Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Dominik Mysterio: Learning from his dad, WWE debut, paying tribute to Eddie Guerrero, kendo stick shots

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

Dominik Mysterio talks with Chris Van Vliet from his home in San Diego, CA. He talks about his WWE debut against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, continuing his family's legacy, doing a frog splash to pay tribute to Eddie Guerrero, his memories of the ladder match for his custody, how his sister Aalyah and his mom are part of the current storylines, his plan to wear a mask in the ring and change his name to Prince Mysterio, a possible match with David Benoit and much more!Please subscribe and support the show by supporting our sponsors!  DOORDASH- Get $5 and zero delivery fees on your first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and use the promo code BLUEWIREBETONLINE- Head to http://betonline.ag and use the promo code BLUEWIRE for your new welcome bonus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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This episode is brought to you by DoorDash and Bet Online. And when I say third generation superstar, who comes to mind? is it the rock Randy Orton maybe Bray Wyatt Natalia well now you can add Dominic Mysterio

to that list but unlike all those other people that I named Dominic's debut match was at SummerSlam and against Seth Rollins and what a debut it was what a match

hey take a screenshot right now tag me on Instagram so I can say hi and so I can share it I'm at Chris Van Vleet Tag Dominic on Instagram. He is at Dominic underscore 35. And hey, why you're doing stuff on your phone?

Could I just ask you to subscribe, whether it's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, wherever you happen to be listening right now because we've got a ton of interviews come up. This is one I talked about weeks ago. So if you're a subscriber, you remember that. You're like, oh, yeah, this is the interview that he like teased two weeks ago. So here we are. If you happen to be listening on Apple Podcasts, though, a review would be like super helpful as we head towards that goal of 2,000 reviews by my birthday.

I guess my birthday is May 19th. So we've got time. May 19th, 2021. So we've got some time here. This review comes from MDB 1909 who says, Brilliant podcast. Can't believe I only recently discovered this podcast, caught up on so many great interviews. one of, if not my favorite wrestling podcast.

Again, that's from MDB 1909 in Great Britain. Wow. So thank you for that review. And thank you for continuing to bring these reviews in. We keep getting a whole bunch every single week. So thank you. You can literally say anything. It can be short.

It can be funny. It can be preposterous. Whatever you like. I'd just like saying that into the mic. Preposterous. Anyway, in any case, I'll be reading one on every single episode. So where do we start with Dominic Mysterio? I mean, we could start at his debut match at SummerSlam, which was a phenomenal debut match.

You know, that may go down as the best first wrestling match for anyone ever. And I'm not just talking about the best WW debut or the best, you know, AEW debut. I'm talking about the best first wrestling match ever. You know, most people are doing that in a small venue or a bingo hall or these days at a football stadium. But for your first match ever to begin Seth Rollins at SummerSlam and to be that good, man, obviously it helps when your father is a legend like Ray Mysterio. But still, Dominic put in a ton of work for that match to look as great as it did. Obviously, Seth Rollins made him look good too, but you see what I'm driving at here. We talk about what it was like growing up in the wrestling business and being part of that paternity storyline with Eddie Guerrero.

He talks about his favorite memories of Eddie Guerrero and how his whole family is now involved in the storyline on SmackDown and how Dominic may end up wearing a mask and changing his name to Prince Mysterio. Also, he gave his first frog splash ever to Brock Lesnar. Not his first frog splash on TV to Brock Lesnar. his first frog splash ever. He was just like, yeah, I think I can do that. And then got up there and did it. So this is a fascinating conversation with an incredibly humble young man.

So please give it up for Dominic Mysterio. It's such a pleasure to be chatting with you. So Dominic, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Oh, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. I like your shirt. That must be your favorite wrestler, right?

One of them, top five. Top five. Ray Mysterio, yeah, top five. What a last handful of months for you. What a ride you've been on. Are you able to step back and realize how insane this is right now? Definitely. At first, it was kind of, I was on cloud night for, I don't know how long. You know, I'd like realizing from my debut at SummerSlam to just continuously being on Raw every week, it's kind of, It's been unimaginable, like a dream come true for me. So I'm very grateful. And it's been hard to kind of step back and look and enjoy and be able to have fun with it. But yeah, it's definitely been a ride, man. Like not very many people get to debut at SummerSlam and against Seth Rollins.

