Rey Mysterio Says Kurt Angle Was The First Star In WWE To Take Him Under His Wing: ‘He Said ‘I’ve Always Wanted To Work With You”

Published: 2 hours ago by Sanchez Taylor | Last Updated: 2 hours ago by Sanchez Taylor

Sanchez has over six years of pro-wrestling news writing experience, covering the biggest news stories in WWE, NXT, AEW, TNA Wrestling and more. He has personally interviewed a number of top stars, producing exclusive content with the likes of AEW's Swerve Strickland and WWE's Nick Aldis.

Rey Mysterio says Kurt Angle was the first WWE star to take him under his wing, following Angle choosing to work with Mysterio.

Rey Mysterio’s first PLE/PPV match in WWE saw him lose to Kurt Angle at SummerSlam 2002 in a match which many believe to be one of the best opening matches in company history.

Speaking on The Undertaker’s Six Feet Under podcast, Mysterio recalled Kurt Angle telling him that he had chosen to wrestle him.

Explaining how working with Kurt Angle improved his craft, Mysterio said:

“We don’t do this work on our own, we always need that guidance, the right person, opponent to work with that will build you up to that next level.

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“The first one to pull me aside was Kurt Angle. I remember he told me they gave him three opponents to work with for SummerSlam – which was my first pay-per-view with WWE, in Long Island – He said ‘I chose you. I’ve always wanted to work with you since seeing you in WCW.’ I’m like ‘Oh, I’m truly honored.’

“He was like the first guy that kind of pulled me under his wing and I was learning all these new methods of how to make my craft much better.

“You just adapted, back then we were doing it so regularly that it just became a good habit. You invest the time and effort in making it work and it just sticks.”

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It’s very common for veteran wrestlers to be paired with younger stars in feuds to help them learn the ropes, literally and metaphorically, regardless of how their dynamic is presented on screen.

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A recent example of this was Becky Lynch and Sol Ruca, as while Ruca had to overcome Lynch’s shenanigans to win the Women’s Intercontinental Championship at Clash In Italy, in reality it was the newest star in the WWE Raw women’s division learning from the seasoned WrestleMania main eventer.

Rey Mysterio’s daughter could soon be in the “young learning star” category, with Mysterio recently indicating that Aalyah is preparing for her own WWE career.

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