Lucha Underground star Rey Mysterio recently spoke with The Huffington Post and below are some interview highlights:
The wrestling business changing over the years and the Cruiserweights:
“I think starting from the very beginning, the styles have changed a lot. I think that’s due to the fact that you see more lightweights coming around. I didn’t think this would happen at all because for a long time management kind of just pushed us aside. It seems like something that was often talked about in 1996 and 1997—in the early WCW years. Along with Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko, we got that whole Cruiserweight division pumped up and ready to go. It lasted while it was in WCW. When WWE purchased the company, it kind of just went away. I remember Dean pushing for the division’s return for so many years and they never really pursued it, you know? Finally, after all these years it’s out there and that’s the whole evolution of this business. It might be a bad thing to say but the heavyweights don’t rule this world anymore. It’s all about the style and what you can bring to the table—how exciting you can be. The show has to catch your attention. And I think the Cruiserweights know how to do that.”
His relationship with younger fans:
“In my personal opinion, I think its that I have kids of my own. My son is now 19 and my daughter is 15. But I always liked to spoil them. While my wife was being mom and dad while I was on the road, I would come home and let them jump on the beds, play on the couch and wrestle against me. We would do a lot of things that they wouldn’t be able to get away with when it came to mom. I always had that connection my kids. That just made it much easier to connect with the kids in the wrestling world.”
“You can’t learn that. It’s a gift from God to be able to connect with the fans that way. It’s a very special gift that I thank him every day for. It’s very unique and I love having that bond—it’s awesome. It’s funny because I was talking about it earlier. A lot of the parents ask me, ‘What do you tell the kids when you go up to them?’ I say, ‘You have to be a kid to find out. I can’t tell you.’ So it was always about that connection where I could reach out to them and have that personal one-on-one interaction. It just made it worth it. I don’t know how many people I run into now that have told me that they went to one of the shows when they were young and how awesome it was to have met me that night. I’m like, ‘Wow, to impact somebody’s life when they are a kid like that is priceless.’ It’s priceless, man.”
Being a part of Lucha Underground:
“To be part of something that started at the bottom and is working its way up is unique and cool. When I saw the product I knew there was something special going on there. It’s like me going back to my roots. To be able to end my career in the way I started it with the Lucha libre style? You can’t ask for more. The talent that Lucha Underground has right now is probably the best talent ever in the history of wrestling.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
