Debut and Cruiserweight Champion (2002–2004)
In June 2002, Mysterio signed
with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and promos that hyped his debut began
airing. The "Jr." was dropped from his name and was billed simply as
Rey Mysterio. At the insistence of Vince McMahon, Mysterio agreed to wear his
mask again. While this angered lucha libre fans in Mexico as it violated
tradition, Mysterio did receive permission from the official luche libre
organizations to wear his mask again, since him losing his mask wasn't in a traditional
mask vs. mask match. To this day,
WWE has since censored footage of Mysterio being unmasked in WCW for kayfabe-based reasons.
Mysterio made his WWE debut
on the July 25, 2002 episode of SmackDown! as a fan favorite in a match against Chavo
Guerrero, which Mysterio won He
eventually began a feud with Kurt Angle, which culminated in a match at SummerSlam that Angle won after forcing
Mysterio to submit to the ankle lock. He
later formed a tag team with Edge; the two participated in a tournament for the
newly created and SmackDown!-exclusive WWE Tag Team
Championship. They
lost to Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit in the finals of the
tournament at No Mercy;[50] the match was voted match of the year
by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. After they failed in winning the title,
Mysterio and Edge defeated Los Guerreros in a number one contender's
match on the October 24 episode of SmackDown! to earn a title shot.[51] On the November 7 episode of SmackDown!, they defeated Angle
and Benoit in a two out of three falls match to win their first Tag Team
Championship. They soon lost the tag titles to Los Guerreros in a Triple Threat Elimination match that also involved former
champions Angle and Benoit at Survivor Series. Shortly after the loss, Mysterio and
Edge disbanded as a tag team.
On the March 6, 2003 episode
of SmackDown!, Mysterio
defeated Tajiri and Jamie Noble in a Triple Threat match to earn a shot at the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. AtWrestleMania XIX, he challenged the champion, Matt Hardy, for the title but lost afterShannon Moore interfered. On the May 22
episode of SmackDown!,
Mysterio defeated Shannon Moore and Crash Holly in a Handicap Elimination match to become the number one
contender for the Cruiserweight title On
the June 5 episode of SmackDown!,
he defeated Hardy to win his sixth Cruiserweight Championship. Mysterio's reign
ended when he lost the title to Tajiri on the September 25 episode of SmackDown!. On the January 1,
2004 episode of SmackDown!,
Mysterio defeated Tajiri to win his seventh Cruiserweight Championship. After a
successful title defense against Jamie Noble atRoyal Rumble Mysterio lost the title to
Chavo Guerrero at No Way Out in February. At WrestleMania XX, Mysterio took part in a Cruiserweight Open for the title, but lost as
Chavo retained the title.[62] On the June 17 episode of SmackDown!, he defeated Chavo Classic for a record-setting eighth
Cruiserweight Championship.[63] He successfully defended the
title against Classic's son Chavo Guerrero at The Great American Bash.[64] While Mysterio was
Cruiserweight Champion,Spike Dudley turned heel after plowing Mysterio
through a table and joined the other Dudleys before winning the Cruiserweight
Title from Mysterio on the July 29 episode of SmackDown!.
At Survivor Series, he participated in a Fatal
Four-Way match for the Cruiserweight Title involving the champion Spike, Chavo
Guerrero, and Billy Kidman. Mysterio lost when Dudley pinned Guerrero to retain.
Tag Team Champion and storyline with Eddie Guerrero
(2004–2006)
Rey Mysterio had a tag team
with Eddie and they were also best friends. After an unsuccessful attempt at
regaining the Cruiserweight Title, Mysterio formed a tag team with Rob Van Dam, and went on to win the Tag Team Championship
from Kenzo Suzuki and René Dupreé on the December 9 episode of SmackDown!.[67] They successfully defended
the title against the former champions atArmageddon,[68] before losing the title to the Basham Brothers on the January 13, 2005
episode of SmackDown! after Van Dam was injured.[69]
Mysterio then teamed up with Eddie Guerrero to win the Tag Team
Championship back from the Bashams at No Way Out. During this time Rey had a video camera,
which was called the "619 cam", during his entrance he taped members
of the audience with this. In a departure from traditional booking, the new champions did not defend their title
at WrestleMania 21, but instead had a match
against each other which Rey won. Two months later, at ECW One Night Stand, Mysterio faced and defeated
long-time rival Psicosis for the first time in nearly five years.
