Rey Mysterio praises Konnan.
When the former two-time World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio was eleven years old, he established a friendship with a man who was twelve years older than him and that man was none other than Konnan. After Konnan became a wrestling superstar in Mexico, he held the door open for the up and coming Rey Mysterio Jr. to make his way into the wrestling business and Konnan has helped Mysterio in the years following that and the two are still very close to this day.
Konnan and Rey have become very close over the time that they've known one another and Konnan has also represented Rey Mysterio on the business side of things as well. While Rey Mysterio was conversing with Bill Apter and Josh Shernoff on the 'Apter Chat' podcast, Mysterio told the story of how he met Konnan and how their unique connection turned into a lifetime of friendship and respect for one another.
?That relationship started when I was roughly about 11 years old. Konann was in the Navy living in San Diego. Somebody told him, ?You got to start training [for wrestling]?? he was just a jacked up big guy." Mysterio said of Konnan. "He knew nothing about wrestling. [He] comes down to Tijuana, my uncle starts training him - that?s where I meet him. I hadn?t even begun my career yet. I was still training, I?m an eleven year old kid. He then becomes a big megastar in Mexico and AAA?s about to open up and the first thing he does is tell me I need to go over to Mexico, and here?s my big opportunity so, obviously we became good friends now could you imagine a 23, 24 year old making a friendship with an 11 year old? The age difference was.. you know." Rey continued, "But for some reason there was a connection there from day one that we did not see until obviously now, that it was a good connection. It was that brother, family, love connection. I?ve always seen him the more I got to know him as a big a brother, and I believe he will say the same about me. He?s always seen me like his younger brother, like his kid brother, and that just opened up a great relationship between both of us, and I?ll tell you this Bill and Josh, it doesn?t matter how good you are at what you do, sometimes if you don?t have the right person with that right connection to open up doors for you, it?ll be hard for you to succeed, and Konnan, what he did, I owe him my life for opening doors for me." Rey stated. "For giving me the opportunity and the platform to be able to display my style of wrestling. The fact that he believed in me at a very young age and believes in me now, is a huge blessing to have had him in my life."
While on the topic of Konnan, the former CMLL World Heavyweight Champion will be in action at IMPACT Wrestling's Bound For Glory PPV where he will be teaming up with L.A.X. to take on the OGz (Eddie Kingston, Hernandez & Homicide).
If you are going to use the quote above, please credit the 'Apter Chat ' podcast with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.