WWE's Rey and Dominik Mysterio go back a long way… literally.
For one thing, Mysterio has known Dom since the day he was born, and I have it on good authority that he's good friends with the young luchador's mother too. From their initial run-ins together in WWE all the way back in 2003, to the now-infamous storyline where Eddie Guerrero suggested that he was, in fact, the father of the young Mysterio, Dominik and Rey have been pulling angles for Vince McMahon and eventually Paul “Triple H” Levesque for almost two decades in one form or another, with no signs of that slowing down.
But just because neither Mysterio is going anywhere anytime soon doesn't mean that all is necessarily well in the WWE Universe. No, between the near-constant fighting between the Mysterios and Judgement Day and the increasing feeling of being under-appreciated by his father, especially after the addition of Edge into the storyline, Dominik may be inching closer and closer to a split from his family in favor of a walk on the wild side with Rhea Ripley and company with a darker, more aggressive attitude. A sort of step-out-of-your-father's-shadow sort of situation, if you will?
Well guess what? In a true twist of fate few saw coming, Rey might actually be okay with his son going his own way, even if he'd probably rather him doing something as a babyface looking to get better at his craft, instead of an angry heel with daddy issues.
Rey Mysterio wouldn't mind seeing his son go on his own WWE run.
In the leadup to the release of his A&E Biography documentary, Rey Mysterio sat down with Graham GSM Matthews of Fansided's Daily DDT and WrestleRant to discuss his career to that point, Legado Del Fantasma, and his tag team with Edge. While much of his comments were largely predictable, as Mysterio said basically the same thing about Edge on RAW as he did on the mic for his 15-minute interview, one question asked by Matthews elicited a very interesting response, as you can read below via his DDT writeup: will the Mysterios be splitting up anytime soon?
“I truly believe the time is getting close to him going his own direction and myself in my own direction as well. I think any positivity he could’ve picked up from me has happened in the last two years. I think that connection is established. They know who Dominik is and I think it’s time eventually for us to part ways and for him to become his own man and create his own path. I hope it’s not too far away for him to do that.”
Oh snap, now that is an answer.
While Rey has long admitted that working with Dom was a big reason why he returned to WWE in the first place, as he was offered a similar contract in terms of per-appearance pay on a more family-friendly schedule with AEW but ultimately turned them down in order to get his son in the WWE Performance Center, their act has largely gotten stale, with no clear path to follow after losing the SmackDown Tag Team Championship belts to The Usos back in the summer of 2021. Now, if the Mysterios can settle on a new goal, that would be one thing, having Rey and Dom compete in NXT as a hybrid developmental veteran act would be an incredible angle that would get fans popping but then again, the former is so popular on the live event scene that stranding him in NXT might be a waste.
Fortunately, WWE has a perfect opportunity to keep Rey wrestling meaningful matches and give Dom an interesting angle to work with too.
After the surprise ousting of their former leader, Judgment Day needed a new feud that would justify their intimidating gimmick. While their work against the Mysterios did at least give both teams something to do, the fact that the returning, vengeful Edge has tagged onto this feud rather than replacing it seems to indicate that a Dominik heel turn is exactly what is being planned, which could potentially be the catalyst that ratchets up the stakes in a way that would benefit this program immensely. Dom has been forced into one-sided fights with Ripley on multiple occasions, and while he's had chances to fight back, like on the go-home edition of RAW before Clash at the Castle, he ultimately refused to hit her with a kendo stick despite having every opportunity to do so.
Could this all be chivalry or a young performer who isn't quite confident in himself just yet? Or could it be that Dom is a double agent waiting for the right time to turn on Rey? Recall the younger Mysterio was offered a spot in Judgement Day before and even excepted on July 18th. Maybe all of this time, Dom has been playing both sides, just waiting on the moment to turn on his father. It would explain how Ripley knew which suite to attack during Mysterio's 20th Anniversary Celebration on RAW.
While the idea of placing Dom in a still young and unproven faction does not exactly mesh with his need for steady experience and an opportunity to truly grow, the star power of Judgment Day is strong enough to keep him on television week after week, and the feud could be fueled with enough personal drama that the younger Mysterio will have plenty of material to work with. With a turn coming as soon as Clash at the Castle, let's hope Rey's son is ready to step out of his father's shadow for good.