Like that's crazy. It was definitely, I've said it before, you know, when my dad first told me that that was how it was going to happen. I thought he was ribbing me. I was like, get out of here. It's a joke. Like, okay. Yeah. But then he was like, no, no, no. Like, this is serious. People in the back started telling me like higher ups telling me that this is, this is the direction they wanted to go. So I had to mentally prepare myself and be like, all right, like, let's do this. It's time to go. So if we take a step back, when did you start training? I first started training, I want to say, late 2018 or early to, yes, because I graduated

high school in 16 and I started training a little bit after that. So early, early 18, late 17 is when I started training. And just I started training here in San Diego with my dad and Conan. And that was for about maybe I want to say four or five months, learning the basics, rolling, mostly rolling with them. Like, I can't tell you how much I rolled with them. Just the bumps. And then from there, I moved to Tampa, Tampa Bay. And I did three months with Jay Lethal at Tampa Bay Pro Wrestling.

And then once I finished there, I came back home for another three months. And then went out to Calgary, to Lances, to Storm Wrestling Academy for another three months there. Wow. Okay. So the people you've been trained by, that's not. insane. So you've been trained by Ray Mysterio, Conan, J. Lethal, and Lance Storm. Wow. And when I came from Lances, I found my home here in San Diego, which is level up. And I've been training with local indie wrestlers and big names like B-Boy. He's awesome. And I've had a guy's like Fennie

come in and help me out, you know, a lot of guys from down here in San Diego. So it's been, it's been tremendous and I'm very grateful and thankful. So when you're the son of Ray Mysterio, is the plan, is the goal the whole time like, I'm going to follow in my father's footsteps, I'm also going to be a pro wrestler? Not at the, not all the time. I feel like it was all, because since I was a kid, I played soccer and football since I was eight years old. That was the main focus.

And my high school never really had, they didn't have a wrestling team. So it didn't really, I'm sure if they had a wrestling team, I would have loved to have tried out, but they didn't have any of that. So focus was always football and soccer. But I was always a big fan of wrestling, had to have all the action figures, needed all the t-shirts, kept up with everything that was going on, had all the titles. That's a Dominic on them. So I was always a big fan and I always had wrestling in the back of my mind.

But I never actually tried it. So when I tried it for the first time and set in the ring, it was a different kind of love and passion for the sport that I had for it. So it was an immediate love. Did being part of that, you know, a lot of people obviously know you from the storyline, the paternity storyline with Eddie Guerrero and Ray Mysterio. Did being involved in that make you love wrestling even more? Now that I've given it some thought, I think so, because that really made me love and appreciate, like, the industry and everyone in the back.

And I personally enjoyed traveling from city to city with my dad, like those long car rides with him and going to the airport in the mornings and being able to fight for the window with him so I can be able to sleep. But like I personally enjoyed all that. So I think in the long run it definitely did nudge me a little bit more towards being able to start wrestling. So what's your first wrestling memory that you have? first wrestling memory that I have is my dad getting hit in the head with the guitar by Jeff Jarrett. Were you there for there? I was not there.

I was watching it on TV. And I had remembered because everything else as far as wrestling is a blur, but that's the first, like, thing that I remember. And I remember it was Jeff Jarrett because I remember the yellow glasses and I remember him just wailing my dad. And I remember freaking out asking my mom if he was okay. And she was like, well, we'll know in a little bit. Like, relax. It's okay. But yeah, that's my first memory. My dad getting hit in the head with the guitar by Jeff Jarrett.

Wow. So what's the first event that you went to in person? There's a lot of local events that I went to in Tijuana at the auditorium, Paso Lutierrez. So that one, I went to those back in the day when I was a kid. But first one that I remember was probably in Anaheim when my dad first came to WWE. He was feuding with Matt Hardy at the time.

So I remember I had all the rock aware with the side visor. But yeah, I think that was my first Smackdown, WWE event, my first wrestling event. And then, yeah. I mean, not long after that, you're part of this gigantic storyline. So you're on the road, you know, and then there's. There's a huge storyline of who's your dad, is it Ray or is it Eddie? What's it like going to school when you've just been on national television, international television the night before?

There wasn't much school. That's probably why I loved it so much because in third grade, I was in third grade at the time and I had to take my homework with me. I wasn't in class half the time. My teacher, my dad would have to come in and explain to the teacher like what was going on, what I was needed for. but when I was in school, it was kind of like, I had to like explain to kids that who my dad was. And because kids would always ask me, you know, who really is your dad, Eddie Guerrero?

Is Ray Mysterio? Like, who's your dad, Dom? And I'd be like, well, pretty sure it's Ray Mysterio, who's my dad. And but yeah, I always had to explain myself on who my dad was. Do you remember, like, being on set with Eddie? Because you would, not just stuff in the ring, you filmed other stuff like behind the scenes. with him too. Yeah, I remember doing vignettes with him, the one here at the park. Apparently, I don't remember which park it was, but it was a park around here. But I remember that very vividly.

