Great American Bash June 27, 2004

Mysterio celebrates anniversary at Bash By Anthony Cali When Rey Mysterio defeated Chavo Guerrero at The Great American Bash, he celebrated more than just a successful WWE Cruiserweight Title defense. Nearly eight years ago, Rey competed in his first Great American Bash event, which coincidentally also happened to be his first pay-per-view, and his first match for WCW. Ironically, the man Rey faced in that historic encounter was watching his match backstage in Norfolk. "The 1996 Great American Bash in Baltimore, Maryland was the first time that the general public of the United States finally got an opportunity to see Rey Mysterio," Dean Malenko said backstage at the Scope. "Prior to The Great American Bash, I was the Cruiserweight Champion, and we were trying to branch out, and give opportunities to some different opponents for me to compete against. I'd just seen this tape of a Rey Mysterio vs. Psychosis in Japan, and when I saw this young man work on the tape, I'd never seen anything like it before." "Because they brought me right into a pay-per-view, I felt this tremendous pressure to deliver my best," says Mysterio. "So there was that pressure, along with the fact that a lot of people didn't even know who I was. Of course, there were some fans who had been following my career, from Mexico to Japan and ECW who knew who I was, but the WCW fans who only knew WCW didn?t know anything about me."

"What really stuck out in my mind was that when Rey first walked into the building, a lot of the talent in WCW at that time couldn't understand how they were going to put someone like him on TV," says Malenko. "Rey wasn't what American wrestling fans had portrayed as wrestlers -- he looked like a 16-year-old kid who walked in through the door. "It's true," says Mysterio, "when I walked into the locker room, a lot of the guys in the locker room thought that I was just a kid. I was just 21 years old, and working against one of the greatest wrestlers in the world -- Malenko. A lot of the other guys stared me down, thinking that I didn't have the capacity to go out there and tear it up, or that I didn't have the knowledge of what it meant to be in a company as big as WCW. But my background has always been wrestling, I've grown up with the sport, and I live for it." "After the match was over, Rey walked into the dressing room, and for the first time ever -- and this still stands to this day -- everyone in the dressing room actually got off of their chairs, and gave this kid a standing ovation, applauding him. It was a really rare moment. And it's ironic that he debuted at The Great American Bash, because he went out in that first night, and just amazed the American audience, amazed the guys in the back, and definitely amazed me. It was a great steppingstone for Rey, and let to a lot of other lucha libre stars coming in." "I would have to say that he and I had the best match of the night," exclaims Mysterio. And that Great American Bash is something that will stick with me for the rest of my career."

JBL vs Eddie: JBL new WWE Champion. John Cena vs Booker T vs Rene Dupree vs Rob Van Dam: John Cena Retains Championship. Undertaker vs Dudleys: Undertaker wins. Torrie vs Sable: Sable wins. Billy Gunn vs Kenzo Suzuki: Kenzo Suzuki. Rey Mysterio vs Chavo: Rey Mysterio. Hardcore Holly vs Mordecai: Mordecai. Charlie Haas vs Luther Reigns: Luther Reigns