The match at WrestleMania was
part of a storyline in which Guerrero turned on Mysterio and beat him up after
abandoning him during a match against MNM for the Tag Team
Championship. Then after a no disqualification
match against Chavo, Eddie came out
and slammed Mysterio on the steel steps, displaying Eddie's increasing
frustration with being unable to defeat Mysterio. Guerrero and Mysterio
continued to feud, with Guerrero threatening to reveal a secret he and Mysterio
shared involving Mysterio's real life son Dominick, unless Mysterio deferred to
Guerrero's authority. Guerrero later revealed that, in the storyline, he was
Dominick's biological father. The storyline went that Guerrero knew Mysterio
was having trouble starting his own family, so Guerrero left Dominick as a baby
with Mysterio and his wife Angie to raise. In subsequent weeks, Guerrero
threatened to take custody of Dominick, drawing up custody papers and having
his lawyer present them to Mysterio. AtSummerSlam, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a ladder match for the custody of Dominick.
Their feud ended when Guerrero gained a victory over Mysterio in a steel cage
match. On November 13, 2005, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That same day at a WWE
"Super Show" where SmackDown! and Raw were both taped, Mysterio gave an
emotional speech about Eddie, and in a show of respect removed his mask (though
he put his head down, so no one could see his face). Mysterio went on to defeat Shawn Michaels in an interpromotional match
later that night. After the match, Michaels and Mysterio hugged in the ring and
Mysterio pointed up to the sky, crying, in memory of Guerrero.
Mysterio participated in the
main event of Survivor Series as part of Team SmackDown!
along withRandy Orton, Bobby Lashley, Batista, and JBL who defeated Team Raw (Shawn
Michaels, Kane, The Big Show, Carlito, and Chris Masters). After Survivor Series,
Mysterio faced Big Show in a match billed as "David vs. Goliath" in a SmackDown! special show. The match stemmed from
Mysterio eliminating Big Show at Survivor Series, and ended as a "no contest" when Big Show's tag
team partner Kane interfered in the match. Mysterio continued to feud with
Raw's World Tag Team Champions, even finding a tag team
partner in World Heavyweight Champion Batista who, along with
Mysterio, would be set to face Raw's Kane and The Big Show in a tag match at Armageddon. Before Armageddon, Batista and Mysterio
defeated Mysterio's longtime rivals MNM on the December 19 episode of SmackDown! to win the Tag Team Championship in a
match they both dedicated to Eddie Guerrero. Now the Tag Team Champions,
Mysterio and Batista's match with Big Show and Kane was billed as
"Champions vs. Champions." At Armageddon, Mysterio and Batista lost
this "Raw vs. SmackDown!" match when Kane pinned Mysterio after a chokeslam. On the December 30 episode of SmackDown!, MNM invoked their
rematch clause, defeating Batista and Mysterio with help from Mark Henry to regain the Tag Team
Championship. Mysterio and Batista lost a Steel Cage match in an effort to
reclaim the titles the following week, again courtesy of interference by Henry.
On the January 10 episode of SmackDown!,
Mysterio was involved in a 20 man battle royal for the vacant World
Heavyweight Championship. He was eliminated by Mark Henry, Kurt Angle came out
on top by eliminating Henry to win the World Heavyweight title.
At the 2006 Royal Rumble match, Mysterio entered as
the number 2 entry. He would go on to win the match and earn a world title
shot, last eliminating Randy Orton, he lasted 62 minutes making him the person to
be the longest lasting competitor in the Royal Rumble.[70]Orton urged him to put the title shot at stake
in a match at No Way Out.[71] In the weeks preceding No Way
Out, Orton made disparaging remarks about Eddie Guerrero. Many fans felt the
comments were unwarranted and highly distasteful so soon after Guerrero's death
in November 2005. Orton won at No
Way Out, earning Mysterio's title shot for the World Heavyweight Championship
at WrestleMania 22.[75] General Manager Theodore Long re-added Mysterio to the
WrestleMania 22 title match, however, making it a Triple Threat match between Orton, Mysterio, and
then-champion, Kurt Angle. At Wrestlemania 22, Mysterio pinned Randy Orton
to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. On the April 7 episode of SmackDown!, Mysterio – who was
billed as being an "underdog champion", made his
first successful World Heavyweight title defense against Randy Orton. Mysterio went on to retain his title
again during a WrestleMania rematch onSmackDown! against Kurt Angle, three weeks later The week before the title defense took
place saw the start of a feud between the then-United States Champion John
"Bradshaw" Layfield and Mysterio. The rivalry kicked off after JBL
stated he deserved the World Heavyweight title during his celebration of
becoming the U.S. Champion. The
feud with JBL saw Mysterio face off against any opponent of JBL's choosing in
the three weeks leading up to his title match against Mysterio at Judgment Day Mysterio was defeated by Mark
Henry and The Great Khali in separate non-title matches
before wrestling Kane to a "no contest"; Mysterio retained his title against
JBL at Judgement Day. The feud intensified when JBL lost the U.S. Title to Bobby Lashley five days later onSmackDown! after being tricked by Mysterio to
take on all comers like he himself had. This led JBL to vow that if he did not
win his rematch against Mysterio, he would quit SmackDown!. In the main event of the evening,
Mysterio retained the World Heavyweight Championship, causing JBL to leave
SmackDown!, until ECW One Night Stand, when JBL announced he would
return as a color commentator.
