page_title: Rey Mysterio
section_title: Giant Killer and unmasking (1998–1999)
hierarchical_section_title: Rey Mysterio / Professional wrestling career / World Championship Wrestling / Giant Killer and unmasking (1998–1999)
caption_attribution_description: Masked professional wrestler Rey Mysterio unmasked.
context_page_description: Óscar Gutiérrez is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Rey Mysterio.
  Gutiérrez was born and raised in Chula Vista, California, and began his professional wrestling career at age 14 in 1989, prior to debuting for Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración in 1992, under the tutelage of his uncle, Rey Misterio. He had a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1995, before he signed with World Championship Wrestling. In WCW, Mysterio helped popularize the high-flying lucha libre wrestling style, which is credited with having also helped kick-start the emergence of cruiserweight wrestling in the United States. He also won a number of championships during his time with the company, including the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and the WCW World Tag Team Championship. After WCW closed in 2001, Mysterio returned to Mexico, briefly wrestling for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, before signing with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002.
context_section_description: In 1999, after the two factions of nWo reformed, they demanded that the LWO disband. Mysterio refused to take off his LWO colors and was attacked by the nWo as a result. This led to a match at SuperBrawl IX where Mysterio and tag partner Konnan lost a "Hair vs. Mask match" against Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, forcing Mysterio to remove his mask. After the match, he phoned his uncle to tell him the news. Mysterio has publicly expressed his disappointment over being unmasked:
  I was strongly against it! I don't think WCW understood what the mask meant to me, to my fans and to my family. It was a very bad move on their behalf. The fans wanted Rey Mysterio with the mask and losing it hurt me a lot. It was also frustrating that it didn't come as the climax to a feud with another masked wrestler, but in a throwaway match. The same thing happened to Juventud and Psicosis and psychologically wise it was a bad move by Eric Bischoff. I think the fans understand that I was in a position where I had no option. I either had to lose my mask or lose my job.
  Mysterio later became a "giant killer" by defeating large opponents such as Kevin Nash, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Scott Norton. He faced Nash at Uncensored in a match where Lex Luger interfered and helped Nash in winning the match. Although he participated in several notable matches with some of the heavyweight top card wrestlers, it was made very clear to him that he would never receive a push to become a main eventer. This was due to Eric Bischoff utilizing cruiserweights as alternative, mid-card entertainment as opposed to the more conventional style that led WCW programming.
  The next night on the March 15 Nitro, he defeated Billy Kidman to win his fifth Cruiserweight Championship. On the March 22 Spring Breakout episode of Nitro, Mysterio got his first shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against champion Ric Flair when the names of (allegedly) nearly everyone in the company were put into a hat and a lottery was held. El Dandy was the lottery winner, but he was injured, and Mysterio took the shot instead. The match ended with a disqualification win for Flair, even though Arn Anderson's interference on Flair's behalf should have theoretically disqualified Flair. The following week, Mysterio and Kidman teamed with each other and defeated Flair's Four Horsemen stablemates Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship, making Mysterio a double champion. Mysterio successfully defended his Cruiserweight Championship against his tag team partner Kidman at Spring Stampede before losing the title on the April 19 episode of Nitro to Psicosis in a Fatal Four-Way match that also involved Juventud Guerrera and Blitzkrieg. On the following episode of Nitro, he defeated Psicosis to win his fifth Cruiserweight Championship. At Slamboree, Mysterio and Kidman lost the World Tag Team titles to Raven and Perry Saturn in a Triangle match, also involving former champions Benoit and Malenko.
caption: Mysterio unmasked in 1999
exif: {}