Ready for Rey's return?

Ready for Rey's return?

DALLAS -- Our fans who watched SmackDown this past Friday night got a great piece of news: the exciting, high-flying Rey Mysterio will soon be returning to action. Rey, a former World Champion who has been a crowd favorite throughout his whole career, has been out of action for almost nine months, but will be back in the SmackDown ring later this summer.

While our fans will be glad to see Mysterio back in action, not everyone in the SmackDown locker room is ready to welcome the Superstar from the 619 back into the fold. And that sentiment, like many other things on SmackDown, starts right at the top.

"SmackDown is not Rated-R for Rey," World Heavyweight Champion Edge would like to remind everyone. "I don't lose sleep over anyone; they should lose sleep over me. I give everyone the best match on the card and best match of their career. Everyone wants to fight me and that's for a reason." 

A few Superstars, including new SmackDown draftee Chris Masters, are looking forward to Rey's return, if only for selfish reasons. 

"Rey's return means that I can show everyone what "The Masterpiece" is capable of," Masters gloated. "Rey has accomplished so much in his illustrious career in WCW, ECW and WWE. However, he just can't contend with "The Masterpiece;" it's just a matter of genetics and physical size."

Mark Henry, who met Mysterio multiple times during Rey's reign as World Champion in 2006, echoed those thoughts.

"Rey's return is a good thing. It gives me something more to do, another body to mangle and beat up," he boasted. "Rey Mysterio and I have crossed paths many a nights and he came out on the short end of the stick - no pun intended."

Masters piggybacked that thought, saying "He can do a lot of cool stuff; he's a very athletic dude and I won't take credit away from him … but he's just genetically out-matched when it comes to facing me."

Being the underdog in a land of giants won't be anything new to Mysterio, who has battled men larger than himself his whole career. Brett & Brian Major, SmackDown's newest tag team, respect Mysterio because of his fighting spirit and can't wait until he's there in the flesh.

"In an underdog world, Rey's the major dog. He was a Cruiserweight Champion, a World Heavyweight Champion…he's an inspiration to us," said Brett Major. "We're not the biggest guys in the world but hopefully we can achieve our goals to become the WWE Tag Team Champions."

Added brother Brian, "We look up to Rey. He's one of the most exciting wrestlers in this business. Once he's back, we'd like to pick his brain a little bit to see how he did things."

There's no doubt that when he returns, Mysterio will look to regain the World Championship, which is fine with the current champion.

"If Rey Mysterio decides upon his return to try to go after the World Heavyweight Championship, he's in for a surprise," Edge bellowed. "He'll have the match of his life, but he'll end up on his shoulders at the end of it."

All things considered, however, The Rated-R Superstar knows what Rey can do. They've met in the ring before, and they were WWE Tag Team Champions together five years ago, so Edge had to give Mysterio his due.

"I'm not discrediting Rey Mysterio, he's one of the best ever," he admitted. "As a matter of fact, I'm salivating because I can't wait to get into the ring with him and further prove why I AM the World Heavyweight Champion."

Soon enough, he'll have his chance, because the return of the masked sensation from the 619 is imminent. No one, perhaps even Mysterio himself, knows exactly when Rey will re-emerge; but when he does, our fans are sure to be in store for tons of excitement.

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