Miguel Ángel López Díaz (born July 8, 1956) is a Mexican retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

and trainer, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or project ...

, Rey Misterio ("Mystery King"). He is also referred to as Rey Misterio Sr. to distinguish him from his nephew.

Professional wrestling career

Misterio first began training to be a boxer, but after his body got bigger, he took a lot of bumps and lost some of his punching ability. When his trainers told him that he could still punch hard, they told Misterio about wrestling. His brother soon began to take him to train for wrestling and

lucha libre Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

. On the sixth of January 1976, Misterio finally made his debut as a wrestler on a show called "Day of the Kings", or Día de los Reyes. Misterio appeared at

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

's Starrcade 1990

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

event where he teamed with Konnan and competed in the "Pat O'Connor Memorial International Cup" representing Mexico. In the first round the team defeated Chris Adams and Norman Smiley representing the United Kingdom, but lost to

The Steiner Brothers The Steiner Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Robert "Rick Steiner" Rechsteiner and Scott "Scott Steiner" Rechsteiner. The brothers wrestled as amateurs at the University of Michigan. The team ma ...

in the second round.

Training

In 1987, Misterio opened a gym with

Negro Casas José Casas Ruiz (born January 10, 1960) is a Mexican professional wrestler (called a '' Luchador'' in Spanish) and trainer working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) under the ring name Negro Casas. He is the son of former wrestler tur ...

and Super Astro. His first class included future international superstars such as

Konnan Charles Ashenoff (born Carlos Santiago Espada Moises; January 6, 1964),''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', Dave Meltzer, ed., May 10, 2010, issue.Sims, Steve"Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame/Founded by Dave Meltzer - Konnan". Accessed August 1, 2016. O ...

Psicosis Dionicio Castellanos Torres (born May 19, 1971) is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Psicosis (sometimes Anglicised as Psychosis) and Nicho el Millonario. He is best known for his appearances with the promotions Luc ...

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

, Damian 666 and his nephew Rey Mysterio Jr. Misterio is also known to have trained wrestlers such as

Cassandro Saúl Armendáriz (born May 20, 1970) is an American-born Mexican ''luchador'', or professional wrestler, who works as an ''exótico'' for several independent promotions all over the world under the ring name Cassandro. He is a former NWA World ...

, Eiji Ezaki, Extassis, Extreme Tiger, Fobia, Misterioso, Pequeño Damián 666, Ruby Gardenia, The Warlord, and Venum Black.

Personal life

Misterio's son is also a wrestler, who wrestles under the name

El Hijo de Rey Misterio Miguel Aarón López Hernández (born November 9, 1988) is an American luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler, best known under the name El Hijo de Rey Misterio. His ring name is Spanish for "The Son of the Mystery King". He is t ...

. Misterio is also the

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal rela ...

of wrestlers

Rey Mysterio Óscar Gutiérrez (born December 11, 1974), better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Widely regarded as one of the greatest prof ...

and Metalika, great uncle to

Dominik Mysterio Dominik Gutiérrez (born April 5, 1997) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Dominik Mysterio, and is a member of The Judgment Day. He is a one-time former ...

and

brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referre ...

to Super Astro. He is featured in the horror film El Mascarado Massacre (or

Wrestlemaniac ''Wrestlemaniac'' (also known as ''El Mascarado Massacre'') is a 2006 American slasher film written and directed by Jesse Baget and starring Rey Misterio. Plot On their way to Cabo San Lucas, the cast and crew of a low-budget film get lost an ...

Championships and accomplishments

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración Antonio Peña Promotions, S.A. de C.V. d/b/a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide is a Mexican Lucha Libre ( professional wrestling) promotion based in Mexico City, Mexico. Commonly referred to as simply AAA (pronounced "triple A"; an abbreviation of its ...

**IWC Television Championship (1 time) **IWC World Middleweight Championship (2 times) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' **PWI ranked him #373 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003 **PWI ranked him #212 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

in 2004 *Pro Wrestling Revolution **Revolution Tag Team Championship (1 time)- with El Hijo de Rey Misterio *Tijuana Wrestling **America's Championship (1 time) **Baja California Middleweight Championship (1 time) **Tijuana Welterweight Championship **Tijuana Tag Team Championship (3 times) – Saeta Oriental (1), Pequeño Apolo / Super Astro (1) and Rey Guerrero (1) *

World Wrestling Association The World Wrestling Association (WWA) (Asociación Mundial de Lucha Libre in Spanish) is a lucha libre promotion based in the Tijuana-area of Mexico. It was founded in 1986 by Benjamin Mora Jr.. It featured some of Mexico's best ''luchadores'' a ...

WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship The WWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial Semi Completo de WWA'' in Spanish) is a singles professional wrestling championship promoted by the Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling based promotion World Wrestling Association (WWA) ...

( 1 time) ** WWA Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Rey Mysterio Jr. *World Wrestling Organization **WWO World Championship (1 time) *Xtreme Latin American Wrestling **XLAW Extreme Championship (2 times) *Other accomplishments **

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Misterio, Rey 1958 births Living people Masked wrestlers Mexican male professional wrestlers People from Tijuana Professional wrestlers from Baja California