WWE: Why There Is No Good Place for Rey Mysterio

There was a lot of excitement among the WWE Universe when Rey Mysterio made his return from a knee injury and subsequent suspension a few weeks ago. While Mysterio has done some good in-ring work since coming back, it is tough to see where the veteran fits in at this point.

Mysterio still has solid wrestling ability, is over with the crowd and can move a ton of merchandise, but he has reached a time in his career where he is near the end of the line. That means that he shouldn't be involved in the world title scene, but he also wouldn't have anything to gain by winning a mid-card title either.

My immediate thought when Mysterio came back was that he would be part of a multiple-person feud for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the creative team decided to pit him against the Intercontinental Champion, The Miz, instead. I suppose that could work if The Miz goes over at SummerSlam, but I'm not sure that Mysterio is resigned to being a guy who just puts everyone over.

If you go the other route and have him beat all of the mid-card heels, though, then you're not doing them any favors either. Mysterio is currently the classic case of a tweener, as his age and health suggest that he shouldn't have an important place on the card, but his popularity suggests otherwise.

Before Mysterio got injured, he was around the main-event scene and even won the WWE Championship briefly. John Cena exercised his rematch clause against Mysterio that same night, however, so the reign was short-lived. The true question is whether that was Mysterio's final blaze of glory, or will he get another shot moving forward?

With guys like CM Punk and Sheamus holding world titles right now, and others such as Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and eventually Wade Barrett in the hunt, I don't envision there being an opening for Mysterio. With that in mind, Mysterio has to weight his options and decide if he, at the age of 37, wants to hang around with no hope of advancement.

Considering Mysterio's balky knees, I doubt he'll be around much longer than another year or two. I actually could see him going into semi-retirement like The Undertaker and Triple H so he can preserve his body to some degree and only wrestle big events when he's needed.

If that comes to fruition, then Mysterio's current role is likely to be toned down in the interim. Maybe 10 years ago, he could have retained his relevance as a mid-carder, but he would just fade into oblivion as a mid-carder in today's WWE.

The creative team puts so little effort into the mid-card that it's really unbelievable at this point. Usually, there are about three matches per pay-per-view that receive proper build, and they are the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship and whatever Cena is doing. Once in a great while, there is an intriguing mid-card program of some kind, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

I feel like the WWE understands how valuable Mysterio is from the perspective of selling merchandise, and they'll keep him around because of that, but it doesn't mean that he'll be utilized effectively. The WWE has enough trouble as it is keeping legitimate top guys like Sheamus relevant, so asking them to do the same with Mysterio is a bit too much.

I'm not a big Mysterio fan, and I don't hate him either, but I do understand his importance to the wrestling business. I don't want to see him essentially fade away into nothingness as his career comes to a close, but I'm afraid that is exactly what will happen in WWE.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter and listen to him on Ring Rust Radio.