Rey Mysterio remembers fondly h❀is son Dominik falling in love with wrestling, the beginning of a journ𒆙ey that will now find them across the ring from each other for a match at WrestleMania 39 this weekend.
It started when Dominik 𝕴was the centerpiece of a very personal and now-famous paternity angle b✅etween Rey and his on-screen rival and real-life friend Eddie Guerrero heading into WWE’s SummerSlam in 2005.
An 8-year-old Dominick started to really enjoy his role and ta🐓ste of his dad’s business.
“He had his mask, he had his outfit,” Rey said in 🥀a phone interview. “That’s what he wanted to do. When he traveled with me he would jump in the ring and play in the ring just like any other kid. He’s just full of wrestling excited, just wanted to hit the ropes, just wanted to jump off the bottom rope, you name it. He was intrigued just like any other kid to🔜 see what it felt like to step in the ring.”
His so✨n’s interest in wrestling w🤡aned once the angle ended.
Dominik funneled al🅷l his energy in𒈔to football until he was 19.
It was then he approached his dad about getting back into wr﷽estling.
He began training with Jay Lethal in 2018 and made hi🍨s first appearance on SmackDown in March 2019.
“I honestly didn’t think he would have the passion🍷 to ask me one day that he wanted to break in the business,” Rey said.
They spent the next two years by each other’s side, forming a team that won the SmackDown tag team titles in May 2021 in front of no fans in the ThunderDome and wrestled The Miz and Logan Paul at last year’s WrestleMania among other highli𓆏ghts.
Their on-screen story took a drastic turn last summer as Dominik got offended by his dad cho💎osing to team with Edge and not him against The Judgement Day.
Eventually, Dominik attacked both of them on Raw in September and joined the heel factio🦋n.
It ended up unlocking a winey, fake-tou💎gh-guy character — with Rhea Ripley as his bad influence “Mami” — that has allowed Dominik, 25, to flourish and to connect with the audience in a way he hadn’t before with some nuclear heat around him,
In the storyline, t✃he 48-year-old Rey was switched from Raw to SmackDown to avoid confronting hi♐s son.
In real life, he has enjoyed what working apart has ﷽afforded both of them.
“It’s been really amazing and honestly it feels good to not have to see him deal with th🐎e pressure of being in my shadow or walking in my shoes because when we were teaming up, that’s what it felt like and I woul♋d stay on top of him with so many things,” Rey said.
“Now because he’s on his own, I don’t tell him nothing, at꧟ all. I just what him to grow, learn, and if he happened to ask me for any advice, and if he does I’d be more than happy to give it to him. He hasn’t yet. So I’m hoping that one day will change.”
When the two aren’t in an angle t𝓰ogether, Rey and his wife Angie are usually at home watching Dominik on TV like the rest of the world.
It’s led to a n♋umber of proud moments as parents as it’s been “inᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚcredible” for him to watch his son’s growth as a performer.
“Being a🦄ble to sit back at home with my wife and watch our son 𝔍on TV is like, ‘Wow.’” Rey said. “Even after a match I’ll look at her and go, ‘Can you believe he’s come this far?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh my God he did such an incredible job.’ As parents, she would always joke around, ‘We made such a good couple that we brought this kid into the world.’
The whole family has found its way into a story that will cu🎐lminate with Rey being iꦜnducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and a match at the two-day WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium this weekend (April 1-2, Peacock).
WWE did a number of vignettes of Dominick and Ripley crashing Mysterio holiday parties, starting with Thanksgiving and moving to Christmas and Valenti♉ne’s Day.
The firs🍨t one created so much interest and buzz that it was clear they had something 🦄and needed to keep exploring.
“Because it got great reaction and everything was so fresh as w🍬ell that it started a trend,” Rey said. “The animosity that was amongst father and son was very intriguing to a lot of us. I just think it got so much att🌸ention that we just kept coming up with ideas.”
In the video for Christmas, Rey had Dominik arrested leading to a fun storyline wrinkle of his son acting extra tough and telling tales from jail after spending just a day behind barꦬs.
It’s led to him being called “Prison Dom” and his parents have go൲tten a kick out of it knowing🌠 Dominik in real life.
“To me it’s ‘Really, come on son?’” Rey said. “My wife can probably correct me on this, but I think I know him better than anyone else. My wife might say the opposite that she knows him more than anyone and I believe that she is true. To see him act all hard a𒅌nd Mr. Prison Cell is very interesting to watch.”
It’s all part of a story that feels very easy for fans to▨ relate to, watching one’s kid needing to get respect and attention from a parent and choosing to go about it by falling with the wrong partner and group and rebelling.
It ❀took Dominik publicly insulting his mother on SmackDown for Rey to snap and finally hit his son and agree to the match. It got a huge crowd reaction and the YouTube video has been viewed 2.7 million times as of Tuesday.
“How many times does your son or your daughter end up hooking up with the wrong person and end up hanging𓆏 out with the wrong crowd, and that’s torture,” Rey said. “And how many kids truly feel the way Dom feels toward their parents or vice versa? How many parents feel that way about your kids? Whether it’s true or not, I think it’s a topic that’s very relatable to social life and here we are displaying it in full effect.”
Stไill, it’s hard for Mysterio — who does plan to retire until at least age 50 — to wrap his head around what’✱s about to happen between him and his son on wrestling’s biggest stage.
A story 17 years in the making.
“Could you believe it?” Rey said. “Maybe Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon [at WrestleMania 17] have shared moments like that. Besides that, it’s hard for me to recall if any father has shared the ring across their son on the grandest stage of them all. It would mean everything, not to mention the induction the night before. I thought the Hall o🌼f Fame was enough and I had reached my peak, but the story continues.”