The True Inventor Behind Rey Mysterio's 619 Finisher
Rey Mysterio's 619 has become an iconic finisher that is instantly recognizable for most pro wrestling fans. The 619 sees Mysterio position his opponent against the ropes, only for him to swing through the middle and top rope to kick his opponent in the face with both feet.
When other wrestlers now perform the move, it's inevitably seen as a kind of tribute to Mysterio. The name comes from the area code in San Diego where Mysterio grew up, and he has been performing it as his finisher for most of his career.
While it's all heavily associated with Mysterio, some fans likely don't know that he wasn't actually the one who came up with the basic structure of the move. That honor goes to Tiger Mask — a character that has been held by numerous Japanese wrestlers since the '80s. The one who invented Mysterio's finisher was the original Tiger Mask, a hero of Mysterio's, though he wasn't actually the wrestler who first inspired Mysterio to pick it up as his own finisher.
Mysterio makes the 619 his own
It was actually seeing another luchador, Super Astro, perform the move in person that convinced Rey Mysterio to take it and make it his own. "When I would see him run and do the move, he would just faint and come back in the ring," Mysterio said in an interview with Sony Sports India (via SportsTiger). "When I started wrestling, when I started adapting moves from here and there, I was like, 'what if I put my opponent on the ropes and connect with my feet,' so it was just a moment of creation that happened."
Mysterio first used the 619 in the early days of his WWE career and it has since become a staple of his matches. The 619 is often used in tandem with another move, such as a hurricanrana or a frog splash, to put Mysterio's opponents down for the three count.
For a brief time, Mysterio was even able to perform a tandem 619 with his son Dominik, before Dominik turned on Rey and joined up with the Judgment Day faction.