Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Group	Mexican Americans
Pop	Mexican Americans 31,000,000+ 10% of the U.S. population.
Regions	Southwest, West Coast, Upper Midwest. There are also emerging populations in the South and Northeast.
Languages	Spanish, American English, Spanglish, and a minority of Indigenous Mexican languages.
Religions	Predominantly Roman Catholic; large minority of Protestants and small percentage Mormon
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Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States. The United States is home to the second largest Mexican community in the world second only to Mexico itself comprising nearly 22% of the entire Mexican origin population of the world. Canada is a distant third with a Mexican origin population of 37,000 as of 2001 although increasing to 61,505 as of 2006. In addition, as of 2008 there were approximately 7,000,000 undocumented Mexicans living in the United States which if included in the count would increase the US share to over 28% of the world's Mexican origin population (Note that some of the undocumented would be captured in the US Census count depending on their willingness to provide information). Most Mexican Americans are the descendants of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico and/or Europeans especially Spaniards.

History of Mexican Americans

Mexican American history is wide-ranging, spanning more than four hundred years and varying from region to region within the United States. In 1900, there were slightly more than 500,000 Hispanics living in New Mexico, California and Texas. Most were Mexican Americans of indigenous Mexican, Spanish, and other hispanicized European settlers who arrived in the Southwest during Spanish colonial times. Approximately ten percent of the current Mexican American population can trace their lineage back to these early colonial settlers.

As early as 1813 some of the Tejanos who colonized Texas in the Spanish Colonial Period established a government in Texas that looked forward to independence from Mexico. In those days, there was no concept of what a Mexican was. Many Mexicans were more loyal to their states/provinces than to their country as a whole. This was particularly true in frontier regions such as Zacatecas, Texas, Yucatan, Oaxaca, New Mexico, etc. As revealed by the writings of colonial Tejano Texians such as Antonio Menchaca, the Texas Revolution was initially a colonial Tejano cause. By 1831, Anglo settlers outnumbered Tejanos ten to one in Texas. The Mexican government became concerned by their increasing numbers and restricted the number of new Anglo-American settlers allowed to enter Texas. The Mexican government also banned slavery within the state, which angered slave owners. The American settlers along with many of the Tejanos rebelled against the centralized authority of Mexico City and the Santa Anna regime, while others remained loyal to Mexico, and still others were neutral.

Author John P. Schmal wrote of the effect Texas independence had on the Tejano community:

"A native of San Antonio, Juan Seguín is probably the most famous Tejano to be involved in the War of Texas Independence. His story is complex because he joined the Anglo rebels and helped defeat the Mexican forces of Santa Anna. But later on, as Mayor of San Antonio, he and other Tejanos felt the hostile encroachments of the growing Anglo power against them. After receiving a series of death threats, Seguín relocated his family in Mexico, where he was coerced into military service and fought against the US in 1846-1848 Mexican-American War.

Although the events of 1836 led to independence for the people of Texas, the Hispanic population of the state was very quickly disenfranchised to the extent that their political representation in the Texas State Legislature disappeared entirely for several decades."

Californios were Spanish speaking residents of modern day California who were the original Hispanics (Mexicans (regardless of race) and local Hispanicized Indians) in the region (Alta California) before the United States took it over. Relations between Californios and Anglo settlers were relatively good until military officer John C. Fremont arrived in Alta California with a force of 60 men on an exploratory expedition in 1846. Fremont made an agreement with Comandante Castro that he would only stay in the San Joaquin Valley for the winter, then move north to Oregon. However, Fremont remained in the Santa Clara Valley then headed towards Monterey. When Castro demanded that Fremont leave Alta California, Fremont rode to Gavilan Peak, raised a US flag and vowed to fight to the last man to defend it. After three days of tension, Fremont retreated to Oregon without a shot being fired. With relations between Californios and Anglos quickly souring, Fremont rode back into Alta California and encouraged a group of American settlers to seize a group of Castro's soldiers and their horses. Another group, seized the Presidio of Sonoma and captured Mariano Vallejo. William B. Ide was chosen Commander in Chief and on July 5, he proclaimed the creation of the Bear Flag Republic. On July 9, US forces reached Sonoma and lowered the Bear Flag Republic's flag then replaced it with a US flag. Californios organized an army to defend themselves from invading American forces after the Mexican army retreated from Alta California to defend other parts of the country. The Californios defeated an American force in Los Angeles on September 30, 1846, but were defeated after the Americans reinforced their forces in what is now southern California. The arrival of tens of thousands of people during the California Gold Rush meant the end of the Californio's ranching lifestyle. Many Anglo 49ers turned to farming and moved, often illegally, onto the land granted to Californios by the old Mexican government.

The United States first came into conflict with Mexico in the 1830s, as the westward spread of Anglo settlements and of slavery brought significant numbers of new settlers into the region known as Tejas (modern-day Texas), then part of Mexico. The Mexican-American War, followed by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, extended U.S. control over a wide range of territory once held by Mexico, including the present day borders of Texas and the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California.

Although the treaty promised that the landowners in this newly acquired territory would enjoy full enjoyment and protection of their property as if they were citizens of the United States, many former citizens of Mexico lost their land in lawsuits before state and federal courts or as a result of legislation passed after the treaty. Even those statutes intended to protect the owners of property at the time of the extension of the United States' borders, such as the 1851 California Land Act, had the effect of dispossessing Californio owners ruined by the cost of maintaining litigation over land titles for years.

While Mexican Americans were once concentrated in the Southwest — California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas — they began creating communities in St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and other steel producing regions when they obtained employment during World War I. More recently, Mexican illegal immigrants have increasingly become a large part of the workforce in industries such as meat packing throughout the Midwest, in agriculture in the southeastern United States, and in the construction, landscaping, restaurant, hotel and other service industries throughout the country.

Mexican-American workers formed unions of their own and joined integrated unions. The most significant union struggle involving Mexican-Americans was the United Farm Workers' long strike and boycott aimed at grape growers in the San Joaquin and Coachella Valleys in the late 1960s. Its struggle propelled César Chávez and Dolores Huerta into national prominence changing from a workers' rights organization that helped workers get unemployment insurance to that of a union of farmworkers almost overnight.

Mexican American identity has also changed markedly throughout these years. Over the past hundred years Mexican Americans have campaigned for voting rights, stood against educational and employment discrimination and stood for economic and social advancement. At the same time many Mexican Americans have struggled with defining and maintaining their community's identity. In the 1960s and 1970s, some Latino/Hispanic student groups flirted with nationalism and differences over the proper name for members of the community—Chicano/Chicana, Latino/Latina, Mexican Americans, or Hispanics became tied up with deeper disagreements over whether to integrate into or remain separate from mainstream American society, as well as divisions between those Mexican Americans whose families had lived in the United States for two or more generations and more recent immigrants. During this time rights groups such as the National Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee were founded. The states with the largest percentages and populations of Mexican-Americans are California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. There has also been very high increasing populations in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Race and ethnicity

Per the 2000 U.S. Census, a plurality of 47.3% of Mexican Americans self identify as being of White race, closely followed by Mexican Americans who self identify as "Some other race", usually Mestizo (Native American/European) with 45.5%.<. Respondents who claim two or more races accounted for 5.1%, Blacks for 0.7%, and all other races for 1.4%. Mexican Americans are predominantly of |Native American and European descent. A study presented by the American Society of Human Genetics found that on average, Mexicans (from Mexico) are 58.96% Caucasian, 36.05% "Asian" (Native American), and 05.03% Black, and 80% of Mexicans were classes as mestizos (racially mixed in any degree). The study also found the Mexican mestizo population has a higher heterogeneity compared to other populations. This is similar to the admixture of Mexican Americans (in general). According to the last Mexican census to record race (which was in 1921), 10 percent of the Mexican populace identified itself as white, 59 percent as Mestizo (Native American-European mixture), 29 percent as Native American, and 2 percent as "other", foreigner (regardless of race), or did not specify a race. Before the United States' borders expanded westward in the 19th century, New World regions colonized by the Spanish Empire since the 16th century held to a complex caste system (casta) that classified persons by their fractional racial makeup and geographic origin.

As the United States' borders expanded, the United States Census Bureau changed its racial classification methods for Mexican Americans under United States jurisdiction. The Bureau's classification system has evolved significantly from its inception:

From 1790 to 1850, there was no distinct racial classification of Mexican Americans in the U.S. census. The only racial categories recognized by the Census Bureau were White and Black. The Census Bureau estimates that during this period the number of persons that could not be categorized as white or black did not exceed 0.25% of the total population based on 1860 census data.

From 1850 through 1920 the Census Bureau expanded its racial categories to include all different races including Mestizos, Mulattos, Amerindians and Asians, and classified Mexicans and Mexican Americans as "White" All Mexicans were legally (though not always socially) considered "White" either because they were considered to be of full Spanish heritage, or because of treaty obligations to Spaniards and Mexicans that conferred citizenship status at a time when whiteness was a prerequisite for U.S. citizenship.

The 1930 U.S. census revoked generic "white" status for Mexican Americans due to protests from Anglo Americans nativists. The new form asked for "color or race" and census workers were instructed to "write ‘W’ for White; ’Mex’ for Mexican."

In the 1940 census, Mexican Americans were re-classified as White, due to widespread protests by the Mexican American community and the World War II-era Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration's policies of promoting national, "patriotic" unity by reorganizing racial categories to make all ethnic groups "white" and or "Americans" if not white. Instructions for enumerators were "Mexicans - Report 'White' (W) for Mexicans unless they are definitely of indigenous or other non-white race." During the same census, however, the bureau began to track the White population of Spanish mother tongue. This practice continued through the 1960 census. The 1960 census also used the title "Spanish-surnamed American" in their reporting data of Mexican Americans, which included Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans and others under the same category.

From 1970 to 1980, there was a dramatic population increase of Other Race in the census, reflecting the addition of a question on Hispanic origin to the 100-percent questionnaire, an increased propensity for Hispanics to NOT identify themselves as White, and a change in editing procedures to accept reports of "Other race" for respondents who wrote in Hispanic entries such as Mexican, Cuban, or Puerto Rican. In 1970, such responses in the Other race category were reclassified and tabulated as White. During this census, the bureau attempted to identify all Hispanics by use of the following criteria in sampled sets: :* Spanish speakers and persons belonging to a household where the head of household was a Spanish speaker :* Persons with Spanish heritage by birth location or surname :* Persons who self-identified Spanish origin or descent

From 1980 on, the Census Bureau has collected data on Hispanic origin on a 100-percent basis. The bureau has noted an increasing number of respondents who mark themselves as Hispanic origin but not of the White race. For certain purposes, respondents who wrote in "Chicano" or "Mexican" (or indeed, almost all Hispanic origin groups) in the "Some other race" category were automatically re-classified into the "White race" group.

Politics and debate of racial classification

Since the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which granted citizenship rights to Mexican people in the newly conquered US territory of the South West, Mexican Americans have been legally considered "White." Since legal citizenship in the United States required "white" racial status, new Mexican "Americans" had to be classified as White, whether or not the were considered white in "reality". Thus Mexican Americans were white by law, but not usually classified as such socially (depending on class and whether an individual had any degree of perceived indigenous ancestry). According to legal scholars, Anglo-Americans rarely distinguished between Mexicans and Mexican Americans and painted a picture of 'Mexicans' as an economic and cultural threat to America. In [the early 1900s], Mexican Americans increasingly were denied many of the rights of citizens. Like the African American population, many were placed in segregated schools with inferior educational resources, barred from restaurants, movie theaters, bathrooms, and public swimming pools, and denied the possibility of living in white neighborhoods," in addition to being barred from serving on juries in most of the Southwest; yet none of this segregation was formally encoded in law. Thus while for legal purposes, Mexican Americans were counted as White, in everyday reality most Mexican Americans were not considered "white," did not enjoy "white" status or privileges, and were in fact typically subjected to systematic discrimination and "Jim Crow" style racial segregation. The legal designation of white racial status actually worked against Mexican American civil rights in law suits claiming racial discrimination. Such suits were typically denied on the basis that Mexican Americans were not subject to racial discrimination, despite all evidence to the contrary, because they were legally white.

In times and places where Mexicans were allotted white status, they were permitted to intermarry with what today are termed "non-Hispanic whites", though social customs typically only approved of such marriages if the Mexican partner was not of any discernable indigenous heritage. Legally, Mexican Americans could vote and hold elected office, though they were also constrained from voting in most places by literacy tests and poll taxes. While Mexicans of Spanish descent ran the state politics and constituted most of the elite of New Mexico since colonial times, property requirements and English literacy requirements were imposed in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas in order to prevent Mexican Americans from voting. Some eligible voters were intimidated with the threat of violence if they attempted to exercise their right to vote.

Mexicans were also allowed to serve in all-white units during World War II. However, many Mexican American war veterans were discriminated against and even denied medical services by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs when they arrived home.

In the past, Mexicans were legally considered "White" because either they were considered to be of full Spanish heritage, or because of early treaty obligations to Spaniards and Mexicans that conferred citizenship status to Mexican peoples at a time when whiteness was a prerequisite for U.S. citizenship. Although Mexican Americans were legally classified as "White" in terms of official federal policy, many organizations, businesses, and homeowners associations and local legal systems had official policies to exclude Mexican Americans. Throughout the southwest discrimination in wages were institutionalized in "white wages" versus lower "Mexican wages" for the same job classifications.

