Rey Mysterio is considered by many to be one of the greatest luchador wrestlers in history. The Master of the 619 made his WWE debut on the July 25, 2002, edition of SmackDown. Since his debut, Mysterio has slayed giants and won numerous championships throughout his legendary career.
Although Mysterio has proven to belong in the land of the giants, there was someone who once believed he didn’t have what it took to be a top star in WWE. According to WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, Vince McMahon had his doubts about Mysterio earlier in his career and was against him becoming a main event talent in the company.
Vince McMahon Wasn’t Convinced Rey Mysterio Could Be A Marquee Name.
One of Mysterio’s first main event matches on WWE television was a Triple Threat match involving Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit on an episode of SmackDown. Angle noted on the latest edition of The Kurt Angle Show that several company officials had to persuade McMahon to allow Mysterio to close out the episode. Although McMahon began signing talents from lower weight classes during the Attitude Era, he wasn’t convinced Mysterio should be someone at the top of the card.
Angle explained that McMahon almost made the wrong call when it came to the legendary luchador.
“Yes, Vince was not very keen on a smaller guy making it to the main event,” revealed the WWE Hall of Famer. “As a matter of fact, you had to have a certain amount of size on you, especially in the 80s and 90s, you had to be over 240, but then he kind of loosened up and started taking in guys around 200, 185, 190, the Eddie Guerreros and the Chris Jerichos and the Chris Benoits.
And Rey, he wasn’t folding with Rey, but somebody talked him into it and said, ‘Give him a chance.’ And he did it that night, and from then on, Rey was a main eventer. Vince was wrong. I mean, Vince is hardly ever wrong, but he was wrong about this.”
Rey Mysterio proved the former WWE CEO wrong and quickly established himself as a dependable main event talent on SmackDown. The legendary luchador is still bringing the heat on the blue brand, having just become the #1 contender for Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship.
H/T – Sportskeeda