In a recent appearance on WWE’s “After The Bell with Corey Graves” podcast, recently inducted WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio discussed the impact Konnan, who inducted him into the Hall of Fame, has had on his career.
Sharing how he and Konnan first met, Mysterio said,
“We met when I was 12 years old roughly. And he walked into this gym in Tijuana where I was training, where my uncle was lead class and was taking students under his wing. Konnan showed up with another of his, freaking just jacked straight out of the Navy. And it looked like he was — you could have said he was a bodybuilder; he was so big. But we bonded right away, it was crazy.”
In conversation with Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick, Mysterio, in no uncertain terms, attributed much of the success he has had to Konnan helping him get opportunities during the early stages of his career.
“And he takes off, first to Mexico, becomes a huge megastar. And the first thing he does is, when they get ready to kick off this huge promotion, he calls me and Psicosis to come over and continue with our wrestling careers. Back then, if you didn’t know anyone that can connect you to a major promotion or that can connect you with promoters to get work, you weren’t gonna go anywhere. I would have been a good or great wrestling kid from San Diego that wrestled in Tijuana every weekend. And I could have become a local superstar, possibly. But my life changed after Konnan opened doors. Not only in Mexico, but in ECW and then WCW. So, I owe a lot of my success to Konnan. I’ve always said that thank God for this career, this beautiful, enormous career that I’ve had. But next to God, I thank Konnan for opening up these doors to me.”
On the same show, Rey Mysterio also discussed pioneering Lucha Libre in America, the role of WCW in the movement, and more. You can check that out here.
