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DVD REVIEW : BEFORE THEY WERE STARSREY MYSTERIO JR
Through the years, Rey Mysterio Jr has broken through all the barriers that
stood before him to ultimately end up on the top of the wrestling world.
Weve all heard the story of how he broke into ECW and was part of what
would be an American invasion of Lucha Libre stars who would move onto WCW
and ultimately Rey Rey would climb to the top of the WWE in 2006,and
continues to be there now in 2008. But where did he come from? And was he
that good in his earlier days? Well these questions are answered in the Big
Vision DVD release Before They Were Stars : Rey Mysterio Jr
The DVDs main feature brings you 6 matches from Mysterios days in Mexico.
English Commentary is provided by Kris Kloss of XPW and WSX fame, who is
alongside the legendary Manny Peeples. Optional Spanish Commentary by
Larry Rivera of XPW fame and Konnan, who needs no introduction.
Unfortunatly the DVD stars off on the wrong foot as the first match is a
complete write off. It features Rey Mysterio teaming with Torrero against
Jerry Estrada and Negro Aztecas. As soon as it begins Mysterio goes down
with a knee injury, and the heels (Estrada/Negro) go on a 10 minute beatdown
using weapons, The ref has no control at all, the commentators have no
choice but to consistently question how bad he is, and all the while some
people walk in front of what is a super shaky camera. The matches are under
classic lucha libre rules where you must score 2 pinfalls to win the match
so after about 10 minutes of beat down Torrero makes a quick comeback and
gets a surprise pin. However the comeback is short lived as another 5
minutes of heel on face beatdowns ensue, then shortly after the 16 minute
mark, the ref decides to take power and DQs the heels giving Mysterio and
Terrero the win.
Quite frankly this match should not of been included on the DVD, and even
the commentators werent into it, Luckily the rest of the DVD is not nearly
as bad as this match so if you could get past it then you will be rewarded
with some classic Mysterio battles.
Match 2 features Mysterio taking on another well known Mexican star in
Juventund Guerrera. The match takes place in a match that is in a middle of
a bullring in Mexico. The ref has horrible hair and suspenders which he gets
made fun of by the commentators for. However this match is a hell of a lot
better than the first match as it begins with some technical back and forth
action and leads to Juvi scoring the first pinfall at the 5 minute mark.
Right after this, the action picks up as the high fly lucha libre action
comes into play, Mysterio gets even with a pinfall at the 8 minute mark and
Mysterio ultimately pulls out the victory after 12:40.
Match 3 is a tag match which show shades of the first match on the DVD as it
breaks down into a mele. It features Mysterio and Octagon (who for those who
have seen El Generico in action looks exactly the same) teaming against
Pentagon and the huge Russian mafia monster KGB. The refs go back to sucking
major balls in this match and after 19 minutes Pentagon and KGB get the
victory via countout due to interference.
Match 4 gets back to the good stuff as 6 way lucha action features Mysterio,
Super Calo and Leon Negro against Juventund Guerrera, Psicosis and
Halloween, There are 2 refs overseeing this match who still have trouble
maintaining order but this actually ends up being a decent 6 way back and
forth match up with Psicosis scoring the win for his team at 9:12
Match 5 is the highlight of the DVD. It is a 23 minute classic return battle
between Rey Mysterio and Juventund Guerrera. The first 6 minutes of the
match is similar to their earlier match on the DVD as its technically back
and forth which is followed with some quick paced action. Juvi scores the
first pin at 9:39 with a full nelson slam. Rey Rey ties it up at 13:13 with
a sit down powerbomb and then the match breaksdown as outsiders begin to get
involved when the ref gets knocked down. At one point or another it seems
that the entire lockeroom gets involved, and ultimately climaxes with Konnan
making the save for Mysterio who uses the bat Konnan brought to the ring to
knock Juvi out just in time for the ref to revive and count the 3 at 23:08.
The final match, which should have been flipped in order with the previous
match as that was worthy of being the main event, features Mysterio, Super
Calo, and Leon Negro against Los Hombres de Ex, or in English, The X-Men,
yes thats right The X Men of Wolverine, Cyclops and Gambit. The match
starts offer with equal exchanges between competitors and handshakes of
respect with each standoff. At 7:21 it appears that the first pinfall goes
down but since there was two refs they were counting different sets of
shoulders down as Super Calo and Gambit had eachother pinned for the count
of 3. A brawl of all 6 men ensues and some run ins happen and that basically
ends it after a run time of a hour and 40 minutes.
Extras include 4 more lucha libre matches including Konnan, Octagon and La
Parka against Cibernetico, Jerry Estrada and Perro Russo in a steel cage
match, as well as a Mask vs Mask match pitting Psicosis and Ultraman 2000
which features a appearance by Mysterio.
If youre a hardcore Mysterio fan then adding this to your collection is a
must, if your not then its a coin flip, the low price might be good enough
to justify the purchase mostly for the Juvi/Mysterio battles.
Before they were stars : Rey Mysterio Jr is now available on DVD from Big
Vision Entertainment for the super low price of $9.98. For more information
head on over to Big Visions website at
www.bvdvd.com
and also check out all of my previous reviews at
www.maineventradio.com/reviews.htm
