Top WWE Superstar admits copying Steve Austin in a major way
Several WWE Superstars have been inspired by greats like Steve Austin over the years. Now, a Hall of Famer has recalled a key story from his early career, admitting how Stone Cold inspired him.
Rey Mysterio is the Master of The 619. Named after the area code of his hometown, San Diego, Mysterio began using the finisher in his debut win over Chavo Guerrero on the July 25, 2002 edition of SmackDown. This was not long before another megastar was winding down his full-time career—Stone Cold.
The Ultimate Underdog recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet and was asked about the origins of the 619 finisher. The 35-year veteran recalled watching one of his uncle's tag team partners, Super Astro, do a similar move in Tijuana and then Tiger Mask with the move in Japan. Former WCW star Damian 666 later suggested Rey add a modified version of the move to his arsenal.
"Then one of my good friends, Damián 666, said to me one day, 'Why don't you do that move but put your opponent against the ropes and swing your legs around, and hit him, connect.' I was like, 'Oh, that sounds cool.' Sure enough, I started doing it, started to get a reaction," he said.
Stone Cold began his rise to the top in 1996, and things really picked up with his King of the Ring win and iconic Austin 3:16 promo, a play on the John 3:16 Bible verse. Mysterio revealed that he used this as inspiration for the new finisher name.
"The name at the time, behind that move, I kind of picked up off Stone Cold... 3:16. I said, 'Let's put a 619 here!' Yeah, so that's how it all came about," Rey Mysterio said.
Despite their lengthy careers, Austin and Mysterio have never locked up in the ring. Stone Cold was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, while Mysterio was inducted in 2023.
Rey Mysterio endorses rising WWE Superstar
Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee are currently members of The LWO. The veteran Hall of Famer welcomed the masked superstar one year after re-forming the faction in WWE but was an admirer long before that.
Mysterio appeared on Bakers Bantering and heaped major praise on the 29-year-old. After discussing qualities that he and Lee share, Mysterio strongly endorsed the former NXT North American Champion.
"I endorse, myself, Dragon Lee, to be the next superstar within WWE that’s a luchador. It’s been quite a while. We’ve had several luchadors in WWE that have been given opportunities, but Dragon Lee is captivating and taking full advantage of this opportunity. He already beat Dominik for the North American Title. You can already see he’s going very big," Rey Mysterio said.
Rey and Dragon worked three non-televised matches in April of this year. Their first WWE TV match was a SmackDown win over Los Lotharios on April 26. The June 10 RAW saw the masked Lucha stars team with Braun Strowman to defeat Carlito, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh.
If you use quotes from this article's first half, please credit Chris Van Vliet and give an H/T to Sportskeeda.