Oft-injured superstar Rey Mysterio spoke with WWE.com recently about his current injuries and what the future holds for the masked man. Here are some of the highlights from the interview:
WWE.COM: Can you describe the injury that’s kept you out of the ring?
REY MYSTERIO: What’s slowed me down in my career are [anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)] tears in my left knee. After the first one in 1997, they started happening one after another. We’ve used everything we could in terms of re-attaching my ACL [with ligaments from] my body. Now, we’ve gone into cadavers to reattach them. That’s what’s slowed me down, my left knee. My right one, knock on wood, is all good. The rest of my body, thank God, is all good.
WWE.COM: Did you have surgery this time?
MYSTERIO: No, 2011 was my last surgery. What they did was they repaired the ACL and the [posterior cruciate ligament]. That’s when they realized that the inner part of my knee had no more cartilage. So, the inner part of my left knee is bone on bone, arthritic.
WWE.COM: How do you think you’ll have to adapt your in-ring style when you come back?
MYSTERIO: After so many surgeries, I had to modify my game. I know what I can and can’t do in order to keep performing for a long period of time. It won’t be hard. I’ve done it in the past after my previous surgeries. I don’t think I realized it at the time, but I tend to modify certain moves and my landings, as well. I’m sure once I get back into the ring, it’ll all start coming back into place and it’ll feel normal to me. I definitely won’t be able to do certain things that I’ve done in the past, but there’s no way I shouldn’t be able to replace those moves with others.
WWE.COM: Do you have a target date for your return to the squared circle?
MYSTERIO: With this new procedure, it’s been floating around in the air. There’s not that much time left before the end of the year. I’m hoping that either Thanksgiving comes a little early or Christmas comes a little early.
WWE.COM: With all of the injuries you’ve had, have you ever given thought to retiring?
MYSTERIO: No. I’m 39 years old and I know I’ve been doing this for quite some time, over two decades. Retirement is, for me, something that’ll be down the road, but not within the next two or three years. I feel like, with how medicine is evolving, something will be out there soon that can help you heal from arthritis. That might be what helps my longevity and pushes me to keep performing.
