Rey Mysterio has been officially announced as the first inductee into the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame and while it might feel far too soon to induct him based on the fact he’s still an active competitor in WWE, he’s clearly already put together a career worthy of the nod. Considering he’s actively involved in a storyline with his son that will likely result in a match at WrestleMania 39, questions about who will induct him are out there.
Some have suggested Chavo Guerrero (Eddie Guerrero’s cousin) or Vicki (Eddie’s widow) would make sense, but Rey is going another direction, choosing the man heavily responsible for getting into the wrestling business in the first place — Konnan.
Konnan started wrestling in the late 1980s in Mexico and helped bring Rey in when he was young (age 14). Both became quite popular wrestling for the Mexican promotion AAA before Rey got discovered and made appearances in ECW.
According to a recent Dave Meltzer report, Konnan will be doing the honors for Rey on the night before WrestleMania and the wrestling journalist noted that this was at Rey’s request. It’s a logical choice based on Rey’s history with Konnan — they’ve been tied together since Rey’s early days wrestling in Mexico and all the way up to the time they teamed up together in WCW as part of the Latino World Order stable. That said, Konnan is not necessarily well thought of in WWE and hasn’t been back since a short run as the Max Moon character that never actually made it to WWE programming before he left and another wrestler took over the gimmick.
After his departure, Konnan made a name for himself in WCW and spent a number of years in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. A charismatic personality, he’s also not shy about sharing his opinion on the wrestling industry and that includes some harsh criticism of WWE in the past. But, considering how important this honor is for Rey and that Mysterio requested Konnan be the one to induct him, both sides are working together to honor arguably the greatest Luchador of all time.
What will be interesting to see is if Konnan is somehow worked into an altercation that many expect will go down at the actual Hall of Fame induction ceremony. It would be hard to imagine Dominik not having something to say about his dad getting in the night before their potential match, and Konnan being a promoter likely won’t shy away from being a part of an angle.
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