Mexican Americans classified as "White", following anti-miscegenation laws in most western states until the 1960s, could not legally marry African or Asian Americans (See Perez v. Sharp). However, there's a documented trend of intermarriage rates in the Mexican American community with Indian Americans from India or Pakistan (see Punjabi Mexican American for information about the subject).

Economic and social issues

Illegal immigration issues

Since the 1960s, illegal Mexican immigrants have met a significant portion of the demand for cheap labor in the United States. Fear of deportation makes them highly vulnerable to exploitation by employers. Many employers, however, have developed a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude, indicating a greater comfort with or casual approach toward hiring illegal Mexican nationals known as Wetbacks (it turned into an ethnic slur against anyone of Mexican/Hispanic descent, developing a similar level of offensiveness as nigger is to African-Americans). In May 2006, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, Mexicans and other nationalities, walked out of their jobs across the country in protest to proposed changes in immigration laws (also in hopes for amnesty to become naturalized citizens like similar the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which granted citizenship to Mexican nationals living and working illegally in the US).

In the United States, in states where Mexican Americans make up a large percentage of the population, such as California and Texas, illegal as well as legal immigrants from Mexico and Central America in addition to Mexican Americans combined often make up a large majority of workers in many blue-collar occupations: the majority of the employed men are restaurant workers, janitors, truck drivers, gardeners, construction laborers, material moving workers, or perform other types of manual or other blue collar labor (Source, U.S. Census Bureau, American community survey data.). Many women also work in low wage service and retail occupations. In many of these places with large Latino populations, many types of blue-collar workers are often assumed to be Mexican American or Mexican or other Latino immigrants (Although a large minority are actually not. -Source, U.S. Census Bureau, American community survey data.) because of their frequent dominance in those occupations and stereotyping. Occasionally, tensions have risen between Mexican immigrants and other ethnic groups because of increasing concerns over the availability of working-class jobs to Americans and immigrants from other ethnic groups. However, tensions have also risen among Hispanic American laborers who have been displaced because of both cheap Mexican labor and ethnic profiling. African American workers in lower-wage jobs have been displaced by undocumented Mexican laborers and their neighborhoods have been transformed from majority black to majority Latino, which has caused some racial tensions between African Americans and Mexicans in the Southwest US. Even legal immigrants to the United States, both from Mexico and elsewhere, have spoken out against illegal immigration. However, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in June 2007, 63% of Americans would support an immigration policy that would put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship if they "pass background checks, pay fines and have jobs, learn English", while 30% would oppose such a plan. The survey also found that if this program was instead labeled "amnesty", 54% would support it, while 39% would oppose.

Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has said that the growth of the working-age population is a large factor in keeping the economy growing and that immigration can be used to grow that population. According to Greenspan, by 2030, the growth of the US workforce will slow from 1 percent to 1/2 percent, while the percentage of the population over 65 years will rise from 13 percent to perhaps 20 percent. Greenspan has also stated that the current immigration problem could be solved with a "stroke of the pen", referring to the 2007 immigration reform bill which would have strengthened border security, created a guest worker program, and put illegal immigrants currently residing in the US on a path to citizenship if they met certain conditions.

Discrimination and stereotypes

Throughout U.S. history, Mexican Americans have and continue to endure various types of negative stereotypes which have long circulated in media and popular culture. Mexican Americans have also faced discrimination based on ethnicity, race, culture, poverty, and use of the Spanish language.

Since the majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. have traditionally been from Latin America, the Mexican American community has been the subject of widespread immigration raids. During The Great Depression, the United States government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which was intended to encourage people to voluntarily move to Mexico, but thousands were deported against their will. More than 500,000 individuals were deported, approximately 60 percent of which were actually United States citizens. In the post-war McCarthy era, the Justice Department launched Operation Wetback.

During World War II, more than 300,000 Mexican Americans served in the US armed forces. Mexican Americans were generally integrated into regular military units, however, many Mexican American war veterans were discriminated against and even denied medical services by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs when they arrived home. In 1948, war veteran Dr Hector P. Garcia founded the American GI Forum to address the concerns of Mexican American veterans who were being discriminated against. The AGIF's first campaign was on the behalf of Felix Longoria, a Mexican American private who was killed in the Philippines while in the line of duty. Upon the return of his body to his hometown of Three Rivers, Texas, he was denied funeral services because of his race.

In the 1948 case of Perez v. Sharp, Andrea Perez—a Mexican-American woman listed as White—and Sylvester Davis—an African American man—the Supreme Court of California recognized that interracial bans on marriage violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution.

In 2006, Time magazine reported that the number of hate groups in the United States increased by 33 percent since 2000, primarily due to anti-illegal immigrant and anti-Mexican sentiment. According to the annual Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Hate Crimes Statistics Report, in 2007, Hispanics comprised 61.7 percent of victims of crimes motivated by a bias toward the victims’ ethnicity or national origin. Since 2003 the number of both victims of anti-Hispanic crimes and incidents increased by nearly 40 percent. In 2004, the comparable figure was 51.5 percent. In California, the state with the largest Mexican American population, the number of hate crimes committed against Latinos has almost doubled.

Social status and assimilation

Barrow (2005) finds increases in average personal and household incomes for Mexican Americans in the 21st century. U.S. born Mexican Americans earn more and are represented more in the middle and upper-class segments more than most recently arriving Mexican immigrants.

Most immigrants from Mexico, as elsewhere, come from the lower classes and from families generationally employed in lower skilled jobs. They also are most likely from rural areas. Thus, many new Mexican immigrants are not skilled in white collar professions. Recently, some professionals from Mexico have been migrating, but to make the transition from one country to another involves re-training and re-adjusting to conform to US laws —i.e. professional licensing is required.

According to James P. Smith of the Research and Development Corporation, the children and grandchildren of Latino immigrants tend to lessen educational and income gaps with native whites. Immigrant Latino men make about half of what native whites do, while second generation US-born Latinos make about 78 percent of the salaries of their native white counterparts and by the third generation US-born Latinos make on average identical wages to their US-born white counterparts.

Huntington (2005) argues that the sheer number, concentration, linguistic homogeneity, and other characteristics of Latin American immigrants will erode the dominance of English as a nationally unifying language, weaken the country's dominant cultural values, and promote ethnic allegiances over a primary identification as an American. Testing these hypotheses with data from the U.S. Census and national and Los Angeles opinion surveys, Citrin et al. (2007) show that Hispanics generally acquire English and lose Spanish rapidly beginning with the second generation, and appear to be no more or less religious or committed to the work ethic than native-born non-Mexican American whites.

South et al. (2005) examine Hispanic spatial assimilation and inter-neighborhood geographic mobility. Their longitudinal analysis of seven hundred Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban immigrants followed from 1990 to 1995 finds broad support for hypotheses derived from the classical account of assimilation into American society. High income, English-language use, and embeddedness in American social contexts increased Latin American immigrants' geographic mobility into multi-ethnic neighborhoods. US citizenship and years spent in the United States were positively associated with geographic mobility into different neighborhoods, and coethnic contact was inversely associated with this form of mobility, but these associations operated largely through other predictors. Prior experiences of ethnic discrimination increased and therefore decreased the likelihood that Latino immigrants would move from their original neighborhoods, while residing in metropolitan areas with large Latino populations led to geographic moves into "less Anglo" census tracts.

Segregation Issues

In 2000, over nine million Mexicans Americans lived in areas considered highly segregated socially.

Segregated Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods with a high percentage of individuals who claim Latino ancestry are commonly referred to as "barrios" or "colonias." When translated from Spanish to English, barrio signifies "district" or "quarter" while colonia is the corresponding Mexican Spanish word.

A barrio has been defined as "a place where Latino immigrants can express communal culture and language within the larger American culture." In other words, the barrio is a sort of sanctuary for Spanish-speaking immigrants who may not yet be fully adjusted to the United States. In the barrio, they can converse in their native language, allowing one to communicate, find a job, and seek help with less pressure of speaking a second language. It is a place where Latino culture thrives and a source of comfort to a recent immigrant, as it would offer him or her a place to work and live while perfecting fluency of the English language.

However, some argue that the barrio also represents the inequality faced by many Mexican Americans in the United States. Barrios usually offer a lower quality of education, provide poorer jobs than other neighborhoods, and generally receive less government attention than wealthier more integrated Hispanic neighborhoods.

Housing Market Practices

Studies have shown that the segregation among Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants seems to be declining. One study found that Mexican American applicants were offered the same housing terms and conditions as Anglo Americans. They were asked to provide the same information (regarding employment, income, credit checks, etc.) and asked to meet the same general qualifications of their Anglo peers.

However, in this same study, it was found that Mexican Americans were more likely than Anglo Americans to be asked to pay a security deposit or application fee. Another interesting aspect of this study is that the Mexican American applicants were more likely to be placed onto a waiting list than the Anglo Americans applicants.

Latino Segregation versus Black Segregation

Historically, Blacks have faced much harsher treatment concerning segregation than any other racial, ethnic, or ancestral group. When comparing the segregation of Mexican Americans to that of Black Americans, there are two important facts that one must understand.

First, "Latino segregation is less severe and fundamentally different than Black residential segregation." Studies have shown that the separation of Latinos is more likely to be due to factors such as lower socioeconomic status and immigration while the segregation of African Americans is more likely to be due to larger issues such as racism. While Asians, Hispanics, and Amerindians may find themselves less segregated as they move up the socioeconomic ladder, many African Americans often continue to be spatially separated from Whites regardless of their socioeconomic status.

Segregated Schools

During certain periods, Mexican American children sometimes were forced to register at "Mexican schools", where classroom conditions were poor, the school year was shorter, and the quality of education was substandard.

Various reasons for the inferiority of the education given to Mexican American students have been listed by James A. Ferg-Cadima including: inadequate resources, poor equipment, unfit building construction, shortened school year (see below), failure to prevent drop out, limited access to high school, a watered down curriculum, poor instruction, disproportionate suspension, expulsion, harassment and non-enforced attendance rules.

In 1923, the Texas Education Survey Commission found that the school year for some non-white groups was 1.6 months shorter than the average school year. This may be connected to the fact that minority labor was needed during this time. As the agricultural field required the cheap labor provided by exploited minorities, it has been suggested that the minority school year was shortened to allow for these students to work instead of receive the extra 1.6 months of education.

Some have interpreted the shortened school year as a "means of social control" implementing policies to ensure that Mexican Americans would maintain the unskilled labor force required for a strong economy. A lesser education would serve to confine Mexican Americans to the bottom rung of the social ladder. By limiting the number of days that Mexican Americans could attend school and allotting time for these same students to work, in mainly agricultural and seasonal jobs, the prospects for higher education and upward mobility were slim.

Immigration and Segregation

Immigration hubs are popular destinations for Latino immigrants. They are increasing in size and continue to be highly segregated. The largest immigration hubs include Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. The highly segregated areas of these cities have historically served the purpose of allowing immigrants to become comfortable in the United States, accumulate wealth, and eventually leave. The historical view of immigration hubs sees these cities as temporary starting points for immigrants. They are not expected to live their entire lives within the United States inside segregated areas. Rather, they are expected to accumulate enough wealth to start a life within the larger society.

This model of immigration and residential segregation, explained above, is the model which has historically been accurate in describing the experiences of Latino immigrants. However, the patterns of immigration seen today no longer follows this model. This old model is termed the standard spatial assimilation model. More contemporary models are the polarization model and the diffusion model.

The spatial assimilation model posits that as immigrants would live within this country's borders, they would simultaneously become more comfortable in their new surroundings, their socioeconomic status would rise, and their ability to speak English would increase. The combination of these changes would allow for the immigrant to move out of the barrio and into the dominant society. This type of assimilation reflects the experiences of immigrants of the early twentieth century. Recent, more contemporary, models of residential segregation are the polarization model and the diffusion model are described below.

Polarization model suggests that the immigration of non-Black minorities into the United States further separates Blacks and Whites, as though the new immigrants are a buffer between them. This creates a hierarchy in which Blacks are at the bottom, Whites are at the top, and other groups fill the middle. In other words, the polarization model posits that Asians and Amerindians are less segregated than their African American peers because White American society would rather live closer to Asians or Amerindians than Blacks.

The diffusion model has also been suggested as a way of describing the immigrant's experience within the United States. This model is rooted in the belief that as time passes, more and more immigrants enter the country. This model suggests that as the United States becomes more populated with a more diverse set of peoples, stereotypes and discriminatory practices will decrease, as awareness and acceptness increase. The diffusion model predicts that new immigrants will break down old patterns of discrimination and prejudice, as one becomes more and more comfortable with the more diverse neighborhoods that are created through the influx of immigrants. Applying this model to the experiences of Mexican Americans forces one to see Mexican American immigrants as positive additions to the "American melting pot," in which as more additions are made to the pot, the more equal and accepting society will become.

Overcrowding

The issue of overcrowding is closely related to the issue of segregation and immigration. As immigrants enter the country, they are likely to settle in areas where their friends, family, or simply other who share their culture, have settled. It is not uncommon for many members of families, extended families, or friends, to live in what is considered "overcrowded" conditions.

