Rey Mysterio Injury Update After This Week's WWE SmackDown

Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar's No. 1 Contender's match for the United States Championship on the latest Friday Night SmackDown was brought to an abrupt end when Escobar nailed Mysterio with a tope outside the ring just before a commercial break. WWE's medical staff was attending to Mysterio by the time the show came back and the match was quickly ended with Escobar being declared the winner. It was then reported by a handful of outlets that Mysterio's injury was legitimate and that an audible had to be called with Escobar being declared the winner on the spot. 

According to Dave Meltzer via the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Mysterio is reportedly fine and was merely knocked silly during the match. The former WWE Champion's injury apparently happened earlier in the match and the dive spot was used as a cover. Escobar was originally supposed to win the match anyway, so Rey's injury doesn't change any of WWE's plans for the US title in the immediate future. Austin Theory will defend his title against the LWO member on the Aug. 11 edition of SmackDown. 

"The dive was the excuse to call the match off, when he took the dive and they were tending to him and everything like that, they had already planned to stop the match," Meltzer said (h/t Inside The Ropes). They stopped the match before the commercial break, but when they found out that he had already been dizzy from before. So he was selling a way to stop the match, was not actually knocked out there but he was dizzy before that. That's what I was told about how it went down."

Rey Mysterio Willing to Take the NXT North American Championship From His Son

On top of chasing the US title, Mysterio also expressed an interest in the NXT North American Championship should the opportunity ever arise. That's because the title is currently held by his estranged son, Dominik Mysterio, who won it and has since defended it multiple times thanks to outside interference by The Judgement Day.

"The fact that he's succeeding and becoming his own person, he's already his own person. You don't know how many times I would have loved to call him up and say, 'Congratulations, son, you're really killing it.' But it hurts," Rey recently said on The Bump. "Unfortunately, I can't do it, and that really hurts. I wish things would be different. But as a father, despite our differences. I'm extremely proud of what he's doing and what he's conquering. He just better not step in the ring with me because I will take that North American Title."

WWE SummerSlam 2023 Card

• Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Tribal Combat Rules)
• World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
• SmackDown Women's Championship: Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair 
• Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
• Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar 
• Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
• Ricochet vs. Logan Paul
• SummerSlam Battle Royal