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 or ...

and trainer, better known by his ring name, 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 Natio ...

Starrcade 1990 Starrcade '90: Collision Course was the eighth annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was the third Starrcade event held by WCW, and the final under the National Wrestlin ...

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 in the second round.

Training

In 1987, Misterio opened a gym with Negro Casas and Super Astro. His first class included future international superstars such as Konnan, Psicosis,

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

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

and Metalika, great uncle to Dominik Mysterio 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 referr ...

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

Championships and accomplishments

* Asistencia Asesoría y Administración **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 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 ** WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship ( 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