Miguel Ángel López Díaz (January 8, 1958 – December 20, 2024) was a Mexican

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and trainer, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname 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 ...

, Rey Misterio ("Mystery King"). He was 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 not 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 for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

. 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 (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 National W ...

'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 ...

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 Norman Anthony Smiley (born 28 February 1965) is an English-American retired professional wrestler who is signed to WWE in a Legends deal and as a trainer for NXT. He is best known for his appearances with the Mexican promotion Consejo Mund ...

representing the United Kingdom, but lost to

The Steiner Brothers The Steiner Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Rick Steiner (real name Robert Rechsteiner) and Scott Steiner (real name Scott Rechsteiner). The brothers wrestled as amateurs at the University of Mich ...

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 ''Lucha libre, Luchador'' in Spanish language, Spanish) and professional wrestling trainer working for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) under the ring name Ne ...

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. On ...

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

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 Christianity, Western Christian f ...

Damián 666 Leonardo Carrera Gómez (born July 9, 1961) is a Mexican professional wrestler best known under the name Damián 666. He has worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ( ...

and his nephew

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

. Misterio is also known to have trained wrestlers such as Cassandro,

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...

, Extassis,

Tigre Uno Tigre Uno (born April 4, 1981) is a Mexican professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is also best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is a one-time TNA X Division Championship, X Division Champion. Outside of ...

, Fobia, Misterioso, Demus 3:16, Ruby Gardenia, The Warlord, and

Venum Black Julian Carrillo (born 1975) is a Mexican ''luchador'', or professional wrestler best known under the ring name Venum Black or simply Venum. He gained national exposure in Mexico working for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), initially as ...

Personal life and death

Misterio's son is also a wrestler, who appears under the name El Hijo de Rey Misterio. Misterio was also uncle to wrestlers

and Metalika, grand uncle to

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

, and brother-in-law 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 Sr. Plot On their way to Cabo San Lucas, the cast and crew of a low-budget film get lost ...

''). Rey Misterio died on December 20, 2024, at the age of 66, 19 days before his 67th birthday.

Championships and accomplishments

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración Promociones Antonio Peña, S.A. de C.V. doing business as, d/b/a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (commonly referred to as simply AAA, pronounced "Triple A" – an abbreviation of its original name Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración de Espectáculos ...

**IWC World Middleweight Championship (2 times) *''

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

'' **PWI ranked him #373 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the

PWI Years ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

in 2003 **PWI ranked him #212 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the

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

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) **IWC Television 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 language, 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 ...

** 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 is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rey Misterio 1958 births 2024 deaths Rey Misterio Masked wrestlers Mexican male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Tijuana