Rey Mysterio admitted that the first time he wrestled a fellow Hall of Famer it did not go according to plan.
Back in April 2003, Mysterio faced off against The Undertaker for the first time ever. With Mysterio less than a year into his WWE run and Undertaker the respected veteran and locker room leader, the ultimate underdog was looking to put on a good showing to impress The Phenom. Unfortunately, an accident occurred in the match that left Mysterio fearful of repercussions.
Appearing on the Jaxxon Podcast, Mysterio revealed that during their match he broke Undertaker’s orbital socket when the springboard manoeuvre did not correct correctly:
“Not to mention, the first time I wrestled him [The Undertaker], I ended up breaking his orbital socket. I was scared sh*tless… No… So I do this move where I spring on the top rope and I jump. And I pretty much sit on your chest and bring you down. I think what happened is, when I sat down and we both fell, my ass went like this (scrapped The Undertaker’s face). And it pushed up against his face.
I’m not that big… Imagine being the first time stepping in the ring with him. You just… As a legend that he is, I just wanted to make sure that my work was good enough to please him to say, ‘Hey, let me work with him again.’
Continuing, Mysterio added that while he was scared at the time there The Undertaker was very aware that it was a mistake and they worked numerous times after their 2003 encounter:
“And I wanted to make sure that I didn’t hurt, because that’s we… We protect each other. We gotta feed, we gotta fight, we gotta live to fight another day, and we got to make sure we are good. But with him, it was… Like… I was really tense that butterfly-nervous feeling that I had or that I have every time I step in the ring, it was like three times as much, working him for the first time.
But overall, an incredible person. Incredible human being… 100% [The Undertaker knew it was a mistake.] No [He wasn’t mad at Rey Mysterio.] And we worked again a couple of times after that.”
Rey Mysterio Discusses WWE Retirement
Although Undertaker retired from in-ring competition back in 2020, Mysterio is still going strong to this day and shows no signs of slowing down after more than 3 decades in the industry. While Rey Mysterio did not put a date on when he expects to retire, he did note the exact moment he knows when it would be time to call time on his career.
In the same interview, Rey Mysterio looked back on a very weird period of his career.
H/t to WrestleZone.