Rey Mysterio Had One Of The Shortest WWE Championship Reigns Ever
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In 2011, Rey Mysterio was already an established main-event level superstar in WWE. As someone who's wrestled for decades during this time, Rey Mysterio has wrestled for almost every major wrestling promotion. From his days wrestling in Mexico to getting a big break in WCW in the mid-1990s, Rey Mysterio has had one of the most decorated careers in professional wrestling. However, although Rey Mysterio has won numerous champions throughout his career, including the World Heavyweight Championship, he'd never held the WWE Championship until July 2011. And unfortunately for him, Rey Mysterio would lose the WWE Championship the same night he won it, having one of the shortest title reigns in WWE history.
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Rey Mysterio Didn't Hold The WWE Championship For Nine Years
Rey Mysterio had been in the WWE for almost a decade, establishing himself as a future first-ballot WWE Hall of Famer. Since making his debut in WWE, Rey Mysterio has won nearly every championship in the company. From his early runs as Tag Team Champion to winning singles gold such as the Intercontinental and World Heavyweight Championship on several occasions in his later years. Rey Mysterio was one of the most featured performers in WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era as he represented the change in the product that was occurring on WWE TV.
However, until the summer of 2011, Rey Mysterio never once held the WWE Championship despite being one of WWE's top performers. One of the reasons is Rey Mysterio being on the Smackdown brand for most of his first WWE stint. For a good part of his career, Rey Mysterio got assigned to the brand that featured the World Heavyweight Championship as the main prize rather than the WWE Championship.
Many have speculated that WWE officials never saw Rey Mysterio as world champion material. Even though Rey Mysterio was one of WWE's top stars, he didn't get booked on the same level as someone like John Cena or Triple H regarding credibility. His size may be one of the reasons Rey Mysterio never got a lengthy WWE Championship push.
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Rey's Initial Lack Of Success On The Raw Brand In 2011
After WrestleMania 27, Rey Mysterio got drafted to the Raw brand for the first time since 2008. As the WWE Championship was on the Raw, this was Rey Mysterio's chance to chase after and win the big gold. However, while Rey Mysterio got featured as a top babyface on Raw during the summer of 2011, he was booked in a way that fans couldn't take him that seriously as a challenger for the WWE Championship.
Considering that he lost back-to-back PPV matches, including a PPV match with CM Punk at Capital Punishment 2011, it looked as if Rey Mysterio was going to be more into putting over top heels that could challenge for a chance at the WWE Championship. Especially as he would lose in multiple number one contender's matches before his eventual WWE Championship win.
He Won And Lost The WWE Championship On The Same Night
After CM Punk defeated John Cena in a historical bout at the Money in the Bank 2011 PPV and left WWE as part of a storyline, WWE announced that a new WWE Championship would get crowned in a tournament on Raw. As Rey Mysterio took part in such a tournament, he defeated Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth to get to the finals, where he got scheduled to face The Miz for the WWE Championship.
On the July 25, 2011, episode of Monday Night Raw, Rey Mysterio defeated The Miz to capture the first WWE Championship in his career. It seemed like the perfect underdog story considering it took Rey Mysterio almost a decade to win the most prestigious belt in the company. However, the former WWE Champion, John Cena, was given an immediate rematch for the belt that same night. Not the best way to get John Cena over as a sympathetic babyface, but it got done to get the rematch between him and CM Punk at the next PPV, Summerslam 2011
. In the main-event bout on the same episode of Monday Night Raw where Rey Mysterio won the WWE Championship, he lost the belt to John Cena in the process. Although the two had an excellent match, Rey Mysterio's WWE Championship reign came to a screeching halt.
What also made his loss more disappointing was the fact that Rey Mysterio's championship win didn't do much to elevate him. After that, Rey Mysterio got a rematch for the WWE Championship against Alberto Del Rio on an August 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw, but was unsuccessful and got taken off TV for almost a year afterward.
A Positive Outlook
Getting taken off TV was a turning point in Rey Mysterio's career, as his WWE run would drastically wind down. However, it doesn't change that Rey Mysterio is still among the all-time greats. If one were to look at the bright side of Rey Mysterio's WWE Championship reign, at least winning the WWE Championship brings even more prestige into his Hall of Fame career.
