Rey Mysterio On His Longevity: “I Can’t Believe I’m Still Going At This Rate”
Rey Mysterio continues to defy the odds by continuing to wrestle at a high level in his fifth decade as a pro wrestler.
As the current United States Champion who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year, Rey Mysterio is one of the biggest stars on the Smackdown brand. It’s an amazing accomplishment considering Rey is 48 years old (he’ll turn 49 in December) and he has had numerous knee operations that you might think would slow him down, but they really haven’t done that.
If you watch Rey Mysterio, he wrestles in the same style that he did in 1996 when he became a household name in WCW and then six years later when he became a WWE superstar in 2002. On August 11th, Rey became WWE’s United States Champion for the third time.
Earlier this week, Rey Mysterio offered a timeline for when he plans to retire: “I’m hoping that it can be within the next year and a half or two, maybe.”
In an interview with ESPN, Rey talked about his durability as a wrestler while noting this was his fifth decade in wrestling since he started in 1989 at 14 years old.
“I’ve been part of five decades of wrestling. When you look at it that way, I started in 89. 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, 2020’s. So it’s really amazing that the fact that God has given me still the blessing to continue doing what I love to do and that my body is holding up. And not beat up… just holding up, feeling good. Still being able to perform.”
“But it is shocking to me at times when this question is brought up. I can’t believe that I’m still going at this rate. But it feels good. And I still feel the need to step in the ring because I love it.”
Rey Mysterio will defend the US Title at WWE Crown Jewel
Being the current United States Champion means that WWE superstars are constantly coming after Rey. Up next for the luchador legend is Logan Paul, who met Rey in the ring for a promo on the October 20th edition of Smackdown.
On Smackdown, Paul challenged Rey to a US Title match for the Crown Jewel PLE on November 4th. Rey accepted the challenge as the two men shook hands in the ring. Paul has been heelish in the past, but he was respectful in this case.
The updated lineup for WWE Crown Jewel looks like this:
* Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. LA Knight
* World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
* Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Zoey Stark
* United States Championship: Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Logan Paul
WWE Crown Jewel airs on Saturday, November 4th, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, streaming live from Riyadh, exclusively on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network everywhere else.