Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Dominik Mysterio On Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, Eddie Guerrero, His "Deadbeat Dad" Rey Mysterio

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

Dominik Mysterio (@DomMysterio35) is a professional wrestler with WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas to talk about WrestleMania 41 tickets going on sale, his recent love triangle with Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley, being the son of the legendary Rey Mysterio, his debut match against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2020, being CM Punk's first WWE match in 10 years, why he loves chicken tenders so much, his order at In-N-Out burger, being inspired by Eddie Guerrero, his epic mullet and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill Sponsors: VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv MAREK HEALTH: Get a 10% discount on Marek Health's Optimization Package with code CVV: https://marekhealth.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yes, welcome back to another one here on Inside. What a catchy song from Downstate. Get stuck in my head all the time. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. How is this week treated you so far? Thank you for being with us on this one. And thank you for making insight the number one wrestling podcast on planet earth. Hit a double arm DDT on that follow button if you're listening on Spotify or Apple

podcast or really anywhere. So you can keep up with all of the episodes that we have. This is a very special Friday interview. And we've got a double whammy of episodes today. This conversation with Dominic Mysterio. And then we've also got Ask CVV number 54. Oh, baby. What a day.

So the reason this is coming out today and not on Thursday like usual is that we recorded this on Wednesday afternoon. So like 30-ish hours ago, if you're listening to this, like right when it drops. Friday at midnight Pacific time. I was in Las Vegas with both Dirty Dom and Liv Morgan. They were promoting WrestleMania 41 tickets going on sale today. So as you're listening to this on Friday, October 25th, this is the day that tickets go on sale.

So we wanted to have this episode drop right now to line up with that. I'm actually right now in Brooklyn, New York, as you're listening to this. I'm here for Smackdown tonight and recording a few news. new episodes as well. So it was Las Vegas, Wednesday. That was just a day trip back to California. And then I flew to New York on Thursday. And then it's Chicago next week for a little bit. And then it's Austin the week after that. Just got to keep this thing going. Just got to keep this thing moving forward. Tons of new episodes for you guys. It's been almost four years to the day since Dominic Mysteria was first on the show. And if you think back to,

October 2020, just like he was such a different wrestler then and just such a different human being too. At that point, he was less than two months into his career. I mean, he debuted at SummerSlam 2020. Now look at him, right? The biggest heel in the business. And man, he just looks like a, he's having a blast every time we see him out there. This interview was so much fun with just Dom being Dom saying Dom things and everything that's surrounding. the storyline with Live and Ria. He was also calling Ray Mysterio his deadbeat the whole time. There's just so many great zingers in here.

So I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Snap a screenshot and tag us so we can share it. He's at Dominic underscore 35 on Instagram. He's at Dom Mysterio 35 on Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Vleet and let's do it. Enjoy this one with Dirty Dom, Dominic Mysterio. Is it nice to be able to talk to a microphone and not get booed? It's definitely different.

Yeah, right? It's a feeling I'm not too accustomed to. I can do it if you want. No. Everyone else is. See, there it is. But it just looks like you're having so much fun right now. Yeah, I definitely am.

It's been a lot of fun. Just everything I've done with the Judgment Day, then everything leading into it now, it's been a lot of fun. The last interview that we did was four years. ago almost to the day. Wow. So October 2020. Who was that guy then? And who is this guy now? Man, I don't even remember the last interview we did. That's how long ago I feel like it was. You looked a little different. Yeah, short hair probably, no mustache. Yeah, I don't know. A lot's changed. Just as far as confidence, ability to do things, just the ability to do things, just the ability

to understand what's going on, what to do, how to do certain things, learning how to adapt, how to just be able to move on the fly, things like that, and just help of everybody. You know, everyone's just been so helpful on this journey with me. And it's, it's been nice. Your debut was at SummerSlam against Seth Rollins. Yeah. That's wild. Yeah.

It's definitely different. than everyone else. You know, uh, it's once in a, I'm just, I'm super thankful for the opportunities, you know,

because something like that doesn't come very often. Um, and, uh, I remember specifically my dad telling me, he didn't think I was ready. Um, I don't know if it was because he just had never seen me in the ring or he'd

never, he had never just, I don't know what it was, but I knew that I wasn't going to get presented with another opportunity. So I was like, at least like this. So I, I,

jumped on it right away. Did you feel like you were ready? I thought so. Yeah. I mean, I knew what I could do and I'm a good listener, kind of. So I knew I could attempt to hold my own with one of the best. But when you're the son of one of the greatest of all time, and everybody's telling you all the time how great your dad is, you've got these huge shoes to fill. How do you even approach that of like I need to first of all just get in there and make a debut and get started and then also try to build my own legacy from there so I never like it's so weird because I don't want to sound like I was I wasn't oblivious to it but I definitely just kind of shoved it in the back of my mind to I wasn't thinking about it as far as like shoes that I had to

fill and like this giant shadow right I wasn't I wasn't thinking about that I was kind of just I just I wanted to get my foot in the door and just make everyone proud. You know, I wanted to, I wanted to continue the mysterious legacy and put it on my back and just continue to do things differently. And I felt like I didn't really see it like shoes to fill. Everyone always says like you have massive shoes to feel. Everyone always told me constantly. But I never really thought about it that way.

