Rey Mysterio talks about his feelings on his son, Dominik Mysterio, becoming a wrestler and how proud he is of him. Rey is regarded as one of the greatest lucha libre wrestlers of all time. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2023 and continues to put on high-level matches.
Rey Mysterio has huge shoes to fill and to ask anyone to follow him is a huge ask. However, his son Dominik Mysterio decided to become a wrestler and has proven himself to be one of the top heels on RAW.
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According to Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio was not interested in wrestling growing up despite growing up around wrestling and being involved as a child. Rey was recently a guest on Jaxxon Podcast, and he talked about his surprise that Dominik wanted to break into the business at 19.
“My son was pretty much raised around the business. He was already part of a story angle in WWE in 2003, 2004 with Eddie [Guerrero] and he just grew up around the business. He just never showed any interest not until about the age of 19 and [he] wasn’t good at school, played football but he wasn’t going anywhere, and one day he was like, ‘Dad, I want to see if I can break into business.’ So I never expected that from him.
“Sure enough, that was when he was 19 years old, he’s 27 now, and in the past three years, he’s had the success that I never had in three years breaking in the business. I mean, times are different, but as a father you can only imagine how proud I am.”
Via Wrestling Inc.
The Training Begins
In 2018 Dominik began his training to become a pro wrestler. He started his training with current AEW wrestler Jay Lethal. He then started training with former ECW, WCW, WWE star and overall underrated wrestler Lance Storm. The next year he started getting involved in his father’s matches and started getting used more and more by WWE.
In 2020 Dominik and Rey began feuding with Seth Rollins and Murphy. This led up to Dominik’s very first match in WWE being against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. The father and son began teaming up and it led to them winning the WWE Tag Team Championships in 2021. They are the only father and son to ever do so.
Rey went on to explain why it was hard for Dominik to leave his father’s shadow. He explained that it was in part because of his size and wrestling style.
“For my son to come in out of nowhere and not have my style, have a different build. He’s 6’1”, he’s about 190, so it was just, it was very hard for him at the beginning to try to adapt and find his role as a wrestler. The comparisons were, they were made and, of course, he couldn’t live up to it. Not until we separated and he continued on his own path without having his dad by his side and that was the best thing that could have ever happened to him.”
Mysterio Has Huge Shoes To Fill
Dominik being so new to the business it would be impossible to live up to his dad, Rey, at that point. Him being so much taller than his dad also makes it impossible to do the same moves his dad does. Rey is one of the best and to expect someone who only has a few years experience to be able to wrestle like someone who has been wrestling since he was 14 is unfair.
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The Mysterios proved to be a major force in the tag team division. However, like all good things, it came to an end and a woman came between them. It wasn’t just a woman who broke them up, it was a mami. Rhea Ripley seduced Dominik and he ended up turning on his dad, Rey, and joined The Judgement Day and turned heel in the process. Rey was asked who came up with the decision to break up the team and turn Dominik’s heel.
“It’s crazy to even put a name behind someone that really had the idea of separating us but I think it was just a work of minds put together … I think the main idea behind it was the fact that we try to relate wrestling as much as we can to real life and who doesn’t fight with their kids? Kids always think that they’re right and the father’s wrong. They don’t take advice from the dad and just to be able to portray that story on TV for the fans to view was probably the success of the story.”
Walking His Own Path
Rey thought being away from Dominik helped Dominik grow as a performer. He said he would always be in his son’s ear trying to correct mistakes and without him it helped him find his own path.
Since joining Judgement Day, Dominik has become one of the top heels on RAW and a two-time NXT North American champion. Judgement Day itself has grown a lot and become very popular in large part because of Dominik and Ripley’s chemistry.
Dominik is not his dad and he will never be version two of Rey Mysterio, but he can still be a very good and accomplished wrestler based on his own ability. Currently he is injured with a shoulder issue. However, this hasn’t kept him off TV and has been appearing on TV with a sling. Recently he was seen leaving a room shortly after the woman who injured Ripley, Liv Morgan. Mami is not going to be happy with that.
What have you thought of Dirty Dom so far in WWE? Do you think he will ever reach the same heights in the business as Rey Mysterio? What do you think was going on with him and Liv Morgan? Was separating him and his father done too soon or not soon enough? Should he leave Judgement Day too? Let us know on social media if you think he can succeed unaffiliated with anyone or group.
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Sources: Jaxxon Podcast, Wrestling Inc.