It was revealed that Mysterio
would have to defend his title against ECW wrestler Sabu at One Night Stand. In the
weeks leading up to his title defense, Mysterio defeated Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms in a Champion vs. Champion
match but was defeated by Rob Van Dam at WWE
vs. ECW Head to Head on June
7. At One Night Stand, Mysterio
retained his title in a match after he and Sabu were ruled unable to continue
following a triple jump DDT through a table from Sabu. Mysterio then retained
his title against Mark Henry, winning by disqualification after Chavo Guerrero
handed Henry a chair and Mysterio acted as if he was hit, thus Guerrero stole a
trick from his uncle Eddie Guerrero.[85]
Mysterio began a feud with King Booker after Booker won a battle royal to become the number one
contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Booker attacked Mysterio from
behind backstage with the help of Booker's wife Queen Sharmell.[90]The next week on SmackDown!, Mysterio gained
revenge by attacking Booker and his "court".This rivalry continued
for several weeks and saw Mysterio defeating Booker's court member William Regal on an episode of SmackDown!, moments before
attacking the challenger and hitting him with a 619 around the steel post. At The Great American Bash, Mysterio lost the World Heavyweight
Championship after Chavo Guerrero turned on Mysterio and hit him with a steel
chair, thus Chavo turned heel once again. Chavo cost Mysterio his rematch the
following week. This culminated in a match at Summerslam where Mysterio lost to
Guerrero after Vickie Guerrero tried to stop both men from fighting but
accidentally knocked Mysterio off the top turnbuckle. Vickie then along with
Chavo turned on Mysterio after she hit him in the back with a steel chair and
gave him an injury, thus, siding with Guerrero. Mysterio then defeated Guerrero
in a Falls Count Anywhere match at No Mercy. Subsequently Guerrero challenged Mysterio to
an "I Quit" match. In that match, Chavo
injured Mysterio's knee, using the match to write Mysterio out of the storyline
for a while to get knee surgery.[94]
Mysterio made his in-ring
return at SummerSlam, defeating Guerrero with the 619, after
Guerrero obsessed over Mysterio's return as well as wanting to injure Mysterio
again. On the August 31 episode of SmackDown!,
Mysterio won a "Championship Competition" to become the number 1
contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista and Finlay. On
the September 7 episode of SmackDown!,
Mysterio had an "I Quit" match with Chavo Guerrero, which he won after hitting Guerrero's
knee with a chair repeatedly in a similar manner to which Mysterio had been put
out of action. Mysterio then
began a feud with The Great Khali, which would lead to a match at Unforgiven where he would face Khali for
the World Heavyweight Championship; the match was eventually made a Triple
Threat match also involving Batista, but was unsuccessful in recapturing the
title. Mysterio then began a feud with Finlay, an opponent chosen by JBL.[99] The rivalry was marked as
"Fight vs. Flight", a competition between the two contrasting
fighting styles of both wrestlers – Finlay's physicality, versus the
high-flying Mysterio. On October
28, after fighting to a "no contest" at No Mercy, followed by a double-disqualification in a
number one contender's match for Batista's World Heavyweight title on the next SmackDown! (The Undertaker would succeed the pair), he
defeated Finlay in a Stretcher matchat Cyber Sunday. During this feud, he
conceded one match to Finlay on an episode of SmackDown! and was part of the winning team at Survivor Series which consisted of both
wrestlers on opposing sides (although Mysterio was second to be eliminated).
