The Royal Rumble is well-known for producing huge moments, shocks, and surprises every year and the 2023 edition of the annual spectacular was no exception.
One of the most shocking moments came when the buzzer sounded for the 17th entrant, Rey Mysterio, but the star failed to appear. While the commentary team tried to make sense of his no-show, the buzzer sounded again and the 18th superstar was revealed to be Rey’s son, Dominik.
Dominik came out wearing his father’s mask, implying he was the reason Mysterio was unable to compete in the 30-man spectacular. The reality, however, is seemingly quite different.
Rey Mysterio injured during match with Karrion Kross
On the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that Rey Mysterio suffered an undisclosed injury during his match with Karrion Kross on the January 27th edition of SmackDown, leading to the angle that played out at the Royal Rumble.
“The Rey Mysterio thing, Rey Mysterio was injured last night at the SmackDown tapings in the match with Karrion Kross.
“So, he was going to be in the Rumble, that spot was changed and then what happened was they did a spot where he was supposed to come out, he doesn’t come out, and then Dominik comes out.
Meltzer went on to say that there were spots planned during the Rumble match to set up a bout between father and son at WrestleMania.
“I think they were actually supposed to do some teasers with them in the Rumble to set up the WrestleMania match but obviously, they couldn’t do it because Rey’s injured.
“Dominik, I guess the idea is he came out with Rey’s mask with the idea that somehow maybe Judgment Day beat up Rey backstage and that’s the way they’re going to do the angle.
“Hopefully, Rey’s injury isn’t anything serious, but I guess it was serious enough that he couldn’t do what was planned in the match.”
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