Rey Mysterio one of the biggest legends in professional wrestling legend who is still active in WWE right now. He has been active in the wrestling world since 1989, he is a former three times WWE World Champion and he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in class of 2022. Presently, he is active in Monday Night RAW.
Mysterio had to struggle a lot during his early wrestling career and he could not meet success for more than six years during his early days. He started to earn success after joining WCW in 1996. The Cruiserweight division of WCW was one of the biggest attractions of the promotions and Mysterio was a big part of the Cruiserweight division of WCW.
Big Revelation: Why Rey Mysterio Did Not Join WWE Immediately After The Collapse of WCW
He had been a five times WCW Cruiserweight Champion and he also won the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times. He has never been promoted as a top star in the promotion. After he transitioned to WWE in 2002, he was booked as a Cruiserweight at first. He was promoted to main event in early 2006 after he won the Royal Rumble match of the mentioned year.
But he took a year off after the collapse of WCW, he took a year off and did not work in any wrestling promotion. He made his WWE debut in July 2002 in an episode of Smackdown. He made an instant impact by defeating Chavo Guerrero who had been a rival of him in WCW. Mysterio kept on working in WWE regularly since.
During his Hall of Fame speech, he explained that he wanted to spend some time with his family as his daughter Aalyah Mysterio (Gutierrez) was born at that time. Recently, he spoke on the “Insight” podcast, he shared some more information about this time off. Here is what the WWE Hall of Famer has to say;
“I think at the time, I was probably making a little too much in WCW money-wise and the contract was still running when the company was bought out,” Mysterio said. “The conversation at the time was, ‘Sit back, enjoy your pay for the rest of the year that’s in your contract, and once it’s expired we’ll sit down and we’ll negotiate.’
Mysterio continued, “At the time, I thought it was a way for them to say, ‘We’re not really interested.’ That’s what I thought because I had always heard that [I am] too small. Definitely too small for WWE, and that it wasn’t going to happen.” Concluded the former three times WWE World Champion.
Credit “Insight”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.