Rey Mysterio on His New GM Role in AAA, His Praise of Ludwig Kaiser for Embracing Mexican Lucha Culture, His Induction Into WWE Hall of Fame, Dominik Mysterio Feeling Like He Was Not Fitting in WWE When They Were Paired Together as Babyfaces, & More

A recent River City Wrestling Con event (via Going Ringside) featured WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Mysterio’s thoughts about how the WWE and Lucha Libre AAA dynamic has been thus far and his new General Manager role in AAA.

“So for everyone that has seen it on social media or on TV, the reaction has been incredible. But if you’re there live, you’ll realize that it’s extremely incredible. The fans are so excited, so motivated, so pumped up, and I think that’s a very good thing. To be able to say that my first opportunity to be able to wrestle on national television was in 1992 with AAA, when that company started, and to see that coming full circle and now, would I have ever thought that WWE and AAA were gonna work together? Never, and now that they are, to be able to see that happen and to be General Manager of the company that gave me my first opportunity is incredible.”

Mysterio also gave his thoughts about the Mask vs. Mask match between Original El Grande Americano and El Grande Americano and his praise of Ludwig Kaiser for embracing the Mexican lucha wrestling culture.

“I think that’s what really blew my mind, but I understood why. I believe, I think, that the main reason why they embraced El Grande Americano was because he took the time to soak himself in with the Mexican culture, learn the language, be one of them, and the fans just embraced him like one of [their] own — so, beautiful.”

Mysterio also gave his thoughts about his iconic moment in WCW involving Kevin Nash picking him up and lawn darting him onto the side of a trailer truck.

“I offered to do that… When you’re young, you don’t think about repercussions, which is normal in our business. You want to make things look good and you’re willing to give whatever it takes to make that segment, that 30 seconds or five seconds stand out, and at the time, we never — at least I never thought it would still be talked about 25 years later. But it is — 30 years later.”

Mysterio also gave his thoughts about if he realized he’d done something memorable after the spot.

“No, not at all. No. To me, it was normal. Obviously, it wasn’t.”

In a separate recent interview with the Six Feet Under with The Undertaker podcast, Mysterio gave his thoughts about his induction into WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2025.

“I would love to ask that person the same question because when it was brought up, the opportunity to enter the Hall of Fame, I was like ‘Wait a minute.’ It was Hunter I believe told me, I said, ‘Hunter bro, I’m not ready to retire, I wanna keep going.’ He went, ‘No no no, we’re not asking you to retire we just think it’s probably the best time to put you in the Hall of Fame.’

This was right when I faced Dom in LA at WrestleMania, so for them it felt like the perfect timing. So I said ‘Yeah, lets do it, if you feel it’s the right timing lets go.’ And little did I know I would be the only active Hall of Famer on the roster that’s still going.”

Mysterio also gave his thoughts about the early stages of his son Dominik’s career in WWE and how Dominik felt like he was not fitting in when thet were paired together as babyfaces.

“I did feel that there was a bit of awkwardness, or maybe even a struggle, right before he became the person he became. He didn’t feel like he was fitting in being by my side, and I completely understand that. So, the best thing for him to have done is to detach from his own father, and then on top of that, embrace that character that, I guess, he envisioned in his mind, and seeing who he is now.”

Mysterio also provided an update on his daughter Aalyah’s in-ring training for a pro wrestling career in WWE.

“Just recent news, we’ve been going back-and-forth trying to see if Aalyah was motivated enough to go up to the P.C. and dedicate some time to train, like full-time. She tried it out one time with me, last year, October. She loved it. She just jumped in the ring once. I said, ‘Okay, let’s try to set you up to go up there for about two weeks, see if you can wake up every day and do this Monday through Friday, weekends off and then back again Monday through Friday.’ She did two weeks and she really loved it. I said, ‘Okay.’ I wasn’t expecting that, and this was all prior to — this was WrestleMania, the first one we had in Vegas. ‘Dad, when are you taking me to the ring? When are you taking me to the ring?’ I said, ‘When you graduate, I’ll take you to the ring.’ So, she graduated in July of last year. U.C.S.D. (University of California San Diego). Human Biology. Showed me the diploma, and it was, ‘Okay, I’m ready.’ Took her up in October of last year, she loved it. Sent her again, this year, February, for two weeks, she loved it, and now we are in May, end of May and she’s getting ready to go up there and establish herself at the PC. So, I’m excited. If you would have told me your kids are gonna grow up and become wrestlers, both of ‘em, ehh, I think you’re wrong. It’s gonna be very interesting to see her development for the next year. But, we were talking about this, if that really happens, I would love to create some history. This is a historical moment — to be able to have shared the ring with my son, become the first father and son Tag Team Champions in WWE, and then later on feud against each other and we had our differences but now with my daughter, it’s like, what can we do there? This is a historical moment, because I don’t really have that many accolades. I mean, just Hall of Fame, GM. I need something.”

Mysterio also gave his thoughts about Aalyah’s potential in-ring future and supporting her whether it pans out or not for her.

“Being there for her, since I was gone for so long, just like I was with Dom, you know, being on the road, they both know they can both count on me whenever they want. So, being there for Aalyah if she ever needs any guidance or advise or anything that can help her push forward to follow this dream that she has right now, and again, she might be there for a year and she might say, ‘Dad, I thought this was for me and maybe it’s not,’ so, I said, ‘Don’t feel pressured that you have to be here. It’s gotta come from in here. You gotta feel it…’”

Mysterio also provided an update on his new animated series based on him called Rey Mysterio vs. The Darkness.

“It’s out in Latin America, but at the time, they were going through some sales and purchases with Cartoon Network in Latin America and we kind of got lost in the transition so, what we’re doing now is we bought the project ourselves. We are trying to bring it over to the U.S. and see if we can find the right partnership to be able to display it.”

Mysterio also gave his thoughts about how Kurt Angle had three choices for his match at SummerSlam 2002 and Angle picking him to be his opponent.

“Again, we don’t do this work on our own. We always need that guidance. The right person, opponent to work with that’ll build you up to the next level, and the first one to kind of pull me aside was Kurt Angle, at that time. I remember he told me they gave him three opponents to work with for SummerSlam which was my first pay-per-view with WWE, in Long Island, and he said, ‘I chose you. I’ve always wanted to work with you since I’ve seen you in WCW.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, truly honored,’ and he was like the first guy that kind of pulled me under his wing and was learning all these new methods of how to make my craft much better…”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6, F4WOnline.com 1 & 2