A large aspect of the segregation of Latinos within the United States is overcrowding. Rates of overcrowding among Latinos, especially in American suburbs, are high. The U.S. Census Bureau considers a residence to be overcrowded if there is more than one person per room

There are various explanations for overcrowding. One widely held belief about overcrowding is based on a stereotype of living in close proximity simply to cultural preference. To expand on that point, it is widely believed that immigrant Hispanic families live in dense households because of their desire to remain in close proximity with extended family. However, this view does not paint the entire picture. Some families may live under one roof by choice and it is possible that Hispanic people may have different cultural standards than other population groups, thus allowing them to be more comfortable living with extended family underneath the same roof. However, one cannot reduce all problems of Hispanic overcrowding to cultural preference, as this offers an incomplete understanding of the issue at hand.

Hispanic people may live in overcrowded conditions out of economic necessity and simply because they choose to live differently than others. Lack of affordable housing and a poor selection of well-paying occupations may combine to create the necessity of many living close together. Because one certain family may find very few opportunities for sufficient housing or find themselves without adequate funds for a house of their own, they may be forced to live in crowded conditions.

The Chicano Movement and the Chicano Moratorium

In the heady days of the late 1960s, when the student movement was active around the globe, the Chicano movement conducted actions such as the mass walkouts by high school students in Denver and East Los Angeles in 1968 and the Chicano Moratorium in Los Angeles in 1970. The movement was particularly strong at the college level, where activists formed MEChA, an organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through education and political action, but also espouses revanchist ideals centered around "taking back" the American southwest for Mexicans. The Chicano Moratorium, formally known as the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, was a movement of Chicano anti-war activists that built a broad-based but fragile coalition of Mexican-American groups to organize opposition to the Vietnam War. The committee was led by activists from local colleges and members of the "Brown Berets", a group with roots in the high school student movement that staged walkouts in 1968, known as the East L.A. walkouts, also called "blowouts". The best known historical fact of the Moratorium was the death of Rubén Salazar, known for his reporting on civil rights and police brutality. The official story is that Salazar was killed by a tear gas canister fired by a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department into the Silver Dollar Café at the conclusion of the August 29 rally.

Mexican-American communities

There are large Mexican American populations, by size or percentage, in the cities of:

Los Angeles, California - home to over 1 million of Mexican ancestry, another 2 million throughout Los Angeles County, and a total of six million in the five-county Greater Los Angeles Area. Largest Mexican ancestry populated city in the United States.

* Culver City, California - Also the site of the infamous Zoot Suit Riots in 1943.

* Long Beach, California - Third largest city in Southern California, One of many cities in the region with a large Mexican/Hispanic population.

La Puente, California - about two-thirds are of Mexican ancestry or Hispanic, one of the largest Hispanic/ (in percentage, the most Mexican-American community) populations in California.

Chicago, Illinois - 1.4 million of Mexican ancestry in the Chicago metropolitan area and the third largest Mexican community in the USA.

Houston, Texas - second largest Mexican ancestry community in the United States.

Phoenix, Arizona - fourth largest Mexican-American population.

Tucson, Arizona - 30% of the almost 1 million people in the metro area.

Dallas, Texas - fifth largest Mexican-American population and over 1.5 million Mexicans in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex (3rd largest foreign born Mexican population in the US per MSA).

Inland Empire, California (Riverside/ San Bernardino Counties) - About a third of the population are of Mexican descent.

* Indio, California and Coachella, California are about 70 to 90 Percent Latino (primarily Mexican-American).

San Antonio, Texas - over half of the city's population (52%, 685 thousand)

San Diego, California - slightly more than one-fourth of the city's population is Hispanic, primarily Mexican American; however, this percentage is the lowest of any significant border city.

El Paso, Texas - largest Mexican-American community bordering a state of Mexico.

South Texas - Heavily populated by Mexican-Americans, who are the ethnic majority, in a region spanning from Laredo to Corpus Christi to Brownsville.

San Francisco Bay Area - also with over one million Hispanics, many of whom are Mexican Americans, both U.S. born and foreign-born (see also Oakland about 10-20% Hispanic and San Francisco - the Mission District section).

* San Jose, California - Nearly one-third of the city's population is Mexican-American or of Hispanic origin; San Jose has the largest Mexican-American population within the Bay Area.

Central Valley of California both the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys have majority Mexican American communities.

Denver, Colorado - Colorado has the eighth largest population of Hispanics, seventh high percentage of Hispanics, fourth largest population of Mexican-Americans, and sixth highest percentage of Mexican-Americans in the United States. According to the 2010 census, there are over 1 million Mexican-Americans in Colorado. Over one-third of the city's population is Mexican-American or Hispanic/Latino, as well as approximately one-fourth of the entire Denver Metropolitan area. About 17% of the cities population is foreign born, mostly from Latin America. Greeley, Colorado - Over one-third of the cities population is Latino, mostly Mexican-American.

Garden City is Latino majority, and Evans has a very large Latino population as well.

Southern Colorado is home to many communities of Hispanics descended from Mexican settlers who arrived during Spanish colonial times. Roughly half of Pueblo's population is Latino, mostly Mexican-American. Many other towns in southern Colorado have high proportions of Mexican-Americans. La Junta, Rocky Ford, Las Animas, Lamar, Walsenburg, and Trinidad all have large Mexican American communities.

San Luis Valley - The San Luis Valley has many towns with large Mexican-American populations. Antonito, Blanca, Center, Del Norte, Fort Garland, Monte Vista, and Romeo are all Latino majority.

The Yakima Valley and Tri-Cities, Washington - This region of Washington contains many communities of Mexican-American majority thanks to high demand for agricultural labor.

A Dynamic Community

In the 1990s and 2000s, the Midwestern United States became a major destination for Mexican immigrants. But Mexican-Americans were already present in the Midwest's industrial cities and urban areas. Another destination was the Northeastern United States, in places such as the Monongahela Valley, Pennsylvania; Mahoning Valley, Ohio; New Haven, Connecticut along with other Latin American nationalities; Washington, D.C. with Maryland and Northern Virginia included; Long Island of New York state; the Jersey Shore region and the Delaware Valley, New Jersey.

Communities that consist mostly of recent-arrived immigrants from Mexico, are also present in other parts of the rural Southeastern United States, in states such as Georgia, Maryland, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas. A growing Mexican-American population is also present in urban areas such as Orlando, Florida with the Central Florida region included; the Atlanta metro area; Charlotte, North Carolina- with a majority Hispanic enclave of Eastland; New Orleans which increased after Hurricane Katrina in Sep. 2005; the Hampton Roads, Virginia area; the states of Maine, New Hampshire and Delaware; and Pennsylvania esp. in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

US communities with high percentages of Mexican ancestry

The top 25 US communities with various Mexican American populations are:

U.S. communities with the highest proportion of residents born in Mexico

Top 25 U.S. communities with the highest proportion of residents born in Mexico are:

See also

Mexican people

Chicanismo

Chicano

Chicano literature

Chicano poetry

Hyphenated American

List of Mexican American writers

List of Mexican Americans

Mexicans abroad

List of Mexican people

Notes

References

Barrow, Lisa and Rouse, Cecilia Elena. "Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity?" American Economic Review 2005 95(2): 83-87. Issn: 0002-8282 Fulltext: in Ingenta and Ebsco

Jack Citrin, Amy Lerman, Michael Murakami and Kathryn Pearson, "Testing Huntington: Is Hispanic Immigration a Threat to American Identity?" Perspectives on Politics, Volume 5, Issue 01, February 2007, pp 31–48

De La Garza, Rodolfo O., Martha Menchaca, Louis DeSipio. Barrio Ballots: Latino Politics in the 1990 Elections (1994)

De la Garza, Rodolfo O. Awash in the Mainstream: Latino Politics in the 1996 Elections (1999) * De la Garza, Rodolfo O., and Louis Desipio. Ethnic Ironies: Latino Politics in the 1992 Elections (1996)

De la Garza, Rodolfo O. Et al. Latino Voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Perspectives on American Politics (1992)

Arnoldo De León, Mexican Americans in Texas: A Brief History, 2nd ed. (1999)

Erlinda Gonzales-Berry, David R. Maciel, editors, The Contested Homeland: A Chicano History of New Mexico 2000, ISBN 0-8263-2199-

Nancie L. González; The Spanish-Americans of New Mexico: A Heritage of Pride (1969)

Hero, Rodney E. Latinos and the U.S. Political System: Two-Tiered Pluralism. (1992)

Garcia, F. Chris. Latinos and the Political System. (1988)

Samuel P. Huntington. Who Are We: The Challenges to America's National Identity (2005)

Kenski, Kate and Tisinger, Russell. "Hispanic Voters in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential General Elections." Presidential Studies Quarterly 2006 36(2): 189-202. Issn: 0360-4918 Fulltext: in Swetswise and Ingenta

David Montejano, Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986 (1987)

Pachon, Harry and Louis Desipio. New Americans by Choice: Political Perspectives of Latino Immigrants. (1994)

Rosales, Francisco A., Chicano!: The history of the Mexican American civil rights movement. (1997). ISBN 978-1-55885-201-3

Smith, Robert Courtney. Mexican New York: Transnational Lives of New Immigrants (2005), links with old village, based on interviews

South, Scott J.; Crowder, Kyle; and Chavez, Erick. "Geographic Mobility and Spatial Assimilation among U.S. Latino Immigrants." International Migration Review 2005 39(3): 577-607. Issn: 0197-9183

Suárez-Orozco, Marcelo M. And Mariela M. Páez. Latinos: Remaking America. (2002)

Villarreal, Roberto E., and Norma G. Hernandez. Latinos and Political Coalitions: Political Empowerment for the 1990s (1991)

Further reading

William A. Nericcio (2007). "Tex(t)-Mex: Seductive Hallucination of the 'Mexican' in America"; utpress book; book galleryblog

John R. Chavez (1984). "The Lost Land: A Chicano Image of the American Southwest", New Mexico University Publications.

External links

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives - In the Chicano/Latino Collections

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives - Digital Chicano Art

Calisphere > California Cultures > Hispanic Americans

ImaginArte - Interpreting and Re-imaging Chican@Art

Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race (book)

Mexican-American.org - Network of the Mexican American Community

Mexican Americans MSN Encarta (Archived 2009-11-01)

Think Mexican - News, Culture, and Information on the Mexican Community

Category:Hispanic and Latino American history Category:American people of Mexican descent Category:Ethnic groups in the United States

ca:Mexicanoamericà cbk-zam:Mexicanos-Americans de:Mexican American es:Mexicano-estadounidense eo:Meksik-usonanoj fr:Chicanos ko:멕시칸-아메리칸 it:Messicano-statunitensi nl:Mexicaanse Amerikanen simple:Mexican American

Richest people of Ukraine are several ratings compiled and published often by two Ukrainian magazines Focus and Korrespondent. Korrespondent conducts its rating since 2006, while both magazines publish them simultaneously since 2007. Both magazines only include the top performers such as top-50, top-100, top-200 etc.

__TOC__

Criteria

The Korrespondent criteria for the ratings stay almost unchanged since were initiated in 2006. The only change that took place it was extending of the ratings from top-50 top-100 for 2010. The ratings come out on June 11 every year. The calculations for the magazine are conducted by financial specialists of the investment company Dragon Capital. Those calculations are made by an established system of assets evaluation based on the market capitalization of businesses and the method of comparable evaluation. Korrespondent also contacts every potential candidate to the list (ratings) to confirm the available information.

The Focus criteria change slightly from year to year. See below for more information.

Richest people of Ukraine (2010)

Legend
! Icon	! Description
	Has increased from the list for 2009.
	Has decreased from the list for 2009.

Korrespondent

Top-10 included style="text-align:center;"

No.	! Name	! Net worth (USD)	! Age	! City/Country	! Sources of wealth
style="text-align:center;"			$17.8 billion ||	43	Donetsk	SCM Holdings
style="text-align:center;"		|	$6.5 billion	47	Dnipropetrovsk	Privat Group
style="text-align:center;"		|	$6.3 billion	48	Dniprodzerzhynsk	Privat Group
style="text-align:center;"		|	$3.1 billion	49	Kiev	"EastOne LLC"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$2.4 billion	36		"Ferrexpo"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$2.3 billion	56		"Donetskstal"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$2.1 billion	44		Privat Group
style="text-align:center;"		|	$1.48 billion	52		ISD
style="text-align:center;"		|	$1.3 billion	42		MKhP
style="text-align:center;"		|	$1.1 billion	62

Focus

Top-10 included style="text-align:center;"

No.	! Name	! Net worth (USD)	! Age	! City/Country	! Sources of wealth
style="text-align:center;"			$7.52 billion ||	43	Donetsk	SCM Holdings
style="text-align:center;"		|	$2.95 billion	47	Dnipropetrovsk	Privat Group
style="text-align:center;"		|	$2.86 billion	49	Kiev	"EastOne LLC"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$2.74 billion	48	Dniprodzerzhynsk	Privat Group
style="text-align:center;"		|	$1.66 billion	71	Mariupol	"Azovstal"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$1.65 billion	46		"Smart Holdings"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$1.30 billion	36		"Ferrexpo"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$1.10 billion	44		"Enerhetychny standard"
style="text-align:center;"		|	$0.93 billion	42		MKhP
style="text-align:center;"		|	$0.81 billion	63		"Yaroslaviv val"

See also

References

External links

Korrespondent ratings

Focus ratings

Ukraine Category:Lists of people by magazine appearance Category:Lists of Ukrainian people

uk:Найбагатші люди України 2010

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Name	The Miz
Names	The Miz
Height
Weight
Birth date	October 08, 1980
Birth place	Parma, Ohio
Resides	Los Angeles, California
Billed	Cleveland, Ohio
Trainer	UPW staffAl SnowBill DeMott
Debut	2001 }}

Michael "Mike" Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler and former reality television personality, better known by his ring name The Miz. He is signed to WWE, where he competes on the Raw brand.