I was always very comical and collected about it. And I just, I just try to do my own thing. Was it difficult debuting in front of nobody? No crowd. Yeah, I don't think it was difficult because I didn't know anything else. Yeah. You know, I didn't, I never really did the Indies. And when I was training, whether it was at Lances or back home, I didn't, I didn't have

like a crowd or anything. It was just the students there. So I didn't, I didn't really know. And then before that, when I did, I did have a crowd. I was, what, eight years old doing it with Eddie. And even before that, I was, what, 11 when I did the stuff with CM Punk. So, like, I didn't know anything different.

Yeah. What a full circle moment with CM Punk. Yeah. You were his first match back in WWE after 10 years. Yeah. Kind of crazy. I didn't expect it to be me just because we have so much great talent right now, especially, like, the roster we have today.

Ryan Smackdown, you know. But the fact that they trusted me to go in there with him on his first match back, like you said, after, what, 10 years? Yeah. Yeah, I'm glad I was able to give him this first punch. What did that mean do you? It was special because I knew the company trusted me with things like that. Again, I didn't, I wasn't aware of it.

So I kind of got pulled aside and was like, hey, how do you feel about working CM Punk for the live events to it? I was like, yeah, bring it on. Let's go. I was excited. You know, I was ready for it because I knew it was another opportunity and another challenge for me. So I was excited to cross another one off the list. When do you feel like the moment that this version of you was created? Was it when you went to prison?

I think prison had a lot to do with it. But I think it was a little bit before then. I would say perspective-wise for me, everything changed at Clash at the Castle. What was it in Scotland? The one in Wales, the first one, that the reaction from the crowd and how I was able to see,

how certain things played out, it kind of like, like something switched for me. Like it made sense. What was it? I can't put my finger on it, but it was just the way the crowd was reacting, how I was doing certain things inside the ring, reactions afterwards from, you know, everyone there. Because we just weren't, we didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what to expect. You know, I was the son of Ray Mysterio.

So for me, I didn't, I didn't understand what was going to happen. So seeing that reaction, the faces, just people in a whole other country just calling me an asshole, like stuff like that. Like, I was like, okay, this is, this is a little bit different. And when did you start to lean into like, I'm going to grow my hair? So that started, that started before WrestleMania. in Dallas. I was still teaming with my dad. And I actually, I asked him, I was like, how do you, I was like, how do you think, how do you think you'd feel I started growing out of mullet? It's like, oh, I think it'd look cool. And it was just getting through those first

awkward stages where it's just like a little like bowl cut and then like it's just a little something here. But the in between phase is always so difficult. It's always, it's always the hardest one. But if you pull through, you end up with, with quite possibly the best hair. Look at the best hair. hair in WWE. My goodness. It's luscious. It is.

It's a shampoo and condition. I brush it all the time. Is it daily that you shampoo and condition? 100%. Wow. I get that reaction a lot. People say, you're not supposed to do it every day. It washes out the healthy oils.

Smelly people. Nasty dirty. But yeah, I'd shower and shampoo and condition every day. How dare they call you dirty dumb? Yeah, I'm probably the cleanest one out there. You should be squeaky clean dumb. I don't know about all that. All right.

It'd be like relatively clean. dumb. Smells kind of good, Don't, I don't mind the dirty Dom. Dirty for other reasons. I see. Yeah. You kind of you know, as soon as you started growing it out, did you know that there'd be the immediate people saying, it looks a lot like Eddie now?

So I didn't think so. Because originally I didn't think I looked like Eddie. But then once I started growing up the mullet and there was a lot of side-by-side pictures of me and him and then the mustache. It's kind of scary.

Does it make you question things? Oh, I question my mother all the time. Yeah, like I said, I don't know what my dad was gone all the time or that dead beat. But I really, 90s was a wild time. I don't know what happened. I just know I popped out and something happened, you know. When did you decide to grow the mustache? Again, the mustache was an accident.

That doesn't happen by accident. No, it was a total accident because I, it was right after mania. I forgot what happened, but usually I don't, I don't like having facial hair. Just because I can't grow a beard. It's like all patchy. And then a mustache, I just hate having, like stuff on my face. So I would always shave it. But I went like two or three weeks because I got lazy and like I didn't shave at all.

And it was a healthy, thick little mustache. And someone saw me and they're like, hey, don't shave that mustache. I was like, oh, all right, here we go. And then two, three weeks went by and it was just, everyone thought it was fake because of how fast they grew in and how dark it was. But that's just the Mexican in me. It's funny because when you look at old photos of you without the mustache, like, you know, I barely even recognize that guy. Yeah, I feel like it makes me into a whole different person. It's kind of not gnarly.

And Raleigh, with great mustache comes great responsibility. Yeah, always has. And the Mollet, too. I feel like they both give me like two different kinds of superpowers. Yeah. This is like, so if you shave the mustache or you cut the hair. It's gone. Gone.

