Rey Mysterio has said he will see what Logan Paul has to say on SmackDown this Friday after Paul challenged him for his United States Championship.
Mysterio was an in-studio guest on Monday’s edition of the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
He was responding after Logan Paul called him out after winning a chaotic boxing match against MMA fighter Dillon Danis on Saturday.
Mysterio addressed a number of other issues, including the growth of his son, Dominik, and remembrances of Eddie Guerrero. He also said he was “shocked” that Adam Copeland had moved to AEW.
On the Logan Paul challenge, Mysterio said he was watching it live on television:
He says, “I have my eye on someone and something.” He said, “The US Title, Rey Mysterio.” So I was like, “What did he just say? “No way.” And I had to rewind it to see, make sure. And yeah, he did. He called me out, like, okay. I’m not hard to find. You can find me every Friday night on SmackDown.
I think he now wants to make a statement in WWE and he wants to carry gold…Now he did mention something that I gotta correct him on because he said, “I already beat you once.” And I think he’s mistaken because the one that beat me was The Miz… If Miz wouldn’t have saved the day in that match, Dom and I would have pinned him.
He confirmed that Paul would be appearing on SmackDown this Friday:
I’m gonna see what he has to say on Friday. You know, we’re gonna have to tune in this Friday night on SmackDown because he called me out and I responded, but now we’re gonna face each other.
When Helwani asked whether both men would be on SmackDown, Mysterio responded, “Yes, we will.”
Turning to the development of his son, Dominik, he said:
Mondays I’m home, I’ll sit down with my wife, we’ll watch Raw together, and we see our son come out, and we see the connection he has with the fans, and it’s just, it’s mind-blowing. And to see his growth week after week after week for the past year and couple of months, since he did the turn, it’s unbelievable. I’m in awe every time I see it.
When you connect with the fans, whether they love you or hate you, that’s what you need. And he just, he’s getting it, he understands it. There’s an instinct there that he feeds off and he does what he feels is the right thing to do in that moment.
He’s a very well-educated kid outside. And he understands our business, because our business is special. And there’s a level of respect that you always have to maintain. I don’t know if him being around this his whole life, growing up, you know, with the angle when he was seven years old with Eddie, like all of that, it’s stored in his brain and in his heart. And he saw me do all these things that now he picked up. So I don’t need to tell him anything anymore. He learned and he knows what he needs to do. He knows how to behave.
And overall, even outside of the locker room, meeting other people, he’s just genuinely a great kid…This is me speaking as Óscar [Rey’s real first name] and it’s unbelievable…For him to be able to start mastering that now with only one year as a heel, I can’t even imagine what it’s gonna be like in three, four years. He’s not even at his peak yet, so it is shocking, and my pride is over the roof, and I tell him.
He added that he had once seen Dominik’s future as a masked wrestler named “Prince Mysterio”.
Helwani asked Rey about the prospect of a Hair vs. Mask Match against his son at some point:
I would love that. I don’t think you’ve ever seen that here. Imagine him bald, but don’t imagine me without the mask.
On Adam Copeland’s move to AEW, Mysterio said:
I was shocked ’cause we had just spoken a week before that…We never had the time to even talk about what was next. I saw him in his last match and, yeah, we’ll be in touch ’cause we call each other every now and then.
And next thing you know, I didn’t even see, it was on social media the following day and they were like, “Did you see who popped up?” I was like, “No, what happened?” And they showed me, I was like, “Wow, I did not see that coming.” But I imagine he has his reasons on why and I can’t wait to sit down and chop it up with him.
He also addressed the difficulty of the death of his friend Eddie Guerrero and that he had only visited Eddie’s grave for the first time in 2019:
I couldn’t do it…it was very hard for me being at the funeral and seeing him and the burial. And then shortly after that, a day or two, I had to go on tour and then interact with the fans and see the signs and the “Eddie” chants.
That was very emotional for that period of time. So I just wanted to keep the memory in my heart, in my head and remember him, the good times that we had.
But for some reason, in 2019, I said, “Okay, I think it might be time.” And we did it and it was very hard…All your memories just kinda start flashing in your head and the good moments and the moments you had in the ring every time you traveled. The first time I met him, I was 12, 13 years old and I was just a fan and seeing him by my uncle’s side wrestling together, I never thought we would have such a rich history and brotherhood like we did.
He added that his Mount Rushmore of wrestling was Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle. He said he picked Kurt because he almost instantly picked up pro wrestling after coming from amateur grappling.
He said he saw Dragon Lee as a potential successor as a star luchador:
I’ve been watching Dragon Lee and how he’s been growing. And the fact that now he’s brought up to SmackDown and is no longer part of NXT, I believe. He has a lot of potential to grow and be his own person. I’ve always said it’s very hard to duplicate someone. You’re never gonna find another ‘Taker, Kane, Eddie, Rey, and the same. I think when Dragon Lee makes his mark, and he will, he’s gonna become his version of Rey Mysterio.
Mysterio added that there had been fewer “last-minute changes” under the current creative process and that everything was “smooth.” He added that Triple H had been the best choice for that role.
As for potential retirement, he mentioned a timescale of “a year and half, maybe two.”
