9 Best WCW Luchadores

1. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Really, could it be anyone else? Rey Mysterio might not just be the best luchadore in WCW/WWE - he might just be the best luchadore in history. Period. He's certainly the most famous and also one of the most consistently entertaining between the ropes.

'The King of Mystery' began wrestling at the tender age of 14, working as 'Colibri' (Humming Bird) before his uncle, Rey Sr., allowed him to use the Mysterio gimmick. Wrestling as Rey Misterio Jr., the ultra-talented high-flyer wowed audiences in AAA, Japan and ECW before being snapped up by Eric Bischoff's company.

His first match in the company? Challenging Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship live on pay-per-view. Rey has told the story many times before how he thought he was showing up for a non-televised house show event.

He's also told of how the locker room couldn't believe such a young and skinny kid was getting a match on PPV and cold-shouldered him. When he came backstage after putting on a wonderful, 20-minute match with the Man of 1,000 Holds, those same wrestlers were waiting with a standing ovation.

Rey would soon capture the Cruiserweight Title, a title he would hold five times. Rey was one of WCW's best in-ring talents, and while the decision to unmask him in 1999 was short-sighted, it didn't really effect match quality (although his brittle knees meant he would spend some time out on the sidelines).

A big criticism of Rey's later WWE career was that the added muscle he'd tacked on, combined with the change to a 'WWE style' of wrestling meant that he was a shadow of the performer that dropped jaws in WCW. While I have to say I don't exactly agree with that statement, looking at footage of Rey in his WCW prime between 1996-99, it's clear that he was a one-of-a-kind performer and the best luchador WCW had on their books.