Ex-WWE Champion Entering Royal Rumble
A former WWE Champion has announced that he’ll be entering the Royal Rumble match.
Rey Mysterio has been known as the ultimate underdog during his career as a WWE Hall of Famer. From when he started in Mexico, gained fame in ECW, became a household name in WCW, and then became a massive star in WWE, Rey has always been fighting an uphill battle.
The reason for that is because Rey is one of the smallest WWE superstars ever. Wrestling fans know that guys who are 5’6″ and 175 pounds like Rey aren’t usually the guys who get to become main eventers and World Champions.
At the 2006 Royal Rumble, Rey Mysterio proved that size didn’t matter by starting the match in the #2 spot and lasting the whole way by winning that year’s Rumble by eliminating Triple H and Randy Orton for the win.
Mysterio followed up his Rumble win by beating Kurt Angle and Randy Orton at WrestleMania 22 to become the World Heavyweight Champion for the first time. Rey would go on to be a three-time WWE World Champion in his legendary career.
During a show opening promo on WWE SmackDown in his hometown of San Diego, Rey Mysterio declared that he would be in this year’s Royal Rumble match. Rey mentioned the other big name male wrestlers in the Rumble match including Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, CM Punk and John Cena.
Rey Mysterio Suffers Defeat On WWE SmackDown
The promo that Rey did on SmackDown was interrupted by Kevin Owens, who said he had done a lot in WWE, but he had never had a singles match against Rey. Owens told Rey that if he won the Rumble, then he wanted Rey to challenge Owens for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas. Rey reminded Owens that he was not the champion because Cody Rhodes was. That angered Owens, who tried to attack Rey, but Rey managed to send Owens out of the ring.
Later in the show, Owens faced Mysterio in a terrific match. Owens got the win after he bumped into the referee, who hit the ropes while Rey was on the top rope. After Rey fell down, Owens hit a Popup Powerbomb for the controversial win.
Despite the loss, Rey Mysterio is still in the Men’s Royal Rumble match taking place on February 1st in Indianapolis. You watch the WWE Royal Rumble when it streams live on Saturday, February 1, at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, exclusively on Peacock in the United States and Netflix internationally.