Yeah. Yeah. Brings me good luck. Was there a certain match or maybe program you did that you feel like really earned respect from people in the back? Because you're coming in as the son of a legendary wrestler. and they're kind of going, maybe you don't deserve this spot. When do you feel like that you earn that spot? I think it happened when I'm, I want to say, I could be totally wrong.

They could all hate me. But I think it slowly started to happen when I went down to NXT. And I was doing NXT. I was doing raw. I was doing all the live events. and I was also doing Smackdown Dark matches, occasionally Smackdown TV. So I was doing basically the old school schedule, which was five days a week, leave Thursday, TV Friday, on the road, Saturday, Sunday, TV Monday on Raw, TV Tuesday for NXT, and then I'm home Wednesday. So, like, I think that got a lot of respect from the boys for me.

I mean, I assume so because they would see me everywhere, and they'd just look at me and be like, dude, do you not get a break. I'm like, I'm just, you know, I'm just here. But, like, again, I could be wrong. They could all hate me. But I assume that's because, like I said, a lot of the boys would come up to me and be like, you got that old school schedule. Yeah. What was the promo that you cut where you really started to notice the crowd was booing you like crazy?

I want to say it was a little bit after WrestleMania in L.A. So last year, 39? Yeah, 39. Honestly, maybe even a little bit before then. But I'm getting close to like almost a year and a half of not being able to talk. Like it's holding the mic up. Yeah.

And I just can't say a word. The closest I've gotten was when I basically had to yell it out at Live. Unfortunately, sorry. Yeah, you really. But it was. made her cry. I had to, I, she knew what I had to do. It was, uh, you guys had talked about it before. Yeah, yeah, it was a plan in motion that, you know, me and Finn had discussed and, you know, we had to keep it under wraps to sell it to, you know, reend damien, but it is what it is. That's old news.

Right. Is it difficult to cut a promo when you can't hear yourself? Yeah. And sometimes I just give up on the promos, because I can't, like, I can't, can't just sit there and for two minutes and try and talk when I'm not, they're not letting me, you know, so it's just, I, we have to move on. Oh, whether it's, uh, to Finn or JD or live, I just got to look at them and be like, you, you guys say something because like they, they really don't let me talk. Why do you think the crowd hates you so much? Other than jealousy, um, because I'm good looking, have the best hair, best mustache, um,

basically breed champions. And I have the best women's world champion by my side, Liv Morgan, of course. So I can understand why people are jealous. I don't get why they hate me. I've never done anything to them, you know? I mean, they're, as we call civilians. It's an amazing almost like crescendo,

because you'll bring the mic up to your face to talk. and they boo. And then when you start to talk, it gets even louder somehow. Yeah. Yeah, it's honestly, it's pretty surreal. A lot of people would come up to me

and be like, is it fake? And I'm like, was what fake? Like, I'm not, I can't talk. Like, I'm not, if I could say something, I would, I'd be telling all these people to shut up, which I kind of do in Spanish. Because it does irritate me. Like, I really do, I got things to say.

But they really don't, let me talk. I'm sure you've seen it people talking about how like you turned heel after already being a heel. Yeah. Has that ever happened before? No. I think I'm the first one. I'm mega heel, superhero, whatever you want to call it. I'm the best. You just leveled up. Yeah. At SummerSlam. I mean, I'm, I already consider myself the greatest mystery of all time. How does your dad feel about that? Which one? I guess we'll go with the dead beat. Ray. Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I haven't really talked to him. But I'm sure he's not too happy about it. He's in the Hall of Fame. Okay. After what, 30 years? Took him long enough. Right. Right.

I still don't think he was worthy of it. But, because he's... That's why you walked out? Did I walk out? Yeah, you walked out of his induction. Yeah. Yeah, it was necessary. You know, um,

Yeah, now that you bring it up, I do remember walking out. Yeah, I think it was because I felt some type of way. Yeah, I didn't, I don't believe he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. At least not yet. Yeah, once he, you know, loses to me and gives him, gives up his mask and stuff, then maybe. Like, but I have no say in it. Wait, do you want to retire your dad? You want to retire Ray Mysterio?

I just want him gone. I don't know, like he's, I just want him gone. What if it was hair versus mask? No, he would never. And plus, my hair is too luscious. I would never just... That's why there's a lot of the line then. His mask, his legacy.

I already beat him twice. Like, I don't need to, you know... Hasn't he beaten you, though? If you think about all the times, he's beaten me, right? Last year of WrestleMania, he had to use, what, two, six, eight offensive linemen from the Philadelphia Eagles to beat me? I get it. I mean, trust me, I get it. But like, and then the year before that, he had to use, what's his name? The bunny, bad bunny.

So, like, he's never actually beaten me clean by himself one-on-one. Like, it's never actually happened. So. Hair versus mask would be very interesting. I'm sure it would be. I don't know. Like I said, I don't know if he would, that's something he would consider. You live here in Las Vegas. Ray Mysterio lives here in Las Vegas. WrestleMania 41 is here in Las Vegas next year. I feel like the story's right in itself.

