Rey Mysterio adheres strictly to the concept of always staying masked during his wrestling performances, but that wasn’t always the case.
Speaking to Good Karma Wrestling, Rey Mysterio recalled his time with WCW and how he wrestled without a mask for some time. Mysterio and Konnan lost a “Hair vs. Mask match” against Kevin Nash and Scott Hall at SuperBrawl IX, and Mysterio was forced to wrestle without his mask. Rey continued to wrestle without a mask until WCW was purchased by WWE in 2001, but he didn’t work for WWE until the following year.
Mysterio noted that when he arrived at WWE, it was with the intention of both himself and the company to wear his mask. However, he isn’t too mad about being unmasked in WCW now, as he believed it helped him become the “giant killer” he was there.
“The fact that when I signed with WWE, they wanted the Rey Mysterio with the mask. Of course, I understood that was for marketing purposes but at the same time I was like ‘Yes, I’m coming back with the mask,'” said Mysterio. “I didn’t even think it was possible. That gave Rey Mysterio a rebirth. During the time in WCW when I lost the mask, I honestly believe that if I wouldn’t have lost the mask, the giant killer wouldn’t have been born.
“I probably wouldn’t have faced the Scott Nortons, the Bam Bam Bigelow’s or the Kevin Nash’s. That was kind of my breakthrough to be the underdog in the fight against the giants. I think that kind of maybe, I could be wrong,” Mysterio noted, “opened up the vision in Vince’s or WWE’s eyes to say, ‘We can do something with Rey over here.’ There was no talent my size that were given opportunities like the ones that they’ve given me over the last 20 years.”
Rey also mentioned that guys like Ricochet, Dragon Lee, Angel Garza, Santos Escobar among some of the young talent that is hungry and looking for the opportunity to make a big break.