Mizanin first gained fame as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: Back to New York, which first aired in 2001, and its spinoff series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge. He later entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition that would award the winner a WWE contract, and became a finalist. Mizanin has also made appearances on television shows including Battle of the Network Reality Stars, Fear Factor, Identity, Ghost Hunters, Dinner Impossible and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?.

Mizanin trained and wrestled with Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Deep South Wrestling, where he became the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion. Mizanin was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), working in tag team action and winning the tag team title, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on one occasion.

After signing with WWE, Mizanin became host of the annual WWE Diva Search competition in 2006. Following his hosting duties, Mizanin made his wrestling debut in September 2006, as a villain who went "undefeated". In 2007, was drafted from SmackDown to the ECW brand, where he formed a partnership with John Morrison, in which the two held both the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship. He was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 WWE Draft, and won the WWE United States Championship on two occasions. He also won WWE Unified Tag Team Championship with The Big Show and the WWE Tag Team Championship with John Cena. In July 2010, he won a Money in the Bank ladder match at the first WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view, earning a contract for a WWE Championship match, which he used in November to win the WWE Championship for the first time. In 2011, The Miz was ranked number one on Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI 500 list.

School career

Mizanin, a native of Parma, Ohio, attended Normandy High School, where he was the captain of the basketball and cross country teams. He also participated in swimming, the student government and was the editor of his high school yearbook. He then attended Miami University, where he was a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity, and studied business at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business.

Television career

Mizanin dropped out of college, where he was pursuing a degree in business, in order to appear on the tenth season of MTV's reality television program The Real World in 2001. He went on to appear in multiple seasons of its spin-off series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, along with contestants from both Road Rules and The Real World, including Battle of the Seasons, The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, and The Inferno 2. Except for Battle of the Sexes 2, Mizanin made it to the end of the rest of the Challenges on which he competed, and won both Battle of the Seasons and The Inferno 2.

It was during an episode of The Real World that Mizanin first displayed an alter ego known as "The Miz". In contrast to Mizanin's usually placid demeanor, The Miz was angry, combative, and headstrong. Mizanin later realized that "The Miz" would make an excellent professional wrestling gimmick.

In 2004, he appeared on the Bravo reality show Battle of the Network Reality Stars, where his team finished second. Mizanin was also a contestant in the "Reality Stars" episode of Fear Factor. His partner was his former girlfriend and cast mate, Trishelle Cannatella, and the two won the competition. In April 2007, he appeared on the game show Identity, where he appeared as a stranger, and contestant John Kim correctly identified his identity as a professional wrestler by the odd way he added "Miz-" before most words. In 2008, Mizanin appeared on the Sci Fi reality series Ghost Hunters Live as a guest investigator. In 2009, Mizanin appeared on two episodes of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, which were both aired on September 29. He appeared on an episode of Destroy Build Destroy on March 3, 2010.

Professional wrestling career

Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler which he had harbored from an early age, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University. He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as the Miz. During his time with UPW, the Miz competed in UPW's Mat War's tournament, making it to the finals before losing to Tony Stradlin.

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2004–present)

Tough Enough and training (2004–2006)

In October 2004, Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a WWE contract and $1,000,000. Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, 2004, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers, and made it to the final round. At the pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction. On the December 16, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was announced as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow.

Despite losing the Tough Enough contest, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE, and he was eventually offered a developmental contract. Mizanin was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to train under Bill DeMott, relocating to McDonough, Georgia in the process. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister). On December 1, 2005, Mizanin defeated Mike Knox in the finals of a tournament to determine the inaugural Deep South Heavyweight Champion. He continued his partnership with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005.

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006)

On January 3, 2006, it was reported that Mizanin had been transferred to OVW. On the January 18, 2006, OVW TV show, Mizanin made his debut as "The Miz", with a Miz TV segment, where he was shown talking backstage. On the January 28, 2006, edition of the OVW television show, The Miz wrestled his first singles match against Rene Dupree, but lost by countout.

At the February 8, 2006 TV taping, The Miz and Chris Cage captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, defeating Chet the Jett and Seth Skyfire. In what was deemed a "disciplinary move", WWE released Cage over the weekend of March 18, 2006, making it necessary for Miz and Cage to drop the titles. On March 19, 2006, Deuce Shade defeated The Miz in a singles contest to win the championship for his team The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Domino).

Debut on SmackDown (2006–2007)

On March 7, 2006, WWE's official website featured a video of "The Miz" stating that he was headed to SmackDown! and throughout April, SmackDown! aired vignettes hyping his debut. When Mizanin actually attempted to make his debut on the April 21, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, however, he was, in storyline barred from entering the arena by "network executive" Palmer Cannon who told him that he had been "canceled" before having security escort him from the premises.

On May 31, 2006, WWE's official website announced that he would serve as SmackDown!'s "host". The Miz debuted as the "host" on June 2, 2006, announcing the planned card at the top of the show and attempting to hype up the crowd. Other "host" duties included backstage interviews and hosting a bikini contest. The hosting duties seemed sporadic at best, with some weeks having little to no involvement of Miz at all. Starting in July, Miz, along with Ashley Massaro, became host of the annual Diva Search competition appearing on both Raw and SmackDown!.

After the end of the Diva Search competition, The Miz returned exclusively to SmackDown! and adopted a villainous persona, starting his in-ring competition with a win over Tatanka in a September 2006 episode of SmackDown!. After this win he, along with commentator Michael Cole, began to note whenever possible that he was "undefeated", though he only wrestled five matches over the next two months, defeating such superstars as Matt Hardy, Funaki, and Scotty 2 Hotty. At the same time he began a feud with Diva Search winner Layla El, who spurned his advances on more than one occasion, leading to Miz helping Kristal defeat her in various competitions. Soon, however, Miz and Kristal found themselves being stalked by The Boogeyman. This began a feud in which the Boogeyman ended the Miz's winning streak at December's Armageddon event.

Following a brief absence from television, The Miz returned to SmackDown! to host an interview segment called Miz TV. After the unsuccessful segment, the Miz returned to in-ring competition with a more intense style and began to pick up wins once again. On the June 11, 2007 episode of Raw, Mizanin faced off against Snitsky in a match to determine a draft pick for SmackDown!. Snitsky easily defeated the Miz to give ECW the draft pick, but after constantly assaulting the Miz after the match, the referee reversed the decision and awarded the match to Miz, thus allowing SmackDown! a draft pick. SmackDown!'s pick was then revealed to be Chris Masters.

ECW and teaming with John Morrison (2007–2009)

Miz was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft. He was absent from the first few weeks of ECW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Miz TV Crashes ECW video segments. He made his debut on the July 10 episode of ECW in a match against Nunzio, which he won. Following this match, Extreme Exposé began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet". Extreme Exposé then became managers for The Miz. He then began a feud with Balls Mahoney, after Kelly Kelly began to fall in love with Mahoney on screen. On the October 2 episode of ECW, it was revealed that Miz owned the contracts of Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams, and used this excuse to stop Kelly from going out with Mahoney. He was voted at Cyber Sunday to face CM Punk, for the ECW Championship but lost the match. On the November 16 episode of SmackDown, he became one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison when they defeated Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a title match, which gave the Miz his first title within the company.

In February 2008, Miz and Morrison were given a streaming segment on the WWE website named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture, showing off their promo skills. Morrison and The Miz co-wrote each episode of The Dirt Sheet each week. As the duo continued to hold the titles, WWE downplayed the angle of Miz and Morrison disliking each other, and portrayed them as friends. The team had many successful title defenses over the next few months, before dropping the championship to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at the Great American Bash in a Fatal Four-Way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle. Neither Miz nor Morrison were pinned, as Hawkins pinned Jesse to win the titles. Miz and Morrison soon followed a feud with Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) as a battle of their webshows, "Word Up" and "The Dirt Sheet". The two would be victorious against Cryme Tyme in a match at Cyber Sunday where they were voted in. On December 13, 2008, Miz and Morrison defeated Kofi Kingston and CM Punk to win the World Tag Team Championship during a WWE house show in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The team then engaged themselves in a feud with The Colóns (Carlito and Primo). In a dark match at WrestleMania XXV, they lost the World Tag Team Championship to The Colóns in a Lumberjack match to unify the World Tag Team and the WWE Tag Team titles.

On the April 13 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Kofi Kingston due to Morrison's inadvertent interference, which gave Raw a draft pick in the 2009 WWE Draft. The pick was then revealed to be The Miz, and he subsequently attacked Morrison, ending their partnership. He challenged John Cena to a match on the April 27 episode of Raw, but as Cena was out due to injury, Miz claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks, until Cena defeated him in a singles match at The Bash. On the August 3 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Cena, which meant that, in storyline, he was banned from the Staples Center, Raw and SummerSlam. The following week, on August 10, Miz competed under a mask as "The Calgary Kid", and won a Contract on Pole match against Eugene, earning a contract in storyline, and revealing himself by removing his mask afterwards. After removing the mask to reveal himself. he cut a promo and debut his catchphrase "Because I am The Miz and I Awesome."

Raw (2009–present)

The following week on Raw, The Miz announced his intention to challenge for the WWE United States Championship, and also debuted new ring attire and a new finishing move, the Skull Crushing Finale, to defeat Evan Bourne. He challenged for the United States Championship at the Night of Champions, Breaking Point and Hell in a Cell pay-per-views, but was unsuccessful. On the October 5 episode of Raw, the night after Hell in a Cell, The Miz received a rematch for the championship, and defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Championship and his first singles championship in WWE. The following pay-per-view event, Bragging Rights, was themed with interpromotional matches and now that The Miz was the second-tier champion on Raw he was booked against SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion, his erstwhile tag team partner John Morrison. In the build up to their first match since splitting, the two hosted a one-off edition of The Dirt Sheet on the October 16 episode of SmackDown where the two compared themselves to '80s tag team The Rockers, debating over which is more comparable to the successful Shawn Michaels and which was the less successful Marty Jannetty. At Bragging Rights, Miz pinned Morrison to become the only member of the Raw roster to win an interpromotional match. The following month at Survivor Series, Miz captained a team of five wrestlers against Team Morrison in a five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and once again bested his former partner.

In 2010, The Miz began a rivalry with MVP that began with a critically well-received verbal exchange between the two. The two met in an unadvertised match for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble event with Miz retaining his title, but in the Royal Rumble match itself MVP eliminated both himself and The Miz. During the rivalry with MVP, Miz began showing signs of an allegiance with The Big Show and on the February 8 episode of Raw, the two defeated champions D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) and The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk and Luke Gallows) to become the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions.

On February 16, it was announced that he would be on the WWE NXT show as the storyline mentor of Daniel Bryan. During the 2010 WWE Draft on the April 26 episode of Raw, ShoMiz lost the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship to The Hart Dynasty when Tyson Kidd made The Miz submit to the Sharpshooter. After the match, The Big Show knocked out The Miz, and was later drafted to the SmackDown brand, leaving The Miz on Raw. On May 10, Kidd defeated The Miz in a match, which earned any member of The Hart Dynasty a match for the United States Championship, and The Miz, who was allowed to chose his opponent, elected to face Bret Hart. On the following episode of Raw on May 17, Hart defeated The Miz to win the United States Championship, despite Chris Jericho, William Regal, and Vladimir Kozlov attempting to interfere on The Miz's behalf. The Miz had a tumultuous relationship with Bryan, who was eliminated from NXT on May 11, although he returned the following week to attack The Miz.

On June 1, The Miz announced that he would be returning as a Pro for the second season of NXT, to mentor Alex Riley, the only Pro to do so. On the June 14 episode of Raw, The Miz defeated R-Truth, John Morrison, and Zack Ryder in a fatal four-way match to win the United States Championship for the second time, and successfully retained the championship against R-Truth at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view.

On July 18, at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, The Miz won a Money in the Bank ladder match to win a contract for a WWE Championship match that he could utilize at any time over the next year. Over the next few weeks, The Miz attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on the WWE Champion Sheamus, but was continually interrupted by other wrestlers before the matches could occur, which meant that he retained the contract for future use. Daniel Bryan returned to WWE at SummerSlam, taking The Miz's place on Team WWE, causing The Miz to attack him. This began a rivalry between the two, with The Miz losing the United States Championship to Bryan at the Night of Champions event in September. The following month, Miz defeated John Cena to become the captain of Team Raw, but at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view Team Raw—The Miz, R-Truth, John Morrison, Santino Marella, Sheamus, CM Punk, and Ezekiel Jackson—were unsuccessful in defeating Team SmackDown.

On the November 22 episode of Raw, following a successful WWE Championship defense by Randy Orton against Wade Barrett, he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to become the new WWE Champion making him the first person from Tough Enough to win the WWE Championship. He successfully defended the championship against Jerry Lawler in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match on the following episode of Raw, due to help from Michael Cole and Riley, and again at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view in December by defeating Orton in a Tables match following interference from Alex Riley. He defeated Orton again at the Royal Rumble, after interference from CM Punk, in January 2011 and Lawler the following month at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to retain the championship.