Yeah, I'd hate for him to have to show his ugly face to everyone again. It's just, you know, I don't want to do that to the people, but at the same time, if it's the necessary evil that must be done, we'll see. There must be some good memories with your dad. Yeah, for sure. Every time we'd go out to work and I'd be home by myself. Those are good times.

I had my own, you know, peace and quiet. Man. Yeah. Man, I'm sorry. No, it is what it is. It's life, Frank Sinatra would say. That's life. Great song.

Yeah. I love me some Sinatra. This episode is brought to you by Timeline. Timeline is a Swiss-based life science company, and they're a global leader in Eurolith and A research. So what's urolithin A? It's a powerful postbiotic that's nearly impossible to get from your diet alone. Mitopure is the first product to offer a precise dose of uralithinae to upgrade your mitochondria function, increase cellular energy, and improve muscle strength and endurance.

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timeline.com slash insight for 10% off. Timeline.com slash insight. When we look at that iconic image of you with the blonde hair, playing the PSP, what are you playing? Do you want the honest answer? Do you know? Do you remember? Yeah, I do you remember. I was playing Grand Theftado Liberty City Stories.

What would the fake answer have been? FIFA. All right. What are you playing these days? I still play at GTA 5 playing some call of duty a little bit of Fortnite here and there some 2K obviously I love to play as myself and go beat up people do you ever lose never no GTA 6 is going to come out yeah I think it well yeah I hope so we've been talking about this forever I mean if I hope it comes out I hope so I'm I have a bout going on that it's going to come out

When? In the next two years. Two more years? So either this upcoming year or 2026. Yeah. After that, my money's gone. Okay. At the end of 2026?

Yeah. After that, I'm not giving up on the game, but I would owe someone else money because I would lost that bet. Not that I'm a gambler or anything. That's a tough bet to make, I feel like. Yeah. It was. Who knows?

We'll see. We'll see how it plays. out. You know, the crowd booes you a ton, but you know who I feel like really doesn't like you? Who? Michael Cole. Do you have a bleep button on this? Of course. Yeah. Matt. Michael Cole. He is the most biased person I have ever met. He does nothing but absolutely trash on my name. Every time I get on TV, he does nothing but boo me, trash talk me. Even when I'm not there. He talked bad about me. Like, this man has done nothing but bash me. And I'm, I feel like I'm the best, but that is what it is. What does he have against you?

I don't know. Again, he's probably jealous. He's losing his hair and I'm gaining it over here, you know? The hair that he's lost maybe. Yeah. He's right there. I would, you know, I'd love a one-on-one with Michael Cole. He's undefeated at WrestleMania. I'd love, I'd love to slap around Michael Cole. And I hate to bring it up, but you haven't won a match at WrestleMania. Yeah, gee, thanks. On three. Yeah. Thanks, Chris.

Sorry, Dom. Yeah. Hey, hey. You're good at stats, huh? Now he's good with numbers. That's the only stat I know, I think. I don't know. What other stats you got? Well, let's see. Let's look at the list here. Do you have any other good stats?

Give me a good Dom stat. Good Dom stat. Let's just may take some time. Ah, last year I was a second, second person in WWU with the most matches. I did know that stat. Yeah. It's incredibly impressive. How many matches was it?

I don't know. It was like 100 something. Second only to Cody? Yeah. This year, are you on pace to be number one? No. No shot. I've taken a little step back.

Let the judgment day crew handle some more business. You know, I do more of like the helping right now. Yeah. Yeah, I wish I had more stats for you. Yeah, it's all good. I mean, it is what it is. I'm sorry. You should be.

Do you like people not liking you? Yes and no, because it gives me, like, I don't like people. At all. Yeah, I'm not a big people person. So, like, when people don't like me, it kind of keeps them away from me. So it's like, yeah, stay away, friend. What about like outside of a WWA arena? What about like at an airport?

No. I hate people at the airports. I feel like it's where people lose all sorts of common sense and it brings out the stupidity in people. They just, there's no sense of common sense, etiquette. Don't even get me started on airport people. There is no spatial awareness at an airport. None whatsoever.

Like you'll be walking behind someone? And then they will just stop dead in their tracks. What? And right in front of the gate, my friend, you are in group five. What are you doing standing in the front of the fucking door waiting when you know you're in the back? Like, what are you doing? Sometimes I'll look down at their boarding pass. Yeah.

You know, I don't brag, but I'm in group one. Yeah. I look down. Same here. Six. Dude, what are you doing? Why are you standing here? Go to the back.

Go sit down somewhere. You got some time. Yeah. I have no problem telling them that. That's a promo right there. Yeah, I mean, it should be. Even when the plane lands. Oh.

Why are you staying? Where are you going to go? Where could you possibly go? You're going to sprint to the front of the door, be the first one out? And they stand up with their, like, their neck like this the whole time. And it makes me just want to super kick all the kids that just run around in the planes to, like, sit down. Boom, super kick. Like, I don't know.

Yeah, those are airport people are different. Yeah, maybe even super kick, super kick their parents because it's like you're... It's their fault. Yeah, it's their fault. Maybe. It's not the kid's fault. Yeah. They don't know any better.

