Rey Mysterio Addresses How Much Longer He Wants to Wrestle, Not Immediately Jumping to WWE After WCW Folded

– WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio recently joined Insight with Chris Van Vliet to discuss his career, retirement, not jumping to WWE after WCW folded, some of his most iconic matches, the career of his son Dominik Mysterio, and more. Below are some highlights:

Rey Mysterio on how much longer he wants to wrestle: “I don’t [think about it] until it’s being brought up and when my wife brings that up, that’s when I pause. I don’t know if I want to do it another two years, three years. I kind of listen to my body and my mindset, especially my mindset because my body’s been feeling great with all the benefits that I get from doing like the cold plunge and the sauna. Overall, my mind has to be in the right place, so that’s probably the hardest thing for me. Because sometimes the age factor comes into mind and not in the moment, but thinking ahead like I want to be able to still move around and walk at 55 or 56. Is my body going to feel the same? I don’t know.”

Mysterio on why he didn’t jump to WWE after WCW shut down: “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. 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. And 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. So I remember when Eddie and Saturn, Jericho was the first one to leave. But when Dean and The Radicals, when they left, I kind of had a bit of hope like, okay, if they’re there, probably one day I’ll be able to make it. But sure enough, when they bought out the company and told me to wait, I thought it was them saying in a good way, we’re interested but not right now. But no, I mean, JR kept his word. Once my contract expired, we sat down, we negotiated and I kicked off the first year.”

On his view if Dominik Mysterio will eventually become a world champion: “Yeah, most definitely. Dom is getting really good at what he’s doing and he’s understanding the craft. The fact that he’s where he’s at with such little time, I wish I could be there, or I could have been there with four years of being in the business. I didn’t know sh*t at four years. [Look who he’s learned from] Not only me, yes, I am his father. But the fact that he’s been able to be in there with the best; Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, John Cena. All these moments are moments that give you the ability to learn. So I think he’s taken very well advantage of those moments and has added them to his career.”

On the Ladder Match with Eddie Guerrero at SummerSlam 2005: “I want to say that that came from Bruce [Prichard] and Eddie [Guerrero] I don’t know if somebody else had some input in it. But when that idea was brought up to me, I said, ‘Sure, that sounds cool. Let me speak to Dom about it.’ Dom from his understanding had always been a little bit shy, timid especially back then, younger. But when he knew that money was involved he said ‘Yeah, I’m down. I’ll do it.’ But Eddie spoke to him, I know Bruce spoke to him as well, which is crazy, just to even see so many years past and now Bruce being there and talking to Dom and Bruce kind of telling them okay, this is what we’re gonna have going on for the next storyline. You know, I can’t imagine what Bruce feels when he speaks to Dom when he spoke to him when he was only seven years old. And it’s got to be such a cool feeling.”

Rey Mysterio was inducted into the WWE Hall of Famer last year as part of the Class of 2023 inductees.