The night after Elimination Chamber, The Miz and John Cena were paired together by the Raw General Manager to challenge The Corre (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The Miz and Cena were successful in winning the titles (making Miz a double champion and seemingly turning him into a tweener), but lost them back to Corre immediately afterward in a rematch, after The Miz turned on Cena. This made their reign the shortest in the championship's history. The following week, The Miz lost Riley as his apprentice after Cena defeated Riley in a steel cage match with the stipulation that if Cena won, Riley was fired from his job, but The Miz hired Riley back, this time as his VP of Corporate Communications, in mid-March. On April 3 at WrestleMania XXVII, The Miz successfully defended the WWE Championship against Cena, following interference from The Rock. At the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on May 1, The Miz lost the WWE Championship to Cena, in a triple threat steel cage match, also involving Morrison.

The following night on Raw, The Miz failed to regain the championship from Cena in a singles match when he lost by disqualification, and failed to regain the championship again in an "I Quit" match at Over the Limit .

The night after Over the Limit, on Raw, The Miz fired Riley, blaming him for not being able to regain the championship. This led to Riley attacking his former mentor, sending him crashing into a barricade at ringside and then head first over the announce table which turned Riley a fan favorite for the first time in WWE. On the May 30 edition of RAW, The Miz assaulted Riley after an interview from Michael Cole, but Riley gained the upper hand and Miz escaped through the crowd. At Capitol Punishment, Riley defeated Miz in a singles-match. He went on to lose to Riley in various tag team and singles matches. It was later announced that Miz would be a participant in the Raw's Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank, though he was unsuccessful in winning the match.

Personal Life

He is in a two and a half year relationship with WWE Diva Maryse .

In wrestling

Finishing moves

Mizard of Oz (Swinging inverted DDT) – 2006–2007

Reality Check (Running knee lift to the side of a bent over opponent's head followed by a neckbreaker slam) – 2007–2009

Skull-Crushing Finale (Full nelson facebuster) – 2009–present

Signature moves

Inverted facelock backbreaker followed into a neckbreaker slam

Discus punch – OVW

Swinging corner clothesline

Managers

Kenny Bolin

Roni Jonah

ODB

Layla

Kelly Kelly

Brooke

The Bella Twins

Nikki Bella

Alex Riley

Nicknames

"Mr. Money in the Bank"

"The Awesome One"

"The Chick Magnet"

*"The Most Must-See Superstar / WWE Champion in History"

"The Cleveland Screamer'''"

"The Grand Mizard of Lust"

"The Monk of Mojo"

Entrance themes

*"Reality" by Jim Johnston (September 1, 2006–December 28, 2009)

"I Came to Play" by Downstait (January 4, 2010–present)

Championships and accomplishments

Deep South Wrestling

Deep South Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Ohio Valley Wrestling

OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chris Cage

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

WWE Championship (1 time)

WWE Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with John Morrison (1), The Big Show (1) and John Cena (1)

World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with John Morrison (1) and The Big Show (1)

Mr. Money in the Bank (Raw) (1 time)

Slammy Award for Best WWE.com Exclusive (2008) – with John Morrison

Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year (2008) – with John Morrison

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Most Improved (2008, 2009)

Tag Team of the Year (2008) with John Morrison

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him #1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011

References

External links

WWE profile

Online World of Wrestling profile

Category:Living people Category:American professional wrestlers

ar:ذا ميز bar:Mike Mizanin bg:Майк Мизанин ca:The Miz da:Mike Mizanin de:The Miz es:Mike Mizanin fa:د میز fr:Michael Mizanin ko:더 미즈 it:Mike Mizanin hu:The Miz nl:Mike Mizanin ja:マイク・ミザニン no:The Miz pl:Mike Mizanin pt:The Miz ro:The Miz ru:Мизанин, Майк simple:Mike Mizanin fi:The Miz th:เดอะ มิซ tr:Mike Mizanin

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Name	Rey Mysterio, Jr.
Names	La Lagartija Verde (The Green Lizard)ColibríRey Misterio, Jr.Rey Mysterio, Jr.Rey Mysterio
Height
Weight
Birth date	December 11, 1974
Birth place	Chula Vista, California
Resides	San Diego, California
Billed	San Diego, California
Trainer	Rey Misterio, Sr.
Debut	April 30, 1989 }}

Óscar Gutiérrez (born December 11, 1974) is a Mexican American professional wrestler best known by his ring name Rey Mysterio. He is currently signed to WWE competing on its Raw brand, however he is currently inactive due to an injury. Gutiérrez was trained by his uncle Rey Mysterio and wrestled early on in Mexico where he learned the Lucha Libre high flying style that has been his trademark.

Gutiérrez originally worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) in Mexico, from 1992 to 1995. He wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1995 to 1996 and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1996 to 2001, as Rey Misterio, Jr./Rey Mysterio, Jr. but dropped the "Junior" from his name when he began working for WWE in 2002.

Mysterio is known for having a high flying style, which helped kick-start the cruiserweight wrestling revolution in the United States in the late 1990s during his time in WCW. In WCW, Mysterio won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship five times, the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times, and the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship once with Billy Kidman as part of the Filthy Animals. In WWE, Mysterio is a three time world champion having held the World Heavyweight Championship twice, the WWE Championship once and is currently listed as the lightest world champion in WWE history. He has also held the WWE World Cruiserweight Championship three times (a record eight times overall when added with his WCW reigns), the WWE Tag Team Championship four times (also a record—shared with two others), and the WWE Intercontinental Championship twice. All totaled, he has won 21 titles between WWE and WCW. Mysterio was the 21st person to win the WWE Triple Crown Championship, and was the winner of the 2006 Royal Rumble.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Mysterio made his debut in Mexico on April 30, 1989 when he was only 14 years old. He was trained by his uncle Rey Mysterio and wrestled early on in Mexico where he learned the Lucha Libre high flying style that has been his trademark. He had ring names such as "La Lagartija Verde (The Green Lizard)" and "Colibrí" before his uncle gave him the name of Rey Misterio, Jr./Rey Mysterio, Jr.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (1992–1995)

In Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), Mysterio feuded with Juventud Guerrera. Mysterio's uncle Misterio, Sr. also took on Juventud in a tag match: Misterio, Sr. and Mysterio, Jr., taking on Juventud and his father Fuerza Guerrera. Mysterio commonly teamed with the similarly undersized high flyer known as Romy "Romeo" Magruder.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995–1996)

Mysterio signed with Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 1995. He debuted in September at Gangsta's Paradise, defeating Psicosis, who was also making his ECW debut. A feud between the two began, which included a two out of three falls match and a Mexican Death match. Mysterio also had a series of matches with ECW-newcomer Juventud Guerrera during the first half of 1996.

World Championship Wrestling (1996–2001)

Cruiserweight division (1996–1999)

Rey Mysterio, Jr. made his World Championship Wrestling (WCW) debut on June 16, 1996 at The Great American Bash, challenging Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, which Malenko retained by cheating to win. In July at Bash at the Beach, he defeated longtime rival Psicosis in a number one contender's match to earn another opportunity at the Cruiserweight title. The next night, on the July 8 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, he defeated Malenko to win his first Cruiserweight Championship. He reigned as champion for three months, which included title defenses against the likes of Ultimate Dragon, Malenko, and Super Caló before he lost the title to Malenko at Halloween Havoc. Following his Cruiserweight Championship reign, Mysterio challenged Ultimate Dragon for the J-Crown Championship, but was unsuccessful in his title match at World War 3 in November.

In early 1997, he feuded with Prince Iaukea over the WCW World Television Championship. Mysterio was defeated in his title match against Iaukea at SuperBrawl VII after Lord Steven Regal attacked him. Mysterio also lost a championship rematch at Uncensored in March. Mysterio soon began a feud with the New World Order (nWo), which culminated when he lost a Mexican Death match to nWo member Konnan at Road Wild in August. Mysterio then became involved in a feud with his real-life friend and Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero. He defeated Guerrero in a Title vs. Mask match at Halloween Havoc to win the Cruiserweight Championship for the second time. On the November 10, 1997 edition of Nitro, he lost the title back to Guerrero. They had a rematch at World War 3, which Mysterio also lost.

On the January 15, 1998 edition of WCW Thunder, Mysterio defeated Juventud to win his third Cruiserweight Championship, but lost it nine days later to Chris Jericho at Souled Out. After the match, Jericho continued the beating by using a toolbox he found at ringside. This storyline was used to cover Mysterio's need for a knee operation that kept him out of the ring for six months. He made his return at Bash at the Beach, where he defeated Jericho for his fourth Cruiserweight championship. The next night, however, the result was overturned and the belt returned to Jericho due to the interference by Dean Malenko. Later that year, Eddie Guerrero formed a Mexican stable known as the Latino World Order (LWO) (a spin off of New World Order) that included nearly every luchador in the promotion. Mysterio continually refused to join and feuded with Guerrero and the LWO members, including winning a match against longtime rival and LWO member Psicosis in a match at Road Wild. He, however, was finally forced to join the group after losing a match to Eddie Guerrero. Mysterio's on-and-off tag team partner Billy Kidman joined him during the feud with LWO, wrestling against the LWO despite Mysterio being a part of the group. His alliance with Kidman was formed after Mysterio helped Kidman defeat Juventud for the Cruiserweight Title at World War 3. Mysterio went up against Kidman for the Cruiserweight title at Starrcade 1998 but was unsuccessful winning back the title in a Triangle match that also involved Juventud. Kidman once again defeated Mysterio for the Cruiserweight title at Souled Out 1999 in a Fatal Four-Way match that also included Psicosis and Juventud.

Giant Killer and Unmasking (1999)

In 1999, after the two factions of nWo reformed – nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac – they demanded that the LWO disband. Mysterio refused to take off his LWO colors and was attacked by the nWo as a result. This led to a match at SuperBrawl IX where Mysterio and tag partner Konnan lost a "Hair vs. Mask match" against Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, forcing Mysterio to remove his mask. After the match, he phoned his uncle to tell him the news. Mysterio has publicly expressed his disappointment over being unmasked:

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Mysterio later became a "giant killer" by defeating large opponents such as Kevin Nash, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Scott Norton. He faced Nash at Uncensored in a match where Lex Luger interfered and helped Nash in winning the match. Although he participated in several notable matches with some of the heavyweight top card wrestlers, it was made very clear to him that he would never receive a push to become a main eventer. This was due to Eric Bischoff utilizing cruiserweights as alternative, mid-card entertainment as opposed to the more conventional style that led WCW programming. As one of the top wrestlers in the cruiserweight division, Mysterio would go on to voice his disdain in regards to not being pushed:

The next night on the March 15 Nitro, he defeated Billy Kidman to win his fourth Cruiserweight Championship. On the March 22 Spring Breakout edition of Nitro, Mysterio got his first shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against champion Ric Flair when the names of (allegedly) nearly everyone in the company were put into a hat and a lottery was held. El Dandy was the lottery winner, but he was injured, and Mysterio took the shot instead. The match ended with a disqualification win for Flair, even though Arn Anderson's interference on Flair's behalf should have theoretically disqualified Flair. The following week, Mysterio and Kidman teamed with each other and defeated Flair's Four Horsemen stablemates Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship, making Mysterio a double champion. Mysterio successfully defended his Cruiserweight Title against his tag team partner Kidman at Spring Stampede before losing the title on the April 19 edition of Nitro to Psicosis in a Fatal Four-Way match that also involved Juventud Guerrera and Blitzkrieg. On the following edition of Nitro, he defeated Psicosis to win his fifth Cruiserweight Championship. At Slamboree, Mysterio and Kidman lost the World Tag Team titles to Raven and Perry Saturn in a Triangle match, also involving former champions Benoit and Malenko.

No Limit Soldiers; Filthy Animals (1999–2001)

In the summer of 1999, Mysterio teamed with longtime friend Konnan, becoming members of Master P's No Limit Soldiers, feuding with the West Texas Rednecks. At The Great American Bash, they defeated Rednecks members Curt Hennig and Bobby Duncum, Jr. in a tag team match. At Bash at the Beach, they defeated the Rednecks in a four-on-four Elimination tag team match when Mysterio pinned Hennig. After Master P's departure from WCW, Mysterio formed a stable with Eddie Guerrero and Billy Kidman known as the Filthy Animals. The three wrestlers soon began a feud with the Dead Pool. The Filthy Animals defeated the Dead Pool in a six-man tag team match at Road Wild and at Fall Brawl. On the August 19 edition of Thunder, Mysterio lost the Cruiserweight Title to Lenny Lane.

On the October 18 edition of Nitro, Mysterio and Konnan teamed up together (after Konnan joined the Filthy Animals) to defeat Harlem Heat for the World Tag Team Championship. Mysterio, however, was injured during the match and was sidelined due to injury. Billy Kidman substituted for Mysterio and teamed with Konnan during their title defense against Harlem Heat and The First Family, in which the Filthy Animals went on to lose the title back to Harlem Heat.

