Sad news for anyone who likes being jarred out of a wrestling match by injury or horrible failure today as WWE has released the original Sin Cara, aka lucha libre superstar Mistico.
The most thrilling part of the release is the announcement on WWE.com, which is as unceremonious as you’d expect. Just a giant stock WWE graphic and no mention of what the guy actually did in the company:
WWE has come to terms on the release of Luis Ignacio Urive Alvirde effective on March 26, 2014. We wish Luis the best of luck in his future endeavors.
WWE made headlines when they signed Mistico and rebranded him as “Sin Cara” back in 2011. He was a proven commodity, one of the biggest box office draws in the professional wrestling world and a sure-fire replacement for an aging, on-his-way-out Rey Mysterio. There were rumors that WWE wanted to break the “most masks worn at an event” world record at a WrestleMania by pitting Sin Cara and Mysterio against one another, but it never materialized … despite a few exceptions, Sin Cara’s WWE career was marred by ridiculous mess-ups and injuries, including a Raw match where he hurt his fingers and couldn’t go on. It was all really sad, and the kind of thing you make 1960s Spider-Man memes out of.
The writing was on the wall, though, as “replacement during injury” Sin Cara, aka WWE superstar Hunico, had taken over the character full time in recent months. Sin Cara suddenly had giant tattoos, but nobody really minded. This version of Sin Cara won a match this Monday on Raw, with Scooby-Doo in his corner. Wrestling is weird.
On top of all that, Mistico is currently in a legal battle with WWE, alleging that he “owns” the Sin Cara character and can use its name and likeness whenever and wherever he wants. WWE, a monster conglomerate that owns everything, disagrees. We’ll wait and see where that goes, but it’s sure to involve a lot of falling down.
RIP, original Sin Cara. Heaven needed somebody to barely clear the top rope off a trampoline bounce.
