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This past Sunday, former WWE Champion Rey Mysterio took on current WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred, No Disqualification match for... well... the WWE Championship.
He, uh... he didn't win.
That being said, the lead up to the match - Brock attacking Rey and his son, Dominick; Rey attacking Brock with a steel chair after his match at Crown Jewel; Rey attacking Brock... again with a lead pipe on Raw. OK, look, it was a much better lead up than I'm making it sound here.
And, the match itself was actually pretty fun to watch, even if Rey was dressed as Doink The Clown for some reason. Dominick got involved and actually showed us that, yes, he actually is training to be a wrestler and that it's not just something they're making up.
However, while Rey looked pretty good in the match, it was a pretty decisive win for Lesnar, which means he's more than likely moving on to his next challenger. Which leaves the obvious question: where does that leave Rey? Well, putting aside the possibilities of him either getting a rematch against Brock or retiring - which, of course, are still on the table, I just don't want to talk about them - we've come up with three other ideas that WWE might have planned for the Master of the 619.
#3 Tag team with Dominick
When Dominick Mysterio (I love that they're calling him that) talked his father out of retiring a while back, he reminded Rey that he promised he would help his son make his wrestling debut by teaming with him. You can watch that here - it's a little cringey, but also kind of sweet.
Well, provided that both Rey and Dominick feel like they got some measure of revenge against Lesnar, this could be the opportune time for Dominick to finally make his honest-to-goodness debut.
I have no idea if Rey's son is even remotely ready to perform in an actual match, but having a team like... I dunno... The Ascension (remember them?) come out on Raw to confront Rey and set up some sort of tag team match for the next PPV could work. Maybe. Kinda. Kinda sorta.
Let's just... move on.
#2 Go on a Kurt Angle-style "retirement tour"
So, I know the previous page was just, you know, a page earlier, and that I said that we were going to exclude "retirement". But, what I meant was retiring outright. You know, standing in the middle of the ring, and giving a long, emotional speech and calling it a day, followed by everybody in the locker room coming out and applauding and things like that. You know what I'm talking about.
Of course, Rey has had the kind of career where he would absolutely deserve a send-off like that. But, something tells me, much like WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, Rey would like to have a few more matches against some opponents he hasn't had the chance to perform with. For instance, there's... well, I imagine half of the 205 Live roster. Or everybody in Lucha House Party. Or Baron Corbin.
Just kidding about that last one.
We're getting close enough to next year's WrestleMania where we could realistically see this happening. Give Rey some time off, let him heal up any nagging injuries he might have. Bring him back, once again, in the Royal Rumble, and then spend the couple of months between then and WrestleMania doing what Kurt did - taking on some of the younger guys that he influenced.
Then, at the Raw after WrestleMania - that's when you give him the emotional send-off.
#1 Heel Rey Mysterio
Rey has done it all in his career. Won titles, including World Championships. He's faced the best in the business. He's been an influence on countless wrestlers - more than we have time to list. He could actually retire today and WWE wouldn't hesitate to put him in the Hall of Fame.
Well, there is one thing he hasn't really done - been an out and out bad guy. The closest we've gotten is this from the Road to WrestleMania mode in the WWE '12 video game:
With all of Rey's talk before his match with Brock this past Sunday, we've been seeing a different side of the Ultimate Underdog. Could we be seeing the beginning of a new version of Rey - one that is willing to do whatever it takes to get wins and win championships before his career is finally wrapped up for good?
It's an angle you can even get Dominick involved in, if that's something they still want to do, with his son telling Rey that he "doesn't even know [Rey] anymore" now that he's all evil and beating up people with pipes and doing all sorts of mean stuff. Heck, he could even embrace his old pal Eddie Guerrerro's mantra of "Iie, cheat, and steal."
Of course, in the end, before Rey decides to actually hang up the boots, there can be a great redemption story and prove that Rey is a good guy after all.