There was other kids playing at the park. And after every take, Eddie would offer me candy, whether it was Twizzlers or Red Vines. But he would always have candy for me ready. You're ready to go? Yeah, uncle, let's do it. And give me some candy and we're off. being a West Coast guy, you're obviously a red vine person. Yes. My dad's always been a Twizzler person. So he's, unless they don't have Twizzlers, he'll go Red Vines. But I'm, yeah, I'll go with Red Vines.

It's like, it's such a, like, it's a real debate. And people that, you know, are in the UK listening to this right now, like, what do you mean? What's a Red Vine? But yeah, red vines and Twizzlers, that's a real debate. Yeah. I mean, I personally enjoy both. But if I had to pick one,

I'll go red vines. What are some of the best memories that you have of Eddie Guerrero? There's so many. There's times where after house shows, he would come over to the house. You know, my mom would basically force him to come over and spend the night because she didn't want him to spend any money staying at a hotel or anything.

She wanted him to be in like the comfort of our home because he was like best friends with my dad. So I remember waking up in the mornings and having like breakfast burritos with him. I remember one time after a Hall of Fame, he, I don't know if you guys, if you remember the PSPs back in the day.

I had, I had one of the first ones that came out and he bought me like FIFA 04 or something for it. And I remember I was super excited and I still have it in my PSP and it's there. So that memory of Eddie will always be with me. Have you seen the, have you seen the memes of like Roussev debuted recently or Niro debuted, he has blonde hair. Have you seen the meme where it's like Dominic grew up and this is what he looks like now? Yes, I wish I was as big as Miro. But yes, no, I, my dad showed it to me and I cracked

up. I laughed. It was awesome. And everyone's telling me to bring back the bleak hair, but I don't know. Have you thought about it? I have, but I feel like it'd be more, I'd be more of a meme than taking seriously. Was there talk about putting a mask on you? There's still talks about it. So we would like to eventually get into the tradition of Lucha Libre, which would be putting a mask on me and taking on the name. But I think that's all down the line in the future. But now everyone kind of knows my face and what I look like And the idea of wearing a mask is to hide your identity, to be able to go out to places and stuff like that. But I think I could find a unique way of bring the mask into my character. So when you say take the name, would you also be Ray Mysterio?

I don't know. We have a thoughts. Well, my long goal would be Prince Mysterio for me. since Ray, since Ray in Spanish is king. So for my character, it'd be Prince of Stereo. I don't know. We'll see it. We'll see where it goes.

So when you started training, what was the plan here? I mean, obviously, you've got the best of the best situation, debuting at SummerSlam, debuting against Rollins. But was the plan, I'm going to go work the Indies for a few years, make a name for myself, and figure it out from there? We didn't have us a plan. We just, we knew that the end goal would be to eventually be signed to WWE and be in WWE.

I never had any intention of, it all happened so fast, you know, the opportunities presented itself. And, but yeah, the idea was to get some, get some independent work, start building my name a little bit, eventually make it down to WWE, start training at the PC, but everything just happens so fast, you know. and they gave me the ball and I started running with it. So is that literally your first match ever? That was literally my first match ever, SummerSlam.

I have had, I have had practice matches with, like, Lance and other students at Storms, but first official match was at SummerSlam against Seth Rolins. Wow. Wow. Well, it completely makes sense then when you shared that moment with Vince that was recently put online, where he was basically like, he seemed very proud of you. And he's known you since you were a kid. What did that moment mean for you?

It meant the absolute world to me. Like I'm getting chills like right now. You're just telling me. It was surreal. You know, seeing everybody like a lot of superstars, my dad, you know, Eddie, seeing guys like that, get that hug and that embrace from Vince

and actually like me getting an embrace from him. getting, you know, those sweet whispers, as they call it. It was surreal and I'm very thankful for the opportunity. It was, it was, and I'll never forget. So, I mean, that wasn't that long ago. It's crazy to think your debut was about a month ago. And then you're on every week. Now this has become a family affair. So how did your sister get worked into this? So I, I don't really know. I think the idea was pitched for her. her to like come on and like uh like kind of help me and kind of be part of the story and and help motivate me and then it kind of just turned into a whole other let's all beat

Murphy with the kendo stick well you got you you got to get some payback with that kendo stick because that looked pretty bad yeah it was it was a pretty brutal it was yeah so when you're taking these kendo stick shots from rollins at which At what point do you go, all right, this is really actually starting to hurt? Because those things don't tickle. So I had never actually been hit with the kendoz before. I always had one in my room because I loved them. I just as a kid, I always loved the idea of a kendo stick, watch Sandman, the whole deal.

