Rey Mysterio has made plenty of memories at WWE Royal Rumble, from winning the legendary battle royal in 2006 to making his stunning return in the 2018 bout. But one Royal Rumble was hard to forget for all the wrong reasons.
In 2005, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon infamously tore both of his quads when he came to the ring after Batista and John Cena simultaneously eliminated each other.
During an appearance on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox, Mysterio looked back on this shocking incident; he was backstage at the time, so he watched it unfold with several other members of the locker room.
“Yes I was [in the back], and we were all going, ‘What just happened? What happened?’ Because we knew something had happened right there with the finish, but it was controversial, you know,” Mysterio recalled. “But when Vince walked out, and we were just kinda [watching] the monitor, ‘What’s gonna happen, what’s gonna happen?’
“And we see him slide in, then him trying to get up, and he goes back down. Like what’s going on here? And then of course we got the news later that he had torn both of his quads, like how is that even possible? Crazy, crazy. But there you go, man.”
Mysterio went on to praise the chairman’s tenacity, as he didn’t let the injury slow him down one bit. The former champion pointed to the way McMahon didn’t complain as another sign of his toughness.
“You can see the brute strength that he has, and just the tenacity and just, you know what I mean, to go out there and do his thing, and not even complain one second,” said Mysterio. “He was back around like a week or two weeks later. You know, so yeah, very crazy time.”
Whereas the 2005 Royal Rumble match wasn’t exactly a joyful occasion for Mysterio, the 2006 edition took his WWE career to a new high. He won the battle royal just a few short months after the tragic death of his close friend, Eddie Guerrero, so this victory was particularly emotional.
“It was a very special moment, man, very special from the moment I arrived at the arena,” said Mysterio. “…It was a perfect moment, man. Eddie had just passed in November, you know, this was January. A lot of fans, to this day, would see Eddie through me because of the connection we had. Even though we finished off our rivalry at SummerSlam before he passed, and we were rivals.
“But they remembered more the connection we had than the rivalry over Dominik’s custody, which was very special. So you can only imagine, so many feelings piled up going into this Rumble, but a special one without a doubt. And it’s very high, it’s on my top three in my career.”
On Saturday, Mysterio will compete in another Royal Rumble, where he’ll hope to win the bout and pave his road to the main event of WrestleMania.
The full clip is available here:
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