Former WWE star Rey Mysterio recently spoke with Rolling Stone to promote the AAA “TripleMania XXIII” pay-per-view event. Here are the highlights.
On the biggest reason he left WWE:
“Family was the biggest reason. If anything, I’ll probably do appearances. I’m not trying to stay busy. I’m trying to enjoy my time at home and be around my kids. I want to vacation. I’m a big family guy. I want to do more with them. That was the primary reason that I stepped away. Opportunities are starting to arise. After 15 years, I didn’t know what was out there. I had been wrestling with WWE all that time and wasn’t focusing on anything outside of that. I’m realizing that there’s a lot of opportunities there. The question is just whether I want to take them.”
On his current relationship with WWE:
“There’s definitely no hard feelings with WWE. I’m very thankful to them for the opportunity that was given to me. The lifestyle I have now is due to the success that I had there. There’s one thing that I’ve always been is appreciative of the opportunities that are given to me. I’ve always left every company that I’ve been with on good terms; WWE is no exception. I have no negative comments or feelings towards WWE at all.
As far as Konnan’s part in all this, he got a little overexcited. I’ve been very close to Konnan for many years now. I thank him for much of my success in this industry. He opened the doors for me in AAA, ECW and WCW. I’m very thankful. Even though we don’t see each other as much, we do talk a lot. He would hear many times that I was tired and constantly on the grind. I would pour my heart out to him on many occasions. When my term was coming up and that I was thinking about not re-signing, I told him about it, and I think he was just excited for me.”
On the past five months since leaving WWE:
“I don’t regret any steps that I take in life. This is something that I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I really wanted to have some time off, without feeling any sort of commitment to be on a certain schedule. Now, I’m doing things my way, under my terms. I’m dictating my pace towards retirement. I’m not on the grind. I was constantly competing. This is a good thing for me. This is something that my wife and I thought would be best for my body and for myself. I get to be a husband and a father again. I get to enjoy time with my kids now. I was a workaholic for so many years. I’ve missed so many birthdays and anniversaries. Now that my kids are a bit older, I want to be around and I want to enjoy it. I want to send my kids off to college if that’s what they want to do. I want to do all the family things I’ve missed over the years.”
Check out the complete interview at RollingStone.com.