So I always had one and had my dad like give me a little love taps, but I actually got hit with one. So when Rollins laid that first one in, I immediately knew it was going to be. be a long, long segment. And they just started, they just kept coming and kept coming and they hurt more and more. I did it like, it was just, I, it was at the point where it was like, all right, my body just kind of numbed out. Yeah, it looked bad. How long till the bruises and welts were finally gone? Surprisingly in like a week. It's like my body. I can relate. So I went to Sean Spears and Tyler Breeze's wrestling school. They gave me 20 chops. I actually saw your video.

Oh my God. Wow. I watched that. You saw that. You're probably like, this guy is insane. Why is he doing this? I had a lot of, when your photos came out after the Kendo Stick, I was tagged in a lot of those photos. They're like, do you think this is worse than what you got? I'm like, oh, yeah.

What Dominic got is far worse than what I got. Yeah, I've gotten the top line before and it's bad. And also, I'm sure you felt that your chest went numb after, after a certain amount of them. and it was just like you were taking them at that point. But yeah, no, that Kendall Stitt was definitely, I wouldn't say the same, but it's the stinging sensation of what the chop line is. But yeah, it was bad.

Yeah, it looked real bad. When you look at the entire landscape here of possible opponents in WWE, who are some dream matches for you? I've always said Randy Orton, just because I've always been a big fan and I'd love his style of work. But I think Dream Matches would, besides Randy, someone like Andrade, I think me and him would, I just wrestled him very briefly on Monday, him and Garza. But I would love to get in there a little bit longer with Andrade, Garza,

Umberto, I'd love to go one-on-one with himberto. I think that would be absolutely phenomenal. If I could, you know, someone like Edge, you know, some of the big names, I would love to, I've worked Seth. I would love to wrestle Roman. I think that would be, I think that'd be fun as well. But there's so many guys in NXT like Adam Cole,

guys like, you know, Austin Theory. There's so many people I'd love to work with. But, you know, we'll see what the future holds. Do you think a match with your dad is something that you'd want to do? Yes, most definitely. I think, I think that'll be that's still a long time from now

but I remember all the spankings he gave me as a kid so I'm sure our match will come how close do you think your dad is or was to retiring because there were whispers of that I don't think he's he's been close to retirement yet

he's always felt really good he's you know as as you guys know he's uh his knee his left knee has been through multiple multiple surgeries and other than that he's still he's still going and i always ask him because he'll jump in the ring with me and train and i'll ask him like hey how you feeling you feeling good and he's like yeah yeah feel great and i don't i don't think he's i don't think he's going to call it quits anytime soon you know with great respect to your father at what age were you when you became taller than him. I think I was 13, 13 or 14. What, yeah, coming out of, yeah, eighth grade going into

high school. I was already, like, more than... And now you're, what are you, 6-2? Is that how tall you are? Six-one. Well, you're a wrestler, six-two. We'll call you six-two then. Thank you. Appreciate it. So in all the family photos, like, you're the one standing in the back now. It's usually the kids that are, you know, on the front, but I guess you'd be standing in the back. Yeah, they got me in the back so I don't cover anybody. Where did this hike come from? Because it's like your mom's not that tall. Your dad's not that tall. Yeah, it's weird because I got it all from my mom's side because my dad, his mom is like 4-8 and his dad is like 5-3, 5-2. So they're not very tall. And he has four brothers and all his brothers are like 5-5-5-6. But my mom has one brother who passed away when he was 18 and

And when he was 18, he was already like 6'4. And my mom's mom has six brothers, and all six brothers are above 6-2. Wow. Well, there it is. Yeah, I think that's where I got the hype from. You know, it's difficult to be in the position that you're in because I think a lot of kids whose parents are just pro-wrestlers in general, not legendary pro-wrestlers like your father. I think a lot of them go, that's his thing or her thing. going to do that and I'll go live my own life. It's difficult to be in the position that you're in

because people are going to constantly compare you to your father. That's obviously got to be a decision that you made before you got into this. Yeah, it was a, I knew I was going to get compared and people were going to expect a certain thing for me. But I was always given great advice from my coaches, from my dad, other wrestlers, you know, to not let those things get to me. but to just be me and put in the work and let my work speak for itself. Because at the end of the day, I'm the one going out there and busts my ass to do all this. So I think it's very important for me to be able to be great for them. But I think it's also hard to not be compared to my dad because it's – and it's also hard for me to do certain things

that my dad does because the height difference. So there has to be a little differences here and there still. Yeah, how hard is it for you to do a 619? Not very hard because it was like me jumping into it. I have long legs. So if I time it correctly, my legs just swing by. And it's perfect because I'm left-handed. So when my dad do it, it's in perfect sync.

