Former WWE superstar Rey Mysterio is of the opinion that the success of his current promotion, Lucha Underground, is what inspired the WWE to relaunch the Cruiserweight division and also to present their high-flying superstars at NXT.
Mysterio was speaking as part of a Lucha Underground panel at the New York Comic-Con held last month, excerpts from which were aired by renowned broadcaster Sam Roberts on his wrestling podcast recently.
“I truly believe that now that Lucha Underground has been around and run for three seasons, it was almost a temptation to, in a way, display the talent that they had, whether it was in NXT or whatnot, and start running with that talent, because of what Lucha Underground was doing.
We're completely different. In a way, we have more to offer," said the former 3-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion.
Rey Mysterio also spoke about how things had materialised after a long wait during the Cruiserweight division’s initial run in the WWE while also throwing light on how his former associate Dean Malenko was the first one to push for its introduction.
Also Read: WWE News: Rey Mysterio on working with LU, WWE, Del Rio's exit and more
He stated:
“It took some time for them to eventually develop that whole division. It was around for awhile, 2001, when I was part of that company, at the beginning, and it kind of just drifted off and disappeared.”
‘The Master of the 619’ further went on to add:
“For a long time, Dean Malenko spoke about it and was trying to pursue to keep that division up and running because the cruiserweights were the ones bringing all the action, bringing all the excitement to the ring. For some reason or another, they didn't listen.”
A few months ago, Mysterio faced off against former Lucha Underground champion and popular wrestler, Prince Puma, at the Ultima Lucha Dos event, a match that the former ended up winning. ‘The Giant Killer’ explained how he felt during the match and also showered praise on Puma’s in-ring skills.
“That was fun, but I feel pressure every time before I go to the ring. That's my normal feeling every time I step into the ring or before I step into the ring.
But, I'll tell you, man, it's very rare you get to step into the ring with someone, I believe he have wrestled one time before that match, somewhere out in an independent show, and that was actually our second match.”
The former WWE World Heavyweight champion had more to add on his match with Puma:
“We wrestled in the three-way tag teams, but never against each other, so it was pretty much fresh, to have chemistry like I had with Puma is just unbelievable. Still, to this day, and I believe I told you this last time I saw you, Sam, I think he's probably one of the best, if not the best, out there right now, so my hat's off to him,”
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