Since debuting on Smackdown in 2002, Rey Mysterio has been the standard bearer for high flyers in the WWE. As part of his tenure in the WWE, Mysterio has reached the highest peaks in professional wrestling as a Royal Rumble winner, Wrestlemania main eventer, and former World Heavyweight Champion. However, as high as the highs have been, Mysterio has also suffered the lows of significant injuries, with an incident on July 28’s edition of Smackdown being his latest.
In a hyped match against fellow LWO member, Mysterio took on Santos Escobar to determine the number one contender for Austin Theory’s WWE United States Title. The high-profile match was stopped early as WWE officials deemed Mysterio unable to finish the match after being “knocked silly” after an Escobar dive to the outside of the ring.
Fightful reports that the injury was not part of a storyline and is, in fact, legitimate. The match was intended to continue, with Escobar picking up a clean victory, but once the injury occurred, an audible was called to have the bout end early. It was also noted that there was supposed to be a backstage segment planned that had to be nixed. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that despite the Smackdown scare, Mysterio is fine despite being “knocked silly.”
Regardless of the finish, Escobar is slated to get a WWE United States Championship shot against Theory on the August 11 edition of Smackdown. The unfortunate Mysterio injury puts a dark cloud on a United States title tournament geared towards not only making Escobar the number one contender but also elevating his profile in the eyes of the fans. A clean win over Mysterio would have further legitimized him as not only a threat to Theory’s title but his place in line as the next Latino WWE superstar.