Rey Mysterio went one step ahead on fulfilling the only remaining dream in his career. He punched his ticket to compete at the 2020 Money In The Bank ladder match and earn an opportunity at possibly becoming the official Men’s MITB winner and then capture the world championship, once again.
He did this after beating Murphy in their Money In The Bank qualifying match on RAW. Rey Mysterio seemed pretty impressed with the incredible athleticism showcased by the Australian superstar during their match.
During his interview on the latest episode of The Bump on Youtube, Rey Mysterio had a ton of praise over the young talent. He picked the guy as one of those names who reminded of himself from a young age,
“Murphy has gained my respect,” Mysterio excitedly stated. “I have a lot of respect for the upcoming talent. Man, they’re coming in hot, and they’re ready to display what they have in store. It reminds me of a young Rey Mysterio. You know, when I was coming in back in the mid-’90s, there was no one that was going to hold me back; I was coming in full force. That’s how I see the competitiveness coming in WWE. And again, Murphy is one of those guys.”
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Speaking of the younger version of himself, Rey Mysterio mentioned, he received tremendous influence from veteran superstars from WCW days and also his roots in Mexico.
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If they weren’t there to inspire him then we might not see him doing those high-flying moves and cement his legacy as perhaps the greatest of all-time in doing those aerial moves,
“Oh man, I had many wrestlers who influenced me,” Rey Mysterio noted. “From the American side I had: Ricky Steamboat, ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, Bret Hart, without a doubt, Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask; they were a big influence in my life. I would watch a lot of their matches [DynamiteKid and Tiger Mask] prior to going to Japan, and to ECW back in the day.”
“In Mexico, I grew up watching the Negro Casas, El Hijo del Santo, and Blue Panther, just legends of Lucha Libre.”
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The discussion proceeded to bring in the mask of Rey Mysterio into the context. It was used in storyline purposes, over the years both in WCW and WWE. If it comes down to put the mask on the line then the legend ‘would jump in a heartbeat’, if the storyline seems right,
“If the opportunity came about, I would jump in a heartbeat [on putting his mask on the line again],” Mysterio announced. “I think that’s what makes Lucha Libre exciting and in this case to bring Lucha Libre to the WWE, and show the WWE Universe the excitement behind the mask vs. hair match, or the mask vs. title match. You know you put your heart out there in those matches. I would actually love to jump in the ring one of these days before I retire and put my mask on the line against something that is well worth it.” (quotes courtesy wrestlingINC.com)
It was back in 1999, during the SuperBrawl IX in WCW when Rey Mysterio and Konnan lost to Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in a Hair vs. Mask match. Rey Mysterio Jr had to remove his mask for the first time in his career.
Significance of the Luchador masks is immense to their identity and hence the Master of 619 had to seek permission from the official Lucha Libre Commission to wear his mask again. WWE has used his mask on different angles throughout his career but we have not seen him showing his unmasked face since the 90s.
