Rey Mysterio Discusses Being an Inspiration to Smaller Wrestlers, Says His Son is Training With Jay Lethal

– Rey Mysterio recently appeared on E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness (transcript via wrestlinginc.com ), here are the highlights…

On Konnan Opening The Door For Him: “I actually give a lot of credit to Konnan for opening the doors for me along my way.” Mysterio stated, “and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it till my last day: I could’ve been so talented, but if I hadn’t gotten introduced to the right people or the right companies at the right time, none of this would’ve happened. Somebody always in a way has to give you an invitation or open the doors for you, so you can eventually be seen and they can appreciate your talent, so Konnan was one of those guys, not just my mentor, but Psicosis, Juventud [Guerrera], a lot of guys that were a part of that WCW era where lucha libre became very big in WCW. But, again, I say if I didn’t have Konnan there recommending me or saying, ‘hey, you’ve got to bring this kid in, man. I really like him. Rey Mysterio, he’s really good. Wait till you see him.’ That kind of opened a lot of doors for me and I took advantage of the opportunity. He’d do the recommendation and I would come in, do the work, and, at the end of the day, it paid off.”

On Understanding he’s an Inspiration to Smaller Wrestlers: “Maybe within the last five years,” Mysterio considered. “I want to say, you start getting comments here and there at signings or events where you get local wrestlers coming up to you and they tell you that they’re training, that they’re wrestling, if I have any advice because they were inspired by watching me wrestle and Psicosis, and our generation, so that’s when it kind of hits you not as strong as later down the road when I run into an AJ [Styles], when I do run into a Will Ospreay, when I do run into Amazing Red, Ricochet, who just signed with WWE. After being able to wrestle with these guys and them expressing how much of an influence I was to their career, and how without me being in the position that I was throughout the years, that they are now having the opportunities to be able to perform at the level that they always wanted to. That’s when it hits you and you go, ‘wow’. I mean, it was a game-changer, it was a door-opener for all the smaller weight, the guys that at another time thought, ‘oh, I could never be a part of this.’ And then, seeing me, ‘oh, if he can do it, I can do it!’ So that’s when it really hits and it makes you feel good, man. There’s no better feeling than to know that you’ve given others the opportunity to perform at the highest level possible.”

On His Son training With Jay Lethal: “Yeah, my son, Dominic is training in wrestling and working. He’s up training with Jay Lethal right now.” Mysterio later added, “I’m going to have him train as much as he can in different countries. Right now he’s training with Jay. I want to get him out with Lance in Calgary [Canada]. Is he in Calgary? Yeah, uh huh. And eventually, if I can get him to Japan and to Europe. And the final touch would be the Mexican side. That’s when I get ahold of him and we do one-on-ones, so eventually, when it’s time to tap out and hang up the mask, I would love to leave him set, so he can take over the name and the brand and take it to the next level.”