"It turned him into a major player" - Mark Henry reveals why Vince McMahon made short superstar a world champion
Vince McMahon decides the trajectory of every WWE Superstar's career. While a lot of it depends on how superstars manage to get audiences to react to them in different situations, there are usually certain talent who, in McMahon's mind, are future world champions. There are also instances where it happens in a more unexpected way. Mark Henry spoke about one such breakout moment of an unexpected superstar.
It's no secret that Vince McMahon has a preference for the type of top star he pushes. He likes them to be tall and built, but not too tall either. It's perhaps the reason why John Cena, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Roman Reigns all have an average height range of 6'0 to 6'5. The approach has changed slightly in favor of smaller stars, but the requirement still seems to exist.
One such exception from the previous era is Rey Mysterio. The WWE legend defied all the odds and worked with the biggest names in the company at the time. Mark Henry discussed his breakout moment in the Ruthless Aggression Era on Busted Open Radio as well as his eventual world title win and revealed why McMahon pushed him the way he did:
"It's not really a Wheeler Yuta-Santino Marella story that struck me. Journeyman wrestler, luchador, cruiserweight, lot of matches and tags, but was not the main guy. And for whatever reason, Rey Mysterio started getting matches against the best guys because he was such a good worker, and then all of a sudden - BAM. He wins the World Heavyweight Championship. And it changed the trajectory of his career, it changed the way people viewed him. It turned him into a major player and he went on to face people like John Cena, Mark Henry, The Big Show, Randy Orton, Batista - all of the biggest and best guys," said Henry. (9:19-10:31)
He explained that regardless of his size, he always managed to get offense in, and there is a reason why everybody knows Mysterio:
"Regardless of the size, he always had a 50-50 match, because he had so much offense, and the people that brought in were so invested in him telling the story of the small guy trying to survive, but how was he going to beat this guy? This guy is four times his size. And it would happen. And it captivated us as talent, but more than anything, it captivated fans, and everybody knows who Rey Mysterio is," added Henry. (10:32-11:20)
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Why did Vince McMahon have an issue with Rey Mysterio as the world champion?
On this day in 2006, @reymysterio won the World Heavyweight Championship for the 1st time at WrestleMania 22 #WWE #WrestleMania #WrestleMania22 #WorldHeavyweightTitle https://t.co/dwISSzD6BN
Unfortunately, the reality is that Vince McMahon didn't fully support Rey Mysterio as the world champion. His fairytale moment culminated at WrestleMania 22 - one that would likely have never happened had it not been for the tragic passing of Eddie Guerrero.
In the minds of fans and many backstage in WWE, Mysterio fully deserved his moment. But the truth is that Vince McMahon had to be convinced to make the moment happen even though he didn't want to.
It was reflected in how poorly the company handled Rey Mysterio's world title run. It was short and he seemed to constantly lose some big matches. WWE even stopped calling it the World Heavyweight Championship momentarily due to Mysterio's size.
However, it can't be denied that he is the greatest luchador in WWE history.
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