He re-entered the world title
picture when he emerged victorious in the Beat the Clock challenge for the chance to
face the World Heavyweight Champion Edge at Royal Rumble. However, he was unsuccessful in winning
the championship. WWE.com
announced on February 14 that Mysterio suffered a biceps injury during an
overseas tour.[109] Despite the injury, Mysterio
faced Edge for the title again at No Way Out.[109] On the February 22 episode of SmackDown!, Mysterio announced
that his injury would keep him out of action for at least six months, and he
eventually underwent three surgeries within the space of a month.
Mysterio made his return on
the June 23 episode of Raw,
as Mysterio was the first wrestler to be drafted in the2008 WWE Draft from the SmackDown brand to
the Raw brand On the June 30
episode of Raw, Mysterio
came to make an announcement to all the Raw fans which led to a minor fight
with Santino Marella.]Mysterio made his Raw in-ring debut the next
week, pinning Marella after a 619. General Manager Mike Adamle announced that John Cena was injured and that his
replacement in the Championship
Scramble atUnforgiven was Mysterio. The next week,
Mysterio made his return to Raw after an extended absence by attacking Kane,
turning back numerous claims that Kane had "ended his
career".Mysterio then made his in-ring return at Unforgiven, competing in the Raw Championship scramble
match. Mysterio began a feud with Kane next which lasted until Survivor Series.
Kane called Mysterio a coward who hides behind a mask. As a result, Mysterio
put his mask on the line against Kane at No Mercy, Mysterio won the match via
disqualification after Kane hit Mysterio with a steel chair. Kane and Mysterio
were once again booked in a No Holds Barred match at Cyber Sunday, Mysterio
defeated Kane. The next night on Raw, Mysterio faced off against Evan Bourne in
which Mysterio became victorious. After the match, he and Bourne were attacked
by Kane and Mark Henry. Few weeks later, Rey Mysterio teamed up with Kofi
Kingston in a losing effort against Kane and Henry, Kane once again made an
attempt to attack Mysterio but he was saved by The Great Khali. At Survivor
Series 2008, Team HBK which consisted of Shawn Michaels (the team captain), Rey
Mysterio, The Great Khali and Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad) defeated Team JBL
(John Bradshaw Layfield, Kane, Montel Vontavious Porter, John Morrison &
The Miz), thus ending the feud between Kane and Mysterio. He would shortly
participate in an Intercontinental Championship tournament to determine the
No.1 Contender for the William Regal's championship. Mysterio defeated The Miz
and Kofi Kingston to advance to the finals of the tournament but ended up
losing to CM Punk at Armageddon. Mysterio
participated in the 2009 Royal Rumble match where he entered at No.1. He spent
49 minutes and 24 seconds in the match before being eliminated by the No.30 and
final entrant Big Show. He qualified for Elimination Chamber spot the next
night for the World Heavyweight Championship. He started at the No.1 position
and survived to the final two before being eliminated by the winner Edge who
attacked the original participant Kofi Kingston before and replaced him. Later,
Mysterio accepted John "Bradshaw" Layfield's (JBL) challenge for
Layfield'sIntercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XXV, which Mysterio won in
21 seconds. With this win,
Mysterio became the twenty first Triple Crown
Champion in WWE history.
Mysterio was drafted back to
SmackDown! during the 2009 WWE Draft on the April 13 episode of Raw, in the process making the
Intercontinental Title exclusive to SmackDown for the first time since
mid-2002.[118]
He then began a long-time
feud with Chris Jericho, resulting in Mysterio
defending and retaining his title at Judgment Day. At Extreme Rules, Jericho managed to unmask
Mysterio and pin him for the Intercontinental Championship, however his face
was never shown, as he covered it. As a result, Mysterio and Jericho were
booked in a Title vs. Mask match at The Bash, in which Mysterio was victorious
after tricking Jericho with a second mask. On the July 10, episode of
Smackdown, following a successful title defense against Chris Jericho, Mysterio
was attacked by Dolph Ziggler. This began a rivalry between the two which
culminated in a title match at Night of Champions where Mysterio retained. Mysterio
once again defeated Ziggler to retain the Intercontinental title at Summerslam.
On August 2, WWE announced that Mysterio would be suspended for 30 days,
effective September 2, for violating the company's Wellness Policy. In an interview with Mexican newspaper Record, Mysterio stated that he
was suspended for a drug he was using for his knee and arm. Mysterio stated that he had a
prescription for the drug, but was unable to produce it in time to prevent his
suspension due to being on vacation and doing a promotional tour.[119] On the September 4 episode of SmackDown (taped on September 1), Mysterio lost
the Intercontinental Championship to John Morrison.
