Chris Jericho vs Rey Mysterio: One of 2009's Best Rivalries

As spring turned into summer in 2009, little did fans know that a feud by two wrestlers who had known each other for 15 years and travelled the world together would become the best thing on WWE television. At the top of the card, you had Randy Orton continuing his rivalry with Triple H over the WWE Championship and Edge, CM Punk and Jeff Hardy battling it out for the World Heavyweight Championship. 

But on the undercard, WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio was going up against fellow veteran Chris Jericho. Two veterans were ready to put on a personal, hard-hitting rivarly that involved a battle of heritage and legacy. 

Both men had worked in the same company for many years but never once had they been placed in a full-on programme. Both had been at WAR, WCW and now WWE, they did face off once before in a throwaway match on Pay Per View at WCW Bash at the Beach 1998. Jericho recalls hearing the news that he and Mysterio will be working together in a full-blown storyline in his book The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea. 

“We’d never done a full-blown program and I was stoked, because due to my time in Mexico and Japan, I really understood what he could do with the right partner.”

The beginning of their programme would start when both were involved in a four-way elimination match on the May 1st edition of SmackDown to determine the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. The winner between Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio and Kane would face champion Edge at Judgement Day. During the match, the man formerly known as Y2J would get disqualified by hitting Rey Mysterio with a chair whilst Mysterio went for the 619. 

The following week on SmackDown, Rey Mysterio and General Manager Teddy Long were in the ring when Chris Jericho would interrupt. The self-proclaimed ‘Best in the World’ would complain that he should be the one facing Edge for the World Championship at Judgement Day, not Jeff Hardy. Rey and Jericho would tell each other to shut up before Jeff Hardy came down and challenged Chris Jericho to face him in the main event. During that evening’s main event, Mysterio would come down to ringside and as Jericho would use the ropes to try and gain an advantage, Mysterio would inform the referee. This distraction would allow Hardy to pick up the win and afterwards, Mysterio would hit a Senton on Jericho. 

A match was then made for Rey to defend his Intercontinental Championship at Judgement Day against Chris Jericho and on the go-home edition of SmackDown, Jericho would call the last few weeks a conspiracy to keep him away from the World Heavyweight Championship and he would now take all his frustration out on Mysterio and take his championship. In an interview later that evening, Mysterio would call Jericho an ‘egotistical fool’ and vowed to not let Jericho walk over him.  

At Judgement Day in the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, Chris Jericho challenged Rey Mysterio for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. During the contest, Jericho, for the first time attempted to remove the mask. This became the whole story of the programme involving the mask and how it was part of Mysterio’s heritage. A main continuous subplot of the rivalry was the fact Jericho had the 619 scouted and it took Mysterio 4 attempts in this match before he could hit it. Eventually, Mysterio did manage to hit the 619 and followed it up with a springboard splash to retain the championship. 

On the next edition of SmackDown, Mysterio was interviewed by Jim Ross and asked about the legacy of the mask. He mentioned his family’s legacy and that he would never remove his mask because it would be disrespectful to all of Lucha. Jericho, irate at losing to Mysterio and his comments regarding the mask, called Mysterio a coward and claimed that he hides behind the mask. In response, Teddy Long, General Manager of SmackDown, booked a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules between the two for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. 

The following week as Mysterio made his way to ringside for a tag team match, Jericho would attack him from the crowd wearing a Mysterio mask. Y2J would hide amongst kids in masks as Rey would bump heads with kids in replica masks as part of his trademark entrance. Jericho, who caught Mysterio by surprise, would beat on him until his partner Jeff Hardy would make the save. 

Chris Jericho attacks Rey Mysterio from the crowd [WWE.com]

At Extreme Rules, Chris Jericho would cut a memorable promo at the merchandise table discussing Rey’s masks prior to their encounter. During their match, both used a steel chair as a weapon and the storyline of the now Demo God having the 619 scouted continued. The finish came as Mysterio attempted the 619 again but Jericho ripped off the mask. As Rey covered his face, Jericho rolled him up for the win and became Intercontinental Champion for a record 9th time. 

The continued story of Jericho scouting the 619 displayed great storytelling from both competitors in their matches with the mask being the central focus of their feud, In his autobiography, Chris Jericho mentioned how Vince McMahon did not understand the importance of the mask and how Jericho had to convince him to use it. 

“Rey has been in the WWE for seven years and we’ve never explained why he wears a mask. Why it’s so important to his family, his legacy, his dignity. We should make our fans aware of the history of the mask in Mexico and how it means everything to a luchador to hide his true identity. And after we explain it, I want to take that mask away from him.” Vince looked at me and rolled his eyes, “Nobody cares about the mask.” I was surprised by his response and disagreed.” 

“If nobody cares about his mask, then why do we sell them by the thousands? Kids are wearing those things all over the arena at every show.” Vince was still hesitant. “He wears a mask, so what? What does it really mean? Why would you feel so compelled to take it away from him?” My response was quick and to the point. “Because I can.”

“I want to take his mask the same way a bully takes a kid’s milk money, whether he likes milk or not. He takes it because he can. What he does with the money afterward is irrelevant. It’s the act of taking something from someone that turns the bully on, and taking Mysterio’s mask turns me on.” Vince was looking at me with a contemplative face and I knew I had him. “I want to take his mask to embarrass him and steal what’s his. I’m gonna push him around and laugh at how small he is because, for pretty much the first time in my WWE career, I’ll be bigger than my opponent. I’m the bully, Vince … and I’m gonna take what I want from him.” Vince thought for a few seconds and said, “OK, let’s do it.”

Rey Mysterio would receive his championship rematch on an episode of RAW. This time, the finish occurred when Mysterio attempted the West Coast POP but Le Champion turned Mysterio’s mask sideways so Mysterio could not see and then delivered a Code Breaker to secure the victory.

The final match in this rivalry was booked for The Bash where it was positioned as Title vs Mask. In the lead-up, Chris Jericho would face Jeff Hardy and while the action spilled to the floor, Mysterio would gain revenge from last month's attack by being amongst a bunch of kids wearing Mysterio masks in the crowd. Mysterio would attack Jericho by hitting a hurricanrana and helping Hardy to pick up the win. 

On the road to The Bash, Jericho would explain in an interview that removing Rey’s mask is Mysterio’s intervention. The mask is his drug, and he is obsessed and addicted to it. It is Jericho who would set Rey Mysterio free.

The match at The Bash is considered by many as one of the greatest matches in modern-day WWE history and what certainly makes it different from the first three encounters between the two is their remarkable storytelling, creativity and little nuances. For the first time, Jericho is the aggressor, trying to remove the mask from the beginning. Once again, Jericho managed to remove the mask but as he celebrated, he failed to notice that Mysterio was wearing a second mask. This allowed Mysterio to hit a 619 and springboard splash to pick up the win and regain his WWE Intercontinental Championship. The Bash would officially conclude their feud as Jericho would later on in the evening capture the WWE Tag Team Championships alongside Edge.

The rivalry is a highly memorable one for the sheer brilliance of continuity along with the fact their high-quality matches only got better with each outing. Rooted in the success of the story was the ability to relate to the fact that deep down nobody likes a bully. Jericho portrayed this role to perfection with his obsession of wanting to remove Mysterio’s mask at all costs while considering Rey to be a hypocrite. This had never been done to this extent in WWE before and few have gone to the same effort as Jericho to do so since.