dad.

You know, he's like,
"hey, got some news for you."

It hit me that
he's seven years old.

He just knew
that it was cameras,

Wrestling, and he loved it.

- "they're gonna pay you and
you're not gonna go to school."

I said, "that's a lot
of candy and toys."

You know, "let's do it."
[chuckles]

- You want some candy?
I got some candy for you.

- "hey, you want some candy?"
[laughs]

Which, as I'm doing, I'm going,
"this is so wrong."

- Have at it.

Yeah, is it good?

You like bedtime stories?

- I love bedtime stories,
uncle eddie.

- Well, uncle eddie promises

To tell you a bedtime story

You'll never, ever forget.

You think I should
tell everybody

Our little secret?

- It got a bit grimy and dark.

- I will tell dominik
the truth!

- And, like,
eddie really poured his heart

Into this character.

- Orale, dominik!
What's up, homes?

- Rey and I,
we explained to him

It was gonna be like a movie.

"yeah, yeah, mama, I know."

He always knew
it was, like, a show.

- Dominik, dominik!

Rey is not your father!

[crowd shouting]

- No es tu papá, mijo!

- Some of the teachers were
concerned about my home life.

They were genuinely, like--
I would get pulled aside,

And they were like,
"hey, you okay?

Like, is everything okay
at the home?"

- I'm your father, dominik!

[crowd shouting]

I'm your papi.

♪ ♪

- His friend laugh about--
they tell him,

"yes, it's probably eddie,
your dad,

"because
he's super tall like you,

And your dad is super short."

- Is it true, dad?
Is it really true?

- As far as I was concerned,

I got to miss school
to go hang out with my dad,

So for me, it was--
it was all fun and games.

- I'm your papi!
I'm your daddy!

Orale!

- Perhaps together for
the last time as a family.

- One of the more salacious
stories that we told.

- Now, you're with the children
and family services, right?

- [speaking spanish]
- [laughs]

- His real dad tells the truth,
not lies!

- At one point, I wanted to
put dominik on a pole

Or hanging over the ring,

And whoever gets him
gets custody.

Um, that was a joke.
[laughs]

But it was discussed.

It actually, truly
was discussed.

- I'm gonna climb
this ladder...

For dominik guerrero.

- It's wwe, right?

You gotta have a ladder match.

In a ladder match
for the custody of dominik.

And you have to put
the custody papers

In a briefcase above the ring.

- Oh, my god!
- Ladder off the face--

Wait a minute!
- Dominik, don't go there!

- Dominik's in the ring!

- Dominik, get out
of the ring--dom!

- You're gonna learn
the hard way!

- Corralled me back
into the corner, yelling,

And as soon as
that hand comes up,

You know, there's my dad.

- Son of a--
- there's rey!

Rey mysterio
with a right hand.

Oh, yeah!
- What the hell?

- Come on, rey!
Yes, yes, yes!

Rey mysterio has his son back!

- And there's angie,
rey mysterio's wife.

- In tears.

- I remember they asked me,

"do you think you can cry?"

I'm like, "seriously?"

When I saw the camera
in front of me, I wanna cry.

- Her hands on her little boy
and her husband.

- I asked him if he was
traumatized at one point.

"did you ever think
eddie was your real dad?"

And he started laughing,
and he goes,

"no, I don't think so,
but maybe?"

- This should be among
the worst storylines

The wwe has ever done.

But they put it in the hands

Of eddie guerrero
and rey mysterio,

And what we got was one of
the most beloved,

Memorable matches of the era.

♪ ♪

- Saturday night,

I take a red-eye
to minneapolis.

I get in roughly
about 5:30 a.M.

♪ ♪

So I took a cab to the arena.

One of the truck drivers
pulls up and he goes,

"did you hear what happened?"

I said, "no, what happened?"
not thinking nothing of it.

♪ ♪

- My phone rings,

And he can't talk.

He was crying and crying.
He can't talk.

[dramatic music]

- A shocking find in a
downtown minneapolis hotel.

- The body of world wrestling
entertainer star,

Eddie guerrero.

- I remember like
it was yesterday,

When he calls me that morning.

He was crying and crying.
He can't talk,

And finally, he tell me,
"eddie passed away."

For him, it was the worst day
of his life,

Because his best friend
passed away.

