Details Behind Rey Mysterio’s Departure from WWE

The latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has provided backstage details behind Rey Mysterio’s departure from WWE, including when the two parties decided that Feb. 27 would be his last day in the company, what kind of bad blood there was behind-the-scenes, and more. As previously reported, Mysterio has finally been allowed to leave WWE and has since signed with Mexican wrestling promotion, AAA.

Apparently it was decided that Mysterio and WWE would part ways in November or December. They settled on the end of February being his release date, but only if both parties kept the information private.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter writes the following on the two parties’ backstage issues and history leading up to Mysterio’s departure, saying,

“Mysterio was on the screen at the end of TripleMania on 8/17, while still under WWE contract, which was one of many issues between the two sides.

Over the past year there were a number of issues back-and-forth which neither side went public with, due to wanting a quiet resolution that would allow Mysterio to do what he wanted. There were threats about usage of the Rey Mysterio name, although he’d have almost surely won that in court because he had started using the name Rey Misterio Jr., in AAA back in 1992 and used it on major shows including PPV in the U.S. as well as in Japan before coming to ECW and WCW (the intellectual property of both that WWE currently owns).

But such a legal fight could be long and costly. There were also issues both sides could have used, regarding drug testing failures by Mysterio and alleged racial remarks within WWE that had been talked about that were one of the reasons of the quick resolution and dropping of the non-compete in the Jose Alberto Rodriguez (Del Rio) case.

WWE owns U.S. trademarks on the Rey Mysterio name, image and likeness for merchandising, clothing, pretty much any type of name and image marketing along with performing as a pro wrestler in wrestling exhibitions.

There were stories that Mysterio refused to cash his checks from WWE for his weekly guarantee, on advice that it would hurt a potential legal case. I don’t know that he continued to do so after the sides reached a resolution in November or December. There was a time when the idea of a legal case was very much a possibility, that the story of him not cashing his paychecks was accurate.

Mysterio had been attending the Lucha Underground tapings, and was even photographed at them in recent months, which didn’t make WWE officials happy. Part of his wanting to leave was the idea that he would be brought in as the top star for Lucha Underground, which was going to get aggressive at marketing a wrestling product for Hispanics.

Mysterio has been the biggest star to that audience for nearly a decade, as there were major differences in the Hispanic rating for Smackdown when he was injured and when he was healthy, plus his segments saw significant quarter hour increases in the strong Hispanic markets like Los Angeles and Houston.

Mysterio is expected to headline the 3/15 Rey de Reyes show from the bullring in Guadalajara. AAA did release a graphic on 3/2 listing the main event as Myzteziz and a mystery partner vs. Pentagon Jr. & Perro Aguayo Jr. The event will be broadcast as an iPPV.

AAA held a press conference on 3/3 in Mexico City, and announced Mysterio debuting at Rey de Reyes, but surprisingly, only 12 days before the show, didn’t announce the main event or the card in general.

The press conference was all about getting photos of the dream team of Myzteziz, who was the biggest drawing card in Mexico of the last ten years, Mysterio, the most popular pro wrestler in Mexico of the past decade, and Alberto El Patron, who AAA has been pushing as its top babyface star and current world champion.

The press conference noted that history of the company and talked about worldwide expansion around the big three stars. They debuted a new logo with the phrase “AAA Lucha Libre World Wide” and talked in Mexico about how AAA had already expanded into the U.S., pretty much saying that Lucha Underground was an AAA show.

They also announced a second major show, called the Torneo Internacional de Lucha Libre, a trios tournament on 5/23, which will have three teams from Mexico, two from the U.S. (One of which was said to be from Ring of Honor), one from Japan, and one or two other international teams. Mysterio & Alberto & Myzteziz were announced as the AAA team. There will probably be a heel AAA team, and there will also be a legends team from Mexico. The show will be sponsored by Victoria Beer, and they also announced sponsorships with Everlast, Comex and Volaris.

At the press conference, Mysterio claimed his time off has left him 100 percent healthy and he’s happy to be free to wrestle.”

Editor’s Note:
WWE would try and keep Mysterio’s name…remember the Dudleys? Sounds about right.