Ahead of the Royal Rumble, Rey Mysterio sat down with the My Mom’s Basement podcast to promote the event, discussing how it was to start the 2006 Rumble in which he won.
Rey Mysterio described what makes the Royal Rumble special: “I think that’s what makes the Royal Rumble so special because you never know who’s gonna take it, you can have your pick, but it doesn’t necessarily happen that way. There’s only been two superstars in the history of the WWE that have [been the first to] come out number one and number two [to win it], the first one was Shawn Michaels when he came out at number one and took it all the way to the end. Of course, the second one is myself, you know, coming out of number two, and then winning it. It was a special moment, man, very special.”
The atmosphere in 2006 was also special: “From the moment I arrived at the arena, obviously, you don’t know who’s gonna win until later that day. Of course, when you get the the the word, it’s like, ‘Damn,’ you just don’t want to give it away, you know. But it was a perfect moment, man. Eddie had just passed in November, you know, this was January, a lot of fans still, to this day would see Eddie through me because of the connection we had. Even though we finished off our rivalry at SummerSlam. In August before he passed, we were rivals, but they remembered more the connection that we had than the rivalry over Dominik’s custody, which was very special. So you can only imagine, you know, so many feelings piled up going into this Rumble, but a very special without a doubt and it’s very, very high as on my top three, you know, in my career.”
Being the number 2 entrant was a surprise, but it also meant that as winner, he was in for a long night: “That was a surprise as well, you know, entry number two, and then taking it all the way to the end. So yeah, man, a very, very hectic moment because you had to throw on your wrestling shoes that night, you know, and perform at a high level. So it was a good time.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