Their brain's not fully developed yet, you know? Yeah. Would that be your biggest pet peeve? Airport people? Airport people? I would say that's one of them. Any others on the list? Hmm.

That I can think of, no. That's a big one. Oh, actually, people that chew with their mouths open. That's a big one for me. Yeah. I'm just like, why? You're eating food to just let it come back out. I close your mouth.

Are you, do you eat with your mouth open? No, of course not. I'm not a savage. Okay. No. You started laughing. It seemed like a guy has, oh, shit, I do that. Oh, geez, it's me.

Yeah, okay. I'm just making sure. I appreciate that the chicken tendies thing is not a gimmick. No, it's not. I love chicken tenders. Yeah. We actually got some for you. Yeah.

You haven't eaten them yet. No. It can be cold, though. Well, funny story. I was actually, I ate chicken tenders before getting here because I didn't know I was going to have chicken tenders here. So I'm going to eat those on the way home. So this is a legit thing.

How many times a week do you think you eat chicken tenders? Depends where I'm at, but if they're available, I'm probably going to get them. Like, is it a breakfast meal for you? Again, depends on where I'm at. And if there's chicken tenders available, I'll eat them. So would you eat them breakfast, lunch, dinner? if they're available. Yeah.

So it could be like 20 times a week? Give or take. I could do it. Was that a bit aggressive? No, I wouldn't say it's aggressive. Is it every day? It got bad at one time. It was every day for like breakfast, lunch and dinner for like, I want to say like six days,

almost a week straight where I was just like, you know what? I'm going to try a bunch of different chicken denders. and I was just going from like different place and like just trying them all out. I didn't get sick of them. I just had something else the next day after seven days. But yeah, no, I love chicken tenders. What's the go-to dipping sauce? Ranch.

I don't do anything else. Okay. You don't barbecue. Nope. Barbecue only on my wings or on some full pork or, yeah. No barbecue sauce on my chicken tenders. Do you eat chicken tenders at home or is it? A restaurant thing?

Strictly a restaurant thing. So at home you're eating other foods? Yeah. Yeah. I think people believe you just eat chicken dendons. No, I eat other things. Like I have French toast at home. I like eggs, breakfast burritos,

pancakes, waffles, biscuits. Yeah, I love me in an In-N-Out burger, you know. Dude, that's another one I have an issue with. I can eat in-and-out seven days out of the week. There's something about the bun. It's, and they're cheese, too. Oh, man. Something about the cheese.

Yeah, what's your order in and out? I just go with the double-double. Oh, okay. Yeah, I don't do animal fries. I'd just like to dip them in the ketchup. Simple Sally. Yeah, so I'm from Canada. Been living in the U.S. for a while.

Excuse me? You okay? Yeah, I was just a cough. Oh, yeah, all right. Well, part of Canada. Toronto. You okay? Yeah, good.

So when I would start coming to California for work, I would land at LAX and you know there's that one in and out right there. Yeah, right close to it. I would always take an Uber right there. So good. So good. And I think when you haven't had it for a while, it makes it that much better. 100%.

I was a little hesitant moving to Vegas from San Diego just because I was like, I don't know if Vegas has in and outs. So as soon as I got here, I was like, damn, there's internet's everywhere. So I was stoked on that. I was like, all right, we're good to go. I can live out here. But then my friends in Texas are like, man, you got to try a walk. Waterburger.

Waterburger is shit. So I was like, you know what, I'll give it a chance. It's, it's not. It's not. What a disappointment.

Yeah, it's like, it's a cold, I got a cold patty. Me too. Yeah, so it's a thing. Maybe that's how they serve it.

Yeah, the cheese wasn't even melted. It was, and they're comparing that to in and out. It's crazy. I couldn't believe it. Anthony Bourdain said that end and out was, you know,

come on now. Smart man. Yeah. Can't, can't go wrong. I couldn't even finish my waterburger. Really? I was,

I, I don't think I finished mine either, and I ended up getting chicken tenders because they have chicken tenders. Well, that's a plus them. Were they good? They weren't bad. Better than their burger. Wow. You know how many people are just hating on us right now?

I hope so. You're used to it, though. I'm not. Oh, my goodness. Sorry. Blur them out. Blur them out. That's fine.

It's fine. Could you imagine if In and Now started serving chicken tennies? Honestly, I don't, as much as I love In and Out, I feel like it wouldn't, it wouldn't. it would do a disservice, right? Because it's like, it's known for just its burgers and its fries and it's shakes. You can't go in there, like, adding, like, they do grow cheese. That's a, that's a secret menu. Yeah, sorry.

But, like, you can't just go in there adding chicken. I feel like that's going to mess up the whole flow of what they got going on, you know? And if that messes up the flow, it's going to change the whole flow of how they make the burgers. And then if they lose that, they lose the quality of the burgers. What's your internet order? Do you really want to know? I go four by four, mustard fried with no pickles

and light chopped chilies. Mustard fried? Yeah. What's that? They fry the patties and mustard. Oh, man. It's another secret many thing. I didn't know that.

Yeah, mustard fried. But if you say mustard fried, they put pickles in it, but I'm not, I hate pickles. So I just say no pickles. How can you hate pickles? I hate pickles. Because they're green and they're smell weird.

