From the WWE Rumor Mill: Is Konnan preventing wrestling legend from returning to WWE?

What's the story?

According to Wrestling News World, Rey Mysterio is interested in returning to the WWE for a final run. However, WWE may not be interested in negotiating with him for a very unexpected reason.

In case you didn't know...

Rey Mysterio last appeared for the WWE on April 7, 2014. He then took time off to heal a wrist injury. During this time Mysterio wanted to leave the company because he was not happy with the direction of his character.

However, the company extended his contract without his approval. He would not return to television and would be officially released from WWE in February of 2015. 5 days after being released it was announced that Mysterio was returning to AAA for the first time since 1995. Mysterio signed with Lucha Underground later that year and was involved in the second season.

The heart of the matter

Mysterio's contract with Lucha Underground will expire in 2018 and all signs point to him not re-signing. There has been a lot of talk of what his next move will be and most seem to think he is headed for GFW. He has had talks with them and there were even reports earlier this week that he has a GFW contract just waiting to be signed. However, it seems those conversations were designed to create leverage to maximize any potential deal with WWE, which is where those close to Mysterio say he would prefer to go. Now, this is where it gets interesting.

Mysterio's talks with GFW are being handled by his long time friend and current GFW manager Konnan, who is acting as Mysterio's real life business manager. However, it seems that WWE has had bad experiences with Konnan in the past and attempts to reach out to WWE were met by very little enthusiasm. There has been a lot of talk about WWE bringing back past superstars and while Rey is definitely on their list, they have no interest in dealing with Konnan in any negotiations to sign Rey Mysterio.

What's next?

As big of a star as Mysterio is, it looks like he will have to get rid of Konnan as his representation if he has any plans to return to WWE. It has been said from WWE sources that there is absolutely "no chance in hell" that Vince McMahon would ever negotiate through Konnan. It is being referred to as a "non-starter".

Author's Take

This is quite the story, if this rumor is in fact true. On one hand, there are few global superstars with as big of a name and the accolades of Rey Mysterio. He is a legend who was around for the Monday Night Wars, he can still hang with anybody in the WWE and most importantly (to WWE) he can still sell tickets and a lot of merchandise.

One would think WWE would be dying to get him back, but from what I have heard about Konnan it is not that surprising that he has the ability to kill the deal simply by being involved. It is strange to me that Mysterio would let Konnan be this involved with his career, especially when he works for the only other company that currently appears to have a deal on the table.

It is a struggle to come up with anything positive to say about GFW's product or Konnan's (real life) managing abilities so to this writer it is a no brainer. I hope Rey gets a real manager or chooses to represent himself in negotiations with WWE so they can come to a deal that would see him return to TV in a meaningful way. Not to mention that his merchandise returning to shelves, his likeness returning to video games and his talents returning to a WWE ring would not only benefit him and the company but all of us as well.