"I don't blame Rey for doing that"- How a 4-time WWE Champion had to change original WrestleMania plans because of Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22 by defeating Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in a triple-threat match. The match was a mere nine minutes long. Kurt Angle revealed that the original plan was to have a longer match which was cut short because of Mysterio's long entrance.
The time allotted to the three WWE Superstars at WrestleMania 22 was 21 minutes. However, Mysterio's entrance, which included a live performance by P.O.D, took up eight minutes of the allotted time. This arguably caused the match to feel rushed.
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, former four-time WWE Champion Kurt Angle talked about how difficult it was to adjust things, especially because the match was a triple-threat.
"That’s what WrestleMania is all about and I don’t blame Rey for doing that. It was his night. He was winning the World Title. The only issue was it went so long."
Kurt Angle also spoke about how difficult it was to cut moments from the match as there were three people involved.
"We only had nine minutes to wrestle and this was one of the co-main events for WrestleMania. We had to cut a lot of stuff. It was a really difficult match to do, especially in a triple threat match. It’s really hard to cut stuff out because you have to have all three people in unison with each other knowing what’s going on next."
Rey Mysterio won his first World Championship at WrestleMania 22
Rey Mysterio became WWE's 'biggest little man' after he managed to beat Kurt Angle and Randy Orton at WrestleMania. Mysterio had won the Royal Rumble, guaranteeing himself a shot at the World Championship.
However, the road to WrestleMania for Rey Mysterio was not a very easy one. Because of Orton, the master of the 619 had to earn his spot in the triple threat match at WrestleMania, despite already having won the Royal Rumble.
The spot was almost stolen from him, but SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long re-inserted Rey into the match when his spot was seemingly snatched away by The Legend Killer.