Rey Mysterio Talks Leaving WWE, WWE Return Rumors, WWE On His Injuries, Kevin Nash Dart Spot, More

For the first time ever, his Sunday night, live on both traditional and internet PPV at 7:00 p.m. ET, AAA TripleMania, the promotion's biggest show of the year, will be available live in English. The main event is a true dream match, as Rey Mysterio Jr. will take on Myzteziz (WWE's original Sin Cara as well as CMLL's first Mistico) in a first time ever dream match. Yesterday, we ran part one of the interview that I conducted with him last week, dealing primarily with Lucha Underground. Today, we have part two, with a focus on his time in WWE.

Going back a bit, when you first went to WWE, did they say immediately that they wanted the mask back on you, or did it take some time before it came to that?

"My impression was that I was wrestling without the mask. I had new ring attire that I had been looking forward to using. They knew the mask was part of my character, but I didn't know until I was notified like a week before. I had been wrestling without the mask for the last few years, and then they're like 'No, no, no, we want Rey Mysterio with the mask, the O.G. Rey Mysterio.'"

Was it a little bit of a panic that you needed to get a new mask and matching gear made up on a week's notice?

"No, no. Fortunately I have two great people that work with me, they get my costumes ready sometimes in two or three days. So there was no panic, it actually gave me some satisfaction and pleasure knowing that I was going back to the mask."

You've always had some great gear, from the regular stuff to the superhero costumes on big shows. Do you think that maybe wrestlers need to put more thought into their presentation when it comes to that?

"I think it's very important, without a doubt. That's something that I learned from my uncle, because my uncle was always like that. He would never wear the same outfit or mask twice. He would always change it up. I'm blessed to say that I definitely picked it up from my uncle, and I always love to entertain my fans. Not only in wrestling form, but I always like to keep them on their toes not not knowing what color, or style, or superhero I would come up with next. It was always very emotional for me to keep the fans guessing."

There were some rumors last year that you were going to return at Survivor Series... was that close to happening or something that got pulled out of thin air?

"Well, my last return was at *a* Survivor Series, but after that, I just went back and forth with my options of re-signing or stepping away. After sitting down and speaking to my wife about my decision and getting her opinion on it, it was definitely the choice I wanted to make, that was not to re-sign, and to be a family, and potentially to be my own boss. After that decision, I never heard of WWE wanting to move further with me returning at a certain event. I think it was pretty self-explanatory from both parties, and we agreed on it.

"And just in case this question comes about, I'll answer it before it does: We ended up on good terms. I've done that from the beginning of my career. I've been very thankful to the companies that have given me the opportunity to perform, and again, I'm very thankful with WWE for the success that I created in that company. Again, there's no hard feelings."

There's always been talk that WWE might have held you to an unfair standard when it came to injuries, that they wanted you back quicker and held it against you more than some other wrestlers, not to name any names. Do you feel like they ever tried to push a return on you more than they might have for other injured wrestlers?

"No, I think that's impossible. Especially the last couple of years, everything is very controlled under doctor's supervision. So, no matter how much I wanted to return, if the doctor felt it wasn't the right time, I wasn't going to happen. In fact, I thought I was ready to come back, I did come back, I got cleared from my doctor, but once I wrestled a couple times, I realized my knee was too weak and was afraid to re-injure it. So they actually put me back on the bench because I wasn't ready. I had to go and do some more therapy and rehab. So that's when I tried this new treatment, which is stem cell treatments, which actually helped a lot.

"At the end of the day, if you're really anxious, if you wanna come back, you can always get the doctor and let him know you're OK, but you're only hurting yourself. In my case? I think everything ran pretty legit as far as injuries go. I suffered one major injury was was my ACL on my left knee, that just kept on messing with me until now. Now, fortunately, it's much better because of time off and the healing process, but when I was on the road it was something that I had to learn to adapt to."

Especially now that you've been on more lucha libre shows lately, do you feel like the lucha libre style, with the rolling bumps, is easier on your knees and the rest of your body? My wrestler friends who have done both preferred lucha libre because they felt like the rolling was easier on the knees and other joints.

"I think that whatever it is you do, you have to know your body very well to know what you can and can't do. I think I know my body pretty well now, and I have my limitations on moves I can do in the ring. In my case, it doesn't really matter if it's lucha libre or American style wrestling. I just have to know myself and know how to work around my injuries so I can prevent them from happening again."

When it comes to your World Heavyweight Championship reign in WWE in 2006, were your thoughts on it the same the fans were, being negative about how much you were losing? Or did it differ a bit?

"To a certain extent I did, but I wasn't too concerned about it. I knew that whether I was the champion or I was not, whether I was going to win or I was going to lose, every time they were going to see Rey Mysterio in the ring, they were gonna see the best of Rey Mysterio. Not worrying about where my career was going at the time or where my storyline was going at the time. I think I've always had that type of mindset, I've always been very professional. I didn't like to politic much, or at all. I just like to go out there and perform, and try to be the best at it.

I think it was probably frustrating to the fans a bit more, that I could go out there and put on great shows but at the end of the match, there was no arm raised. You go back and think about what you did during that time that I was champion...and being champion? That was just a big barrier that was in front of me that I thought I'd never cross, and I did."

So with your self belief that you knew how to stay over, it didn't really worry you that much?

"Yeah, pretty much. At the end of the day, the fans are the ones that put you in the position that you're in, so throughout the years of my WWE career, the fans were the ones who were buying my t-shirts. They were buying my dolls. They were buying my video games. Again, because I was delivering every time I stepped into the ring."

Since we're just about out if time, I did want to mention that today [July 29th] happens to be the 19th anniversary of the angle in Orlando with Kevin Nash throwing you into the trailer. In WCW that's one of the most famous things you did. Do fans still ask you about that or have they aged out?

"Oh wow! They do. Well, we have a new generation of fans now. But the fans that know their wrestling and have been watching it for years? Yes, they come up to me and ask me about the 'human dart' incident with Kevin Nash. I never would have thought that was gonna be so historical. That's incredible. It was such good times that we were having back then, and you just cherish those moments."

For details on his upcoming bookings and more, make sure to follow Rey on Twitter @ReyMysterio.