Rey Mysterio Deserves Release from His WWE Contract to Allow Return to Mexico

Rey Mysterio reportedly wants to return to Mexico, where his career began, but a contract dispute with WWE weighs heavily around his ankles.

Injuries or not, Mysterio has done enough for WWE in the last 12 years to not be grounded like he is. The company may be within its legal rights to make the high-flyer stick around, but how valuable is a disgruntled wrestler forced into action?

Mysterio is in the midst of a battle that is not playing out on TV but instead centers around missed time, paychecks and a desire to move on.

The latest update in the behind-the-curtain fight comes by way of former WWE announcer Hugo Savinovich. He told KGB-Wrestling.com (h/t WrestlingInc) that Mysterio will be coming to Mexico's Asistencia Asesoria y Adminstracion promotion once he solves his current contract dispute with WWE.

He would then join Alberto Del Rio, who announced (in Spanish) in a recent video (h/t Cageside Seats for the translation) that he is on his way back to AAA.

Mysterio may have to slap a WWE employee a la Del Rio, though, to get out of his contract. His deal was set to expire in May, but WWE renewed it, as reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestleZone). The new deal was extended to May 2015.

The former WWE champ didn't sign the deal. It was renewed without him because Vince McMahon felt that Mysterio had missed too much time.

Injuries had in fact kept Mysterio out of action for substantial chunks of time. Working out some sort of buyout instead of going this more aggressive route would have been preferable.

WWE now puts Mysterio in a situation where he is locked into a deal he didn't agree to, which isn't the best recipe for workplace happiness. 

And Mysterio is clearly not happy or complacent regarding the deal. In July, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc) reported that Mysterio had stopped cashing his paychecks from the company.

Now, Savinovich is claiming that Mysterio is working to leave WWE for the place where he first learned his craft. Mysterio's status as a legend should allow him to do so.

While he would be a huge star on a comeback tour for AAA, he's been a low-card talent for WWE in the last few years. The company had mostly been using him as a throw-in for six-man tag matches and not giving him feuds and a spotlight of his own.

If he's angry with WWE and frustrated about his contract situation, how much of his heart is going to pour into his performances going forward?

What he has done in the past should compel WWE to work something out with him, cancel his contract and let him end his wrestling days south of the border.

Mysterio has been wrestling for WWE since 2002 and during his Hall of Fame career became WWE's best way to reach the Latino demographic. Former WWE writer Alex Greenfield said of Mysterio's world title reign on More Like Radio, "Our Latino demographics were going up, our minority demographics were going up like we were gaining audience when Raw was losing audience, and it was on Rey's back."

How many Hispanic fans were first drawn into WWE because of Mysterio and have since stuck around? 

That kind of impact is hard to measure. That alone has to give him some slack for being out of action so often during his recent less-productive years.

A huge part of why his match totals dipped under 100 from 2011-2014, per Cagematch.net, is that his daredevil-like in-ring style has wrecked his knees. 

That style has been key to his popularity. It wasn't as if WWE was telling Mysterio to slow down or stop doing so many exciting high-flying moves. The company was surely happy to see him thrill the fans as much as he has.

The result of a lifetime of that kind of abuse is that in his late 30s, his body isn't holding up. Mysterio not performing much during the later stages of his last contract was not a case of weakness or laziness, it was the inevitable result of embarking on that many in-ring flights.

Last December, F4WOnline reported (h/t WrestlingRumors) that Mysterio was favoring his knee at live events.

He still competed at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2013. He was limited compared to his prime, but he still launched himself to better the bout.

WWE can either try to force a lesser version of Mysterio to continue on or acknowledge that his extended time in the ring has earned him the right to freedom. WWE's pay-per-views in the last 12 years would look a lot different minus Mysterio.

Mysterio has competed in an impressive number of the "Big 4" pay-per-views, per ProFightDB.com:

• Royal Rumble: 10
• WrestleMania: 8
• SummerSlam: 10
• Survivor Series: 9

He of course got paid for all those matches, but his length of service should turn WWE more lenient in how it deals with his contract situation. The company is going to make money via the WWE Network with fans seeking out Mysterio's bouts at WrestleMania 22, SummerSlam 2009 or Royal Rumble 2006.

Even with Mysterio in Mexico, WWE can still profit on selling his masks and T-shirts, using his likeness in video games and producing DVDs of his work. Is strong-arming a future Hall of Famer worth the extra money WWE can squeeze from him by making him work more?

It can't let this situation fester. It can't be hard-nosed about this.

After all the soaring Mysterio has done for WWE, after all the damage that's caused, it's disrespectful to not let him take one final southward flight.