Rey Mysterio’s WWE Championship reign in 2011 remains one of the most puzzling in the promotion’s history. The chaos started at Money in the Bank 2011 when CM Punk defeated John Cena for the WWE championship.
The storyline revolved around CM Punk leaving the promotion with the WWE championship. Following this, the WWE announced a tournament to crown a new WWE champion as Punk left with the original title.
Rey Mysterio entered the competition, defeating Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth to advance to the finals against The Miz. On the July 25 episode of WWE RAW, Mysterio defeated The Miz and won the WWE championship for the first time in his career.
Although Mysterio had already won the world heavyweight championship twice, this victory marked his first reign with WWE’s top prize. However, his celebration didn’t last long. The former WWE champion John Cena, who congratulated Mysterio for his win in a backstage segment, ended up receiving an immediate title match on the same night.
John Cena defeated Rey Mysterio, ended his title reign, and made it the shortest WWE championship reign in history. WWE never gave Mysterio a rematch, as Cena shifted his focus back to CM Punk, who returned with the original championship. This set up a showdown between Cena and Punk at SummerSlam 2011.
Fans still question WWE’s decision to cut Mysterio’s title reign so short. The Hall of Famer recently addressed the situation and revealed whether he felt upset about how things played out in 2011.
Rey Mysterio gets honest about his short WWE championship reign
Rey Mysterio recently appeared on Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez, where he reflected on his WWE championship loss. He admitted that while he accepts and acknowledges the situation, he has never been a strong promo guy.
He stated, “I’ve never been a promo guy. My attraction with my fans has always been what I bring to the ring, and I recognize that. I’ve never, you know, I’ve been given the mic to speak on it, you know, but it’s never been my strong point at all. So, I think when you carry the company in that way, you have to be good on the mic, and that’s something that I never really strived to work on. Which I don’t regret, because there are no regrets in my life, but I wish I would have just worked a little harder to try and make that happen and paid more attention to my character.”
Fans often speculate about what could have happened if Rey Mysterio had held the WWE championship. Now, at 50, as he possibly considers winding down his career, will he make one more attempt to go after the title? Only time will tell.
