In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, WWE superstar and living lucha libre legend Rey Mysterio responded to a surprising fact about WrestleMania 23: he almost represented Donald Trump. This was brought up in the context of Mysterio explaining that a big part of his decision to return to WWE was to promote Latino pride, saying “I’m representing my people. I feel it, I know it, I’ve known it from day one, and it’s the most important part of my journey.” He said he sees part of his goal is “to help those up-and-coming Latino superstars that are bringing in this lucha libre stle, and help them revolutionize the sport.”
The luchador also responded to a claim by former WWE writer and current MLW CEO Court Bauer that Mysterio and Trump almost aligned in-storyline over a decade ago for the Trump vs. McMahon “Battle of the Billionaires,” in which two old, rich white guys had two men of color fight on their behalf on the Grandest Stage Of Them All with each other’s hair on the line (and with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest referee.)
Trump ended up being represented by Bobby Lashley, and Mysterio said he didn’t know he was ever in the conversation to play that role. He responded jokingly, saying, “Imagine some of those images popping up at this time if I was that person. It would have been interesting to see those pictures floating around these days; Donald Trump with the Mexican-American wrestler Rey Mysterio.” Mysterio also said that he thinks Donald Trump’s rhetoric and policies are “definitely not helping” race relations in the U.S., and specifically adds that “a wall is definitely not the solution.”