- I got my ass
straight to the hotel,

And right when
the coroners came in,

Somebody asked dr. Rios
if we can say goodbye to eddie.

They let us in the room,
and we saw eddie there,

And we were...

♪ ♪

Yeah.

♪ ♪

I try not to think
about that moment.

I always go back to the time

When we were in the jacuzzi
and just shootin' the [bleep],

You know, like two friends,
two brothers.

♪ ♪

- Eddie had been through
so much,

And had overcome so much.

Eddie was doing great,

And this was so
out of the blue,

Just so out of the blue.

- I remember that day,
giving rey a hug.

And telling him
that I loved him.

And it was--
it was a very long day,

And a lot of crying,
a lot of tears that day.

- I love you.

♪ ♪

[sighs heavily]

♪ ♪

- We contemplated,
"do we have a show?

Do we cancel the show?"

♪ ♪

We decided to do a tribute.

♪ ♪

Rey, obviously--very upset,

And rey, I think, needed help
gettin' through it,

Whether, I think,
he knew it or not.

[audience clapping
rhythmically]

All: Thank you, eddie!

[bell tolls]

- My mother had given me
a cross.

The cross was meant to be
given to someone

To have a better death,

For them to be at peace.

You know, I gave it
to eddie guerrero.

I left it in eddie's casket.

♪ ♪

I wanna dedicate

This "royal rumble"

To my brother,
to
mi hermano,

Eduardo guerrero.

[cheers and applause]

- The road to "wrestlemania"
begins at the "royal rumble."

2006, to me, was one of
the greatest years

For any individual superstar
in the history of wrestling,

And it begins for rey mysterio

In January
at the "royal rumble."

Paying homage to eddie tonight
in a lowrider.

- Eddie's presence was there.

It felt so good, so alive.

- 30 superstars
are involved in this match.

Rey mysterio enters
at number two,

And in order to win, you gotta
run through 29 other guys,

And if you win,
you have the opportunity

To main-event "wrestlemania."

And mysterio
eliminating psicosis!

- You hear that
eddie chant going again?

- The ring continuing
to fill up--

Approaching record time.

He sets a record that night

Of the longest time in history

Spent in the royal rumble.

And mysterio with a counter!

But the fact that it came
on the heels of the death

Of eddie guerrero--
- look at this!

- 619 connecting!

Made it much more important
for rey.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Mysterio--he did it!

He did it!
- No way!

- He did it! He did it!

- The odds that were
stacked up against me--

It was very special.

- Rey mysterio is going
to "wrestlemania"!

- Rey mysterio!

[speaking spanish]

"wrestlemania"!

- [speaking spanish]

- What the--heads up!

- Smackdown--
- oh!

Springboard!
Both: Wow!

- God!
One, two, three!

He got it!
- He got it!

The emotion from rey
that night, when he won,

Was unlike anything
I'd ever experienced before.

I had chills at ringside.

The biggest underdog
in the history of wwe.

Ladies and gentleman,
dreams do come true!

- [speaking spanish]

- You know the late,
great eddie guerrero

Is looking down upon rey,
and he's so proud.

- I remember standing
on the turnbuckle

And just looking up,

Just feeling that presence.

- I remember it was first row,

And it was, like,
sad, but happy.

He just missed his best friend.

- For the very first time,
hispanic masked wrestler

With my size and my weight

Becoming world champion?

♪ ♪

I've done it.

♪ ♪

- [speaking spanish]

- [speaking spanish]

- It was the high point
of rey's career.

I think that when rey
hit that top spot,

That the audience accepted him
and kept him there--

Kind of almost
in legendary status

From that point going forward.

♪ ♪

["619" by wwe & jim johnston]

♪ ♪

- And there are three of
rey mysterio's biggest fans--

His family here tonight,
including his daughter

On the 619 cam

And his son, dominik.

- I realized that
my dad had a different job

From everyone else's parents

When I started going
into kindergarten.

I would just get,
like, bombarded

With all of these questions
about his moves

And what he does, and does
he wear the mask at home?

This is completely different
from everyone else's parents.

- I have seven godfathers.

Six of 'em are wrestlers.

- It was definitely hard

To not have him around
all the time.

He would miss birthdays--

Him leaving every week.

My mom would let me go with her
to drop him off at the airport,

And I was in the back window,
like, crying.

