Original subtitles

[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!