This week we dip into the suggestion box for our MOTW and we take a look at Rey Mysterio Vs Dean Malenko from WCW’s Great American Bash 1996. MURICA! This one is a technical classic, the type of match you just don’t see today in the era of watered down WWE matches.
Now, I’m not the biggest Rey Mysterio fan, but this is back before he became bland and started wrestling Cena-style by the book matches. In fact it’s actually his WCW debut match! Still a young energetic performer, striving to impress everyone not only in the crowd but in the back as well, you definitely can’t fault Mysterio for just dialing this one in like you could for almost any match he’s had in WWE in the last almost ten years. He spends most of the match on the defensive, but when he gets control he definitely wows the crowd with his unique style.
Malenko, being the technician he is, spends most of the match focusing on Mysterio’s arm. Unlike a WWE era match, where you’d see a guy slap the same hold on throughout the entire match, Malenko “The Man Of 1000 Holds” hardly uses the same move twice while weakening Rey down. Dean dominates the majority of the match, with Rey breaking away a few times for some of his patented high flying, whirly-twirly offense. It’s almost kind of a shame to see Mysterio grounded so much during his debut match instead of giving him even more time to fly around and show everyone what he can do. He ends up gaining control towards the end of the match and gets a few minutes of opportunity to showcase what he can do.
After numerous twists and turns (to Rey’s body, not the flow of the match) and near pinfalls Malenko hits a powerbomb with a sick thud and uses the ropes in the corner to keep Rey down for the 1 2 3. All in all a good match from an era sadly gone, a nice showing of both technical prowess, ground wrestling, and top rope antics, it’s a display of a mixtures seen sadly too infrequently in the era we’re in today.
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-Heisenbealer