So it was really cool that I could do it from the left side. And then when did you decide you wanted to put the frog splash in here as, you know, tribute to Eddie? When I hit the frog splash on Brock, we were in the back talking about what we could do if something presented itself. And my dad was like, hit him with the frog splash. I was like, I've never, I've never done a frog splash before. He's like, he's like, well, I just started looking at videos of how Eddie used to do it. And it kind of just came together. So, From there on, we were just like, yeah, I'll hit the froggy. So now it's just, it's the Eddie.

It's the Eddie Frog Splash. So you didn't even go in the ring and do this with a crash pad or something like that? No. The first frog splash you hit was on Brock Lasner. Yeah, the first time trying it, too. Do you realize how insane this sounds? Yeah, no, it, trust me, when my dad was like, hit a frog splash, I was like, I've never even, like, I've jumped off the turnbuckle, like,

you know, when we in training, did the macho jump down, but never, like, actually, like, did a frog splash or anything. We were just the first time trying it. Wow. First time doing a chair, too. This is crazy. You've got to, you're experiencing a lot of firsts in WWE that most people are doing, you know, in front of a small crowd on the indie scene.

This is insane that you're being, that you're able to do this. It's, it's been crazy. like thinking looking back at this now i'm learning as i go like this is all everything that i'm doing as far as on raw and everything is all first for me so i'm learning as i go who has inspired the ring attire that you wear i think it's been a mixture of like me and my dad kind of designing it because we wanted to keep the traditional falcons in there but we wanted to put like a like a unique twist to it so we we tried doing the falcon with like the question mark and making it a little unique. But I think down the future, you know, I'll always be like my dad, different colors.

I'll change the outfit, you know, keep people surprised, having them wonder what colors I'm going to wear this week or if I'm going to be wearing a different outfit. So I think that's, that's what makes the mysterious name a mystery. You've counted on restaurants, and now they are counting on you. And while their dining rooms may be closed, they're still open for delivery with DoorDash. DoorDash is the app that brings you the food you're craving right to your door. Ordering is easy. Just open up the DoorDash app. Choose what you want to eat and your food will be left safely outside your door with the new contactless delivery drop-off setting. Choose from your favorite restaurants like Chipotle, Wendy's, and the Cheesecake Factory, and many of your local favorite restaurants while they're still open for delivery too. Just open the DoorDash app, select your favorite local spot and your food, boom, will be on its way.

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Don't forget to use the promo code BlueWire at betonline.ag. That's Blue Wire, all one word. Bet Online, your online sportsbook experts. Yeah, your dad has so many iconic different ring gear. Do you have like a closet in your house that's just all of his masks and all of his ring gear? Not a closet. We have a whole, oh, thank God. Sorry. We have a whole little outhouse for his outfits. Like just like, like not a closet. He has a whole basically a bedroom just for his stuff. Oh my gosh. Droars of masks. Outfits everywhere. It's just it's crazy. Wow. Okay. Is that him? That's him. Yeah, he just walked in.

Oh, hey. I know he can't hear me because you have headphones in. Yeah, he has no mask, but he just... Oh, okay. Well, hello, right. That's a pretty good cameo to have in the interview. So what's your favorite of his masks? My favorite. I'm a big fan of the one that Kevin Nash took off of him, the black one. with the, like, the, had like rainbow detailing on the inside. That's always been my, that's one of my favorites. I would steal it as a kid and keep it in my room. And he would need it for interviews because it was right after it happened. So people would ask him about it and he'd have to pull it out.

But I would always steal it and keep it in my room. So that's, that one of my favorites, the Halloween Havoc outfit. I would always put that on and have a ripped, like the ripped mask and just run around the house with it. that one's a classic as well. The Superman outfit he used in ECW, the Batman one as well. Those are, he just has some,

like the classic WCW outfits that he used to wear, those are basically all my favorites. Yeah, you have some masks. I think, is there one or two on the shelf behind you there? Yeah, there's a couple. Do you know the significance of those? That the silver,

I don't know if you can see it, but that silver one, that silver one is like a, like a Louis Vuitton Supreme that he, because he loves his Louis. So he likes making like special masks that he can like wear for special occasions. So that silver is like a mixture of like the Santo Silver with like the red LV Supreme, which is really cool.

Wow. That's amazing. It's amazing looking at you and thinking how much you look like your dad. Yeah. A lot of people say and they didn't understand how we. could go through with the storyline because they're like if you've seen Ray and WCW and mask or like you look just like them. Yeah. If you put a mask on, I feel like you guys would just be twins. Although do people think you look, not everybody's seeing your dad with his mask off, but do

people think that you look more like your dad or your mom? No, everyone, be one of the few that says I look like my dad. Nine out of ten people would say I look like my mom. And now your mom's part of the storylines too. This is great. Yeah. Yeah. The whole gangs in it. you guys just all fly over together for the tapings? Yeah. Or for the shows? So the way when WW was running shows out of the PC, we would fly in a day early.

