Rey knows that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Rey Mysterio is known as the flag-bearer for smaller wrestlers who are looking to break the mold that they can not hang with bigger athletes. Rey in his own right started off as a Cruiserweight in WCW and in WWE but with less of a label attached to him like the label that is attached to the stars of 205 Live. Rey Mysterio has held the Cruiserweight Championship a combined eight times during his time in WCW and WWE. He eventually broke the mold in WWE and went on to become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion and a WWE Champion.
Since the announcement broke that Rey Mysterio is going to be a part of the WWE roster full-time for the foreseeable future, many fans have shared that they want to see Mysterio take his super stardom to the Cruiserweight division and elevate the likes of Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali and Lio Rush. Mysterio himself knows a thing or two about breaking the mold and he feels that the 205 Live guys are in the same situation that he once was in but to a different extent. While Rey was in Dubai promoting WWE 2K19, he chatted with 'Al Arabiyah English' and offered his thoughts on today's Cruiserweight division and how it differs from when he was Cruiserweight.
“It’s definitely, it’s a transitional game. You have to pretty much, put in your work, wherever you’re placed and be the best that you can be and when the time is right, there’s going to be another opportunity for you, somewhere else." Rey continued, "I don’t where that’s gonna be, but you’re obviously gonna get spotted and they’re gonna grab you and put you over here, and something better. There’s no way you can go backwards. You have to move forward, but you always have to put in the work and be the best that you can be. That’s what worked for me, that’s what happened to me. Obviously, on a completely different era, because they didn’t have a 205, they didn’t have an NXT. It was either RAW or SmackDown, or Nitro or Thunder at the time for WCW, and I still go back and talk about my tryout for WCW [which] was at Great American Bash - a pay-per-view. You don’t see that anymore. It’s just a different era so… been able… given the opportunity to perform on such a big platform for the first time, there was no other option."
Rey continued by saying that there was only one option for him and that was succeed because he knew that his opportunity to shine may not have come again if he didn't perform to the best of his abilities. Rey went on to speak about the 205 Live and NXT talents and stated that if they want to move up from their respective brands, they have to be the best that they can be so that they can make the jump to the main roster.
"Either you did great or you failed, and there was no failure for me. I knew I had to succeed no matter what. Wrestling Dean Malenko for the first time at a WCW pay-per-view, I had to put in the work, and Dean Malenko was such a great role model for me and such a great mentor to guide me with the American style because I knew nothing about the American style." He said. "I had been doing Lucha Libre for the past eight years so… you live and learn as you go through the levels of wrestling, or the faces of wrestling and you have to make the best out of the situation that you’re in and I think that’s what’s happening right now with a lot of the talent. Whether you’re on NXT or 205 Live, you have to be the best that you can be to eventually get pulled out of there and taken to the main roster.”
Rey Mysterio was the featured guest on MizTV yesterday on SmackDown Live and to read the fallout from that segment, head over to Fightful's coverage article of the October 23rd edition of SmackDown Live.
If you are going to use the quotes above, please credit 'Al Arabiyah English' with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.
