Rey Mysterio To Retire, Plus Other WWE News
WWE legend Rey Mysterio (Real name - Oscar Gutierrez) has announced that he will be hanging up his tights and mask at the age of 45. Rey has been wrestling since he was 14 and feels that now is the time to call it quits. He will make the retirement official on the June 1st edition of Monday Night Raw. It is said that Seth Rollins will host his retirement party. That is a bit odd after Seth left Mysterio and his eye in a bloody mess a few weeks ago on Raw. It should be a very interesting and sad night overall.
Mysterio has been an icon in the WWE for many years, although he did first come up with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996, after a year in Paul Heyman’s ECW. That is when he popularized the Lucha Libre fighting style. In 2001, WCW folded and that is when Mysterio joined WWE. He has held just about title that WWE has to offer and even shocked the world with his win in the 2006 Royal Rumble. Rey has also been known as the giant killer with wins against Scott Norton, Kevin Nash, and Bam Bam Bigelow.
At Wrestlemania 22, Mysterio was in a triple-threat match for the World Heavyweight Title with Randy Orton and then-champion Kurt Angle. Mysterio pinned Orton to win the title, which was another shocking outcome. I could go on an on about many of his accomplishments but that would take us forever. Mysterio has won 15 titles in WWE and 9 titles with WCW. He did not win any with ECW.
As stated at the top, Rey will be announcing that he is retiring on this coming Monday night Raw, but he will also be announcing that the Lucha Libre will take place in one more match. That match is expected to be a six-man tag match at Backlash, which will take place on June 14th. Yes, I will have a preview of that PPV. The combatants for that match have not yet been disclosed. It has been a very storied career from Rey and he will be missed by all of us.
In Other News:
This past Monday night on Raw, there were actually some fans in the stands. They weren’t real WWE Universe fans. They were other wrestlers from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Those are the wrestlers that are training and vying to make it to NXT or the main roster. Still, it was very nice to see some people in the stands. They weren’t sitting down though. All of them stood through the entire show but they all cheered just as if the real WWE Universe was there. The wrestlers booed for the bad guys and cheered for the good guys.
The wrestlers were behind a plexiglass wall and they were all social distancing as well. We also note that every wrestler in the stands was tested before the show as well. They did get involved in the end when Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley went after each other. The wrestlers were then asked to come in and help break up the brawl. I hope that WWE continues to go forward with using the trainee wrestlers like that in the stands, especially at the next PPV.
Lashley and McIntyre will battle for the WWE title at Backlash after MVP laid down the challenge for Bobby. MVP has become the spokesperson/ manager for the All-Mighty Bobby Lashley. Being a fighting champion, McIntyre could not ignore the challenge. It should be a very good match and one that will be longer than Drew’s Wrestlemania Match against Brock Lesnar, in which he won the title in five minutes.
Another match has been announced for Backlash and that is Edge vs Randy Orton, which is being dubbed as the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever. Edge had been gone from WWE for nine years after a neck injury. He made a surprise return at the Royal Rumble and then had a Last Man Standing Match against Orton at Wrestlemania. Orton won that match and now Orton wants to face him in a traditional match. It should be a good one and I will have more on this match when I do my official preview.
Nia Jax will now take on Asuka at Backlash for the Raw Women’s Title. Asuka won the Money In The Bank Ladder Match and normally that is for a shot at the title anytime, any place but the next night Asuka found out that she had won the title. That is because Becky Lynch was pregnant and had to step away from WWE for a while. Nia won her chance at the title by beating Charlotte Flair and Natalya in a triple threat match this past Monday night on Raw.
One more note, this Friday night, Ric Flair will be making an appearance on Smackdown. Not sure why, but be sure and tune into Fox at 8:00 PM.