So we'd fly Saturday, get tested Sunday to work Monday. But they're having the test here at home for us in San Diego now. So we'll go and we'll get tested Thursdays to have results Friday. So we have Saturday off and then we fly out Sundays. so it makes travel easier. And you've done all this. You've had all these great moments without a crowd. You must be so excited.

Whenever that ends up happening, you must be so excited to be able to perform in front of a crowd. I think that'll definitely be interesting because my first performance was without a crowd. So I debuted in a weird era of wrestling. But I think I just want to hear the reaction, you know when I first come out or to the first match when I have in front of a live crowd I just want to hear that reaction I think that that'll be another day to remember how cool is it going to be when you hear a 619 champ for the first time I'll probably shed a little tear and hope I don't mess it up walk me through what's going on in your mind as you're backstage and you're about to go out there your music's about to hit and you're about to to wrestle Seth Rollins for the very first time.

I think I was more nervous to the hours leading up to it because, like, I started warming up and I felt like, this may sound weird, but I didn't feel a thing. I was just ready and I was ready to have, like, to finish the task at hand. Like, I knew what had to be done. I knew the eyes were on me. I love the pressure and I just knew I had to go out there and perform. So I didn't, I was, I was like in game mode. But before that, like hours before, the night before I couldn't sleep, freaking out all night,

I woke up, I got like three and a half hours of sleep. I woke up, I was watching nonstop film because I wanted to make sure that like I knew whatever would happen, you know, I wanted to be prepared. I was shaking all day. Like I had too many Red Bulls like freaking out. But when it came down to it, I was ready. Everyone was so impressed with your debut, and I'm sure you saw the reaction online. It's like, you know, I guess the people thought the bar was low.

They hadn't seen you perform before. And then you go out there and you guys put on an incredible match. What did it mean to you to start to see those really positive reactions from people? Well, first of all, thank you very much. I appreciate that. But it was, like I've said, it was surreal, you know, I didn't, the people didn't know what to expect for me. They just saw the 619 and the splash from when I broke and they saw me, you know, getting my ass thrown around all over the ring from them. So they had just seen those

little things. They hadn't actually seen what I could do. So I was excited to be able to go out there and perform and put on the show. And I remember the first thing I asked my dad after the match was, how was it? Because I wanted to make sure that I, you know, I performed to the best of my abilities. and people were happy. And sure enough, you know, people were really happy about it. And I was really happy about it. The fact that, you know, Vince and Seth and my dad and everyone was really happy with the match made me really happy.

And I was able to sit back and enjoy and be proud of myself. So when you asked your dad, how's the match? What did you say? I don't know. He said you effing killed it. I was really happy. Oh, that's so great. Wow. Have you talked to Lance since your debut?

Yeah, yeah, we talk all the time. He usually text me after my matches, giving me some feedback. And I text him as well, because the more feedback I get, the better. I'm not the type of person to, like, if I do something wrong, I don't want to hear it because I know what I did. I'd love to hear what I can, you know, what I did wrong, what I can do better, how I can better myself, how I can make my opponent look better, things like that. So I love getting feedback. And Lance is one of the best to critique and give me my feedback to my matches because he's actually worked with me. So he'll send me long paragraphs of what I can do better and what I can work on.

And, you know, once you're at SWA, it's a family. So how many times have you watched that SummerSlam matchback? Well, right after we got to the hotel super late, I watched it. twice right after that. And then I would probably say total like 20, 25 times. That's great. Yeah, just to keep critiquing myself. Yeah.

I keep finding little things that I could do better. Is there a certain point in the match where you're just like, oh, I wish I had done that a different way? Yes. There's certain things. Like I kept messing with my head too much. But again, a lot of people don't know this. story of the hoodie, when we had originally planned to make the outfit, the hoodie was supposed

to be detachable. So when I'm in the ring, I can rip it off. But Hayashi, the guy who made the costume, Masahito Hayashi, he got over-excited and he forgot to make it detachable. So he just stitched it all in there. And we called him. We were like, Hayashi, you forgot to make it detachable. And he's like, I know, I'm sorry. You guys, I got over-excited. So we had to make it work. And I went in there with the hoodie, but I just, I wish I didn't get missing with it. But it is what it is. So is the same guy that makes your dad's masks, the same guy that's making your gear? Yes, he's, he's made my dad's outfits for almost 18 years now or a little over 18 years.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Their story on how they met is crazy. He brought an outfit to my dad in Japan without my dad even knowing. They never met and it fit my dad to the tea. And from there on, they just, they clicked. What would you say is the best advice that your dad's given you that you still hold with you, whether it's in the ring or outside of the ring?