Mysterio returned in the spring of 2000 and remained a steady performer, eventually joining the New Blood faction in early 2000 opposing the Millionaire's Club. On the August 14 edition of Nitro, Mysterio and Juventud defeated The Great Muta and Vampiro to win the World Tag Team Championship. They were stripped of the title, however, after Ernest Miller pinned Disco Inferno with the stipulation that if he pinned Disco, Mysterio and Guerrera would be stripped of the title. The Filthy Animals then feuded with the Natural Born Thrillers in the fall of the year. At Fall Brawl, the Filthy Animals fought the Thrillers to a no contest in an Elimination tag team match. Mysterio reformed his tag team with Kidman and the two challenged for the World Tag Team Championship in a Triangle match at Halloween Havoc, facing the champions Natural Born Thrillers and the Boogie Knights, where the Thrillers retained.

At the beginning of 2001, the Filthy Animals feuded with Team Canada, to whom they lost in a Penalty Box match at Sin. At SuperBrawl Revenge, Mysterio unsuccessfully challenged Chavo Guerrero, Jr. for the Cruiserweight Title. Kidman and Mysterio participated in a Cruiserweight tag team tournament for the newly created WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship and advanced to the final round where they ended up losing to Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo. On the March 26 (and the final) edition of Nitro, they defeated Skipper and Romeo in a rematch to win the Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles before WCW was sold to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–present)

Debut and Tag Team Champion (2002)

In June 2002, Mysterio signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and promos that hyped his debut began airing. The "Jr." was dropped from his name and was billed simply as Rey Mysterio after Mysterio got permission from his uncle Rey Misterio, Sr. Mysterio made his WWE debut on the July 25, 2002 edition of SmackDown! as a fan favorite in a match against Chavo Guerrero, which Mysterio won. He eventually began a feud with Kurt Angle, which culminated in a match at SummerSlam that Angle won after forcing Mysterio to submit to the ankle lock. He later formed a tag team with Edge; the two participated in a tournament for the newly created and SmackDown!-exclusive WWE Tag Team Championship. They lost to Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit in the finals of the tournament at No Mercy; the match was voted match of the year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. After they failed in winning the title, Mysterio and Edge defeated Los Guerreros in a number one contender's match on the October 24 edition of SmackDown! to earn a title shot. On the November 7 edition of SmackDown!, they defeated Angle and Benoit in a two out of three falls match to win their first Tag Team Championship. They soon lost the tag titles to Los Guerreros in a Triple Threat Elimination match that also involved former champions Angle and Benoit at Survivor Series. Shortly after the loss, Mysterio and Edge disbanded as a tag team.

Cruiserweight Champion (2003–2004)

On the March 6, 2003 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio defeated Tajiri and Jamie Noble in a Triple Threat match to earn a shot at the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. At WrestleMania XIX, he challenged the champion, Matt Hardy, for the title but lost after Shannon Moore interfered. On the May 22 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio defeated Shannon Moore and Crash Holly in a Handicap Elimination match to become the number one contender for the Cruiserweight title. On the June 5 edition of SmackDown!, he defeated Hardy to win his sixth Cruiserweight Championship. Mysterio's reign ended when he lost the title to Tajiri on the September 25 edition of SmackDown!.

On the January 1, 2004 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio defeated Tajiri to win his seventh Cruiserweight Championship. After a successful title defense against Jamie Noble at Royal Rumble, Mysterio lost the title to Chavo Guerrero at No Way Out in February. At WrestleMania XX, Mysterio took part in a Cruiserweight Open for the title, but lost as Chavo retained the title. On the June 17 edition of SmackDown!, he defeated Chavo Classic for a record-setting eighth Cruiserweight Championship. He successfully defended the title against Classic's son Chavo Guerrero at The Great American Bash. While Mysterio was Cruiserweight Champion, Spike Dudley turned heel after plowing Mysterio through a table and joined the other Dudleys before winning the Cruiserweight Title from Mysterio on the July 29 edition of SmackDown!. At Survivor Series, he participated in a Fatal Four-Way match for the Cruiserweight Title involving the champion Spike, Chavo Guerrero, and Billy Kidman. Mysterio lost when Dudley pinned Guerrero to retain.

Feud with Eddie Guerrero (2004–2005)

Rey Mysterio had a tag team with Eddie and they were also best friends. After an unsuccessful attempt at regaining the Cruiserweight Title, Mysterio formed a tag team with Rob Van Dam, and went on to win the Tag Team Championship from Kenzo Suzuki and René Dupreé on the December 9 edition of SmackDown!. They successfully defended the title against the former champions at Armageddon, before losing the title to the Basham Brothers on the January 13, 2005 edition of SmackDown! after Van Dam was injured. Mysterio then teamed up with Eddie Guerrero to win the Tag Team Championship back from the Bashams at No Way Out. During this time Rey had a video camera, which was called the "619 cam", during his entrance he taped members of the audience with this. In a departure from traditional booking, the new champions did not defend their title at WrestleMania 21, but instead had a match against each other which Rey won. Three months later, at ECW One Night Stand, Mysterio faced and defeated long-time rival Psicosis for the first time in nearly five years.

WWE Tag Team Champion with Batista (2005)

The match at WrestleMania was part of a storyline in which Guerrero turned on Mysterio and beat him up after abandoning him during a match against MNM for the Tag Team Championship. Then after a no disqualification match against Chavo, Eddie came out and slammed Mysterio on the steel steps, displaying Eddie's increasing frustration with being unable to defeat Mysterio. Guerrero and Mysterio continued to feud, with Guerrero threatening to reveal a secret he and Mysterio shared involving Mysterio's real-life son Dominik, unless Mysterio deferred to Guerrero's authority. Guerrero later revealed that, in the storyline, he was Dominik's biological father. The storyline went that Guerrero knew Mysterio was having trouble starting his own family, so Guerrero left Dominik as a baby with Mysterio and his wife Angie to raise. In subsequent weeks, Guerrero threatened to take custody of Dominik, drawing up custody papers and having his lawyer present them to Mysterio. At SummerSlam, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a ladder match for the custody of Dominik. Their feud ended when Guerrero gained a victory over Mysterio in a steel cage match. On November 13, 2005, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That same day at a WWE "Super Show" where SmackDown! and Raw were both taped, Mysterio gave an emotional speech about Eddie, and in a show of respect removed his mask (though he put his head down, so no one could see his face). Mysterio went on to defeat Shawn Michaels in an interpromotional match later that night. After the match, Michaels and Mysterio hugged in the ring and Mysterio pointed up to the sky, crying, in memory of Guerrero.

Mysterio participated in the main event of Survivor Series as part of Team SmackDown! along with Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, Batista, and JBL who defeated Team Raw (Shawn Michaels, Kane, The Big Show, Carlito, and Chris Masters). After Survivor Series, Mysterio faced Big Show in a match billed as "David vs. Goliath" in a SmackDown! special show. The match stemmed from Mysterio eliminating Big Show at Survivor Series, and ended as a "no contest" when Big Show's tag team partner Kane interfered in the match. Mysterio continued to feud with Raw's World Tag Team Champions, even finding a tag team partner in World Heavyweight Champion Batista who, along with Mysterio, would be set to face Raw's Kane and The Big Show in a tag match at Armageddon. Before Armageddon, Batista and Mysterio defeated Mysterio's longtime rivals MNM on the December 19 edition of SmackDown! to win the Tag Team Championship in a match they both dedicated to Eddie Guerrero. Now the Tag Team Champions, Mysterio and Batista's match with Big Show and Kane was billed as "Champions vs. Champions." At Armageddon, Mysterio and Batista lost this "Raw vs. SmackDown!" match when Kane pinned Mysterio after a chokeslam. On the December 30 edition of SmackDown!, MNM invoked their rematch clause, defeating Batista and Mysterio with help from Mark Henry to regain the Tag Team Championship. Mysterio and Batista lost a Steel Cage match in an effort to reclaim the titles the following week, again courtesy of interference by Henry.

World Heavyweight Champion and injury (2006)

On the April 7 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio – who was billed as being an "underdog champion", made his first successful World Heavyweight title defense against Randy Orton. Mysterio went on to retain his title again during a WrestleMania rematch on SmackDown! against Kurt Angle, three weeks later. The week before the title defense took place saw the start of a feud between the then-United States Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Mysterio. The rivalry kicked off after JBL stated he deserved the World Heavyweight title during his celebration of becoming the U.S. Champion. The feud with JBL saw Mysterio face off against any opponent of JBL's choosing in the three weeks leading up to his title match against Mysterio at Judgment Day. Mysterio was defeated by Mark Henry and The Great Khali in separate non-title matches before wrestling Kane to a "no contest"; Mysterio retained his title against JBL at Judgement Day. The feud intensified when JBL lost the U.S. Title to Bobby Lashley five days later on SmackDown! after being tricked by Mysterio to take on all comers like he himself had. This led JBL to vow that if he did not win his rematch against Mysterio, he would quit SmackDown!. In the main event of the evening, Mysterio retained the World Heavyweight Championship, causing JBL to leave SmackDown!, until ECW One Night Stand, when JBL announced he would return as a color commentator.

It was revealed that Mysterio would have to defend his title against ECW wrestler Sabu at One Night Stand. In the weeks leading up to his title defense, Mysterio defeated Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms in a Champion vs. Champion match but was defeated by Rob Van Dam at WWE vs. ECW Head to Head on June 7. At One Night Stand, Mysterio retained his title in a match after he and Sabu were ruled unable to continue following a triple jump DDT through a table from Sabu. Mysterio then retained his title against Mark Henry, winning by disqualification after Chavo Guerrero handed Henry a chair and Mysterio acted as if he was hit, thus Guerrero stole a trick from his uncle Eddie Guerrero.

Mysterio began a feud with King Booker after Booker won a battle royal to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Booker attacked Mysterio from behind backstage with the help of Booker's wife Queen Sharmell. The next week on SmackDown!, Mysterio gained revenge by attacking Booker and his "court". This rivalry continued for several weeks and saw Mysterio defeating Booker's court member William Regal on an edition of SmackDown!, moments before attacking the challenger and hitting him with a 619 around the steel post. At The Great American Bash, Mysterio lost the World Heavyweight Championship after Chavo Guerrero turned on Mysterio and hit him with a steel chair; Chavo cost Mysterio his rematch the following week. This culminated in a match at Summerslam where Mysterio lost to Guerrero after Vickie Guerrero tried to stop both men from fighting but accidentally knocked Mysterio off the top turnbuckle. Vickie then along with Chavo turned on Mysterio after she hit him in the back with a steel chair, thus, siding with Guerrero. Mysterio then defeated Guerrero in a Falls Count Anywhere match at No Mercy. Subsequently Guerrero challenged Mysterio to an "I Quit" match. In that match, Chavo injured Mysterio's knee, using the match to write Mysterio out of the storyline for a while to get knee surgery.

Return and feud with Chavo Guerrero (2007–2008)

Mysterio made his in-ring return at SummerSlam, defeating Guerrero with the 619, after Guerrero obsessed over Mysterio's return as well as wanting to injure Mysterio again.

On the August 31 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio won a "Championship Competition" to become the number 1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista and Finlay. On the September 7 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio had an "I Quit" match with Chavo Guerrero, which he won after hitting Guerrero's knee with a chair repeatedly in a similar manner to which Mysterio had been put out of action. Mysterio then began a feud with The Great Khali, which would lead to a match at Unforgiven where he would face Khali for the World Heavyweight Championship; the match was eventually made a Triple Threat match also involving Batista, but was unsuccessful in recapturing the title.

Mysterio then began a feud with Finlay, an opponent chosen by JBL. The rivalry was marked as "Fight vs. Flight", a competition between the two contrasting fighting styles of both wrestlers – Finlay's physicality, versus the high-flying Mysterio. On October 28, after fighting to a "no contest" at No Mercy, followed by a double-disqualification in a number one contender's match for Batista's World Heavyweight title on the next SmackDown! (The Undertaker would succeed the pair), he defeated Finlay in a Stretcher match at Cyber Sunday. During this feud, he conceded one match to Finlay on an episode of SmackDown! and was part of the winning team at Survivor Series which consisted of both wrestlers on opposing sides (although Mysterio was second to be eliminated). The rivalry ended after Survivor Series as Finlay turned face. At Tribute to the Troops 2007, Rey Mysterio faced and defeated former rival Mark Henry.

He re-entered the world title picture when he emerged victorious in the Beat the Clock challenge for the chance to face the World Heavyweight Champion Edge at Royal Rumble. However, he was unsuccessful in winning the championship. WWE.com announced on February 14 that Mysterio suffered a biceps injury during an overseas tour. Despite the injury, Mysterio faced Edge for the title again at No Way Out. On the February 22 edition of SmackDown!, Mysterio announced that his injury would keep him out of action for at least six months, and he eventually underwent three surgeries within the space of a month.