- Hey, hey, papa!

- When he finally
would come home,

He would go in his room
and just pass out,

Sleep for hours.
But then the next day,

It was, like, normal,
and it was just routine.

He would take us to school.
He'd pick us up from school.

- [coos]

He's the best dad ever.

Genuinely just loves his family
so wholeheartedly.

His family is
everything to him.

- [grunts]

- The first time
I ever saw my dad on tv,

Jeff jarrett grabbed a guitar
and just smashed him.

[crowd shouting]

- Kept asking my mom, I was
like, "is he okay? Is he okay?"

- I know when something
happened to him.

When he's hurt,
he moves different.

Aalyah, she gets super upset.

- Watching him is--
it's always been a lot.

- Albert's taking advantage
of that prone knee.

- His knee injuries,
he would land wrong,

Or he would go to grab it.
My mom goes, "he's not okay."

She would be able to tell
right away.

- You take out the knee
of rey mysterio,

You take out 90%
of his arsenal.

- The worst injury
that I've suffered,

32 years,
has been my left knee.

Over ten surgeries, acl tear,

Meniscus tears, mcls.

- I only see nasty maneuvers.

- My left knee has taken
all the damage over the years.

- For us, when he gets hurt,

We're like, "yes!"

Because you are gonna
spend months with us.

- It's not that
we enjoy when he gets hurt.

You know,
if he's already hurt,

Then it's like six months
to a year of having him home.

- When he's gonna get surgery,

I always go with him.

I'm with him every single time,
every single surgery.

- Rey's style has played into
the injuries

More than anything.

The high-flyer style
and just the amount of use.

Both: Oh!

- In 2008,
I start see him, like,

Super slow when he was at home.

He talks to me, like--

And I'm like,
"something is not good here."

[dramatic music]

- I was abusing
my pain medication.

It came to a point where
it was numbing my whole body

That I was moving through
my matches without pain,

And that's what I felt
was good about it.

But no, it was destroying
my personal life.

Not just numb around the knee,
but it was numb in the brain

And a lot of dark moments
where I wasn't being a father.

I wasn't doing
what I was supposed to be doing

As the man of the house,

And that hurts.

Like, I was there,
but I wasn't really there.

- And I find his pills,

And I throw away the pills,

And I tell him,

"if you love your family,

You have to go to rehab."

He talk with his boss,

And they send him
to rehab for 28 days--

The worst days of my life,

But at this time,
the best time.

- We all fight with our own
personal demons, you know,

Whatever that case might be.

But you have to deal with it
and you have to pull through.

♪ ♪

- When he come back home,
after the 28 days,

Never take any pill again.

Never.

- Being sober,
being sobered up,

Not having
to take pain medications

To ease down my pain--

I do wake up, sometimes,
stiff in the mornings.

I know my son
keeps on telling me,

"dad, you wanna make sure you,
you know,

"you can walk at the age of 70.

You know,
I wanna see you walk,"

And my daughter's the same way.

But in the meantime,
you know, I enjoy this.

I enjoy this way too much.

♪ ♪

- He shouldn't be doing it.

He should be living on
a beach somewhere,

Retired, you know?

Sipping mai tais
with a couple dogs, you know?

But he loves this,

And I don't think
he's gonna stop anytime soon.

[indistinct chatter]

[both speaking spanish]

- I started connecting
with stem cells in 2014.

I really saw a turnaround
in my ability to compete.

2019 comes.

More stem cells were injected
into my body.

[soft upbeat music]

Ankle, both knees,
one shoulder,

Both elbows, and both wrists,

And that's when I really
started to feel change that--

It was like
rejuvenating myself.

♪ ♪

2022 comes around,

And now I'm starting to feel
the wear and tear of my knee.

♪ ♪

And a little bit more aches.

- He has severe degeneration
of the cartilage.

We're gonna be injecting stem
cells directly into the joints

To try and decrease
inflammation

And help regeneration
of the cartilages

So he can keep doing
what he does best.

- I just finished getting
another stem cell treatment

Once again, and I feel great.
I feel incredible.

To have the ability to perform
like I've been performing--

- Oh!

- Be able to live
a life pain-free,

That has been
due to stem cells.

That has given me
the longevity

And have helped me
keep going the way I have.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

- How you doin' today?

- All good.