I put extra pickles on mine. That's disgusting. I get it. No, makes sense. So I do that four by four and then I also get animal fries. Okay. With no grilled onions because I don't like onions. I mean, that's a solid order.

Yeah. That's like all secret menu, that entire order is secret menu. It's taken a long time to get to that. You know, it's built up through the years, added little things here and there. It didn't start off, you know, as a purpose. perfect order. Just experimenting here and there? Yeah, yeah, for sure. When we talked last time, you said that there was, it was pitched at one point in time that you might be wrestling under a mask. Was that like a serious consideration? I believe it was just because I wanted to follow the

tradition of, you know, classic Brucha Libre, which was, you know, showing up and when you debut, you're wearing a mask so you can protect and hide your identity. But I had a very different situation to where I was already out on TV by the time I was eight years old. Honestly, even before then, I've been seeing clips of me getting tagged in stuff of like WCW days where I'm like maybe three years old. So like even I'm getting tagged and stuff from back then. So like my face has just been around for years, you know. So I think it was very different for me when the decision was like maybe let's not put them out. mask on him because people already know who he is. I had been doing those backstage vignettes

with my deadbeat dad. And then I did that whole stuff with Brock Lesnar. So it's like at Survivor series. So people already knew my face. So it didn't make sense to to cover up this beautifulness. Could you imagine? Oh, it would have been awful. Yeah. Yeah. Plus I'm actually, I don't want to say it. But I would not have done good with my whole face covered up. Like just you know, feel like I got it would have been suffocated. This episode is brought to you by Manscape, the global leader in men's lifestyle and grooming. Every man knows the unbeatable feeling

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Since you grew up around the business, do you remember your earliest memory? Maybe in WCW? Man, I honestly, there's a lot of memories for me that just come flowing because there's just so many. But one of them for sure, it's not even around now. There's a guy named Richie, and he would be in charge of this place called backstage called Magic. Not a lot of people know about it because it was just, it's what we, do now as far as like uh what we call props where the titles are if you need something there's always something there um but now it's it's it was back then magic and it had like a little

uh hat a bunny coming out of a hat with like a little magic wand it was like a whole thing and i would go i remember i would go and hang out there and one time i remember making a uh uh mr saco with mc foley in there um and rich you would have like he would have like he would do like magic tricks uh like i would literally just hang out in there and it was like it was just fascinating seeing like everything go down and like just sitting back there i even remember stealing uh the blue world order tricycles and just cruising around the arena um just little things like that other things that i can't say probably get in trouble because they're like as a kid i feel like i could have i could get away with like messing with like a lot of the higher ups you know so like i'd go

I'm like do some stuff I probably shouldn't to them and then I just run away and then like no one was like I was like six, seven years old. No one would say anything. Who is your favorite at that time? Ooh. I was always a big Jeff Hardy guy. I don't know what it was about him. I think his charisma, the colors, just the way he carried himself.

I was a huge Jeff guy. Yeah. I remember the one thing I would ask, probably the, well, probably the, only nice thing my dead beat dad ever did for me was the armbands that jeff used to wear i was like if you could get me a pair i was like that's all i've it's all i want and uh he he managed to get me a pair and i still have him but yeah i was a i was a big jeff hardy guy did you meet jeff when you were pretty yeah yeah i was uh him and uh him in uh him in the hardies and jeff and matt all the time were hanging around backstage and stuff so like i would always see him and uh as a kid when i was

more of a fan. It was like, like, more like, not shocking because I was always around them, but I was like, dang, like, damn, that's pretty cool. Who was the person you were, like, most starstruck to meet when you were a kid? I remember I saw Sylvester Stallone at the Hall of Fame in, for WrestleMania 2021. And I was like, damn, that's the dude from a rainbow. Because I remember I would sneak into like my grandma's house when I was at my grandma's house I would like sneak in her in a room and she'd be watching like old Chuck Norris movies and like Sylvester Stallone movies so like seeing something like that as a kid I was like damn that's pretty cool um and even like uh uh like Hogan too like Hulk Hogan because I'd never I'd never seen him at big show too because

these these guys were just massive you know so like as a kid seeing them I was always like These are some big ass dudes. Yeah. What was your initial thought when they talked to you about the shark cage at Bad Blood? I didn't know about the shark. I didn't find out until maybe Friday. Yeah. And the pay-per-view was Saturday.

So, yeah, I was unaware of it. You put so much trust into whatever that was that was keeping your leg attack. Well, it was supposed to keep me just in the cage. Yeah, it wasn't supposed to, like, I don't know what was supposed to go down, but that was supposed to just, like, keep me in the cage so I didn't leave. And I didn't mess with the match or do anything. But, yeah, it was definitely traumatizing. You weren't just hanging there for, like, a minute or two.

You were hanging there for, like, the better part of the match. Yeah, I was up there for a long time. Yeah. It was very surreal, too, because, like, I remember I would try to get up and, like, just the movement of the cage. Everything was just freaking crazy. Everyone was yelling things at me, too. Like, I'm some caged animal. People are rude, but, yeah, it is what it is.

