When Rey Mysterio's music hit at spot 17, fans were over the moon to see one of the best luchadors in the history of the sport pull off his usual high-flying antics in one of his signature events. After going the distance from spot two to set the record for the longest time in a Royal Rumble back in 2006 – a record overtaken by GUNTHER in the 2023 Royal Rumble – surely fans would be afforded a chance to see “The Mystery” turn in another impressive effort that will live on his fan cams and highlight reels for years to come.
… except, despite declarations of “Booyaka Booyaka, 619!” echoing out through the Alamodome, Mysterio never showed up, with fans and commentators wondering what the heck was going on for the full 90 seconds of spot 18's countdown clock.
Fortunately, fans didn't have to wait long to get some sort of a resolution to the Mysterio story, as when spot 18 came up, a familiar mask ran out from the back looking ready to rumble, albeit one being worn by a slightly larger man.
That's right, in a wild twist of fate few saw coming, Dominik Mysterio was drafted into the match at spot 18, and he decided to wear his father's mask down to the ring in order to goof on the first ballot Hall of Famer, but why? Did Dom attack his father in the back a la Thanksgiving and Christmas? Or was something else afoot? Fortunately, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer commented on the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio and let it be known that Rey's absence had more to do with a real-life injury suffered on SmackDown than any pre-planned storyline.
“Rey Mysterio was injured last night in Laredo at the SmackDown tapings in a match with Karrion Kross,” Meltzer said via F4W. “He was going to be in the Rumble, that spot was changed, and then what happened was they did a spot where he's supposed to come out, he doesn't come out, and then Dominik comes out. I think they were actually supposed to do some teases with them in the Rumble to set up the WrestleMania match but, obviously, they couldn't do it because Rey's injured. ”
“Dominik, I guess, the idea was he came out with Rey's mask with the idea that somehow maybe Judgment Day beat up Rey backstage, and Dominik had the mask, and that's the way they are going to do the angle. Hopefully, Rey's injury isn't anything serious, but I guess it was serious enough that he couldn't do what was planned in the match.”
In a way, that information makes things more and less interesting, as WWE initially did have both Mysterios booked for the match, which may have led to spots where Rey had to avoid making contact with his son a la their shared time on RAW which fans will obviously never get to see but hey, just because Dom's dad didn't appear at the Rumble because of injury doesn't mean Paul “Triple H” Levesque can't lean into that storyline moving forward. If anything, Dom's disrespectful act could be just the catalyst needed to build toward a father-son match at WrestleMania 39 just a few hours north of the 619.
1️⃣8️⃣: @DomMysterio35 #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/6jprYiJ5YN
— WWE (@WWE) January 29, 2023
WWE just got the perfect step-up for a Los Mysterios WrestleMania 39 match.
Rey Mysterio opted to re-sign with WWE after receiving a similar offer from AEW in 2017 because he wanted to guarantee that his son got the best possible training before making his in-ring debut. When that day eventually came, in a street fight against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2020, Mysterio looked rough, but ultimately made it work, building towards a program against the Monday Night Messiah. From there, Rey and Dom came together as Los Mysterios and began a tag team program on SmackDown that ultimately resulted in the duo becoming the first-ever father-son tag team champions in WWE history with a win over The Dirty Dawgs at Backlash 2021.
While their title run wasn't expansive, lasting just over two months, everything seemed fine with the Mysterios, as they were moved to RAW and eventually teamed up with Edge after his fallout with Judgement Day… at least until Finn Balor, Damian Priest, and Rhea Ripley took a particular interest in the younger Mysterio and recruited him into their ranks.
From there, Dom and company made it their mission to make Mysterio's life as uncomfortable as possible, forcing Rey to request a move to Smackdown and having to keep the police on standby anytime a holiday showed up on the calendar. Though they didn't interact on WWE television since, that membrane burst at the Royal Rumble when Dom decided to clown on his father, and Rey's vow to never set hands on his son might soon come to an end too.
If Mysterio was ever going to pass the torch to his son, fully pass along the “Rey Mysterio” moniker – which, remember, is a moniker that the current Rey didn't originate – to his son, and ride off into the sunset to enjoy raising his kids as a legacy act, what better place to have it happen than WrestleMania 39? At 48, Mysterio doesn't need to be a full-time wrestler anymore, so after committing the final years of his career to set his son up for success, why not use the biggest show of the year as a way to finish the job and put him over once and for all?
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