Rey Mysterio on Lucha Underground, Impact Wrestling, and Start in WCW

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Rey Mysterio and topics including Lucha Underground, today’s generation of cruiser wrestlers, almost working for Impact Wrestling, and a story from his early days in WCW.

On the topic of Lucha Underground and the current generation of cruiser style wrestlers, Mysterio believed Lucha Underground has played a big role in making cruiser style wrestling popular again in the United States. Stated the style is very helpful for wrestlers trying to grow their careers and more companies embracing the style has lead to more opportunities being possible.

“Lucha Underground is the pioneer in the cruiserweight division. Years ago, Konnan mentioned to me, ‘Wrestling has to change. Wrestling cannot always be a world for the giants,’ and he was right. Wrestling has changed. That change is because of Lucha Underground. That is not boxing anyone in. Cruiserweight is a form of giving life to those that still want to break into this business. There have been more opportunities given to that cruiserweight division, and that’s been helped by a lot of companies, including Ring of Honor and TNA.”

Mysterio revealed he considered going to Impact Wrestling prior to joining Lucha Underground. Several talks were held with Impact officials with Mysterio wanting a short run and Impact wanting something more permanent for a deal. He decided against joining Impact Wrestling at the time but did tease at still being interested going there in the future.

“I was actually in conversations a while back with Impact about doing some shows. To be honest with you, it’s not that I don’t want to go work for them, it’s just like I didn’t have it in my game plan. I also didn’t have Lucha Underground in my game plan before it was created. If the circumstances were right, I wouldn’t mind going. I’m not interested in signing a contractual deal, but I would love to do some shows. People want to see diversity in their opponents and fans want to see their dream matches. If people want to see a match-up, let’s make it happen.”

Later in the interview, Mysterio told a story about his tryout for WCW and how security didn’t believe he was an actual wrestler at the time. According to Mysterio, security thought he was just some random fan trying to enter the building due to his size and very youthful appearance. Took several attempts before security finally let him go to his tryout meeting. He also revealed similar instances occurred during his early days in WCW.

“People still tell me I have a babyface, and I was 21 at the time, so I looked like a 12-year-old back then. I recall explaining to the security guards, ‘No, no, it’s OK, I wrestle,’ and they looked at me and laughed. So I continued to say that I was a wrestler, and they finally asked me for a credential. I didn’t have any credentials, this was a tryout. Finally, security was cool enough to find out who I was and let me back in the building, but that happened several times after that, too. I learned my lesson after the fourth time, and I started carrying a WCW badge everywhere with me.”