Second World Heavyweight Championship reign and various feuds
(2009–2011)
Mysterio returned from his
suspension at Hell in a Cell to face Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho and Big Show) for the Unified Tag Team Championships with former tag team partner Batista, but they failed to win the title after
Mysterio was pinned by Big Show. AtWWE Bragging Rights, Mysterio was unsuccessful
in winning the World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Four-Way match including Batista, CM
Punk, and then-champion The Undertaker. During the match, Mysterio broke up
Batista's pin on Undertaker possibly
costing him the match and the title. After the match, Batista turned heel by
attacking Mysterio.[121] Mysterio faced Batista atSurvivor Series where Batista delivered three
Batista Bombs on Mysterio leading to the referee stopping the match. Mysterio was defeated by Batista again
in a street fight on the 11th December episode of SmackDown. A few weeks later Mysterio defeated Batista
to be named the 1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Mysterio's title match against The
Undertaker ended as a no-contest after interference from Batista.[125] On January 1, 2010 Mysterio
participated in a Beat the Clock Tournament for the #1 contendership of
The Undertaker's World Heavyweight Championship at Royal Rumble. In the tournament, he
defeated his former rival Chris Jericho, beating CM Punk's time. During Batista's "Beat the
Clock" challenge against R-Truth, Batista was about to beat Mysterio's time,
but Mysterio pulled the referee out of the ring during a pinfall as time ran
out, costing Batista the tournament. Later it was announced that Mysterio and
Batista would face each other the following week to decide the Number #1
Contender. However, this match also ended in a no-contest, following
interference from the Undertaker. The
following week in a rematch, Mysterio managed to win the title shot for the
championship by defeating Batista in a Steel Cage match. At the Royal Rumble, The
Undertaker successfully defended the championship against Mysterio.
Following the Rumble,
Mysterio qualified for an Elimination Chamber match for the World
Heavyweight Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. In the weeks
leading up to the Elimination Chamber, Mysterio began a feud with CM Punk that
also involved Punk's Straight Edge
Society. During
the Elimination Chamber match, Mysterio eliminated Punk, but was ultimately
eliminated by John Morrison. In the weeks following the
Elimination Chamber event, Mysterio would continue to get the better of CM
Punk, costing him a Money in the Bank qualifying match and
defeating SES member Luke Gallows. During the on-screen celebration of
Mysterio's daughter's ninth birthday, Punk interrupted, taunting Mysterio and
challenging him to a match at WrestleMania XXVI. Mysterio later accepted the
challenge. Punk later added the stipulation that if Mysterio were to lose at
WrestleMania, he would be forced to join the SES. However Mysterio defeated
Punk at WrestleMania. Five days later on SmackDown, Punk challenged Mysterio to
another match atExtreme Rules, with the stipulation that
if Mysterio won, Punk would have his head shaved bald. At Extreme Rules,
Mysterio lost to Punk. At Over the Limit, Mysterio faced CM Punk
again with both previous stipulations in place (Mysterio's allegiance to The
SES vs Punk's hair.) Mysterio defeated Punk, resulting in Punk's hair being
shaved.
On the May 28 episode of SmackDown, Mysterio fought The
Undertaker unsuccessfully, to qualify for the World Heavyweight Championship
title match at Fatal 4-Way but in the process,
accidentally injured the Undertaker and took him out of the competition. On
June 4, 2010, Mysterio won a Battle Royal involving the whole SmackDown
roster by lastly eliminating Kane to earn The Undertaker's vacated spot,
joining then-champion Jack Swagger, Big Show, and CM Punk at the pay-per-view. At
Fatal 4 Way, Mysterio defeated Big Show, CM Punk and Jack Swagger to win the
World Heavyweight Championship for the second time in his career. For the next
month, Swagger continuously assaulted Mysterio using his ankle lock. At Money in the Bank, Mysterio defeated Swagger
to retain the World title, however Swagger continued attacking the ankle after
the match until Kane, who had earlier won the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match, came to the ring to chase
Swagger away, seemingly to protect Mysterio. However, Kane returned with a
referee and cashed in his title shot, quickly defeating Mysterio to win the
World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 20 episode of SmackDown, Mysterio defeated
Swagger in a 2 out of 3 falls match to remain the number one contender for the
World Heavyweight Championship, earning a title match against Kane atSummerSlam. However, during the weeks before SummerSlam,
Kane had marked Mysterio as the one who had attacked The Undertaker putting him
in a vegetative state (which was a storyline put in place to explain
Undertaker's absence due to the injury he had sustained against Mysterio in the
Fatal Four Way qualifying match). Mysterio retaliated by saying that Kane was
the true culprit. After the match at SummerSlam, which Mysterio ultimately
lost, Kane had attempted to put Mysterio in a casket, only for The Undertaker
to emerge from the casket. Mysterio ended up clearing his name The Undertaker
revealed Kane to be the real attacker.
