There isn’t a storyline in WWE in recent years that I have enjoyed more than the rise of Dominik Mysterio, The Bloodline included.
From the moment Dominik returned to WWE in 2018 ahead of his father’s US title match against Samoa Joe at WrestleMania 35, I was optimistic he could succeed. At the time, Dominik was just getting into the pro wrestling business and had begun training with Jay Lethal, Lance Storm, Booker T, and others. I recall talking to Konnan at the time about Dominik’s pro wrestling ambitions and the WCW veteran told me that Rey was making Dominik work his way up the right way. He also noted that a big reason Rey was even returning to WWE was to help open the door for his son.
Later in 2018, when Dominik appeared alongside his father at Survivor Series and helped him to deliver a double-619 on then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, I got goosebumps as I sat in attendance. The crowd went wild and it was a pro wrestling moment I will never forget.
As an aside, I would be remiss if I did not mention that I was born in 1985, and by 1993, I was a dedicated pro wrestling fan. My earliest memories of Dominik Mysterio came a decade later as in 2003, Dominik became the centerpiece in a feud between his father Rey and Eddie Guerrero that infamously peaked with a ladder match that had custody of Dominik hanging in the balance, literally.
So for myself, and many around my age, Dominik isn’t just some new character popping up and taking the world by storm. Instead, Dominik is an established name for the brand with more than a decade of history already behind him, despite only being 25 years old. So it is with great glee that I look at how we got to this point, what could be a WWE WrestleMania 39 collision between the two, and how it should play out.
Judgment For Dominik
It is hard to think that the match at WWE WrestleMania 39 between the Mysterios would be happening without The Judgment Day. Prior to Dominik turning his back on Rey to don the purple and black, he had dutifully stood by his father’s side either in tag matches or in his corner. Dominik had also somewhat regularly become a punching bag for those that Rey was at odds with in order to get heat on their feuds.
All of that changed at Clash At The Castle last year where after feuding with The Judgment Day alongside his dad and Edge, Dominik low-blowed Edge, the former Judgment Day leader, and hit his father with a clothesline, officially turning heel. The turn was met with a largely mixed reaction from pro wrestling fans. While the babyface pairing with his father had obviously run its course, some questioned whether Dominik would be able to stand on his own as a WWE star.
The chemistry with Dominik and his Judgment Day cohorts was not immediately shown. The rag-tag bunch of stars didn’t seem to fit together on the surface but over time, the stable found its groove. Dominik was no longer in the shadow of his father and regularly took shots at him on the microphone as his “Mami” Rhea Ripley whispered in his ear. To the chagrin of Rey, Rhea and “Dom-Dom” crashed the Mysterio family Thanksgiving dinner, causing a ruckus and resulting in Dominik being arrested, all in the storyline, of course.
On the other side of his arrest, the world was treated to “Prison Dom.” Now that Dominik had done some time in the clink, or so he claimed, he felt hardened and more aggressive than ever. His verbal assaults on Rey intensified as did the overall viciousness of The Judgment Day.
Goading His Father Into A Fight
The build to what looks to be a generational collision at WWE WrestleMania 39 may have begun in earnest at the Royal Rumble. Rey Mysterio’s music played and he was presumably supposed to enter in the number eighteen spot. However, after a minute of his music playing, Rey was nowhere to be seen. Shortly after, the clock ticked down to the nineteenth entrant, and out came Dominik, holding his father’s mask after appearing to have laid out his father backstage and taken it, costing Rey a shot at one more WWE WrestleMania main event.
Since then, there was a Valentine’s Day altercation with his father along with some more jaw-jacking but things escalated on the March 3 episode of Smackdown when Dominik laid out Rey with a cheap shot from behind. A week later, Rey returned to Smackdown to comment on his WWE Hall Of Fame induction but was once again confronted by Dominik who tried goading him into a fight, calling him a deadbeat and noting he should have been Eddie Guerrero’s son. Words hurt and Rey looked gutted by the ordeal.
This brings us to this past Monday night’s Raw where Dominik formally challenged his father to a match at WWE WrestleMania 39. While Rey was quick to shoot down the challenge, noting he would never fight his son, it is hard not to think that Dominik will do something absolutely depraved to lure his father into a fight. Tie his sister Aalyah Mysterio to the train tracks? Don’t count it out!
The Mysterios Go Hollywood
One thing that could realistically get Rey to fight Dominik is a good old-fashioned stipulation. Without having to do something too dastardly or outlandish, one could foresee Rey accepting Dominik’s challenge on the condition that if he wins, Dominik must leave The Judgment Day and change his ways. Something Dominik could realistically consider while also upping the ante at the same time by saying that if he beats his dad, Rey has to retire.
There are so few perfect endings to pro wrestling careers, if any. Ric Flair’s grand WWE WrestleMania retirement was short-lived as he went on to bleed all over TNA before faking a heart attack in a critically panned last match, which is totally, for sure, his last.
Shawn Michaels also went out on top in a “Streak Vs Career” match at WWE WrestleMania 26 only to return to action in 2018 for a big Saudi payday at WWE Crown Jewel as he and Triple H took on The Brothers of Destruction. A match that saw Michaels nearly escape peril on a moonsault to the outside of the ring and, overall, put a blemish on an otherwise fairytale end to his in-ring career.
With that in mind, Rey is poised to go out in a way that no other WWE star has done before. Imagine it, after a hard-fought twenty-minute bout, Dominik ascends to the top rope, hits Eddie Guerrero’s signature frog splash, and sends his father out of the business in what can only believe would be considered the right way. Rey would end his career on the biggest stage of them all, to his son, and in a manner that ensures Dominik has tons and tons and tons of heat. Heat that should keep him afloat in WWE for many years to come.
It’s so great to think about. I don’t even want to see Dominik have a moment with Rey after the match. Just have The Judgment Day beat down Rey, light him on fire, and let his spirit ascend into the rafters as Dominik and company laugh maniacally. A guy can dream.
Stay with Haus Of Wrestling for all the latest on The Mysterios heading into WWE WrestleMania 39.