Rey Mysterio turns the ripe old age of 40 this week, amid the news that his return to WWE is immanent. The former World Champion hasn’t been seen in WWE since April after what seemed to be a torrid time for the Mexican superstar.
As a whole 2014 hasn’t been a great year for the master of the 619. Mysterio started out being booed as he entered the Royal Rumble at number 30; this was no fault of his own, it was because the WWE Universe wanted Daniel Bryan to be the last entrant and were rather disappointed he wasn’t.
He then played no further part in proceedings until he was a part of the Andre the Giant battle royal at Wrestlemania 30, where he was quickly eliminated by eventual winner Cesaro. This marked the end of this run in WWE as Rey suffered an injury at the hands of Bad News Barrett the following night and has been out on hiatus ever since.
The rumour mill has been buzzing ever since after it was made apparent that Rey didn’t want to return to WWE with his contract was then extended without his approval (Which is allowed based on the amount of time he had missed due to injury). The former Cruiserweight then stopped cashing his WWE paycheques in the hope that he could negotiate a release from the company he had been with for more than 10 years.
Rey even when as far as turning up to an episode of Raw a few months back to arrange a face to face interview with Vince McMahon, but this never happened. Following the release of his fellow countryman Alberto Del Rio, Rey looked likely to follow him to AAA after he set the promotion a video and visited the Lucha Underground.
Then there was a complete turn around, it seems WWE had noticed that they no longer had a pull for the Hispanic market since Del Rio was gone and Sin Cara had been dropped to NXT. Rey was once again their best option,with current rumours saying WWE will agree to some of Mysterio’s terms and he will re-sign in May instead of trying to leave for AAA.
Given the timing of Rey’s return to looks likely that the 2006 Rumble winner could make his re-debut at the January 25th pay-per-view and hopefully gain a better ovation that this year. It’s likely that there will be something set up in the match to give Rey a feud to gain momentum throughout the Road to Wrestlemania.
The Mexican superstar is almost a certainty to return as a face, is a big merchandise seller and alongside Dean Ambrose he could be used as one of the big faces in the company next year. This is dependant on who WWE align Rey with or if they decide to make him a part of a tag team and see how he fares with a partner, like when he tagged with The Big Show at the end of last year. WWE may also use him to help elevate the Lucha Dragons when they make their transition from NXT to the WWE main roster.
Either way, Rey deserves a decent run because at his age, this could be his last few years with the company and as someone who has grown up watching him in awe. It would be nostalgic to see him go out on a high.
photo credit: marc.benton via photopin cc
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