In ring, slow down always. That's the best advice. From everyone that I've talked to, everyone always tells me slow down. So that's always the best. But I don't know. My dad's given me so much advice outside of the ring. I think one of the more important things that he said to me is, worry about the people that care about you,

whose their opinions are what matters most. He goes, because everyone else has their opinion and they can think what they want. He goes, but the people that care for you and that love you are going to tell you exactly how it really is. And since you've debuted, I'm sure you're going out in public and people are like, oh, I recognize you. You're Dominic Mysterio. Not really because I

The mask and I wear like Like glasses So like people don't really like recognize me But when I'm eating Or like they see like the The El Mysterio tattoo Then they'll be like oh You're Dom Mysterio

So it has been a little more than usual And I'm still kind of getting used to it But it's a cool feeling With the tattoo there Do you and your dad share any tattoos? We share our our ribs. We have, we both have, he has a prayer and I have a Bible verse. Oh, nice. And look, your arms have much more room. You're like your dad when he was in the 20s. Yeah. I'm sure. He didn't

have a lot of it. My career. Is that the plan? I, I don't know. We'll see. I don't, I don't like tattoos unless they have a sentimental value to me. So I don't want to just put some random stuff on there and then like have, have three kids or something and be like, man, I don't have any room for my kids. But yeah, no, I think like eventually if the tattoo is correct, then the artwork is correct, I think it'll eventually make its way on here. So if we look ahead, not just with tattoos, but if we look ahead with everything in your career, what are the plans, not plans, but what are the goals or what are the hopes that you'd love to do? I think the main goal is to be able to take the mysterious name to another level, which is crazy to think about because,

my dad is he's revolutionized wrestling he's pioneer he's taken the mystery name to he's made it worldwide so the fact that i would try to take it to another level to the next level is is probably some people probably think it's it's crazy or it's unattainable or it's a dream but that's that's you know that's that's that's the goal i want to be able to do movies tv shows you know, just, I don't know. I just want to take the Mysterio name to another level. Well, your dad was a world champ. Is that something that you want to be?

Yeah, most definitely, you know, world champion, whether it's with Drew on World Heavyweight or the Universal. I think that, you know, I think that would be awesome. Or even, I think sentimental value, maybe the cruiserweight or the 205 just at a sentimental value because my dad was one of the best cruiserweight to ever do it. or even the Intercontinental. I think that's one of the best titles, in my opinion,

just because of the history behind it. But yeah, I think that would be, Engold would also be being a world champion or a tag team champion with my dad. When we look at that match with your dad and Eddie Guerrero, the latter match for the custody of you, what do you remember from that? I remember Eddie being upset at the end

because of time you issues we were in the back and he was like throwing crap and like hitting stuff and my dad was like it's okay like it happens and I was like but is he good like is you okay? Did I do anything wrong? Because I remember I had to shake the ladder and I was told not to shake

it too hard because I didn't want to knock them off so I remember I kind of just moved myself and didn't move the ladder so I thought I thought maybe I moved it too hard or something and then I also remember the social worker, I guess it was that was sitting next to me. She kind of gave me like the Iggy of went to jump over the barricade to go and shake it.

It was pretty cool. Yeah, like little things like that that I remember are always going to be special with me. When you had those moments early on, I mean, you were six, right? Were you six from that out? I was like seven or eight, seven maybe. Yeah. So when you're seven or eight and you're in a WWE ring, during a pay-per-view, are you like, this will be me one day? You know, 15 years from now,

this will be me. Never thought about it that way. I was just, where are we having dinner? What are we going to eat next? I never, never in a million years where I've thought that I would, you know, share the ring with my dad or even following his footsteps. So I'm, I'm very grateful for the opportunities and I'm very blessed to be able to be in the position that I'm in. there's so many other third generation superstars that you're doing the same thing as them. I mean, just off the top of my head, Randy Orden, The Rock, like, this is pretty good company to be in. Yeah, it's, it's crazy, man. And I'm very thankful and I'm very blessed.

It's, it's just been surreal. So what is your dad's, what is your favorite wrestling match of your dad's? I was a big fan of the, of the Cyber Sunday. He did with Fit Finley, I think in Knox. October 30. I don't remember if it was the 30th or the 31st. But that, I thought that was a great match. They did like, I think a stretcher match. And I love those cyber Sundays. I thought those were so unique and so cool. Even though I don't know if the fans actually did end up picking the stipulation for the match. I always thought they did. Sure they did. You know, they did. But that match sounds out to me. I love that match. His first super-jerk. Jacob in Japan with psychosis, they tore the house down. They did every Lucha move in the book, and they absolutely killed it. I would say his, I loved his match,

and even though it didn't get to the finish, his match with Sabu at one night stand. I thought if they were able to finish that through, I think that would have been one for the books. It already is, since they only, I believe, worked once with each other. also his uh his WrestleMania 22 moment against Kurt and Randy that it's just such a good

great match with storytelling and physicality and everything it's just so good and of course I can't forget his 97 holy havoc this is like a best of we should just make a DVD right now what's your favorite match that doesn't involve your dad oof hmm I was a big fan of uh watching Steamboat and Rick Flair.

