Rey Mysterio Admits Controversial Move Felt Very Weird

Rey Mysterio has looked back on a “very weird” time in his career.

Over the course of his career, Rey Mysterio has become one of the most celebrated luchadors in wrestling history. After making his name in ECW and WCW, Mysterio joined WWE in 2002 and was immediately a huge hit with fans due to his high-flying offence and underdog performances. Now, there’s rarely a show without his fans wearing his signature mask in the audience.

However, that’s one aspect of his image that almost never made it out of WCW. Duirng his tenure in the company, the star lost a Mask vs. Hair match at SuperBrawl 1999, leading to him competing maskless until WCW closed in 2001.

Speaking on the Jaxxon podcast, Mysterio recalled feeling “naked” without the mask, and explained how he tried to convince management not to go through with the change.

“It was actually very weird for me because my whole life I’d been wrestling with the mask… I’m going to have to lose the mask that night which we fought for a long time trying to convince them not to lose the mask but that was at the end of the day that was their decision and they wanted me to lose it. So it felt kind of weird at first, felt like naked.”

Going on, Mysterio said WCW never understood what they had with the mask and how it could have been branded, but when he came to WWE and was able to wear it again, that company immediately set to work to market it.

“The mask is a huge attraction for the kids, you know superhero vibe. They [WCW] really didn’t brand the mask the way they should have or they could have. But sure enough, that came right after. Once I signed with WWE, they put those masks all over the place and because of that you know it’s one of the most iconic masks around the world.”

Rey Mysterio Claims Split With Dominik Was The Best Thing To Happen For His Son

During the same interview, Rey Mysterio explained why he believes seperating from Dominik was the best thing that could have happened for his son’s career. The WWE Hall of Famer said that when they were a team, Dominik was put in a position where he was constantly compared to his veteran father, something he couldn’t live up to as he was just at the start of his own career.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above trasncription.