Physics was not Rey Mysterio’s friend in 2003 and nor was Big Show’s brute strength.
The 2023 WWE Hall of Famer has taken his fair share of nasty bumps in his day, but nothing prepared him for being swung like a baseball bat at a ring post.
20 years before getting that well-earned Hall of Fame nod, Mysterio squared off against The Big Show at WWE Backlash 2023. Mysterio took the loss when Paul Wight caught him with a chokeslam, but the brutality was far from done as Rey was strapped to a stretcher. That’s when Wight grabbed hold of Rey and whipped the board and his opponent hard into the ring post.
Speaking with CBS Sports, Mysterio detailed that moment, something that he thought he and Wight totally accounted the safety for. They were both wrong. Between Rey and the stretcher, the weight of both became an issue, even for Wight.
“I remember we had gone over it and that was the plan. When I was strapped onto the stretcher, everything seemed cool. I said ‘How much can it hurt? The stretcher is hitting first and I’m attached to it, so I won’t feel it.’ Well, we never thought about what happens when you hit.
“There was no way Big Show could hit the pole and hold onto me. So that whole weight and the momentum, as soon as we hit, I went straight down. As I was strapped onto the stretcher, my head went ‘boop’ and I hit first. That hurt. That in itself hurt very much.”
Mysterio is no stranger from big men throwing him around. Arguably the most notorious spot occured back in his WCW days when Kevin Nash lawn darted Rey right into the side of a semi-truck as the NWO began their infamous invasion.