When they were yelling stuff at you at Elimination Chamber, that was pretty funny. Yeah. Elimination in Perth? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they had to block out the screen. screen because I believe people were like, you know, doing things that they weren't supposed to do at me and they had to black out the screen. Yeah. Yeah, I'm definitely one of a kind.

But when you do this, does it help? Yeah. I'm not a fan of loud noises. So like, pyro gets me every now and then. When it gets too loud, like my, like, I think, I don't know if it's because I have sensitive ears or growing up around it. like Cain's Pyrro would always scare the hell out of me. Big shows Piro, Batista's. So like I feel like my ears grew very sensitive to that.

Because I never had like those. You see kids nowadays at the shows like these massive like things. I never had any of those. Or like the little earplugs. So my ears are like very sensitive to noise. But just another reason why you don't like your dad? Yeah. Yeah.

Like they never took care of me. You know? They're like, Yeah, fuck. But so I really do think that's, that's what it is. Like, it genuinely helps because, like, really loud noises like that. Like, even concerts. Like, sometimes if it's too loud, my ears just start to hurt, like,

something's going to, like, burst inside. What's been your favorite match to date? I've had a couple favorite matches. I feel like I've had a really, like, I have, I had a fun one with Cody. in London, money in the bank. My match with Dragon Lee in Ontario for just the raw. I had a match with Sammy Zane in Japan at the Tokyo Dome.

Or no, no, I'm sorry, the Sumo Hall. And that, like, for me, that being able to wrestle in Japan, that was awesome, you know. So, like, that was really fun for me. war games like with all the boys and the big randy return like that's fun for randy's first match back uh you know i can i can keep going on the list goes on for me but like i feel like i've had i've been blessed man to just be able to go out there and have a lot of fun matches with john sina coming back next year how would you feel about a match with john suna

I've actually wrestled John in a dark match for Smackdown, but I would love to get my hands on scene. Yeah, I have some history there that I'd like to touch back with. How was it working with John? It was, I'm trying to find the right word for it. It was a surreal moment, right? because I grew up watching him, had his album, like sign and everything. Again, big Sina guy too growing up. So for me, and then not only that, but when he came back the first time

and did the summer of Sina against Roman, I was along for the ride on that one. All the live events I was tagging with my deadbeat and Sina. against Roman and the Uso's. It was me, John Cina Ramisier against Roman and the Usoons. So like for me, him being okay with me being in, like I shouldn't have been,

I shouldn't have been in that. In any of those matches leading into SummerSlam. That should, like, there are no way shape or form should I have been in that ring with any of those guys. Maybe my dad. But like him being able to do that for me

and just giving me his advice and going through 30 plus days of, you know, every week just something different and then flipping it around to where he's still in the same spot but now I'm the bad guy and it's we got to work that one time so I would definitely love to get back in the ring with him you know mix it up him that'd be a good one to see yeah this story with live came to just a fever pitch at somerslam do you think about how you're going to look on camera when you're grabbing her head and kissing her and knowing that that's going to be the moment that

everybody replays? No, I had no idea. It kind of just, I didn't even know I was going to grab her her face. I was just, it's kind of just in the moment kind of deal. Honestly, I didn't even know I was going to kiss her until like probably two hours prior. Just personal decision. Because I didn't want anyone to know. Finn kind of had an idea of it.

But yeah, I wasn't kind of thinking. about it at all. And then I kind of just, kind of just happened. But then you know everybody's, you know, not only watching you on TV and watching you there, they're going to watch this again and again and again. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure people are. They're all weirdos. Was that one of the louder reactions you've ever had? That's definitely top. That was, because I don't know, I don't think anyone was expecting that. Um, or maybe they were, maybe they weren't. I don't know.

But it was definitely, uh, again, it was one of those things where I didn't know what they were what to expect. I didn't know how they were going to react. Um, because I knew they already hated me so much, but they, they loved live. And like they, like, they obviously love Rio for some reason. But like, I just, it was a lot of mixed reactions that I thought we were going to get. But like, we did not. No.

We did. It was. one solid, we do not like you. And then again, Michael Cole said some very not nice things. Yeah, so did Pat McAfee. Yes. Two old bastards. You got heat with Pat McAfee?

Yeah, both. Well, I mean, you think Cole does it alone? Right? Who, what does Pat call me? Dumb, dumb, when he says it. Like, yeah, he's not. Maybe he got to have a match with him. I'd love to get in the ring with Pat.

I don't think he has the balls to, but he, that's why he's sticking to announcing now. Whatever. If Pat wants it, he knows where I am. Could you say one nice thing? About who? About your dad? Sure.

He's got nice hair. Ray Mysterio has nice hair. Have you seen it? Doesn't have any hair. Sucks to suck. Do you fear that that might be your future? No, not at all. He was already bald by the age of 21.

Yeah. This makes a very strong case for Eddie. And it never, it never grew back. I got a full set of hair. Look at that. Luscious, baby. Beautiful. So.