Raw and feud with JBL (2008–2009)

Mysterio made his return on the June 23 episode of Raw, as Mysterio was the first wrestler to be drafted in the 2008 WWE Draft from the SmackDown brand to the Raw brand. On the June 30 edition of Raw, Mysterio came to make an announcement to all the Raw fans which led to a minor fight with Santino Marella. Mysterio made his Raw in-ring debut the next week, pinning Marella after a 619. General Manager Mike Adamle announced that John Cena was injured and that his replacement in the Championship Scramble at Unforgiven was Mysterio. The next week, Mysterio made his return to Raw after an extended absence by attacking Kane, turning back numerous claims that Kane had "ended his career". Mysterio then made his in-ring return at Unforgiven, competing in the Raw Championship scramble match. Mysterio began a feud with Kane next which lasted until Survivor Series. Kane called Mysterio a coward who hides behind a mask. As a result, Mysterio put his mask on the line against Kane at No Mercy, Mysterio won the match via disqualification after Kane hit Mysterio with a steel chair. Kane and Mysterio were once again booked in a No Holds Barred match at Cyber Sunday, Mysterio defeated Kane. The next night on Raw, Mysterio faced off against Evan Bourne in which Mysterio became victorious. After the match, he and Bourne were attacked by Kane and Mark Henry. Few weeks later, Rey Mysterio teamed up with Kofi Kingston in a losing effort against Kane and Henry, Kane once again made an attempt to attack Mysterio but he was saved by The Great Khali. At Survivor Series 2008, Team HBK which consisted of Shawn Michaels (the team captain), Rey Mysterio, The Great Khali and Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad) defeated Team JBL (John Bradshaw Layfield, Kane, Montel Vontavious Porter, John Morrison & The Miz), thus ending the feud between Kane and Mysterio. He would shortly participate in an Intercontinental Championship tournament to determine the No.1 Contender for the William Regal's championship. Mysterio defeated The Miz and Kofi Kingston to advance to the finals of the tournament but ended up losing to CM Punk at Armageddon. Mysterio participated in the 2009 Royal Rumble match where he entered at the No.1 position. He spent 49 minutes and 24 seconds in the match before being eliminated by the No.30 and final entrant Big Show. He qualified for Elimination Chamber spot the next night for the World Heavyweight Championship. He started at the No.1 position and survived to the final two before being eliminated by the winner Edge who attacked the original participant Kofi Kingston before and replaced him. Later, Mysterio accepted John "Bradshaw" Layfield's (JBL) challenge for Layfield's Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XXV, which Mysterio won in 21 seconds. With this win, Mysterio became the twenty first Triple Crown Champion in WWE history.

Return to Smackdown (2009–2011)

Mysterio was drafted back to SmackDown! during the 2009 WWE Draft on the April 13 episode of Raw, in the process making the Intercontinental Title exclusive to SmackDown for the first time since mid-2002.

He then began a long-time feud with Chris Jericho, resulting in Mysterio defending and retaining his title at Judgment Day. At Extreme Rules, Jericho managed to unmask Mysterio and pin him for the Intercontinental Championship, however his face was never shown, as he covered it. As a result, Mysterio and Jericho were booked in a Title vs. Mask match at The Bash, in which Mysterio was victorious after tricking Jericho with a second mask. On the July 10, edition of Smackdown, following a successful title defense against Chris Jericho, Mysterio was attacked by Dolph Ziggler. This began a rivalry between the two which culminated in a title match at Night of Champions where Mysterio retained. Mysterio once again defeated Ziggler to retain the Intercontinental title at Summerslam. On August 2, WWE announced that Mysterio would be suspended for 30 days, effective September 2, for violating the company's Wellness Policy. In an interview with Mexican newspaper Record, Mysterio stated that he was suspended for a drug he was using for his knee and arm. Mysterio stated that he had a prescription for the drug, but was unable to produce it in time to prevent his suspension due to being on vacation and doing a promotional tour. On the September 4 episode of SmackDown (taped on September 1), Mysterio lost the Intercontinental Championship to John Morrison.

Mysterio returned from his suspension at Hell in a Cell to face Chris Jericho and Big Show for the Unified Tag Team Championships with former tag team partner Batista, but they failed to win the title after Mysterio was pinned by Big Show. At WWE Bragging Rights, Mysterio was unsuccessful in winning the World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Four-Way match including Batista, CM Punk, and then-champion The Undertaker. During the match, Mysterio broke up Batista's pin on Undertaker possibly costing him the match and the title. After the match, Batista turned heel by attacking Mysterio. Mysterio faced Batista at Survivor Series where Batista delivered three Batista Bombs on Mysterio leading to the referee stopping the match. Mysterio was defeated by Batista again in a street fight on the 11th December episode of SmackDown. A few weeks later Mysterio defeated Batista to be named the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Mysterio's title match against The Undertaker ended as a no-contest after interference from Batista. On January 1, 2010 Mysterio participated in a Beat the Clock Tournament for the #1 contendership of The Undertaker's World Heavyweight Championship at Royal Rumble. In the tournament, he defeated his former rival Chris Jericho, beating CM Punk's time. During Batista's "Beat the Clock" challenge against R-Truth, Batista was about to beat Mysterio's time, but Mysterio pulled the referee out of the ring during a pinfall as time ran out, costing Batista the tournament. Later it was announced that Mysterio and Batista would face each other the following week to decide the Number #1 Contender. However, this match also ended in a no-contest, following interference from the Undertaker. The following week in a rematch, Mysterio managed to win the title shot for the championship by defeating Batista in a Steel Cage match. At the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker successfully defended the championship against Mysterio.

Following the Rumble, Mysterio qualified for an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. In the weeks leading up to the Elimination Chamber, Mysterio began a feud with CM Punk that also involved Punk's Straight Edge Society. During the Elimination Chamber match, Mysterio eliminated Punk, but was ultimately eliminated by John Morrison. In the weeks following the Elimination Chamber event, Mysterio would continue to get the better of CM Punk, costing him a Money in the Bank qualifying match and defeating SES member Luke Gallows. During the on-screen celebration of Mysterio's daughter's ninth birthday, Punk interrupted, taunting Mysterio and challenging him to a match at WrestleMania XXVI. Mysterio later accepted the challenge. Punk later added the stipulation that if Mysterio were to lose at WrestleMania, he would be forced to join the SES. However Mysterio successfully defeated Punk at WrestleMania. Five days later on SmackDown, Punk challenged Mysterio to another match at Extreme Rules, with the stipulation that if Mysterio won, Punk would have his head shaved bald. At Extreme Rules, Mysterio lost to Punk. At Over the Limit, Mysterio faced CM Punk again with both previous stipulations in place (Mysterio's allegiance to The SES vs Punk's hair.) Mysterio defeated Punk, resulting in Punk's hair being shaved.

On the May 28 edition of SmackDown, Mysterio fought The Undertaker unsuccessfully, to qualify for the World Heavyweight Championship title match at Fatal 4-Way but in the process, accidentally injured the Undertaker and took him out of the competition. On June 4, 2010, Mysterio won a Battle Royal involving the whole SmackDown roster by lastly eliminating Kane to earn The Undertaker's vacated spot, joining then-champion Jack Swagger, Big Show, and CM Punk at the pay-per-view. At Fatal 4 Way, Mysterio defeated Big Show, CM Punk and Jack Swagger to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the second time in his career. For the next month, Swagger continuously assaulted Mysterio using his ankle lock. At Money in the Bank, Mysterio successfully defeated Swagger to retain the World title, however Swagger continued attacking the ankle after the match until Kane, who had earlier won the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match, came to the ring to chase Swagger away, seemingly to protect Mysterio. However, Kane returned with a referee and cashed in his title shot, quickly defeating Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 20 edition of SmackDown, Mysterio defeated Swagger in a 2 out of 3 falls match to remain the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, earning a title match against Kane at SummerSlam. However, during the weeks before SummerSlam, Kane had marked Mysterio as the one who had attacked The Undertaker putting him in a vegetative state (which was a storyline put in place to explain Undertaker's absence due to the injury he had sustained against Mysterio in the Fatal Four Way qualifying match). Mysterio retaliated by saying that Kane was the true culprit. After the match at SummerSlam, which Mysterio ultimately lost, Kane had attempted to put Mysterio in a casket, only for The Undertaker to emerge from the casket. Mysterio ended up clearing his name The Undertaker revealed Kane to be the real attacker.

On the August 20 edition of SmackDown, he lost via submission to the debuting Alberto Del Rio. On the August 27 edition of SmackDown, Mysterio lost a No Disqualification match to Kane, and afterwards was attacked by Alberto Del Rio on his injured left arm, sparking a feud between the two. Mysterio returned on the first episode of SmackDown on Syfy and confronted Alberto Del Rio. After Del Rio escaped the ring, he hit his personal ring announcer with a 619. On the October 8 edition of SmackDown, Mysterio defeated Del Rio, and thus ending his undefeated streak. At Bragging Rights, Mysterio represented Team SmackDown, and despite an attack by fellow teammate Del Rio, he and Edge managed to defeat the rest of Team Raw, giving Team SmackDown the victory. At Survivor Series, Mysterio led a team consisting of himself, Big Show, Chris Masters, MVP and Kofi Kingston to defeat Team Del Rio ( Del Rio, Tyler Reks, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, and Cody Rhodes). At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2010), Mysterio participated in a fatal four way match for the World Heavyweight title against Kane, Edge and Del Rio, in a losing effort as Edge won the match to become the new champion. Mysterio would continue his feud with Del Rio which culminated on the January 7, 2011 edition of SmackDown in a 2 out of 3 falls match, which Del Rio ultimately won by countout due to interference from his personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, ending the feud.

On the January 21 edition of SmackDown, Mysterio defeated Cody Rhodes. During the match, he also broke Rhodes' nose when he hit Rhodes with a 619 with his exposed knee brace, causing Rhodes to miss the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber pay-per-views, thus sparking a feud. Mysterio participated in in the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble, though he was eliminated by Wade Barrett. The match would later be won by his rival, Alberto Del Rio. Five days later on SmackDown, Mysterio qualified for a spot in the Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view for the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Jack Swagger. At the event he made it to the final two but was finally eliminated by Edge. On the February 25 edition of SmackDown, Mysterio was tricked and attacked by Cody Rhodes and his father, Dusty Rhodes, resulting in Mysterio being unmasked by Rhodes. Mysterio accepted Rhodes' challenge to a match at WrestleMania XXVII, but was defeated by Rhodes. On the April 23 edition of Smackdown Mysterio defeated Rhodes in a rematch. Mysterio's feud with Rhodes ended at Extreme Rules when Mysterio defeated Rhodes in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

Return to Raw, various feuds, WWE Champion, and injury (2011)

In the 2011 WWE Draft, Mysterio was drafted to Raw. On the May 9 edition of Raw, Mysterio lost a Triple Threat match to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship. Following the match, Mysterio was attacked by R-Truth which led to a match between the two at Over the Limit, which R-Truth won. From May, Mysterio started feuding with CM Punk, with the pair exchanging victories on successive episodes of Raw. Their feud ended at WWE Capitol Punishment when Punk beat Mysterio. Rey Mysterio failed to capture the Raw Money In The Bank briefcase, eventually the match was won by Alberto Del Rio by unmasking Mysterio as a distraction. Mysterio advanced to the finals of a one night tournament on the July 18 edition of Raw, which culminated into a match between The Miz and Mysterio for the WWE Championship. The following week, Mysterio defeated Miz to win his first ever WWE Championship, nine years to the day of his WWE debut, also becoming a three-time world champion. Later that night, John Cena defeated Mysterio to become WWE Champion. On the August 8, 2011 edition of Raw, Mysterio was brutally attacked by The Miz, leaving him with a storylined injury. At SummerSlam 2011, Mysterio competed in a six man tag-team match with Kofi Kingston and John Morisson to defeat The Miz, Alberto del Rio and R-Truth. The following night on Raw, Rey Mysterio was unsuccessful in his WWE Title rematch against Alberto Del Rio. Mysterio suffered an in-ring injury in a house show earlier but was put in a storyline injury after Alberto Del Rio attacked him following their match. He is expected to be out of action for 6 months and expected to return after Wrestlemania next year.

Personal life

Mysterio and his wife Angie have two children. In January 2009, Mysterio revealed that he and his wife were expecting their third child. He has tattoos of his two children's names on his right and left biceps. He also has tattoos dedicated to his wife, Angie.

On March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted on its website an article in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Mysterio who was alleged to have obtained nandrolone and stanozolol. WWE subsequently stated that the allegations preceded the Talent Wellness program WWE launched in February 2006. On August 27, 2009, WWE announced that Gutiérrez would receive a 30 day suspension due to a violation of the wellness program. Days later Gutiérrez defended himself in a newspaper interview by explaining the drugs as being on a prescription for his knee and arm. While the Wellness Policy allows for prescribed drugs, Mysterio further contested he had been on a family holiday and subsequently in Europe promoting SummerSlam, giving him only a day to provide the prescription after being notified.

He is a devoted Roman Catholic, frequently crossing himself before every match and bearing numerous religious tattoos on his body, most notably a cross on his chest attached to rosaries as well as other crosses and allusions to God. Gutiérrez is friends with Noah "Wuv" Bernardo of P.O.D., who performed the original version of Booyaka along with Mysterio, and several other of Mysterio's themes in WCW.

He has stated that his favourite food is cupcakes, particularly the Banana Chip flavour from Heavenly Cupcakes in his home town of San Diego.

Mysterio has been a subject of several DVDs during his wrestling career, including "Rey Mysterio: 619", a documentary of Rey's career and personal life, which was released on DVD and VHS. The DVD featured ten additional matches and other special features, and was released in 2003. WWE also produced "Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man", a three disc set featuring Rey's best matches. Rey also shares his thoughts about the matches he's had and the feuds that he's been in, the DVD was released on October 23, 2007. He was also featured on the DVD "Before They Were Wrestling Stars: Rey Mysterio Jr" in 2007 which featured matches from his time in Mexico.