On the August 20 episode of SmackDown, he lost via
submission to the debuting Alberto Del Rio. On the August 27 episode ofSmackDown,
Mysterio lost a No Disqualification match to Kane, and afterwards was attacked
by Alberto Del Rio on his injured left arm, sparking a feud between the two. Mysterio returned on the first episode
of SmackDown on Syfy and confronted Alberto Del
Rio. After Del Rio escaped the ring, he hit his personal ring announcer with a
619. On the October 8 episode of SmackDown,
Mysterio defeated Del Rio, and thus ending his undefeated streak.[131] At Bragging Rights, Mysterio represented Team
SmackDown, and despite an attack by teammate Del Rio, he and Edge managed to
defeat the rest of Team Raw, giving Team SmackDown the victory. At Survivor
Series, Mysterio led a team consisting of himself, Big Show, Chris Masters, MVP and Kofi Kingston to defeat Team Del Rio (Del
Rio, Tyler Reks, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, and Cody Rhodes). At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2010), Mysterio participated in a
fatal four way match for the World Heavyweight title against Kane, Edge and Del
Rio, in a losing effort as Edge won the match to become the new champion.
Mysterio would continue his feud with Del Rio which culminated on the January
7, 2011 episode ofSmackDown in
a 2 out of 3 falls match, which Del Rio ultimately won by countout due to
interference from his personal ring announcer,Ricardo Rodriguez, ending the feud.
On the January 21 episode of SmackDown, Mysterio defeated
Cody Rhodes. During the match, he broke Rhodes' nose when he hit Rhodes with a
619 with his exposed knee brace, thus sparking a feud. Mysterio participated in the Royal
Rumble match at the Royal Rumble, though he was eliminated by Wade Barrett. The match would later be won by his rival,
Alberto Del Rio. Five days later on SmackDown,
Mysterio qualified for a spot in the Elimination Chamber
match at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view for the World
Heavyweight Championship by defeating Jack Swagger. At the event he made it to the final two but
was eliminated by Edge. On the February 25 episode of SmackDown, Mysterio was tricked
and attacked by Cody Rhodes and his father, Dusty Rhodes, resulting in Mysterio being
unmasked by Rhodes. At WrestleMania XXVII, Mysterio was defeated by
Rhodes in a singles match. Mysterio
would defeat Rhodes in a rematch on the April 23 edition of Smackdown and at Extreme Rules in a Falls Count Anywhere
match to end the feud.
back to Raw. On the May 9
episode of Raw, Mysterio
lost a Triple Threat match to determine the number one
contender for the WWE Championship. Following the match,
Mysterio was attacked by R-Truth[140] which led to a match between
the two at Over the Limit, which R-Truth won.[141] From May, Rey Mysterio
started feuding with CM Punk, with the pair exchanging victories on successive
episodes ofRaw.[142] The feud culminated in a
singles match on June 19 at WWE Capitol
Punishment, where
Punk emerged victorious. On July 17 at Money in the Bank, Mysterio failed to capture
the Raw Money In The Bank briefcase, as the
match was won by old rival Alberto Del Rio.[144] The following night on Raw, Mysterio took part in a
one night tournament for the vacant WWE Championship and advanced to the
finals, along with The MiZ. The following week, Mysterio defeated Miz to win
his first ever WWE Championship and become a three-time world champion. Later
that night, Mysterio lost the title to John Cena. On August 14 at SummerSlam, Mysterio teamed up with Kofi Kingston and
John Morrison to defeat Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, and R-Truth in a six-man tag
team match. The following night
on Raw, Mysterio received
a rematch for the WWE Championship against new champion Alberto Del Rio, however
Del Rio would retain. Mysterio suffered an in-ring injury at a house show.
Thereafter, it was put in a storyline injury inflicted by Alberto Del Rio
following a match in August 2011, which would write Mysterio off television for
about 10 months. Rey Mysterio returned at the Slammy Awards to present the Superstar of
the Year Award to CM Punk. Due to injury, Punk's award was accepted by Interim
Raw GM John Laurinaitis. On April 26, 2012, WWEreported that Mysterio had been suspended for 60 days due to his secondviolation of the company's Talent Wellness Program policy and that hissuspension would expire on June 25.
