WWE Confirms Rey Mysterio As First Inductee Into 2023 Hall of Fame Class

An unparalleled career that is still going strong will be celebrated during WrestleMania weekend, as last weekend WWE announced Rey Mysterio would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in just a few short weeks!

For over 35 years, Rey Mysterio has captivated audiences worldwide with an innovative wrestling style that has often been imitated but has yet to be duplicated. Frankly, it’s notable whenever a WWE Superstar is pegged for the Hall of Fame, but it’s far more noteworthy when an active wrestler is slated to be inducted. For Rey to be announced as a Hall of Famer in the middle of his career is a testament to his profound impact on the wrestling business as a whole. 

Rey’s career started in the world of lucha libre and took him to all corners of the globe, where his trailblazing in-ring style entertained fans in ways that no other wrestler had. He’s performed for nearly every major wrestling promotion on Earth — Rey made his mark in AAA, ECW, WCW, Lucha Underground, NJPW, and countless other companies before making his WWE debut in 2002.

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The wrestling fan in all of us has to wonder, will this announcement force Rey’s attention away from his probable WrestleMania match against his son, Dominic? Isn’t this the perfect distraction for Dominic to use to get the upper hand in this family feud? We’ll see if Dom respectfully avoids bringing this into the rivalry — but we wouldn’t be surprised to see Dom weaponizing this announcement against his father, either. 

After watching Dominic taking his bitterness towards his father to holiday gatherings — and even into the world of NASCAR — we expect this must-anticipated in-ring showdown between the two Mysterio men to be announced for WrestleMania any day now.

Naturally, the internet is abuzz with questions about Rey Mysterio from established members of the WWE Universe and newer fans alike, so we think this is the ideal time to answer some of the more common — yet vital — questions people have been asking. 

Photo: WWE

Rey Mysterio is 48 years old and celebrates his birthday on Dec. 11. The legend is approaching 50, and he’s still flying around the ring like a teenager. Hopefully, Dominic can learn something from his father about the importance of longevity in the business because whatever Rey is doing is working!

Ready for another mind-blowing Mysterio piece of trivia? He had his first match on April 30, 1989, in Mexico. A quick mathematical calculation reveals that Rey was only 14 years old when he debuted. 

Photo: WWE

According to WWE, Rey is billed as 5’6”, although that figure is likely embellished just a bit. Countless members of the WWE Universe have met the Master of the 619 and have estimated his height in the 5’2”-5”4” range. Rey’s small stature is balanced out by the fact that he weighs a legitimate 175 pounds, and for over 35 years, he’s been living proof that size simply doesn’t matter in professional wrestling!

Like many Hall of Famers, Rey Mysterio is no stranger to world championships in WWE. On one particularly chaotic episode of Monday Night Raw in the summer of 2011, Rey climbed to the top of the WWE once again when he captured his first (and only) WWE Championship. He’s also twice won the World Heavyweight Championship, including an absolutely heartstopping victory at WrestleMania over Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in 2006.

Rey has made a career out of being the ultimate underdog. Nobody — not even Hall of Famers like Shawn Michaels — has a bigger heart than him. He’s undersized by traditional wrestling standards, but he never underdelivers. His small stature made him work that much harder to succeed in the wrestling industry and made him that much easier to root for. 

And hey, if work ethic isn’t your cup of tea, maybe Rey Mysterio’s gravity-defying repertoire of high-flying moves is more up your alley. Rey’s been called a video game character come to life, and he paved the way for Superstars like Ricochet to continue to innovate in the ring every week.

Don't take our word for it though: Prominent wrestling content creator Ango echoes our sentiment surrounding Rey. 

"Rey Mysterio is one of the greatest WWE Superstars to grace our TV screens," he told USA Insider. "Rey showed the world you don't need to be the bad guy to get to the top and fans always appreciated that. Rey shows incredible athleticism in the ring, but outside of the ring he shows fans that there is nothing wrong with being the underdog." To put it simply, Rey Mysterio has been popular for so long because he has defied logic throughout his career. The WWE Universe respects that, and that’s why he’s had the full support of wrestling fans for most of his run.

Many fans blame fellow WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley and The Judgment Day for causing the rift between the two Mysterio men. What was once a solid father-son tag team that seemed destined for greatness in the tag team division turned into profound hostility from Dominic towards his father as soon as Rhea Ripley got in his ear.

Of course, Dominic becoming a full-fledged member of The Judgment Day last year only cemented the younger Mysterio’s feelings towards his father. Dominic has declared himself “the only Mysterio that matters” and accused his father of overshadowing him in his own WWE career. (We’ll take a wild guess that Rey’s Hall of Fame announcement will only add fuel to the fire in Dom’s eyes.) 

Photo: WWE

The 2023 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is scheduled for Friday, March 31, 2023, with coverage to air on television immediately after SmackDown. 

In our eyes, there’s no better way to kick off WrestleMania weekend than by celebrating Rey Mysterio’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame! At age 48, we’re hoping Rey has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. However, if he is nearing the end of his illustrious career, we want to tell Rey one thing concerning his Hall of Fame nod:

You deserve it.

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