WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio was today’s guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia and opened up about his storied professional wrestling career. Highlights appear below.
On Why He Returned To WWE:
The opportunity was definitely on the table and from the moment I left. I left not giving a detailed explanation to media or whoever had any doubts or questions about why I left. Between WWE and myself, this was a part-time farewell. I needed to take a break. I needed to rest. I needed to be around my family to pick up on a lot of things that I missed out over the years just being on the road and travelling and dedicating so much time into this sport that I kind of pushed my family aside. Don’t get me wrong, my wife has always been very supportive of what I do and my kids as well, but when you’re kids are young they don’t understand why dad is not there every week. They don’t understand why dad is not there for their birthday or special events at school. They just know that dad’s working; dad’s on the road. Now that they’re older they understand that. They understand what I do and understand the impact that I have on life and in other people’s lives, so that was pretty much my answer to why I was stepping away from my contractual agreement with WWE…..sure enough the beginning of this year I got an opportunity to go back and be a part of the Royal Rumble and I think that kind of led everything to where it is now.
On What It’s Like To Return To WWE:
It has been incredible. From the time that I left to up until now, there’s definitely a lot of new faces. It’s a new roster, but that’s the evolution of this sport. You can’t have everybody around forever and right around the time when I left, a lot of guys were leaving the company due to injuries or just continue whatever it is they wanted to do outside of wrestling. To be back now and see some new and old faces, it’s really really good. Under new terms, definitely. I would not be able to go back and wrestle at the full schedule that I had prior to me leaving four years ago. My body is definitely beat down after 29 years of a solid career. I’m just the type of person that when that bell rings and when I walk out that curtain, I’m ready to give 200%. I don’t know how to hold back. As much as people tell me, ‘Rey take it easy. You don’t have to do all that. People know you,’ I can’t cheat my fans. I go out there and I give everything.
On When It’s Time To Retire:
I’m definitely getting close to shutting down sometime in the next couple of years. I definitely don’t see myself going past five years. That’s without a doubt and I just wouldn’t want to do it for the sake of my body and what I’ve gone through. Thank God, I’ve done the work at home and brought the money in and my wife has been very smart to administrate everything here at home. She’s been a wife, a mother, a friend. She’s been my accountant all these years and my administrator and she’s known how to handle the money and how to invest and move it around in the right direction, so I don’t want to have to keep doing this because I have to. I want to keep doing this because I love it and I still feel like I have a little bit more to give to the audience.
On Whether His Stature Ever Bothered Him Growing Up:
It didn’t bother me until after I broke into this sport and that was the negative feedback. ‘You’ve got to get some size or you’re too small or he’s too small. He’s got to get some size in him or he’s gotta look bigger.’ It was such a constant let-down to know that my size didn’t impress anyone from wrestling promoters to other wrestlers that were very successful during my childhood, so to know that was my failure to not becoming who I am now; it fed me so much positive energy and so much input to work harder and to put in the time to be who I am now. That fueled me up.
On What Drove Him To Continue Despite Experiencing Setbacks:
It was just my will and my strong mind to accomplish what I really loved and it all comes down to that; what it is that you really want to do no matter what other people say and no matter the amount of doors that get shut down in your face. You keep looking and you keep striving and eventually you’re gonna hit that road to success because you put in the work. There’s no time to even think about failure and that’s something that I never thought about. As much as people put me down because of my size and my height and my weight, I just never considered that to be an issue to me.
(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, WrestleZone)
Rey Mysterio On Why He’s Still Wrestling, The Toughest Era Of His Life, Struggles Of Immigration
Mysterio also talks about what it means to be an inspiration to Zelina Vega and others, as well at what he is doing to keep in premiere physical condition. Readers may listen to Lilian Garcia‘s interview with Rey Mysterio below.
