Where's Rey Mysterio?

Similar to his name, there is a mystery surrounding the future of one of the WWE's biggest stars of the past decade, Rey Mysterio, who remains one of the most popular stars, despite being injured in recent years.

Mysterio began wrestling at a young age and after a few appearances in ECW, he signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling in 1996. Rey was one of the company's highlights, as he brought the lucha style to a national audience, but tailored it more towards the United States. As was the case with most young performers in WCW, Mysterio was under utilized, but worked in the company until it was sold in 2001. After being unmasked in WCW a few years earlier, he debuted in the WWE in 2002, wearing the mask and he would soon win the now defunct WWE Cruiser Weight title. Mysterio debuting under the mask is one of the reasons WWE won the war against WCW and it was merchandising. Rey with the mask gave him a solid character to bring to the WWE audience and it also allowed the company to market it in every aspect. There were replica masks, t shirt designs, etc. that could be used to maximize the Mysterio brand.

Aside from merchandise, Rey Mysterio was one of the most solid competitors on the roster and he could make his opponents look good in the ring. As Rey became more popular, the sudden passing of his friend, Eddie Guerrero brought a storyline to the WWE that Rey would win the World title for Eddie. As I said at the time, I don't approve of how the WWE used Eddie's name in the storyline and Rey could have been the champion without it, which he proved a few years later. Regardless, Rey won the Royal Rumble in 2006 and he went on to win the title at Wrestlemania 22 a few months later.

After that, Rey would have sporadic injuries during his WWE career, seemingly from his high risk style from years previously and despite toning down his style some what, the injuries persisted. While he would win the WWE title and remain in the main event picture in the following years, Rey had multiple surgeries during his later WWE run. Mysterio has been on the sideline for most of the past three years and it was reported that the WWE automatically renewed his contract for another year because of the amount of time he was injured.

The entire situation is somewhat bizarre considering the amount of time Rey has worked for the WWE and how successful he has been for the company. There are rumors that Mysterio wants to work for AAA or Lucha Underground, but I have to ask, why? It's not a jab at AAA, but unless they are paying more money, (which doesn't seem possible) why would he want to take somewhat of a step down to work for AAA when he could retire on a global stage of the WWE? While Lucha Underground has generated some buzz, it tapes an entire season in a few days and doesn't have any major distribution so again, isn't it somewhat of a step down from the WWE? Depending on the perspective, you can't really blame the WWE for renewing the deal because Mysterio was being paid a downside guarantee when he was injured and they could attempt to generate revenue to cover the cost of the contact when Mysterio returns. On the flip side, it's possible that Rey doesn't want to work the demanding WWE schedule and would prefer lighter options for the conclusion of his career.

It's well documented that Mysterio started his career in Mexico so maybe he wants to retire there, but it would be disappointing if he doesn't retire on the global stage because he deserves the recognition for his career. Undoubtedly the most successful cruiser weight wrestler of all time, Rey proved that aerial wrestlers could be a main event draw and in many respects, he has reached legendary status. When Rey's WWE contract finally expires, it will be interesting to see if he actually continues to wrestle outside of the WWE, but considering his age, how many more years would he continue wrestling? Hopefully, Rey and the WWE can reach an agreement because he deserves a lot of credit for his career.