15 MORE Incredible WWE Ruthless Aggression Era Moments Nobody Ever Talks About
6. Rey Mysterio Beats Shawn Michaels
Speaking of which.
What do you remember about the Eddie Guerrero tribute Raw on 14 November 2005? Lots of tears and emotional promos, probably. WWE laid out and let the roster mourn their fallen brother by speaking from the heart or wrestling, but only if they wanted to. Both Rey Mysterio and Shawn Michaels badly wanted to.
They had one hell of a match that night too, but the end result might surprise a few. Rey pinned Michaels for an emotion-packed win, and that's not many bring up nowadays. In fact, Mysterio beating Shawn was never really spoken about after this show. It was almost like it had never happened.
Both Rey and HBK wore "EG" armbands in honour of Guerrero. Then, they worked the kind of match that Eddie would've enjoyed. It was clear throughout that Rey, in particular, was close to tears, but he also wanted to leave it all in the ring and pay tribute to his friend in the best possible way.
The sadness of that 14 November episode meant WWE and its fanbase just wanted to move on from it as quickly as they could. Unfortunately, the knock on effect of this is that Mysterio vs. Michaels has been shunted to the back of people's minds for over 2 decades now.
These legends didn't lock up one on one again until the 29 January 2010 edition of SmackDown. That was rock solid too, of course, but it lacked the emotional weight of their 2005 work. That's the one to revisit if you're ever in the mood and can source it.