10 Wrestlers That NOBODY Hated
6. Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio is the closest thing to a career babyface in the era of relentless prime-time episodic television.
One of the most exciting talents ever, his early work was so mind-blowing and futuristic that it still hasn't dated. Much of that has to do with the fact that his influence was so profound: multiple, countless wrestlers work his style or an interpretation of it to this day. To use just one example, the Young Bucks' lucha-tinged offence is heavily indebted to Rey's work. If you go back and watch his best '90s output now, it is still pulsating, tight, utterly dazzling. It's magic, in that you don't know how he did it.
He was also so good at the core ideals of the art that he boasts longevity like few others. Beneath the mask, he emoted brilliantly. He intersected bumping and selling to create an exhilarating and emotive experience. He was so great that he mostly defied a certain trend: the more a wrestler bumps, the more they expose themselves and elicit a certain resentment. The medium is cruel like that, but Rey's body of work so was so consistently great that he developed more respect as the years rolled by.
At a push, fans were bored of Rey by 2013. He'd been around forever, he'd slowed down, the injuries piled up - but it was a blip, and by 2018 he was somehow as great as ever.