Rey Mysterio in Talks with Impact

[It's Damn Real!]

Rey Mysterio is currently negotiating with WWE and Global Force Wrestling, according to Sports Illustrated.

Mysterio is under contract with Lucha Underground through the end of season three, which will air in September. He'll be a free agent after that but has a 90-day non-compete agreement attached to his deal.

WWE is still searching for a big Latino star after failing to replace Mysterio in the first place. GFW had been pushing Alberto El Patron, who has had a lot of negative press from his tumultuous relationship with Paige. The current GFW World Heavyweight Champion is suspended indefinitely following a domestic dispute with Paige at the Orlando airport last week. Sports Illustrated noted that, "GFW/Impact is very motivated to move away from Alberto El Patron and generate some positive headlines by inking the legendary Mysterio."

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0717/628205/former-wwe-champion-negotiating-to-return/

--

Even at 42, Mysterio is still a high-profile player who would no doubt generate a ton of positive buzz. Much more so than ADR ever could have. But given the crocodile tears that GFW appear to be shedding over ADR's "suspension" that inexplicably hasn't stopped them from continuing to promote his future live events appearances, my main concern is Mysterio to GFW means an immediate feud with Patron, regardless of the outcome of his domestic battery investigation.

 

[Starkist]

I'd sign him if I were GFW. I would not give him right to the top tier belt though. The X-Division title needs some much need value. Giving Rey that belt would make it that much more credible which is what GFW needs. Once he loses the belt to an established up and comer, he can move on to whoever is Heavyweight champion at the time. Matches with Lashely, Moose, Storm, Drake, EC3, and even Abyss, if he was not Park, would be matches to see in the Heavyweight division.

If they can get him for two years locked in and pushed properly, Mysterio can be a potentially great signing for GFW. Hopefully they work on appearances. Mysterio, has a big $10,000 per appearance charge.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

You don't know this company very well if you don't think his coming in would mean either an immediate or very quick rise to the World Heavyweight title.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

In the end, if the story is true, it's mysterio's decision to make, personally, I don't see him signing with GFW mostly because I wouldn't be surprise to see wwe go all out in trying to sign him and GFW can't compete with WWE as far as money and what they can offer to mysterio.

I think, in the end, every big name that came through WWE dream of ending their career in WWE, I'm sure WWE will offered him a reduce schedule and a job backstage after he retires plus with dominic wantig to follow in rey's footstep, I'm sure they will offer rey with a tryout for dominic.

Rey still have a few years left in him with a reduced schedule and would be a great for either compa6, but in this stage of his career, if WWE can give him what he wants, which I think hey will, I don't see GFW being able to sign him unless konnan is able to convince him to pass over the wwe deal to come work for GFW.

 

[Starkist]

You don't know this company very well if you don't think his coming in would mean either an immediate or very quick rise to the World Heavyweight title.

I know that is what exactly what it means with GFW. But, things could change within them and not go that route. They did it with Del Rio which makes the same story being told over and over again.

To me, seeing him where the X-Division title first would be better than a straight push to the world title. Will that happen? Probably not. Even if it is called GFW they still have TNAs booking mindset.

 

[MWRedskins]

if he goes back to the WWE, then he should quickly be put on RAW and used as a top mid card wrestler on the show (unless of course they want him on 205 live which is something that i wouldnt do to him).

As for GFW, if he goes there, i wouldnt put him at the top of the card right away (he will be, of course, if he goes there), but i would definitly have him fighting some top heels and maybe even win the X-Division title and later use Option C to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

 

[filthyanimalz]

It's amazing to think that Rey is just 18 months older than AJ Styles, of course AJ has had the advantage of working a much lighter TNA schedule for the majority of his career and therefore his body is no where near as banged up as Rey's. That being said Rey would still be a top draw in any promotion he worked in. I'm not sure if I would like to see him in the Heavyweight picture though when there are so many other options for GFW at the moment. He could be an X division star, he could join LAX and make them even stronger than they are now, he could join Alberto and help him fight against LAX etc. etc. I think TNA has more than enough established and over talent to give them credible Heavyweight options at the moment (think Eli Drake, Moose, Kevin Matthews or even Low Ki) that they don't need to be signing an industry veteran like Rey to fill this role.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Eh, I'm not really sure why either WWE or GFW should be all that interested. Mysterio is going to demand a hefty paycheck but he's not at all reliable, at least if his last couple of years working in WWE is any indication, because his knees are shot to shit. Mysterio has a name value, but it won't do much for either promotion aside from maybe a slight spike in the ratings before going back to normal.