Why would you be hiding that under a hat? Um, because I did a couple interviews earlier where I was outside and like, you know, the biggest heat. Yeah. It's hot. I don't like to hide my hair often. It's not, I don't, you know, people deserve to see, you know, greatness. So I don't, I don't really want to, like, hide it and.

I want to show it off, but sometimes it's too much. Like, women just start, you know. Got to bite them off with a stick. It's hard. Liv does it for me. She, you know, she has her hands full. What does your wife think of all of this? She's cool with it, surprisingly.

Yeah. She's honestly been super cool. She's my ride or die anyways. We've been together since we were 14. So, like, as long as I, you know, let her know, like, hey, this is what's going to go down. Like, she's like, all right, cool. And usually she honestly never gives me a hard time.

I've said it before, but like when, uh, when Ria licked me that one time and even, like, after the kiss would live, like, her first text to me, like, because I always text her, like, after a match or anything, like, hey, honey, just finished all good, like, all safe, just so she knows. Usually it's always, she always texts me back. Oh, okay, good. See you soon. Love you, whatever.

But when that stuff happened, it was like, so now that we're out here in Vegas, she's like, dude, I found a tarantial in the garage. I'm like, well, did you kill it? You know, like it's not like she doesn't worry about stuff like that. And she's also like, she's been with me for so long and like she's my rock and like she's, you know, she makes me a better person. So the fact that like she's able to like still put up with all of this and like deal with the craziness of all of, what I do, you know, it's a, I'm truly a blessed man.

I was so surprised when I saw the WWE shop was selling toilet paper with your face on it. I was too. I didn't know about it. Yeah, I showed up at TV one day and one of the guys from our merch team was like, hey, did you see it? And I was like, see what? Is your toilet paper? I was like, bro, what are you talking about? And he pulls up a picture of the toilet paper. And I was like, way this is real. He's like, yeah, we're selling it. It's like, it's like, all right, it's sick. I was like, cool. I had no idea, but I think it's awesome. Yeah. Should have got them to send you a role. Yeah, I mean, I'll take some. Yeah, free toilet paper. We saw how people were fighting for it. So, yeah, bring some toilet paper. I think that's how you know you've made it. People hate you that much. I'm the, I'll name you another person

that's had their face on toilet paper in the WW. I don't think there's a, I don't think there's another WWE superstar. I could just make an history. Yeah. Yeah. It's been about four, four and a half years since your debut. But I think an argument could be made.

I'm a 20-year vet. That you're a 20-year vet. 100%. Right. And do you feel like there are things that you harken back to a remember from the first time you stepped into a ring in front of, you know, TV cameras? I remember it was very weird for me. just because I wasn't used to it.

I still feel like I'm very shy, very to myself. But I don't know. Something happened when I was eight years old that obviously I enjoyed the feeling of it. And that crowd reaction and just being out there just something I loved. And yeah, being out there and with Eddie, just, you know, not a lot of people get to say that they've been in the ring with Eddie. and I'm lucky to consider myself one of them, even though I wasn't wrestling him, but being in the same ring as him.

So to me, that's honestly really special. Do you have a favorite Eddie memory? You told me last time about the Twizzlers, I think it was? Yeah, yeah. Do you have just a favorite Eddie memory in general with spending so much time with him? Yeah, there was this, well, I don't, I'm sure I've told the story before.

When WWW would do shows in San Diego, at the arena I would always come home early because we would never stay for the whole show or after my dad finished wrestling, whatever, we would always come home. And I remember one morning I woke up and as soon as he was coming down the stairs

I saw his boots, like his cowboy boots at the front door. And I knew those were Eddie's boots because they were, I just, I knew those were his cowboy boots. It was just some light, snake-skin, almost yellowish boots and I go downstairs to the kitchen and sure enough, he's sitting there having breakfast

with my parents and I just remember sitting there just having breakfast with him and he was just asking me about my day, how everything was going. So that's definitely one of my favorite Eddie memories. It's amazing. Congrats on all your success. Thank you. And I feel like you're truly just getting started. I think so too.

I think it's just a matter of time before we're having another one of these conversations and you're the world champion. I think so too. Congrats on everything. I'm going to ask you the question. I ask everybody at the end of every conversation. What are three things, Dom, that you're grateful for right now? Right now, my faith, my wife, and my health. Amazing. Congratulations. And just good to see you again, man. Thank you, man. Likewise. Glad I could be in the presence of this hair. It's great. It really is. Yeah. I mean, I can see why you're jealous.

Well, there we have it. Big thank you to Dom. for joining us for this great conversation. Big thank you to Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas who allowed us to shoot in their beautiful legacy club on the 60th floor. If you have time this week, check out the video version of this just to see how good this setup was.

Beautiful. Dom, I feel like had too much fun healing it up in this interview. What a guy. Some of those one-liners were just, were epic. Trying to keep his strength. face during some of them epic tag us snap a screenshot tag us he's at dominic underscore 35 on

instagram he's at dom mysterio 35 on twitter i'm at chris fanfleet and we will end this one with one of my favorite quotes it's from winston churchill the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty be great and be great my friends we will see you on the Next one for some more insight. Ask CVV. 54 is up right now. So go check that out. And we'll see you on Tuesday. 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, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.