Why Rey Mysterio Was Pulled from the show

Nia Jax: A surprise buzzer at the Rumble

The 2023 WWE Royal Rumble was always full of surprises. In the women’s match, the WWE Universe saw the returns of Chelsea Green, Nia Jax, and Piper Niven. But in the men’s match, one surprise came when an entrant didn’t make his way to the ring after his music hit, writes Ben F. Silverio for Wrestling Inc.

Rey Mysterio was supposed to enter the 30-man Battle Royale as the 17th entrant. However, the “Greatest Mask of All Time” was nowhere to be seen, and the commentary team didn’t explain his absence. Then, when it was number 18’s turn to reveal himself, Dominik Mysterio emerged with his father’s mask, presumably because he and the Judgement Day attacked the former World Champion and prevented him from participating in the match.

In reality, the elder Mysterio was kept out of the Royal Rumble due to an injury. According to Dave Meltzer of “Wrestling Observer Radio,” it happened during his match with Karrion Kross on the January 27, 2023 edition of “WWE Smackdown.” After building up a rivalry over the past few weeks where Kross and Scarlett declared that it was almost time to put Rey out to pasture, the “Master of the 619” showed that he still had some tricks up his sleeve and scored the victory over the “Herald of Doomsday” after less than eight minutes with a roll-up.

While details about the injury have not been disclosed, Meltzer described it by saying it “isn’t anything serious, but I guess it was serious enough that he couldn’t do what was planned in the match.” He also reports that the Mysterios were meant to have a confrontation in the Rumble to tease a Wrestlemania match, but we’ll see if the current situation forces those plans to change.