- What's up, man?
Good to see you again.

- Good to see you again.

- That's what we're missing
the most,

Like, the interaction
with the fans.

- Do photos?
- Yes.

- Thank you.
- My guy.

- Thank you.
- All right.

It'll be 100,000
screaming fans,

You know, waiting to see
their favorite superstars.

All: My favorite wrestler
is rey mysterio!

- I love rey mysterio.

- Rey mysterio.

- Dominik mysterio.

- Rey's wrestling with dominik

To beat the miz and logan paul.

It's gonna be epic.

- Yeah, you guys ready
for wrestlemania axxess?

- Ladies and gentlemen,
rey and dominik mysterio.

["booyaka 619" by p.O.D.]

- ♪ booyaka, booyaka, 619,
hey, booyaka, booyaka ♪

- Well, thank you
for coming out, guys.

- Thank you for having us.

- Yeah, thank you
for the invite.

- This is dominik's
first "wrestlemania."

Tell me what this is like.

- I'm seeing my face on buses.

It's just been--
it's been surreal, man.

I'm very blessed to be here.

[applause]

- Do we have
any more questions?

- I'm playing hooky today.

Rey, did you ever let dominik
play hooky to watch your match?

- Many times.

[laughter]
[applause]

- Rey and dominik mysterio.
Thank you.

- And this is what
wrestlemania is all about,

Being able to connect
with your fans

'cause they come from
all around the world.

- I come all the way
from mexico city to support

My favorite luchador,
rey mysterio.

He's a small guy
around big guys.

I'm a small guy,
so I really represent

In a physical way with rey.

All: Booyaka!

- Booyaka!
All: Booyaka!

- Booyaka.
- Booyaka, booyaka.

- Get excited.
It's on the way.

[dramatic music]

- ♪ booyaka, booyaka ♪

[crowd cheering]

♪ 619 ♪

- 2014, I was burnt out
physically, mentally.

I had missed
a lot of birthdays,

A lot of anniversaries.

I decided to
take some time off

And reconnect with myself
and my family.

[soft dramatic music]

I had been doing
a couple shows here and there.

There's a lot of great
memories stuck on this tunnel.

♪ ♪

Super muñeco,

We just lost him recently.

Solitario and el santo.

Some of the best that
ever come out of tijuana

Are right here on this wall.

I got to do an event,

And that's where I'd seen
perro aguayo jr.

Or el hijo del perro.

El hijo del perro aguayo,

Who, unfortunately, had
his last match here against me.

- Have a history that goes
back to the beginning of aaa.

You know, we had
very special moments.

We were gonna be
meeting in tijuana.

- Perrito aguayo was real,
real, real good friends

With me and rey.
Rey was happy to work with him.

[crowd cheering]

- Him coming back in tijuana,
where it all started,

People were waiting for this.

It was a packed house.

Everyone was so excited,
so into it.

- We went to the show
with my kids.

Dominik and aalyah, myself,
we are there.

- We go out there,

And we feel like we're having
a banger that night.

He was gonna end up
in 619 position,

But for some reason, he bumped
and went out to the floor.

I take off,
bounce off the back ropes

And swing for the 619.

Thank god
my legs didn't connect

With his head or his face.

They kind of went
over his head,

'cause he was slouched over.

[crowd shouting]

- He's, for a long time,
hanging on the rope,

And you can realize
that something is wrong.

Something's bad.

- I remember konnan
being ringside, you know,

And kind of pulled his arm.

[crowd cheering]

- And I was trying
to wake him up,

And he wasn't responding.

[overlapping shouting]

We had to put him, like,
on a piece of board,

Take him out there.

- [speaking spanish]

[overlapping shouting]

- I rode in the ambulance
with him.

We went to the hospital,
which is very, very close.

- Me and rey
went to the hospital

Across the street
from the auditorio tijuana.

We spent a couple hours there,

And finally the doctor
came out, and he said,

"you know what?

"I'm sorry,
but nothing we can do.

He passed away."

- [speaking spanish]

- I remember gettin' home
that night.

I just--I was holding
so much inside.

I took off my gear,
and I jumped in the shower,

And bawling my eyes off,
you know?

I needed to be alone,

And I needed to let
all that frustration out

And all that sadness
that was happening.

♪ ♪

Rest in peace, perrito.

