In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet as part of the INSIGHT With Chris Van Vliet podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio discussed several topics, including why he did not join the WWE immediately after WCW closed over two decades ago.

“I think at the time, I was probably making a little too much in WCW money-wise and the contract was still running when the company was bought out.

The conversation at the time was sit back, enjoy your pay for the rest of the year that’s in your contract and once it’s expired, we’ll sit down and we’ll negotiate. And at the time, I thought it was a way for them to say we’re not really interested. That’s what I thought because I had always heard that [I am] too small. Definitely too small for WWE, and that it wasn’t going to happen.

So I remember when Eddie and Saturn, Jericho was the first one to leave. But when Dean and The Radicals, when they left, I kind of had a bit of hope like, okay, if they’re there, probably one day I’ll be able to make it. But sure enough, when they bought out the company and told me to wait, I thought it was them saying in a good way, we’re interested but not right now. But no, I mean, JR kept his word. Once my contract expired, we sat down, we negotiated and I kicked off the first year.”

The full interview is available at this link.