If he were to sign with GFW, expect him to be World Champion within a couple months, if not sooner. As I alluded to, he'll have a hefty price tag and I simply don't see them sticking him in the X Division for as much money as they'll have to pay him.

If he were to sign with WWE, he'll get some solid wins here and there but will ultimately be used, most likely, to put over some chosen younger talent. While it might be a waste of money to put him in the Cruiserweight Division, WWE's got money to burn and his name being associated with the division once again could be a little bit of a shot in the arm.

 

[Starkist]

Eh, I'm not really sure why either WWE or GFW should be all that interested. Mysterio is going to demand a hefty paycheck but he's not at all reliable, at least if his last couple of years working in WWE is any indication, because his knees are shot to shit. Mysterio has a name value, but it won't do much for either promotion aside from maybe a slight spike in the ratings before going back to normal.

If he were to sign with GFW, expect him to be World Champion within a couple months, if not sooner. As I alluded to, he'll have a hefty price tag and I simply don't see them sticking him in the X Division for as much money as they'll have to pay him.

If he were to sign with WWE, he'll get some solid wins here and there but will ultimately be used, most likely, to put over some chosen younger talent. While it might be a waste of money to put him in the Cruiserweight Division, WWE's got money to burn and his name being associated with the division once again could be a little bit of a shot in the arm.

If you have seen Rey in Lucha Underground, he is more of a reliable name than in WWE. Minus his price tag, Mysterio is in better shape now than he was in WWE. He is slimmer looking and moves better than ever.


Pictures have surfaced with Mysterio & Karen Jarret together. It makes me think that he could go the route of GFW. The lighter schedule would be ideal for him but we have to wonder if Anthem would dish the money out WWE could/can do if the WWE in fact, wants Rey that bad.

 

[The Perfect Max]

If I was Rey Mysterio, I would probably head to GFW. The lighter schedule is good for the knees, the money would likely be as good as it gets in GFW, and the place on the card will be much healthier and consistent. I don't see where Rey Mysterio fits on a WWE roster in 2017. Even in his last couple of years with the company, he was hardly around and honestly, how many people really cared anymore? He didn't even get a send off like he probably deserved. WWE may want that Latino star and be able to offer Mysterio the big bucks, but I don't see what either party would gain. Mysterio is clearly in this for the wrestling still. At this point in his career, with the surgeries and injuries and everything in between, he wouldn't still be going I don't think. In GFW, he still gets to do that and have a prominent role on television. In WWE, where does he fit? Lord I can't imagine it being 205 Live but you never know. He isn't a world champion there anymore. I think if I was him, I would probably be happier in GFW. But I'm not Rey, so he may go back to the company that stuck by him through 6283 surgeries on his knee and still made him a 3× World Champion.

Ultimately though, if Mysterio goes to GFW now or not, I agree that he will likely want to end his career in WWE one way or another. He will likely remain an ambassador for central and Latin American fan bases after his retirement too. Whether a try out for Dominick would make him swing now, I don't know. I'm not sure how fair it would be for WWE to make that a deal breaker though, but there you go.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

On Sunday’s Live Audio Wrestling podcast, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentioned that Mysterio will likely end up signing with Global Force Wrestling [formerly TNA].

“From what I gather, GFW is the more likely of the two scenarios because I think [Mysterio] wants to stay independent. If movie things come up, and there’s a lot of things that could come up with Rey, and if he’s in WWE he can’t take those things, and if he’s in WWE he’s just another guy lost in the shuffle. If he’s in GFW, whatever it’s gonna be like, he’s gonna be catered to.”

https://wrestlingrumors.net/update-rey-mysterios-free-agency-hell-sign/

--

Given the fallout of the el Patron situation, I think it's pretty safe to say that if and when this happens, Patron/Mysterio is going to be a similar months-long build for them. Patron has spoken openly about his desire to wrestle Mysterio, albeit as his final match, but the writing is on the wall on this one.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

As we noted a couple weeks ago, both GFW and WWE had expressed interest in signing Rey Mysterio, with GFW actually speaking with Mysterio and Konnan at the same time WWE was in Nashville for Raw.

WWE had initially expressed interest in Mysterio as an ambassador to the Latin American market, however, according to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, the former WWE World Champion will not be returning to the company. The report furthers that WWE decided to pass on signing Mysterio because of Vince McMahon’s feelings about Konnan, who represents Mysterio.

The issues between McMahon and Konnan stem from years ago, when McMahon felt he invested a lot of time and money into Konnan’s “Max Moon” character, only for Konnan to decide he wanted to go main event in Mexico. Konnan recently attended a Smackdown Live taping to visit friend Chris Jericho, and that apparently did nothing to mend his relationship with Vince.

