Dominik Mysterio had a unique path to becoming a WWE superstar, starting in 2020 when he made his in-ring debut against Seth Rollins. Before the match, the son of the WWE Hall of Famer thought he had quickly earned the respect of the locker room.
Unlike most wrestling prospects in WWE, Dominik did not come through the developmental system. He trained under several wrestlers, such as Lance Storm, Konnan and Jay Lethal, before making his way to the main roster.
His very first feud was against Rollins, who he faced in a street fight at SummerSlam 2020. During the build-up to their match, The Visionary, along with Buddy Murphy, assaulted Dominik with a kendo stick.
Speaking about the Wrestling without a contest podcast, “Dirty” Dom opened up about the segment where he took a bunch of shots to the chest, stomach and back. He called it the “Kendo Crucified” and believed he earned the boys’ respect by taking the beating, showing that he belonged.
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“I like to call it the Kendo Crucified when I was just tied to the ropes and absolutely defeated. I think I hit a total of 37 Kendo shots. I remember that night I got a lot of what seemed like a lot of respect from the guys in the back and almost like a ‘Welcome to the Business Guy’ type moment,” Dominik said. [From 11:23 – 11:51]
After surviving the Kendo stick barrage, Dominik Mysterio made a valiant effort against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2020. However, The Visionary had too much wisdom in his game to pull off the victory.
Dominik Mysterio believes his 2023 grind has earned him more respect
The biggest year of Dominik Mysterio’s career so far came in 2023, when he appeared on RAW, SmackDown and NXT. There was even a week that year where he was in the main event of every show.
In the same interview on the Wrestling without a contest podcast, “Dirty” Dom felt the guys in the locker room respected him more because he was having fun in the ring. He had a total of 106 matches, seven less than Cody Rhodes’ total and the same as Seth Rollins.
“Dude, the grind before that was definitely real. I feel like this was another point in time where I could get a lot of respect from the guys in the back,” Dominik said. [From 20:06 – 20:21 from the video above]
Dominik Mysterio has come a long way in all facets of being a WWE superstar. He was so good that ESPN named him the best wrestler under 30.
Edited by Sanchari Bhattacharya