In the UK, Silver Vision released a Rey Mysterio DVD as part of their Best of WWE collection. This featured his matches from SummerSlam 2005, Wrestlemania 22, No Mercy 2006, and SummerSlam 2007.

On July 12, 2011, WWE released Rey Mysterio: The Life of a Masked Man, a three disc set which is presented by Matt Striker, the DVD includes exclusive interviews with Rey and over two dozen of his past matches.

In wrestling

Finishing moves

619 (Tiger feint kick to the head of an opponent draped over the second rope) followed by:

*Droppin' Da Dime / TJ Drop (Springboard leg drop, sometimes to the back of the opponent's head) - 1989-2003

**Frog splash – 2005–present; adopted from and used as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero

*Springboard into either a splash, a seated senton to the shoulder of a standing opponent , or a diving headbutt - 2006-2009

*West Coast Pop (Springboard hurricanrana pin) - ECW / WCW / WWE; preceded by Mysterio spinning his arm around then pointing to the sky, signaling the move - 1989-2006

Signature moves

Armbar, often transitioned into a hammerlock

*Arm drag, often used as a counter

Arm wrench inside cradle

Baseball slide, sometimes transitioned into a headscissors takedown

Bronco buster

Bulldog, often used as a counter

*DDT, often used as a counter

Diving hurricanrana, sometimes off of the ring apron

*Dragonrana

*Dragon sleeper

Dropkick, sometimes while springboarding or from the top rope

*Green mist – 2011–present

*Headscissors DDT or headscissors reverse DDT

*Headscissors takedown

*High speed roundhouse kick to the head of a seated opponent, as a roll out counter to a sunset flip

*Inverted STF

*Leg-feed enzuigiri

*Multiple crossbody variations

**Diving

**Reverse

**Running

**Slingshot (Plancha), sometimes with corkscrew

**Springboard, sometimes from the second rope

*Multiple moonsault variations

**Diving, sometimes to a standing opponent

*Split-legged

*Springboard

**Standing

Mysterio Express (Leg trap sunset flip powerbomb)

*Mysterio-Rana (Mysterio jumps onto an opponent's shoulders and then twists around into a hurricanrana pin), sometimes preceded by a cartwheel

Slingshot or springboard somersault seated senton onto a standing opponent outside of the ring, sometimes transitioned into a hurricanrana

*Spinning heel kick, sometimes while springboarding

*Springboard sitout facebuster

*Standing shiranui

*Suicide dive

Thesz press

Tilt-a-whirl or tope-rope headscissors takedown

*Victory roll

Wheelbarrow bodyscissors transitioned into either an arm drag, a bulldog, or a DDT

With Billy Kidman

619 (Tiger feint kick) by Mysterio into a Shooting Star Press by Kidman

Baseball slide to the groin by Kidman into a Bronco buster by Mysterio

*Catapult by Kidman into a diving hurricanrana by Mysterio

*Double sitout chokeslam

Nutcracker Suite (Kidman holds the opponents legs while Rey performs a Droppin' Da Dime to their groin)

*Wheelbarrow facebuster (Kidman) / Droppin' Da Dime (Mysterio) combination

With Edge

619 (Tiger feint kick) by Mysterio followed by a Spear or Edgecution by Edge

*Bombs Away (Simultaneous powerbomb (Edge) / springboard seated senton (Mysterio) combination)

*Catapult by Edge into a diving hurricanrana by Mysterio

*Double missile dropkick

*Hurricanrana by Mysterio into a Spear by Edge

*Powerbomb lift by Edge to Mysterio, Mysterio then moonsaults on to the opponent (the opponent(s) is usually standing outside the ring)

With Rob Van Dam

*4:20 (Van Dam lifts Mysterio up and drops him while simultaneously dropping himself into a seated position, resulting in a double Droppin' Da Dime to an opponent's throat and chest)

619 (Tiger feint kick) by Mysterio followed by a Five-Star Frog Splash by Van Dam

*Catapult by Van Dam into a diving hurricanrana by Mysterio

*Rolling Thunder by Van Dam followed by a Droppin' Da Dime by Mysterio

With Batista

619 (Tiger feint kick) followed by a Spinebuster from Batista

Managers

*Torrie Wilson

Nicknames

*"El Super Duper Niño" ("The Super Duper Kid") (ECW)

*"The Technical Kid From San Diego" (ECW / WCW)

*"Flying Fury" (WCW / WWE)

*"The Giant Killer" (WCW / WWE)

*"The Ultimate Underdog" (WCW / WWE)

*"The Human Highlight Reel" (WCW / WWE)

*"The Sensation" (WCW / WWE)

*"The Firecracker" (WCW / WWE)

"The Master of the 619" (WWE)

*"The Biggest Little Man" (WWE)

*"The Masked Maestro" (WWE)

Entrance themes

*"Sad but True" by Metallica (ECW; 1995-1996; as Rey Mysterio, Jr.)

*"March of Death" by Jimmy Hart (ECW/WCW; 1995–1998; 1999; as Rey Mysterio, Jr.)

*"Flying Fury" by Ill Harmonics (WCW; 1998-1999; as Rey Mysterio, Jr.)

*"Bow Wow Wow" by Konnan and Mad One (WCW; 1999; as Rey Mysterio, Jr.; used while part of the Filthy Animals)

*"Psycho" by Konnan and Mad One (WCW; 1999–2001; as Rey Mysterio, Jr.; used while part of the Filthy Animals)

*"619" by Chris Classic (WWE; July 25, 2002–September 15, 2005)

*"Booyaka" performed by Rey Mysterio and Mad One (WWE; November 13, 2005–May 26, 2006)

*"Booyaka 619" by P.O.D. (WWE; June 7, 2006–present)

Championships and accomplishments

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) – with Octagón and Super Muñeco

Mexican National Welterweight Championship (1 time)

AAA Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)

International Wrestling All-Stars

IWAS Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Konnan

International Wrestling Council

International Wrestling Council World Middleweight Title (2 times)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him #9 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1999

PWI ranked him #56 in the PWI Years in 2003

Tijuana, Mexico

*Tijuana Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)

World Championship Wrestling

WCW Cruiserweight Championship (5 times)

WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Billy Kidman

WCW World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Billy Kidman (1), Konnan (1), and Juventud Guerrera (1)

*WCW Magazine Match of the Year (1997) vs. Eddie Guerrero, for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, WCW Halloween Havoc, October 26

World Wrestling Association

WWA Lightweight Championship (3 times)

WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rey Misterio

WWA Welterweight Championship (3 times)

World Wrestling Council

WWC World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

World Wrestling Entertainment

*WWE Championship (1 time)

World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)

WWE Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Edge (1), Rob Van Dam (1), Eddie Guerrero (1), and Batista (1)

WWE Cruiserweight Championship (3 times)

Royal Rumble (2006)

*Twenty First Triple Crown Champion

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

*Best Flying Wrestler (1995–1997, 2002–2004)

*Best Wrestling Maneuver (1995) West Coast Pop

*Match of the Year (2002) with Edge vs. Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle, for the WWE Tag Team Championship, WWE No Mercy, October 20

*Most Outstanding Wrestler (1996)

*Rookie of the Year (1992)

*Worst Feud of the Year (2008) with Kane

*Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)

Luchas de Apuestas record

{|class="wikitable" width=100% |- !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Wager !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Winner !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Loser !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Location !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Date !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Notes |----- align="center" |Mask |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |Mr. Cóndor |Acapulco, Guerrero | | |----- align="center" |Hair |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |Rocco Valente |Tampico, Tamaulipas | | |----- align="center" |Hair |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |Tony Arce |Acapulco, Guerrero | | |----- align="center" |Mask |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |El Bandido |Querétaro, Querétaro | | |----- align="center" |Hair |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |Vulcano |Monterrey, Nuevo León | | |----- align="center" |Mask |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |Misterioso |Tijuana, Baja California | | |----- align="center" |Mask |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |Eddie Guerrero |Las Vegas, Nevada | | |----- align="center" |Mask |Kevin Nash and Scott Hall |Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Konnan |Oakland, California | | |----- align="center" |Title |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |Chris Jericho |Sacramento, California | || |----- align="center" |Hair |Rey Mysterio, Jr. |CM Punk |Detroit, Michigan | | |}

Notes

References

External links

Rey Mysterio Fansite

Rey Mysterio Mask

WWE profile

WWE Kids profile

Category:1974 births Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Living people Category:American professional wrestlers of Mexican descent Category:American people of Mexican descent Category:People from Chula Vista, California Category:People from San Diego, California

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Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
birth name	Micah S. Katt Williams
birth date	September 02, 1971
birth place	Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
othername	Katt Williams />Money Mike
medium	Stand-up, Television, Film, Music
nationality	American
active	1991–present
genre	Black comedy, Blue comedy, Satire, Observational comedy, Physical comedy
subject	African-American culture, Race relations, Racism, Recreational drug use, Human sexualityLife
notable work	Various in Wild 'n OutBobby Shaw in My Wife and KidsMoney Mike in Friday After NextIt's Pimpin' Pimpin'
website	http://www.kattwilliams.com/ }}

Micah S. Katt Williams (born September 2, 1971) is a U.S. comedian, rapper, and actor. He is best known for his role as Money Mike in Friday After Next. He is also known for his stint on Nick Cannon’s MTV improv show, Wild 'n Out, and for playing the fictional character Bobby Shaw on the program My Wife and Kids.

Early life

Williams was born September 2, 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Dayton, the son of a former member of the Black Panther Party. He attended Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School but was asked to leave and then attended Colonel White High School. On the Howard Stern Show, he stated that after he left Ohio, at the age of 13, he was homeless for four years in Coconut Grove, Miami, where he lived in a park. He sold magazines and books door-to-door and robbed cars for radios.

As a means to get into a nightclub while underage, he noticed that they weren’t checking ID’s in the line for comics and proceeded to enter the club through that entrance. He was called on stage where he did a five-minute improv to an enthusiastic crowd. “I was so nervous but everyone laughed and thought I was funny. After that, I was opened up to the wonderful world of comedy... Improv is where a comic really gets to shine, if he is good. That’s as close as a comedian can get to the playoffs."

Career

Williams started being a comedian in his neighborhood, Avondale, most notably appearing on BET's Comic View. He has also played supporting characters in movies such as First Sunday and Norbit, but is probably more widely recognized for his character Money Mike in the movie Friday After Next. He has also used the Money Mike stage name when rapping for songs by such artists as Baby Bash, The Game, and Suga Free.

Williams has provided numerous skits and video appearances for artists such as Nick Cannon, DJ Drama, E-40, The Game, Lyfe Jennings, Lil Jon, Lil’ Kim, Lil' Scrappy, Ludacris, Outkast, T.I., Cyrano Williams, Oprah Winfrey, and others. He was a cast member on Wild 'n Out for several seasons; he voices "A Pimp Named Slickback" on the Adult Swim's The Boondocks; he plays himself as an onstage comedian in Grand Theft Auto IV; and Williams has appeared in several episodes of My Wife and Kids as character Bobby Shaw.

Anti-Mexican rant

On August 27, 2011, at a standup performance in Phoenix, Arizona, Katt Williams arguably crossed the line of decency when he got into an argument with a member of the studio audience Once he found out that the offending audience member was of Mexican descent, he started insulting Mexico and Mexicans, arguing (in a combative manner) that the country should have fought to maintain California and that U.S. citizens of Mexican descent should "get back over there" if they are more patriotic to Mexico than the USA, and then chanted "USA." He then went on to say, that he has love for his Mexican American homies and seemed to win the crowd over. The member of the studio audience was later ejected from the venue by security staff for defending himself from the Verbal attacks.

Personal life

Williams has 8 children, 7 adopted and 1 from a previous relationship.

Arrests and Accusations

In November 2009, Williams was arrested by police while working on a film in Coweta County, Georgia. He was accused of stealing $3,500 worth of coins and jewelry. Police charged Williams with burglary and criminal trespass.

The following month, Williams was questioned and detained by police again in Coweta County, Georgia after an altercation in a Walmart parking lot. Police issued a warrant to search Williams' semi-truck for evidence, but found nothing. Williams maintains that police destroyed thousands of dollars worth of filming equipment for no reason. A mother and son who were involved in the altercation with Williams were charged with disorderly conduct, but Williams himself was not charged.

Williams maintains his innocence in both cases and said, after being detained, that he has begun to feel he is being persecuted by police.

GTA4

On the video game Grand Theft Auto 4 he is in the video game as a comedian in the Comedy Club and in CNT

Filmography

Friday After Next (2002)

Repos (2006) (V)

Katt Williams: Live: Let a Playa Play (2006)

Pimp Chronicles, Pt. 1 (2006)

Norbit (2007)

The Perfect Holiday (2007)

American Hustle: The Movie (2007)

Epic Movie (2007)

Internet Dating (2008)

First Sunday (2008)

It's Pimpin' Pimpin' (2008)

Lonely Street (2009)

Katt Williams Presents: Katthouse (2009)

Katt Williams Pimpadelic (2009)

Katt Williams 9 lives (2010)

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)

References

External links

Official website

VIBE Profile

Katt Williams as Host of Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav

Category:1971 births Category:Actors from Ohio Category:African American comedians Category:African American film actors Category:African American rappers Category:Living people Category:People from Cincinnati, Ohio Category:People from Dayton, Ohio Category:The Diplomats members Category:Rappers from Ohio

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