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 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 projecting ...

, 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 Nation ...

'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 guid ...

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 February 28, 1965) is an English-American retired professional wrestler and vocalist specializing in Gregorian Chants. He is best known for his appearances with the Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre fro ...

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 observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

Damian 666 Damian ( la, links=no, Damianus) may refer to: *Damian (given name) *Damian (surname) *Damian Subdistrict, in Longquanyi District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China See also

*Damiani, an Italian surname *Damiano (disambiguation) *Damien (disambiguation) ...

and his nephew

Rey Mysterio Jr. 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 profe ...

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

Eiji Ezaki was a Japanese professional wrestler, stage actor, musician and professional wrestling promoter, better known under the ring name . He was best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily wrestled throughout ...

, Extassis,

Extreme Tiger Tigre Uno (born April 4, 1981) is a Mexican professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is a one-time X Division Champion. Outside of the United States he is best known for his work in Luch ...

, Fobia, Misterioso,

Pequeño Damián 666 José Luis Florencio Ramos (born August 28, 1980) is a Mexican ''luchador'', or professional wrestler, best known under the ring names Pequeño Damián 666 and Demus. Florencio is a part of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's (CMLL) Mini-Estrella, o ...

, Ruby Gardenia, The Warlord, and

Venum Black Jullián 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 ...

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 ...

. Misterio is also the uncle of wrestlers Rey Mysterio and Metalika,

great 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 relati ...

to Dominik Mysterio 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. 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 **IWC Television Championship (1 time) **IWC World Middleweight Championship (2 times) *'' Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' **PWI ranked him #373 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the

PWI Years ''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 Publishi ...

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 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

*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