Rey Mysterio’s Performance At The 2006 Royal Rumble Remains The Most Impressive In WWE History
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Rey Mysterio is one of the most iconic wrestlers in history, with him carving out a legacy both in WCW and WWE, becoming one of the notable underdogs of all time, even winning World Titles in the biggest professional wrestling promotion in the world. He is someone who naturally has to overcome hurdles that others in the industry don’t based on size alone, with him not able to get over simply on looks and size like major names such as The Rock, Batista, Hulk Hogan, and John Cena did. Mysterio has proved countless times just how incredible of a performer he was though, and one of the most shining examples of that was his performance in the 2006 Royal Rumble match.
Rey Mysterio Was An Underdog Heading Into The 2006 Royal Rumble
Since its inception, there have been many individuals who have made a name for themselves in the Royal Rumble match, putting in star-making performances and standing out. With a match like the Rumble, someone can shine with a large number of eliminations, caliber of eliminations, or by time spent in the match, giving multiple avenues to become the most notable name in the marquee match each year. When it comes to Rey Mysterio, he mixed all that into one with perhaps the greatest Royal Rumble showing of all time.
Going into the 2006 Royal Rumble event, Rey Mysterio hadn’t broken into the main event scene of WWE. After entering the company to a lot of buzz, he brought a lot of quality and star power to WWE’s struggling cruiserweight division, though it was still a way off the success of WCW’s. Mysterio would become a strong part of the tag team division too alongside several different partners, such as Edge, RVD, and Eddie Guerrero. He was someone who was consistently over and would have regular show-stealing matches, but due to being a luchador (with this style not ever truly being a spotlighted one in WWE) and his size, there was little expectation for him to ever become a World Champion.
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From both a real-life and a kayfabe perspective, this stacked the odds against him nearly every time he stepped foot in a ring. However, this alone makes it even more impressive that he managed to pull off such a historic feat at the Royal Rumble PPV in 2006.
Rey Mysterio Paid Tribute To Eddie Guerrero, Entering At Number 2
Following the tragic death of Mysterio’s long-time friend and on-screen rival, Eddie Guerrero, he decided to pay tribute by driving Guerrero’s iconic low-rider into the 2006 Rumble match. Mysterio entered at number two, facing off with arguably the biggest star in the match, Triple H. To compete and dedicate a match in the memory to someone so beloved is a huge thing to bear, so Mysterio must be commended on that too. There must have been a lot of personal pressure, which is another reason as to why this is such an incredible performance.
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Mysterio had the night of his life in the 2006 Rumble match, with he and Triple H working hard to eliminate everyone who entered the match. Mysterio picked up early eliminations by dumping out Simon Dean and Psicosis. Mysterio worked hard to stay in the ring throughout the middle portion, further eliminating RVD and Super Crazy. The minutes would tick by, and Mysterio got closer and closer to the 1 hour, 1 minute, and 30 seconds record of time spent in a Rumble match. A big reason why only a handful of superstars have ever made it over the hour mark is because often these matches end before an hour has even hit, so whenever a competitor spends this long in a Rumble, it means that it has been ever more hard fought.
Rey Mysterio Broke Records And Won The Royal Rumble
In the final stretch of the match, Mysterio was up against Triple H and Randy Orton - two former World Champions. After the two had spent the majority of the match in the ring together, Mysterio shocked the world and eliminated Triple H. After a couple more minutes of back and forth, Mysterio once again did the impossible and dumped out Orton too, making him the winner of the Rumble match and an all-time record holder by lasting 1 hour, 2 minutes, and 12 seconds. (This record would be broken by Daniel Bryan, though his record was in the often ignored 50-Man “Greatest Royal Rumble” which had nothing legit on the line).
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Not only was Mysterio the Iron Man of this Rumble match, but he also picked up the most eliminations, and won the match too - all that with the pressure of paying tribute to his friend and an all-time legend of the business. Mysterio lived up to the billing of being a major underdog, and would go on to WrestleMania to win the World Heavyweight Championship, though the less said about his reign the better.
