10 WWE superstars who had disappointing WrestleMania debuts

3. Rey Mysterio

Rey's WrestleMania debut was a five minute-match that left a lot to be desired

Rey Mysterio is considered one of the best cruiserweight wrestlers ever and arguably the best one to ever wrestle in WWE. His initial run on SmackDown in 2002 was met with widespread praise and approval, as Mysterio had spectacular matches with various wrestlers including Kurt Angle, Edge, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero.

So how does WWE reward Mysterio for all of his hard work and excellent wrestling on SmackDown? By putting him in a match with Matt Hardy.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a knock against Matt Hardy, but in 2003 he was very much booked at the lowest level of the SmackDown card. He wasn’t on Rey’s level as a wrestler at the time, and so Hardy and Mysterio only got five minutes on WrestleMania for their cruiserweight match.

Given the outstanding opening match Rey had with Kurt Angle at SummerSlam 2002 (which was arguably the greatest under-ten-minute match in WWE history), this WrestleMania match for Mysterio felt like a major downgrade and disservice to the masked marvel.