As for Mysterio’s future, nothing has been confirmed where GFW is concerned, but if the company does offer him a contract, he would be positioned as the top star.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/869...orld-champion-reportedly-not-returning-to-wwe

--

Given Konnan's prominent status in GFW right now, I'd say the writing is on the wall here. I'm now fully expecting Mysterio's GFW debut later this year once he's contractually permitted to appear for them, which I believe is right around, or just after Bound For Glory (depending on what day of the month they choose to run it).

 

[Starkist]

It seems like talk of Rey Mysterio negotiating with companies has died down. Makes me wonder if he has locked in a deal somewhere and cannot say at this moment.

 

[ShinChan]

It seems like talk of Rey Mysterio negotiating with companies has died down. Makes me wonder if he has locked in a deal somewhere and cannot say at this moment.

I don't know why. But I feel that Rey Mysterio could debut against Alberto El Patron at Bound For Glory. Since the latter is suspended for a while and is bound to return somewhere around the big PPV, I think that it could happen.

 

[Starkist]

That makes sense and should be when Mysterio is able to be shown on TV legally since Lucha Underground is over by then. (I think) This would also make sense as to why the PPV has been pushed back to November this year instead of it being in October per usual.

 

[New Hot Fed]

That makes sense and should be when Mysterio is able to be shown on TV legally since Lucha Underground is over by then. (I think) This would also make sense as to why the PPV has been pushed back to November this year instead of it being in October per usual.

If Lucha Underground is going under, I'd rather GFW brought in Mil Muertes. The guy has been fantastic over there. Would make an epic heel Champ.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

If you believe what rey said in a recent interview, he not really interested in going to GFW anymore. I wouldn't be surprise that this might be because of some of the rumored heat that konnan as with GFW right now because of the deal they have with AAA and GFW doing so much promotion for AAA which is well documented that konnan does have a beef with and that's why he started the crash promotion in mexico.

Konnan as always been a big influence in rey's career mostly because they are really great friends. So I wouldn't be surprise that if GFW as problem with konnan then konnan would go and badmouth GFW to rey.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Rey Mysterio could finally be making his Impact Wrestling debut soon, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. The rumors on Rey talking with Impact go back as far as the summer of 2017.

Impact officials are trying to get Mysterio signed for the tapings that begin this week in Orlando but at last word there was no deal. There are talks still happening between the two sides.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0109/635699/top-star-to-make-impact-wrestling-debut-soon/

--

On again, off again... on again.

My position hasn't changed. Between Konnan and Patron, I'm fully expecting Mysterio to Impact at some point this year. It's a question of when, not if.

 

[Starkist]

Rey has a huge asking price so maybe they offer him a few dates to work and then use the money on other guys that Impact can build up like the did with EC3. I'm certain we will see Rey in IMPACT at some point this year.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Well, this is one of those situations in which his asking price is actually more easily handled given the manner in which they tape. They'll probably need to negotiate with him, but if they can pay his per appearance fee and still get him to work a full set of tapings (that would air across multiple episodes), they'd actually be saving money.

 

[Starkist]

Would that be because they do two shows in one night? Or per episode meaning when he is actually on TV? Still, he is a good name to have and I do hope he shows up at least for a little while. I just want Impact to grow positively not negatively.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

That's for them to figure out. What I'm saying is that, at least in my experience, they tend to tape two "episodes" per night of tapings. They're often four-plus hours of action which gets divided up and established in post-production.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I truly don't see it at this point. Rey recently gave an ESPN interview and said he wants to end up back in WWE one day, so I think he is going to work toward that.

Another reason I don't see it is financials. There are all these reports that they are going to let EC3, Lashley, and Eddie Edwards walk due to not being able to pay them their current rate, but you want to bring in Rey, who has one of, if not the highest, asking prices on the indie scene right now. While the taping schedule that Impact uses would help a guy his age, I see them going way out of their way to accommodate Rey. They have already faced some backlash from the roster because despite them trimming costs across the board, they still give Alberto his own private dressing room because he is "a star." While Rey is without question a bigger deal, he isn't going to pull in the numbers that would excuse giving him a bunch of extras that the rest of the roster has to do without.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

From what I've read, it's not an issue of not being able to pay them their current rates, but not wanting to. They also, likely, come with a longer term than Mysterio might. So it may be more up front but less in the bigger picture.

 

[Starkist]

Looks like Rey is heading to Mexico. Not a good sign as I feel Impact needs to make a BIG signing whether Jericho, Mysterio, Omega or a daydreaming world, CM Punk. It could be viewed as a positive the company is gaining stability and can sustain a strong product.