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 WWE Hall of Famer’s son thought he had quickly earned the respect of the locker room.
Unlike most wrestling prospects in WWE, Dominik did not go through the developmental system. He trained with a variety of wrestlers, such as Lance Storm, Konnan, and Jay Lethal, before making it to the main roster.
His first match was against Rollins, whom he faced in a street fight at SummerSlam 2020. During the build-up to their match, The Visionary, along with Buddy Murphy, brutalized Dominik with a kendo stick.
Talking about the Fight without competition On the podcast, “Dirty” Dom talked about the segment where he was shot a bunch in the chest, stomach, and back. He called it “Crucified Kendo” and believed he earned the boys’ respect by taking the beating, proving he belonged.
“I like to call it Kendo Crucified when they tied me to the ropes and completely beat me up. I think it was like 37 Kendo shots in total that I ended up doing. I remember that night, it seemed like a lot of hits. “It’s like there was a lot of respect. from the guys in the back and almost like a ‘Welcome to the business guy’ moment,” Dominik said. [From 11:23 – 11:51]
After surviving a barrage of Kendo sticks, Dominik Mysterio made a valiant effort against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2020. However, The Visionary had too much craft in his game to gain the victory.
Dominik Mysterio believes his work in 2023 earned him more respect
The biggest year of Dominik Mysterio’s career so far was 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 in Fight without competition podcast, “Dirty” Dom felt like the guys in the locker room respected him more for putting in the effort inside the ring. He had a total of 106 matches, seven less than Cody Rhodes’ total and the same as Seth Rollins.
“Man, the routine of that moment was definitely real. I feel like that was another moment where I was able to 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 fighter under 30.
Edited by Sanchari Bhattacharya.