Dirty Dave Meltzer says Rey Mysterio was a bigger draw than Undertaker

[BangEm_Bart]

I guess this is why they're trying to make Kallisto the new Rey Mysterio.

 

[Broddie]

Drawing money for one event doesn't compare to drawing for multiple events. The people who bought Mysterio's merchandise came to see him. So he drew at both merchadising and the box office which makes it believable that he outdrew Taker in the long run.

how about drawing money for thousands of events in the last 25 years?

True but Taker has only become the draw he is today for about 10 of those years. Specifically since Ruthless Aggression till now. During the old days and attitude era he was outdrawn by others like Hogan and Savage, Michaels and Razor and Rock and Austin.

yes he was outdrawn by those wrestlers. doesnt mean he wasnt a draw himself. he was always one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster. people came to the event to see him, therefore he's a draw. dude was a star way before the attitude era. stop with the disrespect

What disrespect? See this is the thing. People looking at this personally lmao. I've never liked Rey Mysterio not in WCW or in WWE. I've liked Taker since the days when he was chokeslamming Hogan. That has nothing to do with using objective logic in this kinda convo.

Mysterio appealed to a much wider demographic than Taker did. 2 particular money making pieces of the overall audience (families with young kids, latinos especially the huge mexican wrestling audience) that Taker could never really hook especially during Mysterio's peak. So with that in mind it stands to reason that it's very possible that he made the company more money overall.

Also Meltzer has had sources with this kinda info since before Taker even went to WWF. So I give him the benefit of the doubt. He has pretty much tracked Taker's entire career there.

i'll let @jono handle this

You guys do what you want. I'll keep giving the only credible journalist in that entire industry for over 3 decades the benefit of the doubt. Something tells me he may be more in the know about shit like this.

 

[genocidecutter]

lol

 

[DOPEdweebz]

Being around the longest just means you were around the longest. I respect Ariel Helwanis opinion MMA more than I respect Melzters in pro wrestling.

I'm pretty sure hes extra bias against American pro wrestling as a whole.

 

[PanchoYoSancho]

I dont doubt this. Up until the last decade where Undertaker had that legend loyalty from the fans, he was always more over as a heel. He spent most of his time as a babyface in the upper midcard/co-headliner. Most of his main event title pushes came as a heel and his one lengthy title reign as a babyface in the 90s was during the lowest era of popularity for the WWF. Plus, Taker's appearances have been far more limited in the last 10 years than Rey. How many house shows has Taker even appeared at since 06? With Taker hardly being apart of the active roster anymore and mostly being limited to WM appearances, that hurts his merchandise sales.

As far as I know, Rey Mysterio on the other hand has been a babyface for his entire career. If you just factor the US, Taker might have him beat. But Rey has die hard loyalty in Mexico and is much more family friendly. Comparing Taker to Mysterio is like comparing an R-rated Action movie to an Animated movie. Taker may bring in more fellas, but Rey's bringing in the women and children.