Rey Mysterio is a super star.
He is perhaps the greatest luchador to ever lace up a pair of wrestling boots and has done everything there is to do in WWE.
Standing at just 5ft 6in but with a heart the size of a lion, Mysterio has twice held the World Heavyweight Championship, once held the WWE Championship, and is also a three-time Cruiserweight Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a four-time Tag Team Champion and a two-time United States Champion.
It cannot be forgotten that he also won the Royal Rumble in 2006, punching his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania, and he was also a five-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion.
It is not easy to imagine the brilliant luchador retiring from the business but he is 45 and is currently wrestling without a WWE contract.
He may well be heading off into the sunset soon, then, and GIVEMESPORT has taken a look at 10 wrestlers who could become his natural successor in WWE.
Andrade
This is an obvious one.
Andrade is absolutely phenomenal and he has been wrestling at a ridiculously high level since his introduction to the WWE Universe.
Yet he remains curiously underused in the main event scene; he has won one United States Championship on the main roster, having been one of the best NXT Champions in recent history.
He is a freakish athlete, a brilliant wrestling storyteller, and has the natural charisma needed to get over effortlessly. He has also had a couple of genuinely superb matches with Mysterio himself.
If you’re in any doubt, go back and watch his match with Johnny Gargano at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia.
Ricochet
Ah, poor Ricochet.
He’s perhaps the best pure high flyer in professional wrestling and after he was munched by Brock Lesnar at Super Showdown, he has struggled for any real television time.
Indeed, he hasn’t won a match on Raw since May, when he, Cedric Alexander, and R-Truth beat Brendan Vink, MVP, and Shane Thorne.
Since then, he has either been losing to Bobby Lashley or wrestling on Main Event.
He’s genuinely brilliant, though, and could be rehabilitated relatively easily. Just let him do all the cool stuff he can do and the fans will go with him.
He is the most athletically-gifted wrestler on this list and would be a natural Mysterio successor.
Ali
Ali was slightly unlucky that he picked up an injury when he did.
Set to take part in the Elimination Chamber match, he suffered an injury on the SmackDown Live beforehand and he was replaced by Kofi Kingston.
Kofi’s performance, of course, led to a groundswell of fan support and his ultimate WrestleMania win over Daniel Bryan when he was crowned WWE Champion.
That could have been Ali and it cannot be forgotten just how good he is; this is a brilliant high flyer who has a genuinely emotional back story. He was a police officer who fought injustice and has now become a Muslim superstar in the biggest wrestling company in the world.
Pushing him is a no brainer.
Angel Garza
Just look at him.
Angel Garza has the look of a champion already and when you add in that he can go bell-to-bell with the best of him, showcasing amazing flips and tricks, as well as sound mat-based wrestling, you’ve got yourself a Lucha superstar.
Garza is only 27, too, and can only get better as the years tick by.
It feels an inevitability that he will eventually end up in the main event scene.
Johnny Gargano
Okay, stick with us.
Gargano has made his name as ‘Johnny Wrestling’ in NXT and everyone knows just how good he is – he’s had five-star matches in NXT with the likes of Tommasso Ciampa and Adam Cole, after all.
But he is the archetypal little man with a big heart; Gargano is under 6ft and he has that natural babyface charisma that gets a crowd behind him instantaneously.
If he was pushed to a main event spot in WWE, it would make sense to give him similar booking to Mysterio, building him as that classic underdog trying to overcome the odds.
He may not be the most obvious successor, but it certainly works on a spiritual level.
KUSHIDA
Use KUSHIDA!
He hasn’t had a proper programme in NXT yet and it is a crying shame.
He was a superstar in New Japan Pro Wrestling, putting on banger after banger with the likes of Will Ospreay, and wowing fans with his astonishing displays of athleticism.
KUSHIDA has the entire tool kit at his disposal; he is a genuinely brilliant wrestler capable of going up against any opponent and making them look like a million dollars.
He would need a push first, but he could be the star to step into Mysterio’s shoes.
Mark Andrews
Andrews is languishing in NXT UK.
That’s not to say that he hasn’t made it by signing a WWE contract but he has wrestled on WWE Raw with Flash Morgan Webster and is clearly highly thought of by the company’s management.
It’s little surprise, either; Andrews is a versatile presence who can have genuinely brilliant matches with just about anyone.
He doesn't just prize flips over storytelling at this stage of his career, either, and he’s still only 28.
He has plenty of time to grow, improve, and become a main roster star.
He’s got the look, the athleticism and the charisma needed; he deserves a chance.
Murphy
Murphy has been doing just fine on the main roster.
Paired with Seth Rollins in an entertaining, out-of-the-blue duo, the Australian is just the kind of exceptional wrestler needed to improve Raw’s work rate.
As shown by his reign with the Cruiserweight Championship, Murphy can do just about anything and he’s got the ability to get over purely through his actions in the ring.
If he were to split from the group with Seth, and forge his own path, giving him the kind of run that Mysterio had would make sense; he has the high flying ability and can play the babyface just as well as he can the heel.
It would be an intriguing step.
Sami Zayn
Remember El Generico?
WWE don’t seem to.
But if you put Sami back in a mask and let him wrestle the kind of matches he was having on the independent scene, you’ve made a superstar overnight.
Zayn is a brilliant wrestler, has a phenomenal back story, is an amazing talker, and has the kind of storytelling nous rarely seen in professional wrestling these days. It is baffling to think he was reduced to the role of a manager prior to the nationwide shutdown thanks to COVID-19.
Bring him back in the mask, once the pandemic is over, and make him a star.
Dominick Mysterio
We haven’t seen him wrestle yet.
But you can’t deny that you popped when he hit a double 619 with his dad on Brock Lesnar earlier this year.
We don’t know how good he can be bell-to-bell, whether he can pull out some of Rey’s old moves, or whether he even really wants to.
But now that he’s been featured on WWE television, one has to assume he has set his sights on building on his father’s considerable legacy.
What a story that would be.