♪ ♪

- Rey felt, like, guilty,

But he--he knows
it wasn't his fault.

For respect, he went to
the funeral without his mask

Like a human being,
not like a wrestler.

- One of the hardest things
for me to do

Was to face perro's family.

It was just very heartbreaking.

I needed to get that weight
off my chest,

Give them my condolences,

And they said,
"do not feel guilty.

This was in god's hands."

They understand completely.

That meant the world to me.

♪ ♪

- It was hard for him
to come back from.

I don't know how he managed
to get back in the ring.

Work was work, so he had to,
you know,

Go out there
and do what he had to do.

I don't know how that's not
traumatizing for him.

You know, I'm sure it is
in many ways,

But like I said, he had to
go do what he had to do.

[crowd chanting]
six, five, four,

Three, two, one!

[buzzer blares]
- who's next?

- ♪ booyaka, booyaka, 619 ♪

- Oh, my god!

- Are you kidding me?

- He's here!

- Oh, we're not kidding you,
king!

- That's my pick--my pick!
- Mysterio!

- A lot of times,
the royal rumble

Will allow talent that
had been gone for a while

An opportunity to come back.

- 619!
- [laughs]

- From rey mysterio!
- He looks as great

As he ever looked
at any point in his career.

- He looks incredible.
- Double 619!

- Nobody had to be convinced

That we wanted
rey mysterio back.

You have to be a idiot.

If you know rey mysterio,

You can't help
but love the guy.

One of the most popular guys
in the entire locker room.

[soft dramatic music]

- I knew that my heart
wanted to be with wwe,

As well as, you know,
my son was now training

To break into this world
of sports entertainment.

- I think people were
expecting it at first.

They were always asking me,
"hey, are you gonna wrestle?

Are you gonna wrestle?"
I always wanted to try it.

Became a teenager,
and started fading away

And getting into, you know,
football, soccer,

But as I got older, it really
started to catch my attention

A little bit more.

- I'm like, "dominik,
your dad starts training

"when he was six years old.

"you're 18, 19 years old,

And you tell me now
you want to be a wrestler?"

- There was never any
insistence from my end

To push dominik on continuing
with the legacy--

Going on to 19 at the time,
it was shocking.

But there was a feeling inside
that made me say,

"wow. Yes.
At least he's gonna try it."

We started his training
with konnan

And another of his godfathers.

You know, we put him to work,
kind of testing the waters

To see how much
potential he had.

- Yeah.

- And he did show
some potential.

- I think it's awesome
that, like, you know,

He's following
in my dad's footsteps.

- [speaking spanish]

- [speaking spanish]

- For 2 1/2 years,
he had to work his ass off.

- [screams]
- I told him, I said,

There's no better place
for you to be than wwe.

That's your goal.
That's where you wanna be.

The fans had seen him grow up
in wwe pretty much.

- Wait a minute,
what on earth?

It's dominik.

- So they thought that it
would kind of be cool

For him to be part
of my storyline.

- No, no, no, come on.

[crowd roars]
oh, mysterio from behind!

- It's a miracle!

- Double 619!

- It was just for one match
at the time,

And it just kind of
went on from there.

- That's his comfort zone.
A tag.

Dominik from the top rope--
a splash connecting to roode.

Cover, hook to the leg!

He got it!
They did it!

- First ever father-and-son
tag team champions--

I was blown away.

Having the opportunity
to make history?

You know, that doesn't
come very often in life.

- Tag-team champions.

- I get--I get chills.

I get chills, 'cause--

Man, as a father,

That makes me proud.

♪ ♪

- And I love him to death,

And the fact that
he's still doing it,

You know, I couldn't be
more proud of him,

'cause I know--
I know he's doing this for me.

♪ ♪

- If dominik mysterio
[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- It was a special delivery.

Wow.

Hayashi flew from osaka--

Oh, my god! I love it.

Oh! Oh.

Hayashi goes out of his way

To make the best costumes ever.

It can be nerve wrecking
anxiety buildup,

What's about to happen.

♪ ♪

[whistle blowing]

Wow!

♪ ♪

How you doin'?
- It's all about performances.

- Exactly.
- Yeah, yeah.

- Happy 'mania.
- You too.

[both laugh]

- I mean, break the count
however you can.