Humongous fan of what I was all I also loved watching uh Sean Michaels. I think Sean and Sean and Razor Ramon that was that that that first ladder match. So good. I just love the way that Sean only throws one one super kick and that's the that's it. I love I love the fact about that. Eddie Eddie and Edge tore the house down as well for their Continental feud back in the day. Eddie and RVD as well. I loved watching Dean and Ben Wall, Dean Malenko and Ben Wall. But there's so much. I can go on forever. Now, I feel like I need to turn on the network right now and watch all these matches. They're all so good. Man, what's, which stipulation match are you most excited to be a part of one day? I don't know. I think a ladder

match would be fun, the thought of a ladder match is fun. But I'm sure being in it has its repercussions. But I think that would be really cool, you know, because, you know, my dad and Eddie had a ladder match. And I loved watching, you know, the Hardys, the Dudley's, Edging Christian go out at it in their ladder matches. You know, I grew up watching that. So I think that would be really cool to be in a ladder match. When you were backstage as a kid, who was like in your inner circle or who was like, ah, Dom, there you are. It was good to see you, man. A lot of the, a lot of the boys in the back were always really cool with me. I remember Edge, Edge would help me make like tape, tape balls and we would throw him in the back or he would go around and we'd be pegging people. I was always hanging out. I was always

hanging out with Tony Chimel's kids and Chris Ben Wall's kids, David, and we would steal the BWO's little blue tricycles, and we would be all around the arena, just, you know, wrecking havoc and going through catering, stealing cookies, and then be on our tricycles again until they needed them for showtime, and we would get stopped. But yeah, everyone was just so nice and so kind. I have so many. I have so many. good memories with a bunch of wrestlers, you know, and even even the Miz, the Miz always, he always booked me as a kid because he would always come up to me and be like, who's your favorite wrestler? And I'd always tell him, not you, but he would always be like,

you know, I had David Benoit on the show earlier this year, and he's now training to be a wrestler. So, oh, really? Yeah. So we could see maybe one day, Mysterio versus Benoit. I'd love that. I think that's that that in itself is a historic generational match because that's that's that's so cool. I haven't talked I haven't talked to David in a while but we've communicated when I was at storms because he I believe he lives in Edmonton. Yes. And that's a that's a three-hour drive from Calgary. So we communicated and we've talked before. You know, we were I would like to say we were good friends back in the day because you know our parents would always take us out to dinner together. We would go eat at Rainforest Cafe and go to dinosaur museums together. So it was really cool. And I'd love to eventually, you know, work with him one day. Maybe one day. Also, Rainforest Cafe is awesome. It is the best. It is. Look, I'm just so happy that you shared some of your time with me here. And you're just such a talented but super

humble young man. And, you know, I really appreciate that. Thank you so much. I appreciate. I You know, I learned from the best. My dad always told me to work hard and stay humble. So, you know, I just try to fall in his footsteps in every way that I can. There's really no one better to learn from. I agree. Thank you so much, Dominic. No, thank you, Chris. I really appreciate you for having it. Well, thank you for being part of this conversation with us. Snap a screenshot right now. Tag me. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Dominic is at Dominic underscore 35 and the future is so, so bright for him. Can you imagine what we're going to get when we have a match between him and his dad? I mean, that has to happen one day, right?

It has to happen before Ray retires, right? I still can't believe his first match ever was at SummerSlam. No indie matches, no NXT matches, SummerSlam. And he handled it like a pro. And still, we're going to look back on this match in six months. We're going to look back on this match in a year and two years and five years and go. Man, that was a good match. That was a great debut against Seth Rollins.

But look at all this stuff that Dominic does now. Or perhaps Prince Mysterio, if that actually ends up happening. We're going to be seeing a lot of Dominic for many, many, many more years to come. And it's cool that we can watch his evolution from day one to hopefully year 20 and year 30. as he continues to grow and continues to get better and better and better. Alan Johnson Surleaf says, The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough.

If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough. Chew on that for a little bit. Wow. Hope you have a great weekend. Be great. Be grateful. Please subscribe. some great interviews on the way. We'll see you next week.

Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.