Eddie Guerrero or Rey Mysterio, whose underdog story actually resonates more

[Sasha74]

Few storylines in wrestling history carry quite the emotional weight of Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio's respective underdog runs to the top of the business, two performers who spent years being underestimated purely because of their smaller size before eventually breaking through to genuinely elite levels of success. Eddie Guerrero built his entire late career persona around the Lie, Cheat and Steal gimmick, turning what could have been a cheap heel character into a genuinely beloved story about an underdog willing to do whatever it took to succeed, culminating in his emotional WWE Championship win at No Way Out in 2004, a moment still regarded as one of the most heartfelt title victories the promotion has ever produced.

Rey Mysterio built his legacy as one of the most influential high flying cruiserweights the business has ever seen, eventually crossing over into the WWE's main championship picture himself, most memorably winning the World Heavyweight Championship at the 2006 Royal Rumble in a performance explicitly dedicated to Guerrero's memory following his tragic death the previous year, a genuinely emotional full circle moment connecting both men's underdog legacies together.

Guerrero's story carries the added weight of his subsequent passing, freezing his legacy at its absolute emotional peak, while Mysterio has gone on to enjoy remarkable longevity, remaining a beloved and regularly featured performer well into his own late career decades after that Royal Rumble tribute. Whose underdog story actually resonates with you more?

[DarkMatter55]

Eddie's story hits harder for me purely because of how it ended. Winning that title at No Way Out and then passing away not long after freezes his legacy at this incredibly emotional peak that never gets the chance to be complicated by a slower decline.

[Binary Hermit]

Rey's longevity actually deserves more credit in this specific argument though. Continuing to perform at a high level for so many years after that Royal Rumble tribute shows he kept living out the underdog story Guerrero helped inspire long after that one match ended.

[John_62]

Eddie's Lie, Cheat and Steal character worked because it never actually made him unlikeable, that balance between being a rule breaker and still being someone the crowd desperately wanted to see win is an incredibly difficult tone to strike correctly.

[Nomad]

The 2006 Royal Rumble moment specifically, with Rey dedicating that win directly to Eddie's memory, is one of the most genuinely emotional things I have ever watched happen in a wrestling ring, and it still holds up perfectly rewatching it now.

[Nicola47]

Both of their real life friendship outside the ring is honestly a huge part of why that Royal Rumble tribute lands as hard as it does, that was not just a storyline decision, it was two genuine friends' careers intersecting at exactly the right emotional moment.

[Murky Courier]

I think Eddie probably gets the nod purely on the strength of that one perfect championship story, but Rey Mysterio's overall career achievement and longevity as a smaller performer might actually be the more historically significant underdog legacy of the two.

[Cheugy]

Rey Mysterio proving that a smaller cruiserweight could genuinely main event and hold a world title long term, not just as a one off emotional moment, opened doors for an entire generation of similarly sized wrestlers who came after him