- Oh, I got you.
- And I'm excited

That my son gets to have his
first "wrestlemania" moment.

Yeah, squat down all the way.
Just let it push you.

- Everybody's got
their safeties on.

- And on top of that,
he gets to come out

Like his old man used to.

Being able
to pop up together--

♪ who's that jumpin'
out the sky? ♪

You know what's crazy, dom?

That at the age of 14,

I wrestled in front of 100
people outside of a church.

To think now that I'm 47,

Look at the amount of people
that are gonna be here tonight.

♪ ♪

- Not in a million years
did I ever think

That this would be happening--

Making history, and I love it.

- This is the moment
we've been waiting for,

It's wrestlemania time.

This is my nerves,
and these are for dominik.

- Here we go.

♪ ♪

- Eddie guerrero,
art barr, "love machine,"

This is for you guys.

- Wwe tag-team titles.

- Through the hole.

[indistinct chatter]

- ♪ booyaka, booyaka ♪

[loud cheers and applause]

♪ 619 ♪

♪ booyaka, booyaka ♪

- Three, two, one, go!

- ♪ 619,
booyaka, booyaka ♪

♪ that's my pueblo ♪

♪ booyaka, booyaka ♪

- A dream come true,

Teaming up with his own son
at "wrestlemania."

- ♪ that's my pueblo ♪

- I love you.
- Love you!

- ♪ 619,
what'chu gonna do? ♪

- I'm so proud of my family,

To see my son and my husband

Working together
like partners.

- Wow, oh!
- It's about family,

It's about the lucha libre
heritage.

- Dominik through the ropes,
taking out the miz!

- Oh!
- That's my baby!

- Right into the legs
of rey mysterio!

- It was a trap!

- Run! Run! Run!

- Logan was in this position
Monday night!

This time are we gonna see it?

- 619 right to the face!

- It was like a shock for me.
I'm like, "what?"

- Whoa!
- Yes!

It was super fun
and super incredible for me.

Yeah!

- Frog splash!
- Yeah, yeah!

- It was all of us.

Like, closest friends,
closest family.

That is a once in a lifetime.

- All the stars
aligned correctly.

The only thing we missed was

Beating logan paul
and the miz,

But that's okay.

Father-and-son
wrestlemania moment

Is in the history books.

I just never thought
it would happen,

And it did.

[both screaming]

- He's revolutionized
this industry

In ways people can't imagine.

He brought
the
lucha libre
style.

- Dom!

- I don't know how many people
can say they started

When they were
eight years old,

And been doing this
30-something years,

You know,
at the top of their game.

So, to me, he will always be,
you know--

On mount rushmore,
he has all four heads,

But different masks.

- I have no idea where
I would be without wrestling.

Making pizzas?
[chuckles] probably.

- No one has a bigger heart.

- Three generations
of mysterios,

Incredibly beautiful thing.

- The giant-killer lives!

- Greatest little man
in the history of wrestling.

- Double 619!

- He opened up the door
for hispanics.

He opened up the door
for smaller guys.

- Look at mysterio!
- He broke the blueprint

Of what a wrestler
should look like.

- Threw him
like he was a dart!

- Rey represents
so many different things--

Being a great father
and a great family man

And a great athlete

And very proud
of the culture of mexico.

He's a first-ballot
hall of famer.

Rey mysterio has his son back!

- He's a huge inspiration.

If you work your butt off,
you can get to that point.

- Dreams do come true!

- It's a huge inspiration
for kids in mexico.

♪ ♪

- So much of the identity
of oscar gutierrez

Is rey mysterio.

That mask is everything to him,

But it's a way of life.

Rey mysterio will go down
as the face of
lucha libre.

♪ ♪

- Throughout this journey,
from day one,

I've never really
had this desire

To become larger than life

Or to make
a certain amount of money

Or travel the world.

Like, there was
only one passion.

Just give me the opportunity
to step in the ring

And to show my talent.

That's all
I ever wanted to do.

- Rey mysterio jr.!

- Greatest mask of all time.

All: Thank you, rey!
Thank you, rey!

Thank you, rey!

You deserve it!
[all clap rhythmically]

You deserve it!

- Angie, aalyah,
I love you both.

[festive music]

One day,
when I'm no longer here,

You'll be representin'
the mysterio legacy

To the fullest.
I love you, son.

Viva mi raza!