Lucha-libre legend Rey Mysterio recently appeared on Robbie Fox’s My Mom’s Basement podcast to hype up this evening’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view from St. Louis, and discuss his triumph winning the inaugural matchup back in 2006, which occurred shortly after the death of Eddie Guerrero. Highlights from the interview are below.
How only he and Shawn Michaels have entered the Rumble at #1 or #2 and won it:
“I think that’s what makes the Royal Rumble so special because you never know who’s gonna take it, you can have your pick, but it doesn’t necessarily happen that way. There’s only been two superstars in the history of the WWE that have [been the first to] come out number one and number two [to win it], the first one was Shawn Michaels when he came out at number one and took it all the way to the end. Of course, the second one is myself, you know, coming out of number two, and then winning it. It was a special moment, man, very special.”
Finding out he would win the Rumble in 2006, and how emotional it was due to the recent passing of Eddie Guerrero:
“From the moment I arrived at the arena, obviously, you don’t know who’s gonna win until later that day. Of course, when you get the the the word, it’s like, ‘Damn,’ you just don’t want to give it away, you know. But it was a perfect moment, man. Eddie had just passed in November, you know, this was January, a lot of fans still, to this day would see Eddie through me because of the connection we had. Even though we finished off our rivalry at SummerSlam. In August before he passed, we were rivals, but they remembered more the connection that we had than the rivalry over Dominik’s custody, which was very special. So you can only imagine, you know, so many feelings piled up going into this Rumble, but a very special without a doubt and it’s very, very high as on my top three, you know, in my career.”
Says it was a surprise for him to enter at #2:
“That was a surprise as well, you know, entry number two, and then taking it all the way to the end. So yeah, man, a very, very hectic moment because you had to throw on your wrestling shoes that night, you know, and perform at a high level. So it was a good time.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)