Will Mysterio "Face" the Fans at No Mercy?

(Will Mysterio be unmasked this Sunday?)

An interesting stipulation was added to the No Mercy grudge match between WWE Superstars Kane and Rey Mysterio. Should Rey Mysterio lose this match, Mysterio will have to "de-mask" in the ring, showing his face worldwide to the fans. Rey is the only remaining superstar who wears some sort of mask or face paint. ECW's the Boogeyman has been MIA for weeks, even though his mugshot still appears on the ECW intro video. Boogeyman didn't actually wear a mask in the ring, just enough face paint to serve as one. The Big Red Machine, Kane, was well known as a masked man at one time, but ditched it to face the fans and reality. And with No Mercy approaching the speculation grows whether Mysterio will be the final superstar to lose his symbolic mask.

When Rey signed his contract with the WWE in 2002, Vince McMahon requested that Mysterio wear his mask for matches once again. In Mexico, a wrestler could be fined or even have their license suspended in Lucha Libre by the Box y Lucha Commission for this; there, once a wrestler loses his mask, they cannot traditionally regain it. (info source: Wikipedia.org) Rey, who started wrestling at just age 14 in Mexico, still has a babyface, making him appear much younger than he actually is at age 33, and he's always been beloved by fans. So it's doubtful he'll be put into any WWE horror films, like Glenn Jacobs aka "Kane" has been. (See No Evil)

If Kane wins at No Mercy, the mask removal won't be anything new for Mysterio. Rey's been unmasked for interviews before, such as this Unmasked Mysterio interview on video at YouTube from a while ago. He also removed his mask in the ring once before, but that was in the days when WCW was its own wrestling organization. The WCW match occurred at Superbrawl IX, where Mysterio fought in a "Hair vs. Mask" stipulation. His tag team partner was Konan and they took on "The Outsiders", Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. When Mysterio and Konan were defeated, Mysterio finally removed his mask in the ring in front of fans. According to Wikipedia, Rey phoned his uncle afterwards to express disappointment in removing his mask, a symbol of culture and his luchador wrestling status.

See Rey UNMASKED in WCW Match, SuperBrawl IX!

Many speculate Kane has nothing to really lose in this match. Judging by the carnage Kane has unleashed on Mysterio and Evan Bourne in weeks past, it seems in Rey's favor to pull off some sort of win at No Mercy, so he won't have to pull off the mask.